Feb. 6th

Miss Riss & I at Cannon Beach. This was her first trip to
Cannon Beach and she ran like crazy, especially through the water!

Feb 5th

This is a true Rissy picture. She often has her tongue hanging out of her mouth. She's so dopey and sweet, and I think this picture totally captures her personality!

Feb. 4th

I was so excited to try this icing technique last week after I'd gone to Michael's Craftstore and got a new tip and some new icing bags. I brought them to a friends going away party and everyone seemed to like them. I also made the icing from scratch. I don't normally like home made icing but this recipe tasted pretty darn good! Everyone had purple tongues!

Feb. 3rd

Who doesn't like a mini ice cream cone?!? Yesterday I picked Brayden up from daycare and took him to play at the McDonald's play place. I got him a mini cone and thought it was too cute not to take a picture of. :) Later, Colin, Brayden and I went to the Y to go swimming. He had a fun time and is getting to be a pretty good swimmer!

Feb. 2nd

I was giving Colin's nephew, Brayden, a bath awhile ago when we had him for the night and took this picture of him. Isn't he adorable? I must be a pretty good bath giver because he looks pretty darn happy! :)

Feb. 1st

Sometimes it's hard being a puppy. I mean, you have to fit in naps sometimes, and how are you supposed to protect your bones from your little sister? Duke thought it'd be best to sleep right by both of them so Rissy couldn't get to them.

28 days of photos...

Inspired by my photography class I'll be starting on Feb. 11th, I've decided to post a picture a day in February to my blog. I probably won't remember to post each day, but I'll make sure to put up 28 separate pictures I've taken throughout the month. Hopefully I'll find more subjects to photography other than Duke & Rissy!

Stay tuned!

One Month Down

Just thought I'd update everyone a bit on what's been going on around here. My parents were down visiting this weekend and helped us move an outlet in our bathroom and also helped us chop wood. I feel like we got a ton done and also got to meet up with Granny and Gramps for dinner on Saturday night. We went to a local fish house "The Depot", and it was SO good! We all had a fun time.

I have started my "diet" again. I hate that word, but at this point, who am I kidding! I let myself go and now I have to fix that. SO, last year I lost a total of 20 pounds then took a break from June to December. Now that my sister is getting married in July, I want to lose the last of my chubbiness. I've lost another 4 pounds since the beginning of January. I now only have 9 more pounds until my final goal weight. It seems so much more attainable now that it's only 9! Hopefully I can continue after that but I'm not going to put pressure on it. If it happens, then it will happen. I hate the fact that I gain weight in my belly. Why can't I just have like one fat toe or something? Anyway, I will do it. I mean, I assume I'll get married one day and I don't want to be a fat bride. And I assume I'll have kids one day and I don't want to be a giant pregnant lady. SO that's my motivation. I can do it!

Rissy and Duke are as naughty as ever. Rissy threw up 4 times yesterday. Poor thing. Her hips seem to be doing good. Actually probably feeling better than she has in awhile. And Duke, well, Duke is Duke. Getting stingier by the day. Love them though! I think our cat Diesel wants a kitty sister so I'm working on that. Trying really hard to convince Colin. I'm going to be one of those crazy cat ladies one day with like 52 cats, and Colin will have like 37 dogs. Haha.

In a couple weeks we're meeting my family in Canon Beach, and we can't wait to go! We have a house rented out for 3 whole nights! This weekend also lies on a big NASCAR race and Superbowl. Should be a great time!!! Hope everyone is having a great 2010 so far!

Bowling with Brayden!

Last weekend Colin and I took his nephew, Brayden, bowling at the local bowling alley. They have $1 bowling Sunday mornings and Tuesdays so it's really affordable. Anyway, Brayden is 2 1/2 and has never been before so we thought it would be fun to take him. Let me tell you, that little boy is STRONG! I was shocked he was able to pick up a 12 lb ball and use it! He loved the first game but he got a little bored during the 2nd. We shot these pics with my new camera, not bad right? :)

Love, Love, LOVE this picture!

You see this look? (On their mouth) From the time Brayden was a baby, there's this look that Colin and him have that's identical to one another. This is the closest picture I think I'll get to it.

High five!

Love this picture of us.

Little Mr. Poser. ;)

A gift for him...a gift for me.

Colin and I have made a lot of changes around our household! 2 days after Christmas Colin bought a new truck. It's a '05 Sierra Denali. It's SO incredibly nice to have a truck and not just 2 small cars. We're actually able to go to the hardware store without having to borrow his parents or Granny/Gramp's truck! AND, the most important part of the truck: It has heated seats. My next car will definitely have those!



Colin and I got completely spoiled for Christmas. We got a lot of stuff for the house. It's funny how you get gifts and you know it'll be useful, but then you don't realize how you ever lived without them after you've used them. For example, our Food Saver and Shop Vac from my parents. Who knew you could actually freeze dinners and not have them be freezer burnt a few months later? And that dust in the garage? GONE! Amazing. And the Cuisine Art mini chopper from Colin's parents, you don't actually have to get out a cutting board and knife. Genius!

Of course the most surprising gift I personally got was my new Nikon DSLR Camera. I really wanted one for a long time but never really thought I'd get one. Well, Colin and his parents got me one for Christmas and I absolutely love it! I may not have kids to take pictures of but I have 3 pretty cute fur-babies I love to take pics of! Colin's not a very willing model :( I really want to take a basic photography class but the one I found down here is conflicting with my work schedule. So maybe Spring time!

Speaking of my babies...here are a few cute pics I've taken of them. Doesn't Rissy just have the prettiest coat? I love it!

Christmas Henna

This year's Christmas was a little different from the past. Of course we did our family thing all day but this year after dinner we went to Laura's future mother in law's house to have bodiskis (I have NO idea how to spell that but they are a kind of sweet cinnamony rolls). There were many nieces and nephews there who got to open gifts and Justin's sister is hosting a foreign exchange student, Huma, who also got to join in on the festivities. This was her first Christmas since she's from India and Muslim. She really enjoyed herself and we really enjoyed her! She was so kind to do henna on my mom, Laura's future sister in law Dani and me! We'd never had it done before and it was such a cool experience!

Mom, me & Dani's henna

Huma working on my mom's hand.

Huma, mom & baby Evie

All done!

Huma working on my henna!

How beautiful is this! It stays on for a month or so. :)

Close up! So detailed!

Mom, Dani, Huma & Me
Thanks Huma! We love it! We can't wait for you to do it again at Laura's wedding!

Snowball

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Puppies Galore!

This week has been full of dogs. We're officially out numbered! Of course we have Rissy & Duke, and we've added Colin's parents dog Bella for the week. She's visiting to play with our dogs and she came with us to get our Christmas tree last Saturday.

Colin, the dogs and I went up to the mountain/hills to find a tree for Christmas. There weren't many to choose from but we did find one that looked okay. We brought it home and, well, it's a little Charlie Brownish. Okay, a lot Charlie Brownish. But it does the job and is actually kind of cute. Rissy has only damaged one of the ornaments, at least that we know of. I'm sure there are more hiding somewhere.

This week has been bitterly cold. It dropped down into the teens and even to 9 degrees one morning on my way to work. It's supposed to have a little frozen rain/snow today then rain the next several days. I'm thankful it will be heating up at least into the 40's because the 20's everyday is WAY too cold!

Hope everyone stays warm!

Miss Riss being spoiled.

Duke laying by the wood fireplace. His favorite spot when it's cold out!

Bella being the model for our tree. (She's a chocolate lab just like Rissy)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love...Kara, Colin, Duke, Rissy & Diesel

Update on this thing we call life...

It's been awhile since I posted so I thought I'd give an update on us. I have been horrible at taking pictures and really need to get back into it so hopefully I'll have more to post later.

Our animals...
Rissy is doing pretty good since we found out she has chronic hip dysplasia. She sometimes has a hard time getting up especially if she's laying on a soft surface (dog bed, couch etc). She absolutely loves Duke and Diesel and is really playful with them.
Duke is doing good. He somehow pulled a muscle in his leg recently (at least I think he did) and had a hard time jumping and getting up and down. He's better now and is back to "duking" it out with Rissy again.
Diesel got in a cat fight a couple weeks ago and had a big patch of hair pulled out on his chest. I knew it was a cat fight because there were 3 small holes in his chest which looked like little cat claws. Anyway, he ended up having an abscess that "blew" as the vet said. It looked like 2 big open lines on his chest that exposed his insides. Nasty. Than goodness our vet is amazing and also our neighbor. Just the nicest man ever! Diesel is doing good now. It will take a bit to heal but he was given an antibiotic shot so there would be no infection. What the heck is going on with our animals? Seriously?!?

Us...
Colin has been working with his dad and doing really great. He's been seeing several patients every morning and afternoon. He's also been doing some continuing education with his dad which I think is nice for them to be able to do together. He's also been really busy in the garage. He has put up new wood shelving on 1/2 the garage and has also been working on a coffee table for the living room. He's also going to help a friend make a gift for someone this Christmas. Quite the craftsman! Thank goodness all those tools he has are being made useful!

I have been working my tail off this quarter! I've been working at 2 colleges, freelance interpreting and a video relay center this quarter. I have really full days and am exhausted by the end of them! I am however, very thankful to be working. Summer time is really slow for me so I was definitely happy to be able to get a ton of hours this Fall! This next weekend Colin and I will be going up to my parents house. My mom, sister, some of Laura's friends and I will be doing a 5k walk which the donations and entrance fees support a local food bank. Should be fun!

We also had a visit from my best friend Keana and her little boy Joey. I hosted a Pampered Chef party and Keana helped me out with that. Joey had fun playing like crazy with Rissy and Duke and also got to play with Colin's nephew Brayden for awhile Saturday night. Joey and Brayden were born on the same day 2 1/2 years ago so they were good playmates.

Our bathroom is almost completely done. We just have to paint the trim. I'll have to post pictures of before and after to show the difference. It really looks great and has so much more space! That's all for now, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!