More Pictures

Here's some more pictures!

Guess he thinks that he gets Jim's spot on the bed now. :)

He's done really well so far! No messes in his kennel. Last night he didn't whine when Jim put him in his kennel for the night and we didn't hear him at all during the night. No nipping or biting at all! And he whined for the first time today when he had to go potty! I worked with him yesterday to learn to sit and when I left this morning I told him to sit and he did it! What a smart puppy. :)

Welcome Home, Bentley!

I have a couple exciting things today! First off, on Friday I received a phone call from Dr. Esau at our vet's office. He apologized profusely for not getting a card out to me sooner and told me that he heard from K-State the day we put him to sleep, was off on Thursday and went to send us a card on Friday and realized he was out. By the time he got new ones in he said he really debated on whether it was too late to send one or not. So he did send one (we got it on Saturday) and he called. He told me how sorry he was that he couldn't help Hunter and went on to explain a few more things to me. It was a really nice phone call and I was very glad he made it. On Saturday we received a letter from K-State that said they received a "generous monetary donation from Companion Animal Clinic in honor of Hunter." Due to the donation, Hunter's name, our name and the donor's name will go into their Memoriam book that's located at their center. I thought that was an amazing thing for the vet to do.

And here we go...last night, Jim and I went to Gypsum (south of Salina) to pick up our new boy! We bought a brindled boxer and he is just precious. His name is Bentley and he's adorable! Portia's not 100% sure yet, but I am sure that she'll get used to him. He's done very well so far! Here's some pics that we took last night. I'll try to get some better ones today! He's 10 weeks old and will be a really good looking boxer! He's extremely playful and [insert all puppy adjectives here]. :) We love him already.

Nothing is wrong with his eye...just winking ;)

Short post today as I'm at work, but the doctor from K-State just called Jim to let him know that the autopsy was finished on Hunter. He said that he had hemangiosarcoma which started as a small tumor and grew very rapidly. The first tumor showed up probably 1-3 months ago which we were surprised that it was such a short period of time. He started coughing in mid-May though so that was two months before he died and I guess that would probably make sense...it probably started in April and then spread to enough places and got bad enough that he started coughing in May. Anyways, he had cancer in his eye, lungs, thyroid, heart, brain, kidney and lymphnodes. Needless to say he was a very sick dog and we can definitely say that we made the absolute best decision for him. After doing some research online, I found that we are pretty lucky that it ended the way it did as most dogs do not show any clinical signs until it's too late and they die from internal bleeding. I am very glad that Hunter did not go that way as I think that would have been even harder. And I'll give a little bit of credit to our vet as one of the sites I looked at did say that hemangiosarcoma is often mistaken for immune mediated hemolytic anemia because the type of anemia caused by the two conditions is very similar and early clinical signs are often very similar; since that is what they thought was wrong with Hunter I guess they get a little break in my book. The good news is Hunter was probably not in any pain before he died and he didn't have to suffer much. That's it for now...

Couple more pages done

Finally finished a couple more pages for Chase's scrapbook. For whatever reason, these two pages took me forever...I just couldn't decide on the right colors, papers, etc to use. But I think I finally came up with something I can live with. It's not perfect and I feel like I need to add something else to it...just not sure what. But here's how they are now.

It's a double page spread so here's the two pages side by side. And then I'll post the individual pages so you can see them better.

Journaling Reads:After we picked you up from the airport we took you to Pepsi Ice Midwest in Kansas City so that you could go ice skating for the first time. We already bought your birthday present and decided to give it to you when we got to the ice rink because we knew you would want to wear it. And we were right. You absolutely loved your new Zetterberg Red Wings jersey. You were it in the rink just like a real hockey player. Uncle Jim went out on the ice with you to help you out. You weren't very steady on your feet but Uncle Jim stayed close. You loved it when he would lift you up just a little off the ice and go fast and you kept trying to check him into the boards like a hockey player.After we left the ice rink we went to The Cheesecake Factory for a snack before heading to the baseball game. You thought the big napkins were hilarious and thought it was big enough to wear as a bib. We all shared two pieces of cheesecake and you tried the White Caramel Macadamia Nut first. You loved it and thought nothing could taste better...until you tried the Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple and that quickly became your favorite.

Credits are here: http://flickr.com/photos/michellegriffith/2696829489/

First Page Done

Here's the first page of their trip for Chase's scrapbook!

Journaling Reads: Aunt Michelle & Uncle Jim flew you and Grandma Joyce to Kansas for a few days. This was your first plane ride and you were so excited! You didn't want to fall asleep the night before and you couldn't wait to head to the airport. You thought flying was really cool.

Credits: http://flickr.com/photos/michellegriffith/2685088105/

More to come!

Another Hunter post

I apoligize if this is morbid or if it bothers people that I talk about it, but I'm just trying to grieve as I know how...and talking about it helps. So when we had Hunter at K-State and made the decision to put him down, the dr. that we were working with told us that they would put Hunter's paw print in a piece of clay, fire it and send it to us if we wanted. We chose for them to do that. I was pretty surprised when it already came today. Here's what we got:

I thought it was a very nice thing for them to do. They also sent a card and said some lovely things:

It was signed by the doctor, the student and some other person. It was nice to get these things today although it did make me cry a bit. :) I'm a little mad that our normal vet has not called us at all. Actually I'm more than a little mad. I just felt like they should've at least called and offered their apologies for not being able to figure it out or at least tell us they were sorry for the way it ended. But whatever.

Jim has decided that he wants to get another puppy. Portia has just laid around and slept pretty much the whole time since Wednesday. I was trying to think of why she has been so tired, but I think it's because she just doesn't have anyone to play with. She and Hunter were best buds and I think she's probably a little lonely. I assumed we would get another Irish Setter but Jim thinks we should get another Boxer since Setters need a lot of room to run and Hunter has tore up the yard with his "running path". LOL. So we'll see...Not quite sure that I want another one yet...I need a little time I think. Although I do love having cute little puppies around. :)

So that's it for today. Hoping to get some scrapbooking done with pictures from their trip and probably a few pages of Hunter. I'll post them as I get them done! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

More Pictures

As I was going through pictures from Chase & Mom's trip to start scrapbooking, I found the pictures from my Mom's camera that we saved before she left, so here's a few more!

In Memory of Hunter

I haven't updated on Hunter in awhile...but the Rocky Mt Spotted Fever test came back negative. Over the weekend he started feeling a LOT better and was acting normal again but last night he took a major turn for the worse. Wouldn't hardly move on his own and was coughing up blood again. We took him to the vet this morning and they were stumped and sent us to K-State's Vet center. So we headed there mid-morning and by noon found out that he has cancer. His eye was bleeding because there was a tumor on it and when they took x-rays there was a lot of cancer in his lungs. We had to put him to sleep and as you can imagine, Jim and I are both devastated. So in honor of Hunter, let's remember his days with us:

Hunter

August 17, 2001 - July 16, 2008

And they're off...

Well Mom & Chase left today. I was sad to see them go. :( They had some flight issues in Chicago (couldn't land because of wind, had to go to Rockford to re-fuel, missed their connecting flight) so they won't land in GR until 10:30 their time. That sucks. Here's some more pictures from their trip though...We had to change things around a bit because Saturday we had bad rain most of the day, so we didn't go to Worlds of Fun until Sunday. We were all so proud of him...we did a LOOOOOT of walking at WOF and he never once complained that his legs hurt or that his feet hurt. He did so good! The first few pics are from Worlds of Fun:

After we left Oceans/Worlds of Fun we went to T-Rex at Legends to eat. Chase was so scared of the dinosaurs and wooly mammoths inside. It was funny. I could only get him to stand by the ones that didn't move or make any kind of noise.

So that was the trip. We all had fun and will remember it for quite some time I'm sure. :)

Pics, Pics, Pics

Quick blog today since Mom & Chase are here. Just wanted to upload some pics from their trip so far! We picked them up at the airport yesterday afternoon. Chase was so excited (so was Mom!). He loved flying and did really well. Got to go into the cockpit and meet the pilots on their first flight. After we picked them up we went ice skating (Chase got a Red Wings jersey for his early birthday present and loved it). Then had some cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory. Then went to a Royals game. Wasn't sure if Chase would get bored at the game but he really got into it. We were down for most of the game, but when we started scoring he was SO excited! Loved the fireworks too. Kept asking when we were going to get a "grand slam home run!" Here's some pics from yesterday and you all know I scrapbook so I take a bazillion pics of the same thing, so I'll save you all the boredom and will only share a few. :) Some of my pics resized funny on here, so if they look weird, that's why.

Chase with his new jersey


He had to put it on to ice skate. :)


Not too steady...


Down he goes...


My guys


Chase thought the big napkins at Cheesecake Factory were hilarious! He decided his should be used as a bib.


Chase at "the K". We bought Royals shirts for him & Jackson so he wanted to wear his to the game, of course!


Chase and Jimbo


Chase & Aunt Michelle


Chase & Grandma


Finally! A home run!


Leaving the game


Chase was so tired after the game that he was snoring in the car within 10 minutes. He slept until 10:30 when Mom woke him up today. We took it easy today...He wanted to wear his hockey jersey today even though we told him he'd get hot! But he just had to wear it. :) He wanted to play hockey this morning but he wanted to be the goalie so he put on Jim's hockey equipment. Couldn't hardly move, but it was quite entertaining. Then we went to the Harley store so Mom could buy a shirt for her bf. Went to my work. Hung out at home. Jim and Chase played a hockey game on the playstation. And he does this weird thing when playing...he kept putting his feet on the controllers...I don't know if he was trying to hold the controller or use his feet to push buttons but it was hilarious! He looked like a monkey. This evening we went and played putt-putt golf & rode go-karts. He loved it all.
Pics from today:

Hockey, hockey, hockey


LOL! LOL! LOL! This pic cracks me up. Jim's hockey pants were a little big I think.


All geared up.


Little Goalie - he quickly decided that the helmet didn't help him...and not long after this decided he didn't need the shin guards either. LOL. We were just using a foam puck but he said he had to keep the gloves on. :)


At the Harley store


Seriously...what's up with that foot?


Feet again...He was standing up later on when he was playing and he was still trying to get one of his feet up on the controllers! LOL


His first swing...


Uncle Jim quickly helped him out. LOL!


Seriously...we should've kept score, I was on FIRE!


Golf pro


Mom


He was a little scared at first, but he liked the go-karts after they got going.


Jimbo. I didn't ride...photographer at work. :)


That's it for today. Tomorrow's a big day at Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. Chase has been talking about going to the water park nonstop. :) I'm so glad Dan & Tammy let Chase fly out (THANK YOU GUYS!) It's been a blast and I so don't want them to leave! I'll upload more later!