A Traumatic 63.6 pounds

Well, I took Bentley to the vet on Monday and she weighed in at 63.6 pounds. Why did we need to go to the vet...thats the traumatic part. I spent last week at my parents house in Conroe to paint the kitchen cabinets. It was a long daunting task but I completed it and it is beautiful!! One night while we were there, I took Bentley out one last time before bedtime. Once she got done going potty, she ran full force towards the house and she beat me there. She ran right into the glass sliding door and broke it. It was VERY loud and it definitely shattered. She bounced back and was a little freaked out. I brought her inside through the side door and checked her out. Turns out she has 4 wounds. One L shaped cut on her head, one 2" cut on her shoulder, a scratch about 1/2 an inch on the bottom of her right paw and the worst is in between her toes on her left paw. When we went to see the vet, it had been 6 days and it had already started to heal on its own. The vet said that if I had brought her in immediately, she would've given her a local and stapled it shut. It is now healing by itself and we are putting a canine version of neosporin on it. She is fine...doesn't bother her one bit. I think it is starting to itch so she wants to lick it more but other than that, she is fine. She is healthy and happy and loves her mommy & daddy. She is 9 months old and will probably not grow more than 10 more pounds. We'll see tho...

Bentley never barks...

...but last night, she saw herself in the mirror and freaked out. She first got really low to the ground, which is what she does when she meets a new dog. Shes very submissive and acts like she just wants to be friends. But, everytime she would move, she would jump. Brian was poking her and getting her all excited and she barked...at herself!!! She did it about 5 times and it was hilarious. She is still about 65 pounds and she seems to have slowed down in growing. She has picked up another phase of learning and has started giving us double high fives. We're working on stay...shes reluctant to do it but we're slowly getting there. She is definitely the greatest dog ever...Brian & I are very very very happy that we decided to get her. She is a blessing.

There is not much else to report...Brian is still driving for United and really liking it. I am extremely part time with Decor & You and still looking for a part-time job. The economy has made it extremely difficult to pick up a new job around here. So, in the spare time that I have, I've started working on painting our little house and helping out with my sisters new houses. Melissa & Jason just moved this past weekend and Brian & I spent the weekend helping them. Her house is beautiful and it will be very fun to see it all finished. She is about 2 months pregnant right now so we will be working on a nursery soon! Marsha & Joel are still in the process of finding the right house but when they do, I'm sure Brian & I will have a weekend in Waco to help! Thats about the extent of our lives right now...very exciting!! ;)

Hope you're all well...can't wait until we can visit everyone.

Growing up fast...

Well, as of yesterday, our sweet little Bentley girl is 7 months old. She is well past 65 pounds and is still growing. We continue to laugh at her and enjoy her company. We joked the other day about talking to her like she is human. She is so smart. Brian will ask her, "Where's Mommy??" and everytime, she has no trouble finding me. She has 2 toys that she favors...a blue ball that used to have cheese in it and a yellow bowling pin that squeaks. I don't like playing fetch with the blue ball because it is constantly slobbery and yucky. If she brings me the ball, I tell her "Mommy doesn't like to play with the blue ball. Go get your pin." She does it every time. It is so funny that she knows what I'm talking about. This morning, she came and found me and jumped up on the bed and laid down with me. Brian asked her if she wanted to go potty, she jumped up and ran to the door. She is getting VERY good at "lay down" and we're trying to get her to learn to stay. Brian likes to play fetch with her and see how long she'll sit while he's walking away from her. It's good to see her growth and to see how much she's learning. I never knew it was possible for me to love a dog this much. One night last week, I was gone and Brian was here to take care of her. He took her outside and wore her out before going in her kennel. When they came inside, she was still pretty hyped up and he told her to just go get in her kennel. She did and Brian fell asleep on the couch without latching the door. In the morning when Brian woke up, she was still in her kennel and had successfully closed the door behind her. We both got a pretty good laugh out of this because she just knows thats where shes supposed to stay at night. She is truly precious and we love her a lot. Right now, she is just chowing down on the new bone that she got today. If I don't take it away from her, it will be gone by dinner time. I'll take new pictures of her soon and post them so you all can see how beautiful she is!!!

This IS the next 4-8 years...

It has been 18 days since the inauguration of our new president. I find myself, daily, sickened by the people's vote. I say that to tell you that I did not vote for Obama and also did not vote for McCain. It is a sad reality that neither candidate was worth voting for. I did vote and I don't consider my vote a waste. In the last election, I voted for Bush. It was my first Presidential voting experience and I was so excited to cast my vote. I was urged to vote for an independent but at that time, I felt like Bush must be better than Kerry. I casted my vote for Bush and thought that I was doing my part. This time, I felt like there was nothing in me that wanted to vote for either of them. Ultimately, I wanted to vote for Ron Paul. Up until the very last days, I still wanted to vote for him, knowing that my ballot would just be filed in the trash can. All this to say...it's not like God doesn't know what He's doing. Let's be honest here...do I really think that God has forgotten about us? No. Do I really think that God made a mistake in the election? No. So, on that note...I find peace. Thank you Lord for always knowing what is best for me and the ones I love. Thank you for taking care of Your people. It will be an interesting 4-8 years (only 4, I hope) but I'm in it for the long-haul. I do not like him (or anyone he's bringing in with him) but I'll support my president...because that's who he is.

I also must comment on a Dr. Phil episode I saw with Ann Coulter and Alan Colmes. I'm not much for watching the politics on TV because it just becomes a wrestling match but, it was interesting to listen to this debate. Ann pointed out that the republicans took this loss very gracefully. We did not see the republicans protesting and throwing a fit. That is quite a difference to what the liberals did when Bush was elected. Like I said...I'm in it for the long-haul. There is nothing I can do to change it...so I will keep Obama in my prayers. It's not like God doesn't know what He's doing.

Here's a thought...

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
---The late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005

Just an update...

So sorry that it's been so long since I've posted on our blog. We enjoyed our trip to Iowa and when we got home, things did not slow down. The weekend after our Iowa trip, we went to Dallas for a "Flannel Christmas Party" with Kristin & Chris. That was a good time and we enjoyed spending time with good friends. The following weekend was Fletcher Christmas. We went to Conroe for the weekend and stayed with my parents. Christmas was at Uncle Craig's house and we spent the entire day there. We missed Paul & Teri and the kids but it was fun to see everyone else. Brian & I got both sets of kids a soft bowling set from babystyle and they really seemed to enjoy it. I'm glad it was such an easy and fun gift! Now I've got a whole year to decide what to get them next Christmas!! Brian got a new Harley t-shirt from Las Vegas and I got 2 new DVD's. The next 2 weeks were Christmas week and New Years week. Both of these weeks Brian had Thursday off and then worked on Friday. It's been weird when he goes back to work after one day off. But the weekend comes quickly and we've enjoyed the freedom to relax at home and have no need for traveling. Christmas day was spent with our friends Chris & Ashley...we enjoyed a HUGE dinner and a raging game of RummiKub!! New Years was also spent with Chris & Ashley...we all wanted to be home-bodies and be lazy. We ate pizza and had yet another game of RummiKub!! We've enjoyed the time together and look forward to the new year! Marsha & the kids are coming over tomorrow for some quality hang out time ;) and my friend Carrie is coming to Austin on Monday!! She's in the middle of a move to Phoenix and decided to make her route go through Austin! I'm excited to spend the evening with her and then the next weekend, we'll be headed to Alamo, TX to have family time with the George side of Brian's family. I'm looking forward to seeing them all! That's all I know for now...just ready for a fresh new year! xoxox

Early Christmas in Iowa

Brian & I went to Iowa December 4-9. We left on Thursday night around 10:15pm and got to Norwalk where his parents live around 12:30pm on Friday afternoon. We drove straight through the night and we were very happy to arrive and get out of the car. Bentley slept the entire trip...she only got out once to go potty. All the other times we let her out, she didn't want anything to do with her food or water and wouldn't go potty. We spent Friday around the house with Craig & Mary and the boys just got ready to go hunting on Saturday morning. They got up early and spent the entire day hunting. Mary, Jenna and I went shopping in the afternoon and when we got home, we all sat around the table and had 3 different soups. Since the boys got 5 deer on Saturday morning, they did not go back out to the same property on Sunday. Brian, Andy (Jenna's husband), and Scott (Craig's friend) sat out in the field on Sunday morning to see if they could get anything else...Scott & Andy both shot another one. That's a total of 7 deer. Sunday afternoon, we had early Christmas with the DeDecker's and thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship. After the family left, Brian & I went to dinner with our friend Lauren. It was great to see her pretty face!! Monday was a pretty leisurely day...Brian sat out in the field in the morning and then had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I went to spend the day with Anna and Scarlet and then we got all of our stuff ready to go and headed back to Austin around 10:30pm on Monday night. We were not in much of a hurry so we took it slow and got home on Tuesday afternoon around 5:30pm. Overall, it was a great trip. Bentley LOVED the snow...she ran around in it, jumped in it, rolled in it...she was in heaven!!! Everyone loved her and gave her tons of attention. She made a lot of new friends!!! Check out the pictures!!