Tricks and Treats!

Happy Halloween my friends!! In this house right now, its more like HOWLoween!! Baby Cash is doing awesome, and Sammy is his usual self, not wanting to share his toys or food, but sweet nonetheless. Lots has been going on around here, starting with our friend Ash and her contractor hubby Ken staying with us!!!! Ken has some crazy motivation, and decided he was going to re-paint our great room!! WOW!! This is a project I've been wanting to tackle for ages, but I am a shortie and I hate pulling out the ladder so its been on the back burner. Not anymore!!
Remember when I challenged myself to make over our living room a few months back? Painting over the peanut butter (yes thats really what the paint color is called... shoulda known better...) was a major priority.

This picture is pretty true to the color of the paint. Peanut butter, literally. And now... its going bye bye!!!!!!!! Ken has finished cutting in, and James and I are off to buy more paint (Behr Gobi Desert in Eggshell), and I think we are going to get hardware for our kitchen cabinets too!!! Ahhh! So much fun its killing me! I am in shock over how much the new paint color changes the room. The orangey (not a real word) oak cabinets are popping off the lighter wall color, and I sort of like them now?!! What has come over me!?
I love how a small change like new paint colors can steamroll into a mini makeover of a whole room!

In closing, I will leave you with a pile of cuteness in the form of new pics of Cash, and some old Halloween shots of James, Sammy and I.

Cash is growing FAST and will be 10 weeks old on Thursday. He loves laying in the sun and gnawing on rawhide chips.

Here is Sammy at our old house downtown 2 years ago. Our fence was wrought iron with flames on it for real! And James, being the 12 year old trapped in a 30-somethings body, loved impaling a pumpkin on the fence.

Our anniversary is November 11th, so one year we had a pimps and ho's theme party for it. Such a good time. These pictures explain it pretty well. Except they don't show James red pleather pants... Memorable, let me tell ya!!!

 

This was 2009, I was a saloon girl and James was a dead cowboy. He lost that awesome western hat that night. A worthy sacrifice. 

And we finish with 2010. We both had to work that morning, and everyone at work dressed up. My man LOVES painting his face. It gets better every year. 

 

As you can see, we have a dead chef, an 80's workout instructor, me - a ladybug, David Bowie, a panda, Taylor Swift, and Sean Waak (an old bartender). Good times, I love these people!! 

Hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable Halloweekend!!! Be back soon with pics of our updated kitchen and great room!

An Impromtu Family Expansion

Call me crazy. I know it, James knows it, we are all ok with the situation. 
Remember back a few months ago when I posted about our fur baby Cruz? Well its been about 8 months now since Cruzie passed away, and we have had a lot of time to grieve and recover from our loss. Our agreement was to not get another puppy until:
A) We returned from our long trip to Canada

B) It was just worked out

Now everyone knows, life has a way of making you work, instead of things just working out.  Not many people know this, but we have tried to get 3 different puppies since we returned home and they all fell through.
But somehow last Wednesday the starts aligned, I drove 9 hours round trip with Sammy to Roseburg, and returned home with this little monster. 

World, Meet Cash!!!! 

He is an 8 week old Rottweiler/Pitbull mix, but we think he might have some boxer in him as well. We rescued him from a group called Saving Grace, located in Roseburg, Oregon. After James spotted him on a rescue website, we immediately called the shelter to find out if he was still available. Low and behold, he was the last in the litter and still there! After an all day adventure, we made it back to Bend around 5:30pm, (I left at 8am, ugh, long day), and started our new life!!

 

While Sam seems to be slightly skeptical, the boys are getting along extremely well so far. Cash was a little skinny when I brought him home, so I invested in some high protein puppy food to put some meat on his bones. He is VERY food motivated, I imagine he is still used to having battle his siblings for his share, so we are slowly working on that by making him 'sit' and wait for his food. We also feed him small portions at a time out of our hands, so he gets used to our scent on his food, which will help in the future with food dominance issues. 

We took a trip up to Hood River for venue hunting this weekend, and the boys came along. Cash got to meet my parents three Malteses, as well as Sophie. That was quite an experience, a 5 year old and an 8 week old puppy, but it was overall quite successful. 

 

As puppies do, he sleeps often, and bites anything he can get his mouth near. We've been keeping a toy nearby at all time so we can correct his biting by giving him something that's ok to chew on, and he is catching on super fast.  He is great at riding in the car, and is getting used to crate training. Potty training is coming along as well. 

Yesterday he got to play in the truck for a while as James and I prepared to take a quick bike ride. 

We are loving him!!! Don't get me wrong, it has been quite a ride already, but we are on the right track to raising an awesome pup! He still has to get two  more shots before we can really start taking him places (the parvo risk is still very high!), but the next one is next week, so time is flying already.
I'm just feeling super thankful that life decided to finally 'work out', and bring us the puppy we've been waiting for.

So what do you think of our little mush-mush? Adorable? Want to steal him? I figured. Hope you all are enjoying Fall and getting ready for Halloween!!! I want to be Nicki Minaj...

Thankful in Fall

Once again, the oh-so-wonderful Interweb has informed me that today is Canada's Thanksgiving. As you may have noticed from our frequent trips to Whistler, and our recent engagement on a white mountaintop in Canada, we are pretty big fans of our neighbors to the North.

Summit of Whistler

The wonderful weather phenomenon known as an Inversion

So here is an abbreviated list of things I am thankful for at the moment.

- Canada, and all the wonderful memories we have made there.
- Our hobby of mountain biking and all the amazing places it has taken us.

- James, the most incredible person I have ever met. He keeps a smile on my face and in my heart, and I love him more than anything else in this world.
- Sammy... oh Sammy. How could I not be thankful for you? My partner in crime, my best friend, and my furry son.

- My friends, you all make my world go round. I tend to surround myself with people who inspire me and make me happy, and you all exemplify that. Love you!!! 

-Of course, my family. My parents are amazing people who support me in my decisions, and love without judging. I am proud to be their daughter. And my little brother, Tom, and new sister Sophie. You two are amazing and I am so thankful to call you my siblings. You can always put a smile, or smirk, on my face. 

 

- My job. Many people can't say this about their place of employment, so I think it is worth mentioning. Not only do I love my job as it is described on paper, I love my co-workers, my bosses, the customers I get to encounter on a daily basis, and all the fun places I get to go while representing my company. GABF anyone?

There are many, MANY more things I am thankful for, but this list is pretty much a constant. Life is pretty damn good. And speaking of GABF, I was planning on doing a 'what I learned while on a bender in Denver' post, but that title pretty much explains it. The trip was wonderful and full of fun and beer drinking. Lots of beer drinking. We will leave it at that. 

Sammy and I are off today to do a little exploring in the woods, and a first DIY project for the wedding. It will also be used to kick off our fall decor around the crib! 

Stay tuned for fun and thankfulness!! What are you feeling thankful for this October day?