New Puppy Parents

Benton has been home with us for four days now. Wow, that went so quickly! We learned a LOT about him very quickly. Here is a list of the top 20.

1. He is COMPLETELY housetrained! We haven't had one accident.
2. He is a quick learner. We are crate training him, and he whines very little now (and not at all at night) when he goes into his crate.
3. He is snuggly. He is happiest around people.
4. He doesn't need toys. He prefers a belly rub.
5. He is gentle around other dogs, although the little dogs at our apartment complex scare him.
6. He doesn't bark. He does whine, but no much (see number 2).
7. He loves Mommy to talk to him while she does housework. He will follow me around and sit by my feet while I explain the advantages of separating clothing :).
8. Speaking of separation, our vet said he is predisposed to getting separation anxiety, so Mommy has to make sure he is in his crate while I'm home to give him "healthy" and "controlled" separation.
9. He is getting his first bath today! We wanted to give him one the day we brought him home, but it was too close to the time he had been neutered.
10. He likes the sound of the keyboard. I think it soothes him.
11. His full name is Benton Bradley Reynolds, but we call him Benton, Benty, Bentley, Baby Benty, etc.
12. The only time he is around his toys is to snuggle them. When we put him in his crate, he snuggles them and sometimes puts his head on them like a pillow.
13. Our vet encouraged me to brush his teeth on a daily basis. We will see how that goes today.
14. He will get to meet his new cousin beagles, Mable and Ivy, soon! He is SO excited!
15. Car rides are a work in progress. His crate doesn't fit in either of our cars very well, so he ends up moving from the back of the car where we have a blanket and car protection up to our laps. This is being worked on for his safety.
16. When we first got him, he would hide his treats. We have found them just about anywhere (here, in some empty boxes we hadn't put away yet).
17. He loves to walk. He gets about three a day.
18. His fur is super soft.
19. He likes to make beds (his style). He will use any rug and bunch it up to his liking.
20. Benton is Super LOVED!

Introducing Benton!

Here is a picture of our newest family member from the shelter's Web site: Benton Bradley Reynolds! We went to the shelter last night thinking we would pick out a puppy. We did the rounds and spent some time with this little guy. We fell in love! Benton is only one year old, and he is the sweetest dog! He is mellow, and he loves to smile!

We will pick him up tonight once Kevin gets off work for the evening. We plan to venture to the dog wash across town to get him all clean (they don't give them check out baths), and then we will get him acquainted with his new kennel and our apartment. In the next few days, we hope to introduce him to his cousins, Mable and Ivy. They are twin beagles, and I know they will all love each other.

Last night, we bought him all of his essentials: collar, leash, brush, shampoo, treats (a lot!), several toys, puppy pads (they said he is fairly well trained, but we want to be prepared), and a snuggle toy. We were able to pick out his name since he was a stray and they were not sure what his first name was.

We can't wait to bring him home!

Heartbreak and Fun

This weekend was full of ups and downs. Friday, we waited, and waited, and waited....to hear anything about the house we had made an offer on Thursday. We had a wedding to go to in Topeka Friday night (a friend from my graduate program, Dana), so I tried to fill my time packing for the weekend. I picked Kevin up from work right at 5, and we made the two hour trip. About 15 minutes before we made it, we received a call from our realtor. It wasn't good news. Apparently, the offer we weren't sure would come in did come in. We had made our offer not knowing that there would be another offer on the table. Although we felt it was strong, we would likely have offered more knowing there would be competition. The other offer was for asking price. Needless to say, the sellers accepted the other offer.

I was still pretty upset when we walked into the wedding, but it was great to be surrounded by good friends to distract us. The wedding was a lot of fun, too! I forgot to take my camera this weekend (I was a bit distracted :) ), but here is a picture of the girls in my program and their husband's when we went out to celebrate the end of comps in April on my birthday (p.s. Mandy, we missed you!)
We were SO relieved that our tests were over!The guys were good sports and posed with the purses. Kevin, nice leather matching! :)


We always had a blast hanging out together, and all the spouses all enjoyed hanging out too! So, it was so fun to catch up with Alisha, Josh, Sarah, Bree, David, Bridget, Stacey, and baby Harper!

After the wedding, we headed to my parents' lake house for the rest of the weekend. They are in Alaska for six weeks, so it was like our own private lake resort. We brought library books, Kevin grilled, we swam, and spent time in the spa. It was so great. We really needed that R&R time to get over our disappointment. Again, this is an older picture, but here we are paddle boating at the lake.

We are going to start looking at houses again this week. My job is to not get so emotionally attached to the houses we like. I guess you only do that once before you realize you can't picture where the nursery may someday be, what colors we would paint the kitchen, etc.

We made an offer!

Kevin and I made our very first offer on a house last night! It's absolutely gorgeous, and we are praying everything works out with it. We were a little nervous last night after we made the offer when we found out another couple may be sending an offer in this morning. Their buyer's agent did say that they are procrastinators and may not follow through as quickly or at all. We're hoping we don't go into a bidding war! This experience is certainly full of learning. We LOVE our new realtor. This house was actually one we saw on the very first day with her last Saturday. We quickly viewed somewhere near 25 houses over this week before we knew this house was the one. If all goes well, pictures will be posted soon!

Here is a picture of our amazing agent, Jaretta Gilson!

European Date

Okay, so we didn't go to Europe this weekend. We did, however, have a European-themed date night on Friday. First, we had dinner at Yia Yia's Euro Bistro at Bradley Fair, which was quite good. Kevin had scallops and I had the shrimp risotto. I was quite impressed with their gluten-free options.

Next, we went to Chill Italian Gelato on the Waterfront to enjoy dessert. It was yummy, and we savored every bite. I had chocolate gelato (which I had previously only had fruit versions), and Kevin had apple.

Finally, we saw the new Harry Potter. We both thought it was entertaining. The theatre was pretty packed, but hearing kids giggle at some of the funny parts was fun. It was a pretty long movie, so we got home relatively late, but we had a blast!

On the hunt...for a house

Kevin and I are still searching for the perfect first home. We almost made an offer on a new-construction house last week before we found out some discouraging information about the builder. We also just changed realtors. Our first realtor didn't seem to know what we wanted, and the only houses we liked were the ones we had asked to see that we had found online. So, we are both optimistic now that we will find something soon. There are a TON of houses in our price range right now, which is a double-edged sword. I'm happy that I think we found a better person to help us navigate through them all.

I am very lucky that Kevin is very capable of seeing through staging and easy fixes. I have definitely gotten better (a year of research through House Hunters and Property Virgins really helped), but I still swoon when I see stainless or a cute detail that may not even stay in the house.

We'll keep everyone informed as this process continues to unfold. We pray that everything will fall into place.

Is it morning already?!?

Three weeks ago, Kevin and I moved our workout time to before he leaves for work. Yes, that means we now wake up at 5:30! Yikes! To be honest, I have actually really enjoyed it, and it has become a part of our schedule. The first 15 minutes after we wake up are horrible, but once we've left our apartment, we are ready to go. Here is a photo of us (pardon the no makeup!) right before we leave for the gym in our matching K-State gear.