Happy New Year & Thank You!

Thank You For An Amazing Year!

Wow, it has been three months since the wedding, and we are just now updating the blog!  So much has happened in the past three months that have kept us busy, but my goal for the new year is to keep up my blogging!

We first want to thank all of our family and friends for an amazing wedding weekend.  It was just as fabulous as we had hoped and we loved every minute of it, from family arriving in town on the Wednesday before the wedding to the BBQs, the salon visits, the rehearsal, the dinner, the wedding day, to brunch on Sunday…all of it.  We experienced some of the happiest days of our lives, and the love we felt from all of you was incredibly special to us.

How can you follow one of the best weekends of your life???  Well, you take a two week honeymoon that was nothing short of amazing!  We cherish the time we spent together, the memories and new friends we made and the chance to celebrate our newly married status.

We came back from the honeymoon and took some time to settle in as newlyweds, after a very busy year, it was nice to spend some quiet time at home with our pets and each other.  But of course that was short lived, because life can get in the way…we bought a new truck for Doug, went to Chicago for Thanksgiving to celebrate with our Ludwig family, had our beloved dog face some serious health issues, and celebrated our first Christmas together as husband and wife.

I will add more pictures soon from the wedding and honeymoon, the holidays, and of course some really cute pictures of Griffey the Golden and Ali Cat!

We hope you all have a very happy new year, and we cant wait to see what 2011 brings for us.

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Animal Antics

So, April was a busy month for our two four legged friends.  Griffey, although 9 years old, one would never guess and think he may still be a puppy.  He loves that we have four kids in the family under the age of 7 who walk around with snacks in their hands that he helps himself too.  This Easter, the lovable, gentle giant helped himself to the Easter Egg hunt in my parents backyard.  Plastic eggs with candy were hidden all over the yard, and Griffey with his high-powered nose, found some before the kids did, chewed open the eggs, then ate the candy!  Chasing him around the backyard so the kids could have their eggs, was how we spent the egg hunt!

Then, Griffey, the hunter, didn’t disappoint with his newly acquired hunting skills.  In four days, he managed to find three baby bunnies in our backyard.  Whenever he is outside longer than 10 minutes, we know something is up.  As we went to check on him, we find him IN the garden (which is fenced off) with a bunny in his mouth.  As Doug goes out to save the bunny, Griffey the Proud, trots around the backyard with bunny in mouth.  Sadly, the baby bunny didn’t make it…now repeat this process three times.  Me….very sad by all this, poor, cute, little baby bunnies….Doug, however, was a little proud of his hunting dog.  So, a week later, after we thought the bunny drama had ended, we were planting veggies in the garden and uncovered a fourth baby bunny, buried in the garden.  Yep, this time he took it upon himself to bury it!  Lovely surprise for us!

Now, Ali, the playful, lovable, friendly cat has a personality all of her own.  Her favorite past-time is pushing EVERYTHING off the kitchen counter…we can handle this silliness.  However, one evening, after a bad storm, we came home to find three, yes three, cell phone cords chewed in half…completely in half….and they were plugged in.  Doug suspects she received a jolt, but it didn’t stop her from chewing through three of them!  But it is hard to get mad at either of these adorable creatures!

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Random Pics of the Pets…

Here are recent and random pictures of Griffey and Ali.  We are still amazed that they have come so far from their first meeting.  When we introduced them for the first time, it was an all out war!  And the war continued for about a month.  Now, however, they have learned to tolerate each other and have even been spotted sleeping in the bed at the same time.  Alice turned 2 and Griffey turned 9 in January.  My favorite pics are of them each sleeping on the leather sofa…the one place they are not allowed….well, you can see how well that goes over!  I also love the pic of Doug in his camo with Griffey and the duck….the only duck Griffey will actually retrieve is a stuffed one!  To Doug’s dismay, his hunting dog is just not gonna hunt!

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Santa Paws Comes to Our House

Well…needless to say Griffey and Alice (Ali) were spoiled this Christmas!  Santa Paws came and brought them each gifts.  Griffey, who is finally on the mend, received a huge bone and Miss Ali Cat got a kitty tunnel….both are pleased with their gifts.  We love the picture of the two of them with their gifts…mainly beacuse of how close they are…a huge difference – and progress – from when we first brought Ali home.  It was complete chaos for about a month…they were both terrified of each other and we had to keep them seperated….and now, they have learned to tolerate each other…we have even caught them sleeping in the same bed at the same time.  We are not sure they will ever be best of friends…but it is peaceful in the house now.

Griffey, who had been suffering from an infected hot spot, is finally healing…after four trips to the vet, 6 rounds of meds and just about every over the counter health aid we could find…we finally have it under control.  Poor guy, he was pretty miserable for awhile…now he is back to his usual antics…like stealing our socks!

So, the pets are doing great, and my only complaint now is that both of them follow their daddy around wherever he goes…I am the odd man out here!

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Griffey & Alice

Meet Griffey & Alice (aka “Ali”)…they technically rule the house, and truly believe we are here to serve them!

Griffey after a snow fall.

Master Griffey Von Ludwig…the Great Golden Retriever is our 8 year old, 100-pound golden retreiver who we commonly refer to as “the moose”.  He is a very simple creature who loves his walks, pigs ears, swimming and taking up 3/4 of the king sized bed.

Ali the true “aristo-cat”

Lady Alice “Ali” Von Ludwig…is our all white kitty.  She is almost 2 years old, and we recently adopted her from a local animal shelter.  Ali is a very complex creature who will hide for hours while we search the house high and low for her, she hops from window to window and does her best to put Griffey in his place.

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