The big ONE

Logan turned one last weekend and we celebrated with a joint Cairns and Ellis Family. Due to the smaller size of our home we decided to hold it up at my parents house. First off here is the invite Ben made for the event. I thought this turned out so cute. We decided to have a dog theme since Logan loves dogs and his parents do too. And it also was one of his first words. We started off the party with a dinner. Logan served everyone his favorite food....spaghetti. Then we opened his presents and I must say I was quite surprised at how many presents this kid got. He was a sport about opening them all. We had many other kids there that enjoyed helping Logan open his presents. But we would open one and show it to him and he would come crawling back. Thanks so much to all of you who gave him a present, he loves them all and it glad our house is getting more toys.

Then after the presents we went to do his cake. It was getting to be about 7:30 by this time and I could tell Logan was getting tired. To go along with the dog theme we made the following cakes:

I made a large one for everyone and then a smaller one for him to dive in to. Ben helped to construct the big cake and we frosted it to look like Cayman. I must say I was quite impressed with the results. We had some small mishaps in the process of baking so I was glad in the end it looked so cute.

Logan was quite shocked when all his guests started singing Happy Birthday to him. The look on his face was truly priceless. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake and I could tell he was just getting tired. However, I helped him get started and then he had at it for a bit. This is the damage he did before he was ready to be done.

We still can't believe our little boy is one. Some of Logan's favorite thing as a one year old include:

-climbing the stairs

-dancing to music

-eating saltines and animal crackers

-playing keep away from mom and dad

-eating pickles with his dad (yes he does like them)

-sleep at least 11-12 hours every night (ok so maybe that is his mom's favorite thing)

-giving you high fives

-singing and clapping to "If your happy and you know it"

-getting tickled on his tummy and chin

-crawling as fast as he can

-playing with his mom's purse

I then took Logan to the doctor a few days later and here are his stats:

21 lbs 14 oz (35th percentile)

30.5 inches long (75th percentile)

So his weight has slowed down a little bit but his height has continued nicely. Overall he looked very healthy and happy which is always good to hear! Logan isn't walking quite yet but it getting close. He is starting to take a few steps between objects without holding on and will use less and less of our support when walking. I know the walking stage will enter a whole new layer of mischief but we look forward to that as well.

Logan had a wonderful first party and we thank all of his wonderful family and friends that made his party and the first year of his life such a success!

Our First Trial

This weekend I entered Cayman in our first ever official agility trial. This was a USDAA (Utah States Dog Agility Assocation) trial held at the Davis County Fairgrounds conveniently located right behind our house. We have been taken lessons from a lady who recommended the courses we should run. We entered four runs--two Gamblers courses, a Snookers and Jumpers course.

Our first run was Saturday morning and it was a Gamblers course. This was the course I was most nervous about. We had practiced some at my agility lessons and didn't so well. The point of a Gamblers is you can select any obstacles you want for the first 30 seconds of your run. Then when a whistle sounds you have to go a do a marked closing or set of obstacles. If you do that set of obstacles then you qualify if not you don't. All of the obstacles are worth points that they assign to them and then you are awarded places based on if you qualified and how many points you got. My whole family came to watch Cayman and I and I was so nervous that Cayman would run off to socialize with the other dogs, I would fall flat on my face or do something else embarassing. However, this is what happened.

So we didn't do the closing perfect meaning he didn't take that final jup till I took him back over it, but you are allowed to do that and we qualified. And not only did we qualify but we got SECOND PLACE. I was so amazed that on our very first agility run we not only did well but got second place. I couldn't have asked for more. I went in with no expectations of running a qualified run. We maily just wanted to get our feet wet and had some fun.

Cayman did so well. He listened to me extremely well. In practices he often has a hard time watching the other dogs run. He gets very excited and out of control. However at this trial he listened so well to me and was able to be so calm. He couldn't have been a better dog. And most importantly he had so much fun. We was just prancing after he finished this run. He was so proud of himself.

Later on that day we ran a Snookers course which is a course where you have to take a red jump before you can do any other obstacle. Once you have completed all three red jumps then you have to do a marked course of obstacles called your closing. Cayman and I did so well hitting all the red jumps and then finding another obstacle to take. However, he knocked down the last red jump and apparently that means you can't take another obstacle you just have to go straight to your close. Since I am so new at this I didn't know that so we got whisteled off the course. Not Cayman's fault at all but his inexperienced mom. I am proud that we got so far though. Then we ran another Gamblers course on Sunday morning and again it was my fault he didn't do the closing properly. The whistle blew and I panicked and Cayman got on the wrong side and took a different obstacle. Then the last run we did was a Jumpers course. This is a numbered course with just jumps and tunnels. I thought Cayman and I could do fairly well at this course. Take a look and see for yourself.

So my lines were off a few times and I had to take him back to go over the jumps but that is allowed. The only reason he didn't qualify on this run is because he knocked down the second to last bar. Bummer!

Nevertheless we were still more than pleased with our weekend. It was long and tiring but so much fun. I have always enjoyed animals and I love being able to do something with them. I appreciated all of my family who came to cheer me on and help watch Logan so that I could focus on my runs. You can see how much fun Logan had.

I feel much more confident now about being able to do runs in the future as well. The next trial is in February. We are going to keep practicing our weave poles so that we can perhaps enter a standard run at that trial. Note: A standard run is a numbered course with all your obstacles (A-frame, teater, weaver poles, table, jumps, tunnels, etc.). Until then, however, we will keep practicing and having fun with our hobby.