We Gather Together.......

There is no way to retell the fun and games we had over the Thanksgiving weekend! Suffice it to say - WE LOVE OUR FAMILY!
The big kids make the family recipe of "slab candy" and compete to see whose batch "breaks" the quickest or who is the best beater. It's always a good contest!

Noah really, truly is a farm boy. Look at the happiness of that boy with HIS puppy!

Mia and Noah love to keep Grandma's house tidy!

Luke and Tess try their hand at the candy making process!

Ellie also get in the candy making business to see if she's as good as her Mom.

There's the joy of being seated at the "kids table!"

The "adult" table is such a peaceful place to be!

Don't forget the 3:00 Am shopping to get us all in a happy mood!

There's nothing like napping with someone you love to recover from the lost sleep!

Giselle receives instruction well from Mom. One can always improve their candy making skills. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with lots of family togetherness, husbands and wives crafting new and beautiful decor, good food, a lot of laughter and a whole lot of cooperation with the family pictures and all. The only thing that would make our lives any better is to have all of our kids much, much closer so we could see them much, much more often! We love you all - thanks for a wonderful weekend!

First Outing for the Babies...

Today was sunny, mild, and warm. The weather forecast is not good for the rest of the week...so Grandpa decided the little girls should come out and take Bella's Babies on their first outing! The girls were more than willing, so Grandpa put a nice blanket on the ground, put the Babies in a box to transport them from the garage to the yard, and the girls eagerly awaited their arrival. While Mia was the most eager to get a hold of the fat, little things, Ellie was pleased to hold them and said not only is she good at getting babies to sleep, but also pupppies!

Tess shows her joy with "one of the boys" while she holds him and gently rocks him. She doesn't say too much, but smiles the whole time she is holding one of the pups. The whole time the babies are being held, they are grunting and crying to get back to their mama.

Mia is ecstatic at getting one or two or more of the pudgies in her arms. Even when they're not in her arms, she is petting their little tails, moving them from one "nursie" to the next, or patting Bella to assure her we love her babies as much as she does! Is she really a Butikofer?

It's hard to tell, but the babies are nursing and they're double-decked to get to their Mom! Some of the puppies even turn and lay on their backs when it's their turn to be on the bottom row. They're so stinkin' cute!

As I said before, Mia is the most in love with the puppies. She sat down and managed to get a hold of two at the same time and said, "yook at me...I have two!" What a fun first outing for Bella's Babies!

Little girls and little pups....

The little girls came out after church to see and hold the puppies. They were all so brave and of course loved the beautiful new babies.

Ellie wanted to know which were boys and which were girls, so we did the count. Final result is that there are 5 boys and 2 girls. In making our inspection, we noticed that 6 of the 7 have some white on their chests with some having the white extend down on their bellies. The one that we thought was all black has just the toes on his back feet white. So...I guess that Zeke is the proud papa of them all.

Zeke has been very interested in the whole event and Bella will now let him come in and lay near the nursery.

You can see that Zeke is very interested in the puppy that Mia is holding. There seems to be a high demand for these babies and they should make wonderful pets with Bella's gentle, loving nature and Zeke's boundless energy and athletic abilities (mostly the ability to jump in or on any truck that can take him for a ride up the road) Really, the pups should be great little pets.

After the "get acquainted" session, we had to take some pictures of the most beautiful little girls in the world. It is so fun to have them come out and visit. Grandkids and granddogs -- how much better can it get?

Bella's Black Beauties

When I left for work at 6:20 am, Bella was up on the dugway visiting the black Lab who lives at the top of the hill. They both have bright pink collars, and I had a hard time distinguishing between the two, except that Bella was the fatter and slower one. They had a great little morning jog.

Dad and I had to hurry once we got home from school to get ready for Salt Lake, and I looked out the window and noticed Dad lying on the ground, trying to shinny under the grey Baretta. I knew just what was going on!

He came in pleased as punch after his visit to the delivery room and announced that Bella has given birth to 5 or 6 babies! She came right out to give Dad a kiss and tell him how proud she was of herself. Dad told her to tend the kids and he'd be back home soon.

We called Bella's proud parents and made the announcement to them! They were both very happy to know their little girl was fine and they had beautiful little grandpuppies!
Once we got home from Salt Lake, we arranged for the move to Bella's bigger, better, more accomodating condo. Dad crawled under the car again--but much further under this time and I waited with a basket for him to hand me the 5 or 6 babies. He would announce, "Here's one! Here's two!" and he kept it up. After six, I started to get up and he said, "Here's seven!" Inside the garage, with two blankies, food and water at her side and plenty of fussing to provide for her comfort, Bella accepted the move just fine and settled right down. When we got them settled in their new surroundings, all seven were snuggled tigheter than bugs in a rug and making a warm, little new puppy sounds. Some of the babies have white feet -- so maybe Zeke should join in the celebration??? As you can see, Bella loves those little babies and is totally in to taking good care of them. All is well that ends well!