For all my Dog lovers!!

When I saw this in Walmart I had to take a picture. I thought this was too funny. I don't think Nala would be able to fit in it, I would probably have to buy her a kids size. Some of you out there have little dogs, it would work for. You could use it for holloween!! Just wanted to share!

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.

Florida

Late night and Disney!


I got to visit my old friend from college for dinner one night!


Brandon and Dad playing guitar hero!








About two weeks ago we headed to Florida. It was the annual Potter/Norris trip and this year my other Aunt and Uncle from Texas came. We came on the weekend, so we only got to spend really one day with everyone, but it was a good one. Ava who is my cousins daughter is a little over 2. She is very picky about who she likes to be with. My mom and Dad and other family that was around the whole week would try to hold her, and she didn't want it. Everything changed though when she saw Brandon!! hahaha (who couldn't blame her) She just walked up to Brandon and tried to talk to him. She let him hold her and everything.
Brandon did a lot of golfing with my Dad the couple of days he was there. While I laid at the pool the rest of the family. Which included my Aunt Cindy, Uncle Larry, Mom, Sarah, and Vicki my cousin. One day we even went to Disney. Brandon wasn't around for this, he already headed home. We went in around 3 in the afternoon, but than we stayed till 1am!! It was great to stay that late! But the park was busy because it was open late.

4th of July Continued

Patty and Dave at J'Alexanders



Nala and Millie, wanting a handout.

Brandon and I after the down pour.

Dave and Patty after the down pour.


Nala getting some birthday cake icing





Patty reading her birthday card.

So that weekend was a very busy weekend, we had a hard time keeping up with Dave and Patty!! They like to stay up late!!! So Friday we went to the lake, and then we went to dinner at Olive Garden then celebrated Patty's Birthday. We bought her a cake, and since my birthday is just around the corner they brought me my favorite Liddys Cake all the way from Ohio. Saturday was a busy day as well. Patty and I got up and went shopping and Brandon and Dave worked on the house. They cut down a couple trees in the back and much more. That night we went downtown, to watch the fireworks. We went downtown, and it started to sprinkle, little did we know that it would be a complete down pour. It was raining so hard that people were standing in the port-a-johns for cover! I wish I had my camera out for that. We wouldn't do that. That is the last place anyone should want to go. So basically what usually take 45 min for the fireworks, only took about 20 - 30 min. We got back in the car, and Patty was so wet she could ring her pants out. Then we order Pizza from one of the only places open on the 4th Papa Johns. I think we gained about 5lbs from all the food we ate that weekend. We ate very well. We went to J's my favorite place for my birthday, and then we went to Japanese steak house to celebrate their anniversary. Dave put up a ceiling fan in our bonus room, to find the right fan took forever. I think it took about 4 hours to pick one out, we went to a couple of different places. Then we got a Mirror that weekend for our dinning room. It looks great!