Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great this year! Tyler and I drove home with the doggies on Tuesday night and got into Fort Mill around 4:15 am! We were so glad to finally be visiting home b/c we hadn't been home in about 5 months! Crazy, I know...We went to Joanne's (future step-mom!) on Thanksgiving but first we stopped in Salisbury so that we could see Tyler's family too. We had so much fun in Mt. Airy! Joanne's house is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. Seriously. It's amazing. The food was great and it was so nice to see some family that we hadn't seen since our wedding. It's too bad we all live so far apart. Tyler and I aim to move back closer to Charlotte once he gets his wrestling going and we don't have to live in Louisville. At least we'll be closer to some family that way. Anyway, we loved seeing everyone and getting on the webcam after dinner so we could see the rest of the diPretoro's that couldn't make it was really fun too! Unfortunately, Tyler and I forgot our camera in Louisville so we didn't get to take any pictures. If anyone has some that they could e-mail me that would be great! My e-mail is jollygreen315@hotmail.com. I LOVE taking pictures and I was so upset about forgetting our camera.

The day after Thanksgiving we got our little bit of shopping in and then we got a tree with Tyler's family. It's 11 feet tall and perfectly shaped! We didn't have enough time to help decorate it this year so when we go back for Christmas, it will be our first time seeing it all lit up and pretty. On Friday night, we went to see the new James Bond movie. I didn't like it as much as I liked the first one with Daniel Craig but I still liked it a lot. On Saturday, we did a little more shopping and then made our best attempt to pack up and get ready to go back to Louisville. We planned on leaving by 3 or 4 but we didn't leave until 5:15. The dogs did great on the trip home. Peter slept most of the way and Charlie just looked out the window at the landscape and other cars. He couldn't have been seeing much since it was dark out though.

We went to bed as soon as we got back into town and then the next morning we went out and got a Christmas tree! Our ceilings are only 8 feet high but we went ahead and got an 8.5 foot tree and just cut the very top branches off! It can't be that much taller than last year's tree but it seems so much bigger. Probably b/c it just about touches the ceiling. Peter didn't pay much attention to the tree at first but now he's getting more and more interested. It's been a bit of a challenge to keep him from nibbling on the bottom branches. Having presents under there now helps block him from getting too close. And Charlie goes crazy when he sees reflections of light or spotlights shining on things so he likes to stare at the wall by the tree where the lights are shining on it. He would stand there for days if we didn't stop him. After we set up the tree, we did the rest of the decorating and everything looks great! Tyler is very creative when it comes to decorating. We can't wait to go back home again in one week! My boss is letting me have the whole week of Christmas off which is so great b/c we'll get to spend more time with family!

We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And hopefully you've already received our Christmas card but if you haven't, it's on it's way!

Sorry It's Been So Long!

Over the past two months, we have been staying very busy! The week is busy just because we have to work and Tyler has shows on Wednesday nights. But then the weekends are busy too b/c there's so many chores to do and we go to Smokey Bones almost every Sunday to watch the Panthers play since their games don't come on tv here. Hopefully since they are so good now though they'll be on locally so we can actually watch them at home. The one time we would have been able to watch them at home, we had that crazy windstorm and the cable went out right when the game started and then came back on right when the game was over!

Anywho, we didn't do much for Halloween b/c we didn't get a chance to make costumes for Charlie and Peter. We went driving around to see trick or treaters but there were hardly any left b/c we went out kinda late. It was only about 9pm and I remember being out until at least 10 when I used to go but I guess kids here don't stay out. We may not have had costumes for Charlie and Peter in time for Halloween but they went on sale afterward and I ended up buying 3! We got a pumpkin, ladybug and a bumble bee. Charlie is always patient with me when I make him wear things so I wasn't surprised by him but Peter immediately calmed down as soon as the pumpkin suit went on! It was crazy! I'm almost tempted to make him wear it all the time since he's so hyper! They were very cute.

Dad (Kluttz) came to visit the weekend of Halloween too. We had a lot of fun! We went downtown to the park b/c the weather was so nice and then we went and walked around the city and then stopped at the hotel that is on the water and enjoyed the view for awhile. We also went to Huber Farms again. We did a lot more exploring and they have really good pumpkin icecream! It was a lot of fun having someone out here to visit.

Tyler's wrestling is going really well. He's always improving in the ring and in the weight room! My job is going well too. I still could always use a little bit more to do but I'm learning how to be patient and how to spend more time exploring projects. I'm trying to take advantage of the extra time I have to work on things now b/c I'm sure in future jobs, that won't be the case.

NOTE: I was planning on posting pictures but we are having trouble with our computer right now. Hopefully it will be fixed soon!

"...AND HIS OPPONENT...BRETT 'BEEFY' WELLINGTON!!"

I finally was able to get to one of Tyler's show's now that he's wearing his tights! Here are some pictures from when he first started wrestling til now:

Since last time I talked about how well the dogs walk on a leash now, I thought I'd better prove it! And then there's just a funny video of Charlie with a cardboard box.

Autumn Goodness

So, the writing every week thing isn't going to work out I guess. I kind of had to wait until there was enough to write about and kind of forgot a couple of times. Anyway here's the latest news from the Kluttz household in Kentucky:

Charlie turned 3 on October 15th! For his birthday, I took him and Peter to the tennis courts here so that they could run around and play. They both really had fun and were very worn out afterwards. When we got back I couldn't help myself and I made a hat for Charlie to wear so that I could take pictures of him! I tried to make Peter wear one too but he wasn't going to tolerate it.

Speaking of the dogs, we have been watching the show "The Dog Whisperer" a lot lately and learning a ton. Tyler and I are practicing being 'calm assertive' which will make the dogs become 'calm submissive.' Cesar Millan is the Dog Whisperer and he goes to people's houses who are having problems with their dogs and fixes them. It usually only takes him a few minutes to solve the problem and let the person know what they were doing wrong and what they need to do in order for their dogs to behave the way they want. He gives a lot of valuable tips during the show like not using the dog's name when you are correcting a wrong behavior. And if they are doing something wrong, you can usually just touch them on their neck and it gets their attention so that you can tell them 'no.' Also, they can feel the energy that you project so you have to make sure that you are always calm. If you become angry or frustrated, they can sense that and they view it as weakness so they won't listen to you. It sounds sort of silly but it's true b/c they don't work the way humans do. As much as we try to humanize dogs, when it comes to disciplining them and teaching them how you want them to behave, you have to act like a dog or they just don't get it. Now that Tyler and I have been working so hard to become 'pack leaders' of Charlie and Peter, we both feel like we should be teaching people around the neighborhood how to train their dogs too! Anyway, they have responded very well to our takeover. When we take them out, they stay by our sides with little objection! It's so cool! I would recommend to anyone who has a dog to watch "the Dog Whisperer."

Well, after an extremely long summer, it has finally started to cool down here. Tyler and I couldn't wait for that to go out and try to enjoy fall though. Last weekend, we went to a place called Joe Huber's Family Farm. It's a really big farm where they have lots of activities for kids and country restaurants and they also have different activities depending on what season it is. Right now they have wagons that take people to pumpkin patches so that they can pick their own pumpkins. Their pumpkins are pretty expensive though so Tyler and I ended up getting a couple of big ones from a church on our way home. We had a lot of fun at Huber's though. We walked around and saw where they have miniature pony rides for kids and they also have a winery and a gift shop which were pretty cool. They had a bakery where they sold regular bakery stuff like pies and bread but it smelled soooo good! They also had a WACKY WAVING INFLATABLE ARM FLAILING TUBE MAN! We thought that was funny. On our way home, we got a little lost because we had to go on a lot of small country roads to get to the farm. It was really fun though because for some reason, the leaves were much prettier out there and it was such a nice day that we enjoyed driving around and seeing Indiana's countryside. We eventually found our way out!

Tyler is having fun with wrestling. He gets to wear his tights that he made most of the time now. He's got a pretty big show coming up tomorrow night so I'll have to take lots of pictures!

My job is going pretty well. I finally got the satisfaction of seeing the signs that I created hanging up in the local store. It was really cool! I'm more excited about the signs that are up now and the flyer that is going to be coming out soon b/c those have more of my ideas in them. This first set of signs that went along with the flyer had already been started when I started working there. It was very cool to see them up but it will be even better next time!

A Chronicling of our rise...to Power!

Well, here's a quick sum up of our past year since we got married: We went on our honeymoon to Universal Studios in Florida and when we got back, we finished packing our things and moved to Louisville, KY so that Tyler could pursue a career in Professional Wrestling! It was quite a change for us, suddenly being totally on our own but it's been a lot of fun so far. Tyler worked at a restuarant for awhile before becoming a Personal Trainer at a gym down the street. I was a cashier at Fresh Market and then a receptionist at a local salon and now I've finally got a graphic design job. I'm working for a company called Shoe Sensation and I do all of their design and artwork for sales and specials. I also got my hair cut off last fall! I donated it to locks of love and then ended up being in a photo shoot where they cut it even shorter! Tyler is getting better and better in wrestling and he's even got some fans! We of course had an addition to our family by getting Peter in June and he and Charlie together are quite entertaining! We've taken a few trips home now and again but we've mostly been here working and playing. Tyler travels a lot on the weekends for out of town shows but not too far.

With the holidays fast approaching, we will be busy busy busy! We are planning on making halloween costumes for Charlie and Peter this year. They are going to be Batman and Robin! (And we will definitely be posting pictures of that) We want to take them trick or treating too but don't know how well they will handle their outfits! We'll most likely be heading back to the Carolinas for Thanksgiving and Christmas but we'll be on the move in between shopping for presents and working. And before we know it, it will be time to start looking for a new place to live! With two dogs and two of us and multitudes of furniture, we have outgrown our apartment and need something a little bigger. Then of course, I'm in one of my best friends weddings at the end of March, Kyle graduates in April and Tyler graduates in May and then our two year anniversary will be right around the corner! I have a feeling that the next few months are going to go by very fast! We're doing great out here and hope that everyone else is doing well also!

A Brand New Name = A Brand New Blog

Since it's so hard to keep in touch with people these days, I thought I'd start a Blog so that Tyler and I could share with our friends and Family what is going on in our world. After all, Tyler and I are married now and we have two kids...well they're not human but they are people! They are so cute! We really haven't done many exciting things lately, other than Tyler going to Minnesota to visit the Pages and watching the Panthers play the Vikings. Charlie and Peter have been a highlight in our summer!

I was taking out the trash one day, minding my own business when a puppy seemed to come out of no where! She was so cute and her owners came running up, afraid that she was too jumpy for me. Quite the contrary...I was so excited to see a pup! I picked her up and played with her for a minute before we all went on our way to do the things that we were doing before we ran into each other. After that, I had puppy on the brain. I thought that Tyler would think that I was crazy for even telling him the story, and at first, I wasn't going to tell him about Lilly. But then I found that I couldn't resist and so I told him about how our new neighbors downstairs just got a puppy and to my surprise, he wanted to go look for a puppy as much as I did! It took a few days but we finally knocked on our neighbors' door at a time when they were home so that we could ask them where they got their pup. They told us that they got her from the Kentucky Humane Society and they gave us a coupon to use if we decided to get one too. We drove to the KHS not really thinking about what we were doing and trying to convince ourselves that we were just going to look. We filled out a survey when we got there and based on the survey, the volunteer recommended that we get a high energy dog, a.k.a. a puppy. So we went into the puppy area and the first things that ran through our minds were that it was freezing in there and that it smelled pretty bad. We looked around and there were so many cute puppies but most of them were already a few months old and I wanted a really young puppy so that we would have the opportunity to train he/she the way that we wanted without them already having developed their own set of rules; which actually means no rules at all.

After walking from crate to crate we found one that had two tiny little blond puppies. They were so tiny and adorable! And then we saw that there was another crate with two more of the same litter. We took each one out and held them one at a time. There was only one that didn't cry and throw a fit when we put him down. His name was Uranus. We didn't like the name but we liked him and his fat little belly. We still weren't completely sure that we should be getting a puppy. This was all a little bit too spontaneous. So we decided to put a 24 hour hold on him so we could think about it a little more. It didn't take 24 hours for us to decide what to do. The next morning we brought home our brand new baby boy! We changed his name of course. We decided to go with Peter b/c the very tip of his tail is white which made us think of Peter Cottontail. He also just seemed very bunny like somehow.

He was 4.3 lbs when we got him and now he weighs almost 25! He just turned 5 months last week and although having a puppy is a lot of work it has been a lot of fun too! Charlie likes him although he won't always admit it but Peter is learning very quickly. He learned to sit after about 5 minutes! We're still working on walking on the leash without pulling but he is improving. When we first got him, we were told that he was a beagle mix. Given the fact that beagles are not blonde, we thought that he must be a Beagle/Lab mix. But now that he has grown so much we discovered that there must be some Basset Hound in there b/c he is long and has short legs! And when he sits down, you can see how duck-footed he is and looks so much like a Basset Hound! Well, that's all the update we have for now. I will try really hard to keep up with this!