Good 'ole Sam

Tuesday my dog died. He was almost 15 years old and had been really sick the past year or two. Quite honestly, I'm glad my parents finally put him to sleep. He was practically blind, deaf, couldn't smell, and just miserable at times. But never once did he complain. My dad and Kurtis buried him in the backyard. Did you know the vet will give you a cardboard coffin for your dog? He was the best dog a family could ask for. I remember the first time I saw Sam (AKC registered as Chief Remington Sam), he was the cutest thing I had ever seen! A white and brown (liver is the official color) fluff ball. He didn't have the typical English Springer Spaniel markings all over his back. He followed me and Jesse around and was so calm with us that we knew he was the puppy for us. That first night we slept in the basement all of us -me, Jesse, probably Kimmy, Sam, and my dad. My dad of course had to take Sam out every few hours and carry him up and down the stairs - sorry Dad I seem to remember saying I would do that but I did feed him, take him for walks, and picked up dog poop! Sam went everywhere with me and was inseparable from the family till the moment he died. I loved taking him running and boy could he go and go and go. He would run for miles with me (yes, I used to run MILES everyday). I would take him running in the farmer's fields by our house hoping he would figure out he was supposed to be a hunting dog and flush pheasants but he was always so busy running around that those pheasants I'm sure just sat there and mocked him. I remember pulling stickers and ice balls out of his hair and toes afterwards and no matter how much it hurt, he always let me do it. I always felt safe running with Sam and to this day tell everyone the reason I don't run anymore is because I lost my running partner. He would pull us on our bikes, climb the playgrounds with us and go down the slides, bite and run through the sprinklers, spring up and down in the alfalfa fields (it was hilarious because you would Sam spring up then disappear then spring up somewhere else) and swim at Bear Lake until he almost drowned. Seriously, he almost drowned because he couldn't stand it to see us playing in the water without him. I finally figured out he would sit on our inner tubes if we pushed him around the lake with us. What dog does that? None that I've seen! Sam would have done anything to protect me. I remember one time he kept barking to go outside so I of course opened the back door and let him out. Us kids were home alone at the time, and the next thing I heard was someone yelling. I looked out the window and saw that Sam had chased the utility guy up our back fence and was barking at him. He also did that to my grandpas a few times, but only when we were home alone. I'm pretty sure in his prime Sam would have killed anyone who had tried to hurt us. He could leap into the back of a truck with the gate up without a running start, not to mention leap our 6 foot high fence like it was nothing. We could always expect to see Sam sitting on the front porch waiting for us when we came home - he jumped the fence a lot. I remember teaching him to shake hands, lay down, and when Kurtis would stick Cheerios on his nose and say "steady, steady, get it Sam" and he would flip them up and catch them in his mouth. He would sleep with us, lay under our feet (whether we wanted him to or not), and despite getting into the garbage, eating entire bags of Hersey's Kisses (whoever said chocolate kills dogs obviously did not meet Sam), never walking calmly on a leash, or inhaling any food left on the table, Sam was the best dog in the whole world! I will miss him so much and so will Pearl. She just loves doggies and I think that was her favorite part of going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It just won't be the same without him.

Popsicle Face

I know I'm posting two things in one night, but I'm on a roll! This will be short because words are not needed to describe what happened on Sunday when Pearl saw Jeff eating a delicious popsicle. The rest is...well you can see for yourself as we go from "gimme, gimme, gimme Daddy" to a red, white, and blue face (and dress)!

Hogle Zoo

Ah the zoo. As a kid you loved the zoo but Hogle Zoo? Honestly I always thought it was a dumpy zoo myself full of animals stuck in tiny cages just waiting to die. Then when Jeff and I were dating we went to the zoo but fought the whole time. I'm remembering Jeff teasing me way past the point of funny and then me refusing to give in and be happy. He thought it was hilarious to make me climb aboard a statue of a rhino for a picture and then stand next to a sign that said "mute swan". I of course was furious that he continued to giggle at me but I must admit the pictures were funny. But Hogle Zoo has come a long way over the past couple of years and even Jeff was impressed with it. Still the best zoo I've ever been to is in Kansas City, MO- yes way better than even San Diego Zoo. It was seriously like going to a wild animal preserve and it took us the entire day, no joking just ask my brother Jesse who complained about how lame it was the entire time, to walk around it. We didn't even see everything. But that's beside the point, this post is all about Pearl's first trip to Hogle Zoo.

The first weeks in July are always busy for us. With Jeff's birthday and our anniversary, we always seem to have lots of news to share this time of year. In between these celebrations, Pearl of course continues to experience and learn new things. And now that my stupid paper for one of my last 3 graduate classes is finally done, I'm playing catch up on what we've been doing. Last Monday Jeff took the day off ('cause we both worked on our anniversary) and stayed home for "mamma and Pearl" day. We decided to take Pearl to Hogle Zoo since she just loves animals. What we should have done instead was take her to Pets Mart! Not only would it have been cheaper, but she thought every animal at the zoo was a doggie anyway. It was going to be super hot so we braved the zoo before Pearl's nap. Good call on our part, well at least considering I've never been to the zoo when all the animals were out and about playing. She had fun but was super tired and didn't get into it as much as I would have thought. Nor did we get the adorable pictures I had envisioned. Honestly, will this kid ever let me get a good shot of her, just once? I mean is it too much to ask to document your child's adorable smile, crooked teeth, and big hazel eyes? She was excited to see all the doggies though and continued to bark and pant at every animal she thought was a dog. But by the time we wound our way around the entire zoo, Pearl had had enough. On a side note, there was a sign in the new big cats exhibit that said only 5,000 tigers are left in the wild? WHAT? Has our world come to this? I mean, thinking that my children will never see a tiger, elephant, or polar bear except in a movie or zoo is depressing. How sad! After the zoo we went to Litza's Pizza for lunch, yummy! Too bad we can't have family day everyday!

Oh and speaking of animals, Jeff has been teaching Pearl what a rooster says. Which, by the way is NOT a zoo animal (neither are turkeys) in my opinion. Anyway, Jeff does a pretty mean impersonation of a rooster and Pearl has figured out that this animal makes a noise similar to her ear-piercing screams. The catch is though we think it's cute. She must think we have totally lost it, encouraging her to cock-a-doodle-do at us.