Let's get caught up!

I haven't posted too often lately and, believe it or not, I haven't taken as many pictures lately as I normally do either.  I know that there has been a lot going on, so I thought I would just share any recent happenings and pictures to get all caught up.  Please excuse the randomness of this post.

Mattea's soccer team had a great season!

Josh was a much stonger batter this year!

As always, he was an AMAZING catcher!!!

He also pitched this year and did a spectacular job!

Cody has been super depressed after losing his best friend.



 The pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and the kids have been enjoying it immensely!

 Josh & Mattea attended the Sock Hop and had a blast!

I HAVE A TEENAGER!!!

On this day thirteen years ago, Alexander Robert Dolan was born.  This handsome baby boy was the first child for an excited and nervous set of parents and the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  He was loved before he was even born and became loved more and more with every breath he took.  Fast forward thirteen years and I am the proud mother of a wonderful TEENAGER who is kind, generous, polite, funny, responsible, creative, mature, helpful and loving.  I am so proud of the young man he has become.  I must say, though, I can't believe that I have a TEENAGER living in my house... one that shaves, gets emotional, questions me, doesn't tell me everything and would much rather play video games in his "man cave" than anything else.  I can still remember the day he was born and all of the days in between and it seems crazy how fast time has flown by.  Happy Birthday to my amazing thirteen year-old son, Alex!!!  We LOVE you SO SO SO much!

Dolan's Pride of Independence

It took me awhile to write this post because I just wasn't up to it.  There will never be an easy time to do it, so I better just get it done.

On May 13th, we bid an extremely sad farewell to Indy, our amazing, lovable and loyal dog.  Indy was born on July 4th, 1997 at a breeder's house in a small town near Maquoketa, Iowa.  I remember the day that Jeff and I went to look at the litter of Siberian Husky puppies.  Oh were they cute!!!  We had done a TON of research on puppies and had determined that a Siberian Husky was the best breed for us.  We had also gathered some tips on picking out the best puppy.  So when we went to the breeder looking for our puppy, we picked up and played with all of the puppies to help make our decision.  It was SO much fun!  We ended up choosing the runt of the litter.  Both of Indy's parents were on site as well, so we also received his purebred papers.  His official name was "Dolan's Pride of Independence" (since he was born on Independence Day) and we called him "Indy" for short.  We took him home when he was just 6 weeks old.  Since he was our first "baby", we even sent out birth announcements.  I'm pretty sure we thought it was funny, but the grandparents weren't nearly as amused.  Indy was alive for almost 15 years, so we have a lot of wonderful memories of him that we will cherish forever.  Here are some of our favorites... in no particular order.

When Grandma Carol and Grandpa Pete met him for the first time, they thought he was a cat!!! 

We took Indy to obedience classes and he did learn some good habits and tricks.  That's not to say he didn't misbehave sometimes, though.  I remember one time when we came home and there was a HUGE phone book ripped to shreds on our kitchen floor and Indy was laying on top of it trying to look innocent.

Indy once caught a bunny while he was on a chain.  Mad skills!!!

Before we had kids, we would wrap Indy's Christmas presents and he was able to open them himself.  We probably have that on video somewhere.  It was hysterical to watch!

When we moved to Colorado, the back of our Yukon was packed with stuff we didn't trust in the moving van.  At the very back in an extremely small space was Indy.  We have a picture of him in his spot and he's looking at us like "You're kidding me, right???".  But, I'm pretty sure he didn't really mind as long as he got to come along!

Indy could eat an ear of corn like a person if we held it for him.

Indy loved tomatoes, shrimp, pickled herring and, of course, corn on the cob!

When we gave Indy a new bone, he would drop it on the ground and then proceed to attack it and play with it before starting to chew it.

In our house in Colorado, if I would lay down on the couch in our living room, Indy would instantly get up and come over so I could pet him.  It didn't matter how tired he was, how sore his hips were or if he had just laid down.

Indy LOVED going for rides with his head out the window and the wind whipping through his fur.

One time shortly after Alex was born, Grandma Judie came to help us out.  She had to leave early in the morning, so she was tiptoeing out of the bedroom and down the hallway when she heard a low growl.  Indy thought she was an intruder and he needed to protect us.  She had to assure him that it was just Grandma Judie before he let her go any further!

Indy was such a sweet dog for our kids to grow up with... he got pinched, tugged, sat on and poked and he put up with it all (and always came back for more!).

Indy had a special relationship with Aunt Julie.  She spoiled him rotten and always gave him tons of attention, love and treats!

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A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.  ~ Quote from "Marley & Me"

RIP Indy Boo ~ We Will Always Love You!!!

7/4/1997 - 5/13/2012

Feels like a new house!

No more yellow house for us!  We recently went from this...

to this!!!

You can't tell in these pictures, but the front door is red!  Color me happy!  (Also, Cody is peeking out the front window!!!)  What do you think???

Josh's injury (don't freak out... he is FINE!)

We went to a dinner party last Friday night at a friend's house.  While the adults were chatting, the kids decided to go to the park for a baseball game.  Everything was going well until we got a phone call saying Josh had gotten hurt.  Jeff went down to the park to check it out and returned with a grimace on his face.  He told me he was taking Josh to the hospital because he thought he had broken his leg!  YIKES!!!  Apparently, Josh was sliding into second and Alex was trying to tag him and they crashed their shins into each other.  Since Alex outweighs Josh by about 70 pounds and he didn't have gravity on his side, he took the brunt of the collision.  His leg instantly swelled up so much that it looked like he had a baked potato under his skin.

Jeff insisted that the rest of the family stay at the party as we didn't need the whole gang traipsing to the hospital on a Friday night.  I tried to remain calm at the party, but it was a little bit difficult to concentrate on having a fun time since I was so worried about Josh.  We sat down and iced Alex's leg for a bit since he also had a couple bumps.  Finally, we heard from Jeff that Josh had not broken his leg (BIG sigh of relief!) and that it was a deep tissue bruise.  We really felt like we had dodged a bullet... call it Dolan luck (although, I am sure Josh wasn't feeling very lucky!!!).  We brought Josh home and got his leg propped up and, with the pain meds, he was able to sleep through the night.  The next day, he kept his foot elevated most of the day and just relaxed.  By Sunday, he was able to put some weight on it, but wasn't able to walk without crutches. 
We are very happy that the injury wasn't as serious as a broken leg, but we are still keeping an eye on it.  Our main concern is that he doesn't overdo it with activity because he could get a hematoma or blood clots.  Josh is not an easy kid to keep on a low level of activity!!!

It was difficult to get pictures to do justice to the nasty bruise, but these will give you an idea...

Happy Birthday, Aunt Julie!!!

Happy Birthday to the amazingly awesome Aunt Julie!!! -- click me!

(You should be able to view this video by logging in with your Google account information.  You don't need a YouTube account.)

A Biking Adventure

Jeff FINALLY bit the bullet and bought a new bike.  We have had our matching Diamond Back bikes since I graduated from college, so it was about time!  Uncle Terry found an amazing online deal for a full-suspension bike and it was delivered this week.  Terry came to visit this weekend and put Jeff's bike together as well as installed bike computers on Alex & Josh's bikes and did a tune-up on my bike.  After all that work, it was time for some fun, so we went on a biking adventure.  We headed east on the bike path right behind our house.  We mostly stayed on the trail, but at one point, we turned onto a gravel path.  As soon as we did, I heard Mattea say "Now THIS is a bike ride!".  Shortly after, we had to cross a small creek.  Jeff and the boys rode through it with no problem.  Mattea was a little hesitant, but I told her just to power through it and she did.  Then, it was my turn.  I got 3/4 of the way across, hit a dip and stopped pedaling... that was my mistake.  I totally crashed and my entire left side was instantly covered in mud and water.  Once the crew realized I was okay, they all had a pretty good chuckle about it.  Josh asked me several times if I was really okay.  Considering how I looked, I can see why he kept asking!  We rode up towards Target and stopped at a pizza place for lunch.  After lunch, we headed out on a path we hadn't ridden on before... it was a new adventure!  Mattea was riding Josh's old bike with gears, so she was getting used to that which was a bit of a challenge, but by the end, she had it figured out.  We rode past this neighborhood and encountered this steep set of stairs that led to another part of the bike path.  Crazy Uncle Terry went right down the stairs on his bike!!!  The kids thought it was so cool!  We didn't let them do it, but we did make Uncle Terry do it again so we could catch it on video!!!  On our way back home, Jeff took an alternate route and ended up crashing and landing muddy water just like I had earlier.  After that happened, he turned to Josh and said "What do we call that?" and Josh replied "Karma".