Home Contest

Lorrie and I spent a couple days last week checking out homes in the new Daybreak area of South Jordan. We saw a few that we really liked and several that we didn't like very much at all.

Because we're so forgetful, we took pictures of each of the models we visited. We thought it would be fun to have you guess which two were our favorites. If you guess both homes correctly and in the right order, you will get first prize. Second prize goes to the one who guesses both homes correctly, but gets them in the wrong order. Third prize is for the one who guesses one of the homes correctly.

We don't really know what the prizes will be, but you can be sure that they're "many, large, and expensive!" And if you believe that, there'll be a special prize just for you.

Click here to see the pictures. Home Contest Pictures

July 4, 2007 vs. Independence Day

What does this day mean to you? Is it July 4, just another date on the calendar? Or is it Independence Day, a holiday unique to our nation? The one on which we commemorate the birth of the United States of America.

We hope it's the latter. It is for us.

As has become our tradition, we celebrated by going to the Saxeys' home for a big neighborhood flag ceremony, Primary parade, and breakfast.

Then, we got everyone together and went to the Sandy City parade.

Next, we had a big barbecue in the backyard, then moved into the front yard to watch the fireworks display.

It was great to be a family. It was great to be an American!

Missing Teä Already

It's been only a little over a week. We get to talk to and see her on the webcam every couple days or so. But it's not the same as having her here.

The Doggie Park

Up until April 2007, we had two sweet dogs, Snickers and Shadow. They were both female border collie mixes, Snickers being part hound of some kind and Shadow being part Labrador retriever.

Shadow had lots of health problems throughout her life, including epilepsy. In the middle of December 2006, she passed away in our backyard, nestled in Lorrie's arms. We think she must have had an aneurism or stroke.

After Shadow's passing, Snickers, shown in this picture, reverted to being a pup, even though she was several years older than Shadow. There's a doggie park near our home and, in March and April of 2007, we started taking Snickers there as often as we could. Snickers loved it. She could run around without a leash on, visit with "buddies," and get some exercise.

We loved it, too. We liked to take the grandkids with us so that they could run around a little bit and enjoy all the dogs.

In early April, we noticed a pretty big lump in Snicker's belly. She had always loved to have her tummy rubbed, but all of a sudden she started pulling away when we tried to rub it. Lorrie took her to the vet. He said that it was probably just a benign tumor on her spleen, but that he would have to go in surgically to make sure and to remove it. When he got in there, though, he discovered that it was cancerous and had spread to quite a few other places. He called Lorrie while Snickies was still anesthetized and told her what his findings were. He recommeded not waking her up because she would not have a very high quality of life from that point on.

Lorrie had to make the decision, because I was at work. Even though it was painful and certainly not what we had hoped and prayed for, she knew that it was the right thing to do. It took a lot of courage and compassion to tell the vet to just increase the anesthesia and send Snickies off to the next life.

We miss our doggies. It's especially hard for Lorrie who enjoyed their companionship throughout the day when she was the only person at home. We would love to have another dog. Both of us have always had dogs since we were born. But we know we can't have any more. It's too hard to lose them. And they're terribly expensive these days. Also, it's a hassle to line up people to take care of them when you're going to be gone for any length of time.

At least these are our rationalizations at this point in time.

Getting started with blogging

We're really new at blogging, but it seems to be "all the rage." And since we really like computers (when they're working) and digital photography, it seemed like blogging would fit into our lives super well.

If you have suggestions for things you'd like us to write about or if you have stuff you'd like to add to the blog (pictures, stories, etc.), just let us know. Of course, you can start your own blog for free here at blogspot.com. It's easy, fun, and will let you express yourself in your own way.

Well, that's it for this post. We hope that you will visit our page often and enjoy it as much as we do.