Why I've Been Gone

It's nearly been two weeks since I last blogged. For those of you who eagerly look forward to my blogs every day (if there is anyone like that out there), I sincerely apologize.

My mother-in-law drove clear across the country to drop my sister-in-law off at our home. My sister-in-law, who has yet to pick her pseudonym will be living with us for the next while. My mother-in-law also was able to stay with us for a week and a half, and we had a great time while she was here.

However, we also had a very busy time, and with all the commotion and fun, I haven't really had a chance to blog much.

We really enjoyed having Grig's mother come and visit us. We did a lot of fun things with her, and we were sad to see her leave this morning.

We did some pretty fun activities while she was in town.

It snowed last week, and for the first time, Kevin was able to build a real snowman (with some help, of course).

Awesome snowman.

The dogs were wanting to help too.

One of the nicest things that happened for Grig and I occurred last Thursday through Friday. Grig's mom was very kind and stayed with Kevin overnight while Grig and I went to a place called Anniversary Inn. It is a themed hotel, and we were able to stay at the Swiss Family Robinson room. We are especially grateful that she allowed us to celebrate our anniversary and Valentine's Day while she was here.

Here's some pictures of our room.

Grig loved this plecostomus. 

We had a great time here, and we really loved the two person Jacuzzi. It was very relaxing.

The next day, we went to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. It was really fun to spend some one on one time with my husband, though we missed Kevin. We were sure that he would have loved the zoo, but it was nice to have time alone with Grig.

 We also got a chance to test our our new camera and it took some extraordinary closeups of some of the animals.

 At one point, we were looking for the tiger, and we couldn't find it. So, we turned around to leave and found the tiger ten feet over our heads staring down at us. It was so close we could smell it, and it kind of scared me a little. They had a catwalk built over the trail and signs telling people not to climb on it.

Here he is scenting the air.

Here's my favorite!

I liked this picture I took.

We got back home late Friday night.

We also gotten a lot of projects done while Grig's mother was here. She's been very kind and helped us out with quite a few things.

Kevin was pretty sad to have his grandma leave. They really enjoyed each other's company. Tonight he was asking after Grandma. He loves her very much.

Thanks for everything, Grandma! We love you!

Mondays Never Go As Expected

Yesterday morning started off weird.  I woke up at 7:15, which is the time usually Kevin wakes me up. However, he was still sound asleep.  I thought to myself, "Awesome!  I can go get stuff done before he wakes up!"

Kevin sprawled

I left and went to my living room where I blogged.  I finished blogging and Kevin was still sleeping.  I thought, "It's really unusual for him to sleep in this late."  So, I went to the restroom.  While I was in there, I heard a loud sound which was followed by a dog crying out in pain several times.  I was worried that the dog downstairs (Anna a sweet little lab mix) had been hit by a car. 

I hurried out of the bathroom and rushed outside, leaving Kevin and Dakota in the house.  I didn't see a dog on the road, which relieved me at first, but I saw Anna's owner.  I said, relieved, "I thought I heard a dog yelping."

She turned to me with her cell phone to her ear and a stricken expression on her face and said, "Anna got hit by a car!"

I asked her to let me see the dog.  I've worked at a vet's office for a couple years and I completed three years of college to become a veterinarian, so I have some experience.  Mostly however, I just think that my neighbor needed someone there.

Anna was up and walking around, which was a good sign.  She let me run my hands over her body, and I put pressure as I went.  She never yelped, which was another good sign.  I did however find that she had a bloody lip, which we cleaned off with a wet paper towel, and an abrasion on her arm where the fur had been scraped off.  Other than that she seemed fine, if extremely nervous. 

She did not want to go back outside.  However, after we looked her over, we decided that she was in pretty good condition for having impacted a car.  We put on her leash and walked her outside, where I was relieved to see her eyes dilate normally.  I told her owner to keep an eye on her and if she noticed anything to take her to the vet.  Maybe she should have gone anyway, but I know that my neighbor isn't really a wealthy person. 

Anyway, as I came back inside of my house, Kevin was still sleeping. He woke up shortly thereafter. I am convinced that he stayed asleep that morning so that I could go be with my neighbor when she was all alone and stressed. 

We also had a lunch party with our cousins.  Kevin and I invited them over that morning to come and eat lunch with us.  As we were preparing for their arrival, another neighbor came over to borrow our printer and talk for a while.

That was fun, but Kevin was getting kind of grumpy when she left and just before our next guests arrived.  He kept chewing on his fingers, so I gave him some baby tylenol to help with his teething.  Sunday, his second tooth emerged.  He now has a top tooth and a bottom tooth. I think more may be on the way.

My aunt and her children arrived, but I forgot that they were scared of dogs.  So, we invited them in.  They were so cute.  Dakota just ignored them, but they very cautiously walked around her and jumped on the couch to be out of her reach.  They were pretty petrified at the beginning.  We had a lot of fun eating, playing with toys, practicing their piano, and reading books together.  They gradually got over their fear of the dog.  By the end, the oldest boy was walking her around on her leash and the other two kept asking to pet her.  We had a great time!

As soon as they left, Kevin fell asleep.  He'd been awake since 8:30 and he finally crashed at 2:30.  He slept until his dad got home, woke up briefly, then resumed his nap until I woke him up at 6:00.  Since we are trying to go to bed at 7:00, we thought waking him up might be good.

We had new neighbors moving in next door, so Grig was helping them move in while I stayed in with the sleeping baby.  We were going to go shopping after Grig got home, but since he ended up helping haul couches and boxes, we ended up only going to Sam's Club and Smith's.  We wanted fried chicken!

All in all, the day didn't go as planned, but for the most part ended up better than we ever could have hoped for.  We love to serve others, and it is wonderful how many opportunities we have from living in this apartment complex.

Life is good.