It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

As tradition goes for Jason and I, we set out to find our beautiful Christmas tree at one of our favorite Christmas tree farms...Farmer Browns.  We love this place because it is off the beaten path about 30 minutes from our house, they have speakers in the tree forest with Christmas music playing, and they have yummy kettlecorn and warm apple cider.  This year we went on a Friday because it was Jason's day off and low and behold we were just about the only ones there.  As we got out of the car, I found a tree within about 10 steps.  I thought this was going to be the "wedding dress theory".  The first one we see is going to be the one we go back to.  Jason wouldn't let the first tree be "the one" so we kept on truckin' to find the perfect tree...not too tall, not too fat, just right! 

We realized we needed to devise a good marking system as every good tree we found we never seemed to be able to find again.  So we quickly started building log statues in front of the best trees.  After about 45 minutes we found the one!  My most favorite part was the drive home with the tree tied to the top of our Higlander.  Jason was too cheap to pay to have the tree bailed, so here we are driving 40 mph down the freeway with me on tree watch out the sunroof and it blowing all over the place.  Eventually we just pulled over and tied it down a little more aggressively.  After taking every back road possible, we made it home...tree and all!

Now setting up a tree in our crazy house is a whole other story.  We had to secretly bring the tree in and distract the puppy from seeing a moving tree.  Luckily that worked and he didn't really think anything of it...until he and Rascal began to chase each other around the tree...oh boy!  And once Coda discovered the tree had water below it, we were done for!  All in all by midnight Jason and I had the tree decorated and looking beautiful!

Coda's Family Reunion

Last Sunday was an exciting day for Coda.  He had a play date at Sandi's house (the Shiba master!) for some puppy socialization.  We weren't sure what to expect and frankly I was a little nervous that I would not recognize my puppy amongst a group of 7 other Shiba puppies.  No worries, I brought home the right puppy!!

Coda emerged from the car (after the long ferry ride) and was so nervous he was shaking.  After a few minutes of catching up with Sandi, we put him down in the backyard with 2 other Shiba puppies.  He continued to be nervous and stood near the fence (on the other side of which were Leia and I).

On one hand, we felt relieved.  "Thank goodness" I thought..."He really does love me and think I am important"!  On a typical day at home you wouldn't think the dog knew we existed unless it was play time or feeding time.  On the other hand, we wanted to make sure he socialized with his siblings and cousins.

It didnt take long though for Coda to join the "Shiba pack" and before long he was running around chasing his cousins.  After about an hour of talking and watching Coda play (and freezing ourselves to death in the 20 degree weather) we decided it was best for us to leave him alone for a while.  We went to explore the near by cities on Whidbey Island. We felt just like true parents leaving our baby at daycare for the first time.  Don't worry...we didn't cry!

It was strange and felt like a date.  We drive around the town, had lunch at a quaint little Greek spot and got caught up on each other's lives again.  We didn't know what we were missing until we actually got to experience life with just the two of us again.  It was nice, but of course, we still talked about Coda most of the time.

When we went to pick him up we were thrilled that he remembered us!  He ran right to us with a "smile" to say "hello...I missed you!"  We learned a few tricks from Sandi about how to decrease his chewing and mouthing and we also learned some good socialization tips. 

The best part about this little family reunion...Coda slept the entire rest of the day!!!  SUCCESS!!!  Now if only I could stop thinking about getting another little puppy.  Don't I remember how much work one is? 

Meet the Lumsdens!

Meet the Lumsdens of the Northwest...Jason, Leia, Rascal and Coda! 

How did we come to be in the Northwest?  Jason decided he wanted to work for The Boeing Company, and it would either be Seattle or Los Angeles if we wanted to stay on the west coast.  Seattle it was (that was an easy decision).  We uprooted everything and moved to the great Northwest.  That was 4 years ago, and we've been loving every minute since (except for those consecutive cloudy rainy days that is).

Jason is the one that keeps this crazy house sane; he's a good one to have around.  He loves the outdoors, so the Northwest has been fantastic for him.  Leia's indoor passions, like shopping, were very well supported in the northwest initially, but now I'm so glad we moved because we have become much more adventurous people together and have, in turn, learned a lot about each other!

Rascal is a 3 year old bundle of fun.  He was rescued from a local shelter called PAWS.  He is sure glad that he is home with us.  He did not like the shelter and really did not like being around those other kitties!  He sure found a special place in our hearts.  Rascal's favorite things to do are lay around and sleep, eat and occassionally chase his toys.  What can we say, he's a typical indoor kitty, but we love him!

Coda is a 3 month old Shiba Inu.  We got him from a wonderful breeder on Whidbey Island.  We thought we knew what we were up for when we decided to get a puppy, but in all actuality we had NO IDEA!  He's a handful, but we love every minute of it!  Coda's favorite things to do are sleep, eat, and wrestle with Rascal.  He sure is a cuddler though and those times are the ABSOLUTE BEST!

Our family has slowly grown from just the two of us, to include a cat, and now a puppy.  It's crazy around here, but life has never been better than this!