Today went to the dogs...

...literally!

Today Aaron and I braved the sweltering St. Louis heat and set up the electric dog fence for Quincy and Sugar! We didn't want to go through the hassle of burying the wire, so Aaron got lawn staples at Home Depot and we just used those. Anyway, we got it all set up and the dogs did really well with it! Sugar broke through once by hopping over it, but we realized her collar wasn't tight enough to get the shock, so hopefully that problem is solved.
After we got that all squared away, it was bath time! Sugar is hilarious in the tub because she looks like a drowned ferret.
Quincy was really funny when I was drying him off! I rubbed him down with a towel, and then when I finished, I just dropped the towel on top of him to see what he would do. Of course he just tossed the towel off of him, but then he started rubbing all over the towel to get more dry! It was sooo cute!! I took some pictures of him doing it...

I also tried to get a video, but he was done by then. I included the video anyway, just so you can Quincy shakin' his thang :)


When that was all done, we trimmed Quincy's nails. (FINALLY! He's drawn blood on me with those long nails almost every day for the past week and a half!) Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite the ordeal! Usually he's really good about me cutting his nails, but he jerked around once at just the wrong time and made me cut into his quick... so of course that hurt him really badly and he was just freaking out the rest of the time. Aaron had to come in and help me. It actually turned out to be a really cute and sweet experience. I held Quincy on his back in my lap and talked to him while Aaron did his back paws. He was really scared and whiny, but he was a brave little guy and we were so proud of him for being so good even after getting his quick cut :) I told Aaron that we were all trained now to have a kid get blood drawn or something!
Oh and I just have to also say... when we were brushing them one at a time they were so cute because they hated being left alone in the dog pen and all they wanted to do was go back in their pen so they could play with each other!! It's ridiculously adorable to watch how much they love each other!

Alright, well enough of that... now you all know about our doggie-parent life! We try to play it down, but let's face it -- Quincy and Sugar are our babies right now and we can't help but talk about them! :)

Pictures, House Warming and Roses

Here are a few pictures of our house! I have more posted on facebook. (www.facebook.com/janaerobinson)

Enjoy!

^ Living Room ^


^ Living Room and Dining Room ^

^ Living Room/Entry ^

^ Dining Room ^

^ Pantry/Laundry Room ^

^ Kitchen ^

^Kitchen^

^Kitchen and Pet Area ^

^ Pet Area ^

^ Work out Room in Basement (not unpacked yet)^

^ Aaron's Trash Can! ^
(The story about this trash can is in my blog from Aaron's Birthday in March)


^ Our "Library"! (not unpacked yet) ^


^ Office (also not unpacked yet) ^


^ Guest Bathroom ^

^ Master Bedroom ^

We had a house warming party last weekend and it was really fun! We had a lot of friends and some neighbors come by to see our new home. It was great to chat with everyone and show off our place! We got some really nice gifts too that were all so useful and perfect for our place!
Funny story about house warming gifts... I was chatting with my friends one day about how we only have three towels, and since Aaron always forgets which one is mine, it's fairly rare that I ever get a clean towel. I was also telling them about how I'm making our master bathroom into a royal purple theme, which Aaron is naturally resisting :). So my friends, Lindsay and Megan, coordinated their gifts based on these two stories... Lindsay and her husband got us purple hand towels and some royal purple decor for the bathroom! And Megan and her husband got us two purple towels WITH OUR NAMES EMBROIDERED ON THEM! I think they're sooo funny!! And really classy looking too! I took pictures :) Oh, and I've had a clean towel ever since!

Also... I got these roses out of our yard a few weeks ago! There's a rose bush on the side of our house, plus we planted three rose bushes in the front yard the day we closed on the house and one bush in the back. I was just so excited to see them bloom and pick them and have them in our kitchen! It was nice to have something pretty in the kitchen since everything else was a mess from unpacking (as you can see!).

Angel Lullaby

I found this song on the internet... my Mom sang this song to me almost every night when I was little, and I sang it to my sister. Just wanted to share it.
(You have to click on it to hear the whole version)

Angel Lullaby - Carol Lynn Pearson - Lex De Azevedo

Congratulations Brittany!

Josh and Lindsay, Will and Megan, Brittany, Janae and Aaron

Our very good friend, Brittany Lucas, finally got her mission papers in a couple of months ago and was called to serve in Las Vegas! Yesterday we were able to be at the temple with her for her endowment. It was a wonderful experience and we're SO PROUD of her!
(The picture is courtesy of Megan's Facebook page) :)

Trip Home to Washington!

Aaron and I at the Seattle Temple for the first time since our wedding!

Sorry for not updating the blog for so long! We've been BUSY! We closed on our house on May 8 and moved in (with the help of lots of awesome friends!) on May 13. The next weekend was Memorial weekend and we went down to Marion, IL (near Carbondale) to spend time with some of my extended family. We really enjoyed spending time with Aunt Kym, Uncle Rick, Courtney and her kids, Amber, and Devin. They have a great place right on Egypt Shores Lake. We got to go out on the boat, barbecue, get ice cream at the marina, and have some great conversation. It was a nice weekend! We really enjoyed the break from all the stress of unpacking!

The weekend after that, we flew out to Yelm, WA (courtesy of Mom's wallet, lol) to be there for my dad's promotion ceremony to full bird Colonel! Another huge event was Kyle's endowment that we were able to be there for! We flew out on Friday and got up early Saturday morning to go to the temple with Kyle. It was a really wonderful experience. I was so proud of my little brother! Kyle and my parents right after the session. This picture cracks us up because I couldn't get a picture of Kyle looking straight at me because he kept looking at Aaron!

Everyone who came to Kyle's endowment session: Aaron, Janae, Grammy, Papa, Kyle, Mom, Dad, Gramma, Grandpa.

Gramma took pictures of me and Aaron in front of the temple (with no scaffolding!!) :)

On Sunday I got to go to my old ward and it was really fun to see everyone. And I got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society!!! I'm in Primary back home, so it was fun to actually be able to go to those meetings. I really love Yelm 2nd Ward.
Monday was the day that my dad had his promotion ceremony. My dad has less than 5 life goals, and one of them was to pin on Colonel, so this ceremony really meant a lot to our family. It was very classy and extremely well done. General Hepburn flew out to officiate the ceremony and he was fantastic. He highlighted everyone in the family, including Aaron, and outlined my dad's military career and personal attributes with perfection. I especially appreciated my dad's involvement with the USS Cole bombing being highlighted the way it was. That was one of the things that brought tears to my eyes. The second was when my older brother, Phil, (an ROTC student) came to the front in uniform to salute my dad.

Phil's first salute to my dad

The family got to be involved in the ceremony by pinning on his new ranks. Mom and Gramma pinned on his new eagles and Macy and I changed the ranks on his shirt. Aaron got a great picture of Mom and Gramma pinning on the new ranks!

Gramma and Mom pinning on the new ranks

The ceremony concluded with an amazing and emotional address from my dad. He's always been an amazing speaker, but he was really exceptional with this speech.

"I am an American Airman."

After the ceremony ended, there was a gathering at the Officer's Club, and all of the Andrus kids presented my dad with a shadow box that we'd put together for him. Phil bought sterling silver ranks and I designed a plaque to be displayed underneath them in the shadow box. It read,

"To the man who set us on the path to our dreams,
Congratulations on reaching one of your own."

Anyway, we really had a good time in Washington. Aaron returned to Illinois on Tuesday morning. I was surprised by how emotional I was about him leaving! I thought I'd be fine because I was staying with my family, but I felt like my family was leaving me! He got home safely and returned to work, taking care of the dogs and unpacking. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the time I had in Washington with my family. It was nice to see my grandparents, even though they also had to leave soon after the ceremony was over.

Grammy, me and Papa

I enjoyed spending time with my siblings, especially Kyle who will be leaving on a mission very soon! It was really great to be able to have that time with him before he leaves. He is so dang awesome. All my siblings are. Me and Macy enjoyed a girl day of shopping and had a matching PJ slumber party :) I also spent a day catching up with my best friend, Caylene. It was really nice to have that time to chat with her!!

Caylene and Janae: Best Friends!

For my last night there, my dad gave up flying so he could be home, and we went to Macy's play, got ice cream at Dairy Queen, and then played Settlers of Catan. It was SO much fun!! Overall, I had a great time in Washington! It's nice to be home with Aaron and my dogs again, but I definitely enjoyed my time at the Andrus house :)

Me and Aaron in my parents' family room

Now it's back to everyday life! We're still unpacking and I'm still job hunting. I actually just had a 2nd interview for one job... so we'll see how that goes! Meanwhile it's fun to see our house come together. We're having a house warming party on the 20th and we're looking forward to that. Aaron goes on a business trip next week, so I have to say good-bye to him again... but he's going to have fun at his conference in San Jose! I'm really proud of him for being one of only two people selected to go! Anyway, that's all for now!