*twelve*

{it's hard to believe that my sweet noah turned 12 yesterday. actually it's really hard for me, i have to choke back the tears thinking how old he is. i remember the day we brought him home. b and i drove from st. louis, mo to a farm in pocahontas, il. there we were greeted by a man (the farmer) who whistled for the puppies he was giving away. after a second or two...this adorable chocolate lab puppy came running up the hill...behind her was her brother, the cutest little black fur ball i had ever seen with his big ears flopping in the wind. his name was "big head tom". (i kid you not.) the farmer told us this with a straight face. he also informed us that four other families had looked at him and decided they didn't want him because he was the runt. well we wanted him no matter what size he was. so we were given his medical information and "big head tom" was ours. we put him in our car and as we pulled away...we quickly told "big head tom" that he was now going to be named...noah. a name that suited him so much better. our noah was only a wee 8 weeks old at the time. we got him to our apartment and realized he was dir-ty and covered in ticks. after a long bath, he was tick free and shaking of fear. we had no idea that our little guy was afraid of us. little did he know, we were now his forever family.  it didn't take him long to show us his big heart and in no time he stole our hearts. noah is the most loving, loyal dog. there hasn't been a person who's meet him who didn't fall in love with him. noah is our buddy, our sweet sweet friend. our first "kid".}

{happy 12th birthday noah.}

{here's a picture of us on his 9th birthday}