You Can Call Me Hulk

As posts from last summer show, Justus and I did a lot of landscaping. The landscaping continues this year, but we got smart and will be paying for part of it to be done this time (more on that later). When the snow cleared we were shocked how much mulch on the south side of the house ended up in the yard. The rain, wind, and snow of the season did a number to our mulch. The landscaping had big patches of missing mulch and the yard looked like crap (literally looked like a lot of dog crap in the yard due to the brown mulch).

The mulch situation was driving me crazy, so finally decided to tackle the issue last Sunday. We picked the windiest day ever to embark on this spring cleaning. I ended up with mulch in my hair, teeth, ears, you name it!  We cleaned up all the mulch and got rid of it in big garbage bags (thankfully someone came and took it thanks to Norwalk Facebook). Justus attempted to Shot-Vac the yard to get the mulch up. I am sure that was quite the site to those driving by! Don't worry, there is a picture below. I raked at least five, 5-gallon buckets worth of mulch. There is still more out there to get even, but have to wait for my blisters to heal.

Our next task was to borrow the neighbors truck and go get a different kind of mulch at Lowes. We came in for a lunch break before heading to Lowes and Justus asked, "Why don't we just buy rock?! It won't blow away." We looked online and rock ended up being on sale at Menards and cost the same amount as a bag of mulch. Seemed like a no brainer since the south side of the house is like a wind tunnel. We loaded up the truck with 1,500 lbs of river pebbles (30 bags at 50lbs each). We had to load the truck, unload the truck, and then I carried all 30 bags to their location. Hence the title of this blog- it was some heavy lifting! I achieved all of this while Orly was on my wrist with the leash and Justus was in watching TV having a beer. Just kidding! The Orly part is true, but Justus took the truck to get more mulch since we couldn't weigh down the truck more than 1,500 lbs at a time.

Hours later, a lot of lifting, and some dirty hands and puppy we were done! It will take some epic wind to move that landscaping now!

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Full Day of Orly

Sunday lounging takes on a whole new meaning when you have a puppy. It is the BEST! I woke up early to take Orly out around 6am. I couldn't go back to sleep, so decided to get the lil fluff out and play with her. We had a blast playing with her moose and sliding around on the floor. Her little pitter patter on the floor and uncoordinated sliding is hilarious. Below are a few pics of the shenanigans.

Justus didn't have work on Monday due to President's Day. I had conferences until 8pm, so I was jealous of his time with Orly. We had a 2 hour delay on Tuesday due to ice, which was really nice after a night of conferences. The changes in our work schedule have helped with bringing Orly home.

Love my moose toy and fetch!

Some tail catching time

Playtime with dad this morning

Catching snowflakes 

Pretty girl in the snow

Wild puppy in the snow

Worn out from playing and ready for some warm cuddles

Play hard, nap hard

So sleepy I can't tell I am falling out of bed

Cuddles while watching some basketball

Such a pretty girl

Seriously, how cute is she?!

Moose fetch = Tucker Orly out!

This is what I had to leave for work from- tough to leave these two! 

Bringing Home Orly

Orly DOB: 12/20/15   Arrived home: 2/13/16, Justus' birthday!

We are beyond excited to finally have our puppy, Orly the mini goldendoodle. While on our honeymoon we had a layover at Orly International Airport in Paris, France. While there, we said Orly would make a good dogs name. Now that the time has come, Orly it is!

It was the longest week of work knowing it was "Orly Weekend". Friday afternoon finally came and we took off for Grandpa and Grandma Anderson's. Orly's breeder is Whispering Pines Kennel in Hull, so staying in Okoboji was a big help on the driving. We had a good time visiting Grandpa and Grandma. I love mornings with coffee at Grandma's!

We left around 9:00 for Hull. I wanted to stop at my mom's old house to take a picture. It was less than 10 minutes to the breeder, which was convenient. We pulled up and saw the moms in the kennel and Justus thought they were the puppies- ha! We went inside his shed and I about died when I saw the crate with puppies. He reached in, picked one up, and handed her to us. I could not believe it! She was so cute- great head shape, curly, thick coat. She has a great dark, red color too, which the breeder thought she would keep because of her ear color. She was trembling so much, but we managed to weigh her. She came in at 7.5 pounds. We got to see her dad (Rusty) and litter mates. I may be biased...but she was the cutest. We picked a winner! Justus got the best birthday present ever!

Justus's best birthday present ever

Welcome to the family Orly

The ride home she cuddled on my lap the whole time. I kept waiting for the whining, but it never came. She must have accepted her fate. Justus was pretty jealous of our car ride cuddles.

First family selfie- let's go home! 

My travel buddy for the next 4+ hours of driving 

Mom is obsessed and keeps taking pictures of me! 

We stopped at Early for her to go the bathroom, but she refused. She whimpered the whole time and hated the cold. It was wind chills below 0, so I don't blame her. We decided to put a bucket on the floor and carryon with our travels.

Lil Orly really does not like the cold. She refused to pee and just whined.

So, dad put me in the car and got this cute pic!

Back to cuddling

We stopped in Harcourt and she finally went the bathroom. I felt like true parents getting excited she went the bathroom. We made it to Boone and the family had a blast playing with her. She was pretty cute playing with the pivoting clown we had as kids. My parents thought she had a good personality and that we picked a good one! They are officially puppy grandparents!

Mom with her grandpuppy

Justus finally getting some cuddles after lots of driving 

Orly loved cuddling Wendy

Family tradition for puppies- Retro, Scary, pivoting clown

The fam! 

Dad got in on the cuddling

We had 1 more hour until finally home. Orly slept most of the way and was so cute walking into the house for the first time. She investigated and settled right in. She loves her moose and chew toys- those darn teeth are bothersome to her, so the chew toys feel good. She also loves going on the coffee table and looking at herself in the mirror. I mean who wouldn't love looking at yourself when you are that cute!

My secret place

Look at that cutie! 

You won't fit there forever!

We put her moose in her crate hoping she would go in. She got shocked from all the static electricity, which I thought may stop her from going in again! She was shocking everything, so we plugged in a humidifier to help out. She finally went in her crate, laid down, and fell asleep! We were so excited she willingly went in and even fell asleep. It was cute to hear her pitter patter into the living room when done with her nap. Her goodness in the crate continued because she barely whined that night. She whined for about a minute each time we put her in and after going the bathroom at 2am and 6am. She was a champ her first night!

Crate training begins

Crate Training is a success...first time in she naps! 

These are the perfect nights.

Camouflage with the floors. The fireplace feels oh so good for this lil pup. 

Is it bed time yet? 

One more look at this cuteness before bedtime.

Family Filled Weekend

Earlier this November (yes, I am behind yet again on my blog) we had a great weekend with my family. Max had a play at Hoover and did fantastic! It was fun to see his talents and see all my family in one spot. Saturday morning my Grandparents came down to see our house. It was fun to have them finally see our place and give another tour. 

Grandpa and Grandma Anderson

Sunday my parents made another trip to Des Moines! They came down to see all the changes behind our house and go to the new REI store. We started the morning off on a cold walk to see the new lots. It is amazing how they are fitting lots in such steep areas. It will be interesting to see how those work in the future. 

More water at the bottom of the hill than we thought. 

These machines wake me up every morning! It is as tall as me! 

Taking in all the changes and all the trees they cut down :(

Not a fan of this as my wakeup alarm

Somehow a house will be here...

Dad exploring, what he does best! 

Justus trying on hats at REI. Sorry ladies, he is mine! 

Trick-or-Treat, Puppies, & ISU Win

I am a weekend late on this post, but better late than never! Justus and I were excited for trick-or-treaters on Friday night. Growing up in the country, we never had a trick-or-treater. I bought a 80+ pieces bag of candy in my excitement for our first trick-or-treaters. Thank goodness I bought that 80 piece bag for our FOUR trick-or-treaters. Needless to say, the kiddos on the street got a handful of candy from us.

Saturday morning we finally acted on all our talk...we put a deposit on a puppy! We discussed what kind of dog we wanted for along time, but always came back to a Goldendoodle. Once we settled on a Goldendoodle we did our research on breeders. We learned there are standard, mini, F1, F1b, various colors, etc. Mini Goldendoodles were crazy expensive and a little smaller than what we wanted. We found a good breeder that breeds standard F1 (golden retriever w/poodle) and F1b (Goldendoodle w/poodle). We will be getting a female F1b Goldendoodle in February. The puppies are due in early December. We are happy to be getting a F1b for a few reasons. This "version" of Goldendoodle is even more hypoallergenic, won't shed (if it does, very little), 40-50 lbs, and curlier. I don't want the holidays to go by fast, but we can't wait for February when we get our puppy!

Justus came across FREE Iowa State vs. Texas football tickets for Saturday night's game. ISU is terrible this year, but the seats were good and the tickets were free. We are glad we went because ISU finally had a win. Not just a win, but a shutout against Texas! The new QB and offense looked much better. It was great weather, great seats, and a great time with Andrew and Katy. I should also note the renovations to the stadium make a big difference. It felt like a whole new stadium. I also appreciate that the new end zone is a windbreaker!

Ready for some ISU football! 

CYCLONE POWER

Beautiful fall night for some football

New end zone seating and board

Selfie time! 

ISU wins! 

Last selfie before darting out of the stadium

Love football under the lights