The Band Perry - If I Die Young

Summer

So much has happened this summer, and it's only July:

1. My sister Rachel and her boys came up from California to visit in June. It's amazing how much the boys grew since January when I saw them last. It was fun to go miniture golfing with them and to just hang out. Unfortunately I have no pictures on my computer to share at this time!



2. My sister Allison took us horseback riding at Eagle Island with her three horses and that was fun, as it always is.



3. I was busy painting our living room in our new home. What a task just choosing a color! I've been quite tired and bored of all the neutral colors so I wanted to go bold. I think I accomplished it without an overwhelming feel to it. I love the red. The color is actually "Sangria Red".
   

4. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to sing with the chorus in the traveling show "Star Wars in Concert". They came into town and asked the Boise Master Chorale to sing two songs with their orchestra for the show. While I am not a memeber of the Boise Master Chorale, I was invited to sing with them. What an honor! This is a famous show with tickets costing $60.00-100.00. That was an awesome, adreneline heightening experience. I had so much fun and it made me miss singing in a choir, with adults!

5. Andrew's sister and two of her three kids moved here to Nampa, Idaho from Lake Stevens, Washington. It is exciting and fun to have them here, and I know it means so much to Andrew to have his sister living so close to him. We are all excited for the good times ahead we'll have with them.

6. The boys have started swimming lessons. So far they are off to a good start. It's neat to watch them improve from last year, and will be great seeing them improve this year.

7. For the rest of the summer, I hope to paint a few more rooms in our house, and to TRY and find some time for relaxation. Yesterday I found an hour to lay out in the sun (on our new big back patio) and I almost feel asleep. I surely need more of that before I go back to work!

Andrew's Surprise Party

Well, not sure how surprised he was by he had fun - which was my main goal. Andrew has wanted to play poker for a long time so Happy 40th Birthday - Apirl 6th!

Maybe

This is worth the read when you have a few minutes.

Teacher of the Year!

Jen was voted Teacher of the Year for her school!!!

Here she is with her principal Korey Mereness.

With Anna, a Co-worker/friend :)

Caught Sleeping on the job

The title says it all. Andrew saw Jerricho walk to the bathroom. 5 Minutes later, Andrew went to see how he was doing (if he needed any help) and Jerricho was found like this. In a deep sleep. Of course he had to get the camera before attending to our child - what upstanding parent wouldn't? He was quite cranky upon being awakened.

Change for Haiti

Our school raised money for Haiti, bringing in change. Solomon's class was one of the classes that brought in the most change! The entire school earned $1500.00 with a local business (parents of one of our students) matching it to make $2500.00! This is the picture that is on our district website! Pretty cool.

In Memory of Ringo

Yesterday, February 14th we lost our sweet Ringo. He has been in our family since he was two months old, and he was 10 years old at his passing. We will miss him dearly. Ringo was an amazing, one-of-a-kind dog. He was part Irish Setter and Border Collie, both hyper-full of energy dogs. Ringo always wanted to play- with a frisbee or a blue racketball. If he had his way, he would play non-stop all day long, every day. We would take him outside and throw the ball and take him on walks and as soon as we tired him out, we'd come inside, yet he would still stand at the door and want to play more. We kept his ball and frisbee on top of the refridgerator and anytime we'd walk into the kitchen he would stand by the sliding glass door and stare up almost looking at the ball and looking just past us, not wanting to make direct eye contact I suppose. In his way I guess he was trying to be subtle. He'd switch his glance to us, the up toward the ball then back to us.... just begging us to play with him...again. In his prime, Ringo won the annual frisbee contests in Boise. He won first place in Long-distance two years in a row, and 2nd place two different years. He thrived on retrieving.

Ringo had a goofy way of sleeping. He had such long legs that when he slept on his side he would lace his legs between each other so they were laying on top of each other - back leg, then front leg, then back leg the front leg. It was funny and cute to see.

If we got Chopin his sister dog, to sing (which she was good at), Ringo would join in TRYING to howl like she did. Most of the time Ringo just barked. We did know he could howl because when sirens rang in the city and Chopin would start howling Ringo would join in. She taught him that.

During the summer months I would take Ringo on rollerblade rides. He loved to run so this was perfect. I would hold his leash, while on my rollerblades and he would run practically pushing me along. We would go so fast I took a few good falls scraping my knees, one time even doing a flip while falling. He knew how to run but didn't quite know how to slow down. As he got a little older I was able to teach him to at least slow down at turns. When he saw another dog, he would run even faster towards him (not in meanness, just wanting to greet the other dog), and I learned the hard way to just let go of the leash. There was no stopping him. But it was so exhilerating for me (with the need for speed), and for him as well, that we just kept riding together. One time there was a small dog that ran towards us into the street and in Ringo's protective nature attacked the dog ( of course I had to let go of the leash), but as soon as I called him, he stopped and came to me without hurting the other dog.

Ringo did protect me when it came to other dogs. Probably that was part out of jealousy.

In his last few months he had an alarm clock in him. About 9:00 p.m. after the kids were in bed and Andrew and I watched T.V. he would stand up, and stare at us. He'd get closer and rest his head on my lap or the couch. I would say "not now Ringo" knowing he wanted to play with the ball or frisbee. Usually the guilt would get the better of me, and I would go to the door and throw the ball a few times to calm him. I feel bad now that I didn't play with him as much as he needed. Andrew and I both feel guilty about that.

I feel like I had a special attachment to him, and him to me because he followed me everywhere, and he was protective of me. At night when we let the dogs back in from outside before bed, he always went straight to the bedroom knowing I was going to bed. He had my routine - OUR routine - down: So smart.

He was so much a part of our lives.

Andrew made a comment about a month ago that it was time to start spoiling our dogs more. They are older and they deserved to be spoiled. And we did. He got a soft bed for Ringo to sleep on, and dog treats every night.

About a month ago, we noticed a mass growing on his rib cage, and another one on the back of his arm. We knew many old dogs got fatty deposits and didn't think too much of it. He wasn't in pain and we said we'd watch it to see if it got bigger before we took him to the vet. Maybe we should have taken him in right away. We don't even know if that had anything to do with his death. I don't think we'll ever know.

Yesterday morning, like every other morning, I got up to let the dogs outside. I opened the sliding glass door and Chopin ran outside. Usually Ringo beats her outside and I called for him "Ringo out", and I looked down and he was standing between me and the door like he sometimes did when trying to get out, but instead of going out, he fell on the floor, shook alittle, cried a few times and stopped breathing. It was such a shock. There was no warning. There were no signs. He hadn't slowed down like old age does to dogs and he wasn't in pain. It's like in his excitment to go outside, his heart just seized on him.

I was there and felt helpless. I watched him die. It seemed like slow motion even though it happened so quickly. I am glad he wasn't in pain for long. Even though I am glad I was there for him and he wasn't alone when he died, it has made it very hard for me because I keep playing it in my head. Solomon was also there and saw it happen. I wish he didn't see that. We all cried throughout the day.

I am still crying.

Andrew dug a nice grave for him outside, and we put his dog dish, ball and frisbee in with him. Solomon wanted to keep his collar and tags so we let him have that.

Today we are going to the store to buy a stepping stone kit to make a nice marker for his grave. We are also going to buy a tree to plant there.

We love you Ringo and we miss you so much. I miss having you follow me around, and I miss your begging to play. We know you are up in heaven playing fetch with a child that needs you and making him happy. We know we will see you again because Dogs Go to Heaven too.

The Lord's Prayer - beautiful rendition

I think is one of the most beautiful versions of this song. Gorgeous.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning at the Sanders: Everyone on laptops! Gee, do you think the boys are taking after their father with their love of computers? =)





Sporting the Boise State Pride - Going to the Fiesta Bowl!!! Jan. 4th baby! Go Broncos!

And obviously, opening presents:

Finally, Jerricho's own phone!