I just wanted to share our adorable family picture! I'm going to work at doing a more through Christmas post later on this week.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Ok, so I was "tagged" by Lauren. I'm truthfully not sure what this means, but I'll do what she did.

The 6th picture in the 6th album in my pictures folder:



This is a picture of my wonderful puppies (what else would it be?) I believe this is the first day that I played with the "sports" setting on my camera, which allows me to hold the "take picture" button and it continues to take a shot at about 1 or 2 per second. The pictures I've found not to be of the highest quality unless the light is really good. But it's a fun way to get some interesting shots, you end up taking hundreds of shots and only getting like 5 good ones. This.....is not one of the better ones from this grouping; here's my favorite:

But this really isn't the best representation of my puppies anymore because they've both grown a lot since then.....Sable weighed in at 66lbs and Shiva at 48lbs. Sable SHOULD be done, but Shiva probably has a few more pounds to add, so she'll probably even out around 55lbs or so. But I'll have to have another post for that, because there are just too many cute shots to pick only one :)

Harry Potter!!

Alright so I found some marvelous news today on the web. Mom and I were talking and Harry Potter came up...she mentioned something about a new book... Of course my ears perked up and I just had to go to mugglenet . Then what do I see??!!

This happy little update regarding "The Tales of Beetle the Bard":

More insight into HP world in 'Beedle the Bard'

As we told you yesterday, the book that was previously only given to six people, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, will be published on December 4th with all royalties being donated to Children's High Level Group charity. Scholastic has provided some new information on what the book contains, some of which can be seen below:

"[Dumbledore] reveals not just his vast knowledge of Wizarding lore, but also more of his personal qualities: his sense of humor, his courage, his pride in his abilities, and his hard-won wisdom. Names familiar from the Harry Potter novels sprinkle the pages, including Aberforth Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy and his forebears, and Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (or 'Nearly Headless Nick'), as well as other professors at Hogwarts and the past owners of the Elder Wand."

OK, so I'm totally excited and can't wait!!! Winter is going to be so busy!! First "Half Blood Prince" and now..."The Tales of Beetle the Bard" What am I going to do with myself???

Escape Artist Sable

Well, last night I woke up around 1:50am to a howling Shiva. I took a look outside, she looked fine, thought "ahh how cute, my puppy is howling at the moon" and laid back down to go to sleep. 30 min later, she was still howling off and on, so I took another look and realized that I wasn't seeing Sable. Sure that she was just out of sight and around some corner somewhere, I went to the back door...still not seeing her I slipped on some shoes to go outside...determined to find my 9 month old baby.

Sable was not in our backyard.

Of course at this point I'm thinking the worst and am certain that some terrible dog thief has come into our backyard and taken her (Who cares about the fact that Shiva's still back there, I suppose my "dog thief" only needed one Siberian Husky). A little panicked I come back inside and wake up Ryan to tell him that Sable's not in the backyard so he can come help me find our dog in the middle of the night. I stay in the backyard looking for the hole that she dug to get out of the backyard, not finding one I'm sure she's learned to scale the fence. Ryan comes back from looking the front yard and sticks her back in the yard. Our "little" puppy had at least had the decency to stay close to the house. Since I didn't find a hole in the yard, we determine that we'll figure it out at a more decent hour, leave the dogs and come back in to go to sleep.
About half an hour later...Shiva's howling again, Sable's in the front yard. We get them both inside and stick them in their crates....it's much to late to think about anything else but sleep...and we can't sleep without the peace of mind that our dogs are safe.
She got out one more time...when I woke up to feed them...I just stuck them outside with food, so sure that Sable would stay in a yard that had food....totally wrong. But after that, Ryan found the hole. We were standing outside our house at 5:15am just waiting to see what happens (I'm certain that I'm going to see a puppy head pop up at any time to start scaling the fence.) Luckily, Sable has NOT learned to scale the fence. Unluckily, basically the entirety of our back fence needs replacing due to poor craftsmanship and materials in the first place.
So, for a bit...we have no reliable backyard...which really stinks...but a bad fence in my opinion is much easier to fix than teaching a dog not to hop a fence (especially with the whole..we're still under warranty thing)

Anyway, that was our fun little experience last night and at least I know we have an alarm if Sable gets out...Shiva does NOT like to be all by herself out there!! She was sniffing all around the hole where Sable got out. It's a place where the fence boards have come unattached to the big posts...so Sable can just push and force her way out. Shiva's not big or strong enough to follow at this point...thank goodness.
Then I figured I'd follow with some pictures. The first two are a couple I took while they were being cute and quietly playing with a rope bone several nights ago.

This one to the right is one of Shiva after she gets an ear treatment. At a vet appointment several weeks ago, she was diagnosed with very dirty ears; so we were instructed to clean them with a medicated solution. Of course after each of these cleanings her ears kind of stay flat and she rolls around trying to scratch at the insides of her ears. It's really pathetic and SOO CUTE!!




The picture to the left is a picture of a bunny (I know...Captain Obvious there). These little bunnies were everywhere on the grounds of the hotel we were in in Golden, CO several weeks ago for Larissa and my cousin, Jeff's, wedding. Beautiful wedding. Then when I look at my camera, apparently all I documented was the bunnies...which you have to admit...are pretty darn cute.

Picture Update

I promised pictures and here they are:

A few weeks ago, Ryan and I kept Lukas for a bit....he loved watching the puppies through the glass door. He just stood or sat there looking at them and then laughed and laughed and laughed. SO CUTE!!!! Then of course the puppies put on a pretty good show too, whining and just pleading to come in a see him up close.



We drove around and found a little park on Lake Lewisville that had cheap entry and lots of table/bench sets along the water. We took out dinner and brought the puppies long leashes so they could play in the water. The first place (shown below) had rocks all along the shore and they weren't quite sure about it. We wondered around and found an area that didn't have rocks, but was straight dirt/grass up to the water. There they had lots of fun running and hoping through the water and swimming a bit. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of this, but it was adorable, maybe next time I'll be more prepared.


Afterwards, they both settled down and chewed on pig ears for the rest of the night. Nice, calm puppies...that's what we love!! Sable demonstrates how cute it is:

Then at some point I took this adorable picture of Shiva....total bat dog. Her ears look HUGE!! But you can't fault her on cuteness...


Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I'm sure they're a bit more eye appeasing that the straight word posts. Love you all, until next time. :)

Walking the Puppies

I just finished taking our marvelous puppies for a walk. Let me tell you, once I'm out there walking them...I LOVE IT!! It's kind of hard getting up the motivation to put on my shoes, do a little stretching (which always makes a puppy come and put her nose in my face), put their leashes on, and walk out the door to get going. The best walks are when I walk past several groups of people and Sable and Shiva are incredibly well behaved while we're going past them and the people "ooo" and "ahhh" and laugh at how cute they are (and probably at how ridiculous I look having one dog in each hand).
Tonight, we walked past a group of people that did just everything right to make the situation fun for me. One lady asked about Sable's gentle leader, if it was just part of her coloring or something else. Let me tell you, if you EVER have a dog that is hard to control and you want to go on walks and work with your dog on being a well trained leash dog....get a gentle leader (they've got a few other products to help make walks easier if your dog doesn't like the leader), but it's an "instant good dog". Sable would not have been very fun to walk without hers for a while (it'd be a strain sometimes now even, but she's pretty good) and I definitely wouldn't be able to take them both out together....that's too much dog. A few weeks ago one of my neighbors saw me starting out on a walk and asked if I could "handle both of the babies"; of course I responded with a confident, "yes".
Currently walking Shiva is a great workout on my left arm (Shiva walks on the left, Sable on the right....always). She's just so curious wanting to wander off to every side and in front pulling to get to that little patch of smell just ahead that I'll actually pass in 3 steps, but that's not soon enough. So, I'm constantly pulling her leash back in quick jerks to bring her back and show her that if she walks with her leash loose then it'll be much more comfortable....she's slowly improving.
Sable has really become a joy to walk for the most part. The only time she really pulls is when she sees a bird; then it's on...it's ALL about the bird. I suppose that's what we get for getting two sporting dogs. Other than birds she's mostly content to walk or trot beside me with a loose lease, sniffing as we go.
And of course, they both love running with Ryan while he roller blades. (Probably another thing about having two sporting dogs....or just dogs for that matter..)
After walks we come in and they both collapse on the kitchen floor. Shiva actually gets a drink beforehand....I don't think Sable does. She just plops down in front of the refrigerator and waits for you to pass her some ice. She downed about 5 pieces whole tonight; I've stick a piece in her mouth, she'd chew like twice, swallow, then look back up at me with her big pale blue eyes that were saying "more?"
I'll do a post in a day or two with some pictures, they're on my camera currently. I took some really cute ones today while they were sleeping. Yes, I let the girls in around 9am and they slept pretty much clear through to about 6:30pm; they took a small "awake" break for dinner. Shiva's also taken to licking the cats (SO CUTE!!), but I haven't captured that on camera yet...totally need to.

And with that , I must go....Sable is whining to come back in....goodness...what am I going to do with her?

Wow!! yeah I got nothing....

Whew, so in the past month, I've been looking at blogs going, "I really should update mine....but I want new pictures to do so and that requires getting up....ooo look...something else to look at!!" So, alas it stood un-updated...

Alright so lets start. I almost got a new job, then it was put on hold for 3 months....grrrr, we'll see where that goes. My sister-in-law graduated from college, Suma Cum Lade. My wonderful parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary; watching their relationship really is marvelous seeing as I can see a lot of similarities between Ryan and myself (just as many differences mind you...) I went and stayed for almost an entire week in Houston. One of my best friends came to TX from her current home in Maui, HI. We had a wonderful time catching up and I realized just how much I miss her.

In the past month Shiva has grown from the 10lber to over 20lbs currently (she was 20 last time she was weighed which was a week and a half ago) During my time in Houston, she GREW!!! I came back and my baby was HUGE!!! She did have a bad day a few weeks ago, emptied basically the entire contents of her stomach onto our kitchen floor, took her to the vet and she checked out fine; probably just ate something that simply didn't agree with her....puppies...just like small children...everything belongs in the mouth. Our darling baby is slowly being housebroken (seems MUCH slower than Sable - I think it's that "second kid" thing), but she is coming along. She will now "look" and "sit"; we're currently working on "down", "take-it", "leave-it", and "drop-it".

Sable's most recent accomplishment is that she "dies". You point a "gun" shaped hand at her and say loudly "BANG", she'll lay down and put her head flat to the ground. Her dying schedule fits her mood, if she doesn't really WANT to, she'll die very slowly and dramatically. BUT, if she's really eager (meaning you have a REALLY GREAT treat) she'll flop down incredibly fast. Her head doesn't always go down, generally she'll touch her head to the ground then pop back up to look at you like, "I did it!! Can I have a treat??!!! huh?! huh?! huh?!"

I will end with some adorable pictures of puppies:

Dogs Again - But This Time - a BOOK!!

So here goes my first blog that is more "my thoughts" driven as opposed to "hey my dogs did this this week". I warn you though, it's still about dogs....

After dinner on Sunday, Ryan and I walked over to Barnes and Noble (one of my favorite places in the WORLD); we wanted some drinks, dessert, and reading/browsing time. Now, I've set myself up for an hour or so of browsing the random books on the display table, to make mental notes of the interesting things I see....I'm attempting to branch out a bit from ONLY Sci-fi/Fantasy books. Then I see this little paperback book on the end cap, only about 5 minutes into my search. The book is titled, "Marley & Me" by John Groban, but it's not the title that gets me, it's the adorable picture of a yellow lab looking at me from the cover. I pick it up and look at it for a min, say to myself, "how cute!" then put the book back down and continue my search. Less than a minute later I go back to the book, pick it up, and proceed to sit down next to Ryan and read.

Let's get something straight first, since Ryan and I brought home our 1st bundle of joy we've practically dived head first into dog EVERYTHING. Petsmart every week, Dog Whisperer (National Geographic Channel) on Friday nights, and then even a few of the animal rescue shows. I rush out of work everyday no matter what I'm leaving for the next day, so I can come home to my adorable puppies faces that are so happy to see me (who cares if it's mainly because they've been locked up all day and really need to pee..they're HAPPY!!) We go on walks, I've even started a little running and Ryan roller blades. We've spent hours working on "sit" "down" and "stay". We continue to buy fancier and fancier treats to keep Sable's attention so that hopefully she'll learn to do what we want her to. Basically, we've dived head first and stayed submerged in the world of dog ownership.

Back to the book....really the basic message of the book is the story of a couples first puppy, a huge yellow lab and how nuts he is. From the time they picked him up, until he's put to sleep to ease the suffering of old age. The first two nights, I'm laughing myself silly, crying because the stories of the crazy lab are so hysterical I can't contain myself. The last reading session (today right after I got home) I spent in tears. After I finish the book, all I want to do is to sit and hug my puppies, tell them how much I love them and that I never want the day to come that I have to make a decision to take them home any other way than, alive. Of course all they want to do is play and have lots of hyper fun....and I would pick up Shiva and make her sit for a decent hug....but yeah..it's rained...she's kinda covered in slightly damp mud. So, my mood has been a bit subdued and really I want to stay home and play with my dogs, but I have a party to go to, that I really should attend (the Secret Sister reveal party at church). I think the biggest turning point was when the most amazing Secret Sister in the world (aka Joanna) gave me a huge bag toys for my puppies. Without even knowing it she gave me the perfect gift: new toys to go home and have fun playing with my girls.

So, I got home and worked with Sable on "fetch"...she loves to go get things that are thrown...but isn't so great at giving them back so you can repeat the entire process. Found that I also need to work with Sable on her nipping, since Shiva came around, Sable's been a bit extra nippy and just needs to learn that my skin is weak and needs gentle treatment. Which gives me one more reason to work with her. Ryan and Shiva worked on "look" and "sit" in the kitchen; she's doing quite well for an 8 week old.

And just so this post is not completely void of pictures....I've added a few from their fun in the mud yesterday:

Fun Fun Fun!

So, today Shiva did one of the most adorable and sad things I've ever had a puppy do. I'm walking around the house and of course I have a very cute ball of white fluff following me around with very happy blue eyes. I stop, turn around, and the side of Shiva's little head ram's full force into my shin. Shiva being all of 7 weeks old does exactly what a human child would do in this situation:

She turns around and immediately starts whining and basically crying.

Sable comes running and Ryan gets her up off the floor to avoid being half eaten by the other monster. Of course after only a few seconds she was just fine and off to run and play again. Just reminded me that even a puppy can act just like a little kid. Scream "OWWWW!" then 5 seconds later run and play as if nothing ever happened.

Our darling dears are doing wonderfully. Shiva has been on 2 walks so far, I've taken her along while Ryan roller blades with Sable. Play time still needs an ear listening and the occasional eye, considering (as of Saturday) it's 55lbs up against 11.5lbs. They've attempted some tug-o-war games, which pretty much ends up being Shiva pulling and jumping around for all she's worth and Sable standing there just looking at her like she's nuts.

Shiva got a clean bill of health on Saturday, the vet even commented on how laid back she was. She was falling asleep as he was checking her heart beat and giving her her shots.

We love our puppies. I simply adore the brilliant, astonished looks and comments we get when we've got them out and about. Everyone comments on how beautiful Sable is and how cute Shiva is. Their light blue eyes are always a head turner. I'm just vain when it comes to my dogs, there's not really another way to describe it....ahh well I suppose it could be worse ;)

Welcome Home Shiva!!

Alright so I totally meant to do this last night....I got distracted by the cute little thing I'm about to introduce around.

Shiva came home on Sunday with us!! We went to pick her up in Mesquite, we got there about 11:40am. Sable had fun meeting up with her first family, and they had a lot of fun seeing her. There were lots of smiles and tons of laughing about the puppies (Sable may be big, but I do have to remind myself that she's still a puppy). Kim and Germain (breeder couple) were happy to see how well Sable was doing/behaving and Ryan and I marveled at how cute Shiva is. After about an hour of play and visit time we went off to show off our newest family member to our family, they were just getting done with lunch, so it was perfect timing.

Lukas loves Sable and I really wanted him to love Shiva too! Well, he did seem to be intrigued by both of them and could handle one being really close at a time, both at one time was a bit much.

Ahh well, in the time Shiva has been with us (yeah, the whole 2 days) I'm already ready for her to be at Sable's stage of life. A 6 week old puppy is adorably cute and totally irresistible, but a 6 month old puppy, while obnoxious at times, doesn't go potty inside the house other than random mistakes. Sable and Shiva are getting along marvelously; their play is finally getting to the point where we don't have to be standing over them at all times making sure that in Sable's excitement, she doesn't seriously hurt Shiva.

Alright, enough of the story, here are some pictures to keep you entertained and make you go ahhhh:

Sable and Shiva already enjoy playing....they're going to be a handful one they're both fully grown.

Then...give them both a year or two and they'll calm down a bit...I hope at least. :)

Then of course there's got to be one of the darling nephew meeting the new puppy.

He really is very cute around them, he leans around you while you're holding him to find where the puppies are so he can watch them all the time, so cute!!!





Our family now feels complete, we have two marvelous blacks cats (Pixel and Voxel) who love and adore each other. And now, two wonderful Siberian husky puppies (Sable and Shiva - if ya hadn't guessed already) Currently Shiva is experiencing the cranky side of Pixel....she's attempting to sniff him and find out what he's all about, but Pixel, being the cranky butt that he is...is having none of it. They'll all get along someday...somehow....but until then...oh how the hair will fly!! :)

Let me Introduce you to Sable

Most of you know that Ryan and I are the proud owners of a beautiful Siberian Husky. She's probably the most adorable pain in the butt I've ever loved.

When we brought her home on December 6, 2007 she looked like this:

Now she looks like this:

In her 4 months with us she has had many experiences and accomplishments. First and foremost she has gone from weighing 10lbs when we brought her home, to currently weighing a nice healthy 50lbs (which is impressive seeing that she's 6 months old and the average weight for a female husky is 35-50lbs).

She has graduated from the puppy training class at Petsmart:

She is currently in intermediate training and doing really well, especially when we remember to take the time to train her during the week.

She makes us get out and move, to avoid her destroying the house. We take her on walks...well, I walk her, Ryan cheats and uses roller blades, but I must admit that it really works and she's best when she's had 20 or 30 min out with him.

Our wonderful Sable has caused her fair share of trouble, including: swallowing a cat toy causing me to take a trip to the emergency vet, terrorizing our 2 cats whenever she can, and taking away a good number of hours that should have been spent sleeping. She is very attentive when she actually cares what you have to say.

But even with our 2 cats and 1 dog...for us...it didn't quite feel complete. So, we decided that we needed a 2nd Siberian husky puppy to join Sable in our house.

We will pick up Shiva on April 20th:

Newbie

Until this morning I've never considered a blog. I always said to myself, "what would I say on a blog, my life is normal and I rarely have marvelous thoughts to contribute to the world (or even a small reading group)" I still have no idea where it's going to go, what I'm going to say, or even if I'll actually continue to update it. Only time will tell on that one.

And since until no one I know actually knows that I've decided to join the blogging world and my husband (Ryan) and I spent the afternoon digging in the backyard, pouring concrete, and placing bricks along the sides of the fence to keep our puppy (Sable) actually in the yard....I'm going to sign off on this one for the time being.