The New Addition!

Wanted to fill you in on a little something that happened in our house about 2 weeks ago, we adopted another puppy!

Meet Murphy, the Schnauzer, Tibetan Terrier and possibly Wolfhound mix. They said he is about a year old, but they aren't sure. We are thinking he is about 8-10 months, and our vet agrees. He is just a big ol' adorable mutt. We did not plan on adopting another dog. We were at lunch at the same shopping center as PetSmart. I told Andy that I wanted to go over to PetSmart after we ate so we could look at Christmas stuff for Jimmy and see the cute dogs they had since they had Stephens County Humane Society (a local shelter) there for adoptions on Saturdays. Just to look at them, not actually take one home. Well, before we even made it to look at Christmas stuff we looked at the dogs and spotted "Sloopy".

He was an adorable mutt just hanging out in this kennel. The woman running the adoptions said we could take him for a walk around the store, so we did. I didn't initially want another dog, but I knew Andy has wanted another for a while. And, we thought it might be good for Jimmy to have a playmate since he has been getting a bit bored and rambunctious when we are gone. So, "Sloopy" came home with us!

We were not fans of the name Sloopy, so at first we renamed him Oscar because I kinda think he looks like Oscar the Grouch, even though he is not a grouchy guy. But, as we thought about it we decided that Oscar wasn't the right fit. So, Andy came up with Murphy and it has stuck!

The two of them seem to be getting along alright so far, clearly these two boys love belly rubs from Daddy.

When Jimmy finally realized that Murphy is not just a visitor and is moving in and he started to pout a bit, which broke our hearts. At first we were going to wait and see how it went with the two of them (which is why I didn't post this post sooner), but they have come to love playing together and hanging out, and Murphy is staying!

We have tried to take the two of them on a long walk almost every night and they are both pretty good walking on a leash. Check out these light on a house around the corner from us!

Murphy has separation anxiety, which we were unaware of, he freaks out when we both leave. We have signed him up for training classes so those start in the new year and hopefully those will help. We have never had to train a dog since Jimmy was trained from the time he was a puppy, so we didn't really know where to start. We figure a class would be a good way to train Murphy.

We hope that the two of them will become best buddies but I will keep you posted!

What a Wonderful Christmas!

Tuesday night we headed to the New Post Chapel for Christmas Eve candlelight service. It was the first time I had been in the chapel and it is beautiful! The service was lovely and a wonderful way to start Christmas. After the service we came home, put on our new Christmas jammies and watched It's A Wonderful Life, just like I have done every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember.

Christmas morning has arrived! We had set the coffee pot for brew before we went to bed so there was a wonderful pot waiting for us when we woke up (or when the dogs woke us up at 7am). When I was little, I was not allowed to touch a present until my mom had her coffee made, and that was because when she was little, she also had to sit at the top of the stairs and wait for my grandfather to make coffee before they could come down and open presents. I am sure this is something we will also do when we have kids! (it's the little traditions that make the holidays great).

We got our coffees and started the fun of opening presents! We both got eachother some great things, but I won't share every detail with you. I will mention that we both got new running shoes! Great minds think alike, and lets face it, if you know us personally then you know that Andy and I are pretty much the same person! I got a new pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s that I have been wanting and I got Andy the brand new Saucony Guide 7s. Couples that run together stay together, right? haha

I also received the Up24 by Jawbone! A while back I did a post about the FitBit Flex vs. the Jawbone Up. Well someone must have read my blog haha. Andy did even better and got the brand new Up24 by Jawbone. This one is better than the normal Up because the Up24 is bluetooth so it updates in real time instead of having to plug it into your phone. I absolutely love it and I have only been using it for a day! Maybe I will do a post next week and give you the full rundown of all the great things this gadget can do!

It was just me and Andy yesterday since we could not fly home this year and our families had just come out to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. It was the first time I had not been with my mom on Christmas which was weird, but I had my wonderful husband and our two fur babies and that makes it much better! We did a mini-dinner and just relaxed all day, it was great! I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours!

Tame that Mane

Let me start this post by saying that I have not run in about two weeks!!! Between family being here (though we did the Gobble Wobble!) and us having an ice/snow storm (which the roads are still covered in since the town did nothing to clean up this mess) I just haven't :(

It has been WAY below freezing many mornings and I give more credit to those who can run when the real feel is -13, but I just can't. The weather is going to start getting back to normal human temps which means I will get to run in the mornings again! I can't wait to get back moving and maintaining instead of gaining during this holiday season. It is supposed to be 53 on Saturday, sounds like a perfect day for a run in my book! I suppose the gods are preparing us for our PCS move! (more on that later, but it will be a cold move)

Now, you know I love to share products when they really work for me, so I have one for ya! A few months ago an awesome lady named Melissa started SweatMePretty. She started the brand when other non-slip headbands didn't work for her. Either they would leave a mark in hair for days, or they would say they were one size but would really measure another. What better way to solve a problem then do it yourself! She is so sweet and her customer service is great! They also occasionally do promos. Currently they are running free shipping on purchases $40.00 or more with code CHRISTMAS13.

I tried them out and now I am hooked (clearly, I mean look at my collection from just two or three months haha). They come in tons of styles/colors, stay in place, and are much less expensive than other non-slip headband companies. I also love that she uses contrasting velvet on the inside of the band. Gives it a little something extra!

I always wear one when running/working out because my hair would get insane without it. I don't get those ladies that can run a half marathon with their long hair down and not get crazy sweaty. I also rock them when my hair just gets annoying and needs to be pulled back from my face. They do the trick, and make it look a little more polished than just a ponytail. Needless to say, I love SweatMePretty (and their awesome name), so go check it out!

Do you have a favorite non-slip headband or do you go without? Do you enjoy negative temp running or are a scaredy cat like me? haha.... Have a great day friends!

Where Have I Been?!?!

Holy cow, I just realized that it has been about a month since my last post! Goodness, I guess life just starts getting hectic and some things (such as the blog) get put on the back burner. Between work and life and family and the army, it has been busy around here, but I am back! Instead of going though everything that has gone on in the past month, I will just give you the highlights!

The biggest highlight was that our family came to visit for Thanksgiving! My mom, along with Andy's mom, step-dad and sister all came to visit us here in Oklahoma. It was our first time hosting for the holidays and it was great. I give my Aunt Lynn a lot of credit for all of those Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners that she hosted, getting everything in and out of the oven on time is a task!

Me and my momma!

Also, while they were here we did a Gobble Wobble the morning of Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to have the whole family participate in an event like this and if we were staying here in Oklahoma it would become a yearly tradition! (Side note, we are leaving Oklahoma in February, but that gets a whole post of its own soon!)

The whole gang!

The second highlight was that we got our first snow of the season the weekend before Thanksgiving! We went to bed on Saturday night to clean streets and no snow and woke up Sunday morning with 4 inches of snow in our backyard! Clearly the first thing we did when we woke up was put on warm clothes and play in the snow with Jimmy! Then we made our way (through the crappy, un-plowed Lawton streets) to the dog park to play with a friend and his two doggies.

Andy and Jimmy playing in the backyard

The dogs had a blast in the snow and now we are gearing up for round two, snow and ice today through Friday night. I hope the yucky weather holds off until tomorrow night because it is a big day around here tomorrow, Andy is getting promoted to Captain!

Hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season so far! And I promise, I will be better at posting! Now, I leave you with this cuties snow-covered face from last week!

Our fur-baby Jimmy, enjoying the snow!