Year in review.

2013 just ended a few months ago and now that we're a couple months into 2014 what better way to celebrate than reviewing the year gone buy?  It also gives me a chance to share some older Sadie pictures that I took prior to starting this blog.

What a year it has been.  I started helping out with a husky rescue and ended up getting to assist with the dog sled team and had the opportunity to foster Maya! Oh Maya we still miss you so much but I am sure we will be seeing you before too long. We had Maya from February to August and I would not give that time up for anything. I still get updates from her mom and she is doing very well in her new home.  

In February we went to the Ashton Dog Derby. A dog sled race that is really close to us and super popular. It has food vendors and a weight pull that you can enter any dog that is old enough to see if they will pull. It's really interesting to see how dogs who have never been in that type of harness pull for the first time. We took Sadie and Maya  last year and it was really a surprise. Maya was to young to pull and Sadie, who everyone thought would do great, walked half the way to sniff another other dog and refused to go any farther. She always kind of freezes up the first time in a new harness.

March was rough.  My childhood dog that I had for the past 13 year went into kidney failure and we lost him a few days after we found out he was sick. I miss you Bubba, you were a fantastic little dog and I think of you often. But we were very lucky; other than some allergies and arthritis he was mostly pain free up until the last bit. 13 good years is a lot more than most people get with their dog and I count myself lucky.

June was the Blackfoot dog show. It is a yearly show held at the state fair grounds in Blackfoot, Idaho. It is a combination agility, and conformation dog show. I really enjoy it.  Most of the space is taken up by the show dogs and normally we highlight any breeds we want to see or any breeds we have not heard of before and make sure to see them during there ring time. The rest of the time we spend watching the agility dogs. It runs for four days and I have already requested time off work for the 2014 show. It has become a tradition and the goal is one day to be in the agility ring and not just watching it.

July is mine and Nik's birthday month, being only a few weeks apart. We were able spend a week with his family during a huge family reunion at a summer resort just outside of Provo, Utah.  It was so much fun. I was able to meet a lot of his family for the first time and get to know the rest of them better. They do it every two years, so I'm excited to do it again in 2015.

This is where we went to the family reunion. It was beautiful. 

In August we said goodbye to Maya and she went off to her forever home. It was really tough to say good bye and I still miss her but I know it was the best thing and she is doing great.

September, Nik went back to school and Sadie and I couldn't be more proud of how hard he has worked this semester.

Sadie studies just like her daddy.

Sadie turned four years old in October and had her own doggy birthday. She also rocked a Halloween doggy daycare party and won a prize for her costume and for putting up with it. Also a close friend of mine had to say goodbye to a dog she had since she was a kid too. Shien was an amazing dog such a handful. In her youth she would jump over 6 ft fences, leap onto roofs and we had to keep on her because she would escape and pick fights with cats. As she got older she had some issues with her hips and tore her ACL she still lived for going to walks in the hills and was a character. She was one of those dogs that wanted to be with her people in the same room but not necessarily get attention. Any affection was on her terms but she would get very upset if you didn't come say hi to her because walking around was difficult when she got older. We miss her a lot but she was really suffering the last few days so I am glad she is no longer in pain. 

Shein we miss you.

Sadie says. "Mom I am all dressed up I get cookies right?"

November 5, 2013 Simon was born he is our newest member of the family. We also enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family who welcomed Sadie as a member of the family.

One of the first pictures I got of  Simon.

The month of December we finalized plans to get Simon and of course had a lovely Christmas with our family.  Holidays were kind of crazy with work and booking flights but somehow it all worked out.

The first night we had him. He was a little freaked.