When the Dog's Away, the Wildlife Will Play

Here is what we found right outside our front door this morning. And she keeps coming back. The one picture you can tell how close she was by the door being in the picture as well. At one time she was next to our window--we were 2 feet away from each other with just the window separating us. She doesn't seem to scared of us and that makes me a bit nervous especially since the kids want to go outside and go sledding, but I guess they will have strength in numbers, right??

Retiring

We lost our dog, Lady, this weekend...but not how you think, so bare with me and before you start crying, she didn't die nor did she get lost.
It finally occurred to us what was wrong with her. For several months I thought she was pretending to be a young spry dog thinking she was capable of doing anything that she put her mind to including Superman-like stunts. Several times I would be walking down the stairs that lead next to the house and Lady would take off in front of me and run down, only to tumble over her self when she got to the bottom. There were several other odd behaviors that she has adopted lately that didn't make sense until if finally dawned on us the other day when she ran out of the garage and crashed into me. I was thankful that it wasn't one of the kids because she would have knocked them over. Lady is going blind. On top of that we have known for quite some time that she is very hard of hearing. We have decided that it is not safe for her at our house anymore. There are so many stairs, hills, cars, and kids that could cause her problems...or she could cause problems to. She has grown up always being able to run free, so suddenly tying her up wouldn't be the solution. And as a reminder, she really isn't our dog. We've been borrowing/watching her while Grant's parents have been on their mission. We decided that she needed to be somewhere where she could be safe (even grounds & fenced in), but still get to be herself (able to run and bark). So we had to give her to Gina & DeWayne. They have a dog who Lady will get to play with (if not bully) and they have several acres fenced in where she can still run. This is so sad for me, so I'm trying to remain positive and say that she is going to her retirement home. And this is where I end because I can feel the tears coming.

Goodbye for now

Grant's Grandma passed away last Friday. She had been in and out of not such great health for awhile now. And then it was finally her turn to return back to heaven. At the funeral the kids released balloons for Great Grandma Ely. It was pretty special.
We mill MISS Grandma Ely. We will miss all of her cats that she had outside. We will miss her scale and her rebounder. We will miss the way she said piano. I always think of her philosophy on staying young and busy...she said that she wouldn't sit down because then she might not get back up. She was a great woman and I'm glad that we were able to see her one last time a few months ago.

My Buddy

I cannot believe that double digits are now a year away. Ben is 9 and in 3rd grade. I can't believe it. I remember a lot from 3rd grade...and now I have a son old enough to do the same. Ben had his Birthday party last week at a Cabela's store. The boys all had a lot of fun getting to be boys. They did a scavenger hunt through the store and then they gave us an unlimited amount of tokens for the shooting gallery. We've decided to only do birthday parties every other year, so this was the last one for awhile.
Yesterday I woke him up with breakfast in bed. Then at night we had his family dinner. He wanted pizza (no complaints here) and pumpkin pie instead of cake (again no complaints from this non-cake person).
Ben is my little (but not so little anymore) Buddy. He is such a great helper. Ben loves to swim, play soccer, wall-ball, and kickball. He loves scouting and is very good at drawing, painting, etc. He has always been very good with tying knots (at time too good) and athletic things come pretty naturally to him. He has an unbelievably good aim with a gun (it's in his blood--we've got a lot of gun users in our family). He loves babies, and wants to have lots of kids when he grows up. He also wants to be a doctor when he is older. He loves learning new things, hands-on activities, and he is an EXTREMELY hard worker. Ben has a very contagious laugh. He is a great brother and loves to make his sisters happy. And he is very patient with Trevor, but he kind of likes to push Trev's buttons as well. He likes doing what is right, and his testimony of the Savior is always growing. He wants to live with us when he is older and that is fine by me. I adore Ben and am so glad that he is in our family.

Our conversation we had 3 minutes ago

Trevor: I wish I was 16 so I could go on a date.
Me: Oh yeah? Who do you want to go on a date with?
T: Karmin
M: Oh well if you want to go on a date with somebody in our family you can do that anytime.
T: Oh, so Ben can go on a date to get engaged or something?
M: Uhh, no. You can't go on one of those dates until you're back from your mission.
T: Well I want to go on a date to get engaged when I am 16. What does it mean to get engaged?
M: That's when you promise to marry somebody.
T: Owww. I can't do that. I haven't even chosen my girl.

Trev, your girl will be one lucky one.