Insta-16: Take Nine

Sooooo, I’m in England right now! I’m here for the week on business, so I won’t get to do much exploring/sightseeing, but hopefully I’ll still have enough pictures and stories for a travel post or 2 in the coming weeks.

Because of my trip I didn’t have time to finish any projects over the long weekend, so I thought this would be a great time to share another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the previous eight recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. This roundup includes 4th of July fireworks, pictures from Alaska, and lots of Ringo and Abby snuggles!

As usual, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the ninth round of Instagram pictures:

And here are my favorites:
 

Abby

 

 

Abby loves rope toys…well, she loves stuffed animals more, but those don’t last very long in our house. My mom bought this one for Ringo and Abby a couple years ago and it’s one of the longest surviving toys we’ve had. Ringo loves to swing it around and Abby likes to take it from him. She also likes one of the rope toys that I bought them during after-Christmas clearance. It’s red and green and falling apart, but it’s one of her favorites. She drags that ratty thing all over the house. We have nice, expensive dog toys all over the house, but she like the 50 cent trashed rope.

Ringo

 

 

Like many other dogs, Ringo is scared of loud noises – especially thunder. He completely loses his mind when a storm rolls in. I bought this anxiety shirt hoping that it would help, but it only really worked the first couple of times. He was so pre-occupied with the shirt that he didn’t notice the storm outside. But now he’s used to it and it doesn’t seem to help much (although he really likes wearing the shirt). During the last storm I built him a little fort using a couple chairs, pillows and sheets and he seemed to like that. I think I’m going to make him one of those tents/teepees that are all over blogs and Pinterest. So far the best solution I’ve found are these K9 Calm biscuits. We got a sample of them in a BarkBox and they seem to help calm him down. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Cutest Couple

 

 

If you say swim, swimming, or pool around Ringo he goes insane. He’ll run to the bathroom and stare at my swimsuit hanging on the rack and then look back at me waiting for me to put it on. Then he’ll run to the pool gate and paw at it until I open it for him. If I take too long to get outside, he’ll run back in the house to see what’s taking so long. Abby just follows me around wagging her tail. She’s definitely more patient.

Yummy

 

 

A few months ago my boyfriend joined a Thursday-night bowling league. That meant I was on my own for dinner every Thursday night, so decided to spoil myself and cook lobster tails for dinner. I found this recipe for baking the tails and they turned out perfect every time. I usually just served them with an avocado or side salad. So delicious! The bowling season is over now, so it’s no longer Lobster Thursdays at my house, but maybe he’ll join another league or maybe I’ll stop being selfish and cook him lobster too…

Wildcard

 

 

This roundup includes all of the pictures from our Alaska trip, so it was hard to pick just one “Wildcard” favorite. I ended up choosing this picture of Holgate Glacier because the glaciers were so beautiful and this is one of my favorite pictures from our trip. I’m currently working on a travel gallery wall and this is one of the pictures that I framed. Anyway, if you want to see more glacier pictures (plus a glacier gif), you can read the travel post here.

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Eight

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the previous seven recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. This roundup includes spring training baseball games, my first video, and lots of Ringo and Abby snuggles!

As usual, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the eighth round of Instagram pictures:

 
And here are my favorites:  

 Abby

If Abby was a black lab, her name would have to be Shadow. This sweet girl follows me everywhere and loves to be touching/next to me. She hangs out in the bathroom with me while I do my hair and makeup in the morning…usually with her paw or head on my foot. When I lay down on the couch or in bed, she always snuggles up next to me. She really is the sweetest, most loving dog.
 

Ringo

Like many pictures of Ringo, this one makes me laugh out loud. He is full of personality and there’s never a dull moment when he’s around (that can be good or bad). Anyway, he loves hanging out in my closet. He likes to hide behind the clothes – we call it his bear cave. I usually keep the door closed, but whenever I open it he runs in and gets back there. He lays there so quiet and still that one of these days I might close him in there by accident. He’s a silly dog.
 

Cutest Couple

Personality wise, Ringo and Abby are complete opposites. She’s sweet and lazy and he’s wild and crazy. But I guess opposites do attract because they are best buddies. They love to play together and they love to cuddle together afterwards. So cute!

Yummy

I’m obsessed with Rubio’s gourmet shrimp and gourmet chicken tacos. I used to eat them almost every Saturday afternoon. Seriously, so often that a couple of the girls knew my name and order! Sadly, I’m still on my no sugar, no flour, no diary (no fun) kick, so I haven’t had a Rubio’s taco in over six weeks. I only have one week left until I hit my 50 day goal, so I foresee a taco in my near future. Yay!
 

Wildcard

So, this was my first time shooting a rifle. I’d shot hand guns before a shooting range, but never anything bigger than that. One Saturday morning my boyfriend, a friend from work, and I went out shooting in the desert. My boyfriend has a lot of guns, so he showed me how to use each of them and let me fire a few rounds. I shot a bottle out of a tree with this one. I’ve never really been much of a gun person, but I felt pretty badass after that.

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Seven

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the previous six recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. This roundup includes the last few pictures from our London and Paris trip, my bowling victory (I usually suck), my parents’ dog Sadie in the snow, and as always, Ringo and Abby pictures!

As usual, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the seventh round of Instagram pictures: 

And here are my favorites:

Abby

This picture makes me melt! This is my boyfriend and Abby every night before bed. She loves cuddling and he loves the attention (although he probably won’t admit it). I could look at this picture all day – that sweet sleepy Abby face.
 

Ringo

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of Ringo ever! He’s always the first in bed and sometimes we tuck him under the covers as a joke…but he loves it! He’s just lays there completely content.
 

Cutest Couple

Like most dogs, Abby and Ringo love riding in the car. Abby always climbs into the passenger seat and Ringo loves having the backseat and both windows all to himself. He loves to stick his head out the window and feel the wind on his face.

Yummy

Have you ever seen the movie Pulp Fiction? If you have, you’ll definitely understand this picture. After my mom and I finished touring the Palace of Versailles we stopped by McDonalds to see if the Royale with Cheese was a real thing. It’s actual Royal Cheese, but close enough. My dad loves Pulp Fiction and thought this was the greatest thing ever.
 

Wildcard

It was hard to pick just one “Wildcard” picture this time because there were so many great shots from our London and Paris trip, but I had to choose the Eiffel Tower at night. I’ve always loved Paris and I’ve bought a lot of Eiffel Tower/Paris décor over the years. Seeing it in person was one of the best moments in my life. I’m so grateful that I got to share that experience with my mom. 


OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Six

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! Actually, this post is way overdue, but better late than never, right? You can see the previous five recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. This roundup includes summer fun at the pool and the lake, the Arizona Crawfish Festival, Stonehenge, London, and as always, Ringo and Abby pictures!

As always, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).
 
OK, enough talk! Here’s the sixth round of Instagram pictures:
 

And here are my favorites:
 

Abby

Abby’s favorite pastime is sleeping, especially if she can lay in bed with us. If this picture included sound, you’d probably hear her snoring like a freight train! 

Ringo

Ringo loves swimming and he loves biting at spraying water. The swimming pool aerator is the best of both worlds. He goes crazy when I turn it on…sometimes he’s so obsessed with the spraying water he forgets to keep paddling and starts sinking. He’s a strange dog.

Cutest Couple

These two make me want to stay in bed all day watching TV and snuggling. I think that would be Abby’s dream day!   

Yummy

Back in August we spent a weekend in Heber-Overgard for the Arizona Crawfish Festival. We ate a lot of crawfish and had an amazing time there. Hopefully they have another festival this year and it’ll be in the same location. We loved the area and would definitely go up there again. 

Wildcard

It was hard to pick just one “Wildcard” picture this time because there were so many great shots from our London trip. I ended up choosing this picture of Stonehenge because it was (surprisingly) one of our favorite stops during our vacation. Before seeing it in person, I thought it was kind of cool, but just a pile of rocks. Seeing it in person and learning its history completely blew my mind. Seriously, how did they transport the bluestones from Wales (more than 200 km away) to this location?


OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Five

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the previous four recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. This roundup includes my parents’ new dog Sadie (top right picture), our tickets to the Ceremony of Keys at the Tower of London (26 more days until our flight!), the diaper cake I made for my coworker’s twins, and of course, lots of Abby and Ringo pictures!

As always, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the fifth round of Instagram pictures: 

And here are my favorites:

Abby

Abby loves to cuddle on the couch and this is how we usually watch TV together. She’s the sweetest dog ever and I look forward to our cuddle time every day.

Ringo

Ringo always sleeps in funny positions and this is one of my favorites - all stretched out and hanging off the edge of the bed.

Cutest Couple

Ringo and Abby had to stay inside while my boyfriend weed whacked the backyard. They were upset that they couldn’t be out there with him, so I pulled open the blinds so they could watch from the window. 

Yummy

We had a wine tasting/wine making party for my friend Christina’s bachelorette party. The wine had to ferment for a few months, so this is when we went back to bottle it. We bottled it ourselves and made our own bottle labels. The whole thing was so much fun and I love seeing our bottle of wine in my wine rack every day.

Wildcard

To celebrate Mothers’ Day, I posted this shot of my mom and I from 1988. Man, I love that woman and I can’t wait for our European adventure!

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Four

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the previous three recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. It’s been awhile since my last Instagram post, so this roundup includes everything from Las Vegas to The Glitter Academy to Spring Training Baseball!

As always, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the second round of Instagram pictures: 

As always, it was hard to pick favorites, but here they are:

Abby

Don’t look at me!

This picture always makes me laugh. She’s such a sweet, silly dog (with big ol’ paws)!

Ringo

I’d been avoiding giving Ringo a bath in the tub for months because I assumed it was going to be complete chaos, but it’d been too cold to hose him off outside like usual. One day I felt brave and gave him a bath…and he loved it! He jumped right in the tub, drank water from the faucet, and stood there while I soaped him up and rinsed him off. It was amazing! And now he’s obsessed with the bath tub. If I dry my hair in this bathroom, he’ll hang out in the tub or sometimes I randomly hear him climbing in to sleep in there. Now I swear he gets dirty on purpose so I’ll give him a bath! Silly dog!

Cutest Couple

This is exactly what it looks like. Ringo loves to hold Abby down and lick all inside her mouth and gums. He also cleans out her ears…whether she wants him to or not!  

Yummy

For Abby’s 1^st birthday I made dog-friendly red velvet cupcakes with dog-friendly icing and milk bone toppers! Ringo and Abby LOVED them! If you are wondering, I got the cake and frosting mix in my monthly BarkBox.

Wildcard

I took my dad to a spring training baseball game at the beginning of the month. He’s a huge Angels fan, so it was fun for him to see his favorite players and it was a good chance for us to hang out. We don’t really spend that much time with just the two of us, so it was a nice opportunity to enjoy some father/daughter time. The weather was perfect and we had really good seats…it’s hard to think of a better way to spend an afternoon!

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Three

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the first round here and the second round here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. Yes, it’s been 3 months since my last recap post. And yes, that means it took me 3 months to take 16 pictures on Instagram.

As always, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the second round of Instagram pictures: 

As always, mostly pictures of Ringo and Abby. It was hard to pick favorites, but here they are:

Abby

Abby likes to make herself VERY comfortable while she’s laying in bed. We don’t let her sleep in bed with us anymore, but they are allowed on the bed while we are just bumming around watching TV. I wish the picture included sound so you could hear how loud she snores!

Ringo

Ringo loves hiding out in my closet. He likes to get behind the clothes hanging on the bottom rack and pretend we can’t see him. We call it his bear cave…yes, that’s one of my shirts that he knocked down and is laying on.

Cutest Couple

 Yeah, they love each other. Abby was laying there first and Ringo laid down next to her. At first he was laying on her arm, but she got it out from under him and put it on top of him. Is there anything cuter than dogs spooning? I think not.

Yummy

We did a wine tasting/wine making event for part of my friend Christina’s bachelorette party. They started us off with a cheese plate and snacks plus 10 wine samples. We got to pick our favorite and then make our own batch of that wine. After it ferments for 90 days, we’ll go back and bottle our wine. I can’t wait to taste our creation!  

Wildcard

If you didn’t already know, I L-O-V-E hockey! There’s a minor league team in Prescott, AZ and my parents have season tickets (although, I think they only bought a partial package this year). We sit on the glass, behind the home goal. Best seats in the house during a shootout. They ended up losing this shootout, but it was still exciting…and a good opportunity to watch some hockey during the NHL lockout.

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16: Take Two

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the first round here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22.  If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. Yes, it’s been 2 months since my last recap post. And yes, that means it took me 2 months to take 16 pictures on Instagram.

As I mentioned in the last post, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the second round of Instagram pictures:

As usual, lots of puppy pictures. It was hard to pick favorites, but here they are:

Abby

Abby loves to cuddle and believes that she’s a little lap dog. As soon as I sit on the couch, she jumps into my lap. When I’m watching TV in bed, she crawls across my lap/chest or snuggles up next to me. This picture was taken one Saturday morning while I tried to watch TV in bed and she slept across my chest.  

Ringo

“Destroying everything in the backyard is exhausting!”

Cutest Couple

Look at those faces! It’s hard to get a good picture of them together, looking at the camera without bribing them with treats – this must have been my lucky night!

Yummy

Fondue! My boyfriend and I had a fondue date night at The Melting Pot courtesy of a Living Social deal. It was an expensive meal (even with the deal), but it was SOOOO good and so much fun.

Wildcard

Did you know I was at Disneyland exactly 2 weeks ago? Yep, we were in California for a wedding and decided to spend a day at Disneyland. I’ve never been there in October, so it was my first time seeing everything decorated for Halloween. This is the entrance to the Haunted Mansion in all its Halloween glory. And this was the last picture I took before my cell phone battery died…

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

Insta-16 : Take One

A couple of months ago I gave into the peer pressure and joined Instagram. I’m not too active because I don’t think anyone cares to see pictures of everything I eat and I don’t want to overload everyone with puppy pictures, but I do add pictures every couple of days or so. You can follow me at: SAMTJH22

Anyway, I know not all of you are on Instagram, so I decided to share my pictures on here too. Every 16 pictures, I’ll do a post. My plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

So without further ado, I present to you, my first 16 Instagram pictures:

OK, let’s talk favorites:

Abby

Yes, we let Abby sleep with us - we can’t say no to that sweet little face. She loves to snuggle, so by the middle of the night she’s practically laying on top of me.

Ringo

He’s a little monster, so this is probably the sweetest you’ll ever see him look. I was sitting at the dining room table eating ice cream and he obviously thought if he looked cute enough I’d give him some. It was chocolate ice cream, so he didn’t get any…poor guy.

Cutest Couple

This was the day after the 4^th of July. We had a party at our house and Ringo ended up playing in the pool for about 8 hours. He slept the entire next day. Abby is always lazy, so she loved bumming around with him. Ringo was being so well behaved (because he was so tired) that I let him lay in bed with us for part of the day.

Yummy

My birthday dinner: Hurricane Rolls from Zushi.  My favorite sushi roll in the entire world! Yes, I ordered 2 of them =)

Wildcard

This picture is from a huge storm we had about a month ago. I was out shopping and got caught out in the rain. It was coming down so hard that I couldn’t drive. I waited it out in the parking lot surrounded by falling trees. See that bushy looking thing on the ground? That’s part of the tree that broke off and landed on someone’s car. They ran out and moved the car (no apparent damage) before I could get a picture of it. This is the same storm that “flooded” our backyard and had Abby bouncing through puddles.

That rounds up my first Instagram recap! As you can see, I mostly take pictures of my pups – because they are so cute and I love their little faces.  Once again, if you have Instagram, my name is SAMTJH22. If you don’t have Instagram, you can follow my feed online here. 

Do you Instagram? Do you have a favorite Instagram picture? Leave your Instagram user name and/or link to your favorite picture in the comment section – I’d love to see them!