Happy 7th Birthday Tanner!

Today our baby Tanner is 7 years old! I remember getting him when he was 9 weeks old and only 2 1/2 pounds. Now 7 years later he is about 11 1/2 pounds and absolutely spoiled rotten. He was the only dog in our house until 4 months ago when we rescued Stella from a puppy mill. He is still adjusting but we love him even when he is a "grumpy old man" towards her at time. After an afternoon stroll this afternoon we decided to snap a few pictures of Tanner on his 7th birthday.

 Posing in front of his birthday cake - which still looks brand new after celebrating 7 birthdays!

 Look at those eyes, he is hoping that I will put the camera down for a few minutes.

 If there is a treat around, Tanner can sit or lay down and plead with those adorable eyes for hours!

Last but not least, me and the Tan Man.

I love you Bubs!!!!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Sunday's used to be a day of lounging around and getting errands done for the upcoming week but since I've begun participating in Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday challenge, it has another special meaning to me. When you really dive into photography you begin to see the world from a different perspective and the beauty that lies within all things. I love that participating in a challenge forces you to photograph things that you wouldn't normally capture. This week was no exception, another great challenge.

Capture the Sky

This was a bit tricky because Friday was the only day that I actually saw clouds and was able to shoot during daylight. Shooting a boring sky with no clouds wasn't what I wanted to go for so I was happy to see a few hours of clouds. I did edit this picture a bit to bring out the contrast a bit more which I usually don't do because I love SOOC. This is a sign that spring is on its way.

Everyday

Everyday I get to love my hubby and since unfortunately the dogs usually steal the spotlight, while we were driving to a movie I took the opportunity to snap a picture of him. A second after I snapped this picture I bumped my head which left a nice size goose egg on my head. Oh the things we do to get a shot.

 Furry

I was excited to see the furry prompt and knew I had two fluffy babies to use for this. In fact Tanner just got groomed and his coat was extra shiny. I decided to shoot this from a different perspective and I hope you like it. He is the cutest dog ever isn't he?!?!

 Signs of New Life

I walked around our lake and the neighborhood on Friday afternoon looking for new signs of life but all I could find was lots of snow and a few ice fishermen fishing on the lake. Being in the Midwest, I'm sad to say that it was hard to find signs of new life or signs that spring is on its way. I did however notice that my houseplants were thriving - that's a sign, right? OK it's a stretch but I tried really hard, really I did. 

Blurred

I had a lot of bokeh and motion ideas in my head but I decided to put a lazy susan to work and a bowl of jellybeans. It was fun playing around with shutter speed and noticed I got the effect I was looking for with the help of my extension tubes - I love those babies. Funny thing is that the jellybeans were all the colors of the rainbow but all you really see is the yellow and orange ones when I spin the bowl. Does anyone know why that is? I ate most of the red one's but there were plenty of green and purple ones that aren't showing up.

Linking up to Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

A Stella Update - 2 months

Two months ago today we adopted Stella into our family and she is making a lot of progress. She has had a lot of firsts in the past 2 months and she has taken it all in stride. The last update I wrote about Stella was at two weeks and slowly but surely she has made even more progress.

New Experiences:

• Bath Time - after a nice long walk we also discovered how dirty her white coat becomes especially since she is so low to the ground. We are not looking forward to all of the snow melting.
• Grooming - her first day at the spa didn't go as well as I would have liked. She had a hard time standing so cutting her fur on her belly and face was a challenge and unfortunately it shows. They cut too much of her fur off and I can't wait for it to grow back. At least her stained fur is gone now for the most part. Her hair is so short that Mama can't put bows in it - was that on purpose David?
• Teeth Cleaning - we were ecstatic to get her teeth cleaned because her dental health was in poor condition. She did very well but unfortunately had to have another tooth removed so now she has 4 less teeth than she started with. But at least her breath is fresh!
• She loves her name and when you call her name she will come to you and sniff your hand- Yeah!
• Stella experienced her first blizzard on February 1st and doesn't want to experience that again. It was a day that she chose to go potty inside the house instead of outside despite us making a special place for them. Can you blame her? The 4 feet drifts would have been too much for me too.
• Stella also got to finally meet some family. She loved both of her Grandma's and her Grandpa too. She'll soon realize how much they will spoil her when they watch the dogs for us.

Making Progress:

• She still doesn't like being handled but at least she isn't shaking as much as she used to. This is going to take a long time but I really wish she would stop digging her nails into you. We call it the Def com 5 death grip - it's unreal and has left me with many scratches on my chest.
• She still won't go down the stairs inside the house so it's a challenge to chase after her so we can take her downstairs with the rest of the family. Thank goodness our neighbors let us borrow their baby gate, it sure comes in handy.

 Stella - 1 week after her haircut

Look at that face - I love how it highlights her eyes. 

A quick shot after I brushed her fur.

Last but not least, a picture of Snaggletooth! She was actually licking her fur around her mouth and yawning but I captured her at just the right moment to show a couple of her missing teeth. She looks mean in this picture but she's really the sweetest thing. Mama had to embarrass her with this funny picture. Please forgive me Stella!

P.S. This is my 300th post and love that it features our baby Stella.

A Stella Update - 2 weeks

It's been 2 weeks since Stella won the lottery joined our family and I thought I would share an update with how our little Stella-Bella is doing. She is fitting well into our little family and still adores Tanner to pieces, however he is still adjusting to not being the only star around here. He is a great big brother and thanks to him Stella is doing great with her house training. After her first walk around the block today, I decided to take advantage of the natural light and couldn't resist snapping some pictures of her in her new pink winter coat - it's just so darn cute! There are many more items of clothing in her future, I just can't help myself.

New Discoveries:

• Her bark and howl - not a good thing necessarily but if Tanner barks so does she
• She loves her new winter coat that Mama got her
• Hanging out in the backyard and chasing after Tanner

Making Progress:

• Is able to lay down and relax when we are watching TV or reading
• Walking on leash
• House training with minor accidents
• Maybe recognizing her name
• Takes treats out of our hand
• Going up and down the steps on the deck; going up the stairs in the house
• Sleeps ALL night long - in our bed of course

Needs some work:

• Allowing David & I to pick her up and cuddle with her, she is scared to death and it's a race around the house to be able to pick her up. This will take time but I hope we start to see some progress.
• Giving Tanner a little bit of space, her nice is in his behind all of the time
• Going down the stairs in our house (she only goes up)
• Not destroying her bedding in her crate while we are at work

 Stella right after her walk around the block

 Getting ready to go outside

 Tanner & Stella really do look like brother and sister don't you think?

 Later in the day getting ready for a little grooming session with Mama.

 I love her soulful eyes

Stella - Our New Addition

About 10 days ago I shared that we may have a new addition to our family and I'm happy to say that Stella joined our family on December 26th. She is a 7 lb pound Maltese that we rescued from a puppy mill. The vet estimates that she is between 5 and 8 years old and lived her whole live in a puppy mill until recently. She has kept me very busy this past week which is why I haven't had a moment to take pictures or blog about her or anything else. The last few days have went really well and we (actually just me) were able to get her house trained in 1 day!!! She's a fast learner but we have a ways to go. Because she only had interaction with other dogs, she is afraid of people and we are slowly working on earning her trust. She looks a lot like Tanner and she absolutely idolizes him and follows him everywhere - which helped with the house training. I have been off of work the entire week which helped in helping her with the big adjustment, next week I head back to work on Tuesday so I'm hoping she will do fine while we are gone. She loves her crate as long as Tanner is in view so let's cross our fingers and hope for the best. Here's a few pictures of our little star Stella.

 Stella trying out her new hair bow.

 Stella and Me - can you tell she doesn't like to be held (yet)?

 Stella and Daddy.

 Tanner and I on my birthday.

 Tanner and Daddy.

Me and our failed attempt to hold Tanner and Stella at the same time.

Stella just wants to cuddle up with Tanner and he just wants to run away from her and be along.

I hope this phase passes but it's hard having a sister after 6 1/2 years of being an only spoiled dog.

Sweet Bokeh Baby

For the last week I've been following Darcy's 31 Days to Better Photos and I am starting to have a couple of "aha" moments. Being able to get these bokeh shots was one of those moments but I have to thank Amanda & Kevin for their bokeh tutorial - it's awesome. I shot this in very poor light and all manually! Yup, I adjusted the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture! I'm feeling proud but even prouder of the cutest dog ever - Tanner who was very cooperative during my 45 minute photo shoot. It's amazing what he'll do when I bribe him with treats. After I captured this shot I rejoiced by yelling "SWEET" - I really was proud.

Canon 50mm

f/1.8, 1/40s, 1600 ISO

 Isn't he the sweetest? He really is and I love how it captured that here.

 A couple more to show off the Tanner man.

 f/22, 1.3s, 1600

 Having a little fun with a slow shutter speed and moving the camera in different directions while capturing the picture. I thought it was fun playing a little bit.

Linking up to:

Tanner's Eye Surgery

Our "bubby" (baby + puppy) Tanner had eye surgery on Friday. We've known for about 2 months that he would need surgery to remove a growth on his eyelid that was starting to affect his vision but it took us a while to get used the idea and get it scheduled. We knew he would be fine but we also knew that there is always risk when anestheia is involved. Prior to his surgery we spoiled him rotten with lots of exercise, treats, and loads of love. On Friday morning David had a talk with Tanner and he said his response back was "don't worry I've got too much to live for and I promise not to flat-line". Thanks honey - I'm glad you got that cleared up with Tanner before heading into surgery.

I took Tanner to the vet and we got there a little early, I guess I was anxious to get this over with. I did really well until I said my goodbye's and walked out the door. I was strong for "bubby" because he feeds off of my emotions but I got to the car and then cried. I cried because now his life was in someone else's hands not my own and leaving so much faith in others hands was hard.

I then anxiously waited at home until  I got the phone call 4 hours later that the surgery went well and he was rearing to get home soon. They said you could hardly tell he was under anestheia and was recovering well. Music to our ears! David was so anxious to see him that he left work early to pick him up. So Mommy is the one that drops him off but Daddy get to rescue him - hmmm.....!

When he got home I expected him to be back to normal but little did I know that it took up to 24 hours for all of the medication to wear off. He was one doped up doggy that night! I think part of it was the adjustment to the lovely e-collar he has to wear for 10 days but the running into the walls and not being able to get around was unexpected. He was so tired and needed to sleep but he kept fighting it. Finally when he fell asleep he made the weirdest sounds ever. He normally doesn't make a peep when he sleeps but all night long I heard barking, howling, snoring, and snorting. He slept better than we did that night because I thought at one time that he couldn't breathe. I guess those drugs had him taking the deepest sleep ever!

We woke up the next day and ended up spoon feeding him to get him to eat and drink. He just couldn't figure out how to do it with that darn e-collar on. It reminded us of the first few days we had him as a puppy. We eventually got him to drink and eat on his own which was a big relief because we had until noon to get him to do it otherwise it was back to the vet to get hydrated. Once we got past that hurdle, the rest of the day he started to come around and now it's like he has forgotten all about the surgery and the e-collar.

We head back to the vet in 10 days to get the stitches removed but it looks like his eye is going to heal nicely and it's likely he won't be slant-eyed ever after. He does have the cutest eyes ever!

Friday night after surgery - one doped up doggy!

On the road to recovery.

Happy 6th Birthday Tanner!

April 17th was Tanner's 6th birthday - can you believe it? I know we can't but we had a great time together at the dog park enjoying the nice weather to try to forget that our baby is growing up. I know some of you think it's silly how much we love our pup but how can you not adore a face like that?!?!?! 

Tanner & Mama

Tanner & Dada

Us Again - Taking a little break.

Tanner gets tired trying to run away from all of the dogs that want to play - he prefers running and getting attention from people not the dogs.

Tanner running like the wind........or for his life, not sure what he was running from or to.

After a workout at the dog park, it was time to hit the Starbucks for Tanner's first "pup cup". He dove right in and loved the whipped cream treat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER!

WE LOVE YOU TO PIECES!!!!!!!!

Tanner's First Bike Ride

Tanner - Cruising in Style!

At work we have a recognition program where you can turn in points earned for really cool stuff. I used some of my points recently to get this black North Face jacket and also this dog bike carrier for Tanner. Stop laughing - I can hear you! I love my pup to death and we hate leaving him all of the time especially since he LOVES the outdoors and fresh air. Dave attached the carrier to my bike and I've been anxiously waiting for the snow to melt and for a decent day to take him for a little ride. Dave kept saying, he's going to hate it and it will never work but I was determined to get him comfortable and slowly take him for longer and longer rides. Tonight after handling a late afternoon crisis, I said come on Dave, we are taking Tanner for a ride. He reluctantly went into the carrier, I strapped him in so he's safe and can't jump off. Amazingly he calmed down and we took off - HE LOVED IT! David was amazed and I was so happy that we could now enjoy bike rides together as a family. I went around the block and let me tell you, heads were turning and I never saw so many smiles on peoples faces. What's not to love about an adorable little pup going for a ride attached to the front of a bike.

P.S. Please forgive me for not doing my hair or make-up, it was a work from home day. Also I always wear a bike helmet, just not for the pics - promise!