ADOPTED!!!

Yes, this post does require a title in all caps with three exclamation points.

We met with Dixie's adoptive family on Thursday night and it went really well. The adoption fee for the Lab rescue is non-refundable, so just to be sure we left Dixie at their house for a sort of trial run until today. Well, I got the call back from Dixie's new family and they absolutely LOVE her and say that she is doing awesome. So now Dixie has a ten-year-old boy to love and protect, a seventeen-month-old yellow Lab to wrestle with, and a huge backyard to run around in. Plus, every Friday she gets to go to her family's cabin!

When I told Nic even he got a little teary-eyed. I honestly thought I would have a harder time saying goodbye to her, but I'm just so happy that it's hard to be sad. Yes, I cried a little, but for me, that's nothing. Yay for Dixie!

Dixie dog

Good news: Utah Lab Rescue got an adoption application for Dixie! I'm super excited and want to cry at the same time. Over the past week and a half this little puppy has completely come out of her shell and is the sweetest, happiest dog I know. The couple that wants to meet her has an 17-month-old lab as well, which means Dixie will always have someone to play with.

Keep your fingers crossed that it all works out--there's been a lot of people involved in finding Dixie a new home!

D.I.Y.

I finally finished a project--almost. I picked up this fine piece of furniture for free at my mom's neighborhood garage sale over the summer. I still need to do some sewing and finish the right arm, but check out the before and after of my new love seat:



You can't see it very well in the picture, but the fabric is super cute black-and-white checks and I used different fabric for the buttons and completed it with some clearance pillows from Urban Outfitters. And since I really like to start projects, but get impatient when they aren't done in a half hour, this project has taken me a long time and looks way better from far away and I have nothing else to say about it.

Meet Dixie

No, we didn't get another dog--not really. Dixie is a foster dog who came to us from Blanding via Utah Lab Rescue. This is why I couldn't not help foster this dog:

Dixie a four-year-old purebred chocolate Lab and has pretty much been kept tied up outside her whole life. She was used for breeding and now the lady who owned her is in the hospital losing her battle with breast cancer. This lady's sister was going to turn Dixie over to Blanding animal control, where lack of funds makes it their policy that all unclaimed dogs are taken to the landfill and shot after three days.

We got Dixie on Saturday and she has definitely been starved for attention; it was a pretty rough first day. But the good news is that she is making HUGE progress and is already doing a million times better than when we got her. Moxie is determined to get her to play, relax, and be a normal dog.

Dixie will be with us until she can be placed with a new adoptive family. She's a lucky pup though--there have been a lot of people involved in getting her this far.

LOL

hahahahahahahaha

How I spent my Christmas vacation

All this holiday cheer has apparently rendered me unable to keep up on my blog. Here's a quick update on our Christmas festivities in no particular order:

• I didn't work for a whole two weeks; Nic did. Toward the end I started calling him to come home and entertain me.
  
• I was late to bed and late to rise; so was Nic, but he had to work each day.
  
• I started yet another quilt. Here's to another incomplete project!
  
• I cleaned out my whole house, including our cold storage.
• We went shopping--a lot--and I've decided that I'm always going to do all my Christmas shopping after Christmas.
• We babysat our friends' two-week-old baby girl. I fed her and changed her diaper and she still would only go to sleep for Nic.
• I reconnected with Cari, one of my mission companions, and Serod, a girl we taught in Mongolia.
• Nic acquired yet another old car.
  
• We saw Marley & Me. I sobbed uncontrollably. In fact, if I thought about it long enough I could probably cry again right now. Moxie, you can't ever leave me!
  
• We gave Sup and impromptu haircut after he came inside my parents' house looking like this:
  
  
• 
• There were many holiday parties. My favorite was the Wilcox family progressive dinner. The white elephant gift exchange consisted of a bunch of presents my mom had saved from last year's exchange and re-gifted again. My present: The same 70s-era wood serving platter from my aunt Claudia's wedding that I opened last year and conveniently "forgot" at my mom's house. Nic ended up with some Russian dehydrated fish jerky that the dogs found the other night and devoured. The whole house smelled like fish.
  
• We discovered Raymon's Raving Rabbids for the Wii. Best party game ever.
  
• Christmas morning I got to open my new MacBook Pro complete with Aperture, a new printer, and an iTouch. Thank you Nic! He didn't get forgotten though; I got him the paint he wanted for his Coronet.
  
  

Best of all, I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Thanks for a fabulous year! Awww.