March 2014

          March flew by in a blur and was a pretty busy month for us. Besides Ellie's birthday, we celebrated St. Patrick's day, (ok, not really, but I did dress Ellie in the cute outfit that Brian's aunt got for her last year...I've been waiting a whole year for Ellie to wear it, and she looked cute as a button) took our longest road trip with Ellie and went to Disneyland, (pics and more information coming later) finally settled on a new dog, and dealt with the day to day messes that Ellie likes to make.
         Last November we decided to find Rowdy a new home. He was such a good dog, but he was nervous around young children and snapped at and nearly bit more than one little kid. We just didn't feel comfortable with that, so we found him a family that had older kids and that we thought would give him a good home. Since then we have been looking for another dog. I loved having animals growing up as a kid, and even though now I understand what a HUGE responsibility it is for the mom (thanks Mom for basically taking care of a million animals while we were growing up) and 90% of the time I wonder why the heck I even agreed to get another dog, I still think it is something I want to do for my kids. Bristol is a 5 year old boxer that we found on KSL. Her family was moving to take care of an elderly grandmother, so they could not bring the dog along. She grew up with a little girl and is AMAZING with Ellie. Ellie's favorite (and pretty much only) word to say is "doggie" although it sounds more like "da da dug dug dug" she definitely knows what she is saying. Bristol lets her climb all over her, poke her in the eye, and pretty much do anything to her. While she still has some things that truly annoy me (like barking at the door, growling and being antisocial with new people that come over) seeing how interested Ellie is in the dog and how good the dog is with Ellie makes me feel like it might be worth it. A bonus for me is that I am a little bit more motivated to go out and get some exercise. Bristol is pretty good on a leash and I have been going on a jog each morning with Ellie and the dog. We do a mile and a half and it takes us about 25 minutes. I only jog for about 10 of those minutes, but for me that is pretty big news. Ellie LOVES being outside and cries when I bring her inside, so it is a good way to spend the time between breakfast and her morning nap.