In Which I Turn Into a "Dog Person"

The location of our most recent Branch* activity.  I live in a truly gorgeous area.  Come visit me!

You guys.  I have totally turned into one of THOSE people.   I am now one of those people who is so in love with my dog that I take her everywhere with me.  I seriously take her to the bank, to the recycling center, to shuttle the girls around, to take Joel to work...everywhere I can.  I hate leaving her.  Kind of pathetic.

And I am not even one bit embarrassed about it. 

I had a tough winter this last year.  I was in a pretty dark place mentally and it was really difficult for me to even haul myself out of bed and function.  I don't want to belabor the point, but it was hard.  At one point, the Maestro gave me a priesthood blessing, and in it he said that I should get a dog.  Even though I'd been wanting one for some time, I'd held off because the Maestro himself wasn't totally on board.  But, after that blessing, things came together pretty quickly and within a month or so, I had Puccini.

And she truly has been a gift sent from God directly to me.  It's amazing how she has lightened my life, as corny as that is.  And not just mine--the girls' lives and Joel's are happier because of her, too.  The joy she has brought to our family amazes me every day.  She's so smart and full of personality, and even though that means that she steals my glasses and has now ruined them (it's okay, I was up for a new pair, and she knows better now) or that she turns into crazy dog as soon as the sun sets, she fits perfectly into our family dynamic.

All of that to say that, yes, I'm now a freaky dog lady and I brought my puppy to our branch* activity the other day.  And now I am about to flood my blog with pictures of her.  Along with some ducks.  I like taking pictures of ducks.  And I suppose I'll throw in a few of my offspring for good measure. This is Puccini's first swim!  We have taken her out to the Lake Superior beaches, but she has been terrified of the waves and won't go in.  This lake (which is the backyard of a couple in our branch) is much calmer, and when she saw the girls were in there, she decided to go in after them.And now she's swimming back to me, because, as it turns out, she isn't a huge fan of swimming.  But it's so amazing to me how dogs just know how to do it.She swam a few more times, but mostly she just watched the girls like a hawk from the shore.And there were ducks.  This momma and her ducklings hung around all afternoon/evening.  They weren't scared of people at all.  They tried to stay clear of the dogs, though.Meanwhile, Puccini's sister (remember how our friend got her littermate?) came, and those two ADORE each other.  It is so fun to watch them play together. (Puccini is the lighter colored one, her sister's name is Daisy.)
I also love watching these three little sweeties play (plus one of their friends).
Life is good.
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*Branch-A small congregation of the LDS church, used when there aren't enough members in an area to make up an entire ward, which is the standard congregation.