Family Picture Day!

Exciting news today here at Living and Learning!  Well I think it's exciting news anyways.

Last night I started (finally!) typing up part one of my Country Fest 2011 recap.  I was hoping to have it all typed up before going to bed but of course pictures started taking forever to load and I just wasn't going to wait for them any more.  I'm hoping that either tonight or tomorrow part one will be posted!

And now for the other exciting news...

This past Saturday my parents, Bo and I finally got to meet Bo's dad, Henry!

R-L Sydney (mom) w/ Mark, Bo w/my dad, Henry (dad) w/Jon

Bo also got to see one of his sisters, Hooby (like Scooby but with an H and no C), and one of his brothers, Spencer, who Mark and his family decided to keep of the litter.  I wish I had more pictures for you but I don't because someone, I mean me, has misplaced my camera battery charger.  Pictures with my phone just don't turn out the best.

And it's hard to take pictures of the puppies when I had an English Setter named Miley sitting on my lap pretty much the entire day.  I tried to get Bo to pay attention to Miley so he could learn to be a cuddler but it didn't work out so well.  Probably a good thing considering Miley was 27 pounds and Bo is already 25 and still growing!

Bo was a full 5 pound heavier than Spencer so I'm crossing my fingers that Bo will have more of his dad in him than his mom.  It may be hard to tell from the picture above but Henry resembles Duke a lot in looks and size.

Duke 4/22/11 83lbs

Henry and Duke look alike because they have some common breeding in them.  In fact, Bo's grandpa Hubert was also at the field dog trial (where we all met up because Henry was running) is in Duke's breeding and was Henry's dad.

There are talks of trying to get all of the puppies back together this winter some where so everyone can see how the others are doing.  So hopefully we'll get a chance to see Hooby and Spencer again along with the rest of the siblings.  There are 9 total from the litter.

Monday I received an email from Mark saying that they received many compliments on Bo from other Gordon breeders and other people that were at the field trial.  Guess we picked a good puppy huh?

I want to share this with you but it has nothing to do with Bo or dogs at all.  Friday night my family went to my grandparent's house for a fish fry.  While there I had the pleasure of meeting Wyatt.

Hi there!

Normally my uncle wouldn't keep a bull calf but because he's a Red Holstein Wyatt found a spot in my uncle's heart and they're going to keep him.

Wyatt knows his name and is just the cutest thing ever.  Don't you agree?

Aw shucks, you're embarrassing me.

Hey! Where's the milk?!

Paige is creeping in the background of that last picture.

Sorry for getting random on you here at the end.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Can you believe it's the first day of September already?!  I know I can't believe summer is coming to an end already.

Happy Friday Eve!

It's finally time!

Yes you read that right, it is finally time that my surprise/secret (whatever you want to call it) is revealed!

As many of you know my family had to put our dog Duke to sleep in June.  The day after was weird.  We no longer had a dog in the house, or outside.  The first time in my 21 years of life that I didn't have a dog.  It was sad.

[caption id="attachment_206" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Duke after a grooming appointment 4/22/11"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_200" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Duke waiting for my mom to come up the driveway 6/3/11 (while he was sick :( )"][/caption]

No dog can ever replace Duke but we wanted a dog in our family again.  And funny enough the one thing my mom agreed to before she married my dad, he would always have a hunting dog.  So the topic came up the very next day about getting a puppy.

Monday (6/13/11) we attempted to contact Holly, the breeder we had gotten Duke from.  Her number was no longer in service.  I searched online but kept coming up with the same number.  So our search turned to the internet.  My dad and I were Googling like crazy.  We ended up emailing two kennels that night; one responded within 10-15 minutes with a video of his puppies and then shortly after called my dad.  We ended up setting up a time to come out and look at the puppies as there were four males available.

Tuesday morning at work I checked my email and was pleasantly surprised to see an email from the other kennel we had emailed.  I responded back requesting that he call that evening.

Again we set up a time to come out and see the puppies.  We were lucky that we could visit both litters on the same day which also happened to be my birthday.  Bet you were wondering why I was on the road when I mentioned it in my last blog weren't you?  ;)

Finally Saturday rolled around and we went to see both litters.  The first puppies we saw were much older and would be ready to be picked up the weekend of the 25th and 26th.  While the puppies were cute (but what puppies aren't?) they weren't what we were looking for.

We ate at Red Lobster between stops.  The second litter of puppies were much younger and wouldn't be ready to go to their new homes until mid July.  Even at a young age we were able to pick a favorite, boy #7.

We decided we wanted boy #7 by the time we got on the high way but waited to call them back until the next night.  We put a deposit down and then all we had to do was wait.

We were expecting to pick up our puppy, who we decided to name Bo, on the 16th of July until we received a call on June 30th saying they had miscounted how many weeks old they would be and we could actually pick Bo up on the 9th.

We were prepared with a new blue collar and leash along with treats.

And finally what you've all been waiting for....pictures!

[caption id="attachment_201" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Bo in the car on our way home :)"][/caption]

Bo weighed in at 12 pounds Saturday at our vet and already by Wednesday night he weighed 14.5 pounds.  He's growing up so fast!! :) or :( ???

[caption id="attachment_204" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Sleeping next to me on the way home"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="He decided he needed a new sleeping position"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bo between my feet :) Love my puppy!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_205" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Sleepy puppy after hanging out in our yard. Much bigger than he's used to so he did lots more running around"][/caption]

Well there you have it!  My secret/surprise has finally been revealed and I posted all the pictures I have of him right now.

My parents and I are going camping this weekend so I'll be sure to take more pictures.  Sadly, I do not get cell phone reception or internet connection at the campground we're going to so I'll be unplugged until I get home.  I don't mind being unplugged but I would like to be able to do some blog posting while it's just me and Bo at the camper while my parents are at wedding.

Still to come my Country Fest 2011 recap!  Have a great weekend!!