Snow Day!!!

Dutchess was always quite the princess and didn't like for her paws to get "dirty". So she especially did not enjoy the snow. But Duke on the other hand, absolutely LOVES the snow!!! He couldn't get enough of it.

No, this isn't a camera angle trick. He can jump to my height. Which is a little scary when you are carrying laundry across the backyard!

Jeremy has made a few "upgrades" to the Jeep. No, that's a severe understatement. I now have to jump to barely make it into the car now!!!

Out With The Old....

Jeremy has decided that 2011 is the year we finally remodel the kitchen. It is the last room in the home renovations we started when we got married. We have slowly bought one appliance at a time so that we can get the exact dimensions for our kitchen. So we traded in the the 1940's apartment style stove for, shall we say, a modern version. Needless to say, I went from not being able to bake 13x9 dish to I could roast a turkey!!!

OLD:

Our last meal on the possibly 70 year old stove top....

And the new one :) not only do we have an oven light now and display, but I don't have to light it myself anymore!!!

2010....the year in review

2010 has been a year of blessings....and lessons in life for us. But we celebrated our first year of marriage and I wouldn't change it for the world!

In March, Jeremy and I added a new bundle of joy to our family....a male boxer named Duke. Now that he is almost a year old, I don't think 'bundle of joy' is the most appropriate way I would describe him. The vet refers to him as "Monster Nelms" since at almost a year, he is past the 60 lbs mark and STILL growing!

Here he is with Dutchess the day we bought him....within 5 minutes of the car he decided to break in the road trip with us. But he was very polite and only "dirtied" the rubber floor mat!

Two things were certain 1) he liked to eat 2) he wouldn't sit still! The only time I could get a picture is when he stopped to eat!

First yellow snow!!! (I think that jacket might fit his back leg now!)

One of the hardest lessons we learned this year was to let go. In January, we noticed Dutchess had developed knots under her jaw line. The vet (hoped) it was infected salivary glands and loaded her with steroids which seemed to help. In July however, the knots returned and were worse. We had a biopsy done and found out she had lymphoma. It was a very, very tough struggle for us as we watched our baby girl go from chasing squirrels to never wanting to get up. In the end, we decided we couldn't bare to watch her stuggle and in September decided to put her down. I had never realized in my life the impact of that decision and not a day goes by that we don't think about our little princess!

For our anniversary, we decided to go to Vegas. Neither of us had ever gone and well, thought it was time! We had an amazing time and look forward to making another trip. But I learned very quickly that in Vegas, there is no such thing as a dress too short, or heels too tall!!! Oh and when making reservations, if they ask if it's a special occasion tell them it's your anniversary-we got FREE dessert everywhere!!!

Here we are at the Venetian watching the Gondolas (sp?)

I know that isn't much for a year's worth, but it gets the high points. Hopefully 2011 will be filled with many more blessing (and postings!!!)

Resolution(s)...

Given my lack of blogging over the last year, I have decided that my one and only (since I usually don't make them) resolution is to be better at blogging. So for the one (I hope!) reader that may be out there, I will try to be better! Jeremy bought me a new camera for Christmas, which to say the least is WAY too fancy for me to understand! I hope to be better at posting pictures as my photographer (or lack there of) skills improve.