Keeping Up With the Allens

First Wedding Anniversary

It is hard to believe it has already been a year since our wedding! Alex and I talk often of the memories we have from the wedding and our whole celebration. What we remember most of all is how much fun we had.

So excited for the sudden snowfall. Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphoto.com

It has been really fun to look back through photos from the occasion and remember some of the exciting things that happened, like our pit stop in Snowbird to ski for a day where we both got more sunburned than ever before {less than a week before our wedding!}, the jam packed car after our trip to Costco with my mom and brother, both of us forgetting how much the altitude affects your alcohol intake, learning that our dear friends Ali & Tyler were pregnant, the best mother/son dance in the history of weddings, almost hitting a buffalo on our drive back through Yellowstone, getting a speeding ticket in Wyoming {ok, not so exciting!} and making lasting memories in the process.

Snowy photo session. Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

The time we spent with our family and friends together was something we will probably never get to experience again, so we are thankful for the photos and the memories we have. The best part about a destination wedding is the amount of time you can spend with your family and friends and that the festivities can linger on for a couple of days.

Vail Covered Bridge. Photo Credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

Our wedding was perfect for us in every imaginable way. The venue {Donovan Pavilion in Vail, CO} couldn’t have been better for us, the food was incredible, we had a great DJ who made sure we all had a great time, and the mini-blizzard that came right on cue as the ceremony began couldn’t have been timed better if it was planned. The mountain setting was idyllic; it captured our lifestyle and hopes for the future. If we could go back and do it again there truly isn’t a thing we would change.

The blizzard started just as we were about to walk around the building to the front door to make our entrance. Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who were able to come to Vail to celebrate our wedding. It was so special to have so many close friends and dear family members in attendance. Our officiant, Alex’s Uncle Dave, personalized the ceremony and was able to convey our love for each other so eloquently. We had two of our best friends from college, Rachel and Sammy, share a story about us, in addition to my Spain travel partner and senior year roommate, Julie, who did a beautiful reading for us.

The Donovan Pavilion in Vail, Colorado. Picture credit: www.mattalbertsphoto.com — The Donovan Pavilion in Vail, Colorado. Picture credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

This past year has been full of ups and downs. Of course our wedding was the greatest highlight of the year, and perhaps our lives, but we were also blessed with a puppy, two fantastic ski trips to Whistler, a memorable August spent traveling the state and having fun, and me recently getting a new job. We also said goodbye to three members of our family, Alex’s beloved grandpa “Papa,” our sweet puppy Aspen, and my adorable grandma Mor Mor, all passed away within the last year; I lost my job; and the trials and tribulations of having a puppy put a lot of strain on us. All of the ups and downs helped to solidify our marriage and really made it stronger. We’re looking forward to another great year together.

Pictures in Vail Village - before the snow came in! Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com — Pictures in Vail Village – before the snow came in! Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

Walking down the aisle. Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

The groomsmen hanging out. Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

Bridesmaids. Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

Stan the man! Photo credit: www.mattalbertsphotography.com

Thank you to our friends and family for your support of us and the situations that presented themselves to us over the last year. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and a very supportive family. And for those who made the trip to Vail to celebrate with us, I want to thank you again. It was so memorable having each and every one of you there. Finally, thanks to our wonderful wedding photographer Matt Alberts {www.mattalbertsphotography.com} for getting some fantastic shots that allow us to remember the day for all it was, as well as my maid of honor Sarah Tracy for capturing our “Apres Ski Party” on film and helping us to remember that event too.

Here’s to another great year, kicked off by our upcoming trip to Hawaii!

Big changes coming

So far 27 has been full of big news that means big changes for our little household. Alex and I have been patiently waiting to hear if one of the three dog breeders we’ve been in contact with will be providing us with a new puppy this spring or not. We heard last Friday that our favorite breeder’s litter had been born the night before, providing 4 boys and 2 girls but we still didn’t know if we’d be lucky enough to be one of those pups owners. Well, we got the good news on Monday that the breeder had selected us to care for one of her golden retriever puppies! {If you want to check out the breeder, you can visit her website here. The dad is Kolby, but mom isn’t listed on the site.}

We aren’t sure if we’ll be getting a boy or a girl yet. The breeder will pick our puppy for us based on a personality and lifestyle match. This breeder has been breeding golden retrievers for about as long as Alex and I have been alive, so we trust her knowledge much better than ours. The breeder is located in Salem, Oregon, which is about three and a half hours from us, but we will plan on making a trip to meet the breeder and the puppies likely the first weekend of May. The pups will be about five weeks old at that time. Depending on how the puppies grow and develop, we are expecting ours to come home with us at the age of seven weeks, which is the weekend of May 18th.

In other news, I have officially accepted a job offer! I will be working as the Program Director for a local non-profit organization that provides free tutoring to about 100 elementary age students across four schools in Seattle. My role with the company will be to oversee the tutoring and ensure the program is operating smoothly. I am really looking forward to this because my last job was extremely comparable. This position is mostly work-from-home, with the exception of being on-site at the tutoring locations and meeting with my boss and the board of directors on occasion. I start working on Friday and will be working part-time, which means I am going to be finding another small job to do on the side.

These two bits of news go quite well together. My last job was a work-from-home position and I grew to really enjoy the flexibility of that option, as well as the sole fact of being at home during the day to take care of things around the house. After receiving the news that we were getting a puppy in May it helped me to make my decision on accepting the job since I’d be able to be home during the day to care for the puppy and not have to rely on a dog walker or doggie daycare, which we figured out will save us $600 per month!

Meanwhile, I am savoring my last few days before heading back into the workforce. I’ve got a huge spring cleaning checklist to accomplish, our vacation to finish planning, and I’ve been enjoying lunch dates all week with some lovely girl friends of mine. Carrie met me at University Village yesterday and we had a wonderful lunch at Specialties Cafe – I hardly get to see just Carrie – it’s almost always a group, so it was a nice treat to catch up just the two of us. Before meeting up with Carrie I did a bit of shopping for some new spring, work-appropriate outfits at Banana Republic. Today Ali and her sweet {almost} four month old Vivian and I are going for a run around Green Lake and then grabbing a bite to eat. Tomorrow night, Alex and I are going to go out to celebrate my new job and I’m going to check out a few things at Nordstrom. And I have a dinner party to plan for Saturday night. I guess I’m busier than I had realized this week…

More fun updates to come on the puppy situation…

Birthday Weekend

What a fun weekend we had! The weather was fantastic. perfect. unbeatable. unbelievable. amazing. did I say perfect? Sunday the high was 68. Saturday the high was 68. Both days were gorgeously sunny with not a cloud to be found; it was icing on my birthday cake!

Our weekend started on Friday, which was absolutely gorgeous. Alex had intended on biking to and from work on Friday, as a way to get in some extra miles for his training, but he got a flat tire and didn’t have an extra replacement tube, so he was out of luck. I couldn’t resist going for a run on Friday and I ran my longest distance since I’ve gotten back into it – 3.5 miles! The evening started with a fun dinner at Cactus, a Mexican restaurant in Madison Park, with Jamie and Chris. Alex had a couple margaritas while I had my first mojito of the season. Alex and Jamie went out in Capitol Hill after dinner, but knowing we had a full day of wine drinking ahead of us, I went home early.

The weekend continued on Saturday with our friend Mary’s 30th birthday party! Her husband arranged a party bus that drove us to and around Woodinville and dropped us off at some of the wineries.

Getting our wine education at Brian Carter Cellars

We started the wine tour at Brian Carter Cellars in the Tourist District, then headed to the newer Warehouse District and tasted wine at Sparkman Cellars, Guardian and Patterson.

I had been to all but Guardian before, and still loved Patterson, but Brian Carter did grow on me this time around. Perhaps it was their south-facing patio overlooking the valley, Mount Rainier and the sunshine?

After the wine tour we went back to Mary and Ryan’s and continued the celebration! There were quite a few people who came out for the occasion and it was a nice opportunity to catch up with some of our good friends.

All day Sunday was spent outside. I lingered on the front porch as long as I could while Alex was out on a quick 25 mile bike ride, then Alex mowed and trimmed the grass and we walked up the block for a couple drinks at Bottlehouse, our beloved neighborhood wine bar.

Birthday coffee in the sunshine on our front porch

I had two Spring Thymes (prosecco with raspberries and a sprig of thyme) and Alex had a Shandy or two and we sat outside on the patio and soaked up as much sun as possible.

Mary and Ryan came over to our house and we shared a couple bottles of wine on our patio, then went to dinner together at Restaurant Bea. I continue to be impressed by Restaurant Bea every time we go – it is always consistent and fantastic. I think each of us ate every last bite of our meal!

All in all, it was a wonderful birthday, but the highlight for me truly was the weather. Thanks to my friends and family for making it such a great day!

Fred’s Trip to Seattle

For several years now, Alex and I have been trying to convince my dad to come out and ski with us. We really wanted to show him around Crystal Mountain, where we do most of our skiing, and prove that it stacks up quite well against his favorite place, Jackson Hole. So finally my dad found a killer deal on airfare and came out for a weekend of powder, feasting, spring sunshine and family time.

I picked my dad up from the airport on Thursday morning, skis in tow, and we headed down to ski some powder! The conditions were great and we managed to get quite a few powder runs in.

Thursday evening we treated ourselves to dinner at Restaurant Bea, one of Alex’s and my absolute favorite Seattle restaurants, conveniently located in our neighborhood. We celebrated my birthday a week early and realized that the owner of Bea’s birthday is the same day as mine! I think we’ll go back and have a glass of champagne with her on Sunday.

Friday started off surprisingly sunny, so we got some great views on the drive and the gondola ride up the mountain. Just before lunchtime, another small storm came in and brought us a bit more snow.

We introduced my dad to the world-famous Snorting Elk, voted one of the best apres ski bars in the country! It was so busy inside from all the powder fiends that we sat outside beneath the falling snow.

The evening was spent at our neighborhood haunt, Bottlehouse, where we enjoyed a bottle of Lemburger, a wine we had never tried before. The wine was paired with a divine charcuterie plate. Everything was wonderful, as always.

After our trip to BH, we headed home to make homemade mac & cheese and watch one of our favorite ski movies, The Game of Gnar. Safe to say my father thoroughly enjoyed it!

After two full days of skiing we decided we could use a day off, so Saturday was spent in Seattle. We grabbed breakfast at another neighborhood favorite, the Hi Spot, before Fred set off for an afternoon adventure with my aunt Cathy and cousin Chris and his wife Heidi. They enjoyed spending some time together in the sun while Alex and I got a few things done around the house. Saturday night we gave my dad a taste of Capitol Hill and had a drink at Poquitos, followed by dinner at Quinn’s. Alex had a wild boar sloppy joe, I had a Scotch egg and pretzel with rarebit sauce, and Fred had a Painted Hills burger. Quinn’s is a favorite of ours and is a good introduction to Seattle fare.

By Sunday our legs were feeling rested, so we got in the car and headed straight east to Alpental. We got several runs in on the groomers, in addition to a very icy run in Eidelweiss Bowl and a bumped out run in International. I called it quits a little early because my knee was bothering me {three days of skiing + starting to run again = an angry, overused knee} and got in some good people watching while sitting in front of the fire at the base.

The Summit at Snoqualmie was celebrating its 75th anniversary the day we were out there and in order to commemorate the occasion, they hosted a pond skimming event. It was an absolute hoot to watch! There were about 50 competitors, ages 5-old, and most of them actually made it across the make-shift pond that was created for the competition. The best skimmers were in full-costume and did some type of trick once they made it across. We are hoping this will become an annual event because Alex wants to enter next year!

Once we got cleaned up from our ski day, we grabbed a quick drink at Bottlehouse before meeting Cathy, Chris and Heidi for a family dinner at Naam Thai, our neighborhood Thai restaurant. We enjoyed our meal and had enjoyed sharing some memories of my late grandmother – we hadn’t all been together since her funeral service in January.

Monday was my dad’s last day in Seattle, and true to form, he spent it working on our house.

As a recap, I’ve put together a list of things Fred learned skiing the Cascades:

A “Death Cookie” looks like it will just be a soft poof of snow, when in reality it is a hard chunk of ice. Death Cookies the size of boulders should be avoided!
“Thin Cover” means there’s rocks under there.
“Cascade Concrete” is the snow we get here in the Cascades. It’s warm and there’s a lot of moisture, so our snow is heavy. Basically the opposite of Utah. BUT it means that it sticks to steeper surfaces, so our terrain is much gnarlier.

March {Powder} Madness

March is notorious for being the month with the highest chances of skiing powder. At least that’s the case here in the Cascade Mountains. We were starting to think that it wouldn’t happen, but March 2013 sure has lived up to our expectations.

St. Patrick's Powder! — St. Patrick’s Powder and frosty hair!

St. Patrick’s day brought us an unexpected powder day – the best of the season, in fact. We skied deep, light powder all day long. Since we weren’t expecting powder, neither Alex or I brought our powder skis out for the occasion. For the last several winters I watched Alex continuously having so much fun on his S7 powder skis, so I couldn’t resist and got some for myself. St. Patty’s Day would have been the perfect opportunity to try them out for the first time, but my everyday skis {Line Celebrity 90s} rocked the conditions just as well.

…And I got another opportunity to bring out the big girls!

Rocking the Rossi's — Rocking the Rossi’s

Thursday morning I swung through SeaTac Airport to get my dad, then we headed out to Crystal for Powder Day Numero Dos… complete with my S7s.

Thursday and Friday were both great days on the mountain, delivering soft, fresh turns and free refills wherever we skied. Everything got tracked out really quickly, but we found some deep, un-touched snow hiding out in Northway.

Sunday was not a powder or a bluebird day – just typical conditions for the Cascades. We got up to Alpental expecting the sun to be shining in full force and were disappointed that it came out only as we left. It was a great day on the groomers and we even had some soft snow {and a whole lot of bumps} on International.

I ended up having to call it quits earlier than I had hoped, due to a sore knee, but I was just as happy to sit by the fire and watch all of the gapers {people who don’t know what they’re doing but try to pretend they do} and little rippers come down the mountain. Afterwards, we drove over to Summit West to watch their first-ever pond skimming event. We are hoping that they’ll bring this event back next year so Alex can participate.

Happy 2nd Birthday Henry & Oliver!

Today our little ~~monkeys~~ cats turn two! With their high levels of spunk and energy, it’s hard to believe that they aren’t “kittens” anymore. They have provided us with an unbelievable amount of love and joy, as well as a whole lot of annoyance {mostly in the form of 5 a.m. wake up meows}. We have so enjoyed having these two sprite little balls of energy in our family.

Alex & I got Oliver & Henry when they were 8 weeks old. They were 2 pound fur balls with absurd amounts of energy back then. Now they are 8 and 10 pound fur balls with absurd amounts of energy.

Ready to pounce! The boys love to wrestle.

Henry is our laid-back “I don’t give a damn” cat. He minds his own business and loves to be an observer. It’s a special day when Henry lets us hold him for more than 2 seconds.

Henry can often be found scaling the telephone pole in our front yard, climbing trees or sneaking up on the neighbor’s roof. Henry is an adventurer at heart. He loves chasing birds and is friendly with other cats in the neighborhood, yet very protective of our house.

No big deal - Henry can climb trees — No big deal – Henry can climb trees

Oliver is our wild, spastic, madman cat. He is always getting into trouble and chasing something.

He loves to be right where we least want him to be!

Sneaking into Alex's underwear drawer while I do laundry. — Sneaking into Alex’s underwear drawer while I do laundry.

Wild as this little guy is, he is the biggest ball of love I’ve ever met. Oliver is happiest when someone is holding him and giving him really nice pets and cuddles. He loves to come under the covers and sleep in my arms in the middle of the night. Such a lover.

Most of all, the boys love each other. They are usually roaming the ‘hood side by side, or hanging out in the chairs on our front patio just chilling. It melts our hearts to see them cuddle together or when they clean each other’s ears. They are such good brothers!

We love our little kits and are so happy that they’re in our lives!

Bluebird Days, Cirque & Chocolate Cookies

We have been loving the spring-like weather that mother nature has thrown at us here in Seattle. The perennials are starting to sprout up, trees are starting to bud, and by golly, we’ve even seen sunshine! I’m not sure what that’s all about, but I am always in favor of seeing the sun.

Last week I got out on a few mid-week walks and Alex had a couple of great bike rides. It’s so nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather while it’s here. We just decided to cancel our gym membership for a number of reasons. We just got some home workout equipment, so we’ve been doing weights and strength-training at home. Alex is training for his 202 mile bike ride from Seattle to Portland that takes place mid-July, so he has been riding his bike a lot more anyway, and I have commissioned myself to start running again. We’ll see how that goes. When we get our new puppy (late spring??) we know that will wreak havoc on our schedule, plus when the pup starts going for longer walks and eventually runs we are anticipating walking or running at least 3-5 miles daily, as was the case with Aspen. We never went to the gym when we had Aspen because we went on three walks with her each day.

Last week we had a lot going on. Wednesday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends Ali and Tyler and their sweet baby, Vivian. I made some crazy chocolate brownie cookies with salted caramel filling, as well as white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. We have loved spending more time with the Furtwanglers and it’s been so fun watching Vivi grow and develop into such a darling 12 week old bundle of adorableness. Alex spent the evening at Quinn’s in Capitol Hill on Thursday to celebrate his friend Jamie’s new job.

Friday night Alex and I had our weekly date night. We went to dinner at Redmond’s Bar & Grill then saw Cirque du Soleil.

The show was incredible. Neither of us had ever seen a Cirque du Soleil performance, but had a good understanding of what the show would entail. It was really fun to watch the acrobatics.

Alex and I enjoyed yet another beautiful day on the mountain yesterday. The conditions weren’t great, but the crowds were few and far between now that the ski lesson programs have wrapped up for the year, so we got an unbelievable number of runs in before we called it a day after lunch. This ski season has blessed us with more sunny days than I can ever remember getting in seasons past! While we love the bluebird days, it would be okay if we got a powder day or two before spring comes…

It had been nearly a month since we’d been up to Crystal Mountain with our trips to Whistler and Portland and last weekend’s visitor, so we were itching to get up into the mountains again. For Alex and me, being in the mountains is rejuvenating and almost detoxifying. No matter what the ski conditions are like we thrive so much on the fresh mountain air, the spirit and mood of everyone around us and simply being in nature with no cell service. We are so lucky to live so close to the mountains!

Sarah’s Visit to Seattle

My lovely friend from high school, Sarah, just made her annual pilgrimage to visit us in Seattle. As with most Minnesotans, Sarah needed an escape from the bitter cold and snowy winter. Generally Sarah’s visits consist of clouds, fog and/or torrential downpours, but this time we dodged a bullet and got some sunshine and near 60-degree temperatures topped off with magnificent mountain views.

Sarah arrived on Friday evening and we headed straight to the Bottlehouse, our friendly neighborhood wine bar. We shared a bottle of vino and each got our own dinner. Afterwards, we went back to our house and had more wine, then hit the hay earlyish to get ready for a busy weekend.

Saturday was one of the weekend’s highlights. Sarah and I started the day off by getting pedicures at the wonderful Pro Sports Club. This was quite possibly the best pedicure experience either one of us had ever had. After changing into our robes and slippers, we headed down into the lounge which was fully-stocked with fruity water, tea, coffee, and spa snacks. Once our technicians were ready, they brought us back into our own private room with big leather chairs and whirlpool foot baths. The pedicure itself was relaxing and very luxurious. I would definitely go back when I need some pampering.

After enjoying another cup of tea, Sarah and I continued on our girls’ day and drove out to Woodinville to do some wine tasting. The first winery we stopped into was Patterson Cellars. We really enjoyed their wine! Both of us ended up buying a bottle of Forbidden White and I brought home a bottle of Cab Franc to enjoy with Alex. Then we had lunch at Purple and did another tasting at Sparkman, which we didn’t love, then Alex came to pick us up after taking a 40-mile bike ride in the pouring rain.

After a quick refresh, Sarah and I walked up to Restaurant Bea for dinner. We finished off our meal with a salted caramel/chocolate ice cream sundae from the famous Molly Moon’s ice cream shop. Alex’s friend Jamie came over to hang out on Saturday evening, so after we got home we all chatted together.

We knew that Sunday would be more relaxing, so we took it easy on Sunday morning and made a breakfast skillet before heading into Fremont and Ballard to check out what was going on. Unknown to us, Fremont hosts a Sunday Market year-round, so we enjoyed walking through the market and perusing some local craft vendors’ merchandise while sipping on lattes from Fremont Coffee Co. Our visit to Ballard ended up being quite quick – we parked at Golden Gardens and took a quick stroll along the sidewalk at the beach before it started to rain. The rain continued throughout the afternoon, making it a perfect movie day. We watched Silver Linings before making dinner at home for our last evening with Sarah.

Sarah’s last day in Seattle was spent in downtown Bellevue doing some eating and bridesmaid dress shopping for Sarah’s September wedding. Who goes to Top Pot Doughnuts before trying on dresses?!! We stopped at a bridal shop and Nordstrom and tried on several dresses together. Sarah is going shopping again this weekend with the rest of her bridesmaids, so I’m anxious to see what gets chosen!

Party Weekend in Whistler

Whistler is one of Alex and my favorite places to vacation, so we were more than happy to attend our good friends’ Carrie and Patrick’s combined bachelor/bachelorette party in Whistler this past weekend. Their wedding isn’t until September but they share a love of skiing and actually got engaged just over a year ago at Whistler, so a bachelor/ette party up there was a perfect idea for them. The weekend was mostly spent as one big group of around 25 people, but Saturday night after dinner the girls split off and did their own thing while the guys gave Patrick a bachelor night on the town. Patrick had strict instructions that all of the guys should arrive with a mustache and that the game of gnar would be played on the mountain. We all knew it would be a fun weekend with those prerequisites!

The boys sporting their 'staches — The boys sporting their ‘staches

We made awesome time on our drive up to Whistler (4 hours!!), checked into our hotel and somehow managed to score a free upgrade to a one bedroom suite. Alex credits “the power of the ‘stache” for our win. There were five couples that were able to arrive on Thursday and make it a long weekend, so we met up with the other four couples in Carrie and Patrick’s hotel room for some drinks before going out to Black’s Pub for dinner.

Friday morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of fresh snow. We knew that the Cascade mountains were expecting a massive snowstorm, but Whistler was only expecting a couple inches. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves with around 8 inches of light and fresh powder when we got off the gondola.

The upper mountain never opened on Friday, due to high winds, so Saturday was epic. Our first run of the day was off of Spanky’s Ladder on Blackcomb Mountain and it was one of the best lines I have ever skied. It was worth the gnarly hike up the ladder to get there! We continued to lap the Glacier Chair all morning before taking the Peak 2 Peak gondola from Blackcomb to Whistler Mountain to join the rest of the group for lunch. After lunch, the fog rolled in and my legs called it quits pretty quickly so Alex and I headed down to our hotel room for a quick dip in the hot tub and a power nap before the bachelor/ette festivities began.

Saturday was the big party night. We started our evening as a co-ed group at 21 Steps, a restaurant that Alex and I enjoyed with his parents during our Christmas trip to Whistler. I think everyone agreed it was as awesome as we had originally thought. From there, the boys split off and went to smoke some cigars and drink whiskey, or whatever it is boys do at a bachelor party. The girls went back to Carrie’s room and had junk food, Skittles shots and played some girlie bachelorette games together. It wouldn’t have been a bachelorette party without going dancing, though, so we hit up some live music at Dubh Linn Gate before meeting up with the boys around midnight.

Before heading back to reality, the group got together for one final event on Sunday morning. We met at the Fairmont for their world-class brunch. We were seated in their private dining room and feasted on an incredible assortment of everything you could imagine. The prime rib and Yorkshire pudding were my favorite “lunch” items and surprisingly, the pork sausage was my favorite “breakfast” item, along with roasted tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms. Who knew.

Alex and I are always sad to leave Whistler. It is truly one of our favorite places we have ever been. It feels like home to us. We hope to someday be able to live somewhere comparable, but for now, Whistler is only a 4-5 hour drive away….

The Search for Our Next Puppy

Last Monday I opened a letter we received in the mail from the breeder who we got Aspen from, who is also the same breeder that Alex’s parents have used. She informed us that she will not be breeding any Goldens this spring, as originally planned. We are still uncertain of the reason for this change of plans. We were basically stunned at this, since we had been expecting to hear from her any day that her dam was pregnant and that we were going to be puppy parents all over again. Back to the drawing board we went.

I spent the rest of the day on Monday doing extensive research into other breeders in Western Washington and Northwest Oregon and ended up finding a handful of breeders who will be expecting puppies this spring or summer. In an ideal world, we’d prefer to get the puppy in May or June. This would give us ample time during the summer with the new puppy. It’s much easier to have a puppy when the days are longer and it’s not raining every day, not to mention, the pup would be older when ski season starts next fall.

Presently, we are on two waiting lists and may possibly add ourselves to a third just to play it safe and make sure we’ve got a backup plan. The first waiting list we are on is from a breeder in Salem, Oregon, called Shyan Goldens, who will have puppies available mid-May from her dam Macy and sire Kolby. Macy is 22.5″ tall and weighs 65 pounds and is a darker/redish color Golden Retriever. Kolby is the breeder’s Champion dog and is 23″ tall and weighs 70 pounds and is also a darker color Golden Retriever. This litter is our preference and we expect the pups to be born late March. There are pictures of Kolby on the breeder’s website. If you want to see pictures of Macy, I can email some to you.

The other breeders are Abelard Goldens and Klasique Goldens. Abelard’s “Fresh Litter” is our preference, but you have to put a hefty deposit on a pup before they have even started the breeding process and the next available puppies won’t go home until July, which is later than we had hoped. Klasique (see dogs: Doc and Gerry Lee who are the parents) is the same timeline as Shyan, where the pups are expected to be born late March and go home mid-May.

As for names of our pup, we haven’t decided on a girl name just yet. We do have a boy name picked out, which was the same boy name we had in mind with our first dog. Either way, we would like to use the name of our second puppy as a way to remember and honor our sweet Aspen. We’re trying to come up with something that either relates to her personality, her name or something she enjoyed.

Here are some names we have considered – we do have two favorites among the list (no particular order):

Snowball
Snowflake
Snow
Powder
Winter (Winny)
Sunshine (Sunny)
Chamonix (Shammy)
Alpine

Please feel free to leave a comment with your favorite name or any new suggestions!