The Adventures of Dick and Gwen: Recap

Wow, it has been a REALLY long time since I've visited the blogging world.

I thought I'd do a quick recap of the last year or so.

Last time I blogged, it was about the dog (at the time it was the damn dog) so I'll start with that.

Poor thing got fixed in the spring. By this time, we were good buddies so it broke my heart to see him like this. He was so confused and in pain and he was not a fan of the cone of shame.

Then he got big! And furry! Really furry. So we had him shaved and kept a killer mohawk. What a rad dog.

We went to Spring Color Festival for my nephew's wedding. Can't say I'm in a hurry to go again, but I'm glad I got to experience it once. Let's just say I'm not a fan of colored cornstarch up my nose, in my eyes, ears, mouth, you name it- it's in there. All in the name of peace.

Kids finished school: Karter- 3rd grade, Zach- Kindergarten. They couldn't have been more excited for summer. This summer (2012), they got to stay home and go to the neighbor's during the day. Their favorite part about this was not having to go to bed early when all their friends were still out playing!

Silly kids.

Rich was totally spoiled for Father's Day!

We decided we had been a one car family long enough and that it was time for Rich to have his own ride (besides the train).

We had such a fun summer hanging out with the neigbs- my affectionate term for our neighbors that were also our friends. Yes, I said were. We also had lots of drama over the past year and three of our drama queen neighbors have left and it's NICE. The cops haven't been called to our ghetto since last summer-ish.

We hiked a lot. One of our favorite past times.

We said goodbye to our trusty ol' friend Henry the Hyundai.

This really was an amazing car, especially since I tried to beat the crap out of it on more than one occasion.

We welcomed into our family, Gladys. Gladys, the grandma car.

I'll admit though, it's a nice smooth ride and gets killer gas mileage.

At the same time, Ferb the 4runner also joined us. He almost didn't though. Someone was not happy with the deal Richard got on it (uh-hum, me) and was headed down to return it. No car dealership was going to get the best of this girl.

We ended up coming home with TWO cars. Way to show 'em Wendy!

Karter had his first visit to the eye doctor. Luckily, they were okay but his brain was playing tricks on his eyes and he had to get readers from the dollar store. I think he wore them for about a week.

Zach also got glasses...

We said "hello" to Marley. Look at that face! How could one not wanna take her home? Coop was not quite sure what to think of her. But eventually they became friends and she helped teach him how to shake (something we had been working on with him for a long time- it's amazing what jealousy will do to a dog :).

We also got to meet this cute girl! We love her and are so excited for her to finally join our family!

Her journey here could be an entire blog post in itself, but here's the short version:

My brother and sister-in-law (who is a Malaysian citizen) traveled to Malaysia and met Miriam (Mimi) when she was three hours old. Malaysia has a two year waiting period for adoptions, but were going to wave it since Farah is a citizen. They called to tell us all they were bringing home a baby! But the US State department wasn't feeling generous at the time (putting it very nicely) and wouldn't issue her a visa. They came home heart broken without their daughter. Fast forward 20 months, multiple trips back and forth for court dates and to visit, lots of $$ in lawyer fees, she FINALLY got to come home on December 19th.

Needless to say, it was a big deal for our family.

New Years 2013
I know you're crazy jealous of how hot and cool we are.

The kids made it!!

We had to say "goodbye" to Marley :(

Seriously one of the hardest things I've ever had to do (I know, I consider myself fortunate that this is the hardest thing I've encountered). It was really hard on all of us.

But she's in a good place. We took her out to my sister's house near Elko, NV. They are good to her and she has a new friend- my sister's border collie named Blue.

We miss her every day.

I've been spending lots of time with this cutie. I watch her on my Fridays off and we have the most fun. And she may or may not get spoiled by her (now) favorite auntie. I love getting my girl fix.

We decided to get Lagoon passes this year and the boys love it!

Mom and Dad on the other hand, not so much. We are getting old! Sick after lots of the rides. I've spent a lot of time waiting on the sidelines while the boys go ride by themselves this season.