Turn in

Sorry this is so late...We left for vacation the day after turn in and I've been too busy relaxing (lol) since. But we're in Spokane now, and I'm basically just sitting around the hotel room, so I have more time. :)



Well, turn in went as well as can be expected, I guess. It was really sad, but Blitz looked truly content in that kennel. :)



We got there, and went over to Louise to check in and hand in the jacket. Then we all sat down and ate, (man was that meal the quietest I've ever seen puppy raisers eat!) with all the old and mature dogs being perfect under the tables. Then we took littermate pictures. Only 3 of Blitz's siblings were there...A-Memph, Andie, and AJ. (Previously Anakin, but they changed his name.) The rest of his siblings were either flying in from WA, or are still on breeder watch.

Here's the litter picture. Yes, there are three black labs there...Look closely. :)

And I'm happy to say that I know the dog Blitz is rooming with!! Cleo is another Ventura puppy, and she's Camry's sister. Her raiser is a first time raiser, so we were both new to the whole turn in concept. We were glad to hear that they were kennel mates though!

And there he is in his kennel. *tear!* Isn't he gorgeous? I'm actually really proud of his size right now...He has a lot of muscle tone, and I don't know how people still mistake him for a girl. He looks like SUCH a boy!

And going out the doggy door. :'(

Yes, the first two weeks are all physical, and he has now been in there for two weeks! So he's passed the initial tests, but of course that doesn't mean they might not find something physically wrong with him. I'm trying not to be too optimistic, but I'm hoping and praying!! I REALLY think he should be a guide, he'll be perfect!! Good luck Blitz...DO WELL, and IMPRESS the trainers!!

And I HAVE to tell you at least a little bit about vacation, since it has been so incredibly amazing this year. I won't be saying much about Dixie, (I definately will in a later post though! I'll dedicate a post to her. :)) so if you don't want to be bored with non-puppy raising stuff, don't read. But it was an amazing vacation, so you may want to read. :)

I LOVE CANNON BEACH!! Every time I go there I feel so incredibly connected and close to God, and go home completely on fire for Him. I'm going to try to not let that fade though, so pray for me. :) Last year the lessons and leaders were better, (but this year was still fantastic) but SOCIALLY this was probably the best year yet. (and we've gone every year since I was two.) I'm not sure why, but I generally get along better with guys than girls. I make plenty of girlfriends, but most of my friends (especially in that kind of situation) are guys. This year my best friends there were a combination of three people: Ben, Eric and Spencer. Obviously I spent a lot of time with other people, but they were probably who I spent the most time with. I taught Ben and Spencer a game, (Egyptian Rat Slap, for any who have ever heard of it. I also taught Eric, but he says he "hates that game with nine passions," and never wants to play with us. :) I know he's just saying that because he always loses though, lol) and we started one game and didn't finish until 2 hours later. That game usually lasts a maximum of about 10 minutes, but we were all about exactly the same skill level, and kept swapping who was in the lead. Spencer went out like 6 or 7 times, but slapped back in. Ben went out twice, but slapped back in. At one point I ALMOST went out, but then brought myself back and won. (and JUST in time for dinner, too!)

We just had SO much fun. I'm not sure I can exactly explain WHY, but that's the most fun I've had in a LONG time. We were making fun of eachother and teasing each other almost all week, but we were tight. Seriously, if I were to try to explain what made it so amazing, I would probably fill up a novel! All I can say is...I REALLY hope God will allow us to go next year. He's allowed us to go 13 years straight, and so I know he can.

The last breakfast was one of the longest and saddest goodbyes we've ever had at CBCC actually. Everyone stretched their parents to the limit, lol.

If anyone is considering going to Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's a great week to get away and get refocused on God.

Okay okay...I'll stop there or I'll be rambling all night. :)

As for now...I've still got Dixie, (sweetest little girl in the world! Sorry all you raisers with sweet girls. :P) and I've got another puppy lined up for when I get home! YAY. I won't be puppiless too much!

DIXIE'S HERE!!! And I LOVE her. She's a big sweetheart, exactly what her raiser/BC said...Can be spastic when you need her to be, but also can be mellow when you need her to be. She'll be perfect for my vacation. She will need a lot of exercise, (she's got lots of energy) and I'll be able to give it to her. (That is, once we get there. I won't be able to offer her much exercise on the 20 hour drive up there.)

I LOVE having two dogs. I definately want to own two once I am on my own. There is QUITE the size difference between Blitz and Dixie. Blitz isn't necessarily big, he's only a little over 60 pounds, but Dixie is TINY. I've always thought I like the big dogs a lot better, but it's kinda nice to have a petite girl. I guess I like both. :)

This past weekend (saturday) we went to the fair. We were there all day for my sister's "Academic Rodeo." It was for junior highers, and MAN were those questions hard! I probably knew the answers to about 50% of them, and they were answering them like they were easy. It was jeapordy style, with buzzers and everything. There were four kids on each team. Once a team has answered one of the group questions (one that anyone can answer) they have three minutes to answer 20 questions. Our team got through eighteen, but only got about 12 right. After all the schools had done the question part was the spelling bee. This was our first year and we didn't know what to expect, so we didn't study right. We put to much studying in the trivia part, and not enough in the spelling bee. We did okay, but the spelling bee gets you about half your points if you win. Whatever team the winner of the bee is from wins the competition, no matter how well they did with the trivia. We had two kids out in the second round, but the other two (EXCELLENT spellers) got really far. One of them got out after like 7 rounds, the other lasted until there were only four people left. (There were 36 people competing. 9 teams, with 4 kids on each.)

Blitz wasn't too impressed with it, but he found a friend! (Look in the background of this picture...)

His name is Boo (Boom??) and he's an 8 month old labrador retriever from GDB. His raisers daughter was on one of the other teams. (Her daughter was a brilliant speller!! She got into the last five I think. She's in 6th grade.) Anyway, it was fun to talk with them.

Lol, we watched "Valentine's Performing Pigs." They were SO cool! I officially am in love with miniature pigs. Blitz was pretty interested too.

You can see the pig in the background here.

Oh, just one more thing. I got my GPS today!!! Yay, I'm excited. It's a Garmin eTrex, but I need to wait for the PC adaptor to come before I can start geocaching. It's on the way, and should be here before I go on vacation. I've been looking, and there are ALOT on the island I used to live on. I guess because it's so rural it's an ideal place for geocaching. We're visiting, so I should be able to find a few there. I'll also be going down to Cannon Beach, and I've looked there, there are some interesting ones there, including a travel bug who's going south. So, I'll be able to help there. :) Oh, we're also going to Spokane. Haven't checked there yet though. Before I go I'll be checking everywhere. I should set a goal...Hmm, since I'm just a starter, my goal will be...10 geocaches. I'll be doing lots of other things, so I don't want to set it too high. :)

5 days left with Blitz.