Sometimes you just CAN'T win

Pros of a doggy door....

- those dogs who can't ever decide if they want to be inside or outside, you don't have to let them in and out continously until they decide!

- you don't have to worry about accidents in the hosue when your gone for 10+ hours a day or waking up to a surprise in the morning as your running out the door for work because she just couldn't hold it until you woke up.

- your dog seems to sence a little more freedom being able to go in and out as they please - whether to go to the bathroom, take a run around the yard or just to get some fresh air. While they can be stuck home alone for many hours during the day, they don't have to be stuck in the house.

Cons of a doggy door......

- a trashy yard!!!!!!!

We thought that putting in a doggy door would be so good for Chloee. Giver her a chance to get some fresh air on the days we are gone ALL day and give her no excuse for messes in the house anymore!

But we didn't realize that having a doggy door could be such a bad thing!

Only some of the things we have found in our back yard due to Chloee deciding to entertain herself while we are gone...

• shredded plastic bags
• cereal boxes (box and plastic torn open = cereal covered yard)
• box of dryer sheets (our yard smelled like dryer sheets all night)
• tupperware
• shredded paper plates and Ziploc baggies
• box of fruit snacks
• Braxton's toys (especially stuffed animals)
• Braxton's treat cups

As you can see..... you can't win everything

Braxton meets a witch

With the help of my family I took Braxton to Gardner Village on Friday to take his picture in his Halloween costume using their fun props. While there, my mom needed to put a deposit on the Gathering Place for my sisters wedding. We waited in the lobby for her and when she was finished she came out and said "There is a real witch in there that I bet would take her picture with Braxton." Gardner Village decorates using a lot of hay squares and pumpkins and of course theirever famous stuffed witches. But a real witch...... that would be fun! My first response to her idea was "Is she a cute witch?" My mom went back and asked if she would mind and she agreed. She was SO sweet and SO cute! She was 100% in character from her clothing to her make-up to her accent to what she talked about! She was incredible! She said she got asked by someone who is having a Halloween wedding if she would dress up and come to her reception. She cackled and said that witches aren't allowed out of the area!

...Thanks mom for the great picture idea and thanks Witch for humoring us...

(More of Gardner Village pictures to come)

WORD - LESS Wednesday

--- YAY!! I finally get it ---

Home Sweet Home

Since the 'U' has their Spring Break this week we decided to take advantage a little and go out to dinner together as a family. We haven't been able to do that on a week night for so long! Brax and I met Nate at TGI Fridays by South Town Mall unfortunately a little while after By the time Brax and I got there Nate had already gotten us a table so we headed inside to find him. As I sat down Nate set two bags on the table and said "thank you for everything." It was so sweet. He had gone over to the mall while he was waiting for us and got me some shirts from Aeropostale and Abercrombie and Fitch. What a stud! Then a little into our meal he said "Do you know why we're celebrating tonight?" I was so confused. I didn't know we were celebrating anything and I felt horrible. I quickly ran some days through my mind

- our anniversary isn't for a while
- our first date was in October but not until Halloween
- our first kiss was in March
- we got engaged the middle of November

I was completely clueless and I felt horrible about it. Nate gave me a hard time about it for a little bit and then said "we got our house two years ago today! I can't believe you forgot!" Oh my goodness, I HAD totally forgotten! To give me some credit I actually had thought about it about a week before. I knew that it was sometime the middle of October and I meant to look through our paperwork to find out the exact day - and then never did!

I can't believe it has been two years - but even more, I can't believe all that we have been able to accomplish the last two years. We redid a our entry way, kitchen/dining room, all 3 bathrooms and our laundry room floors when we first moved in. We put in the front and back yard, "painted" our garage floor, got a puppy, and had a child. All of that on top of all the little things that we have been able to do, learn, and experience. We are blessed with such awesome neighbors and have a wonderful ward! One scary thing about buying a house is that you can't pick your neighbors and we definitely lucked out!

Nate ended up admitting later that night that the only reason he remembered that special day was because our awesome Realtor had sent him an e-mail reminding us and checking up on us!! What a stinker~

A dog born to hunt - we hope

After a few months of decide when would be the best time to get it and trying to find a decent deal, Nate just bought his second gun - a rifle - and was so excited to bring it home and show us. After taking it out of the box and getting it all put together Chloee decided to join in the admiring and ended up getting super excited!

Nate really wants to try and get into duck hunting with Chloee. With how scared she is of everything lately we both were really worried that she would end up being gun shy! I think it kind of upset Nate. We paid a lot of money for a pure bred lab who has champion field dogs as parents. She has to like it!!!

Well, to kind of get an idea of how she might react he put the gun up to his shoulder and bouncing it up and down a little bit in his hands said "Bang" a couple of times.

Much to our surprise she freaked out - and in a good way! While barking she jumped up and down and tried to jump on Nate and get to the gun, her tail wagging the whole time! He tried it a couple more times at random times and she did the same thing every time. She would get SO EXCITED!!!!

After seeing how she reacted we are a little more hopeful about her enjoying the duck hunts!

Our only concerns
- she likes the gun as long as it's not really being shot. He'll get her out there and totally freak her out when she hears it fire for the first time!! If that happens we're hoping she'll get over it quickly.
- If she decides she needs to bark every time she sees the gun those that go hunting with Nate aren't going to be to thrilled when she barks and scares all the ducks away!

Nate is taking her out this weekend to try out shooting with her - We'll have to keep our fingers crossed!