Cali Dog.

Remember our pooch? She's still around!

Much happier now in fact. She has taken up residence at the farm where she roams freely with her pudgy sidekick Patty. She is still just as soft, fiesty, adventurous, growly with dogs, loving with people, ready to fight, and perfectly pushoverish with the boys as ever.

If she looks blissfully content here on the farm, it's because she is! She is a farm dog through and through, and she looks so pretty playing the part.

Scenes from Memorial Day '09

AWESOME WEEK-END.

Nighttime.

He is just so darn adorable. cute jammies...spilled cheerios...close by his papa and cali's side. A pretty good ending to my day.

For all you dog-lovin' readers...

A Dog's Purpose (from a 6-year-old).

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife,Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience. The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why." Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The six-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like: When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy. Take naps. Stretch before rising. Run, romp, and play daily. Thrive on attention and let people touch you. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk. Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

Week-end Warriors

Things we got accomplished this week-end:

1. Took care of a very sick baby

2. Cleaned out the garage

3. Built a shelf for Ben's room

4. Painted a toy tractor that used to be Brad's 

5. Tuned up the lawn mower

6. Planted flower and onion bulbs

7. Did 7 loads of laundry

8. Cleaned the house including the bathrooms (been way to long!)

9. Taught Katie and Ash yoga

10. Brought all the potted plants outside

11. Brought out patio furniture

12. Organized the office 

13. Organized my yoga training folders

14. Washed the couch slipcover

15. Played outside with Ben

16. Worked on homework

17. Watched "The Terminal" (It was ok...but I hated the end)

18. Scheduled a long-over-due sushi date with our neighbors

19. Watered 

20. Worked reallllllly hard at getting Ben to sleep for naps and bedtime

AND...

21. Had our first cook-out! Hooray! Yummy hamburger steaks with potatoes/onions/squash cooked in foil. It was divine!

Brad playing with Cali while being Grill-Master and Ben running outside to join in the fun...

puppy love.

here's a couple of more pics of the cute new puppies in our lives.

PUPPIES!

Ma and Da have two new baby beagles...they are the darndest things ever! Named for the Peanuts characters: Patty and Lucy.

Aren't they adorable!?

they love each other.

There's no rest around here, even for the dog. Here's ben crawling over and waking cali up from her nap...

and his punishment for doing it!

Sally Walker.

Sadly we lost our little Sally pup on July 30th. She was just over a year old and though short, she had a very full and eventful life.

Last July we surprised Daddy with her for his birthday. Ma and I saw her in the Walmart parking lot and knew immediately that she had to join our family. Dad grew up having beagles and had always wanted one. When we looking at all the adorable puppies, Sally was the one who instantly walked over to mama. She wanted to come with us...and so she did.

Daddy was shocked! It was love at first sight and how could it not be! Little Sally Walker was spoiled rotten from that moment on. She had to be just about the cutest thing you've ever laid eyes on. Her fur was so soft and her ears were big enough to belong to a basset hound. They nearly drug on the ground! She always looked dressed up with her eyeliner on...she was just so pretty.

Her and Cali were best friends. They terrorized each other and loved each other simultaneously. Sally loved living on the farm, but she was never brave enough to venture out unless she had her sidekick with her. However, that was the only thing Sally wasn't brave enough for. Within the comfort zone of her yard, she was fearless. This brought alot of suffering to the precious girl...being hit by the paper-boy, getting kicked by a cow, and eventually being run over. She was too brave for her own good. She had an adventurous spirit and she was a bundle of fun.

She loved her family. She slept with her Daddy every single night and loved to be rubbed on. She was so darn cute that she was rarely told no and this lead to her diet of human sweets and treats. She knew exactly how to work Ma and Da by sitting up like a circus dog and showing those sweet eyes....she rarely didn't get what she was after. She was the perfect puppy, so loving and sweet. We will miss her so much.

10 glorious days.

So from June 27th until July 6th, we were at Lake Eufaula staying in my parent's beautiful lakehouse. It was likely the most relaxing time of my life and DEFINITELY the most relaxing time in Ben's life. We had the best time. The first week-end, we were there with my parents. To give you a glimpse of our life there: on Saturday, not one of us left the front porch except to use the restroom, grab a snack or put ben down for a nap. We were frozen there in a state of complete lazy bliss, staring out over the lakefront and oohing over our baby boy from 6 am until after 9:30 pm. whoa. 

That pretty much continued throughout the week. My parents sadly left Sunday and Brad and I spent the entire week focusing on each other and our precious ben. We took boat rides, took ben swimming for the first time!, grilled out, read, and took in the scenery. Thursday night our uber cool friends Ash & Zach joined us for the "crazy lazy" and we were so excited to have them! There was a lot more of the grilling, beach time, porch time, some spectacular fireworks (I'm pretty sure I've convinced everyone that snakes are the best!) and a heck of a lot more beer. We were so happy to have our friends to enjoy the 4th with, Cali was so happy to have her best friend Lucy to get in trouble with, and Ben was happy to have more people to entertain him. It was so much fun. 

I guess with the nature of the trip, I only got one pic from the entire 10 days. v. irresponsible as there were some very price-less moments of ben-firsts. Oh, you should see him in his life jacket...and his floatie boatie...and his tan lines...(more on that later!) 

But, this is the only one I captured. Here is Ben right before his first boat ride~

oh my goodness, right? :)

funny stuff.

So, last week-end my cousin liz was here for a visit. I haven't had a chance to blog about the week-end yet or post some of my cute pics, but she did a great job on her blog so you should check it out.  Sunday afternoon after church we had "family time" out at gram's house. We got a chuckle out of seeing ben and nina the pug dancing. They actually have a lot of the same moves!!! 

Click here to see the video.

do you think she's jealous?

nah, she's just luvin' on her bro!

yes, i'm still pregnant...

or shall i say, "no, i haven't had the baby yet." or what about, "yes...it COULD be any day."

how was everyone's week-end?

we had a great one. friday night we headed out to the rasp's house for a good ol' fashioned bonfire. ash and zach were there, and micca's cousin chase, and of course the dogs. the four blond labs had a grand time entertaining each other. sadly, cali is a bit of a rascist and would try and attack chase's black puppy. seriously. would try and cause it harm. we were deeply disturbed by this newfound hatred in our pup and are not quite sure how to deal with it. friday night it was dealt with by keeping one or the other of them locked up in the barn. awful.

saturday i got to sleep in while brad got a kick-start on studying. he had a big MBA test on Monday and he is such a good student. cousins liz and sus came over around noon for an afternoon of fun. liz brought lots of presents...one of which was a blue and yellow hand-knit blanket with giraffes. it is INCREDIBLE! she is very talented and obviously very devoted to her new little boy cuz. after they left, brad and i entertained ourselves for the rest of the day with football and homemade nachos.

sunday brad had to study all day long. (it is sad but it paid off because he's pretty sure he aced the exam!) i headed to church with the family which was followed by an intimate parlor wedding for my uncle brad (liz & sus's dad) and maggie. the reception for the small group was then held at a DEE-licious french bistro where i had the most scrumptious poached egg concoction and a very fun time with our family. after the wedding cake was served, us 3 girls and sus's husband chris headed to gram's house to celebrate all of our birthdays (mine = 10/09, chris = 10/19, liz = 10/27, gram & sus = 11/13, and baby = 11/?). we each picked a candle for the cake and sang happy birthday to ourselves. it was great fun.

so that was our week-end. yesterday brad aced his test and got home at 11 in a very good mood! :) he has been battling a bad cold and hasn't felt good for over a week. i enjoyed one of my last few nights at pre-natal yoga and then ran errands, one of which was picking up 10 cloth diapers we ordered. they are so adorable!

had my "last" appointment with my doc this morning. she won't see patients in the office next week due to the holiday so if the babe comes on or before his due date, the next time we will see her is at the hospital! it was so surreal leaving her and her saying, "see you at the hospital!". i really hope he isn't late. that would really screw up some people's plans. :)

friday is my last day of work. i still just can't believe this is all happening so fast. sometimes i feel as though i'm still only 5 months pregnant....

everybody wish my grammy and cousin susie happy birthday today!!!!

29 days to go!!!

Can anyone wrap their brain around that? 29 days left?
I am overcome with emotions...I am so so so excited. I am a tad nervous. I am a little sad to think that I won't be pregnant anymore. I am a little overwhelmed and hoping that we have "everything ready". I just can't believe that we are in the final month!

I had my 36 week dr. appt. this morning. She says I have started to dilate a smidge but nothing to get excited about. I have gained 26 pounds. I have excellent blood pressure. The baby is head down and just beginning to engage! He is still super active and acts like he is ready to come out and play, as he is just too cramped in there! This is just the most amazing ride you could ever imagine...

As for the last week, we've been pretty low-key. Brad is still super super busy with school and work. We've net-flixed Weeds Season 1 and it is pretty good. I am still doing yoga every monday and it is amazing. We decided to ask my yoga instructor to be our doula and we get to meet with her next week to go over the "plan". Hooray! I went to Katie's last night to watch Grey's. Brad's freshmen this 9 weeks are gonna turn out better than he originally thought.

And this week-end's preview: I'm having a tea-party shower tomorrow morning! I can't wait! Cali is getting groomed. Katie and Shane are back in town and we're gonna live it up on Saturday night! And the battle for the top of the PAC-10 is Sat. at 2 pm....the mighty Oregon Ducks are gonna cream USC in their efforts to prove they deserve to play for the national title! You all should watch it, wear green and quack as loud as you can! :)

Dog Eats Stick of Butter, Lives

Our dog can eat a stick of butter. What can your dog eat?

Nostalgia...

Yesterday brad was working on homework all day long. While he so diligently studied and authored extremely intelligent papers, I decided to be productive too and I spent the entire day scrapbooking. I nearly finished 2006 which is the good news...the bad is that I haven't even started on 2007 yet. Most of you know that I love to scrapbook. I'm not sure if it's the process that I enjoy so much as the fact that when I'm done, all the stuff that I hoard and can't bear to throw away has a place. I have albums that contain EVERYTHING including all mail, every picture, and every single piece of memorabilia you can imagine dating back to junior high. It's kinda pathetic. but YES...I do occasionally look at them. I love to reminice.
Although Brad and I joke that 2006 was the worst year ever (we spent the better part of the year in jobs we hated, an appartment we disdained, and we were very frustrated with the incompletion of our many goals...) while looking back I found there were many occasions to be celebrated. We had sooooo many cute pictures from the many FUN times we had and I thought since you can't see my scrapbook, I would include some of my VERY favorite pics from last year here for you:

Cali Collage

Here is brad faithfully playing with his beloved cali in the backyard. she is such a joy to play with. her favorite game is tug (esp. when using a piece of our clothing!) but she also enjoys chase and playing with balls. we have consistently tried to teach her how to play fetch but for whatever reason she canNOT for the life of her figure it out. she LOVES the build-up: brad getting the frisbee/stick/ball, holding it above her head, him throwing it, her chasing it, and then it ends...she turns her back on the toy and runs away. It is hilarious. I magically caught this process in pictures:



Anticipating the throw & literally jumping with excitement.





The release...running full speed after the frisbee.





Abrupt turn and leaving the toy behind.





Brad questioning, "aren't you called a labrador RETRIEVER?"

getting some love despite her idiocracies.

And then, just for kicks...some fun pics of her lounging around the house:

We've secretly been disquising her evil eye for years.

oh, i mean evil eyeS.

don't let her sweet face fool you...she will wake you up at 5:00 trying to talk.

i love that nose.

posing. this was so funny because usually she won't let me take her picture and for all of these she struck a different pose. she's a hoot.

loungin' in her favorite spot.

Check this out!

Ok. So last night was so exciting! When I got home from yoga, I got a call from our dearest friends who wanted to come over and bring us a surprise. They walked in carrying a huge box and guess what...it was our stroller!!!!! I mean, this thing is awesome! Yes, I know, we technically picked it out, but even as we did so, we didn't know anyone would get it for us! It is soooooo exciting! It is our first "big item" that is now checked off the list (if you don't count the crib and changing table) and it is so cute! We LOVE it. We were shocked beyond belief and we feel so very fortunate to have such amazing friends and family that have already spoiled baby axle to pieces! We got it all put together last night and here are some pics showing it off. It is quite a pimp ride...

Cali and I dancing with excitement after we opened it up. She looks vicious, but she is kissing me!

Practicing "walking" the baby. Pardon the outfit and hair...yoga night.

I know I appear to be super studly, but the thing only weighs 7 lbs! It is also super easy to open up and close, you only have to use one hand! We practiced!

The two cutest things in our house to date...