Another Tribute to Bob

I miss Bob. My first thought when I get home is still - "I need to go let Bob out!" The floor is alot messier to clean after a meal. When I come down in the morning and the curtains are closed I freak out thinking I forgot somehow to let Bob out (I'd usually come down first thing, let him out, and open the curtains while he was out there). At the boy's birthday party this weekend one of their friends asked about Bob and I said he didn't live with us anymore because he was very old. She determined on her own that he must be in Heaven. I keep thinking I hear him barking to come in. And, sadly, there are occasions I see something on the floor and my first reaction is to think Bob has had an accident. I saw our box of tennis balls in the garage today and it made me sad.

Bob's previous owner, Michael Dimarco, wrote a post about him documenting the first 7 years of his life and honoring his memory. I'd encourage you to check it out, especially if you grew to love Bob as well. This post was, for me, kind of like re-opening the wound - but it was so wonderful to read.

Mike's post reminded me of a few similar memories we had of him as well that I did not mention before....

* Bob DID love to run. LOVED it. And he was SO fast. I loved watching him. As he aged though, his running became much slower and much more short-lived. I'm glad to remember how much he loved it.

* Bob was so super smart. He learned quickly and was so eager to please.

* Mike teaching Bob not to bark (check out the story on this) lasted his whole life. You could tell him to bark but it wasn't until the last year or so that he decided he was going to bark if he wanted to come inside.

* Towards the end we had to put him in a pen when we left the house or when we went to sleep at night. It was a baby gate technically and he could see through it, stand up and walk around and he had his bed so it wasn't too bad. Before this, however, (and actually quite a bit before we had to resort to putting him in the pen) if he needed to go out in the middle of the night he would come stare at me. Right next to the bed face right in front of mine with his ears perked up. I would wake up (probably due to his hot breath) with Bob's face inches from mine and it would scare me to death.

* Mike's post reminded me of when we would be on a walk. Jared would usually take the leash because Bob was too fast for me (back in the day). Bob was CONSTANTLY turning around and nearly tangling himself in the leash to be sure I was coming.

I organize my pictures according to events and have folders for pets, kids, etc. I missed some of my favorite pictures in my last post because I was only looking in the pets folder. I searched other folders and here are a few more.

Bye Bob. We love you and miss you.

The Boys 4th Birthday Bash

We had the boys 4th birthday bash today. We invited their friends and we had a great time. Here are some pictures....

And, of course, the Birthday song...

Happy Birthday - family party

Happy Birthday

This is on their real birthday....

Valentines Day

For Christmas Jared and I were blessed with a gift from Jared's sister for a night of babysitting, a gift certificate to a yummy restaurant we hadn't tried before and movie tickets. So on Friday night we took her up on it for our Valentines date. We went to Mambo Italiano and it was SO good. Disappointed we didn't discover it until now! Then we saw The Eagle which was decent enough. We had gift cards to Woods Coffee so we checked out their new location downtown. It was a great night.

On Valentines Day we didn't do much but I did give the kids some Valentine candy. I had an appointment in the morning and when I came home I found Jared and the kids had made me Valentines.....

Aquarium Trip

Last week on a sunny day we decided to take a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium. We have a year round pass and know we won't have the opportunity to do this soon... so off we went. We had a great time. At every tank we got to the boys would ask if there was glass. Crossing the border was going better than ever before until they found out Jared was unemployed. It still wasn't too bad though. They did open the back and ask the kids their names. We were scared they would say "Scott and Steve".... but they didn't.....

The highlight for Jackson was seeing a tree frog that looked just like THE frog he has at home....

Ode to Bob

Bob left us on Feb 15, 2011. It was very sad. He was very old and when all is said and done it was the right thing - but that doesn't make it much easier. I hate that he's gone (despite the messes!) and find myself looking for him throughout the day :(

I wanted to post some memories of Bob. Some might find it interesting but I'm writing it mostly so I don't forget....

I remember meeting Bob. I'd never seen anything like him but he was so cute, sweet, and well behaved. We went on a walk with him and his owner and he was so good.

I believe before he came to us he rang a bell at the door when he needed to "use the facilities"

I remember how easily he adjusted to living at our house, how he terrified our cat (without even trying) and how much he puked! (his owner said he didn't eat people food except sometimes meat or pizza crust - apparently we ate too much pizza and he had too much pizza crust - problem solved)

I remember the first time we threw him a piece of food (a sausage I believe) - it hit him in the face and then rolled off his back. he really wasn't used to eating much people food!

He did not seem to have very good depth perception. It was very rare he would catch ANYTHING you threw to him.

He LOVED tennis balls. In fact, this was his only toy. He would chew on them for hours. His favorite thing was a new tennis ball. I'm pretty sure he would have never hurt a flea, but with a jaw like that - look out if he ever did!

He never had a flea in his life and noone ever did anything to prevent it.

He was a very nervous dog. MANY things scared him - wind, thunder, fireworks, bridges, loud noises, wood floors, etc. But very sweet.

I hated July 4th every year because i was certain Bob would die of a heart attack that night. He was so miserable but always survived :) The last year he was so deaf he barely noticed them.

When we first got him we would send him to the field across from us under the fence to "do his business" within a couple days he would automatically go there.

We took him to the lake and his dog friend was leaping off the dock to chase a ball. Bob would NOT. We literally had to throw him in the water and then i think he jumped in a couple times after that but pretty reluctantly. He slept the whole (many hour long) ride home.

He would do all his tricks if he wanted something you had without you even asking him.

He tolerated the children and our cat - but was sweet to them.

When we first brought the boys home Bob was clearly annoyed with their noise. there were some nights we let the boys cry it out or we'd be dealing with one while the other was crying. Bob would always come find us and stare at us like "what are you going to do about this?"

I remember when Bob stopped meeting us at the door when we got home. he couldn't hear us and many times I was afraid he was no longer with us.

At our first house Bob would get tired at night and be ready for bed. His bed was in our room. If we were on the couch in the living room he would keep getting up, coming down the hall, and staring at us like "are you coming to bed or what?"

Once Bob brushed his teeth all on his own.

Bob was so good. He would never go after another dog (well, except maybe he would have when he was super old) but if another dog went after him even in the slightest Bob would corner them and pin them down. This once happened at someone's house. We said "Bob! Off!" and he looked up at us. This is when he got bitten in the nose. We felt bad. It healed quickly though.

Bob LOVED to lay in the sun.

Bob LOVED to swim. It has been quite a while since we took him. The last time we went we were scared he wouldn't get back to shore. His heart was young but his body was not. Of course he insisted on continuing to go in the water.

He loved having his ears rubbed.

Toward the end he would sleep in the boys room while they were going to sleep.

He didn't bark much his whole life but for his last year or so he would bark when he wanted to come inside.

He was not fond of baths but he LOVED to be dried off.

If he was not pleased with what you were doing to him he would lick you.

He never liked coming down the stairs because there was wood floor at the bottom and carpet next to it. He wanted to leap directly onto the carpet. He got used to this but it was harder towards the end. I put a rug at the bottom of the stairs to give him a path but he was scared of it and would try to jump over it. So we took that away.

I remember taking him to the dog days of summer. he played games and got some peanut butter which he was very excited about until he tasted it and then he would have nothing to do with it.

He liked to snuggle on the bed with us when it was cold out. I would wake up in the night with him between us. He would be constantly stretching out pushing us to the sides to have more room. If it was windy he pretty much on our pillows.

When he could hear it was super cute how he would perk up his ears and cock his head to the side when you asked him if he wanted a cookie.

When he could hear you couldn't even say the word cookie in his presence in a sentence or he would start doing all his tricks so he could receive one.

When the boys were just walking, Bob was not a fan. He was always being bumped into and things. I kept trying to get him to go upstairs (since he was just sleeping anyway) so he could have some peace but he was not interested. It was worth it to him to be with us.

He like to lay on the big stair half way up the stairs so he could be between the action upstairs and the action downstairs.

Bob and my cat would fight over who could lay closer to the fireplace on cold days when it was on.

Once while Bob was on a ride with us he was in the back with the window half down. We pulled over to take a quick look at a yard sale and Bob had to use the bathroom. We did not know this and it became apparent to Bob that we weren't going to let him out. So before we were even fully out of the car he had leapt out the window.

Bob used to love taking rides (though not lately - i think because we no longer drove a car he could stick his head out the window) but he HATED riding in the back of Jared's truck. So he only did that a couple times.

Bob would "run" in his sleep. He'd be laying down and running with his feet. Maybe he was dreaming.

He liked to sit by the high chairs and snatch whatever went to the floor or the baby wanted to give him.

He was a good vacuum after meals :)

He was the most patient dog I know

Here are some photos - they range in time from the time we had him until the time he left us....

Bobs last beach trip

Finally!

Kylie FINALLY took her first steps! At 17 months! It's ok, she has me beat.... I didn't walk until 20 months! Really it was only a step and a half and I kinda tricked her into taking them. But she did it and now knows it's humanly possible :) And since Jared isn't at work he got to see it! :) Maybe she'll be running around in no time. At some point I can hopefully get a video.

For sale

For those of you in the Bellingham area we are selling our first round
of stuff.... It's all listed on craigslist but you can check it out at
thebryantsstuffforsale.blogspot.com if you are interested. There will
be more to come.....

A little goofing around before nap.....

Kylie's Leg

I have realized I posted about Kylie's leg getting better but never mentioned what happened to it!
One night I got her up from nap and she was fussy ALL night. I got up with her several times. This is not normal for Kylie at all. I thought maybe she was teething or feeling sick or maybe just got up on the wrong side of the bed. The next day she wasn't any happier. If I was holding her she was her chipper self but never wanted me to put her down. A couple times I did and she just sat there and cried. When I got her up from nap that day she did not stand up to greet me she just pulled herself to the edge of her crib while laying down. So I knew something was wrong and took her to the changing table and inspected her. Everything about her looked normal and she had no fever but before she went to bed that night we determined it was her right leg that was bothering her. At that point we could make her more comfortable but she was still miserable and crying all the time.
The next morning we took her to the dr where she was x-rayed. Everything normal so they told us to give her ibuprofen and she'd be fine.
She got better each day but it took a while. I felt so bad for her. We still dont' know what happened. If she twisted it while standing or twisted it in the crib... we dont' have any idea. But she's all back to normal now and we are very glad!

Lots of Changes

This post could be alot longer than it's going to be - but I just don't have the time or mental capacity! I'll try to break down our past couple months for you....

Christmas was great. I think I posted about all that already :)

Jared continued to lead worship at a local church through January and his last Sunday there will be this coming weekend (we knew when he signed on to do it it was only temporary)

Jared did some marketing for an online project and was contracted for the month of January. That is done now.

Still no permanent job. God has been so faithful in taking care of us and we have lasted FAR longer than we ever thought we would without Jared having a full time job. We can still see some time ahead of us that we have the funds for and are thankful for that as well. I try not to get caught up in thinking about the day our money could run out :)

We have made a big decision. Very big. Hard yet exciting all at the same time. We've decided to move our family across the country to North Carolina. This is where I grew up (and Jared lived for a couple years). While there are things we love about the area we currently live in we've always known we probably wouldn't want to live here forever and we've often considered making the move to NC. Now that Jared does not have a job, our kids are young, and there are many things going on in our life now that seem to be coming to an end we thought it was a "good" time to make the move. This decision does not come without hardship. The hardest is leaving Jared's family. I'm thankful for travel and technology that makes distances seem smaller these days - but even so, we will still be 3000 miles away and that will be very hard and very sad. :( It's hard to leave our friends and it's hard to leave our home. But we will get a new home (and home isn't about the building of course - it's about the people inside it) and (again thanks to technology) be able to keep in touch with friends (though we will miss them terribly and noone can replace them). Jared does NOT have a job there yet. He does have a couple of possibilities but nothing for sure by any means. Here are some things you could be praying for for us.....

God's continued provision
Peace
Doors to open for us in many areas in NC
A great job for Jared, even one that he can truly enjoy
The transition to be as smooth as possible
That this will be more fun than hard on the kids (their big child-like concern right now is that we'll have to leave their toys behind) They don't really grasp something as big as this and I realize it could go well or really not for them. We need wisdom on how to move them through it.
Wisdom about our pets. So sad but we cannot take the dog and probably not the cat
That our house will sell very quickly. Since our bank account will run out at some point we really need this to happen soon. It's not a great market for that but God is in charge.
That our house will sell for as much as possible :) Again not a great market for that and we definitely won't walk away with what we put in but any cash in hand would obviously be a huge help.
That people will want to buy our stuff :)
That we will find a good, inexpensive place to live and a vehicle before we get there.

Our plan is to start in Raleigh. We could start out in Charlotte if we find a better temporary housing option there. After that it all depends on where Jared works (and a few other things). We hope it's either the Raleigh or Charlotte area but again - God is in charge :)

I could probably go on and on about this but I need to get going. Thank you all for your love and support!

Kylie's leg is better!