Christmas 2012

During December Misty and I went to a few CCI fundraisers at Barnes and Nobles.  Misty loves this because she gets LOTS of attention all night.  She just doesn't like it when I try to put a santa hat on her or reindeer ears on her.   We were able to raise lots of money for CCI so I think it was worth it.

















This year for Christmas my family got together the Sunday before Christmas and ate dinner and played Bingo.  Misty loves it when my nieces and nephews come over!  She always tries to follow one of them around all night.  She got lots of gifts, which is no surprise.  My brother and his family gave her a new bed to keep at my mom's house and a big blanket that has mine and her names on it.  Misty loves to lay on either of them!  She also got lots of toys from me. =)  Christmas day we just stayed at my mom's house and Misty played in the snow every chance she got.  I have never seen a dog eat so much snow!! She puts her whole face down in the snow and when she comes up for air her whole face is covered in snow! For New Year's Eve we weren't much fun.  Misty went to bed at her usual time, 8:30 and I only  made it until 9:30.  I woke to fireworks at midnight.  Misty just moaned and rolled over and went back to sleep......we are such party animals!!!

















This is Misty surrounded by all her Christmas gifts.   HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Festival of Trees 2012

This year me and a friend of mine, Lindsey decided to decorate a tree for Festival of Trees.  You decorate a tree and then the trees are put on sale and people bid on them to buy.  The money goes to Primary Children's Medical Center.  We decided to do a tree about CCI.  We started a few months ago getting decorations and making decorations for the tree.  It was a lot of work but totally worth it!!  Today was decorating day.  Five of us spent a few hours getting the tree ready.  We had a lot of fun!  Tomorrow night someone will be able to buy the tree and then the trees will be on display for the public to see for about 3 days.

Here is a close up of the tree.  A friend of Lindsey's took pictures of the dogs and we cut them to fit in glass bulbs.  We also took scrabble piece's and made words that have to do with dogs.  A lady made 4 long leashes that we wrapped around the tree.  There are CCI dogs all through the tree.  Then we sprayed dog biscuits so they looked shiny and so they wouldn't go bad.  There are also blue and brown tennis balls that say "dog is good".  

Our friend Melanie made the tree skirt and Lindsey wrapped empty boxes to put around the tree.

Instead of an angel on top of the tree we have a dog on top of the tree.  Lindsey's husband made the dog house.  There is also a black dog on the other side sticking out of the house.  This was a lot of fun to do and hopefully I can do it again next year.

Halloween 2012

This year we went to Lily and Glen's house for Halloween.  They had turned in their dog Cabo in August to CCI but she had some fear issues so she got to come home.  Cabo and Misty were best friends before she left for California so Misty was happy to see her friend again.  Lily and Glen are training a new puppy for CCI.  His name is Ned.  He is the small puppy in this picture.

Cabo was a pig ballerina for Halloween, she didn't like her costume to much.

Misty was a Sundae.  She liked this costume better this year but she was still excited when it came off. =)

Ned was a Bumble Bee.  He didn't mind his costume at all! He just wanted to chase Misty and Cabo everywhere.

The dogs had a fun time chasing each other around the yard.  Cabo got a hold of Misty's costume and Lily couldn't catch her for a few minutes.  I think she knew Misty wasn't happy with her costume so she was trying to save her friend from being embarrassed.

Since I spent the day embarrassing my dog here is a good picture of Misty.

Happy Halloween!!!

Misty's 4th Birthday

Yesterday was Misty's 4th birthday.  We had a party at Lily and Glenn's house.  Misty played for about 4 hours straight.  When we got home last night she went straight to bed and I don't think she moved all night!  This is a picture of her cake that I got at Target.

This is Misty taking a break from playing for a minute.

We wanted to get a  picture of all the dogs together.  Can you tell which one is the fully trained service dog? Misty just sat there watching all the puppy raiser's trying to get their dogs to stay still.  She's such a good girl!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTY!!!

California Aug 2012

We got so busy on the rest of the trip that I never had time to blog each night so this one will be a little long while I tell about the rest of the trip and add pictures.  We spent a day at CCI headquarters in Santa Rosa.  They let Misty and Cabo run around their play area for awhile.  There were some other dogs there but Misty had more fun just walking around the play area by herself checking things out.

The lady running the gift shop had some carrots she was eating and Misty and Cabo smelled them right away so she gave them a couple of carrots.

We got to go on a tour of the campus.  They have a bunch of Peanut character statues all around because Charles Schultz donated the money to have this campus built.  

After the tour we drove to San Francisco and spent a couple of days there.  We decided to take a tour around San Francisco.  We sat on top of the bus so we wouldn't miss anything.  Misty watched the buildings for a few minutes and then decided to lay on the floor for the rest of the tour.  We drove to the Golden Gate Bridge but it was so foggy that this picture was taken a few hundred feet from the bridge and you couldn't even see it.

When we were driving through Yosemite we stopped to find something to eat.  Misty and I stayed in the car and Misty got herself under the blanket and wouldn't come out.  I think she was trying to tell me that she was tired of riding in the truck.

After San Francisco we headed for Oceanside.  We decided to drive around Pebble Beach.

Then we got on the coast highway for a couple of hours, then we had to get back on the freeway because the road had so many curves that we were all starting to get car sick.  Once in Oceanside we met up with some of the other puppy raisers that were turning their dogs in and we went to the beach.  Misty had a BLAST! This is the most fun she has had at the beach.  I think it helped to have all of her friends there.

We had to bath the dogs in the hotel room that night so we could get all the sand off of them!

Misty and Cabo and Flower spending some last minutes together before we headed to graduation.

Here are the puppies and Misty just after graduation.

Misty was very tired the last day of the trip.

California Aug 2012 day one and two

We left on Saturday and went to Reno.  They were having a big car show that Lily and Glen wanted to see.  It was HOT!!! Misty and I found a shady spot and people watched while Lily and Glen looked at cars.  This morning we went to Lake Tahoe and then Yosemite.  It was great to see but a LONG day in the car.  Misty got a little car sick and thankfully did not throw up but I had to be ready with the plastic bag just in case.  She is definitely my baby. =).   We put her window down a little and every time we tried to close it she would sit up and put her paw on the hand rest and just look at you. Then when we stopped to find a place to eat, Misty and I stayed in the car and she climbed under the blanket and wouldn't come out.  She was very happy to get out of the truck!!!!

Goodbye party for the dogs

Tonight we had a party for 4 dogs that are going to "puppy college" next week.  They will go back to CCI in Oceanside for 6 to 9 months for training with professional trainers.  Only about 30% of the dogs graduate.  Cross your fingers that these 4 dogs make it. =)

Cabo and Forbes are on the bench and Flower and Tripoli are under the bench.  We had a potluck dinner for the humans and the puppies got to play.  We played "doggie bingo".  This was Misty's first time playing this game and she did pretty good.  She was suppose to stay sitting but she got tired and laid down so she had to leave her square.  She is the one in the middle square.

Then we let the dogs just run around and have fun with each other.  I lost Misty for a couple of minutes because she got playing with other black dogs and I couldn't tell them apart for a minute.  See if you can spot Misty.....

She is the one with the blue collar.  It is sad to see these dogs go but they are off to bigger and better things!  We leave on Saturday to spend a week taking Misty and Cabo to Reno, Yosemite, San Franciso, and Oceanside.  I will be blogging while on our trip.  Wish us luck! =)