2 years and counting...

Andrew and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on Monday

Snapped a couple pics before we headed out

(I wore my hair up for Drew and he helped pick out my dress)

And because we are traveling out of state 3 times in only a few weeks, we decided to stay in town and do something simple. We ate breakfast out (my favorite), went bowling (we took a bowling class together in college, and let's just say our scores didn't reflect any such thing!) and went to the Hotel Duval for a leisurely dinner and drinks on the rooftop lounge (pictured). It was a great day start to finish

Earlier in May, we were at Drew's parents' house and spent some time at the same arch under which we said our vows. I knew, when picking the location of our wedding, that it would be special to be able to visit the place of our wedding for years to come. One day, we can show our kids where their parents got married.

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The Moms aren't going to like this picture, but I love it. I hope we get a similar picture when we are old and wrinkly- it will mean that we have spent a lifetime being silly together

My heart has had to grow to fit 7 years of love for Andrew into it.

Matty in Tally!

Drew and I were met with a nice surprise on Friday afternoon when Matt called and asked if he could drive down from Georgia with his Army buddy and spend the weekend with us! Although they got in very late Friday night (rather, Saturday morning) and had to leave early Sunday, we did get one full day of fun with them.

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Matt and Sawyer became buddies

When deciding where to go for breakfast, we remembered that Uncle Karl has been trying to get us to experience Cracker Barrel. So we did.

And to get the full Cracker Barrel experience, we rocked away our bellies full of grits and biscuts on the porch- another important lesson in how to be a Southerner.

The fellas wanted to get some frisbee golf time in, so we headed over to Tom Brown Park.

The dogs came, too. No surprise there
The rest of the evening was spent in the Midtown area of Tallahassee, as sort of an early birthday celebration for me.

Thanks for coming, brother. We love having visitors!

Last post on the dogs for awhile, I promise!

They have just been so happy lately and I had to share these pictures because they make me smile

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You haven't seen a happy dog until you've seen Lady in the car

We took them to the greenway this weekend and let them run around

I had to crop it to Sawyer running. Now that is some serious tongue and ear action!

They're even cute when they're being lazy (Sawyer was getting tired from the trek and got a little respite in Drew's arms)

Thanks for putting up with so many doggie pictures!

Whoops

A friend just pointed out to me that my blog was not enabled for comments from the general public. Here I am welcoming comments on my blogs and I didn't even grant you all the ability to do so. How very inhospitable of me - I must not have learned the true ways of the South yet.

I think I fixed the comment block, so once again, I invite you to comment as much as you like on our blog, and I will try to keep up my end of the bargain by posting more often. Mea Culpa-

Fresh Air! Another perk of having dogs

Although I spent most of my Spring Break in my office trying to catch up, I did get a chance to get some fresh air with these three:

This is Lake Ella which is about a mile from our house

We logged some patio time in the evenings

Yep, Sawyer still loves the lap
And for some reason Lady really likes beer and wine. Don't worry, we are looking into a 12-step program for her

And we even carved out a day for a beach trip!

Lady now knows that whn we get in the gold car, we are going on some kind of adventure (I use this term loosely). She doesn't care which seat she rides in, she just jumps in and starts whining impatiently

Although we can get to the coast in about 30 minutes from Tallahassee, the beaches are better on St. George Island which is about 2 hours away

We hoped the dogs would like splashing around in the tide,

but they were pretty terrified of the water

We got them extended leashes and tied them to a stake so they would have a bit more room for exploring. I wish we could let them totally off-leash, but they are neither courteous of other people's personal space, nor aware that birds can fly further than they can run

Nap time
He uses his cuteness against me

A little jog on the beach

Eventually we let Sawyer run loose a bit because, unlike Lady, he is good about coming back when we call him
Chasing after birds on the beach was the highlight of his entire puppyhood
A, A, S & L wishing you a Happy Spring!

I love my family every day, which includes Feb. 14th

The celebration of Valentine's Day is just a touch over-hyped in our culture, wouldn't you say? Every year, we hear stories of single people rebelling against the date and/or wallowing in chocolate-covered self-pity. But Valentine's Day doesn't have to mean just a celebration of romantic love- it can be any expression of love- familial love or even the love between friends (and yes, puppy love is included).

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My favorite childhood memory of Valentine's Day (aside from a decorated Kleenex box full of sugary candy) was seeing a special Valentine's novelty- some candy or a stuffed bear with a heart- sitting at my place at the breakfast table. My mom gave us a treat to add a little extra love to our day. So, now that I have a little family of my own (do dogs a family make?) the love was expressed in puppy kisses on this day:

Sometimes they kiss each other, which is a nice break from when they spar like little wolves on the living room floor

But their favorite thing is to attack our faces with those little dog-food flavored tongues (yum)

Aside from the puppy love, Drew and I did get a chance to go to dinner and finish off the night with a nightcap:

A delightful evening

So let me use this arbitrary holiday post to say: I love you, Andrew, Mom & Dad Isaac, Mom & Dad Mitchell, To & Mo, Matt, Leah, Lizard, family out East, family out West, friends close and friends far, and of course, our pretty girl, Lady Bug and our little man, Sawyer.

Dressing Up Baby

Dogs are supposed to be graceful, outdoorsy creatures that can detect the scent of a squirrel long-gone and dig holes in the ground with amazing quickness. I never thought I would be the person that dressed them up in human clothes. And then I met Sawyer. While Lady fits the previous description of a dog, Sawyer seems to fit the description of a human toddler. He wants to be held all day, every day- and belly up, which is very unusual for dogs. He shivers and shivers indoors at the first sign of cool weather, while Lady is outside exploring. And while Lady gets all riled up at the dog barking on tv, Sawyer rolls over indifferently, wondering when his next belly scratch is coming. Dressing him up started with the idea of the dog snuggie in an attempt to keep him warm, but then we realized how funny it is that he seems so natural in these little outfits.

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So, sorry buddy, if the human clothes fit...

Now, don't get too worried, I'm not going to be that person that puts him in a tiny Burberry coat to try and make some sort of skewed fashion statement. We mainly do it to get a laugh and then take it off him, but he may have a Halloween costme next year!