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...