Our Little Libby Love

Our sweet Little Libby had to be put to sleep today. She is just shy of her 5th birthday (she would have been 5 May 19th, Amber’s birthday). It has been a rough day. A rough couple weeks actually. As many or all of you know, Libby was born with many challenges, the biggest being cataracts, glaucoma and hip displaysia. She went completely blind about a year and a half ago. She’s been doing well up until about two weeks ago when she started shaking uncontrollably and was panting non-stop. She wouldn’t leave my side and had a look of terror in her face. It was so sad, and it worried me. Matt came home and took her to the vet that morning. Our vet did a full check up and couldn’t find anything wrong with her, but said she must be in a tremendous amount of pain, most likely caused by her eye pressure or her hips. He gave us some pain medicine and sent us off. We gave her the pain medicine but it wasn’t helping. She continued for the next 24 hours to pant, shake, and would cling to us. We called our vet and told him the pain meds weren’t working, so he got her on some heavy duty narcotics. We gave her the dose, and still she wouldn’t stop shaking & panting until about 24 hours later. She was doing better and went another week and a half with no incident until last night. At midnight she woke us up panting and shaking again. She was trying to jump up in bed with us, and her eyes were bulging out like she was scared to death. We gave her pain medicine again, but it never kicked in. She was a mess all night long, and so were we thinking this may be our last night with Libby. We called our vet first thing this morning and made an appointment. Matt the tremendous trooper took her in to have her put to sleep. It was so incredibly sad. I had a little chat with her before she left. I cried so hard, saying my last goodbye. I felt so bad for her. She was so miserable. I feel very peaceful about our decision today. The fact that she had a full physical including blood work that indicated she was a healthy dog other than her eyes/hips, tells me that her pain was too much. If her pain medication would have been effective, we would have gone that route, but nothing worked. She was suffering so badly. Matt and I both miss her so much. It is amazing how much our lives revolved around Libby. She truly was one of our children! Every second today I’ve thought of her. I’ve even felt like I’ve heard her going through the doggy door or down the stairs. I keep expecting to hear her whining for her food, or stomping down the stairs to come find us. We only had her for five short years, but it seems like we never have known life with out her. She really was the best dog. She never ONCE bit us, and never growled at us or the kids. The kids could climb all over her and she wouldn’t even flinch. Libby LOVED breakfast/dinner, and would scarf her food down within seconds. If Parker or Amber grabbed her food bowl mid-scarf, she wouldn’t do a thing. She never barked either. That is rare for labs! She was friendly with everyone. My sister Joan and her husband would take care of Libby occasionally when we’d leave town. Joan and Libby had a special bond. Libby LOVED Joan. She would get super excited when she’d come over. Well, after Joan moved to Texas, Libby didn’t see her obviously for a while. Joan came back to visit one week, and I’ll never forget Libby’s reaction. She of course can’t see, but smelled Joan immediately. She was searching all over the house until she found Joan. Her nose was high up in the air, trying to figure out where Joan was; meanwhile her tail was frantically wagging side to side knowing her friend was here somewhere. Anyway, we love our little Libby “Libbs” so much. We hope that she is running and playing her heart out, and can’t wait to be with her again!








Libby would get so hyper, and "scoot" around our yard. It was so fun, and would make us laugh so hard!


This is so typical of Libby, just a sweetie, and showed so much affection.

This was Libby's favorite spot-on our couch. No matter what obstacle's I'd put in her way she'd always find a way back up to the couch.


Libby LOVED taking rides with us, and looked forward to our Christmas tree adventures every winter. She'd hop through the snow and get so tired, she'd usually sleep for 24 hours straight.


Libby also loved fishing with us. She'd chase all the fish Matt would catch, and would bark like crazy when Matt caught one. She'd wait in the water, stick still so she could hear the fish when Matt would reel them in. We loved watching her swim, and she loved it too.


We'd always give Libby a bone at Christmas. I'm sure as the years go by we'll find them throughout our yard. She never finished them, she'd bury them every time.

This is Libby's best friend Timber. They played all the time together when they were puppies. We met Timber at "puppy kindergarten." They were instant friends!

Easter

Here are a few of the cousins at the Easter Egg Hunt. Emily, Kiley, Elsie, Amber, and Nate in the back

Here are a few more, Emily, Kiley, Aubrey, Elsie, Amber, Andy, Jeremy, Parker, Nate, Taten, and Ian (we're missing Spencer & Will in the photo)

We didn't get the kids in their Easter best for this photo, but it'll do.

We had a fun Easter Egg hunt at Grammy & Grandpas. The kids look forward to it every year. The little kids take a turn first (the bigger kids hide the eggs for them), and then the bigger kids get their turn (the smaller kids hide their eggs). It's a fun tradition, and the kids love hiding each other's eggs. We've debated on what to tell the kids about the Easter bunny. We feel weird telling them a bunny brought them goodies in baskets. What do you do? Do you tell your kids you're the bunny, or do they think a giant bunny snuck in the house and delivered candy to them? I feel like I have to tell them there is an Easter Bunny, other wise they'll be the kids that ruin it for all the others. Luckily the kids are small enough now they don't really care, and didn't ask too many questions. That gives us another year until we really need to decide how we handle this!

Aubrey's Blessing

I figured I'd better get some photos of Aubrey's blessing. It was done March 1st, so I'm a month behind. I didn't get any real cute photos. These were all taken super fast just to ensure I captured the moment. Sad I didn't spend a little more time! Anyway, here she is!

This is the dress we used for Amber too. I love it so much I couldn't justifying buying a new one. A friend from our old ward had it made for Amber. It's so beautiful, I'm glad we got to use it again! It was a great day. We enjoyed having our family over to our house with plenty of room to roam now that the kitchen is opened up.

Anyway, more posts to come...

A Little Update

Over President's Day we took a little drive to Farmington Bay to see the Eagles. It was so fun. I fell in love with Eagles when I was a river guide in Jackson, Wyoming. There are amazing birds, and so amazing to watch. They are HUGE, and so graceful. We had so much fun watching them. These pictures only show a couple of the hundreds of Eagles we saw. We're nerdy we know, but we LOVE it and are proud of it!

So many things to write about! Where do I begin? We’ve been super busy with three. The adjustment has been a little crazy at times. I wanted so bad to be the one that says “it really isn’t that crazy.” But it seriously is! It has been pretty nuts. I’m feeling a little more on top of things lately. Aubrey has been my hardest baby for sure. She loves to be held when she’s awake. And now that she’s spending more time awake she’s being held more and more. The only benefit to this is that she has a perfectly round head! She is sleeping really well though, which is way nice. I’ll take a harder baby as long as they sleep at night! She’ll go about 8 hours which is heavenly. I still am exhausted each day though, and can now fall asleep instantaneously. I’ll be working at night and practically doze off while typing. That’s happened several times.

We just got back from a weekend in St. George. It was so fun to be together. Matt had a 100 bike ride in St. George called Tour de St. George. He did really well and felt great. He’s so cute, at 70 miles he was feeling great but decided to end it there so he could spend the rest of the day with the family (he didn’t just quit, it was a legitimate stopping point). The kids were anxious to go swimming so he finished earlier than planned so we could get to the pool. I thought that was so nice of him. He is such a great dad. We had fun swimming, went on a couple hikes, and tried to see the dinosaur tracks but arrived too late, they closed 20 minutes before we got there. St. George is so beautiful. I loved hiking around Snow Canyon and just driving through that whole area. I don’t know why but I found it particularly beautiful this trip. I wish Matt and I were at a point in our lives to buy a second home. I really would buy one down there. It’s the perfect time to buy!

My aunt and uncle live in St. George, and are leaving for a mission to Florida. Their farewell was Sunday, so we were able to attend that as well. It was great to be able to hear them speak. We spent many memorable Sunday afternoons playing with my cousins at their house or them at ours. As the years have gone by we’ve seen them less and less, so it was great to be able to hear their Testimonies and see my cousins. We felt all their love and support at Joyce’s funeral as every member of my aunt and uncle’s family attended Joyce’s funeral. This meant long distance travel for many, including Seattle, St. George, Mississippi, and Florida. It was incredible they made the trip, and what a great support system. We wish my aunt and uncle well over the next year as they go serve.

Here is a picture of all of us at Joyce's funeral.

And last but not least, the car situation…we did it. We got the van. Not the one from the previous post, but it is a Honda Odyssey. It’s good to have a car that has trunk space (the jetta’s trunk was broken if you read in my previous post), that has keyless entry (our Jetta’s keyless entry broke about 5 years ago when Matt’s keys went flying out of his pocket at Six Flags on the ride “X”), that doesn’t have huge dents (a couple of hit and runs left our jetta with multiple dents), and a place for all the sippy cups, diaper bags, my appraisal bag, and room to spare for carpool or play dates. I have to be grateful for this car. In this crazy economy my job has been greatly impacted, so to have a new car is a huge blessing. Sadly buying a used car comes with its risks. We thought we were getting a great deal but after having it a couple days noticed it needed a couple things done to it, so to keep this short we’ll just say we’ve put a lot in to it in a short month. It seems to work great now, so let’s hope that we don’t put in one more cent for at least a few years. We added the bike rack right away which in my opinion beefed it up a little bit. The joy of the rack was short lived though. We came home just a couple days after putting the rack on and pulled in to our carport and forgot the bike was in the rack. We heard an unforgettable "crunch" and we pulled in. Our bike had ripped the rack right off, breaking it into tons of little pieces. Who knew a bike rack came with about 100 pieces!? Fortunately nothing happened to the bike, that was more of our concern. I'm sure we learned our lesson and it will never happen again. Can you tell photography is not my talent? If you look close you can see Matt backing out! I wanted a picture so I hurried and took one!

Here are more photos of our fun weekend...