"So much in life depends on our attitude." ~Thomas S. Monson
I think this quote is a good preface to this month.
After a month of being home have the month and traveling around the region we tried to figure out when to go get our tree. Last year we wondered why we hadn't started this tradition a long time ago and this year we wanted to keep this new tradition.
Hunting and cutting down our Christmas tree. We got our tag online well in advance and then the first Saturday in December realized that morning that it was the best day we would all have time to venture out together to find out tree.
We headed north to the forests of southern Idaho outside of Preston.
Basically the same area we went last year.
The weather wasn't quite as "perfect" for that Christmasy go get your tree feeling, it was windy cold, and there was not much snow. But, we dressed for the occasion and enjoyed roaming through the trees. It's an experience trying to decide when we have found the perfect tree for us, but eventually we found one we wanted.
Ethan had the honors of cutting it down.
and Kelly carried it back to the pickup.
Our cute town is always fun and festive during the holidays.
Fresh snow in Prov Canyon
CANCER SUCKS!
For people and for dogs.
Cooper has been limping and not 100% for months.
We've been taking him to the vet for a while trying to pinpoint the problem. He's taken meds, had x-rays, more meds. All kinds of things to try to figure out. At one point they said that cancer was a possibility, but highly unlikely because he is SO young. Well, after many appointments we found out that cancer was the most likely the culprit. With cancer the recommendation was amputation of the leg where the mass was found. However, the scans showed that it had not spread into the chest which made amputation a good treatment to slow the spread and prolong his life longer than 1-2 months. At this time we didn't know for sure if they would amputate. The doctor said they would scan to confirm their suspicions because the first scans they were not looking for the cancer specifically. If it was confirmed then they would go ahead with the amputation. So the appointment was set up for scans and possible amputation.
This dog loves the snow and was happy to enjoy a pre Christmas snowfall with the family.
A few days later it turned out that we got even more snow the night before/morning of his appointment.
It was sad to watch him running around in the deep snow with his four legs not knowing for sure what the future had in store for him.
Kelly took Coop down to the med vet in SLC and then it was a matter of hours before they called and told him that it was indeed cancer and they wold go ahead with the amputation. It was so heartbreaking. Although Kelly had inquired with several different vets we know and they all agreed with the recommendation and would remind us that dogs do not have the thought process we do and he will not sit around and grieve his missing limb like we humans might. Rather he, like most animals, will adjust quickly and do just fine as a tripod.
"Sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful too."
This was the sunset on my way home from work the evening of Coop's surgery.
Cooper remained there overnight and Kelly picked him up the next day.
When I saw this picture it made me cry. I think it was harder for us to see him lose his leg than for him. We humans are so sentimental, we can learn so much from dogs like how to adjust and move on from tough things.
OH YEAH, DID I MENTION
WE HAVE
COVID
IN THE HOUSE.
About a week before Cooper's surgery Kelly had a coworker who had COVID. A few days later Kelly felt like he had a cold. It included a headache so he and another colleague who had been in close contact with the positive COVID person went and got tested. Kelly tested positive.
Our entire family is fully vaccinated and a week before I had gotten my booster. So, Kelly isolated himself to the basement, set up a work from home office and (silver-lining) was able to spend the next week or so with his best pal, Cooper. He was positive with COVID when he took Coops down to SLC for his appointment, but luckily the virus wasn't too bad for him, mostly just a head cold. We are thanking the vaccine for that. This also meant that Kelly was home with Cooper during his recovery time and until the rest of us were off school/work for Christmas break.
Cooper did pretty well. He was able to get around fine. Probably the 2nd day he was running around like he has always been 3-legged. But then he kind of turned the other direction and really just seemed depressed. Although it was most likely that he was in pain and uncomfortable given he had just lost a whole body part.
After about two weeks he got his stitches out and he began to be more active and excited about the things he use to get happy about. (like Kelly coming home, or getting his dinner) He was happy to get to go on a razr ride and was able to go a little farther on his walks each day.
One of our traditions is driving around to look at Christmas lights.
I love it. The kids, I'm not so sure it's as exciting as it use to be. We still have a new scavenger hunt sheet to give us items to look for as we drive around the valley.
The local Griswold house is always a treat to see.
A few days before Christmas I was out running last minute Christmas errands and got a call from Kelly asking for me to pick him up. He had rear-ended another car. He has been driving around the car we got for Ethan when he first started driving. Was saving on gas with the car rather than his big pickup.
Needless to say, it was totaled.
(Silver-lining) we now have more room in our driveway.
We also have other cars, so besides a tow fee it didn't cost us too much $ or inconvenince.
Hey, there was some beautiful snow in December.
AFTER
CHRISTMAS
Turned out that no one else contracted COVID, at least we think. Ellie got sick the first weekend of the break, but we got a home test and she tested negative. Then I got sick the following week with cold symptoms and tested twice and was negative both times. Ethan never had any symptoms.
However, his teeth had been bothering him and so it turned out that he needed his wisdom teeth taken as they were trying to come in. So we were able to schedule this during the break, a few days after Christmas so we had another recovering being in our home.
Ethan seemed excited and a little worried about what wold happen when he was "high" on meds after. He instructed me to take his phone from him before the dentist did. LOL (due to the fact that one of his friends had text some crazy stuff when he had his wisdom teeth so Ethan didn't want to follow suit)
Well, because of where the teeth were and the ease of the extraction we had his general dentist take them out. He had a pill he took at home before the appointment and then took another at the appointment. Turned out he was quite out of it on the way there and when we arrived at the dentist office.
He was obsessed with the license plates of cars and continued to read them off to me and let me know he was seeing double and triple letters.
Afterward on the way home, he could hardly walk up stairs and was asking about the lanes of the road and swearing like it's normal for him.
At the time I wasn't thinking of videoing it, but later realized I totally should have. It actually made me cry seeing him that way. Which was funny because it made him cry too. The doctor had to give him additional medication so he slept longer than normally would have. He was loving anything I fed him because he was so hungry.
Some things he said or did:
responding to Ellie on the phone in the car "What up b*$@#?"
Seeing his teeth that were extracted which were rather large according to Dr. Larson "No wonder they were such a pain in the ass!"
The yogurt I fed him "This is SOOOO good!" (but in a high squeaky voice) and not long after crying because I said it was like when he was a little baby and I was feeding him.
Just a lot of stitches and healing at our house this Christmas season.
With amputations, COVID, teeth extractions, sickness and healing our New Year's Eve was pretty mellow.
Ethan went out and partied with friends while Ellie, Coops, Dad and I hung out at the house. We ate Olive Garden - to Go and then chilled playing Mario Party, other nintendo switch games (Ellie), jigsaw puzzle (me) and hanging with the dog (Dad), until it hit midnight which we tried to see some fireworks from around the neighborhood and headed to bed.
2021 was filled with lots of fun memories of family, little moments, big moments, school moments, sports moments, traveling and adjustments.
Reflecting back to the quote I started this post with, things are only as good or as bad as you think they are or as you make them out to be. I think we can look back and talk about all the crazy weird, maybe bad things that happened or we can look back and see how we faced challenges, trials, good times and reflect on how we grew from them. Did we know better so we will now do better? Are we stronger? More patient? More kind?
I hope that this year was one that we all grew through and progressed from. "Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% what we do with it " (or something like that)
Looking forward to 2022
Hoping for more precious moments that moment make our life so sweet!
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