The vet told me Blu could push 100 lbs. when she's full grown.
Oh great.
I knew she was "big boned" but having the vet confirm that we truly do have a "major" dog is a bit frightening. He told me I should buy a cart or sled to have her pull us in,
that's how big and strong she's going to be. At 10 weeks, Blu weighed in
at a whooping 17.2 lbs. A big pawed baby who runs like she hasn't grown into her feet yet. Almost two weeks later, and I'm positive she's
gained at least another three pounds. Or more.
But man, is she a good looking dog. Jeff joked with me that, "No kidding she's a good lookin' dog. We make good looking babies."
Blu has been real naughty ever since we came home from Bear Lake. I guess she didn't want to come home either. I have no idea what to do... she thinks the kids are her personal chew toys and is constantly chasing them down outside, jumping up at them, and biting them. She's ripped so many holes in their clothes. It's a good thing Cole wears a diaper because Pearl got bit right on the butt the other day. Granted Cole probably deserves some of it because in the house he is always pinching her, sitting on her, and trying to tackle her. But still! She can't bite people. She doesn't get the whole "stay" command (but we do have "sit" and "come" down and sometimes, "shake"), barks anytime she is feeling ignored, and can't retrieve a ball to save her life. She's chewed our carpet. She jumps in the bathtub with the kids. She's successfully destroyed an entire plant in the backyard, not to mention picked off countless other unsuspecting branches, grape vines, leaves, and garden vegetables. And she's figured out she can jump. Our diligent neighbors who check on her when we're at work, found her sitting on the front porch one morning. Apparently she has figured out how to climb up on our gas pipe to jump on the porch. I was so grateful they were watching her for us and that she stayed put on the porch. I would have been devastated to lose her. Oh, and she won't bark to tell us she needs to go potty. After weeks of
no accidents, Cole came in and told me, "Blu potty, Mom." Ugh. Advice? Anyone? Please tell me this is just how labs are until they grow up? I'm kidding.
*Sad side note. When I took Blu in for her vet checkup, I saw our friend Marlow whom we got Blu from. I asked him where his dogs were and he almost broke down in tears. Marley (Blu's dad and best friend to Marlow) was in Marlow's words, "dying." They didn't know what was wrong with him. He stopped eating, wouldn't move, and was in real trouble. We found out a few days later, that Marley had been poisoned with rat poisoning and had to be put to sleep. The poison had shut his kidenys down and basically eaten his stomach. Marlow was devastated, as were we. We puppy sat Marley one time when he looked just like Blu and he was a great dog. It makes me sick to think someone could have done this on purpose. Even if was unintentional and he just got into something somewhere, I feel terrible. It just breaks my heart. Jeff said he could take Blu if he wanted and I think he almost took him up on the offer. Had he lost both Marley and Lucky (Blu's mom), I'm pretty sure we'd be puppy-less today. Then again, maybe that wouldn't be so bad......
I'm kidding. Look at that face!
Sort of kidding, anyway.
Today was the perfect Bear Lake day.
The sun was warm but not scorching hot.
The air was crisp and fresh.
The dog and kids slept in.
My brothers saved us from a Zombie Apocalypse.
I talked Jeff into renting jet skis for the afternoon.
We played at the beach for hours.
My Grandpa and Grandma Allen came over to say hi and enjoy the perfectness of the day.
My Dad actually put on his swimming suit... mainly because we had water toys he had to play with.
We ate off of my Mom's "Bear Lake fine china" for lunch.
We all stunk from not showering or combing our hair for at least four days and we didn't even care.
Blu claimed my Dad's favorite chair as her own. Never mind that we own two of the exact same chairs... she wanted to sit in my Dad's.
We didn't have any meal duties today.
And I got to see the Hunger Games movie finally.. technically it was last night and early this morning. Disappointing but now I want to read the books again so that's a good thing.
It was the perfect day at the lake. I almost cried at the thought of going home. I wanted to stay all week. I felt relaxed and had more fun this time than any other time this summer. I don't know why. Maybe I just needed four days of this....
And this...
I miss summer already.
Alright, so today I did have a slight thought that maybe I did want to go home.
I made everyone, including my Zombie Apocalypse killing brothers who wouldn't put the video game down for five seconds, to get on their swimming suits and head for the beach.
Bad idea.
The second we hit the sand, all three kids started not just whining, but full on sound-like-someone-is-torturing-them screaming over the slightest thing! First was the gross muck smell. Funny side note here. I wanted Blu to try her paws at swimming so I started to march out through the muck like a big girl, when whoof! I sunk up to my knees in decaying willows and algae and geese poop and who knows what else! It was so disgusting! My poor puppy followed me like a good girl would and sank right down with me, nosediving it right into the methane fused slime. Yuck. We eventually made our way to the water where I had to dunk Blu to get the scum off of her. Man did we stink after!
Anyway, back to the screaming. Then it was because we had to walk on the rocks - even with flip flops on - to get to water to avoid the before mentioned feet of grossness. Then it was because the water touched them. And there were willows and reeds sticking out of the water. Then something about the tubes and a full fledged panic attack by Pearl that she was going to drown in five inches of warm water. By now, Pearl and Ruby were both screaming at the top of their lungs and Cole couldn't decide if he wanted to sit on the tubes or have me hold him or drown himself. Oh, and then there was Blu. She followed us out into the water, swimming as mightily as she could for the first time, but got tired really quick and tried to climb on the tubes. Yeah. That went over well with two freaking out five-year-olds. Oh and if that wasn't enough, at this point the men had made it down to the beach. Jeff yanked Pearl out of the water (and saved Blu was was starting to look like a drowned, wet rat) and marched her right on up to the trailer. Ruby then started screaming at Jesse because she didn't want him to die in the muck trying to get out to us in the water. She didn't get that Emily and I wanted her to zip it so we could see him face plant it in the muck.
After losing Pearl and Blu, Jesse making his way safely through the muck, and getting Cole to the beach to get warm, things finally settled down. My brothers and I then decided to make the most of our beach disaster by throwing giant rocks into the muck and seeing how high we could get the nastiness to splash.
Don't let the tranquility of this picture fool you. My gosh! It was a royal disaster! Who's brilliant idea was it in the first place, anyway?
The moon once again proved a spectacular sight that night. It was memorizing. And since Jeff was busy playing games on his phone and didn't want to listen to me nag him anymore about "Look at the moon now, Jeff! Oh it's so pretty! Jeff, look! Wow!" I decided to goof off and try to write my name with my camera, using only the moonlight. If you hold your computer upside down and backwards and then look in the reflection on the lake, you can almost make out a "Jenny" in there.
We did our first family trail ride today. On an actual trail - Hodges Canyon. Pearl and Cole were PUMPED! Those two love the 4 wheelers more than anyone I know. The trail is rated difficult but it's a piece of cake.
On the way down, I let Pearl take some pictures with my camera. As we were riding. It was funny to see her perspective on things.
Oh, and Jeff let her drive part of the way back. We switched off taking kids because Pearl has to be on the red ATV with the pack and seat because Cole is still too little to hold himself up without our help, so he's stuck on the green ATV in front of us so we can keep an eye on him better. Jeff told Pearl to hit the gas and I guess she did. He said she was a crazy driver, going full speed with no fear. Great. Just great. I can't wait for Fern's turn. Heaven help me 'cause they both have their Dad's genes in them.
We went to Bear Lake for Labor Day weekend. I'm not sure why, but this trip to the lake felt perfect. It was actually relaxing for me. Now, don't get me wrong, I love going to Bear Lake. But most of the time I am totally crazy and exhausted by the time we start heading home and wishing it was all over, wondering if it really was worth all the effort, exhaustion, driving, and money. This time though, I didn't want to go home. I could have stayed up there all week.
The weather was beautiful and I didn't even mind the storms that came in on Friday evening and Saturday. Cool temperatures but warm enough to play on the beach and in the water. The water is so warm because the lake is high and shallow. And the mountains are showing hints of autumn. There aren't many places that you can sit on the beach and see a mountainside of reds, yellows, greens, and oranges! We saw clumps of trees already changing colors on our 4 wheeler ride this afternoon.
Have I mentioned how awesome my in-laws are? They brought up the kids (including the four-legged grandchild) so Jeff and I could go 4 wheeling and get unpacked. And it was Wally's birthday weekend so they forwent their plans to watch the kids and hang out with us.
Jeff took his Dad on a 4 wheeler ride. Cole tagged along too. The kid has been begging to go for weeks. It's so funny how he says 4 wheeler ride. He sticks his tongue out and sort of does this flip roll thing, slurring the wheel part together. I wish I had video of him talking. It's hilarious! As soon as they got back, that's all Cole would talk about... "Me. Dad. Gampa. Four wheeler ride (wish I knew how to spell how it sounds when he says it). Hemet (translation: helmet). Ride. Fast." Repeated about 50 gazillion times as excitedly as possibly.
We watched an evening storm roll in across the lake. Very cool. When it started coming, the water turned this bright turquoise color and then closer to shore, it looked almost like a neon green from all the decaying muck in the shallow part of the lake. There was lightning and rolling thunder. It was gorgeous! And the best part was, it didn't rain on our side of the lake at all!
The only snag with the storm was that it did eventually come our way. At least the winds did. It messed up our dutch oven feast because we couldn't keep the coals hot enough. But oh, was it worth the wait! BBQ chicken, cheesy potatoes, and blueberry peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert. So glad I talked Jeff into doing a big dutch oven dinner this time.
Tonight was a blue moon too. Not sure what that means entirely... I think something like two full moons in a month?
