Thursday, October 30, 2008

Poor Little Guy

Today little Sammy got fixed. I felt terrible for leaving him at the vet's, but I knew he would be in good hands. Everything seems to have gone pretty smoothly. I was happy to go and pick him up after work. He is pretty tired and sore, which is to be expected.

Here is a picture from the other night when he was barking at me.












This is a picture from from last night. Uncas and I thought he looked so cute sleeping on his back on my lap!














Here is a picture of him from tonight. In his favorite place - Mama's lap!
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Seattle Weekend!

This past weekend Uncas and I flew to Seattle to visit my best friend Lisa and her husband Brian and their adorable, cute, and sweet baby Caiden (who happens to be my godson!) We had such a wonderful time. We were able to see some sights, but also spend plenty of time just hanging out and playing lots of fun games! Above we are standing at the market downtown (watch out for the flying fish!) Below Lisa and I (and Caiden tagging along) went to a couple of wineries for some tasting. The guys, joined by L & B's friend Rob went to a brewery tour.
Here is a cute picture of Caiden (I took lots and lots of him) in his new "big boy" car seat! I think he likes it!
Uncas chillin' with his new buddy!
Yet another picture of the two cuties! Caiden and Uncas became fast friends. It was really very cute.

Friday Lisa and Caiden took us to downtown Seattle. We took a tour of the "undergrounds" and walked around afterwards. Of course no trip to Seattle would be complete without a stop to Starbucks!!! Here are Lisa, Caiden and I in downtown Seattle.
Uncas and Sally by the water.
Thursday night and Friday night Lisa and Brian cooked us some wonderful meals. After dinner we played some Wii! It was a lot fun. I am pretty terrible, but I still had a blast trying. Depending on the game you play, you can certainly get a workout in! Check out Uncas's fabulous moves!


Saturday after going on respective tours (wine for the ladies, beer for the men) we met up with another one of Lisa's friends from back in IL who also lives in Seattle. We had some tasty Chicago style pizza. We then headed back to B & L's and played some fun card games. The weekend went by super fast and we had such a good time. Caiden was a little sweetheart and so good the whole time! Thank you so much to Lisa and Brian for letting us crash with you. Hopefully we can see you guys again soon!! Here are more pictures from the whole weekend!
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Monday, October 27, 2008

Open Letter to Grandma and Grandpa

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Thank you so much for watching me while my parents went to Seattle. I had lots and lots of fun. I liked hanging out with Grandpa during day and I liked going for walks and playing fetch with Grandma. It's nice to be home again, although it's a little lonely during the day. But here's the most interesting thing. When I go up the stairs, my mama and daddy get all excited. And they give me lots and lots of treats! What a strange thing! Had I known they were going to be this excited, I would have done it long before. My mama took a video of me going up the stairs. Silly Mama was holding it the wrong way, but you get the idea. Can't wait to see you again soon!

Love,
Sammy

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Uncas's Fishing and Camping Weekend

This weekend Uncas went fishing and camping with his dad in Northern Minnesota. They had much better luck than last time. The weather was a little cool the first couple of days, but they still had a good time. Here are some pictures that Uncas took:

Mr. Uncas at the campsite:
A picture of their picnic table set up:

The boat. I like this picture a lot - it came out very clear.
Lake Toohey

Fish Fry!I had a busy weekend with Sammy. I cleaned, took Sammy on lots of walks, did a lot of baking, hung out with Josh, cleaned up the flower beds and pots outside. Oh - I also did quite a bit of shopping.

Currently Sammy and Uncas are running around the house together. I think Sammy is glad to have his little play buddy home. And you know what? I am too!

We have a short work week - YAY! Because we are going to Seattle this weekend - Double Yay!!! I can't wait to see my little godson Caiden!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Hanging with Friends

On Tuesday night we went to Matt and Janis's house for dinner and to catch up on things. We hadn't seen them for almost 2 months and they live in the same town as us! They have a golden retriever Charlie who is so sweet. Sammy came along and got to "play" with him. They have a little trouble because Charlie is so big and Sammy is so little. It was really funny. Here are some pictures that I took that night.

Uncas left this morning to go fishing and camping for the weekend with his dad. They are going to northern MN and the last time they did this two years ago, their boat trailer broke, they got caught in a snow storm and never did get to go fishing. Let's hope this year they have better luck. Sammy and I are going to hang out at home and get some cleaning done inside and perhaps some yard work done outside. Oh - and lots of cuddling on the couch while I catch up on TV watching!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Best Husband Ever and Saffron's First Party

This weekend Sammy and I drove down to WI to a "Meet Saffron" open house at my brother's. Uncas opted to stay home, as he will be gone the next couple of weekends. I figured he would sleep in late, maybe go fishing, and most likely play on his computer a lot! Boy was I wrong! Instead of being a lazy bum, he painted our kitchen! I have been wanting to do this and we were originally going to do it last weekend, but other things came up. When I came home, Uncas met Sammy and I at the car. He told me to go inside and to see the little surprise that he got for me this weekend, I thought it was something to eat! I was quite surprised to see the kitchen completely painted. The pictures below don't do it justice, but it looks unbelievable and so beautiful!!! And he also bought me flowers! BEST HUSBAND EVER!!!!



A cute picture of the man of my dreams!
On to the rest of the weekend. Little Saffron had her first party! Because many of our family live in IL, my mom thought it would be fun to have a "Meet Saffron" party. Derek and Jeanna loved the idea and decided to make it an open house and they invited their friends as well as family. Little Saffron was the cutest little guest of honor and so very good. I tried to get as many pictures as possible of people holding her. You can see my pictures from the day here. My mom also took some pictures. You can see them here. You will notice in my mom's picture, another baby at the party. That was my brother's co-worker's son. He was born the same day, an hour after Saffron. He was almost 3 lbs bigger than her at birth. They were really cute together! Sammy of course had a blast hanging out with his cousins Tina and Snoopy. He ran and played all day long. He is quite the tired puppy! He also couldn't get enough of little Saffron, he wanted to lick her legs, fingers, cheeks, nose, etc. He got so excited whenever he saw her! Here is a picture of happy baby Saffron.

And finally - a big huge thank you to my bestest friend Lisa! I made cupcakes for the party and the frosting recipe that I tried to use came out terrible! I called her frantically for the frosting recipe that she uses (from her sister Karla) and the results were amazing!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Pretty Fall Weekend

Tomorrow I have my first conference that I am Program Assistant. That is normally my job title, but I do very different work than the two other Program Assistants in my department. Due to poor scheduling in our department by management, the two other PA's have a crazy conference schedule - there are 3 Program Managers that do conferences, but only two PA's to support them. Not really realizing until the middle of August that they were in trouble, they asked me to help out. All while doing my regular job responsibilities. It's been a fun couple of months to say the least. I am at the point where I am just trying to do everything that I can, to the best of my ability. I am not worrying about things that I can't control. But I know that I will be tired after the next couple of days, so I thought I should get this blog post out now.

Earlier this week, Uncas worked from home on Tuesday. Here is a picture of his "home office" set-up and his assistant.
I have also been trying to teach Sammy to climb our stairs. I know they must seem very steep and daunting to him. So far, he can only make it up a couple of steps and that's with some help (a red pillow at the bottom step).
Yesterday it was a beautiful day in the Twin Cities. Sunny, warm, cool breeze - a perfect fall day. We decided to take Sammy for a long walk at a nearby park reserve. As you can see, Sammy was not happy about it at all:
Uncas took this picture while we were walking. Most of the leaves haven't started turning yet, but it was still really pretty and peaceful.
We ran across a tiny, tiny garter snake.

Sammy sitting for me.
Me and my baby!
I think he is look for a treat or something here.My two cuties!

Uncas and I both saw this tree at the same time. We thought it looked so perfect!

We figured that we walked/hiked for about 4 miles. Sammy was pretty tired out, but he had a great time. We picked the right day to go, because today is cool and rainy. Tonight I have plans to see Kathy Griffin live. She is a comedian who I find very, very funny. I am going with Josh and Jaron, so it should be fun.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 73rd birthday! I am bummed that I won't be able to see him this weekend, but next weekend I will be in town, so we can celebrate then and eat some birthday pie or cake or cookies (or a combination of all three). I hope you have a great day dad!!!

Picture of my dad with his friend Dick from this summer. My dad is the one on the right.

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