Lincoln Turns 1!

December 28, 2013 - a perfect day for a birthday...in spite of his cold, cough, and ear infection in both ears! He may have been snotty and a little droopy-eyed, but he still enjoyed his special day. And, of course, his cake!

Happy Birthday, Lincoln :)

Cookie and Biscuit

Born October 26, 2013 to a red heeler mom and pitbull dad. He jumped the fence one day and the two ended up with a litter of Red Bulls! They came from a family friend that Tim knew from Willcox. When Tim saw a picture she had posted online of Cookie, the pup that reminded him of cookies n' cream, he was smitten. His response to said picture was, "let me talk to Anna!" Then we found out that Cookie had a strong bond with the runt of the litter, a girl that was brown and white. We figured, if one is named Cookie, the other might as well be named Biscuit! And with that, we took them both. We brought them home when they were only 4-weeks-old (and yes, fully weaned).
Cookie took to Tim right away, as if he knew Tim had chosen him. Cookie is, without a doubt, Tim's dog. When he sees him sit in his chair on the patio, he races to his lap...and growls, scowls, nips and barks at his sister if she tries to share his affections. It's the funniest thing.
When it's just me outside, on the other hand, Biscuit will race to my lap...while Cookie patiently waits his turn to be loved. As soon as I put her down, he trots over to me and puts his paws on my lap.
They both have their own distinct personalities, and sometimes they remind Tim and me of Aislin and Des. They play, fight, bicker, and whine like brother and sister, like children. And they're absolutely precious.
We love them, and they're very much a part of our family :)

So alert!

He may be the bigger of the two, but he's a total softy :)

 8-weeks-old in this pic.

Cookie was a whopping 15 lbs and Biscuit a petite 10 lbs!

Home is where the "S" is

This house is a paradox: it’s both the kind of house we said we’d never want and the kind of house we thought we could never find. It’s old, which means we’ve inherited the problems left behind by its previous owners; but it’s also big with LOTS of space outside. These days it seems the bigger and newer the house, the smaller the yard…but the older and uglier the house, the bigger the yard! Finding that middle ground is nearly impossible. When we first saw this house, though, we saw a home that was meant for a family. And when I looked out the sliding door to the backyard, I nearly drooled. 

Just to give you an idea of why the yard was so important… When we lived in Everett, WA, our yard was considered a good size by other homeowners…even though you could hardly call it a yard. It was so small that it took a good five minutes to mow. We had talked about pouring cement over it.  

Now we have so much space that we decided to take on two puppies (details to follow)! And our kids have probably played outside more than they had the whole time we lived in Washington. What’s funny is that Aislin still talks about Everett, and misses it. She seems to have made a place for it in her heart when I wasn’t looking… We’ve talked about the blessings of our new home and our life here in Arizona, but who knows…she may find her way back to Washington some day :)

This is what happens when I ask this child to smile :-P

Like I said, this house certainly has its problems...but for every face-palming issue we've encountered, something wonderful has stepped in to maintain the balance. A blessing for every blight. I won't list the latter - that's just depressing - but I'd like to list as many blessings as I can think of!

The location. The house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, and you can see the steeple of our church house from the patio door. 

The neighbors. They include a couple families from our ward and two families with little kids. One of those kids is even in Aislin's kindergarten class! They play together almost every day, riding their bikes and hopping from one house to the next. They may not know it, but they sure are living the life!

The space. I've talked about the yard, but it's not your typical step-out-the-backdoor-and-see-a-square-lawn type of yard. When you step outside, the first thing you see is the pool. The patio runs the length of the pool area, and at the end of it is where Tim and I like to sit and play with our pups.

This is also where Desmond likes to ride his bike!

To your right is a big dirt area (where a previous owner had intended to lay grass) and then a paved area with a fire pit. 

My model, Biscuit, displaying one of the many uses of this part of the yard.

To your left is the lawn with another paved area beside it.   

Tim and I are terrible at taking care of grass...

And yes, Cookie, the black dog sniffing the ground along the wall, pooped soon after.

A board is propped up against the gate because Biscuit is still small enough to squeeze herself through the gap! 

Here's a brief tour of the inside of the house...

Yes, I cleaned just for the picture because, no, it doesn't usually look like this!

My baby model smiling for the camera :)

And the door on the right leads to the kitchen.

The Playroom (formerly known as the Family Room)

The purple chalkboard to the left is the back of the kitchen counter.

Office/Music Room

I plan on putting a small shelf for my sheet music next to my violin...hence the awkward gap on the wall ;)

One of my favorite parts of the house.

Every time I walk down the hallway, I see these beautiful pictures :)

We love this house and we're grateful for it. The home repairs we've made so far have been a learning experience, one I wasn't so appreciative of at first, I'll admit; but I've realized that owning this house now and in the years to come is all part of the experience. It seems those home repairs are just a crumb of the whole.

Love.