Sunny days...sweeping the clouds away!

“Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, 

sunlight turn to fog; but you’re never friendless ever, if you have a dog.”

I love this quote, it has been so applicable to my life over the past 7 months.  Things here on the Island haven't always been as exotic and exciting as I make out on the blog! and one thing's for sure Sunny has made my days brighter regardless of everything that's been going on, and it's hard for me to imagine life without him going forward (cue the 8th time I have cried today!)

On Monday night we went for our last sunset walk on the beach together at our local beach. 

Look at those cute little paw prints!

and here's my footsteps along with his.

When we first got Sunny he hated the car and never wanted to go in it.  He would run a mile if he thought you wanted him to get in.  The times when he needed to go to the vet, we would have to coax him in with pieces of ham and even then he wasn't happy! In the past month or so all that has changed and he hops in the car as soon as you open the door, even if you weren't necessarily planning on taking him! Last night I had to run some last minute errands and he of course wanted to come, I managed to snap this pic of us quick.

I had decided I wanted to make one last visit to my favourite beach on the Island, Taylor Bay.  We passed this street sign, and I've always wanted to take a picture of it with the lovely turquoise hues of Chalk Sound in the background, Picturesque Lane is certainly apt! 

We arrived at Taylor Bay and Sunny headed straight for the water, it had been a pretty warm car ride... 

 and as soon as he's out of the water his favourite thing to do is roll in the sand, I don't think he likes to feel wet! 

This afternoon we took our final walk on the beach and then we headed home to hand him over to his new family.

It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to him, I know he will be well loved - the two little boys he will be living with just adore him and have been so excited all week about being able to come and take him to their home....

but that still doesn't make it any less sad.  He has been a part of our family and he will certainly be missed, but we know we helped to save his life and that we were able to give him lots of love whilst in our care and we hope he will always remember us :) maybe one day in the future we will even return and get to pay him a visit! 

It was very sad to return to an empty house tonight, after having a delicious conch curry at the Behlmaier's!, and to not have Sunny's happy face and wagging tail there to greet me but I know Eden (above) will be taking good care of him for us and I know that we have made enough memories with him to last a lifetime! 

Blue skies and Sunny days!

So our internet has been down and it feels like we fell off the face of the planet for a while there! but we're back online, hooray! and I thought I'd give a quick little update! January was a pretty long month, and funds were low so there wasn't too much exciting stuff going on! Just plenty of walks on the beach, By snapped this awesome shot of the sea on one of them which I just had to share, and just lots of time to enjoy our cute little Potcake.  

Yes that's right, those who know me will know I am absolutely not a dog lover so it makes it all the more crazy when I tell you that I am crazy in love with our little Sunny! I can't explain it, or how it happened but he's definitely won me over! Here's a little update on what he's been doing recently! 

One day he came upstairs from running around in the yard with this poor little frog hanging out of his mouth! It was pretty funny (obviously not for the frog) but he was so pleased with himself at what he'd 'caught'! 

This is his 'stalking' pose.  It's what he likes to do when he sees another dog on the beach! He's also got much more used to the water, and has come a long way since the day he jumped in to the water from the Kayak! He now loves to splash around in the water at the beach and will occasionally venture out for a swim, usually if we're both swimming too. 

Most days we agree we should have called him Sandy! because this is typically what he looks like when we leave the beach, he loves to roll in the sand and get his nose and face covered! 

His latest trick we taught him is 'High-five', he picked it up in like a day (he's a clever dog you know!) and here he is showing off his new skill! 

I can't believe how fast he is growing, it's pretty sad! I miss our tiny little Potcake that used to fit into my hand but I am surprising myself at how he is not getting uglier as he gets bigger (which is what I originally thought would happen!!) and actually he gets funnier and cuter by the day! 

We watched a pretty awesome sunset one night too, the sun really just 'drops' here in Provo! and on Friday afternoon our landlords took us on a trip on their boat which was really awesome! By gets to go out on his dive boat he works on from time to time but it was the first time I'd been on a boat since we got here and it was nice to be out on the open water! Look how calm the canal was the day we went! 

Otherwise we've just been saving our pennies and getting super excited for our eagerly awaited visitors.  My friend Jade arrives in exactly 3 weeks today! and then By's dad and brother arrive 2 weeks after that so we're planning on lots of fun times ahead! 

There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy...

This pic was taken at the Jones Family Christmas last year.  How much has changed in a year!

 This was how we spent our Christmas day this year, yes it was on the beach in 26 degree weather and we had an awesome day trying to make it as festive as possible...but nothing compares to being with your whole family at this time of year, how we missed their banter!

My family will be shocked to hear I woke up at 8am... surprisingly late for me! but still as excited as ever...

Mara got into the spirit of opening prezzies...

and I wasn't far behind - how awesome is this bag! 

By was very pleased with his new shades from Mara especially since the ones he brought out here have melted a little!

He also got a VW campervan t-shirt from my mom and dad...and Dad's entered us into a Reggae Reggae sauce competition to hopefully win the real deal! You can also see in this pic I got an 'I heart cupcakes' t-shirt to match my bag!! I had to put it on immediately!

Mel and Arne spoilt me with all kinds of fun cupcake and gingerbread men pj's, and the bow in my hair was a tribute to Mel who every year puts every bow from her unwrapped gifts into her hair until there is no space left for anymore...mine was a poor effort I know! Snazzy ribbon is hard to come by here in Turks!

My friend Jade, who is coming to visit me in Feb...yessss I can't wait! bought me this most amazing present of a Beach Boys dvd - she knows me too well! I love it!!

and more excitement all round as I opened this Gwen perfume from my parents...it is now the fourth in my little Gwen Stefani fragrance collection and this Gwen even has furry hair - love it!

Mara was pleased with more shells to add to her collection that she's been busy gathering from the beaches while she's been here!

This tee will be a nice little reminder of our Island adventure when we go back home!

This face is pure delight right here....I got this amazing root beer float t-shirt from Mara

and these amazing glasses from By will be great at housing some root beer floats or perhaps some gourmet milkshakes...we plan to test them out tonight! 

Did I mention I love cupcakes? Oh yeah...the cupcake goodies just kept on coming! 

Here is By modelling his new shorts and tee from Mel and Arne and showing off his ridunculous tan at the same time! 

In keeping with Jones tradition, By cooked us up some tasty chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast...

accompanied by some hot chocolate (we're so healthy I know!) and in America they mix candy canes in with their hot choc to give it a peppermint flavour, I just had to give it a try!

Sunny got a present too, it was a leash - we tested it out on him and he definitely wasn't keen!

but he got a personal message from Santa on his prezzie! and he definitely got to eat some turkey!

and didn't he do it in style...

Top marks go to Chef Mara for producing this beautiful looking feast! 

I was so glad we didn't go along with By and his wishes for a BBQ...nothing beats a turkey roast with all the trimmings at Christmas! 

By doing the mans job...

and here's our lovely table - thanks to Mom for sending the tablecloth, serviettes and little chocolate stars to go along with our blue and silver colour scheme! 

and no Christmas is complete without crackers!! These also travelled in Mara's suitcase all the way from England...

and no cracker is complete without wearing the obligatory party hat! 

This was our masterpiece for dessert, a Buche de Noel.  Mara and I slaved away (mostly Mara!) for most of the day to create this...it was pretty time consuming! but we couldn't have managed it straight after our lunch anyway so it was just as well we had to wait a few more hours to indulge in some! and this beautiful cake stand it is on was another present from Byron! Happy blogging days!

and what happens after Christmas day lunch? sledging fun? definitely not! but a trip to the beach is a good replacement

The waves were pretty crazy, By taught Mara how to 'boogie board'

and when she finally caught a wave there were cheers all round! 

The sunset was amazing and the colours in the sky were really awesome.  We tried out some jumping pics...By came out superior!

As the sun went down it was time to go home and play a game of 'Who am I' and By went for a Christmas day fish with some of our friends.  Mara and I watched Elf and ate far too much christmas choc! 

Hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  All the best for 2011!