Daily Walks

The dogs love to go on their daily walks. Sometimes, obviously, we cant go on the walk for one reason or another, and it really makes them sad. You can tell. They watch your every move to see when you might go to get the leashes. Besides knowing that they need their exercise everyday, I walk them for a few personal reasons too. One being that I need my own exercise. I am getting more and more out of shape, and sometimes I get very discouraged that I am not in the same shape I was when I danced 24/7. The other reason being that I want a life in my own house. I want to be able to move around, or lay on the couch. We cant really do anything when they have pent up energy. They are either running around after each other and I'm screaming because I think they are going to knock stuff over, or they are staring at us wondering why we are laying down instead of taking them on a walk. With that said, we try to walk them everyday so that we can relax when we get back and enjoy or evenings.

I like it when Mr. Hunt walks with me. It isn't very hard to walk both at the same time, but it is definitely easier to walk just one, Plus I like the company. The only difference when Mr. Hunt walks with me is that when I walk alone, I try to power walk and get some sort of workout. When Mr. Hunt walks with us, he strolls along and lets the dogs sniff EVERYTHING. I don't think they get as tired as they do when we power walk together. Anyway, I would rather not get my exercise and have Mr. Hunt walk with us.

Whether you are walking River, Hannah, or both you get three very different experiences. As soon as Mr. Hunt or I reach for the leashes and they hear it or see it, they are bouncing off the walls. They run to the front door and cant sit still. We refuse to put the leashes on until they sit so sometimes it takes awhile at the front door, especially for Hannah. River usually sits first, so we put his leash on. Then Hannah decides that she wants to eat Rivers leash and make her famous noises. We ignore her and finally she sits so that she can have a leash too.

River:
River is a very good walker. He hardly ever pulls on the leash (we have the retractable leashes, so they can go 15 feet in front). As soon as the retractable leash stops and he knows he has gone to far, he slows down or stops and waits for us to catch up. He likes to sniff alot. When he gets a good scent it is hard to pull him (96 lbs) away from it, especially if you have Hannah in the other hand. For the most part, River is very easy to walk.

Hannah:
Hannah is very hard to walk. She cannot walk in a straight line. She zig-zags everywhere. If River is smelling something, she HAS to smell it too. She runs in front until the leash stops, and then pulls you along. When she sees people (especially moving people like people on bikes, roller blades, skateboards, and especially if they are running) she will stop first and look at them. Then all of the sudden when you are least expecting it, she starts chasing them. Not only does the person usually get scared because she didn't initially look like she was going to run after them, but it scares me too because I have to pull her back with the leash. Phew. She walks while she goes poop so it is so hard to clean up. I have to pick up five little pieces in a row instead of one mound. Then she kicks the grass behind her after she finishes. (side note: The other day there was a lady walking behind us and the dogs we very curious to meet her so I was trying to walk fast so that we could get far enough ahead. Hannah stopped to poop (walking of course) and I bent down to pick it up to early. She kicked the grass and dirt all over my head, in my face, and in my hair. I bet the lady behind us was laughing to herself) I think Hannah is just too happy with her life that she cant get enough of her walks. She pants with excitement like she has been walking a mile as soon as we leave the house.

Both:
Both isn't as bad as you may think. The hardest part is when one is sniffing something, and the other is walking ahead, sometimes my arms almost feel like they are going to get pulled out of their sockets. Also trying to not let the leashes get tangled. With Hannah zig-zagging, she tangles up the leashes easily. Sometimes I have to twirl around (do a little dance) to get them untangled. Lastly, when one goes around one side of a mailbox or pole, and the other doesn't. I have to try to fix that before they pull the leash out of my hand.

Mr. Hunt likes to walk River even though he knows it is more difficult to walk Hannah. He says he does that because he doesn't want people to see us walking our dogs and think that he made me walk the bigger dog, while he is walking the smaller dog. I just smile and agree, I guess it would look a little funny if I saw that too. Sometimes though if we start to walk by little kids on bikes or people fishing, Mr. Hunt will switch with me and take Hannah.

I really think the dogs look forward to us coming home just so they can go on walks. I look forward to it too especially in nice cooler weather like today. Soon it is going to be dark by the time we get home. Then I will definitely need Mr. Hunt to walk with me.

I wonder if someone were trying to attack me if Hannah and River would try to make friends, or protect me?

Weather

I cant get this weather right! This past weekend it was HOT outside....not it is freezing (I think freezing is 65 degrees) outside today.

My favorite kind of weather is very hot weather. I like to be warm and hate to be cold. I dread the cold months. With that said, I don't think I would want to live somewhere that didn't have cold months because Christmas wouldn't be the same if it were hot outside, and I still love to lay by the fire. Mr. Hunt and I have a fireplace in our new home and I am waiting to turn it on!

This past Sunday it rained all day. It was nice to stay inside and get things done around the house and then relax on the couch, watch football, and have the blinds open so I can see the rain coming down. Sunday night Mr. Hunt opened one of our bedroom windows so that I can hear the rain come down. I love to hear the outside while I sleep. I wish that I could have the windows open all year round, but when I am sleeping I actually like the be cold so that I can snuggle up to my blankets....and Mr. Hunt, so having the windows open during the summer would not be nice.

It continued to rain all yesterday, last night, and today, and our bedroom window is still open. I love that the fresh fall air is coming through my house during the day and all through the night. I am very thankful for the rain because our grass was dying. We tried to start to water it, but we werent seeing any progress so we kind of gave up for awhile.

The ONLY bad side to all of this rain is that the dogs are cooped up inside. Yesterday when I got home it had stopped raining for awhile so I look them on a really long walk while Mr. Hunt made me dinner (stuffed peppers over spaghetti). We absolutely cannot let them out in the backyard like we usually do because it is muddy. Since we moved in over the summer, the grass didn't grow all the way in yet and the hot summer days didn't help it grow at all. We are going to get the backyard some grass this fall so hopefully this wont be an issue, but for now it is. So we have to put the dogs on their leash (which confuses them because they think they are going on a walk) and let them out the front door.

This would be an easy task for any regular dog, but for some reason River hates the rain. As much as he loves the pool and water in general, it surprises me that he hates the rain and wet grass. When we take him out, he tries his hardest to tiptoe through the wet grass, goes potty right away, and runs back inside. I can never get him to go #2, so he has been holding it for awhile. That explains why he went twice on his walk yesterday. Hannah of course doesn't even notice that it is raining.

I hope that the cooler (not cold) weather continues so that I can keep my window open but I will make sure to start to wear weather appropriate clothes to work so that I'm not freezing in the office like I am today. Dear warm weather, don't stay gone for long....I will miss you.

Little Ones

If you don't know already, I love children. Something about them always makes me happy. I love to talk to little kids and hear all the funny things they say, or what they think about anything. They are happy, cute, and so much fun! I cant wait to have kids of my own one day!

Mr. Hunt and I went down the street Saturday morning to an old work friend of mine's (Chris)nine year old daughter's soccer game. Mr. Hunt enjoyed it because he used to play when he was that age. That afternoon, we invited them over to our house to watch football all day and relax. He has a seven year old named Taylor, and a nine year old named Chandler. Chandler was at a birthday party for most of the day so it was just Taylor and I.

We put together a few puzzles which seemed hard, but she was doing great and she loved it. We played with River and Hannah in the backyard where Taylor kept throwing the ball over the fence on accident. She sure has an arm, and it confused the dogs. We made chocolate chip cookies (and sneaked a few bites of the cookie dough). We played with her doll who drank water and then peed it out. We fed her ALOT of water and gave her alot of eye drops, I think she was taken care of pretty well. When Chandler got back from her party, she helped us finish some of the puzzles and gave us alot of candy. They also loved to feed the turtle. I think the turtle got enough food for a week and I'm sure he loved it!

Both Taylor and Chandler were a little afraid of River and Hannah at first. River is just so big, and Hannah is crazy so I don't blame them. After they got used to the dogs, they couldn't get enough. They got so many kisses from both River and Hannah. At one point Hannah jumped up on the chair with Taylor and sat on her. I haven't seen the dogs that tired in a long time. The girls wore them out, which I was very thankful for.

Chris likes the Texas Longhorns so we watched that game. Unfortunately they lost so we were hoping for a good game for the Gamecocks. That didn't happen. It was a sad day for college football, but a good day for me, Mr. Hunt (who had a friend to watch all the games with), Taylor and Chandler, Chris, and the dogs. I say it was a successful Saturday!

River might be half human

I really think that River is a human sometimes. I have NEVER met a dog that acts so much like a person in my life. I always wonder where he gets these habits from, but I can only think of one reason. Maybe since when he was little, he wasn't around that many dogs, and he learned alot from Mr. Hunt and I. I know it sounds silly, but that has to be it. Hannah on the other hand, is definitely a dog.

Little things that River does to make us think he is human:

Groans when he is tired and goes to lay down

Sits like a human

Sits like a human on the couch and watches TV

Sleeps like a human

Snores like a human (I know other dogs snore too)

Is calm like most humans and unlike most dogs

Wipes his feet before he comes in side (most of the time)

When he is bored, he wants to eat like humans (he goes in the pantry and tries to open the food)

Would rather be around humans than other dogs most of the time

....And alot more that I just cant think of right now, but I swear there are a ton more.

This past weekend, I was watching TV upstairs while Mr. Hunt was watching football. When I came downstairs I found River sleeping next to Mr. Hunt. His face was smushed against the couch like a human would be when they sleep. It was so funny, I had to take a picture. Plus, Mr. Hunt couldn't see him and if he moved, he would have woke River up.

Also, River likes to cheer the Gamecocks on, just like Mr. Hunt and I. He puts his Gamecock bandanna on and watches every play pretty much, unless he falls asleep (which happens most of the time). Of course, Hannah is off in her own world, and I dont think she has ever noticed the TV before.

I love that dog! He and Hannah are the EXACT opposites. I like it that way. That way, Mr. Hunt and I get a little bit of both personalities.

I asked Mr. Hunt last night as I was petting Hannah, "What would we do without Hannah and River?" He said, "I don't remember what our lives were like without them, and that is a good thing."

The babies laying on Mr. Hunts lap.

Gamecock Football = my favorite sport and team

I am so proud that the Carolina Gamecocks are ranked #12!! Mr. Hunt and I went to the Georgia game last weekend and we had a blast!

We drove down Friday night and hung out at the bars for a few hours with some long lost friends that we haven't seen in forever. Alot of them haven't seen us since we got engaged, so that was fun to see everyones reactions! We left pretty early and headed to the hotel to go to bed decently early so that we could have as much energy as we could for the game on Saturday.

Saturday morning we enjoyed a hot breakfast for free at the hotel and headed to the tailgate. It took a little bit to get down there with all the traffic, but we finally parked and headed to see some of our friends.

This was my brother Dylan's first gamecock tailgate, and he was so excited! After Mr. Hunt and I visited with some of our friends, we went to go see him and some of his buddies before we had to head to the stadium.

When we got to the stadium, we knew our seats were going to be pretty high up. We got to the top and showed the lady our tickets. She said, "Oh, you're at the VERY top!" We knew that, but we didn't know until we got there that we were literally at the VERY top. You couldn't get any further than where we were. To top it off, we were in the section with all the Georgia fans. Not acceptable! I have never screamed so hard for the gamecocks before. I wanted all the Georgia people to know that I was a gamecock.

This is a picture of us in our seats....see NOTHING behind us!

Mr. Hunt didn't really scream or make a big scene like I did. He said that because I was a girl and he was a guy. It was ok for me to do that because the men weren't going to try to start something with me, but they may try to start something with him. I could understand that. There were a few plays where Mr. Hunt got just as excited as I was. We still had fun up there.

After the first half, Mr. Hunt and I were so thirsty. It would take us 10 minutes to go down to where the drinks were, and the Georgia fans were getting angry because they were losing. They started to say some nasty things, and I was getting pretty angry, so we decided to head back to the tailgates where we could watch the rest of the game with other gamecocks!

After watching us WIN, we went back over to see what my brother was up to. As we turned the corner where his spot was, I saw him standing on the back of his truck, no shirt on, dancing with some strange guy! It was really funny. They were having a blast! The guy was hilarious! I'm glad Dylan had a great time at the tailgate. He was screaming and hollering and enjoying himself very much.

When we left there, we decided to go see what was going on at Mr. Hunt's fraternity tailgate. It was very strange to go back because instead of knowing EVERYONE like we did back in school, we only knew a handful of people. It was good to catch up with everyone though.

Mr. Hunt and I hadn't eaten since our morning hot breakfast and we were starved. We walked back to the car and headed over to where Mr. Hunt used to work, Danos. I love Danos Pizza. Everytime I go to Columbia now, I absolutely have to get some. We called Katie on our way and she met up with us. It was so good to catch up with her, and talk more about Mr. Hunt and I's wedding.

Mr. Hunt and I had a blast! We were very tired when we returned home. Our feet were so dirty and our legs were weak, but it was worth it. When Mr. Hunt and I were in school, we didn't really walk as much during the tailgate. We walked to the frat tailgate, the stadium, back to the frat tailgate, and home. I guess I didn't realize, but we walked alot, that's why it was ok to eat Danos!

I am very excited to see the rest of the games this season, and we hope to make it back to Columbia for at least one more home game.

GO GAMECOCKS!!!!!

Dentist

On Tuesday, I was just about to sit down at Panera Bread to eat my delicious lunch I just ordered when I felt something weird in my mouth. When I moved my tongue to see what it was, I realized that there was a huge hole in one of my teeth. Sure enough when I went to the bathroom to look, half of the bottom, left, second to the back tooth had fallen all the way off! I was in shock. I thought that I had good teeth? But my biggest concern right then was how was I going to eat my lunch?

I got through the lunch, barely (good thing I ordered some soup) and went back to work. As I was thinking about what could be wrong with my tooth, I remembered that I had a cavity on that tooth before. Also, whenever I eat something hard and it touched that tooth the wrong way, it would hurt pretty bad. That afternoon I made an appointment (an expensive one) at the dentist so that she could determine what I needed, or what was wrong with it. She said that the cavity got worse and basically decayed the tooth and part of it broke off. I left knowing that I couldn't eat ANYTHING on that side of my mouth. It was pretty hard to do.

Then today I went back for her to put a temporary cap on my tooth, and take an impression of it so that they can get a permanent cap to put on in two weeks. Let me just tell you that I really don't like the dentist. Mainly because they give me the numbing shot, and half the time it doesn't work well enough. The past few times I have gone, I was in pain. Today was a little different, thank God. The shots definitely hurt, but then I didn't have any pain after that. The bad news: Whenever anyone gets a cap put on their tooth, there is a 50-50% chance that they will need a root canal. Yep, not very happy about that, because I know that hurts for sure!

Now I am sitting here with a numb face, bad tasting mouth, a tooth that isn't smooth like the others, and gums that are already starting to feel sore. Oh, and I cant forget that my gums on the other side of my mouth are sore too because I have been having to eat on that side for the past two days. If you cant tell, I am in a pretty bad mood. To top it all off, I thought I could go back to eating whatever now, but no! I cant have bread or meat! Thats all I ever eat is bread and meat! Jeez, I'm thinking this should have happened a little closer to my wedding date because I'm going to lose weight not being able to eat anything for two weeks.

On a lighter note, my Gamecock football boys are ranked # 13 in the nation, I was there to witness the game against Georgia last weekend when we won (more on that later), I am going to a Panthers game this weekend, Mr. Hunt and I just got a new couch for our family room (pictures to come), and my tooth wont hurt forever (I hope)!

Proud Fiance

I would like to announce to everyone who reads my blog that Mr. Hunt was ranked 4th in the national in sales last month (August)! This is a HUGE deal! Not only was he first in his office, but he sold more last month than he has since he was employed, and he is still going strong this month.

Mr. Hunt is VERY serious about his job. Most of the time I have to ask him to stop thinking about work when he is at home, but that is just who he is. He is determined to be the best that he can be and more!

He started at Paycom in November of last year. He learned all about payroll and HR very quickly and started selling right away. Summer is a very slow time for selling in general because people are on vacations and it is hard to set up times to meet with people and get the ball rolling. During this slow time, he was getting upset and his numbers were low. I hated it because I hate to see him upset. Now that it is fall (best selling time) he is rolling, and he is happy. Except now he has so much more work to do!

When anyone meets their goal for the month, they get to go out to dinner with the boss (on the company) and anyone else who made quota. This time they let the "wives" come along which was very nice! We went to 131 Main and had a great time. When we were getting ready to leave, Mr. Hunt's boss looked at me and said "Does Chris tell you how well he is doing? Because if he doesn't, Ill tell you that he is doing very well." That was very sweet of him to say, although I already know how well he is doing.

I love to see Mr. Hunt smile!

Not Enough Time to Read

Everyday at work, it is my job to check the mail after lunch and distribute it to the correct sales people.

The owner of the company gets about 15 or more magazines a DAY! This isn't an exaggeration, this is for real! I don't know how he can read all of them. By the time he gets to one issue, I bet the next months issue is out. Its pretty ridiculous.

I thought at first that maybe since this is a publication company, and we do ads for magazines, he was getting ideas or something, but there is no way he can even go through them.

Sometimes I like to skim through the girly ones, like the home magazines. I'm sure Mr. Hunt would be jealous of all the golf, ESPN, and college football magazines he gets.

Who has time for all of this??

Labor Day Weekend

Mr. Hunt and I had a GREAT Labor Day weekend!

Friday night we stayed home and watched a movie together. We cooked dinner together also. I cooked sausage and cheese stuffed jalapenos, and he cooked chicken and shrimp on the grill. It was very good. I had to de-vein and de-seed 11 jalapenos. My fingers/fingernails we so spicy for two days! It was horrible, even River and Hannah didn't want to lick my fingers! I also bought Mr. Hunt and I some ice cream. I had cheesecake brownie and he had cherry Garcia. I love Ben and Jerry's!

Saturday morning Mr. Hunt woke up at 7:30am and was ready to go for the day. I think it was because college football was on and that's sort of like Christmas to him. Once, the dogs woke him up, he wasn't going back to sleep because he was too excited! He took the dogs on a morning walk since it was so cool outside, and he let me sleep a little longer. Once he got back, he begged me to get up and go to the grocery store with him. He slow cooked ribs on the grill all morning and they were finished just in time for lunch. By the time lunch was over, it felt like it was evening already since we had been up for so long. Mr. Hunt and I didn't leave the house again after the grocery store. The dogs were even in a lazy mood. The four of us napped, ate, and watched college football all day long.

Sunday morning, Mr. Hunt and I woke up again very early. I don't understand why it is harder for both of us to get up for the work day, but we get up at the same time on weekends and it is a piece of cake. Mr. Hunt wanted to slow cook ribs AGAIN. He said he learned from his mistakes the day before, and wanted to try again (even though the ribs the day before we delicious, he thought he could do better). This time, I took the dogs on a VERY LONG walk, while Mr. Hunt went to eh grocery (twice because he got all the way there the first time and realized he didn't have his wallet). While the ribs cooked, we mowed the backyard, picked weeds, vacuumed, and straightened up the house. I vacuumed the whole downstairs and half way up the stairs. I got too tired and quit, so the vacuum is still half way up the stairs right now. I will get to the second half this week. Probably tomorrow. The ribs were delicious again! Then we headed to the pool. We invited some friends over. Carla and Kevin with little Eli who is 10 months old. He loves the water and he is the cutest little boy ever. We also invited over Chris and his two little girls, Chandler who is 9 and Taylor who is 7. We all had a great time. I played with the girls the whole time. Man, they wore me out! Then we all decided to go out to dinner to Fuji (Japanese). I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The cook and the boys were being silly. When we got home around 8:30, we both showered and went straight to bed. It was such a fun but long day and we didn't rest at all. By that time, we were ready to sleep.

Monday of course, we woke up early again. We headed to the golf course for Mr. Hunt to play for awhile. When we got there it was way to busy so we left. We stopped by target and decided to start our wedding registry (even though we have no parties planned yet). We had fun and laughed alot there too. Then we both bought new pairs of boat shoes and ate lunch at Five Guys. Mr. Hunt wanted to cook on the grill AGAIN, so we bought a Boston butt. Man, we ate alot of pork, and we have ALOT left too. We cooked that and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Good news!! Our pool stays open longer than I thought! Open until September 30th. Come on over whenever you want!

Dog Baths

Mr. Hunt and I (and the vet) are trying to figure out what (if anything) River is allergic to. He is constantly scratching and biting all over his body. His skin has scabs and is turning black in some areas. I feel so bad for him.

I took him to the vet a few months ago and the vet was going to put him on special food to see what he was allergic to. Right when he was finishing up, one of his assistants saw a flea on him. That changed the vets mind immediately. He told me that River must be allergic to fleas. I treated the fleas and he was still itchy. I have gave him three different flea medications, but the skin isn't better. I don't think he is allergic to fleas because I never see any on him and he is still so itchy.

Then this past weekend after he was playing in the mud, I thought to myself that maybe he is just having a skin irritation because he is dirty. Mr. Hunt and I don't ever give them baths. Maybe once or twice every three or four months. For labs, you aren't supposed to wash them too much or they will loose the oil in their fur and I guess that is bad.

Anyway so I got this wonderful idea that Mr. Hunt and I needed to wash the dogs. This is actually pretty hard to do. We tie them up somewhere (this time to the grill), rinse them down, scrub them with soap, and rinse them off. Sounds easy huh? No it isn't. The move around, sit down when you are trying to clean their bum, shake every few minutes, etc. Then it takes forever to dry them (since they have seven layers of fur). Last night we took them on a long walk so they could dry off. Now they smell and look pretty, but River is still itching. I woke up in the middle of the night because he was itching so much. The itching noise was in my dream as something else, then when I woke up I realized it was him. Poor thing cant even sleep through the night. I can just picture him in his crate all day with nothing to do. I bet he scratches himself ALL DAY!

I guess I need to take him back to the vet again. UGH!