Update

We're sorry that we haven't updated the blog in two weeks. I've been really sick and doing final exams. Brianna's been working everyday and taking care of the puppies every other hour that she has available. This last week we've been in Vegas for the bowl game (the post will be coming soon). We just got back yesterday.

The puppies have grown a lot since we left for Vegas. They've almost doubled in size. We're very grateful for our families because they drove down from Idaho in the middle of the holiday season to take care of our little stinky noisy puppies and our little stinky noisy (fire alarms) house. So thanks Mom, Dad, Karlenn, Cheri, Dylan, & Sadie!!! You guys are the best and we couldn't have done it without you.

Here are some pictures my Mom took the day we left for Vegas (Tuesday, December 18th). They are from their first feeding.

Here are the puppies waiting in the cage for their first feeding of "hard" food.

Three of the pups sniffing around the food (it kinda looks like vomit. I would be a little cautious before eating it too.)

The puppies digging in. In this picture you can see that all eight of the puppies fit around the same bowl. Today we had to put out three separate bowls so that they could all fit.

Here's my Mom helping with the pups.

My Mom, Mia, & a puppy.

OK. Now the pictures below are from today (Monday, December 24th).... except one...

This is Baloo (the boy with the blue collar).

Here you can see three of the pups sleeping in the bottom left corner of the picture and three playing in the top right corner.

(Above) 12/18/07: Puppies during their first feeding.

(Below) 12/24/07: Two puppies sleeping. Notice their change in size relative to the bowl.

And finally two puppies playing. Now that football is over and a lot of the other craziness has died down we will give updates on us and the puppies more often.

Brianna Update: She has applied to Baylor and Gonzaga, and she's in the process of applying to West Minister (Salt Lake City). Baylor has requested an interview and so has Gonzaga. This is a huge deal because hundreds of people apply to Gonzaga's graduate program each year, only a handful make the interviewing process and then only six or seven make the final cut and get into the program. So getting invited to interview at Gonzaga means you're at the top of the pool of applicants. Brianna will be in Spokane the first week of February for the interview. CONGRATS BEEJ! I love you and I'm proud of you.

Moose Update: I'm just normal. I'll be taking the GRE and possibly the GMAT in January and applying to my graduate programs. I plan on applying to Gonzaga, ISU, Louisville, and ASU.

Two-and-a-Half Weeks Old

Here's some more cute puppy pictures.

This is the boy and girl who love to cuddle. They must get it from the Hale girls' genes... Me and my sisters LOVE to cuddle and we used to cuddle like a litter of kittens on the couch on Sundays when we were growing up. Oh wait, we still do it....

Their faces are getting really cute. They are just so beautiful.

My sweet little polka-dot...

The girl's faces are really starting to look like Mia's face. They are more feminine somehow.

Mia has been looking more perky. I was so worried about her. She still doesn't look her very best, but she looks much better.

The puppies are starting to get teeth and claws. Mia doesn't really like to feed them anymore because it hurts. Sometimes I have to force her to go into the cage and I have to lock her in so that she will feed them. Whenever she goes in the cage, all the puppies wake up and go nuts. Now that their eyes are open, they can see. They crawl and climb all over each other, each one aiming for their prize...food! It's everyone for themselves. They jump and stretch on their back legs and just go crazy trying to get at their food source. It's very comical. The whole cage just shakes with the chaos.

There is a lot of squirming that goes on.

Our little runt girl can hold her own. She won't take crap from anyone.

Mia is very reluctant to lay down and give in to the whole process knowing that their will be sharp little puppy teeth. But she eventually accepts defeat and lays down to allow them to eat. So we have happy puppies, with their tails wagging, and they finish and fall asleep.

Poor Mia. She really doesn't like it... But she is a good mother.

This is from today. They are growing so fast!! This is the cuddler boy with Spence. He looks a lot like Brady. He's got those great eyes. And they are getting to be so soft and fluffy. It won't be long until they are fluff-balls.

Here's his cute face. I just can't get enough! They are gorgeous. Brady and Mia did good.

And here's the little guy yawning. So cute!!

Well, thanks everyone for putting up with all of my proud-mama blogging. I'm sorry that it is all about my dogs, but that is my family and my life...and admit it....you love me for it!

BYU vs. San Diego State

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to finally post this. Finals are about here so I've been stressing out a little. Last Saturday, December 1st, we were in San Diego to play our rescheduled game with San Diego State. The game was originally scheduled for October 27th (click here to see the earlier post on canceled game) .

We stayed in the Marriott Cornado Island Resort. Our buses kind of got in the way of my picture. Anyways, it was pretty nice.

This is the view from the right side of our balcony. You can see the bridge connecting Cornado Island to the main land. It was pretty rainy the whole time we were there.

This is the view from the left side of our balcony. Here you can see across the bay into downtown San Diego.

At the resort they had flamingos. They were fenced off in there own little area. The one on the right looks like it doesn't have a head.

Flamingos are cool because if they've got an itch on their back they can just use their head.

The stadium set up at Qualcomm is pretty tough on us managers. To give you an idea I took some pictures to show the trek we have to make just to get our stuff to the locker room. Keep in mind that we have to do this over and over again until all the team's equipment is in the locker room. First we have to push the crap up this ramp from where we park the diesel.

Then it's down a little curve...

Through another little hallway...

Then down a really long hallway...

That keeps going...

... past the Chargers' locker room...

... and keeps going...

...and going until you reach locker room C which happens to be ours.

They actually have us in the old Padres locker room. The Padres played here until Petco Park was built. Now they use this locker room for the visiting teams.

The only problem with that is a baseball team is usually only 20 to 30 guys so there are only about 30 lockers. We travel with 65 players, about 15 coaches, and a bunch of other people. It gets pretty crowded.

Here is the field at Qualcomm.

Here's me on the field at Qualcomm.

Finally the game... well, it wasn't much of a game. We won 48-27. We finished the season undefeated in conference and we're headed back to the Las Vegas Bowl for the third straight year. We'll have a rematch with UCLA on December 22nd. I guess we won't have to wait until next year to get our revenge on Ben Olson (click here and look at the end of this earlier post) .

Brand New Puppies with my Nephews

During Thanksgiving Weekend, my sister Natalie and her husband Pete and their kids went down to Spanish Fork for the holiday (that's where Pete's family lives). While they were down in the area, they came to visit me and the puppies. We went to Tepanyaki down the road and hung out and chit-chatted. It was really fun and nice to see my sister and brother-in-law and cute nephews.

This is troy looking at the puppy that Fat Boy (Pete's brother) is holding.



This is Pete holding one of the puppies. I think that this is one of my favorite pictures.



This is Jake holding one of the puppies. He was really good at it.




Fat Boy and Jake holding puppies.



Isn't the tongue on Jake cute?!?



Jake and Fat Boy and puppies.



Brock was even brave enough to hold a puppy. He liked it to be set on his lap the most. They are such cute kids! I love you guys and miss you and I hope that I get to see you sometime during the holidays.

Opening Their Eyes, First Bath

Our babies are two weeks old. On Tuesday, the little girl runt was the first to open her eyes. They have all opened their eyes now. It's super cute! The only problem is that when I take flash pictures, now it wakes them up.

This is the babies sleeping. Some of them like to sleep on their backs. I have put little pieces of thread on their necks to help identify them. Now that their noses are black, it is getting harder. I'm going to get some ribbon tomorrow. I'm also taking our camera in so that I can start taking more pictures. I also love their cute markings on their belly. These will soon be good identifiers as well...



This is the same polka-dot baby girl that loves to cuddle with me. Her nose isn't all black yet, and I love it. This is her with her eyes open in the cage after her bath.



This is the puppies first bath. They were pretty gross and I decided that it was time. This is the runt. She actually really liked it. She was chillin' in the basin like it was a hot tub or something. Some of the others found it to be torture.



Well, I will get more pictures tomorrow hopefully. Aren't they cute?!?!