Dinner for two

It's been such a chill weekend. 

Just me, my hubby, and a rambunctious little pup.

I did some reading, hubby did some football watching, and the pup did some sleeping:)

here's the my view from the floor with my blanket and book.

 Lazy afternoon for Alexio.

 In the evening, we found ourselves grilling steaks in the backyard, enjoying the gorgeous warm October wheather, and watching the trees turn into fall colors.

 Can I brag for a second about Ryan's steaks? 

They're the best I have EVER had.

Even better than those you find in steak houses-we tried MANY of them.

He's just got some talent with his flavoring and grilling. 

OOoooh, baby...this family really really likes grilled red meat.

With a few different sides of veggies, fruit, and wheat rolls, our weekend meals with each other are so yummy...courtesy of my hubs;)

Besides some light baking, cleaning, and snuggling, our weekend has been really relaxing and chill.

I looooove that! 

Ryan and I are finding ourselves with more time together and it's been amazing how refreshed we feel and re energized for the week ahead.

On Sundays, i seem to find myself reminscing over the weekend, and life when my day doesn't start at 4:30 AM. 

But then I live my week, and happily welcome the next weekend...

it's just a going cycle:)

Here's to October! 

I have so many plans of fall activities and fall baking and cooking recipes. 

So pumped that it's fall and it's so warm and beautiful out! 

Alexio Brandenberger - Graduate of 2012

Yep, you read that correctly.

My puppy boy graduated from training school.

He's a different dog after going to school the last 6 weeks...it's incredible.

Walks are amazing, as this little one can keep up for 3 or 4 miles each walk...sometimes, both morning and night! Ryan and I are both seeing our dream dog coming out of Alexio...active, spunky, and very mischievous! (sometimes more than we'd like! )

He's still chewing everything he can get his little teeth on, but hopefully for not too much longer-I started noticing his baby teeth wiggling back and forth and his big teeth are coming in!(I had no idea dogs lost teeth like humans do!)

But right now, he's got all these little gaps on his gums from his cute little missing teeth. The thing is, i don't know where they all go...so hopefully he either swallowed them or lost them outside, because the thought of teeny little teeth just laying around the house grosses me out!

 Each dog had to perform what they can do, individually.

Alexio knows ALL his commands really well when he's training with me or in class, but during graduation when he has to perform to impress?

what's that i smell?

are they all looking at me?

i wanna smell their butts.

squirrel!

daddy's over there.

where is that pretty girl that i played with?

yeah, he pretty much turned into a dunce during his performance and an ADHD one at that...

Alexio is VERY popular with the ladies at training school and in our neighborhood. Not sure why he always loves the girl dogs that are double or triple his size, but those are the gals that adoooore him.

he's also pretty popular with the owners, which is funny because they don't see his naughty hyper active side...everyone things he's so refined and calm.

This here is Lucy Raveling and Pency playing with Alexio. They both wanted a piece of him.

 Here's Daisy, Alexio's favorite neighborhood walking dog...she always walks by our house.

 And i don't know this beautiful ones name, but Alexio tried to play with him and he stood there all mature and superior...wow...maybe one day alexio will be that cool.;)

 And of course, after every graduation, you've gotta celebrate with your family! 

So we went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and Alexio was beyond thrilled to have a whole cone to himself.

Anywhoos, after this seemingly obsessive puppy crazy post, I'll close.

Have a great rest of the week!

Now go hug a puppy.

a weekend with my boy.

I like weekends when it's slow, 

relaxing,

and just us.

This weekend, we took Alexio out to the country to walk...no leash, no choke collar, just running along on the dirt road.

He has a blast.

The pics of Ryan and Alexio make me smile. 

Ryan grew up in the country in the middle of fields, and he has fond memories of walking these kind of dirt roads with his dogs following along...

de ja vu for him, I guess;)

It was new for me, my first reaction toward Alexio being off a leash was, 

"Ryan!!! He's gonna run away!!!!!!!!" 

and 

"He's going to get squashed by a car!!!" 

Turns out in the country, there really isn't much to worry about.

And we found out what a great dog Alexio is becoming...He likes to stay close, and he's actually very protective of me! (found this out when a giant black dog came running from his farm, wanting to play and jump on me.)

Saturday was spent going on another long walk with them (we are eventually going to train him to run with us), and then doing odd little things around the house. Alexio came with me on a trip to the pharmacy to fill a prescription and waited patiently for the man at the window to give us the meds.

One of my favorite things to do on the weekends or after a stressful day at work, is bake...

and then watch people it my food.

lol.

i enjoy the look on my husband's face when he takes a bite out of something sweet.

That's really why I bake...

I'm not much of a sweet tooth, sometimes I'll eat it, but mostly, i bake for my boys:)

They always love it, so as long as they do, i'll keep baking:)

Here is one of our FAVORITES...individual sized monkey bread bites.

and these here are a favorite of many of the boys that are in our home a lot: 

White chocolate Kit Kat Blondies.

yum, yum.

Here's to a grand 3 1/2 day weekend! Loving my time with my husband and puppy:)

Storm Lake Homecoming

One thing I can't get over about living in such a small town is how they celebrate events...homecoming seems to be as big a deal here as the superbowl.

the entire town is a part of it, the kids get out of school early, and the whole town has a part of the parade and game. 

The kids in town are so pumped on homecoming day as they all come out with their green hair, Tornado tattoos, and beads that show their school spirit.

Never have i ever been a part of such a spirited town as storm lake.

 Ryan and I went out to support the BVU float that held very enthusiastic 4th graders and two teachers that always seem to have a fun approach to teaching and activities.

I know this, because our 9 year old comes home each day from his class at school knowing what he learned from science, math, social studies, and whatever else they seem to be learning about that day. 

He came back from the parade wanting green hair and tattoes.

LOL.

apple orchard without the picking of apples

First grade welcomed fall this year with a trip to the coolest apple orchard ever.

So much to do there, so many sweet kiddos, and the perfect beautiful day to go to the apple orchard:)

week day pains

Ya'll ever have those weeks that you are just plain tired and all the rest you get doesn't seem to suffice? 

It's one of those weeks.

But it hasn't been a bad one at all, just tiring.

I like busy and I like structure.

But once I hit about 9pm, it's like my body shuts down and is screaming for bed.

such as this pic above.

Now, I never just plan to fall asleep on the floor.

But I was baking, and Alexio just happen to be nestled in a little ball right at that very spot between the kitchen and dining room, so I sat beside him and started snuggling.

Sometime in the 30 minutes of the White Kit Kat Blondies baking in the oven, I fell asleep while petting Alexio and he climbed into my lap, snuggling between my legs. 

Ryan snapped a pic and then woke me up when the timer for the baking treats went off.

whew!

Even when I'm exhausted at the end of the day, I feel accomplished climbing into bed and knowing that I did so much in the day.

I like feeling productive and being tired and finally hitting the sheets at the end of the day is such a reward.

so thankful for this week.

morning glory, hallelujah.

I like those days that I can lounge in my pajamas for as long as I want.

And even though I can't seem to sleep in because my body has an internal early alarm clock, my most favorite weekend thing to do is to bring my coffee, breakfast, and laptop to bed with him and stay in bed as long as I want.

but...Ever since we got our foster son and puppy, this beautiful weekend image, rarely happens.

This morning with no kids in the house,

I made my coffee and happily brought it back to bed with me, ignoring Alexio's whine to get our of his crate. (naw, i'm not cruel, i just know my puppy that well. he hears anyone awake and he thinks he needs to be playing with that person ASAP. he calmed himself down after a couple minutes.)

I stayed in bed til 9:30 watching four episodes of Beverly HIlls Nannies and loved snuggling down in my blanket and pillows and wiggling my toes around in the sheets.

Coffee is best on Saturday morning.

I like taking my time drinking it. 

and crunching down on my vanilla almond special k cereal with a banana....yum.

and all in bed!

it's the best. 

seriously.

Went on a really long walk with Alexio and Ryan...he's been trained to drink from the water fountain...so if i were ya'll, i wouldn't ever put my lips on the water fountain in the park. 

nope.

don't do it.

 We were pretty pumped to explore this area in the Discovery Center of Little Storm Lake...

Oddly enough, it made me feel at home...like a tiny bit of the marsh in South Carolina...

until you look out yonder and you see the fields and windmills in the distance.

I tried not to look too far out.

 Now this thing was a blast to visit.

I was that kid that loved everything related to forts.

tree forts, forts in my closet, forts made with blankets and chairs, forts under tables. 

and this watch tower really made me feel like a kid wanting to hide out in in with a sling shots and some shiny pebbles.

Who would have thought that this would be right across the street from our street! it's completely hidden by a woody area with paths in it.

The rest of the day was spent eating a big greasy cheesy burrito at a mexican restaruant we hadn't been to in like a year (so it was FABULOUS), grocery shopping (together! we never get to do that!), and watching football in the living.

oh and it's the first official day that Alexio can join us in the living room.

He's beyond excited.

He's always on close surveillance to make sure he isn't chewing anything he shouldn't.

it was a treat of a day, gettng to spend some one on one time with ryan and alexio.

wish we had  more days like today.