Peace Out!

As Colin's 2 year old nephew would say, "Peace Out"! We're on our way to camp on the Potholes sand dunes tomorrow through Sunday. We can't wait to see the puppies play and for Rissy to swim...hopefully! And I personally can't wait for Colin to get to experience this with my family. (Our tradition since I was a baby). I'll post pics next week!

A dollar here, a fish there...all in a days work.

Last Sunday Colin and I headed up to Detroit Lake and a nearby river to go fishing with Granny, Gramps and Colin's cousin Tarren. It was about an hour or so away and had really beautiful scenery! On the way up to the Lake Granny made a deal that the first person to catch a fish, and the person to catch the biggest fish would get a dollar each. First we headed to the River and fished for awhile. Guess who caught the first fish??? Muah! Guess I just got myself a dollar! Guess who broke their fishing pole first? Colin! The darn thing just snapped right off at the end!

The scenery was really beautiful around Detroit Lake. It's about 45 minutes east of Salem and is a huge lake! Sunday was free fishing day where you didn't need a licence to fish so we were just hoping to get a few to take home. I had to take this picture below because Colin just LOVES to get his picture taken! He always begs me to whip out the camera! :)

Gramps and Tarren tried to figure out where those fish were but there didn't seem to be much in the river! And poor Tarren slipped in the river a little and got one of his feet wet...poor guy. It was definitely a cold river!

We got to the lake after not having much luck at the river, and all but Granny fished for about an hour or so with not much more luck! Once Granny decided to pick up a pole she caught about 6 in a row! While all of us just watched her. We eventually started to get some bites and it was as if a school of fish just passed on by for about an hour!

Next time we go fishing, we're for sure bringing Granny along!

So I ended up catching the biggest fish of the day, a real whopper I know, so I got a total of $2! I must have just gotten lucky!

I couldn't NOT take a picture of my first dollar earned! :)

A little more wiggle room...

Just to keep myself accountable...

I've lost a total of 19 pounds since the middle of January! As a reward for myself, when I lose 20 pounds I'm buying myself a "skinny" dress! Our good friends Dan and Mandy are getting married August 1st and I'd love to find a cute dress for their wedding! And also a couple more "events" this summer. Yay for a skinnier me!

Getting Bigger!

Rissy lost her first tooth last night. She probably swallowed it or something because I saw it hanging then the next hour it was gone! She also had a nasty tick...probably from camping last weekend. Colin got it out with some tweezers. The darn thing popped right out! She's gained another 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks and is bigger than Duke now! We are taking her camping with my parents at the end of June and we are SO excited to see if she will swim or not! She's a lab so I'm sure she will!

That's all for now!

What a difference a few months make...

Here's a fun side by side shot of the old yard and the new one. :) Look at the difference!

Beautiful Yard...

We have been so busy with the puppies we haven't blogged about our yard recently! I'll get to that in a minute. Rissy has gained ANOTHER 6 pounds since we went to the vet 2 weeks ago. She is now 33 pounds. We have a feeling she is going to be a BIG girl! Duke had a bad ear infection last week so he has to have ear drops in his ear twice a day. Poor thing. He is feeling much better though.

Ok now to the yard...today Colin and I mowed our newly redone front yard for the first time. We also pulled weeds, edged the grass and flower beds and created some new plans for a small walkway. I am SO excited for our lilies, dahlias, clematis and other random flowers to start blooming. Here are a few pictures of the front yard.





A couple random things around the yard...
This is the planter on our fence my dad made and my mom planted.

This is the cute puppy planter my mom got me for my birthday last year because it reminded her of Duke. :)


And this is the bird house my dad made us for Christmas...it's up in our tree and have seen birds in there already!



That's it for now! I'll keep everyone updated on Rissy and the whole clan...as soon as something exciting happens. :)

Puppy Updates...

Today Rissy and Duke went to the vet for some shots. Luckily, our next door neighbor is a vet and owns a veterinary hospital right down the road! Rissy now weighs 27.7 lbs at 11.5 weeks old. She outweighs duke by about 4 pounds now! They are about the same height but Rissy is much thicker than Duke.

For Mother's Day, Duke, Rissy and I loaded up in the car and headed up to my parents house for the weekend. Rissy only slept about 30 mins on the way up. Duke is the BEST car dog ever. He always sleeps behind the drivers seat on the floor, no matter what car we are in. Below are a couple pictures from the ride home. Rissy slept all but 10 mins and Duke was great. They were so tuckered out this is how they were sleeping in the car! We had a great weekend visiting with everyone and they were exciting to meet Rissy. That Saturday we went over to my sisters house and brought the dogs. I wanted to see if Rissy would swim in their lake. I had to push her in a little and she did great swimming back. The water was so cold I didn't want to force her to swim too much.

This weekend we are headed out to Loon Lake for a weekend of camping with Colin's sisters, brother in law and nephew. We are leaving Duke to play with Bella at Colin's parents house and Rissy is coming along for some camping fun. Hopefully she'll prove to be a good swimmer! Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!

Rissy LOVES her hamburger...

...as if she wasn't chubby enough!



...as if she wasn't chubby enough!

I just love my Grandma's house...

...but I get sleepy playing with all my new cousins! My new favorite place to sleep is under the dining room table...of course with my chin on this hard pillow I found!

Love, Rissy

To help or not to help...

I learned today that by helping yourself, often times you helps others as well. Back in January I signed up for the Pound For Pound challenge on the Biggest Loser website and made a goal to lose 10 lbs. For each pound lost, they donate 1 pound of food to a local food bank. Today was the final reporting date and I was happy to report a total loss of 16 pounds...which means that 16 pounds of groceries would be donated locally to help feed people in need.

Hopefully next year they have this challenge again!

The perfect place to nap...

Sometimes a puppy just can't make it to her bed.

And yes that's a wedding magazine, no I'm not getting married. I just like all the pretty dresses. :)

Chubbiness Update!

Today I did a weigh in and I'm down a total of 15 pounds since the middle of January. I need to lose 7 more pounds by the middle of June to hit my goal of 1 pound per week. This last week I was sick and didn't work out but by limiting my caloric consumption to 1,510 calories/day I've been able to maintain my 1 pound/week goal. I actually just bought a pair of jeans one size down from my last ones which feels great! And my work pants which were a bit tight are now loose.

Hopefully by these lifestyle changes I can keep the weight off and actually continue to lose more. Just thought it was time for an update on me! Oh and for Colin - he's lost some weight too and has noticed a big difference in hitting in his softball games. I've noticed too!

Hooray!

Last night the puppy didn't pee or poop in her kennel! Yay! I took her out at 6 am before work and she peed. I came back inside to get ready and she pooped on the carpet! Oh well, it's a step in the right direction! Duke and the puppy play really great together. And I constantly have 2 tired dogs! Aside from being sick...life is good!

5 for 5!!!

Just for the record....

I'm 5 for 5 in guessing the gender of friends babies! 3 boys, 2 girls. And congrats to Tiffani who just found out today they are expecting the little boy they were hoping for! Yay! Can't wait to meet him!

A little bit of this....and that.

Below are a couple videos I took off my camera. Not very good quality but thought I'd post anyway. The puppy has finally figured out how to keep up with Duke. He likes to take the toy and shove it in her face to get her to play. Then he runs and she chases him all around the house and outside. It's pretty cute! We are crate training her which has been a huge challenge the last couple of nights! Both nights she pooped and stepped in it. Which called for a 6 am bath yesterday. Hopefully she will learn to hold it until we wake up! Her yelping was better last night than the first night but we decided she sounds like a cross between a monkey, seal and donkey getting their insides ripped out. HORRIBLE! It makes me wish I was deaf sometimes! She really doesn't bark but she snores really really loud all the time, and when she yawns, she lets out a loud noise.

I weighed her the other day and I think she weighs about 15 pounds. She's absolutely solid! Her legs are so thing and she's got a very round belly. She's definitely going to be bigger than Duke in a matter of weeks. He'll finally get a taste of his own medicine!!! :)