Sariah at Nine Months

Sariah loves to be wherever we are and as close to us as possible.  She will sit on our feet or half climb on to a bed or couch to put her face or a paw near us.  She loves running on the trail with Kelly or running in the park with other dogs.  She definitely needs to run every day or she goes a little stir crazy.  She loves bones from the pet store and expends a lot of energy pulling them apart and chewing on them.

During Kelly's and Heather's backpacking trip, Sariah's exercise was my responsibility for a couple of days.  I took her down to the spot where Kelly lets her run up and down the rocks.  I thought that would be better than just walking her.  She bounded up and down the rocks having a ton of fun.  During her romp, I heard a glass bottle scatter down the rocks, but didn't think anything of it. There is a lot of broken glass where these rocks are, but normally it's not a problem for her.  This day, however, the glass was a problem.  I noticed blood pooling around her paw when she came to sit by me.  Pooling is the proper word because there was literally a pool of blood forming very quickly.  I couldn't see what the exact injury was, but we needed to get home fast.  She left a blood trail as we walked back to the car, blood was all over the car when we got home, and there was plenty of blood in our driveway as I examined her.  I finally figured out that the large pad on her paw was slice almost in half.  I cleaned the wound with water and alcohol before wrapping gauze, around it and securing it with a sock and painter's tape so she couldn't get at it.  Of course Kelly was out of cell phone range, so I had no idea if I should take her in for stitches, and the problem was exacerbated by it being a Saturday after hours.  I ended up taking her to a 24-hour emergency vet where she received 3 stitches.  They actually liked my gauze/sock/painter's tape patch job which kept the wound clean.  Sariah came home sleepy and dressed up with a cone.  We took the cone off thinking she'd be okay, and by the next afternoon she'd ripped off the bandage and eaten out one of the stitches.  She got the other two stitches out the next day making our $200 vet visit a waste of time.  We kept her wound clean and wrapped for a week until it started to heal, and Kelly helped that process by using some glue to try and keep it closed (she licked this off, but we were persistent enough to see it through to healing).  Fortunately she didn't seem to be in pain, and she was back on the trail within a few days dressed up in the sock and painter's tape contraption. What a month!

Mom & Daughters Trip to Northern CA

The day after Jenna was out of school, the girls and I drove up north to visit Kevin and Beth.  Aunt Beth planned a cupcake tour in San Francisco a few months ago, and we were excited to go visit.  We spent the first day at a new water park near their home, then spent two different days in the city with a magic show, cupcake tour, sightseeing and shopping.  It was a great visit!

Thursday -- At the new water park with Aunt Beth 

Later that day Jenna and Uncle Kevin in the water

Friday morning -- Mani-Pedi morning at Aunt Beth's favorite nail place

Friday afternoon - The Palace of the Fine Arts as viewed from Baker Street (Sherlock reference needed a picture)

Cool Magic Show - Jenna was chosen for a trick

 We drove in to the city for the magic show.  We walked the Golden Gate as well as walking around the wharf area where the theater was located.  Heather and Jenna did some souvenir shopping too.  These are Heather's p.j.s that she wants to use for a Halloween costume.

Saturday morning - Cupcake Tour!  We toured cupcake stores, a chocolate store and a gelato place.  Walking to the different stores gave us some good views of the architecture in the city.  I loved all the different doorways into buildings and houses.  Jenna is wearing her souvenir hat from Friday's shopping trip.

 Saturday afternoon - The girls spent time on the water using a pool as a raft.  Uncle Kevin's boat is pretty cool too.  The girls love visiting Alameda and their Aunt Beth and Uncle Kevin!

On Sunday we drove over to my cousin, Kim's, house for a couple of days.  She lives on the water about an hour in-land from Alameda.  The kids enjoyed Monday and Tuesday on the water, shopping at the outlets and going to a real drive-in movie (How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Maleficent).  We love cousin time!!!

Last Day of 6th Grade!

 Jenna's last day of school included lots of "selfies" with friends (MacKenzie and Abbey in these shots), saying good-bye to favorite teachers (Mrs. Dambach, Algebra), and going to Boomer's for the day.  So long 6th grade!

Yosemite Daddy-Daughter Trip

Kelly picked Heather up immediately following her last Freshman year final, and they headed to Yosemite to hike Half Dome together.  Jenna was still in school for another three days, but she and I weren't super interested in having that terrifying experience again.  Haha.  Here is a little photo journal of Kelly and Heather during their weekend 6/12/14 - 6/15/14...

 Arriving in the Valley - Scenic Bridge

  Starting the hike at Glacier Point - Destination Half Dome (top L)

 Scenic stops along the trail including the river for lunch and cooling off

 Ascent to Sub Dome - Heather sitting on one of the many steps

 View from the bottom looking up to Half Dome's summit

 At the top!  Unfortunately, it was so early that there were no other tourists to take a Daddy/Daughter picture.  Heather is wearing her Rouge shirt from X-Men

 Nevada Falls on the hike back

Vernal Falls

Until next time...

A little stop by the Maricopa Grove Redwoods

Temple Day for Young Women

We took the Young Women to the LDS Temple to do baptism today.  It was a beautiful day, and it's really nice to be at the temple with my daughter(s) to experience it with them.  Heather was hiking, so today it was Jenna and I with our little group.  The girls are always excited to serve, and it's a pleasure to be with them.