Visitors and puppy routine

We were blessed to have Randy and Brianna Carroll and their three kids over for dinner last night. They have been missionaries in Germany for 6 years and are currently beginning the second and last month of their furlough. Lucky for us, they were able to include us in their itinerary for a few hours. I treated them to some homemade Mexican food since it is a rare treat for them. Randy especially liked the fresh guacamole. The visits are always way too short, but it was an encouraging time for all. I was so surprised too how well their kids take to being in a new place all the time. They made themselves right at home from the moment they walked in the door. They especially liked our big bed. Now I wish I could get to Germany again and visit them. (Photo borrowed from their flickr page.)

Wallace and I have developed a morning routine. I get up about 7:30 and take him potty. Then we come back in and he literally scarfs down his food. The pup eats so fast, you can hear him swallow air. He often gets the hiccups too - it's quite funny. Then he retrieves his favorite orange bear ("Mr. Bear") from his crate and we play fetch. He only lets go of it about two times after retrieving it, and then he likes to growl at me with it in his mouth. I think that means he is ready to play tug of war with it. Incidentally that has required two repairs to Mr. Bear already. I don't know how long he will last.

Wallace is crate trained very well now. He rarely ever whines at us while in his crate, and he hasn't had any accidents in there in quite a long time. He's also growing so fast. Scott had to adjust the piece of wood last night to give Wallace more room in the crate. We're still working on potty training. I bought him a bell to ring, but he could care less about it. For now we just have to watch him close. When he starts sniffing, it's Outside! I think he has told me a few times though that he needs to go. He does a cute pawing thing, or he just runs down the stairs by himself and waits. That's usually only first thing in the morning though. But at least we're getting there. I bought a compact carpet cleaner that gets spots up pretty well. I used it for the first time yesterday in preparation for our visitors. I'm pleased with it so far.