In Memory of our Beloved Doc

 DOC

D.D.P.R.S.C

Its been almost two weeks now since we lost our wonderful dog Doc. On March 14th we woke to find Doc and his buddy Jazz (my sister's dog) had both died during the night in their dog house. We are not sure of the circumstances that caused their death, only that they are gone and gone together. 

We all mourn in different ways. Sean mourns by busying himself with work. He and my brother-in-law had the task of taking care of the dogs. It was really hard on my brother-in-law so Sean offered to take the dogs. There are still times when I look outside expecting to see the dogs. Doc would come and sit by the windowsill when i was in the kitchen cleaning or making dinner. Sometimes when I am in there a shadow from the tree makes me look up expecting to see both dogs.....but it is just the tree.

For me, I am most sad because of all the things I wanted for Doc. I haven't spent much time with him this winter since having Sammy. I was looking forward to the warm weather so we could go on walks, go to the dog park, or just hang out in the yard. I was excited for Samantha to have the interaction with the dogs and have Doc learn to be a calmer dog.

I wanted to post a bunch of pictures of Doc to remember him by so here is a ton of pictures of our dog.

 This blanket became his blanket....until he tore it up so bad we ended up having to get rid of it.

 In Texas we had a large backyard great for playing fetch. Here are some shots of Doc playing fetch with his knotted rope.

 We started letting Doc in the house (even though he was strictly an outdoor dog) because the mosquito's in Texas were so bad that I couldn't handle spending time in the backyard during spring and fall. We had a big field behind our yard and the mosquito's were horrible. One thing Doc realized was that he loved to climb under our bed. He thought it was so much fun. He would then stick his head out to see where we were. Sean wasn't a fan but I thought it was funny.

 Doc actually liked sleeping in enclosed spaces. He did better at night if he was locked in his kennel or locked in his house that we eventually built for the backyard. He didn't mind his kennel. At night we trained him that he would get a biscuit if he went right in and laid down. It was never a struggle to get him to go to bed.

Our friend Becca had an Australian Shepard named Max. They had a lot of fun playing together. They would wrestle or play tug o war with the rope. We liked when they came over to play or when we would meet at the dog park. Our friends Stacey and Michael also had a dog named Angel. She always acted as the referee.

 This is my favorite picture of Doc. It just shows what a happy dog he was. While we were in Texas Sean and I worked full time. When I would get home from work and walk in the door from the garage Doc could see me from outside. He would immediately start jumping up and down excited to see me and knowing that I was going to let him inside.

Stacey and Michael watched Doc for us while we went on our cruise. Here is a pic of Doc and Angel taking a nap after playing together.

While Stacey and Michael were watching Doc they went up to Ft. Worth. It had snowed and Doc went wild! He also loved playing with the Golden Retriever.

 Doc always had his spot inside our house in Texas. Here is his little bed that he loved. Even though he had his spot, he would often migrate closer and closer to the couch trying to get closer to us.

When we moved to Utah, my sister was kind enough to let us have Doc at their house. They also had a lab named Jazz. A few months after we moved Sean and Doc to Utah, I got our Texas house sold and we moved into my sister's basement apartment. Jazz and Doc had a huge backyard to play in, and they did. They definitely became best friends. We had fun taking both dogs to the dog park or playing fetch with them in the yard. Here are a couple of pictures we took of the dogs taking a nap. Sadly these are the only pictures we have of the two dogs together.

 The Sunday before Doc died, we all went for an evening walk. The Ericson's and Jazz, us and Doc. I took the camera because I wanted more pictures of me and Sammy together so I made Sean take a picture of her and me. Then I asked Sean if he wanted a picture of him and Doc. He said no. I said that I wanted a picture of him and Doc and made him take these pictures. Who knew we were capturing our last moments with him

Doc was a good dog. We loved him very much and are sad to be without him.

Relief Society Mad Hatter Unbirthday Party

I was on the Relief Society committee for our Relief Society Birthday social. Our theme was centered around Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter tea party. Here is the invitation that each lady received. (It also had a white chocolate rabbit on it but I ate mine before I thought about taking a picture)

 

We wanted to make the focus of our social having the women branch out and get to know other women. As you entered the church, you were given a name tag with three tea pots on it. Each tea pot coordinated with a different table. For the salad, you would be at the first table, for dinner you switched to the second table, and finally dessert you were at the third color.

 

And here we are entering the room. We had two trees on the walls from the movie where Alice encounters the Cheshire cat.

 

For the rest of the room decorations we wanted to mimic the mad hatter tea party scene. From the ceiling we hung white lights. From the lights hung paper lanterns and tissue paper balls.

 

We had a table set up with this cute homemade Cheshire cat that one of the decorating committee made. Also we had a centerpiece on the buffet tables. To make bowls look like tea cups, we took laminated paper and taped them to the side of the bowl.

  

We had a total of eight tables. The colors we used were: pink, red, purple, blue, yellow, dark green, and lime green. Each table had a table cloth and four balloons that matched the color.

 

 

We had a few extra touches on all the tables. The balloons were tied to a dessert rack (for the dessert round we brought two plates of finger desserts to each table). With the balloons we had "eat me" tags.

 

In the center of the dessert trays were a bowl with colored papers with get to know you questions. At the beginning of each round the ladies were encouraged to take a question and answer it to the table. This was our way of encouraging women to get to know other women in the ward. (I typed up a total of 80 questions so no two questions were the same). Each bowl had ten questions and we sat 7 at each table. This way, if someone didn't like their question there were extras to exchange.

 

So that each table felt like its own little tea party, we put mismatched mugs on each table and filled them with paper fluff.

 

For the food, the tables were set with a plate, fork, napkin and cup. Each table was brought a bowl of salad. We had a spinach salad that had tomatoes, mandarin oranges, and pineapple in it with Kraft creamy poppy seed dressing. SO GOOD!! Each table also had a plate of bread and a plate of butter. At the end of the salad round ladies threw away their plate and fork and kept their napkin and cup.

Here is the water station. The little signs say "Drink me"

  

For dinner we had a potato bar. Tables were called up by color to get dinner. We had little signs that said "Unwrap me" for the potatos "toss me" for the foil, and "top me" for everything you needed on top.

 

During dessert, we asked one of the relief society sisters to speak to the group and tie in the themes from Alice in Wonderland to the gospel. One thing she said that stood out to me is that we can all look at life as "being thrown in a rabbit hole" trying to find our way out. It is important to use the guide's we have been given, like the scriptures, to find the right path home.