They grow like weeds!

Deerhound puppies grow like weeds, and in no time, they go from one pound blobs to small colts! Bean and Birdie are now six months old, and they are 75 lbs and 62 lbs respectively. They are also 28.5 and 27 inches tall! As you can see, they are getting to that all legs stage. I think they are adorable :)

The Animals of Rome

By now I think you might be able to tell that I LOVE animals. Every where I go, I tend to always notice them, whether they are real or pieces of art. In Rome, we had plenty to see---both beautiful works of art as well as the real thing.

One of Maddy's favorite spots was the cat sanctuary that is located amongst some ancient ruins in the middle of the city. There were some 300 cats (all spayed, neutered, and vaccinated) living and playing in the spot where ancient temples once stood. They are fed through donations to the animal shelter, and are adoptable. It was fun to try and spot them as they wandered around.

This is the spot where the cats lived-----pretty cool, huh?

We also visited the Roman zoo, where we spotted some unusual lemurs along with some typical favorites.

A man and his four dogs on the bridge. I noticed how well behaved the dogs were, and also noticed how they all looked like purebreds-----a Bullmastiff, German Shepherd, Dachshund, and Vizla!!

We also visited the Vatican museum, where they had an incredible collection of sculpture, which included several sighthounds.

White Christmas in Texas

For the first time I can ever remember, we had a white Christmas in Texas. It's funny because on Wed, Dec. 23rd, it was 77 degrees and sunny, but by noon on Christmas eve, it was a blizzard! We woke up Christmas morning to SNOW everywhere! Maddy and the dogs had a great time romping and playing in the snow. The puppies (Bean especially) found ploughing through the snow with their noses, and then flipping the snow up, to be major excitement!!

Happy New Year!!!! We are finally back!!!!

After a very long hiatus, we are finally back! I never intended to go this long without posting, but as the puppies got older (and hungrier and more active), I found myself immersed in all things puppy. The last puppy left on October 30, and then suddenly, I found myself smack in the middle of holiday season and all of its activities. Needless to say, my time on the computer shrank to a bare minimum, and now here I am, three months later, finally posting again to my blog. I can't believe how time flies!!!! Anyway, I am finally back, and will be posting on a MUCH more regular basis now. I've also made several new items for the store, so those will be posted and added very soon! I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year. Happy 2010!!!!!

During my little blog break, we also took two trips---one to Rome, Italy, and one to Las Vegas. Both were lots of fun, but I have to admit that Rome is definitely my favorite of the two!! This was Madolyn's first trip to Europe, and boy did she have fun. The weather was gorgeous, the food was incredible, and there was literally a picture perfect shot everywhere you looked. We found some great deals on a few choice Italian goods as well. We stayed at the Kolbe Hotel, which formerly was a convent, but has now been converted to a modern, boutique hotel. The location couldn't have been any better, and we found ourselves gazing at the Roman forum every morning when we left our room. The very generous complimentary breakfast buffet gave us all the energy we needed to start the day, as I think we must have

walked at least 10 miles every day. There was so much to see, though, that we really didn't think anything of the walking. Exploring Rome on foot was so much fun!! Here are a few shots:

I took about 700 shots, so these, of course, are just a mere few, but you can see many more on my Facebook page. Reflecting back on our Italian adventure already makes me ready to go back!!