Hello Friends My name is Little Bill

 A few weeks ago Sam's friend Enoch called and said he got tickets to Bill Cosby at Tuacahn. Sam and Enoch have been working on some business stuff together and Enoch said this was one of the perks.
I grew up listening  to Bill Cosby. Fat Albert, chocolate cake, we had those bits on cassette and it was not uncommon to have those playing as we cleaned on Saturdays or on our family drives to Idaho.
I was talking to my Dad later and told him about Bill, and he really wanted to go.
So my brothers and sister got my Dad and Mom tickets to see Bill and a hotel room for the night.
We didn't see them much because we were with Sam's work people but it was a lot of fun.

 

 So side note, Bill Cosby has a series of children's books, Little Bill. It's also become a children's tv series. When I worked Special Ed we had one student who loved the little bill books and we had a computer game. The books, computer game, TV series all start out with "Hello Friends, my name is Little Bill." So all night I would read his shirt and hear that student saying it in my head. I was already laughing but that made me smile a little bit more.

He didn't do any of his old stuff but what he did do was pretty funny. It was random and like he was up there just talking to a small group of friends. It helped that we were on the 4th row center. (I felt guilty that we were so close and my parents were a little farther back, they didn't have bad seats, they just weren't as close. But I didn't buy our seats and by the time we got our parents seats there wasn't many seats left. I think they still had a good time.)
So we laughed a lot which was good. We had a night out which was really nice.
The next day we got up and went up to Zion NP. Matt and Chrissy were running  their first half marathon and we wanted to be there to cheer them on.

Matt finished just under 3 hours and Chrissy a little while later. Chrissy hurt her knee at like mile 2, but she still finished.
The boys made posters to hold and enjoyed yelling at them to finish.
After the race we hung out with them for a few minutes and then they were going to go back and get in the hot tub. So we went back to Hurricane to meet my parents for lunch.
We spent the rest of the weekend playing and lounging.
Sunday after church we headed home.
Just south of Fillmore a car rolled over. So traffic was stopped, lanes blocked. So it took us a little longer to make it home. But we did.

And we head back down south in 4 sleeps. The boys can't wait, Easter with the Halls is one of their favorite things.

Lucille Esmeralda McGillicuddy

I am sad about Lucy.

More than sad I guess.

Sam and I have joked about how I would react to her passing, things like putting me on suicide watch because I would miss her so much. (no I'm not suicidal I'm just sad) He keeps saying I am handling it better than he thought I would.

Friday morning all I wanted to do was stay in bed and pout. It's not fair that my puppy is gone. But I couldn't Sam had to work, I have kids to take care of and we were headed down South for the weekend so I needed to get everyone packed.

I was grouchy. Seth at one point told me I needed to go to time out. I realized that my time outs, the moments I take to gather myself, were usually cuddled up next to Lucy rubbing her soft ears. That made me cry. She was my therapy.

As I went through my day I realized how much it hurt to have a part of me gone. As I sit here with the draft on my feet I miss how she still would curl up by me and I would snuggle my feet up under her. How she always stood by the dishwasher as I loaded it to make sure she didn't need to help prewash any of them. She was always right there. I found myself trying to go about my day and I would catch myself reaching down to pat her head, because it's always  right there by me. Checking on her before I went to bed she wan't there... her bed was empty. We got home from down south tonight and Lexi crawled around panting looking for Lucy. (Lucy would constantly pant, it's a dog's way of dealing with constant pain and Lexi started to copy Lucy as her sign for her) It breaks my heart.

I know it sounds over dramatic. And I know people don't mean to be insensitive when they say she was "just a dog." But they just don't get it. I guess very few people do.
Lucy was my constant companion for a long long time. My life was somewhat dependent on her. She saved me more than once. I trusted her more than I have trusted anyone. She knew me better than anyone. I told her things no one else knows. She could sense my blood sugar dropping by the scent of my skin. That's how well that dog knew me. We bonded. She was not just a dog, she was my lifesaver she was part of me. If you know me very well you knew Lucy too.

She wore her service dog vest and she went everywhere with me. Grocery shopping, she was there. Work, always there. Church, there. Sleep, there. Dates, there. She was part of me. And even after I retired her from being a service dog  that didn't mean she didn't alert any more, she was just to old to go out all the time. But when she was with me she knew her place, if at all possible on my left side as close as can be. (Why the left side because when I would take her out,  I could hold her leash  in my left hand and have my right hand free to do what I needed to.) When she was younger and she got into trouble I would tell her to go to her room and she would mope off until I came and got her. As she got older it would make her anxious to have lots of people around and now that  there are more of us to protect sometimes it just got to be to much. I would say go to your room and she would go take a break and come back when she was ready. If I called her by her full name she knew she was in trouble. Lucille Esmeralda McGillicuddy after Lucille Ball's character on I love Lucy. When she was a puppy she would hear it a lot, she like to chew up expensive shoes. 

She has influenced so much of my life the last 12 years. Every house/apartment we have lived in since 2002 was picked because, in part, of the fenced yard, how many stairs, etc because it had to be good for Lucy. The Subaru we bought was partially for safety ratings and part because the back was big enough for Lucy. The van, it could hold our stuff and it was low enough for Lucy. She is part of our family and we took her into consideration as much as anyone else.

She very much like her routine. She always got a treat before bed. There was a long time she had to have a walk as soon as Sam walked through the door, didn't matter if it was freezing or sweltering she wanted her walk. There was a few weeks when Seth was 18 months old that he figured out how to open the door and he would run away while I was in the shower. Lucy always followed him. She didn't run away other wise. She stayed with him and would try to direct him home. A few times a neighbor would catch them and bring them back. Most of the time they were in the next door neighbors yard, just sitting, they have nicer grass than we do.

So yes I am sad. My heart still aches for the part of me that passed. Knowing that there is a hole that will never be filled. But Lucy would never let me mope for long and all she ever wanted was for me to be happy. So one day soon I will move on and it won't sting quite as bad when I reach down to pat her head and she's not there.

It's hard to say goodbye and let go

Tonight we said goodbye to one of my very best friends.
Her arthritis had gotten really painful.
Her sight was almost gone.
Her kidneys were shutting down.
So it was time to let her go.
I couldn't be selfish anymore and watch her be in pain just because I would miss her.

Lucy was my constant companion for a very long time.
Lucy was my only roommate when I moved out.
Lucy was my Diabetic Alert Dog, who saved my life more than once.
Lucy was the therapy dog that I took to work with me to cheer up my clients.
She spent many days under my desk waiting patiently for me to finish my paper work so we could go play.
She was who I cuddled with to fall asleep.
Lucy was my way to meet people. The guys in the singles ward always loved her. We walked her in SSL and people would stop to talk about her. Lucy was the reason Sam asked me to come by the day after our date because he wanted to meet her.
She was my little ball of fur, she was only 8 weeks old when I brought her home.
I tried to crate train her, that only lasted 2 nights then she started sleeping in my bed.
For a long time our family was Sam, me and Lucy. Then we added Louie, said good bye to Louie and added Seth.
The day we brought Seth home from the hospital we had read tons of books about how to introduce a new baby to a dog etc. She loved him from the moment she met him. She however was not a big fan of healthcare man who brought Seth's billibed. She did not like someone by her baby.
She was just as good with  the rest of the kids too.  She loved our kids.
She was so sweet and patient. I once had a client that got really excited and bit her ear. She just nodded and looked at him.  Shook her head and sat there until we could get him off.
She was always hyper active. Training her they would joke her butt never touched  the floor when she would sit because her tail was always wagging so fast she could get it to sit still long enough.
I could go on forever about my sweet Lucy dog. I could post a million more pictures. If she isn't the star in the pictures she is in the background of most of them if they were taken at our house because she was always there making sure we were safe.

Even the moments before she passed she was trying to make me feel better. I had her head in my hands and was sobbing and she was licking away my tears as the meds went in, in mid lick she went limp and her little tongue was still out.  The music in the vet's office started playing Celebrate by Cyndi Lauper as she passed, I  have to tell myself it was a sign from Lucy letting me know she was ok.

I just have to remind myself that she is not in pain, she is happy playing with Louie in heaven. And maybe my heart won't ache so much from missing one of my best friends.

Ride in style

Some one is really loving the warmer weather. 

 She didn't get to be out much last year because she was still so little. 

 But this year she is ready to be out and about. 

 Who needs to learn to walk when you can ride in style. 

Just because...

He loves to play the wii and will purposefully sit on the floor so Lexi can hold on to him while he does. He says it helps him play better, I think it's because he knows his little sister likes it.

Angie Visit Day 2

The next day we headed out early up to SLC.

We started out at the Planetarium, because Angie doesn't like the cold. So we started with something inside. 

 After  the planetarium we headed to the zoo. 

The elephants were right by the fence on the far end away from where they normally are. 

Seth was very excited to "talk" to Zuri up close. 

 We made all the normal stops around the zoo. 

Tino the gorilla might have been throwing his poo at the girl gorillas, and the boys were very quick to tell him that was a naughty choice.

After the zoo trip, we headed home. Sam and I went to the Temple and Angie and her family made the long drive back to Hurricane. We really enjoy visiting with them and were really glad they came.

Aunt Angie came for a visit

It was spring break in Hurricane so Angie and her family came up for a visit.

She got a hotel in American Fork because our house just isn't big enough.

Jeanette and her boys stopped by for the night on their way to Montana to see Uncle Keith. 

Aunt Angie's hotel had a pool so we all took advantage of that. 

Aunt Jeanette, Logan and Codey

Aunt Angie and Dalton

Sammi and Chris splashing

After 2 hours of swimming the boys were tuckered out so we headed home to get some sleep for the fun we were going to have the next day.

Spring

Signs of spring....

I love that they will sit together and read. 

Seth helps Chris sound out words, and if they can't read everything then they make up stories to go with the pictures and  tell it to each other. 

I love my sweet boys. 

And don't get me wrong this is not the only sign of spring.... the fact I had to go out and by multiple boxes of bandaides is a sign too. 

Animals

I really don't know what I would do with out our animals. 

Actual Birthday- Lexi

Lexi's actual Birthday was on a Monday.

Sam took the day off and we celebrated all day. 

 Sam made her Breakfast. And she played with Lucy.

Then we headed off to Build a bear. 

 We held up every animal for her. She grabbed a black bear with Stars on it and wouldn't let go no matter what else we showed her.

 She kissed the bear's heart. 

 She picked a sound for her bear... the star wars theme, yep a star bear that plays the star wars  theme.

 She washed her bear. 

 

 Then they got it dressed. 

 We registered the bear

 Then we went to Del Taco for Lunch. 

It's a tradition that they get their own kids meal on their first birthday. And her Brother's helped her pick Del Taco.  

 

 Everyone played. 

 

After lunch Seth went to school and Lexi had a nap. Chris got to play the wii with Daddy. 

 Then we went and had her pictures taken. 

 After pictures we made dinner and opened presents. 

 Her brothers got her a tea set. Have a wooden kitchen in my garage I am refinishing for her so she will get that and we got her some other play food.

 Having a tea party. 

that's how we spent February 25th. Happy Birthday Lexi!