Joaquin minus Monet

This last week Monet was at a puppy sitters so it was just Quin... He was pretty happy with himself being an only dog (we don't count the beagle ;))

Anyway... Right before Mone came home he got to head off to the dog wash so he wasn't so stinky:

He loved his ears being cleaned and the shampoo massage but wasn't too fond of getting sprayed down or blow-dried. Poor poor Joaquin. It's tough being so cute!

You know you're a puppyraiser when...

So, tonight I was reading the news. It was an article about the Bureau of Land Managment. Don't worry that when I saw the Bureau of Land Management condensed to BLM, I automatically thought "Why is there a Black Lab Male in this story?"... I might hav a problem. It's fine. :)

Masterpieces by Monet

Monet and I had an adventure today. Despite my complaining about her bad breath (I bought some mint toothpaste on the way home in hopes that it will help get the dead-creature-smell out) we got some good pictures of her and she got to have some fun in the snow. Lesson learned?

How to take Monet Pictures:
1. Tie down Monet to tree or bridge.
2. Let Monet sniff and do whatever (except eat things that are not Monet-approved).
3. Be prepared at any moment to take a picture.
4. Do not try to get Monet to sit-stay for the picture. It doesn't work. Just let her do it naturally and refer back to step 3.
ENJOY! :) (some still need to be edited...)

My favorite one :) A good one by fluke- I just clicked it from the side without looking.

It's dark but I think this would be a cool one once it's edited- anyone really good at that?

Halitosis

Do you think a dog could be dropped for having bad breath? I'm pretty sure something decided to make it's home in the dogs mouth and then died in there... Ugh!

Oregon Graduation

P.S. For those going to Oregon Graduation on Saturday- I'll be there- dogless (Too many dogs for the ride home/sleeping at other peoples houses) I'm going to pick up CC Teesha with her puppyraiser. So Excited... I love Portland even if we'll only be there a few hours! Wish us safe driving...

Coming of age...

There comes a time in the life of a Guide Dog puppy where they put away the childish things of the past and look forward to the future... this is celebrated with a ceremony that is called the "Changing of the Collars". If you have not been privileged to attend one of these special ceremonies here is a comemorative picture to symbolize the newness of life that is Joaquins. We offer our congratuations to him on his new big collar ;)

Getting bigger...

I thought I told them to stay small- but apparently they didn't listen. I think Joaquin will pass up Monet here pretty soon. I'm not sure how much he weighs but I would assume close to maybe 40-45 lbs. Monet sits at around 50.

Evals went well. They are both pretty confident puppies and love to hang out at the mall. It didn't hurt that we went by the mall the Monday before evals just to check it out ;)

Nice puppies+back to normal= boring posting

I was just noticing lack of blog posts. Sorry. I guess it's a good thing- nothing to write about other than what good dogs everyone has been. School has started and things are back to normal boring life around here I think Monet might have gone through a temperment transplant sometime last month- or maybe Santa brought her some "good dog dust" or soemthing because she's been pretty good. Normally she's a VERY sweet dog- but very independent and wants to do things her way. Lately "her way" has been our way. She and Quin got a bath yesterday (Thanks Linds) and they are both super soft now and ready for Evals at the mall on Tuesday. Quin is also doing very well too- he's a nice boy (although is slightly "forgetful" when it comes to what "sit" means... He'll do the golden shuffle for a little bit then figure it out) Basically he's a typical 5 month old Male Golden... goofy and sweet.
Evals bring updates... be on the look out for them.

Storytime

My Birthday is next week and my 7-year-old brother couldn't wait until my birthday to give me what he made. So here is my birthday present. I don't know if the pictures will enlarge if you click on them so underneath is what he wrote. So adorable.

Guide Dogs
I love Mickelle

From For
Philipp Mickelle

Dogs pull Blind Peo
ple

Guides The person a
cross The
street

I love You Dog.


I love my dogs too :)

The Holy Grail of puppy toys...

Monet and Lindsey went to Mapleton for Christmas so Joaquin got the toy basket all to himself. He was pretty sure he was in heaven... I thought he would enjoy chewing on the tons of toys without Monet trying to steal them away... aparently he just wanted to empty the basket...

...Go to Sleep...

...and leave the mess for mom to clean up.

Typical boy... ;)

Merry Christmas/Happy New year

So... since I FAIL in the cute picture/Christmas Card department. This is to wish you all a FABULOUS Holiday season. There are pictures to come-- promise. For real... why you ask? Because I have a camera that actually works now...
Here's to a 2010 full of many pictures ;)

Only Child

Monet likes being an only child. Joaquin and Lindsey have been gone since Friday morning- and although I miss them-- I'm not so sure Monet does (well... the Joaquin part. I'm sure she misses Lindsey) She's been partying it up here... she got to go to the lights on Temple Square, get crepes with me, go to church, get lots of walks, hang around the house, and suck up all the attention all without the little brother bugging her... tonight they come home and it all ends. She'll have to go back to being the older sister. It was good for her while it lasted-- but the Return of Joaquin will all be okay when she gets some Lindsey love... Plus I kind of missed him a little bit alot.

"While visions of sugar plumbs danced in their heads..."

Vinnie got to have a sleepover last night at our house... Needless to say- I think he liked it...too much. I couldn't get my pic of Monet to upload... (along with the promised snow pics... lame I know! I'm getting a camera for Christmas- don't worry.) I think I have some sleepy puppies...

Born to Lead Website Change

So basically for the past week I've been fighting to figure out why our website isn't showing up... oh By the way- they changed our address... Hopefully it will stick around that. Maybe one day we'll pay for our site ;)

https://guidedogpups.sslpowered.com/Index.html

SNOW!

This morning we woke up to snow... and since I don't have to work so early anymore, Monet and I got to go out and play in it. I promise a picture possibly tomorrow. Needless to say- Mone was SO excited for the snow-- Joaquin went to work with Lindsey so I didn't see him until ater this afternoon. I'm pretty sure I have the cutest puppies ever... Amen!

I'm thankful for little brothers...

Last night my little brother slept over. He's 6. He's cute. I love him. Lindsey took Monet so that means little Joaquin got to stay and have a slumber party... This morning while my brother was bored he drew me a picture...

Do you see the little Joaquin with the cute green puppy coat?

Blogs up to my ears

So um... Okay I'm a freak. I'll admit it. I have a new blog. This one is for my dog stuff... for those of you who enjoy that but really could care less about my other life (yes- I'm proud to say I still have my life- it's slightly bruised but def not in the ICU- okay so maybe it's far from it. I <3 life- I am 23 and used <3 Blame the amazing 17-year-olds I hung out with all summer- I also say BFF all the time too... ridiculous I know. LOVE IT! :)) The new one is for other stuff...Take it for what it's worth. The end.



http://mickelleemyers.blogspot.com

"I meant to procrastinate today but I just never got around to it..."

Isn't life like that? Really? i was thinking about that... Seriously I go through phases- One day I'll be totally on top of things (even ahead) and the next week I'm so far behind it's pretty much ridiculous. So mostly I'm just ready for school to be done- I think I say that more frequently than is necessary- but it's true and "lets be honest here" . I'M READY FOR SCHOOL TO BE DONE! Graduation is in only... 1,5,7,8,9.... December...January...September... December, again...March, April... May... Okay 20 months. Or more than then whole time I was in Oregon... or a year and a half- give or take. But don't worry... that is one thing I won't procrastinate.

Big + Fuzzy= Bizzy

Okay I made up the word but I accidentally typed it so seeing as how I am ridiculously lazy... it stuck. So cute baby Joaquin is getting Bizzier...Check out these tail feathers at 12 weeks!

Joaquin this morning while I was getting ready--- and Monet helping me clean the church a few weeks ago

I didn't realize the quality of the photos until I pulled them up on the Mac so a thousand apologies for the pictures.

Yes, it is 3 am and front row movie seats should no longer exist

Yes, I went. Yes, I got sucked in... but, yes, it was for a good cause. I went to the midnight showing of "New Moon". Make fun of me if you must- but it was fun to go with my sister even though I'm not really a "twilighter"- yes, I did just say "standing in a line for an hour right next to a guy who was blowing cigarette smoke in weather that could probably freeze your snot with Monet, who was trying (not) very hard to ignore the mounds of buttered popcorn left on the sidewalk from previous movie-goers, and my sister" was FUN. (that was an extra long sentence) Mostly I just long hanging out with my sister-- and because she is 17 you could say that hanging out with your 23-year-old sister is "un-cool" or maybe it's just hanging out with your 23-year-old sister named Mickelle is uncool- but whatever- I have fifty other 17-year-olds I played with this summer as their EFY counselor that would beg to differ (at least I would hope they would ;)) So... back to the movie- My favorite line of the night in relation to Monet:

Boy ashamed to be in line at Twilight: Hey, What's your dogs name?
Me: Monet
Boy: That's cool... (yells to friend) Hey come up here with me!
**Friend runs up***
Boy: Look at this cool dog! Her name is Monet- you know like she's named after Money- only with a different accent.
Me:.. Or like Claude Monet? The painter?
Boy: Who?
Me: It's a famous painter...
Boy: Oh.

Don't worry though-- we call Monet- Money sometimes-- we get the accent wrong. ;)
At 12:01 they opened the doors (ridiculous because a- it was supposed to start at 12:01 and b- I was cold and tired) Because we only waited an hour (yes-- ONLY an hour, unlike the girls at the beginning of the line who have been chanting "Let us IN! Let us IN! Let us IN!" for the last 4 1/2 hours.) we got front row seats- which sounds like a good thing. It really does... for when you go to something like a Basketball game, or a play, or even a concert... but not when you have a view of a 500 foot vampire straight up. I think I left with a sprained neck... and possibly my eyes have been forever ruined from having to move so much to see the whole screen.
Mone did pretty well. When we first sat down she didn't really like the cold hard ground so i had to put my coat on the floor for her... then after trying- unsucessfully- to mooch some love (and possibly some popcorn) from our movie-seat-neighbors she settled into a sit with her head on my lap until she couldn't hold herself up anymore- about 1/2 hour. Don't worry she heard all the swoons, screams, and chants as the movie started and the characters appeared on the screen. She thought it was all for her at first then after a while she gave up- she didn't even flinch when the two warewolves went at it even though the ground was shaking like an earthquake- remember that's what happens when you get the front row. (BTW she's on Team Jacob as of last night... She would make a cute warewolf girlfriend) So the movie ended... Lame ending- but what do you get for a movie they plan on being a sequel- like Pirates 2- lame ending- and we left. I dropped my sister off at my parents then started driving home-- by this time- yes, it IS about 2:45 am... and yes, people are still driving. What possible reason could you have for driving around at this ridiculous hour unless you are coming home from the midnight showing of "New Moon"? If you work that early in the morning... okay. (truckers? 7-11 workers?) If you are a Vampire... fine. But voluntarily driving around at 3 AM?! I don't know about you but I love my sleep- I love everything about my sleep. So to all you 3-am-drivers out there: "Yes, it is 3 am and YES you should be in bed. I don't know about you but I love my sleep..." Only 5 1/2 hours until I get to drive home from work... and once again- test my theory that I love sleep :)

Recovery

As you can see Vinnie is back to his old self in his favorite place- in the sun by the glass door at my parents. He was sick for a few days after he got his stitches out- but he's doing much better. He's acting like he feels so much better, aside from being sick- he can walk so much better. He's like a new dog- loving life. :) He's 9 1/2 years old and hopefully we still have many more years to go with the big marshmallow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was on my way to work this morning... isn't it pretty? This is one reason I love driving Logan canyon every day. It's so pretty and slightly makes me homesick for Oregon- especially in the fall.(fall in Utah lasts about a week- at least the pretty part with the colored leaves) I love having the opportunity to have lived in such pretty places...

Frog Legs

Is there any other way to be comfortable?

(sorry for the quality- my camera broke so I get to use my phone)

One week...

One week later and life is getting normal again... a quick update:
Vinnie is recovering from his Extreme Makeover. He's looking like a new guy and is acting like one too. He still has the "Frankenstein" look but overall looks much better. He still can't wear a collar because of the 3 inch line of stitches on his neck but he's totally happy with that. Last Friday he started eating at one of the incisions on his back hip (He has 4) so off to the vet to get a "cone of shame"(aka E-collar for those who haven't seen "UP"...there is a dissappointed look on my face for those who didn't catch that) Lucky for him, he only had to wear it a day or so before he was done with running into things and looking like an overgrown lampshade-lawn gnome- he quit eating himself and is now on the fast road to recovery.
Monet is such a good girl. She seems like she grew so much since we got Joaquin. She loves the fact that she gets to go places and Joaquin has to stay home in his kennel. (picture sibling love "nah nah nah! I get to go and you have to stay home in a box!") She really is getting so good with him. Her favorite thing in the world is "Go to Bed"-- it's ours too because she will stop anything she is doing and run to her bed. She's also getting into the holiday spirit by becoming our own little Nutcraker. She couldn't make it as a ballerina (too hard to fit ballet shoes to her feet- and she has four of them- then there trying to get her on her toes... it would be a mess) so she's putting on her own show in the backyard with the walnuts that have fallen off the tree. She'll learn though...
Joaquin is a good boy too. He is getting big and learning... The first few days he didn't really like his food but now he's eating like a lab. He's hasn't quite figured out why the magic kibble appears when he stands in one place but not in another (when we practice go to bed) but he's starting to think about it. He thinks Kongs are the best thing since puppy kibble and water is the drink of the gods... or the Goldens. He's just a sweet guy with lots of confidence. I

The end of the semester is nearing... which means final projects and tests are coming-- also the end of my hour long commute is hopefully coming to an end. Although the 5:30 morning wakeups aren't as bad as I thought- I'm not really a fan of the drive home in the afternoon... It's too long when I want to get home fast- plus the gasoline bill isn't so fun. I'm hoping to get in this week with an advisor at school to get graduation in perspective (sometimes that's what I need- just someone to remind me that it is attainable- and that I am, in reality, chipping away at the requirements needed for that piece of paper that says "Good job- now get a job") I'm ready to be done with this student thing... until I decide to go back to school again.

What? Walking?

Wait? I thought it was supposed to start with a "J"... "Jogging"? Wah- Keen? How do you spell that? Joa- Quin? After all the confusion... The newest Guide Dog puppy at our house.

Me and Lindsey with Joaquin and 2 of his siblings going to Colorado

He even already had his first bath to get all the newspaper yuck off...

Welcome Joaquin...! We're excited for the next year or so with you!

Poor Vinnie

Poor Vinnie had his "Liposuction" today. He was dropped off at 7 this morning and came home about 5. Poor guy looks like he's been through a war. The vet said he pulled about a pound of fatty tumors out... When he left the vet this afternoon he was at 75-ish lbs.

I have a picture that you can see his stitches better but it's pretty yucky looking so I thought I would spare you. It will only make you feel worse for him. He's got 4 inscisions and gets to back in about 2 weeks to have the stitches removed. They said they were going to give him an e-collar but decided he was so good and is such a nice dog they didn't think he would need it. He can barely make it downstairs right now. When my dad came home he tried to get up and do a happy dance but that didn't work out so well...He tried and will be better than new in a few weeks. That's my boy. Tomorrow I'm going to stop by in the afternoon to see him- give him a hug and love on him for a minute... and introduce him to new puppy! Less than 12 hours! Don't worry we're getting excited at our house...! I'm sure there will be a post tomorrow!

Vinnie goes to the Vet

So... Vinnie has had a small fatty lump under his arm since I got home last year. We took him to the vet early on and after taking a sample told us it was no biggie and we shouldn't worry about it unless it's bothering him.
Fast forward a few months...
The lump has been getting bigger and Vin has started limping... We also noticed a few more starting to grow...poor guy. My mom said she would take him to the vet to get it checked out. Every time I went home to visit I would remind her. Finally, last week after work I went by and took him in. The verdict? It's definitly not cancer (whew) and the boy gets to have surgery. Poor Vinnie will look like Frankenstein for Halloween (although he IS a boy- he might think it's pretty cool.) He has 2 bigger lumps and 2 smaller ones. So next Wednesday gets to go in for some "lipo-suction"... Do we all wish we could do that? I know I have some fatty lumps I would be okay with removing ;) He doesn't really act like an old dog anyway but the vet said it will make a huge difference in his energy level. He said it will make him MUCH more comfortable :) When I called my mom to tell her how much it would cost I asked her if it was alright if I just scheduled the surgery right there. Her response was "We'll it's your fault I love him like my child! It's not like I CAN'T do it. Get him in ASAP." So so so true. You would never know it from him as a puppy (a wild man) that we would fall so hard for this dog. Wish Vinnie luck!
Only 5 more days until Puppy Truck Day...!

24/7

Why is there only 24 hours in a day? And why do you have to sleep for 1/4 of those hours? I'm pretty sure there needs to be more hours- either that or travel time should be eliminated. It seems like there should be more time to finish everything... One day I'm going to have to see about inventing that- something like Space Mountain at Disneyland, of course it has to be fun!
Monet has had a pretty exciting life thelast 2 days- I'm sure Lindsey has posted about it-- one of her puppies, Brogan came to visit. She's not so sure if she likes him or not yet but she'll get over it... Brog is a good teacher. And his being a huge moose and having the perpetual look of "I'm-going-to-eat-the-next-thing-that-comes-within-a-foot-of-me" on his face I'm sure helps... (I don't think he could hurt ANYONE! He's just a big hungry Lab) They are so funny together...

A Visit from a Texan

This last weekend while Lindsey was gone Mon and I had a visitor. My friend Jana came to visit us all the way from Texas. We were companions (roomates) on my mission in Oregon. I love her to death and was so excited to show her around Utah. We went to Salt Lake and up Ogden Canyon. So fun... I think fall i my favorite time of year in Utah (and especially Oregon! I love the fog!)

Jana is Deaf so she tried to teach Monet some signs but she just wanted to play (Jana thinks she succeeded but shh...I think Monet was just humoring her) It was Jana's first experience with a Guide Dog Puppy so she was really nervous about bringing a dog into a store but once she got used to it she thought it was pretty cool. We ended up at the mall and Monet found her namesake!

A little Claude Monet anyone? I'll take the little black puppy...

May be next time I'll go out to Texas to visit Jana. She doesn't live too far from where my 5th puppy Maryjo is working now... I would LOVE to go see her... We'll see!

All about Monet

Sometimes I forget how much work school is. It seems like no big deal then due dates come all at the same time and I'm like "AHHH!!" it's fine though... that's the life of a college student- and guess what? I only have about a year left for my BA. What am I thinking wanting to keep going after I'm done? No, really I love school- it's fun-- it's just a ton of work:) I love learning and going to school. Monet went to Weber State with me for the first time today... she did pretty well. She didn't like being under the desk with my backpack so I had to move it for her. Princess! She's so ridiculous sometimes... such a girl! Normally she sleeps in Lindsey's room with 2 dog beds so last week when she slept in my room she got all mad that she had to sleep on the floor. She kept laying dow the getting up then finding sometime small to lay down on like my jacket or a piece of my blanket that was touching the floor. Finally I went downstairs and got a dog bed out of the living room. You'd think a dog that's been to as many houses as she has would be pretty "whatever" but I guess it's still all about Monet.

Headlines at our house

As you probably already saw on Lindsey's blog- Poor Monet got spayed. She's been sooooo super mellow all day. I got home from school at 11:30 and she's been just chilling on her bed since. She's been SO cuddly since yesterday and I love it! She's always been sweet girl, but nothing like this. Someone will be so lucky to have her as their Guide Dog one day!
Donovan (the puppysittee for the school program) is a little less aware of what happened yesterday. Mostly the job is keeping him laying down enough that we don't end up with some insides falling out. He's a pretty good boy for the most part though so it's not too tough of a job he just forgets.
Puppy class was cancelled tonight (due to a case of the swine flu... how exciting) but since Monet and Donovan can't go anyway it's just fine (although I was looking forward to going to Farrs Ice Cream with the club... YUM) We'll go next week and Mony will be feeling much better hopefully.
In other news:
I think I forgot to post that I got a new car :) YAY! I love it! An '05 Suzuki Aerio Hatchback. It's red and super cute despite the grey stripe down the side. The interior is black which is great for Monet- not so great for Vinnie. He thinks it stinks because he has to ride in the very back. He'll get over it.
Homework time!!!

You know you're jealous of my week

This week... well really the last few days have been really... um... amazing? in a sarcastic type of way. So first off I'm sitting in my class Thursday night and I get a text about 8:30. I don't really check texts in class and class was out soon so I waited a few minutes then as soon as I was out I checked my phone. It was a text frm Lindsey (Lindsey and I are roomates if you haven't figured that out) "You have to come home NOW. Calvin got hit by a car and is dead and Charlie is gone" Calvin and Charlie are our other roomates Beagles. WHAT?! I called Lindsey... sure enough poor girl had to talk to the lady who had hit Calvin, call our other roomate- Lacy and tell her, then go out looking for Charlie. We looked for Charlie for a few hours then decided that he probably had found a place to hide for the night and hoped he would find his way home in the morning... Since we all work we left a note on our door that said to call us if they were returning our beagle. Lacy decided to stay at her parents that night then come the next day and hopefully Char would be home by then...
Next morning...
I'm on my way to work and was about 30 minutes away and-- my car decides to overheat. Awesome... perfect. The thing about my job (I'm a sign language interpreter) is that if I'm not there it's pretty difficult to find a replacement and nothing can really happen without someone there. So, because I have an amazing dad, once again he saved me. He had my sister bring her truck up to me so I could make it to work. My dad figures out how to get it smoking and hot to the Flyng J just off the exit. Diagnosis for my car: Blown Head Gasket... I was going to change the oil that afternoon- Too late. My car was old- I guess just think of it as assisted Suicide.
Fast forward a few hours;
I'm at work and get a text "Charlie's home!" YAY! Apparently someone had found him and put him in our backyard. He's got a few battlewounds, including a fat eye and a limp, but he's doing well and is still the same Charlie. We think he may have been hit too by another car. They took him to the vet last night and everything checked out. I'm SOOOO glad we found him!
Fast forward a few more hours...
I'm driving home and I start to notice the same smell my car had this morning. "It's no big deal I'm probably making up stuff because I'm paranoid" about 1/4 mile from the same flying J exit my other car was chilling at the truck decides to overheat as well... Yes. That is the awesomeness of my life. My poor dad is on vacation with the rest of my famlily (I had to work so couldn't go) so after I called him I called my hero- Lindsey, to rescue me. She came and saved me while my dad drove home to diagnose the truck to try and bring it home... the verdict is: a blown head gasket. Yes, that's right TWO in one day!!! Impossible you say? Well... It can happen and I am living proof of that! So that makes today Car shopping day for me... Yay :-S Not really... Wish me luck!
I told Linds she'd better watch out- things are dying all over the place here!

Monet meets Vinnie

Why I love Vinnie:
1. He's soooo adorable- who couldn't love that just smashed into a wall face?

2. He's the sweetest Male Yellow Labbie EVER! (never mind the first 14 months of his life that we had him- it doesn't count- we were first time raisers)
3. He's such a fabulous honorary co-raiser. He teaches the puppies what is good play.

Why I love Monet:

1. She's pretty adorable herself- I'm not gonna lie- I think she's the cutest Black Lab in the house!
2. She's SUCH a nice dog... for being only 6 months old she really is SO good!

3. She loves Vinnie and learns quickly from him.

I <3>

I think we'll keep them :)

It's a puppy! It's a puppy!!

Yup That's right... now that the puppy is officially picked up I can now tell you I'm getting a puppy! She's currently on her way home with Lindsey (we'll be co-raising)... I'll let her tell you more about the newest puppy. I'm super excited and will get to meet her next friday when I get home from Disneyland. She will be home Tuesday morning- but I'll already be gone. :( So keep an eye on Lindsey's blog.

Peter Pan Syndrome

Did anyone ever see the old Merrie Martin Peter Pan? You know the song "I won't grow up"? That's my dream. I don't like growing up-- and I don't like other people growing up. Having to worry about life stinks. The thing that triggered this is a conversation I had with my Best Friend. She's dating a guy pretty seriously and it's a huge problem for me. I don't know why. It's like I'm super jealous... So I just decided today I want to be 13 again. Where I could do what I wanted (I wasn't a bad kid so what I wanted to do was just raise Guide Dog Puppies, hang out with friends, and just be 13), there were no boys to get in the way- they were all just crushes, and if I had to do something- my mom would just tell me to do it and that was the end. When I was little I used to tell my mom I never wanted to grow up-- well... I think it's happening... If anyone learns how to time travel let me know :)

Puppysitting

This week I get to hang out with Missy the Pug and Cricket the Guide Dog...

They are both fun dogs... even if Missy is a little old and poor Cricket just wants to play with her! We're lucky to have the park to go play in this afternoon... Cricket was in heaven! It reminds me why I love dogs-- Cricket is such a happy girl and LOVES everyone. She just loves people in general and would love anyone no matter who you are. Missy is just cuddly- I don't remember her being that way when I watched her last but she really does love it. She will just sit near me while I'm on the floor breathing on me until I pick her to pet her...I'm crossing my fingers for a puppy soon. I don't know how much longer I can last!

Extreme Makeover

Hey everyone-- so I got really motivated this morning and decided why not give my blog a remodel? I deleted most links- so if youw ant yours added leave a comment and I will hopefully get around to having a list again. :) Let me know what you think... It took me forever to figure things out but it was fun :)

A week off?

What? How does that happen? I don't even know what to do with myself- good thing I don't have to decide what to do because I already have a million people asking for when we can hang out. What can I say... people love me. Just kidding. They just want to remind themselves of why they are glad I'm gone for most of the summer ;)
Last week was one of the most eventful weeks of EFY- and also one of my favorites. I am in love with last week. I had a great group (as usual) and some awesome experiences-- and only slightly fell in love with a toy pufferfish named Seth from the BYU bookstore. You know you're jealous.
Next week is Deaf week and I'm really excited for that. There is a chance I might not get Deaf kids but I reallllllly hope I do. Plus it would really help with the fact that I'm taking an interpreting test next week as well.
So, after next week I will have one more week then I'm home for good (mostly) I'll be in and out housesitting with a trip to California right in the middle of all that. Then school starts. This is my life-- We are hoping Lindsey will be able to bring home a transfer puppy with her in August. So, that's the excitement of it ll. I really miss going to puppy classes while i've been out of town- but I really have had one of the best summers so far!

Sleep Deprived

Yes... that is what it is. Sleep Deprivation... 3 weeks of going to sleep at midnight and waking up at 5 am is not a good thing. But what do you do? Nothing... that's what you do. Why? Because I love my summer job.
Anyway... I talked to Lindsey today. She is alive and gets to go to the beach tomorrow- for which I am only sightly jealous. I get to stay here in Utah and go camping. Now I'm TOTALLY not a camper- honestly I don't even like it. When I was younger my requirements for camping was there had to be a) a shower and b) flushing toilets. These demands were pretty set in stone- not flexible. There were a few times we ended up with no showers (the toilet one is non-negotiable) but not as I've gotten older- I'm willing to leave camp for a few hours, find a shower, wash all that grime and smell off, then come back to camp. How's that for being a non-camper? Yeah. That's what I thought. Okay maybe I have a problem...

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!... E-F-Y!

Hey Everyone... so I've had a pretty stinking amazing week. What makes it so stinking amazing you ask? Weeeellll... I get to be a counselor for Especially for Youth (EFY) this summer at BYU and I just finished my first week. I'm soooo tired but it was a blast and I met so many amazing people. My company (group of kids) consisted of 22 girls and 12 boys- although I was just in charge of 12 of those girls (there were 2 other counselors) all of them were 16-18. I love my girls so much- they are so amazing! Our company was named "Full of Love"- Remember how that was the best name on the plane? Yeah, that's what I thought. So let me give you a small taste of what EFY is all about.

Monday was nuts- about 2,500 kids trying to check in for a week of EFY is crazy. Amidst my crushing of boxes and handing out of handbooks/CD's/DVD's I got the chance to talk to and get to know the other counselors before my first real week. I met my girls later and we got play some awesome games (in the rain I might add) then set some goals for the week.

Tuesday we had some pretty fantabulous classes. All by amazing intelligent, spiritual, talented, and FUNNY teachers. Afterwards was a super amazing dance where we partied like rockstars! Can I just tell you how much I LOVE EFY dances? Well, I do. They are fantastic. This is a Mormon dance unlike any other. Really- Everyone dances!

Wednesday I was sure my feet would fall off because of this amazing thing called 2 blisters on my feet (Darn 3 song jump challenge)- thank goodness for sitting down in classes after which was GAMES. We played some awesome relay games and performed an amazing cheer created by our kids (complete with banner). Fortunately, I made it to what we lovingly refer to as PIZZA NIGHT at EFY. We partied it up ONCE again... as we got 6 pizzas and 2 breadsticks for 12 girls... 2 1/2 pizzas ended up in my fridge for later munchies for late night chats. (Okay so late night is 11 pm- lights out. I'm so grateful for that though- I have to sit in the hall until they fall asleep and I had to wake up at 5:45 for a meeting every morning. I still got an average of 5-ish hrs a night)

Thursday is everyone's favorite day- we party hard again- in the spritual way :) We have some great classes- We all wear our church clothes and have a musical program and testimony meeting. It's pretty great.

Friday- everyone is drained. The counselors are in charge of teaching classes today- I didn't have to this week so I was off the hook. It was really hard to stay awake though. I started getting a little loopy- you know when you'er so tired you get to the point that EVERYTHING is funny- and ridiculously funny? yeah- that was me... times ten! I went to bed at about 1:30 am then was up at 5:45 ready for...

Saturday! Checkout. All kids had to be out by 7:00 am. Awesome I know. What for? So Counselors can head to eat breakfast and off of a final wrap up meeting. It's pretty hillarious to watch the counselors stumble around after a looooong week. Why do I love this so much? I don't know... but It's amazing. From now on anytime anyone says "alright" I'll want to finish it off with the EFY cheer... "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT hey...."

Hiking and Puppysitting

I've decided that one of the saddest things of having a dog is watching your dog get old. This week we took Vinnie up on the Moutain for the hike I've taken him on hundreds of times. It's his favorite because of the creek a few miles in. He loves just chilling in the water and being a dog. Watching him take the hike made me realize my boy is getting old :( He had a little bit of a hard time at the end and was quite glad to get to the creek- more than usual. Although after a nice cool down he was off to more exploring- trying to run off without me- past the point we normally turn around at.


This weekend I was supoposed to go with Lindsey and my other roomate, Lacy to take Ontario to his new home but a million things kept coming up so while my roommates are gone I'm watching Marlowe- a new FBL in our club. She's a sweet girl and is right now sleeping at my feet. She likes being an only dog I think. ;)

and last but not least- why I like Black Labs:

I puppysat Jared and Cash again this Friday and Saturday and I got to groom them. By the time I was done I think I had enough to make a sweater for each of them :) I'm like 500% sure yellow Labs shed more than black Labs... thank goodness for my fur-minator. it's pretty much the best!

Jared (was CC'ed for Eye Cancer) and Cash (CC'ed for Confidence) --and cute Marlowe in the background.

GOOD LUCK TO ONTARIO! It sounds like he's got an amazing home and I'm sure we'll get some updates from his new mom on how he's doing!

Party

Happy Birthday to you... Happy birthday to you...

It was 9 years ago today that Vinnie was born! Happy Birthday, Beans!

Eagles and changes

This past weekend we (Lindsey and I) had the opportunity to go to the Eagles Utah State meeting to represent GDB along with a couple other raisers around the state and a graduate from San Rafael. It was a pretty entertaining weekend to say the least, but the best part was I got to steal Teesha for the weekend. I love this girl. One day I'll get a current picture of her up. Really I just need to suck it up and admit to myself that my camera cord is never going to show up again- then go buy a card reader. One day... eventually. :) She's getting so big- almost 10 months now! Remember when I first came home and she was like 10 weeks? I can't believe what a good girl she is. She was absolutely perfect- even when a overly rambunctious 12 week old puppy was all over her at the dinner. I was so proud of her. I think that's one of my favorite parts of raising Guide Dog puppies- watching the little crazy puppies become what they are meant to be and I get to be a little part of something in their change (hopefully for the most part it's a good thing ;) ) Sometimes I like to look back at my puppies very first monthly reports and their last one and see how far they've come. It makes me feel so good for them and really does help me feel like I'm making a difference. Anyway- now I'm rambling- I shouldn't be allowed to do that. Thank you and goodnight- you can tip your waitress at the door.

Alive again...just in time for summer

That's right- the car is alive again. Thanks to an amazing dad who can figure out anything and everything. I love him. So now... Summer is underway. All the classes are done, the cerimonial trashing of the notes/old tests/handouts has happened, and the old books are sold (mostly excepting my Math book- anyone up for an old Math 1030 book for $45?) EFY starts in 2-ish weeks :) (YAY!) and I'm filling out an application for a new puppy this weekend! That's the excitingness of my life. I like it. Thanks for reading.