It's a boy!

Introducing........... Jasper Mackey!!!

This guy loves to snuggle!

And sleep!

Such a sweetheart.

Leah's new shadow!

The newest addition to the Mackey family! He is a mini schnauzer and he fits in with us perfectly. We knew that after we lost our sweet Robbie, it would be hard to move on with another dog. We kept on debating when would be a "good time" to get a dog, and decided that there would most likely NEVER be a super convenient time. So, one day, I jumped on line and found an ad for an 8 week old mini schnauzer puppy in need of a good home. Done. I called up Josh at work and told him I was gonna go check out a dog but that I wouldn't decide anything without him....Buuuuut.... About an hour later I show up at his work with our sweet little Jasper who at the time was called "Zekey". Huh?????Anyway, he is a perfect fit. He adores the kids and they can't get enough of him either. I actually am EXTREMELY attached to him, which is really kind of a surprise to me. Of course I could do without the little "accidents" I find around, but for the most part, he's just plain awesome. Josh was worried that he would keep comparing him to Robbie, knowing that there will NEVER be another dog as cool as him. But, Jasper so far has proven to be as good of a little buddy to Josh as Robbie ever was. AND! He already does tons of the stuff that Robbie used to do. Like chasing a lazer light on the floor and trying to eat Josh's face. He just makes us all really happy. In a nut shell, he's definitely a keeper!

Shame!!!

Yes yes yes, I know I know I know. What's the point of even blogging again when I've missed the last 4 1/2 months? I feel bad enough that I'm such a slacker keeping up with it. I'm not even going to try to play catch up and try to post pics of everything that has gone on with us. So, I'll take a slap on the wrist and cross my heart that I will be better!( I'm going to start out sortta small so be patient with me!!! ) SO!! Josh and I decided that we wanted to take a walk up the canyon and see the pretty leaves since they have started changing. The boys rode their scooters and little Leah got a ride in her princess stroller. Of course as soon as we got to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls, the shoes came off and into the water they all went. Leah wasn't too thrilled about how cold it was but she liked to dip her little feet in over and over with Daddys help of course. We love to be outside and are super lucky to have the mountains so close!!

P.S.

This picture of our happy girl was taken right after her much needed nap that day and she CLEARLY wasn't too happy just yet. :)

Tubes for Baby Leah

Finally! After about 7 ear infections, we decided to do the tube thing for Miss Leah. Anyone who knows her, knows that she was sick with runny nose, ear aches and things like that almost CONSTANTLY!! Well, we are making a trip down to Arizona in few weeks and I just really didn't want to deal with a sick child while I am visiting. (Last year when I went, she was diagnosed with and ear infection the day before) So! We took her to our ENT and she was scheduled for tubes 4 days later. She's going through a very clingy phase and doesn't want anything to do with anyone but mommy. So, any time anyone would walk in to talk to us or check her out, she freaked!! She was just SO not interested in being there. When it was time to take her back, the nurse did sort of a "snatch and grab" and whisked her away before she even knew she was leaving me. She kind of whined all the way down the hall and about 20 minutes later she was back in my arms drinking a bottle. She was all sleepy and cuddly at first, but that didn't last too long. She was either quiet and drinking or clawing at me and crying, just trying to get outta there! The Dr. said her ears were TERRIBLE! She said there was thick yucky fluid behind both ears and she had to keep adding saline to thin it out so she could suction it. The nurse describes it as peanut butter in the ear. GROSS!!!! They did a hearing test before they inserted the tubes and Leah failed it because of all the gunk in there. So, now that its all cleared out, her speech should take off even more than it already has. When we got home, she pretty much babbled and "talked" every second. It was cute to see her yell and make noises now that things sound different. All in all, she did awesome and hopefully,

NO MORE EAR INFECTIONS!!!

(pictures are out of order, but whatev)

Trying to figure out what the heck

just happened!

Daddy helping her with her stylin'

hospital jammies.

Really didn't like all the stuff

they stuck on her.

She thought the fishies in the waiting room

was the coolest thing EVER!

CD MONSTER

APPARENTLY LEAH DOES NOT CARE FOR CD'S.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!

It's amazing how one persons decisions and actions can effect millions of innocent people. Today came as a great shock to me. I love America and all those that defend Her and our freedoms. This is the one song that has always come to my mind for a moment such as this. GOD BLESS AMERICA FOREVER!!! MAY IT ALWAYS REMAIN THE PROMISED LAND.

LOOK WHO TURNED 1 THIS WEEK!!!

OUR SWEET BABY LEAH HAS BEEN WITH US FOR 1 FUN AND HAPPY YEAR NOW. LEAH HAS BROUGHT SUCH JOY AND A MUCH NEEDED BREATH OF FRESH AIR INTO OUR LIVES. SHE HAS NOW MASTERED GOING UP DOWN OUR MANY FLIGHTS OF STAIRS WHILE ALSO REALIZING HOW QUICK SHE CAN GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B ON TWO FEET. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WALKING INTO HER BEDROOM EVERY MORNING AND SEEING HER BIG SMILE AND JUMPS OF JOY READY TO BEGIN A NEW DAY OF LEARNING AND EXPLORING. WE LOVE YOUR PERSONALITY AND LOVE FOR LIFE! THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH A WONDERFUL DAUGHTER, SISTER, AND LITTLE BUDDY! WE ALL LOVE YOU!!!

As many of you know, we had to put down a very special member of our family recently. Poor Robbie had a rough past month of not feeling very well. We didn't realize the severity of his condition even after taking him to the vet for a check up. His body finally couldn't take anymore and he had a major seizure that caused him to be unresponsive for at least 10 minutes. Mandi and I rushed him to the ER for pets and made the painstaking choice that he would be happier moving on. It has been a very lonely past 2 weeks. Not having him at the door to greet us home is heartbreaking. We recently were going through pictures and we were amazed at just how much he always with us. On our laps, in the car for a drive, at Grandma's and Grandpa's house (his favorite), camping trips, pretty much wherever we were. Leah still drops part of her meals on the floor for Robbie to come and enjoy. Here is to a best friend that we will forever miss, we love you Rob!!!

SLACKERS!!!

Shame shame on us!! There have been 3 major holidays since our last post and there are ZERO pictures! Josh seems to have all the good pictures on his iphone. (we still dont have a regular camera) SO, he is going to have to put the pictures I want to blog about on the computer so I can slowly but surely put some up so you all can see how dang cute our little kids are and how much they've grown!! So, in the mean time, here are some of the pictures from our cruise we took 6 years ago!! ( mostly I want to put something in place of the Halloween picture thats up. Don't get me wrong, I like to be a tattoo sporting, bandanna wearing biker chick as much as the next gal, but, after 3 months of looking that way, it's BEYOND time to change the pics!) Anyway, I was barely preggo with Kolby and we wanted to get away and celebrate our 5th anniversary before we got tied down with 2 WHOLE KIDS!!! Look how young we were!! Good times! So, anyway, this should get us by until I can get my act together and blog about the stuff thats actually worth blogging about!! Until then, here ya go!

Awe!! Cute!!!

Still one our favorite places.

Catalina Island!!

Joshy enjoying his "frilly" virgin margarita.

( That drink cost like 6 bucks so we had to take a picture of it!)

I just HAD to get a pineapple drink.

So yummy despite the fact that I was SOAKED from the rain!

Hot tubbin time!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

MOM AND DAD AS BIKER CHICK AND GHOSTBUSTER

JAKE AND KOLBY AS MARIO AND LUIGI

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I HAVE DECIDED THAT HALLOWEEN (BESIDES CHRISTMAS) IS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY! I AM A HUGE GHOSTBUSTER BUFF! MANDI REFERS TO ME AS A GHOSTBUSTER NERD OR GEEK. I RECENTLY MADE SOME ECTO-GOGGLES AS CLOSE TO REPLICAS AS POSSIBLE. OKAY, I AM A NERD!

WE HAD A BLAST BLARING THE GHOSTBUSTER THEME SONG AND HANDING OUT A TON OF CANDY FROM DARK UNTIL REALLY DARK.

Miss Leah Update!

Our happy girl!

Loves to touch the grass!

She's thinking about eating something...

Miss Leah

She probably could have stayed right there all day!

Time is just flying by! Our little Miss Leah is growing like a weed! She is 8 1/2 months old already. She has 2 of the cutest little teeth poking through on the bottom and her top ones should be coming in any time now. She is sitting up all by herself (thanks mom!) and is SOOOOOOO close to crawling on all fours. She can definantly get herself where she wants to go by rolling or scooting herself any way she can. This girl is EVERYWHERE!! She Loves to be outside and now that she can sit up, she loves to just play with the grass and try and eat anything she can get her little fingers on. She loves her brothers and gets such a kick out of watching them play. We love our little Leah and are so blessed to have this sweet little girl in our family.

Randomness

Yes yes I know!! It has been a rediculously long time since I have blogged. Shame on me for sure! There has just been sooooooo much going on and well, lets face it. I am a slacker! So this post doen't really have a whole lot of story or anything. Just some pictures of what we have been up to the past couple months. Jake started 4th grade and Kolby started kindergarten. Leah is almost 8 whole months and is on the verge of wanting to crawl everywhere instead of roll. She's just the sweetest thing ever!! I promise I will try to at least put up one blog a week, even if its to remind you all that we are still alive and kicking!! These kids are growing like weeds and I don't want any of you to miss any of it!

Love to you all!!!

Baby Leah working on the computer with daddy.

Check out those cheeks!!

Leah was giving crazy cute smiles to Uncle Jake.

She couldn't get enough of him!

Leah and I went swimming and she was in Heaven!

Check out those sexy legs!

Jake got his Bear badge in scouts and another gold arrow!!

Way to go Jake!

Leah now gets to sit in a big girl chair at the table.

This little girl LOVES to eat!!

We had our first back yard "fire and a movie" night.

We love to be outside enjoying these Fall evenings together.

Kolby is a big kindergardner!!

He's growing up WAY too fast!

Leah is ALL OVER the place chewing on everything she can get a hold of.

She's happiest when she can roll around and touch stuff.

My two handsome boys.

I am a lucky mommy!!!

Diabetes Camp!!

They talked him into putting his site in his arm instead

of always in his bum, and its his new favorite spot!

He's so brave!

As you can see he was in a cabin full of goof balls,and he fit right in!

Among all the fun, they had educational classes

where they played games called

"Are you smarter than your pancreas?" Clever!

Water park day!!

Could he BE having any more fun?

Nervous mom at check in!!

Josh wasn't nervous for him at all. Just way excited for

him to get to have this awesome experience!

A couple of weeks ago, Jake had the awesome opportunity to go to DIABETES CAMP! He was so excited to go and hang out with other kids his age who have diabetes too. The camp went from a Sunday afternoon until the following Friday. He got to share a cabin with 7 other boys and 2 counselors. Not everyone at the camp had diabetes though. Some of them were close friends or relatives of the kids that do have it. While Jake was super excited about pretty much everything, I was extremely nervous. He has never really been away from us for more than a couple nights and thats just down to Grandmas house so he could talk to us or come home if he wanted. But at camp, there was NO contact allowed at all, AND he was going to a place he had never been before with people he had never met before. But, from the moment we got there, I could tell he was going to be in HEAVEN!! Lots of rowdy boys, tons of diet soda, ( even the kinds with caffeine in it and no mom or dad to tell him no), and the best part, a swimming pool!!! Needless to say, he was eager to have Josh and I get the heck out of there so he could get to all the fun! He got to go hiking, to a water park, do skits, listen to a band, along with educational classes to learn more about diabetes and how to stay healthy. But if you ask Jake what his favorite part was . . . SLOW DANCING WITH GIRLS!!!!! Ummmm, excuse me?? This was supposed to be diabetes camp, not dancing camp!! Oh well. The whole experience was just so good for him and he can't wait till

next summer to go again and have even more fun than this year.

( and of course do more dancing! )

Arizona Baby!

Meeting Uncle Justin!!

He couldn't wait to kiss those cheeks!

Playing cards with Aunt Jodi.

She couldn't get enough of those cards!

Sweet cousin Brooklyn!

She even got to visit with Papa!

This is Leahs new best friend! Her thumb!!

Getting kisses from cousin Cooper!

My sweet Baby Leah snuggling. I love this little girl.

Last week I was able to escape for a few days with Baby Leah down to visit my family in Arizona. I only got to stay for 3 days but could have really used a couple weeks more!! I miss them so much! I am lucky I got to see them even if it was for a little bit. Not a whole lot of exciting things were planned. Mostly just hanging out, talking and laughing, eating, and enjoying the newest addition to the family. Which is exactly what I wanted to do. But, some of the highlights were, having "yummy pancakes" and home made buttermilk syrup at Becky's, Justins softball game, eating the amazingly delicious Barro's Pizza and wings, Brooklyn as the scarecrow, catching up with Desi, and my new favorite thing in the whole wide world, Thai Chicken Pasta from The Cheescake Factory. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM. ( Nice how my favorite times involve EATING huh?) Anyway, it was Leah's first time on an airplane and I was really nervous about the flight experience. Especially because poor Leah came down with an ear infection the DAY before we flew down! (Of course!) But she did perfectly on both flights. This girl is such a sweetheart. She gets attention from people everywhere she goes, because of her big blue eyes, or her cute little painted toe nails, wether she wants it or not! We had so much fun together and it was so wonderful to get to see my family down in AZ. (Even though it was scorchingly HOT) I don't care what anyone says, 100 degrees at 10:00 pm is HOT!!! You wont be able to change my mind! But oh so worth it!! I love you guys down in AZ and am so thankful we got to see ya!!!

Until next time!!!