Our family has become water babies lately. We’ve been in the pool for four days straight! We went in on Friday afternoon, not really expecting Maya to join us but hoping she would learn to love the water. Now four days later, she is rarely getting out of the water and jumping in to go grab her toys. She’s become a swimming fanatic! Which is great because she burns so much energy that way. Then we meet her friends at the park and then jog home and she’s POOPED! Which is great. I’ve finished Be the Pack Leader and am now listening to Cesar’s Way – he exercises his pack for about 5-6 hours a day! Whew! So I’ve been on Craigslist looking for a treadmill and bike – I don’t dare try roller blades! I found a Raleigh Mountain Bike that is reasonably priced and on my way to work. Hopefully I’ll be picking it up this week. One person we go to church with bikes 30 miles a day! Whew! I’d love to work up to just 5-10 miles a day. I’m completely bike ignorant so it looks like a great bike. So long as it works I am very happy.

With all the exercise Maya has been very trainable as well as very energetic at the same time. I don’t know what it is about water but it always brings out this super hyper side of Maya and always did the same for our last dogs – Scout and Conker. What gives?

Maya has been coming along so well lately that I have been able to let her off leash outside of her doggie play groups. Meaning, yesterday when the kids and I walked to the park, I was able to just let her go and when we went for our nightly jog last night I was able to let her go off leash as well. It’s awesome.

The kids were eating lunch yesterday with some meat and cheese and after “claiming my space” as pack leader, amazingly she just laid down.

I was so proud of her! Last night, we even were able to let her sleep with her kennel open. Yay! She’s coming along so nicely.

The Illusion collar/leash came yesterday so I was excited to try that bad boy out. It works so well (although is a bit frustrating to put on – but I’m sure I’ll get used to it). We ran across a cat last night and I did some challenge training with her. She sat while I called the cat to me, and petted it. At one point I did have to lay her down, but overall she did very well for her first time.

All this dog training is taking away time and focus from knitting (*cries*) and this whole religion headache. Steve’ oldest brother, Rob, always asks, “Why?” And right now I feel like I am doing the same thing.

During worship on Sunday they sang, “Fields of Grace” by Big Daddy Weave. When we first left the LDS church, this song became a quick favorite because the lyrics really connected with what I was feeling and going through.

There’s a place where religion finally dies

There’s a place where I loose my selfish pride

This two week series is something I’m looking forward to because it really gets into the theology of the Gospel – sin, justification, grace, works. It promises to be very thought provoking. I’m meeting with the missionaries again tomorrow night – so I best be writing up my question list – I’d forgotten a lot of my old questions from before. I sheepishly admit that I am REALLY stuck on this Godhead doctrine. When I spoke to my parents about it my Mamau was like, “I think you tend to get stuck on unimportant things.”

I reminded her that Joseph Smith taught that it was the FIRST principal of the Gospel to understand the nature of God. Which is what I’m trying to do. Which then leads to more questions – what is “worship” inside the LDS church? Referring back to the Fall – why is Eve declared to have “transgressed” but her transgression is looked upon favorably? In the Hebrew it appears that a transgression is much worse than a sin (to err, or miss the mark). I am going to tackle some of the Book of Abraham today, more specifically to read about Abraham and God and of course the issues regarding this particular book. I’ve pulled out some reading from my LDS box and will also be pulling out a Protestant book on theology as well.

I have also decided to ask my Pastor questions as well. He raises good points and issues, but I find myself echoing Steve’s brother – why?

I feel like such a pest.

Thankfully, Steve is looking into renting a cabin in August in Cedar City for a long weekend. I cannot wait. My birthday and our anniversary is just around the corner – yeppie! That’s it for now. Gotta go tackle the pile of laundry that’s been building up.