Catching Up: Porter turns 1!

Now that porter's second birthday just passed, I'm finally getting around to writing about his first birthday.
Not that there;'s much to write about.  It's not like I'm one of those crazy people who throws parties for their pets.  We didn't do anything but I did take some pictures to mark the day.

Oakley and Porter when he was 8 weeks and at 1 year.  They've switched!

Catching Up: We finally got a fence

One of the reasons we wanted a house was so that we would no longer have to escort our dogs outside to go to the bathroom.  It's kind of lame.  Especially when it's raining, snowing, freezing, and early in the morning when, you know, you don't have clothes on.  Also the idea of being able to just kick the dogs outside and let them run around and entertain themselves when they're being rambunctious was heavenly.

Fast forward to buying a house, it was almost perfect.  Almost.  There was even a great little park outside past our yard for the neighborhood to share.  Problem with this shared park is that there is an ordinance that there are to be no fences to be built around the park.  NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

When we first looked at the house we met a neighbor and asked him if we were allowed to build a fence, he said it wasn't allowed but that they had discussed changing that at some of the homeowners association meetings.  So we had hope.

We had been in our house for about a year and we were SO over this no fence business.  Especially with Porter puppy who was quite a handful in the potty-training department.  So we went through the process of writing to the HOA and filling out the required paperwork, then we waited.  And waited.  Finally, we got a letter in the mail.  We were approved!

(Am I the only one who always hears the Target lady's voice when someone says "Approved!"?)

Anyway, we were underway.  We bought our fence at Lowe's and with the most generous help of our friends Chris Heinz and Josh Thomas it was built in no time.  Thanks guys!

Here is Chris and Leah's son Owen standing in a hole for one of the posts.

Here it is finished, a nice black aluminum fence so it still feels open.  Looking at this picture it kind of looks like a doggy prison, but really it's nice.  Promise.

Catching up: We got a new kitty. A.K.A. why you should avoid the cats for adoption center at PetSmart if you're not looking for a cat!

Mistake #1: Walking by the adoption center in PetSmart

Mistake #2: Looking at the kittens.  I fell in love with her eyes and coloring immediately

Mistake #3: Chris let me hold her.  She loves being held and is super purry.  Our cat Sophie does NOT like to be held.

Mistake #4: After we got home, sans kitty, Chris let me go back

Mistake #5: Chris said she could be an early birthday present.

We got her.  Her name is Nora.  We love her.  She is super cute, small, and sweet.  She is also a TALKER! She meows all the time.  She loves Sophie (the feeling is not reciprocated) as well as the dogs, she plays with the boys and cleans their faces, in fact I think she thinks she is a dog.  Ultimately we both agree we probably shouldn't have added another pet to the household (we are definitely done with pets for a while!) four is our max. MAX.  But she is a really sweet and entertaining addition to the family.  

The next addition to our family will be of the human variety.  Not pregnant yet but we stopped trying to not get pregnant in August.

Catching up: Chris gets a new truck

It was sad to say goodbye to the jeep, but Chris has wanted a truck for a long time, and with two big dogs and looking to start a family soon, we really needed the extra space.  We got a 2006 Toyota Tundra in February 2012 - an early birthday present.  And he friggin' loves it.

Catchinp up: Porter's first Christmas

 It is hard to get a 9 week old puppy to pose for a picture

 Not happening

 

 He doesn't hold still for long

But he's pretty cute

Catching up: Porter comes home!

We brought Porter home mid December 2011 at 7 weeks old (the litter was just getting so big the breeder, Karen, said we could take him a little early.

 Around 4 weeks old here

 Meeting big brother Oakley for the first time

 Sleepy puppy

 His favorite spot then and still now is the spot in front of the front door

Starting the Catch-Up: We bought a house!

I remember it, we had been house shopping for a few weeks.  It was Columbus day.  Monday, October 10, 2011.  Because of the "holiday" we had the day off. Chris decided to go hunting and I invited my mom (since that is also her birthday) to come look at a few houses with me. The first two that my realtor wanted us to see were totally lame.  I had seen the third one online and I just knew it was going to be good.  I had a feeling.  When we pulled into the neighborhood I immediately liked it.  It is so cute, it is a little older but very well-kept with beautiful large trees in all the yards and a small park in the middle of the houses to share.

When we pulled up I saw the beautiful large tree in the front yard and then...the house.  It was peach.  Yuck.  I really dislike peach as a house or wall color.  But we went inside.  The layout was great, you don't just walk right into the living room like many houses, there was a living room in the front of the house and a family room in the back, both good sizes.  The kitchen had an island instead of a peninsula or galley (I did hate the cabinets above the island, but you can't win them all).  The bedrooms were a large, the layout of the master bathroom was efficient and the walk-in closet was the perfect size. And the park out the back yard surrounded by large trees was beautiful and private.

This was it.  The one.  I knew it right when we walked in.  I left Chris a message to call as soon as he was off the mountain so he could come see it.  It was pouring rain so Chris got done early but our realtor was busy hat afternoon (with a guitar lesson, actually) so we weren't able to see it until that evening after dark.  Chris assured me that if I liked it enough to put in an offer, so would he, but I wanted him to see it.  When he saw it he agreed it was great (duh!) from the house to the location it was perfect.

We put an offer in that night.  It was a foreclosure so we were dealing with a bank.  We found out there was another offer on the house so we offered full asking price and it was accepted!

We moved in as soon as we could, which happened to be Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2011!

 Back of the house

 Backyard with the park behind

 Front

 Kitchen, don't worry, we changed the floor immediately

 Kitchen looking into the dining room

Looking into the family room from the kitchen, huge windows let in a ton of light