Where'd I go?

Well, I got a roll there for a while, but it's been nearly a month since I've posted.  Generally, its been slow around here.  I started a new job.  Currently, I am working as an apprentice dog trainer, and will be instructing my own classes by the end of this month.  As soon as I get that going I will post more.  In the mean time, Layla is doing really well in school.  She had a full month of green days.  Rick is doing really well at work and got a promotion rescently along with a raise which is nice.  I will post pictures of life later!

Snowy Saturday

Thats right, snowy, snowy Saturday.  Total, we got about 24 inches of snow, with drifts in some places up to 4 feet tall (mainly on the side of the house).  For a while it was sleet, mainly last night and early this morning, and then it came down to blizzard conditions this afternoon and early evening.  It has slowed down now, but it's coming down still, just very slowly.  I took Bailey, Jett and Marly all out to play in it.  I only got pictures and video of Bay today, but tomorrow, I will get some of the other two.  I cant get Sadie to go out in it for the life of me.  If it were up to her, she'd pee directly on the porch.  As a matter of fact, she keeps trying to do that, and we keep kicking her out into the yard, lol. 

Rick throwing Bailey a snowball.

Rick throwing the orange ball for Bailey.

Rick and Bailey in the snow.

Bay playing in the snow.

Rick on the sidewalk after shoveling.

Yesterday, Layla went to Dad's house and hung out with him for the night.  She came back around noon today and CRASHED for about a 4.5hr nap!  She was EXHAUSTED!  She told me that they went out and built a snow fort (they were using the styrofoam coolers that steaks are shipped from Omaha steaks) and then had a snowball fight and started to build a snowman.  She had so much fun!  I'll ask him next time I see him if they took any pictures.  I plan on taking her out in the snow tomorrow too and getting some pictures and video.  It oughta be fun with her and the dogs.

We made brownies, and of course, Layla was my big helper.  And of course, like all 5 year old helpers (and many older ones that I know, lol) she had to lick the stiring spoon.  And of couse I got pictures of that.  She's a great kid, and did a great job helping me making brownies and cleaning it up as well.  Rick made a awesome batch of chilli that is gone already!  Even Layla liked it, and she usually is anti-spicey stuff, lol!

Layla being my big helper and licking the spoon afterwards.

Tomorrow Mike, Mom and I are going to a hockey game.  We have to get Mike since he doesn't have 4-wheel drive and his drivway has a giant tree across it.  I cant wait though.  The Penguins are going DOWN!  Wish us luck!

Its Friday, and it's snowing....... again

Thats right, it's Friday, and it's snowing again.  All in all, I am sick of the snow.  I can't kick Layla to go out and play.  I cant take the dogs out to play ball.  It stinks.  It was fun the first time, because they all got to play in it, but now, it's nothing more than a huge mess.  The dogs get all muddy and tear up the yard, and Layla gets all muddy, and I'll be damned if I can find a single pair of snow boots anywhere in the county for her.

We surrender snow!  You win!!

The Caps beat the franchise record, and are right now on a 12 game winning streak, and playing currently for 13 in a row.  I sure hope they win this one too.

Layla didn't have school today, so we met my dad at lunch at Panera and she's hanging out with him tonight.  I know she'll have a good time.  She always does when she goes and visits him.  We'll see how she's doing tomorrow, lol.  They were going to build forts and have a snowball fight and go sledding.  I bet she's exhausted by the time I get her back.  YAY!  lol

I have started Bay on clicker training.  The first thing that I'm teaching her is to take things easily.  I am tired of her snapping things out of my hands, so for me to be able to work with her at all, I need to be able to keep my fingers.  She's responding very well to the clicker, and boy, is she a SMART dog.  The next thing I am going to work on is a crawl command so that mom can use it out in the field with her, while she's doing SAR. 

I am going to be trying to design my own SAR vest.  Everyone wish me luck, lol.  Its going to be a new experience for me, since I have no idea how to use a sewing machine, lol!

Video Wednesday

Every Wednesday, I am going to post and have a video share.  Since this is the first Wednesday, I has to post something that fit me.  I know, it's immature, but I watched it about 50 times, and cried and rolled on the floor laughing.



The past two days have been kind of interesting.  Layla didn't have school on Tuesday and today she had a 2 hour delay.  Tomorrow, she has a 2 hour early dismisal, and this weekend, we're supposed to get about 2 feet of snow.  So who knows when she'll go back, lol.  We have lots of things to do though, like laundry, cleaning floors, and scrubbing bathrooms, hahaha.  You can call her Cinderella! 

With all of the snow, the dogs are going a little insane, but I was able to get some bark work done with Jett.  I dont know who was more annoyed.  Marly or Rick.  They would really be perfect for each other if she didn't already have Alan, lol!

Thanksgiving, My Birthday, Christmas, New Year, and the Month After

Thanksgiving was really nice.  I had Layla this year.  We did dinner at mom's house.  Tori and Al kind of came and went, so really it was just Mom, Layla, Rick Alissa, and I.  Later, Clint came over too.  It was nice. 

My birthday was totally awesome.  Mom took me to a hockey game, which of course the Caps won!  My hubs, being the wonderful guy that he is let me buy myself a christmas/birthday present a few days early, and I got a new point and shoot camera, that I can take out into the field.  It's an Olympus Stylus Tough.  I love it, and take it everywhere with me.  It takes videos (you can see them on the team website under the video serction) and a pretty nice picture (all the pictures in this have been taken with it).  It's a little heavier than the average point and shoot, but I'm alright with that.  I can drop it from 6 feet and it's as good as new, lol.  With as clutzy as I am, thats a feature that was a must have for me, lol!  I dont know how i've kept my Nikon D60 in tact this long with how bad I am.

Caps vs. Panthers.  There's not a bad seat in the Verizon Center.

Alissa and I after the game.  She was drunkity drunk, lol.

My New Camera.  Not an actual picture of it, but it looks just like that.

 Unfortunatley, I didn't have Layla for Christmas this year.  But she had a nice trip to Florida to visit her grandparents down there.  We did a small christmas/gift exchange here at the house before we all took off that was very nice.  Rick and I went to California to visit his family in California.  His sister and mom were nice enough to give us a room for a week to call our own.  It was great to be able to sit back and relax.  His mom waits on you hand and foot, and while I might not do well living there, it sure was AWESOME for a vacation, lol.

Ah, the way Christmas should be.  Beer and wrapping paper.

Layla, the day we were opening presents.  Nope, no tree.  To big of a pain this year.

Layla and Alan doing their annual ginerbread house.  She bugged me for WEEKS waiting for Uncle Alan to come do the gingerbread house with her.  Only later did we find out he was a ninjaneer and can do just about anything.

Also, while we were there, his cousin Jessica got married on New Years Eve.  It was a cute wedding even if it was a little ghetto.  I ended up being part time decorator, remote control DJ, photographer, and videographer, lol!  It was a good time though!

The bridge and groom getting ready to cut the cake.

My sister in law Jacqui and I.

Hubs and I.  I love this pic of us.

My two neices, and mother in law.

The last thing we did while we were there, was Rick took me on a drive through tour of San Fransico.  I saw a lot of really cool things.  It could easily become a city I could fall in love with.  I realized while I was out there, that I really do love the city.  I want a small farm out here, but I really do have a love for the city.  They can be so magical sometimes, especially one like San Fransico.

Flags for Pier 39

The Golden Gate Bridge

Me on the beach in San Fransico

Hubs and I on the beach

The golden gate bridge.  It was very pretty.

LOL, I could help it.  It was just too funny not to take a picture.

While we were there, I gained, what I now call "My Caliornia Soul Mate".  He's a 3 year old Yellow Lab named Sam.  Or as I called him my big yellow dog.  He never left my side the entire time I was there.  If I laid in bed and read, he was sleeping next to the bed.  If I went somewhere, he stood by the door and whined until I came back.  My mother in law said he was really sad when I left.  I know that I miss him.  It makes me wonder if I should get a lab, lol.  Also, I got to play with my sister in law's Ch. AmStaff named TJ.  He's a BIG boy that has won tons of awards.  It was a lot of fun working with him and convinced
me that if I am going to get a dog for Shutzhund/PPD work, that I want an AmStaff/Pit from working lines.  They are amazing dogs and I really enjoy working with them.  lol, i want so many different kinds of dogs!

My California Soul Mate: Sam

Jacqui's AmStaff, TJ

We got back Jan 4th and I went and picked Layla up the next day.  Boy did I miss her.

My new doctor started me on 2 new anti-anxiety drug that have REALLY helped me.  One is a pill that works almost instantly that makes me crash once I've had an attack, and the other is a daily to help me manage and prevent anxiety.  The preventative is doing a great job, and I've only had use the one that makes me crash once, while I was on the airplane coming home. 

SAR has started back in full swing.  I've really enjoyed it too.  We just found out that we got almost 10K in grant money from the AKC, which is awesome.  I've done a lot of work to the website (http://www.calvertk9search.org/).  Jett is doing really well in his training.  His barks are really coming along at the find indication, and boy can you hear them in the woods from a long distance.  The only problem is, that now that I finally got him barking for SAR he barks for EVERYTHING in the house, lol.  Thats ok, I dont mind, and eventually he'll out grow that.  He's a smart dog.  Sadie is, as always, a good girl.  He's just as laid back.  In these winter months we've had the fireplace running and she never usually leaves the front of the fireplace.

Jett at SAR training.

Pictures I had taken of my dogs and I.

Sadie refusing to come away from the fireplace.  lol

I have started a new career path.  I applied at the Sheriff's dept but haven't heard anything back.  In the mean time, I am working with a dog trainer as an apprentice to become a certified trainer.  It's a lot of fun, and eventually hope to be an APDT certified trainer, and potentially her business partner.  She is a lot on the same level that I am as far as rescue is concerned.

We've had two major snow storms this winter.  The first one we got about 18inches of snow, and the other one is still in progress.  I'll let you know in the morning how much we got.  It looks to be about 6 or 7 inches though.  The dogs had so much fun playing in it.

Jett playing in the snow.

Layla is doing really well in school.  Every once in a while she has a yellow day (the teachers way of telling me that she had a bad day really), and usually its because she has a listening problem . She comes by that honestly, since I had the same problem in school, but we're working on it, and she's having fewer and fewer problems.  I love my bug.

More to update when I have more to update.

Happy Birthday Tori!!

Yesterday was Tori's birthday!  Happy 21st!  We went to a Caps game and had a total blast.

Caps Won!  Flyers Suck!! Happy Brithday Tori!!

New Blog Place

Well, I figured it would be nice to have a place to blog about things that happen with my family.  So here we go!