Gus Love

Most of you know Gus...

For those of you that don't, Gus is our chocolate lab. He is 95 lbs of pure love. Well, make that 5 lbs of pure love and 90 lbs of hair. I often describe him as having so much love to give that it just explodes off of his body in the form of hair. It then lands on our floor, on our couch, on our counters (don't worry, I'm pretty good about keeping those clean), and any other available surface of our home- or other people's home, if they are so kind as to allow him in the front door.

A little example...

When we moved from our old house to the new one, I was packing the closet, and in the interest of organization, I have a hanging shoe cubby that attaches to the clothes pole. As I collapsed it, I found that the top of this cubby, which is above eye level, was covered in Gus hair. If his hair is able to get to the top of our closet, with the door normally kept closed, that means it's just floating in the air!

So how do we try to manage this hair? Vacuuming, of course. Probably not as often as we should, but at least once a week, and definitely right before anyone actually comes over to our house. Two years ago, as Blake and I were settling into our first home, my parents got a central vac and gave us their less than a year old vacuum. And I thought it was doing a pretty good job, we just had a dog that shed, a lot. But Wednesday evening, I got down on the floor and realized our vacuum just cannot keep up with the amount of love Gus has to give. I had JUST vacuumed the night before, and there was still dog hair all over the floor.

So, for Christmas, I am asking for either the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser, the Kenmore Progressive Upright, or the Dyson Animal.

Until then... sorry about all the love.

Update

I heard from Jeni this morning- the doctor said she may get to go home tomorrow! We are planning on going up there this weekend to see her so hopefully she will have a smooth transition from hospital to home.

Jeni

Please pray for my brother-in-law Brad's fiancee, Jeni. Over the weekend they were at the lake and jumping off cliffs into the quary. Jeni hit the water wrong and badly injured her back. Two of her vertebrae are compressed and while they do not believe she needs surgery at this time, she is in the hospital and is expected to remain there for the next few days. After that, if she still does not need surgery, she will have to wear a brace for several months.

She is in a lot of pain. It is hard for her to rest. She is worried and scared, and so are all of us.

Please pray for ease from her pain, rest for her body, and comfort for her fears.

Please pray for wisdom for her doctors, and for strength for Brad and her family.

Please pray for her to be ok and to again be the vibrant, active Jeni we know and love.

First BBQ

We hosted our first BBQ at the new house Friday night- we had a bunch of Pharmacy friends over for food and games. Everyone brought their own meat for grilling and I made marinated asparagus using a recipe from Blake's cousin Denise, mashed potatoes, and zuchinni. We used our new patio set Blake's parents got us for a housewarming gift and played Clue, Foosball, and Catchphrase till about 12:30! I love entertaining!

This weekend is Kristina's baby shower! They are coming up Thursday night to stay with us and then the shower is in Columbia on Saturday. Then we're going over to Kristina's parents for a bonfire, and heading to STL Sunday morning for my Little, Amy's, wedding!

Today I love: sushi with my friend Tamara.

Some pics from the wedding

Savannah

Isnt' she the cutest? I took this picture over the weekend with my phone, which thankfully doesn't hate me rightthismoment.

Happy Birthday Brad!

Happy Birthday Brad!!!

Today Blake's younger brother Brad turns 23! Wish we could be there to celebrate with him!

This past weekend we spent in Fayette, MO for Jessica and Timothy's wedding. It was beyond perfect, so elegant (and the food was amazing). I have never seen my friend look so beautiful and happy and we were thrilled to be a part of their day. I am going to try to post pictures, but unfortunately my camera AND computer both hate me right now and are refusing to work properly.

The house is coming together nicely- this weekend we will be home with no plans, then here's how the rest of our weekends go:
Kristina's (my sister-in-law) baby shower in Columbia July 25th- yay for another niece!!!
Amy's (my Little) wedding in STL July 26th- I'm the guest book lady
Jeni's (Brad's fiance) 21st birthday in KC August 1 & 2
Madera and Savannah (our nieces) for the weekend August 8 & 9
Blake in Houston, TX for a compounding class (and my parents are stopping by on their way to TX) August 13-16
Housewarming Party August 21st, right before Blake starts school

And I have a show in August and two in September! It's been wonderful seeing everyone this summer for various weddings and other events, but man it sure has flown by!!! Oh well, this fall we'll turn back into hermits with Blake studying all the time, so it's good we're getting out and doing stuff.

Hmmm, what else is going on in our lives?

Blake's mom Judy was in town this past Tuesday. It was really good to see her- she was down here for her new job and it looks like our area will be a part of her new route!!! We had dinner at a yummy mexican place called Compadres, then we picked out her and Darrel's housewarming gift for the our new place- a new patio set! We're already planning to grill out this Friday and eat on our new stuff:)

We got our tickets for Wicked! We're going August 4th- I am so excited- I've been telling Blake I wanted to go to this since we moved here last year!

We've been doing a Bible study this summer by Rick Warren called 40 Days of Love. We're not crazy about the study, but we really like our small group. It's been good for us to be involved in something weekly since we can't go to church every Sunday since we're out of town a lot. Our church does have pocasts of the sermon though! The sermons have been in correlation with the study but we get a lot more out of the sermons than we are the study.

Well, I'd say that's a pretty long recap on the Crocketts! How is everyone else's sumer going?

July. Busiest. Month. Ever.

I can't believe it is already July 7. This first week in July has flown by. Last weekend we worked a bunch on the house, trying to get things put away. Normally I just work, work, work, sometimes all through a night to get things done, but in this case, we had a few things we had to get before we could put everything away and we had to wait until last weekend to do so, which means it's been a very long, drawn out process, and I'm losing motivation. We did get to do a few fun holiday things- fireworks with our neighbors and dinner with friends was a welcome relief from house stuff. Being off work for four days was helpful, but there was a lot more of getting the new house ready to be moved into and the old house ready to be inspected (aka cleaning/ repairing on both) rather than organized. I really don't know what I would have done if my mom hadn't come down! And being back at work meant I had a lot of catch up to do! Last Thursday I didn't get home from work till 8:30! Thank goodness I love my job!

This weekend is going to be packed full of fun stuff- my amazing friend Jessica is GETTING MARRIED!!! Blake and I are heading up there early Friday for the rehearsal then the wedding is Saturday. I can't wait to see all of her planning and stressing and our millions of phone convos about wedding details in action. It's going to be gorgeous! Plus, I love going to weddings with Blake- it makes me remember our wedding day that started our life together.

Today I Love: That we're getting our internet hooked up today!