Doggie Dash 2009 - 9 days to go

Just a reminder Lavi and I have joined the Pdxdog.com team for the Oregon Humane Society Doggie Dash 2009. On May 9th, we will walk the 2-mile course as a fundraiser for the Oregon Humane Society.

We greatly appreciate any donation you can give. Click here to go to Leigh and Lavi's Doggie Dash page.

**Edited 5/1**
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! We have reached our goal with still a week to go!! You guys rock!!

Delta Society lunch

I had a great time at the Delta Society lunch and am really excited to get Lavi and I certified as Pet Partners. I think she will make an amazing therapy dog, especially with kids. I also love the idea of "Reading to the dogs" at our local library. Basically, we would sit in a corner with a child while they read to her.

Susan and I did get to meet Rojo, the Theray Llama.

Here is his website, Rojo the Llama.

Taste of the Nation 2009

It is hard to believe it has been over a year since I volunteered for the Share our Strength Taste of the Nation event. This year Jen, Michelle and I were upgraded from garbage girls to ticket sales. Let me tell you, it was much nicer being in "front of the house" minus the rain that came pouring down mid-way through the event.

Although most of our time was suppose to be handing out passes, there were enough of us that we could enter the event by 6:45ish (plenty of time to make sure we got to taste almsot everything before they ran out).


This time around, my plan of attack was not well thought out. Since we only thought we had 15-20 min, we wanted to try as much as we could before heading back to our ticket table. It started off nicely with some BBQ ribs, corn dogs, deviled crab salad, peruvian potatoes and tuna tartare. Then I ate a belgian sugar waffle with bacon, brie and basil - yumm. This vendor (Bread and Ink Cafe) also had a dessert waffles with a coffee mousse. It was excellent but now I had moved from savory to sweet........my next mistake was eating a bland salmon-cucumber round and then pickled mackeral! All of things I enjoy seperately but when you are attempting to try everything in a short time span - not so good. I was finally able to get some water and some coffee before heading back to the table.

When we arrived back at the ticket tent - yikes...it was pouring!! There were rivers running through our stuff and into Michelle's purse.


After a little while, we were sent back inside to see if we could help out elsewhere. We took that as - "Go have fun!" At this point, I was over savory and still had many desserts to try. I was a little suprised to see how many cupcakes there were for the taking. We have two exclusively cupcake stores in town and then another restaurant did cupcakes too. Here is one of them, Saint Cupcake, with my favorite of the night - toasted coconut.



After some more wine, we definately felt we got our "money's worth"...even though we did not shell out the $75 ticket price. And thanks to the brilliant minds at Baker and Spice and their "take away bags", I was able to enjoy a rhubarb galette for breakfast this morning.

It was a good time again but next year I am going about this culinary experience very differently!!!

Lavi Does Cannon Beach

It was a beautiful day at the coast yesterday.


We stopped at Ecola State Park and decided to do an "easy" 2.5 mile hike. Easy was the phrase used in our guide but whoever thinks a 1.25 mile ascent is easy might be a little nuts. Needless to say, I was a bit worn out but knowing the other half was downhill kept me going. Matt and Lavi were fine. I guess having four feet makes a difference.



Next we went to Haystack rock to look for nesting tufted puffins. Unfortunately they nest on the ocean side of the rock but we did get to see some as they flew around.



Lavi also met a nice fisherman...


And suprisingly another type of puffin that isn't usually found here in Oregon.

Tulip fields

Since Matt is home this week we are trying to do some fun spring things together. We decided to go see the tulip fields in Woodburn, OR...plus we could bring Lavi.












Who knew a tulip could been unhappy? I would never have thought....
Sad tulip...


Happy tulips...

1st agility trial

Unfortunately I did not get any photos of Lavi and I in the ring. I was a little bit preoccupied to ask anyone during our first run. Here she is in her crate waiting for her turn.



I am very proud of my little girl and her effort during our first time in the ring. In the beginning she started to do her "zooming" (that is when she takes off and starts running at full speed around the ring and then stops and tries to play catch me if you can)-totally disregarding the course and my instructions. After a few second of that, I told her to go into the tunnel and she did and came back to me. That was huge!! She started doing several obstacles and then she ran to the "table" before our time was up. We had 30 seconds to do as many obbstacles as we could to score points, then a buzzer goes off and she has 5 sec to go to the table...but if they touch the table before the buzzer, the run is over. She hit the table at 22.32 seconds and we only had 13 points at that time (we needed 19 to qualify). Oh well. I am sooo proud of her for coming back to me and getting on course.

We did try a second run a few hours later where there are only 10 obstacles. Well, that one did not go so well. She started "zooming" once her collar was removed and would not focus on the course, so I left the ring and she followed me out.

All in all, I would say her first trial was a success. We have A LOT to work on (like focus) but I really think she enjoyed herself out there. I had fun when she was listening to me.

Here we are chillin' at the trial.



Then on Sunday, we dragged Matt to the NW Pet and Companion Animal Fair. There were tons of rescue dogs and cats for adoption, vendors and activities. Lavi got lots of treats (that she pushed away with her nose) and we picked up many food samples as well.

Here is Matt and Lavi before we headed in to the fair.


Lavi loves having her daddy home!

Feeling the Devils spirit

I wanted to post this photo of Namir again. GO DEVILS!!!!

My long lost husband

Here is Matt - somewhere in Northeastern Nevada. Brrr.

Lavi beach layouts

Here are a few layouts I finished this weekend. I have been dying to scrap these pictures because they are so cute. We took these in 2007 at Coronado dog beach in San Diego. Lavi was about 1 year old.





Materials used: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey and Pink Paislee patterened paper, American Crafts thickers, Pink Paislee script letter stickers, misc gems and trim, distress stickles and chalk ink.

A great day

Today is a great day. Besides that is warm and sunny, it is Namir's 11th birthday!!! I never even dreamed this day would come but by focusing on the day by day, here we are :)

He is having a perfect day with the sun filtering in a number of windows at any given time, as well as the pinches of fish flakes he has been nibbling on.


We also took a little stroll in the backyard and admired the amazing blossom tree!


Lavi is even getting in on the action. What a great lil sis.

Lavi's new crate

Lavi got a new soft crate to take with us to agility trials. I seem to have bought one that is quite big but she likes it...as does the cat.