Christmas '09

It's been a while since my last post, but I promise I have a good reason. You see, I was spending a wonderful week with my family. Then, BJ and I tackled a 14 hour road trip in one day with an 80 lb. dog and a puppy (we rock!). After that, I got sick with flu-like symptoms for a few day, but now I'm all better. Of course, in the midst of that, we've been trying to house train a puppy who is scared of cold weather in Kentucky.

With a new puppy in tow, it didn't take long for Christmas '09 to become the Christmas of our dogs. Here is a photographic journey through our time in Texas.

My parents have very high ceilings in their house, so we always get really, really big trees.

A lot of the week revolved around Zoe (big surprise, right?). For example, in this pictures she is being held by my Aunt Paulette. We have spent this week at home trying to teach Zoe that puppies who are going to grow into 130 lb. dogs can't lay on people in chairs. She prefers the rules at Grandma's house.

My family opens presents on Christmas Eve night.


I got a necklace from Anthopologie that I've been wanting for a very long time. I got it with a puppy in my lap.


Gus doesn't really care for the chaos of Christmas Eve night.


In fact, overall, it was a pretty rough week for Gus. Although I'm conviced he is going to love Zoe, I'm having a hard time convincing him of that fact. I remember this happening when we got him. It took a while for Sienna to warm up to him. Unfortunately, I'm not very differentiated from my dogs, so by Christmas Day, I'd decided I'd make Gus like his new little sister. So I made them cuddle. For about an hour.


He looks like he's reach new depths of emotional depression.


Fortunately, there were a lot of people sitting around who like to pet Gus. So he went and hid in between the guys while they looked at cars on the computer. Daddy petted him for a very long time.


Unlike Gus, Zoe was pretty much happy the whole week. Why? Because she's a puppy, so life's pretty good.


By our last day in Texas, Gus was learning to just hide from Zoe. You know the saying, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"? I think he decided it was best he kept his distance. In this picture, he is taking refuge behind Bro's feet under the breakfast table.


Other than Gus, the rest of us had a wonderful week. He's going to be okay, though. The Monday after we got back, he herded Zoe to the back door from the very back of the yard. He seemed to have a good time, but she was pretty much freaked out by it. Oh well, we are all learning as we go.