Ava

If you have read any of my posts in the past, you have probably seen a picture of my puppy... Today is her birthday, and I wanted to share the last year of her life with you. Because she is pretty awesome, and a constant part of my life... The longest I have been away from her is 8 hours when I left her home one day instead of bringing her to the barn with me...  Plus I'm a pretty lucky puppy owner because I have been able to know her for her entire life... ANYWAY... this is my puppy:

 

Day 1 - Guinea Pig stage... Still wet... not all the puppies are born yet. Ava is the brown one drinking... infront of the brown one with white on her. There were 9 all together... NINE!!!... Poor Cori (the mom)

Look at that big butt.. No wonder she ended up being the biggest puppy in the the litter!

This picture makes me smile EVERY SINGLE TIME... and it melts my heart and brings a little tear to my eye...

"seriously... stop taking my picture"

Ava makes a good pillow

Puppy nap time!

She was the first one to be able to get out of the puppy stall... climbed her way over 2 bales of hay. Sometimes she just chilled out on top of them.  Fun fact- she used to ride on the bale of hay that I was lifting into the wheelbarrow when she was this size... She STILL tries to go for hay bale rides some days. Except that now she is almost bigger than the bale of hay.

ABOVE: back view

BELOW: front view

<3 Long day of work <3

Tippy Supervising Puppy-Play-Time

Icicles don't make very good bones

First collar... and she was not very stoked about it!

It's pretty awesome when you get to cuddle with your brother...

... and your friend Scarlet

...Or both of them...

First hike

Trying to master getting out of the car by herself (its a long way down)

Helping in the kitchen

Playing in the mud  (that face is priceless)

stealing Fire-wood from the stack when you have perfectly good bones and dog toys to chew on... not cool

...helping at work...

"Hiking" at Barrier Lake (and by hiking, I mean, we intended to hike, but instead sat on the beach and let the dogs run around in the sand)

 Sourdough Bread AND Croisont assistant(s)

Sibling love (notice Ava's paw on Wilson's back)

Meeting her real Bio-daddy

CUDDLES.

"Helping" move hay during a wind storm

"Hey Carl, 'sup?"

"Helping" my mom make Lefse

Tasting the Lefse... It was Ava approved

Bath time... SO not impressed... EVERY time she has a bath... She tolerates it, but that is all.

WINTER... (was) here...

The best decision I have made in a while was taking Ava home with me... She is my best friend, and constant companion... We go everywhere together (to home, to work, to sleep... not shopping though , the store people would frown upon that).  There will be a ton more pictures of her on here... AND on intsagram... my new favourite iPhone addiction... FOLLOW ME THERE:

wlizardbreath

September 2011 Daring Baker Challenge = FRESH, FLUFFY, FRENCH

I was so thrilled when the challenge this month was Croissants, As they are on my baking bucket list (see for yourself). So I finally had an excuse to make them. Although, it would've been easier in a cold-weather spell.... Can't wait to try this again in the winter, now that I have done it once, I can learn from my mistakes. Not that there were many mistakes, They tasted AMAZING.

Thanks for the great Challenge Sarah!

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!



In the recipe notes, Sarah included a link to a Julia Child video on YouTube, which was VERY helpful, and pretty entertaining. I had just watched Julie and Julia a few days before I got this challenge also! Great Timing.



As Usual, I'm going to send you to the Daring Kitchen website to find the pdf file of this months challenge. Sarah included a ton of step by step photo's that were very helpful.




My Croissants didn't last long at all. We ended up eating half of them right after they were done baking, and then the rest for breakfast the next morning. I can't wait to make these again! Again, Thanks Sarah for giving me a reason to finally make Croissants!

Hiking Trip pics, and Spanikopita

Hiking.... We actually didn't end up hiking. We didn't leave the house until about 11, and it is about an hour Drive out to K-country... And It is the long weekend, so we couldn't decide on a trail that wouldn't be packed with people, and that neither of us had Hiked before... So it was more of a road trip/sit at the beach.

BUT neither of us has been to Barrier Lake, just driven by it... So we stopped, found a chill beach spot away from the masses of people and let the dogs run around and play.
Just over that rock ridge on the left side of the pic, is a little inlet, and there were tons of people set up on the beach... Nobody climbed over the ridge to this beautiful peaceful area.
Alberta Oasis is the first thing that came to our mind when we were looking at our pics when we got home last night.

Wilson got hit in the head multiple times with bugs, but he kept going back for more. Nothing like the wind blowing through your ears. (I actually have video of him getting hit in the head with Bugs)




Ava thinks Road Trips are awesome!



This is part of Mount Kidd... Its a pretty awesome mountain. If you are in Alberta, in Kananaskis, go and stare at it for a while. Its gorgeous.




I know the water looks really nice, But it is FREAKIN' cold! And both of us are used to cold water... Usually your body adjusts to it pretty quick, and it doesn't seem so cold... But it just stayed cold. So no swimming for anyone,

Here is the Wikipedia info on Barrier Lake



SPANIKOPITA (as promised)

I didn't use a specific recipe, and I didn't write down what I made, So I'm going to send you to the YouTube videos I watched to get the idea for my spanikopita. I put mint in it from my garden, and I really wish I hadn't. But that is more of a taste preference than anything. Next time I make this (and it will be soon) I will probably just stick to Spinach and Feta... stick to the KISS rule (keep it simple stupid)
However you make this, It will probably be delicious! even with the mint in it, it was amazing.

Spanikopita YouTube Video #1
Spanikopita YouTube Video #2