He made it a whole year!

Otto turned one last week (on May 23rd, to be exact) and the mere fact that he has survived the last 12 months is worth celebrating.

First an ibuprofen overdose and complete kidney failure

Then having a mean dog at daycare take a chunk out of his ear

And finally contracting kennel cough and needing to be quarantined.

In addition he has also had no less than THREE skirmishes with the Logan Police Department. Most recently when I was letting him swim in an irrigation canal. A lovely woman came charging out of a nearby squalid apartments and threatened to "Beat my *&^ if I didn't get my &^%$ing dog out of the canal! There were SIX baby ducklings and now they are only FIVE! Expletive, Expletive, Expletive." She also called me a "stupid b*&^" quite a few times for good measures. (For the record, Otto was not harming any ducklings.) SHE THEN PROCEEDED TO CALL THE COPS ON ME. I received a ticket while this fine citizen of Cache Valley walked off. Apparently owning a dog is illegal in Logan. Being completely retarded is not.

Anyway, we had to celebrate Otto's big day as he has overcome both illness and legal trouble to reach his first birthday. Anna helped bake him a dog friendly cake. He loved it. I swear.

And he got a present. A doggie backpack for our upcoming Memorial Day backpacking trip.

Happy Birthday, Otto. You little felon, you. 

Mother's Day + Other Stuff

First of all, it's Mother's Day! I'm so thankful for the amazing mother, mother-in-law, grandmas, and grandma-in-law that I have. (A detailed tribute them is here). Today as I was thinking about mothers at church (which incidentally did not include a sacrament meeting talk or lesson about mothers today!) I thought about how amazing its been to see my friends transform in to moms. I remember when I went out to visit Jane when Brooke was probably about six months old. It positively blew my mind not only to see Jane as a mom, but to see her fully embracing and loving it. 

This darling baby is Brandalee's little girl that I got to hold when I was home a couple weeks ago. Nothing warms my heart more than to see Branda and her THREE KIDS UNDER THE AGE OF FOUR. She is a champion. She loves these little humans, cares for them, and does it all with finesse. And then Danielle has IDENTICAL TWINS! I mean really, who has identical twins? Danielle does! And it feels completely natural to me to see pictures of her with two babies. This year has really driven home to me A) My friends are amazing and B) it truly is an innate and miraculous calling that all women have to motherhood. To watch the friends that I had so much fun being immature teenagers and then (chunky) college co-eds with seamlessly transform in to amazing, nurturing mothers has been mind altering. Anyway...

Otto got me these nice flowers for mother's day. His handwriting is impeccable. Ha. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL!

OTHER STUFFThe weekend after Chris and Ambers' Wedding they had an open house. This was awesome because we got to see more of the McNulty's before they went back to San Diego (thats Otto cuddling with his cousin Charlie) and because we got to have a cupcake baking fest:

It was fairly labor intensive, but actually quite fun. If you even want to bake a million cupcakes, call me up. 

I went down to STG a few weeks ago for a long weekend to see Branda's new babe, visit my Mom who had surgery, and got to catch Katheryn's livestock show. I was proud of Katheryn keeping it together and doing what she was obligated to do: sell the pig she'd raise, Toulouse, in an auction. It was seriously heart-wrenching. And I'm back to being a vegetarian. I've even taken to getting my eggs for a local farmer that I guarantee to have the chickens in a humane situation... So yeah, I'm sure Dan's real happy I went to this auction :)

Dan graduated from USU. That's right, DAN GRADUATED!!!! It has been a looonnnggg road. Between three different army training schools and graduations, a stint at the UofU, and finally USU, WE ARE FINALLY DONE. So now the million dollar question that everyone asks: what will you do next? Answer: we don't know. But as soon as we figure it out, we will let you know.

Finally this weekend we got to celebrate at Denise's both Mother's Day (Otto got Denise this giant card, which is directly proportional to the size of his love for her) and Dan and I's June birthdays (Dan will be gone for both of our birthdays to more Army training and Denise will be off exploring Europe). We love a good all purpose celebration. Especially when it involves TWO CAKES. 

HAPPY EVERYTHING, EVERYONE!

What a weekend! (Wedding + Baby Shower)

Our whirlwind weekend started out with a bright and early drive from Logan on Friday morning for Dan's brother, Chris', wedding. We started the morning at the Bountiful Temple for their sealing. 

How pretty does Ann look?

Dan and I sporting the wedding party purple. 

(Denise's Cousin) Marti, Grandma Ann, Denise, Me, and Tori

The Happy couple: Amber and Chris

Flower Girl Molly + Tori

Brothers and Nephew. Charlie throughly enjoyed this perch quite a bit this weekend. 

We then headed back to Rick and Denise's for a Cafe Rio catered luncheon: my fave. Later that evening was their reception in Highland (where Amber's family is). I forgot my camera, but it was beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen a cultural hall transformed so beautifully. It was amazing.

Congratulations Amber + Chris! 

Saturday morning Dan headed to drill and I was off to a Mustache Bash for Baby Monson. My pictures are seriously lacking, but it was a fun get together. Sue spearheaded this event and cut out so many cute little mustaches and ties to celebrate Bonni's upcoming little man. 

Mustache Chocolate Pop Favors! (I was so happy they worked out, as I was pouring chocolate into the mold I was sure disaster was eminent.)

This gift incited one of the funniest baby shower conversations I've ever heard. Its a battery operated nasal aspirator. The half of the room that didn't have kids was audibly gaging envisioning baby snot collecting in that CLEAR container, while the seasoned mommies in the room agreed that it was a lifesaver! There was also discussion of the Nasalfrieda, a device by which the mother sucks the baby's snot up through a tube. Awesome.

And here is the cute mommy to be, Bonnijane. I've just got to say that I love Bonni and Sue. I feel like our friendship was forged in blood in Monterey. We all went through the life changing experience of being a DLI wife together and came out stronger (?) for it. Anyway, anytime I can spend time with Bonni and Sue is awesome.

 Congrats Bonni, can't wait to meet your little man!

Sprinkling Branda and Baby Blu Bear Burr

I decided it was high time I throw Brandalee a baby shower. I was out of the country when she had her first baby boy. And trapped in Monterey when she had her second little guy. But now I'm finally in the right country, right state, and she's having a baby girl! So a baby "sprinkle" it was.

I love, love, love that Branda is having a girl. I'm not going to lie, I really prefer buying presents for baby girls, until its socially acceptable to put boys in pink sparkly Toms.

Brandalee. She's the cutest. 

 Games

The Celebrity Baby Name game. And since Branda hasn't settled on a name, I helpfully volunteered the name of Alicia Silverstone's baby: Bear Blu. 

Bear Blu Burr. Nice ring right?

Darling Loni color coordinating with the theme. 

 Drink Stations are my favorite.

 Sprinkly Desserts.

 Crepe bar - "Sprinkle with your favorite sweet or savory toppings"

 The youngest shower attendants, Branda's cousins little girls. 

Here is my Mom. Folding tissue paper to re-use. I love her and her recycling self. This baby sprinkle wouldn't have been possible without her - she cooked all 50 crepes!

I love Brandalee and can't wait for 

Baby Bear Blu Burr to make her arrival! 

A Doggie Death Wish

On the first weekend Dan was gone my parents came up North for a funeral. Anna, her friend Maggie, and I went down to spend the night in SLC and hang out with them.

We had a lovely time eating (macaroni grill, ruth's diner, and a chocolates shop run by midgets!), shopping (my beloved whole foods and lululemon), getting in the hot tub at the hotel (I haven't been that warm in years) and trinketing (my mom even bought us a trinket of our choosing!). When I returned to Logan I went straight to pick up Otto from the Cache Valley Pet Hotel where he had spent the night. They informed me he had thrown up in his crate. I wasn't too worried as before we left he had gotten into one of my bags I was cleaning out.  From the bag he eaten three Larabars and two things of chapstick - enough to make anyone a bit ill. 

But then he threw up again at home. I was debating taking him to the vet, but he stopped vomiting and acted fairly okay Saturday night. Sunday he started acting really funny. But I knew something was seriously wrong Monday night when I offered him some freshly cooked chicken, which he would normally sell his soul for, and he didn't even want a bite. I really didn't want to take him down to Ogden to a 24 hour clinic, so I deemed it divine intervention when I found a vet nearby who was open late and said they could see him right then. 

First they did a fecal swab to see if he had a virus. Negative. 

Next they took an xray to see if he had a bowel obstruction (which I was pretty sure this is what it was, Labs are notorious for eating inedible objects. In fact, I was especially paranoid about this because one of Otto's siblings recently died from a bowel obstruction), but low and behold, that was negative. 

Next they did a blood test, and there it was: he was in almost complete kidney failure. The most likely cause: ingestion of an NSAID. The most probable scenario is that there were also ibuprofen in the bag that he stole the bars and chap stick from. Normal human doses of any pain reliever are enough to kill a dog. The vet offered a rather grim prognosis and laid out a course of treatment that MIGHT save him.  I started bawling. Of course I consented to the treatment and Otto was taken back, put on an IV and given a bunch of medications. He ended up staying in "intensive care" for four days. 

I went and visited him once and they unhooked him and let me take him on a 5 min walk. It was too hard though, we both cried when I had to bring him back to his little cage. On Thursday night, at long last, they released him. The whole ordeal was throughly traumatic for everyone involved: Otto, Me, and my bank account. He seems to be doing better, though his kidney levels are still really high, and I get to give him medications a million times a day. 

Now that were mostly past it, I've thought about what drove Otto to swallow all those pills in the first place.  Initially I thought it was merely accidental, he swallowed them while eating everything in the bag without discretion. But his behavior since his release has left me wondering...During his first night home he managed to try to chew open a bottle of Drano from under the sink, and began to eat a chocolate cupcake my Relief Society Presidency left uncovered on my porch (side note, who does that?). Perhaps his downturned eyes are not merely a genetic trait, but reveal a deep, suicidal sadness. Perhaps it was posturing; he didn't really want to kill himself, he just needed to get my full attention? Maybe like the teenage girl who swallows too many sleeping pills and calls up the boyfriend who dumped her in a desperate plea for love, Otto was just making a pitiful demand for my full affections. Until it is determined if he truly needs doggie Prozac or not, I have hid all the razor blades and loaded guns in the house (probably good practice anyway), just in case.

Gone, perhaps to Africa.

Sometime in January, Dan got word of a possible six week mission to Africa. You know, like the three previous ones he had been slated for  and then had cancelled hours before he was supposed to leave and after we had packed all his bags and bought all his supplies... So, you can understand that I was dubious about it actually happening this time. I was especially sure it wouldn't happen when a week before they were supposed to leave Dan's diplomatic passport was no where to be found, his old unit had "misplaced it." No passport = no mission to Africa. Well, roughly 36 hours before the plane took off, he got a call that he was still good to go, he could just bring his civilian passport. I still retained doubts as I dropped him off at the SLC airport. 

Later that evening, I got this picture. Which appears to be Dan in Times Square. A storm had caused them to miss their flight out of NYC, so they were spending the night there. I figured it would be at this point that the mission would be cancelled an he'd be on his way home. 

But low and behold, the above pictures started appearing in the past weeks, leading me to believe he's actually been in Africa for the past month, or that he has access to a lot of elaborate staging materials. His emails sound fairly convincing too. All this talk of blistering heat, long boring days in tents, and the occasional excursion into the village... I'll make my final call on whether they actually went to Africa upon his return and my inspection of my souvenir for legitimacy. 

So while Dan has been away, I have even more time to devote to my favorite Logan winter past time: staying indoors and watching TV. Upon several suggestions, I tried out Downtown Abbey... And ended up watching all three seasons within the course of a week and a half. I'd definitely put it in the guilty pleasure category, but still, it was pleasurable. I also watched all of the available episodes of the Mindy Project, and probably saddest of all, I watched 3 episodes of the Kardashians. My little sister and her friend Maggie were watching it at my house, and well, I kind of got in to it. I only watched a few on my own before I realized that this was a very guilty pleasure, that wasn't all that pleasurable.

I've also been doing a lot of doggie cuddling. Especially as he recently had a fairly serious brush with death (upcoming post). His new lease on life has made him all the more sweet and cuddly. So thats about all I can account for doing in the last month: watching TV and snuggling with Otto. I should probably be embarrassed. But I'd be lying if I said I don't have Otto on my lap right now and an episode of Parks and Rec waiting me for to push play.