soggy doggy weekend

This weekend it was HOT! We spent a lot of time in the water. At a outdoor pool here in Pullman, before they drain the water for the year they invite the dogs to come swim. My friend Ashley and Justin and I took Nala and their dog Bentley to Soggy Doggy Day. It was so fun and the dogs loved it! Nala swims with just her front feet and hops with her back legs when she can touch and just splashes all over. But she loved it and swam and jumped in from the side non stop for over an hour.

We also went to the dunes again. This time the water was warm and the dogs loved swimming and running in the water. Even Bandit swam! I was so proud of him! He was slightly traumatized in his earliest puppy days so didn't really like the water in the past outings but today he loved it and it was so fun! 

Here is bandman and I enjoying the nice warm day!

As the dogs ran around the boys played catch

Nala and Bandit ran around like this for an hour. When we went out deeper they swam  and chased each other too

PREGO UPDATE

I will label my pregnancy updates so if you don't care you can skip over it. I am not going to turn this blog into a pregnancy journal.

I am 16 weeks

First thing, since this pregnancy was a total surprise I have my good days where I am totally excited to days where I am majorly freaked out and hoping it will work out ok.

We heard the heart beat twice. Everything sounded great and he found it really easy.

My doctor's name is Ben Adkins. I LOVE him. My top three reasons I like him are:
He wears people clothes. I hate those doctor jackets with the embroidery names.
He looks kinda like a little boy. He has this little gap between his teeth and is not too nerdy and not to attractive.
He gives me general health advice. It's nice to go in and learn about other things than just pregnancy.

I have been incredibly sore, all of my joints from the waist down hurt. Unfortunately not a lot to do about that.

My mom sends me all these super cute prego clothes that make being pregnant much more bearable.

My preschoolers are SO interested in my "baby in my tummy." When I eat lunch and take a lot of something they say "Does the baby like that" When I take a little they say "Tell your baby its ok to not like green beans." They are always saying "tell your baby" this and that and talk about how it's coming to preschool at valentines day. and all the things they are going to teach it. It is so fun!

I love love love fruit and chips and salsa, and cheese and pickles. pretty much in that order.

And since several of you have insisted here is the little baby bump...

The chinese birth chart, the old wives tales and the amazon baby quiz all say it is a boy... we will find out if its right in a couple of weeks!

Anyways that is all... Send all of your happy vibes to me. I need them! And advice. Thanks friends

Camping weekend

I'm pretty sure I've been camping more since I've been pregnant than I have not pregnant....

We went camping with travis' family. The first 2 nights we camped with Travis' dad's side of the family (did the hiawatha) up in Coeur D'Alene. 

Then we spent another night and 2 days with Travis' moms side of the family.

Now camping with either side is pretty fun. Everyone has an RV or a Trailer except us, we have a tent. whoop whoo

Bandit and Nala LOVE camping and LOVE running wild

After like fifty takes we got this family pic

This is travis' mom and her sister and parents. I got to meet Julie this weekend. It was great!

What a good camping weekend. Monday morning sure came early though!

Hiawatha trail times TWO

We have ridden the Hiawatha trail twice this summer. The Hiawatha is a 17 mile bike ride on an old railroad grade. It is right on the boarder between Idaho and Montana. It is an easy 2% grade gravel trail. Because it is a railroad trail it has tunnels and trussels. One of the tunnels being 2 miles long. It was a really nice trail with a fun camping trip to go with it.

The first time we went we went with Travis' family and brought the Dunn's along. It was a fun little campout and a great way to get exercise in the sun.

Jaimie and I ready to bike and camp

Jaimie and I won at ladder balls (horse balls as travis calls it) and we had a wager if we won they had to be in a picture with us. They were supposed to do frowny faces but... boys will be boys

Nala and bronx cuddling (while bandit was on my lap)

The second time we went again with Travis' family including his grandparents. This time we were smart enough to bring our camera on the actual trail. We got some great shots!

This beautiful water fall is at the end of the large tunnel. You can hear the rushing water the whole way through

The end of the giant tunnel. It was cold, and DARK

 Beautiful blue skies and green mountains the whole way. The further down the taller the trees and less view

 Travis liked all the scenery, perfect chance to get lots of pictures with him

Here is one of the trussles. They were pretty neat

Travis taking a rest. He has his bike gloves he bought on the first visit

And at the bottom! Yay. We made it!

When you got to the bottom you took a shuttle back to the top. The hard core guys biked back up, no one in our group though. It will be fun to tell the baby I rode 30 + miles while I was pregnant. It's Travis and I's new favorite thing to do!

Sleepy pups

Sometimes the dogs sleep in the funniest ways. Here are a couple I caught on my camera

In the car bandit has the whole back but wants to be as close as possible and usually ends up like this.

Nalas face all pressed up against the crate. Doesn't look comfy to me

We have been training the dogs to sleep on their dog beds next to our bed on the floor. Nala is very good at it however Bandit, like everything, is a different story. He loves to cuddle me at night. The other night while I was asleep he snuck up to lay with me. When Travis came to bed he was mad and pushed him on the floor. In my sleep I told him "He was cold, He missed me and wanted to cuddle me. Don't punish him for loving me" 

We joke that Bandit is my dog and Nala is Trav's. This is becoming more and more true everyday. It's funny how Bandit will look to me to try and get away with things. Nala loves to wrestle and Bandit loves to cuddle. Nala has went backpacking with Travis because she listens better and wouldn't run away. We love our babies and are trying to do a lot with them now until they get put on the back burner when the baby comes

"Dunes"

These dunes are not to be confused with awesome Rexburg Dunes, however still pretty fun.

Since its been forever since I blogged I don't really remember when we went to the dunes but it was a gorgeous day, and beside the drunk driving accident on the way home, the perfect day to go.

You drive over the dam to get there. I am always fascinated by their size, too bad the beavers are just not capable of making them that large or strong.

Nala and bronx LOVED the water they were running all over

Bandit was perfectly content on the sand. All the dogs ran and ran and ran

Jaimie and I enjoying the first really sunny day of the summer

Nala on the way back. Such a beautiful dog.

Bandit hates the back. He much prefers my lap

WE love having our Jeep. They my sandy trip like this much better!

Thanks Dunns for showing us a sweet new place

New addition to the family

... Nope not another dog this time!
We are having a baby!
Baby Mattoon #1 is set to arrive February 4th 2012.
Check out the picture of the little babe... It's a fetus and already awesome!

We saw it wiggling and moving. Just having a party! It probably pretty fun in there. 

Yay for eternal families... even when they are unexpected!

Memorial Day Vay Kay

Travis and I went on a little vacation with my family to Sun Lakes. I took off Tuesday for a 4 day weekend. It was a great time.

Travis jumping the cliffs

Courtney jumping off the cliffs

Travis and I on top of the butte overlooking the lake

"the kids" and Sassy sisters

Swimming in the FREEZING water

And my once a year tubing!

Trav loves going fast and dangerous

What a great break from reality! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Jaimie's Surprise party of the Century

My best friend Jaimie turns 23 Monday! We turned the whole weekend into a celebration! I have been planning a surprise party for her for months and pulled it off without her knowing.

It started when I found this old shelf out by our dumpster. I knew with a little bit of work it would be perfect for Jaimie's entry way. So I haul it up to my apartment. Later Jaimie is talking about the shelf she wanted and she had told Nayt to go get it but when he went down it was gone! I was so happy with myself. So over the last month or so I've been working on a frame for the top and a couple of baskets and liners to go on the shelf as well. Travis helped me prime and paint the baskets and the shelf! He is a lot better at it than me! I should have taken before pictures but just imagine an old shelf that fell apart and had lots of scratches and stickers on it. And the three little baskets were rainbow easter baskets and the bottom basket was light wicker.

When Nayt mentioned we could have a girls party I thought it would be awesome to have a surprise party. So I had my Aunt Shari make these AWESOME Digital invites with her digiscrap stuff.

For decorations, I used the streamer idea from MADE and loved how they turned out! I also borrowed a birthday banner from Ashlee

For the guests I made everyone part tiaras and rose earrings for the goodie gift. Jaimie got the queen crown.

And lastly the surprise! It was perfect. She had spent all day in Spokane with her mom and sisters and when we were ready I called and told her my washer was overflowing. She hurried over with towels I opened the door and we all shouted Surprise! It was wonderful

Happy birthday Jaimie!