Wally and his walks

There are many reasons why Wally is getting is happier with his walks, but, really it centers around the fact that he is getting more walks.  We have enjoyed my new job and the nice hours which helps Matt and I get to take Wally on his walks in the evenings.  Of course, I'm definitely a fair weather dog walker.  Anyways, the reason I'm happier with our walks is that Wally is trained!!

He loves his walks and gets so happy when we get the leash. 

But in the past he hasn't been so good on his walks.  If a dog passes while Wally was on his leash, he became very aggressive, barking like an a crazy dog and sometime snarling.  It was real annoying and I got very anxious every time I saw that we were about to pass someone else walking their dog.

Well, about a month ago, I took action and got a dog trainer to come by the house.  To my surprise, she said it was my fault and that basically Wally was reacting to my reaction of getting anxious and some past experience.  The good news according to the trainer is that Wally and his behavior is fixable.  The trainer worked with Matt and I on using our leash and walking Wally and how to react with him when we pass another dog.  We worked out a plan to get Wally back on track and Wally is a different dog on his walks these days. 

This was before: (He was always pulling us through the walk and we had no control.)

Here's some pictures from this weekend:

Wally now sits when we tell him to and he has to sit as we open gates and doors.  He has to wait for us to walk out before he does.

You can see how he now walks beside us.  I don't have any pictures of him reacting to another dog.  We still have some work to do but walks are much more enjoyable.

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Ah, the nice weekend...

This weekend was a lot of catching up....hence, 2 blog posts in one day after a month of being inactive.  It was nice to be at home this weekend and feel like we didn't have much to do.  Friday night, we went to the Flying Squirrels (San Franciso Giants AA affiliate team) baseball game.  We had a nice time catching up with some of our friends and Matts family.  Saturday, I did some Spring cleaning in the kitchen (cleaned the refrigerator out, microwave, and oven).  I also had plenty of laundry to do.  Last night, Matt and I joined up with a crew last night to go listen to a band and be outside in the beautiful weather. 

I was excited to get to work on some plants today.  I wanted to do some planting in containers so Matt and I went out and got some plants.  I normally just buy them after they are put together.  But, Matt and I watched a HGTV show on making garden containers and according to the gardener, the key is to do a flowering flower, something tall, and something that is flow over the side.   I'm pretty excited about my hanging baskets and my plants on the deck.  I don't exactly have a green thumb and am horrible about watering plants but I'm going to water more often and I'll post in a few weeks and let you know how I did.

Our herbs...

I planted these about a month ago.  They are still looking pretty.

In need of a new blog post....

It's been forever since I've posted any updates on the blog. The problem is that we've been very busy but I have not had the camera out. I take it everywhere we go, it seems, but no pictures get taken. I need to be better about that. So, I'm going to put the last 3 weeks into one blog and then hopefully I will do better about updating.

The month of April flew by and now the month of May is almost gone. Matt and I took off to go see my grandparents a few weeks ago. It was a little unexpected as we ended up going because Grandma got some discouraging news. I was so happy that we got a quality visit with Grandma and for all those times that she took very good care of me and spoiled me, I was able to help take care of her. Grandma seems to be feeling slightly better than she was a few weeks ago and I'm hoping to make another trip to see her soon.

We also traveled to Baltimore to see the Red Sox, which got swept by the Orioles. That part wasn't the best but getting to see them was fun. Matt and I have a tradition that he started of going to a Red Sox game in Baltimore every year. We got to the Saturday night game together and then Sunday his parents join us. I have to stay that every year I have such a good time and of course, I love that Matt and I share same enjoyment with his parents.  Unfortunately, this is the only picture we took and it's not very flattering of me.

We are also very excited that Matt's sister is now a Richmonder. She has been in Charlotte, NC and a new job brought her back here. It's been fun and exciting for the family for her not to be so far away. Welcome Home, Courtney!!  We have enjoyed seeing you this weekend and are excited that we will get to spend more time with you on a regular basis.

Also, I think I'm not going to get in trouble with telling my other exciting news. My best friend, Ali, is pregnant. I'm excited for Mark and Ali and know they will be great parents. Since Ali and I have truly grown up together in the same church and went to the same high school, being best friends for so many years, I really think of her more like a sister. I definitely feel like a proud Aunt. Ali's so cute pregnant. We have a few friends that have little munchkins running around a bunch of friends that are expecting and I will admit that the baby bug has definitely bitten me. Timing isn't perfect though so we'll continue enjoy our independence and our time with one another. Plus, Wally is totally fine with being an only child. ;-)

I think I'm going to wrap this one up. I will try to do much better.

The Windy City of Chicago...

This weekend, I had a girls weekend in Chicago to see my good friends Diane and Jenell.  Diane lives in Chicago and Jenell lives in Portland, Oregon.  We hadn't seen each other in over a year.

Friday night, I got in about 6 but then took another hour to get to Diane's apartment.  He had dinner at an awesome sushi restaurant and came back to watch a movie (aka for Stephanie to sleep).  It was midnight, my time, by that point and I was pretty tired.

Saturday, we were busy.  We visited some in the morning before heading out to Brunch.  We did some discovering of Chicago before hitting up Billy Elliot, an off broadway show, in the afternoon. Saturday evening, we went out for girly drinks at a wine bar before hitting up a tapas restaurant for dinner.  Saturday late night, we went to Second City comedy show. 

Before leaving on Sunday, we did an architectural boat tour.  We went to a delicious brunch again before heading off to the airport.

This is the new Trump tower:

The Sear's or Willis Tower:

and finally.... (in case you are wondering):

It was such an excellent weekend and I'm so glad I got to visit with these amazing girls.  I will post more pics later.  We all took different ones on our cameras in order to avoid asking people to take them with 3 different cameras. 

Thanks for hosting us, Diane, and planning so many fun things for us to do.

My new favorite seat

Matt's mom and dad gave us this nice wicker loveseat and table back late fall/early winter.  I found a cute orange cushon for it.  I really didn't love the orange at first but it was on clearance and I liked the price.  This spring I paitned it and found the pillows. I'm really happy how it turned out.  Thanks Dick and Debbie!  I'm going to enjoy this seat all spring and summer.

Happy Easter

I have been slacking on the blog.  Lots of fun and exciting things going on, but haven't managed to take any pictures. 

Here are some of my decorations for Easter (I forgot that I hadn't posted them.):

I hope everyone had an excellent Easter.  We had a very nice one. 

Last weekend, my parents and sister came to visit so I got to have a great visit with them.  We went to the Bizarre Bazaar and got to see all kinds of Spring decor along with jewelry and foods and more.  My mom, sister, and I enjoyed Wicked.  It was a great performance.  Then we finished off the weekend on Sunday going to luncheon for Matt's cousin and his soon to be bride. 

This weekend, we spent more time with family.  Matt's sister came home for the weekend.  We are very excited for her and her exciting news.  She's taking a new exciting job.  Sunday, we enjoyed a lovely service at Bon Air Baptist and then a yummy lunch at Maggianos. 

I promise to catch up soon!

Yard Work, Anyone?

Matt and I managed to stay busy today.  We had our normal weekend chores:  a mountain of laundry and grocery shopping but I found myself outside again.  It's just so nice to have such wonderful weather and I was happy to spend most of the weekend out in it.  We are also enjoying having the windows open in the house and getting the fresh air. 

Matt played in his basketball play-off game which I'm sad to say, ended poorly today.  They have done great all season but Matt said they couldn't make a basket today.  Now, it's time to move on to softball. 

Wally was happy to be out in the sun and grass. He was funny rolling around the yard on his back. Too bad I missed any picture opportunities with his belly in the air!

The yard is looking a little better after my time outside today.  I'm ashamed to show pictures as we do not have good grass or even many flowers.  I think about how many hours my Grandpa spends working on his yard, roses, flowers, vegetable garden and think I would love to have his beautiful yard.  It's such hard work!

Before pic:

After pics:

Spring has Sprung

We had the most fabulous weekend on the first days of Spring.  It just flew by!  Matt's sister was in town and we managed to get some time to visit with her Friday evening and all day Saturday.  Matt grilled on Friday evening and made margarhitas.  Not much better than that!  Saturday, we were busy with friends at the Irish Festival.  We were out in the sun all day.  It was 80 degrees and very crowded at the festival.

I didn't put on sunscreen so, as you can tell from the pictures, my arms and neck were very pink by Saturday evening. We managed to go out for dinner with the group before heading home and crashing.  :-)

Daylight Savings Time

We are very excited about the time change and also the warmer weather.  The Wheawill family is very happy and Wally has enjoyed his daily walks.  We had to take a break for a few days due to the rain.  Now the weather needs to cooperate with our longer days.

So not much is going on to update on.  I'm hoping my Grandma starts feeling better soon and gets out of the hospital very soon.

Matt and I had a nice weekend at home.  We had some nice dinners with friends; I did some shopping and had some great girl time with Ali; Matt had a good day hanging out at the Irish pubs; I managed to get 2 closets cleaned and organized; We enjoyed watching the movie Up this afternoon.  All in all, a very successful weekend.

So, the only pictures I have to share are of our ridiculously spoiled dog licking the ice cream carton.

Happy Humpday!

Here are some pictures to make you laugh.  Wally and I went to bed before Matt so he took our picture.  (I guess it's payback as I've definitely taken pictures of Wally and him sound asleep.  As you will see, we were spread out on the bed.  Wally had his belly up, laying straight on his back.  He sometimes hangs his head off the bed (not sure what that is about). 

He was seriously sleeping like this.  I think he opened his eyes as Matt was taking the picture.

We are almost to the weekend!

blah, blah, blah

We are back into the work week and I'm wanting the weekend back.  I really hope the weather forecast is wrong about any snow possibility, although it keeps looking better everytime I look with the possibility diminishing.


Matt and I bummed around here this weekend, but we managed to stay pretty busy.  We had some real exciting chores like laundry, bathing Wally, taxes, grocery shopping, etc. to keep us busy.  We got some nice rest though and also caught up on our TV.  Saturday night, we went to dinner and bowling with the Hamricks.  In case you are wondering about my bowling capability, I think I'm highly skilled.  I scored an 83 both games.  Not that it's a great score, but I am very consistent which requires skill, right?  Anyways, I managed to have a strike and some spares with many gutterball in between! 

Oh, and I made myself an eye appointment.  Thanks to my patient husband who I insisted drive me in case they dilated my eyes, which they didn't.  But we were there for 1.5 hours!  Anyways, the good news is my vision is the same as it was 5 years ago, so I can stick to my same glasses.

So, Matt got this wonderful Cornhole set for his birthday.  We tried it out on Sunday!  We are excited for warm weather.  It made me want to have friends over to cook out and play some cornhole. 

After Wally's inspection, we started playing which he wasn't at all sure about.  We was so skiddish, afraid of being hit.  (It's probably good thinking on his part as I'm defiinitely not known for coordination.)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom, I'm sorry your card didn't make it in snail mail in time for your birthday but I hope you have a great day at jury duty!  :-) 

Look forward to a big weekend in a few weeks and seeing Wicked together.  Love you!