The Best Puppy in the Park!

As I've said on here before, Chinook and I love to go to the dog park! It's nice for both of us really. Chinook gets to run around and socialize. I absolutely will not stand for a dog that is not people/other dog friendly! This is a good way for him to get both of those interactions, and he LOVES it! It's nice to have Chinook nice and worn out when we get home (or head to puppy class) too! Today we went to the park and before we left there was a 5 and a half month old German Shepherd puppy that came as well as a 5 month old Golden Retriever! It was so cute to see the 3 of them playing together! I wish I could have gotten a picture of all three of them! Chinook will be 5 months old in two weeks, but he was the biggest of the three! He's gonna be a BIG boy! Anyways, here are a few pictures of Chinook recently. Love this crazy puppy!

Here he is right before he's getting ready to pounce on the cat... Poor Watson.

Here he is after he got in trouble for pouncing on Watson.

This is Chinook with the Shepherd puppy that was at the park today! Don't be fooled by this picture, he really is bigger than her!

Check out that tongue! Haha

Chinook trying to play with one of the dogs at the dog park

It's hard to get a good picture of puppies in the park

Here's my adorable boy!

Recently we've started opening up the door and blinds in our spare room and the cats absolutely love it! They spend most of their time staring out the window! This picture is what I usually leave and come home to. The other day I came home and saw them in the window and apparently they saw me because when I got to the front door they were both right inside waiting for me! Such cuties!

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

Since I have become soooo addicted to Pinterest, I've decided to actually start trying the recipes I've found! This was my first attempt at making Glazed Doughnut Muffins, and they are DELICIOUS!! The best thing is that they are so easy! No strange ingredients that you need to go out to buy either! I love it! Here's a few pictures of my batch and the recipe is below!

For the Muffins:

1. 1/4 cup butter
2. 1/4 cup vegetable oil
3. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4. 1/3 cup brown sugar
5. 2 large eggs
6. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
7. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8. 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
9. 1 teaspoon cinnamon
10. 3/4 teaspoon salt
11. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12. 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
13. 1 cup milk

For the Glaze:

1. 3 tablespoons butter; melted
2. 1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3. 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
4. 2 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. With the mixer on low speed, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla until just combined. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
3. Spoon batter into cups, filling the cups, and smooth tops. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Bake until muffin tops are a pale golden and springy to the touch, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 10 minutes before glazing.
4. To make the glaze, In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.
5. When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. Once hardened, dip a second time  and allow to harden then serve.

Yields: 12 muffins

Always Keep Me Laughing

I am constantly surprised by how this crazy puppy always keeps me laughing and entertained! The other day we got Chinook's license in the mail so I put his tags on him for the first time. This was his reaction....

I love that crazy puppy!

A few of the girls that I work with also have dogs so this past Monday we all decided to meet up at the dog park and have a "Puppy Play Date." It was so much fun to see all of them together! Chinook and I usually go to the dog park at least once a week. Now that the cold weather is coming I'm not sure what we're going to do to get him some exercise! I have a feeling I may just end up bundling up and going anyways. I guess we'll see! Anyways... Here are some of the pictures I got at our play date. They're not very good, playful puppies are hard to photograph! But still, oh so cute!

This is Rusty! He is such a cutie! I think my favorite thing was seeing him "dance!"

This is Chinook and Gus

Gus is so much fun! And absolutely adorable!

Gus and Rusty

This is Moe! He is a 12 week old Great Dane! I absolutely love him! Such a cute puppy! Also featured here is Gus :)

Rusty and Moe

Moe loooooves Rusty!

So just like Moe loves Rusty, Chinook looooooooooves Moe! He had quite the little man crush on him, as you can see here! I'm not sure Moe returned the feelings.

My precious boy! He has what we call his Gremlin ears in this picture! Such a goof.

Here's Moe again! So loveable!

The puppies had a great time at their play date! We're trying to figure out a way we can all get together once the weather gets colder! We'll have to keep thinking about that one.

The other day I was laying on the couch minding my own business, and then Blake sat on me. He was just joking around, and apparently Chinook thought it was pretty funny and decided that he needed to join in...

You can kind of see the layers here, and these really aren't flattering pictures at all! But it was too funny not to document. Crazy puppy!

There he is, on top of both of us. Like the King of the Hill.

Another way that Chinook has been amusing me lately is his need to crawl under things that he no longer fits under.... Exhibit A:

He likes to try to crawl under our end and coffee table. He fits under this end table much better than the coffee table, but it's still a squeeze

The Other Day...

So the other day Blake and I were sitting in our living room and we heard all the geese and ducks from the lake outside our apartment going crazy! So we got up to see this...

So the other day I looked up to find this..

So I followed the trail...

... and saw this...

...and this....

... and I turned around to see this...

...and this...

... and finally this. 

We took Chinook to the vet last Monday and found out that he weighed 49 lbs! Here's a picture of him from that day....

Here's the big boy!

A Fantastic Fall Weekend

This weekend has been a busy one! Thankfully both Blake and I have the whole thing off from work! Yesterday we drove out toward Blake's parents! We started the morning with the famous "Saturday Morning Pancakes" at Blake's Grandma's! They were, of course, delicious and the perfect way to start our day! From there we went to see Blake's cousin Sam play in his football game! It was super fun to have most of the family there cheering him on!

Sam in number 22! He did a great job!

After the game, Blake and I along with his parents headed out on the "Scenic Drive." The Scenic Drive is an annual event that takes place in Knox County, IL. Different towns all across the county take part in it by having vendors set up shop! Almost everything there is homemade and it is super fun to go from town to town shopping at all the different spots! I was able to get some homemade soy candles as well as some fresh-pressed apple cider!

Here is one place we stopped. It's an old barn that was full of people selling homemade goodies! This is the farm that we got our cider from! Yummy!

It was a gorgeous fall day!

After we spent some time on the Scenic Drive we headed to a birthday party! It was for Aiden and Hailey two of Blake's cousins that were turning 5 and 1! It was a lot of fun spending time with family! Here's some pictures the party!

Super cute picture of the birthday girl with Grandpa Larry!

The boys were having fun running around playing with the balloons!

The birthday boy waiting patiently to blow out his candle!

Hailey had fun with her birthday cake!

Waiting to eat the cake!!

Hailey loooooved her birthday cake!

Love these boys!

"Let's make a silly face"

It's a little blurry... but I think it adds to this crazy picture

Showing me his "blue" icing tongue

Aiden opening his presents!

Super cute picture of Hailey with Grandma Sue!

This is all thanks to "Uncle Rick" who started putting balloons under his own shirt. Ben of course needed to join in!

Ben and Aiden were running around with balloons like this calling themselves "pregnant"... Love those crazy kids!

Hailey getting ready to open her presents! Such a cutie!

Brooke and I. Love having her home!

 At one point during the day we ended up having to put Chinook in the back of the car since we were going to have the car full of people. He's not really used to that and he wasn't really fond of being way far away from us...

Attempting to climb over the seat

He eventually gave up...

We had a great day with Blake's family! I absolutely loved the fall weather and the beautiful leaves changing! I hope we can hang onto this weather for a while!