Stryker's New Favorite Treats

Thanks to the lovely people at Chewy.com, Stryker was introduced to these delicious (I'm assuming because he's obsessed!) Orijen Original Dog Treats.  We aren't big on treats in our house, but these little babies are perfect for when he comes in from playing outside or after a walk to reward him for good behavior. I love the way the treats are packaged - resealable for freshness! 

Something that attracted me to these treats were the fresh ingredients listed on the packaging. Look at these delicious ingredients that we all eat every day, but may not think to check if our pets are eating the same thing! 

 Anyone else think these look like little cookie dough bites?!?! YUM

 When I gave the first treat to Stryker, he could barley stay still long enough for me to snap a photo! He was eyeing that treat so bad but I made him let me snap the photo!

 And you can clearly see how much he loved the treat from his tongue-licking expressions!

We can't wait to try more delicious treats from Chewy.com and order some fun toys for him to play with! 

Hello 5 day weekend!

Valentine's Day Weekend was just how we like it to be.  Relaxing and memorable.  Friday night I had to work late after the basketball game for our annual Faculty Appreciation Night.  It's always great to let the teachers and staff know how much we appreciate their dedication to Collegiate and the party is always a good time.  We headed over to Cuddy Sharks, a little hole in the wall dive, for a few beers with my parents and my old babysitter, Lisa and her husband Drew who were in town for the long weekend.  Needless to say, we arrived a little too late in the night and the rest of the gang were done in! Good thing DJ and I came so we could drive them home! Saturday I started the morning off with a 3.5 mile run in preparation for my 10k at the end of March! DJ got me a manicure and pedicure so I had a nice relaxing spa day before our early dinner at Chicks.  After dinner we went bowling with the family and this chick was actually pretty good! Sunday we renewed our Costco membership (of so fun!), had DJ's basketball party and watched some movies.

Thanks to President's day, we already had Monday off, but then the storm hit.  If you remember last year, we got hit with 10+ inches of snow in two weeks.  This storm wasn't as big as last year, but enough to be out of school for at least two days! We are now on snow day #2 and counting.  The roads are crazy icy and the snow isn't even fun to play in.  Couldn't even make a snow angel. But it has been pretty to look at!

You can see here that when DJ was on the ground, he didn't even sink into the snow! 

After we realized the snow wasn't going to be as fun as it looked, we decided to make a fun game out of the hard snow - ice putt putt! We made a whole course and everything! It was awesome and really a great way to make a fun use of the hard snow we couldn't play in!

 I think this photo says it all - ball, snow, and family is all this pup needs to be happy in life!!

Stryker's First Award!

--I apologize for the iPhone pictures.  Trying to take my camera was just not in the plans with a crazy dog on a leash and water flying everywhere.--

I had my first proud dog moment this past weekend.  Now don't get me wrong, Strkyer makes me proud every day by being a good boy (well, most of the days).  But this weekend was different.  Have y'all ever heard of Dock Dogs? If not, you should look it up.

Dock Dogs is "The World's Premier Canine Aquatic Competition".  Dock Dogs is a dock jumping and dock diving sport for dogs.  It is a fast growing and very popular sport in the United States and Canada which has been featured on ESPN and The Outdoor Channel.  Dock Dogs is open to dogs of all sizes, breeds, and the only age requirement is dogs must be 6 months old.   You can participate in the Big Air, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve. 

So can you guess what we did on Saturday morning??!!

Yep, me and my dad took Stryker to the Care-A-Lot Canine Extravagenza where they had a Dock Dog competition! There were literally hundreds of dogs there but not all were competing.  There were dogs already warming up when we got there.  It was a little hectic with Stryker since he is not used to being in that environment with other dogs.  He is good around dogs, but not on a leash.  So I stayed with Stryker over by the cars away from the water and dogs.  Dad went over to the registration tent and signed him up! 

Ok let me take you back to last summer.  My parent's have a pool in the backyard and their dogs are NEVER allowed in the pool because they may tear up the liner.  When I got Stryker, the first thing my dad did was introduce him to the pool as a puppy.  So do you think that as he got older and his paws got more of a threat to that liner that he wasn't allowed to get in anymore?! NOPE! The granddoggy is so spoiled! If this is any indication to how they are going to be with an acutal grandchild, I'm all in! So dad practiced Dock Dogs with him off the diving board all last summer and the dog can't stay out of the pool now.  Every time we let them outback to play, its a guarantee that I will be taking him home wet. 

How cute is this little pup?!

Since my dad loves to do this stuff, he was Stryker's "handler" during the competition.  He got about 5 practice jumps in and he was doing SO GREAT! He was in Heat 3 against nine other dogs.  The first and second heat were awesome.  The breeds of dogs competing were all across the board.  One dog jumped over 23 feet! Heat three came up and Stryker was the last one in his heat! Since this was his first time competing in one of their compeititons, his first jump would be his Personal Best!

The first time he jumped he got 14 ft 10 in and the second jump was 11 ft 7 in!

 

It was getting a little overwhelming with all the dogs so we decided to head home and come back later to get his participation ribbon.  I spent the rest of the day gardening  so dad went back a little later to grab the ribbon.  When he came back to my house, he pulled out a FIRST PLACE MEDAL!!!! WHAT!? MY DOG HAD THE LONGEST JUMP IN HIS HEAT!

I think he has a future as a Dock Dog Competitor and I couldn't be more proud of my little pup!

Family Pictures

Last week, we had our first family pictures! D.J. and I are naturals when it comes to taking professional pictures now.  From our engagement photos to the wedding, it's safe to say we both know how to turn the switch on and off! Stryker on the other hand is a pure natural! Stryker is now almost 10 months old and acts like he is 10 years old.  He is so calm and loves to sleep.  During the photoshoot he just laid there and looked right at Rose as she took pictures! Here are a few from the talented Rose Tran Boone!

Thank you Rose for making our family look beautiful! We are so happy that we were able to get our first family photoshoot done and in the books for 2013!!

Our first tree

December is finally here! Since we have moved into the house, I have been waiting to decorate for Christmas!  Even though we did a lot of other decorations before getting our tree, I wanted to share our experience getting our first tree!

My family has been going to this same Christmas tree "farm" for as long as I can remember.  I honestly don't know any other place to get a tree. Yes, there is Home Depot and Taylor's Do-It Center, but this was as "real" as it was going to get besides going to cut down our own.  With my family, it usually takes us 30 minutes to decided on a tree.  Julie always likes one and my dad likes another, but in the end, it usually always comes down to us getting the first one my mom looked at.  For us, we knew we had to get a smaller tree than my family usually gets.  We have a smaller house and not as many ornaments to decorate it with.  There were a few trees that had potential, but we ended up going with this fraser fur beauty.

We couldn't resist the beautiful wreath too.  I had been debating whether I was going to try and make a Christmas wreath or just buy one.  None of the ones I saw I liked, so this was perfect.  Now every time we walk into the house it smells like a Christmas tree!

Since my dad was in Pennsylvania with the truck, we had to tie it to the top of my CRV.  Never though the day would come where we are putting Christmas trees on my car!

D.J. was awesome and we were able to get the tree set up on the stand right when we got home! While he was outside being an awesome husband, I was trying to untangle the white lights that we were putting up on the tree. Someone decided to see what these lights were all about and got all tangled up in them. Looks like he was pooped afterwards!

After Stryker had his fun, D.J. brought the tree inside and I started to decorate. From the beginning of decorating, D.J. told me that it was my job to do the inside of the house and his job to do the outside.  Here is the progression of my decorating skills! We had to go out and get more ornaments though so now it looks more full of ornaments than it does in this picture!

Here is our first ornament going on our first Christmas tree!

Some of the presents we already have wrapped our under the tree! However, as of yesterday, they are getting put up because Strkyer already tore one open.  I decided to be a little "pinterest-y" and wrap them all in brown paper and put pretty bows and ribbons on them all! Let me know what you think!

And there it is everyone, our first Christmas tree experience! Be on the look out for more Christmas decoration posts soon!

Blog with the Browns

Ok so I know its not official yet, but I wanted to update my blog since my traveling with AST is over and needed a new name! After deciding between "Brown Chick wow wow" and " A New Brown in Town" I went with Blogging with the Browns! The past few months have been busy! I finished traveling in May and spent a few days at JMU to see some friends graduate, then I headed home.  A few days later I went to go get the first (and only for a while) addition to me and D.J.'s little family, Stryker! He has literally been a great dog so far! He is already 5 months old!

Julie graduated at the end of May and then the next weekend we had my Bachelorette Party! It was a blast.  We spent the whole week in the OBX and then friends came down on Friday to celebrate. After that my weekends were spent working Festevents and visiting D.J. I got to go up a few time and spend about a week each time there.  He is up in Ohio with the Lake County Captains and has been there since the beginning of May. We also celebrated the birth of our little neice Myla! She is super cute :)

July 1st I started my new job at Norfolk Collegiate School.  I am the Alumni Relations Coordinator and so far I am loving it! I plan to coach volleyball in the fall and cannot wait.  The first week was awesome since it was July 4th.. We had off that Thursday and Friday so it was a 3 day work week!  July 4th weekend we went up to our Camp house in PA and got to enjoy some family time.  We drove over to D.J.'s game on Saturday just for the day.  Mom had her 50th birthday and we celebrated at Chicks and had all the puppies back over for a play date! This past weekend we celebrate one of the bride-to-be Ansley at her bachelorette party and bridal shower! It was a blast :)

I promise this blog is going to stay more up to date and I will try and do it every 2 weeks! Cant wait for what this next year holds for me and DJ!

Counting down till the off season and wedding season!!

Cayte