She's Here!

Sweet Ruby finally joined her new family yesterday and we simply could not be more thrilled! She's sweet, soft, and ready to play! This little girl and I are gonna get along just fine!!!

Brett had sprained his ankle Saturday night (more to come on that later) and I was a little nervous to drive the 45 minutes home by myself with the puppy, so I asked one of my beautiful young women to come with me and help out. I'm so glad I had Kylie there to keep Ruby happy and calm the whole way home!

When we pulled onto our street, I had to stop the car in the middle of the road because my children, and several of the neighborhood children, swarmed the car to get a first-glimpse of the new dog - it was like Ruby had her own paparazzi!

Wyatt enjoyed showing her off to his best buddy, Maryn

Ruby was so excited and seemed to take to all of us right away - she was running and playing, licking our fingers and wagging her adorable tail! She's already put two-and-two together that I'm "mom" and so far am her favorite snuggling buddy.

Our cute neighbor, Quinn, was so precious with the dog - I loved watching her face light up and smile whenever Ruby walked over to her

The kids were beside themselves with giddiness! (is that a word?)

Ruby's stats:

Birth Date: Dec. 7, 2010

(Pearl Harbor Day - easy to remember.

Maybe we should have named her Pearl?)

Weight: 1 1/4 lbs.

Height: 7 1/2" (head to foot)

Length: 9 3/4" (head to tail)

An E-Diary of Pear-Shaped Proportions!

http://bottomheavyconfessions.blogspot.com/

(no invitation required...)

we found our new "baby"!

Isn't she adorable??????

She's 5 weeks old and so, so, so sweet!

She had just gotten a bath when we went to visit her,

so I wish we would have taken a picture once she'd dried -

what a puffy, fluffy fur ball!

She was so nervous at first but after about 20 minutes,

she was giving me "kisses" and snuggling right up to us.

It was meant to be. She's ours next week and I cannot wait!

(Is it weird that I ***LOVED*** that I could smell her puppy-breath?)

Now,

onto names...

Brett wants "Queenie" (think of the 80's flick The Burbs with Tom Hanks). As much as I hate making a joke out of our dog, I must admit I hadn't ruled it out (it had potential) but now I really do not think our little girl looks like a "Queenie". To me Queenie is a pampered, prissy show-dog and this little one is so not that. To me she seems sweet, adorable, loyal, and cuddly.

So no Queenie. Sorry, babe.

On the drive home we brainstormed with the kids and everyone in the entire family contributed to the list of possibilities (it may be obvious that some came from a 4-year old. It may also be obvious that some came from a 33-year old man who had a hard time taking the task seriously). Here they are in no particular order:

PEPPER

MISSY (as in Mistletoe, since she was my Christmas gift)

CUTEY

LUCY

LULU

NEENEE

VENA (????)

HONEY

FRENCHIE (because we got In & Out French Fries after meeting her)

NANCY

BETTY

NELLIE

KIT

WIGGLY

DARLA

ZOE

COOKIE

PENNY

GINGER

ROSIE

SILKY

STARRY

SHINGADINGA

SHALALALA

RUBY

DOLLY

BUTTERCUP

RUFFERS

PIPER

and lastly, one name we loved but won't use:

SARA (we thought the story behind thsi was cute, since our puppy comes from SARAtoga Springs, UT - but unfortunately we have the most awesome cousin named Sara and it's just not nice to name your dog the same name as close friends or family)

And there you have it.

We're open to any other suggestions.

What does she look like to you?

a huge, wonderful, exciting announcement: WE'RE ADDING TO OUR FAMILY

We're thrilled to announce a new member of the

Taft family will be arriving soon. We look forward

to hearing the pitter-patter of feet running around.

-

OK, maybe not "feet" as much as PAWS.

.

Four of them.

.

Accompanied by a wagging tail.

-

Yes, we're getting a puppy!

My Christmas present from Brett was permission to get a dog!

He wanted to surprise me with one, but knew I'd love

picking it out myself, so instead he gave me a

cute little stuffed dog (which Carson has named "Puppio").

.

We pretty sure we've found what we want and are

anxiously waiting the day our tiny, fluffy

SHIH TZU will be coming home to us!
Here's me opening my gift:

And here's the kids' reactions (love moments like this!):

"Nearer to my Father in Heaven in Two-Thousand Eleven..."

I stumbled across this picture from a strange blog that I can't necessarily recommend, but the photograph so perfectly captures how I feel about entering a new year. 2010 had it's beautiful moments of "highs" (a week in New York with my best friend, Wyatt losing his teeth, Carson starting to read, Halle's new school feeling like a success, etc.), and I'm so grateful for those. My life is truly incredibly blessed in ways I do not deserve. But mostly (and I hate to sound like a whiner here, but if I'm being honest...) as far as I'm concerned the door can most definitely hit 2010 on the way out - I'm so ready to be done with this emotional roller coaster-of-a-year! I'm thrilled to have a fresh start and take on the next twelve months with a new, invigorated motivation and ideas! Today in church a sweet sister bore her testimony and shared what a rough year it had been for her (it's odd, but it seems most people I talk to agree with me that 2010 could have been much, much better, so it wasn't just me it chewed up and spit out). Anyway, I digress...I loved something she said about the way she was looking forward to this new beginning. She said her goal this year could be summed up in her new motto: "Closer to my Father in Heaven in 20-11". SPECTACULAR! I hope she doesn't mind, but that's gonna be my new motto, too. I'm taking control of my life and working harder so that is more closely aligned with what my Heavenly Father would want for me!

Bring it on!!!