Pupdate

Hello all,

There isn't much news to report at the moment. I've been seriously slacking lately in the picture department. But I do have some recent pictures of Charlie and Henry. Recently Brian and I decided to take a chance and just give them free reign of the whole house. Oh yes, we're crazy. Charlie and Henry are doing pretty good actually. They try to play a little rough with a cat here and there... But for the most part, they just wrestle with each other and cuddle. We cleaned up our basement a couple weekends ago and put up a little puppy fence down there so they can't "investigate" the cat boxes. But they LOVE running and playing in the basement. And it's great for us because Brian can work on something down there while I hop on the exercise bike. :) Here are a few pictures (some are action shots) that I got of them while they were playing:













It works out great for us to have them play down there. They are becoming more trustworthy.

Also, here's a super adorable picture of Maggie.

Big Boy Hair Cuts ... And A Recipe I Tried!

Well, I'm trying to post more often.

Charlie and Henry got big boy haircuts yesterday and they look super adorable. All fluffy and grown up.

I could only get a good one of Charlie's...


Here's Henry's too!


So handsome!

It's hard to believe that they were only this big 6 months ago...


They are getting smarter and smarter every day.

Brian and I are pretty excited about a new crockpot recipe that we tried today. So, I thought I'd share with you. :)

Click Here for the recipe.

Here's the salmon fillet being prepped...


And two hours later it was on my plate!



Brian and I could not believe how moist and tender it cooked the salmon. I would make this recipe over and over again! :)

That's all for now!

Recent Happenings

Uh oh... I did it again. I went a long time without posting anything. So sorry about that.
Brian and I have been so incredibly busy and I realize that I say that in most posts. But it's true. I think Brian's on his 23rd day in a row working. No days off. It's wearing on him a little bit. But he'll have sometime this weekend to finally relax.

Charlie and Henry are doing pretty good. They're at 46 and 47 pounds now. We took them to the vet a couple Fridays ago and they both had ear infections. :( But other than that, they are happy go lucky. They spend a lot of time playing in our bedroom. And we bring a cat in here and there to work on their manners. Henry is pretty much desensitized to them. He gets excited... But he doesn't do anything too crazy. Charlie is a completely different story. But he's gotten a TON better. He's getting to the point where when he's getting excited with a cat's presence that when we say his name is distracts him from doing anything. Hopefully in a few more weeks of working on it he'll be at the same level as Henry.

Let's do an update on my health. I'm doing pretty fantastic. I had a doctor's appointment on July 8th. And to my disappointment I didn't lose a single pound. But, that's okay. Because I've lost about 5-6 inches around my waist. So, whatever fat I did lose, I gained in muscle. I've been continuing my biking as well. When I last counted, from May 22nd (when I started biking) to July 25th I had biked a little over 192 miles in total. I'm well over 200 miles now. My original biking goal was to do 10 miles in one sitting. I achieved that goal for the first time on June 18th. It took me 48 minutes and 18 seconds (10.5 miles total). Well I can bike that and more now. I did 10 miles last Thursday and it took me about 35 minutes. So, I've gotten a lot faster. So, want to know what my new goal is? *drum roll* It's 20 MILES. And I'm quite sure that I can achieve it. I've been upping my daily miles. And I figure if I can stay at my current pace that I can do 20 miles in about 70-75 minutes. So, as soon as I reach that goal, I'll let you know. :)

Brian and I are also excited to announce that we are an Aunt and Uncle! We have brand spankin' new niece, Eliana. She was born on July 2nd. I'd post pictures, but I don't know exactly how Colleen and Johnny would feel about that on my public blog. So, congratulations you guys! We're happy for you! :)

I've recently joined a website called pinterest. It's an online cataloging site that I love. I can be on various food blogs and "pin" recipes to my food board on pinterest.

While on Pinterest, I discovered this recipe (The link is to my actual pin. But if you click on the picture, it'll take you to the recipe.) Annnwaaay, I decided to do this myself - except using turkey bacon.

Here it is before it went into the oven:


Here it is when it came out of the oven:


Doesn't that look amazing?

Here is a current picture of Charlie and Henry. Please excuse Henry's muddy nose.


Brian was able to get this picture of Bella the other day:


We bought a kiddie pool recently. This is Henry thinking about stepping in. (We have yet to get Charlie to play in it, though.)


Also, we've had a lot of rain recently. So the last two pictures are of a washout just past our driveway. We have to technically drive on someone else's property to get to work/town now. (The house is foreclosed on, though. So, no one lives there currently.)





That's all for now!

Pupdate

Hi all,
I realized tonight that I haven't updated in a REALLY long time. So sorry about that. We have just been so busy.

Since I'm at home and our internet here in the boonies isn't the greatest, I thought I'd share a few pictures that I took of the puppies tonight.

We got them shaved down to nothing about a month ago... So, they aren't as fluffy as they usually are...


Henry. Always smiling.


Charles.


This is what usually happens when I try to take pictures... Hence my lack of pictures posted.


Henry loves looking out the window.


This here is "Pengy." He is Charlie's favorite toy at the moment.


He almost always has it.


He even has it when he's playing with other toys.


Augustus is pretty much infatuated with Charlie and Henry. We've been working on their cat manners lately... Sometimes Auggie makes it difficult... But I just love his little smile in this picture.


So cute!

That's all for now!

2011 Great Strides Walk

On May 21st Brian and I participated in the 2011 Great Strides walk to help raise money and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.

This cause really means something to my family. My little cousin, Makayla, was diagnosed with CF at 6 months old. She is now a whopping 5. Makayla's Mom, Laura, has really tried going above and beyond to raise money for CF as well as trying to raise awareness.

I had never participated in this walk before, and I must say, it was quite interesting. Basically we walk 3.1 miles around downtown Grand Rapids... We caused a couple traffic jams, too. Whoops!

Here are some pictures from the event:



It was held at Calder Plaza. This was taken before everyone showed up.



This was most of our team.



Makayla's family.

We also saw some cool things along the way...










My Uncle Tom decided to make his own route. :) Cheater!






We walked by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, too.






He's also buried there.



So, we got to see some pretty awesome things.

We were pretty tuckered out at the end, but it was a blast.

For My Mom

This hummingbird was perched on my tomato plant last Friday morning. :)

Gardening :)

Well, Brian and I have really been working hard on the yard for the past few weeks...

We have planted a red fury, begonias, petunias, royal carpet, cosmos, cat grass, and a few other things. While cleaning out some old flower pots last weekend I found some sprouts growing in the leftover dirt. This dirt belonged to the people who owned this house before us... So, they are kind of mysteries. :)



Petunias.



Begonias.



Red Fury. Pre-bloom.



Mystery sprout #1.



Mystery sprout #2. (Pretty sure it's the same as #1... But I found them at separate times.)



Mystery sprout #3.



Here is my Royal Carpet after just one week.



Our yard is in full bloom of tulips. :)



Here's a close-up picture of some Rose Breasted Grosbeaks. I absolutely LOVE these birds. I was talking to Brian about them literally the day before they showed up. We have at least 3 males and 2 females. (Pictured are two males.)



Here is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

Lastly...



Maggie and her boyfriend!

That's all for now!