off to the rescue!!

so we decided a while ago that we wanted a dog. so we've been looking and looking and looking, we've seen more dogs then i care to count, and i was becoming a little upset when all my searching and i couldnt find the right one, there were so many i could have bought/adopted (whatever) and loved forever and ever, but i was looking for something that i NEEDED. so one let down after another and cory came to me and said "what is the dog you've always wanted?" easy answer.. a boxer.. for soooooooo long i've wanted a boxer. i have wanted a boxer for the better part of a decade. so he said, find a boxer. so i looked and i looked at a few various pets stores and shelters, and i found a few.. but i didn't have 1400 dollars to buy them with *sad* so i searched again and found someone with puppies up for adoption, and wouldn't you guess they were MUCH more affordable. but, there was a catch. the breeder let me know that the puppy had a small patch of mange and that i would have to get it taken care of if i wanted it. i figured it wouldn't hurt to at least look right? so we set a time and we met the breeder and the puppy, and i nearly cried, it was so heart breaking to see this puppy, who's small patch of mange covered most of his body. but there was a spark of hope and i knew this puppy needed me. so, we agreed just on the sheer fact that this dog NEEDED someone to fix him and love him. so allow me to introduce to you the newest addition to my family, Odin!


you can see his belly and his legs are mostly bald, about the only place left with "healthy" fur is right along his spine. he's covered in scabs, and we even pulled a bunch of ticks off of him. we brought him home and he was immediately put into a flea/tick bath, and scrubbed clean, and a vet was called to schedule an appointment.

as you can see, he was not well. 12 week old puppies are supposed to play. they are supposed to want to run and jump and chew on EVERYTHING!! we had toys and pork treats and he didn't want any of them. he just wanted to sleep. it was HEARTBREAKING.


he was also very bloated. his belly isnt supposed to be so large. he was also very dehydrated. I've never seen a puppy drink so much.



and he itched, oh the itch! he itched so bad he'd cry, and so he'd scratch but his skin is inflamed and irritated because of the mange, so he'd cry because it hurts to itch the itch, and oh i almost cried too!

and he itched some more! well friday came and we knew we had to do something before he scratched all his skin off, so we found a vet clinic that would see him NOW and we took him in. they decided that due to his horrible condition the previous owner had probably lied about his vaccines, and a skin scraping and blood test proved, my sweet puppy had various kinds of parasites, that had he been up to date on his shots, he shouldn't have had, and the mange test came out confused, in the skin scraping there was no sign of the parasite that causes mange, but that doesn't mean there isn't any, so they are treating him for mange anyways. they also updated his vaccines and gave him a de-wormer. so we got him home and he was very tired, and very itchy! so we went to find something that will maybe stop the itch until Monday, when he'll be getting a steroid injection that will stop the itch. we found nothing. i bought an olive oil hair goop that moisturizes his skin and helps give his fur a boost, but doesn't help with the itching. so we thought and thought, and finally an angel came in the form of a petco worker that said: "put socks on him." *light bulb* oh yeah..... so we did.. :D

i got a pair of Caydens mismatched socks that don't fit him anymore and wallah! problem solved!! and the funny thing is he seems to like them.... and the best part is he woke up this morning barking, not crying or whining, but actually barking, the toys we bought him have finally been chewed and the treats we got him have been snacked on! he was a whole new puppy this morning. he is no longer bloated, and he is soooooo dang playful. we went to the Y and when we came home i had my swim wrap on and he followed right behind me trying to get at the frills that hang from my wrap yapping and growling, it was so cute! and thanks to that oil I've been rubbing on him, we are actually seeing fur starting to grow back, and what fur he has left is shiny and pretty!

how can you not fall in love with that face? and yes he is chewing on a fox.... this toy is supposedly indestructible. and it seems to be his favie.


heres some of the scabs from the top of his head... he's still a thirsty boy. so that's what we have been doing the past few days, he has an appointment on Monday for a steroid injection to calm his itch, and then the following week he has another injection due for his 2nd set of mange shots, (there's 3 shots, all 2 weeks apart)
and the week after that more vaccinations. and the week after that part 3 of his mange shots, and by then if all goes as planned by the vets, his mange should be gone and we can start seeing more hair growth, and we should have a beautiful healthy boxer puppy! so....about 6 weeks! so. yeah. he's doing great, and seems to be getting better every day! we've been amazed at how quickly we've grown to love this dog. he's been ours for less the 3 full days and already he's family. so yeah. other then all the doggy drama we have been doing great! the girls start school soon so we get to finnish school shopping, cayden is so close to walking, i think he's just being lazy and doesnt want to walk.. bugger. Cory is finishing up his summer semester at his college and "cant wait" for fall semester to start so he can start losing his mind with all the classes he's taking. and me? well i'm busy with doggy drama, and considering getting a degree as a veterinary technician. we'll see. anyways.. LOVE YOU ALL!

another birthday!

so im a little late in posting this but as most of you know on the 24th of july we celebrated my kaylee jaynns birthday! my baby girl is four!! she had such an awesome week! yes you heard right,..week. her last 3 birthdays have been not fun, we've been in germany, no family and very few friends, whom we love and miss dearly, but lets face it.. it wasnt as much fun as it could have been. anywho, so, we had a huge family bash this year, all of her cousins on corys side of the family showed up, and it was so fun. on her actual birthday we did our own little quiet happy birthday, its tradition, i got some cupcakes because i was planning on making her cake and didnt want to over bake myself..:)...... i dont like cooking......anywho. so heres the results of that fun night..

my girlie is four! and yes i admit, in the pictures i took before this one there was only three candles........i was in denial i think...


nikoy, my messy little monster...gotta love her..



Cayden LOVED the pink cupcake.... can ya tell? BATH TIME!


the girls having "quiet time" yes the DS kaylee is playing is one of those stone age original ones....
so the weekend after kaylees birthday we did her party, lots of food, still have lots of food from the party...ew... anywho, so heres her cake, keep in mind, i dont like to cook, i can cook,very well in fact, i just dont like too.. this is really technically my first cake that involved writing... i usually pay someone to write on it for me.. and my cursive rivals that of a 5 year olds so dont laugh..



see? lovely! anyone who knows kaylee knows she thinks shes cinderella... so she LOVED this cake...on with the presents..


yeah, remember that stone age DS she was playing with earlier? she has proven herself capable of being about as responsible as a four year old can be.. (thats not saying much is it.) so we got her her own blue one..


PLAY-DOH!!!YES!! a fantastic new mess for me to vacuum out of my carpets!!!


some of the cousins...


kaylee opening one of the gifts from nana...(yes school clothes!!)


kaylee opening some games for her DS


and her most favorite gift of all.... hello kitty!!!!


and finally a necklace i made for her... yes i made it... cute huh? 3 hours of straight beading...i hate cooking, but i love beading... sweet..
all in all i think she brought in a good haul..we have decided that birthdays we go all out and Christmas not so much. we don't want our kids to learn that Christmas is about gifts, so we'll have gifts, just not so much that we're buried in gift wrap for 3 weeks after..... any-who... that's my Kaylee, she starts pre-school this august, Nikoys in kindergarten, it'll just be me and my boy for most the day.. fun stuff. so yeah.. :) till next time...I'll try not to let it be to long, but you never know whats going to happen between now and then so.. yeah. LOVES

"watch me grow!"

so we had the joy of celebrating a momentous occasion this past week, my tiny wee man has celebrated his first birthday!! as of june 24th, my "good yew" (don't ask) is one year old!! he's gotten so big and has grown and learned so much! he's been such a joy to us that i have to celebrate by sharing some of my favorite pictures from his first year of life! so hang on to your toes and get ready for some major cuteness!



my tiny mans tiny feet... oh they start so small!


this is my tiny man in the hospital on his way to get some fluids, he had a hard time getting here, and needed a little extra boost to get him going...

now he's getting his fluids and his coloring is so much better! cute and pink!


this picture was placed in the "kaiserslautern American" (the base newspaper in Germany) to announce his birth!


august 2009. 2 months old and he's already getting chubby!

September 2009, his first "sleeping bag".




October 2009, visiting grammy in utah!


also October 2009, can you guess the occasion?


November 2009, this boy LOVES his dad..

so dang precious!!

Nov 2009


Dec, can you believe, even though he's only 6 months old in this picture, he's wearing a 12 month outfit?? now that's my superman!!


Christmas day! and a new toy to love!!

January, and he's finally holding his own bottle, (it makes life a little easier..)

February is family picture time, and this boy LOVES getting his picture taken!


February also marked his first oreo cookie.. it was a hit!


Caydens first easter! we had a barbeque at a friends house and he had so much fun!

May, and my man is 11 months old! and he's an absolute charmer!


june 24th, my man is one year old! and following tradition he has his very own cupcake! to do with as he pleases!

and he pleases! yes, i did the blue frosting on purpose..

MMMMM that was tasty, now its time for a bath!

Friday the 25th of june, PARTY TIME! we had his party at peter piper pizza (its the pizza people pick) and cayden had a blast! he went on all the little rides and screamed his head off when the ride ended, his favorite was the little merry-go-round! isn't he cute?

time for presents! his big sisters were such good helpers!

presents were a little hard on him because he didn't understand that we were taking the toys away from him so he could open new ones! he got so mad because he'd open a toy, LOVE it and we'd take it away, and give him a new one and he'd LOVE it! and we'd take it away.. poor tiny wee man...

after cake and presents it was time for more rides, yay for trains!

this was his cake before we tore it apart. it was a cupcake cake, yes, the ocean part is chocolate cupcakes and the beach is vanilla cupcakes. so yeah, its been a fun year.

a day on the beach

HELLO ALL!

so believe it or not we are still living.... all is well.:D
we had the opportunity a week or so ago ( I know I haven't had much time to post anything until now...) to visit the beach! and oh what fun it was! yes we will be going back, but chances are my camera will not be going, because well, there is sand EVERYWHERE!! and it gets into EVERYTHING!! and I'm not going to risk my camera again...but then again I'll probably change my mind and bring it anyways....anywho.. we had so much fun, Cayden was Mr.Braveman, I'd sit him down just where the waves were hitting his feet and he'd start crawling toward the water until the waves were almost splashing his little face! Don't worry i had a good hold on him, he wasn't going far... if i took him out of the water he wasn't only upset, he was enraged! he'd scream and scream until i took him back out again.. which is one reason i burned so badly..yes, i got the worst burn i have ever had, in fact, I'm still burned, its still uncomfortable...ow. the girls, OH MY GOSH.. you'd think they'd never seen the ocean before....oh wait they hadn't.. they had a blast! you know what? look at the pictures..just look!



sadly this is the only picture I'm in...unfortunately its only my feet, and even worse, they're out of focus....


another of my men, 'ain't they cute?

Nikoy was walking around with a turkey and cheese sandwich and the gulls were going berserk! they literally were inches away from her!

she liked to chase them around yelling, "dirty birds! dirty birds!" i have no idea where she got the idea that they were dirty, i thought they were awfully pretty myself...

my girlie's enjoying the surf! awww the relax swoosh of the water....

my little beach bum... ain't she cute??

so yeah we had a blast! it was about a 3 hour drive, we had to hop a fairy!...a smaller boat, i dunno if fairy boats are spelled differently then like fairy princesses, but either way, our car was on a little boat that helped us cross a river, it was awesome. the beach itself was beautiful, if you got past all the seaweed. there were so many sea shells i was in heaven! my hope is to one day find a whole sand dollar...i found most of one, hopefully next time I'll have better luck... the water was warmer then most swimming pools, needless to say it was a heavenly day, with a slightly hellish end, seeing as how i had to make a 3 hour drive burned badly enough we could have gone home and had friend sherry for dinner... seriously.. no more stupid spray on sunscreens for me, no no no..... any who.. as a bit of an update Cory has started part one of his summer semester. he's still working full time over at the hospital, working his way up to phlabotomyst! (that's a fun word!!) I've been looking but i dunno if its in the cards because after over a month of begging and applying i haven't had one call back, so i dunno.. anywho.. I've also updated my photography blog, keep in mind its just a hobby, I'm not going for any professional type stuff (yet). right now i do it because it makes me happy. so yeah. http://sherryshobby.blogspot.com go check it out!