Utah's Pioneer Day Celebrations

On Thursday, July 22nd we headed out for Utah to join the family in the Pioneer Day celebrations. On the way there we stopped on in Price to visit Grandpa Garff who had a stroke mid-June (just one week after we stayed with them during our last visit to Utah). The above picture was taken in June when Ayla and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Garff.
As you can see, Grandpa's stroke has really changed him. I knew that he had a long ways to go in recovery, but I wasn't prepared for how much damage the stroke had done. Luckily, he is still quite alert and he still has his sense of humor.

After our visit in June Grandpa couldn't stop talking about how much he loved Ayla, especially her name. He was very happy to see that she had come to see him and couldn't stop telling her how special she was and how much he loved her. We asked Grandpa if he could give us any words of wisdom, of which he replied "Love one another!"

Grandpa has always been very vocal about how much he loves his family. A typical conversation with Grandpa has always been,

Grandpa: "You know I love you right?"

Me: "Yes, I do."

Grandpa: "Good, you had better not forget that because your Grandma and I really love you."

Me: "I've never doubted Grandpa, I love you too."

Grandpa: "Good, you better not forget it!"

We love you Grandpa! Thank you for all the kind words you've given to me and to my family.

Friday night we made our way to Fairview's Horse Parade. And if you are wondering why the chairs are all tied together that's what we have to do in Fairview in order to make sure we get a spot to view the parades!

This was our favorite zebra (I mean horse).

After the horse parade we headed onto the rodeo. Ayla had a lot of fun being passed around from person to person and seeing all the animals.

All the cousins LOVED playing together. I think Bennett's favorite part was sliding underneath the table!

Saturday was the official Pioneer Day, which began with the children's parade. Justin and Bram took Abram and Xander on the four wheelers. Xander was so excited afterwards, especially since his little brother Spencer was "waving" to him from the sidelines.

McKelle was part of the parade in representation of their Softball State Championship that they took this year.

Milton, Ayla, Xander, Justin and Grandma all front and center snatching up all the candy.

Even Kusko joined us for all the celebrations. He was sporting his spike collar while laying in the shade. He was quite the celebrity with people coming up to pet him and take his picture.

That afternoon we had a BBQ at Grandma's with Uncle Doug and Uncle Jeff's families. Grandma had all kinds of games for the kids, such as the sand pile with hidden treasures, fishing pond and a BB gun shoot out.

For the teens Grandma had Milton hide 3 $20s for them to find. This is the backyard that I grew up in, which definitely has lots of memories!

That night we headed over to the rodeo grounds again (which is in Grandma's backyard) to watch the Demolition Derby. This derby has been going on since the beginning of time for Fairview (or so it seems). People (including Grandma) had to campout just to buy tickets for this once a year event.

It was definitely worth it, cuz we all had a blast!

I don't know what came out worse, the cars or Ayla's post derby hair! After the derby we all headed back to Grandma's to sit out on the lawn and watch the fireworks.

Sunday afternoon Kat and I made cupcakes in celebration of Xander's, Abram's, Bennett's and Ayla's birthdays, which are all only 3 months apart.

We were pretty happy at how they turned out since we had to decorate them in a hurry.

Milton assisted Ayla in blowing out her candle.

Ayla and Bennett just stared at their cupcakes for a bit before they decided to dig in.

Ayla really didn't care much for the cupcake, but wanted the strawberry and blackberry toppings instead.

Post lunch pic of the babies. LOL!

For some reason I think most of the pictures of Ayla are when she's running around in her diaper, which I promise she does get dressed. She's just always in her diaper come time to eat or else she would ruin every outfit she has.

Sunday evening we went up to Great Grandma Anderson's to eat leftovers and hang out.

Monday morning we headed back home. On the way we met up with Ayla's Abuelos to pick up Abuelita who is coming to visit for the week. I am very excited to have her here since she hasn't been able to come visit in a long time and Ayla needs some time to get to know her and she'll be here for Ayla's first birthday party.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for making such a memorable week! It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to do it again next year!

Ayla's 1st Independence Day!

Ayla was all festive for the 4th of July, thanks to her Grandma Anderson who purchased the dress last year when we were anticipating Ayla's arrival.
We had a pretty relaxing day with Milton's brother's and sister.

The Santiago family came to join us for dinner. Which Ayla ate a TON of (to start, baby cereal, hot dog, fruit, corn on the cob and then she topped it off with an ice cream sandwhich).

She was actually taking bites of the corn!

Unfortunately, it was a very wet holiday so we had to stay indoors, except for when her Tio Elton thought it would be a good idea to go and dance in the rain.

Ayla's cute white dress made it almost through the whole day, but she found her Papa's coke and helped herself to a drink. Needless to say the dress was drenched!

We didn't make it to the fireworks since it was still raining come night fall. We decided that we would just go to bed at our normal time since it just isn't worth it when you have a sleepy baby.

Kusko is a Fighter!

You can't under estimate the will to live! Kusko has proven that over and over the past couple of years, even though his health has taken a turn for the worse.

The vet appointment went relatively well. After counseling with the vet, we've come to the conclusion we've done about all we can for Kusko. We feel good about where we are at right now and will continue to enjoy each day we have left with him. However, his spirit is still very much alive most of the time even if his body isn't.

It really seemed that getting out of the house last night for the appointment really boosted his spirits and he had a better day today than most, so I decided to take advantage of it and go for a walk. Our hopeful destination was a park not far from our house. I knew this was going to be a huge stretch for him and had Milton on standby incase he had to come pick him up.

The round trip to the park, including time for Ayla to play usually takes about 30 minutes, but it took us over an hour tonight. He only fell 3 times, one of which he was able to get back up on his own. I don't think that I'll attempt this long of a walk with him again, especially after seeing how bloody his paws were afterwards. He especially loved the pats he got from Ayla.

And of course she loved it too! Look at both of them grin!

When to Say Good-Bye???

What can we say....we are dog lovers and have fallen in love with our two Great Danes, Kusko and Bahlu. However, we all know there comes a time when we have to say good-bye. Kusko has always had joint problems since we adopted him 3 1/2 years ago. We've been able to manage it all through limited exercise, play, some pain meds, anti-inflammatories, glucosamine and fish oil, but within the past month his health has declined significantly. We've known this day would come but was hoping that he would make it beyond a mere 6 1/2 years of life.

Two years ago we had a neurologist give Kusko an exam and they determined that he may have had a torn ACL at one point that was never taken care of as well as some arthritis. They didn't think he had Wobblers (which was what we had taken him in for) since he was 4 years old at the time and most Danes are diagnosed while puppies. However, I wasn't convinced and have always thought that Kusko has Wobblers, which is an abnormality of the spine resulting in the compression of the spinal cord. Kusko is now unable to get up especially if he falls down (I don't know how much longer I can lift a dog that weighs as much as I do off of the floor). We've have put rugs down where he is most likely to fall, but even that isn't helping much anymore. He has now shown signs of losing control of his bladder and his front paws are beginning to knuckle when he's trying to step down or get out of his crate.

Both of these pictures have been taken within the past few days. In each one he has fallen and of course Ayla takes the opportunity to go say hello. Both dogs have been so good with her and she loves them dearly.

We don't want to make any quick decisions since he is very much a part of the family. Kusko has always been my walking companion and enjoyes his exercise. However, he hasn't been able to leave his house or even his crate for the past 6 weeks.

We have an appointment with the vet tonight to determine what our next and possible final step will be. We are hoping for a miracle but are prepared for the worst. The appointment will mainly be for counseling to determine his quality of life. We definately want him around as long as possible and as long as he's happy. Unfortunately, he has started to whine and cry quite often (and not only because of the pain), especially when we are heading out for a walk.

I've shed many tears in the past couple of weeks and am dreading the day when we will have to say good-bye. We love you Kusko and are so glad that you are part of our family.

This is a video of Ayla and Kusko from this afternoon. Ayla had escaped from me mid-dress as soon as she saw Kusko was on the floor.

Fun Times in the Pool

Last summer Milton bought Ayla and Xander pools. The pics in this post are all a bit random since we've had many pool play dates.

We've had several play dates with our friends and family.
Ayla loves being in her baby float.

Ever since the FIFA World Cup her favorite thing to do is raise her arms up while we scream GOOOAAALLL! Besides the typical Mama, Papa, Dada her first official word was GO (trying to saying Goal).

She is a very vocal baby and will scream at anything she thinks is worth screaming at.

This is our first little dip in her pool.