Cats and Dogs

So Weston has invited me to contribute to this blog, and so I hope that no one regards my entries as those of an unwelcome interloper. I am currently a stay at home pet owner. What is that you say? No, that does not mean unemployed. I prefer the term retired. Or semi retired, since I still sell real estate. Being retired has really opened my eyes to the amount of work that can be done around the house, not the least of which is cleaning up after our two animals. I can understand the joke now regarding the aliens who land and come to the humans and insist on being taken to the leaders, the dogs. After all, we do make their food, wash their beds, run all of their errands, provide for their entertainment and (ick) pick up their excrement.

But, all that being said. I do love my adorable animals, Funny and Callie. Today, Callie finally caught Funny after weeks of chase. It really wasn't very fun to listen to. Hopefully Callie can learn that this fuzzy chew toy that runs around the house as if it were possessed by the devil himself has sharp poky things coming out of five of his six ends. If not, poor Callie will probably end up with a face full of claws.

Tonight I am privileged to attend the Keith Urban concert with Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa. It will be sooo much fun!

My 26th Birthday

Yesterday was my 26th birthday and Amanda made sure it was a good one. She started a day early (because my birthday fell on a Sunday this year) and had surprises waiting for me on Saturday. She made a great breakfast and we headed out for the day. We went to REI and looked around, she found a really cool North Face coat and I was just in the browsing mood. We then left to grab lunch at Cafe Rio. When I went to get into the drivers seat she stopped me and said that she would now be driving, then handed me a blindfold and had me put it on. She took me to the secret location...I was very surprised. When she finally untied the blindfold I found myself at Rock Canyon Park, were my friend Jake Fillmore was ready to take me rock climbing. We had a great afternoon climbing! The time flew by and we were done sooner than I thought, I really didn't want to leave. Unfortunately we forgot the camera in the car and so I don't have any pictures (we'll get some on the next trip I promise). We had to leave though because the BYU-UCLA game was about to start.

The next day was Sunday and I had to speak in church. I had a great time doing it-much better than expected-and we were quickly back home. It was finally present time! I had a bunch of presents from my very generous wife, parents and family, as seen in the picture; and yes that is a poop scooper next to me...Thanks Mom! I have to mention one present that Amanda gave to me. I had been wanting it for a while now but just couldn't bring myself to spend the money. However I was very excited to open a new Nikon D40X Digital Camera! I have been wanting to get back into photography and now I can, I am SO excited!!

Latter that night we had Uncle Matt, Aunt Lisa and the rest of their family over, while Amanda prepare a fabulous dinner (and of course when you make food you can't help but feed the puppy a little bit). We had a great time talking and we really enjoyed the wonderful dinner that Amanda prepared. This turned out to be one of my best birthdays! Thanks so much Amanda for making it a special weekend for me, your the BEST!

Our new little puppy!

We have a new edition to our small family. Last week we bought a little puppy, she is a fox red Labrador we named Callie. We searched all over to find this rare color of lab and finally were able to adopt one from a breeder in Pennsylvania. The first week was difficult (especially on Amanda), Callie spent most of her days going through the house getting into things she shouldn't. She loves to chew on cords (especially if they are plugged in), but currently her favorite chew toy is out cat funny. Callie is sure funny (the cat) is a lab and very confused as to why he won't play with her. Despite all this and more she is so cute and loving that you can't stay mad at her for long. She loves to go on walks, meet new people, learn a new trick, but most just be with people. We are excited to go hiking, camping and swimming with her when she gets a little bigger. We (most Amanda again) have been working these past two weeks to train her as much as possible and I have been pleasantly surprised with the results. She knows her named, sit, come, down, and no (which is the most important one)! She also shows signs of being a great hunting dog (see picture), however her main purpose in life will be to keep Amanda company while she is at home enjoying her newly retired life.