Just in case life was going to get easier...we decided to add a puppy to our family. We think he's very cute, but have been surprised how much work it is. Shawn has trained 2 puppies, and promises me every night that all of the challenges of potty training and chewing will be overcome. I am happy about the way having a puppy is encouraging all of us to spend more time outside. Puppies and people need exercise. Everyone is so tired at the end of the day, we haven't really been able to fall into bad summer habits of late nights and mornings.
Bufford (our dog) knows that Shawn is really the Dad, including his Dad, but Ian and Rachel have been making great efforts to teach him to mind them. I guess I should share the story of Bufford's name--Natalie might remember! When we last visited Utah, Natalie's little dog, Boston, made quite an impression on Abby. The only dog name she could really remember was Clifford, but since she new that wasn't quite right, she called Natalie's dog "Bufford" all week. We thought it was really cute, and determined that if we found a dog, Bufford would be his name.
This little pup had actually been named "Cowboy" because the brown marking on his back looks like a saddle. When we suggested to Abby that we might want to call him "Cowboy Bufford" she really wouldn't hear of it. So, for Abby, Bufford is his name. We challenge anyone who reads this blog to find another dog with the same name. : )
Ian was sure that he would be batman, so sure, that we found him a costume back in September. Take a look at the picture--definitely not batman! He wears these things so often, you could hardly call it dressing up, but apparently no one noticed, because they all gave him candy.
We found a pink unicorn costume that fit Hailey. This may be the only year that she doesn't have an opinion, so we decided it would be fun for them to match. (Also, it relieved me of the mental challenge of coming up with a creative and cute costume, and saved Hailey from being...a soccer player!)