Beethoven

On September 26th, we celebrated the life of one of Rick's well loved family dogs, Beethoven. Beethoven joined the Wirsch family in 1997 and was a very loyal dog. He knew tricks and enjoyed playing the dog when singing "old mcdonalds farm". When Rick was younger, Beethoven strengthened his families faith in prayer when he ran away when the family was visiting crystal hot springs and they couldn't find him anywhere and ended up having to leave without him but posted "lost dog" signs everywhere. The family prayed and prayed and Beethoven found his way home. A miracle!
Although Owen, Sadie and I weren't able to spend most of his life with him, we were there for his last few and most difficult years of his life. I think it was about 5 or so years ago they found out he had a tumor that was too big to remove and it made life hard for him. He eventually lost his hearing and couldn't control his bowel movements anymore and it was decided by the family that it would be best for him to put him down. It was a very hard decision to make but we all know it was the best and now he's in a better place.

After the doctor put him down, we brought him back to the house and buried him and planted a rose bush above him in his memory. Beethoven was a great dog and will be remembered forever in our hearts.

Gardening

The big yard was one of the selling points for us to buy this house. Rick was really excited to have a garden this year. The kids, especially Owen, loved to help dad out in the yard. Above is a picture with the very first carrot, we picked. Owen was excited about it. Below is one of the two pumpkins we grew without even knowing we had planted them!

The whole garden consisted of beets, chard, onions, carrots, lettuce, peas, beans, butternut squash, hubbard squash, another orange colored squash, pumpkins, green beans, purple beans, yellow peppers, green peppers, hot peppers, popcorn, Indian corn, and tons of tomatoes! Our neighbors have a pear tree that hangs over our yard so we got pears too, which we all love so it works out great!
I am so thankful for Rick and the effort he put into this garden for our family. We were able to enjoy fresh produce all summer and are now enjoying very flavorful popcorn, the best I've ever tasted, have great fall decorations and I was able to use the peppers, onions and tomatoes to make and can a ton of delicious spaghetti sauce. I can't wait to see what he plants next year!

Owen and Sadie's birthday parties (July 30, 2011)

I spent a lot (and I mean a lot) of time putting this party together. The pinata took me about a week and the cakes took me a night and all morning before the party and then Owen's Magic School Bus cake started falling apart because the heat was melting the frosting which caused the top layer to start sliding off. I guess I'm not an expert cake maker.
I wanted to get pictures with the kids and their cakes before we ate them. Sadie's (above) was just cupcakes put together to form flowers. She doesn't really show preference to things, so I had a hard time deciding what to make for her cake. This was easy and made up for Owen's difficult cake.
To explain Owen's cake, he absolutely loves the Magic School Bus show! All summer, he would watch it right before he'd go to bed and he always wanted to check out the MSB movies at the library. I printed off a picture and tried my best to make a cake that looked similar to the bus. Even though it wasn't perfect and had way to much frosting to eat, he loved it!

Owen blowing out his candles.

Sadie blowing out her candle.

Owen got Toy Story (which he also loves) sheets and later, a twin bed to fit the sheets but he still prefers to sleep on the big siesta sac in his room.

Sadie with her shovel and bucket from grandma Wirsch

Owen and the cart Sadie got him.

Kaden, Sadie and Owen admiring the doll grandma Allphin got for Sadie.

All together, the kids got a Sandbox with shovels and buckets from Grandma Wirsch and Uncle Willie, stuffed animals from Uncle Isaac, an umbrella stroller from uncle Jason, aunt Katie and cousin Callie, and Reeses Pieces from uncle Kaden.
Owen got a Cars fold out bed/couch from grandma and grandpa Allphin, a cart from Sadie, and sheets and a coloring game that hooks up to the t.v. from us.
Sadie got a doll from grandma/grandpa Allphin, a doll from Owen, and lego blocks and pajamas from us. There might be a couple things I left out but it was so long ago I can't think of anything else and I didn't get the best pictures.

Here's Owen taking a shot at the Magic School Bus Pinata I made.

Kaden taking his turn at it.

Left to right: Katie, Kaden, Callie, Owen, Sadie
I think it took Halie a couple whacks at it to finally break it open and everyone grabbed as much candy as they could.

And here's Sadie playing in the sandbox from grandma and Willie.

The party was a success and I think the kids had a lot of fun. Now to plan next years parties...

Feeding the ducks

We went to the bread store and got home to find that one of the loaves had mold so off we went to the duck pond, which the kids were so excited about!

Owen has so much fun feeding the ducks. If it were his choice we'd go every day!

When we run out of bread, it's off to the play ground!

Sadie loves to go up and down the slide. Before she gets to the bottom, where I'm waiting for her, she stops herself and runs back up to the top to do it over again. She loves to run away from us now days. She thinks it's so funny.

Lovin' the swing

Our kids love playing outside so much. I don't know what we're going to do all winter. Owen doesn't like the cold and Sadie wants to go out but won't dress warm for the bitter cold weather. It's going to be a long winter season for us...

Birthdays and Swimming

The next few days after we got back to Grandpa's, were spent swimming and playing with cousins. We also celebrated Owen and Sadie's birthday's on Saturday, which was Sadie's birthday. Owen was so attached to me this whole trip, which explains him in the picture that I set him down for two seconds, in.

The water was cold, and so was the weather outside, so neither of the kids really wanted to get in. Owen refused but Sadie would get in every once in a while. She really enjoyed playing with the pool toys OUT of the water.

Playing on the slide with Grandma.

She loved this thing.

This trip was filled with good and bad experiences but I was very glad we were able to go. It's sad to think we may not have much longer with my Grandpa in this life and I will jump at every opportunity we have to see him!