Our New Place

So we finally finished unpacking boxes!  Since we're unpacked and pretty much moved in, I thought I'd take a quick video and give you guys a tour of the place.  Sorry, it's kinda long, I probably showed very aspect of the apartment.  We've still got some projects to do and some decorating to finish, but we're mostly there.  For example...hopefully eventually we'll get rid of this futon.  Anyway, here's the video!  Sorry it's not in the blog--You have to click the link because we have it set to "Unlisted" aka, you can only see it if you have a link.  Enjoy!

Apartment Video

Nala

I guess I haven't posted since before the move!  I'll get a post up about the new apartment soon, but for now, I 'll just post about our new little puppy.

 This is Nala. She's an Australian Shepherd mix with a blue merle coat.  She's the runt of the litter so she was significantly smaller than her brothers and sisters.  

When we got her, she was 8 weeks old, so she's just a little puppy.  

When we first got her, she would just lay around like this, and find a nice corner to curl up in.

(Which was kinda nice because we were still unpacking boxes in our new apartment)

She would play with or chew on some toys, but still just lay there. 

We couldn't even get her to go on walks.  She would plant her feet  and not budge an inch! Once she'd start to walk a little bit, she'd go 2 feet and lay down in the grass in the shade.  Those first few days were a little frustrating while walking.  

Whenever she wakes up, her eyes are bloodshot for a few minutes.  The first time we saw it, it freaked me out! I thought we had like severely deprived her from sleep, but now we've seen it's pretty regular regardless of how much rest she's had.

Her other favorite thing to chew on is her name tag! The smallest collar they had was still a little big on her so she's been able turn her head and get it.  Thankfully we bought  a pretty sturdy tag so it's held up!  She's also so funny to watch chase her tail.  She's pretty good at getting it too.

Since then, she has become a lot more happy and active.  Now she'll play fetch, loves going on walks, and will even go on runs.  She loves exploring outside now.  Our most fun challenge has been getting her house trained! ...Thankfully we have wood floors, or we'd have some kinda scary carpets! 

She struggled for a few days having 3-4 potty accidents a day.  Pretty soon she caught on and did well for about 3 days then struggled with it for another 2 days.  However, ever since Sunday, we haven't had hardly any accidents.  We found that while trying to train her, the best thing for use to do was to set a timer for an hour, carry her out, give a consistent command, and wait until she goes.  

She's gotten so much better to the point where now she knows to go to the door and get our attention, we go right outside to the grass, we say "Go Potty", she goes immediately and we head back inside. 

 She's a smart, happy puppy and is a great balance between being kinda lazy, laying around and sleeping, and wanting to play, run, and have fun--kinda like us :) 

This picture cracks me up.. she's TOTALLY crashed...

We didn't wanna invest in a nice pillow for her right now because she is still teething so badly and wants to chew everything.  Between accidents, chewing, and the fact that she's gonna get bigger, we didn't think it'd be smart to waste our money on like a big dog pillow.  

She was really intrigued by the trampoline as I unpacked and set it up, as we stuck a blanket on it, and it's like her other little home that's close to us, since her crate is in the other room.  She loves it!

The biggest problem that's just recently developed is her biting.  Especially because she's teething, she's liked to kinda nip and bite our fingers, toes, etc.  Hopefully we can teach her soon to cut that out!

Anyway, here's a video of Nala playing with her little squeaky duck.  I don't actually know if it's a great video because every time I watch it, Nala hears the squeaks and me talking thinks I'm trying to play with her and gets all confused.  Especially since the squeaker of her duck is broken now from playing with it so much. Anyway, here's Nala!

We are loving her so much!

Fourth of July

Since setting off your own fireworks are illegal in New Jersey, we were excited to be in Utah for the fourth this year! Though we were a little bit hesitant to do so with the ridiculous amount of wildfires raging out here.  But we figured as long as we are careful and do it in a parking lot, it will be just fine.

There was a 4th of July parade but we didn't get to watch it.  We did get to see this UVU float though the day before because they got lost and wound up in front of our apartment haha. 

That night we went out and managed to both leave our keys in the apartment.  This has never happened to us before and at this point, the management office was closed.  Ironic though, because we were hoping and most likely going to be moving that upcoming weekend.  We nearly made it the whole time without locking ourselves out! Thankfully, we remembered we had left a window unlocked in the back bedroom and with a little team work, we managed to get Jimmie to climb up the wall and through this window.  Probably not the smartest thing to do with cracked ribs, but we were successful! It was pretty hilarious looking back, we probably looked ridiculous. Ps. Incase you can't tell, thats like a story and a half.  

So Fourth of July--

Both Jim and I had off on the fourth so we were able to have a nice relaxing day.  I was going to make a great cake, but had some problems with it and just decided to scratch it.  Instead, we had some nice summer foods like corn on the cob! (Which by the way is not even half as good as Jersey corn.)  Later, we went mini golfing and though it was ridiculously hot, it was beautiful and fun!

 He totally creamed me in mini golf! 

 And I got a hair cut the day before--I don't know if you can tell.

That night we got together with our friends Rachel and Conlon.  We went out towards the Stadium of Fire and had a fun evening snacking and playing games.  The fireworks didn't start til pretty late, nearly 11! We had no idea they would start that late but that's okay because that way we got to spend several hours hanging out.  After the great fireworks display we went over to a parking lot and shot off a bunch of fireworks and sparklers.

 Rachel with sparklers

A shower of sparks

 Double sparklers!

 Jimmie with the sparklers

Here's an animated photo of the fireworks from that night:

Fireworks Display