Time Gone By...

Two and a half years.  Let that sink in for a moment. I haven't posted here for two and a half years. Time has come and gone and so many things have changed. Good, bad, and otherwise. I'm almost at a loss of where to start.

My last post was in November of 2014. My oldest daughter Bear had gotten married in April. It was a spectacular, joyous day and it was picture perfect! Fast forward to today and she and her husband are the proud parents of Max, an adorable, sweet, funny 19 month old! He is my first grandchild and has added so much fun and joy to my life.

I'm so fortunate that they live close and I have the opportunity to spend lots of time with this perfect little man!

Remember my youngest daughter, aka "Pickle"?  Well, she too has become a wife and a mother! She and her husband were married in a beautiful, intimate wedding ceremony in our back yard, in May of 2015.

The following March they welcomed a beautiful little girl named Avery, lovingly nick-named Princess Peanut. It's hard to believe that my baby now has a beautiful baby of her own!

These two little perfect sweethearts have brightened my world beyond measure!

Pickle and her husband moved to Texas last October, which has been very difficult for me to accept, but I am working on it. Nothing in life is perfect, so it's best for me to try to get used to the idea. Thankfully there is FaceTime and things along that line that can keep us in touch. It is heartbreaking to be so far away from people you love so much, but things are what they are.

The Boy continues to do well. He is a Purdue graduate (Class of 2015) and is back in San Diego full time now working at a great job and living in his own place with his girlfriend. Boiler Up!

In January of 2016 we had another addition to our family.  A friend reached out to me about a young Golden Retriever in need of a new home. Having 4 already, adding a 5th Golden to the mix was the last thing I needed...but it couldn't hurt to learn more, right?  Haha! Famous last words! We welcomed Charlie into our home officially at the end of January, and he has been a blast!

Shortly after getting him home and settled I started working with him to get him certified for pet therapy work. He had the right temperament and I knew he'd do well.  He has done so well, and already has over 200 visits under his belt. He came into my life at just the right time, that's for sure.

In April of last year, we lost our sweet, precious, kookie Jill, aka Gigi. She was just 10 years old, and at the beginning of April we noticed she was having a tough time eating and keeping food down. She was diagnosed with leukemia and within a few weeks she was gone. It was heartbreaking to say the least. Jill was always a favorite with our friends, as her silly and extremely loving personality won everyone over. She was especially loving and watchful over the babies, which only made her even more lovable, if that's possible.

So, with a hop, skip and a jump, here we are... there is so much more to catch up on, but I find my time is short as I get ready to head out for a therapy visit. I wish you all well, and I hope to be back soon. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week or two, or heck, knowing me it might be another year or two. I'll keep you in suspense.

You can always keep in touch on Kona's FaceBook page. I'm still really good about keeping that updated daily.  Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/KonaTheLoveSponge

Honey, I'm home!

I can't believe I've been gone for 9 months! Sheesh, I could have had a BABY in that time. Thank goodness I didn't...Lord knows I'm too old and way too busy for a baby. Now a grand-baby?  Maybe one of these days.

So, where did we leave off?  Oh yes, I do believe it was February.  Where oh where do I start.  Well, it's been a VERY busy year.  I'll do my best to catch up and not bore anyone to tears.

The most exciting thing that has happened all year is that my beautiful oldest daughter, known here as "Bear" got married in April.  Crazy, isn't it? I'm WAY too young to have a daughter of marrying age, right?  Hardly! Bear got married to her fiance Barry (I did NOT make that up.) and it was a lovely, perfect wedding.

We were all thrilled that everything came together beautifully. It was both exhilarating and a huge relief at the same time. 

After the wedding, we slid into a very warm summer.  Sometime in mid May, Kona managed to tear his CCL (the dog equivalent to our ACL)  He had to have knee surgery on July 9th.  Not fun, not fun at all! 

We are extremely lucky to have a huge support system, many of them coming from Kona's FaceBook page. If you are on FaceBook, be sure to like his page. He goes by Kona the Love Sponge. I may have been gone from here for a while, but I've been busy on his page just about everyday. Priorities, right?  Haha! 

Back in July I also did something that some people might have thought was a bit odd.  I shaved my head.  One of my dearest friends is battling breast cancer, and I shaved it in her honor and to share the experience with her.  My hair has pretty much grown back now, but she is still fighting, and if I had my way, I'd still be bald.  

I didn't mind the look, and it sure was easy!  It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat...

Kona's rehab took quite a while, but in the long run it was totally worth all the work we did with him.  He had weekly cold laser therapy sessions and underwater treadmill sessions.  We were so thankful to find a fantastic place to take him.  Here is a little bit of what he went through.

Kona wasn't the only one who surgery this summer. The Boy managed to do a heck of a job messing up his knee and also had ACL surgery...He also had a summer of physical therapy and work to get back on his feet.

As they say, if it's not one thing, it's 15 others, right?  

So now, here we are, staring the holidays in the face.  I know I've said it before, but it's amazing how the time flies. The Boy is back at school at Purdue University for his final year. It was just yesterday that he was leaving and I was a sobbing mess.  Bear is married, and Pickle, my baby, is out and about, enjoying her independence and spreading her wings. She turns 21 in less than a month. I swear I was just taking her to kindergarten...

Hubby and I celebrated out 24th anniversary in Oct.  No Halloween party this year - the wedding was enough to take care of this year.  We are kicking around the idea of another Halloween blow-out next year, but that is still to be determined.  

The dogs keep us busy - Harley will be 12 in April, Jill tunrs 10 next month, Kona turned 7 last week, and our puppy, Lucas (aka Squirt) is already 18 months old! Remember when he was just a little guy? Yup - time flies indeed. 

Well, that's it for now...a little bit of catch up. I'm sure I've forgotten a ton of stuff, I mean it has been 9 months for goodness sakes.  I'll be back soon, and I promise it won't be another 9 months.

Well, so much for that!

I had every good intention of blogging at least once a week this year.  Ha! What was I thinking?  That I might actually have time to blog?  Silly, silly me.  Here it is Feb. 1st already and I've posted exactly ONCE so far this year.

January was busy month.  I did a LOT of visits with Kona, committed to working more with Lucas (aka Squirt) on his manners (he is a work in progress) and so much more.  I visited with some old friends, had a wonderful spa day with one of my besties, surprised another of my besties for her birthday, made a quick trip to Vegas, went to a bridal fair with Bear, had lunch with a couple of different friends on different days, attended the funeral of the father of an old friend, went to a couple of dog events, saw a movie or three, fell down and nearly knocked my teeth our, worked on wedding stuff, worked some gold parties and fundraisers,went on a super cool scavenger hunt, and so much more.  No wonder I didn't get the chance to blog!

But here I am now, so no hard feelings, right?  Here are some photos from the month just to keep you in the loop.

I won a couple hundred bucks on this spin!

 Nice fat lip, huh?

 Silk flowers arrangements we made for Bear's Bridal shower.

 Hard at work and having a blast!

 I got an "UP" by Jawbone, and it monitors how much I sleep (or in my case how much I don't sleep!)

Nothing more fun than surprising someone you love!

 We got most of the invitations out!

 Hanging with Syl and Bear at a bridal fair.  Lots of good ideas, and goodies to taste and drink test!

Playing with the pups- first pool fun on the year.

 Visits and more visits!

 If he were only as well behaved as he looks.  Haha!

Enjoying an evening out (doing a super fun scavenger hunt) and enjoying a walking tour of our lovely city. 

365 Days of Gratitude

Well howdy!  See, I told you I'd be back soon.  Here it is, the 2nd of January, and I am thinking about the year to come. I am so thankful that 2013 was a good (or at least BETTER) year for me and my family for the most part, and I am hopeful that 2014 will also treat us kindly.

Last January I stumbled across a post somewhere (maybe it was on Facebook, maybe Pintrest, I don't remember) about how someone made themselves a jar of "Happy Moments."  I loved the idea and decided to do one for myself.  Here is an excerpt of what I wrote about in on my FB page.

This is the best idea I've come across in a long while. I saw this at the end of last year, and added my own little twist. Last year (2012) was a really tough year for me - so I was determined to remember the good moments of 2013. With each note I wrote I included a little cash. This morning, on New Year's Day 2014, I opened up each note, reminisced about the happy moment, and started adding up the cash. When all was said and done, I have some incredible memories, and $826! AWESOME! This will be a yearly tradition for me for sure!

Here are some pictures from when I opened my jar yesterday...it was so fun! 

As I mentioned, I will be doing this again this year for sure!  It was a wonderful way to stroll down memory lane and remember all of the really joyful days I had in 2013. The extra cash at this time of year is pretty sweet to have too!

I've already started my jar for this year - and have my first "happy moment" note it in - with a bit of cash of course.

I've heard about 2 other really fun things I think I'm going to at least try to do this year as well.  The first is the "weekly bank" game that so many people have been talking about.  You start off the first week of the year, week 1 of 2014, and you put $1.00 into a piggy bank, or other safe place.  Then, at the end of week 2, you put $2.00 in the piggy bank, and so on...until the last week of the year, when you are supposed to put in $52.  If you do it every week without cheating, at the end of the year you will have $1378!  That's not shabby! 

I LOVE this idea, but once again I'm going to put my own little twist onto it.  I'm going to reverse the order. I'm going to do a count-down with the money (since my funds always seem to be tight at the end of the year with family birthdays, holidays, etc.) So, every Friday, starting with tomorrow, I'm going to put money into a piggy bank.  Tomorrow I'll put in $52.  Next week on Friday I'll put in $51, the week after that $50.  You get the point.  I think it will be fun to do, especially if I can remember to do it each Friday!

The other thing I'm going to try to do this year is to post my 365 days of Gratitude.  Again, someone mentioned this to me, and I thought it would be a fun and easy thing to do.  This one is very simple. Each day you take a photo of something you are thankful for.  You post it either on your blog, or FB or Instagram, etc, and you simply mention what it is you are thankful for at that moment.  You don't need a long explanation, just the date, a couple of words and the photo.  I think this will be really fun to do.

Since it's only the 2nd of January, I figured it wasn't too late for me to start doing this.

So, here goes for my first two posts.

Jan. 1, 2014 - I am thankful for this group of friends, and so many others that weren't able to be with us on the stroke of midnight. 

Jan. 2, 2014 - I am thankful for these lemons, picked from the little tree in my yard just this afternoon. Without lemons we couldn't enjoy the sweet taste of lemonade. Corny? Maybe. But certainly true.

So...give it some thought and let me know if you plan on joining me in any of these little adventures...I'd love the company. 

6 Months!

I bet you gave up on me ever returning to this blog.  Heck, I even thought of giving up on it....but as always, I am drawn back.  I still love this blog and appreciate all of my readers, especially those who have been so faithful and have continued to check back day after day, week after week, and month after month.

Well, here I am!  Alive, well, and as always very busy.  Christmas is the day after tomorrow, and I can't believe that the last time I posted it was summer time and we were in the pool every day, enjoying the warm weather, etc.  Honestly, I don't know where the time has gone.

I'm making a New Year's promise to myself....I'll blog at least once a week in 2014.  It may sound silly, but I actually REALLY miss blogging!  I am on facebook a ton, but it's just not the same.  FB is great for the quicky little note and photo, but I don't get to share what's in my head nearly as much as when I get to sit down and really ramble.  Haha!  

For now I will leave you with our family Christmas card, and Kona and Lucas' card... yes, I had a special Christmas card made for the two of them....Kona's FB page is now up to over 11,800 fans....how crazy is that?  That boy and the little Squirt certainly keep me busy.  If you want to follow their antics, click over to their FB page, and "like" it.  I'm on that page at least once a day....here is a link for you.  Kona's Page

Merry Christmas, and happy holidays!  Let's keep in touch! 

You Tubing It.

If you are FaceBook with me, you probably already know that back on April 11th I created a page for Kona.  It's called "Kona The Love Sponge." I'm not sure what exactly possessed me to do it, but it's been a TON of fun, and the page gains daily "likes".  Earlier this week we passed the 7000 mark, which I thought was pretty cool for only having the page for 2 months.

The page is narrated from Kona's point of view, and is 99% just about him - his day to day antics, therapy work, and interactions with the other dogs.  It's a blast to get the comments from folks all over the world who have stumbled across his page and seem to thoroughly enjoy it. 

Anyway...Since bringing the new little fella into the house I've been making a few short videos. Nothing great - just short, cute snippets.  (I've also created Kona's very own You Tube channel - I know, I know....I'm nuts.)

Here are the couple I've made so far. 

And the best one so far- in my opinion,

I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoy making them.  Please feel free to share them with anyone you think might enjoy seeing them too.

One Month....

It's been an entire month since I've posted. How lame am I? Sheesh!

Well, of course a TON of stuff has been going on since I last posted, but namely two big events took place. 

First of all, I went on an AWESOME vacation to Maui with some folks I work with.  I earned a 5 night stay at the Black Rock Sheraton Maui. It was F A B U L O U S!  Airfare, hotel suite, dinners, entertainment, and lots of other cool stuff was all paid for.  How is that for awesome.  I work for the coolest guy and the best company. Check it out sometime.  www.rgtgold.com

Here are a couple (ok, maybe a few more than just a couple) of my favorite photos from the trip. I'm starting to work on a video of the trip that I'll probably eventually share here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And - the other very exciting event that has happened is that we've welcomed a new member into our family!

Meet Lucas! He joined our family officially on Saturday the 8th, and he is exactly 2 months old today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can imagine, it's be a whirl-wind of activity having a new "baby" in the house again. Oh, the sleepless nights!  Each day does get better, but it is taking some adjusting on every one's part, that's for sure - including the other pups.

They are starting to warm up to the little guy, but it's a slow process.

I'll be updating with more pics soon. Honest!