Happy Thanksgiving!

There is so much to be thankful for. We are healthy, happy, together, a roof over our heads, and food in our bellies. We have a happy, healthy puppy (who is finally loosing his teeth [all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!!!])Nate had a nice long weekend which was so nice! We were able to have some nice quality time together.

On Monday, Nate and I started going Gluten Free. We absolutely LOVE it! Nate's headaches have gone away (and his need for caffeine and calmed), I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day (as does Nate). Nate is down 8lbs and I am down 4.5lbs so far. The bread is the first bread I have ever made (ever!) it is Gluten Free and I am quite pleased with not only how beautiful it is but how delicious it was. I primarily made it because I insisted on having stuffing for Thanksgiving and did not want to cave and eat regular stuffing. Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner--we had a lovely Thanksgiving lunch at someone's house. It was very nice, but I have to say that I was bummed (and homesick) that we only had ham (which I am not a fan of, but ate with a smile). Therefore, I said I was going to make a post Thanksgiving feast. On Friday, we had some friends over and I cooked a Gluten Free Thanksgiving meal. This included: a turkey (my very first one!), homemade bread turned into stuffing (first time making!), sweet potato casserole (first time making!), gravy (first time), mashed potatoes (not my first), and a pumpkin cheesecake (first cheesecake!). I was so happy with the results!!!!!!

We've been taking Thor to a dog park about 10 miles away. It is huge! It's separated into two different areas--one for smaller dogs and one for bigger. They have obstacles in there and it is generally pretty busy. We usually start him out in the small dog pen (if there are a few bigger dogs in the other pen) so they can sniff each other out between the fence. Well on Wednesday we took Thor there for about two hours.. they have people bring in dogs from the shelter to run around (which is awesome). But I am talking like 10 big dogs to two people.. well the people were not watching every move of every dog (which is so dangerous with that many dogs). And one dog almost saw its last day as far as Nate was concerned. She was picking on Thor and being very mean--trying to bite the back of his neck and his back legs. Was not playing at all. We finally got Thor out of there when his buddy, Shelby (who is a big ten month old lab mix who I walk every day) showed up and the mean dog finally left. So we decided to stay so Thor could play with his friend. Well Shelby is fast, and I mean fast as well as full grown. There was another dog who was helping the mut pick on Thor who remained and every time that dog approached Thor, Shelby ran (even from across the park) and immediately put herself between Thor and the other dog. It was so nice to see..especially since Thor is incredible submissive. We went back today and agreed we'd only stay if there were less than 10 dogs there. And ironically right when we got there, the mean mut was leaving. Thor got to interact with other puppies and his big friend, Wally. After a bath, Thor is now sleeping most of the afternoon away. We also bought a crate and have been working on crate training him. He knows "kennel" but we don't leave him in there yet. Progress.

I would just like to say how much these two pictures made my day. Emily and Michaela got together this weekend, and made sure I wasn't left out. It definitely had me smiling ear to ear. I miss you ladies and words cannot express how happy and special you guys made me feel. Thank you. Well we finally get the Packer game (seriously, finally..haven't been able to watch one all month!). So I am going to go do that. GO PACK GO!