Life Lately

It's been awhile since I checked in and shared some pictures. We have been keeping busy:

-Playing music. RJ has 3 projects going now which is great. 

-Staying active at the Y (we got a gym membership and love it. I love the cardio machines and RJ loves to play basketball.) 

-Taking walks. Even when it's cold, Grace loves to go for walk-jogs or play at the dog park we have close by. Since she has such short hair, she gets cold easily so we got her a shnazzy little fur coat to help keep her warm (see below). 

-Hanging out with friends & family. Between band practices/hang outs, double dates, family outings and birthday celebrations it has been a great, full few weeks. 

-Working. RJ <luckily> hasn't had to travel more than a few days here and there and that's been really nice. I have been going into the office a lot which I really like. 

-Cooking. We've been "meal planning" where I pick a few new recipes to try at some point during the week and get the ingredients for. I recently tried these cauliflower "buffalo wings" and they were great!

Now for some pictures:

These don't even need a caption. We've been making a lot of pancakes:

We have discovered a winter activity we can do outdoors and actually enjoy - ice skating! A few weeks ago we went with some friends, Christine and Kevin, in downtown Akron. Perfect double date!

RJ showing the kids at the Y he's still got it:

I won't wait so long to check in next time.

Love,

Rachel 

The joys of being dog owners.

We love the puppies but we are definitely ready for them to find homes. When they're out and running around it's like having toddlers to chase after - everything ends up in their mouths and with pee on it!

Good thing they're cute.. <click the play button in the bottom left to play video>

Grace Snoring ...

You can hear RJ and Ryan's Super Mario Brother's game in the background (we kick it old-school style). 

In the next video, Grace performs her tricks! She already knew how to sit (kind of) and RJ taught her how to lie down. The only problem is most of the time she jumps the gun and goes ahead and lays down anytime we say sit. 

Harvey debuts his trick too - he can sit about half the time. Often times he just gets confused. 

Meet Grace!

On Tuesday morning I got an email from one of my friends from work (also named Rachel) about an abandoned dog family. Her parents own rental properties and her father found this mother and her two 4-week old puppies in one of their units. Apparently the tenant had left them there! And apparently they were on their own for awhile.. this poor mother is extremely malnourished. After I read their story and saw this picture she attached in the email (and showed RJ), 10 minutes later we were arranging a time to pick them up later that evening. 

Look at the poor thing, can you blame me?

So that evening we went to Rachel's to meet the family and take them home with us to be our new foster children. As soon as we met the dog we could tell what a sweetheart she was. She was wagging her tail and very happy to meet us. The whole way home she sat with me in the front seat and didn't make a peep. Now it's Thursday and I have still never heard her bark!

We decided on the name Grace because she was so sweet and forgiving to humans even though clearly she had been mistreated. Plus, it was by the grace of God that Rachel's father found them before they starved to death. 

She is very intelligent and very house trained! We thought she may have some accidents getting used to new food and a new routine... none yet. She can sit too and we're working on "stay". 

The puppies are still very little (only 4-weeks old!) and are still nursing which is so cute. We keep them upstairs in the spare room and Grace goes up to check on them every half an hour or so. They sleep together in the spare room at night.

Harvey likes having a new friend but we're making sure to give him extra attention so he doesn't get jealous. He's very curious about the puppies and likes to sniff them. Grace is ok with him sniffing them and us playing with them but she definitely stays close and supervises.

We tried not to keep the family apart from the other pets until they got checked out by our vet. Both of them were so curious about each other though.  RJ took the family to our vet yesterday to get them checked out. Of course we've got to get Grace fattened up but other than giving her some vitamins and antibiotics they all checked out ok! The puppies will be nursing for another week or so and then we have to transition them into watered down dry food. In about 4 weeks the puppies will be ready to go to  new homes. We already have a lot of people interested in adopting one! We will most likely be keeping Grace around, as long as she continues to get along well with Harvey and the cats.

Both Harvey and Grace are mild-mannered, calm dogs and Harvey appreciates that Grace isn't too hyper. She loves to lay around next to us, just like Harvey does.

She still loves people. RJ had his band-mates over to practice last night and she loved the extra attention from the guys.

I think RJ is her favorite. She is really curious about the cats and just wants to smell them.

We are definitely excited to have a "real dog" in addition to our cat-dog. Grace is the type of dog you can take on hikes and jogs (eventually..) and Harvey is still my favorite lap dog.

Welcome to the family, Grace!

The Making of a Pantry

When we first came to look at our house, the first thing we noticed was the entry way. The side door opened up into a walkway/storage area right off the kitchen. The perfect place for a pantry! We put a plastic shelf there knowing that someday we RJ would put in some shelves.

He wanted to tackle the project a few times, but his old drill just wasn't cutting it.

For his birthday, his parents got him the perfect gift - a new, improved, better drill! He put in the shelves literally days later.

Believe it or not, the after picture is post-organization! It still looks a little disheveled.. oh well.

I know it's nothing fancy and it's very utilitarian, but we love it. It provides so much more space and just feels more homey.

I know we're renters and all (and loving it!), but I guess we can't help our tendency to want to fix it up while we live here.

I love my handy husband!!

October..

It's October already which means something important happened a few days ago..

RJ turned 28!

We had a great time celebrating at the annual Stith Family Clam-Bake at Reed and Laura's. It's always a great event and I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the clam preperation! Next year...

I was really excited to give RJ my gift.. so much so that I gave it to him to open the day it arrived, about 6 days before his birthday. It was a Jensen Record Player and Bob Dylan's Greatest hits album. We set it up on our mantle and over the last few days have loved listening to our record.

It worked out perfectly on Saturday (his birthday) because he got some great records as gifts and was also able to pick out some records from his parents' collection. Some of the records actually belonged to his Uncle Mike so that was extra special.

Other things that have been going on (according to the pictures above)...

*Now that I'm down to one job (yes!), I've had more time to cook which has been really nice. I actually really enjoy cooking, but only when I don't feel rushed and can take my time. I've been making weekly batches of croutons, usually on Sundays. My favorite kind so far has been the pumpernickel rye swirl.

*We went to a little local art and music festival around the corner last weekend. It was really neat to be able to walk over and enjoy the vendors and musicians. It was great to see our neighborhood so busy and bustling.

*Our peppers and herbs have been growing like crazy! It's been nice to cook with. The peppers are so spicy though.

*I got to visit an alpaca farm! Mary's friends from her bible study were nice enough to let us visit their farm and meet some of the alpacas.

*Lots of walks. Harvey's surgeon suggested short walks to keep his legs exercised and stretched out. He loves walking around the neighborhood. Over the weekend we took him on a great hiking trail. We ended up carrying him a lot since it was a longer walk. He loved it.

Here's to a great October!

Love,

Rachel

Georgia/Hilton Head Vacation

The last week of August we had the great blessing of visiting some family in Georgia and then joining more family inj Hilton Head. It was a great time to get away for awhile as I had been working a lot during July and August. I have transitioned into just the one job and it is fantastic! I spent most of August training my replacements at my former job while also working more hours for my RISE job. I am so happy to focus on just one program now!

Back to the trip...

We started the week in the Atlanta area, visiting Grandma and Grandpa. Conveniently, Aunt Sheri was visiting at that time too. It also fell on Grandma's birthday, so we got to celebrate that as well.

We also were able to spend some time visiting with Uncle David, Aunt Beth and my cousins Caroline, Julia and Ellen. Pictured below is their dachshund, Max, and one of their cute kitties. Another highlight of the few days we spent in Georgia was hanging out with my cousins Hayley and Hayden and Aunt Lanette. It really made me miss living closer to everyone, like we did during our college days.

After spending a few days in Georgia, we met Reed, Laura, Chelsey and Trevor (RJ's fam) in Hilton Head for the rest of the week. It rained for a few days, but there was still good time to sit by the pool, read, go out to eat, golf and of course, have margaritas. One of the days we went kayaking which was great! We loved it. We also got to take a sunset boat cruise one of the nights which was great. We had the best view of the blue moon and also did some dolphin spotting!

The timing was perfect because we got home on Sunday night and then had Monday off of work for labor day. It's always good to have an extra day to unpack, do laundry and get ready for the work week.

Harvey came with us on the trip and we was great in the car. As long as he's in his bed, he's pretty much happy wherever, even in the car (especially if his bed is sitting on my lap!).

We are so thankful for this trip, we loved getting to see everyone and hang out together.

Big thanks to Reed and Laura for inviting us to Hilton Head again - it's always wonderful! 

It's starting to feel a lot more like fall lately. This trip was the perfect way to end the summer!

Love,

Rachel