London Fogg

On November 13th, we lost our dear old dog, London.  It is still settling in with us that he is really gone, and we still get daily reminders of his time with us - a random dog hair in a bowl, his food dish, a toy outside, the increased amount of crumbs on the floor.  

In the early morning hours of November 10th, London started having seizures.  He woke me up with thrashing by the back door.  He was foaming at the mouth, blind, deaf and confused.  We let him outside and he wandered off.  For an hour, Fogg searched the streets and finally found him at about 2:30 in the morning.  We put him in a safe place and heard him having seizures all night.  In the morning, I headed out of town, and Fogg took him to the vet.  They administered drugs to stop the seizures and tried to get him treated.  He stopped for a bit, but unfortunately, the seizures never stopped long enough.  And damage had been done.  He didn't walk, eat, drink, go to the bathroom, see, hear or respond for the next four days.  It was clear that he wasn't going to recover and we had to make the tough decision to let him go.  Fogg was such a trooper, dealing with all of that drama as well as take care of the kids by himself while I was out of town for work.  I'm glad I got to say my goodbye's before I left.  

The kids have handled losing London very well, Reed already asking for another dog to name Sparky.   But he will remember London fondly and say things like "remember when London was alive and would...".  Nora doesn't seem too impacted.  Fogg and I get moments of being very sad of his absence, we had him almost as long as we've been married.  

London was a great dog.  He was so sweet to all kids, for the most part obedient and very loving.  We got London one spring day from Toole, Utah.  We drove out to a farm where someone had abandoned this dog in a truck overnight.  The farmer didn't need another dog and was giving him away for free.  We arrived at the farm to London tearing around the yard, throwing mud up in the air.  His name was Frotto then.  We said "we'll take him!".  And home we went.  He was very reluctant to get in the car and cowered in the back seat as we stopped at Crown Burger on the way home.  We got him home and he promptly tore up our entire backyard, including the air conditioner cover and every lawn light there was. 

We took him on so many adventures over the years. My favorites include taking him to the top of Mt. Timpanogos.  He hiked the entire way to the top (pretty much twice, would run in front of us, then back to us then ahead again). We took him camping once and he was in the truck overnight.  In the morning we peaked out of the tent to see his face covered in something white.  We thought "oh no, he tore up the seats of the car".  But nope, he got into the pancake mix and was smacking his lips, begging for water.  After about 2 gallons of water, out came nicely mixed pancake mix in the form poop. He loved to swim up at Pineview and would drink half the lake while retrieving the floating rope.  Up at the cabin, he would jump right off the balcony into a few feet of snow to fetch the hedgehogs.  Several times he ate so much food, he had to get his stomach pumped (once while we were on vacation).  He enjoyed his obedience class with his friend Syringa.  He got sprayed by a skunk once and didn't care much about that, probably more upset that the skunk didn't want to be his friend.

That dog loved to open presents.  Like loved it.  He was delicate and careful.  He would wake us up at 5:30 on the dot every single morning to feed him.  At night he would go out exactly 5 times before he would stare you down to get off his couch so he could go to sleep again.  He liked curling up in front of the fire on cold days.  His friend, Maverick (the next door neighbor dog in Layton) got his by a car and London was upset for days (we think he could smell the blood).  Luckily, Maverick was ok.  London liked chasing and chewing up ropes and tennis balls.  That dog had hops, he used to jump a good 3 feet from a stand still and would launch off of story tall rock walls and snowbanks.  He thought he was half the size he really was and would curl up on our laps.

He ended up loving the car because it meant a fun trip to do something.  He would chase us mountain biking until his paws were raw.  He loved to go camping and hiking and snowshoeing.  He also loved going to the vet where they would give him plenty of treats and love.  He would jump right up to the counter.  We found out about a year after we got him that he had a blood disorder and we made frequent trips to the vet for blood work and he never did mind that.

I'm sure that there are plenty more stories of London that I'm forgetting about right now.  He annoyed us sometimes but that dog was a great companion.  He loved our kids just as much as we did and that means the most to us.  He can never be replaced and we will always remember and love him.

Rest in Peace Londy-Boo.  Here are just a few of the pictures that truly capture his personality and beauty.

Halloween 2014

Time has f.l.o.w.n. by the past few weeks.  Not really sure why but I'm guessing cause it's the holiday time, I've been ramping up at work, and both Fogg and I have been traveling a lot.  I was gone all last week prior to Halloween.  It was a crazy week, at the Marmot sales meeting.  It was so great though and such a confirmation that I'm doing exactly (like exactly) what I should be doing.  I'm so happy to have found the job that was tailor made for me.  I am working with the right people in the right company with the right product.  I had a great time getting to know more people, learning about the product and the company.  

Before I left, we watched Gracie for half the day.  Gracie is one of my best friends daughters and we are so lucky to have them all in our lives.  She did so great, playing great with the kids, going potty and being happy.  At one point, the kids wanted to dress up, so Gracie is the cowgirl and of course my Spiderman and Elsa.

I got back the day before halloween so I was able to go to Reed's class for his party there.  The kids were to wear either PJ's or their costumes.  Reed wore both.  He wore his spiderman pj's under his spiderman costume.  They had treats and did a little trick or treating around the classroom, then played some games.  Here is most of his class:

Funny Faces

Later that afternoon, we had friends over for our now Annual Soup T or T.  People bring soup to share and some sides like bread and salad.  We had some yummy soups - some sausage thing, clam chowder, butternut squash and chicken quinoa.  Little Raylee came over and Nora spent the entire night "taking care" of her.  She wanted to hold her (and she did like 5 times) and bring her toys and cover her up in a blanket.  She was in heaven.  I think my little pink loving, princess obsessed little girl can add babies to her favorite things.

 Spiderman and Elsa collecting some goods

The day after Halloween is a perfect time to pick up next year's costumes cause they are on clearance.  And they can play with them all year long as dress up!  Reed chose Batman and I chose Dorothy for Nora (cause she doesn't know who that is).  I explained the concept of the movie - Dorothy was in a storm and bonked her head and had a crazy dream about walking on the yellow brick road with a tin man, a lion and a scarecrow so she could meet the wizard to send her home.  So Nora put on this costume and kept faking bonking her head.  Oh and called her Dora.  Oh well, she was cute with her red shoes and basket with Todo.  I think this costume might double as Alice in Wonderland.

And finally, Nora has a bestie at school - Addi.  Addi already at 3 years old, decided that she wanted her and Nora to wear the same shirt on the same day.  So she gave Nora a new shirt and they both wore them today. How cute are these two little twinners?  They were both so very happy.

Cheers~

Was Blind, But Now I See

For about 26 years, I've been wearing glasses or contacts.  I remember sitting in my second grade class and squinting to the point that you probably couldn't see my eyeballs anymore at all.  The front row just wasn't close enough anymore.  I think the call went to my parents when I would walk up to the board to see what was written on it.  I actually didn't really mind my first pair of powder pink glasses.

But then it was kinda annoying when I would be playing basket ball and they would get hit.  Or I was running and they would bounce on my nose.  Or they would break and I was lost to see anything.  When I was going into 8th grade, I got my first pair of contacts.  I loved not having glasses so much that when I lost one contact, I went around wearing one (and getting pretty dizzy!).

Every single night, I have taken my contacts out.  I put my glasses on to go to bed.  In the morning, I put my glasses on to walk to the bathroom to put my contacts back in.  I would go out and about and tear a contact, and be up a creek.  Every time I travel, I had to bring my glasses, solution and an extra pair of contacts just in case.

I've wanted to get LASIK for some time now but my funds and frankly, my resolve, were not there to do it.  But a good deal came along and the hubby suggested that it was time.  So the appointment was made and glasses were worn and I was getting myself ready to do it.

I was scared out of my brain, and as the time crept closer, I got more anxious about it.  Everyone kept telling me "it's so fast", "best decision ever", "it's no big deal at all".  Didn't mean anything to me as I thought about how they were going to prop my eye's open and cut them and burn them.  I of course went through with it.  I spent the entire weekend sleeping, mostly from the stress of the whole thing came down on me.  And I still had to do lots of drops and my eyes didn't work amazing yet.

But after a week of taking care of myself, I can see better and better every day, the irritation goes down.  I still reach for my glasses in the morning and still feel like I need to take my contacts out every night.  I am nervous of every single bump or close call.  I'm sure one day, I'll wake up and I won't even think about it, I'll just go on with my day, several hours later realize that I didn't think about it.  That is the day that I will be amazing.  Until then, I'm still scared.

No more of this!

Nora's Birthday

Nora's teachers made her this adorable sign for her birthday party at school.  Each kid put their handprint on it.  She told them she wanted pink. I brought it home and hung it on her wall for her for a bit.  So cute!  They also had Frozen cupcakes and each kid had a lot of blue frosting all over their face.  Reed got to get out of his class to come to her's and have a cupcake with them.

After school, we picked up the kids and went to Black Island Farms (the pumpkin patch) to play.  We waited for the hayride and I took some adorable pictures of the kids.

We all got to pick a pumpkin

After the hayride, we played in the main play area of the farm.  I didn't take any pictures, but they had fun on the slides and such.

Then we headed to a quick dinner then home to open the rest of her presents.  Reed gave her the one he picked out for her first.  It was an Anna (from the movie) doll.  She loved it.

He gave her a hug

Next she opened a few gifts from me.  She was not thrilled with my book and clothes and bear that I got her.  She opened the clothes and goes "clothes" and then pulled them all out and threw them on the floor.  HA!  

Grandma and Papa Fogg got her what she asked for - an Elsa dress.  Boy was this hard to find, but finally found one that was so darn cute and of good quality.  As she opened it she kept saying "Elsa dress.  Elsa dress. Elsa dress".  

Of course she put it on immediately

 

But in the end, it was the Anna doll that Reed gave her that she said was her favorite gift.  She clutched it as she went to the sleep each night since.

 Thank you to everyone who sent gifts, she truly appreciates them and we are working on Thank you notes this week.  She said she loved her birthday!