Have I got some great brothers or what?

She's huge!

My darling little puppy is not very little anymore. In fact, she is quickly becoming quite large! I keep telling myself that she is done with her growing spurts and won't really get to be 60+ pounds. Whatever. I admit I am in denial. :) So here are a few updated pictures, and yes, she is as tall as Soto now, but is more clumsy than ever. She is so ridiculous when it comes to food and her hyperactivity might just be the death of me! If anybody knows of a good dog trainer, please let me know! We have tried calling a few, but they have all flaked out on us. I might try a group puppy class but would rather have some one-on-one training with her. We shall see...the adventure continues!

Ahhh, it seems like it was just yesterday...

Per request of one of my best friends(this is for you Jules :), I have posted just a few pictures from our wedding day. I can hardly believe it has been two years! I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband. I am rendered speechless so often at his quiet strength, love, kindness, and the devotion he has towards me. Truly I know that no one else loves me as much or as completely as him. How grateful I am everyday that Heavenly Father let me have him! :) The middle picture is of us and most of my moms family. My grandparents have both recently passed and many days I find myself remembering them and wishing so much that they were still here. I am saddened that they will never meet my kids in this life, but am so comforted knowing that perhaps they are with my kids now. Grandpa teaching them all of his funny sayings and listening to hours and hours of stories with such patience. Grandma, giving them the best and most comforting hugs and telling them to give me a little bit of grief once they are here. We get to do their temple work at the end of this year and I am so looking forward to that blessed day. What a marvelous occasion it will be!

Summertime

I always feel like summer is finally here once the 4th of July arrives. We had a great day hanging out with our favorite Saunders family, enjoying food and the awesome fireworks show from Vets Stadium right behind their house. We reminisced about "back in the day" when my family and a bunch of other friends hung out at their house doing the same thing. Back then however, we were allowed to light off fireworks, and believe me, we did. I feel like I am getting old! It was so wonderful to see Jeff, Amy, and Kayla last week. It really stinks that they are so far away. I think everyone in the family is counting down the days til Christmas when they will be back, especially Grandma :) Some people have said that Kayla looks like me. I will let all of you be the judge of that... The sopping wet puppy is Sadie Mae. We went swimming at Jeff's cousins house last week. Since we think she has a good deal of lab in her, we thought we'd see how she liked the pool. It was so stinking cute to watch her "doggy paddle." I am not sure if she loved it, but she didn't freak out either. Soto of course, still detests the water. He spent the afternoon trying to make sense of the tortise in the yard. A big congrats to Jon and Aubrey on finding out that they are most likely having a baby girl, yeah!!! Babies are so wonderful and we couldn't be happier for them!!

Peace at last!

Well, hallelujah, I think they like each other! So about a week and a half ago, I finally got up the nerve to let Soto and Sadie play, unconfined by Jeff or I(it took a heck of a lot of coaxing by Jeff to get me to do it). And much to my surprise, Soto was amazing! He has been so sweet to Sadie that it truly is a huge sigh of relief. In fact, it is very cute because he has become quite her protector. Someone was banging on the front door a few nights ago and he actually picked her up by her nape and tried to hide her behind the love sac! I was sad I didn't have my camera :( When we got Sadie she weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces. Yesterday at her vet appointment, she weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces! She almost doubled her weight in just two weeks! Holy crud! What we thought was going to be a 30-35 pound dog, the vet says could now probably end up around 55-60! Yikes! I was very shocked to say the least. It is a good thing she is cute, even with her big, clumsy feet and little head, because I am not sure I would have brought her home had I known how big she could get. It is interesting though, and I have had time to reflect about a few things with this new addition to our family. First and foremost, life never turns out how we think it should, or how we would choose given the option. My life is nothing like I would have thought, but I think it is better because I have tried, even if it is just a tiny bit at times, to trust my Heavenly Father and do what He wants me too. I wouldn't have chosen Sadie had I known her "statistics" ahead of time. She is going to be huge, not a characteristic in a dog I would have chosen. She does not understand that we only go potty outside. I am not sure if this is deliberate, but cleaning up her messes in the house is old. She bites my face. In fact, I think she does it on purpose. But she follows me around the house, she likes to snuggle when she sleeps, and she loves being everywhere I am. Jeff and I looked and hunted and searched for a second dog for a year and a half. And you know what? Cheesy as it may sound, I think she chose us too and was meant to be our dog. We don't always get what we want in life, but I am coming to understand that we always get what we need. Sometimes that is hard to admit because things can get really hard at times. Hopefully through all the bites, accidents in the house, and big surprises, we will come ahead better people for those experiences. Thanks Sadie Mae (and Soto too!) for teaching me things I couldn't have learned another way at this time in my life. You are amazing creatures and family members :)

Oh wow...

My how time fades our memories! Life the last 7 days has certainly been eventful with Sadie Mae in the house. Let's see...we(meaning Sadie of course) have decided that night time means play time. I don't think Jeff or I have slept for more than an hour at a time the last week, and it seems as if my poor husband spends most of the nights in the living room with a very awake and very hyper puppy. Bless his heart! He tries to let me sleep as much as possible. I am so greatful he can survive and thrive actually, on such little sleep. Me on the other hand, I am a mess if I don't sleep at least 8 or 9 hours. (I know, what am I gonna do when we have kids...we will have to cross that bridge when we come to it :) She is psycho when it comes to food, she acts like every meal is her last! She has, how do I put this kindly, "discharged" a pile of worms that looked like spaghetti- I literally thought I was gonna vomit, and has learned to shriek when she is upset. Somehow, I think I forgot all of these wonderful types of experiences when I saw her. In my defense, however, Soto was and is an amazing, very low maintenence puppy and dog and has been since the get go. Doesn't really want alot of affection, came housebroken from day one, and after the first night, slept peacefully in his crate all night long(usually). But bless Sadie Mae, she is a cute little bugger in spite of herself. We are still working on getting along with Soto, I think he is more annoyed with her than anything. A shiba club member said it took him more than 3 months to get his new dog to get along with his shiba, and when he got a third dog, it took his shiba more than 6 months before the shiba wouldn't try to kill the new comer. We might be playing referee for quite awhile...But dogs are great and having never had any growing up, I wouldn't change the experiences for the world!