PUPPIES!!!

Jan 14,2016 PUPPIES were born! This is our first and last set of puppies. We have 6 beautiful dogs that have all been fixed except the two youngest Shih Tzu (from different places). Took them in to get them fixed and voila...puppies. 63 days later they finally came. Four were born which is a lot considering Shih Tzu usually only have 1-3.  Only three made it which was extremely sad.Here are some pictures of our babies. At the end is the link to the birth if you want to see it. Its edited so its only a couple minutes long. Didn't have to wait like I did. Excuse the Drumming sounds but apparently I am still working on my editing skills. Its suppose to be BACKGROUND music haha! Molly (the momma) is doing really well and I am proud of her. I only had to help with two so I was glad I was here. She is first time momma. I cant wait to see them grow up. Two of them are already spoken for and its not even been 24 hours:) Two great families that I am so thankful for anyways. Now we have had everything at the Ranch. Calves, Goats, Lambs, Kittens, Piglets, Horses, and now puppies. First and last batch but man aren't they so cute! Makes you almost want to keep one.

Subscribe by Google+, Bloglovin but email is best. Every week when they turn 1,2,3 weeks old I will be posting pictures. Who doesn't love seeing puppies grow up. Right now they look like little piggies or rats haha but they are super cute! ant wait to see what they end up looking like:)

Dating can be doing Chores, Right?

Are Chores considered a date? I think most people in the world would say no. They would want that romantic dinner and a movie date. Heck I love those too and when we have time we definitely do that too. Chores to us though CAN be considered a date. Especially when its a day that its just Ryan and I doing it. Everyday we have to feed our loving animals of course. Our 5 dogs live with us so that's easy. Its just feeding them, loving on them, brushing them out daily especially our little one Molly because she looks like a fluff ball. Its a date though when your husband picks you up in the cart and says, " Let's go for a ride". I love those days. I jump in the cart and off we go down the dirt road, holding hands, to go feed our cow Princess and all the horses. Usually we brush them and clean out their hooves too. This day we didn't bring the brushes and we really should of. Half the horses though it was fun to go rolling in the mud and looked a little on the crazy side ha! Princess our cow looked like she had gotten into the Hay barn because she had hay all over her. I really should of named her some secret agent name because she is always getting into stuff :)

I thought I would introduce you to our dogs....Most people wouldn't have 5 dogs in the house (two of them are rescues) but they are all house dogs. They have a large area that's fenced in to run and have fun but they sleep inside. I am one of those crazy people who steam cleans their carpet almost weekly if not bi weekly. Hey...we have a lot of dogs. I don't want anything smelling like dog. Plus we live in the country its not like they are running on grass and then coming straight into the house. All of our kids have dogs except Cassie because she is more of a cat person. She has a couple cats but they only come to her so I don't have any pictures of them on this trip lol.

This is Maggie. She is a Whippet Dog. They are like a Greyhound style dog but really small. When we saved her she was locked in a house for many weeks with no food. You could actually see all her ribs. It was horrible. She is sooooooooo sweet and loves to cuddle. And lets all admit it that she looks like Doby off of Harry Potter to me. Right? Right! Maggie is Jason's Dog.

Tell me She doesn't look like Dobby

Maggie and Molly

Ninja is Jackson's Dog. He seems like he is always smiling no matter what. He is a Border Collie-Chesapeake Bay Retriever Mix. We have had him now for 3 years. He is such a soft dog. We thought that would go away but it never did. He is Jackson's pride and Joy. I know when Jackson gets out on his own he is going to want to take Ninja...they are really close.

Jack's Dog Ninja

Jasper is our other Rescue. He is still a puppy even though he doesn't look like it. He is a Boxer/PitBull Mix. Its amazing how gentle he is to our newest puppy. We got Jasper in front of a Grocery Store. There was this couple who you could tell was on drugs or something, holding this super little puppy with a VERY big belly. They asked us for money to feed him. The poor puppy looked like he had a distended belly from not eating and was whinning. I looked at Ryan and instantly he knew. So he asked the couple to have the dog for 40 dollars cash. They gave him up right away. Bam...we had #4 dog. The kids thought we were crazy but loved him right away. Now he is so big! He is taken care of, loved and almost 7 months old. Jasper is Josh's Dog.

Our Rescue Dog Jasper

Our two puppies Jasper and Molly

Cassie and I share Molly. Cassie is more of a cat person but with so many dogs in the house its not a good idea. Plus I am not a cat box type of person. Molly we got just 2 months ago. She is our last and final dog. We got her because well to be honest....I missed my mom. Now that sounds crazy but my mom passed away from Cancer 4 years ago and she had a dog named Azuma that looked JUST like Molly. Azuma had passed on too. So in my thinking about my mom I decided I really wanted a puppy that was small and could cuddle with all the time. We found Molly and it was so meant to be because she looks like like Azuma. Cassie and I love her. We trade off with her all the time. Molly is a Shih Tzu and will only get to be 6 pounds. We were worried about her with the other dogs but she fits in great.

Molly

Sierra is Ryan's Baby. Sierra is 10 years old and we call her the old grouchy lady. She is a Great Pyrenees. She was the runt of the litter so she is pretty small for that breed. When I first started Dating Ryan 7 years Ago we used to fight about who she liked the most. Sierra is definitely Ryan's baby. Sierra has been there for Ryan for a lot of things. It was funny because when I first met my husband I remember someone joking with him calling him the Tin Man. I asked why they called him that and they said it was because he had no heart. Ok Let me just say first that Ryan is the most compassionate person. I didn't know they were joking as I didn't know him that well at the time. We had stopped at his house and that was the first time I met Sierra. We watched a movie and I watched him with her. Any man who is that kind to their dog and loving I knew had a huge heart. He couldn't hide his true self from me hahah! I mean geesh he even changed his voice as if talking to a baby to talk to Sierra. :)

Princess Sierra

Anyways somehow I went on and on about our dogs....You are probably bored now but hey...maybe my next post will be a better read...ha!

So back to the beginning...we went on a date to do chores. We drove to the other side of the Ranch, holding hands, in the cart. We went to feed our animals that are in the field. I laughed so hard with my husband. We talked and smiled and went to feed our animals.

I told Ryan to act like he was doing something ha!

Getting the hay

Ready for our ride

Princess looking at her Lunch

I think its a good thing to take any thing and turn it into a date. Hey why not? It doesn't have to be a Friday night. You don't have to go to a movie or a dinner. You can turn any event into a date really. Make it fun. Have that one on one time.......It was really fun and I got to get some pictures while I was there which is something I like to do. Plus I got out in the sun. Let me tell you I need that because in a month we are going on a Cruise and my skin looks like Milk.....I am afraid at this point that the fish will try and eat me while we snorkel ha!

Here comes Foxy and Elvis

They see the Hay

Foxy, Leroy, Jack and Elvis

Fat and Jack

Jack decided to roll in the mud

Hope you enjoyed our pictures. Please subscribe to my blog. Every month we have a giveaway. Go to my Starbucks blog a couple days ago and comment to maybe win the 20 dollar Gift Card. Who doesn't love a little something for free:)

A new family member

I am behind in writing because I have been so excited about the website that my friend Rachel and I have finally launched after working on it for four months. cushingstories.com

We have a new family member....meet Molly!

Ryan and I went to our old stomping ground to do some paperwork. Grandma Sally, Ryan's mom, so generously watched the kids for a couple days so we could make the trek to Placerville and get that done. THANKS MIL!!! Lets go back a little bit. My mother passed away four years ago and lately more than ever I have been really missing her. She used to have this dog named Azuma that was a Shih Tzu. So the other day I got the great idea to get one that looked just like Azuma but a girl. I don't know why I thought this would make me feel better but well....honestly....it does. I looked on Craigslist all the towns on the way to Placerville (which is a lot) and actually found one. She is a pure bred but we didn't get her papered so she wasn't as expensive. You know me....I like to save money.

We decided to leave early so we could spend the night at our good friends house Carla and Greg. They had a new puppy too so I knew she wouldn't mind if we picked one up along the way lol. We were going to get a hotel but Carla wouldn't let that happen. Made it better anyways since we could chat for awhile before the next morning when we had to do all our errands. My dad wasn't going to be home so I didn't want to bug my step mom since they go to sleep early anyways. Carla and I had a great time. Greg and Ryan are good friends too so they were laughing it up too. We went to Denny's which used to be our little stop when we wanted to get out with them and leave the kids at home. We can be a little rowdy sometimes because we laugh so much. It was a fun time! We talked and had fun watching the puppies be with each other.

The next day after our errands I knew my step moms birthday was coming up. We went and got her flowers, candy, balloons and a card. She loves Chocolate so that worked out well. I drove by the house three times but she was always out lol. I had told my dad we were coming but not to tell her because we wanted to surprise her. Finally we ended up just leaving it on the stoop for her to see once she got home. :)

All our paperwork got signed and we were off to head home. Ryan and I.....and Molly :) We tried waiting around town as long as possible so we could drive and go see my BFF Laura when she got off of work. I knew we wouldn't have much time since we were going to drive 6 hours home but I couldn't go through there without seeing her and her family. Her kids (my babies) loved Molly. They played with her the whole time and just had a blast. Wore her out for us for the drive home. I love seeing Laura. We have been friends since we were 12 years old. I cant believe its been 26 years of friendship and she still loves me haha! We didn't have tons of time to stay and it was almost dinner for the kids so we headed out with promises of them coming to the Ranch this summer to feed the new lambs and calves. I cant wait to see them!

Apparently driving home seemed too long so we called Grandma and asked if she would watch the kids till the next morning. She said yes. She is always so amazing and helpful. Seriously some days I don't know what we would do without her. She drives 3.5 hours just to help us. Anyways we decided to stay half way in Reno and do some food shopping the next day on the way home. I found this super cheap hotel room at Circus Circus for 29.00 for a King Suite. I know they do that so people will come and stay and gamble but....we don't gamble so we just got the great deal. Molly was behaving the whole time and we decided to give her a bath for the first time. Man oh man did she look different HA!

By the next day we headed off to home after doing food shopping and normal shopping of clothes for the kids. I swear we arrived 30 minutes before we had to get the kids and go to their basketball games. Only Jacksons team was playing this time but Joshua's class had the bake sale. Jacksons class had the feed of which we were working. It was a long couple of days but good ones. I miss my friends already but was so happy to see them even if for a very short time. I am glad we got Molly! While I was in Placerville I went to my moms grave and showed her my puppy. I also gave her a pepsi which is something my mother was so addicted too. She LOVED Pepsi! I know in my mind she is not there that she is in heaven but it felt good to be there and just say hello. I love and miss my mom. Now I have a little puppy that will stay little that reminds me of her everyday! Sounds crazy since we have other dogs.....but it makes me feel better.

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