Broken

So, Nixon has been broken for a couple of weeks now. He got hit by a car and avoided walking on his back left leg. So we took him to the vet and the vet basically told us that he had broken the ball of his hip, but the displacement was minimal and he would be fine to take it easy and let it heal where it was. The doctor also warned us that there was about a 5% chance of the fracture forming a blood clot, in which case we would be in for it. So we watched nixon carefully and he was doing fine. After about a week he was back to normal. Walking and running just fine. Then on our trip to St. George, he suddenly started limping again. There was no apparent reason for the limping so I called the vet. After a pricey vet visit it was decided that Nixon had, of course, been in the lucky 5%. He had formed a clot and the bone was dying. Apparently it was luck of the draw, and it was no fault of ours that he had formed this clot. Surgery was needed. Expensive surgery. Dang, I hope Nixon knows how much we love him. Also, during this wonderful vet visit, we learned he had mange (a skin eating mite), and a terrible ear infection. So, he has now had surgery, and thanks to Micall (it's great to have friends working at the vet's office) we were able to break in last night (ok we didn't really break in, Micall, being the great person that she is, offered to administer his pain medications after hours for free). These are some of the pictures of him in the vet post surgery. He is home now and feeling much more comfortable.

Almost Christmas

Wow, its been a while, I know. There s snow everywhere in Logan, and it does not threaten to leave anytime soon, not that leaving would be a threat to me. The snow is wonderful.. for a day. This is the wonderful thing about St. George (oh, how I miss thee), it doesn't snow often, so when it does, everyone is stoked. Then it leaves within the next few days. Gone. No trudging in the slush or trying to drive to school when you can't see the lines on the road.

Enough about my relationship with the snow. Nixon loves it! He goes crazy in the snow, rolling and jumping everywhere. Oh! Post script, Nixon got hit by a car 2 weeks ago. Long story, but he hurt his back leg, limped around forever, and now he is all better. Between the limping and the all better, there were pain meds. Nixon loves pain meds. :)

And continuing to another subject. Michelle took fun pictures for us down in Salt Lake a week ago. It was freezing, but we still had a great time. She did a great job, here's a sample of the pics. Before you look at the pictures, I must warn - I am NOT PREGNANT. Despite what it might look like in one of these pictures, I'm not 'trying' to tell you anything. Ok... continue.

Zac's Birthday

It was Zac's birthday on Tuesday. The big 24... I'll be there soon. :) We had some friends over and had a little BBQ. We cooked hamburgers and then ate delicious cake, but not until Zac blew out all 24 candles. We ended the night with a little Taboo. Which turned out to be one of the hardest games ever. We had tons of laughs though! Definitely a good night. :)

P.S. If anyone feels inclined to buy me the game 'Catch Phrase', I would not be opposed.

My child. My child.

Nixon is the most hilarious dog ever! I feel as if I have a human child. This was our morning:

I wake up at 6:15 and get in the shower

I get out of the shower and open the door

There is my little child dog, laying on the ground

He follows me around until I let him outside

He pees and does his 'business'

He comes galloping back inside

By this time he is stoked about being awake

So I go upstairs and start getting ready for school

Meanwhile Nixon is throwing his rope in the air

Running around to pounce on it

Picking it up

Spazzing out

Running in circles

Rolling on his back

And all of this he does without any attention from anyone

He is self entertained

Thus acting like a toddler with toys.

Talks

The inevitable has occurred. Zac and I are speaking in church next week.

Story:

Church man called Zac a couple of weeks ago, we ignored it. Church man called again a couple of days ago. Zac reaches in his pocket to retrieve his phone and, during the wrestle to get it out of his pocket, touches the screen, several times. Thanks to technology, our wonderful touch screen phones only require you to touch the screen a couple of times and then it answers the phone. Zac says hello? Church man say HELLO BROTHER BURK!

yadda yadda yadda... We're speaking in church. Needless to say, Zac is going to need a few lessons on how to appropriately handle his very delicate touch screen phone.

One Year!

Zac and I just celebrated our 1st anniversary on Saturday. It was fantastic. We partied it up with friends at the lake, then had a nice dinner out at Texas Roadhouse with just the two of us. I thought I couldn't love Zac anymore than on the day I married him, but I realize now that our love is growing so much every day. Having the year mark celebration gave me a chance to think back on all that we have accomplished together and how we have grown closer and closer everyday. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Breaking and Entering

Yesterday Zac and I decided that we would go on a nice Sunday hike with Nixon. As Zac is walking out the front door he locks the handle, I made sure the back door was locked and then went to walk out the front door. I noticed he had locked the handle already and figured he wouldn't have locked it without taking his keys... so I didn't grab mine. WRONG. Just as I am walking around the side of the garage I see Zac and Nixon walking back from the car. Zac asks me if I have my keys. Nope. So we check all of the windows to see if there was any chance we left one unlocked. I knew there was no way we would have left one of the downstairs windows unlocked, but the windows upstairs are usually unlocked. Indeed they were. All of them, in fact. Too bad they are all 20 feet above the ground. So Zac hoisted me up onto the overhang above our door. I climbed up, took the screen off and slid the window open. I climbed in through the blinds and right onto the desk knocking over our pens and pencils. So I wasn't very quiet and probably wouldn't make a great thief, but I did make it into the house. Moral of this story, never trust anyone else to have keys. Always take your own. :)

My Funny Boy

Nixon is the funniest dog ever. We just got into our new condo and have been renovating, so we haven't exactly had all the time in the world to spend with our dog. SO, I suppose we were lucky that Nixon has always been able to entertain himself. We were sitting on the couch after a long day of work and Nixon was wide awake, I walked outside for a minute and he quickly followed. When we went back inside nixon began playing with something little and black that he had brought in from outside. HE WAS FREAKING OUT! He was going so crazy, that I thought the black thing was a bug, so I grabbed it from his mouth.

Not a bug.

A rock.

A ROCK! Nixon would set the rock on the ground and then pounce on it. When it wouldn't move, he would push it with his paw, and it would go sliding clear across our wood floor. Nixon would chase after it and shake his head, jump all around it, and push it again. Hilarious. Much funnier when you're there in person, but still, hilarious!

Nixon

I'm pretty certain this will be the name of my new best friend, but you never know, we change our minds a lot. So Nixon is mine and Zac's new puppy. Michelle drove clear to Ferron, UT with me on monday to pick him up. Ferron is one trip that will never be made again... I hope. It is approximately 5 hours from Logan, UT. But it was worth it just this once to get my beautiful boy! Michelle took these fantastic pictures. Right now Nixon is sleeping on my lap. That's what he does most of the time, but when he is awake he is a bundle of joy. He gets way excited to play with his hunting duck and loves to be around people. Basically, he's a freakin' awesome dog. Nixon was born on Thursday, April 16, 2009 and was officially part of our family on Monday, June 15, 2009. We love him and look forward to a fun life with him.