Remembering my Oakley Bear

When we first saw you, you were just a ball of fur.  I remember Richie asked the lady working at the animal shelter "Are you sure she is a husky? She is just so furry". You waddled over to him, sat down, and looked up at him. That's when we knew you had to be a part of our family.

You were barely 8 weeks old. Left with your sister on the banks of the Ogden River, you were brought to the shelter and put up for adoption.

They named you Oakley. A thick coat of brown, black and grey. Light brown eyes and a purple spotted tongue.  You were so sweet. Always willing to play but never getting too hyper. When you would play, you would start pouncing. You looked like a little bear cub, and that's how you got your nickname "Bear Bear". 

Six months old.

When people were gathered in the kitchen talking, you preferred to be a part of it, choosing to sit in a chair as opposed to the floor with other dogs.

When you were 6 months old, you met Xena, your partner in crime.  You two were inseparable, and got into your share of trouble, both with other dogs and the occasional skunk. You both loved to swim in the river, which caused your coat to smell horrible. We lovingly referred to this as "Eau de la Oakley".

You looked forward to your daily walks, and liked to go hiking and roller blading with Richie. Winter brought snow, which you loved.  In the Springtime, you would look for any last patches of snow to roll in.  Riding around in Grandpa's truck was also a favorite.  You were well known at the Maverick and the Market, sitting on the tool box with your paws on the top of the truck cab, waiting for Grandpa to bring you the beef jerky that you knew was coming.

Hiking at the top of Mt. Ogden

When the kids were born, you were always gentle with them. You let them climb on you and ride you. You even tried to pull Lancer around on his sled.

The past few years you moved slower, missing your daily walks with Xena to lay down in the shade.  Your hearing started to fade. Your eyesight too. Your treats often held a surprise pill to help with your arthritis.  This past spring you stopped coming when your name was called. However, you would get really excited, pouncing and wagging your bushy tail, when we called you "Easter Bunny."

This past Sunday night we heard you barking.  We went to check on you and found you not being able to stand up. We gave you some medicine and moved you to a cooler spot. We stayed up all night with you, trying to ease your pain knowing this was our last night with you.

Monday morning, we did what we hoped we wouldn't have to do.  Richie wrapped you up and put you in the car. As I said goodbye, I stroked your head and told you how much I loved you. You licked my hand. I stayed home with the kids,while Richie took you for one last ride to the vet's office.  
Even though, it was hard for us to do, we knew it was the right thing to do for you. You are free of pain now. Hopefully you are back with Xena, who passed away 4 months ago. Running and playing together, just like old times.
We were so blessed to have you for the past 14 years.  You will forever be a part of our family.
We love you Oakley.

Oakley aka "Bear Bear."
January 1997-August 8, 2011

Summer 2011 (so far)...

This summer we have been having a lot of fun. Honestly, I am really not looking forward to school starting in a few weeks.  I love the freedom that summer vacation brings.
So what have we been doing? 


Well, we have played a lot of Golf......

Learned about Science at the Children's Museum.....

 The boys talked their Dad into buying the BIG pack of fireworks.....

And then they got a lesson in fire safety, and what will happen when you put warm fireworks into a closed garbage can with dead branches in it..........

Stayed up late making paper airplanes, and fell asleep in a dinosaur costume...........

  Lancer thought it would be smart fun to tie his younger brothers Big Wheel to his bike and take him around the neighborhood............

The boys practiced their MP in the Park...............

Lancer had to have his picture taken IN PUBLIC with his mom.........

We traveled to Arizona to see "Aunt" Shauna, where I got to relax while the boys played in the pool,

and Richie and Lancer got to play even more golf..............

while Ryker got in a workout or two...........

This summer has also been full of late night family Foosball and dart tournaments, watching episode after episode of the Twilight Zone on the sci-fi channel, and daily water fights with the hose in the back yard.

I seriously LOVE Summer vacation!

All Right PIMPLE!!!...or I mean PIT BULL!!!!

So this past few of weeks has been extra crazy for Lancer.  He started training with the older ski team kids on Friday afternoons,in addition to regular Saturday practice. Then the past three Saturdays he has had back to back ski races.
The first race was at Park City:

It was the first race of the season and he was nervous. He did well and most importantly, he tried his best and did not fall and get hurt.  After the race we had a great time skiing with Lancer's buddy Luke and his dad.

The next week was full of martial arts, scouts, and preparing for the science fair.  Saturday brought race number 2 at The Canyons.  This was a South Series slalom race, which was a race with mostly older, more experienced athletes. Lancer had never participated in a either a South Series, or a Slalom race before, so he was very nervous. 

Lancer did better than he expected. 18th place! For being with the older advanced kids, we were pretty darn proud.  Although it was a beautiful sunny day, the snow was really icy.

Last week was more martial arts and the science fair. Lancer got a second place ribbon.  He was very pleased as you may (or may not) be able to tell. He put a lot of work into learning about Thermo-electricity and Richie put a lot of work into teaching him.  It was a great experience watching Richie teach Lancer about science, and who knows, we may have another scientist/engineer in the family.

The last race was at Brighton.  Earlier that morning we were trying to get Lancer pumped up and ready to ski aggressive.  We tried listening to music and then he came up with this: "I'm going to ski like a Pit bull".  OK......we do have a pit bull and she does runs very fast, however, I have never seen her ski:) So we went with that.  When we were on the side of the course yelling as he skied by, I yelled out what I thought was PIT BULL but to everyone who was standing by me, it sounded like PIMPLE.  One of his coaches turned to me and said "Why did you call him pimple"?  Oh well....Lancer go the point, but he made me take out the audio in the clip.

Finally, after two seasons and a broken femur, he finally got a medal.  He has worked so hard to accomplish his goals, I could not be prouder of my little Pit bull. 

The best part of the day for me however, was before the race we were free skiing.  I came down a hill and saw Lancer's stopped and was bending over.  I immediately thought "Oh no, did he fall? Is he OK?" But as I got closer I saw that a little girl (maybe 4 or 5) had fallen face first on the snow and her ski's were crossed tucked UNDER her.  Her dad was quite a ways down the hill and was trying to get back to his daughter.  Lancer's friend was also farther down the hill and was yelling at him to hurry up.  But he took off his ski's and helped the little girl get out of hers, lifted her up and was trying to get all the snow off her goggles.  He stayed with her until her dad got there.  I was so proud of him for stopping and helping her.

****Side note:*******

During all this Lancer did come home from school with his first pimple.  When he asked me what it was, I started to cry. 

November

Wow. Where did November go?  I cannot believe December is almost over!  We have been super busy as usual. My birthday was on the 18th of November. We went out to dinner. Since I have turned 30, my birthdays just don't seem to be the same.  I don't look forward to the day at all.  Richie was very patient with my pouting.  He took me and the kids to the Timbermine.  We had steak and shrimp and I had a Shirley Temple, just to remind me of when I wasn't so old.  He even helped me put up our new Christmas tree to help brighten my mood.  I felt a little bad that the tree was up before Thanksgiving, but since our neighbor/bishop put his lights up the first of November (since his daughter was leaving on a mission), I thought it would be OK.

Anyway, the next week was Thanksgiving.  It was our year to go with Richie's dad.  We went to Little America and it was yummy.  Lancer chose to stay with my parents.  My Nana, my Aunt, and my Uncle are not in the best of health, and he wanted to stay and spend some time with them.  After dinner, Grandpa Rich took Ryker, so Richie and I could get started on our shopping.  We did quite a bit and I was glad that I had his help and he wasn't even grumpy when we went to the pre-Black Friday sale at Wal-mart! Imagine that!
The end of November brought what I have been dreading....The start of ski season.  I love to ski, but those first days are tough on my legs no matter how fit I am.  Not to mention the hour-plus drive that we make every week to Snowbird. It turned out to be pretty good and I have thankfully been doing a lot of skiing this season. Lancer is enjoying being a part of the Snowbird ski team and so far Ryker loves his all day group lessons. Richie is SO HAPPY to be back on his home mountain, and I know his friends are too.



 



The Return of Cagney and Lacey

Yesterday I had breakfast with a dear friend that I had not seen in a long time.  I will call her "Shmodi".  I am not sure exactly why we lost touch, but I know that in the 8 or so years since I have seen her last, I have missed her and her family SO MUCH.  Sometimes I would think of a funny story, or watch one of the movies or TV shows that we endlessly quoted and want to pick up the phone and call her.  Don't ask me why I did not.

That is the thing about "Shmodi".  We could laugh about the most random, crazy things.  Maybe it was the strange place and really strange people we worked with, but we could take a not so funny situation and make it something to laugh at. Even a lunch run to McDonald's was fun, when we would take her convertible "bug" and we would wrap scarves around our heads and wear sunglasses a la "Thelma and Louise" or "Romy and Michelle".  Boy how those scarves dressed up our drab uniforms.

The 80's TV show "Cagney and Lacey" was really our thing.  Both of us can do some amazing impressions of these women.  Watching the intro makes me laugh so hard because it is so us.  Well except we don't look like these women, we are not cops, we are not from New York, and neither of us is married to a guy named Harve.  But it so us none the less.

So "Shmodi"  this is for you.  You are an amazing friend.

Halloween Hangover

I love Halloween. I think I may even like it more than my kids.  I love to decorate and make lots of spooky treats.  However, this year I am so glad it is over!  It seemed to go on and on!



The festivities started Tuesday night when we made caramel apples for Ryker's school party on Wednesday.  He brought home A LOT of treats from that party and I hid them in the laundry room so he would not eat too many and get sick.  

Fast forward to Friday.  I was busy. Took Lancer to school, came home, cleaned up and then worked on Lancer's costume.  Ryker was having hot cocoa and playing in the playroom.......So I thought.  He was pretty quiet, so I knew something was up.  I went downstairs and he had found his candy.  There he was in the family room, dancing around scattered candy wrappers and a big puddle of spilled cocoa. I had just been up until 2 am the Monday before cleaning that carpet.  So I was not in the best of moods.  I was scared that he was going to get a tummy ache, but I had to hurry and get him ready to go pick up Lancer from a half day of school, and then take Ryker out to Layton for a birthday party. 

Sharks love birthday parties!

 After he went to the party, we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch.  But when I picked him up he was really whiny and said he had a tummy ache (big surprise), so we ended up just buying some pumpkins at the store and then staying home for the night.

Instead of getting sick from eating too much candy, he ended up getting my cold and having asthma issues.  I am so thankful that our pediatrician set us up with a nebulizer in August.  It makes his asthma so much easier to deal with. Anyway, Saturday he ended up sleeping on the couch most of the day.  By the time it was time to get dressed for trick or treating, he was feeling better and ready to go.  However, he did say he didn't want anymore "junk".  

Showing family all the candy we were
giving out

Lancer went as Eddie Munster this year.  I love that my kid likes to have fun and original costumes.  I spent hours on the costume, and I think he looked pretty good. 

He even had pointy ears



 

He loved making people guess who he was, and it was amazing how many people knew!  As a tradition, we used to go to my Nana's neighborhood to go trick-or-treating, but since she has gotten older and my grandpa is gone, now we have her and my parents over to our house.
This year it rained and Lancer's black hair ran down his face and smeared his make-up. Rain or not, nothing was stopping that kid from getting his candy.  We braved the wet weather and stayed out for a couple of hours.  He got a lot of candy, but since I hid both of their bags, neither one of them has asked for any candy.

Richie got really into handing out treats this year.  He sat on the porch with his mask on, looking pretty scary.  When Lancer saw that, he immediately took over scaring the neighborhood kids.  Even though I thought Richie had totally bought too many bags of candy,  we had more kids than last year and ended up giving it all away.

By Sunday, we were exhausted.  One more Halloween is over and I am glad.  My kids told me they already want me to start on next years costumes.  I think I will wait until after Christmas.

The Duke Boys...

So Lancer had not heard the story about Ryker watching the Dukes of Hazzard.  So the other day we were on our way home from school, Lancer starts this conversation with me.

Lancer "Mom, how hard is it to change my name?"
Me "I don't know, like from Lancer to Lance?"
Lancer "No, I mean change my name to something else."
Me  "Like what?"
Lancer "Bo"
Me "Bo?"
Lancer "Yeah, you know, like Bo Duke"
Me "You are not changing your name to Bo."
Lancer " Yeah it would be awesome. Then we could change Rykers name to Luke."

Seriously?  Come on.  Although if it would mean they would finally get along, I will not let them change their name, but I may consider buying a 68 Dodge Charger.