Shopping excursion to PetCo

This is out of order, but these are pictures of our first outing with the dog after getting back home to Cheyenne.

CARES Graduation

These pictures are of Sarah Holbert (CEO of Cares) Megan Lewellyn (Canine Assistance Director of Cares) A board member awarding Isaac his certificate, and Nikki and Trenton Heiman, and their dog Ronday

Isaac's Professional Therapy/Service Dog

Isaac's new dog is named Crosley, her litter was born on opening day of baseball season and were all named after baseball stadiums. My Mom, Isaac and I just returned from a 5 day course in assistance dog training. The company is called CARES, it stands for Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Educations Services, Inc. It is a great program, and we were so impressed with all 19 of the dogs they trained in our graduating class. Our testing and training took place in Concordia, Kansas(an eight hour drive from Cheyenne). The dog has had 9 months of intense training. Most of the dogs spend 3 months in a State Prison where they live with an inmate 24-7. Then the dogs are trained by students from girl and boy academies(troubled teens, or teens with behavioral issues). Then the dogs are trained with Megan and Sarah, who are the amazing women who run Cares. We participated in many activities with the class, attending Pizza Hut, Super Wal-Mart, Applebees, the mall, and the park(where Isaac pointed out a sign reading "NO DOGS ALLOWED") Part of the public access testing was visiting a skilled care facility(old folks home) and the prison. Going to the prison was an experience I'll never forget. There were 5 inmates that talked to us, they said they couldn't change what they'd done in the past, but they wanted to give back and help people. It was really neat to see how the dogs had changed their lives, and how the dogs will benefit the people that take the dogs home. Crosley is trained with hand and voice commands, she is trained to sit, stay, lay down, shake, stand, stop, up, give 5, dance, brace(for handicapped purposes), come, wait, retrieve, heel, about turn, etc. The very best part of all is that a few times a day, we take her outside and say "take a break" and she'll go to the bathroom on the spot. Getting a dog that's already potty trained is wonderful! We are hoping that Crosley will help Isaac with his autism. She will help him with social opportunities and also provide safety for Isaac, as he tends to run out into traffic. Isaac hasn't taken full responsibility for Crosley yet, but he does play with her and feed her doggie treats. She sleeps on the floor at the foot of his bed. Hopefully Isaac will be able to take the dog to school with him. By law the dog is allowed anywhere Isaac goes, and has already been to many restaurants, stores and even 2 hotels. For our test, we had to put the dog in a down, stay position and leave for 3 minutes. She did great and didn't move. Crosley also had to line up with all of the other dogs in the class and couldn't move until I told her to come. The hardest test for her was not moving when they tempted her by putting food 2 inches from her mouth. (We failed this test during practice when she ate a chocolate chip cookie off the ground) They're not allowed to eat people food or pick up anything up off the ground. All of the dogs had to lay down and stay while they were tempted by children, balls, strollers, etc. All of the dogs did really well and passed. She's a big responsibility and it is an adjustment, but I think we are making a smooth transition in dog ownership. Thanks Mom for joining us for the adventure.

Grandma's Here!!

We picked Grandma Reeve up on Friday at the tiny, Ft. Collins/Loveland, Colorado airport. We got to see her taxi in on the runway and walk off the plane. Sophia and Savannah have really warmed up to her and are enjoying her company. Mom, I hope you won't need a hearing aid after all of the high-pitched whistling in your ears(watch the video clip), for some reason they thought it was hysterical. Grandma came to take a road trip to Concordia, Kansas with Isaac and I. We are leaving this morning(June 22)to go for a one week training course for Isaac's new service dog. We are nervous but excited to get a dog. I'll be sure to take pictures and post them next week. Wish us luck on the trip! Thanks for coming Mom!

more Yellowstone pictures

YELLOWSTONE

We got to Yellowstone, and it brought back such fond memories for me as a child. I loved being there with my family staying in the cabins in the park. I remember the hikes on the boardwalk, watching Old Faithful erupt, feeding the marmots, and viewing the animals in nature. Well now I'm there with my own family and it's a little different. Isaac didn't want to hike and kept turning around to go back to the van, Sophia and Savannah were not feeling it(maybe they're a bit young to appreciate the magnificence of it all) and Nick didn't want his picture taken. We were so excited to get to Old Faithful, but we got there just in time to catch the tail end of the eruption, we said that counted, and didn't wait the 90 minutes to the next one. We did have a good time, and we saw a large herd of Buffalo with their young, a bald eagle in it's nest, several pelicans, elk, and a wolf. The highlight of the trip was meeting up with Mike and Mindi Smith, it was so fun to see their family and visit with them. We went to the IMAX theatre in West Yellowstone and watched a movie on the largest motion picture screen in the world, it was amazing. We had a fun time, but Nick and I decided we'll wait until the girls are at least 7 years old next time we go to Yellowstone.

Cody, WY

We stopped in Cody, it's just one hour outside of the East entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Nick thought it would be good for our family to brush up on our history, so we visited the Buffalo Bill Wild West Museum. The kids liked it at first, but it is a huge facility, and it became hard for them to focus and appreciate all of the history they were witnessing. They just wanted to run around and be kids. We were doing alright until Sophia walked over a small fence and into a tepee, we didn't see her right away, but we did hear loud alarms blaring around us. This older man in a museum uniform came over to us in a panic and said "You guys have got to keep your children under control." He continued to sigh, groan and mumble, but we just picked her up and went on our way. She wasn't trying to be disrespectful to old Buffalo Bill, she just wanted a closer look.

more Thermopolis pictures

Thermopolis, WY

Isaac has been very intrigued by dinosaurs and has read and studied every dinosaur book in his school library. He expressed his desire to visit a dinosaur museum to view some dinosaur fossils. Nick found a great dinosaur museum just about 5 hours from us, so we planned our family vacation around it. The dinosaur center is in Thermopolis, it is a quaint little town which boasts the world's largest hot springs mineral pool and a very nice dinosaur exhibit. Isaac had been looking forward to our trip for several months. We were not disappointed in our destination, we all fell in love with this slow moving little town. The kids all loved the dinosaurs, but we also found another fun family activity. We spent the better part of two days swimming in these great mineral pools. We went to two different pools, which each consisted of three water slides, and about 6 different pools ranging from 95 degrees to 106 degrees. The girls were content swimming in the baby pool, while the boys were more adventurous and enjoyed the water slides. It was a great time just relaxing with the kids.

Casper, WY

We were just a couple hours into our family vacation. We stopped for lunch and a photo opportunity. June 14th

Race Car Cake

Nick took Isaac and Savannah (I was home with Sophia who was sick)to a ward spaghetti dinner and auction. Isaac walked in the door and immediately told me he wanted a race car cake like the one he saw at the church. He even drew me a picture of what the cake looked like. I asked Nick why he didn't buy the cake and he said it went for $50.00, and Nick had already donated quite a large amount of money and didn't feel like the cake was a great purchase. Isaac was persistant and kept reminding me that he really did want his own race car cake. As if I hadn't subjected myself to enough cake making (may I remind you about the barbie cakes), I decided to make his wish come true and make him a cake. I used his drawing and his ideas and this is what we came up with. It was very simple, it only took about 10 minutes to frost and decorate. Isaac was happy with the finished product, and in the picture of Savannah, you can see she liked it too.

Vedauwoo

Our family spent an afternoon in Vedauwoo, it was so pleasant, and the scenery was spectacular. It's nice to be just a short drive to such an amazing place. We enjoyed a nice little picnic as a family and just took time to take in the beautiful creations we're blessed with.

Daddy's New Backpack

The friendly squirrel

Isaac and Gidian enjoyed feeding the squirrels animal crackers and sunflower seeds.