Hi There, I'm Jack Bogart

Well, Friends. We did a thing.

Golden Retrievers are basically my love language, so it was a no brainer when Asa and I finally felt ready to add to our clan. We prayed and prayed and looked and looked and ultimately decided that Great Golden Breeding near Morehead, Kentucky would be where our new pup came from. We picked him up on Labor Day and trust me when I say it was SO hard to choose. ALL of the boy puppies were so great! We knew we wanted a boy because Asa has missed HIS boy so dearly—our wonderful Humphrey Bogart, and we wanted to get another guy in his honor. That’s why his name is Jack Bogart. After our sweet boy we had twelve incredible years with.

We were number three in line to choose from the male puppies, and when we got there, we knew we had chosen the right breeder. Farah was incredible, kind, patient, and very helpful and her facility for the pups was wonderful! It was such a fun memory that I hope our kids remember forever!

Not a day goes by that I don’t miss our Elsa Noel. My first American Golden. This boy is in honor of BOTH Asa and I’s first kids ;) Welcome to the family, Jack Bogart. So far we call you Jack Jack, Jackie Boy, and Reese calls you Bubba.

Emma sure was surprised and as reserved as I was to GET another dog, gosh they both make my heart so full. She adores him SO much and he just loves her. They play and play and Emma is so patient and gentle with her new baby. We wrapped him up and told her we had gotten her a gift.

Bring on the potty training, some sleepless nights, and ALL the Golden kisses. Here’s to the newest chapter in our life. We are very, very excited!

Happy One Year to You, Emma Rose!

From the beginning, we thought Emma would be our Healer. Little did we know how true that would end up being…do you remember when we first got her!? She was seven weeks old and I wrote a post when she was nine weeks, about how wonderful and sweet she was. Well, good news, she STILL is, and never had we have SUCH a cuddly and docile dog. Truthfully I can’t remember a TON about Elsa when she was one year old, but I remember she didn’t crave human touch and cuddling AS much as our little Emma does. It has been so fun to see and watch Emma grow, from a teeny tiny puppy to a gorgeous one year old DOG.

Emma is an English Creme Golden Retriever who we purchased from Cold Spring Mountain Retrievers located in Chuckey, TN. We made it a fun overnight trip with our kids and we came back home with our sweet little girl pup. She has been such a good dog since day but, however we often joke that she is part Humphrey [our chocolate Lab who passed away last spring, whom she adored] and part Elsa [our Golden.] Humphrey loved mischief and he could be pretty sneaky at times…Emma has surprised us a few times with her own curiosity, but she overall, she has been such a trustworthy girl. She does not climb on the furniture, she does not destroy household things [though she did nibble once on our wooden coffee table when she was teething], but frankly, we have been amazed at simply how GOOD she is.

I still swear it’s largely the breed…she and Elsa are the reason that I will ALWAYS want a Golden Retriever. They don’t lick, they don’t jump, they are patient and empathetic, gentle and incredibly loving. When it is muddy outside, Emma knows to sit on a towel right by the door and wait for her paws to be cleaned. When it’s bath time and she is too filthy to just towel down, she knows to go into our shower and she sits and waits to be cleaned up?! Like, HOW?! It makes me giggle thinking about her adorable traits, and ever so grateful that we chose HER.

Flip through the slideshow below to see some of my absolute favorites (though there are so many more, haha. You know me and my picture taking……) xox

She’s a girl with lots of nicknames, one is often Emma Lou. Growing up my childhood dog and best Christmas present EVER, was a white lab who I named Holly Lou. I’m not positive why it was Lou…? But she too, was an ANGEL of a dog. She took to my oldest brother Nathan the most, he has special needs and I think she always just knew. Naturally Emma Lou just flows from my mouth, but she’s lots of names. Emma Rose, Emma Rosie, Emma Lou, Emmie Girl—but the moral of the story is that she has healed in our hearts in so many ways and we are so in love with her fluffy, white, adorable self! Happy first birthday, Emma Rose!