Our baby is growing!!

Teal will be 9 weeks old tomorrow. I can't believe we have had her for 2 weeks now. She is so funny and just a bundle of joy to have. She is growing more and more each day. She is doing somewhat better not pottying in her crate, but still has accidents. I don't think I have ever washed that many towels in a week. Our washer has been going non-stop (which could be a bad thing when we get our water bill) ha. She is doing GREAT in the house though. We leave our back door open a lot so she just knows to go outside now. Even when the door is shut she goes and sits by it to let us know she needs out. Her biting has gotten so much better as well. She rarely will bite (which is a puppy thing) and if she does we say "NO BITE!"  Next week, I am taking to go get her 9 weeks shot so maybe we can get out a little more. We have been kinda stranded at the house because we don't wont her to get parvo. Taylor and I want her to be to expose to has much as she can be. We are ready to show her off and take her places. Her new thing is to fall asleep in bed with us while we watch our shows and then we put her in her crate and she doesn't get back in bed with us until I get up and feed her in the morning and then she goes and wakes up T! She is still getting up during the night and we take her out to potty and put her right back in her kennel. She wines for about 10 minutes and then she goes to sleep. It is like having a baby that's for sure... exhausting but well worth it!

Whirlwind!

Well this week has been a whirlwind. I can't believe it is already Wednesday. Having Teal here always keeps me on my toes. She is like a baby... all she does is sleep, eat, poop, chew, and play. She has done really well with pottying (sp?) outside and not much in the house. I think it is because I am always right on top of her so if she dares to squat I will grab her! She is sleeping much better at night. She is still getting up 2 times a night but she goes right outside and potties. Yesterday I came home and she hadn't gone to the bathroom in her kennel. I was soooo excited. We played for a long time until she feel asleep in my lap. I laid her on our bed hoping she would stay asleep so I could fold the huge pile of laundry on our bed and clean the house as well. She was out till Taylor came home. I found myself tip toeing around so I wouldn't wake her! Haha  Last night I didn't have the energy to cook dinner so Taylor and I splurged and got Chinese takeout ( which was horrible!). We have laughed at ourselves because we are very paranoid parents! We have to remind ourselves she is a D-O-G (we just don't like to tell her that)! haha Last night we took her out to go potty and two girls from across the street came over and wanted to see Teal. Taylor and I have been really paranoid about Parvo ( a disease that will kill puppies if they have not gotten all their shots) so we nonchalantly asked if they had any dogs and they didn't so we were like whooo. The little girl wanted to take her home..haha! All she wanted to do was hold her too. We finally told them we had to go feed her and the little girl wanted to come feed her. She really didn't want to leave. We told them that we would be out this weekend so if they wanted to come over they could. So we will probably have a visiter every afternoon from now on and this weekend. Haha She is a little butterball and I love her to death!! She is so neat to just watch. Wish all of yall could meet her.

Tealy is HOME!!

                                                                  Our Family!

Teal's first days at home have been great ones! We pretty much were in the car all yesterday riding back from Estancia (where we got her) and then we had to head down to T's job site to check the water tank! She got to explore the house for a while and then explored the job site! I think she is loving her new home. Last night was a test of patience. We went to bed early because we had gotten up at 6:00 to go get her and we thought she would be tired and sleep well..... that didn't really work as planned. Ha So at 9:15 she was pooped so we put her in her kennel ( her "castle") which was in our room. At 10:00 she started barking, pouting, and squealing. I took her out and she didn't have to go potty so we went back to bed. Well from 10:00 to 11:00 she barked, pouted and squealed again but this time for an HOUR! Taylor and I both looked like Owen Wilson in "Marly and Me" with our pillows folded over our ears! haha So after the hour of barking, pouting, and squealing we moved the kennel, with her in it, into the bathroom. We shut the door and turned on the ipod. She soon went back to sleep. She got up 1 more time around 1:15 and stopped barking after 10 minutes. At 6:00 we ended up just getting up with her and playing with her. We had to head back down to Oregrande to check the water on the job site this morning. Teal shared the driver seat with T and slept there and back.

 When we got home Chelsea, David, Mrs. Roberts, and Steven came by on their way home to meet Teal. She loved being loved on and cuddle with them all. It was great seeing the Roberts because it was like a little taste of home once again! Hopefully tonight will be a better night! haha

                           After her first bath!

A taste of the BORDER!

So yesterday, I decided my chicken pesto, salads, country ribs, and salmon croquettes were getting a little old, so I thought I would try to make something different. I had put a whole chicken in the crock-pot yesterday morning and came up with the idea of chicken enchiladas! So I started looking online and found this real easy recipe. I wanted to share it because it is something different and GOOD. Oh! and It is also REALLY EASY!

Chicken Enchiladas Recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast meat
• 1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans, drained (I used Black Beans)
• 6 (6 inch) flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream cheese and salsa. Cook, stirring until melted and well blended. Stir in chicken and pinto beans. Fill tortillas with the mixture, roll and place into the prepared baking dish. Spread cheese over the top. Cover with aluminum foil.
3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with your favorite toppings such as lettuce and tomatoes, or sour cream.

I served it with just chips and queso dip.

Tealy Grace Thorn

Meet Tealy (Teal) Grace Thorn! We are so excited about picking up our new little baby on Saturday (April 17th). We have been puppy proofing the house and getting our home already for her. We battled back and forth about her name and finally decided on Tealy, but we will call her Teal ( for those of you who aren't hunters "Teal" is the name of a duck like a "mallard." We are picking her up on the 49th day and will begin puppy preschool when she comes home! haha For those of you who have had labs, we are both reading "Water Dog" and "Game Dog" written by Richard Wolters to get prepared. This is still kind of a surprise that we are getting her this soon but it also fell into our laps and we couldn't be happier. Taylor and I had been researching for about a month now and we couldn't find anywhere near here that had labs. Thursday he came home with one website he had found that had one black female left! I called the breeder and she explained that there was a lady who was a teacher that was coming to look at her on Sunday. The only problem is the teacher wanted the breeder to keep the puppy till she was out of school. The breeder didn't think that was fair to the puppy so she allowed us to come look at her Saturday. Mom went with us and we just all fell in love. The teacher ended up just wanting to wait on a puppy so we were able to put a deposit down on her. Taylor is real big on getting her the 49th day so that would be this Saturday! The breeder said we could get the pick if we drove up there again to pick her up. We said, "We will see you Saturday!" We are soooooo excited. There will be many updates so get ready!

Mom First Visit :)

Mom, T, and I had a wonderful week together. It went by way too fast though!! It was so great to see Mom at the airport on Wednesday that we both cried when we saw each other, which was expected. Mom and I went to Costco in El Paso before heading up to Alamogordo. I took her by the "The" fence which divides Mexico from the U.S. It is crazy how different it looks and it is just several feet away. When we arrived in Alamogordo, she finally got to see our house and the town for the first time! T came home shortly after we got home and we grilled out steaks. It was so great to have mom sit at our kitchen table and enjoy a meal with us. On Thursday, we headed up to Ruidoso where we shopped in all the little stores. We enjoyed chatting and catching up while riding up the mountain. Mom loved the beautiful countryside. When we arrived in Ruidoso we ate at this quaint little cafe, The Buttery. It was so good!

 We headed back home and stopped by the pistachio ranch where we tasted all these different flavored pistachios! They were delicious. We thought the huge pistachio was hilarious because all we could think of was the huge peach in Clanton, AL.

We grilled out again and made chicken pesto for dinner. Friday, we headed to Las Cruces so we could go to Bed Bath and Beyond and find some curtians. We had a successful trip and headed back home. Mom loved the scenery all around us. Taylor got off work early on Friday so he was able to spend some time with us too. For dinner we headed to our new favorite spot, Pizza Patio. We sat outside and enjoyed some great pizza!

 Saturday we drove up to see the puppies in Estancia, NM. We were all very impressed with the ranch and decided to put down a deposit for our new little puppy! I felt bad that we drove all that way with mom being here, but if we hadn't we wouldn't have been able to get our new little baby. Mom was so glad to meet her anyways and we just made a great trip out of it. We got back later that afternoon and mom wanted to just hang out at the house and watch the sunset since it was her last night. We hated to head to the airport, but we had to go back to reality. It was hard to watch mom walk away and go through security. It was a little taste of home and it made me miss all of our friends and family. We are excited about Mom AND Dad coming out in June to visit though. It will be here before we know it. We will be heading to White Sands and Cloudcroft (the two most popular attractions in Alamogordo that we didn't even take mom to!) when they are here. They will get to meet our new little addition as well. We couldn't ask for better parents. It is tough being way out here, but we know they will always be there for us. We love yall Mom and Dad!

Mom's favorite son-in-law!!

He has Risen!

The Easter Bunny came!!

I am behind once again...oops! Taylor and I had a wonderful first Easter together this year. It was a special time for us. There was no family (obviously) around to spend it with, but it was awesome just spending it with each other. We enjoyed drinking coffee and eating breakfast together before heading off to church. We went to the 11:00 service at Bethal Baptist church, which is where we have been going  lately, and enjoyed their Easter service. We came home, ate lunch, and cleaned out the garage. Mom's visit was our motivation to get the garage in some sort of order. After cleaning the garage, T and I enjoyed a nice bike ride around town. After the ride, we came home and enjoyed a great dinner together. We are so thankful for each other. I couldn't ask for a better husband and I couldn't ask for a better BEST FRIEND!

                             A clean organized garage (the bikes will soon be hanging)