Rigby

Meet Rigby. He is a mini-Schnauzer. Black, Male, 2 1/2 pounds. Nothing but cuteness!

I have been telling Cody we need a puppy for a little while now. I heard from a friend that a woman had mini-Schnauzer puppies and thought I better jump on that chance! I had 2 Schnauzers growing up and I love them and I knew I wanted a Schnauzer.

We went to pick him up on Friday, 9/11. He was 6 weeks old that day.
We didn't want a black dog, we wanted salt-n-pepper. We also wanted a female. Here's how that changed:
We went to the breeder's house and 4 cute little puppies came running down the hall to greet us. 2 of the puppies took one look at the kids and took off the other direction. They spent the entire time sleeping under the dining room table. The other 2 were a s-n-p female and this little black male, who was far smaller than the other puppies (the breeder thinks he will be more of a "toy" sized, not more than 10 pounds or so). Of course the kids were elated and very boisterous and loud around the puppies. The female seemed pretty trepidatious around them, but the little black male didn't seem scared at all. Finn sat down and he just went right up to him and jumped on his lap, then he did the same with Burgundy. Making the choice pretty obvious. We hung out for about a half-hour and that little black puppy just wanted to play with the kids. I kept trying to get the female to come over but she would come to me but then ran back to snuggle with the breeder when the kids came to pet her.

So, the breeder saw what was happening and said she felt bad because another lady had called saying she wanted that little black puppy. She said she would call her to see. The woman said she still wanted it. So the breeder was torn and didn't know what to do. She kept asking her husband and he said he thought it was pretty obvious. Our little Rigby wanted to come home with us! (not to mention the fact that we were physically there, with money in hand)

So she decided we needed to take him home, which we are so grateful for! She called me later that day to say she told the other lady what had happened and she understood, and that she would take the black female. Then another lady who had bought a puppy a day earlier called and said she couldn't stop thinking about the tiny black puppy and she wanted him too! When told he was sold, she said, well ok I'll take the other black one then. So now the poor breeder has some decision making to do! But I am certainly glad we went when we did!

So far, Rigby is a GREAT dog! He is very playful with the kids, and goes potty outside very well. The first 2 nights I put him in bed with me and he was very cuddly and woke me up every 3 hours by nibbling on my ear to tell me he had to go out. Tonight, I think we will try to put him in the kitchen in the puppy playpen with his little house and a piddle-pad. We'll see how that goes! I hope he doesn't get too lonely. Hopefully he is a little more accustomed to the house. I didn't want to throw him out there to start because I knew he was used to sleeping with his little brothers and sisters and he would be lonely. So hopefully he can adjust now.

Anyway, he is just a little bundle of cuteness and we are so glad we got him! Hopefully you can meet him soon!

PS - extra thanks go out to Jim & Paula for lending us all their puppy gear - that has been a HUGE help! (playpen, bed, carrier), to Cody for acquiescing to getting a puppy and for being so cute and cuddly with him, and to my mom & dad. Mainly, for raising me to be an animal lover and showing me how much fun a well-trained dog can be. My mom is GREAT with dogs and has a long history of really good dogs. She has been and will continue to be invaluable in giving advice and training tips! And thanks for giving me a pep-talk the morning we got him! (as I've said before, when you're a child and you want a puppy, it's pretty much a matter of "PLEEAASSSE!!". When you're a parent, you have a few more things to think of: time, money, training, etc.) So even though I knew I really wanted one, I was glad to have her tell me how it's a good time right now and how great it would be for my kids to have a puppy! I'm so glad we got Rigby!

Ketchup

So we've been busy as ever this summer. With a little one who now does everything she can to keep up with her big brother, we have been running to keep up with them both! Cody has had another busy summer as well. So here is our summer in pictures:

The day before my birthday we went out on Grampa's boat. We all had a great time. Finn encouraged everyone to get into the COLD water. The next day, for my birthday, we went to the RV dealership to browse and to dream, and then went out to dinner with a group of friends and then hung out for a little while. It was a lot of fun and since it basically lasted for 2 days, it was the best birthday I've had in a while!

We have a garden again this year, and again we have way more produce than we can consume! This is our first harvest.
Later that month, Isabel, Max & Luke were in town, and they, Toni & kids, Jim & Paula, and Finn, Indi and I went to Pioneer Village/This is the Place monument.

Burgundy loved the baby goats and lambs!

During that visit, Max & Luke got to hang out at our house for a day. Finn loved to play with his older cousins! We hope to be able to make a trip down to Arizona later this year... we'll see how it all works out!
Finn & Burgundy love to help out in the garden. Finn likes looking for ladybugs and Burgundy likes to chase and grab grasshoppers.

We bought a new "family" tent with two rooms, in the hopes that in the coming summers we can get out there a little more than we have in years past.
The kids took swimming lessons. This year, Finn was in a class by himself (without me) and he did so well. He loved it, and I loved being able to sneak peeks at him and see how well he was doing! Burgundy and I took the Mommy & Me class which she of course loved! I have a couple of little water babies! After the first couple of days, we found our routine, and after class, we would go directly to the showers to claim the big stall, then I would go to the locker to get our stuff. I came back to this darling scene: the kids hugging in the warm water so they could both warm up! (I just had to bring a camera and get a picture of this, I about cried the first day I saw them doing this)
Cody went on his annual birthday camping trip the first weekend of August and luckily didn't see any bears. The next weekend we were going to go camping, but the weather turned chilly. We decided to take a road trip to Montana instead! The kids did great! They were great in the car and really had a good time.

Here we are at Aunt Abbi's house. We went for dinner the last day of our visit.

It was super-duper cute to watch Finn & Burgundy play with cousin Lily. Lily is 3 months younger than Burgundy. Last time, Indi wasn't quite sure what to think of Lily, but they got along swimmingly this time!

We finally got around to making some salsa, Cody's own fire-roasted recipe. I even canned it up and so we have about 7 jars to last us through the winter. I bought a new canner which is super easy and so I am thinking I might make another batch of salsa and possibly try to jar up our peaches once they are ripe!
We finally got to go camping and try out our new tent the last weekend of August. you can read all about that excursion in my previous post, but all in all it was great to get out there and we definitely hope to try and go once more before the summer is over.
I just had to put this on here. We have been meandering towards potty-training with Burgundy. She is now to the point where she will tell me when she is pooping which is a step in the right direction! We have had a few mishaps in the bathtub, this picture was taken because Finn got out saying he needed to go, then Burgundy said she had to go as well. So there they sat. And they were both successful! She still hasn't pee-peed on the potty yet, she seems to be tackling the harder stuff first!
Just this past week we went to the zoo for the first time this summer. Seems like we went a dozen times last summer. Burgundy was able to walk instead of just being pushed in the stroller and we all had a great time.

So that's it up to this point! Pretty busy it seems. Finn has been playing soccer for 3 weeks and next week his games start. I am the assistant coach for his team and we have both been having a fun time with that. I wasn't sure how he would take to it but I just keep trying to sign him up for things just to see how he does and what he likes. I really enjoy being able to participate in that with him. He has soccer Tuesdays & Thursdays through September. He also starts pre-school next Wednesday and will be going Monday, Wednesday & Friday afternoons. So it seems like we will be pretty busy from now on! His school is in the afternoon this year, right during Burgundy's nap time. I guess it is my last year to be able to sleep in. So hopefully that will be great - although I don't know what I will do with myself for those few hours! Maybe get some projects done that have been calling my name all summer!

Anyway, I will be posting some pictures of soccer soon and when my friend Dave came to visit a few weeks ago (which was a lot of fun too!) he was generous enough to do a family photo shoot for us! So when I get those pictures I will be posting those as well!

Thanks for reading and catching up with us. We hope you all had a fabulous summer as well. See you in the fall!