How to Entertain Your Dog for 30+ Minutes (with Zero Effort from You!)

Do you ever get this look from your dog?  You know, the one that screams "entertain me or I will kill you in your sleep."

Do you wish your dogs could look like this with zero effort from you?

It happens daily. You get "the look" when you're watching the Cardinals (or another not as exciting sports team) Or when you're watching a movie, trying to nap, folding laundry, reading a book, typing a blog post, etc.  If you're a dog owner, you've seen the look. The "pay attention to me, you whore" look. In my household, this "play with me or die" look is usually accompanied by some sassy talk from my Weim and groans and whines from my Vizsla.

We get this look a lot. (It's what we get for bringing two of the most energetic breeds into our family.) We just wish they could find ways to entertain themselves. {Hashtag lazy dog parents}.

We've given them bones covered in gross nom noms. But they last maybe 10 minutes before they're over it. It worked in the beginning but bones are old news to them.
We've tried frozen peanut butter in Kongs. Somehow they manage to get it out in 5 minutes.

We have found the solution!!!!!  Let me introduce to you, the Kong Wobbler.

Via PetSmart 

This.Is.Amazing!  I know when I asked if you wanted to entertain your dog with zero effort from you, you thought "impossible", but it's not!   See for yourself:

I highly recommend you head to your nearest PetSmart (or if you're cheap like me, order from Amazon and wait two days) and buy one. We bought two, to be fair. Because sometimes we're good parents.
It took the girls about 10 minutes to figure it out.
And it took Vino an additional 3 minutes to realize Yadi could do all the work and she could help her eat the food. Smart girl!!!!

Our dogs find almost anything a treat. So I bought a cheap ass bag of dog food from Walmart. Since it's different from their normal food, they love it!! I also plan to use Cheerios if I run out of dog food.

Anyway, enough talking. Get out and buy one. Then sit back and do whatever the hell you want because your dog doesn't need you anymore!!!

You can thank me later.


(Being 100% honest, we were just as entertained as they were with their first go around so allow some time to watch your dog figure it out.)

{Also, did you note Yadi's frustration? When it gets low and she can't get the last few pieces out, she gets hilariously frustrated by throwing it all over the place lol.}

{Dog} Swim Party

We've loved our neighborhood since before we even put an offer on our house.  It's one of the reasons we looked at so many houses for sale in this neighborhood.  But we loved it for us as humans.

And now I love it even more because it's dog friendly.  We have a few lakes throughout the neighborhood and they have doggie poop bag stations around them (technical terms there).  So they can't hate dogs, right?

Then I got an email from our HOA announcing the last day the pool would be open.  Following the pool closing, they announced the next day would be the annual dog swim.  Say whaaaaa?!  Apparently, every year, after the pool is closed to the humans, the next day they have a doggie swimming party!  All the neighborhood dogs are invited to come romp around the pool. How awesome!!! 

Seeing as my dogs love swimming, we knew we'd go.  Unfortunately, while Vino loves the ocean, lakes, and her own kiddie pool, she is not a fan of large swimming pools.  Yadi, however, will go anywhere for a ball.  We attempted to coax her in.  Fail.  Eventually Nick just threw her ass in and that was it.  From then on, if you threw her ball in, she'd go after.  

Nick, after traumatizing Vino by pushing her in while she was walking along the edge and then tossing her in another time (a game she LOVES at the lake), he carried her in to try to regain some trust (which was a big fat fail.)  Yadi was sooooo concerned by Nick holding her and carrying her, that she began frantically crying and dove in after her sister to save her!

I mean, just look at how scared poor Vino Bear appears.

And because Yadi is...well, Yadi, I'll share this gem with you all.  Talk about an ugly photo.

The girls had a blast.  Yadi enjoyed diving in for her ball and swimming around.  Vino enjoyed running around the edge of the pool and socializing with the other dogs and humans.

And now I love my neighborhood even more for being so dog friendly!  They even provided lots of tennis balls, toys, and bowls of non-chlorinated water.

Do you live in a super friendly dog neighborhood?  In what ways do the love your pups?

A Stoned Devil and Spastic Bee

Happy Halloween!!!
Yeah, I'm early, but I doubt I'll be doing anything blog worthy for Halloween and I just tortured my dogs so now seems like a good time for this post!

I hate missing out on the Halloween costume fun. But I don't have {human} children to torment and dress up in ridiculous outfits and Nick won't let me choose our outfits anymore after last year (he's just being South Pole Elf.  Last year's costumes were the bee's knees!!!). So my adorable pups get the wrath of my Halloween costume madness. 

Actually, we were going to forego costumes for them this year. We just bought a house and need to purchase a lot of things for it (such as 16 blinds for our windows so I can walk around in my undies again. And ya know, those are cheap *eye roll*). 

But luckily for our dogs, when we walked into PetSmart to buy dog food, their costumes were marked down from $16.99 to $4.79. Certainly we could splurge $10 for our own entertainment. 

Costumes choices weren't great.  And they didn't have a Honey Badger, which is a true representation of Yadi's personality.  So we settled on the devil because it's as close as they had to something that "doesn't give a shit" and is a little badass. And that's Yadi. A sassy, back-talking, don't give a shit, button pushing, too smart for her own good dog. 

Vino was harder. She is just too sweet and dainty to be something like a pirate or inmate. And anything red was out (I don't like red dogs wearing red because the shades clash.) So the cute lady bug was out. That left us with a bumble bee or a dragon. Clearly the cute bee won. 

The girls don't mind the costumes as long as treats are involved. Once they see a treat, they stop biting at the costumes and spinning in circles. 

Because Yadi has an insane obsession with food and too much practice with focus and patience with her ball, she was easy to capture photos of (even if she did look stoned in 10 out of the 15 photos I took.)

Vino was damn near impossible to get photos of. She is so freaking antsy and such a spaz. She legit stands there tap dancing. Just tap tap tapping away. Beyond annoying. She's a blur in most photos. Her head piece wouldn't stay on because she violently flails about, dances around, etc. Even in her 'sit' and 'down' command, she's still antsy!! Clearly we work more with Yadi (sorry Vino, she just needs it more with her strong personality). She actually loves having clothes on (I think they remind her of her ThunderShirt she so dearly loves) so she's extra excited. So this is about as good as it gets with her:

Clearly she's not liking me holding this on her head and making her lay still 

Clearly my goal for next year is to work with Vino on not being so antsy. Yes, my priorities lie with making sure I get good Halloween photos next year.  I don't even know how to teach that. She can "sit" and "stay" but any tips on how to teach "calm the eff down" and "stop being a spaz" ??? I seriously need to take a video of Vino in all spazziness for you all. 

Oh well, they're both still adorable in their costumes. And now that we actually have a porch, we'll sit out there with our Stoned Devil and Spazstic Bee to hand out candy. 

 My cute new porch :)  ...where the Halloween candy goodness will take place.

Anyone else tormenting their dogs with costumes??  Please tell me I'm not the only one who has an impossible time getting a photo of their dog dressed up. 

Anyway, Happy Halloween from Yadi and Vino!!! 

Weekend Recap: Alamaba-Living

Yep, Alabama-living.  Obviously being away from Pensacola left me missing some good ol' redneck lifestyle so I decided I needed to give in and come to Alabama.

Okay, that's a lie.  But I'm sure you knew that.  I am, however, living in Alabama right now.  Nick and I are currently homeless.  We can't move into our house until the middle of October (just another glamorous aspect of the military life...not having enough time between PCSes {permanent change of station...aka relocation} to find a place available when you need it).  We spent the first week in Jacksonville living with our friends Matt and Jenny.  Except, it was really just Matt because Jenny was traveling on business.  Nick left for SERE last Saturday (an update on that once he's back...for his safety of course) and would be gone for two weeks.
I decided I'd come stay with my sister for those two weeks.  (While I love Matt, it might be a little odd just us two living together with Jenny still gone.  And he works and studies so I'd be bored alllll day long and again all night.  Plus I don't think Matt would care to drink massive amounts of wine while crafting and watching HGTV.)  Leah's nannying job just ended so it actually works out perfectly that we both suck have nothing to do all day and night.


So this weekend recap is more of a week recap since I've been here for a week.  But since everyone loves pictures more than just text, we shall recap in pictures!

One of the best things about being at Leah's (and having Nick gone) is I get to have lots of puppy snuggles!  We don't allow our dogs in the bed with us so sleeping with them is a treat {We allow it if the guest's house allows it}  Anyway, this is possibly even more so a treat for me than them!  I soak up all the Yadi-snuggles I can because she usually isn't a cuddler.  But when you get in a bed, she's all over it!  (In that last picture, she has her protective hand on my hip.  Seriously, this pup is on high-alert, must-protect-mom mode whenever Nick is not around.)

And more puppy snuggling.  The girls love having their cousins to snuggle with as well.

 I'm sure Vino isn't happy I captured this photo, but she's usually just so adorable that I had to snap this rare creep-tastic photo of her!

{Aren't you all jealous of that fabulous comforter?!  I mean, my sister paid top dollar for that!!!  jay slash kay.  It's atrocious!  But it's the "dog comforter".  I think all dog parents have those comforters and blankets that get brought out for the pups.  This fancy comforter is just that.}
Let me also note that one of the most frustrating things in the world is a dead weight dog.  I get up to use the restroom and come back to a 100 pound Weim in my spot.  Except, a 100 pound dead weight dog really feels like a 300 pound boulder.  Now, I might be small, but I'm not weak (lifting is paying off).  I carried massive dressers just a week ago, with absolutely no problem (my husband was actually quite impressed).  But this dog?  Holy eff!!  I could not pick her up and move her!  I'm going to use the odd shape of her body as my excuse.  Let's just hope there is never an emergency when Nick is gone in which I need to haul her ass to the car.  After a few failed attempts to lift and move her, I grabbed her legs and drug her across the bed to my desired position.  And thus producing quite a death stare.  She paid me back but repositioning herself, ass in my face, and then proceeded to let out the most disgusting fart ever.  Touche, Weim.  You win.  Sleep wherever the crap you want.

Our days have been spent making and/or consuming delicious foods.  Of course our day of shopping (really just me gathering ideas for the new house) had to include lunch at St. Louis Bread Co (just accept that I will never call it Panera).
That day also consisted of a trip to Gigi's Cupcakes (pumpkin white chocolate was my cupcake of choice and it did not disappoint.)
Kyle text saying he wanted some McDonalds on our way home.  It's hard for me to go there and not get food.  It's so disgusting and bad for you, but I'll admit I'm a sucker for their fries (dipped in sweet and sour of course), chicken nuggets, and fountain Dr. Pepper {however I was good and opted out of the soda).  But I only wanted a little.  And you're never too old for a Happy Meal!!!  {Can I just say how happy I am that they brought back the old school Happy Meal boxes?  I was hating those dumb bags.}
And because it's fall, I decided to bake some pumpkin goodness.  Being obsessed with chocolate, it needed to be included, thus the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, that I was FINALLY (after 2 falls) able to get to be just right!!!

I've been spending a lot of time outside on the patio, drinking my coffee (out of my new Starbuck's 'You Are Here Collection'.  I cannot wait to get my St. Louis mug!).  

Of course, you can't go outside without all the pups following you.  But it's okay, because watching them romp around the yard is entertaining.

Leah and I had a crafting day, which is typical of us.  And in Vino fashion, she had to be all up in the mess.  {blog post coming soon on my Halloween wreath}

My nights are spent drinking wine (which I'm sure didn't need to be mentioned since you all could have assumed that) while watching HGTV and catching up on all my blogs.  (and yes, I'm drinking out of a regular glass.  I was just too lazy to take the extra steps around the table to get the wine glasses down.)

Mom went to visit Ben (brother) for the weekend so naturally we all FaceTimed.  Thank goodness for technology.

I noticed this weekend that my hair is getting redder and redder (hashtag no filter).  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I'm trying to decide if I want to dye it.  I do need a haircut (just a trim) so maybe I'll just dye it while I'm at it.  It's been at least 8 weeks since my last dye job.  But then again, I'm frugal.  So maybe the red will just have to stay around...unless it keeps getting more red.  Then I'll have to fix that shiz.

Evenings have also been spent watching our beloved Cardinals and this night, we celebrated the Cardinals winning the NL Central!  Damn it feels good to be a Cardinals fan.  (maybe the red hair is good luck??  Hmmm....I think maybe I shall keep it for Red October!!!)

One of the best things about being here is the insane amounts of exercise the pups gets.  Yadi and Vino absolutely love their cousins and the four wear each other out.  It's great!!!!  Vino and Rogue are the perfectly playmates.  Vino loves to lay on the ground and have another dog wrestle on top of her and Rogue gladly accepts this position.  They play rough but as long as it produces the bottom photo, I don't care one bit!!!  Tired pups=happy mama

And there you have it.  In a nutshell, my week (and weekend) has consisted of shopping, eating, baking, cooking, doggie snuggles, wine, Cardinals, crafts, patio sitting, and more doggie goodness.  Not really all that eventful, but it's been relaxing, which is exactly what I've needed after this and this and this and most definitely this!  Life has finally slowed down a bit (at least for the next two weeks) and I needed a good weekend away with family.  Being here is also a really good distraction from SERE.  I try not to think about what Nick is currently going through so being here keeps my mind occupied.  Thankfully I still get another week here with my sister and BIL.  ...unless they get sick of me and kick me out.

Life Update: Packing and Moving

Life has been CRAZY!!!!  So crazy that I have yet to blog anything about Nick's Winging week festivities!  It was truly one of the most exciting times in our lives together and I have never been more proud.  But those posts will have to wait.  I promise to blog about them after we leave Pensacola and life slows down just a little.

This moving thing has taken up all of our time.
Nick winged, family left, we packed for 5 days (and by we, I mean me since Nick was still working 12 hour days), headed to Jax to house hunt for a week, came back and have been packing the past 3 days.  Only two more days left to pack, one day to load the truck, one day to clean, then we leave to start our new chapter!

Here is just a a quick update for you all:

• We are beyond excited for this move.  At first, Nick was pretty bummed to not be flying the MH-53 but it didn't last long (as we all knew would be the case because Nick is truly incapable of being in a bad mood or being a glass half empty kind of guy).  Virginia was most absolutely NOT our first location choice (or second...or third...or fourth) so we're happy to be in Jax, our first location choice.  I know some think we're insane for wanting Jax and being excited about it, but I cannot express how excited we are.  All of Nick's sadness has left and he's stoked about this next adventure.  Every time we talk about our new home and life, we find more and more reasons to be excited.
  We're happy to be in city larger than Pensacola with a lot more going on.  We're happy to be in a location that still does not get winters (well, not cold winters).  We're happy to still be a day's drive from St. Louis.  I'm happy to start volunteering at the Mayo Clinic.  I'm happy to still be near beaches.  And we are beyond thrilled to be near so many friends!!!  Nick's best friend from enlistment, stationed at Kings Bay, lives in Jax, not far from our (hopeful) new home.  Our best friends from Pensacola are there (in the same neighborhood!).  My other Navy bestie is there and has offered us so much advice (as well as letting us crash with her the past week while house hunting).  Not to mention we are so close to Charleston and we have LOTS of really good friends there and plans to go visit them all are already in the works.  We also plan to take mini-vacays to Savannah and of course next spring we'll head to Jupiter for Cardinals spring training!!!

• I'm still having a very difficult time with Grandpa's passing.  Luckily I've been kept very busy and this has helped keep my tears at bay.  But when I do finally get some down time, I can't help but cry over how badly I miss him.
• I'm really annoyed that I've yet to update my resume from my previous job.  (I'm so bummed we're leaving so soon because I truly loved my job, the kids, and my co-workers and I was looking forward to working with them all again for a little bit longer.)  But moving, house hunting, and all that comes with that has taken up every free second so the resume and job searching will have to wait until we're there.
• We're eating the oddest combinations of meals as we're trying to clear out as much from our fridge and freezer as possible.  We've eaten an insane amount of fries lately.  I'm sure we won't succeed and I'll be calling friends to see if they'd like to take any of it before we toss it in the trash.  As for the pantry, that's a lost cause trying to consume it all.  We (Nick) keep far too many things in there!  He has so many bags of chips, boxes of Rice-a-Roni, cans of Steak n Shake chili, tons of cereal, Pop-Tarts, etc.  The kid loves his (pre-packaged, pre-bagged, processed) food.  We will have many, many boxes of food.  And I'd say maybe one box is my stuff (and it's primarily baking ingredients).
• I'm doing my part to minimize the bottles we need to bubble wrap and box by drinking wine each night (and during the day...no shame).  I'm just looking out for what's best for us...saving money on packing supplies and saving space on the truck ;)  Nick has no complaints as the wine helps my anxiety and therefore he's not as tempted to use the packing tape on my anxious, whiny, bitchy mouth.  I will not deny I'm an unpleasant packer.  I'm constantly complaining "I hate this" (or "I hate you" since Nick is the one strongly against letting the military move us and he hoards and owns more than half the shit we're packing) or I'm worrying "We're never going to get this done!" and "All of this is not going to fit on the truck!"  And then the bitching "Get off your phone and pack!  What are you doing?  You're wasting time!"  Surprisingly, Nick stays calm and keeps his eye rolling at a minimum (which is really in his best interest.  Sometimes he even makes us a drink (the best move for both of us.)
• Sadly, this move has not prompted Nick to purge any of this stuff as I had hoped.  Nick is a certified hoarder.  He has so much shit he doesn't need (ie.  pogs...a massive amount of pogs and slammers.  And, a UNICYCLE!  Really?!  C'mon!  We aren't circus performers).  But would he part with any of it?  NOPE!  Now, there are times during this packing process where he's said "Let's sell this."  Yeah, good call jackass.  Let me go ahead and list it on Craigslist considering we have two days left here.  Or he'll say "Let's go through this box of papers." (Yes, he has boxes upon boxes of nothing but papers.)  Um, we don't have time for that!!!!  And the same with clothes.  He has an insane amount of clothes he could easily donate if he had the time to go through them (not kidding you, four 44 gallon tubs of Banana Republic slacks, hundreds of Express button down shirts, etc.  It's sickening.)  But because we have limited time, all this shit has to go with us.  The good news is Nick is crazy motivated to have a nice and organized garage in our new home which means he's willing to finally go through and purge this stuff.  Unfortunately, it can't happen before the move.  Why couldn't he have decided this in the past two years we were here?!  

• Our dogs are so confused as to what is going on.  Dogs thrive off a routine and normalcy, and life has been anything but.  I was gone for 2.5 weeks.  They drove 12 hours to STL and stayed for a long weekend.  They drove 12 hours back to Florida and I was gone from them for another week.  I returned but that same day so did a lot of family and friends (for Nick's winging).  They left and the house began being tore down.  Friends and their dogs came for a weekend.  They left, and we followed, to Jacksonville where they stayed in a new home, with new dogs.  We returned and the house became even more of a disaster as everything they know is being packed up.
  Sadly, this chaos won't be stopping anytime soon.  We pack them up and move them to Jax where they'll live in another new house (a friend's house) for a week.  Then we go stay with my sister for two weeks.  Then we return to Jax to stay in that new house again for another 2-ish weeks.  Then we finally (hopefully) move into their new home and their belongings, the things they're familiar with, return.  I cannot wait for this.  The girls anxiety is driving me nuts.  The constant (more than usual) need for attention and their utter confusion makes packing so much more difficult!  I just wish I could explain to them what is going on!!!

So that's our life update.  Nothing exciting and almost all of it revolves around this packing and moving ordeal.  Hopefully next week I can work on Nick's winging post (once I get all the photos together)

Easter 2013

Sadly, we were not able to be in St. Louis for Easter with our family.  But that didn't mean we didn't celebrate on our own  =)

If you don't know me, then I need to tell you that I'm truly a big kid at heart.  I love holidays and partaking in all the traditional festivities.  So of course that means that the Easter Bunny visits our house leaving baskets of sugary goodness and hiding eggs.
In our house, there are two Easter Bunnies...Nick and I.  Nick of course plays Easter Bunny for me, and I for him.  We each secretly fill each other's baskets to wake up to on Easter morning.  But Nick didn't get all his wonderful candy in his basket.  Some of it was tucked inside plastic eggs that he had to find around the house.  Yep, that's right, I sent Nick on an Easter egg hunt throughout the house.  It was too cute watching him walk around, carrying his basket, finding his eggs.

Happy Easter!!!  Just after waking up!

The baskets left by the Easter Bunny.  I'm sure you can guess which one is mine.  

Obviously my favorite items in my basket.

I was pretty sad to not be indulging in our huge Easter brunch full of wonderful breakfast foods, a giant ham, and of course, mimosas.  Nick doesn't eat breakfast foods (yeah, I know, I married a dud) otherwise I would have cooked a delicious breakfast spread for ourselves but I cannot eat that much food.  So we settled for cinnamon rolls...one thing Nick will eat.

After the Easter fun and breakfast, we lounged around a bit, snacking on candy.  I didn't want to sit around all day and do nothing because I would just be sad, thinking about how much I'd like to be in St. Louis and how I'm always so busy on Easter.  Last year, I Skyped with my family during Easter and that helped a bit, but this year, Easter was being celebrated at my Grandparents, which means no internet (and FaceTiming isn't an option because we are all on the old unlimited data plan with ATT which means no FaceTiming over 4G even though we have the newer phones.)  So instead, we opted to take advantage of the amazing life here in Florida and headed to the gorgeous beaches with Yadi, Vino, and great friends (human and dog.)  The day really couldn't have been any better.

Their typical car riding position...even though there's plenty of room on the seat for Vino.  Yadi doesn't mind at all!

This is the reason Vino is tied up.  Her hunter instincts just take over and when she spots a bird, she's GONE!  No amount of training, commands, or even highest setting of e-collars will stop her.  She was born to hunt.  She will chase them over a mile before realizing she can't get it and come back.  We tie her up to save ourselves the heart attack.

Our standoff

After arriving home, I got a call from my mother telling me to check Facebook.  Apparently my sister, (stationed in Alabama and not able to go home either), and I actually DID make it to my family's Easter this year....courtesy of my brother ;)

My family =)  ....thanks Teeny and Liss for stepping in as us lol.  This made my day!

If I can't be with my family back home, this was the next best way to spend it....Easter baskets, egg hunt, and beach time with great friends.  I hope you all had an amazing Easter!!!

{If you'd like to see all the pictures today, you can look through my April photo album found HERE}

Valentine's Day Celebration

February 14th isn't the best day for me; it comes with too many memories and it's a difficult day.  I like to be busy and distracted.  Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse for it.  Unfortunately, Nick had to work all day.  When he came home, he needed to study all night for an exam he had Friday morning.  But we still did a little something.

Wednesday night, I cooked him his favorite cake (angel food cake) and added those little sugar letters to them.  Anytime we're grocery shopping and we're in the baking aisle, he wants to buy those just to eat.  So today was the perfect time to get them for him.

(Nick dug into it right away lol)

I also got him a card from each of the dogs (normally he gets just one but I found two that were absolutely perfect for each of their personalities) and obviously one from me.  I also wrote in his notebook.  (This is a notebook I write in a little, okay... a page or two (or three)... love letters each month on the 11th (our wedding anniversary day) or just random days).  We agreed NO gifts because we're poor so I just got him a simple little box filled with Reese's hearts (he's obsessed with the seasonal, and only the seasonal shaped Reese's.  Apparently the eggs, trees, hearts, pumpkins, etc have a better peanut butter to chocolate ratio????)


When I woke up on the morning of the 14th, I walked out of the bedroom to see these gorgeous flowers sitting on the table.  It was nice to have a little surprise from Nick even though I wouldn't see him until that evening.

The day wasn't all the bad.  I managed to keep myself really busy.  Part of that was torturing my dogs and taking my usual "holiday photos" with them.  Except, this year didn't include headbands or props ;)  (Nick was NOT amused with my doggie fun for the day)

Nick got home around 5pm and immediately began studying.  While is sucked to not actually spend "quality" time with him, he was at least next to me on the couch, which is better than not being home!

Around 8:30pm he decided to take a break and asked if I wanted to go out to eat.  Of course my answer was yes so we headed to Applebee's to use the Valentine's Day gift card from my parents (they know us too well).

Once we got home, it was back to studying for Nick and we headed to bed around midnight.  Not an exciting day, but it was much better than I expected AND I at least got to have dinner out with Nick.


On Friday the 15th, Nick again worked most of the day but got home around 4pm (which was still later than expected).  He had asked if we could celebrate Valentine's Day this day.  While it doesn't erase my memories of the 14th and I've become anti-Valentine's Day, I'm slowly getting back into the celebration of the day.  Not to mention, Nick likes to celebrate so I agreed.
When he got home, we immediately hopped in the car and headed down to NAS Pensacola.  A friend had told me about a spot where you can see dolphins in the evening.  (Little did I know this was the place we were told about when we moved here over a year ago, but had no idea we could see dolphins if we stayed later in the evening!)

The dolphins did not disappoint.  As soon as we arrived (later than we wanted, thanks a lot Navy, for keeping Nick later than you were supposed to which majorly cut into our sunset time!) they were there in the channel, just swimming and playing.  We spotted about 6 of them.  It was amazing!

We spent the evening on the beach, just laughing and having an amazing time.  Sunsets on the beach are my absolute favorite thing in the world so this made my day!!!!  We don't get to experience this often with Nick's schedule so it was awesome!

It's the cutest when he just hugs me so tight, over and over again!  He's like a little kid that
can't get enough of me.

Kissing me so hard he's squishing my eye

Afterwards, we went home where Nick had planned to make dinner for me.  Nick making dinner for me isn't anything crazy special because he's an amazing husband and we share the cooking responsibilities and a lot of the time we cook together!  But this dinner was special because he made my favorite dishes that I don't get too often because he's not a fan of them.  So that truly meant a lot that he not only made them, but actually ATE them!!!!
When dinner was ready, he lit some candles on the kitchen table, turned out all the lights in the house, and poured some wine.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great conversation by candle light.

Afterwards, Nick told me to sit on the couch and he lit more candles around the living room.

He came over with our wine and our cards to each other.

We opened them, he read his love letter, and then he told me the plans for the rest of the evening were to just sit on the couch, cuddling by candle light and just talk (and enjoy chocolate covered heart shaped pretzels).  All often, especially in this world, we have so many distractions.  Phones, laptops, television, etc.  It was nice to just sit there, us two, and talk by candle light.

How perfect is this?!  Well, if you know Yadi, then you know it couldn't be more perfect!
That dog will eat anything and everything (rocks, sidewalks, bugs, leaves, etc.)  Not to mention,
it's  a Weim on the front of the card.  But it didn't describe perfect Vino because she does eat or rip apart anything she's not supposed to (and never has).  So I had to find one from her.
{Excuse my scratched out typo.  I wrote this card at 3am.}

And luckily I found the perfect one.  Again, if you know Vino, you know she does NOT stop wagging her tail.
In fact, she more so wags her entire back end because she's so happy!  And when it comes to Nick, it's in over-drive.
She is so obsessed and in love with him!  So this was obviously perfect.

We talked about important (but exciting) topics such as nursing school, Nick's naval career, buying a home, and starting our family.  We laughed and joked around about our past, the present, and anything else you can think of.  These are the moments I cherish.  When we decided to go to bed, we realized we'd been sitting for hours and time just flew by.  I guess that's what happens when you marry your best friend ;)


The evening was simple but perfect.  It combined my absolute favorite things of the beach, sunsets, wine, and great conversation all with the love of my life.  We agreed no gifts and that's probably a good thing.  No gift could have made me happier than this evening together.  I'm a simple girl and just quality time together, especially in a crazy life, means the world to me.  I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day celebration with a significant other, family, or friends.


{It shouldn't come as a shock to you that these are nowhere near all of the photos from Valentine's Day.  If you'd like to view them more, please visit my SmugMug page HERE.}