Let's get ready.......to BLOG!

It is the new year; and once again I find myself ready to be an active participant in my own life. What?!? You are probably wondering what the crazy meaning is behind that statement. Well, in the process of living life in 2013 I kind of left a piece (okay, several pieces) of myself behind. I stopped blogging. I stopped creating hand stamped cards. I stopped taking the dogs to playgroups and/or training and I stopped noticing that I wasn't fulfilling my personal needs. I was letting the changes and challenges of life restrict me rather than challenging the changes and restrictions to make me grow and learn and reach for a healthy balance. It is time to move forward and live my life.

I am social. I am fascinated by people, places and creating/doing/helping to accomplish things that I enjoy. I adore being involved at Bayside: serving creates a special warmth that connects me to other servants of Christ who are fulfilled through service and agape love. I adore being a part of a Small Group for Women's Bible Study. I adore meeting and interacting with others. I grow and learn and become a more balanced Christian through healthy fellowship. My family thrives when I thrive and stay committed.

I am creative. Whether I am writing, cooking, stamping, taking pictures, or organizing a space for better usage I fully appreciate the colors, textures, scents and visual balance that indulging my creative side releases. I'll admit that messes, failures and errors happen along the way. I think that allows learning, growth and laughter. Creativity lends to socialization. I need to reach out to my stamping friends and reconnect. I've missed them.

We are a Beagle family. Beagles require training and a high level of activity. With Eleza Kerfoot of Paws in Progress we each get respectful, intelligent, motivational ~ much needed training and education. Dog training is not just teaching a dog how to sit. Training is about creating a family that includes our dogs. Training includes exercise for both humans and canines. Our pups adore training exercises and we've failed at keeping them on track. That is not okay. Our Carly and Cannon are sweet, intelligent and fun. They love interaction with humans and canines. Carly loves Agility. Cannon loves to play and run. I miss our training family.

I'm ready to live my life. I realize my budget is way different than it used to be. I've let that control what I do instead of controlling my budget to live a balanced life that is full of enjoyment. I'm tired of migraines and more importantly  I'm tired of fighting minor depression that I hide behind a smile and laughter.  Yes! I am happy. Yes! I am blessed and grateful. I'm also human and need to live as an active participant in my life.

Join me on my journey!

Loving being Carly the Cutie's mom!

I can not say enough about how much we are enjoying Carly! She really is a cutie and we love her with all of our hearts. Carly has brought our lil family even closer together. 

She fits in perfectly and has even gotten to know the cats. Harley doesn't mind Carly too much and they will both take naps in my lap at the same time. Seriously melts my heart. Harvest is not so sure she likes Carly, but she has not tried to beat up the puppy so I think we are okay. Tiger .... he loves being in the garage and not dealing with ANY of them.

I do have to say it is a good thing that Carly is as wonderful and as loved as she is. Last night she reminded us that sleepless nights are not just for infants and toddlers; but for 9 and 1/2 week old puppies, too.

Here is a cute video of precious Carly being too cute!

Carly the Cutie is HERE!!!!! Oh my goodness we adore her so very much. I'd blog more about her; but (a) life with a puppy is hectically hilarious and I just don't have time at the moment; and (b) life with a puppy is satisfyingly exhausting and I can barely spell let alone tell you all the details of sweet Carly.

Lets just say that I (we!) adore her and if there was any doubt in my mind about her it completely vanished at the airport when I saw her cuteness as she was energetically prancing in her crate waiting to be held by us. ADORABLE!

Here are a few pictures of our beagle baby:

Do I drink from the purple bowl; or swin in it?

Puppy LOVE! A lil snuggle time.

Oh! Mommy loves you Carly the Cutie!

I am one SUPER cute puppy!

What?? You lookin at me? yes, I am cute!

We're EXPECTING!

Russ, Manda and I are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our newest family member on Friday, March 16.
I know, this may be a total surprise ~ after all you probably had no idea that we were expecting.

Neither did we.

How did we not know we are expecting?  Am I dense? Clueless? Are we crazy?  Russ is (almost) 55; I am (almost) 45 and our daughter is 19. It was just this week that we discovered that we will be adding to our family.

We could not be more thrilled and can barely contain our excitement and joy.

Do we even have a clue as to how are lives will change having a baby in the house? The sleepless nights? The worry that we are nurturing, properly caring for and properly loving this new part of our hearts?

Well, we are not crazy. I am not usually too dense and I try not to be clueless.

In our defense, we "knew" in our hearts that we were expecting. We may not have expected it to be this soon. But this is the right time, and by March 16, we will be ready. And we know our new baby is a girl. Her name is Carly.

   (photo courtesy of Rhonda K. Smith of Pine Forest Kennels)

Isn't she jus the CUTEST!!!!   Carly is a Beagle!  We love beagles and have been missing being a beagle family since our Sweet Kodi Girl passed away 3 years ago at nearly 17 years of age.

Finding a beagle pup is NOT easy; and finding a HEALTHY, HAPPY beagle pup raised by a RESPECTIBLE, HONEST, CARING wonderful breeder is even harder. But we are thrilled to say that we found Pine Forest Kennels  

Rhonda K. Smith is the amazing breeder who sees her beagles as family 1st and breeds them to share the love of beagles with others. Yes, she is a breeder. But she is NOT a puppy mill.

Carly will be 8 weeks old and ready to come to California on Friday, March 16.  She'll arrive on a Delta flight and we just can not wait to snuggle her and love her in person. We already adore her!

Once we get her home I 'll get lots more pictures and share them with you.

Welcome, Carly!!! We love you!