Christmas Break

I need to take more pictures. These are just quick shots from my phone. 

At the Park with Grandpa. Playing follow the leader

 Rachel, Rob and Ely came for Christmas.  Ely came sick and I think we got his bug and spent the last two days throwing up.  I can't imagine how terrible that would be with a little 18 month old... sorry Rach!

 Ella loved a princess dress she got from Grandma H.

 Driving to Logan to spend two days up there.  Ella was eager to get there!

 The kids gave movie tickets to Grandpa H. so they could go to the movies with him!  They chose what kind of treats they wanted to take with them.

 Tyler ate 4 doughnuts at one time and hot cocoa for dinner one night at Grandma B's house.  This was him after he finished off the 4th one.  He was DONE!

Toby Balls

On Sunday December 11th, 2011 Toby got to go back up to Heaven.  

We had taken him to the vet 13 days prior.  The vet told us he had Lymphoma. 

He had two large lymph nodes pushing on his throat.  He also had two large masses pushing on his lungs.  This made it hard to eat and hard to breath.  

He started on pain pills and was able to eat dog food for a few more days.  

But after a few days we had to cook his food for him.  

These are some fun time we will remember with our Toby dog.  

Swimming in Logan

His cute little face

When he was younger he loved to chase his tail .

At one time he was a little tiny puppy.  That was 11 year ago. 

We took these two days before he died.  He was having a hard time breathing. 

 We love you Toby. 

 My sister in law sent us a beautiful book called Dog Heaven.  The kids keep asking to read it over and over.  It is about all dogs going to heaven and being able to run and run and run and swim and get loved by little angel children.  We know these are the things Toby is loving about Heaven right now.

Darren and I wanted to know when the best time to put Toby to sleep would be.  On my birthday, Saturday night, we came home from the Neighborhood Christmas party and Toby couldn't walk any more.  He had been having trouble.  I slept with him in the kitchen.  Darren and I would have to carry him out several times in the night to let him pee.  Then in the morning we called my Dad who came over to be the kids.  The clinic we took him too was beautiful.  It was 7:30 in the morning, we were the only ones there.  It was quite and peaceful.  It was the right time.

Kids Cyclo Cross race

Darren just finished his last bike race of the year.  This was his big finally... pounding it up to the finish line that was just around the corner. 

Tyler did awesome in his race.

In this video he yelled to Darren that he was passing other kids.  He was super excited. 

Ella was awesome.  She was the only racer in her 3 and under division who could pedal. 

She should/could have done the big kid race. 

Our happenings thus far...

Here are a few pictures I want to remember 

We had to put Toby to sleep last Sunday morning.  I would  like to right a short post about that later.  

But he had one good day right before he died. 

I was so excited to see him eating real dog food I had to take a picture of it! 

 For the most part he was only able to eat soft foods for the last week of his life.  Ella made this meal.  She peeled the sweet potatoes.  Then Toby gobbled up the sweet potato, scrambled egg, tuna meal.

 Toby love to eat tuna but inhaled the vienna sausages.

 One after noon I ate the most delicious calorie free meal.  Ella and Tyler were in and out employees.  They served me all kinds of good food.

 We had a neighborhood party.  Ella is front and center in the blue outfit.  Tyler is up there too but out of view.  Ella can't wait to go to primary on January 1st and be with the big kids.

This is poor Kyle... actually this is not poor Kyle.  He is good at getting the kids all riled up.  Then he gets pounded on for a while.  

 This is one of Ella's favorite things to do.  She can paint her own fingernails and toenails pretty good.

Our Toby Dog

Darren and I have had Toby for almost 11 years.  I often joke that our honeymoon phase didn't exist because we got a puppy 6 weeks into our marriage.  Responsibility!

Toby has Lymphoma which is progressing very fast.  

He enjoys walking to school with us in the morning. But just in the last week he cant make it any more. 

The kids love him a lot.  

 I told Darren last night as we gave Toby some extra love... I hope in heaven Toby will tell us we were good owners.  I hope he has a good life.  but I could have always done more ...

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We went for a mountain bike ride at Wheeler Farm.  

A great way to burn of a few extra calories before dinner right!

 Ella still loves to wear a skirt all the time. Even when biking!

 After biking we grabbed some lunch at home and went up to Alta for their free skiing.  Tyler got in 4 great runs and Ella did well with two.  I am delighted to see they both remember how to ski from last year.

We had a wonderful family dinner at my mom house. We even got some nice game time in after dinner.

Then we drove to Logan the next day.  Ella loves her babies right now.  She also loves to "get ready for the ball".... "hurry we cant be late.".... anyway. Here is her baby headed to Logan.

 After Logan we went to the aquarium in Sandy.  We had our Clark cousins there.  The highlights... besides the cousins ... were petting the sting rays in the tank and seeing the penguins.

That night Tyler got to sing with his Kindergarten class at the local Zions bank.  Then the bank turned on their Christmas lights.  We ate cookies and drank milk.  We were delighted our cousins came to cheer him on. 

Tyler also continues to build legos.  This is his tow truck.