Alex

Popping on to post an updated photo of our nephew Alex with his Mom, my sister Stephanie. We haven't seen him since Feb of this year and he'll be a year old in Nov. We're hoping to see them around Thanksgiving... He's got teeth now and I hear that he's cruising around fairly well.

I love his little cheeks!

Love these jeans!!

Any woman knows, (or maybe just me and I'm a freak), that you can spend countless hours searching for the right pair of jeans. Each brand has a different way of sizing, so the size that may fit you in one name may not fit you so well in another. ugh. So, it's a process - on and off until you find the right ones. Like I said, it could be just me that goes through this process?

Anyway, I determined last weekend that I needed to find another pair of good fitting, perfect jeans as I'm down to about 2 pairs now. (Craig will tell you that I have a closet full of jeans and I do, it's just that for one reason or another and over time, they are not quite right.) So anyway, I hit Anthroplogie yesterday because I heard about a huge sale on everything and I find odds and end accent pillow cases and cute things for Mal's room there most of the time, but I didn't realize they also have a big selection of jeans?! They have JBrand, Joe's Jeans (which I normally love) and several others to choose from. So I head into the dressing room with no less that 26 pairs - all different, skinny, dark, faded, riped, frayed, boot cut, straight leg - a very random assortment. And wouldn't you know it, the very last pair of jeans I try on are 'the ones'. I settled on a pair of worn looking Adriano Goldshmeid, boyfriend cut, Tomboy jeans. They are a bit of an investment I'll admit, but I love them and I know they will be my go-to jeans for the season as they are classic.

And since this post is already kind of random, I'd like to add that I have Shakira's She Wolf song in my head again today and I like it.

Oops

Yep, I admit it. I goofed up the colors on the blog and now i don't know how to fix them because I used a service for a custom template. Oops! I'll figure it out, or you could just see something totally different the next time you check in here.

Not a lot to report, busy busy with work and.. um... work. Oh, and the house. We (really me) are not happy with the red kitchen, so we are bringing it back to a lighter color. I am planning to have all of the work done when Craig is gone to Seattle in a couple of weekends. It's for the best this way - hee hee.. There could be a new backsplash installation during that time as well - if we can find one we both like. :o)

Marcel continues to be a source of joy for the family. He's such a good heart to have around, and he is sllowwly getting used to our family and the house he lives in now. It comes with a whole new set of noises that he must get used to. He loves to bark at the pool guy - I found that out this morning.

Here's just a fun summer photo I took of the kids playing in the pool. Happy times!

One more thing...

Marcel is not allowed on the bed. Heehee...

Our Newest Addition...

Marcel is the newest furry addition to our family! He's a great cocker spaniel (mix) with the cute little white spot on his nose. He's a rescue dog, so he's a bit skittish, but we can already tell that he has a big heart - he will do just about anything to please! He's such a good doggie!

He loves to swim too, he actually has a rather smooth doggie stroke under the water. If you throw the ball to the edge-ish of the pool he won't jump in for it, instead he'll make little waves with his paw until the ball reaches him and he can bend down and pull it out. If you throw it in the middle of the pool, he'll jump! See progressive photos above! Wish my good camera had a video feature? You'd think it would.

Prayers for Maximus

A quick note this morning to ask for prayers for my friend Claire, her husband Jordan and their sweet baby Maximus, who is in the fight of his life. Max was born about 3 weeks ago with a condition called CDH, a defect in the diaphragm that allows the abdominal organs (stomach, intestine, liver, bowel, and spleen) to migrate into the chest cavity in utero. Since surgery, his recovery has been steady and progressive until last night when he crashed a bit and is now stable on the heart and lung machine. Hopefully, this machine will do a little work for Max and give him the rest he needs to continue fighting in the coming days, weeks, months...

This family needs all the prayers they can get! You can check out their story at www.clairegriffinsblog.blogspot.

Australia Update

Just a brief update as Vic's still in Australia, but from the pic she seems to be doing well making friends across the pond... She leaves today (Sunday in Aussie land) on the 22 hour or so trip back. Say hi to Vic's new friend Khole. Animals love Vic; I guess Khole was hugging her like crazy!

For our Golfer Followers....who'd like to visit!

I apologize I haven't been posting as much lately; been busy with tiling, painting, work, etc....need to get more pics up. But, I do have a quick post for all our golfer followers out there. I played the course we live on (across the street) this past Saturday and I'm extremely glad to report it's a great track (83--driver and short game good, irons awful. FYI: R9 460 TP is $$$). I went in cautiously optimistic but thinking there was a 50/50 chance I'd not be a fan. Well, I can now say I'm really impressed. I'm over the super desert-like courses and this is not one of those. Plenty of grass so you don't feel like every shot is going to go in the desert, even if you miss hit it. I'm sure the Colorado River isn't a fan but I am. Lot of different terrain and two par 3s where you literally tee off on top of mountains overlooking the foothills.







I hope those of you that follow our blog that are golfers will get to experience the course soon. The guest room is furnished and ready to roll so come out and visit. Sure it's hot but the pool is only a minute drive away...

http://www.clubwestgolf.com/

Benny Update

Well, I give up. I didn't get a call back, no emails, and no response to the application I sent in. So... no Benny. Sad :o(

Benny

This is Benny, he's a cocker spaniel & papillon mix. He's featured on a website called PetFinder.com and he's looking for a home. The more I scanned through the dogs last Thursday, when I was the only one in the office practically, the more he grew on me. I looked at cockers, same as Brittany was and decided that would be too weird, I looked at Bernese Mountain dogs, we looked at Golden retrievers, but I kept coming back to Benny. When you first look at him he has a forgettable quality about him, but the more you look at him, he's really pretty. His fur looks 'cocker' soft and he definately has the cocker snout, without being a cocker. Anyway, he grew on Craig over time too, me sending messages to his blackberry with Benny's pictures that said Hi, probably helped! Here's the thing.

I've called the shelter twice and even sent an email to get an adoption application. No word. Are several people lining up to adopt each dog they have? I can't belive this to be the case since their website is seriously begging for foster families. So, why don't they call us back? If we had a shelter organization with bunch of contacts from a family that wanted to adopt one of our dogs, I would definately be calling back. What if Benny is in the kennel somewhere chillin' alone when he could be with us? ugh.. poor Benny. Or maybe he was already adopted since he's so cool. Who knows I guess. Keep your fingers crossed that it was just the holiday weekend slowing things down, and we get the call to come and pick up the Ben-ster. Doesn't he look like he just wants to give you a high 5?