Jay, Sara & Ella

Meet Ruby Pearl

Our month of July ended in a big way - we got a puppy!

I never thought I'd type that in this blog!

I was very reluctant to add an ANIMAL to the house.

I'm not really a pet person.

But, Jay and Ella were relentless and finally I just agreed.

And we found this one.

And God was watching over me because she's perfect

and not at all what I was expecting a new puppy to be

Here she is when we located her (prior to us picking her up)

She is a cockapoo.

Age here: 7 months

And here she is after we got home with her

Let's just say she wasn't a huge fan of any of us for quite a while.

Didn't eat, drink, pee or poop

and even managed to get gum in her paw on the first day!

But, things have changed.

She has changed us and we're all figuring it out!

(Despite the accidents, sock stealing and now barking...)

We decided as a family to name her Ruby and then Ella insisted that she have a middle name, so then she became Ruby Pearl! LOL! And when she gets in trouble, everyone is using her full name (and when Ella says it, it sounds like she's from the South!) LOL!!

We're lucky to have you Ruby Pearl!

July 2019

I will say that July 2019 was a busy month for the Abbas family!! Let's recap shall we?

July 1st was a work day and I had a closing but I forgot (it was Monday!) and I wore jeans and tennis shoes to work. Sigh. Thankfully, I work downtown so was able to make a Target run for appropriate attire!!

July 4th we had a BBQ at Jay's parents with the cousins. Ella had a good time!

(this is what I find when someone takes selfies when I'm inside!)

The weekend of the Fourth we had dinner with friends in Miesville and we also made a trip to Baskin Robbins! We tried the new ice creams for Stranger Things and Ella wanted to get her photo taken!!

For our summer vacation this year, we headed back to Tofte/Lutsen/Grand Marais and enjoyed a few days at the North Shore. This is our favorite place to go and it did not disappoint this year!

Here we go!

Duluth...

This sign was in a gift shop in Duluth and I just love it!

On our way north, of course we had to stop at Betty's Pies!

Gooseberry Falls...

This is a pretty awkward selfie attempt...

And we made it!!

This view never gets old

Our first night, a storm came through while we were up at Lutsen Mountain -

it was pretty cool to see!

We love you Lake Superior!

Family hike!

Grand Marais...

First essential stop - World's Best Donuts! YUM!

And Java Moose for coffees!

We browsed the shops in Grand Marais and guess what - Ella got pooped on by a seagull! LOL! She was so upset and cried and cried (and yes it was gross) but hilarious too! What are the chances?! Thankfully our resort has guest laundry so I was able to wash her sweatshirt right away and all was well. A story we'll never forget though!

And if there is a claw machine in the vicinity, Jay and Ella will find it! HA!

And then....

June 2019

We had a few other fun things going on in June! We went to friends dance recital, shopped at the Eagan outlet mall, went to a concert, celebrated Father's Day and started to clean out the toy room!

Enjoying a Friday with this cutie!

Jay got tickets to the Mixed Tape Tour for my birthday. It was pretty fun and Salt N Pepa were my favorite (NKOTB were just okay, and honestly probably I should have just kept their images as they were back in the day)!

Father's Day started with a trip for coffee to Jay's favorite - Dunn Bros.

It was a fun day!

Near the end of the month I attended a paint pour workshop with a friend at a local craft shop.

It was really cool! I made a State of Minnesota sign, but before we created our actual piece, we were able to test various applications!

You know what else we did? Started to clean out Ella's toy room!

How does this girl have so many stuffed animals?!?!

The month of June always goes by so fast!

Happy Birthday Ella and Happy Last Day of School!

We had a fun day for Ella's actual birthday!

Birthday pancakes from Suzie's Kitchen! YUM

We did some shopping/errands and then went to Ella's favorite place for dinner....Noodles & Co., all while Ella donned that cute Unicorn Headband!! Being a 10 year old girl is so fun!

Also, let's talk about Ella's birthday cake. This year instead of getting a cake from Target/Walmart I wanted to create the Unicorn cake. So I did. And then I thought the frosting was going to be weird so I didn't want to serve it. So, I made a last minute trip to Target and bought a cake which was shown in her birthday party photos. I thought it was cute but it wasn't the cake I envisioned for the festivities. Anyway, on Ella's actual b-day I thought I would slice into the cake I made just to see. Well friends, it was amazing. So good! I wish I would have trusted myself and served it. Lesson learned. :)

Here is that cute cake I made (I even bought the unicorn decorations to go on it!)