A Day of Many Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

  Today I have a lot to be thankful for!

My wonderful husband, who is always there for me, through thick and thin.

Two awesome dogs, who can make me smile no matter how bad my day is.

The privilege to buy our first home. (by the way, we close on Tuesday!)

Great family, who support and love us.

and Amazing friends, who are always there.

I truly took a step back today, and reflected on all the blessings in my life. Sometimes, in the day to day life, I can lose sight of all the good things and dwell on the negative. Why I allow the negative things to impact me so, I don't know. I spend way too much energy stressing over the bad. I really need to change that. I found a quote that I really should hang on my mirror, where I can see it everyday.

"There comes a time in life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all life is too short to be anything but happy."

So, from today onward I am going to honestly try harder to be thankful and focus on all the good things/people that surround me! And remember that I am truly blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Grace earns her very first title!

 This weekend Grace was in a Rally competition. It presented it's own challenges because it was on a dirt floor. We had only ever worked on solid ground, but she did amazingly well.

We got there early Saturday morning, thinking our run was around 10:00am. Only to find out it was actually at 4:00pm.... Needless to say I didn't realize there were two different show that same day. Oh well, lesson learned! So after hanging around half the morning, we went home for lunch and to just chill. We came back later that afternoon and did our run.

The run was the last leg towards her RN title, I was nervous but confident at the same time. 

 Just hanging out.

Grace and I completed our run with a score of 87/100! Which means we did it!!! She earned her first title! We had a few hiccups, but her attitude was what I was happy about. The past runs we've done, we started the course and it was "forge ahead!" She would be oblivious of what we were doing, until a few stations in. BUT this time she came back after station 1. We are both still very much green and still have much to learn/proof.

I cannot be more proud of our little girl! She has come such a long way in the 10 months we've had her. Her foster mom and rescue were overjoyed with her progress as well. Grace literally came from rock bottom to on top of the world (in our eyes at least).

Grace with her loot!

Now on to Advanced Rally!!!

Tell me Thursday and Happy Gotcha Day!

Sadly, I have been missing out on Tell me Thursdays. I see them go by week after week :( Lately has just been busy, hectic, draining, and just plain tiring. But I am back! Just in time for another Tell me Thursday and Riley's Gotcha Day!!!

We'll start off with Tell me Thursday from Crooks and Crazies.

1. What are you thankful for this week?

This week I am thankful for my dogs and loving husband. We have two wonderful dogs, who make us laugh just about everyday, and we could not imagine life without. I am thankful for my husband, who has taken on the responsibility of dealing with all the people, phone calls, and paper work it takes to buy this house!

2. How do you deal with a squeaker/shrieker/noisy dog?

I have never had to deal with a noisy dog before, but if I did I most likely would try to redirect his attention on to me, using treats and a verbal command.

3. Barbara wants to know: what would you say is ONE skill or attribute needed to be successful?

Patience. Which I could use more of...

4. Pippin wants to know: what are your favorite games?

Dog games? I love agility! For games around the home, I like to play tug or get them in the zoomie mood and just run around like no ones watching :P

As for people games, I am a sucker for card games, although I don't know how to play poker... don't judge. Also I do like my fair share of board games too.

5. What are some of your strategies for dealing with winter?

Winter? What's winter?..... Oh yea, that time of year that's suppose to get cold huh? LOL

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HAPPY GOTCHA DAY RILEY!!!

Today 3 years ago we adopted Riley!

 Riley's picture from the day we adopted him! He was about 8 months old then, so I guess that puts him at about 4 years old. Time has flown by!

Today he got a new toy (a fire hose Frisbee with squeakers!) and a bully stick to celebrate a wonderful three years! And many more to come!

 We played with the new Frisbee outside, but I didn't have my camera. Riley mainly just wanted to chew on it, as seen in the pictures :) but Grace liked to fetch it!

 My nose!!! Both Riley and Grace ended up like this a few times while playing outside with it!

"HI!"

I turned around after taking pictures of Riley and this is what she was doing behind me.... Silly girl!

 Bully Stick Time!!!

 Nicely waiting for the go-a-head.

 Mommmm, his is bigger then mine!

 Ok, ENJOY!

 Nom Nom Nom

I love this dog!

Fall is finally here!

 Kinda... It has been on the mid 70's during the day and 50's-60's at night. This has been the hottest/warmest years yet, since I've moved here.

So, in celebration of this "cooler" weather, I too the dogs to a field close by. I've been wanting to get pictures there for a while, and everyday I drive by it thinking "I need to get out there before the city cuts the grass!" Since today I have the day off, I got them out there, although I may try again later in the evening to have better lighting.

 "Our butts are still in the 'stay', just not our noses!"

"Sup mom?"

 "Boys... I'll sit pretty for you mom."

 Perfect picture! Except for the stupid blade of grass...

 When I shot this picture of Grace, I laughed, because I had the exact same picture of Riley from last year!

 Practicing stays.

 COME!

What you can't tell from the picture, is Grace is actually on top of Riley!

My handsome Riley

We'll see what kinda of pictures I get this evening. :)

Oh! I almost forgot! November 12th I have Grace entered in a Rally trial, and I hope she will earn the last leg to her RN title! We have a lot of practicing to do before then... I've been slacking on that part... :( Bad mommy!