ZEPHYR

Zephyr has been home for a little over a week now.  We are so in love with this sweet, smart boy already!  We've been really focusing on getting him to learn his name... teaching him how to walk on a leash (still a work in progress)... to "come" when we call him... and to sit.  He's pretty much mastered those things for the most part.  When he's focused on you, he's flawless.  But if there's a toy around... forget about it.

For the most part, he's potty trained already.  We've had a few accidents... and he had an upset tummy for a few days while we switched his food (those were a tough few days).  But, I really think he understands where he's supposed to use the bathroom.  It's just up to the HUMANS to get him outside every few hours so he has the opportunity to use the bathroom in the correct location.

He's gaining weight at a RAPID pace.  Every morning when he wakes up he looks SO much bigger than the day before.  This adorable little puppy phase seems to be flying by!

There is one phase of puppyhood that I am SO READY TO BE OVER... can you guess what it is????

TEETHING!  Holy cow the chewing is endless.  Literally.  He barely takes a break!  We've tried our best to "puppy proof" the house as much as possible.  And he has lots of chew toys (some of which he likes... some of which he mostly refuses to chew on).  Anyway, I know he's a teething puppy.  I get it.  We signed up for this.  But, we are desperately working on keeping it under control and trying to get him to only chew on appropriate things.  Wish us luck.

And without further ado... let's get to the good stuff: PICTURES AND VIDEOS!

THAT FACE!!!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE SNOW! 

I LOVE TO STICK MY HEAD IN THE SNOW!

MUST BE WHY GOLDEN RETRIEVERS ARE SUCH
GOOD AVALANCHE RESCUE DOGS

THIS IS HOW I PREFER TO WALK ON A LEASH
RIGHT NOW.  WE ARE STILL WORKING ON THAT. 

THOSE PUPPY EYES! 

THIS IS WHAT I SEE STARING AT ME WHEN I'M IN
THE KITCHEN. 

In other news... we've had some crazy weather lately.  Ridiculous amounts of rain... hurricane force winds.  It's been intense.  We were supposed to get a few inches of snow and instead we got FEET!  Here's a few pictures of our weather lately: 

STORM CLOUDS JUST BEGINNING TO ROLL IN

WIND STORM... THAT'S A TRAMPOLINE
AGAINST THE FENCE OF ONE OF MY SCHOOLS

THE CALM AFTER THE STORM

IT'S SUPER HARD TO TELL IN THIS PICTURE BUT THERE IS A LOT
OF WATER IN THE VALLEY THAT ISN'T NORMALLY THERE. 

ALL IS CLEAR.... FOR NOW. 

What an epic winter this has been so far!  Feet upon feet of snow!  And more in the forecast.  Most of the trail signs on the mountain are barely above the snow... pretty soon they will be covered completely!  California and northern Nevada are officially out of the drought!  I heard Lake Tahoe can only hold 3 more feet of water before the dams will have to be completely opened to prevent flooding!  Quite a difference from the previous years we've been here.  

It's been so fun being here for this record setting winter!  And it's even more fun having a sweet puppy to enjoy it with!  Although taking him outside in a blizzard is a little bit less than fun.  

Seriously though, more snow is in the forecast for late next week.  Early predictions are for FEET of snow.  We'll see if it holds up.  Stay tuned. 

This. Is. Winter.

It's finally stopped snowing for a few days but the temps are still COLD!  Highs are in the 30's every day and it's been cloudy and overcast with a few glimpses of sun.  But, it keeps the snow from melting!

This past Monday we actually had a SNOW DAY!!!!  It's the first time that in 2.5 years that the school district I work for actually CLOSED all schools.  We had feet of fresh powder....the sun was trying to come out... and I didn't have to go to work!!!!  Best. Day. Ever!

Snow days in NC were always wonderful, but when you live 1/4 mile away from a ski resort, snow days are AHHHMAZING!!!!

I spent Monday morning shoveling snow (imagine that) and around noon I headed to Heavenly for a few laps with my neighbor.

Lately, I feel like every time I look outside, I'm just baffled at how beautiful it is with all of the snow.  I love it and I can't stop taking pictures of it.  So... here's a photo dump from the past week:

(I know some of the following pictures are repeats from previous posts on facebook... )

CAN'T PUSH THE SNOW OFF THE DECK ANYMORE!
WE'VE ACTUALLY GOT TO SHOVEL IT OVER NOW.

FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T VISITED US HERE YET, WE LIVE ON A HILL.
SO, OUR DECK IS CLOSEST TO THE GROUND AT THE FRONT CORNER
(IF THAT MAKES SENSE) AND ITS PROBABLY 6 FEET OFF THE GROUND
IN THE LEFT SIDE OF THIS PICTURE.

SO... MY POINT IS, THAT'S A LOT MORE SNOW THAN IT LOOKS LIKE. 

STANDING UNDER THE CORNICE OVER OUR DOOR. 

MIKE HAS CUT THESE CORNICES AT LEAST 3 TIMES BEFORE
THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN.  

STORM CLOUDS ROLLING OUT

THE SUN CAME OUT!

AND THERE'S SO MUCH SNOW WE CAN ALMOST
TOUCH THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAIR LIFT!

FRESH POWDER RUNS ON A SNOW DAY!!!
LOTS OF UNTOUCHED, DEEP, FLUFFY POWDER!

BEAUTIFUL VIEW FROM THE FRESHLY
SHOVELED BACK DECK. 

A FEW LINGERING, LOW HANGING CLOUDS OVER THE LAKE. 

PEEKS OF SUNSHINE!!!  

LOOKING DOWN ON SOUTH LAKE TAHOE

MANY STREET SIGNS ARE COMPLETELY
COVERED DUE TO HUGE BERMS FROM THE PLOWS.
THIS ONE IS STILL VISIBLE... BARELY. 

BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS ON MY DRIVE DOWN TO THE VALLEY. 

CAUGHT THE SUNRISE THROUGH OUR ICICLES!

BEAUTIFUL. 

SUNLIGHT IN ICE.

ON MY DRIVE INTO WORK ONE MORNING. 

I SAW A BALD EAGLE!!!!!  

THAT'S A BIG BIRD IN THAT TREE!

HE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!
I WISH I COULD'VE GOTTEN CLOSER TO GET
A BETTER PICTURE BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO
DISTURB HIM. 

THE VIEWS FROM THE VALLEY ARE EQUALLY AS AWESOME
AS THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS. 

SO MANY BEAUTIFUL, FROSTY TREES!

CAN YOU SEE THE SLOPES OF HEAVENLY?

BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS EVERYWHERE. 

THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE VALLEY WAS BRIGHT AND SUNNY. 

I LOVE LOOKING IN MY MIRRORS AND SEEING
THIS VIEW!!!  NEVER GETS OLD. 

In other news, a tragic event happened at Squaw Valley ski resort this week in which a patroller was killed.  It was truly a tragedy but if there's any good that came from it, it's that the entire WORLD has come together to make donations to the family.  Truly, people from all over the world have contributed to this fund which continuously exceeds the targeted goal.  It's reassuring that in a world that seems so divided, there are still lots of good people with good hearts out there.  We are all in this together after all.  As the wife of a ski patroller, thank you to those who donated out of respect for this man and his profession.  It's not about the money, it's about the outpouring of love and respect for this complete stranger whose life was cut way too short while trying to make the mountain safer for others.  

And my last comment is this: apparently another big storm may be in our forecast for next week.  YIKES!  Can you believe it?   Stay tuned!!!!!  

Much love from Tahoe!  XOXO. 

In Over Our Heads

Literally and figuratively.  We are officially in the snowiest January on record.  The snow is literally over our heads.

And we've decided to take on a new "challenge" by getting a puppy.  We've never had a puppy before.  I feel sure we are getting in over our heads on this one... figuratively of course.

But, in the spirit of optimism and perserverance... we will be ok in both situations!  We will dig ourselves out of this snowpocalypse and we will google "how to raise a puppy" and ALL WILL BE FINE!

Let's begin with the snow...

As I write this post, the snow is still dumping outside my window.  It's windy and the gusts are getting stronger and stronger.  The forecast is calling for 2 feet of snow between today and tomorrow.  That's 2 feet on TOP of the 10+ feet we've already gotten this January.  I have never in all my life seen this much snow.  It's really pretty exciting.  And folks, we have a LOT of winter left!  We are really just getting started.  I actually really do hope it continues.

There's something so magical about the snow.  Even though I'm pretty sick of shoveling it, I still get excited when I see the storm clouds rolling in over the mountains.  It's peaceful and calming (as long as you aren't driving in it).

WHEN I GOT HOME FROM WORK ONE DAY,
I COULDN'T OPEN MY CAR DOOR BECAUSE
OF ALL THE SNOW IN MY DRIVEWAY!

THE BIGGEST I'VE SEEN THIS CORNICE GET...
...SO FAR.

OUR NEIGHBOR'S DRIVEWAY!
THE PICTURE IS HORRIBLE... THERE WAS SNOW BLOWING IN
MY FACE MAKING IT HARD TO SMILE OR LOOK AT THE CAMERA. 

NEIGHBOR'S JEEP.
IT HASN'T MOVED IN A MONTH. 

THE SNOW REMOVAL AREA ON OUR STREET...

... IT'S LOOKING PRETTY FULL IF YOU ASK ME. 

THE MORNING VIEW FROM OUR DECK JUST
NEVER GETS OLD! 

WE WERE HEADED TO HEAVENLY TO DO SOME SKIING BUT
GOT STOPPED AT THE END OF OUR STREET.
THE DOUGLAS COUNTY SKI PROGRAM TEACHES KIDS TO SKI.
IT'S AWESOME!  BUT, THE PICK UP IS AT THE END OF OUR STREET
WHICH IS KIND OF A BUMMER.

NOTE TO SELF: LEAVE THE HOUSE EARLIER NEXT TIME!

WE HAVE ALREADY KNOCKED DOWN A LOT
OF THE SNOW FROM OUR DOORWAY SEVERAL TIMES!
IT JUST KEEPS BUILDING BACK UP!

OUR NEIGHBOR'S WALKWAY TO THEIR HOUSE.
IT'S HARD TO TELL HOW DEEP IT REALLY IS
IN THE PICTURE.  

YESTERDAY EVENING...

THE CALM BEFORE TODAY'S STORM! 

Ok... so now let's talk puppy!  You may be thinking, why would you get a puppy during the snowiest winter?  Don't you know they have to go outside ALL the time?  Don't you know there's nowhere for said puppy to pee?  Don't you know he'll get buried in all that snow???

Yes... we know ALL of that.  However, we've both come to the realization that although it's been nice NOT having a dog for the past year, we both desperately miss having a dog.  That has been very apparent to me recently.  And we feel like now is the time.

The truth is... we've been visiting shelters for a few months now.  We've looked at dogs that need adoption online and we've met some dogs in person.  We wanted to adopt a dog and not "shop" for a dog initially.  We "rescued" our sweet Zater (or maybe he rescued us???).  We definitely considered that route again this time.  But, dogs have distinct personalities.

They say that "You don't pick the dog, the dog picks you," right?  Well, we honestly didn't feel a bond with any of the shelter pups.  I didn't feel like any of them wanted to go home with us.  We would've kept searching for that "just right" shelter pup BUT, a friend of Mike's mentioned a litter of golden retriever puppies nearby and we decided to at least go look at them.

We played with and held all the puppies.... we brought one of Zater's old toys... and this little guy:

... well, he laid his sweet little head down on Mike's shoe, snuggled up to Zater's old toy, and fell asleep!  Needless to say, we felt "picked."  When we left, he was the only pup of the bunch to wake up. He picked his little head up and looked at us like, "Where are you going?" while all the other pups kept sleeping.

This wasn't the original path we were going to take to get a dog... but we feel like it's a path we're supposed to take.

We met this little one on the 1 year anniversary of our sweet Zater's passing.  So, to honor our beloved Zater, we decided to stick with the letter Z for the name.  We've decided to name him Zephyr.  For my east coast readers, Zephyr Cove is an area of the lake not too far from our house.  

I know that ultimately this will be a stressful process but we also see it as a positive adventure.  And, I'm sure it will give me PLENTY to blog about!

And my finally, I want to wish my dad a very happy birthday today!!!!!  I hope it's a spectacular day for you!!!  Much love from Tahoe!!!!