Miss Sparrow

Her real name is just Sparrow, but we always feel the need to add the "miss" since Gibbs is "mister". Anyway, she's a little sweetheart! Little more vivacious than Gibbs, she's always looking for something to be doing (cute, but a little troublesome sometimes) and very curious, but always looking to be held and loved. She and Gibbs are getting along great! A few spats now and then, but for the most part, they've loved having a sibling and are actually helping each other with a lot of things. She's as good as he is at house-training already! They're favorite game is stealing toys and rawhides from one another and then running away, seeing how long they can get the other to chase them.

Here are some pictures of her! We got her on Friday but both Friday and Saturday were just packed! Hence the late blogging (we really do love them the same, this is just second child syndrome, you know). But I finally got some good pictures of her while they were taking a nap with Danny on Sunday afternoon:

You can see she has a lot more flashing (white) than Gibbs - very feminine! Her neck marking is actually really cool! It spirals from the top of her head, down under her neck, and over her right shoulder.

This is proof they do occasionally calm down and quite enjoy one another! It's not a very cute picture of her, but they like to sleep curled up together whenever possible. Look how big my baby boy is! Sniff.

She's still small enough to fit under the couch (Gibbs, much to his dismay, has found he is too large already - stop growing, babies!) and apparently loves to hide under there as much as she can - even nap under there! How cute is this?

Welcome Mr. Gibbs!

Tonight we brought home puppy number one. We call him Mr. Gibbs, but he's already taken on the names Gibbsy, Gibbsabee, Gibbles and Bits, and of course, Gibbs.

Jack Holmgren - April 2008- August 6, 2009

As most of you have heard, Jack left us today. It is very difficult for me to express my feelings right now.

I had a dog growing up, but she was an outside dog and I'm afraid to say we never really got to know her. After 4 or 5 years, we decided it was best to give her away and she went to live on a farm where she would be happy. I didn't feel much emotion at that time. I had no idea of the loyalty, friendship, love, and awe I could feel from a dog.

I felt all of those feelings with my Jack. Recollecting on our short time together, I figure that Jack and I probably spent an average of 2 hours per day separated from each other. Besides that, he was my little companion. I'd wake up in the morning with him at my feet. He would follow me around the house as I got ready for the day. He'd lay under my desk while I worked. Then when I had to leave for installs or other errands, it was always evident that he would rather be with me than at home, no matter how hot, cramped, or lacking water the truck may be. He was so genuine in his love for Maddie and I. My heart is broken, something that I never knew could happen over a dog. But I've known for quite some time with Jack that when this day came broken is all my heart would be.

This year for the 24th of July, because my mom's house was all torn up refinishing floors or something, we got to have our first holiday celebration at our house! My Utah-resident family all came out to partake of Danny's marvelous barbeque skills. Danny's rightfully proud of these ribs - they were AMAZING!!!! So I decided to play with my new lenses (Danny's birthday gifts to me) and see what kind of pictures I could get. With such tantalizing subjects, I'm not sure I could have failed:

Also a quick update on my little garden! It's grown a lot! Not huge and flowery yet, but I'll give them till next year before I'll expect that. But the plants themselves are bigger, and there are a couple with little flowers on them! I'm so happy. I have a semi-successful flower garden!