Tricks 'n things

I was so excited to finally be posting again and sharing some great pictures of the puppy that I forgot to share all her commands and tricks that she knows!! Of course there are the standard commands - sit, down (lie down), shake, come, stay. She has also learned leave it, take it and drop it. The really cool ones are high five (taught by our trainer), play dead (the bf turned this natural behavior into a command), kisses (yours truly) and crawling...sometimes. We will probably work on getting her to wave, our trainer showed us how to teach it, we just haven't worked on it much yet.

The three of us (the bf, puppy and I) had a fabulous day that started with breakfast at our favorite local coffee shop, followed by a day working in the tasting room at the winery, and then a BaaaaaaaarBQ at a friend's house. (it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day) We were going to have the bbq regardless, but it made a great reason and theme for the evening. Hung out with some friends and made some nice new ones, it was a lovely evening. Tomorrow we're hanging out down at the bf's place. His mom recently had a surgery and is recovering but still sore. We're having a bit of a birthday celebration since she and I share a birthday on Wednesday (the 23rd), and the bf's birthday is 6 days after. It should be a lovely relaxed day. We're up at my parents' next weekend for my brother's birthday party (he turned 13!!!) It will be a happy birthday to me and the bf as well, but the focus will be my brother. I'm making his cakes. I'm making two just to make sure we have enough. I'll tell you more about it later, complete with pictures.

Relaxed Weekend

The goal for this weekend was to relax. The bf and I have been running around like crazy, and this was the first weekend in a while that we didn't really have to do anything. It was glorious. We headed up to the wineries with the Manager to pick up the bf's wine club shipments. I discovered a new favorite wine...I like this one even better than ice wine! (and it's about $10 cheaper and double the volume too, which is nice) We followed up the wine trips with a delicious bbq lunch at Famous Dave's. It's not super close to us, so it's always a treat when we get to stop there. The evening was spent relaxing and hanging out down at the bf's house, getting the mini fence up for our puppy so she can be in the main part of the backyard.

Today was early to mass and delicious homemade breakfast burritos when we got home. It was a beautiful start to the morning. We finished up the other fencing bit so that the yard is puppy friendly. After, the bf took me and his mom to our favorite store, where I proceeded to NOT buy every item I put in the basket, which was nice. Kara had her puppy class. She was being stubborn today, and it's always a little discouraging for me when she refuses to listen to me. I can't blame her, she's around the bf a lot more than me. But I know we'll work it out, because I can out-stubborn her any day. That said, she's doing really well. She sits, shakes, lays down, gives high fives (this one is REALLY cool), and the bf taught her to play dead. It's super cute. We're working on rolling over and crawling. Coming on call just depends on the number of things distracting her. She's definitely my dog...shiny things are awesome :) The bf VOLUNTARILY wanted to watch Twilight last night, but we didn't have time. So he put it on tonight. I will never say no to watching that, especially when it's his idea.

All in all it was a lovely and relaxed weekend. We definitely needed that. Especially considering we're working for 12 days straight beginning tomorrow. It'll be fun, but definitely tiring. I'm hoping I'll have time to fit in at least a few posts. I also have pictures of my cousin's ring to share...we did a mini photo shoot when she was down here last weekend. Her ring is gorgeous!

Still Here

I haven't disappeared on you so soon...I promise I haven't. Just been busy and had a busy weekend. My parents brought down my little brothers on Saturday and we've been going to sail boat races, parks and summer camps. They're staying with me for the week while they go to summer camps here...one is in baseball, the other in swim. We are keeping quite the busy schedule...I don't know how my mom does this every day. I'm absolutely loving it, but it's definitely busy. Not that I didn't respect my mom before, but I have a newly heightened appreciation for everything she does.

I will have pictures from our jaunt up to the wineries in Temecula from Saturday and pictures from the sailboat race on Sunday soon, but they may be slightly delayed in being posted since I'm spending as much time as possible with my brothers while they are here. I don't often get to spend such extended periods of time with them anymore. I'm loving it, busy-ness and all. :)

Also...the bf's dad said YES to our bat dog. However, the family we were getting her from is undecided if they actually need to give her away, so we are waiting to hear. Yaya, I honestly do not know how you do it. I know that pets and children are vastly different in many ways (and I in no way intend to imply that I know how you feel, because I don't), but if this is just the tiniest little fraction of how you must feel...wow. Just wow. I REALLY hope you find out soon...and that the news is what you want to hear. You are in my prayers!