Friday, October 25, 2013

grandma came to visit

After only one day at home, I headed out on the long lonely ride to Sheridan to pick up the boys.
I think they liked being with their Grandma and Papa. 
And they learned a lot. ;)  
Before leaving Sheridan, we got to see my nieces, who I haven't seen since they were Elliott's age! 
The ride home was long. My car needed to get to a mechanic in a bad way, and we had to drive 45mph for over 100 miles. Not only that, the car was vibrating the whole way. It was miserable. Thank goodness my mom is so patient.
The next day we started the fun. 
If you know my mom, you know we have to do projects while she's here. Being that it was so close to Halloween, we decided on Halloween decorations.
We hit up the garage sales, and took all the dolls we could find.
When we got home, we dismantled them. 
Then made them creepy. 
You barely recognize that she's Ariel now, huh? 
What we thought would be simple, ended up requiring some hard work and tools. 
Then we started putting our masterpiece together. 
Dora makes a great human centipede. 
After some paint and a crazy hair-do, it was perfection. 
We didn't have Kruger and Rose yet, but we took their Grandma over to meet them. 
They were still cuddlers. 
And the ice rink opened, so she got to watch Ethan skate some too. 
And then, he started school. 4th grade?!?! 
And Jason got to show off his work. I think she liked it. 
Then there were more doll part projects. 
The bottom head was creepy before we did anything. 
Everyone needs a candle holder like this. 
Then we had to take her to her plane. I loved having her here, and miss her like crazy. I can't wait for her and my dad to come visit next year.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

weekend away, just 2 of us

My Mom and Dad came to Montana for some family reunions in August. We met them in Billings, and they took the boys for the week, to Sheridan. Jason and I went to a Marriage Enrichment weekend at Big Sky. 

The drive itself was heavenly.
And since we were so close, on Friday, we went for a drive to Yellowstone. 
When we got to our class, there was the sweetest surprise.
We have the best friends. 
Breakfast the next morning, was less than satisfying, but we made the most of it. 
And supplemented our sanity with this. 
After a long day of class, we got to take in the area. 
Then we had another 1/2 day of classes, then decided we wanted to see more of Yellowstone.
Neither of us have been there since we were very young, so it was great to go back.
(we were the "selfie" king and queen at Yellowstone) 
Unfortunately, the park was on fire. A lot of the turnouts were closed, and the smoke was terrible. 
Jason is a terrible "selfie" partner. Haha. 
We did get to see some animals though. 
This view was breathtaking. Mostly because I'm terrified of heights. 
This was the view looking back from the road.  
After a very long day of driving, we made it home. 
We definitely need more weekends like this.
Thanks so much to my parents for making it happen.

Monday, October 21, 2013

introducing the newest Guge members

Since forever, we've known and told the boys, as soon as we had our own home, we'd get a dog. Then through a lot of discussion and research, we decided to go with a boxer. Using Facebook, I was fortunate enough to find the PERFECT family who were having a litter at the end of July. It was obviously meant to be. We love Molly and her family, and fell head over heals for her boxers.

While we were on our vacation we got the news that the puppies were on their way. As soon as they were born, Molly paired us with this guy. He's a spittin image of his daddy, who is everything we want in a dog.
And being the biggest at 2lbs at birth and prettiest in the litter, we were ecstatic. 
Can you even stand the cuteness? We couldn't wait to get home to meet him. 
We knew what his name would be before he was born. Marcus Kruger plays for the Blackhawks, and I thought Kruger made an excellent dog name. So it was decided. And by the time we got back home, his jersey was waiting for us (we may have been a little excited). 
Then we met him, and well, to say the least we fell in love. 
The next week, we went back for a visit (Molly was amazing about letting us spend time with him) and my brain was going crazy with the thought that maybe, just maybe, we should get 2 puppies. We decided on a girl, and it didn't take too much to convince Jason that it was a good idea. :) She had been one of the smallest in the litter, weighing only 1/2 of a pound at birth and needed fed by hand for 4 days (again, Molly is amazing and loves these dogs). Molly had been calling her Rose, and it was easy for us to keep that due to Michal Rozsival also playing for the Blackhawks (you know she's going to be a fan too).
Meet their Mom. Honey is a sweetheart. A little timid, but came around and even goes right up to Jason now for him to pet her. 
And Haus is their Dad. He's a very big boxer, but comes with the most playful, fun and loving attitude. Like I said, he's everything we want in a dog. 
So, here they are, Kruger Adams and Rose Madison. Yes, they have middle names too. Jason picked them. The Blackhawks home ice is at the United Center, better known as "The Madhouse on Madison". Madison is the street where the United Center sits, and Adams is the street right behind it. Pretty much perfect, right. :) 
Talk about a happy kid. He's been wanting a dog since he knew how to ask for one. 
We visited them at least once a week. Molly is a blessing, she never acted like we were a bother, or that she was annoyed at us being in her house. Her kids and ours became friends, as did she and her husband become Jason and my friends. It's like we've known each other forever. 
They may have been a little spoiled before they came to our house.
They each had a Wubba, recommended by Aunt Hollie. 
Notice the size difference. You can bet Kruger never missed a meal. 
It was so fun watching them go from brand new to opening their eyes and starting to crawl. 
Rose was such a cuddle bug, and Kruger was more than a handful. 
Ethan and I even made them each a fleece pillow. 
Oh yeah, and we had to order a 2nd jersey. ;)  
They love being together. 
Look at those monster paws and princess paws. This was at just 3 weeks old. 
So there they are, you can bet they are in more pictures from here on out. They do most everything with us.