Penny learned how to sit!!!

Penny Update!!!

Mom and dad were AMAZING to watch our little bundle of joy while we cruised to Mexico. It was great to have a week of good sleep and no crying puppies. We were really excited to get back and see her though. I had weird dreams that when we got back she was full grown and we missed all of her cute puppiness. Luckily, she wasn't full grown but she did gain 3 pounds!!! She was so much bigger and she seems to be huge now. Luckily with her growing body comes a growing mind too! Jon and I decided to start giving her a treat every time she went outside and pottied. Well, she's caught on pretty fast. Now she runs to the laundry room and waits for us when she comes inside. We also decided to start teaching her how to sit. After just two days she is sitting on command without a treat. What a good girl!!! We do have a long way to go, but it makes me so excited that she is so smart with such a sweet little personality. Here are a couple of newer pictures of her! Her hair is starting to get lighter too.

She always does the little head twist...it's like she's saying 'huh!?'



LOVES the kitchen tile!



She's really good at the one armed, take it yourself picture pose.


I need to learn how to upload video, I have some great footage of her and Jon playing last night. So funny!!!

Until next time...

So much to update, so little time....

Where do I start. So much has happened in the past couple weeks. The majority of which has been spent on vacation! Which I definitely approve of. Let's start from the last post.

Jon and I celebrated our first year of marriage :) It is so hard to believe that a year has gone by already. Since our house was our present to ourselves...we took it pretty easy. Jon and I both had to work on Sunday too, so no out of town quick trip either. We just had a nice romantic dinner at Copper Creek Saturday night and then had our wedding cake top for desert. Sad to say it was awful. The frosting had detached itself from the cake and there was a 1/2 inch gap all the way around. We managed a few bites for photos sake then had cheese, wine and chocolate covered strawberries, yum! And yes, I did break out our champagne flutes and engraved knife and server for the occasion. I also tried to re-create our little toasting picture from the wedding, but that didn't turn out all that well.

Sunday through Tuesday was Passport Student Orientation. It was real long, but all my students showed up so I was really excited. No cancels so far! It was so great to see all the families that I've been working with, some for over a year, finally here and so excited. I can't WAIT till August Passport, Move-in and Welcome Week!!! Only a month to go...crazy.

Friday Jon and I left to go down to Lake Jackson and hang out with my family for the fourth of July. This was our first big trip with Penny and we were a little nervous how she would do in the car that long. Well, she did amazing!!!! She slept pretty much the entire way, and pottied every time we stopped for a break. good girl! I was most excited about her meeting Shiloh and Sophie. I knew that she and Sophie would be little pals and hit it off, and boy were they. They spent the entire weekend play fighting, tackling, pouncing, chasing. It was so fun to watch them, and a nice break from following Penny around the house for hours. That night we grilled out and Jeff and Margaret came over to hang out. It was great to catch up with them and have relaxing family time. On the fourth we just relaxed, mom and I shopped some sales, ate dinner at a family friends house, then went to watch fireworks. I have to give props to Lake Jackson, it was a pretty good show this year! Sunday we just relaxed and got last minute things for the cruise.

Speaking of the cruise...we had such a great time. It was super relaxing, so nice to get away for a while and have no worries except what to eat for dinner...oh yeah and my stupid sunburn. It was wonderful to hang out with Jon's family and go on a proper vacation with them. I think they enjoyed it too. I'm definitely up for another round of cruising, but we won't go on Carnival next time. A word to the wise, you get what you pay for. Anywho, I won't go into all the details now, but I'll post some pics from the trip soon.

Now it is back to work, I officially start my new position at ACU today. We'll see how things go...

Until next time.

Our newest addition to the family

She is finally here!! Saturday morning we went and picked up our new little bundle of joy, Penelope (Penny) Bruner. Jon and I were really nervous about meeting her for the first time, we hadn't really seen pictures of her since she was a tiny little 2 week old puppy. We went to the farmer's market in downtown Dallas to meet her breeder. (The farmer's market is amazing by the way! everyone needs to go there sometime and check out all the fresh produce and flowers, just awesome!) When he pulled her and her sister out of their kennel I started beaming. They were the cutest little puppies I have EVER seen. Unfortunately we had to choose between the two sisters, who looked identical. We seriously couldn't decide. Finally we made a decision and she said goodbye to her sister. Later we saw the another guy walking with the other puppy, I covered Penny's eyes so she wouldn't get sad. Saturday was a rough day for her and she slept a LOT. She finally perked up a little and we are starting to see her personality a lot more. She is really inquisitive, playful, smart and determined. But she is learning really fast and is already attached to us which I love. Here are some pictures!

cuddles


sleeping with daddy


tug of war


favorite toy "the beaver"



I'll have tons of stories to share, I'm sure. Jon and I are already having fun trading stories about her silly/cuteness. Hopefully you'll get to meet her soon!

Girls night out

Last night was super refreshing. After a long week me and a few gals from work hit the Warehouse up for a couple drinks. Although we were 4 of 8 people there for a majority of the night, and we could hardly hear for rave music blasting in the background, it was such a good time. There is something about sipping martini's with the girls every once in a while that reinforces our 'poshness'. After all, there are not many occasions in my life that I get to wear the fancy top I bought that one time cause it looked amazing, despite having nowhere to wear it to. Case and point, the floor length Grecian formal dress I bought Sunday which I'm already lamenting to have to take back. But Jon made me come to my senses. Stacey, Stacey, Ashley and I got in some great well-needed girl talk. Who would think that when you step into this place you are transported from Abilene, TX to an awesome chic place in some big city. It's a great feeling. Too bad the realization that these prices are ridiculous brings us down off of cloud 9 (no not the trashy strip club in Abilene), but it is worth it.

One thing to top of this night of pleasantry was seeing Kim Leedy's bachelorette party take place!!! It was great to see Cherry and Lauren Baker and the girls , it reminded me of my party back in the day. We decided that everyone should get more than one bachelorette party in their lifetime. We are now designating a once a month bachelorette party where we alternate being the 'bride'. Why not? You know you are jealous you didn't come up with the idea yourself, and yes you can come if you want. But you have to come to Abilene. Here is to more girls nights out to come. Cheers!

Jon=25

Today Jon turns the big two five. A quarter of a century! No big plans tonight, just a nice night at home. Maybe the new Terminator movie...we'll see.

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY JON!!!

New Job

Over the past few months I have felt really drained in my work and very unsuccessful. It has been a weird mental battle for me to keep working hard and not give up even though I know that it is highly unlikely that I will meet my enrollment goal in the fall. I've spent a lot of time in prayer about it because Jon and I just bought a house, so I couldn't quit. Plus there aren't a ton of jobs open right now. After a while, my big (higher up) boss approached me about taking a position that one of my coworkers, Ashley, left open. I was super skeptical because I knew how hard this job was on Ashley and the struggles she had, it did not sound appealing. But after a couple of long talks with my boss and big boss, I began to think that this might be a good change. Better than what I'm currently doing at least.

So, as of Monday I accepted a new job in the admissions office at ACU. I will now be the admissions counselor for pre-senior high school students. I am hoping that this will be a well needed refreshing change from what I am currently doing. My boss has promised me that this position is being recreated and he wants me to run with it and make it my own, which I am very happy to do! I am hoping to make this more of a marketing position, that was another promise made to me. Please keep me in your prayers because right now I really need a job that gives me purpose and that I feel I'm good at. I've been struggling to believe that I have the ability to perform and be good at my job. I hate that feeling! And in sales success is measured in black and white, not a good combination for me right now.

Also! Jon is up for a promotion at work. New hierarchical positions aren't created that often at ACU, so advancing in your career can take a long time. But it so happens that a new supervisor position opened up in Jon's department and he is in the running for it! :D We are keeping our fingers crossed that he gets it. If this falls through there is another guy that might be leaving, and we think Jon might get his job...so there may be a lot of changes happening for him too.

In case you haven't heard...

I am FINALLY getting a puppy. The wait has been long and arduous but it is almost here!! Unfortunately I was misleading in my last post about puppies, and we ended up getting something completely different. It is called a soft coated Wheaten Terrier. Here are a few pics for you to fawn over:

Teenager



Adult



'Show Dog' hair cut, not as cute



We have heard nothing but wonderful things since we started looking at them a while back. Our little girl will be ready two weeks from tomorrow!! Jon and I decided to name her Penny, short for Penelope (pending it goes with her personality) . I will definitely post some pics once we get her. I can't can't can't can't wait. YAY!!!!!