Thanksgiving 2008

Family, friends, puppies and lots of great food!! It was a great day. We had Grandma Jenson, Grandma & Grandpa Plumb and the Novakovichs over to enjoy the day and help eat our 22 lb. turkey. We missed Nick, who is serving his mission in Nova Scotia. It was great to have Kaylyn home for the weekend. We have so much to be thankful for: family, friends, gospel, puppies (I think), good health, beautiful country, food, loving Heavenly Father and our Savior, just to mention a few things. We look forward to the upcoming Christmas season to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

The puppies played and played and played, when they weren't sleeping. They are starting to mellow out a little more when they get together. Carli is pretty fiesty and sometimes Cooper just doesn't know what to do with her. He's such a lover he doesn't want to hurt her. They really are very careful with each other (despite what the picture shows!).

Kaylyn enjoyed getting to know Coop better this weekend. However, she is probably looking forward to getting back to school so she doesn't have to take Cooper out to do his thing anymore! Just wait til Christmas break!



Cooper learned how to go down the stairs this week. What an intimidating task for him. At first he would just sit at the top of the stairs and look at us like "I'm waiting for you to pick me up!". Then he started trying them for himself. The first time he got half way down and had to take a nap! Such hard work. Now he's doing pretty well until he reaches the bottom and wipes out on the hardwood floor. He really is a good boy and I love to just sit and cuddle with him.

BFFs have dog BFFs

It's only fitting that best friends have dogs that are best friends, isn't it? The Novakovichs got Carly, also an english mastiff, a few days before we got Cooper. We scheduled a playdate the other night and got them together to play. It was hilarious! At first, they were a little apprehensive - you know, gotta do all the sniffin' stuff! Then they started playing and chewing on each other's ears and chasing one another. Two hours later they were exhausted! Boy, did they sleep well that night. It'll be fun watching them grow up together.

"My tail tastes pretty good. Can I try yours?"

"Let me whisper 'sweet nuthins' in your ear"

Coop got his first bath yesterday and I don't think he thought it was that great. We put him in the tub and it was all Rob and I could do to hold him in there. It's a good thing we're starting when he's only 25 lbs. Could you imagine trying to hold a 200 lb. dog in the tub? I think he'd be bathing us! He'd better get used to them baths real quick. He also had his first vet check-up and got a clean bill of health! He practically licked the vet to death! He's such a lover.

"I'm outta here!"

"This is sooo humiliating!"

Meet Cooper!

This is Cooper. He is an English Mastiff puppy and the newest member of our family. He's going to be a big boy - he's 9 weeks old, weighs 26 lbs. and is 14.5 inches tall. His dad, Dude, is only 13 months old and is 33 inches tall and weighs about 175! He's still got another 40-50 lbs. to put on. Mom is pretty big too at 145 lbs. She reminded us so much of Molly. It's been almost two years since we had to put Molly down and we decided we were ready for another gentle giant. Rob has always wanted a big male mastiff and we know Rob always gets what he wants! I just can't wait 'til Cooper can flatten him. (heehee)

Since it's been 11 years since we had Molly as a puppy, we had forgotten how much work a puppy is. Actually, we hadn't really forgotten, that's why it took us 2 years to get another one! But Coop had a great first night last night and slept 7 1/2 hours. We finally woke him up at 5:30am just to ease our minds! As he gets used to us, he's getting more and more fiesty (as fiesty as a mastiff can get) and more inquisitive. We can't go anywhere without him following.

He's just so darn cute though that all the work is worth it!

"I sure hope I grow into these paws one day!"

Cooper discovered his tail and chased it for a while.

Then he got tired of chasing his tail and thought his foot tasted pretty good!

Five minutes of play requires at least an hour and a half nap.

Lexi Receives All-League Selection

Good news and bad news. East Valley lost their first round state playoff game Tuesday night. It was a heartbreaking loss in overtime, a game that could have easily gone either way. It brought the Knights season to an end but capped a great year. Lexi and Morgan, our stellar midfielders, were both selected to the GSL All-League team, a first ever for two EV players to be selected the same year. Lexi was disappointed with the loss but excited for the all-league honor. Her body can now begin to heal from the long, grueling season. She has become reaquainted with her boot, which she'll have to wear for 3-4 weeks. No more soccer for her until March (Kaylyn, too!) Their indoor soccer buddies are anxiously awaiting their return in March!

Rob's sister, Mary, came for a short visit last weekend. She's always worth a few laughs!! We had a bonfire at Jim and Jill's one night, roasting hot dogs and making s'mores. Yum! We had to really huddle around the fire because it was cold! Recounting old stories and telling jokes kept us all laughing! It was fun.

Whitworth slighted!

Well friends and family sometimes it's tough in the wide world of sports. It appears that the Whitworth Women did not receive an "at large bid" to the NCAA tournament. By all logic and reason they should have easily received the invite to the tourney.......and I thought the political season ended last week!!

Even though Whitworth finished the season 2nd in conf., 2nd in region and ranked 12th in the nation the NCAA selection committee didn't think that that warranted an invitation to the season end tournament.

In spite of losing three key starters before the first game the Whitworth women put together a fantastic season of soccer!!! Their record this year 15-4-1.

Needless to say we are all excited for the 2009 season as Kaylyn will be returning!! We appreciate your support and interest through the season.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

Wow! What an exciting week for soccer! Lexi and her East Valley team are going to STATE and Whitworth is going to the NCAA tournament again! Or least they should be - they need to get an at-large bid because they took second in the conference but that's what's happened the last two years.

East Valley started their regional playoffs as the #2 seed from our league. They beat North Central in the first round and then had to face West Valley-Yakima on Wednesday. WV Yakima has long been a thorn in EV's side since Kaylyn was a freshman. They had beaten us two out of two times but third time is a charm, right? We drove to Yakima to face them on their own turf. Ten minutes into the game we scored. We outplayed them the rest of the first half but could not get the ball in the net a second time. After half, they came out with a vengeance. It was all we could do to hold them off. They had several shots that were way too close. Then we started picking it up again, but they weren't going to lay down and die. It was a fight until the very end, with us being victorious, 1-0. It was the LONGEST game of my life! I swear the clock was counting backwards! But boy that win felt good.

So then it was back to Spokane to meet Shadle Park today, who had upset Mt. Spokane on Wednesday. During the regular season, we beat SP in a shootout. (A shootout takes place after a game ends in a tie and two overtime periods fail to produce a goal. It's one on one shooting against the keeper and after 5 shots, whoever has the most shots in, wins.) I absolutely hate shootouts! My nerves cannot take them. So, we met them again today and guess what? It ends up going to a shootout!! AAAAGH!! All I kept thinking was please don't let it come down to Lexi's kick! She would be the #5 shooter. We both made out first shots, we made our 2nd but our keeper stopped theirs. We made our 3rd and they missed. Our 4th went in so it was over. Whew - Lexi didn't have to shoot. This game was for seeding purposes which means we are the #1 seed going into State playoffs and get to host the first round. We could end up meeting SP again in the 2nd round of state. But we are the REGIONAL CHAMPS!!!!! That is a first for EV. Congratulations Knights!

We'll find out on Monday if Whitworth gets in to the tournament. They will play next weekend in Tacoma. We are really glad that Lexi gets to play here on Tuesday instead of having to travel to the coast. The next round would be here also. It's a loser-out tournament from here on out. If EV plays here on Saturday, we'll leave after that game to head to the coast to watch Whitworth. Crazy, I know - and Kaylyn is not even playing but you can't keep us away. Rob and I watched their game yesterday in the pouring down rain! That's dedication! Pirate fans thru and thru!

We also have something special we are getting in Tacoma next weekend. More to come on that later!!!