No more puppies.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

2011-10-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

TIKA will be expecting her 2nd litter after Thanksgiving 2011. Stud dog is ACE SCHWEND

These German Shepherd puppies will be ready after Christmas. We are EXCITED!

SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST

2011-01-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

10 1/2 weeks old now, what a sweetheart. We have socialized this little fella since Christmas. He has even gone to sit on "Santa's" lap over at Pet Smart. I have a picture of that somewhere. We are surprised at which puppies have sold first, and actually surprised Cooter hasn't sold yet. In comparison to all the litter mates, we have believed he is one of the better ones. He is getting bigger every day now. At 18 lbs, it is important that we begin his training quickly. Contact me for more information. I believe he will be gone after this weekend... but ya never know.

9 weeks "Greta"

2011-01-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

9 weeks old now. This is our bossy little "Greta". We nicknamed her after my beloved guard dog we lost in September 2010. What confidence she has already. Lately she has been trying to hide under the coffee table. When her brothers walk by she will attack them. It was funny to watch her ARMY crawl from one side to the other. We have tried to keep the puppies out of the living room, but this is where she likes to hide when she escapes.

2 females available to the right home

2011-01-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

These are nice females, both are available at $500.00. The lighter female is very bossy, sassy, confident, and smart. The darker female is spoiled. She is smart, but not as aggressive, and she thinks she is a lap dog. We will have to break her of that.

Available MALES

2010-12-31T12:25:00.000-08:00

"No Toe" looks fierce in this photo. They were all freezing while taking this photo. It is expected to be -12 tonight in Billings. "No Toe" is a special boy! He has a great personality and beautiful coloring. The Vet checked all the puppies and gave them a thumbs up!! Especially "No Toe" and said the toe thing is no big deal. It is if you had planned on showing the dog, but as a family dog, or in agility it will have no effect on him what so ever. I felt I should disclose his misssing toe, even though it is not noticeable unless inspected.
The other 2 males are darker, and equally special. The green collar male had both ears up, now they are down, then 1/2 up 1/2 down. This is normal. He sure was cute when they both came up though. The other male is Kuter. The photo does not do him justice. He was freezing out there when we took it. Kuter is dark like Rosco. He is even tempered, not much of a trouble maker, steady, strong. We have had a lot of interest in him. People are still trying to make up their mind, but we have no firm committment or deposit on him yet. All three males are still available.

"In Training"

2010-12-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

ENOUGH SAID.

In training...ENOUGH SAID.

FIRST ear up today!

2010-12-19T05:14:00.001-08:00

Today I woke up at 5:15 A.M. to find a nice surprise... no MESS! The whelping box was clean! I hurried and let all the puppies outside at the SAME TIME and wouldn't you know they ALL went outside on their own. NO MESS this morning! I am thrilled! I also noticed the FIRST puppy has an ear up!! Little GREEN COLLAR male he is still available to purchase. He is a tuffy, and fearless! I just had to take a photo. The puppies also ate food without being moistened for the FIRST time! Lots of crunching with those sharp little teeth of theirs! They are pretty much weaned at this point. They grow SO FAST! I also experienced the FIRST puppy to destroy something (my pant leg) and they are playing with TOYS for the FIRST time spontaneously. A rope, and a chew bone are the first toys. I rolled an orange around the floor and they chased it a bit. It is kinda hard to keep tennis balls around with Rosco. He can annihilate one in 5 minutes.

Rosco jumping

2010-12-18T17:13:00.001-08:00

I told a friend I would post this photo of Rosco jumping. Kelli is the dog trainer of the family. She has them do all sorts of tricks.

FUZZY 5 week old

2010-12-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this little guy. SORRY He's SOLD, but we have others!

5 weeks old Green collar male

2010-12-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

This little female is the darker of the two females. She is a little calmer than the light female, and is a sweetheart!

This little guy is trouble! Here he is picking a fight wih our big male Rosco. Luckily Rosco is so gentle with the puppies he just finds them humerous. Little green collar is a tuffy! Runs around carrying socks, food dishes, or whatever else he can get his paws on.

The puppies are 3 weeks old. Eyes are opened!

2010-12-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

The puppies are three weeks old now! Eyes are opened and they are becoming VOCAL and mobile. Playing really cute together in the whelping box. None of them are at all starved for attention, in fact they are a little spoiled.

The light female is the most vocal, and is already trying to climb out! Her coloring is appearing more and more every day! We have a little darker female, also really pretty but so far not so much of the tan markings yet. The prettiest one so far is "Mistah no toe" the little male who accidently lost a toe at birth. It is healed over, and almost not noticeable, but I feel he is not able to be shown. He could compete in agility for sure. These are working dogs with a good working lines. We still have 5 maes and 2 females.
This is our bitch Tika, and the sire ACE SCHWEND. Both have wonderful temperment and are great family dogs. Tika is training for agility with our male Rosco.

Snow in BILLINGS!! Dogs LOVE it!!

2010-11-27T15:41:00.001-08:00

It is absolutely FREEZING! I can't believe Rosco just lays in the snow as if it doesn't phase him at all!

Tika even left her babies for a moment to play with her toy in the snow.

black bird/ german shepherd

2010-11-11T22:34:00.000-08:00

After 1 hour of KARAOKE, Tika was in labor. Babies born later on that evening.

Tika's babies

2010-11-10T17:29:00.000-08:00

BORN November 8th and 9th 5 males and 2 females including "Mistah NoToe"

This little MA MA is such a good mother so far. We are so excited about this litter! As you know, the first time Tika was bred it did not successfully take. This time, we successfully whelped 7 pups (lost the 8th it was a girl).
They all appear to be healthy and growing bigger already! Upon inspection of the whelps, I noticed a missing toe on one of the males. I am literally crushed about this. He was the second one born, and in her haste to clean him, Tika inadvertantly chewed off his inner toe on his right front paw. I feel like I may have prevented this if I had more experience as a midwife. I was a nervous wreck. More photos to come...

Waiting for the perfect SUNSET

2010-09-12T10:10:00.001-07:00

Waiting for the PERFECT sunset to photograph Rosco.I have good photos of the other
2 dogs and have waited for the perfect shot of Rosco.Didn't get one this night. He was a good boy though waiting for the Sunset for 1 hour. When we finally gave up, the sky turned PURPLE!! We missed it! I was so disappointed :(

LAGOON in UTAH

2010-08-13T19:53:00.001-07:00

LAGOON is an amusement park in UTAH. I have memories as a kid going there with my family. Somehow those memories do not include having a sick stomach, and hypervenilating after going on rides. Things are just better as a kid I guess. Carissa and Candice were able to spend some time with uncle Alan and cousin Rowan at LAGOON. Everyone says Alan is the funnest to go with. He is funny I must admit. Due to his neck, shoulder and back problems, Alan should NOT have ridden on the rides at all. I hope he is ok. I myself got a whip lash on the "WILD MOUSE".

Kelli GRADUATES 2010

2010-06-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

Just a few snap shots from Kelli's graduation. What an exciting week!! She has been very busy getting ready for graduation and for all the final concerts she had with her school choir R.O.C.K. choir, and getting to sing on stage with FOREIGNER at their concert. Graduation was Monday May 31st 2010 at the Metra. There were over 300 kids that graduated, several musical selections from the choir and individuals, but amazingly enough they kept it under 2 hours. It was a pretty organized event. Also, last week of school Kelli rammed her Dad's truck into a car in the teacher's parking lot at school. Why was she parked in teacher's parking you ask? Good question. Well she really did feel awful and did the right thing by turning herself in to the office. When she went to the Secretary to give her the information the Secretary said "Ok honey we will find the owner of the car and notify them, what is the license number?" She carefully wrote it all down and tried comforting Kelli, then realized "Hey, that's MY car". What are the odds of that happening? Glad she was a nice lady. So how did we reward our graduate for wrecking? We bought her her own POS car so she won't be driving ours. So that was her graduation present, a little PONTIAC. Her favorite color or course, and a stick shift. Kelli also spend the last weekend learning how to drive a stick shift. So she has been busy.

No Babies :(

2010-05-27T21:16:00.001-07:00

Well it is OFFICIAL. No babies. We should be snuggling puppies right now!! I think Tika doesn't have a clue that she was supposed to be preggers. We have been giving her special treats, and attention for 2 months now. She was eating it all up. We even began letting her up on the couch because she was "Preggo Ma Ma".
I think it has all worked out for the best right now. Kelli will graduate in about three days. We also have alot of camping to do this Summer. Baby puppies would have changed all that. So, we have to get Kelli graduated and then maybe we will try again for German Shepherd puppies!!

TIKA's due date. No puppies?

2010-05-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, according to my calculations, Tika was due yesterday. 2 weeks ago we took her to the vet for a nail clipping. I wanted her to have nice nails for the birth of her babies. Well while we were there, I just asked the Vet for an x-ray just for grins and giggles. I had wanted to know how many to plan on. Surprisingly, the x-ray revealed a very EMPTY belly :( Tika has a nice looking set of ribs though.
I was astonished and am still in disbelief. We have calculated this to a "T" and I am positive she was bred. Tika even displayed some signs early on such as; loss of appetite and nausea. I have done some reading, and there are dogs that have FALSE pregnancies and ones that re-absorb into the body. Today, Tika is running around as happy and as normal as can be. I may just have to face the fact that she is not having babies right now. This is a sad, sad day for me. I wanted to snuggle German Shepherd puppies SOOOOO bad. I will keep you posted. CHER

Preggo Ma Ma

2010-04-14T21:16:00.001-07:00

This is Rosco. He is a GOOF BALL! This is Tika's brother.

I had to include a photo of Tika in front of the Christmas tree. This is a more serious look for her. I prefer her playful look better.

We had talked about breeding Tika in the future. In fact, at Christmas time we were planning on doing it in 2010. we decided Spring would be a better time to whelp puppies. Also for the potty training, it will be easier for the puppies to go outside in the warmth. When we got Tika and Rosco it was Fall, and we had an early COLD spell that year, so they did NOT want to go outside in that cold weather for anything. Truth is, I didn't either. So, it will be easier to train a new puppy in the Summer I am sure.

PUPPIES ARE COMING!! May 13th (hopefully)

2010-04-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

TIKA VOM SAKAHARA (AKC registration #DN22637202)

We did it! It was a big decision, but after alot of planning, and the timing was right TIKA is expecting her first litter in May!! We just fell in love with "Ace" the stud dog we used for this breeding. I would have LOVED to take him home with us (and he is so cool he might have jumped right in the truck) but I am sure Heidi wouldn't part with "Ace". Everything has gone smoothly so far, and there is an overwhelming interest in this litter, so we are beginning to take deposits on Tika's puppies. Contact me if you are interested.

I WANT MY BLONDE HAIR BACK!!

2010-01-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

If any of you ever wondered if blondes have more fun, well I can assure you... we do! in the last three months, my hair has changed at least three times. The first time was to play a part in the Wonka play. I became a flaming RED HEAD!! If you scroll down, you will see what I mean. I was a RED head all right. There were only a handfuil of people who appreciated the "RAGGEDY ANN" look. The director seemed to love it, and a few others at the VENTURE THEATRE. A few patients at Dr. Johnson's liked it. One woman almost cried when she saw I had chanded it from RED, but I will have to say that the general consensus was "Cher, when ya gonna get your blonde hair back?" To that I say, good question. The problem with RED is that it is pretty harsh on the hair. It is really hard to get the color to stay, but when it does stay, it is difficult to get it OUT! here is a photo of the current hair color I am sporting.

After two hours at the Depot Salon, the black is the only color that would cover over the RED. I will post a color photo one of these days, you will notice it is a CHERRY CHOCOLATE more than just a brown. Whatever color it is, I will assure you I have MORE FUN when I am blonde. I really haven't felt like myself for months! I am thinking it is just the hair color.

I never really embraced it I guess.
Next time, I will wear a WIG!

Willie WONKA "Moms" rock!

2009-11-29T19:05:00.001-08:00

Cher as Ms. Teavee in WILLIE WONKA 2009. Kelli as Chef and Carissa as Chef.

I really promise to load some new photos of the WONKA play. It is a BLAST! I have really enjoyed this.

Willie Wonka is on in full FORCE! (he hee I said FORCE) But it is going good so far. I personally had a little shaky performance last night, but today was better. It all seems to be going well. I have fun back stage and prior to a performance. I think Carissa and Kelli are getting a little tired of all the time we spend at VENTURE theatre. I really like it. I have met some great people. All the WONKA "MOM's" have gotten along smashingly. They are a fun bunch! I hope to do other plays in the future hopefully with the gals. I have a feeling my kids are DONE after this. Kelli is very busy with all the things a high school SENIOR does. She is involved in two other choirs, so she is pretty busy!

Carissa just gets so tired after the play. We get home around 10:00 P.M. if we hurry home. This has been a fun but time consuming project. We have about 13 more performances, then Christmas!!

Red on de head.

2009-11-19T15:38:00.001-08:00

This is me, on Friday November 13th with the puppies too.

We are doing dress rehearsal tonight and WILLIE WONKA opens tomorrow!!!! I can't believe it! I have the RED hair. All I have to do now is channel Chris Farley for my rendition of Ms. Teavee. I will let you know how it goes. Kelli and Carissa are adorable as Chefs! I have a photo on the camera, just need to download it.

"He's BAAAACK" Brother Johnson is back.

2009-11-01T12:39:00.001-08:00

Pretty scary eh? Well, this is the fourth year that Brother Johnson has made an appearance at the Sakahara's for HALLOWEEN. I was a little disappointed that he didn't show up until HALLOWEEN night, but happy to see him. Now it feels like home. He will probably stay until New years 2010. He may wear various different outfits like; Hunting clothes, antlers, or a Santa hat but he will always be watching.
Carissa was a little BLACK CAT for HALLOWEEN. She went Trick-or-Treating with the neighbor girl. I was glad to see she had a friend to spend HALLOWEEN night with. Carissa has been reading the "WARRIOR" series for about a year now. She devours each book faster that I can buy them for her. It has gotten so bad that her 5Th grade teacher has banned her from reading them in class. He thinks she needs diversity in her reading repertoire. I would have to agree. The "WARRIOR" books are about cats, and a whole clan of different types, colors, shapes, sizes, and their adventures. It is good for her to be interested in reading at any rate. So HALLOWEEN was a success. here is a photo of our costumes, and Carissa carving her Jack-o-Lantern.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT HALLOWEEN!!

JUNIPERS aaaargh! Yardwork never ends!

2009-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well, winter has totally caught us off guard early this year, and hit us hard!! There were so many projects around here that we wanted to get done before it turned COLD!! JUNIPERS are EVERYWHERE in this new home that we bought. If you haven't figured it out already, we hate them. JUNIPERS really aren't very pretty, if you ask me. Granted they are green year round, but to me they just look crappy. So begins the task of eliminating or eradicating ALL the JUNIPERS from the yard. September was a pretty productive month for that. Kelli and I took Dad's truck and tied a chain and a rope and whatever jimmy rig thing we could find to tie to the root of the JUNIPER shrub.
How did I get Kelli to help you ask? Well I promised her she could drive the truck. Scary huh? Kelli was very helpful and we managed to make some progress over Labor Day weekend. Kelli actually came up with the best ideas for getting the crappy JUNIPERS pulled out. It wasn't pretty! I just hope all of our efforts will be worthwhile next spring when we can plant some pretty trees and flowers. I have already planted three trees in one area by the deck. It was full of JUNIPERS before we pulled them out. Now I have three blossoming trees there.

Taking all the JUNIPERS to the dump was a joke! It is about a twenty minute drive, and with little shrub particles falling out of the back of the truck here and there, I felt a little like Hansel and Gretel leaving a trail behind us to the dump. Thankfully we got it done! Well not done yet... the other side of the yard is a force to be reckoned with, but I have informed Bryan that it is "his side" of the yard. I was also surprised when my mom send me box of her beautiful IRIS from her IRIS garden. Mom and Dad just SOLD the home we all grew up in for 35 years. It was a long, long process. Their house had been on the market for a little over 2 years. That is a whole different story. I was grateful for her generosity in sending me loads and loads of perennials in all different colors. Right now they look a little disheveled and dead, but I am sure in the Spring they will be beautiful.

When we moved out of the Dillon home in July, I was anxiously awaiting the last of the IRIS to bloom. I had been taking photos of them all Spring because I knew we were leaving them, and I wanted to remember what they looked like.

I will have to post more pictures as we make more progress on the yard. One thing about yard work is that it makes me feel like I have accomplished something. It is fun to look back on your work and see how nice it looks. Instant gratification in some instances. Weeding for instance. I can see immediate improvement every time I weed. I get the same feeling when I yank out a JUNIPER.

OOOmpa Loompa Doo Pa Dee Doop

2009-10-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Willie Wonka Try outs were last week at the "Venture Theatre". It seemed like an exciting thing to do, and a way to meet people so Carissa and I tried out. Kelli also tried out after a bit of coaxing. This is how it all went down,,,
I noticed a flyer advertising Tryouts and saw that there were quite a few parts for kids. I joked around with Carissa that she would be a perfect little OOMPA LOOMPA. I was so excited. I was sure she would get a part as OOMPA LOOMPA. Me on the other hand, not so sure. I would be happy just being a part of the cast so that my girls and I could do something together. I told Carissa she had to practice a song to sing solo for the tryout. Carissa has not really ever sang alone or in public so It was cute hearing her practice her little song in her room. She chose "Good Morning Baltimore" from the musical HAIRSPRAY. Carissa was prepared to knock um dead with her song, but come to find out, children did not have to sing solo for their tryout. They called al the children in as a group and had them sing the OOMPA LOOMPA song. Also the kids had to jump around, act sad, act mad, interact with each other etc. etc. And Carissa made the call backs!!! Kelli and I went in to the adult tryouts. Each of us had to sing a song alone. I had prepared a little something, but nerves got the best of me and I messed up the words right in my tryout!!! I had to stop, and run over to the piano to peek at the words. How embarrasing!! Classic. I am glad that's over! I talked Kelli into trying out with me two minutes before tryouts began. She sang a little diddy, not caring if she made it or not. After everyone had sang, the whole group of adults had to go up onstage and interact, do litttle improv. It was hilarious!!!! We had the pleasure of trying out with a group of veteran actors. They were all so FUNNY! I felt like I was being entertained by them the whole tryout. I was laughing my head off at all of them and their improv. It was like "Who's line" only I was a part of it. We were a part of it! Kelli did pretty good. She had some funny stuff. To make a long story short, after the whole tryouts, we all made call backs! After that we ALL MADE IT! I got the part of Ms. Teavee the mother of the kid who watched T.V. all day long and the girls got parts as CHEFS in the Willie Wonka candy factory!! We are starting quite a HUGE adventure.

GHOSTS messing with my blog spot

2009-09-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally came to the blog spot to see if it is still there, and what do I see...someone or something has been messing with it. So I changed my password and I am going to have to update it. Stay tuned for more on the Sakahara's. As for now, I can't even access my photos. So bear with me.

Pictures of Kelli HAPPY SWEET 16!!

2009-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Kelli turned SWEET 16 on July 28th. I guess you could say it was all pretty much over shadowed by a graduation, a move, and a wedding. Well DAMMIT I am sick of Kelli never getting any recognition. It would be a shame not to recognize her for being such a SWEET wonderful girl. I can honestly say she is a good girl and I am proud of her!! Kelli I am proud of you being the mascot, singing beautiful in the TEEN TONES choir, and placing in divisionals in shot put!! These are just a few of the things that I have not blogged about. Kelli, I appreciate you for leaving all of your friends behind in Dillon your Senior year and starting a new adventure in Billings with the rest of our family. It wouldn't be the same without you! You are a big help when you want to be. I know I can always count on you to pull it together for me. I wish you friendships and happiness this school year! Happy Birthday, and THANKS!

This is a photo of Kelli and Tiff at the wedding almost the last day in Dillon. What a bummer to leave such a cool friend. If anyone has more pictures of the girls, please e-mail them to me.

WE don't have a whole lot of photos of Kelli and Carissa from the wedding. Well, it was Candi's day, but I had hoped for more pictures of ALL my girls. If any of you have some, please e-mail them to me also.

Happy Wedding Day!! Candice & Sheyden Turner

2009-07-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Candice & Sheyden were married by Bishop Hansen on July 11th 2009.

Well the day finally came, after all the planning, complaining, credit card abuse and procrastination. The wedding day is over, and Candice is a married woman. "Candice Turner" I just can't get used to saying it. She will always be a little Sakahara in my mind. Just little Candice. What a beautiful bride she was!! The whole wedding day went off amazingly and without any troubles. Sleepy Hollow golf course was a beautiful place to hold the wedding!! The grounds were beautiful, grass was green, weather was just perfect! It was supposed to be a 90 degree day with scorching hot sun. Amazingly, we had overcast and cloud cover with moderate temperatures. They even got a little "good luck" sprinkle of rain. It was scary though. I didn't have an alternate plan, so it was good the rain stopped almost as soon as it started. It made for some nice wedding photos I hope.

Kelli and Carissa were just as cute as can be. Bryan was handsome, and so helpful!! Some of the best ideas were Bryan's. I wish he had been more involved in the whole planning process since he was full of good suggestions on the DAY OF.

The cake was made by Gay Reynolds. She was so helpful with EVERYTHING! Tons of good suggestions, and lots of help on the wedding day. The bottom layer was chocolate with strawberry filling, next was lemon with tart lemon filling, then lemon with strawberry filling. You may think the butterfly theme was hokey, but I don't. "Who wants a butterfly on there cake" right? Well that just tied everything in with the table decorations etc. The table decorations were little orange and yellow flowers with a terra cotta pot, yellow polka dot cloth as an accent and to pull the yellow color together. Candice's colors were orange and yellow if you hadn't figured it out yet. Her flowers were roses yellow with orange tint.

School's out FOREVER

2009-06-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

We got Candice graduated!! The last month was filled with so many activities as the school year came to an end. Candice was not involved in anything except for hanging out with Sheyden. Classic case of Senioritis. Kelli is the little social butterfly. Since this is a post about Candice I will just say CONGRATULATIONS on your graduation! Hope you liked your BBQ, flowers, hawaiian lei, gifts, and cake.

Plastic Surgery

2009-05-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is Tika with a missing piece of her ear.

This is Tika with pretty ears before her accident.

Having three dogs in the house has been overwhelming to say the least! We had hoped to be moved into a home with a fenced yard by now. Well the market is S-L-O-W here in Dillon, and who knows when it will happen. We all have been a little stressed out, including Greta (apparently). Several months ago, she was having a tough day since the puppies seem to be getting all the attention these days. It all started with a little growl and a bigger growl, (her way of saying "get outta my face") then SNAP!! Greta had snapped at one of the puppies. Tika gave out a yelp in excruciating pain and a blood spatter hit the wall. Bless her Little heart, she ran over to the tile and no blood got on the floor. I was a wreck!! Greta had bitten out a chunk of Tika's right ear. I doctored it for about a month, and it sill looked bad, so I took her in for a little plastic surgery. Here are the results.

Tika now has a little ear and a big ear. I think we are still working on it though.

This is Greta the guilty party. She looks guilty in this photo, thats why I included it.

Happy Birthday Carissa!! Age 10

2009-05-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Carissa is ten today! May 13Th 2009. What a darling little girl you have been. We love you so much Carissa. I have tons of funny pictures of Carissa over the years, just not saved to the computer. It seems that in every single family photo she is pulling a face or something. That was before we owned a digital camera. So I am sad that I don't have any of those hilarious photos to share with everyone on her tenth birthday, but here are a couple.
Here is one of Carissa's first white dress on July 4Th 1999 at her baby blessing. Her dad is here with her to celebrate the special day. Bryan worked a TON that year for the Border Patrol, and getting him to take time off was hard to do. This is a special picture, of our sweet little Carissa on a special day with her Dad.

Carissa in her stroller Yeah. She was born in Arizona, so taking her out in the stroller every day was easy to do. She LOVED it!! I am glad I got to spend that time with her. Carissa grew her hair out in 2006 and 2007 it was gorgeous!! A really really pretty golden blond. Approximately the end of 2007 she really wanted to cut it. Her Dad almost cried when he saw her golden locks all gone. Sorry Dad, but Carissa is getting older, ten years old now. We are going to have to get used to her making some decisions on her own.

Carissa has been asking for a CELL PHONE since she was 8 years old. When I say that I mean it is an EVERY DAY thing. "Can I have a cell phone, can I have a cell phone, can I have a cell phone" It has been ridiculous!! Well we celebrated her birthday last night and thanks to Bryan... she got what she has been begging for all these years.

This is GREAT! Her first phone call was to Kelli, who has one of those voice mail messages that tricks whoever is calling. "Hello, oh who is this again, ya well I can't answer the phone right now leave a message." It was so funny. Totally faked Carissa out. We all just watched her making her first cell phone call, and getting faked out by Kelli's message. It was great! Then she called aunt Meredith in Arizona. That was good. So I will post more later about Carissa's special day. You are a such little girl Carissa and we love you TONS!

Graffiti in Dillon Montana

2009-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

WOW! alot to blog about. Today I went to various locations in Dillon to take some cool photos. We have several areas of graffiti in the main street area by the RR tracks. I heard there was a fund raiser several years ago that allowed students to paint graffiti on a building that was to be torn down eventually. It turns out the building has asbestos, and demolition would be a harm to the community. We now have these works of "art" permanently for us to appreciate. So we appreciated them today. Candice was at a movie with her fiance' so that is why she is not in any of the photos. Only two more months until she gets MARRIED!! About eighteen days til' graduation. First things first.

PEEPS...Love 'um or hate 'um

2009-03-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

The gritty sugary texture of a freshly opened PEEP is hard to mistake for anything else. I have found that most people either love ‘um or hate ‘um there is no in-between. I personally think PEEPS, and Cadbury’s hard shell covered mini eggs are the best Easter candy. Okay, Okay I admit that a gooey melted marshmallow covered in sugar isn’t the best or most inventive Easter candy. Call me a softy, It’s the nostalgia. Yellow is still my favorite color of PEEP, and of course I buy the little chickens.

The bunnys are not really PEEPs now are they? I see they have started making Christmas trees, Valentine’s Day hearts and even Shamrocks masquerading them as “PEEPS” but I am not one to be fooled. A PEEP is only a PEEP three weeks prior to Easter and in the form of a baby chick! I won’t purchase the imposters.

SAVE THE DATE !! July 11th 2009

2009-03-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Candice and Sheyden are getting married July 11th 2009!! Save the date.

So far the plans have not been going very fast due to several other MAJOR family changes happening. First we need to get her graduated from BCHS in May, then we need to sell our Dillon home and purchase a new home in Billings. Somewhere in all that we have Carissa turning 10, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Family reunion, Cheryl's High school 20th reunion, Grandpa Hadlock's 70th birthday and on and on and on!!! I have been known to exaggerate a bit, but I swear the schedule I just laid out is NO EXAGGERATION!! Did I mention I need to find a job in Billings?
Candice and Sheyden are pretty cute together. AHHH young love. Remember when we were that age? Anyhow. We are reserving the Sleepy Hollow Golf course here in Dillon where we will hold the celebration complete with roasted pig, and 4 tier wedding cake. Candice has found a pretty gown which fits her well. That is good, very few alterations to pay for. Her colors are light yellow dark yellow, white and apricot. Well something like that. So I will keep everyone posted aas the planning continues...

Crusin' 2009 on Carnival Liberty

2009-02-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

I blew out my flip-flop, Stepped on a pop-top,
Cut my heel had to cruise on back home
But there's booze in the blender, And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on

Wastin away again in margaritaville
Searching for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame
But I know it's my own damn fault
Yes and some people claim that there's a woman to blame
And I know it's my own damn fault

Did we go to church while we were on vacation? Why yes we did. Bryan & I went to two different churches both Catholic I believe. I took some beautiful pictures, and our driver caught this picture of us in a Cozumel chapel. What an amazing image. The orb which usually follows Bryan is not present, but the brillance of the cross behind us came out quite interesting.

Pulling faces!!

2009-01-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

Bryan will kill me for this, but awhile ago Kelli was taking pictures and we were just goofing around. We came up with some dandys. It was kinda fun. We never do stuff like that, so here they are. Bryan has some nice ones eh?

Kelli teaching the Puppy "TRICKS"

2009-01-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

It turns out ROSCO is not retarded!! Kelli has taken pretty much full responsibility for him since we got him. Also, since she has been grounded Kelli has not been able to do anything else, besides read about 5 books and train the puppy. So I will brag a little bit. Rosco can now jump through a hoop, sit, down, paw, come (well mostly) and kennel. Just a few she has worked on the past few weeks. Now I hope I can get her to spend time working with TIKA. I have had full responsibility of TIKA, and so far besides having dog aggression, running away to chase a freakin' basset hound, and being at my feet (tripping me) constantly, we are making progress. I like to think that anyway. Here are the pictures of ROSCO.

These pictures don't truly depict how good he is now. He LEAPS right through the hoop catching quite a bit of air like a baby gazelle just learning how to prance. He has the German Shepherd stroll all right, when he is not leaping around the living room that is. I was going to make sure he was okay before I blogged what happened to him just before we got him. ROSCO was outside playing with the large Shepherd dogs. Upon coming inside the breeders house, he stuck his head in a bag of adult dog food and started munching away. Sally caught him just as he took a big crunch and clapped her hands at him. He got startled and inhaled the adult dog food into his lung, and wedged a piece in his throat. To make a long story short, he couldn't breathe. Bill pounded on his chest for 10 minutes and poured water in his mouth (hoping to soften the food so it would go down)and got the vet on the phone. During all this Bill was still pounding on ROSCO's chest which eventually saved his life. ROSCO was at one point dead with no heart beat. He even released his bowels which is what animals do upon death. Somehow his heartbeat returned and the food moved out so he could breathe again. His name was D.D.W.(dead dog walking) when we took him home, but ROSCO fits him so well we immediately changed it. I am both relieved and thrilled that ROSCO is not permanently retarded from that accident. His progress with learning things, and his desire to please us is giving me confidence he is an exceptional boy with great potential. I'll blog about TIKA as soon as she does something better that chase a Basset Hound three blocks and crap on the neighbors lawn (ha ha).

Sakahara Home to be listed for SALE

2009-01-06T00:10:00.000-08:00

I just found out that we have been given the green light to go ahead and list our home with Bramlette Company. This has to happen in order for us to move to Billings. Bryan called today and told me to list it. So, these are some pictures of the clean areas of the house. I have to clean the rest of it (2 other levels) and take some photos at a later date. My house NEVER looks like this. These areas are always filled with kids, coats, books, blankets, and puppies. I had to wait for everyone to go to bed in order to get these photos. This will be interesting to see if the girls can pull it together enough for me to add photos of bedrooms. Oh ya, there are 2 full bathrooms and Bryan's 1/2 bath. The girls' bathroom is toxic. I haven't been down there in weeks, so I am scared to look. At least I got 2 of them cleaned. I love this house. I hate to be moving from it. As you can see we picked bold colors (paint that is) in the main areas of the house because we planned on staying here for a good long time. I let Candice and Kelli choose their own room colors so you will see they are a little different. We used really good paint though, so it would be a shame to paint over it. Hopefully someone wil like our home, and buy it. The market is scary. We are in a recession ya know. So I will not be surprised if this takes awhile. I will post more photos when the rooms are presentable.

27 days until Jamaican Paradise!!

2009-01-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

This blog is for you Bryan!! Count down has begun!

If you thought the Mexican Riviera 2008 was a great time well 27 more days until JAMAICAN PARADISE baby!!
I think I am going to look into becoming a travel agent so we can enjoy this type of get away every year. Maybe I
could throw some good deals in the direction of family or friends when an opportunity would present itself.
I am ready for good food, relaxation, fruity umbrella drinks, basking in the sun, clear blue waters of the Western Caribbean
and all the snorkeling I can tolerate. My plan to lose 20 pounds has not happened, but I am bringing out the bikini.
That is a threat and a promise. Who cares? Vacation time is time to let it all hang out I say. MARGARITAVILLE
is calling and we are answering in 27 days. YES!

Happy Birthday Bryan.

2008-12-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Bryan!! A little late blogging this, but nothing fancy for the 39th birthday. I made this delicious bundt cake using Alder's recipe. It turned out pretty great. I wish the mocha frosting was a little stronger, but it was okay. We had lots of things to do, including Candice's birthday, a play (HAIRSPRAY) we went to in awful stormy weather, and Carissa and I just took a test in karate. We are busy, but wanted to do something for Bryan. The biggest news of the month was that Bryan was offered the position of State Staff Ranger for the B.L.M. which means another move for our family. We will be putting our house up for sale in January and are already looking into homes in the Billings area. Bryan has been out of town on and off for work this month. Nothing different there, but we are glad when he is home. Billings will be alot different than the small towns we have grown used to these past ten years. It isn't all the opportunities for education, sports or shopping that I am excited for but it is the restaurants which have me excited for the move. More on that later.

I can't add any pictures. BOO HOO someone help!

2008-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Hey, I haven't blogged Thanksgiving, our trip to Utah, Karate, or our trip to Bozeman to see the off broad way play HAIRSPRAY. We really do have fun around here, but I am frusterated with blogging because it won't let me add any pictures the way I used to. I will get into it again when I can add pictures. If any of you can tell me why I can't add photos please feel free. Thanks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Candice

2008-11-24T20:23:00.000-08:00

Today is Candice's 18th Birthday. I can't believe how the time has flown by! I remember so many cute things she did as a little kid/baby. One of her first words was "LOOAH" while standing in her crib freshly awake from her nap, (age one)she screamed out "LOOAH" (Lois)for my mom to come get her out. All my family adored her and literally fought to be the first one to rescue her from her crib. Alan, Meredith, even Riley my cousin loved playing with Candice. Her messes were pretty bad. Getting into lotion, butter, tooth paste, and fingernail polish just to name a few. Granny was a pretty big part of her first couple yars. The "LOOAH" incident was just a funny one time thing. She must have heard Grandpa calling Granny Lois , then she picked up on it. Candice called my mom "Franny" for about two years.

We had her a suprise party on Saturday. I am gonna blog about that later. Here are a couple of pictures. Love ya Candice! Hope you had a great B-day.

ORBS if you believe in them. I do.

2008-11-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

I have a few pictures of ORBS. This is one of them. I thought Diana might be interested. I have several pictures taken at the same time as this one and there were no ORBS, so what do you think about that? Bryan gets ORBS all the time. I never get them but I want them. I saved a picture for Mom of her and her sister Neva right after Joyce died. There was an ORB directly above their heads (they were hugging). Its a mystery.

Where is our gentle Greta?

2008-11-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is what Greta thinks of the new additions. The most gentle dog in the world has turned into a jealous older sister!! The puppies have ruined her life as she knew it. Now, she no longer has the quite days to herself with tons of praise, attention, and affection in the evenings, but the puppies have taken over. Don't worry. From this picture she looks posessed snarling and growling but the baby Tika came and licked her razor sharp teeth as she continued growling, and Greta didn't even do a thing.

Rosco & Tika new additions

2008-11-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

Two of those little puppies that we have been cuddling for ten weeks are now a permanent addition to our household!!!
These are the cutest German Shepherds ever! It has been 5 days now, and life is a little turned upside down. All I really wanted to do by bringing them home for an hour was to let Bryan see their darling little faces (and smell their puppy breath.) I truly didn't think we would get one, let alone TWO! These are just special dogs, and I think if we all pitch in, we will have them trained in no time.

BULBS for my birthday

2008-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

I never blogged about it, but I got the most wonderful birthday present from Diana. I just wanted her to know that the bulbs got planted. It was fun! I made Candice help me. Can't wait til Spring.

FULL MOON from my front porch.

2008-10-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

The only sexy vampire I know. My sister Diana. Full moon tonight.

SNOW in October... camping at Bannack

2008-10-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

It has snowed for three days now!! I am so mad!! I finally had a day off on Friday, I had some big plans too. Well all my plans went to crap when I woke up Friday morning to windy, wet snow!! So I didn't get much of anything done this weekend, but I didn't entirely hate it either.

We just had a family spaghetti dinner. Bryan's mom and Paul brought over the spaghetti (I provided the salad)it was sooo good. We just sat eating our spaghetti and looking out the window at the blustery snow falling outside. I was glad to be in the house!

Check out my Halloween decorations. They look so pathetic amid all the snow!
BURRRR!
This is what the weather was like just just eight days ago when we went camping at Bannack. I probably had more fun camping last weekend than I had all summer. It was the PERFECT camping weather. Just a litle chill in the air, perfect for a camp fire. It even rained in the middle of the night, so that fresh smell of rain was in the air when we woke up. Great for sitting around the fire tellin jokes and what not. I learned a new tongue twister remind me to say it for you if you see me sometime soon before I forget it.

Candice Sakahara High School senior 2008

2008-09-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

CANDICE'S SENIOR Pictures.
Yes she is a senior, and will be 18 on November 24th. Bryan told Candice last night "You have two weeks to get a job, get a license, and for hell's sake learn how to cook something besides macaroni and cheese and toast." (I added the for hell's sake,but for emphasis.) Yes it has gotten ridiculous. Candi is a good kid though, and I thank God for that. Really she stays out of trouble, and does okay in school, does pretty much whatever we ask of her. Candice has a good personality and avoids confrontation whenever possible. We love her! I just thing it is time for her to grow up. What 18 year old do you know who doesn't have a drivers license and could care less? EXACTLY! I seriously don't know why she won't go get it. Well it would help out to have another driver who could run errands for me. So this is why we gave her the 2 week deadline. Low and behold she got a job TODAY!! She is gonna work at the local Cinema Theatre. Last year she worked at McDonalds and for some strange reason she hated it. I loved working at McDonalds. I am glad she found something so fast. I think her plans for next year after graduation are to go to University of Mt. Western right here locally. I just hope we can prepare her for the harsh realities of being on her own. Enough about that. I just wanted to show a couple of the photos I took of Candice for her Senior year. I have dozens of good ones to choose from, but here are a few.

Bucky Beaver 2008 mascot BCHS

2008-09-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Kelli Sakahara is the BEAVER for BCHS this year. Sorry Kelli if you are still trying to keep this "Top Secret" but I am telling everyone who looks at this blog (Meredith you are the only one.) I wanted my girls to be involved this year, and Kelli came up with this idea. I loved the idea of her being "Bucky" and so far Kelli is doing a great job! It is so fun for all of us.

Last night was homecoming. Kelli was really cute out there doing all the cheers with the cheerleaders doing kicks and even a cartwheel all while in the mascot costume. Pretty talented I say. The BEAVERS won the game 51-21 and I think I caught a cold while watching, but it is not that bad. My question to Kelli is "Kell do you smile inside the costume when posing for pictures?" I was just wondering, because it seems like a natural thing to do smile for the camera, but not realizing that you are inside the costume. Just a thought.

MY PUPPY (I wish) she is a beauty.

2008-09-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

Just opened her eyes, isn't she a beauty? This one is the lightest one of the bunch, and petite too. I just want to add these larger pictures so everyone can appreciate her cuteness.

Puppies... and more puppies!!

2008-09-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Kelli and I have been snuggling puppies this afternoon. These are Sally and Bill Foster's puppies that I have been wanting to cuddle since last year before they were even conceived. I literally have wanted one of their German Shepherds since I worked at Wells Fargo Bank. Bill would come through the Drive-Thru and bring the dogs for a treat (we handed out bones to the dogs.) Every time he came to the bank I just loved his dogs. They had two females at the time Star and Berlin. These are Star's puppies, they are about 17 days old. I got a message on my answering machine saying "Cher you gotta come see these puppies, they are getting awfully cute. One just bit me and barked at me." Well that sounded like an exaggeration. How could a 17 day old puppy be doing that? I had to see for myself. Sure enough they are vocal, eyes opened and wandering around. Darling little things!! Too bad I can't have one right now. We are so pleased with Greta!! I kind of feel like we were lucky to get a dog that is PERFECT! Well she minds, follows commands, loves us, doesn't chew or tear things up (has never chewed stuff up) she goes in a kennel/crate and is just an all around great dog. Oh ya...Greta also poops on command.

That is very important I think.

After we played with the puppies, I came home and made a delicious sandwich for us to share as we watched the SEAHAWKS lose. Well Bryan watched them lose, I didn't watch it so he couldn't blame me for being bad luck. This was truly a masterpiece, and quite tasty!!

"Clowning around" Labor Day parade

2008-09-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

"PURPLE AFRO" made an appearance at the Labor Day parade in Dillon.

We somehow volunteered to be a part of the L.D.S. float in the parade. The theme was some kind of breast cancer awareness theme. Our float had a giant pink ribbon and a bunch of kids were clowns on the float. Carissa is the blue hair clown next to "PURPLE AFRO" and her wig was falling off the whole time. She had a blast throwing candy to all the kids along side the road. We went through alot of candy!!

Cheryl Street

2008-08-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend!! The camera has been dead, so we can't post any photos of our fun weekend at the fair, rodeo, and carnival. Last night we had a good time at the rodeo here in Dillon. Saw a guy get bucked off on his head literally we thought he would be paralized. It happened right in front of us. Carissa and I bought a GIANT bag of cotton candy (yuck) we ate most of it. Carissa had a total BLAST on the rides!
So, I realized I haven't posted about our trip to Billings Montana. Bryan and I went there for the weekend of our anniversiary. There was a work thing he had there, so we made a weekend of it. We went to the zoo, and drove around the whole city, saw the temple etc. etc. but the thing that interested me most was the "CHERYL STREET" this is the first time I have ever seen a street with my name on it. So I got out of the car and took a picture by "CHERYL STREET" cool hugh? I just recently cut off my hair, so it looks a bit different. I'll have to post something about that too.

Back to school BBQ

2008-08-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

BACK TO SCHOOL BBQ, YUMMY! We had a little gathering at the house. It ended up being more chaotic than we planned. Good food, good friends, good times... good times. Well Bryan refused to hand over his BBQ spatula to me. All I wanted to do was help. So I am offically banned from grilling (GOOD) and I don't even care.

Kelli invited Tiff and Bethany, Candice invited Shayden and his brother Ryan, I invited Bryan's Mom Joann and Paul, and the Ormes. It was a full house.

Summer is almost over.

2008-08-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

This is the last weekend of the summer for us here in Dillon. School starts on Monday like it or not. I think we are all ready for school to start. Next weekend is fair week over Labor Day. We are going to have a BLAST at the fair, rodeo, concert, and carnival. I decided to just create a photo collage of the last few adventures we had this summer. Some of the photos are of the Yellowstone camping trip, a visit to the campground from Grandma JoAnn and Paul, the zoo, our anniversiary, the day Carissa got a perm, Candice doing a "STRONG HAND" to Kelli and more. Hopefully we will make more great memories to share this weekend.

Our littlest...so BIG! BRACES are OFF!!

2008-08-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is Carissa right before getting her braces OFF!! I know some of you also have had children in braces, but being in small towns and moving as much as we have, it has been a nightmare at times making it to appointments, driving two hours just to have the doctor spend 5 minutes with the kids. Our adventures in getting braces started in 2006 in Lakeview Oregon The closest orthodontist to Cedarville California where we were living at the time. Approx. a 1 hour drive to get there. Now we are in Montana the closest Ortho was Idaho Falls (2 hr. drive) or Bozeman (2 hrs. drive) so we picked Montana. While in Bozeman Carissa and I had a special day at the mall and driving around. She is the youngest daughter and we sometimes don't get to spend too much time one on one without interruptions.

Here she is without those nasty braces!! I can't tell you all the whole ordeal this past year since I promised Carissa I would never divulge her secret, but let me say I am relieved as much as she is not to be dealing with them anymore.

Carissa is really growing up fast! I am not ready for this. I just wish I could shrink her back to age three when she had the S.F.L.B. due to a bad haircut from a babysitter and she bit her toenails. Where has the time gone?

VACATION 2008 Yellowstone National Park

2008-08-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to see Yellowstone, you know, "Old Faithful", wildlife, camping, good fun right? WRONG! For those of you considering Yellowstone National Park as a vacation, you may want to take into consideration that about 100 thousand other people are considering the SAME THING!! Now those of you who know Bryan, know that he does not appreciate crowds. You also know that in his line of work he deals with jerks on a daily basis, so being in a crowded place with plenty of jerks speaking all different languages was enough after the first day!! I would agree with Bryan... and I did. So our Yellowstone trip lasted about 24 hours. For the time we were there, we managed to have some fun!

After we decided to bag the Yellowstone idea, due to the crowded camping grounds, nowhere for Greta to run, and a minor accident backing in the trailer, we went to a bear park in West Yellowstone. At the bear park we FINALLY got to see wild life. Prior to that, all we saw was a chipmunk. The bears at the bear park were great. Bryan took alot of pictures. The park also had some wolves, but they were asleep the whole time we were there.

I will have more to add later. We spent the rest of the week at the Red Mountain Campground in Norris Montana. We had great fun there. Candice missed her boyfriend, Kelli missed her friends, so it might have been a little torture for them, but I know Carissa and Greta had fun. I had a great time! The last 2 days we got some rain and had a terrific storm at the campground. I saw eagles, rainbows, wildflowers, saw an osprey dive into the Madison River and catch a fish (twice) and we floated the river one day. So it was a nice vacation. Here is a photo Bryan took the last night.

"Bannack Days" Cher as a slightly soiled dove

2008-07-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

Many of you who know me, know that I am not much of a spectator but I would always rather be a part of the action. Well I got my chance to be a "Slightly Soiled Dove" during Bannack Days. Never heard of it, well another name for it would be, dance hall girl, bar maid or floozie. Yes I was a floozie. It was fun. How it all came about was just a fluke. Candice has a friend who's mom works for the forrest service and she does alot of volunter work. So, we went to Bannack Days only to enjoy the costumes, people and fun. Come to find out, there was an extra costume and it fit me! So I was part of the show. I was in a stagecoach robbery and bank robbery. I even got to steal the saddle bags full of gold. It was funny. I had no idea what I was doing. The people putting it on were really cool. I am glad they let me play.

Bannack is a little ghost town about twenty minutes south of Dillon. Bannack is open most of the year for tourists (I have never encountered any ghosts) Bannack Days is July 19th and 20th. Everything comes alive, complete with candle making, panning for gold, stagecoach robbery, gun shooting events, and lots of volunteers dressed in authentic period clothing. Several wore rendezvous regalia. Carissa had a blast on Saturday making a candle, and panning for gold. She didn't find any gold nuggetts but she got a few garnets in her gravel. That was exciting.

Won 5 lost 6 two more games to go!!

2008-07-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

Maybe I am crazy, but I take this softball stuff really seriously!! I enjoy WINNING!! I really like it when we play well!! We have really had some close games that we ended up losing, but after all was said and done, I was pleased with the way we played and had fun. We just lost our game on WEDNESDAY to Twin Bridges. It was 2-19 at the top of the fifth inning and we came back 17-19 !! Our bats were really cracking!! Kelli had a nice hit and so did I. I snagged a fly ball out in right field (we won't mention the three that I missed) but it feels good to finally catch one!! We ended up losing 17-24 something like that, but it was a really fun one.

Red Mountain Campground

2008-07-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hey! Happy 4th of July LATE! We spent the day with friends, did some fireworks, and went home by ten o'clock. Carissa and I went to the campground to visit Bryan. He had a busy weekend on the river. It seems like every body and their dogs were out at the campgrounds for the fourth. I left the two teenagers home alone!! Well it seems as if there were no problems or parties because the house was clean when I got home Sunday and everything seemed to be in order.

Granny's Iris in my yard (BEAUIFUL!)

2008-06-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

Last Summer Granny and Grandpa Hadlock took special time and went through alot of trouble to separate their Iris (my favorite perrenial)into clumps for me. They also shared with various other cousins and neighbors. These are special to my Mother and she has taken great care of them. Granny and Grandpa catagorized them into color and names. I was in such a hurry to plant them that I just put them in anywhere I could. That was exactly a year ago. Now look at the nice surprise we have been enjoying each day this Spring. Carissa is my model. Doesn't she do a great job? Looks like they are getting ready to bloom.

And the first Iris to bloom is a white one!!

Looks like we have some Iris that survived shipping and handling from Utah to Montana AND they survived a Montana winter which seemed to have lasted for seven months! The next one is my favorite, okay they ALL are my favorites!

One more reason these are special to me is because they grew in back of the home I grew up in. Mom and Dad are trying to sell the home they have owned for over 30 years. I feel like now I have a piece of it with me.

So, this is what Granny's Iris look like in MY yard. BEAUTIFUL!! The colors are amazing, ans they smell terrific! I am excited about them. Gotta love perennials.

Softball "Orme Family Dentistry"

2008-06-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hey! We have our computer back! So far it is working good. This is my first post since the loss of the computer. Candice Kelli and I are playing on a city league softball team with my friend Alder. It has been pretty fun. I feel so out of shape after each game. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, and shoulder of course. I still love it! We beat the BALL BUSTERS on wednesday!! It was awesome!

Computer still not fixed.

2008-06-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

I am so sad that I cannot load any pictures. We had a blast at the campground last weekend. FINALLY!! It was such perfect weather and we all just had a fun time! I caught my first fish (and second) and I will post pictures for you to see. It was a trout. I was determined to keep it, plus I squeezed the life out of it when I picked it up, so I guess it was better to keep that one. Kelli caught the first fish of the day in less than a minute. We also floated down the Madison River in our tubes. That was great! Softball is still going strong. We have lost a few, and it makes no sense because we are pretty good I think. I will post whenever the computer gets fixed.

My Computer is broken :(

2008-06-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the Sakahara family computer has had some virus and other stuff which they are trying to get rid of. I am sad to say that alot of fun things have happened and have never been updated. Today Candice, Mom and Mom's friend Heather went to Butte to shop for softball stuff. Mom got some cleets and pants, socks for the girls. We are set now to play softball. Orme Family Dentistry has sponsored the team. The shirts are cute, and the first two games have been played. Lost the first one, but won the second. Due to the cold weather in Montana the day of the second game, Mom pulled every muscle in her body!! Candice was hit in the head with a ball (OUCH) But Candice made several great plays as catcher. Kelli had some nice snags in the outfield. All of us hit pretty well and Candice really popped one out there nicely which went into a hole. Lucky no one caught it! More on the softball team when we can post pictures.

Planted some trees.

2008-05-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

It has been raining alot the past week. Memorial day weekend was very rainy but we still went camping to the Red Mountain camp ground. We also saw the movies Indiana Jones and the Prince Caspian while we were in Bozeman. No time to blog today, but I finally planted the trees I wanted to. Two Crabapple trees. One doesnt look so good, but the other is blooming already.

The birthday party, week of birthday stuff

2008-05-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Mom Dad and Carissa on her birthday.
Lewis Orme is watching her blow out her candles.

Here are some of the birthday pictures from this past week. I made Carissa fresh strawberries and cream on her birthday for breakfast. They were good and she loved them.

9 year olds SLEEPOVER blah!

2008-05-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here at a little after midnight just wondering why I agreed to this sleepover thing in the first place. Carissa turned nine this week. It is the age where every little girl thinks they need a SLEEPOVER party. Well this has been an interesting one I'm a tellin ya! Lets start out with Monday when the birthday festivities all began. Due to a field trip on Tuesday, the classroom treats had to be taken in on Monday. Carissa's birthday was actually Tuesday the 13Th of May. Anyhow, first thing Monday morning we went to Safeway to get maple bars and milk for her class. That all went off without a hitch. Tuesday rolled around, and we hadn't really planned anything special for Carissa. To top it all off, Kelli had a choir concert that night we had to attend, so there wasn't much time. I got home from work around six, Bryan had cooked some chicken for us to eat. It was delicious. I got her a Happy Birthday balloon and a little treat. After we scarfed down out food it was time to go to the concert. So not much time for a Carissa party. I felt bad about that so I planned a little get together with Grandma Joann, the Orme's and our family. Wednesday night we did the whole birthday cake and ice cream with presents. We then went to a pick up softball game. It was so fun getting out there and being active again. Thursday rolled around and I was so sore I could puke from overdoing it at softball. Thursday night I hosted BUNCO and had to get that rolling. I guess it was a fun BUNCO night although I had to kick everyone out at 8:15 because I had an appointment to get out family photos done. Bryan agreed to participate (men hate that kind of thing) with all of us. So that all went well. Friday was pretty uneventful although Kelli woke me up in the middle of the night to pick her up from the school. She went to the opera with a bus load of kids. It was hard getting back to sleep after that. So here it is Saturday, the night of the dreaded SLEEPOVER. Five little girls showed up. I thought it was a manageable number. They squealed, ran around playing in the water had a water fight with the neighbor boys, played tag, ate pizza, decorated cupcakes, watched a movie, and then at about midnight I hear someone at the door. Mariah's mom is here to pick her up!! I knew nothing of it. Apparently three little girls (9 year old mind you) brought cell phones which they used to call her mom saying Mariah was "Sick" and had to go home. Well little did I know that Valerie's mom was on her way as well. How mortified I was that they had called without me knowing, so I asked "who else is sick?" One other girl said she wanted to go home cause she was "sick". So I am baffled. I ate everything they ate so it wasn't the food. I asked Carissa if they ate anything funny and she said "no". So Carissa told me she was "sick" too. I have had it. It is after midnight so I told the 2 remaining friends that no more "sick" girls were going to call their parents. I made them go to bed. This is ridiculous! I just hope none of them puke. That would really be the SLEEPOVER to end all sleepovers.

Meredith my sistah!!

2008-05-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures to post, so I will steal one from Meredith's blog spot. I thought it was a cute one of her and Dave. Meredith is my littlest sister and the owner of the big toe I blogged about last month (I think she is mad at me.) But I love her.

29 foot Jayco Trailer HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

2008-05-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

Bryan surprised us all by actually purchasing the 29 foot Trailer that we have been eyeballing for weeks. "Happy Mother's Day" he says. Well I guess we will be making many memories in the trailer for many, many years to come. Last night we stayed at the Red Mountain Campground by the Madison River. It was our first night in the trailer. It wasn't what I imagined it to be. The wind was so bad all night long. I couldn't enjoy the fire or the river or anything. Finally we decided to just go to bed. The trailer rocked all night due to the wind being so bad (Alder I know what you were thinking.) It was pretty miserable. I didn't sleep well at all. I am glad that is wasn't far from home. We got home today at noon. I hope to try this camping thing again and again until we get it right and have a BLAST! Mel and Ruth were there in their RV and we did enjoy visiting with them and having some BBQ chicken. Kelli and Carissa made me a S'More. I did enjoy that. I am glad I got to see Bryan more this weekend. His schedule is getting busier now the Summer is approaching. I guess I will track him down in the trailer and set up camp in order to see him. Sounds like fun.

I was TAGGED by Alder

2008-05-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Alder…here are my answers
5 Things people don’t know about me
I have one single arm pit hair that is about an inch long.
I secretly like old men
Vampires turn me on
I have a cauliflower ear
I have a six inch scar on my tummy (when I lay on my side it looks like a but crack)
5 Places I have lived
Sierra Vista Arizona
In a cabin in the middle of nowhere Montana (3 mos.)
Tacoma Washington
Orem Utah
Cedarville California
5 bad habits
I bite my fingernails and spit them
Pick the mascara off my eyelashes
Easily distracted
Pile stuff up on the counter, then put it in boxes “to go through later”
Hit the SNOOZE button more than once
5 months ago
I worked for Wells Fargo Bank and was considering my options
Bought a Wii
Got a cute pair of glasses which I rarely wear
Bought this computer I am blogging on
Was 15 pounds lighter
5 years ago
I competed for Mrs. Montana America and won 1st runner up (it was pathetic)
I was teaching the “Eddie Eagle” program for the FNRA in Montana (it is a gun accident prevention program) it helped save at least one life that I know of.
I was doing Tai*Bo with Billy Blanks every day.
10 Years ago
Bryan was beginning his career with the Border Patrol, I was wanting a baby really bad and working for a furniture store in Arizona.

Hot Wings BABY YAAAAA!

2008-05-06T20:23:00.001-07:00

Here is the yummy food we had last weekend. I wish I had some in front of me right now. Carissa can really go to town on the hot wings. She almost matches Bryan Bite for bite. Bryan is the hot wing chef at our house.

Mouth Watering

2008-05-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

I took some mouthwatering photos of the dinner we had tonight. Alder, Aaron and their boys came over also Joann and Paul Dallas (Bryan's mom and her husband) Bryan BBQ ed delicious cabobs and hot wings. I will get some pictures loaded. I am STILL so full even after 5 hours.

Tag you are it.

2008-04-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

To complete this tag you must:

1-pick up nearest book (at least 123 pages long)

2-turn to page 123

3-find 5th sentence

4-post 5th sentence on your blog

5-tag 5 people

Jason breathed in and out a few times before closing his eyes and resting back against his pillows. (The secret journal of Brett Colton by:KayLynn Mangum)

Clark's Lookout above Dillon

2008-04-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

We climbed up to Clark's Lookout. About a ten minute climb (just my speed.) I feel kinda pathetic that I classified this as a "hike" since I am so out of shape. I just keep telling myself that even the longest journey begins with one small step.

Carissa Loves Greta. They made the climb.
Our next "hike" will be to the top of the "B" on the mountain in the photo of Kelli below (top left corner.) We tried to go there today, but I didn't know how to access the trail. It will be a bit more challenging don't you think.

Skipping Rocks

2008-04-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Carissa now knows how to pick out a PERFECT rock for skipping.

This looks like a great one!!

Carissa was able to skip this one three times.

Skipping Sunday School

2008-04-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

This winter has been dragging on and on and dragging us all down. It was such a gorgeous day we had to go on a little trip. The girls and I wanted to see if the reservoir had thawed out or not. Thankfully the water was ready to play in. It was too cold to swim in but Greta had a blast!! The girls threw rocks in the water and threw sticks for Greta to chase.

Iw was soooooo nice out there. I wore a sweatshirt because I am always cold, but I wish I had brought a swim suit and a lounge chair.

"Greta" our sweet sweet German Shepherd

2008-04-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Greta is the sweetest, most loyal, and beautiful dog in the world! She is so eager to please us, and has the nicest personality. We have had her for Approx 4 years I believe her birthday is April 28th 0r 29th So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Greta. We love ya!

How could I forget to include Greta in our family profile???

Mel and Ruth are here for the season.

2008-04-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

We hope to do a lot of fishing and camping this summer.

It is always a blast with Mel and Ruth. Mel is truly a character.

Bry and Mel feed off of each other, each one trying to out wit the other.

Good jokes...good times, good times.

Mel And Ruth Laurent just arrived in Montana for the season. They are campground hosts in Madison County over in Ennis. I can't remember the exact name of the campground. You can go to their blog to find out. They are travel agents for Unforgettable Travel and good friends. Ruth set us up on our cruise earlier this year, then she and Mel joined us for our first cruise.

We are so glad they did. It was a blast!

Granny & Grandpa Hadlock

2008-04-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

These are my parents Lowell and Lois Hadlock. For those of you who wondered why I am the way I am.

Meredith's famous BIG TOE gotta love it baby!

2008-04-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

Having an enormous BIG TOE is nothing to be ashamed of. I am proud of Meredith's toe. I am so inspired by it, I am posting it on my blog. Feel free to comment.

Carissa plays soccer

2008-04-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Carissa had her first soccer game on Saturday. It was absolutely FREEZING standing there watching her. We later got SNOW! This is ridiculous it is the middle of April for crying out loud! Just last weekend we all got sunburned playing outside in 70 degree weather. I even mowed the lawn for the first time this year (2008) now we have SNOW. I guess this is Montana.

Alder Orme

2008-04-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

Alder might hate this picture (it's cute though)

so I will have to post another one of her and Lewis.

Just wanted to introduce you to Alder Orme. She is my best friend, and hilarious!! Candice and Kelli love having her as a teacher in their young women's group. In fact if Alder isn't going to an activity the girls DON'T want to go either. We work together at Orme Family Dentistry.

ORMEEHEADS Woo Hoo!

2008-04-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we spent some time with the Orme's. Dr. Orme (Aaron) and Alder Orme have become our great friends. We love them to death. I have adopted Alder as my sister as well as my best friend. Their two boys are the cutest kids ever!! It was Lewie's Birthday party. It's always fun when we get together. Grant enjoyed his hot dog as you can see!

THE BRACES ARE OFF (except Carissa's)

2008-04-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Bryan took the girls (Candice & Kelli) to Bozeman today to get their braces off. Kelli has had hers for almost three years due to our family's cross country move in the middle of her treatment. They both started a new treatment plan here in Montana Approx. a year and a half ago. Their teeth look GREAT! I am amazed at how it changed the whole look of their face. BEAUTIFUL!

Sakahara: Wasted some time today. Whats up with that?

2008-04-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sakahara: Wasted some time today. Whats up with that?
http://csakahara.avonrepresentative.com

Wasted some time today. Whats up with that?

2008-04-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

I ended up wasting some time today. I got off early from work, and tootled around the town doing various odd errands. I delivered some AVON http://csakahara.avonrepresentative.com http://csakahara.avonrepresentative.com

BOOKS to some customers. I am a terrible AVON lady. I would prefer customers do their own ordering on the internet via my web site. I have dozens of brochures that need to be handed out. Anyhow, for those of you who wanted my link to the AVON site, there it is.

Easter at Alan and Alicia's

2008-04-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Easter was a blast with uncle Alan. We got to visit with everyone, and go to an easter egg hunt and see Granny and Grandpa. The kids all had a blast. Lots and lots of Candy! Here are a few pictures. Carissa enjoyed riding with Alan on his four wheeler and other toys.

2008-04-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Kind of a crazy day at work. It went by so fast! Not enough time to get everything done. Bryan is in Las Vegas. It is 75 degrees there and it snowed here today. Where would I rather be? Well I just found these pictures from Granny's house last spring. I was given some starts of these flowers and I am very eager to see if they are still alive after this freezing cold winter.

April 3rd 2008

2008-04-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

I finally have some time to play on the computer. I worked all day at Orme Family Dentistry where I work as a dental assistant. It was a pretty uneventful day at work. Right after work, Kelli came to the office with Greta our German Shepherd. She wanted me to take her to her music lesson. Kelli is preparing for the 2008 music feastival in Butte which is next week. She is mad at me because I wasn't able to get her braces off in time for the festival but they will be of a week later. Both the girls (Candi and Kell) are getting their braces off at the same time. We will still have Carissa in braces for at least a year. Greta got to go play at Grandma Joann's while we did the music lesson. After that we played 3 volleyball games at the college. Candice and I are in a little tournament with some neighbors. We have lost every game so far. Woo hoo! Bryan got his fishing license and went for the first time today. Carissa slammed her face into the bathroom door. She now has a fat lip. So sad. Just another day in paradise.

Spent the day painting with Alder Orme

2008-03-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

We are pooped after a day of painting at Alder's new home. Bryan came too, and we are so glad he did. It looks great!

Just saw the movie JUNO

2008-03-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

We just saw the movie JUNO. I didn't really care for it. I kind of liked the Character Juno, however I feel the movie painted a really casual picture of teenage pregnancy.

Easter at Big Al's

2008-03-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

We are going to Big Al's house for Easter. This is my first post on the BLOG. So stay tuned for some hilarious photos from out trip to the uterus (Utah).