A note to our dad...

I would give up playing with my toys and fetching my ball...










I would give up all my tasty treats...








I would give up my treat filled kongs...











I would give up the cushy couch I sleep on...










I would give up walks...

As long as we're all with you!

Nothing to do but play all day

When we leave the house it's nice to know that we have such great watch dogs. Both Kodos and Mindy are the best watch dogs ever. Or, maybe they are just nosy dogs who wanna check out whats going on outside. When we get home or if anyone visits they will see one or two dogs looking out at them. It's just too cute!
Today Maggie went to daycare all day. She Loves it there and the great thing is they have cameras where the dogs play, so you can watch them. She has made a few friends and really likes to play with the big dogs (Maggie is the black dog on the right with white front paws).

Pitter patter in the rain

There is nothing better than having your 5 dogs play in the rain. It's always fun to watch them wrestle, run and play outside in the rain even if they track in mud, that is why we pulled out all the carpet in the house and put in tile. The only purpose tile serves for us is it is easy to sweep dirt and hair up. That is why we got it in the first place.
Mindy enjoys drinking the water that flows off the patio cover. There is nothing better than catching the water yourself!
Hoju is an OBSESSIVE ball player. No rain will stop him from enjoying this great sport of catch with mom.
Not everyone enjoys getting soaked. Barney and Kodos were wrestling in the mud and I think Barney got a little too dirty for his (and my) liking.
After some mud wrestling Maggie decided to do some tree trunk climbing...
Later that night Ruben and I took all the kids out for their nightly walk. Since the rain stopped for a while we decided it would be good for them to get out of the house. Maggie gets cold easy since she has such short hair, so she bought a sweater sporting her local team

Under the Weather

I was sick all this week and all I did was sleep. Ruben didn't allow me to work, which is good since I tend to push myself until my body just goes on strike, so I had time to flip through some pictures. This is one of our favorite pictures.

A special note on Hoju and Rosie: Hoju is a mamas boy and Rosie was a mamas girl. Of course I absolutely loved this. Rosie would follow me everywhere and wouldn't get out of bed until I did. If Ruben told her "no" she would bark at him and run to me. She was awesome! Hoju is the same way...he won't take commands from Ruben if I am present. He is my shadow. You can now understand why we love this picture.

Kodos is modeling what I did all weekend....sleep and look groggy.
Sleep little Koko (a.k.a. Kodos) sleep.

It's all about the noise makin' toys

If there is one thing Hoju LOVES, it's his ball. It's hard to get this guy tired (usually Ruben or I get tired before he does), but when you manage to do it....It's great! Check out this tired pup after 30 minutes of non-stop ball throwing and retrieving.

I saw these toys at Costco and thought how much the kids would love em. Aren't they cute. They all make little noises, for example, the duck quaks.
Oh Hoju...you do love your toys don't you!

Kodos likes to play with the toys, he just doesn't like it to be caught on film. Thank god I had my camera handy and it snaps pics quickly. Gotcha!

I started Archery this past wednesday and man was I sore the day after. I am taking classes with the man who coaches the women's Olympic archery team. We are using the re-curve bow which is pictured below. This week it was all about form. The correct form can make or break your accuracy, so I must practice at home before next weeks class meeting.

Love of Sisters

Sweet sweet sister, I'm so glad you got better and plumped up. Now I can rest my head on your cushy back.

Last night Ruben left to Bakersfield to check on his honeybees. For those of you who don't really know us, Ruben and I are both ecologists. My interest is in conservation, communities, and behavior. Ruben is a post doc working with honeybees and almonds pollination. I work with native bees in the area looking at how habitat loss is affecting their populations. I absolutely LOVE bees (natives...which also include bumblebees). They are amazing creatures. Here is a picture I took of this small male bee in my backyard...

Christmas Break

I know this is a bit late, but I just started this blog so I figured why not start with Christmas break. Both Ruben and I have family in So. Cali (L.A.), so since we moved to Tucson we have gone back fro the holiday break to see our family. This year we decided to stay for numerous reasons I won't get into. My mom, sister, and niece came by to visit us which was great. The kids LOVE grandma and she loves them. We adopted Maggie in November, so none of the family had met her. My mom and niece fell in love with her. While my mom and niece were here Maggie would climb into bed with them in the morning and sleep...she loved it! We did a lot of the touristy stuff which was a nice change from the usual 24-7 work schedule that Ruben and I have been doing.

The botanical gardens had butterflies on display. Here are pictures of a few

Gorgeous swallowtail...

What a beauty this one is!!

My mom (a.k.a. Grandma) putting Maggie to sleep.

All in all it was a great holiday break. Ruben and I got some rest and were feed great food. Mom also helped with painting the bathroom. Now I just need to find the right shower curtain to go with the new color.