Puppies!

Madelyn and I have decided to start volunteering our time to an organization here in Austin that saves dogs and cats from “death row” at the local animal shelter. These are perfectly good dogs but because of space issues have to be put to sleep after not being adopted in time. Most of the dogs they put to sleep are puppies because they don’t have the staff to take care of such young dogs… our local animal shelter puts 13,000 dogs and cats to sleep every year. That’s just one animal shelter (think of all the animal shelters around the country)… All of these animals can find good homes. They are perfectly good dogs. Once these dogs have been saved from the shelter they will not be put to sleep. The organization will keep the dog until it finds a home.

It’s awful to know that both our dogs, which came from a shelter, may have been put to sleep if we hadn’t adopted them. They are the best animals… and are capable of giving so much to us. To know that there are Sugar and Rocky’s out there being put to sleep because of space issues breaks our hearts. So, we got involved!

This was our first foster and there will be more to come. We know everyone loves puppy pictures, so here they are! These are 8 week Chow/Sheppard mixes:

(Dinner time!)

(Madelyn is covered in puppies! I don't think she could be happier)

(They are confused as to what's happening)

(This one had the best little ear)

(The spotted one would have stayed with us if we didn't already have two dogs!)

Sugar was so funny with the dogs... she would round them up in the corner... and if they tired to leave she'd put them back. I don't know if it was a mother intuition thing or if she's just a bully.

(Sugar is trying to figure these things out!)

(hiding in the corner)

I had to get a little creative at bed time... I created a fort made out of boxes, a fireplace cover, Sugar's crate, kitchen chairs and weights. As crazy as it seemed... it worked. They didn't escape!

Go adopt a dog!

Rockband 2: 2, Rock Harder

So, another three months and another Rockband party… this was easily one of our best parties, with newly downloaded songs, new guests, and margraitas/pina coladas. We rocked so hard we broke our drum set! We played until nobody could play anymore… Here are the awesome pictures that were taken with my camera by numerous people. I can’t take credit for the pictures… I was too busy rockin’!

For some reason during the night tea was made... I'm not sure why, but Madelyn and Lorena seem to be enjoying it.

With the addition of the No Doubt package on Rockband Madelyn was finally convinced to rock the mic... and she did! Here we are doubling up!

I'm obviously REALLY enjoying what's going on...

We rocked so hard that Jarrett jumped out of his chair to start drumming.... hmmm, and I wonder why the drum set broke? ;-)

Someone tried to take a picture of one of my big jumps in the air... they caught me right before my big finale jump, which ended up being a funnier picture. Mic in one hand... tamborine in the other!

This must be a Boston song...

When Madelyn saw this picture she said, "Was that taken from our balconey?!"....

"Good job team... good job."

Here's Jarrett getting his groove on....

This picture doen't really show anything... I just think it's a good picture of Madelyn!

Super Weekend!

I have become the worst blogger lately… I have a new obsession with Facebook, so I’ve been spending all my Internet time Facebooking instead of blogging.

Sorry to those who think we’ve abandoned our blog!

We haven’t really been up to that much, last weekend we went to a big party downtown with some friends. There was salsa lessons upstairs, followed by salsa dancing, there was a DJ downstairs, there was a great back patio for talking outside… All in all, the recipe for a great time!

Let’s just say… we danced… a lot.

(Lorena rocking the dance floor)

(Jonathan and Jarrett showing their best rock pose)

(Jonathan getting down!)

(Mindy and Jarrett... my Texas shaped sunglasses were a huge hit at the party)

The party hired a famous Austin photographer named Annie Ray. She does this thing she calls a "photobooth".... Her pictures are AWESOME. She really does a great job of capturing people being fun.

(She liked my sunglasses so much I got a special solo picture!)

After the party we headed out to Magnolia Café for some much needed Queso and food.

(Tired and hungry...that's what happens when you've been dancing for two hours!)

On Saturday we headed out to Jarrett’s birthday party at Polvo’s. Here’s some background, Polvo’s is some of the best Mexican food in town, but like all great Mexican food the restaurant is far from “nice”. Most of the seating is outside, which is fine most of the year, but on the day we arrived it was 40 degrees outside. The only table we could get was in a section of the restaurant that is unfinished. The owner started building onto his patio, but the city told him he had to stop… so, there are four walls, but no roof. They had lantern heaters out by our table, but it was still cold. It’s worth it for the amazing food and to celebrate a good friend’s birthday! This will explain the following picture…

After a long dinner of being a little cold someone offered me a warm tortilla… I wasn’t trying to be funny, but at that moment the only place I wanted that tortilla to go was on my face… it felt so good. I poked some eye holes for the picture…. Which ended up looking really scary!

(I hope this picture doesn't give you nightmares)

(this was me before the tortilla face... cold and hungry)

(The birthday boy himself!)

(Giant drink for Jarrett!)

The pictures of Jarrett's birthday party were stolen from Facebook... I have my own pictures which I will try and upload tonight!

Utah: National Champions!

Over the past few days I've collected quite a bit of great Utah articles and videos. Any football or Utah fan would find these interesting!

Enjoy!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010600092.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3815656

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3811401

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3807585

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=2957349&brand=null&videoId=3812025&n8pe6c=2

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3814472

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3814740&categoryid=2564308

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WDuQe89kJM&feature=related

GO UTES!

I’m dreaming… of a Salt Lake Christmas

I’m dreaming… of a Salt Lake Christmas.

Madelyn and I just got back from 10 days of Salt Lake City fun. We visited with our families, went to movies, installed TV’s, Body Worlds, sporting events, got into the hot tub, went sledding, we ate a ton of food, and Madelyn and her sisters shopped…. A LOT. Let’s just say that we came back home with an entire extra suitcase.

That pretty much covers the entire trip!

We had a great time in SLC, it was nice to be back… although I remember what it’s like to go about your day with snow on the ground. I think my feet were cold the entire trip! It was really cool to get to see our friends and family again.

I never seem to take a ton of pictures when I come into town, but here are a few from our trip.

On Christmas day we got together to take our family picture. It’s amazing how many shots it took to get this…. At some point I’m going to post them all, they’re pretty hilarious. The halo around my head is a nice touch…

The day after Christmas we woke up to a good 6 inches of snow… it was great to see everything covered in snow again, but I quickly remembered that there are some difficulties that come with snow, cold feet, shoveling, banks of snow, wet everything, and that nice white ring you get on your jeans. All snow complaints aside it was beautiful!





The rest of the trip was just a lot of relaxing and eating… I was able to enjoy two sporting events! I went with my family to the Jazz game..



And I went with my dad to the Utah basketball game…



I was also able to go sledding with my family at Sugarhouse. I remembered how out of shape I am when I needed to rest after walking up the hill!



Here’s my dad at the sled hill:



Angie and Cady being the spectators:



I think the show stealer over at the Fowles house was Elly. She was quite the entertainer… and after many fruit snacks she finally warmed up to me.

Here she is singing around the piano:


I showed her how to get in the middle of the clothes rack… I’m sure her mother will be thrilled that she now knows this.







Madelyn and I even got to see our old friends. My good friend Tyson and I were right back where we started. We went bowling at the U like the old days…





This was definitely the best trip home we’ve had since living in Texas. It was so great to see everyone and we had the perfect mix of relaxing and hanging out with family and friends. Thanks everyone for showin’ us a good time!