Christmas 2010! (yes....as in last Christmas)

Almost a year ago (Christmas Eve day) we woke up to a winter wonderland.  Ryan and I had plans to drive to my parent's house that day to spend Christmas with them and make a special stop along the way to pick up a very special Christmas gift.

Rewind a few weeks when someone in the family...(I think it was Melissa?) informed us that there were great pyrenees puppies for sale not too far away and suggested that we go "look" a them.  I knew before I married Ryan that we would own a great pyr some day.  It was only a matter of time.  :)  I also knew that there was no such thing as just "looking" at great pyr puppies.  No. way.  In my heart I knew that if we went to look at them we would have to bring one home with us.  So...off we went to a farm in rural Iowa where Ryan picked out the biggest puppy of the litter. :)  We couldn't take him home with us that day because he was only a few weeks old and had to have his deworming shots. Fast forward to Christmas Eve day which was the day we chose to pick him up since it was between where we live and where my parents live.  

We waited a little bit to see if the snow would let up Christmas Eve day and then decided just to head out because we were anxious to pick up the puppy and get to my parent's house!  It helps that Ryan loves the challenge of driving in the snow and we have a pretty reliable vehicle.  My smart husband was thinking ahead and tossed a recovery strap and a shovel in the jeep in case of an emergency.  It was a good thing he did that because we got to be a Christmas Eve blessing to a woman who had spun her car around on an exit ramp and got stuck in a snow bank.  Pretty exciting.  The roads weren't too terrible until we got out on the country gravel roads that hadn't been plowed yet!  I'm glad my mom wasn't with us. ;)  When we got there we discovered that the dog we had picked out a couple weeks before was given to someone else!  The lady confused which dog was ours.  So we picked a different dog.  Ryan picked him because of the spot on his back and a pink spot on his nose.  We're glad we got him!

it's really hard to tell by looking at this photo...but this is one of the country roads we traveled

Here's the photographic review of the past year....

on the way to meet my parents!

meeting the cousins for the first time.  little did they know he would soon be bigger than them!

oh the fun things you can do a dog while he's sleeping!

He really likes to be in the way.

Sorry for all the photos!  It was hard to chose just a few.  :) 

So we've had Gil for a year and I can't imagine our home without him.  I had never thought of myself as a dog person until we got him (don't worry dad...I still love cats too :).  He is a big sweetie and a gentle giant (most of the time) which makes it worth the endless amounts of the fur and drool. :)  There is nothing like snuggling a big, fluffy, great pyr.  Trust me.