My life as of late

We've been spending a lot of time in our yard the past few days. In our backyard there is a dog run off to the right of the house. Originally we thought we would rip the fence out, but now that we have Jackson I think it might be useful. Since we moved in however, it's been overrun with weeds. Not little dandelions or something like that. These are monster weeds. Like the entire thing is up to at least my chest and parts of it are as tall as me. After we got a new lawn mower and got the rest of the lawn taken care of, we attacked the dog run. Daniel went in there with a weed eater and hedge trimmer. The weed eater wasn't working too well, but the hedge trimmer worked quite nicely. After about 15 minutes our roommate came out to help us. It was nice that we could just let Jackson sniff around and lay in the shade while we worked. Daniel cut down the weeds while Paul and I raked them up and put them in big yard garbage bags. We got about half of it cut down when I took over. It took me about 5 minutes to cut completely through the electric cord with the hedge trimmer. Oops. It was after noon by then, so we just figured it was time for a lunch break.

After lunch, Daniel attempted to fix the cord. It didn't work. By then it was getting close to 90 degrees anyways so we let it go. Then yesterday, Daniel bought a new cord and we went at it again. This time it only took 20 minutes for Daniel to hack into the cord. But he didn't cut all the way through so he was able to fix it with electrical tape. We finished it up and now the dog run is just dead weeds. We have three huge garbage bags full of branches that we cut down. I really hope the grass just moves in and takes over. If we have to keep chopping weeds down until it snows, I will be very annoyed. I think eventually we will put Jackson outside while we're in class, and just use his crate for bedtime. That way he can run around and sniff and pee.

The days have gone by quickly, though we haven't been doing a whole lot. I have really enjoyed cooking with Daniel. We cook lunch and dinner every day. Our friend Jeff came over yesterday to see the house, meet Jackson, and talk about our summer. He went to Italy for a few weeks during his sophomore year at DU (he's one year ahead of us) so he told us a lot before we went. He wanted to know all about our trip. And he is going back to Italy in a few weeks to study abroad this entire quarter. So he wanted to ask us all the places he should go while he's in Europe. He also told us about his big 21st birthday trip to Las Vegas. I've never been interested in going before, but it sounded like a lot of fun. The whole fraternity is planning a trip over Spring Break because most of the guys will be over 21 by then. And I've already been invited.

I'm also working on a scrapbook as a thank you gift to Grandma and Grandpa. It's so much work, but it'll be awesome when it's all finished. And of course we've been playing with Jackson. Mostly fetch in the backyard, going for walks, and we're working on sit, down, stay, come, etc. He's so smart it's really amazing. I've only been in Denver 6 days and I'm already looking forward to going back to Phoenix. It's getting a little boring here. I'm excited to see my sister and my grandparents before school starts. I ordered my books yesterday. It's not too much longer! My third year of college. Holy cow.

Jackson

It has been a crazy few days. A puppy really is like a baby! No, more like a toddler because he can move around and get into everything. But really we feel lucky that he is such a good puppy. He has had very few accidents over all. He has even whined to go outside so he could go pee. He absolutely loves people. I mean, he can't be over 5 feet away from us at any time. And when we get up, he gets up to follow us. He loves to lick, but he doesn't chew anything but his bone and sticks in the backyard. He is afraid of the stairs, so we have to carry him down them if we're all in the basement. But he doesn't mind going up them with a little encouragement. The only time he has barked so far is if we go downstairs. Then he wants to be with us, but he's afraid to go down so he barks. He hasn't had an accident in his crate once since we brought him home. After one day of crate training, he doesn't whine at all. He doesn't exactly go in the crate willingly, but once he's in there, he's totally fine. He sleeps from about 9pm-7am straight (and the occasional 10 minute nap during the day). Yesterday he finally learned to play fetch and he is so good at it! He has this red squeaky ball that he loves. He sits with it and just kind of sticks his nose on it and rolls it around with his paws. So we throw it and he runs to get it and brings it right back. The first time he did it I was so happy! He's a little afraid of the lawn mower. He loves Paul's big green chair. Last night during dinner, we told him to get down and he did. Then as soon as we turned our back, he was back up there. It was so cute! He doesn't quite know how to walk in a straight line yet. He gets the leash wrapped around things easily and tangled up between our legs because he wants to sniff everything on both sides of the street. He really likes going through peoples' legs. I can't believe how quickly he has learned things and how good he is. We still have to watch him every second that he's not in his crate, but once he's potty trained we won't have to watch him as close.

Can you believe how much we've learned in two days? He is such an amazing puppy. It's awesome having a dog. It's like having someone always there to remind you that you're the best person in the whole wide world! It's also been pretty exhausting. Daniel and I have spent so much time focused on Jackson we haven't spent very much time really focused on each other. Though we've been physically together for two days, we're often preoccupied with other things. Daniel has been getting up early in the morning to let Jackson out so I could sleep in. I'm a little concerned about the 12 hour ride to Phoenix, but it'll be fine I'm sure. We'll make it work.

It's a Boy!

We have a new member of our family! Jackson is a four month old black lab puppy. We got him at the Dumb Friends League which is a national animal rescue organization. We were definitely not anticipating getting a dog today, but it just worked out that way :-)

Our flight left Phoenix at 10am this morning. We actually saw Air Force One at the airport as we drove in. I guess Obama is in Phoenix today. It was really cool to see it in person and up close. We landed in Denver around 1pm and our awesome roommate Paul came and picked us up. We picked up our car from the garage on campus where we left it before Europe and then went out for a quick lunch. Paul is just as excited as we are about getting a puppy so he wanted to go with us to look for one. We went to the Colorado Humane Society first, but they were closed. So we drove to the Dumb Friends League that's just blocks from our house. They are a little more expensive than other shelters, but we wanted to take a look anyways.

First we completed a questionnaire on a computer screen. Then we went into a hallway with kennel after kennel of dogs. A lot of them were barking and going crazy, and a lot of them were laying completely still in the bottom of their cage. There were not many puppies there. We wrote down kennel numbers for dogs we were interested in. We wrote down close to 7 numbers, I think. Then we went to the receptionist desk. We told her the dogs we were interested in and most of them were unavailable. Some were on hold, some were adopted earlier that day, and some still had to pass behavioral exams or something like that. There were two dogs left for us to see: a black lab puppy and a deaf Australian Cattle dog puppy. They brought in the black lab first just in case another family wanted to see it too. The puppy came in and immediately jumped all over us and licked our faces. At first, I was hesitant. We had never talked about a lab. Also, he was a little older than I would have liked. He wasn't the cute tiny puppy that sits on your lap; he was the rambunctious jumping up and down kind of puppy. Paul had to go to work, so I drove him home while Daniel stayed with the puppy. When I got back, that was it.

What sold it for us was that 1) labs hardly shed at all and 2) he didn't bark the whole time. When other dogs were barking like crazy, he didn't bark at all. He was excited and loveable like any puppy would be, but he didn't bark and he didn't really bite that much either. The adoption fee was a little more than we would have liked ($300) but in the end, it's for a good cause and he would have cost way more from a breeder. He looks like pure-bred lab to me. Then we had to come up with a name! The girls that were helping us were so great. They thought he was adorable too and were happy to help us. Finally, we settled on Jackson. It just felt right. I asked the volunteers about other costs and what else we should buy today. I told them we wanted a crate and I was worried about the cost. She said they often sell them for much less than Petsmart or any store like that. Unfortunately, they didn't have any, but right there and then she went online to Craigs List. While I was still in the office with Jackson playing at my feet, I emailed a lady about a crate she was selling for $50. She called me right back and we went straight to her house from the Dumb Friends League.

On our way out, we stopped in their shop to get some of the necessities. We got a collar, a leash, dog bowls, a chew toy, and some food. Of course we'll need to get a lot more. We had to leave Jackson there to get neutered and microchipped. We can pick him up tomorrow at 4pm!

Tonight we have unpacked all our Europe stuff and gone through our gigantic pile of mail. We have puppy-proofed most of the house. The hardest thing is going to be keeping things off the floor because Jackson is probably going to chew on everything. He will be a big dog too, close to 80 pounds they said. But labs are great family pets. He is loveable and social and wants to please us already. Labs are easy to train too. I can't wait to take him back to Phoenix to meet my parents and Daniel's parents! What an exciting time!

Back in the good ol' USA

Well we're back! I'm still sort of "recovering" from the trip. I can't seem to sleep past about 4 or 5am yet. But that will pass soon I'm sure. Last night we had the whole family over to the Rosens house for dinner and to show off all our pictures and everything. It was so much fun! My parents and Aunt Shirley and Uncle George were there with Daniel's parents too. I love that our families get along so well. We are in Phoenix until next Monday when we'll fly back to Denver.

So besides recovering from our life-changing trip, now I am obsessed with getting a dog. I kind of have been for months, but now it's like all I think about. Every dog I see I want! I am so excited that in one week, we will have our very own brand new puppy!

Yesterday I got my hair cut and I'm not very happy with it. I asked for layers, so she gave me lots of layers. The shortest layer is a good 6 inches shorter than the longest layer. So it's almost like tiered in the back. Yuck. I have discovered that putting the top half up eliminates the "tiered" look, so I guess until it grows out I'll be wearing it up a lot. Or until I can learn to be happy with it.

This morning my Dad took out me and Daniel for breakfast. It was really nice. Then Daniel and I went shopping for clothes. Daniel shrunk all his clothes about 6 months ago and has been putting up with them ever since. I am sooo happy that he finally got some new clothes. I think his whole wardrobe was looking a little shabby. We got him a pair of jeans, two shorts, and 3 polos for $85! Yay Kohl's! We also looked for me, but all I ended up with was one pair of jeans. I finally got a pair of skinny jeans. I like them a lot, but everything else didn't look right. I've been in sort of a shopping slump the past few months. I have no motivation to go shopping and when I do I feel like I can't find anything I like. Which I guess is sort of a blessing. Except it makes me depressed when I do go shopping. It's not that I think I'm fat, or ugly, or anything like that. I just don't like anything.

So tonight we're having dinner with my parents and we'll probably spend the evening with Daniel's parents. It's really hard to balance the two families. To be honest, I enjoy spending time with Daniel's parents more. They are more interested in chatting with us and they are so encouraging and positive and excited for us all the time. I'm sure my parents are too, but they don't show it as much. We are sleeping at my parents house now though to help keep it even. They redid a ton of the house, so I don't have a bedroom here anymore. My bedroom is now my mom's office, and the old guest room is now my dad's office. Nicole's room is sort of both of our bedroom because they moved my bed into her room. It's kind of cute, it looks like the room we would have shared growing up. The guest room is now in my dad's old office/mom's sewing room. It was nice that they set it all up for us and are letting us share a bed and a room now. I guess since we're engaged, everyone feels okay with us together.

Tomorrow is my mom's day off so we're going to see Julie and Julia. Then on Friday I have an eye doctor appointment and Sarah is coming over for dinner! I am so excited to see her, it's been a while since we've hung out. We have so much to catch up on. And on Saturday we are going to see Harry Potter 6 with Daniel's parents and the Rosens are having a dinner party with a ton of our mutual friends. On Sunday it's church, and Monday morning we fly back to Denver. I am so excited to go home and spend more time in our new house and get a PUPPY!!!

This is seriously the best time of our lives. I feel like we are living a fairy tale. It's almost not fair to the rest of the world that our life is so amazing. :-)