and another big, Big, BIG weekend

Three weeks ago, we had our biggest weekend of the spring to date.  Whew!

On Friday, Ben went on a field trip with Sam.  Sam is at a really funny age, and he decided that he and his friend Blake would walk the mile to Walmart and another mile back, to buy some treats for the field trip.  Sam came home with a giant bag of cereal!?!?  haha!

The field trip was to a baseball game. 

Ben and Sam had a great time, and Sam enjoyed his fruit loops. 

Friday night, I was looking on KSL, like I always do, just checking see if by some weird chance the dog I have been trying to find was for sale, at a reasonable price.  There were TONS of goldendoodles for sale, but none of them had any lab in them, and they were all way out of our price range.  I knew that if we got a dog, it would need to be in the spring, and the kids were old enough, in my opinion, to finally help.

That night, I finally found the perfect puppy breed at a great price.  Half goldendoodle, half lap.  YES!
Ben was already asleep, so I waited until the next morning to tell him.

The next morning we went to Molly and Luke's last soccer games.  Molly finally scored a goal and she was thrilled!  Granted, it was for the other team, but still.  She was so happy.  Luke also scored 2 goals and ended his season well.

 

Immediately after Molly's game, Mary and I headed down to Spanish Fork for her cheer tryouts at Hive.  Yup, Spanish Fork.  Mary had a great tryout and I was very, very impressed at the parent meeting with how the gym is run, the vibe of the coaches and the parents, and the entire package.  It will be a great place for Mary to be.

 

During all of this, Ben was deciding if he wanted the puppy or not.  We had to pick it up that very day if we wanted it.  I was pacing and trying to be patient, but Ben was definitely needing some time.

 

While I was at Mary's tryouts in Spanish Fork, Ben took the kids to Sam's soccer game in Alpine.  As soon as Mary's tryouts were over, she went home with Alina, and I drove to Alpine to watch Sam's game.  It was such a busy morning!

 

Sam had a great game, and Ben decided after the game that he was cool with getting the puppy.  I loaded all the kids in the car, and told them we were going to get a puppy.  They were more than excited!  It was so cute. 

 

Ben drove his car home, so he could do a bike ride, and I drove to Layton with the kids to get the puppy.  So, that morning, I drove to Midway, Spanish Fork, Alpine and Layton.

 

There were 10 puppies in the litter, and we had our pick.  They were all so cute, but one of them stood out.  He was the only one wagging his tail and he had an immediate connection to Sam.  We picked that one, and made the long drive home with our new puppy.

 

That night, after everyone had a chance to hold the puppy and to play with him, we decided to name him Charlie.  He is the cutest stinking puppy ever!

He always sleeps with his teddy bear.  If it is not in the crate, he will find it and drag it into the crate.  Heart melter!

 

It has been a very busy past 3 weeks training the dog.  Everyone has been pretty good about helping, but naturally, the bulk of it falls on me, because I am home all day.  He is a very smart dog, and has only had 2 accidents in the house since we brought him home.  It has taken a LOT of time and diligence on my part though, and yes, it is absolutely exhausting some days.  If he is out of his crate, he has to be watched like a hawk.  I am very obsessive about this, but it will pay off, it already is.
The nice thing is that Charlie is very smart and seems to be catching on quickly.  He loves to play with the kids, and he responds really well to love and treats.

I am totally in love with this dog, even though I am also exhausted.  The kids love him and they are so good to play with him and give him loves. He is definitely here to stay with us forever.

It is so amazing how much can be crammed into one day.  Wow.