Lucy's First Swim

Lucy took her first real swim yesterday afternoon and she loved it!  She didn't really know how to fetch the dummy while in the water, but she would just motor around out there until finally we called her back into shore!

West Jordan City Library

Well, this may not be interesting to all of you non-book-obsessed people, but I was pretty excited.  West Jordan just built a brand new public library (it opened a month or two ago).  When you return your books, they have this super cool automated machine that reads the barcodes off of the books, then sorts them into piles to then be reshelved.  You can't see it very well in this picture, but believe me, it's pretty crazy!

If only I had one of these at my school library!

Best of Luck to Waffle

Lucy's older (and wiser and better-behaved...) sister, Waffle, is going in to Professional Training next week.  We want to wish her the best of luck (and also let her know how cool her pink Gentle Leader is!).

Lucy being "good" at Salt Lake puppy class.
(good is quoted because, well, she wasn't really, but she was trying ;))

Waffle and Lucy saying their goodbyes.

Good luck Waffle!!

Mattress Tunnel

The night before "the big move": at least the dogs were able to have fun despite the mess!

Go Aggies!

Well, today is my last day on campus.  It is definitely a bitter-sweet feeling.  I have had a great job, fun classes, and just love the atmosphere here at Utah State. But, of course I realize that there is a time and place for everything and Shaun and I need to move onto the next big thing in life.

While Lucy has never gone to classes with Shaun or me (she was too young during Spring semester), she has spent numerous hours on campus with me for my job.  I've had four CCI dogs on campus: Zeeland, Edna, Cheri, and Lucy.  For the first three, we made sure we took some fun pictures of them on campus before turn-in.  Obviously, since we are moving, we snapped some photos last night of Lucy around USU.

On the "A" in front of Old Main

Doing business in a campus golf cart.

Being an attentive student.

Once an Aggie, always an Aggie :)

Packing

I was doing a little packing today at lunch and Lucy wanted to make sure that we didn't leave her behind in Logan.  We'll just need to make sure that this box is labeled "Salt Lake" and not "DI" ;)

Red Castle Lake Trip

Last week we went on a backpacking trip up to Red Castle Lake in the Uintas.  Besides a few adrenaline-producing encounters with moose, we had a great time!  Here are several pictures of the dogs and all the beautiful scenery:

Two happy campers on the trail.

While the trail was very scenic,  a good portion of it was surrounded by
numerous dead trees (previous forest fire?).  However, once we got to the lake area,
all the trees were healthy and beautiful.

Additionally, the trail was extremely rocky, but there were also tons of
mud holes, streams, and small rivers that the dogs were more than happy to "cross"
(by cross, I'm mean splashing and wading through).

Our first glimpse of Red Castle in the distance.

Taking a break at the top of the switchbacks.

My photos don't do justice to the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen.
(And I've seen some big ones, like Niagara...)

Red Castle Lake

The weather ended being perfect for hiking: it was overcast but not too chilly.
We also got rained on a little at night, but our tent kept us nice and dry.

There were, however, a zillion mosquitoes.
But thanks to deet (I <3 deet), we didn't get a single bite!

Camping at the base of Red Castle.

Funny/Not So Funny Side Story: It was early the morning we left and because of the three hour car ride, I was wearing flip flops and had just grabbed my shoes to throw in the car.  Look really closely at both of these "pairs" and you may notice something odd...basically I hiked in a mismatched pair-but boy was I grateful that I had at least grabbed a left and right shoe!

Cheri swimming to her heart's content.

Please, please, please throw the stick in the water!!

Lucy dipping her paws in the lake.

Again, my photo skills do little justice to these cool rocks all along the path.
They have this lime-green moss mixed with other kinds of fungus that make
the rocks look like they were covered in camo.  

On our way home :)