CATCHING UP...

I can not believe how long it has been since I’ve been on here. Pat and I both have been going non stop the past couple of months working 12-14hour days. From about March- June Pat had to do what the Navy calls “work ups” to prepare for them to go out to sea. The work- ups are the worst part; he had to stay on the ship for a week, would get to come home for a night or two then back on the ship again for another week. It was horrible; we really didn’t get to see each other very much at all. I am very proud of him; he was just promoted to Reactor Training and he really likes it. It’s a lot more work but it’s a lot more challenging, therefore the perfect job for him. Just this morning Pat took the E6 Exam, so we will find out in about two months if he made it or not!

I have been swamped with school and work. I graduated from massage school back in May and am currently about to take the State Board in the next week or two. I was going to school from 8:30am- 12pm, then straight to work until 8pm five days a week then working three weekends a month on top of that! I’m so thankful to finally be finished with school. I am now working 5 days a week and feel like I have too much free time.

Last Sunday Belle had her puppies, 3 boys and 2 girls!!! She was a week early. We woke up Sunday morning and she had already given birth to 3 of her puppies. She sleeps in a cage right beside our bed and she didn’t even make a sound! She’s such a trooper. We did get to see the last 2 puppy’s birth, which was absolutely amazing (but I’m not going to lie- pretty gross too!). We lost the runt on Tuesday. It was horrible. She was only 2oz and all the others were between 4.5 and 6oz. We did everything we possibly could but she just wasn’t strong enough. It has been such an amazing experience watching these puppies grow day by day. Neither Pat nor I had a dog growing up who had puppies, so we have been reading book after book trying to learn as much as we possibly can. I feel like the obsessive mother who calls the doctors every time her baby hiccups, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

I’ll post some pictures of the last couple of months to catch y’all up…


Back in February it snowed for a few days. This was Cooper’s first time seeing snow…