Dakota's Puppy Party

After work on Dakota's birthday, I went to watch Claire cheer at a middle school football game.  She is in eighth grade and did a great job!  It brought back Viking cheer memories for me.  So fun!

After the game we headed back to our house for dinner and cake (both for the humans and pups).  We love to celebrate around here, so even a doggie birthday is a good excuse to all get together.  Momma Hance was so sweet to make lasagna for dinner and bring it over since I was working all day.  My mom brought a bundt cake for the humans, and I made cake for the dogs.  I made the same peanut butter dog cake that I made Harley for her first birthday.

 JW and me with the birthday girl

 Family that came over to celebrate with us

The dogs were more challenging to get photos of, but the dogs in attendance were Maximus and Calamity Jane (with Momma Hance) and Noel (with my family).

 We ate in peace with the dogs all in the backyard.  It was pure puppy chaos when we let them all in.

Yes, we even sang "Happy Birthday" to Koda, and then moved the party back outside for the dogs to enjoy their cake.

 

Happy Birthday, Koda monkey!  We love you.

Happy 1st Birthday, Dakota!

Dakota is one year old today! We had a fun evening with family and puppies over to celebrate, but I'll have to post more on that later. I am just stopping for the first time since before 6:00 this morning. Work is busy right now, but we are so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate and spend time with loved ones. 

Dakota brings a lot of fun and joy to our lives, and we are grateful she is part of our family. Happy birthday, Koda Bear!

Roses are red, bonnets are...

Spring is here, and the bluebonnets are beautiful!  The allergies that come with them are definitely here as well, but worth it... Look how pretty!  Last Sunday afternoon JW got dressed so I could take his picture for his graduation announcements (stay tuned for those), and we loaded up the pups to get some shots of them in the bluebonnets as well.  

Harley & Dakota

Dakota Bear

Harley Girl

Taking pictures of our dogs was not the easiest thing we've ever done.  It took JW with their leashes and a bag a treats, and me with the camera and a squeaker toy jumping around and making noises to keep their attention.  I can only imagine what the people in cars driving by were thinking.  I was certainly sweating by the end of it, but I'm so glad we took them!  I think we got some good ones. :)  Happy Spring to you!

Bucket List Weekend

Last weekend was our last one until Joey graduates at the end of April with nothing going on, and we took advantage of the time to mark several things off of our Waco Bucket List.  Take a look at some of the things we did.

Me and JW at the Heart O' Texas Speedway.
We drove about 7 miles north of Waco to see the dirt track car races in Waco.  It was a totally new experience for both of us.  Pretty cool!

We sat up high in the bleachers, but were so close to the track we could feel the rush of wind when the cars zoomed by.  Oh the smell of gasoline, burnt rubber, and cigarette smoke!  Nothing like hanging out with the car racing crowd. :)  We sat there picking cars for each race and found the few wrecks that happened exciting.

Saturday morning we went to the Waco Farmers Market downtown.  It was really neat!  There were a bunch of local vendors that brought out fresh produce, plants, meat, and other homemade products.

We were a little overwhelmed for this being our first time, but wanted to leave with something.  So, we got some homemade corn and black bean salsa.  There were a lot of great things, and we definitely plan on going back.

The line for fresh crepes was unbelievably long, so I'm guessing they are good.  There was also a food truck named Sergio's making fresh breakfast burritos.  I ordered one and it was delicious!  I have been craving another one all week... so good!  I've got to find out where Sergio and his truck go the rest of the week.

Yum!

After the Farmers Market we headed to one of our favorite Waco spots, the Cameron Park Zoo.  The weather was gorgeous, so it was a great day for the animals.  Lots of them were out and active.

These Gibons are my favorite animals in the whole zoo.  They swing around and make this hilarious "whoo" noise like they are warming up their voices to be in a broadway musical.

Joey likes a lot of the animals, but I made him take a picture with this Comodo Dragon statue.  He likes the reptiles and I don't.

After the zoo we came home for lunch and then loaded up the dogs to go to the dog park.  Our dog park does not normally have a water feature.  However, we got a ton of rain here last week, and the park acquired a pond.  Our dogs loved it!  There were literally spots where the water was up to Harley's head and she was swimming... crazy!

Harley and Dakota definitely played hard and fell asleep in the backseat on the way home.  They were pooped!  It was bath time when we got home, and then they slept most of the rest of the day.  Joey and I cooked dinner together and watched a movie to top off our eventful Saturday.

Our weekend was full of fun Waco things and lots of great memories!

Random Thoughts for a Friday

1.) It's March for Babies season!   That means I am in the full swing of things and staying pretty busy at work.   This will be my last walk in Waco... as the Director that is.   I would be happy to attend and not be in charge. :)   I'm sure I'll be back.   I have our team up and running now and would love your support.   See my nifty little tracker on the left? You can donate or join my team right there.  Easy as pie!

2.) Girl Scout cookies are addicting.  I'm sure we all knew that, but Momma Hance sent us home with two boxes after visiting her last weekend, and I think they'll be gone within the week.  Yum!

3.) Joey has to take the MPRE exam tomorrow morning.  Don't ask me what MPRE stands for.  I have no clue.  All I know is that it's an ethics exam he has to pass in order to be a lawyer.  He has been studying for it this week, that's right, on his spring break.  I have full confidence that he'll pass with flying colors, but prayers are always welcome.

4.) My dad received great news last week that he won a legal battle he had been fighting with a company he used to work for.  God's provision has been apparent through the whole thing, but the victory has the Lord's name written all over it!  Don't you love getting goosebumps from an experience that makes you feel how mighty our God is?  We are so excited and thankful.

5.) Houston is heavy on the mind.  We spent a lot of time last weekend driving around and talking with friends to learn about different areas in Houston we may want to live when we head there this summer for Joey's new job.  We made a lot of notes and learned a lot.  We have a Houston map we plan to "mark up" with our notes... boundaries of different communities, areas we like, others we'd like to avoid, commute details, etc.  JW is a map man and I am a research girl, so I think it will be a fun thing to do together.  Stay tuned, you may get a picture of the final product. :)

6.) Dakota had surgery to be spayed yesterday.  JW dropped her off at 7:30 a.m. and I picked her up about 5 p.m.  She was pretty pitiful.  The pain medicine she was on made her pretty subdued, but you could tell she was in some pain last night.  Harley did a great job letting her rest.  This morning, Dakota woke up a brand new pup!  She was full of energy and even seemed like she was trying to make up for lost time.  She is supposed to take it easy for a week or so, so we've had to keep her and Harley separated so they don't try to play too rough.  What fun that will be this weekend!

7.) Friends are coming to Waco this weekend!  Rich and Megan have a wedding in Salado Saturday night, so they are going to stop in Waco tomorrow afternoon before they head on to the wedding.  Rich has been in Peru with their youth group from church all week, so he may be pretty beat, but we are looking forward to seeing them.  Another great friend, Matt, will be in Waco for work on Monday, so he is coming up Sunday night to stay with us.  Yay for friends in Waco! 

8.) We definitely need to go to the grocery store, but I hate going to the grocery store.  We are already out or running low on pretty much everything.  On second thought, maybe we can survive on Girl Scout cookies a few days more. 

9.) I fully intend on spending some quality time on my couch this weekend.  I don't know if it's the hour we lost for day light savings last weekend or the allergy medicine I'm taking, but I feel tired.  Plus, I have a new stash of movies to enjoy. :)

Happy weekend, friends!!!

Movies, anyone?

Over the weekend, we traveled to Sugar Land to stay with Momma Hance and to spend some time exploring different areas of Houston that we may want to make our home in the next few months.  This week is JW's spring break, so I took Monday and Tuesday off of work, and we had a long weekend to spend doing "research."  It was a little overwhelming.  Did you know Houston is huge?  We spent a total of about 7-8 hours in the car checking out different areas, but we got a lot covered and certainly are closer to knowing where we might want to end up, so we are glad we did it.

In between that "research" we did a lot of fun things too.  On Saturday we got to see Emily and Brittan and some college friends of theirs that were in town for the weekend.  We also got to attend a Crawfish Boil for Bobby's 27th birthday.  I discovered I am not a huge lover of crawfish, especially when the wind catches the antennas of one and it feels like the crawfish is moving in your hand.  I am never dramatic, so I'm sure I didn't overreact when I let out a scream.  Apparently, that is a good way to get laughed at by the whole table because everyone knows that the little buggers are clearly dead.  I did however, have a great time watching my hubby and his friends catch up and indulge in the trough-style meal.

Em and me

Momma Hance has always had this impressive movie collection.  She has more movies than anyone I know, and she told us this weekend that she wanted to get rid of all of them except for a few.  She told Joey and Jenn to take the ones they wanted.  So, on Saturday night after JW and I got home the birthday party, it was time to divvy them up...  If you know Joey and Jenn, you will believe that this was a pretty intense and entertaining process. 

We all sat around the dining room table and went through them one by one.  I picked up a movie, and if only one of them wanted it, they got to add it to their stash.  But, if they both wanted it, it went into the "conflict pile."  After our first time through them, and we were done dividing the easy ones, we tackled the "conflict pile."  This was the hilarious part.  It was trading and bartering at its best.  JW let me have input in his choices, which probably weakened his bargaining power sometimes, but he was a great hubby and it was a lot of fun.  We came home with roughly 120 new movies, making our total collection over 270 now... crazy!  Who cares that Blockbuster is out of business?  Just come on over to our house.  Seriously, we can hook you up.  Thanks, Momma Hance! 

Let the games begin.

Jenn proud of her biggest wins- The Goonies and all the Batman movies.

We got a lot of great ones too, but JW was most excited about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mighty Ducks, all of the Lethal Weapons, and all of the Bad Boys.  My favorites were Pride & Prejudice, My Fair Lady, Pearl Harbor, and Overboard.

Our day on Monday morning started with quite the scare.  Harley was out in the backyard and got out.  We realized she was missing about 10-15 minutes after she went out there, but were out searching for her over two hours before she was found.  Momma Hance's house backs up to a creek, and it had been raining and muddy all weekend, so we think Harley probably saw a critter in the backyard and chased it under the fence.  It was a terrible and emotionally draining two hours.  Momma Hance, JW, me, and my parents were all out scouring Sugar Land for her, and eventually received a call from a vet about 5 minutes away saying that a woman had found Harley and brought her in.  Wow, were we relieved!  Harley certainly covered some ground, and I'm sure had herself a grand adventure, but it was not fun for the rest of us.  I am so thankful for the woman that found her and brought her in, and for Harley's safety.  I never want to experience that again.

 

Dakota and Calamity Jane

JW and Harley

Later on Monday, we spent the afternoon at my parents house, and they got to meet Dakota for the first time.  Mom cooked us a yummy dinner and we really enjoyed spending time with them.

Hunter with Dakota and Harley

It was a great long weekend exploring H-town and seeing friends and family.  And, don't forget, next time you want to rent a movie, don't.  Just call the Hances.  We now have quite the collection and plenty to go around!  :)

Someone Graduated

For the past six weeks we have been taking Dakota to Basic Obedience Training classes.  Last Tuesday was her final class and graduation day.  I had to be in Dallas for work on Tuesday and Wednesday and was SO sad I had to miss her show off all she had learned and graduate.  I teasingly asked Joey to take our video camera with him so someone could video them.  I knew it was dorky, and I told him he didn't have to.  I have a pretty awesome hubby though, and one of the the trainers videoed them showing off Dakota's new skills.  I picked two of them for you to see below.

This video shows Dakota doing her "wait" and then "come" commands. 

This one is "leave it". That is a scrumptious hot dog on that stool that she was told to "leave". She did such a good job! 

I took this picture of JW and Dakota when I got home on Wednesday.

Dakota got a certificate that says she graduated from Basic Obedience Class.  She is such a good dog who loves to learn and make us happy.  We are proud puppy parents! :)

Fun at the Dog Park

Before last week it had been raining around here a lot... and it was muddy.  So, since Dakota has been old enough, we hadn't had the chance to take her to the dog park.  Last week it was sunny and beautiful weather, so on Thursday Dakota had her first trip to the dog park.  She loved it!  She was not shy at all.  In fact, she is quite the social butterfly.  Here's a look at her first of many trips to the H.O.T. Dog Park.

Her sitting in the back did not last long.  She hopped over into the back seat before I even made it to the passenger side door.  She didn't know where she was going, but she was excited.  The whole way there she hopped back and forth from the back seat to the trunk and back again.  We probably need to teach her not to do that and to stay in the back, but it was too cute. :)

Dakota and Harley didn't stick together as much as we thought they would.  They are both pretty social and were excited to meet new friends.

Har hadn't been to the park in a long time because of the cold then rainy weather, so she was pretty happy to be there.  She, of course, submerged herself in the water bucket meant for drinking and didn't stop running around most of the time we were there.

Dakota was pretty independent, but came back to check in with us and her sister every now and then.

We stayed at the park for almost an hour.  Dakota was pretty pooped on the way home.  I think they both had a great time!  Dakota is going to be 5 months old in a couple of days... isn't she getting big?

Blast Off

This weekend Rich and Megan came to Waco to visit on Friday and Saturday.  It was a lot of fun to see them and relive life like we used to when they lived here.  It was a low-key weekend that consisted of movie watching, Mario Kart racing, antique shopping, and rocket shooting.  So fun!  Take a look.

JW and Rich playing Tanks while I cooked dinner

They stand up close to the tv and scheme together.  It's pretty funny.  After watching a movie Friday night, the boys stayed up to put one more coat of paint on Joey's rocket and Meg and I went to bed.  The boys didn't end up coming to bed until almost 2 a.m. because they decided to play the Wii some more... addicting I suppose. :)

Kisses for Meg

Dakota went crazy to meet her Aunt Meg and Uncle Rich!  She was bouncing off of everything. literally.

Har giving Meg love

After we told Harley that Rich and Megan were coming, she spent the afternoon waiting by the front door for them.  It was pretty cute.  She kept looking at the door even after they got here looking for Tegan I think, but they had other things to fit in their car and haul back to Coppell with them, so didn't bring her this time. 

Dakota and Megan

We took the dogs to the park with us when we went to shoot off Joey's rocket on Saturday.  Dakota just got her last booster shot on Friday, so this was the first time for us to take both of the dogs somewhere.  I'm glad we had the extra hands.  The dogs were so excited, and Dakota is not very good on her leash yet.  I'm quite certain I would have ended up on the ground in a tangled mess if I was on my own.

The boys surveyed the park and made their calculations accounting for the wind to find the perfect spot to launch from.  This rocket was a pretty big project for Joey, and he was very excited to shoot it off with Rich.  It ended up being a cold and pretty windy day, so we only shot off one of the two he made.  It was pretty awesome, just like JW said it would be. :)

Rich videoed the take-off with his phone.  The rocket headed straight over a neighborhood to the left at first, but once the wind caught it and it floated back down by parachute, the boys calculations were perfect.  Pretty cool.  Check it out!