Hum, actually wrote this in March of this year...

Hi everyone,

I'm not very good about keeping up with this blog... But, this is what I figure, with the revolution of social media and it's mobile accessibility these days, why do people want to read lengthy wordy blogs? Why not a simple status update with a trendy #hashtag @something doing something.. hey!

Perhaps I'm a little behind on this blog...haha.
I don't know what makes the idea of keeping a blog up to date easy, it's not!! From the very beginning my initial intention was to blog at least once a week - obviously that was ambitious. I think the fact that we've been busy working our tails off leaves us with little energy and desire to keep in touch with the world! Sad but somewhat true.
Lately, well we've been up to A LOT! But before I jump into all the details there's some re-capping that I need to start off with...

Last month we took our pups to Lake Skinner for the first time! We had such a great time. Alicia and I initially wanted to walk around the entire lake thinking it was doable... We made it about, well realistically, 1/8th of the way around and called it quits. Not because we were tired but because we had underestimated the size of the lake! That hike probably takes the entire day to walk around, we had no idea it had so many nooks and crannies... Another day lake trail, another day.

After we got back to our car we set up our Stater Bro's picnic and tied the dogs up among the shady trees. We had such a good time kicking back and just relaxing! It's amazing how much a little true R&R does wonders for the soul. The temperature started to warm up some so we decided to take the dogs to the water. To our amazement all three of our pups took right to the water! Well, no surprise about Ella because she has been known to sit on the first step of Mary and Scott's pool in the dead of winter - unphased! I didn't know that Rocco liked the water becuase he's always been squimish around it, even in their little kiddy pool in the backyard but he was romping around and making a splash. I think our biggest suprise was Bently! He walked in, more, more, more, and then was swimming around! A true dog paddler!! We had never seen Bently swim and I think a part of us thought that because of his accident a few years back he would never be able to swim because of his broken leg/pelvis but he played fetch again, and again, and again! Go Bently!

We took our pups to the groomers a few weeks back. There's this place in Temecula called The Laundered Mutt and it's a self service dog wash.

There are these above ground bathtubs at comfortable human height with attached hoses and shampoo's galore! We took all three down at the same time - too much? I think so! But we had a good time actaully. Alicia started on Ella and I started with Bently becuase we figured the dogs with the most hair would take the longest. We brushed, brushed, brushed, and brushed some more until all the dander and matted hair was removed, next came the water! Ella and Bently don't mind water in the least bit. Rocco on the other hand is like a cat when it comes to being wet. If he could hiss, I'm sure he would. What was really nice about this place too was that they had hand held blowers that we could use to dry the pups up after their bath. They smelt so fresh and clean by the time we were done!

... Again, that was written in March. Obviously a lot has happened since then such as the birth of our daughter Annaleise!! I really want to ease back into this though... Wish me luck!

Until next time readers... Until next time

Alicia's Eye - Aaron's Handywork

So, if you read our Christmas blog you will find that we linked you to Pinterest. Alicia has several boards and one of them is a growing "honey-do" list of ideas for our home. Haha, now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy working on things for our home. One of the ideas that she found is framing our thermostat, which I think added a nice touch.

The other was finding vintage/antique shutters and using them to display greeting cards/ announcements.  I found the perfect set of shutters at Grandpa's Antique Depot.  I think it turned out awesome. I got Alicia a paint stripping sponge and she roughed up the finish some which gave it the look we were going for.

More home furnishings to come! Remember that door from our wedding? well... That's going to be transformed soon! Stay tuned.

We love our dogs! (not being sarcastic either...)

Recently, a new dog park opened up in east Murrieta.  While it's not as close to our house as we hoped it would be, it happens to be much closer than the only other dog park in the area which is down past the wineries.  The puppies had a blast! They ran and ran and got to play with other dogs from the neighborhood. The park has two sections, one for the big dogs and one for the smaller dogs.  The park has some "obstacles" that the dogs can play through. We tried to get our dogs to run through the hoops and loops but most of the time they would sit in front of it, and when called, they would run right around it... yeah...

We'll most likely be frequenting this dog park more often. It's a nice place for dog lovers to hang out and we don't have to worry about our dogs running into the street.

Also, we got a cool log cabin dog house for our puppies, especially Rocco. He doesn't have as much fur/hair compared to Ella and Bently and tends to get colder quicker than the other two. While I was setting it up he must have known what it was because he kept trying to poke his head in and as soon as it was finished he was the first one to go in without any prompting. Bently on the other hand wouldn't go in there at all! Even with rewarding and treats... oh well, can't please them all I guess.