Hank

A couple of Sundays ago we had the carpet ripped out from under us when we unexpectedly had to say good-bye to our beloved Hank.  He was only nine years old.  To make a long story short he collapsed, we took him into the vet where they found that he had a tumor around his heart.

Ryan and I like to say that Hank was our first born.  He was the first pet we had that belonged to us and that we raised from a little puppy.  I got Hank as a Christmas gift for Ryan before we were married.  Ryan likes to joke that he had no choice but to marry me once I gave him Hank.

Unfortunately, due to the move, Hank's puppy book (yes, you read that right, we had a puppy/baby book for Hank) is in storage.  Luckily I had this picture at my work desk that was taken the night I gave Hank to Ryan:

It's small, but hopefully you can see what a cute puppy he was. He was such a mellow dog and very rarely gave us any problems.  He was the ring bearer at our wedding (if you can't tell - we really loved our dog) and a constant fishing companion for Ryan.

It seemed every time we took Hank for a walk someone would stop us and comment on how handsome he was and how they loved his big head (oh how I miss petting that big head).

Hank loved the snow and would play/lay around in it all day if we let him.  Here he is outside of our condo in Sun Valley:

He was with us when we grew our family (even if he didn't really like it that much):

But the kids grew to love him and he in turn grew to love them as well (I believe the mess they left after every meal for him to clean up helped):

Although I feel so much guilt that his last years weren't filled with as much loves or hikes I have to focus on the good years and hope he does to:

These were the last pictures we got of Hank at The Plex.  Isla wanted her picture taken with him and I'm so glad that I took them:

Hank had a great life and we feel lucky to have had him for nine years, even if we wish it would have been for longer. We love you Hanky and miss you terribly.

So Long 19th Street

Well we finally sold our house.  And of course the timing couldn't have been worse, but we managed to pack up and move even though we were out of town 7 of the last 13 days that we were in the house.  We couldn't have done it without the help of our family and friends, especially my Mom who came over for a week and helped us pack up the house.  It was bittersweet as we made a lot of history in the house - this was our first house in Boise, my babies were conceived in this house (TMI?) and I brought my babies home to this house.  We didn't think we would be in this house for more than five years, but due to the economy and job changes we ended up staying for 7:

It definitely served it's purpose, but we are ready to find the house we will hopefully be in until the kids are out of high school.  Since the inventory is low in Boise we decided to rent for a couple of months so we don't feel rushed to find the "perfect" home for us.  Right now we are living in the East End in a duplex that is half the size of our old house.  It's interesting and definitely cozy, but that is a whole other blog post. Thanks 19th St house for all the great memories!

Vegas, Baby - (G rated version)

So we decided it would be a good idea to go to Vegas with five other couples the weekend before we had to pack up our house and move.  Just kidding - this trip has been planned since last October and there was no way we were backing out, moving or not.  The McBrides generously invited five couples down to enjoy their family place on Lake Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend.  I was lucky to catch a girls trip down there right before I found out I was pregnant with Drew.  This time the boys came with us and oh what fun we had.  There are so many pictures and stories that I would love to share, but they are not appropriate for the blog, so I sifted through my pictures and game up with the more tame ones:

We all landed in Vegas on Thursday and immediately started the vacation off right with drinks and dinner:

  

The next day we spent by the pool sunning, reading, floating, drinking and talking - my idea of a perfect vacation day:

That night we decided to go big and get a table at XS nightclub at Encore.  I think the ladies just wanted an excuse to get all dolled up:

Me and the Mr posing for our "prom" photo:

The boys - it was seriously like herding cats to get these guys to take a picture together. That should have been our first sign that this night was going to be epic:

All of us in front of the bus to take us downtown:

The ladies getting cozy at our table:

The whole gang:

That picture was right before everything got crazy.  It was definitely a fun night!

I'm so glad that we decided to do our big night out on Friday so we had Saturday to recover before we went home on Sunday - brilliant idea!  Saturday was really laid back - we spent more time by the pool and then had dinner.  The guys watched a million you tube videos around the kitchen island:

And proof that you can take the boys out of Idaho, but not Idaho out of the boys - they practiced steer roping:

 We had so much fun and feel so blessed to have such great and generous friends!  Until next time . . .