Gardner Village

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call letting me know my niece, LaNita was in town with her hubby and little boy, clear from Oklahoma! We wanted to get together, and since Emily was off from school for fall break and I wanted to do something fun with her, we decided to meet at Gardner Village - it was great to see LaNita, and her little Dallas is just the cutest, most handsome little guy!


If you live in the Salt Lake area, you MUST go to Gardner Village. Such a cool place. My description wouldn't do it justice. It has lots of shops with way cute stuff, mostly home decor, but so much other stuff too. Way cute stuff. They go all out for Halloween, so the atmosphere is just so fun. We started with pony rides and a petting zoo:

Dallas McDonald

Emily and her friend, Maddie

With Emily's love for horses, this pony got lots of attention!

Around the village there were lots of lifesize witches, all throughout. They had a scavenger hunt which was fun for the girls (and us) to do, going around finding the different witches listed on the hunt. There were clues to help them know the different witches to look for. Great fun for all of us. We didn't spend too much time in the shops since there's was LOTS for little kids NOT to touch. But it was fun to look here and there.

The witch who was "ready for a hug"

My own little witch

Dallas & LaNita

We found all 14 of the witches and went to the bakery to redeem our chocolate chip cookies for turning in our completed scavenger hunt sheets. What a fun way to spend the afternoon. The weather couldn't have been better, and it was wonderful to see LaNita, Josh, and Dallas again!

HELP! Getting unwanted presents from Chipper!

CHIPPER

I need some help and advice - if you have any experience with dogs, maybe you can give your thoughts...

As most of you know, we have a sweet little dog named Chipper. He's 4 1/2 years old and has been housetrained for about the past 3 1/2 years. Several months ago he started doing his business behind our big screen t.v. We wouldn't find it until way later when we'd be back there working with wires or something. A real bummer. I've tried to be better about keeping track of what he does when he's outside and sometimes putting him in his kennel if I know it's been awhile since he's done #2. Well, this morning, I found that Chipper has moved his location to Emily's bedroom - a pile from a day or two ago and a fresh pile this morning. AAAGGGHHH!

If he hadn't been a member of our family for the past 4 1/2 years, I would put an ad in the paper TODAY to find him a new home. But he is Emily's best little companion here, our primary reason for getting him the first place, so I need advice on how to solve this problem quickly! Do I have to totally start over with housetraining and keeping him kenneled or with me at all times? Do I only put the food out for a little while and then take it away? Any help would be appreciated! I'm totally grossed out and can't handle much more!

Signed,

Desperate Dog Mom