Long needed update

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while since anything has been posted. So let's start with the trip to California. Taylor went down a week before the rest of us. Spending time with his friend Parker at his cabin in Tahoe, helping him with the property. I drove down with Sherlock and watson. And my mom accompanied us on the trip as well! It was a fun mini trip, but boy was it nice to get out of the car after three days! We drove through a corner of yellow stone (no bears) and it was beautiful! Just outside Bozeman Montana we saw a herd of buffalo! Mom and I were so excited we had been looking for so long! Our hotel in Elko nv was next to a gun store. And we ate at a red lion casino, food was pretty good but their creme brûlée was better(hehehe) once we made it into California (after nearly being killed ten or so times) we got to the house and had a nice relaxing couple of hours before we jumped back in the car to celebrate Taylor's birthday at Mikunis (aww fresh seafood and sushi you cant smell a mile away!). The next day we headed down to see Taylor's mom and sister and our new niece for the first time! Spent a day in San Fran, the old stomping ground. Had a couple bread turtles. (As is tradition) took in the ocean breeze and headed back. Gosh I missed public transport.

Sherlock, Watson and Husband on the bed in SF

We then headed back up to Roseville/Lincoln to hang with more friends and family. The car trip back was not so anticipated. Luckily instead of having two dogs with me taylor took Watson when he headed back a week earlier, so it was just me and Sherlock. Poor pup didn't sleep at all in the car and would just pass out when we got to our hotels. But he did get to sleep in the bed with mommy so he was happy about that. Once we got home he perked back up and promptly started to play with his brother.

Sherlock looking at himself, he promptly barked after this

Watson decided he needed cuddles

Sherlock doesn't like to be left alone in the back of the car.

Sherlock passed out of a "stressful" car trip.

not happy about having to wear a doggy seat belt.

I think Watson might have passed gas in this one.

We had a nice easy holiday season, and with the new year (as always) there were some changes. Taylor was told his deployment date. (Which of course changed several times) hopefully it's only for six months. He is currently in Guam right now, and he says it's beautiful there. And as much as I'd like to visit him while he is there, it just to much money to do so.(Also not so fond of the long plane ride) he has promised to take pictures so there will be picture updates, hopefully.

I got two tattoos which have healed up nicely. A friend of mine went with me since Taylor could not. And I also got a new (super nice/fancy) sewing machine! I have made one bear and some iPhone wallets. I'll probably stick to bears. I've also signed up for online sewing classes, hopefully they pay off. Now for our general and extremely loose plans of the future. We are moving to Oregon in 2015. Taylor and I, as much as we'd like to live in California, have come to the conclusion it's just to expensive to do that. But we still want to be close, naturally our options were Oregon or Arizona. Eventually we picked Corvallis Oregon as our spot. Taylor plans to go to Oregon state and I to a community college (for their degree programs) linn-Benton community college. It's about an 8hr car drive north of friends and family on the 5 which is most exciting for us. Close enough for weekend and holiday visits, far enough away to be our own. We love you all, but we need to do our stuff too. I personally can not wait to be out of the -75 (with windchill) and snow! And have a garden year round, fresh homegrown for me! Which leads me to the next topic, my final garden until the move. Done a little differently this year, I've decided to plant in small totes. So far 16 pumpkins, 2 watermelons, cucumbers and peas, tomatoes and lettuce. Moriarty ate the bell peppers and onions so they need to be replanted. Going to grow some others so keep your eyes peeled. (Haha unintentional pun!) hopefully we all make it through this deployment with out a hitch, and if you wanna visit North Dakota give it two months and maybe our snow will be melted by then! Hahaha.

Sherlock and Watson posing for the camera

Moriarty being camera shy

Julia and Taylor Skyping while he is in Guam.

- Julia Taylor Watson Sherlock and Moriarty

If I could have gotten them to stay still long enough I'd have used my nice camera and not my phone! But Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a great time, be safe for those who can't (or wont) and Happy New Year to everyone!!

Getting Ready!

Hi Everyone!

We are getting closer and closer to our trip date! Just a little update, Taylor will be in california a week before Julia, he will be helping a friend with his cabin in Tahoe! Julia will be in california on the 24th (Taylor's birthday) some time in the afternoon! So feel free to stop by and meet the four legged furry children Sherlock and Watson! and their uncle dog Buddy!

Between now and when Taylor leaves we are going to try and replace Julia's brakes....so cross your fingers!


"I'll make sure Taylor takes pictures of his trip down and at the cabin so we can keep the blog up to date!" -Julia "And of course you can trust me to take pictures!"

Much Love
Julia Taylor Watson Sherlock and Prof. Moriarty

Business Time!

Hi!

So for those of you friends with Julia on facebook, you probably already know about her at home business "Home Cooked Love". Its a dog treat business! well she got a website all up and running and would like to share with the rest of you!

http://homecookedlovin.webs.com/

There is a handy link for you to enjoy! Check it out, and if you want some treats when we come home this summer let me know I'll make some and bring them back! Thanks!

-Julia

Newest Member of the Kirby Family!

Hi!

We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the Kirby Family, drum roll please...............Meet Watson!

(^ Picture from the Shelter Website)
Watson is a Blue Heeler, or Australian Sheppard Dog, mixed with Border Collie. He is about 7-8 months old. We found him at the local Souris Valley Animal Shelter, so not much is known about him.

 Here he is in the car sniffing out Sherlock's seat, shhh don't tell him, he won't like that.









Down here we have him excited about what is going on outside of the car! Hopefully we don't have a car chaser on our hands.

 He was so excited in the car had to make a couple stops, needed to get an extra tether (since we don't have a fence yet) and another leash! He was happy the whole time!








Sherlock's excited face when I told him we get to keep him. (Its a bit of a creepy face too :S)









Here they are playing for the first time! They get along so well already! Only one little spat so far, but it ended quickly. Watson still doesn't really know his name but we will work on that!

He is very loving and just wants to cuddle all the time! We'd like to thank Jeanine and Dylan for being our references (as you two know what it was like with Sherlock and Moriarty best!) We are supper excited to show him off to all of our friends and family when we get home! Next stop is to get signed up for Obedience classes! Super excited! We'll keep you updated about his progress (Sherlock too as he will be going to class as well). Our goal is to get into agility and maybe advanced obedience. We might even do a couple of competitions. We'll see. Anyway, welcome Watson! We are so happy to have you here! Already being spoiled.

-Julia Taylor Sherlock Moriarty and Watson

Lovely Little Garden!

Hi!

So a while back I planed some lettuce tomatoes and pumpkins. Well Sherlock, the little stinker that he is, got a hold of some of the pumpkins and well spread it across the front yard. Having given up hope on them I come out to where I planted them originally, and to my surprise there is one little sprout!

(Thats spinach! there's more where it came from too!) ------------------------->

So I keep watering it and it grows and grows, its not to big yet but its getting there! Then the lettuce sprouts and the tomatoes start to sprout! And then out of no where I look at the front yard and I see that my pumpkin is growing in patches every where!!! Super exciting! I was actually upset that I wasn't going to have any but the one and then there they all are! I will have pumpkins in October! So excited about them all!
I went to fill my pitcher up and there was a whole cluster of them under the fosset out side in the front yard, and I was looking at them didn't think they quite matched up. Watered the one pumpkin I know I have and then looked at them again, sure enough they are my pumpkins. Not sure if you can see it or not but there are buds growing, so I know I'll at least have two pumpkins when the time comes :)

Its going to be a challenge to get the pre-existing weeds out of the batches but I'm sure I'll be able to grab them!

Best mistake on Sherlock's part, I know he had fun ripping them from the ground. I might have to dig them up and replant them but we'll see. Just to make it easier on husband to mow the lawn and all.

I've also planted some herbs, thyme sage rosemary parsley oregano mint basil and some spinach too! Not sure which is which, except for the spinach, I have twelve spinach plants....actually fifteen. In this potted picture the left one is lettuce and the right one is tomatoes, you can't really see the tomatoes, they only just started to grow (like the last couple of days or so)










-Julia

First Post! Family Update! All sorts of exciting news and updates! 7/5/13

Hi! 

Updated for the family, going back to the beginning of the year! (and a little of last year)

Starting with Pictures! be sure to put your email in the box where it says to type your email to get email notifications! 

Moriarty (or Professor Moriarty according to Taylor)

 We've got Sherlock

Taylor

Julia

And a possible new addition Watson!

We currently don't have Watson, we've put an application in to adopt him at the local animal shelter. We are feeling pretty good about the adoption process, and will keep everyone updated on how its going with him. If all goes well we will be able to bring Sherlock and Watson home with us for our vacation later this summer!

Vacation News!

As of right now we are looking to come back to California the end of August for a two week visit. Leaving beginning of September. We will be bringing Sherlock (Watson still up in the air) so be prepared to see him!

Recent News!

-Some of you may know this already, but Taylor had to go to ALS (Airman leadership School) and not only did he pass he won the Levito Award! Which means he was the best of the best of his graduating class! So proud of him! He sews on Staff Sargent Select in August sometime.

(SRA Kuzi, SRA Kirby, Lt. Col. Little)

-Julia has recently started a new job at the Fairfield Inn as a front desk agent, so far so good! The credit union was great but going no where for her.

-We've finally got Julia's car working properly, the folks at the dealership where just as baffled as we were about it. Turns out the PMP (whatever that is) was bad and needed to be replaced. Luckily a lot of other things that needed to be fixed got fixed too! (just minor things like air filter and a new new battery)

-Our '67 Volkswagon bug is almost functional!

(Here she is in all her glory!)

With a newly partially rebuilt engine she is ready to try to trek across to California this summer during the vacation. Taylor and our good friend Dylan have been hard a work on her getting it back to her former glory! Next we need new seats. Fun fact stock bug seats are made of horse hair! So Julia's allergies don't like the bug so much. For those of you who went to Colorado with Julia when she was little, we remember what happened to her eyes after riding Whiskey! After a few cosmetic fixes, like a new back left wheel guard (since base housing backed into it) she will be good to go! Super excited about all the updates for this one, maybe one day we can enter into a classic car competition! 

-Some of you might have seen Moriarty after he had escaped a while back (Feburary-ish) He was quiet beat up, well turns out he isn't the smartest one in the bunch, he was so excited chasing the Dak Rats (A mix of black and ground squirrel found only in Minot ND! Lucky us) down their holes he scrapped him self up a bit. Had a bit of a scare, the vet thought that he had mange (which would have turned him bald!) luckily it wasn't!

-Sherlock was neutered earlier this year as well. Here he is being a good sport and being our satellite dish!

He is doing fine now, no more accidents around the house, (Thank God!!!) he has taken to randomly pinning the cat to the ground now though, but we are working on it. Puppy class was a huge success for him, graduated and we got the AKC Good Citizen award! Came with a certificate and medal! So proud of him.

-As mentioned earlier we are looking to get another puppy! Its come to our attention Sherlock needed a friend/brother. He has mild separation anxiety and well we thought for his sanity and ours as well! We love Sherlock dearly but we like to relax too! Anyway, we should know soon about him and if we will be getting him so keep your eyes peeled for and updated on that. We've gone to play with him a few times and he is just so excited to see us every time, and he is quite the cuddle bug too!

(Sorry we only have the one photo)

And that concludes the blog for today! Keep tuned in and we'll keep you up to date on the Kirby Family! More pictures to come!

-Julia Taylor Sherlock and Moriarty (for now anyway! :) )