what we brought back, picked up and can't get rid of

the boys and i road tripped to the arizona mountains a few weeks ago. it lived up to the family visits that i remember as a child, in that all three of us contracted a pretty miserable virus. garrett was the ring leader when he developed something nasty just five days in. and as luck would have it we brought it home with us two weeks later. it's killer dude.

{before getting sick on callie's bday! brinley, callie, gare, gage and ian}

despite the yucks we still managed to have a good time visiting with our family. the most exciting part to gage and garrett's days were the times the front door opened and the kids would file in from school. their least favorite times were when they filed OUT. they got all kinds of spoiled, always having someone to entertain them.

with all the sickies we didn't get to visit many people and i bombed big time on pictures. big time. hopefully the summer months will provide a healthier visit and ample sunshine for picture taking!

matt flew in bright and early last friday morning. i had planned to drive down the mountain and pick him up but ended up needing to be escorted down by my brother due to lack of sleep and, maybe i've mentioned it once or twice, that nasty sickness. after a day of rest and last good-byes we departed saturday evening for texas.

i was useless. matt made the grueling part of the drive with me drifting in and out of consciousness. basically just coming to long enough for me to ask him to make yet another potty stop. once morning came i was slightly more coherent and the boys were in full swing. well as much as a swing as a seat belt will allow anyways. by dallas we had two accidents {of the two-year-old variety} and one barfy mess {also of the two-year-old variety}.

between dallas and hallsville we detoured through gladewater. we had a special order to pickup. an order we had made three weeks earlier....on a very cold and wet day. back then we tromped through mud and sleet and into a shed full of tiny puppies and their worrisome mommies. gage kept his hands over his ears the entire time and kept himself magnetized to matt's legs. gare insisted on being held. also the entire time. we peeked into one kennel that held the tiniest puppies i ever laid eyes on all smooshed in on top of each other breathing in unison. we looked them all over and on our way home talked about our options.

back to present, we were met by a woman outside the shed holding our chocolate mini pin and looking somewhat depressed. she handed her to us followed by a bag of meds, some paperwork and dog food. we wrapped her up in our green striped towell, insisted that we weren't going to sell her on ebay {well not really, but we did have to do a fair job convincing her she would be okay} and off we went from gladewater to hallsville to home.

the boys are loving their doggie, wishing their dad would get home from work, missing their family and enjoying having their toys to play with again. they still sniffle a lot and cough here and there plus last night gage joined the barfy club. all in all though i would say things are good. we're still a pretty happy bunch after all.