October, Where Did you go?

Here is my way to quickly catch up via I-phone (courtesy of Kelsi's photo skills) on all of the things which happened this last month.

First Update: Leidy and Mowgli had lots of "Puppy Dates"

Take That Mowgli! (Leidy trying to defend herself)

Leidy enjoying the fact that she's faster than Mowgli (for now).... and constantly moving is the only way she can truly avoid being  a chew toy. haha.

...... Still running..... justifiably so. 

Sharing their water bowl.

Sharing time is OVER..... This image was seriously the common theme. Mowgli would just SIT on Leidy and try to chew on her.

Leidy, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Time for payback.... Sneak Attack!!!!!"

Taking a breather..... 

 Back to fighting again

Forced separation and time out for snack time to avoid them chewing on each other.  Do you see what She's eating?  A Bell pepper!  We read online they are a safe and healthy snack for her, and they (red, yellow, or orange) are her very favorite snack!  So Funny!  Who would have thought?

Back to the subject of "puppy dates" (which were often just an excuse for their Mom's to do cool things together ;) )...... One of their puppy dates even included hiking Camelback Mountain!.... Though much of the hike ended up looking like this:

Yup. Just along for the ride, riding in the backpack with Mom doing all the work.

I am just glad Leidy is only 3 pounds, vs. Mowgli and his 15 pounds! haha.

Cyndi was able to hike with us, which was SO fun!!!!  And she had so much patience with us and our puppies.  They were slow when they were hiking, and EVERY ONE was stopping us to pet and adore them, so that took even longer. LoL. It was fun to have her in town for the weekend!

My dirty little puppy! The bathtub water was literally BROWN when I washed her (once we got home). This is after a 7 mile (roundtrip) hike we did in Sedona including the crossing of several creeks (12-13 of them I think is what we counted?). She was so tired afterwards, as was her mom!!  At least the terrain was pretty easy overall. 

I'm convinced that having Mowgli there was what kept her going.  And Mowgli was SO FUNNY.  He would whine whenever he couldn't see Leidy.  So he would chase after her and when she'd slow down he would trample over the top of her, and then start crying because he couldn't see her anymore. lol. Accordingly, he spent much of the hike on his leash with Kelsi behind us, and you could just hear his heavy breathing because he was pulling so hard on the leash. Kelsi and I are determined that they WILL like each other and they WILL be BFF's and do everything together, just like their mom's.  We'll see how that pans out. :)

Next Update:  Now that it's cooling down we are getting a lot more time in the "saddle" (on our bikes). 

I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!

And of course we rarely ride without the other members of our "unofficial" Peleton :)

 Next Update:  After over a year of living in this place, I was feeling domestic and a little sentimental. Accordingly, I threw some vinyl up on the wall as depicted in these two pictures in an effort to make our "house" (or apt) more of a "home"

Next Update: I learned that just selecting a random dentist from your list of approved providers on your dental insurance is NOT a good idea.  I found "LM Family Dentistry" and thought, I'm just getting my teeth cleaned and the office is super close... PERFECT!  I wasn't thinking about the fact that for me it is always just a teeth clean (never have had cavities).... however Jason is not so blessed. It is NEVER just a teeth clean for him.  He brushes and flosses regularly, but ALWAYS gets a few cavities. Anyway, so I show up to the office and they aren't opened yet. My appointment was at 8, and the receptionist didn't even show up to open the office until 815.  She just smiles and walks in and doesn't say anything like it wasn't even an issue.

I'm taken back and placed in the dental chair to be greeted by this:

Do you see how outdated that TV is?  And yes, that is a VCR, not a DVD player. 

And this was their dental equipment!!!!! Oh, it gets better. When the dentist finally arrives, he kept excusing himself to go to the other room and I hear him yelling in Russian.  He had a very harsh Russian accent as well. I found from our conversation that when it said "Family Dentistry" it didn't mean, We take care of families here. It meant We are a Russian Family business, only family works for us and no one ever leaves.  HAHAHA. He was SO rough during his teeth cleaning that it drew a few tears.  Thank heavens it was just a cleaning and like normal (knock on wood), no cavities. Jason was not so lucky.  He is going to need 2 cavities filled and a root canal. However, I refuse to let Jason have his dental work done there for obvious reasons, so we will be going elsewhere...... Anyone have any dentist recommendations in the Phoenix Metro?

Next Update: Leidy got a hair cut

Maybe a "buzz cut" is a more accurate description.  When the Leidy asked if taking it short was okay, I said yes.  However I realized that my point of reference is extremely skewed seeing as I feel my hair is very very short when it's just past my shoulders. haha.  Good news, is that her hair grows pretty fast, and she is already getting much fluffier.... and now I've learned my lesson for next time!  Also, glad that even with short hair, how can you resist this cute little puppy face and puppy eyes?

 

Answer---you can't.  Recent encounter with Leidy went like this. "Leidy!!!!! NOOOOOOOO! No toilet paper!  No chewing toilet paper!!!" ... whimper... whimper.... I'm sorry Mom!---cue perfect puppy eyes---whimper...lick-lick-lick. "Okay Leidy, I know you're sorry. Come."  She seriously is like our baby... and even though I get so angry with her sometimes, I can't help but love her and her perfect little face. 

Next update: I had been doing this "natural look" with my hair lately.... somedays I loved it, and somedays I felt pretty Blah.

Confession. Because Jason is back in school now and gone 3 nights per week, I have been watching a lot of Vampire Diaries on Nextlix. Below is "Elena Gilbert"..... and I think the combination of feeling "blah" and spending so much time watching her and her beautiful hair made me give in, in a moment of weakness.....

 I dyed my Hair Dark!!!!!

 

This is our little family at Halloween. Black Widow, Captain America, and Leidy the "Lady Bug" at the ward Trunk-or-treat (everyone thought it was a wig... they didn't realize I had actually dyed my hair. Super Funny).

Here's another picture of me with our little Leidy bug..... she's not too happy in this picture and ready to get out of her costume by this point. haha.

As part of the ward Trunk-or-treat we were supposed to decorate our car.... This was Jason's idea.... See the fin on top and the teeth (no, they are not waves).  Pretty clever, hey? 

And of course to make our super hero theme complete, Collin dressed up as Super Man (with a costume that he scored at Goodwill!!!  Not bad!!!). 

Tradition with the Barbers (2nd time makes it a tradition right?)..... Chipotle on the actual night of Halloween in costume = $2 Burritos!!!  However.... I was NOT feeling sexy enough to pull off Black Widow after working all day long, so instead I put on heavy blue eyeshadow, red lips, some bright funky colors, home-made leg warmers (cut the toes off of my brightly colored and striped fuzzy socks, then slid them onto my leg), and wah-lah!

Last update: We had purchased several Groupons for rock-climbing and had been going a lot with the Barbers, however Kelsi and I were more into it than Collin and Jason... and we have a lot more free time because those boys are ALWAYS GONE.  So Naturally, when we got a special email after using a Groupon for an annual pass for Rock Climbing and Bouldering......... Kelsi and I couldn't resist. Each time you go it's like $14.... Or buy the annual pass with unlimited climbing for a total of $14 each month.  A total steal, right?  Kelsi and I bought it planning to go x2 a week..... She's been super busy so that hasn't happened yet, but we are consistently using it x1 each week, so definitely more than getting our money's worth.  I love rock climbing so much.... and bike riding... I just love the high I get using my body to do physical things that others might consider hard.  Totally awesome. Pics of Kelsi and I rock-climbing will hopefully be coming soon!