happy new year.

happy new year!

I spent most of the day yesterday reflecting, like all people do on new years eve and I came to the conclusion that 2014 was ok.

Just ok.

Not super-duper fantastical like I wish every year was. But not disappointingly disgusting and poopy like it could have been.

Here are my favorite highlights:

~ Rex. We started 2014 right by finding and being saved by this precious little cupcake of a pit bull. He definitely saved us as much if not more than we saved him.
~ We survived the frigid winter in Rexburg.
~ I graduated from college. Finally. With a bachelor's degree. yay me!
~ We left the icy tundra of Idaho for the beautiful beaches of California. (or close to the beaches)
~ Alex and I both got jobs relatively quickly after moving at Geekatoo and Target respectively.
~ I got the chance to spend a lot of time with my mother-in-law and just soak up the amazingness that she exudes. She's great. I'm lucky. I always laugh at things on the Internet that talk about "How to deal with your mother-in-law" because mine is fantastic.
~ We significantly decreased our debt and successfully figured out how saving money will work for us (trust me when I say that saving money works differently for everyone and we finally figured it out).
~ We had our first anniversary! I just love this guy so much and we went through a lot of crap during that first year that brought us much closer together.
~ We took a lot of trips. I went to Sacramento for my sister's bridal shower, Alex went to San Luis Obispo to visit friends multiple times, we both went to Sacramento for my sister's wedding and then to Texas to visit Alex's nana, and Alex went to Portland to scout out the city for our move.
~ We finalized our feelings and plans to move to Portland (even if it was just in our own minds and not on paper, it was still a good feeling).
~ We got to spend all the holidays with family.
~ We road-tripped to Reno to spend a Christmas weekend with my family and had a blast. We were pretty spoiled by everyone.
~ I quit my job at Target. It was a blessing.
~ We found an affordable apartment in Portland and signed a contract just three days before the new year!

There is a lot of not so good stuff that happened too, like running out of money and not having jobs for a while, but this good stuff is actually really good.

So here is to making 2015 a lot better and with a lot more adventures!!

dogs.

I love dogs. Well I love all animals (except the creepy, crawly kind), but I especially love dogs. When I was growing up we couldn't have a dog because it was just mom and five kids so it was too much. But then we got a dog. When I was 11 I think. He's just a little guy and he was so much fun when I was growing up.

He's super old now and has a lot of problems, but he's still a little gem. He's got a little growth on his forehead that looks like a horn so I call him a unicorn. But he's a good sport and still lets at least my mom cuddle with him.

But we have a lot of dogs in our family and I love all of them.

Kelsey

Molly

Buddy (pre-horn)

Chase

Rex, of course.

Because of my love of dogs, it's no surprise that at Thanksgiving, when I saw a little lover of a dog, I immediately gravitated toward him. His name is Hatchi. I spent a few hours of the time we were there just sitting on the ground next to him scratching his neck and just loving on him. I was covered in hair when I stood up but I just couldn't resist.

Hatchi was in a fire when he was younger (hence the black burn marks on his face, and more on his back). He went through a lot to recover from them all, but now he lives a life of leisure with Mac. He spends his days laying on the patio and sleeping in bed and walking around the neighborhood. He is just a love. They call him "terminator dog" which is totally fitting for his appearance but his personality reads "spa dog."

thanksgiving.

My thanksgiving this year was spent staring at this beautiful view, eating a lot of delicious food that I did not have to cook, and laughing and having fun with family. Alex's family is awesome and I always have a good time when we get around them.

My grateful list:

~ laughter
~ beautiful views
~ someone else cooking dinner (and cleaning up!)
~ having a job. and not having to work black thursday!
~ my wonderful husband who always works so hard for our family
~ rex. mainly because he's cute and cuddly
~ all of my family and alex's family for being supportive and loving

rex.

≈ Rex's first picture ≈

I figured if the husband got a post about how great he is, the dog should also get a post.

He is a great dog. He is loving and cuddly and obedient and kind and sweet and a little dumb and easily distracted and highly motivated by food and crazy and energetic and cute and obsessive and a handful and every other good thing.

≈ beach dog ≈ tired dog ≈ regal dog ≈

He came to us in such an interesting way. I have always liked origin stories. You know, Superman came from the ice planet whatever and Batman had his troubled family past. Well Rex has a good origin story too. A lot of it is speculation and observation on our part because you really can't just go up to someone and say "So you neglected this dog, right? And you just decided one day that you didn't want him so you put him in the garage to hang out while you decided what to do?" That doesn't go over very well.

But we had been living in Idaho for almost five months and been married for about five and a half months. Pretty much the whole five months I asked if we could get a dog. Finally Alex relented and started looking on craigslist and shelter sites for a dog; he was very noncommittal about it and didn't really think anything about it. One day he saw Rex on craigslist in the free section. He was a cute little guy about a year old, pit bull mix, the ad said well tempered. Alex had a feeling about him so he sent me the link and the picture. I about died at how adorable his little face was and that night we went to see him.

He was in a non-temperature controlled garage (in Idaho. In January. With snow on the ground.) with a little bowl of food, little bowl of water, and a huge bone. When we walked in he ran up to us and licked our hands and wagged his tail and let us pet him and sat in front of us...just pretty much wanted attention and love. He was definitely underweight (I could see all his ribs and spine) and he had little black sores on his paws and testicles. The guy told us he was well behaved, house trained, leash trained (not!) and just a big lover. Alex noticed a little cement kennel area outside that looked like it was his bed and bathroom and eating area all in one.

We went home that night and talked about it and said every thing that was wrong with us taking him. We came up with every single reason why we could not handle having this dog in our tiny apartment, and the list was really long. It was definitely convincing to any sane person. We went to bed that night and one of the last things we said to each other was "so what time are we going to get Rex tomorrow to bring him home?" There was no question that this little baby needed to come live with us. Even with everything against the decision (tiny apartment, big dog, house trained??, no time, school, work, our deposit, etc.) we some how both knew that he was our dog and we needed to bring him home.

Now...ten months later...I would still make the same decision. Even with Rex's abandonment issues, anxiety, neediness, depressive episodes, fear of the dark, and tantrums (oh were there tantrums!! every time we left the apartment he would freak out), I never regret taking him home. He's our baby. Our 70 pound, pit bull/rottweiler mix, hunk of pure muscle baby. And he is such a baby. And we love him so much.

     

                                                          ≈ sad dog ≈                                                                ≈ lazy dog ≈

 ≈ booty shame face dog≈

≈ creepy dog (I woke up to this image inches from my face)≈

So much...that we got him his first halloween costume. Here comes the T-REX!!