After a long day

Finn quite often looks like this on days that we go to the park or when she's out of her kennel all or most of the day. Today was definitely one of those days, and the excitement of her birthday (visit to Petco and 2 car rides, as well as going to the park) sure didn't help her energy level. :)

Finnalyn's Birthday

Today is Finn's Birthday. We talked for a little while about things that we should do today, and we took her to Petco this morning to let her pick out something for her present. She picked out 2 rawhide bones and a tiger squeaky toy (we really picked that out, but she picked the tiger over the lion). We can't believe that our "kid" is already 1 year old! She is such a big girl!

Starting in 

Her new Tiger and after breaking off one end of the bone 

After chewing on it all day

Her second bone. We'll hang on to it for a few days before giving it to her.

It might last a little longer that way. :)

We also went to the park and threw around her frisbee a little. She is getting very good at catching it and bringing it back.

She is also now sleeping outside of her kennel. About a week ago, we decided to start trusting her and let her out at night to be our "guard dog". So far, the only mishap has been the first night, when she threw up out in the family room. It helps us get to bed earlier, because she's used to going to bed at 9:30 or 10, and she gets us to go to bed with her. She is also our backup alarm clock. If we don't wake up to our alarm for whatever reason, she will come in and lick our faces until one of us gets up and lets her out so she can go out to the bathroom after holding it all night.

I don't think we could have asked for a better dog. Happy Birthday girl!

I broke a nail!

If you know me well, you know I'm not a girly girl. I don't wear make-up unless it is absolutely necessary, my "dream car" is a 4Runner, I only spend 10 minutes (max) on my hair in the mornings, which is usually just enough time to pull my hair into a ponytail, I sort of pay attention to sports and try to learn the rules, and I enjoy playing video games. Not just "family games"on the Wii, but games on the Xbox like Assassin's Creed, NCAA Football or Castle Crashers (You can blame my husband for the first two, and one of our good friends for the last one).
A couple weeks ago, we got a coupon, and I decided I would give acryllic nails another try (the last time I got them was for our wedding. They barely lasted a week). Tonight, while watching the BYU/Utah game (Go Utes!), I opened a can of Dr. Pepper, and the nail on my middle finger broke off. I'm a little upset, just because now my nails look weird, but not terribly upset because as my nails have grown out, the acryllic nails have gotten longer and have been in the way more and more (which is why they only lasted a week last time. They weren't cut short enough to begin with). I've been thinking for a couple days that I should go and have them taken off, and now this next week, the rest of them probably will. I'll go and get a red manicure with a white U on every finger. :-)

Finally!

I finally got a picture of Michael in his full uniform. He doesn't look too much different from the other picture we have of him because partway through the season, he bought an earwig/microphone to use with the radio, instead of the big & bulky black speaker/microphone that Lagoon provided for him to use with it. But he does have the badge that says Lagoon Security on it, so he's official!

My attempt at Craftiness

Yesterday, I got bit by the crafty bug.
I was thinking about the wreath on our door that had been hanging there for almost a year, and definitely looks worn. The berries are all faded and cracking, and some have even cracked/broken enough to show the Styrofoam ball underneath. I decided that I wanted something "fall-ish", so Michael and I went to "his" store and bought some items to help me create the wreath I had pictured in my head. Luckily it was Labor Day weekend, so they had a lot of stuff on sale. The wreath we ended up buying was actually on clearance, so we lucked out there, and the leaves we bought (they were on a garland) were on sale as well. I had forgotten our coupons, but I don't know that they would've accepted them anyway since almost everything was on sale (except the glue gun, but that was only $2.50. Who knew glue guns were so cheap?)

What the wreath originally looked like. Cute, but not what I wanted.

The leaf garlands that we bought

After removing the flowers that were on the wreath. They may get used later on in another craft, but probably not. :)

Starting out. I thought about leaving it like this, but decided to keep going (and I'm glad I did).

Halfway done!

Our "Harvest Wreath" looks very nice on our door, and brings some extra color to the front of our house! All in all, it only took me 2 hours to complete. If you would like some fake leaves for anything, just let me know. We have plenty of extras!