Our Family is growing...

By four paws!!! Haha...made you look but seriously, she is a 4th to us just not of the human type...she's our fur baby! This has been a very long time coming. Last March (2014), we were hiking at Foster Falls. While on the trail, we met a family with a miniature goldendoodle. I immediately fell in  love with the breed and told Chase I had to have one. After doing A LOT of research, I discovered I loved the red color more than any other. After MORE research and trying to find a breeder that was near us and not astronomical in price, I found Sunset Hill in Franklin, KY. It was only an hour North of Nashville, making it very convenient for us. Alas, we moved to North Carolina! Now the breeder was 10 hours from us, but I wasn't switching now. After several bumps in the road, our mommy dog FINALLY had puppies July 11th!

Each week I "patiently" waited for pictures of the sweet red puppies! At four weeks of age we were able to chose. We were first on the list and were able to get pick of the litter. There were several things we were looking for in our puppy. Obviously, we wanted to have a great tempered puppy but we were also looking for a deep red color and a curly coat. This breeder names each litter with a theme. Our litters theme was Narnia. Aravis is our puppy, she is the strong female lead in A Horse and his Boy (I had to google it--I haven't read that one yet). However, we wanted to add our own nerdy flare to our puppy, trying to come up with a Harry Potter character. Originally, I wanted Luna but Chase said she was a blond and he didn't think that name fit. After talking to my sister we went with a redhead character...

Meet Lily...

Momma Mia and her 10 puppies!!!

One week old. Not sure if Lily is in the mix here but aren't they cute?!

Our sweet girl!!!

3 weeks old...they grow so fast! Love her little white patch!

4 Weeks old! She was described as interactive. :)

At 5 weeks old, she got sick...this is her at 5.5/6 weeks old, recovering from her illness.

This is also 5.5/6 weeks old. She's looks kinda pitiful.

6 weeks old and starting to get her strength back!

7 weeks old and getting much more active and playful!

Look how fluffy she's getting!

Since we were in Nashville for a wedding on Friday, we scheduled picking up our new addition for that Saturday. She is so sweet and did remarkably well on our 10 hour drive home. Actually it was more like 14 because we stopped more than we normally do. Lily was by far the best traveler out of all of us! Hopefully that will stay the same since we travel as much as we do, however, I'm sure that will slow down!

About to start the long drive home!

She loved nuzzling my neck...she is currently tiny so this works for now. We might have a problem as she gets bigger!

Look at that face!!! 

Stretched out across my lap.

She like a little teddy bear!

 Like I mentioned, we stopped several times a long our drive. Once was in Asheville to eat dinner at one of our favorite places! We have said before, that when we get a dog we would bring them to eat there. The only problem with bringing your 8 week old puppy, who looks like a red teddy bear, to a public place...we kept getting bombarded with people wanting to pet her or hold her! I can't blame them, I would have done that same thing!

This was tonight...whatever makes you comfortable I guess!

So today was day three, day two at home, and she has adjusted very well to being a Martin! Riley is realizing that she isn't going away and seems to be warming up to her...as long as she's not too close! Ha! Gavin keeps saying "momma, she is just so cute!" and Emory hardly lets her feet touch the ground. I have to remind her to put her down! Emory has also been a great help in feeding Lily and taking her outside when needed. We will see how long that lasts but I will take it for now!