Brianna's Blog

Stray Dog

2011-10-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

I thought a stray dog wandered into our backyard when I quickly glanced outside, looking for Irene. I did a double take and realized Irene had decided to celebrate Halloween early, and dress up like another dog. She did so by dunking her head into a puddle of mud which had gathered in our backyard.

Needless to say, she thought it was fun until she had to come right inside and get a bath!

The "I" puppies

2011-10-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had our regional guide dog meeting. For I think the first time ever I got to see more than one of my puppies siblings -- of the 9 puppies in the litter, 4 were at the meeting. Irene is certainly the biggest of all of them (lucky me). Inga is certainly the smallest. It was encouraging to hear they are all kind of a handful, they all don't like their headcollars and they are all really smart!

From left to right, we have Irene, Inga, Irvine, Izzy.

This is classic Irene -- winking. I did hear it might run in the other puppies in her litter too...

They are all a little rowdy -- I think it must be the genes. We tried to get them to pose sitting close together, but this is all we got... they must have missed their sisters! This is the 3 sisters in the photo below.

Three sisters actually being still enough for a picture...

Cute little Inga!

Irene and Izzy are far apart away they can remain calm.

Pumpkins

2011-10-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

What fun is Halloween if you can't dress up your dogs? :) We got some costumes from Goodwill and our puppies just love them ;)

Irene and Petunia look happy, right? Of course they are, they're pumpkins!

I think the pumpkin fits Petunia a little better :)

OK mom, enough!

Sacred Marriage - Chapter 2

2011-10-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

What? You may ask, what is Sacred Marriage, and what the heck happened to Chapter 1? Well, let me tell you...

I decided to join an online Bible study where we would all ready Sacred Marriage together, and then chat about it, blog about it, etc. However, I'm late to the game, so I'm starting with Chapter 2. And I might add, I'm late posting this, but better late than never I suppose! Overall, I really like this idea of an online Bible study -- it keeps me accountable but there is a little less pressure of meeting deadlines when I'm busy with work, etc.

So, onto the meat of my post, chapter 2! Chapter two was all about how being married has lots of analogies about our relationship with God. This chapter references 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" In fact, every day that I wake up, I know that I am less than perfect and am probably going to mess up in some way, shape, or form. But becasue of God's mercy, the old is forgotton and my spirit is new, forgiven each day, each hour, each minute. God has forgiven me, and he calls me to show that same mercy and forgiveness to my husband. It sounds so easy, right?

My favorite part of the chapter was a great analogy about our marriages and forests. Forests can grow for hundreds of years -- but if they are not continually watered with the rain, one lightning strike can destroy the forest. However, if the forest is watered continuously, lightning may still strike the forest, but it will not have as devastating an effect. Our marriages are like forests in that they also need water ("an unwavering commitment to please God") to survive against lightning strikes (communication problems, unrealized expectations, etc). The author writes, "If I'm married only for happiness, and my happiness wanes for whatever reason, one little spark will burn the entire forest of my relationship."

That analogy really struck with me, because so much I often think of marriage as 'how can my husband make me happy today'. It's an unfortunate selfish view, but one that is easy to fall into a trap when we are surrounded by things that make us happy instantly, like on demand games, tv, quick dinners, etc. If I look at marriage as a way to please God, and to really embrace God's love and share that with Rob, then marriage takes on a whole new look. Or at least it should. Of course, putting this into practice is challenging, but I'm not one to back down from a challenge.

Ok, that's all for this chapter. Hope you all have a blessed week!

Footnotes:

Date Night

2011-09-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Rob and I are going to try to do more date nights, starting now. This week we had 2 date nights -- a date on Monday to watch the Broncos lose (but it was still fun to watch), and then a date later in the week to go see "Annie The Sequel" at the Candlelight Dinner Theater.

It was a great show, but our date night was even more exciting because we brought Irene with us. Luckily we had a table to ourselves, becasue we didn't realize how nervous Irene would be with the loud music from the orchestra right in front of us, and all the dark objects moving on stage. The worst part was when everybody clapped, Irene would jump up and hit her head on the table. By the end of the show, Rob and I would cushion the table instead of clap and try to calm Irene down. other than that though, Irene did great (even wtih the real dog on stage!) and we were glad we brought her!

Weekend in RMNP

2011-09-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful weekend for a drive. A nice long drive through the scenic wonderland that is Rocky Mountain National Park...

My mom and I got to spend a special weekend in Estes Park. We went out last night, brought our lawn chairs, and watched the elk bugle while enjoying some delicious cherry cider! Much to our surprise, while we were sitting there, a blue heron flew right by us! It was neat to see the blue heron in front of all the elk -- I didn't even know there were blue heron in Rocky Mountain Natl Park.

Listening to the elk bugle is always inspiring!

My favorite part of the drive this morning was this beautiful male bull elk. We were driving by when I saw him walking alongside the forest... so we pulled over and I jumped out of the car. He was moving very quickly -- I almost had to run to keep up with him! I got some nice shots as he crossed the road right in front of us, and then within 5 minutes he was completely gone into the forest again... what a little blessing (or a big blessing!)

We also saw a mother moose and her calf -- we were lucky enough to see her first too, so she was nice and close before all the people got there. What a great day for wildlife!

Jump!

2011-07-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

Irene is a handful. Or at least she can be at times. From the beginning she has been full of her own will and always a little on the mischevious side. Like tonight, we ate dinner outside, and Irene ran around with her Kong in her mouth in big circles in the backyard. But we weren't paying attention to her (so she thought) so she came within a foot of the table and started ripping grass up. As soon as I moved to stand up, she bolted and did about 20 laps in the backyard. Sigh. What am I to do with her?

To try to get some of that energy out the other day, I borrowed my neighbors dog jumping aparatus and Rob and I trained Irene to jump over the bar. She doesn't know a command or anything, but if we run with her, then about 75% of the time she'll at least try to jump over (the other 25% she veers around the pole and knocks it over).

Here are some of my favorite shots -- she was getting better all the time, and I think we all had a good time. The first few times we tried the bar was really low and she knocked it off every time, so at least she is getting better!

Guide Dog Picnic

2011-07-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

So I've been deliquent about blogging agian. Oops. I just can't believe that summer is going by so fast! I think a month later, and I'm finally caught up with some household stuff after being back from Asia!

One of our activities this summer was a great Guide Dog Picnic held at Alex and Stacie's house. Irene had a great time playing wtih the other puppies, but most of all she loved the little plastic pool. She was the only puppy who would just stay in the pool, splashing around and 'digging' into the water. Silly puppy! She is so fun to be around and she just makes me smile!

Havlik Happenings

2011-06-22T22:09:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Last days in Taiwan

2011-06-11T17:36:00.001-07:00

Wow, 2 weeks went by really fast!

We've spent the last few days in Taipei just hanging out, eating, and shopping. We went to a nice mall where we got to look like a super hero. :).

We went to a night market which was great. I think on this trip I have bought 5 pairs of shoes, more than I've bought for the last few years. We also keep trying new food... These are some plums covered in sugary syrup. Yes, my mouth is full of one on this picture.

We also went to the Makong Gondola which was a great scenic ride up over the lush forests of Taiwan.

And last night was awesome
Too! I rode on a scooter to the dollar store. It was fun - and Rob and I took and adventure and went to the grocery store all by ourselves. We finished the night with some delicious papaya milk and banana milk. Yumm! There are some foods I will miss in the USA.

In a little over 24 hours I'll be home. It's been a good trip and neither Rob nor I got sick! Overall it was an awesome experience made possible by some VERY thoughtful friends and hosts! I'll have to post more pictures when I get them off my camera.

Bye-bye!

Back in Taipei

2011-06-11T17:35:00.001-07:00

We made it back from China safely ( as you can tell since blogging is forbidden and blocked in China )

We did a few mire scenic stops in Taipei, including the Sun Yat Sen memorial.

We've had great weather mist of the trip, but this day was raining. But with the rain it made for a beautiful scene of the Taipei 101 which we visited the first day.

Beijing

2011-06-11T14:32:00.001-07:00

Today we visited the site of the 2008 summer Olympics. We got to go into the Water Cube where all the swimming events took place. We also got to go into the Birds Nest where the track and field events took place.

Then We headed to the Summer Garden which is this HUGE garden area with many beautiful buildings. It also has the longest painting gallery in the world with 14000 paintings in this very long hall.

There is also a huge manmade lake built for the emperess a long time ago.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

China

2011-06-09T10:09:00.001-07:00

We're in China!!

Yesterday we went to the Great Wall which was awesome!!! It was just like I envisioned it would be. But we forgot to take pictures on the iPhone, so they will come later.

We rode the Subway, and that was an experience. It was wall to wall people. We walked like cattle for about 10 minutes.

We also ate Peking duck, which was delicious. We tried all parts of the duck... Some were better than others. :). It was certainly adventurous!

Today we are off to the Forbidden City! It has been great having Jimmy to show us around and having time to catch up with him.

Off to China!

2011-06-05T09:38:00.001-07:00

I probably won't have Internet for the next few days, as we will be in China!

Today was fun-- we were tourists in Taipei seeing the National Palace Museum and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. Thank goodness they were air conditioned as it was hot today! It was so crowded at the museum that when we left they had closed the entrance to new visitors!

The museum

For dinner we had all you can eat BBQ which you cook things for yourself at the table over a little BBQ fire. It was very yummy!

More food

2011-06-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

So the dining adventure continues....

After Sun Moon Lake we went south to the city of Tainan. It has a lot of historical landmarks which I can post later. One of the other 'local' things we did was go to a night market. There was this empty lot and in about 30 minutes it transformed into a crowded market filled with vendors, shoppers, sounds and smells.

This was the mist adventurous food yet. We tried all sorts of things, including one bite of chicken feet, pictured below. We also tried stinky tofu (smells really stinky), oyster omelette tortillas, wheat grass juice, octopus, and more. I think I am all adventured out for now.

On a less adventurous note we've tried some delicious bows (pronounced like boughs). They are delicious dumplings like things.

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And we ate other sweet things including lots of pearl teas, ice cream in a croissant and ice cream, peanuts, and cilantro in a tortilla.

Alice's relatives also made delicious tamales for the dragon boat festival. See below.

Alice eats a fish cake... I'm done eating seafood for a bit!

And not so adventurous blueberry oreos....

Anniversary!

2011-06-04T19:50:00.001-07:00

Wow, it has already been 4 years since Rob and I got married! This vacation is like a giant gift already, but Rob and Andy schemed and surprised me with an awesome night at a fancy hotel. This room was AWESOME! It had its own pool that looked out to the sky, it had a projector with surround sound, a personal steam room, a personal jaccuzzi with a tv and music and automatic dimming lights. And, it had a karaoke system and full automatic massage chair as well! Because it was over here, it was just a fraction of the cost too!

Here's to many more years of marriage and adventures!

What's wrong with this picture?

2011-06-04T18:21:00.001-07:00

So we've been doing a lot of shopping in the streets and streets of shops. I noticed that a lot of the shirts in English don't make a lot of sense, so I started looking closer.... Looks like they are just random English letters or copied words. Here are some examples:

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Sun Moon Lake

2011-06-03T18:58:00.001-07:00

After arriving in Taipei, we spent a few days with Alice's very generous parents, who got a van and drove us down the West coast of Taiwan. We stopped at the biggest lake in Taiwan called Sun Moon Lake. After sleeping in the VIP room we got up for a sunrise hike ( at 4:30 am). It was a beautiful hike.

Morning view of The lake.

A tea plantation on the hillside!

A crazy caterpillar on the path!

Temples

2011-05-31T03:02:00.001-07:00

Temples are all over.... We went to a famous one, the Longshan temple (soon to be seen on the Bachelorette) and to some more local ones! They are very beautiful!

Adventure

2011-05-31T02:57:00.001-07:00

Well, I can certainly say we are having an adventure, and thank goodness it is
A relatively smooth adventure. Probably the most adventurous portion is the food -- I love the new fruits, and we've tried some "interesting" foods like blood squares and lantern fish liver..... Mmmm, tasty! And of course the green tea kit Kay!

Vigo's all grown up

2011-05-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

Vigo is all grown up and goes back on the puppy truck next month! I can't believe it -- where does the time go?

I had a chance to say goodbye to him and show him lots of love. He also of course enjoyed seeing Irene. They had a lot of fun together -- she acted just like a little (annoying) sister to him.

I put them both on tie down, but Irene thought it would be more fun to jump straight vertically in the air to try to get my attention (or maybe get Vigo's attention- as you can see, she is looking at him, not me). At least she wasn't barking ;)

"I'm so excited that Vigo's here that I can't control myself...."

And of course I had to take some photos of Vigo just like I did when he was a puppy. But now he is all grown up...such a handsome dog!

Irene the Retriever

2011-05-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

As you just read, we spent the weekend in Estes for the Great Duck Race. While we were there, we learned something new about Irene -- she loves the water!! We kind of knew that already, because she loves jumping in the shower when it is on, and she likes the sprinklers too, but this was a whole new level...

We introduced her to the creek where the ducks were floating down... boy was she excited to jump in -- that's my puppy, little fearless Irene!

Mmmmm...Rubber Duckies!

Somebody had to help those ducks that got stuck along the way, and Irene volunteered. She'd pick them up in her mouth, and then we'd say "drop it" and she'd drop it back into the river. What a smart dog!

Got one!

She wasn't scared of the river, but she seemed to know not to go too far in... what a smart dog!

"This is so much fun guys!"

Mothers Day

2011-05-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

Oops, I've been terrible about updating the blog. So here goes, once again. Maybe some year I'll be able to update all year round!

Things have been very busy around here! First of all, my brother Ryan came back from Afghanistan last month!!!!!! It was a busy time preparing for him to come back, and flying out to celebrate his homecoming! What a blessing!

Then Rob's sister came into Denver, so we visted with her and celebrated Easter.

Then a friend of ours got married, and of course there were a few birthdays to celebrate in there...

And now Mother's Day! But I am so blessed that all of these things are going on in my life! I wouldn't want it any other way!

So starting at the end....
For Mother's Day we went up to Estes Park to see the Estes Park Duck Race. My mom had always wanted to see it, and since it fell on Mother's Day weekend it was the perfect time! Ryan and Rob and I and my parents all met in Estes for some beautiful mountain scenery and fresh air. The weather was gorgous!! We went to see the ducks be dropped into Fall River -- there were almost 6000 ducks!!!

Here are the ducks before they were dropped into the water! Some have sunglasses and some don't!

Who doesn't want their picture taken with a duck! A perfect Mother's day photo op...

The ducks as they fall into the water! Go duck go!

A lot of them would get stuck along the side -- there were helpers to 'free' the ducks, including my dad and as you will see in the next post, Irene :)

These poor ducks were stuck while other ducks raced past them....

2010 Scrapbook

2011-03-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Holi Celebration

2011-03-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

We are lucky to have some Indian friends who introduce us to all sorts of new cultural experiences. One of these such experiences was to celebrate Holi... Divya hosted a Holi celebration. In India, Holi is celebrated by people throwing colored powder and colored water at each other. The colored water can last for 2 days on your skin, and so we told Divya we just wanted to use the dry colored power which brushes off.

We helped Divya by hosting the party at the gazebo across from our house. It was a beautiful spring day, with the sun shining and just a little breeze.

Divya started by pouring out the colors....

And then he started going around and putting it on people... since he and his wife were the only people who knew what they were doing, we were all a little cautious -- we didn't wear clothes that we wanted to get ruined. Although Divya assured us it would come off no problem ;)

Soon everybody was partaking in the coloring -- although we were still modest compared to Divya's standards -- he said that the group of 15 of us went through as much powder as one person would use in India. Apparently they throw it by the handfuls at you.... if you are curious, there was a funny show about it on "Outsourced" on NBC. You can watch it at Hulu.com

Divya looks for more willing victims... "Come on guys!"

Love the color on Rob :)

Irena and Bogdan arrived late, so they got the full attention :)

Bogdan pretending to be mad, although he was having fun :)

The color was really soft in your hands -- it felt like flour and kind of just dissolved....

Our hosts, Divya and Priti

Jessica eyes the crowd...

Gabe and Eileen -- is there something on my face?

The coloured crowd! Happi Holi

The festivities continue as the color gets used!

Canvas and Cocktails

2011-03-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Rob and I went down to Denver for the weekend. My main event while we were there was my cousin's 21st birthday party! We went to a place in Denver called Canvas and Cocktails where we learned how to paint while drinking mimosas! It was a lot of fun, and our paintings turned out quite well!

Our canvases with the backgrounds painted...

Mother & Daughter time :)

Our group with our finished paintings -- what a group of artists!

Our finished paintings!

Gotta love puppies!

2011-03-12T19:05:00.001-08:00

I'm hooked... I love puppies!

We are having a great time with Irene... She seems to be growing already. If I had to pick a word to describe her, I'd call her spunky! She loves to nibble, but even better, she loves to snuggle!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fun night out

2011-03-12T18:41:00.001-08:00

Fort Collins has a dinner program every year in March... Rob and I don't go out to eat too much, but we decided to splurge and went out to dinner at Rodizios Grill... It was all you can eat meat and appetizers... Mmmmm, delicious! It was a special treat for us!

Welcome Irene

2011-03-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

What? A new puppy? But what about Vigo?

Well, since we were co-raising Vigo (so we only had him every other week), I really missed having a puppy around all the time. Our coraisers and friends, Alex and Stacie, said they would watch Vigo full time so we could have a new puppy full time. We weren't expecting one until May, but then on Tuesday our GDB leader called and said they were getting puppies on Thursday. He asked if I wanted one and of course I said yes. We were thrilled to welcome Irene into our home on Thursday night :) She is a wonderful, 9week old yellow lab and we couldn't be happier!

Last Place

2011-02-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

As part of my photo weekend, I took on a quick photo assignment for this contest I found -- it is a contest for the month of February with the theme of "last place". I did 2 entries...

http://convozine.com/conversations/10009
The Last Place You'd Expect to Find a Snowman.....

http://convozine.com/conversations/10011
The Last Place You'd Expect to See Money

Photo Weekend

2011-02-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went down to Denver for a photo workshop with Chimpsey. I had a lot of fun -- we spent an hour learning about new features on our cameras ( and boy did I learn a lot more than I thought I was going to learn), and then we spent an hour practicing what we learned. The biggest thing I learned was how to use my camera in manual mode. It certainly will take some getting used to, but it is very powerful! Here are some of my shots from the day...

Photo Assignment

2011-02-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Spring is not quite here afterall. We got a beautiful little snowstorm last night which left my yeard beautifully white. I decided to take advantage of this and shoot some photos -- I am trying to work on getting the depth of field correct (getting one thing in focus while the rest of the picture is blurred). Here are my results today:

Happy President's Day

2011-02-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

I learned something today --believe it or not, there is no federal holiday called "President's Day". No matter what you call it, many residents enjoyed the day off. This day is usually specifically remembering Washington's birthday. So in honor of whatever holiday this is, Rob and I put up our American flag today outside. Now we will be able to fly our flag to celebrate our great nation. God bless America!

As a result of this holiday, Rob and I had the day off so we spent a night in Estes Park. We had a lot of fun -- we ate delicious pizza with my parents (I'd recommend the Village Pizza in Estes, it was delish!), went ice skating on a frozen lake, and then played the PS3 games late into the night. It was great to just get away and relax... whenever we leave Estes it feels like we have had a longer vacation than just one night.

Hope you had a relaxing day wherever the day took you... I'm off to another week of work!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

Oops, this was supposed to post on Monday --- oh well, any day is good for love! Wishing you some love today!

Spring is here

2011-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so maybe mid-February is early for spring, but someone should tell the birds that! I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping outside. I love that! I went downstairs and looked outside and there were 9 robins on our backyard ! Can you believe it? I haven't seen any this winter and now we have multiple families! How many can you count in the picture below?

Happy Spring to the Robins!

Camo

2011-02-07T21:51:00.001-08:00

As most of you know, the millitary has become much more a part of my life since my bro is now over in Afghanistan. Before his deployment, I hate to say it, but I didn't really think much the military is affecting Americans. I knew they were over there fighting, but it doesn't really hit home until you know someone directly.

My brother is fighting the battle every day. We don't hear from him very much, and when we do, it makes me really happy, but sad too... sad that he is over there fighting. My mom and I are wearing these bracelets that say "Pray for our Troops" -- I am wearing mine until by brother comes home! It is a good reminder to constantly pray for God's safety for my brother and pray for God's peace for his heart. I can't imagine what those forces are dealing with over there. Prayers are always welcome.

I spent last weekend with my in-laws in Denver. It was fun -- one of the activities we did was our nails -- in honor of my brother I got pink camo nail polish. So far so good.

Crazy dog lady

2011-02-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

So this week was REALLY cold... Like -20. The perfect temperature for having a loving puppy to keep you warm. Vigo kept me warm until Rob joined me ( don't worry, he didn't jump up on his own).

But, Rob did point out that I am turning into a crazy dog lady-- here I am with dog pajamas( thanks mom and dad) which have dog fur on them and I am snuggling with the dog! Oh well-- there are worse things in life than being a crazy dog lady!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Too Cute

2011-02-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Man, I think I'm falling harder for Vigo everyday.

It's a good thing that I am co-raising Vigo with my good friend Stacie, otherwise I'd get so attached that I'd probably steal him away if I had to give him back to Guide Dogs, or I'd say I'd accidentally lost him or something. He just seems to be the best dog -- he LOVES to cuddle, and maybe he has been extra sweet because of the cold, but regardless, Vigo is warming up my heart way too much -- I just love puppies.

Stacie and I got together over the weekend and took some pictures of Vigo. We both love to take pictures (besides loving puppies), so we thought we'd try out some skills. It's easy to take cute pictures when you have such a model student to pose :)

Mom, I'm tired.... can we just sleep now?

Brianna's Blog is Back!

2011-02-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

Well, it is a new month (not to mention a new year), and I thought I'd better get back to blogging --- after our trip to New Zealand I got so caught up with other life that I stopped blogging for a while, but now I am back, with plenty of stories to come I'd imagine. :) I was thinking about recapping the last few months, but instead of that, I thought I'd just something that made me smile tonight...

Yep, it has to do with Vigo. Vigo always seems to make me smile, regardless of what he is doing :) Tonight I planned on ripping apart all the boxes from Christmas so I could put them in the recycling box tomorrow (they have to be ripped up instead of just flattened according to the rules). So, instead of me getting paper cuts, I thought I'd put Vigo to work, and I piled a big pile of boxes in front of him, knowing that he likes cardboard. You should have seen his eyes-- for about 3 minutes he just looked at me, saying, "I want to play with those, but are they for me?" even after I told him it was 'ok'.

Finally, he gave in and started into the pile -- he sure loves tearing up cardboard

Then I went to go cook dinner, and I left him 'alone' in the room while I was in the adjoining kitchen. It had only been a few minutes (maybe 2?) and I looked over and I had forgotten to take out all of the foam that must have been inside one of the boxes.... it was now strewn all over the floor (and by all over I mean ALL over).

I had to spend a few extra minutes cleaning up the living room, but Vigo was so happy I'd say it was worth it -- I hope that having kids will be the same -- they make a mess but they are so happy that it doesn't matter....

Anyways, thanks for reading and look forward to more consistent posts in the future
Happy February!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-02T14:13:00.001-07:00

Hope you all had a happy Halloween!

My brother Ryan was in town over the weekend so we went to Boo at the Zoo with his wife and daughter. It was fun. My favorite was the baby tigers.

Introducing Beego

2010-10-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

Happy October everyone. I can't believe time is flying by so fast! Where has the month gone!

I'd like to introduce you to one of Vigo's relatives, Beego! He is an adorable bumblebee who like to pose for pictures but is not a huge fan of sitting on rocks. Stacie and I had a great time playing with Beego one afternoon this week, but we were glad to get inside due to the wind that has been blowing all this week!

GHC 2010

2010-10-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

On the last week in Septemeber I went to Atlanta for the 2010 Grace Hopper Conference. This year I served as the Industry Advisory Board representative for HP. I also came up with the idea for a panel on the Latest and Greatest in Assistive Technology. My panel idea was accepted so I soon found some amazing women to be on the panel. We had panelists from Microsoft, IBM, and more. Here are some pictures from the event

Color by Night

2010-09-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Rob and I went up to Estes this weekend. We decided to make it a photography trip, and took some night shots at Bear Lake. When we got there, it seemed pretty dark becasue the moon had not yet risen, but as the moon rose, the sky got lighter and lighter. I learned a lot about exposure, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. It was a nice night, although it was getting a little chilly when we left. Then we slept for a few hours and went back to Bear Lake for some sunrise pictures.

The shot below was one of my favorites from our night adventure. This is the raw image from the camera -- no Photoshop done except for adding my name :) Our eyes couldn't pick up any of the color, but by leaving the shutter open, our camera absorbed the light and captured the color as if it was daylight. You can also see that we caught the North Star in the picture, and hence the stars are rotating around one of the stars.

This photo was taken at 9pm by leaving the shutter open for 10 minutes.

Google Voice and Eve Update

2010-09-22T17:19:00.001-07:00

Rob and I are planning an upcoming trip to New Zealand. It is one of those trips I've always wanted to do, and we figure that now might be a good time to do it! So we are busy planning. Luckily, we can do most things through the internet, but some things we cannot do and we must do by phone.

So today I called New Zealand using Google Voice. It is this neat application you can use with either a phone or a computer, and it only cost 2c a minute to call NZ! Very cool! It worked really smoothly! And, calls to the United States are free, so if we bring Rob's phone with us to New Zealand, we can call home for free as long as we can get wireless!

I miss having a dog this week, but I am looking forward to the phase report that comes out tomorrow! Last week Eve was in phase 6! I'm kind of surprised she made it this far, but now that she did, I think she can make it all the way! Good luck Eve! I'm hoping I can go see her graduate!

Here's a cute old picture of Eve, who's all grown up now ;)

Back to Puppies

2010-09-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Rob and I puppysat Vernon, who is Vigo's brother. We had an overlap of one night so we could let them play and get to know each other :)

They were very happy to play with each other -- don't they look happy in this picture? I felt like I was the mom to twin boys... always had to keep an eye on them so they didn't get into trouble!

Vernon is darker in color and is on the left, Vigo is bigger and on the right.

They trotted around in the backyard for probably 20 minute, just holding the same toy and being happy to be together!

Then they switched to trotting with a rope -- they never did play tug with it though.

Two tired puppies relax when I tell them "That's Enough!".
They patiently wait until I say OK.

"Can we play yet please? Look how good we are! Plus, we're super cute!"

Fall is here?!

2010-09-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Beautiful colors in Colorado means fall is officially here. I still like to deny it, since my garden is still growing, but I do love the fall colors!

My friend Stacie and I took a drive up to Estes today to take some photos of the aspen and play around with our cameras. Boy do we have a lot to learn! But we had a lot of fun learning together and I think I got a few good shots (maybe a total of 3 of the 278 pictures that I took)

Some mountain peering out behind the aspen trees -- Stacie found this spot and then I 'borrowed' it once she was done :)

"Depth of Field" or "Depth of Color" shot... I'm still learning how to do this more consistently.

Now I have to go get ready for work... another work week coming up. Man, I sure do love weekends!

Guide Dogs and Firemen

2010-09-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had a Guide Dog outing to the firestation. Rob and I both went.

Last year Eve was afraid of the firemen, but this year none of the dogs were afraid at all. In fact, Vigo was more interested in the other puppy (Mulan), than he was with the fireman. Silly puppy!

Greyrock Hike

2010-09-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, is this Brianna's blog? For once, she has no dogs in her posts :)

Rob and I had the weekend Vigo free, so we decided to do a hike we've been wanting to do all summer. It was a hike in the Poudre Canyon called Greyrock. It was a beautiful day for a hike. This is Rob with Greyrock in the background. We actually hiked all the way to the summit -- if you go around back it is a gentler slope so you don't have to rock climb.

Overall, Rob and I would give this hike 2 thumbs down. Yes, it was pretty, but the trail was poorly marked. We got lost 3x.... one time we were definitely on 'a' trail, but then the trail just stopped. We spent at least an hour hiking around that area trying to find the trail. We even ran into another group who were doing the same thing. Finally we decided to backtrack, and after about 15 minutes we found where the trail had split and we had gone straight but the TRUE trail was a switchback. Ugh. How frustrating. Then on the way back down, we got lost again but we could see the trail in front of us, so we just kept going even though we were obviously not on the main trail.

Overall, I think we hiked over 8 miles (including our detour). We thought we'd be gone for a few hours, but instead we were gone for 8 including driving. And now we are tired and sore. But it was pretty and we made it!

Rob and I at the summit.

The view was nice at the top.... we could see smoke from a forest fire that just started this morning near Loveland. I hope they can get it under control soon!

VigoPhotoBook

2010-08-29T17:46:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

More dogs, seriously?

2010-08-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...one might think that all I do is dogs... but the truth is that this weekend the majority of my time I did work with pictures of Vigo -- I finished a mini-scrapbook of him, and had fun looking and organizing all the pictures. This was one of my favorites...

Rob and I don't have Vigo this week -- we are missing him and can't wait to have the furry little friend back!

Another Vigo Photo Shoot Picture

2010-08-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to have such a calm puppy. Here is another photo from Vigo's photo shoot which I like... he even let me fold his paws to make him look like this. Awww, I love this little guy!

Vigo the Model

2010-08-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

I like taking pictures. And I love puppies :) So what better way to spend the rest of my weekend than taking pictures of puppies, especially mine!

I spent Sunday afternoon taking some snapshots of Vigo. I went to the fabric store and bought some fabric for backgrounds, and set up a little photo studio in our front room. Vigo was such a trooper! He was awesome and stayed still for most of the photos! This one is my favorite:

It is interesting how different angles make the colors look different. The photo below looks more like a "Glamour Shots" photo of Vigo. I might have to do some editing to see if I can bring out the blue in the background some day... there is so much to do!

Alberta Falls

2010-08-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

We did another hike on Sunday. It was to beautiful Alberta Falls. Another beautiful day for a hike with family!

Beavers!

2010-08-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Estes Park has some neat beavers, and this time we got there early enough so there was light to take some pictures. They were very busy harvesting aspen leaves -- cutting down little trees. (and some big ones too)

Mmmm... aspen leaves. As soon as they got a branch, they would run with it on the grass and swim into the middle of the river.

Estes Park

2010-08-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

As the summer quickly draws to a close, Rob and I spent the weekend in Estes. We got up there Friday night to get ready for a big hike on Saturday morning. Then on Saturday morning my mom, dad, Rob, and I went up Trail Ridge Road to the Ute Trail. It was surprisingly cold on top...

For a few miles, it was flat -- we even gained about 400 feet in elevation.

But after that, it dropped straight down! It was down down down, not like the normal National Park trails with switchbacks, but it was an old Ute trail, so it just went straight down. I couldn't take my eyes off the trial unless I actually stopped.

Even though it was steep, it sure was pretty!

Blue Colorado Sky!

Vigo's First Outing

2010-08-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Looking back, last weekend was actually pretty busy :)

We took Vigo on his first real outing, since he had his shots last week. We took him on a hike up to Devil's Backbone, an interesting rock structure. We wanted to do a longer hike, but we thought that since Vigo was so little, we might as well keep it short. This was a good short hike, and although the day started out cloudy, the clouds soon split and the sun came out. It even got a little hot!

Vigo did great! As you can see here, he is smiling so much he almost looks like he is yawning ;)

We brought lots of water for Vigo, but his tongue was out the entire time regardless of if he just had a drink.

What a beautiful Colorado day! And it is so nice Vigo isn't too big to hold yet!

Defending the Caveman

2010-08-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

Rob and I had another fun double date last weekend when we went with some friends, Bogdan and Irena to the dinner theater play, Defending the Caveman. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to get to dress up and go out! The play was not the traditional dinner theater event... it was a one man comedy show about the differences of the sexes. Pretty funny. I had wanted to see it in Vegas anyways, and so I was glad I got to see it here (and for less $$ I'm sure!)

Geocaching?

2010-08-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in a long time -- where does the time go? So now I have to cover some lost time! Here it goes!

Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner... they told us all about their adventures geocaching (as well as all about their cool phone apps you can use to geocache). In looking at the phone app, we learned there was a geocache treasure about 500 yds from our house! And so off we went on our very first Geocaching adventure!

It was a lot harder than I thought. Perhaps that is because I was the only poor soul without a smart phone. Sarah, Dave, and Rob all used their nifty phones to direct them straight to this tree... I was left just using my imagination! (and of course taking pictures)

Rob and I had pretty much given up and assumed someone had since stolen the valuable treasure, but our friends Sarah and Dave didn't give up so easily. it was dark, but Sarah kept searching and finally found the treasure!

What a valuable treasure it was! It was filled with plastic rings. We signed the guestbook (small enough to fit in an advil container), and took nothing nor did we leave anything.

It was a fun adventure! perhaps one of many more...

Vigo

2010-07-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Vigo is growing rapidly! But he is still as adorable as ever.

My latest idea for a career is to be a dog photographer! Great idea, eh? Anyways, I thought I'd practice on the subject I just happen to have at my home! Last week I snapped these pictures of Vigo.

How can you not love this face?

Mmmm... photo shoots make me hungry.... this blanket doesn't taste that bad....

Unofficial photo -- instead of using his nice dog bed that I have, Vigo much prefers to lay on the part of our bedspread that has fallen to the floor.... he does this every time he gets a chance...

Mountain Biking -- Not for the Faint of Heart

2010-07-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

While we were in Steamboat, we also packed a morning full of mountain biking in. It was both of our first time -- I thought it was a lot harder and scarier than i thought it would be. But, both Rob and I survived without losing any blood or really even falling (I kind of tipped over once, and got some cool bruises, but that is all). The bikes we rented were really nice -- they were brand new this year and were each $4500 downhill mountain bikes. Rob and I agreed that if we would have taken our own bikes, they probably would have fallen apart!

We rode the Steamboat Gondola up the mountain after we went mountain biking. It was nice to be able to relax and let our muscles relax. What a beautiful day!

We also went on a hike to Fish Creek Falls -- it is a short (1/4 mile each way) hike to the waterfall, and then you can continue on to a lake (5 more miles each way). We hiked for about 1 1/2 hours, but we didn't make it to the lake. But the waterfall was pretty!

Steamboat Springs Balloon Festival

2010-07-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Rob has been working like crazy these past few months, but he is finally finished! Phew! I get my husband back and I am so happy! To celebrate we went to Steamboat Springs to watch a hot air balloon festival! It was really fun. We had gone when we were dating, so it was fun to bring back some old memories-- it didn't seem like it was that long ago, but we think we went about 6 years ago. My, time does fly!

Here are my scrapbook pages from the Balloon Festival...

The best part was a 'splash and dash' where the balloons touched down in the water -- I guess the balloons have the water come inside and the pilots all get there feet wet.

This was a great place to practice some of my photography skills, or at least take photos :) I made this layout in Photoshop so I could 'display' my photos...

The reflections were beautiful!

Happy July 4th

2010-07-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July! Here is the latest cake I made in my cake decorating class.

A big thanks to all our armed forces helping keeping America free.... especially you Ryan! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Vigo's Family

2010-06-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Vigo arrived and was the 5th largest male in his litter. That means it is a fairly large litter.

His brother Vernon is also in Fort Collins, but I'm not sure right now who is other siblings are...I'll have to find out!

Vigo sleeping....

Vernon sleeping. Vernon is darker in color than Vigo.

God's Little Gifts

2010-06-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

Besides puppies, I do have some other hobbies. One of them includes gardening. i took some of these pictures this weekend in the garden.

Today I was working from home and took Vigo out to go to the bathroom. I saw a butterfly on the lillies, and went back in to grab my camera. It stayed for quite a while, fluttering from flower to flower.

While I was taking pictures of the butterfly, Vigo peeked out and said, "Hey, don't forget about me! I'm cuter than that butterfly!"

More Vigo

2010-06-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Guide Dog summer picnic. We had a lot of puppies over at Alex and Stacie's house (thanks guys!) and they played while we ate. Or should I say some of them played. Vigo mostly just slept, but he did get one burst of energy to play with the bigger dogs until he realized that being underfoot of several 50+ lb dogs is probably not the safest idea. But it was fun while it lasted.

Run Vigo, Run!

Little guide dog...

Vigo: "May I go back to my nap now? Please?"

Vigo!

2010-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

And away Vigo!

Vigo has arrived and he is here to stay! This little puppy is one of the calmest, sweetest puppies I have every met! He is adorable and loves to sleep. We took him back from the puppy truck and spent some time in the shade, which is especially useful since he isn't potty trained yet and doesn't even know his name. But what he doesn't know he makes up for in cuteness!

I love puppies! But with a face like this how could you not?

After being on the puppy truck with his littermate, he needed a bath. He was very nice and calm in the bath.

Puppy Truck

2010-06-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Friday was a big day for Eve as well as us. She went back on the puppy truck. Alex and Stacie and Rob and I all went down there.

Before we could put Eve on the puppy truck, they unloaded the little puppies off the truck. We will be co-raising our next puppy with Alex and Stacie. Originally we were going to wait a while before getting a new one, but I thought it might help me not be sad about Eve to have a new puppy around. So, here we are!

The puppy truck arrived and we got a new puppy named Vigo. Before we had to put Eve on the truck, we got a few photos of the Eve and Vigo meeting, as well as a family photo.

Saying goodbye to Eve -- I think I was prepared for the worst, but since Eve is such a happy and energetic dog, it wasn't as hard because I know she'll be happy wherever she is. The nice guys on the puppy truck were very thoughtful -- they said that they would take Eve into the hotel with them at night. She got a new bone on the truck and a few illegal treats, and off she went. She didn't look too sad to me, which made it much easier to leave.

Rob says his goodbyes. Eve says, "I'll miss you!"

Eve gets to meet Vigo for a few minutes.

Eve's Last Week

2010-06-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

This last week was pretty rough -- I knew Eve was going back, but it was still hard to believe. So, I made sure I spent as much time with her as I possibly could -- I think by the end of the week were Eve was definitley tired of snuggling me!

I think she'll do great -- thank you all for your kind words!

Awww. What a pretty dog!

As a last hurrah, we took her to the park and practiced "come" off leash. Eve loves running. You can see Rob in the background -- notice how they started running at the same time, but Eve was a little bit faster ;) She ran so fast that she plowed right into me!

After a few times back and forth, Eve was tired and content!

Good Luck Eve

2010-06-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

Eve is going away in one week... I can't even believe it. While we've had her, she's been a good friend for me, so I decided to bake her a going away cake with my new cake calls... here is my process.. it turned out even better than I thought! I will miss Eve SO much...

The undecorated cake

A start of frosting...

The finished puppy.

The final cake!

Cakes 101 part 2

2010-06-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at cake decorating class we decorated our first cake. We learned the technique of how to do a border, as well as how to do figure piping to do 'dimensional decorating'! I'd say my cake turned out better than expected! It is amazing how frosting can hide so many imperfections, and how it looks good even if you don't really know what you are doing!

A cherry on top for good luck!

Yep, Rob and I had to have a piece when I got home... mmmmm

Cakes 101

2010-06-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

This month I am taking a cake decorating class with my friend Rachel. We had our first class last week, where the instructor made everything look so easy -- of course you cake always comes out smooth I thought to myself....

Alas, my first frosted cake didn't come out as smooth as I would have hoped, but practice makes perfect so they say....

The cake out of the oven ( a nice marble fudge cake!)

I tried 'torting' the cake (cutting it in half) and filling it with pudding. I learned that I should use a decorating tip to make the rim because using a knife certainly didn't work. I ended up thinning the frosting too as it was too thick to begin with.

Then I frosted the top... looks good so far! Unfortunately when I put the two pieces together my cake wasn't quite as even as it was when it was just one piece :(

The final frosted cake. Not great, but not bad for a first try...

And to top off the evening Eve got sick tonight so was throwing up :( Not the way I want to spend my last few days with her... but she stayed with me in the kitchen and slept. Poor puppy....

Eve and Cambria

2010-06-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we watched Cambria for one whole day. Eve was so happy to have a nice female dog to play with!

They played and played and played. And the key is they played nicely -- no agression, just nice running around with a rope. I love happy puppies!

A new toy

2010-06-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Rob got me a new toy the other day -- it is called a Bamboo Fun, and it is essentially a large touchpad so you can do more 'artsy' things on the computer... You can use it similarly to the touchpad on a smartphone to zoom in and out of pictures or to scroll on websites, etc, and it also comes with a pen. The pen has something like 256 settings of pressure, so the harder you press, the darker the drawing becomes, etc, just like a normal marker. So tonight I had a lot of fun playing with it. It is taking me quite a while to get used to, but it is fun! I'm sure you can do more cool stuff with it, but this is what I did tonight...

Tech Camp Party

2010-06-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday Rob and I hosted the wonderful ladies and their familes of the Tech Camp over for a celebration of another successful camp. Rob and I don't do too much entertaining, so this was kind of a big deal for us.

It was so much fun though! It was a great group of people, with great food, and great weather. Rob was the expert grillman, cooking up some sirloin burgers and bbq chicken!

We all sat outside to eat because it was finally cooling down by the time we started eating! I've been working on the yard quite a bit (I put mulch by the tree as you can see in the picture)

The kids had fun playing with Eve.... who doesn't love Eve, really? :)

Eve especially had fun with this little boy -- she was strong enough that when he laid on the ground, she could pull him around! She just had a blast!

And, as an awesome surprise, my team made me a present! I was so touched, especially by the card and the though that went into it. They made a real money tree out of bills (I can't tell if they are $100 or $1 -- maybe you can tell from the picture :)) It is a REALLY creative idea, and it was done really well. And the rocks in the pot are all these polished rocks from around Colorado and Wyoming. I felt so touched and lucky to have such a nice group of people in my life!

It was a nice day until....

2010-06-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

In my last blog post, I mentioned that we had gone on a great hike. Well, on our drive back to the campsite, it started to hail! We were thankful we were in the car and not out on a hike!

We got back to our campsite and it let up for a few minutes, so we ran to Sarah and Dave's awesome canopy. It was nice and dry inside. But we were all cold and wet by this time, so Rob offered to get me my sweatshirts from the car. It was only raining, not hailing at the time.

BUT, as he was going to the car, it started hailing. He waited it out in the car for about 5 minutes, but then decided to make a run for the canopy. Here you can see him running towards me as it is hailing.... what a sweet guy to brave hail so I could be warm!!

In the nice dry canopy, we all played cards for about 2-3 hours while it poured outside. By the time it stopped the temperature had dropped significantly and we were all ready for a nice hot fire!

More Camping

2010-06-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

On our camping trip, we went on a hike along the Poudre river. It was a wonderful day for a hike -- not too hot, not too cold. The river was flowing very fast, and it was fun to walk along it. Also, the campsite that our friends Sarah and Dave got for all of us was right by this river too, and so it was fun waking up in the morning to the sound of a rushing river!

Chambers Lake

2010-05-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Thanks to all of our troops and all the hard work they do!

This weekend Rob and I had a great experience camping in the Poudre Canyon. I'll make a few more posts later, but here is one just in case you happen to check out my blog. I wish it was longer, but I need to go to bed! Too bad I have to work tomorrow!

On one of the days we were up in the mountains, we took a scenic drive with our friends. We ended up at Chambers Lake, which was still icy! It looks like it had been used in the winter for ice fishing. We were able to pull some very thin ice off the top of the lake and use it for artistic effects (as seen below!)

What a beautiful blue sky day!!! Especially compared to the day before (more details coming later!) I love the Colorado Mountains!!

The four of us did what everyone would do when faced with a partially frozen lake -- we threw rocks in and tried to see which ones would stay on top of the ice and which ones would break through... This one DEFINITELY broke through the ice -- and in doing so made quite a pretty picture!

First Digital Scrapbook

2010-05-25T23:22:00.001-07:00

I love scrapbooking -- but recently I decided to try digital. So here is the product of my latest work... my first digital scrapbook! I was motivated to finish it by a coupon that ended tonight! I hope it looks good when it is printed!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Baby Ducks!

2010-05-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

For some reason this year I have realllly wanted to see baby ducks. If you remember a few weeks ago (2 weeks ago), I went out on a quest to find baby ducks but I didn't see anything. And I have seen a bunch of baby geese, but they just aren't as cute.

But, my luck has changed! Today at work Rob took me outside to show me a surprise, and
voilà, there were some baby ducks!!!! I drove home to get my telephoto lens and got back just as they were heading back to their nest!

Aren't they cute?!

This one thinks she is a mountain climber -- but she made it up the rock in no time!

That time of year....

2010-05-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's summer! Now typically everyone knows that summer brings heat, but for us it really brings the heat .... Eve went into heat for the 2nd time on Saturday... poor little Eve (and us!)... now she has to stay inside all the time unless she is in our backyard. I'm so thankful we have a nice big backyard for her to play in while I'm watching.

Since the weather was nice out this weekend, I did get some gardening done! I like gardening because it is so different from what I do during the week. And it is really just a miracle how much things grow and how beautiful flowers are!

These are some columbines that come up year after year.... I love the light on the petals that changes the color of the flower completely!

This was my big project today -- finishing the flower garden... Rob and I went to Lowes and bought 5 bags of mulch which I layed out around all the plants after weeding. I think it makes for a finely finished flower bed! I planted some more bulbs today, and I have planted Dahlias (my favorite, the big plate size ones), gladiolous, clematis, and of course some vegetables. I just saw that my asparagus are acutally growing, so I am excited about that!

Our other project for today was finding a spot for my hanging tomato plant. My neighbor has his on the side of his house, but considering they can weigh up to 70 lbs, Rob and I didn't want to take that risk. So Rob and I came up with this solution in the corner of our yard, using the fence for support! Thanks Rob for helping me! Maybe we'll have a lot of cherry tomatoes!! At least it gets sun!

Summer is here!

2010-05-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was finally able to get out into the garden and plant some seeds, as the weather forecast is supposed to be above freezing for the next 10 days.... thank goodness! Today I planed green beans (they grow along my fence), basil, cucumbers, a tomato, and a hanging tomato plant as well. We'll see what happens!

We had a pretty uneventful weekend here... at my work I am co-chair for a big camp that we host for 40 6th grade girls. The girls come to our work for the day and spend the day learning about technology ... they do fun things like make ice cream from liquid nitrogen and take apart computers. This year they even got to learn soldering (using a hot soldering iron to connect 2 wires). It happened last week, and I am so thankful it is over because now I can relax.... I have been working on this camp for the last few months, and it was a suprising amount of work. But, it is always worth it because the girls have so much fun!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Snow? But it is May already!

2010-05-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

Good thing I went out on my quest for wildlife last night, as tonight I certainly wasn't going to go out. It started raining this afternoon and by 8pm, it had turned into snow. The snow isn't sticking, but I can see it on our BBQ cover....

I am so excited to plant all my seeds, but I guess I will just have to wait.... maybe God is trying to teach me patience :)

Wishing you warmth and sunshine coming soon!

Out on a Hunt for Wildlife

2010-05-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently, baby ducks are supposed to hatch around Mother's Day. And today at work I saw baby geese, so I figured I'd go take some photos after work of baby ducks at a place where I had previously seen lots of ducks.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any baby ducks. I saw one female duck, and quite a few male ducks, so perhaps the females were still with their eggs... I hope so! I'll have to try again in a week or so...

So instead of taking pictures of ducks, I took pictures of my next favorite subject, Eve :) Doesn't she look all grown up!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

What better way to spend a Mother's Day than with your mother! Especially when you have no kids to spend them with! In fact, I got to spend Mother's Day with my mother and my mother's mother! I am so blessed! We had a good weekend just enjoying some time in Wyoming!

Now I need to go to bed because I havea meeting in less than 8 hours!!! Oh no!

One More Month

2010-05-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

We found out last Monday that Eve was not going back as scheduled. She will now be going back in June. So that means we have 1 more month with her!

Although I was a little disappointed becasue I had prepared for her going back on the 8th, I am thankful that she is such a good dog, and she will be a joy to keep for one more month! I know God has a plan for her, and whatever that is in the future, at least for the short term in involves being with us!

Eve Day 11 (also multitasking!)

2010-04-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

Multitasking. I think women are better at multitasking than men.

For example, take Rob and I working on our hobbies in the evening. Rob is working on his electronics project while watching tv on the computer. BUT, I am scrapbooking electronically, watching the Princess and the Frog movie on the computer, and snuggling Eve! Ha!

I'm glad Eve isn't any bigger, or I wouldn't be able to pick her up, much less fit her in my chair!

Eve Day 11

2010-04-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Eve sleeps in the funniest positions sometimes. This is a strange picture, but it is how she was sleeping -- with her front feet crossing her back feet, and her back feet were up by her face....

God makes each animal so different!

Eve Day 10

2010-04-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

Some days at work are just hard. People are upset, nothing works, and you just want to go home.

That is when having a puppy who is always happy to see you is helpful. I know I'm probably not supposed to pick up Eve, but on the day this was taken, I was just really having a rough day. (Although in the picture Eve looks like she is the one having a rough day!) Thank goodness dogs cannot understand us, so they can always be happy!

Hawk

2010-04-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day for wildlife, maybe since it was so gloomy...

From my backyard I saw this hawk on a lightpost a few blocks away, so I grabbed my camera and went to take a picture :)

Furry Friends in the Garden

2010-04-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today we were thinking about going on a photo trip to take pictures, but as it is gloomy outside, we decided to stay home. So, I used this nice day to do some gardening. I had several furry friends help me with the garden (Eve being the biggest one). When I first went out to garden, there was another friend in my garden. Eve didn't see it (Thank Goodness!) In fact, she just laid down, and I told her to stay so I could grab my camera... if you look in the picture below, in the upper right hand corner, you can see my other furry friend hiding from Eve.

Click on the picture to make it larger....
in case you couldn't see it, it was a cute little bunny rabbit. It scampered off shortly once I started working out there!

Eve Day 8 (at work)

2010-04-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

I personally think that bringing your dog to work is the best part of having a Guide Dog puppy. This way they aren't kept at home for the whole day.

Eve spends her day with me in my cube. She has a nice big kennel, which she likes to sleep in. She also has plenty of toys, plus a stuffed dog to keep her company.

On the other hand, her kennel doesn't seem so big when there is a big dog in there. On Monday we swapped puppies so I had a big dog named Dickens ... he barely fit in the kennel, and he didn't like the blanket, so he scruntched it all up in the front for a pillow.

Eve Day 7

2010-04-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

Eve came back from the puppy sitters today, so she got a bath. That way she feels more like my dog again!

Eve loves jumping in the DRY bathtub. But once I turn on that water, she would like to get out. But she is pretty good about not jumping out until I tell her it is ok.

I'm the only one that looks happy! Notice Eve's foot is crawling up the side of the tub...

Eve says, "Hurry up and stop taking pictures so I can get out of here!"

Eve Day 6

2010-04-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Here is another picture of Eve with her official outfit on. I think she looks great in the sun!

On a side not (non Eve related), I spent some great time outdoors today getting the garden up and going. I planted some snap peas, and I moved a big clump of my raspberry bushes (Rob helped), and we'll see what comes up! It was a beautiful day, and I love SPRING!

Colorado

2010-04-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

I just love Colorado this time of year.... everything is gorgeous!

I few weekends ago we went up to Estes Park where I took this photo... and then I made it into a poster for our living room...

Eve Day 5

2010-04-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well, since Eve is a guide dog, she has to have some pictures of her looking all 'official'. I tried to get some good ones the other day, but Eve always seemed to look sad in the pictures.

I decided that Eve really doesn't like her picture being taken. That's why she looks so sad in the pictures. In fact, I think Eve has special ears that go back farther than usual so she can look sadder that way :) But without the camera, she runs around and looks happy :)

In this one she looks a little less sad .... I think she just wants to go play!

Eve Day 4

2010-04-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Eve loves snuggling. A lot.

So every night when I go to bed, or when I wake up in the morning, she is looking at me with these SAD eyes, saying, "Please, won't you snuggle me? I NEED someone to snuggle me! -- Mostly, I need Brianna to snuggle me because she gives in more than Rob..."

What can I say? I love snuggling too!

Really, how can you resist this cute face? Looks like she might just cry if you don't give in....

Eve Day 3

2010-04-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Eve is a very smart dog. (if I do say so myself!)

One of the tricks we taught her is to bow. We started teaching her this because she always stretches and it looks like a bow, so we just started teaching her that way. Now she is pretty good at it, and we're pretty proud of her!

We think it would be fun to have her bow at graduation.

Here you can really tell she is bowing!

Eve day 2

2010-04-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well I did say Eve loves to spend time on her back, didn't I?

Tonight I was trying to teach her some tricks, and she always thought I would be happy if she rolled on her back... I think her thought processing was something like this... "Well, I don't understand what you want me to do, but you can rub my belly while I think about it!"

I love her facial expression here -- "Why are you taking my picture and not rubbing my belly?!"

Eve day 1

2010-04-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

So we got an email from Barb (Regional coordinator for Guide Dogs), and it said Eve will be going back on May 8th.

With a date, it seems much more real that Eve is really going away. I'm trying really hard not to get sad, but I know I will miss her.

So, my project is to take a picture of Eve every day I have her for the next month, hoping to capture all the things I love about her :)

Here is the first one.... I sometimes think Eve will get career changed because she spends so much time on her back. She LOVES getting her belly rubbed. That's not such a bad thing. And then she'll fall asleep on her back too... what a silly dog!

The Owl

2010-03-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

My mom is good at finding interesting things online... :) The most recent one she passed along was this website:

http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox

It is a live feed of a barn owl nest which already has 4 baby owls and one more egg waiting to hatch. It is addicting. Hence I was planning to go to bed 35 min ago, and here I am, but oh well. At this moment it has over 10,000 viewers. The power of the internet is amazing (and crazy!).

You can buy this mousepad below at http://www.transferit.com/theowlbox/