A Blog about a Dog

Today has been one of the hardest days I've had in a very long time. I got a phone call around 6pm from my parents telling me that my dog Nala was at the vet and having a hard time breathing. Through some x-rays the vet discovered that my dog had congestive heart failure and only had a few weeks left to live. After taking her home my mom noticed that she was only getting worse and was suffering really bad. Before they had a chance to take her back to the vet she was gone. I can honestly say that this little dog was a part of our family. We've raised her since she was a puppy and have all become really attached to her.

Her life began on a cool April night in 1995. We had wondered for a while if our dog Lady was pregnant - we took her to the vet and although the vet had told us that she wasn't, we kids still hoped. Our parents had just gotten home from a Jazz game when the scratching started. Our second dog Cuddles was going crazy at the backdoor. We let her in and she turned in circles, ran outside, turned in circles and then ran back to us. I felt like I was watching an episode of Lassie :-). We went outside and found Lady on the back porch underneath an old basinet with 4 little puppies by her. It felt like Christmas - we couldn't believe it! We heard some whimpering from a little ways off and followed the noise. It was there we discovered this cute little off white puppy. Somehow she had been seperated from the bunch. This little dog was soon after Nala (I had an obsession with the Lion King at the time). My parents promised that we could keep one of the puppies and while we did argue a bit it was me who convinced everybody that we should keep the fiesty little runt of the group, and so we did.

Some of my fondest memories of childhood include this little dog. I remember trying to get her to climb up the stairs when she was a puppy, encouraging her to not sit and whimper when she got frustrated. I remember the walks I used to take with her around my neighborhood. I remember the warmth of her little body as she would curl up next to me at night. And later in life, especially in college, when I would spend weeks away from home. Everytime I would come through that door she was always there at the top of the stairs so excited to see me; her tail wagging so quickly and excitedly that her whole body would literally shake.

I still can't believe that she's really gone. It really does seem like I'm in some sort of horrible nightmare and keep waiting to wake up from it. 12 hours ago she was her normal sweet self... how quickly things can change. It really makes me take a step back and look at life. Things can change in a matter of hours, minutes and even seconds. Now is the time to make the most of life. Cherish those you hold dear, no matter how human or canine they may be, because you never know when they will be gone. To quote Roger Caras "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."

RIP Nala - you will be missed so much more than you know. We love you.

A Dark Christmas and a Bubbly New Year

Christmas Break never lasts long enough. I've talked to so many people who couldn't wait to come back to school because they were so "bored." I used to be one of them but something changed this time. More than anything I think it's because I know this is the last real break I'll ever have - the last three weeks where I don't have a job and nothing too adult is expected of me. It was my last chance to sit around for days enjoying rest and family. There were so many days when I just stayed in my pajamas all day because what use did I have to get all dressed when I wasn't going anywhere but the next room? Ok - so maybe this sounds a little lazy but can you blame me? Before I know I'm going to have to be a real adult - It honestly kind of scares me...

So a bit about my break:

I got home on Wednesday of finals week - so nice! I've never been able to leave that early! The only real final I had was Wednesday morning and it was a take home test that we just had to go and turn in - very difficult ;-) After I got home I went out to eat with a friend and then my good friend Chelsey came over and we left for the airport to pick up our awesome friend from camp - Stacie. Wow... that sentence just sounds weird... let's try that again : After I got home I went out to eat with a friend and then my good friend Boots came over and we left for the airport to pick up our awesome friend from camp - Sunshine. Phew - much better! Anyways! After the happy reunion we went out to eat and drove around the city. Over the next few days I got to spend a lot of time with Sunshine which really made me homesick for camp... luckily! I got a bit of a taste of it because the two us went with our old camp director to Moab to do a mini camp. It was so much fun! I can honestly say that working for the Girl Scouts is the best job I've EVER had!

On that first Sunday I got to go with Kate and my parents to Music and the Spoken word downtown (note to self: When going to a rather large event after a huge snow storm in which you will have to park blocks away from your destination, do NOT wear open toed high heels. I could not feel my feet!). I love going to the broadcasts and especially this time of year because the Choir had just had their Christmas concert and so after the broadcast they gave the audience a mini concert - if you didn't get a chance to watch the December 14th broadcast - do it! It is so amazing! And definitely catch the whole concert when it comes out to dvd next winter.

After the broadcast Kate and I headed up to North Ogden to go to one of our best friends farewells. Getting there was not easy! The snow storm was still hitting up there and the church we were going to was on top of a hill. I honestly didn't think my car would make it! I got stuck a few times and kept slidding - it was really scary! But we made it and just before the opening prayer too! It was really fun meeting because I was surrounded by some of my best friends. There were three rows off to the side that were full of people who had come just for Amy. On my row were my old Juniper friends - i.e. some of my best friends. I had Mckenzie on my right and Dani, Kate and Bryan to my left. In front of me were some of my great camp friends/school friends: Squishy, Sunshine, Firefly (Melanie), and Sam (Skywalker). By them and in front of them were more friends that I knew from school. I honestly can't describe how amazing it was. I loved being surrounded by those people! And then there was my sweet Amy up on the stand. I'm so excited that she's serving a mission but I'm not gonna lie when I say I am going to miss her SO much. Having been through 3 years of college and 2 summers of camp together, we've gotten really close and I'm sad to see her leave but I know the people of Chili need her sweet spirit more than us Utahns do :-) After the farewell we all headed over to Amy's house and ate, played games and chatted (and got surprise visitors - Chicken Little showed up!). When it was time to leave we found that the storm had passed and the roads that had been so menacing before were now just fine.

Jumping ahead a week and a half - our Christmas was very interesting. The morning went by as any normal Christmas morning does. We slept in, ate biscuits and gravy for breakfast and opened gifts around 11am. Since my Dad's sister moved away we've never really gone anywhere on Christmas day (my Mom's family gets together before the holiday) - that being said, we all planned to spend the day inside relaxing and enjoying the gifts we had received. Imagine our surprise when at 12:30 our power went out. We weren't too surprised I guess because of the wind that was howling outside but when my Dad called the power company to report our outage - he got the message that our power probably wouldn't come back on until at least 7pm that night. With this knowledge we all buckled down and prepared to spend a cold powerless Christmas day. Instead of watching the new movies we had received we just sat around and talked, caught up in our journals, and read books. When it got dark we pulled out our laterns and candles and lit them. It was a little strange walking around my house with only the light of a candle here and there but at the same time it was kind of fun. It made me feel like we had been transported a hundred years back. When 7pm came we called the power company to check the situation and instead of giving us a time when power would come on they just told us "as soon as possible." We spent the rest of the night huddled in blankets and chatting. The power didn't end up coming until just before midnight. It was very odd going 12 hours without power but we didn't really complain too much. We had food to eat (we had prepared it the day before and it was supposed to be cold :-) ) and things to do. I actually feel kinda blessed that we were able to spend "an old fashioned Christmas" together - it's something that will probably never happen again.

On New Years Eve I decided to be a party pooper and spend it at home with my family. Things went pretty much the same way as they did Christmas except this time with power and therefore a movie playing in the back ground - we all sat around and talked and played games. Maybe not the most exciting thing to do but it was exactly what I wanted.

The rest of my break was very laid back. As I said before, I spent most of my days sitting at home. I read, played video games, watched movies, decorated for Christmas, and just spent time with my family. I still cannot tell you how wonderful it was! I did go out a few times with friends - I spent a fun day in Utah Valley with Chelsey and I hung out quite a few times with Kate and Bryan.

Here are a few random pictures from break:

My house all decorated:



Music and the Spoken word (our view):

Pics from the Living Planet Aquarium! (Went there with Kate and Bryan)

The beautiful temple and statue on Christmas Eve

(it's a family tradition to go and see the lights on

Christmas Eve)

Our Happy tree on Christmas day:

170 of the cookies I made... I spent over 5 1/2 hours baking one day! These sugar cookies are seriously amazing! We (I made half and my mom the other) also made Ginger snaps, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate balls, Russian Tea Cakes, Rice Krispies squares and Muddy Buddies.

In all the break went way too fast - before I knew it I was packing my car and driving South. It's fun to be back at school but part of me stayed up north. I'm so torn in my emotions of late - I'm ready to be done with school and back up north. Salt Lake is home and I feel so at ease and happy when I'm there. Then again - I'm scared to graduate and face the real world and Cedar City has brought so many wonderful changes to my life and I enjoy my time here away from it all and yet in the middle of it. I guess the best thing I can do is enjoy my last semester down here - live life to the fullest. I'm never going to get this time back - as my mom so eliquently puts it, before I know it I'll be married with children and wondering where it all went. And it's those times, she says, when you are up late with a crying baby or sick child that you look back to what you did in your youth and young adult years and smile and be happy that you did what you did. She says to live life to the fullest so that when you look back you won't have regrets.

So here is to my last semester as an SUU college student. I plan to enjoy every minute of it.