Puppy Pick Up

You can't really tell what this is, but it is the outside of an envelope. It was dropped off by our neighbor girls promoting their Puppy Pick Up/Kitty Klean Up services for our neighborhood. I was out of the house for the evening when they dropped it off. They are two little entrepreneurs in the making.

Here is the letter that was enclosed. We both thought it was too cute not to share with everyone. Check out the adorable Moose paw in the upper left corner.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Ok, bare with me. There is much to say and lots of pictures in this blog. As many of you (probably ALL of you) already know, Saturday was my 31st birthday and my husband made sure that we celebrated the ENTIRE day. :) Thanks to Brad, my family and friends- this birthday will be very memorable for me.
The festivities actually started the week before, dinner with my friends that included lots of laughter, gifts and special yummy chocolate cookies! Friday night we had a birthday dinner at Brad's parents. His mom & dad made a special meal for me and I was given a beautiful plant. I am happy to report that both plants are STILL alive nearly 48 hours or more after being in our care :) (Pictures of all of the fabulous gifts & cards are on the left)

We started off the day by sleeping in- not something we have been able to do since we got Moose, but Brad's parents were gracious enough to watch him for the weekend. When I finally pulled myself out of bed Brad brought up a fresh cup of coffee for me- prepared just the way that I like it. He also brought me a card with this cute little red tank top that I've been eying for over a year now. I loved the fact that he heard me mention it and remembered it a year later for such an occasion. :)
I finally was able to open the package that arrived earlier in the week from my mom and sister and found several fun items- a cooling rack for baking and a gift certificate to the salon to get my hair done! I was completely shocked about how they could have pulled that one off... finding out my salon and setting this all up without my knowing.

After a few phone calls from my mom, dad and sister and many text from my good friends, we headed out to visit a little piece of heaven, Fleet Feet. For those of you who are not familiar with this store, it is a specialty running store that I love. Brad decided that we needed to go ahead and get my new running shoes so that I can officially start my half-marathon training. When he told me this was a part of my birthday adventures, I was so excited. I've been waiting for this day for about a year now, but have been putting it off. Brad saw to it that we put it as a priority for us on this day. I'm excited to report that we walked away with a new pair of Mizuno, Wave Inspire 5 running shoes. They are a different brand and type that I'm used to, but I think that they are a good fit. I'll report in later on the success of the shoes. (They are pictured above in the gift picture too)

By the time that we left Fleet Feet we were ready for lunch. Brad took me to enjoy an amazing meal of one of my favorite foods- PIZZA! At Cici's, an all you can eat pizza buffet. They have some of the best dessert pizza and a great spinach pizza. Brad made the special request that they would make a fresh Tator Tot Pizza just for me! They brought it out hot from the oven to our table. I just had to try it. Here I am enjoying my first bite of Tator Tot Pizza!! It tasted a lot like a loaded baked potato. I would recommend it to anyone if you have the opportunity to try it.







This birthday Brad decorated a cake for me. He chose to make it a layered cake so we could have more icing- my favorite part. I was only expecting a basic 9 x 13 cake, in the pan, with some white icing on it and maybe a few sprinkles. However, he had a different plan. He chose my favorite color pink as the color of choice for decorating and even included a Moose paw in the upper right corner. You can see that in the picture at the top of the blog.

He also put ALL 31 candles on the cake for me to make a wish. We both were afraid that the smoke detector was going to go off- it is hyper sensitive and cleverly placed right next to the kitchen. Not that we have any real experience with that or anything- we are just speculating ;) Ha!




After enjoying a small piece of cake I headed out to get my nails done with the gift certificate my girlfriends gave me for my birthday. It was such a treat. This place is a new find for me, thanks to my husband, and they are a fabulous find. They do such a great job there. My nails look great and the polish last for several days before chipping. yay!!



Brad found a little restaurant over in Canton, not too far from our house, where we decided to go to top off the night. We got dressed up- which we hardly ever do, but I love to do. I wore the dress that Sarah gave me for our wedding- thanks Sarah! With my nails done and dressed up I felt like a princess and it was the prefect way to finish off the day.







Goin' Coastal is a unique place that has all of the seafood shipped directly to them within 36 hours of being caught. They clean the seafood there to keep them as fresh as possible. It is a quaint little place with the old, rustic brick walls inside and simple decor.





The food could have been horrible for all I cared at that point. I was having a great day being pampered by my husband and spending it with him. It was just an added bonus that the food happened to be first class. Brad and I both had dishes we wouldn't normally find elsewhere. I had the Shrimp and Grits Ravioli with a Marinara sauce and Brad had the Shrimp and Rice in a Curry sauce. They were both very delicious.

I had very memorable day and felt loved and appreciated by all of you involved. Thank you for the amazing gifts and thinking of me on my special day. Here's to another amazing year of life!


Now here are some updated pictures of Mr. Moose- the reason that most of you actually visit this site :) They are nothing too exciting, but some that I took in our backyard the other day. He is just over 7 months old and weighing over 84 lbs! He put on 14 lbs in a month! I guess he is growing.
Here is is chewing on a branch from the rose bush. I can't imagine that it didn't hurt, but he seemed to love it.


This one I like to call his old man pose- or maybe Sherlock Holmes. He likes to cross his paws a lot while he sits. We think that it is cute. Of course we are probably a little partial. :)









Me and Moose enjoying the cool sun one afternoon- can you tell that my toes are freshly manicured??? Thanks Sweetie!!!







And lastly- here is Mr. Moose with his tug toy outside. His legs seem to be growing... and maybe he is filling in a little more in the chest? Our neighbor thinks that his head is starting to fill in too. I'm not positive. It doesn't seem that he has grown that much until we start to look at the pictures and compare.

Until next time....

Summer has proven to be very busy for us so far. We can't believe that July is sneaking quickly up on us. With the summer comes the summer Georgia heat. Which in Moose terms means, 'please don't make me go outside again!' We took him to training last weekend and it is a good thing that it is only 1 hour- if it has been much more we probably would of had to have left early. By the end of the hour session he slowly walked over to lay beneath a tree to get in the shade. Once we were home he ended up sleeping the remainder of the day away. Poor little fellow was exhausted from all of the high energy exercise. haha.

Brad and I have been really busy with work over the past couple of weeks which allows us little time to take any fun and exciting pictures of Moose sleeping. So instead, I thought that I would post a few random ones that we've taken over the past couple of months.

Our First pictures of Moose... before he was officially ours.

Yep, there was a day that he COULD fit in our laps.

I think that this was our first attempt at capturing his 'thinking cap' look. :)

Here is the famous ramp that Brad built and Moose loves. We were practicing with him so that he would be familiar with it on the trip to Missouri. He did GREAT!While we were in Missouri we got some help on a few Jeep projects. Its a great thing that Mr. Muscles was around to help us out on the swing out tire carry install. I don't know if the guys would have made it without his powerful touch. Thanks Mr. Muscles!

Moose, Brad and Biggie. Our Friend Elizabeth was dog siting a few months ago and brought Biggie over to play. I was able to see what an active dog was like. She was so so sweet though. A very loving dog. Horrible name, but very lovable dog.

We cleaned our carpets a few weeks ago and confirmed the fact that Moose is not interested in change to his surroundings. He was quite disturbed by us moving everything out of the living/dining room. That included moving his pen outside!

This isn't a great picture, I know. But if you look closely at the orange thing in his mouth you will notice one of his new chew toys- a pacifier :) Thanks Granny B! At home, he will swing his head with this in his mouth and it sometimes goes flying. Both Brad and I have been hit by this 'toy' more than once. It packs a pretty powerful punch!

A Little Sunday Morning Tug of war was in order while visiting our family in Missouri. Moose got more play time in during the short visit than he normal does in a month!

And lastly... a picture of our first tomato of the season. It is much bigger now, but this was the shot we got the first morning we noticed it. Can't wait to eat a fresh picked tomato!

Memorial Day

Yikes! It’s been a month since we’ve last blogged. I guess we’ve been busy??

Over Memorial Day weekend Brad and I packed up the Jeep and traveled with Moose to spend some time with my family in Missouri. We all had a great time while we were there.

Moose travels well, but doesn’t like to eat much when on the road. I think that he has a nervous stomach. Once we were there he wasn’t anxious about eating either until Granny B started feeding him little unexpectant treats here and there. He loved those little surprises and learned to stand right under her feet while she was in the kitchen or at the table for dinner.
Brad welded a special ramp for Moose to get in and out of the Jeep easily for the trip. Oddly enough, he doesn’t or will not jump up. So it gets a little difficult getting him in and out of any vehicle. After making him go up and down on the ramp several times he found out that it would make life easier for him and LOVES it. It was really a life saver on the trip, especially on the way back. Stopping several times in a day gets tiring when assisting a 70-80 lbs dog in and out of the Jeep.



We were able to meet some of Alicia’s students while we were there. One in particular touched out hearts, a little boy who has cerebral palsy who uses a walker to get around. We met the little boy on Memorial Day and found out that he is usually not fond of dogs. In fact, he is usually quite afraid of them. Well, Moose is typically quite uncertain about anything on wheels so we were not sure how the two would get along.





After both parties being as patient as they could be they realized that they both found new friends. They went on a walk around the park together and Moose ended up staying by his side for most of the afternoon.

It was a great trial run for us to see how Moose would do as a Therapy dog in the future. He gave us hope that he would be able to pass the test one day and provide some comfort for those who are in need.





My family is doing great and are all grateful for the summer. Brad and I have recovered from the trip and have been keeping ourselves very busy with work. We are blessed to have the work that we do. Brad just received his first copy of his book in the mail- we are so excited about it and can’t believe that it really happened! We’ve been ramping up our marketing efforts with the publisher to help get the book out there for the churches. (I’ll post more about that in our next blog) Needless to say, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy here in Georgia starting off our summer.