Meet Rhoan

With the new addition to our family, Rhoan, our site has moved. You can visit us at http://www.rhoan.org/ !

Gracie's First Swim

Gracie got to participate in the Pooch Plunge ... She loved it .... well sort of. The first thing the silly girl did was jump in the deep end. Having never been in the water before she totally freaked out and had to be rescued by the lifeguard. She was a little nervous about getting back in the water and by the end she was swimming like a champ.

A Day at the Zoo

Last year we got to share Boden's first time at the Zoo. This year we got to share Ethans first trip to the zoo with Boden and Leann.

A picture is worth a bunch of words....

So who is the adorable kitten? She was our foster child for a couple weeks. As most of you know I am allergic to the little fur balls, but we found her a fabulous new home. We called her punky while she was with us, and her new official name is Annie, as in little orphan Annie. She seems very happy in her new home. Gracie tolertated her well enough and I don't think she was too heartbroken to see her go.

Summer fun!

It has been forever and a day since we've updated the blog. I guess we were just caught up in the all the summer fun. (okay, I was simply too lazy.) Gracie has had a great summer. Hard to believe that she is almost nine months old. She has had to deal with lots of changes this summer. Ben has a full time, permanent scientist job now. So the days of the stay-at-home dog dad are over. However, I have been lucky enough to spend lots of time with her this summer. I am interviewing tomorrow of a job at the University of Northern Colorado that will actually give me summers off. It is all sounding very good at this point in my life. Working only 10 months out of the year is hard to pass up. Grace loves Fort Collins. Then again, why wouldn't she ... it was recently voted the best place to live in the United States. It is the first place that I have lived where they encourage you to bring your dog into Block Buster Video. They are also putting a pond at the Dog Park.... Grace and her friends can hardly wait! The other big news is that I am going to be an Aunt again.... Yes Boden is going to be a big brother. Candye is due sometime in March. As I have said before, we love OTHER PEOPLES KIDS! :) We took Boden to his very first Rennaissance Festival over the weekend. He loved it ... was a little freaked out by the costumes and he eventually got comfortable. The jugglers were his favorite. Wow, for such an exciting summer... I can't for the life of me think of any other events worth mentioning. Oh wait! There was of course our one year anniversary. We actually survived the first year of marriage. It has been an adventure and I am definately looking forward to what is yet to come. I have rambled far too long... A picture is worth a thousand words ... So here ya go!

Our apologies ......

I know it has been well over a month since you have gotten a gracie update. If you all recall from the last post, I put Ben in charge of the blog and well... he and Gracie have been having too much fun and lost all track of time. We had a great Easter. Gracie loves the kids and as you can see, she had a blast during the Easter egg hunt. The other big news is that Gracie is getting a yard. We are moving back to Ft. Collins and Gracie will finally have a small piece of grass to call her own. Also, Gracie visited Dr. Joe and got spayed... Ben said that if we want more little Gracie's running around, we will just clone her.

Gracie's Snow Day!
Poor Poor Grace, she can't go out to play today. So Ben decided to take advantage of the time together and work on her training. As you can see from the pictures it is going great .... he is in total control. :) Yesterday she learned to lay down, roll over and to leave it. Leave it is something we have practiced a whole bunch today. A bored puppy is a mischievious puppy. Let's just say we are all missing Gracie's friends at Camp Bow Wow today. And to think, Ben hasn't even officially begun his week as Stay at home Dad!

Highlights from the Last 6 Months

WE LOVE OTHER PEOPLES KIDS!!!!

Besides, Gracie loves being an Only Child ...

Uncle Ben and Boden have a very special relationship. We see the boy every chance we get and he is the funnest thing around. He walks and talks just like a real little person. He is not a baby anymore!

Caylee had a birthday and Boden went to the zoo. (Boden had a Birthday too...) We were lucky enough to be invited along!

Daddy's Little Girl

CHECK OUT THE HOT NEW BANDANA GRANDMA ALEXANDER MADE ME!!!!

Okay, for those of you who know Gracie, most will agree she is a Mama's girl at heart and that is about to all change. Ben is between job assignments, so that means he is a Stay at Home Dad. No more Camp Bow Wow for the week .... It is Camp Ben All Day All the Time. I imagine by the end of the week the two of them will be inseparable (and to be honest, I am not sure how I feel about that.) I guess, I feel a little left out. While they will be out exploring new dog parks and making new friends, I will be working. Never thought I would be a working Mom. However, I am going to sweetly ask that Ben not only document their day with dozens of pictures, but that he and Gracie give the blog a daily update. I am certain it is more interesting than anything that happened to me at work that day!!!

Princess Gracie .... at her best!

Who knew that with three days of steadfast training Gracie would become the perfect pup. Yet here she is, SIX DAYS ..... that's right, six days accident free. We had a couple of close calls, and it looks like Ben and I are finally trained enough to recognize the danger signs. The kenneling thing is not so bad. Besides, by the time she gets home from daycare she barely has enough energy for dinner and one lap around the complex. So she actually looks forward to the downtime ... So yay for Gracie.

Sleeping Beauty....

T.G.I.F
Friday is finally here! Which means my work week is just about to start. Ben and Gracie are both ready for some quality time at the dog park. Gracie of course will be a little disappointed there is no daycare, so Ben is going to have to keep her extra busy. She stayed home with us yesterday and she pouted the whole time. She is spoiled for sure. We realized that our spoiling is most likely the root cause of her not really getting the whole house training concept. However, things are about to change for little Gracie, as well as for us. There is going to be some real structure around here. Yes, that is something the three of us know little about. I have read up on it (I would be lost without google) and I think for the sake of the carpet, Ben and I can have structure in this one area of our lives. The scary part is that we really thought we were doing good on the structure thing until I googled it. So no more unsupervised play in the house(EVER), in sight or in the crate is our new motto. She is also going for a walk every two hours whether she likes it or not. (not just out on the patio) Grace is as lazy as we are when it comes to the three flights of stairs. If nothing else, this whole experience will be a great motivator to save money so we can buy a house sooner than later. Our little girl needs a yard. That is all the drama of the week. I promised that this blog would consist of ramblings that really do nothing other than give me a chance to talk about us .. our favorite subject. So, thanks for suffering through. Ben will take lots of pictures at the dog park tomorrow, so at least those are worth coming back for...Did I mention Grace loves going to daycare. The only downside is that she is too tired to play with us when she gets home.