And Just Like That...

It's November!  How has it been nearly three months since I started school?  How has it been close to five months since my best little man and I met?  Regardless of how I measure the time I have been here this fall (in midterms, lab reports, agility trials, inches Jade has grown, etc.), the time is flying by.  In two weeks and a few days, I will be ready to pack up to go to Tulsa for Thanksgiving with my family.  Thanksgiving is at my house this year, and that makes me really happy.  My mom always outdoes herself when we host the holiday.  And what's even better is that I always have several delicious vegetarian options to eat.  I am two weeks of class, two lab reports, one prelab, nine days of class, five days of agility class, one agility seminar, two weekends, and four finals away from completing my fall quarter.

I barely had time to catch my breath this weekend.  It all started Friday afternoon as I was finishing up two o chem lab reports while running to the grocery store for veggies and roasting them all afternoon.  My lab reports were due at 4:30 pm on Friday, and I had a "Thanksgiving" dinner with friends later that evening, thus the roasting of the vegetables.  Between all of the peeling, chopping, and roasting, I printed my lab reports at 4:27 and ran out the door.  Thankfully, I live a couple of streets from the science buildings on campus.  In a car, that takes about 20 seconds.  I pulled my car into the first parking spot I found on the street and sprinted across a parking lot, into the building, and up the stairs to the chemistry office.  I made it, but immediately had to tend to my next task.  As soon as I walked through the back door, the timer went off for the veggies.  My friends and I had a fabulous time celebrating an early Thanksgiving that night before any of us were stressed for finals.  We had quite a night celebrating Halloween at a friend's birthday party a bit later.

I hardly make time for myself to shut my eyes anymore, so as a typical weekend morning lately, my alarm went off at 6:00 am on Saturday.  I am so used to the early morning dog show routine, so I zombie-walked from room to room getting everything and everyone ready so we could get on the road as soon as possible.  We arrived in Longmont with just enough time to set up before I walked my first course.  Layla NQ'd in standard on Saturday (I pulled her into the wrong end of the tunnel), but she had a fabulous jumpers run!  Sunday was a great day.  We earned our 9th QQ with a blazing fast jumpers run.  On both jumpers runs last weekend, I got in two blind crosses on serpentines.  We had so much fun.  I get so excited taking Layla to the start line now.  We have made such big improvements in the last few months, so that has given both of us the confidence that we desperately needed.  Just this fall, we have earned all nine of our QQ's.  We are 1/3 of the way to our MACH as far as points go, so I'm hoping for a reason to celebrate before next summer!  I am including a video of my favorite run of the weekend- our Sunday jumpers run.

We are taking a break from agility trials for the next three weekends so that I can focus on finals.  My next trial is in Tulsa since I will be home for four weeks starting at Thanksgiving.  I return to Denver after Christmas with Blake.  He comes home a couple of days before Christmas, which is the best gift I could imagine.

Jade helping me with my O Chem lab reports

Layla gets her MX!!

Today, the Golden kids and I drove to Fort Collins for the Longs Peak Dog Training Club trial.  Despite it being 27º when we left, we were quite comfortable inside the equestrian barn.  This says a lot for the quality of the facility because I am uncomfortable in the low 50s!!  The barn was well-heated.  It was a very nice facility.  Layla did very well today.  She finished her MX in the morning and Q'd in JWW for her 8th QQ in the afternoon!  I really like the judges this weekend.  Lisa Selthofer congratulated me outside of the ring after our class for my standard run.  Dan Selthofer made a really nice flowing jumpers course.  I am glad to hear that these judges are the same judges who will judge a show that I am entering New Years weekend.  I can't wait to get back to Fort Collins and run again tomorrow.  Because I have such a busy schedule with several difficult classes, I do not stay out of town for dog shows during the academic year.  I am lucky that Colorado has enough trials within an hour or so from my house so that traveling is not an issue.  I have been spoiled with close trials.  The 1.5 hour drive to Fort Collins today was the farthest I have driven for a trial since classes started this fall!

I measured Jade at the trial today because I wanted to see if he had passed up Layla in height.  I confirmed that Layla is now the smallest dog in the house!  Jade is about half an inch taller than Layla.  He measured 21.75" today!!  Last week, Jade weighed 47.5 pounds!  I am so excited about my big red boy!  Looks like I am going to get my 24" jumper that I wanted!  Jade has been just soaking everything in that I am teaching him.  It took him 2 ten minute sessions to learn how to pivot to the left (and keep his bottom close to me when I turn into him) and walk backwards in heel position.  We started baby sequences of jumps (bars on the floor) in class this past week.  Jade is sending extremely well.  I am very proud because Layla never had the foundation to work as independently has Jade will be able to.  Jade gets soo excited to work for me.  I was practicing with him Thursday night before Layla's class.  I told him "left, jump" and Jade WHIPPED his whole body to the left as hard as he could and took the jump.  I was laughing so hard because he is so dramatic in every aspect of his life- training included!!  This boy makes me smile so much.  Is it a problem that I feel the need to shower him with kisses every time I come home and see him?  I am having an unbelievable amount of fun with him.  In addition to agility, we are also taking field privates about every other week in Fort Collins with Sandy Whicker.  Jade thinks field training is the best thing ever.  It is so exciting for me to watch him light up when we take him into the field for marks.  Our future together is so exciting.  I am treasuring every little moment right now.  I am so blessed to have such a handsome, confident, and brilliant young man.  As far as I'm concerned, I am living the dream.  I really do have the best dogs in the world.

The quarter is actually coming to an end rather quickly, which I am quite happy about.  This quarter has been difficult, but thank goodness I have my Goldens here to keep me sane.  I miss Blake like crazy.  We do talk regularly on Skype, but it is just not the same.  We are so fortunate that our relationship is so well-developed that we are not having to build it over the internet.   Blake is, without a doubt, my very best friend.  We know each other like the backs of our hands after almost three years of dating.  I can finish his sentences, and he always starts laughing when I begin to say something funny because he knows how I will end my story.  Blake is one of the silliest people that I know.  I cannot think of very many conversations that I have with him where I do not end up laughing.  That has been so good for me because I have learned how to laugh at myself and how to take life less seriously.  I have always been an extremely sensitive person, so being able to laugh at myself has not come so easily.  Blake reminds me that in certain situations in life, all you can do is laugh and move on.   Excluding my parents, I cannot name someone more supportive of me than him. I am so ready for Blake to be back in the States and home.  I am counting down the days.  8 weeks from today, I will pick him up from the airport.  That day cannot get here faster. A part of me is missing when he isn't here.  Luckily, my little man channels Blake extremely well- he is handsome, as sweet as can be, brilliant, and beyond silly!  However, he sometimes sees wrestling with Miles more important than cuddling with me, he cannot cook dinner with me, and he is lacking in the English language skills department ;)

Brighton, my Baby Dog, and Bad Dogs

This past weekend was action-packed.  We had a trial in Brighton Saturday and Sunday.  This facility wasn't nearly as nice as the others I have been to so far in Colorado, but I have been very spoiled so far!  It was really dusty and the surface wasn't fantastic.  Saturday we got no love in either ring.  Layla started off the day popping pole 10, not once, but twice.  I do not know where that came from because she never does that!  The rest of the run was fabulous.  Lay let me get in a blind and FOUR front crosses in a row.  In standard, she had a really nice run except she got called on her aframe.  I wasn't watching her as well as I should have been.  Sunday morning, she NQ'd again in Jumpers.  Lay dropped 2 bars and I was shocked.  This dog rarely drops bars.  She has probably dropped a single digit number of bars during her entire agility trial career.  I watched the video a couple of times and found that the first bar was my fault.  I gave Layla a really late cue for a push, so she dropped her feet while looking at me to tell her where to go next.  The second one was her.  We were racing to the tunnel and she flattened out on the jump before the tunnel- way too soon.  We Q'd in standard.  Whew!  We both needed that.  This was Layla's 9th MX leg, so one more to go.  Maybe we can finish her MX in Fort Collins.

Regardless of our not-so-great as far as Q's go weekend, I am very proud of Layla.  She is so much more confident on the courses- so much so that I did lead outs with her on every course.  This was the first time I have done so in about a year.  She has shown me the past couple of weeks that she is ready for lead outs in practice, so I was ready to give it a shot in a trial.  I got excellent results!  I also found out recently that Layla's qualified for AKC agility nationals just since the end of August as far as QQ's go!  She is up to 7 right now.  We are short on points, but we are really going to try to qualify for 2014 Nationals.  That is my dream: to compete at a National competition with Layla, and I think she deserves to do so if she qualifies.

I am so excited about my baby dog.  Words cannot express how much I love my Jademan.  He is always making me laugh.  He really makes my day every day.  Jade is so funny, but he is also very lucky that he has a mom with a good sense of humor.  He amazes me how far he has come in the short time I have known him.  I am really getting a feel for him, and I continue to learn more and more about him the more that I work with him.  He is a fantastic learner.  Unlike Layla who has to be shown a new skill, Jade offers all sorts of behaviors until I mark the one I want and reward him.  He is obsessed with working.  I have to remember he is a baby dog and that he needs constant breaks.  He would go, go go all day long if I let him.  Jade is making progress by leaps and bounds in his foundations agility class.  We have a great lead out, he does rears by direction on the flat, front cross and post turns on jumps with out bars.  He knows hand signals, has beautiful recalls, and has such a nice natural retrieve.  We are now taking field lessons with Sandy Whicker.  She is really impressed with him.  I am equally impressed with him.  I feel so lucky to have such a phenomenal boy.  I think we are going to do great things together and I am so excited about our future.

Now that I have bragged about my two precious Golden kids, let me fill you all in on our little excitement for the afternoon.  Today was an absolutely gorgeous fall day.  Temps were in the mid 70s, the trees are on fire with brilliant colors, and there was not a cloud in the sky.  I love this weather.  All I want to do when it is gorgeous out like this is to stay outside.  This afternoon, I took the Golden kids on  our daily walk.  We always walk several blocks to a park, walk the loop around the entire park, and then walk home.  I was about the enter the park when we saw a dog sitting in a beat up car on the street next to the park.  I didn't see the owner at first, but then noticed her in the driver's seat.  Her dog was in the passenger's seat with the window rolled completely down.  As we were passing the car, the dog leaps out of the window and runs straight for me and the Goldens growling really aggressively.  I knew things were going to get bad fast.  I was doing everything I could not to get dragged towards this dog because Layla's hair went up on her withers the minute that the dog exited the car window.  I have never seen Layla and Jade be so protective of me.  Layla looked mean.  She was growling and baring her teeth.  She did not want this strange gray dog to touch me.  Layla scared the dog away, and he ran back to his owner's car.  Let me add that the owner watched all of this go on from inside of her car.  She didn't get out to help or call her dog off of us.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  I said to the woman, "You really need to watch your dog.  That could have been very bad."  She replied, "Oh hun, don't worry about it," and then she sped off.  WHAT??  People are idiots.  I am just so thankful I have two awesome Golden kids who are willing to do anything to protect me:)

Pictures next time- I promise!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It seems as though I only wrote one blog post for the entire month of September.  The one blog post does not nearly reflect my September at all.  I will try to catch up because BRRRR it's cold outside and there's nothing much to do but stay bundled up!

I left off after a perfect weekend in Castle Rock.  The next weekend, Layla and I played agility in Golden, CO- outdoors too!!  Running on grass is just my favorite.  The weather was so gorgeous with plentiful sunshine all weekend.  Layla rocked it on Saturday.  She earned her 7th QQ.  Sunday, we NQ'd in standard.  Lay dropped a bar and that really worried me because she NEVER drops bars.  I would safely bet that Layla has dropped single digit number of bars in trials during her entire agility career.  The opening was chute, hard 90º right turn and then I had to front cross to another jump.  The bar came down on that first jump out of the chute.  I couldn't believe it.  I was so bummed that I didn't watch her contacts at all for the rest of the run.  Unsurprisingly, she blew them.  My friend and I watched the video over and over again and we could find nothing wrong with what I was doing.  I though, maybe I was cuing my front cross too soon, but that definitely was not the case.  It seemed to us that Layla just didn't get enough speed off of the start and didn't have enough time to think about picking her feet up once she turned toward me to find the jump.  That's the neat thing about agility- our dogs really do keep us humble.  We ended the day with a nice jumpers run.  To add to the excitement of the weekend, Jade earned his CGC with flying colors!!  I am so proud of my little man.  He was just 6 months and 1 day!

Last weekend, I worked at USDAA Nationals just on Saturday.  I worked the Grand Prix Semi Finals ring, which was really exciting.  Even more exciting was seeing all of the fantastic handlers (some familiar faces) from all around the country and the world!  I learned a lot helping out and I am so motivated to run USDAA with Jade.  I don't know about Layla quite yet.  We are working so hard on this MACH, so maybe after that.

On Wednesday, the University of Denver hosted the first 2012 Presidential Debate. There was definitely a lot of commotion going on just a few blocks away from my house.  Megan, Toby (her boyfriend), and I walked the three dogs through campus, but much was blocked off. We sure saw a lot of crazy people though.  It is very cool that my school could host such an important event.

Friday morning I woke up to SNOW on the ground.  WHAT??  I am not ready for this yet.  It is only the beginning of October and the temperatures have not gotten to 40º in the past two days.  I am bundled up and usually under covers unless I am moving.  I am so not a winter person and I feel like our beautiful fall was just ripped out from under me.  I was wearing shorts on Wednesday.  All three of the dogs, on the other hand, LOVE the snow.  This was Jade's first time to see snow and he was beside himself with excitement.  He refused to come inside when I called him.  I looked out to find him tearing across the backyard doing all sorts of crazy spins and circles.  He makes me laugh!

Tomorrow Jade and I are off to Fort Collins for a field lesson before my next crazy week begins!

Catching Up

Wow.  It has been far too long since I posted.  It seems as if the excitement of the past several weeks has gotten the best of me.  I will try to fill in as much as I can.

The end of August came too soon.  I knew as those last few days approached that I only had a limited number of days to spend with Blake before he left to study abroad in Germany.  I was very upset as we crammed all that we could into my Mini for our drive from Denver to Tulsa at the end of August.  We planned to drive home to Tulsa so that Blake could spend a few days at home before he flew out of the country, and so that I would have a much shorter drive to the Golden National (in Gray Summit, MO) by myself.  Blake went to Freiburg   for Environmental Science studies.  He left at the very beginning of September and he will not return to the States until December 22.  This will be the longest we have ever been apart since we started dating over 2 1/2 years ago.  It was the most difficult goodbye I have ever had to say to Blake, and even though I know the time apart will fly by and we will be so happy when he comes home, I'm still having a difficult time.  Luckily, I have a fabulous roommate to help me out, but I will get to that.

After a teary-eyed goodbye to Blake, I left with the Goldens for the Golden National at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO.  What an experience!!  This was my second National and just like the first, I had so much fun- this time even more than the first!  I crated with the Gaylan's group.  What a fantastic, kind, and hilarious bunch they are!  I got to meet so many who I had only been in contact with online.  The event center was freezing in contrast to the tropical storm outdoors from Hurricane Isaac, but at least the dogs were happy!  Layla had a wonderful weekend of agility!!  She picked up 3 QQ's, 3 MX legs, and had 2 completely clean days (we ran T2B in addition to standard and JWW each day).  I was so proud that she had a perfect clean day on the day of the National.  Watching all of my other friends compete was wonderful as well.  Everyone was so supportive of each other.  On the Tuesday night of the National week, I presented Layla in the Parade of Titleholders for her accomplishments in agility.  She got a beautiful personalized rosette, which she proudly carried on stage!  Jade had a blast playing with his littermate sister Kindle.  We could not get the two of them to quit!  They were a hoot!!  Thursday evening, I attended a field seminar with Jade.  I walked up to where chairs were set up and a couple of vans were parked.  I noticed a chair with "Happydaugh" embroidered on the back of it.  I knew at once that this was Jade's sire's kennel.  The next thing I saw was a gorgeous red Golden laying next to the van.  I asked a man who looked like he may be in charge, "What is the call name of that dog?"  He said he didn't know but he would ask Ann.  Ann told me, "This is Striker."  I replied, "This is Striker's son!" pointing to Jade.  She could not believe that her boy's son was attending the seminar!  We got a picture of the two of them.  It is quite obvious that Jade is his dad's son.  They had the same expression when we got their ears up for the picture.  Jade had tons of fun retrieving a duck at the seminar.  I was told by the instructors that I have a very talented boy on my hands.  I am so proud of my boy and cannot wait to continue work in the field with him.  What an unforgettable National experience!!

I returned to Denver the Saturday night before classes started.  I was greeted by my roommate Megan and her sister who was visiting.  Megan is a wonderful roommate.  We get along so perfectly and I am having lots of fun getting to know her.  I am so lucky things worked out so well.  To make matters even better, Megan brought her Border Collie mix, Miles to live with us.  Both Goldens love Miles, but Jade will not stop playing and wrestling with Miles.  Layla is very happy because this gives her a much-needed break!

I celebrated the end of my first week of classes with an agility trial this weekend.  Our trial was in Castle Rock- such a beautiful town- and the weather was sunny and perfect- so typical for Denver fall days.  I cannot believe how well Layla is running for me.  Layla had a completely perfect weekend.  We earned 2 QQ's and 2 more T2B Q's!!! This brings our total QQ's up to 6 and we have only just started back competing in both B classes for 3 weekends.  I think the biggest change I have made is channeling all of my adrenaline in the right direction instead of letting it get to me and make me a nervous wreck before every run.  Now, I feel so comfortable running Layla.  Nothing tops that feeling. I have another trial this coming weekend in Golden and I am looking forward to it!

Wow, What a Weekend and Memories of Miss Aubrie

Finally, I am taking the time to sit down and write a new post.  This is long overdue.  I have had a busy couple of weeks and just got finished with an agility trial in Denver this weekend.  I planned to post earlier this week, but I could not sit down and write.  I was at a loss for words with the first anniversary of the loss of my first beloved Golden, Aubrie.  

We lost Aubrie last summer to the dreadful cardiac hemangiosarcoma.  Aubrie showed no symptoms until 48 hours before we made the painful decision to let her go.  My parents were on a vacation in Vegas for the weekend.  On Saturday, August 20, 2011, Aubrie stopped eating.  Refusing to eat her breakfast did not greatly concern me as Aubrie had always been a finicky eater, but Aubrie was turning her nose up at everything, even the yummiest treats I had to offer her.  Sunday, she was getting worse before my eyes.  I started to panic because my veterinary clinic is not open on Sundays.  Aubrie would lay down and pant heavily.  She was still refusing to eat and only wanted large amounts of water, which she proceeded to regurgitate.  Layla would not leave Aubrie alone.  I watched Aubrie from our living room couch.  Layla would approach me whining.  She was persistent.  It was very obvious to me that Layla knew something was very wrong with Aubrie.  Since I worked at my veterinary clinic last summer (and the summer before last), I took Aubrie to work with me the next day, a Monday.  I did not expect the diagnosis that the vets gave.  We drew blood on Aubrie.  It was very dark because she was so dehydrated.  We took radiographs of her chest.  I helped every step of the way.  The tech took one look at the radiographs before a vet did and said, "Oh Em, this doesn't look good."  I took a look for myself.  It wasn't good news at all.  Aubrie's heart was extremely enlarged.  It was taking up almost her entire chest cavity.  Dr. Caruso ran an EKG on Aubrie and found an irregular heart rate.  An ultrasound showed a mass in her heart.  Her pericardium was filling with fluid making it difficult to breathe and pump blood the her body.  We administered injectable lasix to make Aubrie more comfortable by drawing fluid off of her chest.  Dr. Smith told me that hemangio was a terrible cancer that is very common in the Golden Retriever breed.  He said he could refer me to a cardiologist who could draw the fluid off of her heart, but this would not fix the problem.  Dr. Smith said it would only buy time, but he could not tell if it would be days or weeks.  I did not want Aubrie to go into heart failure, and we did not want to bring her home if she would suffer and remain sick, so I made the decision to let her go.

To this day, that remains the most difficult decision I have made.  I tried to remain strong in front of everyone at the clinic, including my mother, but I was in so much pain- I still am.  I still feel guilty at times for that decision, but I have to remind myself that I did the very best thing I could for my girl.  I did not want her to suffer and I knew Aubrie would not be happy if she came home but could not chase squirrels, play with her sister, or have an appetite.  Aubrie's loss was very difficult on everyone in my family, including Layla.  Layla had lived with Aubrie every day of her life from the time that I brought her home at 7.5 weeks old.  Layla and Aubrie were pals.  Layla looked up to her big sister and was her constant shadow.  Without Aubrie, Layla was lost.  She lost all desire to play.  She would just lay around unless someone made a huge effort to get her up.  Layla did not find nearly as much joy in training either.  All of this changed when I purchased a little brother for my girl.  Now, Layla runs and plays again.  Jade and Layla love each other so much.  It makes my heart sing to see my kids so happy to have each other.  

This year, August 22 was bittersweet.  It not only marked the one year anniversary of losing Aubrie, but on this day, Jade turned 5 months old.  I cannot imagine life without my little man already.  He is so sweet, such a cuddler, and so very wise.  I look deep into his eyes and see a Golden much older than he is.  I know Jade came at just the right time for Layla and me.  I am so lucky every day I have with this awesome boy.  I cannot wait to fill the years to come with many more memories of Layla and Jade.

Layla just keeps running better and better for me in agility.  We had a nice weekend at the Rocky Mountain All-Terrier show here in Denver.  I am getting spoiled with agility trials in Denver.  There are so many options for trials every month less than an hour from my house.  On Friday, Layla NQ'd standard.  She bailed the aframe and the dogwalk (a problem we have been having for years).  She q'd in JWW with 5 points.  Saturday, Layla finished her MXJ with 6 points for her JWW run.  She bailed the aframe again in standard, but hit the contact on the dogwalk.  Today, Sunday, we got our very first QQ!!!  Layla also got her second MX leg.  We got 14 points in standard and 7 points in jumpers.  Jumpers was an especially tricky course.  Very few dogs ran clean.  It was one of those course where the careful dogs beat out the lightning quick Border Collies.  I saw so many handler pushing their dogs into an off course after a front or rear cross on a  line of jumps before looping around that I decided that I needed a different plan.  For the first time in a trial, Layla and I did a blind cross, and it worked!!  I got great distance on a front cross two jumps after my blind, and Layla gave me great weaves!  I just love this girl!  She got a raw marrow bone and duck necks to celebrate our accomplishments this weekend! 

Tomorrow morning, Blake and I are driving back to Tulsa.  Blake needs a few days at home before he flies out to Germany at the end of the week for his study abroad.  Blake returns to the States in December. I am trying not to think (or write) too much about him leaving because it makes me very upset.  Blake is the best boyfriend I could ever ask for.  My Goldens love him like crazy.  I often find Layla asleep with her head on Blake's shoulder or chest.  I know it will break Layla and Jade's heart nearly as much as mine when they find out we are returning to Denver without him.  On Thursday, the kids and I leave from Tulsa to Gray Summit for the Golden National.  We get to play 5 days of agility, do health testing, go to seminars, watch all kinds of other events, shop, and hang out with other Golden friends!!  It's going to be a blast.  I return to Denver from the National just 2 days before classes start.  The Sunday before my classes start, I have plans to meet Gayle Watkins, Jade's breeder.  Gayle and I have talked many times over the phone or over Skype, but have never met.  I cannot wait for her to see how much my handsome many has grown!  I have some exciting days ahead of me!!

 Mr. Watermelon Face

My baby girl and me 

My favorite boys

Camping, Climbing, and More!

Jademan is sitting in my lap as I write this.  Actually, it took me a couple of attempts to start this post.  Jade loves to snuggle up really close even if that means sprawling across the keyboard and making the computer do some funky stuff before I can scoot my boy to my side.  I love my little man so much.  He reminds me to take a step back from whatever I am doing and just enjoy the moment with those who I love.

Since the last post, Blake and I took the kids to go camping up by Chinns lake.  We had a blast and the area was beautiful.  It was probably the prettiest spot I have ever been camping.  We hiked up the mountain and saw waterfalls.  We camped in an area surrounded by forest.  And the Goldens had a blast leaping across the waterfall, sprinting across the shore, and splashing through the lake.  Let me tell you that I am not nearly as graceful and aware of my environment as Layla and Jade.  They made racing across the muddy and rocky shore look like fun.  After ignoring every ounce of intelligence, I decided to follow.  My lovely attempt at a run along the shore did not look as picture perfect.  I slipped on some muddy rocks and busted my knee.  I was having so much fun chasing after my Goldens that I didn't even notice the injury.  When we got back to camp, one of the guys said, "Wow, that looks like a  lot of blood!"  Really?  I was so blissfully happy I forgot to really check myself when I got up.

Yesterday, Blake, his friend Josh (from our high school), me, and the doggies drove up to Grand Lake to stay at our friend Daniel's house.  Daniel's mom has a house in Grand Lake, such a cute little mountain town.  Daniel is working in Winter Park for the summer, so he switches between living at his house in Denver and at his mom's house in Grand Lake.  His property in Grand Lake is gorgeous.  The town is so quite and quaint.  We left early in the morning for a nearly 8 mile walk in the mountains around the lake.  The kids had a blast.  I am so fortunate that we live in Colorado where camping and hiking is a regular part of my week.  Jade discovered wild raspberries and was thrilled to munch on them during the hike- the bushes were everywhere!  The Goldens were beat by the time we started the car to head home.  However, as soon as we pulled into the garage, the kids were ready to wake up and play more.  They amaze me!

I only had a couple of hours before Layla's agility class, so I didn't have much of a chance to rest.  I was rubbing my eyes as Nicole entered the ring when class began.  I told Nicole that Layla would run, and I would try my hardest to keep up.  Layla did a phenomenal job tonight!  She was super fast and very honest.  She let me know my mistakes every time I made one.  Layla has gotten much more confident on the dogwalk.  She raced across it the fastest she has done since we started training at the club here.  Her contacts are so much improved.  Nicole worked with me on blind crosses tonight- something I had never tried with Layla.  After about 2 tries, we had it down really well.  I was throwing in blinds where ever I could on the course just for fun!  Layla is so much fun to run.  I am feeling the best I have ever felt since we started agility.  I cannot wait to see what we do next weekend at our agility trial.

 Beautiful camping last weekend

 My silly girl's smile on our hike today

 Little Man is all legs!

 My boy

A moment of peace on our drive back to Denver