Copy Dogs

I wanted to get a picture of all the dogs together, but when they were close to each other they moved around too much for me to get a decent picture. So this is what I ended up with. I thought it was funny that they were all curled up and sleeping, but none of them in the same place. From front to back is Chip (Jason's parents' dog), Raina (our dog), Jake (the white one; Whitney & Rolie's dog) and Kenai (Whitney & Rolie's dog). We used to think Kenai was huge until they got Jake and he grew up. They got him as a puppy, and thought he'd be about the same size as Kenai. WRONG! He's a full head taller and much longer, though he's not as bulky. For a bit of perspective:

That's Raina in the middle. Kenai, though large, is still smaller than Jake. Jake is a Blue Heeler-Malamute mix; Kenai is a German Shepherd-Huskey. Raina is a Black Lab-Spaniel mix.

Pretty in Pink

We had Summer and Michael over for lunch and games this afternoon, and while we were enjoying a card game I got out some chocolates we'd gotten in a gift exchange over Christmas. They were all packaged fancy and looked delicious so I figured offering them to guests was an opportune time to try them out. Part of the packaging was a bright pink bow around the top. Summer took it off and tied it around Raina's neck. She looked so purty! (And the chocolates weren't very good, by the way.)

Stay!

We got to La Grande around 7:00 tonight. Fortunately the roads were good; just a patch or two of frozen snow in the left lane. Hooray for easy traveling! Jason was showing his mom the best trick Raina could do, and for the first time Raina actually caught the treat when she was told "Okay!" Good girl, Raina!

Arrived

We drove to Boise today to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Raina really enjoys my parents' house because they have nice big windows that get a lot of sun. She took full advantage of it when we got here and she finally settled down. I'm sure it was a nice change from being cooped up in the back of the Highlander for five hours.

To Portland and Beyond!

This was my view for most of the afternoon today. Jason and I brought Ruth to Portland today in the hopes that her visa would arrive (she had the address changed to Nick's house) and she could catch her Thursday flight. This was our first really long trip with a baby. It took us seven hours to make the 4-hour trip.

I love the scenery on the way to Portland. Once you hit Hood River things really get gorgeous. No matter what time of year it is!

We are staying at Ruth's boyfriend's house, though he isn't here. He's in Ethiopia serving as a student missionary at a hospital there. He's actually the Outer Clinics Director and is managing somewhere around six clinics in the bush of Ethiopia. He's having a good time! At any rate, his mother is amazing at playing hostess. This is what she served for dessert tonight: Pumpkin mousse in individual pumpkins, and homemade pumpkin pie - made from a real pumpkin (provided by her daughter-in-law, Erin). Both were delicious and quite festive. I had to take a picture. I also had to take a picture of Paris (pronounced the French way, peh-REE), the family's Bichon Frise. He makes himself comfortable wherever he wants to!

Out for a Walk

This afternoon Dad decided he wanted to go take pictures of the buildings on the WWU campus. So we loaded up and headed into College Place with our cameras. As we were passing the men's dorm, the wife of one of the deans, who we knew in high school, spotted us and came to see Kayla. She didn't know we'd had a baby, and she was excited to see her...and introduce her to Sophie, her little dog.

Around the same time we ran into Ted and Heather, who were out walking with their daughter, Veronica. We hadn't met Veronica yet, and she's 9 months old! Sophie and Veronica became fast friends.

Dog House & Storm Clouds

My dad came up yesterday. We're having Kayla dedicated on Sabbath and our families are coming into town for the occasion. Dad came early to do a project he wanted to do last time they were here but didn't get to, and Mom will be here tomorrow afternoon. Rachel and Ronnie and Morgan will arrive sometime Friday night. Jason's parents are coming up Sabbath morning just for the day. The project Dad did today was a dog house for Raina. It ended up being bigger than it probably needed to be, but Raina will have plenty of room to stay out of the rain and cold weather.

This is what the sky looked like this evening as the sun began to set. We had a cloudy day and the sky cleared and then more clouds moved in. They were beautiful and Jason came in and told me I needed to go take a picture. Good thing he did! It was a fantastic sky! I love this time of year.

Naptime

I caught Raina sleeping in the yard like this today...in the hole she's so meticulously dug over the last several months. No matter what we do she continues to dig...and right where you step from the patio into the yard, too. Sigh. What I love, though, is that right after catching Raina sleeping like this, I nursed Kayla and this is how she positioned herself. All curled up, comfy, between my tummy and the Boppy pillow. They both found their little comfy spot to fall asleep. So cute!

And I took THIS picture because I thought Kayla looked like her Grandpa Sevison with his pants all hiked up. :) (No offense, Grandpa!) Oh, by the way, I took Kayla to the hospital and had her weighed today. She's up to 8 lb. 3 oz.! Only one more ounce to go to reach birth weight. The nurse says she's doing perfectly for a breastfed baby, and she looks great. Good news!

Uncle Alex & Aunt Britt

Tyler and Sophie were in town this weekend, and this afternoon they stopped by with Alex and Britt to see us and meet Little Miss Kayla. It was a lot of fun; we had ice cream with all the fixin's and chatted quite a bit. T&S had to get on the road back to Seattle, so they didn't stay long, but Britt and Alex hung out for a while and Alex even got a chance to hold the baby. I love this picture because it's so...them. They were really enjoying the chance to hold Kayla - and for once she was quiet. I think it's because I'd just fed her.

Meanwhile, Jason and Raina relaxed on the floor...though I think Raina was hoping Jason would eventually play with her. I think he might have at some point...but he was a bit lethargic today.

100+ Degrees

Today it was miserably hot. I know, I know - it's summer. In Walla Walla. But it was horrible today, really. And it always feels worse to a pregnant woman. So just trust me. It was so hot even the dog didn't do anything but sleep under the fan.

Independence Day

Today we went to church and then quickly changed, grabbed an ice chest or two full of food, and began the 1 1/2 hour drive to Enterprise, Oregon. There we had a delicious BBQ lunch at - pay attention now - Jason's sister's mother-in-law's house. For those of you who know names, that would be Rolie's mom. She lives in a beautiful little house out in the forest about five minutes from Wallowa Lake. It was nice and cool, and it was a quiet, beautiful little spot for a picnic 4th of July lunch. (Even if we did have to make a run for it indoors shortly after starting our burgers because the rain came pouring out of the sky as if someone were dumping buckets!) Here's a picture of the backyard where we started our corn and burger/hot dog BBQ:

After lunch we all kind of lounged around and relaxed...and then around 6 we headed up to the lake to reserve spots for the fireworks show. The scenery in the Wallowa Lake area is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Here's some of what we saw just on the 5-minute drive to the lake from Rolie's mom's house.

Since we got there and settled in around 6:30, we had quite a time to wait before the show started. (It didn't begin until 10 p.m.) So I enjoyed watching the scenery, people-watching (quite entertaining), and shooting some photos. The people next to us had the most adorable little puppy. Somehow I managed to catch him looking at me after he'd climbed up into one of their chairs.
Of course, before the real fireworks started, everyone had to shoot off their personal ones. Jason, his mom and I ended up moving to higher ground, because we were choking on fireworks smoke as well as cigarette smoke, and it was super loud. Before it got too bad, though, I snapped a shot I really like (except it's a bit blurry) of some kids enjoying their fireworks.

And here is one of my favourites, taken shortly before the show began (you might want to click on it and view it full-size):

The fireworks show was supposed to be "unique" - something never before done in North America. I'm not sure what was so fabulous about it - it was a good fireworks show, but there was nothing phenomenal about it. The show was about 20 minutes long and was quite beautiful. Here's my attempt at capturing some of it:

Old Times, Good Friends

This is Brindle. He's a Boston Terrier with quite a bit of energy, but he knows how to be quiet and he obeys orders. He's four years old.

Today Jason and I visited with some old friends of his from La Grande: Trish, Jasen, and Caitlin. We had dinner with them at Denny's (not my choice, but good anyway), and then we went over to Trish and Jasen's house to see his shop. Jasen is a woodworker and does amazing stuff. Since the shop is on property zoned residential, they also live at the shop, in an upstairs area remodeled just for them. It's very nice. While there, we also met and played with Brindle, as well as his 2-year-old "brother," Boo-Boo. Here's a hilarious picture of Boo, though I'm not sure how you can get a NOT hilarious photo of a pug:

Boo is a rare brindle-coated pug, and is a breeder. Though why anyone would pay hundreds of dollars for a pug is beyond me. They're noisy and obnoxious, and not even cute to make up for it. But some people love them, so at least they've got some friends, even if I'm not really one of them.

Brindle, though misnamed because his coat is clearly not brindle, was pretty fun. He would play fetch, and he would even play soccer. He could also sing. Here's a picture of him "singing" with Trish. (Believe me, you'll enjoy the picture more than you would a video - it was loud!)

Multiple Celebrations in One

This afternoon we had a celebration picnic. There were about 20 of us there, and although we originally gathered to celebrate Katrina's (soon-to-be) and Jason's master's degrees, we soon discovered we had a lot more to celebrate. Here's a list of what we deemed the picnic in celebration of:

1. Jason's master's degree (Library Science, completed in August 2008)
2. Katrina's master's degree (Choral Conducting, to be completed in July 2009)
3. Lorin's brother's birthday earlier in June
4. Lorin's parents' anniversary earlier in June
5. Lorin's niece's birthday this week
6. Jason and I expecting at the end of next month
7. Katrina getting a job in Indiana and she and Lorin beginning a new chapter in their lives

Whitney and Rolie brought their new puppy, Jake, and even Jason couldn't resist petting and playing with him, as you can see above. Eventually, he even napped with the dogs, which is pretty impressive for a cat person! The Dalmatian is Jason's parents' 18-year-old "grandpa dog," Chip.

A Busy Morning

This morning I took Raina to the vet. For the last couple of weeks she's been hacking and coughing and wheezing and Jason and I couldn't figure out any pattern at all. She could be lying on the floor for an hour and then get up and start hacking away. Finally, since she wasn't showing signs of improvement, I made an appointment at the vet. Forty-five minutes later, Raina had peed on the vet's floor twice and the scale once (I TRIED to get her to pee before we got to the vet, but nooooo), the vet had stuck his finger down her throat a couple of times, listened to her lungs, and jiggled her throat to see if he could get her to cough. It worked...apparently Raina has an inflamed trachea. Usually this bug is passed from dog to dog, but the only dogs Raina has been around recently are our neighbour dogs, and they never show any interest in her through the fence, which is the only possible interaction they can have. Also, no one walks dogs past our house since we live at the end of a dead end street, so I'm not sure how she got the bug. The vet says it's a mystery.

An $88 mystery, apparently.

Granted, she did get her distemper shot today, too, but I also left the vet with two bottles of pills, which I have to administer to her (3 twice a day) with wet dog food. So Raina's going to love this being sick thing...she gets yummy wet dog food (complete with pills) as a treat for the next two weeks. Spoiled little dog.

A New Game

Tonight, while Jason was mowing the lawn, he took the soccer ball we've had since a major wind storm blew it into our yard a couple of months ago and kicked it at Raina. She's pretty good at fetching, so she ran right after it. Then came the hard part - getting it in her mouth. She failed her first few attempts, but didn't give up. She finally did get it in her mouth, and after that grabbed it on the first try every time. Jason played soccer with her for a while, and she loved it. Below is my favourite picture of the game...Raina looks so hilariously demonic! (Is that possible?)

A New Trick

Jason's been working with Raina on a new trick. He puts a treat on her nose, tells her to stay, and backs away, forcing her to sit there without dropping the treat or trying to eat it. She doesn't like this trick, and in the beginning she would lay down and hide her nose in order to avoid it. But I think the getting the treat in the end bit won her over (finally), and she gave in. Now she does it reluctantly and does a pretty good job of it, too. Tonight she did it three times in a row, and did really well. The next part of this trick is getting to her to catch the treat in her mouth when she goes to eat it, instead of just dropping it on the floor and picking it up.