WE GOT A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i bet you think i'm joking

Yes, we are crazy and we got a puppy!

We've been thinking about for like the past two years, but we've been going back and forth about the pros and cons of having a dog.

I thought it'd be nice to have some company after Elle goes *gasp* off to college.  Chris has fond memories of his family dog.  Elle is like every other kid who just wants a dog.

So.

I looked at the site for a shelter to see if they had any puppies.  They had a girl, but she was adopted while I was trying to make up my mind.

Then, the shelter said they had three boy puppies whose owner wanted his dog to have a litter and keep one puppy and didn't want to bother finding homes for the others.

I filled out an application which included

-pictures of the main living space

-two letters of recommendation

-passport or driver's licence 

-a 3 page questionnaire

-a legal document with many places to sign.

They told us different things about which breed he is and what day he was born.  So, he's some sort of Maltese/Shih Tzu/ poodle.  They think.  And he was born Nov, 16th.  Or maybe it was the 5th. 

It was pretty crazy, but they said we could have one!  I wanted to pick one up that night so I texted Chris to say "So, we're getting a puppy and picking it up tonight"

Needless to say, he was shocked.  He said it's like someone saying "we're going to have a baby. . .tonight!"

So I asked the shelter if we could pick up a dog Thursday night.  I figured we'd all go after work.  I didn't want to tell Elle because who can resist a surprise like that?!

We decided to go during Chris's lunch instead to pick up the puppy.

We fell in love instantly:

We brought a cardboard box to take him home which became the puppy's home until his crate came:

I played with the puppy all afternoon then we waited upstairs for Elle to come home from school.

Unfortunately, Elle heard the puppy before she saw him so the surprise wasn't as complete as I'd hope.  She was still shocked by the whole thing, so that's good!  In fact, she still finds herself saying, "We have a puppy?!" 

I think this captures how happy she was:

We couldn't decide on a name, but we finally settled on Jake after "Jake the Dog" from Adventure Time.  

 Chris and I didn't really know what to do that first night.  "Do we need a baby monitor?" We finally put up his pen in the laundry room and put him in his little box.  We both slept on the couch and took turns telling him everything was OK.
When his crate/home finally came, we decided to keep it (locked) in our room at night so we could take him out.  Thankfully, he knows just what to do when we take him outside a 1:00 am, 3:00 am, 5:00 am, and 7:00 am.  Chris and I take turns during the night and Elle is so good to help out when she's home.

Elle took this picture which is so stereotypical it made me laugh:

He was kind of smelly but it was too cold to give him a bath right away.  We waited a week until it was a little warmer:

 Aw! "Puppy's First Bath"  We're so pathetic.   We call him Elle's brother and Chris and I are mom and dad.

It's so fun when he is sleepy and snuggles on our laps:

One day I looked in and he wasn't there!

Then I looked harder:

Cute little puppy!

He gets sassy sometimes, but we really love him.

Welcome to our home, Jake!

Elle the Chef!

Elle is compiling a cookbook for college (which is crazy close).  She looked through cookbooks, chose meals, made a grocery list, shopped for the ingredients with me, and made all the food!

She even typed it all up in an organized fashion on google docs.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't think to take pictures of all the amazing meal she made!  Here are a few that I took when I came to my senses:

The falafels: 

 

Strawberry apple salad and sun dried tomato sandwiches:

Poblanos stuffed with chicken and cilantro rice on the side:

Potato soup and salad with homemade raspberry vinaigrette: 

 

Then the other day Elle made a recipe from this cool cookbook:

 Orange marmalade sponge cake:

 

She's pretty amazing! (not to mention organized!)  Way to go, Elle! :)

Elle's talk

Elle gave a talk today!!

Hi, I’m Elle. . . I was asked to speak on honesty and integrity.  In True to the Faith under honesty, it says “To be honest means to be sincere, truthful, and without deceit at all times.” Some people may think that honesty is unimportant and they rationalize cheating, stealing or lying.  However, The for the strength of youth pamphlet states that: “When you are honest in every way, you are able to enjoy peace of mind and maintain self-respect. You build strength of character, which allows you to be of service to God and others.” Choosing to be honest is always the best choice, it blesses you and others.  Honesty helps us build trust and character.  Integrity and honesty are very close in meaning.  

The For the Strength of youth pamphlet defines integrity as  “thinking and doing what is right at all times, no matter what the consequences.”  Integrity not only means doing right when others are watching, but even when we are alone.  When we are honest all the time, to ourselves, to others and to God, we will be blessed.  One of the greatest blessings that comes with being honest is having the companionship of the holy ghost

In my english class last year, each week, we were assigned a story or two to read that we might be tested on.  Some people decided not read the stories and they got all the answers from friends in previous classes.  I decided that I would read the selected stories and if I forgot to read them, I would accept the poor grade on the quiz.  This choice to be honest by not cheating made me happier with myself and I knew that I could feel good about my grade, even if it was lower. I know that choosing to  use our integrity will make us happy and as it says in Proverbs 12 “they that deal truly are his delight.”  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Post-Christmas Vacation

We wanted to do something fun during our winter break so we went to Paramount Ranch, which we had never heard of before.

It was fun!  Here are some facts from the website: (You can skip this and go straight to the pictures if you're bored)*

When Paramount Pictures leased the ranch in 1923, they began an era of film production that continues today. You can experience the area where Bob Hope starred in Caught in the Draft (1941) and Sandra Bullock had a leading role in The Lake House (2006). In the 1950s, Western Town was created for television shows, such as The Cisco Kid. More recent television productions at Paramount include The Mentalist, Weeds, and Hulu’s Quickdraw (2013-2014).

This real-life motion picture set is altered slightly with each production, yet retains a Western motif.

In 1927, Paramount Pictures purchased 2,700 acres of the old Rancho Las Virgenes for use as a "movie ranch." For 25 years, a veritable who's who of Hollywood practiced their craft at Paramount Ranch including director Cecil B. Demille and actors Bob Hope, Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert. The diverse landscape was the real star of the show. It offered film makers the freedom to create distant locales such as colonial Massachusetts in The Maid of Salem (1937), ancient China in The Adventuresof Marco Polo (1938), a South Seas island in Ebb Tide (1937) and numerous western locations including San Francisco in Wells Fargo (1937). The art of illusion was mastered on the landscape.

The golden era of movie making at Paramount Ranch came to an end when changes to the studio system prompted Paramount Pictures to sell the ranch. Paramount Ranch found renewed life as a film location when William Hertz bought the southeast portion in 1953. An ardent fan of movie westerns, he built a permanent western town utilizing Paramount Pictures' old prop storage sheds. As a result, television companies began producing westerns at the ranch such as The Cisco Kid and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. William Hertz sold the property in 1955. The Paramount Racetrack opened a year later, and some considered it one of the most challenging in the U.S. Although it closed 18 months later, after three fatal accidents, the racetrack was featured in The Devil's Hairpin, filmed in 1957. Most of the track still winds through the grasslands of the park.

Paramount Ranch was used as the setting for the television show, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

In its sixty plus years of film history, this site has posed as Tombstone, Arizona and Dodge City, Kansas. It has stood in for the rolling hills of Montana and the dusty streets of Laredo. Movie-goers have been fooled into mistaking it for the Royal Gorge of Colorado, the Ozark Mountains, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Tom Sawyer's Missouri. Producers have even passed it off as 13th century China, colonial Salem, and the island of Java.

The streets were also filled with the numerous Hollywood stars who made movies here at Paramount Ranch, including Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Alan Ladd, Burt Lancaster, Roy Rogers,Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Charles Laughton, Glenn Ford,Robert Cummings, Basil Rathbone, Charles Ruggles, Cornel Wilde, Eddie Bracken, Joel McCrea, Ray Milland, Walter Brennan, Claude Rains, Robert Preston, James Garner and Warren Beatty. Actresses who worked along side them at the Ranch included Lucille Ball, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, Jane Russell, Helen Hayes, Susan Hayward, Paulette Goddard, Betty Hutton, Rhonda Fleming, Polly Bergen, and Diane Keaton.

There were far too many movies made at the Ranch to list here, but some of the more notable ones included: "Paleface" (1948) and "Son of Paleface" (1952), "Gunfight at the OK Corral" (1957), "Fancy Pants" (1950), "The Virginian" (1946), "WhisperingSmith" (1948), "The Forest Rangers" (1942), "Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944), "The Perils of Pauline" (1947), "Geronimo" (1939), "The Streets of Laredo" (1949), "Buck Benny Rides Again" (1940), "Ruggles of Red Gap" (1935)," "Gunsmoke" (1931), "The Plainsman" (1936), "Hopalong Cassidy Returns" (1936), "Wells Fargo" (1937), "Union Pacific" (1938), "The Adventures of Marco Polo" (1938), "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1938) and "Reds" (1981).

Since 1980, the site has been part of a national park, and has been reduced to 436 acres in size. But the ranch itself has survived, and the Western Town was rebuilt in 1984, and is still frequently used for Western filming.

Many classic TV westerns such as "The Cisco Kid," "Gunsmoke," "Have Gun Will Travel," "The Rifleman" and "Bat Masterson" were shot here, plus more recent TV series such as "Charlie's Angels," "CHIPs" and "The Dukes of Hazard."

(A second movie ranch is located across the valley, in the northern hills near Magic Mountain. Once owned by Gene Autry

(We've driven past it, but haven't gone close.  It says it is privately owned.)

*Here's the town!

There are some trails around it too.  We walked along a short little dusty trail and got a great view of the town below.

Then we drove 5 min. down the road to the visitor center.  It was kind of boring, but it had a nice movie telling all about the ranch. Most of the information is what I have above.

Short and sweet, but still fun.  And it was a beautiful day!

Happy Christmas!

We did, indeed have a Happy Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we warmed ourselves by the TV fire, 

(Chris turned on our own fire too)

Ate Indian take-out complete with homemade Naan and lassi,

 and had technical difficulty trying to capture the magic of our new PJ's 

On Christmas morning we had breakfast pizza because it was Chris's year--that's what his family had growing up.  (Next year will be my year--cinnamon rolls)

Elle wondered what she will have for breakfast when she has her own family!

Chris and I tried to start a new Christmas breakfast tradition years ago, but the berry pie and ice cream wasn't really practical, so we just borrowed the traditions from our families.

Santa brought Chris a Voltron toy, a bottle of Poo Pourri, and a 

Whatchamacallit bar in his stocking (be sure to click on those two links)

Chris has been on the hunt for a Whatchamacallit bar for about two months now.  No one seems to sell them anymore!  Santa had a very hard time tracking one down.  

I tried to find him one myself by asking the store clerk if they sold Whatchamacallits and he was like, "So, you can't remember the name of the thing you want....?"  

Me:  "No, it's a candy bar"

Him: "But. . . you don't know its name?"

He has obviously been deprived of the pleasure of this unique treat!

Some gift highlights:

A sweet picture from Elle:

Cute red shoes: 

A copy of my dad's funeral, which is very special. :)

A ukulele which Elle has been wanting for months.

A rice cooker which Chris has been wanting for years

And double copies of the complete set of the original Knight Rider which Chris and I unknowingly bought for each other!

Great minds, right?!

The best wrapping job ever:

(by me, thank you, thank you!)

I invented a new product for Chris: Lightswitch Identifiers.
We have at least three switches in every single room!  It is very hard to remember what each one does--especially in the dark!

I bought some little jewel stickers and square rhinestones to put on the switches.  The big circles are for the main lights, the small circles are secondary lights, and the squares identify the fans.

So far they work!  If anything, it will help train us which lights are what.

For dinner Chris cooked rotisserie turkey.
No brine for this bird!  Just salted the thing, stuck it in the fridge overnight, rubbed it with olive oil, and it was good to go!  It was very moist and had great flavor.

We had a lovely dinner with our friends. (and I forgot to take any pictures of them to prove that we really did have them over. . .)

Later that night Chris roasted up some chestnuts!

They were good!  Kind of like pine nuts.

And that's it!