Happy Birthday Casen

Today is Casen's 6th birthday...I feel very honored to have spent the last 3 years of his life as his "Alyssa." Together, Damon and I have attended Casen's 3rd, 4th and 6th birthday parties, we missed his 5th because we were on our way to pick-up Shasta. Casen missed us at the party so much that he called us on his way home to tell us that he got a guitar. Damon wins the prize for attending Casen's birthday celebrations...he was there when Casen was born and he attended the 1st and 2nd parties. He is very proud of that fact and made sure that I included it in this blog posting.

Casen has been such a joy to watch grow up into a little boy. He is funny, smart and always asks good questions. He is full of admirable energy and is willing to take on a new adventure. He will always hold a special place in our heart, afterall, he did carry our wedding rings during our ceremony (the video of him is precious and priceless)! Here are some pics of our favorite 6 year old throughout the years..

The last two pictures Michelle took today before Casen headed to school. He was very excited to open his present of new rainboots, especially since it rained all day long today. As always, we look forward to spending future family celebrations with Casen and the rest of his family.

Happy Anniversary Shasta

Today it has been one year since Damon and I met this sweet face:

Damon and I traveled to Idaho at this time last year to pick up our little Shasta. We had been contemplating getting a puppy for several months and our journey ended in Twin Falls Idaho at the Snake's River kennel. Damon's dad found the kennel online and was impressed with their pointing guarantee for each of their pups. So, we put a deposit on the next litter, which was due early December.

This is the first dog in the Morelli family that is from the "outside," since they had lots of labs on the ranch during their breeding days. In fact, Damon received Bud for his sixth grade graduation and Bud and Cindy had 2 litters together. They produced alot of puppies all over Sonoma County and Cy is the last puppy remaining. So finding the right kennel was very important, to say the least.

We decided that we wanted a black female, to compliment our 9 year old at home. Unfortunately, we didn't have pick of the litter, in fact we would receive the last black female that the other owners didn't pick. At first I was a little disappointed to not have the opportunity to see which puppy connected with me, however, like it always does, it worked out for the best. The owners at the kennel said that the puppy with the maroon ribbon didn't like any of the other visitors, but she lit up when we walked in. And they also said the "maroonie" was their favorite. Well, she has turned out to be our favorite too.

I feel so thankful that Shasta picked us to be her parents, she is a bright point of my day and we adore her energy, her wit and her endless entertainment. We have also loved watching Cy and Shasta turn into quick friends...Cy's habits (some good and some not so good) have rubbed off on Shasta...he is already leaving his legacy in his little sister. Her name is something else that is meaningful to us; we named her Shasta after Mount Shasta near Burney Falls, where we got engaged almost three years ago. We love that her name has such a connection with the beginning of our family.

And here is our Shasta awaiting to meet her new mom and dad:

We brought home another puppy for a friend, so they kept each other company on the long ride home. Shasta and Beau were all cuddles on the trip home from Idaho (they had worn themselves out from crying)...we drove straight through to CA, we were so anxious to introduce Shasta to her new house.

At one of the many stops along the trip...this time in the snow, look how tiny she was!

When we arrived at our house, my mom and dad were here bearing gifts for their first official grand-daughter. My dad loves dogs...he always had them growing up. My parents had a black lab named Marty when they first got married, but he got run over by a car after 6 months and they never got another dog. I think that Shasta reminds them of their first child as a married couple!

This is on Shasta's second day at her new house, right before she met her big brother..again, look how tiny!

Although I can still hold her (she only weighs 40 pounds), I definitely cannot carry her in my carhart jacket while on our nightly walk! In one of my many dog training books that I read, it said that you should carry your puppy around with you like you would a child. Apparently, it makes a stronger bond between the puppy and owner. So, I carried Shasta alot when she was little and she still loves to be held. I think that it is a big reason why she is so cuddly too!

Shasta's kennel has asked Damon and I to be a reference for their dogs. Of course we agreed, and here is an excerpt from the e-mail that Damon sent the owners this evening:

"Today is Shasta's 1 year anniversary of being with us, so she gets to sleep with us tonight in bed. WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER! We might get to see you when my dad comes to pick up his puppy. Shasta would love to see where she came from. Talk to you soon- Damon, Melissa, Cy & Shasta"

I love that Damon used capitals and an exclamation point. And right now, I am listening to my Damon sleep while our two kids are laying in between us. Shasta is very excited to not be sleeping in the garage this evening...she deserves it.

Celebrating Casen at Cal Skate

After visiting with Lily yesterday, I headed to Casen's 6th birthday party at Cal Skate. I cannot believe that Casen will be 6 on Thursday...time flies!

Can you believe that the party next to us was for a birthday boy named Casey? The announcer even said the wrong name during the day!

Casen's cake was Scooby Doo themed...lately he is really into Scooby Doo and Star Wars. Funny, how some cartoons/movies/shows never really go out of style.



This picture of Casen tearing open a present is too cute...you can see the excitement in his face:



]I was very impressed that Michelle's dad got on roller skates...what a fun grandpa!

Damon, with his skates on, and me, with my heels on...I liked having him so much taller than me! (Normally he is still taller than me with heels, which I adore, much better than having a shorter counterpart.)

Little Trenton was having some issues with the attention being on his big brother...he carried around some of Casen's presents (see picture below) and almost blew out his birthday candles.

This is baby Ella, Keith and Gail's newest arrival, who is about 8 months old. She was super good during the party and let me take lots of pictures of her. Look at those eyes!

And this is little Wade...poor baby had so much fun with his skates on that he cried and cried when his dad took them off.

And then he tried to put them on by himself later...too funny!

Trenton had too much fun watching the big kids roller skate (when he forget that his big brother was getting all the attention!)

My dad bought Casen a big Hershey's bar, since that was the candy that Casen picked out for being so good during the fishing fiasco. Casen's cut is looking so much better, and he even had some stitches removed this morning. And I swear, this was the biggest smile that I captured on film all day (usually he was running around too fast for ol' me to catch up).

And to prove that Damon and myself actually attended the party, we took a picture with the birthday boy. Usually I am never in any birthday party photos, nor are Michelle's parents, so we took some "provable" pictures.

And, in case you were wondering, no I didn't go roller-skating. One of the dads dislocated his shoulder while skating and that is my official reason why I didn't go. Knowing me, and my health records, I would've done worse!

Meet Lily Kaye Quinn

Today I had the pleasure of being introduced to my dear friend Dana's newborn daughter, Lily. Morgan, Meredith, Lisa and I were able to spend some precious moments this morning relishing in the beauty of the miracle of life. Without more commentary...meet Lily Kaye Quinn:

And a wish for happiness and health for our dear Miss Lily...may each day be an adventure of love. I look forward to the future memories...