The Dog Days of Summer

Since it’s been such a long time since I’ve posted here, I thought I would break up the updates by members of our family. First up, Dublin.

After being cleared from his last surgery in July, Dublin plunged into summer and took advantage of the warm weather while it lasted. Shad and I weren’t too surprised once the initial excitement of being free was over, Dublin went back to being a pretty lazy puppy. I think two metal legs later, our dog has learned that going crazy and full out 90% of the time is maybe not a good idea. We can get him to chase his ball in the backyard about 3 times before he lays down in the grass and refuses to get up. Even though when he finally does get up he doesn’t appear to be in any pain. Maybe by next summer he’ll be back to the same wild puppy.

Other than being lazy Dublin has once again enjoyed playing in his pool, stealing flip flops (mostly mine) and missing his Mom and Dad while we’ve been gone for various church activities and while we took a quick trip down to Shad’s Grandma’s ranch. He’s definitely realized the three of us are his pack and when someone is missing he is determined to find them or wait for them to get home. He’s such a sweet puppy.

One thing he’s really missed this summer is the lack of grasshoppers in our yard to squish. We have a few snakes living in the garden (thank goodness he hasn’t come across one of those yet!), so Dublin hasn’t had near the number of bugs to chase like he usually does.

In the past few weeks Dublin has also started getting back to running every day. He loves it when Shad takes him running in the morning when it’s nice and cool and is not so much a fan when it’s hot outside.

This summer to help with my allergies, we also acquired a robot vacuum (yes you may think I’m lazy, but it’s been a dream). This robot appears to be Dublin’s arch enemy. The other day while I was gone he started barking at it when it started getting near his crate. I personally think this is a good experience for him for when we have children. I guarantee they will mess with his crate too.

Also I had to share this video of our vicious pit bull attacking a blown up water balloon. So mean...

So there you go. That’s what Dublin has been up to for the past few months.

Here we go again

Does anyone want a really cute pit bull? He might be a bit broken right now, but just a little bit of $$ and patience and love, and he’ll be back to new in no time. We found out on Monday Dublin has torn his other ACL on his other side. Yep, that’s right. Another round of this
And this after his surgery next Wednesday.
I knew his chances of tearing his second ACL increased exponentially after he tore his first one. I knew this so much that the second Dublin was allowed to be off the leash in the backyard, he got his very own health insurance policy (Trupanion if you’re wondering). It really made the vet appointment on Monday much less stressful on everyone’s part. At the end of the appointment the vet turned to me and said, “This appointment pretty much went exactly how you expected it to, didn’t it?” I laughed and responded, “Unfortunately, yes.”

Because Dublin hasn’t completely torn his second ACL, he’s still in great spirits and ready to play in the backyard at any moment. Because we know he’s going to be down for the majority of the summer, we’re not hesitating at all to indulge him. Every day after work we go outside and play like our lives depend on it.

I’m sad for our sweet puppy. I really could care less about the money, it breaks my heart to think about the 4 months we all worked to get him better only to turn around a month later and have to do it again. Poor puppy, I don’t think he has any idea he gets to do round 2 next week. I guess the real bright spot is knowing this is the last time we’ll have to do this with him. And we’re super lucky this has all happened while we don’t have other priorities (kids, moving, etc.). And that we don't have any big vacations planned until the fall.

NOT MOVING

So the official word on the street is that Shad and I are staying put here in Ogden. For those of you confused by that last sentence, let me explain a bit. Remember those changes I mentioned at the end of a blog post a little bit ago. Did you think when I posted about the end of the Sweater Friends that was the change? If you did, you were wrong.

You see, there was a sneakier reason for Shad and I randomly flying down to Las Vegas a bit ago. We both had job interviews down there. The company we interviewed with was kind enough to fly us down for the weekend so we could see the area, look at some houses and determine if we were willing to move to Vegas. The interviews went great and about a month later the company gave us our offers. The offers they gave us were less than convincing (less than we make now) so we countered with something we would take and they politely declined. Such is life.

I’m actually pretty relieved for a few reasons. I love our house up here and after looking at houses down there, it’s a complete mess to buy a house now. We probably would have ended up building a house because it would have been cheaper (yep – that’s how messed up the market is down there right now). I can’t imagine how long it would have taken our neurotic dog to get used to a new city and house. Seriously, we moved a couple of lawn chairs in the backyard this weekend and he freaked out. Our dog takes OCD to a new level. We would be leaving behind all of our friends and family and though Vegas isn’t that far, it’s way further than Ogden. I am a bit bummed that we don’t get to have a pool in our backyard and nice warm weather but Utah weather hasn’t killed me yet.

So what else have we been up to? Quite honestly, not much. Between working a bunch of coverage at work, planning to move and tutoring 4 students, I’ve been a bit busy.
We did make time to go down to This is the Place for the baby animal festival on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. How can you resist baby animals as cute as this little guy (or girl)? Too cute.

We also got to watch a sheep get sheared. She was too big to fit through the fence and needed some help.

A Fond Farewell

So as some of you may have seen on Facebook this week, Jake and I have decided to call it quits with The Sweater Friends. We both kind of had a moment at a show we were supposed to play at on Monday night (we actually didn't end up playing) and after talking it over (more like emailing it over), it felt like we were both asking the question, why are we still doing this? I am really sad to close this chapter of our lives but I'm so glad we made the decision together instead of waiting for some sort of catastrophic falling out. Jake and I are still good friends and will remain that way for a long time. If you're interested in knowing more, head over to The Sweater Friends blog to read my last blog post there.

We will be playing our last show ever next Thursday night in Provo. Details can be found here. I can't convey how sincerely I hope anyone and everyone can come to our last show!

Vegas baby!

It feels like it’s time for another blog update so here you go.

Unfortunately for Dublin, he didn’t get freedom at his last Vet appointment. It was another month on the leash tethered to one of us at all times. Luckily for everyone involved, he had his final vet appointment on Wednesday and after being put out to get his leg x-rayed (yes our dog is always way too excited at the vet’s office to really do anything that requires him to sit still), he was given a clean bill of health and is now allowed to be off leash in our house and backyard.

I think I can speak for all three of us when I say it feels GREAT to have a somewhat normal dog back. I say somewhat because he literally sprints at top speed to get from any point A to point B. Hopefully that will stop once his energy level gets back to normal. I also hope to not wince every time he takes off to run anywhere at some point too. What can I say, the dog’s leg is easily the most expensive body part in our family at the moment and I really don’t want it broken again.

In other news, Shad and I got to spend last week in Las Vegas for a short trip. We flew down Saturday morning and came back Monday night. It was delightful, so nice and sunny and warm. It was exactly what we both needed as the cold drags on up here. It was also a pretty low key vacation for us. We pretty much just went shopping, saw a movie, met up with some friends down there and enjoyed some amazing restaurants. I almost always seem to come home from vacations more exhausted than before we left but this time around I definitely came home relaxed. I would share some pictures but I didn’t take any. Not a single one. Not even one with my phone.

In other news Shad and I both have new callings. Shad is the new Deacon Scoutmaster and I’m the new 2nd counselor in YW. Not really big moves for either of us considering I’ve been in YW for the past 2 years and Shad has had the 11 year olds but I guess it’s nice to have more church duties.

Lastly Shad’s brother got married a few weeks ago and it was a great time. And the best part in my opinion, he married a cute girl I got to go to high school with. Neither one of us would have expected we would end up related when we sat next to each other in AP English but I could not be more excited about it! Welcome to the family Monika!

That’s about all I can update on though some changes might be brewing at the Bracken house. Time will only tell. 

Freedom!

Next week Dublin gets to go to the vet for his 6 week post-surgery check up. We get to find out if he gets to be free at that appointment. Shad and I are pretty excited about it, Dublin cannot wait. Not only does he get to go to the vet again (THE MOST WONDERFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD) but he also might get his freedom back. He can be in the backyard unattached to one of us. He can wander the house unattended and he can go up and down stairs. This also means the MDF blocking both our staircases gets to go away too. You might wonder why we had to block the staircases when the dog was attached to one of us with a leash at all times. I would counter with you haven’t met my husband. The dog sometimes “gets the best of him” so in order to prevent the dog from re-breaking his leg if he did happen to escape, I felt blocking the stairs was necessary.

In other news, I survived the month of birthdays at work. There are a few birthdays in February one of them being my best Ogden friend, Jen. Her birthday requires more attention than most work birthdays. Of course there was a cake (cupcakes actually) and a present but this year was also her 30th. To celebrate, our friend Jared wanted to throw her a surprise party much like the one we threw him for his 30th birthday. Next time there’s the prospect of a surprise party on the table I need to dibs either being the surprised person (easiest option) or get to be the distraction person. This time around I was not that smart and ended up being the person that got to cook, clean Jen’s house for the party (because she didn’t know about it) and decorate. Next time I will be smarter. I promise.

Last weekend we finally got to go down and visit Annie, Steve and Tommy. Tommy is absolutely adorable. He looks so much like Steve right now and has a full head of dark hair. He pretty much slept the entire time we were there so for me to say he is so sweet may not be true, but I think he is so sweet. And even though being parents seems to have shocked their systems, Annie and Steve are being fabulous parents. Seriously Annicka Sue, you are doing such an amazing job as a new mother, I could not be more impressed!

I’ve also been in training at work all week this week, for 9 hours each day. I am also getting a cold and trying my hardest to fight it off before it becomes a full-fledged cold. That combo really isn’t working. By about 10:00 every day I’ve had a raging headache and the biggest urge just to put my head down. Training is a good reminder why I say I don’t ever want to go back to school. Ever. Except in work training, I can’t just go to sleep like in thermo because instead of me paying to sit in the class, someone is paying me to sit in the class so just going to sleep and figuring it out later really isn’t an option. Just two more days left. I think I can make it.

Update

So I’m a little torn about apologizing to the people that actually read this blog because I haven’t posted anything recently but honestly, I’m not feeling it. We’ve been busy having fun and taking care of life so I’m not too sorry for the lack of updates.

The past two months were filled with lots of coverage at work for me and lots of good times spent with family and friends. There were also a few sad moments for us too.

This year was my family’s turn for Thanksgiving and we had a great time. My sister and her hubby came from California and we had a delicious meal and good conversation and even a couch to lay on after the feast (I dare you to spend Thanksgiving at a place with no couch to lay down on after the meal and then not count that as a very important part of your subsequent Thanksgivings).

The day after Thanksgiving my family got together for some family pictures. Stacy Marie that did our wedding and our last family pictures took them for us this time at Wheeler Farm. I have them to share at some point in time. They seriously turned out so cute.

The first week of December brought Dublin’s second birthday. Due to the extreme amount of coverage I had been working (and by coverage I really mean serving nachos until 11:00 at night for a few nights that week – I’m so glad I went to school and got a degree so I could use my mind to serve people nachos. Nachos – chemical engineering at its best.), our poor puppy only got a store bought cake but he didn’t care. One bite people, our dog ate his piece of cake in one bite. There were also no presents – I’m a bad mom.

Our December weekends were filled with dinners with family and friends. There was even a night reserved for making gingerbread houses (okay graham cracker houses) with some of my favorite Ogden friends.

By mid-December, I was done working for the year. Woot! That’s what happens when you work as much coverage as I did last year. I’m not quite sure it was worth it, I would have much rather had more time off when it was warm. Despite the cold, I got a bunch stuff done around the house that had been neglected for a ridiculous amount of time.

Christmas Eve we spent with my family having our traditional fondue dinner and watching movies and Christmas day was spent with both of our families which is always so much fun.

Speaking of the puppy, a few weeks before Christmas he managed to injure his back leg. Long story short, it ended up that he had completely torn his ACL. I guess on the bright side, he had impeccable timing since I had time off work to take care of him but really the optimal option would have been him not competely tearing his ACL.
Sad cone of shame puppy.

Gross post surgery puppy leg.
He came home from the vet new years eve so instead of going dancing like we typically do, we spent the evening on the floor in the family room keeping him calm and resting. Right now we're half way through his recovery period which basically consists of keeping our dog calm and rested. This means that whenever he's out of his crate, he's on a leash connected to one of us at all times. Needless to say, we've gotten pretty inefficient at our house lately and I can't wait until he's free again. He can't either. He has cabin fever in a bad way. Just imagine our 75 pound pit bull that used to get a run every single day to control his energy and make him a happy dog, confined to his bed in the family room for 2 months. That's what we're dealing with at our house. At least the cone of shame is off now.

So there you go. That's what we've been up to.