Friday, February 7, 2014

All dogs go to Heaven


On Friday January 31 our dog, Duke, passed away. We lost a member of our family, and he's truly missed.


Scott got him as a wee little pup 11 years ago.



Well, he grew...

and grew...


until he was a big cuddly, emotional, crazy, loving, and loyal dog. 


He always wanted to be around us. Especially with Scott. He thought he was a lap dog, and would try to sit there whenever he had a chance.


I'm not going to lie...there were times that I wanted to give him the boot. 

Like when he chewed the siding off our trailer

or when he ate through the wood on 3 of our 4 pillars

or when he would wake the baby by crawling under his crib because he was afraid of the loud airplanes

or when he ate dirty diapers and I had to sanitize all the spots he drug it through.

But he was our dog and we love him.

Duke got Scott through some really hard trials.
He let me hug him when I was sad.
He was AMAZING with our kids.
And he's irreplaceable.


It's been a rough week with out him.

I hated going to bed the night he passed, I felt like there was a weight on my heart that was making it hard to breath.
 I hated knowing how much my husband was hurting. I hated hearing him quietly weep in bed. I hated waking up to see Scott digging his grave down the hill with tears streaming down his face. I would give ANYTHING to never see my husband that sad again.

There's been a few times where I've put food in his bowl out of habit.
I looked for him to give him the crust from Porter's sandwich.
There was a brief moment of excitement when I was on a walk with the boys and a dog ran by that looked just like him.
I miss hearing his collar as I walk down stairs in the morning.
I miss the way he would "talk" like a wookie.
I even miss slobbery kisses.

We love you Duke, and we'll see you in Heaven.


January 2014

New Years Eve we went out to dinner with some friends, and hung out at Brent and Andrea's for dessert. We came home before midnight because we knew Duke would freak out over the fireworks. We actually fell asleep before midnight too. Oldies.

Max is loving his excersaucer. He jumps up and down, it's the cutest thing.

At 6 months he sits up on his own

He got a tooth!

People are starting to say he looks like me

He catches a glimpse of his hands and then stares at them for a while (very fascinated)

When he's sad he only wants me

He weighs 16 lbs and is in 95% for height


He also started eating food. His first meal was zucchini and he devoured it. I swear this boy is hungry all the time.

He's also big enough to sit in the swings at the park now. This is his first ride.



Porter's been spending lots of time with Scott lately.


He loved getting his face painted at a birthday party..


so he thought he would try it himself at home.

He says "I love you" on his own (with out me saying it first). It melts my heart.
He's also starting to play independently more often. This makes things a little easier on me. But, it also makes me miss him.Sometimes I'll go in his room and ask if I could play with him, and he'll tell me in the sweetest voice, "no... go away, mommy". 


December 2013

The year is coming to an end, and we have so much to reflect on. 
There are so many blessings, I can't even name them all.



Our 2 biggest blessings are these cuties...




At the beginning of the month we went to Cedar City to see Jonathan get baptized. 
It was such a special day!


Carla threw a darling, Harry Potter birthday party for him...


and it was at an indoor water park. Porter was LOVING it!

We took the opportunity to play in the snow in her backyard.




A couple days before Christmas we went to the beach with Carla's family...




It was a perfect night for a bonfire...


and we even got to catch the boat parade!



When all the cousins were in town we went to Skyzone.


Then we went to Kevin's office to eat pizza...



then we saw some lights. What a fun day!

Christmas eve was at Tim and Jeanne's, it's so fun having all the family out.





Before bed the boys put on their matching PJ's that Grandma made them...


Porter was excited for Santa to come! Anytime we would ask him what he wanted Santa to bring him, he would say "gun slippers". Where did he get that from?


He seriously posed like this on his own.


The next morning Scott and I woke up to a toy pirate ship going off. Porter was already downstairs playing with it!
We missed his reaction to Christmas...



but  we were there when he asked us to help him put on his gun slippers!


These were the only 2 things he cared about...and we didn't push him to open his other gifts. We figures we could just have him open them up through out the week. Well a few days later I heard him yelling, "Mommy look" he had opened every one of them. We missed Christmas.


Scott spoiled me with a diamond necklace, among other goodies.

And I got him a Nascar racing experience!


Max opened his later in the morning when he woke up...


and got even more spoiled when we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for breakfast.


That evening my side of the family came over for festivities.





Kraft parties are a hoot!


We played Christmas roulette. If you got a Christmas trivia question wrong, you had to pick an egg to smash on your head. Some were hard boiled...and some weren't.



My kids were spoiled rotten with gifts...




I just love spending time with these people.






Max had a lovely first Christmas!