Our Little Man

Well, we've had Diesel for about 2 1/2 weeks and he's  has been keeping us busy, but we love him so much!  He's definitely a handful at times, but it's all worth it. 

Over the past week and a half, he's discovered the following: his jaw is getting stronger and he can easily prune the bushes in the yard for us; with a running jump he can get all the way up onto the couch; he can still squeeze under our bed to chew at the matting, even though my dad put up a barricade; he can knock of his water dish and roll around in the puddle, while Jerm and I are at work; if he rings the bell on the door, mommy and daddy will let him outside because they think he has to potty, but really he wants to chew on the plants, and that the door stopper in the bathroom is fun to play with when he hits it with is paw.  Plus, he's becoming Mr. Social since he's met our neighbors, Stephanie, Roy and baby Jack, his maternal grandparents, his maternal great-grandma, the vet and vet assistants, and my dear friend, Alli.  Oh, and he's spent that night at his grandparents house, and got to have a sleepover with some of his brothers and sisters (thanks Bill and David)!  He's such a good boy, he's growing like crazy (just about 30lbs now!) and he's getting smarter everyday. 

Here are a few new pictures of him and a few random videos that we've taken.

Checking his email. (if my boss is reading, of course that's not my work laptop!) 

He looks so little.

Sleeping on our coffee table.

 

Napping in his bed (he just wanders in there sometimes).

With grandpa and grandma (sorry Dad, I know you're about to blink but this is cute picture).

 

Enjoying the grass at the grandparent's house.

Juliann and Tom's Wedding!

Hello friends.  Life had been pretty busy the past few weeks and I apologize for my lack of blog posts.  Diesel had been keeping Jeremy and I busy (more about him in a post to follow), plus this weekend was my dear friend, Juliann's wedding!  Juliann and Tom got engaged over a year ago and I was quite sad that I had to wait A WHOLE year to see them walk down the aisle...but of course, their big day was here before I knew it!

 

The joyous, wedding festivities started Thursday afternoon with the rehearsal dinner, so I took a half day off of work and Diesel and I drove to Phoenix.  On Friday, the bride and us maids went to get manicures and pedicures, followed by lunch, gelato and Sprinkles cupcakes...YUM!  Saturday was the BIG day and us girls hung out all day at the wedding location, getting ready for the event and taking pictures.  At 5pm, the ceremony started and the wedding was absolutely beautiful!!  Everyone looked gorgeous, the colors (pink and orange) were fabulous and the atmosphere was so fun.  I didn't take a ton of pictures because I figured that's what the professional photographer was for, but here are some pics for the wedding day! 

 

Juliann getting her makeup and hair done.

 

Alli and me, plus Jules and me, after hair/makeup.

   

My groomsman and me walking down the stairs.

 

The best part = the kiss!

 

Yummy cake!

 

The candy "bar."

 

Jerm and me.

 

Aren't my parents so cute?

 

Beautiful flowers.  I got to take home a centerpiece!

 

Jerm practicing blowing bubbles for when Juliann and Tom left.

Congratulations Juliann and Tom!!  We wish you nothing but a lifetime of happiness.

Welcome Home, Diesel!

That's right...we finally got our puppy, Diesel! Friday was the BIG day and it couldn't come soon enough. As I mentioned before, everyday Jerm and I would say, "One more day until we get Diesel," well on Friday the countdown was on it was, "6 more hours until we get Diesel!" I got off of work a bit early, we got gas for my car and then we were off to Phoenix in record time. Thank goodness we didn't hit rush hour traffic...I don't think either of us could stood it.

 

Excited in the car. Yea, we're nerds!

We got to the breeders' house and finally, I met our little guy! He was on the outside of the puppy playpen (he has 7 brothers and sisters) just laying there as cute as could be. The breeders had given him his 2nd set of shots, plus a bath that afternoon, so he was all ready for us. We sat an played with him and a few of his siblings for awhile, while we talked to the breeders and asked questions. Let me just say, the breeders, Bill and David are awesome! We could not have asked for better people to get our puppy from. They gave us a bag of dog food, samples of a few things, info on AKC registration, answered all our questions, and they even bought a few toys for Diesel (awwww!) I told them about our blog, so if you guys are reading...THANK YOU SO MUCH!! We LOVE Diesel.

When we finally left, goodbyes were said to Diesel and his apprehensiveness set it. I carried him to the car and we sat in the backseat, while Jerm drove. As soon as we started to drive away, he immediately propped himself up so he could see out the back window at look at his former home. Then, the whining started. Oh it was so sad. If I wasn't selfish and had not wanted him SO much, I wouldn't have had the heart to go on. Luckily, he's such a trooper and in less than ten minutes, he was curled up on my lap and asleep for the drive home. When we got home, we took him outside to potty and then brought him in to explore the house a bit. He immediately found one of the toys we had gotten him and played for a bit.

 

 

When we went to bed that night, we introduced and put Diesel into his bed, a crate, which is located in our bedroom. Once the door was shut, the whining started again. Oh...so sad! I had to hold Jerm's hand in order to stop from getting up and opening the crate. But check out our awesome little guy...once again, within ten minutes, he had stopped crying and went to bed.

Diesel is such a cutie and we are having a great time with him. I've taken the past few days off of work, so that I could be with him and make sure he's adjusting alright, which he is. Jerm and I took him to the vet yesterday and as expected, he's a bundle of health...plus he's 23 lbs!! Wow...he's going to be huge!

 

More Puppy Pictures

 Jeremy and I are anxiously counting down the days until we get our little, Diesel.  It seems like FOREVER since Jerm picked him out, but soon enough we will go down to Phoenix and get him!  In fact, we're driving down Friday evening to pick him up and welcome him into our family.  We cannot wait!!  Everyday we say to each other, "One day closer until we get him!"

Within the past 1 1/2 weeks, Jerm and I have been busy buying puppy supplies, deciding what food to feed him, finding the right toys for him, reading a puppy book, figuring out where he'll eat and sleep and mostly just being SUPER EXCITED.  The breeder who we're buying Diesel from has been so nice and has emailed us pictures of him.  So, here are the latest pictures of our little Male Model, Diesel.

 

Strike a pose.

Gazing into the distance.

   

Sunbathing in the AZ sun.

Only 2 more days!  Yay!!

There's a New Family Member on the Way!

That's right...you've guessed it...

Jeremy and I....

are getting a PUPPY!!!!!

Ha ha! Alright, how many of you thought I was going to say I was pregnant? Come on, you know you thought about it for at least a second! Well, just for the record...I am NOT pregnant, NOR do I plan on becoming pregnant anytime soon. End of story. Thanks for asking.

Anyway, we are SO EXCITED to finally be getting a puppy! Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm pleased to introduce our newest family member:

Diesel Bofferding

Isn't he SO cute?! He a Chocolate Lab and he approximately 6 1/2 weeks old.

So, Jeremy and I have always talked about getting a puppy. First, we wanted to get settled into married life (done!). Then, we wanted to buy a house (done!). And then, we wanted to seriously start looking after our vacation (done!). It didn't take too long to find our big guy, and though we won't be getting him until April 4th, we've already "claimed" him as ours! Yay!!

Now I'm sure some of you who know us well are thinking, "But Sara, didn't you guys want a St. Bernard?" As a matter of fact, we were considering a St. Bernard (more so Jerm than me), but I was a bit concerned about that large and furry of a dog. If you refer back to my post entitled, "We Want a Dog...Maybe this kind of Dog," you can find my concerns. Anyway, long story short, we discussed our options and decided that for our first dog we were not going to get a St. Bernard. So, we narrowed down our choices to a Lab or a German Shepherd, and then we found the ad in the newspaper for this big guy and his siblings.

Since I've been traveling every weekend for work, I knew I probably wouldn't have time to go see the puppies; so, last Saturday, Jerm drove down to Phoenix, liked the breeder and the pups, and picked this guy out of the litter! According to Jerm, he's such a cutie, a goofball and the biggest of the bunch. In fact, the breeders call him, "Chunky Monkey!"

Oh, we are SO excited! We've gone shopping for him during the past two evening and have already gotten him a bed and some toys. There's so much to do and get for a puppy, but we're BEYOND EXCITED and CANNOT WAIT to bring him home!!

I foresee many, many more blog posts about Diesel, in the future.

Vacation - Days 8 & 9

Day 8 of our vacation was our last day of going to a theme park.  You just can't go to San Diego without going to the next fun place...Sea World.  Before I get to Sea World though, let me show you the view from our hotel room.  We stayed at the Hilton near the bay and the view was pretty great.  We could see the bay and all of downtown San Diego.

  

Since we were right near the bay, we saw lots of ships arriving and moving throughout the area.  This one was my favorite...all the way from Honduras, filled with bananas and tropical fruit (which is just what I'm assuming it had on it), the Dole tanker!

 

Alright, on to Sea World.  So, it had been years since Jerm and I had been to Sea World and I'm sure this was probably his favorite day of our vacation.  For as long as I've known Jerm, he's always said that he wanted a Killer Whale for a pet!  Thank goodness there are laws that strictly prohibit that! 

Anyway, we really enjoyed the day and checked out the following attractions: the Shamu show, the Dolphin show, Shark Encounter, Wild Arctic, Stingray Bay, Penguin Encounter, Manatee Rescue, the water ride called "Atlantis" (the boys did this)  and the Sea Lion & Otter show (us girls did this).   Whenever I go to Sea World, I always forget how much I enjoy it.  After all, at how many places can you see dolphins and MASSIVE whales jumping through the air?!  That's right...not many!

Thanks for paying attention when I took the picture, Jake.

   

The dolphin show.

  

Me and my fishy...about to feed the stingray.  That's a good, little stingray.

  

That Shamu is pretty amazing, huh?

 

Why exactly are the Budweiser Clydesdales at Sea World??

 

Wild Arctic.

The Sea Lion & Otter show....plus, my favorite: the walrus.

As our day at Sea World ended, we went back to the hotel to prepare for dinner.  Since it was our last night on vacation, we wanted to go somewhere fancy and we selected Donovan's Steakhouse.  So, we got a bit dressed up and headed to our fancy restaurant.  I'm not a huge fan of steak, but let me tell you...the food here is pretty awesome.  I wish we had gotten some pictures but it was a dimly lit restaurant, plus it seemed like the kinda place where we'd get funny looks if we took pictures.  Oh well, good memories shall be remembered.

As our vacation sadly concluded (all good things must come to an end, right?), we had finally reached the last day of our trip.  We spent the morning hanging out by the hotel pool (I was in the hot tub since I won't get into a pool unless the water is about 80 degrees) and reflecting on our great vacation.  Around noon, we packed up our gear and headed back to Orange County, where Jerm's dad took us to the airport, and we flew home to Prescott, AZ.  *sigh*

Well, I hope you all enjoyed the re-cap of our vacation!  It was a fun time and don't you worry...thoughts, ideas, and itineraries are already in the works for "Jayla and Saremy's Vacation 2010." :)  Jake and Kayla, thanks for a great vacation!  We had a blast!

My favorite picture from our vacation!