A tragic death

These past couple of weeks have been crazy on our end. But on Wed. morning we got the dreaded phone call from Brandon's mom telling us that Julie passed away last night. Julie is Brandon's cousin. We had been expecting the phone call for a day or so, but we were hoping for some sign of encouragement that never really came.
Julie McCrory was a granddaughter, daughter, niece, cousin, wife, mother and a friend to so many. I have only had the chance of meeting Julie about a handful of times. She live in Alabama, and Arkansas so when she would head back to Ohio to visit family she would stop by Nashville, and we would get to spend a couple of hours with her and her family. She was 29, just shy of her 30th birthday. She was my age! Its a tragic story. It all started on September 10th. She went to the doctor and thought she had the flu. They came back and told her she had H1N1 and to take tamiflu. So she did, but she woke up early thursday morning and complained to her husband that she couldn't breath. So they rushed to the hospital, and she walked into the ER. (I do not know every detail I am only recounting what I know) She was conscious as far as I know until Friday September 11th. That morning things took a turn for the worse. They had to put her under, and from that moment on she never regained consciousness. The doctors still did not know what was wrong her. They tested her for H1N1 and it came back negative. So they were just trying to keep her a live to find answers. On Friday the 19th they thought they had a answer to what was wrong. They tried the treatment and her body was not responding. She lost her battle late Tuesday night.
Sunday will be her funeral, and we are planning on attending. It is going to be in Arkansas. This family is going to need a lot of prayer these next weeks, months and years. She has two little girls who now do not have a mother. Their names are Ashley and Grace, and Mike was her husband who has lost his life partner.

Labor Day in Chicago

Brandon and my Dad eating Thai Food!


Brandon enjoyed looking at these cars in Gold Cost an area of Chicago.



Oprah's House she lives on the 6th foor here.


Sarah and I in front of the flying car at the Harry Potter Exhibit. The only picture we were allowed to take.





For Labor Day weekend we headed to chicago. And again we almost missed our flight. We have a slight problem with getting to the airport on time. Our flight left at 4:25 (which I thought it left at 4:35) and we got to the airport around 3:50. We parked in economy which is cheaper, but for some reason it took the bus a long time to pick us up. We got to the airport around 4:10! So again we were running to our flight. I was literally the last person to board the plan. We didn't hear our name called over the speaker, which is a good sign that we weren't too late, but I couldn't believe I was the last person to board the plan. Anyway. We made it to chicago and as tradition we went to the best pizza place in Chicago Giordano's! Headed back to my sisters new place, where Brandon and My dad finished hanging some pictures on her wall. Saturday we got up early, walked around downtown and then headed to Sarah's place to pick out the bikes. Since it was going to be such a nice weekend, I asked my parents to bring the bikes so we could ride around the lake. We did take some pictures at a water Fountain and walked around the Jazz Festival but that was just to get some lunch. That evening we went to the Harry Potter Exhibit. This was only in town for a couple more days, so we had to see it before it left. Then we had dinner at Grand Lux Cafe! It's owed by the cheese cake factory. It was good and we had a great experience. Sunday we got up and went on a Double Decker Trolley ride around the city. That was fun, we got to see where Oprah lives, and some other areas around the city that we don't get to as much. We went shopping and had dinner. Monday I made the mistake of booking a later flight out. We left at 5:15. And again we were pushing it. When we got to the gate the were boarding our section. However I did get to see my close friends from high school Dave and Jen Stott who live in chicago now. So we meet them for lunch. It was a very busy weekend, the weather was great and we had a fun time.

Its all about the Dogs!!

For labor day weekend we headed to Chicago to meet my family. But before we left we dropped the girls off to separate houses for the weekend. We were a little nervous just because we haven't really done this before. We usually take them to the Kennel. We were also nervous of Millie since she still is a puppy. Nala went to our friends Frank and Aimee's house, while Millie went to our other friends Nate and Jen's.
Frank and Aimee have two other labs, one is Brian and the other is Tyler. Brian is kind of like Millie hyper at times but very loving. Tyler is an older girl and so her Nala didn't have to much interaction. They enjoyed having Nala, and I am sure she enjoyed her self. Here are some picture of her during her stay.




Millie the puppy went to Jen and Nate's house. I was really reluctant about taking her somewhere just because she is not fully housebroken yet. But I didn't want to take her to the Kennel, because last time she seemed to forget what she learned. Jen and Nate also have two dogs, one is a lab named Bear and the other is a min pin named Bella. Then they decided to take in another puppy for the week named Sierra. So when I found that out, I wasn't sure she would want to take another one. But they agreed to go for it. Millie though didn't have any accidents while she stayed there, only when I picked her up did she. Her and Sierra played with each other a lot. So Millie had a good report as well!!
Here are some pictures of her stay!

Nala and Physical Therapy

Nala for the past month has been going to physical therapy. She tore her ACL in the same leg twice. She was healing, but she had a limp we didn't want her to have one forever so the therapist suggested going to a underwater treadmill. A local vets office was the first to get one here in Nashville, and she was their first patient. The first visit she only lasted about 5 min (walking time) but she was there for about 15 min. It took a group of people to keep Nala in the unit. Her last visit she got to walk for 20 min. She did very well. Enjoy the video.