First Kayaking Trip Of The Year

Mia loves pretty much every adventure she goes on, including kayaking. She stays so mentally stimulated the whole time, constantly watching, smelling and listening to everything. My dad recently bought us a new kayak, so it's much easier for us to be together and she doesn't drive me (or them!) as crazy as she used to! I also took my nice camera, so I got some pretty decent photos of our trip. The only animal I was hoping to see that we didn't were bears, however we saw gators, turtles, otters, deer and tons of birds, including a hawk, owl and turkey.

Wake-Surfing

Mia and I had another gorgeous, fun day on the boat with our good friends Neely and Andy, as well as my friend Danielle and a few of Andy's friends. Ever since Mia's kneeboarding adventure I've been wanting to get her back up on a board - Andy has an awesome wakesurfboard and Mia was awesome at it! We got our balance together on the first try and we stayed up for about 5 minutes!


Trying to get her balance


Oh no, monkey butt in the face!!!


She's getting the hang of it and doing all the balancing on her own


She was so awesome!


Uh-oh, we almost lost it here, but managed to recover


and five minutes later, we're finally down


Beautiful, happy girl :)

One Sick Puppy

Man has Mia had a rough week! It started when I came home from work on Superbowl Sunday - as soon as I opened the garage door the smell of diarrhea hit me like a brick! My poor baby was sitting a puddle of her own poo in her crate. Not only was it all pooled up in the crate, but it was all over the floor AND the walls. It was so bad I didn't even know what to do at first. Finally I just decided it was inevitable - I simply opened up the crate, scooped her up (covering myself in diarrhea) and ran her outside to hose her off so I could clean up inside. I will spare you the pictures (trust me, you don't want to see them). First thing the next morning we headed up to the vet. After a physical and a fecal exam, nothing was concluded, so we were sent home with some meds and instructions to keep her calm for a while.

Just as she was getting totally regular again with all of her "business", I wake up to the sight of her paw the size of a baseball. So back to the vet we went! After x-rays showed nothing conclusive we were again sent home with more meds (and another nice vet bill). I assumed it was some sort of insect or spider bite, but the swelling was too big to see anything. After the swelling went down, two small bite-looking marks were visible, so I am definitely blaming a spider!

Mia not only got lots of sympathy, love and some very expensive medications, she also got home cooked meals! I do not ever give Mia human food (ok, that's a lie, she does get a Thanksgiving dinner) but I did cook her chicken and rice dinners to keep her tummy calm. She was quite miserable though and I was a very happy Mommy when she was finally back to her self!


Mia wearing the cone of shame so she'll stop licking her paw


"Mom, I thought you loved me?"


Poor baby feels like poo


Fat paw


Home cooked meals for my sick baby (and some expensive meds)


Notice her gimpy paw up :(

Katie

I have now fostered 18 cats and kittens but have yet to foster any dogs. Now that I have my own house with a yard and some extra space I decided to take on the challenge. Katie is my first foster dog, she is a 2 year old pit bull. Sniffing Snouts Rescue pulled her from Orange County Animal Services. She ended up at the shelter pregnant and the only way the shelter would allow the rescue pull was if her puppies were aborted, so that is just what ended up happening :(

Even though she's been through a lot, she is the sweetest, most loving girl! Pit bulls unfortunately get a bad wrap, one that they most definitely do not deserve. Most of the incidents you hear of on the news aren't even pit bulls! Katie is definitely the type of pit bull that will change peoples minds about the breed. Hopefully I will find her a home as soon as possible. She is such a lovebug and deserves to find her furever family that will give her all the attention and love she is craving.


Katie (on the left) with my Mia...just look at those soulful eyes!


She looooooves her bones!


Happy girl :)


Cuddling with Mia


Cute, sleeping little pibble :)


Katie just doesn't understand why it takes Mia so long to eat her dinner!


Katie meeting little Zane - she was in LOVE!


Zane was smacking her in the face and she just kept trying to give him kisses


This is why pit bulls used to be called "nanny dogs" :)


Katie playing with my neighbors puppy, Laila


Blurry tail = happy dog :)

Ashes & Jameson Playdate!

It's been 3 months since Mia and I moved into our new home, away from her bestest friend in the whole world, Ashes. My old roommate, James, and I have been talking about getting our girls together, but it just hasn't happened yet. James's girlfriend, Jessica, recently got a black lab puppy too! It finally worked out for all 3 of our schedules, so the 4 of them came over to our house and the 3 pups had a great time! Mia's little face just lit right up when she realized just who it was at the door :)


Mia and Ashes




It didn't take Ashes long to find a ball in the yard!


James throwing the ball


Mia and Jameson


Mia chases the ball while Jameson chases Mia :P


Goofy puppy :)

Kobe's Birthday & Little Laila

Today Mia got to hang out with two old friends and one new friend. One of her best buds, Kobe, came over to celebrate his first birthday and share some of his birthday cake with Mia and Hayley. Mia also got to make a new friend - my neighbors recently adopted a puppy so they brought her over to play. Little Laila definitely had more fun playing with Kobe! Hopefully as she gets bigger, she will find Mia to be a suitable playmate as well ;)


Happy Birthday Kobe!!


"Mom, can I please just eat my cake? Why do you always have to take pictures of me with my cake?!"


Best Buds ~ Mia, Kobe and Hayley


Laila and Kobe


Laila and Kobe


Mia wanted to play so bad, but they wouldn't let her :/


Cutie Laila

Thanksgiving

Mia has no idea what Thanksgiving means, she just knows it's one of the very few times during the year she gets to have people food! This year she got turkey, venison backstrap and mashed potatoes mixed in with her dog food. I'm so thankful to have this little monkey in my life, I honestly don't remember what it was like to not have her.

New House Pictures

Mia and I (and the kitties!) have really been settling into our new house. I'm so excited that Mia has a beautiful fenced in yard to call her own and I can finally let the cats outside. It only took them a couple days to get used to it and now they just love exploring around.


Backyard


Backyard


Peanut on the back deck




My little explorers :)


Watch out Peanut, sneak attack!