Coping, a birthday and Bella

Hello my friends! It's been a long, strange, good week. We're hanging in there, trying to get back into a routine. We went to the drill team parents' banquet Tuesday and it was nice to be there with the parents of such wonderful girls, but it was so hard to be there without our own Kati. It often surprises me the number of times every day I think of our sweet girl and it's still a shock to the system to realize that she's gone. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that she is in such a better place now and that we were so lucky to have her for the time we did.



Of course, we had a VERY special birthday this week! Thursday, April 22nd, our Jakey turned 1!! We celebrated a bit early in Nephi on Sunday and it was so fun! Gramma Phyllis gave Jake his most favorite, by far, present:





I love this picture because it almost seems like he's saying, "Ohhhhhh, streamers on the handlebars, NIIIICCCCCEEEEE!" Even though his feet don't QUITE touch the pedals, he thinks this bike is just the best thing ever! I can't keep him away from it at home :D

Of course, no first birthday is complete without the CAKE! I got really lucky with the bakery at Walmart (I know!) and the sweet girl who took my cake order made a cute "smasher" cake for Jakey that matched his birthday cake AND had his name on it! Obviously, he enjoyed it very much :D

And finally, Friday found us adding a new member to our family. I've been bugging Shane for a few months now about letting me get my own little baby girl dog to spoil and finally, he agreed! I found this little sweet girl through a friend and the minute I saw her I knew she was mine! She's a purebred papered Shih tzu and her parents are so sweet and cute. She'll only get to be about 10lbs at full grown and that's just what I wanted. Yes, her name is Bella, but not because I'm obsessed with Twilight! I've always liked that name and I tried SEVERAL names on her after I picked her up and finally I called her Bella and it was just perfect! She is totally a diva already :D, but she's so smart! I started pad training her as soon as we got home and she's catching on so fast! She was home alone today while we went to church and when we got home, no accidents on the carpet, just on her puppy pad! She's so playful and she LOVES chasing those sweet boys of mine! She likes to cuddle with me and she's so funny! She will climb up onto my shoulder like a little bird or something and cuddle in.

It's been nice to have her this weekend and talk silly to her and think about making bows for her hair and all those crazy things people do. She's so sweet and fun and I'm so glad we found her and brought her home! She's been a comfort to me on a weekend when I'm the only girl in the house! I can't wait for Shannon to come home Wednesday and meet her :D

Good night my friends, I love you all :D