Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents! 37 years ago they were saying their vows and beginning their lives together. In this day and age where 50% of Americans get divorced, I'm so lucky that mine have chosen to live out their lives together. It's definitely something we hold as a high priority in our family and I'm glad I married someone whose parents taught them the same virtue as well!

Play Date

Our girls definitely like to take advantage of the nice weather that we're having by spending their time outside. Sometimes, they even get to have "play dates" with their cousin Tally (Derek's parents black lab).

Here's the 3 loungers chillaxing in the shade after chasing balls and playing for a while....

Bailey's New Toy

Bailey wanted to add to moms blogging, so this post is courtesy of Bailey herself.

On Sunday afternoon, I was playing in the yard with sissy when I spotted it. MY NEW TOY! Sissy and I immediately began to play together with it and we were in heaven! It was super fun because it squeaked just like my other toys and moved on its own. Mom must have already put the battery in for us and threw it out here when we weren’t looking. After we were playing for a bit, mom came out and said that we were going to get treats and go in the car, but I was too excited to care. Sissy went in, but I wanted to show mom how happy I was playing with my new toy and making it squeak. Then, all of the sudden, she ran down the stairs at me and wanted to play chase. I wasn’t going to let her have my new toy so I played along too! She definitely got really mad though and yelled at me to drop it with this fierce look in her eyes so I did because I’m a good girl. My new toy even squeaked for mommy when she picked it up! My Grandma called me into the house so that mommy could play with the toy too. I watched her though as she took my new toy outside of the yard and set it in a bush. This made me sad and I pouted all night. I don’t know why mommy would get me the best toy in the world and then take it away. Oh well… it was fun while it lasted!

In case you didn’t figure it out, click here to see what Bailey’s “new toy” was. Fun times.

Office Fun

Where I work, pranks pretty much happen often. It makes my job fun and it definitely makes for an enjoyable, relaxed atmosphere.

Exhibit A is our latest prank on another manager completed last Friday -
Yes, that would be a fort constructed by a few team members to encircle our co-workers desk. It even comes with a doorknocker, windows and a fireplace drawn inside.

This is why I love my job.

Apple Fritters Anyone?

I had been told by some friends from work that the best apple picking around is at Vaughn Orchard, in Weston Missouri. It's a little family orchard with tons for little kids to do and the best apple fritters around. We ventured down there this past weekend to enjoy some fresh country air and definitely was glad we made the trip. Although the apples on the trees were sparse, the apple fritters and apple cider slush were AMAZING!! It was a nice, relaxing getaway from the city and we did end up finding about 15-20 quality apples while there!

Sorry, it's so small that there isn't a website, but if you click here, you can find the address and phone number! And if you have a fear of bees, this might not be for you. This was apparently "bee heaven" because of the mass amounts of rotting apples on the ground!!

Birthday Burgers

Each year, for the girls birthdays, Bailey gets to indulge in a birthday cake from Land of Paws and Lacy gets a cheeseburger from McDonalds. Obviously we get enough for both girls to enjoy each birthday.

Well this past Saturday, our first born turned 7 years old! The technical age for a dog to be considered 'senior'. I think I'm definitely in denial about that, however, as this particular lab is going to live to be 35 years old. Since she is our snuggle-bug, she received a lot of loving this weekend and happy birthday paw rubs.

Then on to the annual burger-fest where she inhales an entire cheeseburger from McDonalds in 2 seconds. Bailey, on the other hand, likes to daintily savor every bite of hers.

Fab Lab Reunion

This post should have been up about 3 weeks ago, but I forgot my camera so I had to wait for others to email pictures out!

For Bailey's 2-year birthday, she met all her brothers and sisters at the Shawnee Mission Dog Park to celebrate! I'm not sure if I've ever posted, but Bailey and her 7 brothers and 1 sister were left on the plaza in a box overnight to be rescued by the KC Humane Society. The families of this liter all stay in touch and send pictures/updates once and a while. It's definitely fun to hear how the other "fab labs" are doing and what they have been up to. I think all but one of the pups showed up to enjoy in the reunion and wonderful cake that another mother provided!

I have to brag on my little angel though as she was the only one who swam! Some of her brothers would let their toes get wet, but some wouldn't even come within feet of the water! The picture on the right (below) is most of her brothers and sisters. You can see that she definitely is the smallest out of the liter!

Pooch Plunge

Around Labor Day each year, many of the area pools keep their pools open for a day extra so that the cities dogs can enjoy a swim of their own. We've tried a few of these in the past and the girls absolutely love them.

This year, we decided to check out the "Pooch Plunge" at Tomahawk Creek in Overland Park on Tuesday. Needless to say, the girls swam their hearts out and are still extremely tired from all the fun.

Here's Lacy swimming back to shore as Bailey enters the screen to the left -


And here is Bailey playing with 2 different balls -

Family Weekend

Saturday was the first KU football home game and we couldn't have asked for better weather. With a small breeze, the sun out and the heat to a minimum, it was the most perfect setting for a football game. Even though I still don't understand everything about football, I definitely still enjoy tailgating and the game with friends and family.

We celebrated the afternoon with Derek's family by eating lunch at Free State! Then, we enjoyed the game by sitting in their new, shaded-side seats! On the way back to the car after the game, we snapped this great picture of the 4 Jayhawks in front of the Campanile...



On Sunday, the family festivities continued. My side of the family gathered at my parents house for some delicious dinner and pumpkin pie (per Derek's request..... and I think he ate an entire pie!). Because the great weather continued, we were all able to enjoy eating outside on the patio. My cousin Brandon and his 2-year old daughter, Reyna, were even able to be with us since they are in town!

Thanks to both families for the wonderful food and together time over the holiday weekend!

New Basement Carpet

Now that our little pup is no longer a carpet-chewing monster, we decided to get new basement carpet! The previous carpet was this old, flat, stained, ripped stuff pictured to the left. The only nice thing about it was that when you spilled, you couldn't tell at all since it had a HUGE variety of colors mixed in.

Derek and I decided to move furniture ourselves to save some mula. My hands are STILL sore from lifting some of our bigger pieces. To the right is what the basement storage area looked like Tuesday while it was being installed.



And here's the new carpet that is soft, plush and great looking. It still smells brand new and doesn't have a single dog hair on it. You can bet the dogs aren't allowed down there during the day! Definitely a huge upgrade from our old stuff and we are excited at how much better our basement looks overall!

One relaxing weekend

My amazing husband surprised me with a plane ticket to Dallas a while back to see my other half, Michelle. We spent hours at the pool, shopping and bar-hopping and it was a much-needed relaxing weekend. Derek and I are obviously going through a tremendously stressful time in our life and this was such a sweet surprise.

For those of you who don't know her, Michelle is one crazy, random girl who always is in a good mood. We have the same personality and likes/dislikes and it definitely ends up to be a good time when we're together. Except for my cat-allergy attack where my eyes were BRIGHT red, I had so much fun with Michelle and her sister Laura and am thankful we've been friends for 5 years now.

There are WAY too many stories from last Saturday night, but the pictures below show how much fun we had around Dallas. We started out the night with Sushi at this great restaurant called Kenichi and then bar-hopped all night ending with some Romanians and burgers.