Happiness Thy Name Is Puppy (Frankie!)

My sister just published a post by this same name on her blog and I thought that since it was such a great title that I would also use it.  While here post which you can read here is about a day spent playing with puppies at a pet store my puppy love/joy is currently asleep at my feet.

Notice the tongue.  :-)

We have now had Frankie home for about a week and a half.  He continues to live up to his reputation as the "Best puppy ever!!!!" -Dr Matt from Vet Ranch, and gets along great with Jasper.

After he came home to us  Dr. Matt and the Vet Ranch crew posted a follow-up video from the original one in December where we initially found Frankie.

Dr. Matt was kind enough to allow us to share some footage in that post as well.

As I said Jasper and Frankie are now great buddies.  They love to play chase and wrestle in the back yard all day long.  They also are doing very well at sharing, which is a very good thing because even though we have several different toys and two identical bones, Frankie is only interested in playing with the exact item Jasper currently has.  It doesn't matter whether it is the nyla-bone, Kong toy, or tennis ball.  Whatever Jasper has, Frankie wants to play too.   They play and wrestle for hours a day.

Over the weekend we took the puppies (big and small) for a walk around the neighborhood.  Frankie is still young and needs some practice on good walk etiquette, but all in all they did very well and it was a pleasant evening.  We ended up and Nathan's sister Jennifer's house and Frankie and Jasper were even able to visit with some of their puppy cousins Harley and Ellie and Frankie was very good with that new environment.

Last week we were also able to figure out what exact breed mix Frankie is.  We knew he was part Pit-bull but his speckled coat is not traditional pit-bull coloring.  We asked a vet friend and after her suggestion we googled pit-bull/blue heeler mix and sure enough it all fits!  There is even a picture of a female puppy that has the exact same markings and coloring as Frankie.  Mystery solved!

We love Frankie,  And Jasper too.  We never planned on having two puppies, let alone two pit-bull's at one time; but we can not imagine it any other way now.  Life is good and all is as it is meant to be.

P.S.  Happy Birthday Grandpa Parkinson!!! aka Grumpy.  We LOVE you.  Sending puppy kisses your way.

Good Night from all of Us.

Jasper and Frankie's first day

Happy Birthday T!!!!!!!

I just want to wish a very happy 3rd birthday to my favorite little man T.  I hope that you have an amazing year full of adventure and discovery.  You are the smartest, happiest, and best three year old I know.  I wish that we lived closer so that I could come and watch you blow out your birthday candles and have a piece of cake with you but since I can't, your sweet Mom will have to do it for me and tell me all about it.   I love you T.

Sweet Dreams

We have two identical large dog beds.  One on each side of our bed.  Jasper has always slept on Nathan's side of the bed so naturally we placed Frankie's bed on my side. The first night they both slept in their own beds, Frankie automatically picking his bed on my side with out being shown that it was his.  (He is very smart.)  But last night, on their second night and after a day full of playing,  Frankie wanted to sleep with Jasper.  First they started out in Jasper's bed but finally ended up on Frankie's.  

Sweet dreams puppies.

Welcoming the newest member of our family

Introducing Frankie!

Have you ever watched a YouTube video that changed your life? I have.
In late December my Nathan and I were watching some videos on a YouTube channel we follow called Vet Ranch. Then newest video was about a torn up pit-bull puppy they named Frankie who the wonderful people at Vet Ranch were able to help.
Frankie is a 4 month old fun and playful pit-bull puppy. But five weeks ago his life was not going so well. He was found wandering a parking lot in San Antonio TX with over a dozen lacerations covering his body. Some of which were very deep. Thanks to a local vet, he was rescued, stitched up and back on track for a happy healthy life.
You can see that part of his story in the video below:

After the first 60 seconds of the video I was in love with Frankie. I wanted him. I loved him. How can you love an animal you have never met and lives 1300 miles away? I don't know. But I did. But by the end of the video I was sad, but happy when Dr. Matt reported that Frankie had a home to go to.

Unfortunately, the family who found Frankie and took him home ended up being unable to keep him for unrelated reasons. So two weeks ago an urgent plea was posted on Vet Ranches Facebook page. Frankie was again in need of a forever home.

This was our chance to help Frankie! We can give him a forever home. We want him. We already feel as if we know him. We love him. 

The last two weeks have been spent coordinating with two wonderful women who helped us to get everything ready.  Renee was in charge of making sure all the I's were dotted and the T's were crossed;  and Caron was our hands-on angel with Frankie in San Antonio.  She volunteered to take him to vet appointments, provided the travel crate, gave him a home for a few nights, and got him to the airport and on his way to Utah.  Yesterday was the big day and we are happy to announce that Frankie made it home.

Picking him up at the airport.

The ride home

Jasper and Frankie

Frankie and Jasper

He already loves his nylabone chew toy

Playing chase outside

Size comparison. Yes Frankie does have a cone.
 He was neutered on Monday and will wear the
 cone for a few more days.

We love him.

Welcome HOME Frankie!

Elk videos for Dad

After Thanksgiving Nathan and his father drove up to the family cabin one day and spent the day looking for animals.  They had a great time being together and were even able to watch as an entire herd of elk traveled from one ridge to the next.  Nathan captured some video with my camera as proof that they really did see it happen and it wasn't just another fishing tale.

This first part you first see several deer walk across the area, soon you find out why.  An entire herd of elk is pushing them from behind.

This second part is a short continuation of the first video.  

I know that these videos are taken from pretty far away and that a photo camera is not the best equipment to be using but it is still fun to watch the animals do what they do.  

I hope that you all enjoy.

Happy Saturday!!

Fun with M, T, and N

My best friend M* and her family traveled up to Utah to spend Christmas with her husbands family and thankfully we were able to get together a few days later before they drove back home to Arizona.

We decided to take her cuties to The Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point,

(*M has asked that for privacy reasons I do not give their names online.) 

Me and some of my very very favorite people

If you are not familiar with the museum it is geared for children of all ages to come and explore, play, and experience in a very hands on interactive environment.  It does not matter the age; infant to adult; there is some for everyone.  Every activity is fun play and scientific.  For older children, it is a way they can experiance science principles hands on.  For younger children the same exhibits are a way they can play and learn with out being told not to touch.

In the Waterworks room:

They had a water table that actually had infant and toddler chairs built right in.  The child can sit in the water without getting wet (kind of).

T loved filling up the watering can and pouring it into the spinner.

The earthquake simulator had building blocks that you could use to build a house and then with the push of a button rattle the whole thing down.  T at only 2 years old just loved the feel of the rubber 'ground' and the shaking.  At one point he stuck his head into the bin as it was shaking just to feel it.

Learning about wind power.  We were able to build our own windmill with different shaped arms and then with the push of a button turn the air on and watch it spin,

I think he likes it.

This station let you press different buttons creating a fountain from multiple corners.  There was even a function that you could record your pattern and it would play it back to you.  T just liked seeing the water shoot up each time he pressed the buttons.

Playing with N in the Rain-forest room.  After an unfortunate clothing disaster M and I switched kiddos and I got to spend some one on one time with this little cutie in the toddler section.  There were plastic balls and mirrors that captivated her attention.  (So did the camera, she is definatly not camera shy).

An attempt at a mirror selfie.  

Next T and I showed M and N to the waterworks room.  I was sure that N would love the water-table as much as T had earlier.  And she did.  It was very hard to capture her laughs and squeals on camera and she was mostly splashing the water right into her face but I did get a few photos.

I bet that she just loves her bath time.

T taking a second run at the earthquake table.

In the Innovation Gallery most of the exhibits were a little over a 2 year-olds understanding but he absolutely loved spinning the balls around in this tornado funnel.  He probably spent about 10 minutes here before we decided we should check out the next room.

Next we explored Kidopolis, which is a fully outfitted kid town complete with movie house, library, jail, train station, laundry mat, magic show house and more.  T dressed up as a pirate including a hook and a parrot at the movie house.

He was a conductor on a train.

Played Vet at the Animal hospital.  He loved the stethascope and listened to his heart, my heart and even walked up to a random girl in the room to listen to her heart.  I think we may have a Dr in the making....

Lastly, M and T looking a lizard and snake.  Right after I took this picture the lizard started walking towards T and T ended up running away from it and refused to go back and look at it.

After several hours and even though there was more that we could have explored and played with it was lunch/nap time for both of the little ones so we had to call it a day.  But it was a fun day that I will not forget and I cannot wait until I can play with my favorite little buddies again.

I love you all.  Thank you for spending a wonderful day with me.