Family In Town

My Aunt and Uncle from Arizona, Brynn and Don, came and visited Sacramento a few weekends ago. Andrew and I drove up to have a wonderful lunch with the family. It was great seeing everyone and we (mostly the girls) talked about dogs, dogs, and more dogs. My Aunt and Uncle have a new Bull Terrier puppy at home named Tansy.

The boys discussing landscaping. My dad Tom, my Uncles Don and Richard.

My favorite Nana and Grandpa.

Lunch at my Grandpa's golf club.

My Aunt Constance's chihuahua Kate.

Kate can actually climb up my Aunt's body!

Kate knows a good Granpa when she sees one.

Girl talk at my parent's house with Aunt Brynn

Can't wait to see all of you in the summer!

First Decorations

Here is the extent of my Halloween decorations. Things are slowly moving their way into the house.

This is a photo of our living room with a beautiful plant Anne Riley, my mother's friend, gave us as a housewarming gift. We love it. I can't wait to find rugs so the areas won't look so sparse.

Name Poll

How rude of me to wake these two so I could take a picture!

Okay, I am finally narrowing down the options for the new doggie's name. I call her Love Bug and Andrew didn't really want to do the same so I figure an "L" name before Love Bug would be fun.

Please let me know which one you like best:

"Lilly" Love Bug

"Lexy" Love Bug

"LuLu" Love Bug

I am leaning towards LuLu. Let me know what you think. I think she has come down with Kennel Cough so off to the vet we go! (nothing serious)

The doggies love their new backyard!

Proofs in the Pudding!

Here I am prepping the laundry room walls so I can paint them before our new washer and dryer arrive on Thursday. Can you believe how dirty walls can get? I never knew! I guess scrubbing walls is not a priority in rental living!

More pictures to follow of the finished product!

Moving In

Above: Our new (Ethan Allen!) bed that Shannon found on Craigslist.

So we spent last night here again, our second night in the new home. Its really starting to feel like home here now. The dogs are starting to know the routine and Roxy is getting comfortable with us.

This morning we got the internet hooked up (thus I can post this story), and I added a doggie door to the garage from the house for the dogs to play with. Besides the huge storm thats making the garage noisy, they seem to enjoy using it.

Below you can see our kitchen table / office / entertaining area. Its a little bare now, but it will be all set up real soon now!

We love our new house!

She's Home!

We got to bring Roxy (new name coming soon) home today!

I look like a deer in headlights because I haven't really slept in 48 hours! Actually, I got a good amount of quality sleep when we were visiting my parents this weekend. Andrew and I spent our first night (this last Friday) in our new home on a blow up mattress. Not super comfy.

We are still trying to pick a name for Roxy. I have given up on the Weenie Pinkinie becausee she doesn't look like a Weenie or Pinkinie. Back to the drawing board.

She is very shy right now and is adjusting to our lifestyle. Teenie wants to play with her, but she only wants to hang out around my ankles. It will take her a little bit to warm up to us because she is a rescue dog and has had a questionable upbringing.

Stay tuned...I am sure lots more pictures are on their way.

We got the keys!

Well, key at least. But its ours! We visited the realtor this morning and picked up the key for the house. Of course we brought a few boxes, and Shannon promptly filled the closet with her clothes. I bet you can tell she's excited to have a walk-in closet finally.

Thanks to everyone for all of the advice and support you've given us through this whole process. We'll keep posting pictures as we get the rooms painted, the new laundry machines installed, and every other fine detail about the home until you think that you've lived there with us.

Yay!

Three Cheers For Roxy!

Guess what...we have our first appointment to rescue a doggie! Yippppeeee. Meet Roxy. She is a 2-3 year old Schipperke who loves children, people, and other dogs. We will be meeting her foster mom so she can interview Andrew and I. We hope her foster mommie chooses us. I have loved Schipperkes ever since I hung out with my friend Katie Quinley who had two of them. Everyone cross your fingers on Sunday morning, for we will be driving to Yuba City for the big exchange.

Please help these critters!

I would love to rescue these pups because they look sooooo silly. Teenie needs a doggie pal who is bigger and has better manners to help keep her company. Chihuahuas don't really fall into that "well behaved" catagory I am looking for!



P.S. If you want to adopt them please go to: http://www.aleguprescue.org/available.html

Family Get Together

Andrew and I are back from Fresno where we attended Andrew's Grandmother's funeral. It was a beautiful ceremony and was filled with family, stories, and love. I love being around Andrew's family because they truly celebrate and embrace each member of the family and it doesn't even matter how closely you are related! We all went to Andrew's Uncle's house for a reception where we got to look through photo albums of when Andrew's mother/aunts/uncles were kids. Once again, I couldn't be more proud to have married in to such a proud and tight knit family. Irene will always be in our thoughts.

*Grandpa Walt and Auntie Shirley*

*Twins Auntie Gloria and Uncle Glen*

*Nick and Allen*

*Uncle Jim and Brother-In-Law Paul*

*The adorable Mia and Ellen*

*Walter, Nick, and Glen reading Irene's obituary in the local newspaper*

Aden Update!

Just giving everyone an Aden update! I took this photo because he has a new found love for Barney (aka. Ba-Ba). The lucky little guy gets to see Barney live tomorrow at a children's faire in Pleasanton. Isn't he so cute and big!

P.S. For those of you that haven't heard of Aden, he is the adorable child I nanny for. He is my little buddy.

Everyone Meet Molly

Everyone meet Molly. She is Erin's, Andrew's cousin, new doggie. She is a teacup Yorkshire Terrier who weighs around 1 pound right now and will weigh 3 pounds when she is full grown. She is the smallest dog I have ever seen. Erin dresses her in Chanel clothes and adorable pig Halloween costumes. Thank goodness another dog-dresser-uper has shown their face around the family. I was beginning to feel a bit lonely. Stay tuned for more cute pics of Molly.

Irene Westersund Remembered

Last Sunday (Oct. 3) my Grandmother passed on in her sleep. We will miss her dearly, and are grateful for all of the love and support that everyone has shown us lately.

Above is a picture of her from a few months back, and below is her and my grandpa from the mid 40's. She leaves behind her husband, 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and an uncountable number of lives that she has affected for the better. She will be missed.

Halloween Time!

Happy Fall!

Andrew, Kelly, and I went on a pumpkin field trip this last weekend. We drove out to Armstrong nursery in San Ramon because I saw an ad stating "All You Can Carry Pumpkins for $14.99." We couldn't pass this one up since Kelly and I always get our pumpkins on October 1st. We had to make an exception because Kelly was coming up on the 2nd!

We didn't take Andrew's digital camera with us, but we did have to load a bunch of pumpkins onto Andrew's arms to prove he could hold them all. We basically humored the clerk because he said the first pumpkin goers were elderly ladies who were going to fill their arms up, but he told them not to!

I have turned my pumpkins into welome pumpkins on my front porch. Notice the lettering over cute little ghosts that Kelly suggested! I had a blast painting them. Thanks mom for mailing the inspiration page out to me so fast!

Happy Haunting!

Last Craigslist Buy for a While!

Hi all,

Andrew and I bought our last Craigslist item until we are in the new house. I couldn't pass this one up! We needed a runner for the front entry and I found the perfect one! The runner is 14 feet long. Do you like it?

Rocket and Teenie Together Again!

It has been months since Teenie has seen her cousin Rocket (my best friend Kelly's dog). Kelly came up for the weekend so we could pack our schedules full of relaxing activities. Even when we try to relax we still create huge agendas for ourselves!

We started the weekend off with a morning at the day spa. My employer gave me a gift certificate to the day spa that is only a block away from my house. I got my hair cut/conditioned by the cutest woman. She actually just bought a house and moved out to Discovery Bay too. The funniest thing was she grew up in Roseville and we actually hung out, at different times, with the same crowd of people. She told me there aren't a lot of young couples in Discovery Bay, but we were invited to be their new friends and she has plans to show us around town. Her husband is a Financial Planner and an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. We had a blast chit chatting while Kelly was upstairs getting her nails done. She loved her manicure and felt like a princess!

Here are pictures of Teenie's glee and Rocket's drive to do whatever anyone says all for a small treat! You are also getting a sneak preview of part of Rocket's Halloween costume!

We want Mina!

I have been banned from buying anything else on Craigslist until we get our house. Fair enough!!! Anyways, I have moved on from furniture and am trying to find Teenie a pal. Don't you love Mina:

We love her and want her! We will keep you posted!

More More Furniture!

What would a day be like if Shannon didn't find a deal on craigslist.org that warranted us getting more furniture? Boring, thats what. Also, unlikely as of late ;-)

Above you can see our two new rattan chairs, they match our current set of rattan furniture nicely, and will go in our living room with the rest of the rattan furniture when we move in.

Below, you can see that its starting to get a little crowded in our current residence.

Also, not to put it so far down here as to not be read, but we released all contingencies on the home today. The loan was approved by Golden 1, and now we just have to sign the rest of the paperwork, and we might even finish escrow early if everything goes well.

We'll keep you posted, of course :)