Our Little Family

Oct 30, 2012 /

For a while now Mike and I have wanted a dog. Even before we were married we had both agreed that someday a dog would come. We’re dog people – always have been, always will be. So we got married and moved into our wonderful house in Sterling with hopes of getting that little pup kinda quickly. BUT, the thing about renting a house is that you don’t exactly get to choose whether or not you’re allowed to get a dog. So Mike called the landlady and asked what the chances were that we could get a dog. As far as I knew she said she was not comfortable with it because of previous renters. Needless to say we were pretty bummed.

Fortunately for me I have a clever husband who knew if he told me the landlady said it was a go (which she did) then I would jump on the first opportunity of a puppy. He took matters into his own hands to find the perfect puppy for us. Then one day I got a call from him. He was over at the church working on homework and he asked me what I thought about Miniature Australian Shepherds. I was confused. As far as I knew we weren’t allowed to get a dog so I kept asking about the landlady and he kept pushing it off. He then told me about a little puppy named Love. He was born on September 12th in McPherson, KS. He sent me to a website with some photos and he had just gotten off the phone with the breeders who explained to him in detail what it would take for us to bring him home.

This is Love at 4 weeks old…

Isn’t he just the cutest? Well now he is even cuter and he is safely HOME! We spent the last four weeks preparing for this little guy who we’ve decided to name Alfred. We bought a crate, food bowls, a leash, a collar, grooming tools, a clicker for training, a training book, and treats for the pup. We researched his breed over and over. I watched videos of other mini australian shepherds. We read a training book that is completely based on positive reinforcement. We pretty much geeked out over the fact that we were getting a dog. I really thought that we would just get a dog randomly at a pet store and be completely unprepared but I really loved being able to psycho prepare for him. We were able to talk about training him and how we wanted to raise him. We were able to really plan for him and it was great. But it is definitely better now that he is here. We love him so much and are so excited about our new little family.

Meet Alfred at 8 weeks!

He’s a great little pup. Like surprisingly great. We were expecting a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of accidents in the house. He doesn’t whine at night – and now he is sleeping for about 7 hours until he gets us up to go potty. He whimpers in the house when he has to go potty and has only had two accidents. We sure are blessed by this little man.

He’s timid and very cautious but we are starting to see spurts of energy. He is no longer afraid of the kitchen but has yet to go into the bathroom. It’s really precious. The first few days he wouldn’t eat, but this morning he ate all his food in one setting.

We’re learning lots and having lots of fun. Today we’re off the Wichita so Mr. Alfie can’t meet his grandparents (yep I’m that dog owner) and we’re really excited to get some time with my family.

That’s all for now. I’m hoping to post some more this week.

See you soon!
The Jaderstons

Love, The Jaderstons

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Ultimate Weekend

Oct 15, 2012 /

This weekend Mike had an ultimate frisbee tournament in Manhattan, KS. He rode up with the team and I headed up the next day to get some quality time with friends and watch him play. Ultimate frisbee is more serious than I anticipated. At one point the entire team was working on defensive plays – and everyone was listening. I was fascinated.I love pictures of team huddles.

The views from the fields were phenomenal

BRATZ in the field behind the fields

We had a lot of fun and the girls got surprisingly competitive. We really really wanted the boys to succeed. But the weekend was great for both Mike and I. I got quality time with my girls and he got to be with the men. I’m already looking forward to the next tournament and hoping that I will understand my fancy camera a little better to get some more quality photos.

I hope you all are having a great week!

See you soon!
The Jaderstons

Love, The Jaderstons

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ZONA {recap.three}

Oct 5, 2012 /

Well, like I promised I’m here to talk about Arizona for a third time. This time with a few photos, a few funny stories, and the wrap up of all things adventure.

First things first, meet Gracie… (and Christina and Katelyn)
The previous picture seems like we were all having a great time – which we were. You see, this was the beginning of our Nertz game. Key word: beginning. Something else that is probably worth mentioning is that a few of my fellow BRATZ (myself included) are a little bit competitive. Nertz is a card game. It is very similar to Solitaire except it’s different and it is all about speed and getting the most points.

Ok, so now to the good part. There were a few people that stood above the rest of us when it came to points and in the interest of making the game fair for all parties we made up a new rule for Nertz. We decided, as the majority, that whoever has the most points each round must serve the consequences of being better than everyone else. Therefore, that person (usually Katelyn) had to start their round about 20 feet away from the table and run to their position when we said go. It was so much fun and also helped those winners to burn off some of the cream cheese we had consumed throughout the week. Good times.

On the last evening we all wrote thank you notes to my parents and we bought some sparkling grape juice and cider and had our last big celebration before life began again. I never imagined having so much fun on such a quick trip, but being in the presence of happy people will do that to you.

The drive home was pretty great as well. It included a lot of rest stops, a few major detours, and a search for ZONA tanks in every little Indian shop we could find. Like I said before, we took two vehicles. Each vehicle was given a battery powered walkie talkie in order for us to communicate when stops were needed and to talk to everyone while separated into two cars. One particular detour was taken because of me and my vehicle. We kept passing by these signs that said “EXPERIENCE THE IMPACT” and then they listed a radio station. Obviously after the fourth sign we passed we decided to turn on the radio. There was a man speaking and he kept saying “EXPERIENCE THE IMPACT”. Apparently there is a really big crater somewhere in the state of Arizona. My vehicle decided that we also wanted to experience the impact – so we turned off the freeway and the Golf followed. To our discontent, the crater was actually nine miles off the main road but we finally arrived. Turns out, it costs $17 a person to see this super huge amazing crater. WHAT?! Unfortunately $17 was not in our budget and we had to get back into the vehicles and turn around. Serves me right for trying to make a rash decision during a 17 hour road trip. A 17 hour road trip that really turned into 19.

All in all, we made it home safely and had a blast. I hope another trip similar to this happens again soon. I miss my bratz, but it’s comforting to know they’ll always be there, even through a really competitive game of Nertz.

Cheyn, why is this the only pic I have of you alone? Sorry!

That’s all the Zona Bratz I have for you. It’s been fun reminiscing!

See you soon,
The Jaderstons