snow day

just a few pics of the fam and what we've been up to lately. the dogs are getting along quite well, though jack beats up on marley unrelentlingly. poor marley has little puppy teeth scabs all over the place. the good thing is, he is learning to fight back more and more. and when you aren't looking, they are little cuddle bugs. brotherly love...

we went up mirror lake highway the other day and played in the snow for a bit. this is the best self portrait family picture we could get. it's a lot harder with 2 dogs now.

typical picture of how the boys eat their food.

jack has no concern for what his feet are standing in. he often steps in his water too and then spreads paw prints all throughout the house. fantastic.

jack was a natural in the snow. rolling all around and laying down in it. marley does great in the snow as well, but he's not one to roll around in it if he doesn't have to.

we took a lovely walk down to the river. so pretty.

the ice wasn't as thick as we thought and huge chunks of ice broke off right where we were standing. luckily we had cat like skills and stayed dry.

the pup wasn't so lucky and he got his first rude introduction to the water. amazingly, he was dry 5 minutes later.

then off to play around. see below marley demonstrating his regulatory skills on jack.
soaking up some sun, looking so regal.
thanks to steve for this photo of jack. just imagine how great it would be if we had a decent camera...
lounging in the sun and snow.
soooo tired on the way home. cuddling!
and for your own viewing pleasure...this is how we found jack napping the other day. i love this guy. he's got such energy, but when he sleeps, he sleeeeeeeps.

a few trips planned coming up. jackson hole for our anniversary (only 10 days away). i'm stoked because i have never been. and then in april, denver! also never been there. and after the denver trip, it will be camping time again! can't wait for the warmer months so we can play outside more. but we may have to shave jack so he doesn't overheat. poor guy pants just laying in the house.

brotherly luuuuuuv

the first few days we had jack, we weren't sure how well the two dogs would get along. marley was very interested in jack, but jack was so docile and scared. we were hoping it would get better as jack got more comfortable around us.
well he did get more comfortable. and it did get better. jack suddenly got very interested in marley and wanted to play ALL THE TIME. marley was being a bit of a stinker to jack and ignored him, not wanting to play, but instead lay down and catch some zzzzz's as he does best. it's so funny to see the different personalities. marley's goal each day is to sleep in, eat some food and water, maybe get a quick run in, and then go back to sleep, on the couch or bed if he can finagle it. jack on the other hand, wants to play from sun up to sun down, only sleeping and eating to get enough energy to play again.
we were hoping that by getting a puppy, he might make marley more active and marley will help the puppy to mellow out and catch on to training a little easier.
well...it seems to be working out the way we had hoped. the other night, we caught these two doing this...

i was a little worried before we got a puppy that marley would think i didn't love him anymore or that he was being replaced, but he's taking it quite well and i must say i really enjoy having two dogs. now if we could just teach jack to walk on a leash so we could take him up to the mountains with us.
here are a few other pictures of them fighting. notice how jack goes straight for the neck and already dominates on marley.
ps. pay attention to this puppy's paws. he's going to be huge!

happy february

so i have been noticing i haven't been blogging much and i've been trying to think of what i could blog about, but i realized, there just isn't anything. it's winter. it's cold. the air sucks. the snow sucks. so we stay at home and watch our reality tv shows. so i wish i could say i have just been a lazy blogger, but really, we are just boring people lately.
however, february is off to a good start. we have been having some major dog park fun. marley is a surprisingly good snow dog and he loves running around, playing with the dogs, and trying to keep up with all the fast dogs in fetch. he's had so much fun in fact, that he can barely jump up on the bed or into the truck because he's so sore. the poor pads on his feet are practically raw from running on the icy cold snow for so long.
my beautiful mother is here visiting for an entire month! her company has an office in salt lake so they allowed her to work out of that office for this month. she is here to help with my sister's kids while she is in her last semester of nursing school. it will be fun to have her close by and get to see her more often for the next month.

and lastly, but definitely not least...meet jack.
he is our new german shepherd puppy. a timid little thing, but getting more comfortable each day. we love him already and have had an interesting time learning how to housebreak a puppy. when i got marley, he was about a year, so he was already housebroken and knew basic commands. we are starting from scratch with this little guy.
marley has been pretty great about having him around. he's very interested in the new little guy, but leaves him alone for the most part. if anything, i think marley feels a little put out that there is a new four legged friend in the house. so i'm trying to be good at spreading my love around equally. though ssshhhhh...secretly, marley will always be my #1 boy. steve can have this new puppy. but hopefully by the time we have more than one kid around here, i will have mastered making them both feel plenty loved.
february is also great because our anniversary is coming up on the 28th. i can't believe it's been a year since i married my best friend. he's seriously the coolest guy around and i have loved being married more than i can say. i can't wait to celebrate our first year together and all the ones to come after that.

one lucky girl

just have to say how lucky i am to have steve as my husband. he not only makes me laugh, protects me, loves me unconditionally, and makes me want to be a better person, but he does really sweet things for me that make me love him even more each day.
when we bought our house, we knew it needed some fixing up, and we liked that. but i don't think we realized how much time, money, and effort the fixing up would take. initally we bit off a huge chunk of remodeling and since then, it has taken a backseat to other things. i love what we have done to our house so far, but one thing we haven't even touched is our master bedroom. and let's face it, we spend a huge chunk of our time in there because 1.we are newlyweds, and 2.we are homebodies who like to watch tv in bed.
i admit i have complained/whined here and there about how i wish we could paint our room. it just seemed like such a daunting task with all the furniture already in there and there never seems to be a big enough chunk of time to get the whole room done in a day.
well, my cute little husband planned a little painting party behind my back. the other night while i was at work (a graveyard shift), steve had his brother and our nephew come up to the house and help him paint the room. they were up until 2am painting and steve had to be at work at 7am. i got home from a long night at work to a beautifully, newly painted bedroom. it makes the room 100 times better. and now we can actually hang pictures that have been waiting until the paint job was done.
i just can't say enough how much i love this man. he makes my world brighter and happier than i ever thought it could be and i am so grateful i am lucky enough to be with someone who works so hard to make me happy. i only hope i make him feel the same way.

the golden state

last weekend, steve and i went to california for a much needed visit. we hadn't been back since getting married almost a year ago.
our friends were having their big wedding celebration and thankfully, we were able to time to the trip so we could go witness the celebration. i had never been to a greek wedding before, but my was it an experience. an experience that included an open bar with ouzo, which led to the mother of the groom dancing on top of one of the tables.
we had a great time at the wedding and are so happy for our friends!
we are also mucho happy to have had a few days in california. the sunshine and warm weather was just what we needed in the midst of a cold, and what seems like an almost snowless winter :( we got to see a lot of family and friends who we haven't seen in awhile, and i was able to be reunited with my flip flops for 4 glorious days! i really miss the beach sometimes. but then again, i love the 4 seasons...you can see the dilemma.
it was a truly fabulous trip and it makes me so anxious to go back again...maybe for good?

ps. i know i am awful at including pictures with these posts. add to the list below, goal #17, to take more pictures and be a better blogger!