For Jackson

We knew this was coming, but it doesn't make it any easier.  We said goodbye to our sweet Jackson on January 6th, his tenth birthday.  We decided to let him go after a week during which he developed a bad infection on his foot, continued to deal with pain from his surgery, and after which it became apparent that he was no longer our happy boy.  It was the right time and now we can focus on all the happy times we had together. 

Now that a few weeks have passed, it is easier to focus on being grateful for the years we had together, rather than being sad that he's no longer with us.  What a good boy.  I can't even imagine how many times we said that during his life.  Good boy, Jackson, good boy.  

This post is for Jackson.  Here are some of our favorite memories of him.

Jackson with his stick.  He loved to fetch!  He would fetch until he keeled over if we let him.  This picture was taken at Deception Pass in Anacortes shortly after we moved there.  Once when we were camping in Shenandoah National Park, he fetched a huge tree out of the swimming hole, worked very hard to free it from a bunch of other tangled trees, swam over and plopped it down in front of Josh.  He was definitely a retriever.

These two pictures are Jackson welcoming Josh home from each deployment - Iraq and Qatar.  I decided to put these up because he made the time pass so much more quickly and kept me from getting too lonely.  There were nights when I talked to him and I'm pretty sure he knew what I was saying.  He was always invited to sleep on the bed when Josh was gone, but didn't mind at all when he was relegated to his dog bed when Josh came home.  He was so easy going. 

Jackson was a true military dog and traveled the country.  Here he is home in Utah one Christmas with Marley and Hank.  He crossed the country with us from Utah to Quantico, Meridian to Utah (and back), Meridian to Washington, Washington to North Carolina, and lots of shorter trips.  He was such a good traveler and just laid down in the back of the car, and hopped out to play some fetch at rest stops.  We could always sneak him into hotels if necessary because he never barked, ever. 

Jackson also took lots of vacations with us.  Here he is tired after hiking up Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island.  Over the years, he has been to Moab, the Wind Rivers mountains, Shenandoah National Park, Smoky Mountains National Park, and lots of other fun trips. 

Could there possibly be a cuter puppy?  We brought Jackson home to our first house in Salt Lake, shortly after we bought it.  Truthfully, we bought the house so we could have a dog.  Jim and Rebecca were breeding Madie and we knew we wanted one of the pups and needed to buy a house in time.  Josh was teaching him how to sit here.  As a puppy, he had lots of fun in Salt Lake going to Tanner Park, Dog Lake, hiking in MillCreek canyon and going on runs with me.  He retired from running when he was about 8, but we put in lots of miles together and he was always good company.

This is one of the last pictures we took of him.  His adjustment to being a big brother was a little rough at first.  He lost his appetite for awhile there, but eventually adjusted and loved the girls.  He started taking naps outside their door while they were napping and wanted to be wherever they were. 

We are going to miss that sweet face.  We love you Jackson! 

More partytime

Last weekend, the girls' friend Reed turned one.  They got all dressed up for the party and had a great time.  We also had some fun playing throw-the-baby-on-the-bed and try-on-daddy's-hat.  Good times, I tell you.  But really, how cute are they? 

 

13 Months

I am very late posting this and am going to have to post their 14 month picture soon, but by the magic of the blogger scheduling tool, pretending that I got to this on time. 

Josie and Piper were 13 months old on January 5th.  January 5th is also a big day because it's the day we brought the girls home from the hospital one year ago.  That was a crazy day!  Things are still crazy around here, just in a different way. 

Here's what's happened over the past month:

Piper

•  She took her first steps the day after Christmas.  Since then, she has made a little progress and taken up to five or six steps, but still seems pretty content to crawl. 
• Piper has her own little language.  For this reason, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes her awhile to talk.  She still does a little pointing and makes it clear what she's jabbering about.  The other day, she was very alarmed at the big flower on my headband.  She felt her own head to see if she had one too.
• She's not a fan of eating anymore.  Basically, she picks at anything we put in front of her, except peanut butter and jelly.  I think she's content on staying little.  
• Piper has become the less aggressive of the two and often gets her toys taken away.  She throws a little bit of a fit, but is still pretty easy going and gets over it quickly.  
• She can give kisses now, which are very sweet and slobbery.  She also finally discovered clapping.  Sometimes she sits there clapping while she cries. 

Josie

• Josie took her first steps a couple weeks after Piper, but now is right there with her and can walk five or six steps and sometimes doesn't need to be encouraged.
• She likes to steal toys from Piper and scramble away.  She's very sneaky.  
• Josie is getting closer to saying words.  She says Mama and Dada and Hi, which sounds like HAAAA.  She is also catching on to the baby sign language and can sign for eat and drink.  We are not very diligent about this, so it's good she's picking up on something. 
• Josie has made huge strides over the past few weeks and is becoming much more social.  She is getting better and better and even crawling over to new people to sit on their lap.  

Here's my favorite pic from the day the girls came home from the hospital - one year ago.  They were so sweet and so cuddly, but I have to say, I'm so glad we're through that!!  :)