Paddleboards and Puppies

Jackson and I went on a date to Pineview a few weeks ago.  We rented a couple paddleboards and spent the day up there.  We brought Oakley with us and boy was it fun.  Haha we bought her a doggy life jacket to make sure she was safe when we took her out with us.  And let me tell you....  She HATED it.  Like straight up hated it.  If you out her in the water she doggy paddled straight for shore. And if you out her on the paddle board with you,  she was right by your feet, if not on them.  I've never seen a dog hate water so much.  It was hilarious! So of course,  bejng the hilarious people that we are,  played toss with our puppy.  We would get our paddleboards about 10 to 15 feet apart and the throw her in and make her swim to the other person.  I could've done it all day.  I was so entertained. When she got to her target,  she would scramble up on the board like she was clinging for dear life. You gotta picture this with me.  Soaking wet puppy,  so her fur is all matted down.  She looks teeny tiny because of it.  And her eyes are frantic and she's scrambling to get on the board and when she does she plots down right in your lap.  And she doesn't move.  And she's clawing your claw so you don't toss her in.  It was priceless,  but she may permanently hate water from now on.  Oops! Haha

But Jackson and I had so much fun.  The paddleboards were something new for each of us to try and they were really neat.  We raced each other and mosied around the lake.  It was a much needed relax day before school started back up again.

The only bad part to the day was that we both got sunburned.  And bad.  We were both peeling for a week.  It was lovely.  Just lovely. I had to show up to my first day of nursing school with my face peeling like I'm some kind of Martian.  Yeah....  That was a great first impression. NOT.

My Loving Grandpa

This summer my sweet Grandpa passed away.  He was the most amazing,  hardworking,  loving,  kind,  spiritual,  family oriented,  and the greatest Grandpa I could have been blessed with.  I was privileged to know him and call him Grandpa.  He was such an example and so much fun to be around.  He always gave the best hugs and always made sure everyone was having fun and taken care of.  He called all the girls sis. And those of us with blond hair,  he called Blondie.  He was always laughing and joking.

  I remember when we would go visit on Sunday afternoons,  if the conversation got dull grandpa would start teasing me about my toes.  (I have thee ugliest toes of all mankind.  They're like a second pair of hands)  and grandpa would tease me and tell me that I didn't need flippers to go swimming,  I had them built in! Haha

Grandpa and grandma have this giant tree in theit backyard. And growing up,  everyone wanted to climb it.  But grandpa's rule was that you had to climb up the tree by yourself,  and get down by yourself.  I remember trying for hours and days on end trying to climb up the tree to be with the big Kids.  And how cool I felt when I was finally big enough to climb it. 

There was this one time,  we were up camping and I was about 8 or so at the time.  I don't know why,  but I decided to touch the top of a gas Lantern.  And burnt my hand.  I was crying,  it hurt SO badly.  And I remember grandpa taking me into his trailer and taking care of my blistering hand.  He spoke in strong,  but gentle tones.  He was always reassuring.  You knew without a shadow of a doubt that you could trust him. You knew that grandpa would take care of you and that everything would be okay.

I was blessed to have him confirm me a member of the church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We went camping to Steamboat Lake in Colorado.  A lot of my mom's side of the family was there. My dad baptized me in the freezing cold Lake water.  And my grandpa confirmed me in my grandparents trailer.  My grandma played the piano (keyboard). It was perfect.  I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

My grandpa was a patriarch in his stake,  and I didn't get my blessing in time to have him give it to him before he started having memory problems. But grandpa and grandma drove up to Logan,  where I was getting it and listened and were there with me.  That meant so much to me having them there.  I can't tell you how much I look up to my grandparents.  They are such a great example. It was really neat after I was given my blessing,  because everyone went around the room and said something about it and how they felt. I won't go into details but it was really neat to hear everyone's feelings,  especially my grandparents. 

I remember when I was younger always wanting to sit on grandpa's lap. And if you did he would tickle your face with the ends of your hair. And even though it tickled you wanted grandpa to do it. Haha weird kid stuff..

Grandpa was always pulling faces.  Especially at all the kids.  He always made time for his grandkids and great grandkids. He had a way of making everyone feel important and special. 

Grandpa used to have these reclining long chairs that were on the back porch.  And when we came to visit,  sometimes he would be take a snooze. He'd have his hat over his face,  and you'd hear his gentle snore/breathing.  And you would creep up to try to scare grandpa,  but he always ended up scaring you. Somehow he always knew when you were coming. 

I think the greatest legacy that he left behind was his love for his family and his love for the Savior.  My grandpa always made sure that his family was taken care of.  That they knew how much he loved them. I loved watching him with my grandma.  They are perfect for each other.  Grandpa was always making sure his "toots"  was okay.  That she had everything she needed.  I can't remember a time when they weren't holding hands if they were together.  And grandpa was so funny when he would tickle grandma. Grandma would tell him "knock that off Colen." and he would,  for about 30 seconds.  And he would just be grinning his big grin and grandma would start laughing.  They were the cutest thing.  I hope and aspire to have a marriage like theirs. You could always see the love that they had for each other.  They were kind and loving towards each other. 

Grandpa exemplified the Savior in a way that I hope I can someday.  He served in many different callings.  And he was trustworthy and dependable.  If he said he would be there,  he would be there.  No matter what.  He taught through his actions and how he spoke.  You knew that the gospel was important to him. And you could feel the spirit being around him.

Even though I know that he's where he needs to be.  And that it was his time to go.  I still miss him so much. Saying goodbye to him was one of the hardest things I've done.  I have the outline for his funeral that has his picture on the front in my kitchen. And it's hard knowing that I won't see him again for a long time.  But I do know that I will see him again.  And I know that he he carrying on the Lord's work and spending some much needed time with his family.  I know that they missed him. He was the last member to join them on the other side.  And I just have to be a patient the same way his parents and siblings were when they were waiting for him.  I know that I will see him again and that he'll give me a nice, big hug,  the way that only he can, and tell me hi sis,  love you. 

I stink at updating this thing called a blog..

I told you when I started this blog that I may or may not stink at updating it.  Surprise surprise it's the first one.  But my dear brother informed me that I need to keep posting. And I think he's right. Writing the blog is a fun way to count my blessings and look back on my life.  I definitely need to do a better job.  I'll work on it. 

This summer has definitely been an eventful one.  Our cute puppy,  turned out to be a total Clutz. She broke her femur after we had had her for two weeks.  Two whole freaking weeks.  That's it.  You can imagine how great we felt...  NOT! So we went to the vet and had them do surgery to fix it.  They ended up putting a pin through the bone to hold it in place because she had broke it clean in half.  She was really snuggly afterwards,  which I LOVED! She was my snuggle buddy when Jackson was at work at night. 

About two weeks post surgery,  she started dragging her foot when she walked.  It started messing up the ankle so we went back to the vet and they put a splint on her.  It was too big on her so she looked a little funny.  Jackson and I called it her hockey stick. Haha we think we're funny.

The whole ordeal lasted for 6 weeks.  And we finally got the pin taken out,  and the splint off.  Finally, we could enjoy our puppy and take her on walks,  right? Wrong.  We tried taking her for a walk a couple days after they removed everything. And she just dragged that leg.  It was so sad! I felt so bad for her.  We ended up carrying her home halfway through the walk. 

Remember that part where I said she's a clutz? Let's add accident prone to that too.  Not two weeks after everything was removed.  She broke her leg AGAIN. You heard me right.  Only this time it was the lower two bones in that same leg.  So we took her back to the vet. They wanted us to do surgery and pin the leg again. I love Oakley,  I really do.  But ANOTHER surgery? You've got to be kidding me.  So we left her at the vet and talked about what we wanted to do. They called us the next morning and told us that they wee rechecking the xrays and she had dislocated her hip as well,  and that the best course of action would be to amputate. By now I am freaking out! They want to amputate our 3 month old puppies leg? Heck no. So we went to pick her up to take her to a specialist for puppies.  (yes that's a real thing! Who knew?)  We stopped to talk to our favorite tech about our options and what she would do in our situation.  She said that she has a puppy that had a similar situation and that they did 4 surgeries,  yes FOUR,  and the dogs leg was no fused together and he didn't use it at all.  He just tucked it up when he ran.  She said he was perfectly fine.  So Jackson and I talked and prayed about what we should do for our poor baby.  And decided that amputation was the best course of action to give her a healthy and happy life.  She wasn't using that leg after the splint and pin were removed,  it was causing her more problems.  So we signed the papers to let then cut my poor puppy's leg off.  I felt so bad we had to do it.  She's just a baby,  only 3 months old for crying out loud, but we wanted the best life possible for her.  We wanted her to be able to run and go for walks without dragging her leg and bleeding.  And it turned out to be the best decision we could have made for her.  She had it amputated on a Thursday,  and on Saturday we had my family over for a BBQ because my lovely parents gave us their old grill.  So we cooked dinner to thank them.  Oakley ran up and down the backyard with her 3 legs for 6 hours.  Six freaking hours! I was so impressed.  She was more active in that day then she had been since the first two weeks we got her. That definitely made me feel better about our decision.  She has been the most hyper and happy puppy since then.  She doesn't even notice it's not here except when she tries to scratch her head,  and you can see the muscles moving where her leg was.  It's hilarious! I know it's mean to laugh,  but it's kinda funny.  And then we go over and scratch her head for her. 

Having three legs doesn't even stop her from digging holes in our backyard! You would think it would tight? I wish.  So we can't leave her out there for very long unattended or I might not have a yard anymore! She's a rascal. 

Moral of the story.  No letting puppies do stairs and Make sure you're dog isn't accident prone before you buy/adopt them. Haha but for all the hassle we've had with her,  I wouldn't trade getting er for any of it!