Happy Birthday Lacy

Yesterday was my sister's birthday. My mom and her husband took Derek and I, plus Lacy to Olive Garden for dinner last night. Lacy asked me to do her a favor for her birthday present: to come with her to get a piercing.

I called all my connections to see if any of my preferred piercers had any openings. She had her ear lobes repierced to a 10 gauge, and she also got her septum pierced. I was concerned that it wouldn't look good on her, but it looked much better than I thought it would. Though I don't necessarily think that I would have gotten a facial piercing while I'm in the process of looking for a job. Oh well...that's why she's Lacy and I'm Carissa.

After we finished at the piercer we went to the movies and saw Rango (the 2nd time for me). Again, it was AWESOME!

Happy 20th birthday Lacy!

On The Lighter Side of Things

I had a class graduate tonight, and it was so wonderful. They made me completely forget about the whole Vegas mishap. I love my students so much and the pictures will show that. They love me as well!
Mr. Bentley the Golden DoodleMax the Pitbull-German Shorthair Pointer MixKenja, The husky that will be losing his left eyeBeautiful Miss Bailey the Australian ShepherdBrady the Rottweiler MixMr. Attitude, Bentham the Border Collie. And my big girl Penny!They were such a wonderful class and 4 of them are going into Intermediate class together.I loved that my students all wanted pictures of me with their dogs. I love Bailey!I'm going to miss these guys, they travel with the Renaissance Festival.Me and BentleyMe with Justin and MaxI love Penny and Bentham!

Viva Las Vegas

Derek and I just got back from our trip to Vegas. The trip was definitely not what I had hoped for, but it was still nice to spend so much time together. We left at 8am and I drove the 6 hour trip there. Once we got there it was around 3:30pm and we walked around a little bit.

Then we took a bit to relax in the room and look at the view of the strip.

We went to the 7pm showing of Rango. The movie was awesome!!

Then we gambled $5 until about 9:45pm. We went to the box office to get ready to get seated for the 10pm showing of Steven Wright. Only to find out that the show was actually at 8pm and we missed it. It was AWFUL! I was so upset. We were so upset that we decided we didn't want to stay the whole night.

So we packed up all our stuff and left the hotel at 1am. Derek slept most of the car ride, which was ok. We got back home around 7:30am. And I slept for MANY hours. We didn't get pictures....which seriously bums me out. But I guess we'll have a chance to do it again some day.

Yearly Check-Up

Today I took Jackson and Alex for their yearly check-up. They loved seeing Dr. Oliver. Jackson had a lump on his chest that the Dr. said it was more than likely a swollen lymph node on the side of his neck. They got all of their shots and had their blood drawn and everything. They have a 100% clean bill of health. And the doctor said that they had some of the best looking teeth he had ever seen. Dr. Oliver stayed in the exam room to chat for a little bit. He said that they were such lucky dogs and we take such good care of them. They are also a perfect weight which is something that I had been concerned about.

Overall it was about $320, but it's only a once a year expense!

Thor Graduates Advanced Class!

Happy Graduation Thor!

Thor will be taking his CGC test on April 7th, 2011. I am so excited for them!

An Active Outing

Today I took the puppies for a hike at Lost Dutchman State Park. This hike made me both happy and sad at the same time. I was happy because I was able to hike the trail and was perfectly fine. I wasn't out of breath, my legs didn't hurt. The only thing that bothered me was my feet because my arches have to adjust to the hiking shoes. So it was nice to feel that I was in shape. But at the same time I felt bad because Alex was DRAGGING by the end of the hike. We only got 1/3 of the way to the Slick Rock Basin. She's very out of shape, and I realized that it's because I just haven't taken her places or hiking like I did for Jackson.
They are so cute in their little backpacks. They were full of water and first aid kit stuff.
Happy puppies!THIRSTY PUPPIES!After the hike we went to the park just for them to blow off a little extra steam. They had so much fun. The grass is looking so nice at the park!
Alex loves to frolic!

Looking forward to our next hike already

Update On Tiger

I got a text message today from Tiger's new family.

"Tiger is doing really good, she's warmed up to everyone except for Roxy :-) "

(Roxy is their dog.)

It's a very good sign that she warmed up to everyone so quickly.

A Visit To The Park

I took Jackson and Alex to the park. The little neighbor kids were there and they loved playing with them. They've played with Jackson since he was a baby, but they hadn't seen Alex that many times before.
The kids practiced some of the training commands with them.
They ran all around on the grass.
Alex was so happy!
Jackson was giving me the cutesy puppy dog face.
They needed a break in the shade because it's already hot outside.
Bang Bang!

Derek Visits The Gaskins

I wish that I had taken more pictures. The Gaskins family invited Derek and I over for dinner tonight. It was wonderful. We had roast beef and these cute little baby potatoes. It was awesome. Chance was SO excited to see Derek. It's amazing how well he responded to Derek's voice and commands.

Chance attempting to do my "crazy eyes" at me.

I'm so glad that Derek finally came so he could see how amazing the Gaskins family is. I tell him about them all the time. Thanks for having us over Joe, Judy, Trinity, Rusty, and Chance!

New Landscaping

Today I re-landscaped my backyard...and pulled the weeds in my front yard.
I love the new mulch I put down. I used to have the same color before, but in a rubber mulch. I like the new mulch. It is staying the really bright red color and it was pretty cheap!
Took about 10 bags to fill the space deep enough.
I asked Derek if I could get a tree...he was hesitant at first. But he seemed to like the idea when I told him about the dwarf apple tree. So here it is...our little sapling apple tree.
Alex liked it...it's a good sign that she didn't go straight to eating it.
Jackson liked it as well
We played ball on the rest of the yard....probably going to be the last time we'll do that for a while because I'm seeding the yard to hopefully get the grass to grow back.
They love the tree....I bet they will love the apples that will comes off of it in a few months.
They are so funny catching the ball. They do all kinds of crazy flips.

I can't wait for it to be beautiful again!