Steve's Boards

Steve took the first part of the board exams on June 15th. He studied hard, and got a great score. He didn't score as high as he wanted, but I think he did great!

We went out for sushi to celebrate. We live within walking distance of a great little sushi place.

I'm so proud of Steve! I am also super excited that Steve is half way through medical school!

Helo's First Month

Here is picture overload. But our blog book is the only way I print pictures! Helo has become the neighborhood dog. One of our neighbors was over the other day and said "It's pretty obvious y'all don't have kids with how many pictures you take of that dog!" Guilty. I take too many. But I love him! And I love my camera.

Here is Helo at 8 weeks, after one full week in his new home.

Goofy pup!

Steve is so obsessed with him. It is fun to watch the two of them play together.

Helo caught onto potty training really fast (crate train your dog!!). Within one week, he got use to going to the door and going back to our door to go inside. This isn't to say he didn't have accidents in the house, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Labs and Golden Retrievers both love water. Steve decided he wanted to put him in the bath to see if he loved the water. He did not. He whined the entire time, and tried to climb out of the tub.

We took Helo to the vet, and our vet told us to go ahead and start walking him. Here is Helo on his first walk!

Helo at 9 weeks! Little fur ball.

He loves tight spots (like every dog!) This is where he likes to nap when he is not in his crate.

I really hate dogs licking my face. But I read it helps the puppy bond to his owner, so I try to suck it up.

He LOVES sticks!

Helo at 10 weeks. What a difference two weeks makes!

He is so good at knowing his area. He stops right at the curb because he knows he is not allowed in the street.

Getting big!

Helo is so easy to train. One of the reasons we picked this breed. He was sleeping through the night within two weeks. He stopped having accidents after a month. He knows how to sit, stay (somewhat), and lie down (somewhat). He is the best little puppy!

Helo Puppy Dog Jones

Steve and I decided we wanted a dog before we even decided to get married. We wanted to get one as soon as we got to Harrogate, but the timing wasn't right. We were both too busy. We decided last December that we would get one summer of 2013, when we moved for rotations.

We had many discussion about which breed to get. We thought about a Weimaraner, Ridgeback, or a Labrador. I really wanted a Golden Retriever, but Steve doesn't like long haired dogs.

One day I had a marvelous idea- a Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix. I asked Steve what he thought, and he was all for it. I started looking for them online, but they didn't seem to exist! We finally went back to looking for a Yellow Lab.

When I was in Utah for graduation, I had one afternoon with nothing to do so I looked on ksl.com at dogs. And there it was! Posted six hours before I looked- Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix puppies!! It just seemed so meant to be!! The puppies were born on April 13th. They were three weeks old, which meant he would be ready to come home just a couple of weeks after we would move to Memphis. Perfect timing!!

My wonderful mother agreed to drive all the way up to Eden to look at the puppies. I was in love right away. After about an hour of talking to the owner, and talking to Steve on the phone, I put a deposit down. We even got pick of the litter! The owner helped me pick out the one he thought would be the best.

This is the one I picked!

 We had a hard time deciding how to get the puppy to us. My dad was kind enough to offer to go pick him up in Eden. Then we had some friends who were in Utah and driving back to Harrogate who offered to drive the puppy with them. We really can't thank my dad and the Allens enough!!

My dad picked him up on May 29th. He was six and a half weeks old. We had to wait till June 1st until he finally got to us! It was a long wait. My dad sent us this cute picture, which made it even harder to wait for him!

 We got to FaceTime with the little guy in the short time my dad had him.

He got to us late Saturday night. He was so tiny and cute!

We decided to name him Helo. Steve came up with it. It is after the Sun God, Helios. It also mean "yellow" in some Chinese dialect.

He has been the sweetest dog! Here are some pictures of his first week:

I promise this blog won't become devoted to Helo. Eventually I will post other things. But for now, there will be a lot of Helo posts! We are just so happy to have him in our family!