G.Dog, Nanizzle and The Gogginator

This weekend three of my grandparents came to visit Craig and I (of course Bryer, too).  They were our first visitors since we've had Bryer - we knew even before they thought about coming that this would be interesting!  I love my dog with all my heart but I can admit that he is crazy.  He's all puppy.  I've said it once and I'll say it millions of times - he is a black Marley.

The grandparents left Roanoke at 6am on Thursday morning and drove until the reached LaFayette, IN.  They staying in a hotel that night and re-couped for their drive the next morning.  6am on Friday morning they were back at it!

Craig and I went to work on Friday morning.  I opened so I could get off early and I luckily got home around 11ish.  We franticly finished cleaning, changed the sheets on the bed, did a little laundry and we tried our darndest to wear Bryer out.  We played with him, I walked him and he even fought with the vacuum cleaner.  Still - it wasn't enough!

As the grandparents are getting ready to pull in, I leash up Bryer (with his new gentle leader that he DOES NOT like) and we head outside to greet them head on.  Bryer sees the car and I can see the wheels turning :  "Hey, thats a car.  Where is that car going?  That car is coming to our house.  That car has people in it.  I bet I can play with those people.  Please can I play with those people.  Let me at 'em, let me at 'em, LET ME AT 'EM".  Meanwhile, I'm wrapping the leash around my hand numerous times and bracing myself so he doesn't pull me over.  They get out of the car and can barely get in the house before Bryer unleashes his excitement.  Needless to say that Bryer went in his crate for the first little while that the grandparents were here.

The first thing we did was go out to eat.  We ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory - and it was AMAZING!  Everyone of us cleared our plates.  Afterwords we came back to the house for some more Bryer training!

Of course Bryer got spoiled with lots of gifts.  This was a gift he got from Gogga.  You hide treats in there and he has to find them by sliding pieces around!  Nan and Grandaddy got him a duck on a rope - by Saturday morning the duck's stuffing was out and he was decapitated.

Grandaddy left with his arms purple from ruff-housing with Bryer.  I think they both enjoyed it though.

This is the signature Bryer head tilt.  He and Gogga got pretty close!

Bryer and Nan also became good friends.  Apparently Bryer thought that she was very dirty because he had to constantly lick out her right ear!  It was pretty hilarious!

We had to eat dinner at Bubba Gump Srimp, Co. in the Mall of America!  After dinner we walked a whole lap around the mall!

We ended the visit with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory!  Please notice how many take home bags we have!  Four of those bags are food, five of those bags are cheesecake!  I don't think I will have to cook all week!  :)

We came home, ate our cheesecake and played dominoes.  We started at 15 and went all the way down to zero!  Gogga won - we are all determined that she cheats!

All in all - I was very proud of Bryer!  I think for his first visitors ever he did fantastic!  It's so hard to not love that little guy!  As I'm writing this he's sitting in the computer room with his dad wondering where those white haired people went.  I really think he misses them!  He's never been so spoiled!

I'm so glad they got to come visit!  It was really exciting to take them and show them what Craig and I do everyday!

Now we look forward to our next visitors at the end of April.  Look out Minnesota - the Williams family is going on a road-trip!

Day 30 - Last Day

A Picture of Someone You Miss

I know Craig says I'm cheating when I use more than one picture, but this one cannot be summed up by just one!  I am 18 hours away from everyone in my entire family.. so this one is going to have to have pictures.. because there are A LOT of people and things I miss.  It's also the last day of this 30 Day Picture Challenge (which makes me a bit sad) so I'm going to load this post up with pictures!

Here we go .. enjoy the journey!

First of all - I love these three to death!  They are my world and I have no clue what I would do without them - it kills me to be this far away from them!  I have the best parents and the best brother there ever was!  My parents are always will to do anything and everything they can for me!  They've taught me so much and I hope that when I become a parent I can be just as good as they are!  Brett and I haven't always gotten along, but within the past few years we've gotten super close!  He's my best friend and the best horseman I know!  :)

I also miss all of my grandparents!  They do more for Craig and I and I can never thank them enough!

I had to throw a picture of Grumpy in there, apparently he was not cooperating during wedding pictures (go figure) because he was left out of the one above.

Then we've got the aunts and uncles.  This is Kristi and Keith!  I miss them greatly!  You guys better come visit!  Bryer also misses Tumbles.  I feel certain that she doesn't miss him though!

The Williams clan!  You guys are nuts and I miss you all!  I cannot wait for you to come visit in April!  Minnesota won't know what hit them!  :)

The East Family!  I hope you guys can make it up to visit, too!  :)

This is my new family!  I miss them a ton, too!  My in-laws live in North Carolina, which is 18+ hours away!  We haven't seen them since Christmas!  They came up to visit once right after we got married - I hope they can come back soon!  Jason and Christie live in Seattle, we haven't seen them since the wedding!  I really want to make a trip out to Seattle and hopefully they will make it here to visit sometime, too!

Of course I miss my four-legged friends!  This guy is amazing!  He's my Gray Baby!  I cannot wait to rub that nose when I go home in April!  He has more personality than any other horse I know!  I'm hoping I will have the guts to ride him one day - without him being on a rope and Brett attached to the other end!  :)

I miss this little girl, too!  She is my Princess!  She has such an attitude and is a little spit-fire but I just love her to pieces!  She's taught me a lot and I feel very comfortable riding her!

I told you there were going to be a lot of pictures!  Think of it as the big finale :)  Hopefully I will keep this up since the 30 Day Picture Challenge is over!  I'm sure that living with Craig and my crazy dog Bryer there will always be a lot to say!

Day 29

A Picture That Can Always Make You Smile

It's just a good picture :)

Day 28

A Picture of Something You're Afraid of

Well.. this might be a stretch, but I'm kind of afraid of water.  I don't mind a pool thats like 3 feet deep.  I will not get in the ocean past my knees.  Mainly because the ocean is gross.  You don't know what is touching your feet.  It could be a shark, a jellyfish, dolphin poop, whale poop, a dead person's body part - I mean you name it and it's in the ocean.  Also, I cannot swim.  I can do a mean doggy paddle but that is it!  I'm not much on boat rides, and I don't ever want to take a cruise for fear of a Titanic repeat.  Yes - I am a weenie and I am crazy.  This is a fact.

Day 27 (a bit late)

A Picture of Yourself and a Family Member

This one is a bit late!  I had a LONG day at work yesterday!  I left for work at 7 and didn't get home until 9:30 - which most of you know is past my bed time!  :)

I've posted a lot of pictures about my Mom, Dad and brother so I figured I would mix it up a bit! This is me and the FFU!  :)

How about that wedding DVD, Bub?

I love you!

Day 26

A Picture of Something That Means a Lot to You

My family.  They are my world.  My family recently grew and I couldn't be happier!  I just wish they were all closer :(

Day 25

A Picture of Your Favorite Day

My wedding day was by far my most favorite day.  It couldn't have been more perfect!  All of my favorite people were there - family and friends.  I had my closest friends and family in the wedding!  I married my best friend - and might I add we looked pretty hot!  :)  The reception was a blast!  I danced the night away with Heather and Kortney!  One of my most favorite parts was dancing the Time Warp with my family!  It was amazing to see my Mom and My Uncle out there.  Keep in mind that my Mom would not walk across the stage at the Floyd Ward dance recitals to acknowledge that she was the secretary - but by George she was doing the Time Warp at her daughters wedding!  It was AMAZING!  It sure would be nice to have a video of that day .. *cough* BUB *cough*

p.s. - Is that not the most beautiful picture ever?

Day 24

A Picture of Something You Wish You Could Change

This may sound really corny .. but oh well!  I wish I could change time - there needs to be more of it!  Time goes by so fast!  I wish there was more time to visit with family and just relax and hang out!  I always knew that time goes by fast but I don't think it's ever really hit me until I became an infant teacher.  We get these babies when they are 3 months old and when they are close to a year they leave us.  It's AMAZING how much they change in 9 short months.  They come in just eating, sleeping, pooping and laying around - by the time they leave us they are practically walking!  We definitely need more time - or time needs to slow down!  :)

Day 23

A Picture of Your Favorite Book

I don't really read so this one was an easy pick!  This is my all time favorite book!  I had this book when I was a kid and thought it was the coolest thing ever.  It's about a postman that delivers letters to all the fairy tale characters.  Inside the book you can actually pull the letters out to read them.  One of the letters was a recipe on how to cook Hansel and Grettle!  It's just a very cool book!  :o)

Day 22

A Picture of Something You Wish You Were Better At

I wish I were a better horseback rider.  I need more confidence.

Day 21

A Picture of Something You Wish You Could Forget

Well - there isn't really a lot I would like to forget.. 

I wish I could forget about all the stupid drama from high school, cheerleading and college.  Mainly I wish I could forget high school and 90% of Byrd Cheerleading.  I loved everything about college but the stupid roommate drama!  Drama in general is just stupid and I don't like to surround myself with people that create drama and just try to stir things up!

Day 20

A Picture of Somewhere You'd Love to Travel

I'm not even going to be picky.. or specific

I would just like to go to a beach.  Somewhere warm.   A place that never snows.  Somewhere where the sun always shines so I can lay out and relax.  

Day 19

A Picture and a Letter

I have no idea what this one is wanting.  Does it want a letter of the alphabet or does it want a letter that you write to someone?  Here is what I'm going with..

To whom it may concern,

I would give anything to go back and re-live this beach trip.

Sincerely,

Ashleigh

Day 18

A Picture of Your Biggest Insecurity

I am most uncomfortable when something changes - or my routine changes.  I'm a creature of habit - almost a little on the OCD side.  When something disrupts my routine I get very flustered.  I also get very uncomfortable when it's my first time doing something.  My Mom always said I have a "fear of the unknown".  It's very true - I don't like it when I don't know exactly what to expect!

Day 17

A Picture of Something That Has Made a Huge Impact on Your Life Recently

As many of you know.  Craig and I just had our first child ..

This little devil has made a huge impact on our lives.  It's just like having a kid, a really hairy hyper kid.  Craig and I love him to death.  There was just something about him, that when I saw him, I just had to have him.  We went to the Humane Society and when they put us in the room with him so we could meet him - it was chaos.  He was running everywhere and biting everything.  I left there bleeding, he had wiggled out of his gentle leader, and he about ripped the poor lady's apron to shreds.  That should have been a sign.  He is just like a black version of Marly from Marly and Me.  He is in to EVERYTHING and he is never calm.  He is spoiled rotten by everyone in our family.  When we first got him he received several gifts in the mail from his grandparents and great grandparents.  The little guy has terrible ears and we've had to take him to the vet numerous times.  He's only ever ventured out to the vet or to PetSmart and every time we take him out we always get "Are you guys signing up for obedience school?"  I wonder why they would say that?  He's not a bad guy he's just very excitable.  He LOVES to meet new people and new dogs, except he hasn't made a dog friend because he gets on everyone's nerves :(  I would really like to fix this.  Yesterday Craig and I watched the dog whisperer.  I'm ordering one of his books today and Bryer better be prepared to be 'dog whispered'!  

As we speak he just knocked over my water glass because he felt the need to lick the outside of it - after we said 'no' plenty of times.

Day 16

A Picture of Someone Who Inspires You

I have a lot of people that inspire me in many different ways.  I'm going to take this one from a horse perspective - because a few years ago, horses started to be a big part of my life.

My brother is definitely a big inspiration to me.  He is the best horseman I know and he is one of the best riders I know.  His horses are the 3 luckies animals in the world - in my opinion!  They are very spoiled, and thats the way it should be!  I would give anything to have the knowledge and confidence that Brett has when he's working with horses.  His horses love him, too!  You can just tell!  Brett has also taught me a lot about horses!  He also has the patients to work with me, which is saying a lot!  haha!  :)  I'm sure once Breezy Rock Stables gets up and running he will have a fabulous riding school with fabulous horses!  Look out world!

Day 15

A Picture of Something You Want to do Before You Die

Well.. there are a lot of things I want to do before I die.  Again, another tough one.  I want to start a family, meet Johnny Depp, dance with Chris Brown, dance with Maxs, I would like to be able to compete in a big dressage show and actually look like I belong there, for that matter - I would just like to ride with some confidence - OR here is a better one, ride that Gray Baby with confidence!

But, there is one thing that Craig and I would really like to do - we want to travel to all the different states in the US!  We've even started a 50 State Scrapbook.  [when I say "we" I mean "I"!]  We've got plenty of years ahead of us so hopefully we will get it done!  :)

Day 14

A Picture of Someone You Could Never Imagine Your Life Without

Wow.  This is a hard one.  There are so many people in my life that I would never in a million years want to live without.  I've got Craig, Mom, Dad, Brett, Gogga, Nan, Grandaddy, Grumpy and the rest of my huge family, all my friends and even all of my animals.  I would say that any of the above I wouldn't want to live without.

I'm gonna go with this big goober.  My life would be completely different without him!  He means the world to me and I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else - even though he is a HUGE dork!  I mean, the picture says it all!  :o)

Day 13

A Picture of Your Favorite Band or Artist

Daughtry.

I love them, always have, always will.

Day 12

A Picture of Something You Love

There are a lot of people in my life that I love so this one was a tougher one for me!  I chose my hubs though!  I shouldn't need to explain myself!

Day 11

A Picture of Something You Hate


There are two things in this world that I absolutely hate more than anything and they can both be tied together with this picture.

I HATE VT Football and I HATE Michael Vick. I think there are more bandwagon VT fans than any other fans anywhere.  I hate the football team more than anything.  They go to college just to play football and do nothing else, their education doesn't matter.  I could go on but I'm just going to leave it at that.  I shouldn't even have to elaborate about Vick.  You probably don't even want to get me started because I could really go on for hours about what a scum bag he is.  What he did to those poor dogs can never be forgiven.  I don't care how good of an "athlete" people think he is - he is his worthless to me.  I wouldn't pee on him if he was on fire, I would roast marshmallows.  I think he should be electrocuted, and put in a rape stand, and drown - exactly the same things that he did to those innocent dogs.  He makes my skin boil. Can you tell?