Maybe Next Year

And all I wanted for Mother's Day was a picture of my babies...

Maybe next year?

Forever And Ever

I was originally going to come on here and post some funny pictures of the kids.

But then I got a terrible call from my Mom, telling me that one of our dogs got hit by a car.

I honestly didnt think it would affect me the way it did.

My heart is literally breaking.

Not just for the loss, but for my siblings..

My 10 year old brother who shouldn't have to comprehend death of any kind.

For our other dog, his sister and best friend.

It's just sad.

Dog or not, he was a part of our family.

And you should never have to lose any part of your family.

My little Mazie is so obsessed with puppies, and Duke was the king of dogs...

You could pull his ears, sit on him..

He didn't care. He was just that loveable.

I was so looking forward to having Mazie meet him.

She would've loved him.

And Ian & Avery.. I've been there for every death we've experienced together.

It kills me that I cannot be there with you now.

So consider this my eulogy for Duke.

 A life cut too short.
 

He was the first to cuddle, the first to fart, and most certainly one of the better dogs in doggy school.

This is only the second dog I have ever had die, and even though I remember the events of Shelby's death, I still think I was too young.

Remember the day we got them?

Remember how we got that book on dogs, determined to pick the perfect one that Mom would finally keep around?

We did chores like crazy that one day, with the hope that Mom & Dad would take us to "look at puppies."

We were sure we were going to be getting a Boxer, or something like that and we drove down to Irvine Spectrum, pretty much knowing we were coming home with an animal.

Mom & Dad think they are so clever.

We walked into that pet shop and these little babies were staring at us.

 

You know they are special dogs when even Mom was pretty taken by them.

So instead of just getting one, we came home with two, not wanting to be the family that tore two siblings apart.

Remember how everyone started placing bets on how long it would take Mom to get rid of them?

And then suddenly it was Mom and I at doggy school.

And Mom taking them to doggy daycare since she didn't want them to be home alone.

It was also Mom who showed us the webcam where we could watch them.

We even watched them from Hawaii.

Oh yeah, and then Duke shortly got kicked out of doggy daycare.

He was honestly the world's best dog.

I don't know how anyone is going to live up to the amount of love those big paws of his could give.

You will forever be missed Dukers.

Forever and ever.

Splash Around More Often

 This cute thing had a birthday last week, so I thought it was time I blog something!

So many more pictures that need to be shared, but I'll focus on this crazy one for now.

 Nothing describes her personality more than that one shot.

 And she willingly posed for pictures. She's such a ham. 

With it being so hot out, I wanted to do a party centered around water.

But with our lack of a beach, and a pool, I had to get pretty creative.

Here's some shots from our day.

And then you have the famous cake smashing.

She was so delicate at first, but it didnt take long for her to find her rythum.

Funny thing is, she didn't eat any of it.

The entire time she was eyeing Ross's cupcake, wanting that instead.

So, being the fantastic older brother that he is, he helped the sista out.

 It doesnt help that he really didnt get the whole "birthday" thing anyways.

Everyone was happy in the end though!

All in all, it was a really fun day. 

They splashed, they laughed, Ross screamed like crazy when we finally forced him out of the water after about 3 hours...

It was just a great day with friends. 

We've been so lucky to meet so many wonderful people here in Wickenburg. 

I guess we'll have to splash around more often.