Bunny Fiasco

Meet Trixie and Pepper. Our new bunnies.

Trixie is tiny and fits right in the palm of your hand.

Pepper is a little bit bigger ( she is about 10 weeks, Trixie is 6)

We have been talking about getting the kids bunnies for about 6 months. I had a bunny growing up and think as far a pets go they are ideal :) I am deathly allergic to cats. Chris is allergic to dogs saliva. I HATE pet hair, the smell of dog and cleaning up poop. With all that said I really do think it is fun to have a pet growing up. So after talking it over we decided a bunny was the best way to go for us.

I wasn't sure when we would actually get the bunny. I thought about waiting til Kaden's birthday at the end of May but wondered if that was too late in the year. I had checked out bunnies and cages out on KSL a few times last week but still wasn't set on a time to get one.

Saturday morning came around and it was a beautiful day. We were talking to the kids and promised if they helped to clean up and get all the chores done early we could go do something fun together later in the afternoon. They were excited about the idea so we started brainstorming something fun we could do that wouldn't cost a lot of money but wasn't the same old thing I did with them every week. That is when Chris got and idea, "We could get a bunny today" he whispered in my ear. That is when the fun impulsive side of me kicked in.. we both looked at each other and giggled like 5 year olds. Our minds were made up, we were going to end the day owners of a bunny. The rest of the story is probably best told in a timeline

10:00 am - We are working frantically to get everything done so we can head out to get our "surprise"

11:00 am- I come in from mowing the law. Chris and the kids are telling me to hurry so we can go.

11:10 am- I decide just to change my clothes and not shower so we can get going. ( BIG BIG mistake)

11:30 am - I jump on KSL and start scouting out the bunny ads

11:40 am- We make a few calls and find some bunnies in West Jordan that are only 7 weeks old and ready to be sold. The lady tells us to come down and just call when we are in the area and she will give us directions.

12:00 pm- we call IFA in Ogden to ask about cages. They tell us they have lots of options and bunnies too. We decide to drive there first and hope to knock it all out in one stop. ( hahahahhaha)

12:15pm-We decide to leave without everything done so that we can be home in time for the kids to play with the bunnies outside while there is still lots of light. (again hahahahaha)

12:20pm- we are all in the car heading to IFA, there is a load of laundry in the washer and 2 loads seperated on the floor ready to go in. The garage is half torn apart in Chris's attempt to start organizing ( all thing which we thought we would have plenty of time for later that afternoon when we got home.)

12:40 pm- we get to IFA, the kids are asking if this is their surprise, we tell them "maybe we'll have to see". We walk in and decide very quickly we will not be getting a bunny there because they are much bigger than what we want. we look at the hutches and about fall over when we see a $240 price tag.

12:45 pm- we leave IFA, the kids ask where their surprise is

1:00PM- we get back home and I grab Chris's lap top and pack a small diaper bag for the trip to salt lake

1:05 pm- We make a few stops before heading out. We pick up some lunch and then stop at PetSmart to see what they have to offer as far as cages go. ( After all my research I decided I definitely wanted a 2 story cage so they had room to run around on the grass but still be in their cage.)

1:59pm- The kids ask where their surprise is.

2:00pm- We head to West Jordan without a cage, and with the feeling it is going to be a lot harder/more expensive to get the cage I want than I originally thought it would.

3:00pm- We get to the West Jordan area and call the bunny lady.... no answer.

3:15 pm- We call again.... no answer

3:30 pm- We call again... no answer

3:45 pm- We text her... no answer

4:00 pm- We stop at a Petco to check for a cage... no luck

4:30pm- getting annoyed driving around aimlessly

4:32pm- The kids ask where their surprise is

4:45 pm- We decide to give up on the West Jordan bunnies. We got to a McDonalds with free WiFi let the kids play on the toys and get on the laptop to find some new bunnies.

5:00pm- We find a cage in Lehi that is exactly what we want for only 30 dollars! We call on it and the lady tells us someone else had already called but if she wasn't there within the hour (5:26) it was ours. We also find more bunnies in orem.

5:05pm- We jump in the car and head to Lehi

5:27pm- We pull up to the house. No other car is there... WE WIN!... or so we think. We knock on the door and the lady tells us that the other person called and said she was only 5 minutes away. She gives the cage to the other lady.

5:28pm- The kids ask where their surprise is

5:30 pm- On the freeway headed to the Orem bunny house. We call again to get directions and she tells us she won't be home til 7. We are determined to make sure this trip isn't a waste so we say we will wait around.

5:45pm- We hand out at Lisa and Dougs house til 7 rolls around.

6:45pm- Chris and I leave the kids with Doug and Lisa and go to pick our bunnies

7:00pm- We get to the house ( if you can call it that... it was disgusting) and see that their "baby" bunnies are really full grown rabbits

7:10pm- We leave empty handed and discouraged

7:15pm- The kids ask where their surprise is.

7:16pm- Back at Lisa and Dougs we find more bunnies in Holladay. They are dwarf Hoto bunnies which are tiny and cute. I really like them. Chirs calls the man who says someone is coming the next day from Idaho to get 3 of them, if we want first pick we have to beat them there. Chris says we will come right now, bunny guy says we can't he will be out for the rest of the night. We have to come tomorrow.

7:30 pm- Pow Wow.. we can't decide if we should try and stay the night in Orem without diapers, formula, toothbrushes, extra clothes... basically without anything. Or if we should drive home and drive all the way back the next day.

8:00 pm- We make the decision to stay the night in Orem and leave bright and early the next day to make it home in time for church. Luckily we both have a sibling that lives in the are. Kaden stays with Lisa and Doug. Me, Chris, and the girls stay with Jason and Katie. (we did make a Wal-Mart trip for the essentials)

NEXT MORNING

6:00 am- Chris and I are up. ( after sleeping maybe 2-3 hours) We find out the guy also has church at 9 and we can not come get the bunnies til after.

7:00 am- I am frantically trying to figure out what to do about the singing time I am not going to be able to lead. I am feeling really bad we are about to miss church to pick up bunnies.

8:00am- The kids ask where their surprise is

11:00 am- we are finally ready to leave and we get another text from bunny guy saying he has church meetings and can't meet til 2:30. We about lose it. The guilt is mounting that we missed church for bunnies.

11:10am- The kids ask where their surprise is

12:00pm- Bunny guys texts us again.. he can meet us at 1:30.

12:30pm- We leave Orem.

1:20pm- We turn up Walker Lane in Holladay (HOLY COW... talk about nice houses.) We are convinced we must be in the wrong place. Who lives in a mansion and sells bunnies for $20? Also we can not find the house number.

1:30pm- we call bunny guy and find out he doesn't live on Walker Lane... oh no... he lives at the end of Walker Lane behind he huge electronic private gate. He gives us the code to get in

1:35pm- We pull up to THE Walker Estate, built on acres of land with not one but TWO houses and a giant barn that is nicer than our home. A very nice man dressed in a suit and tie meets us out in front and shakes our hand.

1:36pm- we go back into the mansion of a barn and I feel somehow unworthy...to be in his BARN

1:37pm- We see all of his animals: rabbits, pigeons, ponies, love birds, peacocks, golden tailed pheasants, doves.

1:38pm- I instantly see the two bunnies I want.

1:39pm- Bunny man ( Jeff Flamm) asks if we know Thomas S Monson...

1:39:30pm- uh..... yeah

1:40 pm- Bunny man tells us these are his pigeons, and he brings his grandkids up to fish on his private trout pond all the time

1:41pm- We smile and nod like that is totally normal.

1:45pm- We walk out to the car with two bunnies....finally

1:46pm- The kids finally get their surprise.

We got home about 2:30, exhausted and worn out... and probably a little smelly. The laundry that was started the day before is still in the washer and needs to be restarted. The garage is still half torn apart. We still don't have a cage, but we do have 2 cute little bunnies and 2 very happy kids.

It turns out we lucked upon some semi-rare bunnies to the Utah area. The Hoto bunny ( which is what their dad is) is a breed of bunny that is usually all white with the dark line around his eyes just like Trixie. They have small ears and only get between 2 and 3 pounds. Both bunnies moms were dwarf breed so these bunnies should stay pretty small.

The whole thing was kind of a disaster and looking back I can't believe we didn't just give up after the first failed attempt and just come home. But we did end up with 2 darling bunnies that we couldn't be happier with.

Addison was so intrigued by the bunnies. She kept trying to touch them and grab their faces. No worries, we didn't let her.

I love cute little bunny faces.

Don't judge me for my greasy hair or lack of make-up. This was minutes after we got home from our 24 hour bunny search.

The boys and Pepper

Sunny Days

We have been spending lots of time enjoying these warm sunny days at the park. Just a few pictures of the fun.

Seriously Funny Kids

Kaden is a nut.. his mind runs a million miles a minute in the craziest directions. The other day as he was laying down for a nap we had this conversation..

K: Mom will you please put these shoes in my garage? ( He was taking off the shoes he had worn to school)

M: Sure, but it is a closet

K: Oh, so what is a garage

M: Where we park the cars

K: Oh yeah, ( then he stops thinking for a minute)

K: Mom, why did Jesus create this earth?

( I was totally taken aback... how did we go from closets and garages to the creation of the world?)

M: Um because he loves us so much

K: And we needed to have bodies

M: ( again a little taken aback) Yes that is right

K: SO if Jesus made this earth how come he doesn't live here?... I want him to live here with me.

M: He will one day but right now he is watching us from Heaven with Heavenly Father

K: Who is Heavenly Father

M: He is the Father of all of our spirits

K: NO that is daddy

This conversation went on for atleast 10 more minutes til finally he was okay with the idea that we could have a daddy on earth and a daddy in Heaven. Then he said,

K: It is kind of like that song "Heavenly Father are you really there?"

M: Yeah kind of

K: So is he really there?

M: Yes he sure is

K: Oh, OK.

M: Kaden it is time for a nap. We can talk more about this when you wake up!!

Another day Chris was playing a video game and there was a group of brow trolls with clubs grunting and picking on a man in the middle of the circle. Kaden saw them and yelled "OH NO!! It is the LAMENITES!"

Another day we were leaving for a long car ride and I told him he needed to go potty before we left. He insisted he did NOT need to go potty but me being the mean mom I am made him go try anyway. Sure enough when he got in there he did need to go pee. As he was leaving the bathroom he said to himself, "That freaks me out! My pee wasn't empty!" Apparently he was quite confused why there was pee in his bladder when he didn't feel the need to go.

Oh Taycee Taycee, where to even begin?? Most days I am laughing at her one second and restraining myself from strangling her the next. But she does say some seriously funny things.

I was exercising in my bedroom and I was only wearing yoga pants and a sports bra. Taycee came in the bedroom and said "MOM! Will you please put a shirt on so I do not have to see that BIG belly."

Taycee woke up from a nap and said "Mom while I was sleeping Grandma and Bent were throwing some chicken food at each other." I laughed. Apparently she dreams about food fights.

I couldn't find her one day and paniked, I found her half way down our street on her little three wheel bike. After scolding her for leaving the house I asked what she was doing. She said "I was just going to pedal to grandma's house because I miss her." haha that would have been a LONG LONG bike ride. 

This Month

It seems I am always looking at the calendar thinking... "where has this past month gone?"

Well this month has gone to...

the park

family parties

photo shoots

weddings

singing time preparations

bunnies

bunny hutches

housework

and 3 very cute little kids

which has left me feeling like this...

But I did manage to catch a little of it in pictures, which will hopefully make it on here soon.

9 months

9 months... really? I might just have a meltdown when this baby is a year old.

Here she is my little 5 lb baby at 9 months.

I remember when she was this big... and that hippo was twice her size.

She steals my heart every day. Every morning when I peak my head over the side of her crib she kicks her legs and flails her arms and gives me the biggest smile. I mean come on who could resist this little angel?
Her nine month stats are

Weight: 14lbs 8 oz

Height: 26.5 inches

Head 17 in

she still hasn't reached a percentile for weight, but the doctor said she is closer to the 5th percentile then ever before :). She jumped up on the charts for height and is now in the 20th percentile.

She is actually starting to sit for short amounts of time on her own, and is getting stronger in her arms/shoulders.

She holds her own bottles now.

Back in January (7 mo. old) we got her ears pierced

She said "dada" for the first time 3 weeks ago.

She got her first tooth the end of February ( 8 months) and is now cutting her second tooth.

After a photo shoot I did for my cousin a few weeks ago I snapped a few pictures of Addi-Boo.

All About Addi

This little sis is getting so big and growing up so fast. I feel like I just don't get enough time to soak it all up. I think about back when I just had Kaden and I took a million pictures of him daily, and now I am lucky to snap a picture here and there in between the diapers and the laundry and the cleaning. But I have managed to snap a few cute ones of this little girlies day.

Kaden loves to help out and Addison loves her big brother. Addison has gotten so good at eating from a spoon. She eats an entire bowl of food/cereal every night. She will eat almost everything except for green beans and peas.

We have really been working on Addison's sitting skills. The Physical Therapist comes to work with her twice a month. Currently we are focusing on her trunk muscles and her shoulder muscles. But usually she just folds over in half and lays her head on the ground. She is definitely a flexible baby, maybe she will be a ballerina.

She loves to stand. Her legs muscles are so strong. If she is fussy and I stand her up she almost instantly happy and gives me the biggest smile.

She is my little bud. I baby her more than I did Kaden and Taycee. Maybe it is because she is so tiny, or maybe it is because she has been so sick, either way she definitely gets special treatment around our house. :D

She LOVES to touch faces. As soon as someone new picks her up she immediately reaches for their face. She doesn't grab or dig with her nails, she just softly lays her hands on your cheeks or nose and looks at you. It is pretty sweet. She also loves to stare at you while you are holding her. Sometimes I don't think she even blinks, she just stares at you with her big beautiful eyes. I often wonder what she is thinking.

She loves her jumper. That is mostly due to the fact that she loves to stand. She jumps and smiles and jumps some more. She will jump til her eyes start to droop and she is too tired to jump anymore.

Bath time is a favorite. Addison can't get enough of the water. She squeals and giggles, flails her arms and legs and splashes water all over the place. She would stay in the tub all day long if I had the time to let her.

Taycee is such a big helper. Wherever Addison is Taycee is never far away. She loves to help during bath time or when I am getting her dressed. Addison doesn't always appreciate her enthusiasm but it is all out of love.

Addison loves this little monkey. She snuggles it and plays with it and every once in awhile she tries to eat it. She has also finally started liking her bumbo chair. She will sit in it while I make dinner or breakfast or while I am getting ready in the morning.

Well that is a little about our Addi Boo.

Happy St. Patricks Day

Hope you all had a fun St Patty's Day. This little green elf sure did. :)

Who wouldn't want to snuggle this sweet little thing?

A B-E-A-Utiful day

Dear Mother Nature,

.

Please send more days like these to our neck of the world. We have had enough of the wind and rain and cold. We are tired of being stuck in the house all day. We are ready for lots more sunshine, and park time.

So please give us more days like this...

Days that bring smiles like these...

Days where we literally spend ALL DAY out in the sunshine til daddy finally gets off work and comes to join us.

Days where the momma can sit on a blanket in the grass and watch her two favorite boys play some ball.

Days where this little babe naps in her car seat and doesn't make a squawk all day long.

Please oh please oh please! Because days like this make for a 3 happy kids a very happy momma and the house actually stays clean all day!