Let's hear it for a girl!

Anyone who I've been close with over the years knows that I'm not much of an animal person. Owning a pet hasn't been high on my list of things to do. Aaron, on the other hand, has been campaigning for a dog for six years. Last week we had the opportunity to dog sit for some friends while they were on vacation. It was such a good experience that yesterday we made a family trip to the Arizona Humane Society and came home with a new family member. I'm pleased to introduce you to Toff.

She's seven months old and a very mellow puppy. Toff loves to chase balls with Asher and he's happy to have a, "new sister". I've never owned a pet so training her is a whole new world. She's pretty timid and prefers to stay inside so trying to condition her to go to the bathroom outside might prove challenging. Any surefire training advice?

Moving Update

Sharing walls is officially a thing of the past! Our move went very smoothly thanks to wonderful friends and family. The only rooms we have left to tackle are the master bedroom and the spare/baby room. The latter, I'm going to pretend doesn't exist for a few more weeks. Our yard is a more pressing issue. We are excited to get to know our neighbors and our new ward.

Asher has really struggled with the move. He's only known our apartment and is very concerned about when he can go back to his home. Yesterday he told me that, "That big truck is going to come and get my bed to my home." How do you explain permanency to a three year old? He likes the new house, especially since his Aunt Norma is staying with us, but is very anxious about the situation. I'm sure he'll be fine as time passes but, for now he's extremely clingy and worried that we are going to move again and leave him.

October is a busy month for us, so I'm going to set a challenge for myself to blog about some of the cool things we are doing. This weekend is Oktoberfest! I also need to start getting things together for our Halloween costumes. Asher picked our theme this year. Last year, Asher was a crayon and Aaron and I were pieces of paper he'd colored.

We're Alive

It's been a disturbingly long time since our last blog post. We've spent the last part of the summer house hunting and are excited to announce that we closed today on our new home! I'll have more pictures later as we get settled.

I'm beyond thrilled that we won't be sharing walls anymore! Asher can make as much noise as he wants and play in a backyard. My sister, Norma, is relocating to the area and we're excited to have her stay with us as she gets to know the area.

Happy Independence Day!

Our friends, Marc and Jill, invited us to go camping over the holiday weekend. This was our first experience camping since Trine and I have been married. We spent weeks preparing; mentally and temporally (we had to buy all the equipment). Finally, the day came and off we went to Pine, AZ. I think Asher had the best time.

Asher spent the days going in and out of our tent with all the kids in camp. I don't know what it was about our tent but the kids loved it; and by the end of the trip there was an inch of dirt lining the bottom of the tent and the air mattress. Asher, being the adventurous one in the bunch, had to walk over every rock he saw, often resulting in him falling into the dirt. He looked like a miner by the end of the trip.

Asher also got to experience his first donut. He didn't care for anything other than the chocolate frosting. After eating the chocolate frosting he reverted back to his regular breakfast food; cereal bar, milk, and fruit. I, on the other hand, got to drink fresh mint tea (thanks Marc for finding that plant and brewing the tea). All in all, a good experience. We probably will do it again when we have another long weekend.

Happy Birthday!

Guess who is three? Now guess who had two birthday parties in one day? I will give you a hint, he goes to daycare and he has friends at home. So, this lucky boy got double the prizes, double the wishes, and double the sugar intake. Honestly, he was so well behaved on his birthday, it was as if he was giving us a birthday present. Love you Ashman!

Comicon 2011

My name is Trine, and I am a huge nerd. I'm coming out of the closet to profess my love for sci-fi and fantasy movies and television. It probably all started with Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I would run around the neighborhood as a child with my headband around my eyes to emulate my favorite television character. Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. There isn't a Joss Whedon venture that I'm willing to not try.

One of my deepest secrets is how much I LOVED the reboot of Battlestar Galactica. So when my good friend Jenny asked if I wanted to attend Comicon with her for 2 days in nerd paradise, I couldn't say no.

We had so much fun! I couldn't believe how many people were crammed into the Phoenix Convention Center. I went to some really great panels dealing with sci-fi on network television , Fantasy Young Adult Literature, and saw some of my favorite TV personalities in the flesh! Adam Baldwin , Wil Wheaton, and I breathed the same air! Alas, I couldn't take a picture with them unless I coughed up $60 bucks. However my favorite panel was with Aaron Douglas (The Chief) from Battlestar Galactica. He was hilarious!

The other thing that was great about Comicon was looking at all of the fabulous costumes. Here are a few of our favorites:

What would comicon be without a stormtrooper?

Meet my new boyfriend Darth Maul

He's no Hugh Jackman!

Summer Days...

May and June are turning out to be pretty exciting. Trine and I have been supporting the local sport teams; while Asher has been supporting the local splash parks in Tempe.

While in Utah on vacation, Trine's dad purchased rugby tickets for him, Michael (Trine's brother), Ben (Trine's brother), Michael's friend (name unknown), and myself. BYU's mens rugby team was in the national championship against Cal State. We had field level seats and we had a blast...even though the Cougs lost. The SLC soccer stadium is beautiful (in case you are wondering).

Fast Forward a few weeks. Trine's work bought seats for their employees and their significant others to an Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals game. The seats were in the all-you-can-eat section. We could have all the hot dogs, soda, peanuts, and popcorn you could eat within seven innings. I cannot speak to the hot dogs, but the peanuts and the diet Pepsi were wonderful. Sadly, Asher had to stay home; but as a "prize" for doing so good with his babysitter, we bought him a Diamondbacks hat (from Walmart of course because it was half the price of the stadium).

Asher and I have been frequenting the local splash parks in order to beat the heat. It took some convincing, but I finally got him to go through the spraying circles. He made sure he "scared" each circle by yelling "Rarr!" Asher also loves the water guns, so much so that he took aim at an innocent 2yr old walking by. The boys dad told his son to return the favor by spraying Asher (the boy never did).

For the next post, Trine will be talking about her experience at Comicon with her friend. The pictures alone are worth the read.