VIsit from the Balint family!

Had a blast-from-our-recent-past today....

One of the couples from Hungary that we've really gotten to know over the last 7 years, and been pretty close to, stopped in to see us on their way to Vegas. Jozsef and Julika Balint. They are officially our first visitors from Hungary since we've been in the house.

It was really great to see them and visit for a bit. They admired the scenery and the backyard and we spent a little time getting caught up on life in Hungary.

Puppy buffet!

Can't help it. While I was wrapping up that last post, the puppies decided to tag team Ashton on the floor for a delicious mid-day snack....

New Vizsla Puppy

Well--back home from Colorado. Gave me a great chance to test the commute time should ( if luck happens to run my my way) I I actually get an offer. WOuldn't be too painful--1.5 hour flight from SLC to Colorado Springs, then a 25 minute drive to Pueblo. All in all, if I plan the flights right, I could be from Nephi to job in 4 hours.

But that's another story. I wish I felt better about the interviews. They got progressively better as the day went on, but who knows? There were some other strong finalists there with really impressive logistics backgrounds. In any case, I'll know in a few days.

On to happier news--we picked up our VIzsla puppy this morning--yes this makes two. This little guy is similar to Midnight, in that he has a purebred vizsla mom and a lab dad. Apparently breeding those two types together produces an uncommonly talented pointer/hunting dog who is also playful and good with kids. We haven't yet picked out his name. But now we are back to having two dogs, both within a week of age of each other.

Pics:


Here he is! One hour after getting here, he's already taking a break in the cool of a backyard bush shade.... The name is still a tossup. One popular version making the rounds this morning is "Jack Bauer". Hmmmmm.




Death Match: Two puppy enter--one puppy leave...



These two don't mess around. Interesting how right out of the birthing canal these little guys already have the genetic disposition to go for the throat when play-fighting. Nothing more serious than some initial nipping and biting, and playful tuggin'. You know--just getting to know each other. Much like southern cousins meeting for the first time at the family reunion...



All differences aside, they call it a draw and jaunt out to explore the backyard together....

I think we are going to have blast watching these two grow up together. Cute little pups who will grow into good looking dogs. The kids are over the moon...

Hopefully I'll have a job soon, so we won't have to be looking at doggie du jour recipes come September :-) . Mwahaha.

Job stuff in Colorado...

Well, I just wrapped up an intensive 4 hour interview process for a management position at a Pueblo, CO distribution center. I am sitting in the Colorado Springs airport waiting for my flight home.

I think overall it went OK, but my rust (on finally being on the other side of the interview process) sure shows. Round one was EHHH. Rounds 2 & 3 were much better. I should hear back from them in a week or so. I am not holding my breath too much--of the three of us flown in to interview for this position, one of the gents had a super background for this particular position, having managed an entire warehouse already, for Intel. That and he had a masters degree. Meh. I'd love to get this offer, but truth be told I am not entirely holding my breath. Guess I'll see...

Fingers crossed!

Young Men's Hike in the Nebo mountains

Picking up a new puppy was not the only new and interesting (OK maybe not so interesting for you, gentle reader...) we've done the last 24 hours.

I just got back from a 'grueling' 6 mile hike up one of the Nebo Canyon spurs withe the young men of the ward, two of which I claim to be raising.

We had a blast. The trail heads up concurrently with the Spring Creek, which this time of year is busily going about the business of shuttling the snowpack runoff down the canyon. The water level made the hike interesting. The trail typically sits inside the dry spring bed, so natch, with the waters coming down, a good deal of our hike was spent crawling along the side of the water, flailing at the loose shale rock and extruding roots to keep from falling in.

Andrew took great pleasure at laughing at anyone who got the slightest bit wet, so it was quite satisfying to see him do a flailing, windmill-churning back flop into the water on the way back down the mountain. Thankfully, I had already removed my camera from the backpack he was wearing, and was able to document the sopping wet aftermath.

Boys had a blast, and knocked out some compass reading requirements for a merit badge or two. The total trip time took about 4 hours. I came home relatively unscathed, but not completely dry. In crossing the creekbed, a dry downed log, serving as my pseudo bridge, snapped under my weight and gave way, buckling into the water and taking my ankle with it. Luckily this is my trick tennis ankle, and winding it around 360 degrees is my party specialty. So while I am now ever so sore and limping like the Elephant man, I managed to get off the mountain alive and in one piece. And no one had to fireman-carry me out. Or call in a rescue helicopter. Or leave me for the bears to eat.

New puppy....

Well, our "dogsickness" finally overcame us the other night, and we broke down and picked up a beautiful little black lab puppy from a family here in Nephi. Their lab had a litter of ten, of which 7 survived. We had to pick between the final two, and settled on the "runt" of the litter--a little girl we promptly named Midnight. I know, I know, points for creativity all around. She is a jet black purebred (yet unpapered) lab, and is frickin' adorable. We've had her for 24 hours now and the kids are in love. She trots after them everywhere, nipping ankles and cuddling every chance she gets. Here's a few pics...