spot the pup

Can you see Aspen, hidden in this bush? He went down in it to chase some chickens that we saw on the side of the road.

On a happier note, we had fun with the friends who DID come to our party. Here are some pictures:

way too much food

Brad and Rachel, enjoying some yummy treats

Nate ruining another would be cute picture ;)

Brandon and Kelly, and their wonderful sweaters (plus Aspen and his sweater in the bottom corner)

Their sweaters were so classic. Rachel's even had bells on it.

Emily and Phil came by for a few.

Like Father, like Pup

JUMP. And Brandon, looks like he's levitating somehow.

Playing

Our cute family and our sweaters.

Although I'm very grateful to the few who came to our "party", I don't think I'll ever be hosting a party again. Its not worth the time and the money that we spent, to be told last minute, or not told at all, that the majority of people we were planning on coming, can't and won't make it.

Let it Snow

As most of you know, we got a pretty big snowstorm on Saturday and Sunday (it wasn't any blizzard - but the snow was coming down pretty constantly.) On Saturday we put up Christmas lights (thankfully, before the snow came) outside. Our house looks so festive now. (Pictures to come soon)

I think Aspen likes running around in the snow. Though after too long he gets a little cold. But we got him a cute (ugly) sweater to keep him warm. (I can't post pictures till after our party, when he'll make his debut).

But I will post a couple cute pictures of him playing in the snow.

 He likes to eat (drink?) the snow so his nose often looks like this.

 

He can be a little crazy sometimes.

I just love this picture of him. He's such a pretty puppy. 

I'm getting sad at how quickly he is growing up. I just realized the other day that he doesn't have his puppy face anymore. He's turning into a full grown dog (if only he could act like one, and stop peeing in the kitchen). I just wish he could stay a baby forever.

Aspen fetching and more

Nate only had to work about 3 hours yesterday, so he had lots of time to play with Aspen. They played fetch with the frisbee, and Aspen was so good, bringing it back pretty much every time. We played a little more when I got home from school too. Though Aspen was pretty tired from running so much.

holidays!!!

I'm getting so excited for the holidays.

ONE week from today is Turkey-Day. Thanksgiving! Time for lots of food, and lots of family.

And then only ONE month till Christmas. And we're going out to Virginia. And we'll get to see so many wonderful people, being; Ellen and Craig Garrett, Anthony, Jana and Zoe Garrett, Matt, Sandi, Dain, Taylor and Ethan Berrett and don't forget Strider. Its gonna be fabulous.


Oh, but in the meantime I think I want to have a Christmas party. Maybe like a combo white elephant-ugly sweater party. It sounds so fun, and our home will be decorated for Christmas and someone needs to see it. So, who would come to our party if we have one?

Tonight, I'm sitting online as the students in my class are in the back row taking a test. We're not in our classroom because its so darn cold in there. The computer lab is much warmer.

I'm counting down the days till this semester is over. I only have 17 days of class left. 17! Then 4 finals and I will be a college graduate! As long as I can get all my homework turned in, in the meantime. I've got 3 research papers due this semester. I've only started one, but a rough draft of another is due Monday, and a presentation based on the third is Tuesday. But I'm just looking forward to the weekend.

I love the weekends because I get to spend time with my husband. During the week we're so busy we hardly see each other. Like today, we kissed goodbye at 8:45 this morning, and I'll pick him up from work at 9:15. That's a long time apart. So I'm excited to snug him all weekend long, and especially to sleep in on Saturday.

I love sleeping in. And I love waking up next to my husband. Especially on those days where we can just lay in bed for a while. Lay in bed and cuddle.

The puppy is getting much better. He didn't have any potty accidents on Monday. And Tuesday, he was good too. Even though, poor guy, was left home alone in his "area" from 8:00am till about 4:45pm. That's a long time for anyone to go without peeing. Especially a puppy. Today he's accident free, so far too. So that'd be two days this week. I'm so proud.

I took him on a walk today, when I got home. It was hard to convince myself to go back out into the cold. But it was worth it. I loved kicking the fall leaves up onto his face as he tried to bite them as they were falling down. Plus, apparently he's afraid of other people. When we saw anyone else walking on the sidewalk towards us, even within 50 feet or so, he froze. Silly puppy. He even froze when a group of kids, walked near us.

Back to my class. They're just finishing the writing section now. On to reading. I'm glad I don't have to take tests like that anymore. It reminds me of the ACT. Except that was much MUCH longer.

The days are getting shorter and shorter. That's another thing I hate about winter. Besides the freezing part. It'll be 5:00 at night and it feels like its 10:00 because it's already so dark out. It makes me glad I don't live in Alaska. Where there's some days that aren't really light at all. But I do like Alaska though. I want to go there with Nate someday. Its beautiful. And I'm sure he'd love it. Especially cause he'd love to go fishing.

Its too cold for me to go fishing anymore. I went a couple times last year with Nate when there was snow on the ground, and even when it was snowing. I don't think I fished. Just watched. But I don't think I can do that this year. Too cold. But, Nate and Dain are going fishing on Saturday. Crazy boys.

Dain is going to be moving away soon. Nate is pretty heart broken about it. Ever since he's been in Utah, so has Dain. And they were roommates the whole time too. Till we got married. Being married is better I think. But its still hard to have brother (bestfriend) move across the country. And to not have him here to go fishing with.

I hate having my brother live across the country too. Which reminds me, we really need to skype them. That adorable little girl is growing up too quickly, and I'm missing so much of it. But we're going out there for Christmas. So that'll be REALLY great. Only 43 days till Christmas. We're flying to Virginia on Christmas day. I can't wait.

Well that's enough of my random thoughts. Love love. Especially to our military today.

Aspen

So those of you that read my blog, have probably already figured it out through facebook, but I'm going to talk about it here anyway. On Monday we got the cutest yellow lab puppy (purebred) and we named him Aspen. He was definitely the calmest one in his litter, and we don't mind at all. He's still very playful and can get riled up if we let him, but at the same time, he's still such a snugger. He loves being near us, especially when we're watching a movie or tv, he'll make sure his body or head is right on us and I don't mind cause he keeps me warm.

He's a pretty well behaved puppy too. He (mostly) is potty trained. Though we've had a few accidents. We're working on it, and he's getting better. He even slept through the night without whining to go outside, and didn't pee in his room either. (Don't mind the fact that he pooped on the kitchen floor as soon as we let him out). 

He's just so cute, I try to stay mad at him, but he tries to snuggle and play with me and its so hard. Plus, once its passed he's probably forgotten what he's done anyway. But we're working on it. He's learning his name, and come and sit. Stay will probably take a little longer.

Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment :)

 They put a bow on him for us, he looked so cute. He was a little scared during the car ride.

 Pet me. Pet me!

 Daddy loves him too.

 Slipping on the kitchen floor as he chases the toy.

 Already fetching.

 Snoozing on the couch.

 Isn't he the cutest? I sure love him.

 Kissies. He loves to give them too.

 

Sniffing and eating some grass.

I just think this is the cutest picture of him, too bad my feet are in it.

Halloween

Here are a few pictures of our Halloween festivities. We loved having the cute kids come over for candy last night.

 

Emptying out the pumpkin guts.

 Self Portrait

 My fish.

 With the candlelight

 In love.

 We went to a part at Nomen Global. Charlene (on the right is the teacher I work with). Me, Patty, Sofia, Charlene.

 Nerd and 80s girl

Happy Halloween!

To return there

Sometimes it feels like it was just a dream, but then I remember how big of a part of my life it really was... And I crave it!

From now on my pennies are being saved to return to Austria.

Weekend Updates

We had one of the funnest weekends the last couple of days.

To start it off, we went to our favorite camping place at Scofield, you can read about it here.

Then Saturday night we had a super fun date with Brandon and Kelly to Cornbellys, you can read about it here and here.

Sunday was a great day at church, Nate even came to my CTR 4 class with me, and didn't distract the kids.

Then we had a fun-fun delicious potluck luncheon with some wonderful friends, Natalie and Jeremy, and Kiersten and Kent (Too bad we didn't get any pictures, next time we have to!)

And to end the evening right we had a lovely "Vienna Reunion" at Kasia's home, and it was wonderful to see old friends and catch up on their lives. 

Too bad we forgot to take the picture before Nicole left. Of course Annalise wore her dirndl. And the girls all insisted that Nate is part of the group now that we're married. LOVE LOVE.

Cornbelly's with the Michons

Saturday night we went on a fun double date with Brandon and Kelly. We started off the night with a delicious (buy one get one free) dinner at Noodles and Company and then headed to Cornbelly's. While there we enjoyed the huge boy scouts of America maze, peddle carts, hay ride, jumping pillow, etc. All in all, it was a fabulous evening with some wonderful friends.

Peek a boo. Nate hiding in the corn.

Brandon is sad to be the third wheel.

Brandon and Kelly on the hay ride.

Us, on the hay ride.

Jumping on the Jumping Pillow

It was really hard to catch our balance so we could be in the air at the same time.

I think this said "Cornbelly's Rocks."

Scary husband.

All of us.

Again