Jersey and Santa

So, at the mall they have a night when you can have your pet's picture taken with Santa. I thought, "When will Jersey ever have the chance to go to the mall again? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!" Jeff thought it was an insane idea to take the dog to the mall. Really, I have to agree with him on that. But, again, when will we get to do this again?

So we went to the mall last night. We arrived right as they opened and still, the line was extremely long and it took us about 30 minutes to get to Santa. Let me preface this by saying that as I arrived at the mall I thought to myself, "What am I doing? This is so stupid, taking a dog in a mall." But, I was already there...what's the worst that could happen? So anyway, back to standing in line. I thought there was NO WAY that Jersey would be able to stand in line that long and be good, but she was! I guess all those weeks of training last year paid off (at least a little!). She was extremely interested in all the people and dogs around her, but just sat there and patiently waited her turn. She was especially interested in the squeaky rat that they used to get little kids to smile as they took the picture. When we got to the carpeted area, she decided that she'd had enough and even laid down :) There was a small boy in line right behind us that kept petting her and she was interested in him at first, then decided that there were other, more important things to focus on and he took to just hitting her ear back and forth and she really could have cared less. It was pretty amusing.

Finally it was her turn and she did...OK. She wouldn't look at the camera easily and kept getting distracted, but she was really happy to see Santa! She kept turning around to see him and I had to get her turned back the right way. So, here's the end result:

Merry Christmas!

Fires and Crescent Rolls

It's been getting cold here at night, so we have been making fires. Ever since Jersey was a puppy she's enjoyed sleeping in front of the fire. She loves them so much that she will stand in front of you while you're starting the fire and wait for you to move out of her way, then will lay down and sleep.

Last night we made a fire and then I was making some crescent rolls for dinner. Jeff and I went in the other room and when we came back, she was still in front of the fire, however, mysteriously seven of the eight (uncooked!!) crescent rolls had disappeared from the top of the stove! I wonder how that happened? Here are some pictures of the (not-so) innocent culprit.

Sometimes it gets hot in front of the fire. Does she get up and move? No. Just pants a lot!