Halloween, and random updates!

Since Halloween fell upon a Sunday,  and I had to work on Saturday we missed the trick or treater's. However, I wasn't about to not dress up.....my dogs. My little pup Ruby loves her sweaters. It cracks me up, I love to dress her up. I guess when I was growing up and was never interested in dolls or dress up, has finally caught up with me. Instead of Barbie, I have Ruby. It has been determined that Sadie is Lee's dog, and Ruby is mine. We both love our little dogs, but they for sure have picked their masters. These girls love "RIDES", in fact that is almost a four letter word in our house, if you say it, you better mean it, because the go crazy. Notice Ruby's way cute scary sweater.

 

look at those smiles!

These dogs are like our kids, so I thought it was only fitting to dress them up for Halloween. The original plan was to dress Ruby up like Yoda, but then I quickly realized that our whole family would have to be Star Wars characters, and i was not okay with that. I made Lee play along, and we tried to take a family picture with the timer on the camera. The following are our "attempts":

 

These are two loving sisters

And as if we didn't look like big enough dog freaks..... ( Lee is such a good sport, I come up with these "good" ideas, and he is always willing to go along with them). I found pumpkin carving templates online, that looked like our dogs. We originally got 4 pumpkins, two for us, and two for the dogs. We only got around to carving the dog's pumpkins.

 Here is Lee's. His looks a lot more like a dog than mine does. This is supposed to be Sadie, and I think he did a pretty good job. Captures our dog's big smile.

Here is my attempt at carving Ruby. Its hard to tell, but there was a lot of "shading"(ya know when you scratch away the orange part of the pumpkin??). So as of now, this pumpkin looks like a lion...but in the day light, it totally looks like a mini schnauzer..kinda.

Oh..and ya...chopped my hair.  It was a lot shorter, but have promised Lee to let it grow out. I am hoping for a pretty awesome mullet. Ya know....business in the front and party in the back!!!

Vet Tech?

I have been pondering my education for quite sometime. Seeing as how I have not gone back to school for 2 semesters. I was working on a mass comm degree. I have my associates in general studies from SLCC. However I have been thinking more and more of what I want to do with my life. I have a good job now, but its for sure not something I want to do forever. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am a big animal lover. I have been considering enrolling into a vet tech program. I do know that in the state of Utah you dont have the be licensed, but I would rather have the leg up. If anyone knows about this field (ERICA) please give me some advice. After having to put my buddy to sleep, and watching my 2 dogs grow up, I know I want to work with animals. Thoughts??

My Buddy

Last Saturday I was faced with a very difficult decision. My dog Bandit, who I have had since I was 12 was very sick. He started acting very lethargic and wouldn't eat anything unless you forced him. Anyone that has met Bandit knows he is like a garbage disposal and would eat just about anything. He is the only dog I know of that would eat cooked tomatoes. Knowing that he was acting out of character I made a vet visit appointment for him. With my job being as lame as it is, I couldn't get time off to take him in, so my mom had to take him in. After Dr. Belnap checked him out and did some blood work, the prognosis came back and it wasn't a good one. Bandit had 3 tumors, and was in kidney failure. With Bandit's size and age of 12, Dr. Belnap said he is like a 93 year old man. We discussed our options with Dr. Belnap, who said surgery was out of the question, and at best he would have a few months, but would basically starve to death.  After hearing that news we knew what we needed to do, as hard as it would be, it is what was best for my buddy. Friday night I stayed at my mom's and slept on the floor for a little while with my dog for his last night, and rubbed his back and told him it was okay to go. On Saturday morning we took Bandit to the park before going to the vet. He explored around the park, and had enough energy to even roll around in the grass., We then took him to Dr. Belnap's office and put him to sleep. He went very peacefully, and I really think he knew what was happening and knew that this was best for him. We didn't want him to suffer, and it would have just been us being selfish by keeping him alive longer. After leaving Dr. Belnap's office we took Bandit home and buried him next to his girlfriend, Kiera, who had been hit by a car a year ago. I can just imagine them playing with tennis balls, and wrestling again. Makes me smile to think of the two of them playing together again. Brings a tear to my eye to think Bandit isn't around, but as a dog mom, I had to make the best decision for him. My mom left the decision up to me, since he was my dog. Bandit and I grew up together, and he always took care of me. I can remember anytime I was sad, Bandit would be right there to give me a lick and cuddle, and when I was happy he was there waging his tail like crazy. He was an amazing dog and could never be replaced. I love my little rug rat dogs that we have, but Bandit was truly man woman's best friend. Lee made me feel better by telling me his Dad was probably throwing a tennis ball for Bandit, and that his Dad would take care of him now. Lee and my girls ( Sadie and Ruby ) even sent my flowers at work on Friday to make me feel better. What a cute family I have.

I will for sure miss Bandit, but know that he is happy and playing like crazy now. I also wanted to say thank you to Dr. Eric Belnap for being so kind and comforting to my mom, and I. He allowed us to be there with Bandit, and take him home to be buried in his yard. Thank you for your kind words and hugs.

Pine View Weekend

This weekend we basically lived at the lake. On Saturday, Lee's boss invited us up to watch the wake board competition and hang out on his boat. We both got so burnt. But it was well worth it.

We had such a good time we deiced we wanted to come back up to the lake on Sunday and hangout on the beach and let the dogs play. We hadn't taken Sadie swimming yet so we were excited to see how she would do. And as far as Ruby goes, we didn't think she would be much of a swimmer, and we were right.    

 We tried to get Ruby to swim, but she hated it, so she spent most of the day lounging in a camping chair, or playing with my brother's dog Henry.

 Sadie loved the water, at first she was a little scared, but Lee got in the water to ease her fears. It wasn't to long after that she "took to the water like a fish". She loved diving in after her tennis ball. Or saving Lee whenever he looked as if he was in peril, she would swim to his rescue.

These dogs sure had a great time, and were very tired on the way home, they both slept like logs in the back seat of the truck.

Thanks to Andy and Michelle for making the drive to hang out at the lake. This post wouldn't be complete without their shining faces...

Introducing Ruby Sue

 I have converted Lee into being a dog lover.  We have our little Sadie lady, and we adore her. For the longest time I thought she needed a friend, because when we we're gone at work she would tear up socks and laundry because they smelled like us. My brother Andy's friend was getting a divorce, and their little dog didn't have anywhere to go. We we're this little dogs last hope, or otherwise she was off to the pound. I couldn't let a dog go to the pound when we have the room for one more at our home. I pleaded with Lee, and played the sympathy card that we we're this dogs last hope. Without much debate, we welcomed this little dog into our home the next day. Sadie wasn't to sure about her at first, but they quickly became friends and they play all the time, and even cuddle up against each other when they sleep. She is a little firecracker! She is a mini schnauzer, and has a little bit of the barking that comes with a smaller dog, but other than that she is just a lovable dog. She always wants to be right next to people and if you let her she would cuddle all day with you.