Bringing Home Baby (Yuna, that is!) Part 2

You know that feeling when you wake up in the middle of a dream and you feel so groggy that all you want to do is go back to sleep? Well, I feel like that happened to me at least three times this morning. I'm an extremely heavy sleeper (I've slept through several hurricanes) and it was definitely a struggle to get things up and going today. This face, does get me up and at 'em, though!

Wake up, Mom!

I sipped on some hazelnut coffee this morning while browsing the news and had some Publix greek yogurt with honey and some frozen peach slices. I've been obsessed with just munching on frozen fruit lately now it's so hot! Peach and mango slices are my absolute favorite!

Bringing Yuna Home Part 2

If you didn't get to read Part 1 about my process of finding my goldendoodle puppy, you can read that first, here.


(And before I continue my story, I just wanted to say that if there had been a rescue goldendoodle available, I may have decided to rescue instead of finding a breeder. I think in the future we will plan on rescuing instead of bringing home a brand new puppy if we can.)

The night before we left to journey to Athens, GA to pick up our new puppy was full of restless sleep. Nathaniel and I tossed and turned all night, anxious to wake up on time to leave early enough (we are both heavy sleepers and often need six alarms to wake up) and extremely excited to get to meet our little ball of apricot fluff! We somehow managed to get up on time and make the 5+ hour journey to Athens to pick up Yuna at the breeder's home. I must have been running on pure adrenaline the entire morning because I don't remember much of the trip. I was just so anxious to meet our puppy!!!


The breeder was wonderful about setting individual appointments to pick up the puppy so that she could give us enough time to answer any questions we had and to give us all the attention we needed in that first few minutes with Yuna. As soon as we walked in, I locked eyes with this tiny, fluffy being and the love was instantaneous. In that moment I felt my heart swell a hundred times larger and I knew I had made the right decision. She was perfect.

Our "orientation" with the breeder included a Q&A session and going over how to best to handle the ride home. We had to be careful not to walk her in any "dog friendly" sections of rest stops or gas stations since she was so young and not fully immunized. The thought of little Yuna contracting Parvo or other diseases terrified me so we took extra caution. We loaded up with our new puppy in my lap and we began the long trip back home.


Nathaniel and I took turns driving and holding our puppy.

Although she whined a bit in the car, the trip was mostly uneventful and just long. We got home late in the evening and had just enough time to get her all settled in in her new abode. Surprisingly, she was perfectly content in her crate the first night, allowing us all to get some much needed rest from the big day. 

And now here's a photo dump of the rest of the evening spent with little Yuna. 

And there you have it! Our journey to bring Yuna home had come to an end and our new journey, house training, was just beginning. 

If you have a dog, what was bringing home your new pet like?

Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!

Bringing Home Baby (Yuna, that is!) Part 1 and National Doughnut Day!

Happy National Doughnut Day Everybody!

Did you know that you can go get a sugar rush in the form of a tasty doughnut at Krispy Kreme for free today and at Dunkin Donuts with the purchase of a beverage?! Amazing! And I don't even normally eat doughnuts but I'll make exceptions for the price of free once a year, though.

And if for some reason you've gone all day not knowing about doughnut day and you have the time, I encourage you to go get that doughnut. You deserve it.

Bringing Home Yuna

In the fall of 2013, I had the great idea that I was going to adopt a goldendoodle. For years I had seen these fluffy, golden puppies and I longed for one of my own.

Goldendoodles seemed like everything I had ever dreamed of in a dog. The personality of a golden retriever with the non-shedding aspect of the poodle. What I wanted to know was, where do I sign?And so I began my search for the perfect goldendoodle puppy that would be mine to raise from the very beginning.


In my research to find a breeder I had three criteria:

1. They did genetic testing of the parents and took great care of them.
2. They had great testimonials of previous adoptive families.
3. Excellent communication from the breeder.


After a few weeks of narrowing down potential breeders, I felt an instant connection with Mustard Seed Ranch located near Athens, GA. Now, Athens is close to 5 hours from where I live in Florida but I had a really great feeling about Mustard Seed Ranch. The owner was great with communication, had a history of great reviews with pictures of their dogs on the company Facebook page, and did extensive genetic testing for hip and knee issues, as well as inherited diseases common in each breed. Everything I had looked for! I felt comfortable with going ahead with the process knowing that I was adopting a puppy that was genetically sound and would be well-adjusted socially. Nathaniel and I have always known that children would be in our future, eventually, so we wanted to make sure that the breeder was giving us a dog that would adjust well to change and one day adjust to babies.

I knew I wanted an apricot colored "doodle" that would grow to be a medium sized dog (not over 50lbs) so that narrowed litters down considerably. I finally decided on parents and patiently waited for my pup to arrive.

I still remember the day that Yuna was born. August 16, 2014 started when I checked my email and Wendi (the breeder from MSR) announced via email that the litter had arrived!!! I was over the moon. She let us know that 7 pups had been born with 3 males and 4 females. I had previously stated that I wanted a female puppy so she sent me a picture of just the females.

Females puppies in the litter on the day they were born. 

When I look back at this picture I still remember feeling as though the puppy on the left was mine. As we had not made our selection yet (we wouldn't until they were at 6 weeks old) I couldn't exactly call her mine yet but a part of me just felt it.


Every week Wendi would send us a picture of the babies so we could track their progress. It was so exciting getting to watch these little babies grow up week to week. Puppies develop so quickly and it was an exciting day each week when we would receive our picture of our baby.

Puppies at 2 weeks. 

When we arrived at 6 weeks, the breeder had a trainer gage their individual personalities before we made a decision on a pup, that way we weren't just basing off of looks and that each puppy was well suited for a potential owner. The puppy that would be our Yuna scored very calm and had lower energy level than her brothers and sisters. She seemed to not be skittish or easily excitable or frightened. She also had no aggressive or dominant tendencies. Now, at the time, Nathaniel and I were a little skeptical of the "personality testing". How could someone tell what a baby will grow up to be? But we took it for the truth anyway and took a chance with the mellowest puppy. We felt that she would suit our lifestyle and wouldn't destroy the house if we left her at home during a work day.

So, I emailed Wendi with my decision and she replied shortly thereafter that she was ours! 

Yuna at 6 weeks. She looks like she has a lazy eye, haha.

I must have stared at this picture of our puppy every day that week, waiting for another picture.

Yuna at 7 weeks. The last picture sent to me before we brought her home.

The entire week before we brought her home was hectic. I was running around making sure I had everything in preparation: a crate, comfy bedding, toys, treats, food, training supplies and books, cleaning supplies (Nature's Miracle), a Wellness Plan for her veterinary care. I felt ready to be a puppy mom! That week felt like it dragged on forever and it felt like the day to bring her home would never arrive but the Friday night before we were to leave for Athens, GA arrived quicker than I expected. I went to bed thinking 2 things:

1. This is the last night before I have a brand new, adorable puppy.
2. I'm not going to sleep for a long time because I will have a brand new, adorable puppy.


Check back tomorrow for bringing Yuna home, part 2!

Happy Friday and Happy National Doughnut Day! Go get that tasty treat, it's free!

Well, here goes nothing!

Hello world!

For the past few years I've been toying with the notion of starting a blog and I did once... or twice... But now I figure I actually have some interesting things to talk about in a blog and to show the world what's up in my little corner of the Internet. I'm also hoping this blog will serve as a chronicle of sorts to follow my year of being engaged and wedding planning and all that good stuff. That way my fiance and I can look back and see how in the world we planned something as a huge as a wedding and hopefully pulled it off! So, let's start over and start at the beginning, shall we?


First things first, I'm Alyssa! For those of you who don't know me (or if you do, just reminding you), I'm heading into final year of graduate school and will graduate next April with my Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance and Choreography. But more on that in a later post...


I am a dancer, an educator, a choreographer, a (now) videographer. Dance has always been a part of me and has never seemed to leave my life. There was a period of time where I thought I didn't necessarily need it in my life and then I wound up at grad school getting my MFA in dance, so... I think I always knew that I wouldn't become a performer professionally and I've always enjoyed educating others in the art form more. I hope that with my degree that I can teach dance in a college one day! I spend my days choreographing (creating dances) and on the side, filming dance. My love for dance videography is fairly new but is quickly becoming an intense passion. I'll be sharing my work on the blog in due time so you can see what I've been working on and maybe see how I progress in my technology and editing skills.

I got ENGAGED!!! to my wonderful fiance, Nathaniel! He proposed on December 23, 2014 at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio during their Wildlights event and it was beautiful and emotional (there may have been a lot of ugly crying on my part). He gave me the most beautiful ring for me to wear and I still, six months later, find myself just staring at how sparkly it is. I'll have to dedicate a whole series of posts relating to this proposal because it is quite the story.

Our wedding will be in May of next year (and before you tell me I have a lot of time to plan this wedding, just. don't. Because there's never enough time!!!) and we like to joke that we are having a destination wedding. In Ohio.

See, Nathaniel and I currently are in Florida and we are planning our wedding from here, so... I guess we can technically call it "destination", ;) haha. You can view our wedding website here:

http://www.theknot.com/wedding/Morris-Stevens


Last October, we adopted an 8 week old goldendoodle that we named Yuna. Bringing home a puppy (basically a baby) so young brought it's own set of challenges. She challenged our patience (and our wallet) but all in all, raising Yuna together and all the hard work put into her training and well being drew us closer in our relationship. If that doesn't prepare you to raise a child together one day, then I don't know what else can! I plan on starting from the beginning of Yuna's puppyhood and touch on the challenges that being a newborn pet parent presents. Also, I'm sure many of you just would like to see pictures of her!

The first day we brought Yuna home! This was taken at the breeder's house.

Yuna at 9 weeks

Yuna at 5 months.

So, there you have it! I've talked about me, my guy, and my goldendoodle! Keep checking back on the blog for updates on wedding planning, my puppy, and delicious recipes.