Double, Double Toil and Trouble..

Happy Halloween everyone!!

We have been busy this weekend celebrating the holiday.. and yes.. they celebrate Halloween here in England too! Haha..

We started off Friday with our pumpkin carving and seed roasting.

The puppies wanted to help me!

That's better!

Everett cutting the top off his.. that's as far as he has gotten...

My finished product!! It's a cyclops.. haha.. We didn't have the best tools this year so I couldn't be as creative..

In the dark..

Everett washing off the seeds so I can cook them : )

On Saturday we had to do a lot of Everett's homework.. He roped me into helping him...... haha.. Then at night we headed off to the Halloween party at his co-worker's house.. We went as hillbillies! I later found out at the party that it is a curse to dress up as a pregnant lady... So if legend stays true.. we may be having a little bundle of joy sooner than planned... stay tuned to see how that one turns out.. haha!

It was raining so I had to keep my pumpkin inside...

Our costumes.. I forgot to put my robe on for this picture...

Close up of Everett's face...

Everett added his lovely sideburns and beard with my waterproof eyeliner... soooo it's still there today.. haha!

And for actual Halloween.. we have just been hanging around the house.. as much as I love trick or treaters.. I hope we don't get any because I just realized that we don't have any candy to hand out!! Our babies did get in their costumes just long enough for me to take a picture... they were pretty unhappy with me as you can tell..

Kacee was a Chipotle burrito..

Dallas was supposed to be a ghost.. but HATED it over his head...

My poor dogs.. Haha...

I have also uploaded recent pictures of the puppies on facebook.. Click the link below to go there and take a look!

More Puppy Pictures!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too!!

Growing Pains

So it has been a quick minute since I have last posted, which can only mean that life has been pretty boring over here.. haha.. Mostly I have just been waiting for things to actually happen before I update (like our housing situation), but I figured I could update you about some of our other changes.. Like our growing puppies!!

Kacee and Dallas continue to make life very interesting for us. They have adapted really well to our home, and are pretty much done potty training, which means I can now start training them in other areas!! They love to go for runs in the race horse training fields (called The Gallops).. which is a good workout for both mommy and puppies!! Every time we go, they get compliments from every one we pass! They socialize really well with the other dogs, and don't even need to be on a lead because they follow me so well! Everyone is impressed with how well behaved they are and how beautiful they are. They are still sleeping quite a bit, but are getting more and more energy everyday!

What I am most surprised about is how quickly they grow!! When we got Kacee she weighed about 7 pounds... Three weeks later she is up to 15.5 pounds! Dallas is even worse.. He was about 9 pounds when we got him, and he is up to 20 pounds... He is a VERY solid dog!!

They went to their last vet appointment of the year yesterday, and I was told that I spoil my dogs a little too much... Especially my little girl.. Dallas is pretty independent.. definitely not a snuggler! He would rather be sleeping on the floor than on the couch (which is probably a good thing!).. Kacee on the other hand is an attention whore, for lack of a better term... She always has to be close to you.. Recently she started this thing where she literally hugs my leg with her front paws.. I asked the vet why she does this, and he said, "You know how toddlers hug their parent's leg when they want to be picked up... It's very much the same.." So basically  I don't have a puppy.. I have a toddler......... But it's hard for me not to pick them up.. I'm going to be sad when I won't be able to do that anymore!!

They attended their first slumber party on Thursday! My friend Margaret invited me and Nichole over for a girls night and since Everett was supposed to have a middle of the night flight I had to bring the puppies with me... Their crate is too big for the car, so they had to go without for the first time which really scared me because I didn't want them peeing or worse in Margaret's house! I did bring the child's gate with me and we locked them in the kitchen.. Not too surprisingly... They slept for the better part of the night since I took them to Everett's football game before, and they got to play with all the kids at the game (my favorite thing.. built in puppy sitters!!) I slept on the couch downstairs so I could be sure to take them out every few hours to ensure no accidents.. and they did great!! Not a single mistake inside!!

Besides going to the Gallops, they LOVE going to Everett's football games on base! It's a really great place to socialize them with kids, since there are so many! They have done AMAZING with the little kids.. they have been in contact with kids aged only a few months to about 10 years old.. They even did great when this insane little boy kept trying to pick them up by their hind legs, and when a toddler was pulling on their tails.. It always makes me a little nervous because if something were to happen it would be my fault, but the parents don't seem too bothered and some even want their kids around the dogs.. so that makes me feel a little better! They will definitely be kid ready when we have a few of our own!

Luckily they have not torn up our house yet... Kacee isn't really a chewer, but Dallas is..... He will stop when you tell him to, but if they don't have any of their own chew toys around.. they will get your shoes!! I have really been working on that, because there is nothing worse than a chewer... They understand which toys are theirs, but every once in a while they like to push my buttons...... One thing I find really funny that they like to chew are rocks... yeah... we have THOSE kids......

As most of you know, we will be moving soon due to the fact that our current home does not have a yard for the dogs... There are only two patches of grass on the property, and they are right by our front door... There are two things that I hate dogs doing, chewing and digging... unfortunately.. our dogs are showing signs of digging.... They dig the heck out of our two patches of no longer grass, but now dirt because of all their digging... I'm not really sure how to end this problem, so any help or advice you have I would appreciate to know before we do get a yard.. I don't want them to tear it up!!

Alright.. now that you feel like you know Kacee and Dallas, I guess I will end this! The next time I post will probably be when we find out about our housing!! OR when I get command sponsership.. which SHOULD be sometime next week!! OR when I find out if I get to come home in November or not!! Lots of possibilities!! Keep checking back for updates!!

Weekend Update!

So... A LOT has been going on in the last week! First, we got our puppies!! Our beautiful Kacee and handsome Dallas were picked up last Friday from the breeder, and we couldn't have been more excited! In one day I got my husband back and my two babies!!

If you would like to see pictures of them, I update from this website all the time: Click here for puppy pics!

Our first big goal with them was of course potty training.. We didn't have a crate the first few days, so we locked them up in the kitchen.. which was NOT a good idea considering every time we got home or woke up the kitchen was filled with pee and poop.. yuck! I finally convinced Everett we needed a crate and that problem has been solved ever since! My wonderful little boy has had very few accidents over the last few days.. my little girl however is a completely different story... She just doesn't seem to get the concept.. I take her out every 20 minutes, and as soon as she gets back inside.. she goes on the floor... UGH!!! I just gotta keep consistent, but I wish she was as quick of a learner as her brother!

Another big update is that we finally found a 2nd car!! We were looking before Everett left for Iceland, but all we got were dead ends so we kind of gave up for a while. Since he was back, I knew I didn't want to be stuck at home all day, so I went online and found a nice Ford Explorer that I showed to Everett.. Well we went to look at it today and he loved it so we will be picking it up tomorrow!! Finally something that is going our way!!

On to things that aren't quite going our way.... So since we got the dogs, I have kind of been pushing Everett to look into moving into a house that has a yard (or garden has they call it here). He really didn't like the idea of moving, but we are currently being pushed out of our house, so it looks like I will be getting my way! See, Everett started renting this house from the older gentleman that lives next door. This used to be his racquetball court that he converted into a house. Well his wife just died in December, so he decided to sell both his house and this one as well to another couple. This new couple called Everett up to sign a new lease on Monday. His old lease said we could have pets, which is why we got the dogs, but this new lease said that he is not allowed to have pets. When he saw this he said he was going to have to think about it and refused to sign as his old contract is not up until November. They claimed that they would allow us to have pets, but then they sent over the realtor yesterday and she said we could stay but the dogs would have to go. Well... we aren't getting rid of our dogs, so we are in a huge search for a house at the moment.

We went looking at these really cool houses yesterday, the location wasn't really what we wanted as it is kind of far away, but the houses were SO cool! The building is the former village elementary school, so it has flint walls and gothic windows, but they completely gutted the inside and transformed them into 5 brand new houses. They were very roomy and we fell in love with one of them. We still wanted to think about it because the location wasn't what we really wanted, but as soon as we got home, we found out the house we wanted was already gone : ( That was kind of a let down.. So now we have a bunch of houses that are options, but we are finding that a lot of them don't allow pets, or don't want 2 large german shepherds living in them... so we are praying that we find the perfect one! But we don't have much time!! I'm asking for lots of prayers that the perfect house will show up for us.. and soon!!!

That's about all the excitement here! Everett was lucky enough to get pretty much all of last week off, and he will have Monday off as well, so it's been nice having him around all day! He has been having class all evening though, so I still only get half a day with him : ( Yesterday I went to the Lakenheath Bazaar with my friend Margaret, didn't really find anything I had to have so we went to Pizza Express for some yummy dinner and wine! We went to the one in village of Ely that has this beautiful cathedral which Margaret informed me has been in a couple of movies including "The Other Boleyn Sister". Since it was so late, it was closed, but the outside was very cool! I can't wait to get to see the inside!!

Well I guess that is all for now! I will update you if we find a new home to live in!! Until then.. Cheers!

Back in the Saddle Again...

So I am back in England after my week long amazing trip to Iceland.. but I am leaving Iceland for a whole other post which will probably be up in the next few days.. Just updating you on other facets of our life before I get to that big post...

There is good news to share and there is sad news as well... Since I like to end on a happy note, I will start with the sad..

The day after I got back from Iceland we received news that one of our close friends had died. This news led to shock, disbelief and overwhelming saddness. I was trying to see if I could fly home to be with her husband, who was Everett's best man, but with circumstances being as they are, I am not able to. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated for their family as they get through this rough time. She was an amazing and supportive friend who welcomed Everett into their home for over a year, helped out with the wedding, and attended both my bridal shower and bachelorette party.. We will miss her very much.


Danielle and I.. RIP



Everett and Danielle.. We will miss her!

It's times like these that make us wake up and appreciate the life we have been given.. which is sad that such things have to occur before we do realize what we have.

With that said, we will be receiving our puppies in less than 2 weeks and I think we have figured out their names!! They may change once we get them depending on their personalities. We are going to name the boy Dallas, after a major city in Everett's home state, and the girl will be Kacee, after a major city in my home state (as in Kansas City.. KC)... I really wanted to name them something very British since they are British dogs.. but Everett was very much against that.. Everett wanted to name them after pro sports teams which I was very much against.. so this was our compromise!

As for anything else, we received our wedding photos!! I will try to upload them to a site where anyone can see them soon and post it on here.. They turned out really great! Now I just have to work on finishing these Thank You notes so I can send them off!! That is the goal before Everett returns next week!

As I said before, be expecting an Iceland post soon!!

Adding Two to the Family!!

No... I'm not pregnant with twins... We're getting puppies!!! Ever since we lost our precious Chloe a couple years ago, Everett and I have been itching to get a new dog. Well... we decided to make it TWO!!

As soon as our plane touched down in Mildenhall, I was already begging Everett for a dog. I knew I would be home for a while, perfect time to potty train right? Well, after some searching, I found an ad online for German Shepherd puppies and showed it to Everett. He made me email the lady to find out some info, then we kind of left it for a few days. Well out of the blue, Everett starts asking me a ton of puppy questions... how many do we want, a boy, a girl? Then one night he got home from work a LOT later than he was supposed to so I started wondering what was up...

Then last Friday, he had the day off, so he told me that we were going to go look at a dresser he found. Well I knew that we didn't need a dresser, a fact I made sure to state, so why would we go look at one?! He said it would be for our bedroom and not to worry about it.. So after a 35 minute drive we arrived at the house and were greeted by a very kind British woman who showed us to the back room of her house where there of course was NOT a dresser, but 8 puppies instead!!! They were born on July 26th, so they were less than a month old!

The lady made sure I knew my husband had a "wicked" sense of humor for trying to surprise me.. I guess he had been there the night before and picked out a dog.. a cute, LARGE girl. Well, we got to talking and we told her about Chloe and how she was obsessed with Everett. She let us know that girl German Shepherds will always "fancy the blokes", but that German Shepherd boys are more protective of women. At that moment I told Everett that I wanted a boy then. Since the whole reason for getting a dog out here is for my protection while Everett is deployed.

Thus began a 30 minute battle of which dog we should get. I was adamant about my little fellow, and I could tell the little girl already had Everett wrapped around her paw so to speak. Finally the lady was like, we will give you a deal if you want both... we discussed this for about 15 minutes, and finally I said fine... we'll take both!! They still don't have names.. as most of you know it took us about 2 weeks to name Chloe... so it may be a while!!

The breeders really suggest for us to come visit as much as possible to let the puppies get to know us. Since Everett will be in Iceland for the next month, and I'm a little scared to drive the country roads by myself, we went to visit them last night. I got to take some pictures and videos that I will share now...

Our babies... Sleeping.. Girl on left, Boy on right

Checking out his babies : )

Proud of his munchkins! Boy left Girl right

My precious boy

Everett's little girl

He loves making them fly.....

They love playing with kitten..

Me with my babies.. Girl left boy right

My puppy and I

We have a video as well.. Everett's girl was following him around the kitchen.. And you can take a guess as to watch she is doing at the end of the video : )

We won't be getting our bundles of joy until Everett gets back from Iceland.. so until then we will be puppy proofing the house and buying all their new stuff!! Oh.. and figuring out what to name them : )