Otis

Otis is a big American Bulldog. As you can see, 
Scott says I overfeed him....
(In my defense- I really try not too because dog food
is expensive.  But he also has lots of energy and likes
to chew on EVERYTHING. -magnets, toys, card board
boxes, pumpkins, binkys, sippy cups, my fruit trees...you get the idea.
I am just trying to give him something productive to chew on,
hence the dog food..)
(also, this isn't a flattering shot- they say the camera adds 10 lbs.) :)

He is also not suppose to be on the furniture because
he is dirty and hairy. That is why we have the couch
covers and the spikey mat to keep him off.  But I still
catch him making himself comfortable on whatever
he can find..  So you might ask why I put up with it?

Because Judd loves him....
He really is a big sweethart. (really big).
He just wants to be loved and be a part of the family.
He is good company and great home protection.


Otis is really patient with Judd and lets him climb
all over him.
(Notice the paper that Otis is eating-I'm sure it is important)

  Judd is learning good lessons too. He is learning
to be soft and to not hit.

They are just good buddies.

Judd also tastes a lot of the stuff that Otis
chews on to see what the big deal is...
I wish this picture wasn't blurry- he has his little
tongue out and everything. :)
(for the record, no I didn't let him chew on Otis' bone)

He is even learning to share with Foxy.  Or maybe
it's the other way around and Foxy is learning to share
with him. :)  I came in and Judd was feeding her one
tiny piece of dog food at a time. So what do you
do besides just enjoy it?

House Projects

You know how it is when you have all these good ideas and plans and to actually get them done is a miracle.... Well here are a few that we have been working on.

This was the Master Bathroom in all its glory. There
was this ancient vanity, old linoleum, and rusty shower doors,

and that was about it.

It is really hard to get good pictures.  We replaced
the floor and I painted the shower doors. (I didn't even know you
 could do that but its amazing what you can find at a hardware store.)
I made the curtains (you can barely see them but
I promise they are really cool.)

The lights I found at the thrift store and painted
it with the same stuff I did the shower doors.
(you can see me trying to take a picture...)

The sink and vanity we bought at Home Depot and the mirror
 and rug we found at TJ Maxx.

This was our deck before....

This is the deck after... We refinished it with some
thick, textured paint like stuff called Deck Restore.
We also redid the railing to match the cedar fence we put up.

This is the old fence.
 (This is early Spring so my grass looks pretty sickly
but it got better as it warmed up.)

I should have gotten a better after picture of the fence
but you get the idea.  (And since projects take
so long to do, now my tree looks sickly because all
the leaves are falling off.  Oh well, now its done.)

This is just a little project I did.  My sister gave me this
rocking chair and the seat gave out.

So I had my uncles cut me out a piece of wood that
fit the seat, I cut up an old foam camping mat, and
recovered it all with some material. 

Our Little Monkey

Judd hasn't quite figured out the concept of walking
but that doesn't keep him from getting into everything.
If it looks like it can be climbed on or in- he has to try.

Nothing is safe any more.  He pulls it out of the drawer
and gives it to Otis to chew on. The other day I found
my shoe in the toilet (which had been duct taped shut).

I am going to have to come up with a better plan
because just putting it on a higher shelf doesn't
seem to be working. He has also figured out how
to go through the dog door. So if I can't find him
he is either outside with the dogs or stuck
somewhere on a shelf....

Needless to say, we thought he would make a perfect monkey
for Halloween. (We had toyed with the idea of dressing him
up like Donald Trump but Judd had just got a haircut...)

Such a cute little monkey....

Love you, monkey boy. :)

Fall Fun

We have been busy trying to get the cabin ready for winter.
There were a couple of big trees that were leaning over
the roof that we had to take out.  Between Jose, Kerry, and
Scott they came down with no problems.

Scott had to climb clear up into the tree so they could
get a rope around it. It doesn't seem very tall but
he was way up there. 

This picture cracked me up. They were asking him
about his water tank. :)

Lacy took Scott to Garth Brooks at the Wynn in Las Vegas.
He was so excited.  He said it was like he was a kid at Christmas.
This was definitely something from his bucket list.
I am so glad he got to go. Thanks Aunt Lacy!

Judd turned 1 in August.
I can't believe he is that old already.

Sweet little boy. :)
He didn't know quite what was going on.
But it was fun!

I am trying to decorate for the holiday/seasons a little better.
These ghosts were so fun. Maybe I went overboard with my
friendly ghost family when I made one of me, Judd, and Scott. :)

Scott is very patient with me.  He came home the other day (and
I had tons of other things I could be doing and the kitchen looks
like a tornado took out Roberts Crafts) and he was like "Oh...
 you're making MORE ghosts...That's nice..Where are you going
 to put these...?" (I think he was afraid that our house would soon
 look like Casper's the friendly ghost's family reunion.) Luckily for him,
these were for Star's house. I made one for each member of her family.
I think they turned out so cute. Rain and Mesa slept with them.  :)

Judd likes going to see the horses.

It's also football season so we have spent lots
of time down at the football field.

We love our Daddy!

Family Pictures

Judd turned one in August so I decided it was time for some family pictures. He has the cutest smile in the world and do you think he would smile for us?.... No. I was so frustrated. I had looked forward to this for weeks and planned and stressed. They still turned out cute,- just not how I had envisioned the whole thing going. I guess that is a lesson in motherhood to me. Things most likely won't go how you plan them out in your head, but they can still turn out good. 

This is one of the few smiles we got.

I love our sweet little family!