Stella Graduates!

After 8 weeks of attending weekly puppy training classes at our local PetSmart, Stella graduated! In fact, our entire class passed and we are all moving onto the next level of training. We are so excited for her!



Her favorite trick these days - giving 'high fives':

Welcome Lola!

Stella has a new BFF! My bestie, Nik, rescued this cutie yesterday. She has named her Lola. We can't wait to meet you, Lola!

Hook 'Em!

Avid college football fans, we watched our final game last night at our favorite watering hole. Despite our attempts to doing everything that we did in 2005, when the Longhorns brought home a national championship title, we were unable to repeat the success. Like John always says in regards to the Cubs, "there is always next year". Hook 'em!

Eat - Drink - Sleep - Repeat!

Our routine this holiday season:
EAT

DRINK

SLEEP

It was rough!!

Stella visits Kentucky!

For the holidays this year, we headed northbound to Kentucky. As mentioned in a previous post, we did in fact drive the 12.5 hours to Kentucky because Stella was too big for the plane ... gulp! Our vet prescribed Stella medication to sedate her for the journey which, of course, did not work and therefore, she spent the entire drive on our laps. Here a few pictures of Stella meeting her Kentucky family. She was quite the hit!

300,000 Miles!

John's junior year of high school his father, Bob, made a deal with John. "Get a scholarship to a university, graduate and I will buy you an SUV of your choice upon completion."

Never one to not take on a challenge, John did just that. His senior year of high school he obtained All-State (for Illinois)Lineman status which made him very appealing to multiple universities. He was recruited to play at schools such as Purdue, Kentucky, Northwestern, Wisconsin and University of Illinois and choose to attend Northern Illinois University.

True to his word, Bob, rewarded John with his SUV of choice - a black 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe with all of the bells and whistles. This month the tahoe hit a milestone: 300,000 miles. Bob called Chevrolet with the news if this outstanding fete and (insert drum roll music here) they sent John a coupon for a FREE oil change. Ohhhh...aahhh.

To our readers out there, please feel free to comment your favorite memory of time spent in the Tahoe.

The big D!

For our six month wedding anniversary, John and I headed for a weekend get-a-way to Dallas. We stayed in the fabulous Adolfus Hotel in downtown Dallas which was very reminiscent of the Driskill hotel in Austin where we had our wedding reception, dined in the famous (and quite fancy) French Room (hands down the best steak either one of us had ever had) and explored some of the museums that Dallas had to offer. Of course we stayed within a stones through of the original Nieman Marcus which called for a walk-through. John learned just how much I am willing to spend on shoes and he probably wished he had never asked!

We were also able to spend sometime with our dear friends the Haney's in their new, FABULOUS home on Friday night. We got the grand tour and can't wait to come back in the summer to swim in the pool! My brother and his girlfriend, Lindsay, also live in Dallas. We watched Nathan coach his rugby team against their bitter rival on Saturday and then met up with them after our dinner.

We left a rainy and cold Dallas for a warm Austin and prepared for our next trip: Kentucky!