Welcome Home Samson!!

We have been thinking for awhile now that Sadie needed a friend. We have left for work too many days looking at her sad face watching us walk out the door feeling guilty for leaving her at home all day. We knew we would get another one eventually and were just waiting for the right time. Sadie is 8 months now and we thought of her as very well behaved having been through puppy classes and working hard with her over the past 6 months so we decided it was time. Mr. Samson or "Sam" Van Sande came home with us last Friday night. He is another Golden Retriever and is now 9 weeks old. He is quite a bit larger than Sadie was at this age and much more wild/adventurous! He is already using the doggie door, climbing up and down the stairs, and able to take Sadie's rough play full on! Sadie can be a little rough at times but if he can wiggle away he usually responds by taking a running pounce at her head or running around and biting/tugging her tail.

Sadie was VERY jealous and anxious at first, but she is definitely getting used to him and responding better now. Her behavior has done some backsliding as she is much more interested in playing with Samson instead of listening to us, but hopefully that will pass too. She watches him like a hawk and won't let him out of her sight for more than a few minutes. She used to not want anyone to hold him either but with a lot of love, attention, and treats, she's becoming a little more generous now.:)

We are tremendously enjoying having a little one around again and it is bringing back lots of fun memories from when we first got Sadie. We love to cuddle with him, watch his clumsy run, and take in that glorious puppy smell. We love our pups!!!

It's official.

We just got back from seeing Marley and Me. What is it about those blessed canines that just make their way into your heart without asking permission? I never really understood how people could be so obsessed with their dogs. I guess it's just one of those things that you just really can't understand until you fall in love yourself. It's weird how I cannot even imagine our life without Sadie anymore. She truly is a part of the family. It would be so weird to come home and not see her smiling face with her energetic tail wagging as fast as doggedly possible. In case you were wondering about the word "doggedly," it is a word, because I made it up. Instead of as fast as humanly possible.... yeah... you get it now. Anyway. It would be funny if humans got as excited to see one another as dogs get when they see you for the first time after a long day. Excited high pitched noises... lots of energy... jumping up on each other... maybe a little excited pee.... you get the picture. It's amazing how much a dog can love you without you having to do anything. I mean, Sadie is exceptionally spoiled and loved, but if you take out the trips we take her on, adventures to the dog park, the extra long massages and petting treatments, the special dog bones we buy, her new toys (geez, I didn't mean for this list to get that long....). Anyway... all I meant to say was that I know that she would give me the same love if all I did was feed her twice a day and pet her once in awhile. She asks for nothing really and has unconditional love for everyone. She gives such an innocent, pure love so freely. I'm going to make fun of myself later for writing all of this. But in moments of honesty like this, I can tell you straight out that I'm history. An official, bonafide, crazy, dog lover person.

When Scott and I got our first pet, we went a little over board. Our beautiful blue beta fish (Stuart Little Esquire the I) was very spoiled for a beta. We went all out with a nice size tank, plants for him to hide in, a bridge he could swim under, and special water conditioning treatments. We spent quite a while researching how to make our fish the happiest little fish that ever swam on the earth. When we announced our new pet to the Van Sande family and excitedly exclaimed about our new purchases for little Stewie, Michael (brother in law) said,

"WOW. YOU GUYS REALLY NEED TO GET A DOG."

And that's how it started I suppose. I guess we really need to have a kid now so that we don't sound like such big idiots when we talk about our puppy.

Merry Christmas!

Morgan was nice enough to volunteer her photography skills so we could get a Christmas picture out this year.  Here are a few of our favorites: