days like today...

here we are. 7pm on a thursday night. i'm relaxing on my bed with the laptop "watching" along came polly. the furry, four legged love of my life is laying on my bed too. chewing on his favorite bone. leaving residue and crumbs all over the sheet. good thing tomorrow is laundry day. one more thing i never thought i'd let him do. but when he looks so happy...how can you take that away from him?

we've been on a few adventures lately. this week i spontaneously began trail running. yes. you heard me. i have worked for the leading manufacturer in trail running footwear for three years and didn't give trail running a try until this week. sue me. the beautiful thing is that i'm in love with it. we'd probably be out on the trail at this moment if my lower half weren't so sore i've contemplated the amputation of my legs.

our first run was tuesday after work. poor kenai had been pent up in his kennel for 9 hours both monday and tuesday while i worked. he needed to get out. to blow off some steam. and so did i...so did i. so i decided to take him on a hike. minor problem: i can't find any shorts suitable for a hike. well, my exo compression tights are clean. i'll wear them. but if i wear running tights i'll actually have to run...deal. but my dog tries to herd me when i run...we had a deal. we hit the trail. i started to run. my herding dog followed in a happy jog. no herding. no barking. no nipping at my calves. just a happy existence and the joy of being together with nature. then we made it to the canyon. where the water starts. my dog, the one who is frightful of waterfalls, got into the river up to his belly! mommy was proud. very proud. he drank. he cooled off. and i just rested. trail running is work.

my dog, whom i was convinced could not jump due to the fact that when we get in the car he simply stares at me waiting for me to lift him into the front seat, jumped over boulders twice his size. on the descent he maneuvered down the scree like a mountain goat. there was a moment when i questioned whether my brother had sold me a dog or a goat. alas, he cannot be milked so he must be a dog.

to sum this all up. becoming a dog mom has most certainly been the best decision of my life. he loves me even when i'm not happy. he always wants to hang out with me. when i have a bad day seeing him makes everything seem less horrible. having him in my life has inspired me to try new things. like trail running. i used to ride my bike obsessively. that's a little harder these days with my four legged companion. trail running is perfect for us and we'll keep doing it for a long time. i'm sure.

adventures of kenai the wonder pup.

on mother's day weekend my little dude had some fun adventures. we went to idaho where we went four-wheeling with jaymee's family.

apparently when you're a dog riding four-wheelers really takes it out of ya...he was like this most of the day.

on mother's day kenai had a big adventure in salt lake with my friends mark and ann and their three golden retrievers. we went to city creek park where kenai had his very first off-leash park experience. mommy needed a valium but we got through it. he did great. he met a lot of new doggie friends. his confidence made me proud. he walked up to two bernese mountain dogs who were each 10 times his size and he wagged his tail and loved them like he was the big guy.

two weeks later he went on a BIG adventure. road trip to iowa. he loved every minute of it. even the long ride in the car.

he loved hanging out with grandma and grandpa and being able to run forever in their BIG yard.

more than anything else though he loved playing with his sister skeeter and cuddling with the gav-man. that love is mutual. i kinda wish that neither of them would grow up.

one week after returning from iowa kenai had another big weekend. his first little red riding hood bike ride! he was one of my two co-pilots for the big rig drive to lewiston.

he really loved manny, my other co-pilot.

he spent the day helping us all set up...well, he actually spent more time playing and trying on the wolf collar, but he had a great time.

so much fun, in fact, that he was tuckered out by the end of the evening.

friday night after the big dinner party he snuck into his first hotel. i really hope i'm not teaching him bad things...

saturday was the big day. his first little red riding hood bike ride. well, his was more of a trailer ride. i did all the work. we woke up early, ate lucky charms, drank chocolate milk and headed from logan to lewiston.

once in lewiston we got our gear ready and then we were off...

i think the favored part for all three of us was the rest stops and the yummy food...namely the costco animal crackers.

after a good rest we were on the road again.

and then, tragedy struck...i can't be certain of the reason but my little houdini, after many rides in his bike trailer found a way out. albeit a dangerous way but it was a way out. he crawled out of a tiny space in the front of the trailer which resulted in me dragging is precious little face on the highway until i realized what was going on. i think i may have been more devastated than him.

after a good cuddle and an evaluation of his injuries

i sent him back to the finish line with the s.a.g. driver. we were reunited at the finish line and i gave him all of the love in the world. i think he forgave me.

the weekend after little red kenai adventured in idaho for the second time. this time he got some good quality time with cambria and ashlynn.

stay tuned for more adventures from kenai...

Greetings from Ohio! "The great potato state"

upon my return from san fran tragedy struck on the homestead in iowa. i wanted to be there so 48 hours later kenai and i found ourselves packing up the soob (aka subaru) and charting our course to the land of corn fields.

we left at noon on wednesday and arrived thursday at 2pm. kenai managed to get in a lot more napping than i did.

but he traveled better than i could ever have imagined on such an extensive road trip.

he's always surprising me.

when we rolled into town we stopped at the store to see grandma. we then headed off to pork's to find grandpa who was having his afternoon coffee. he was surprised to see us to say the least.

he loved kenai's bandanna that said "i love my grandpa".

the reason for our trip was that my dad had lost jake, his christmas present, his dog and his buddy. being a new dog parent myself, for the first time i understood what the pain of losing such a loved little critter would be. when kenai and i came to town we had also orchestrated a surprise for my dad. my brother still had one puppy left from kenai's litter.

it happened to be the runt of the litter and he agreed that we should give the dog to dad.

i was nervous at first because the loss of jake was so fresh and my dad had said when he lost jake that he didn't want any more dogs. as the moment of the dog gifting approached i had to send my mom on a beer run. i just needed a little something to calm the nerves. it worked. then kirstin showed up with the new pup. she was so precious and i was in love too. i carried the pup into my dad, handed him a beer, and after he called me an asshole i told him that she was a gift from me because since i live so far away i want to know that he always had a buddy to spend time with.

my fear didn't last long when less than five minutes later my dad was clearly in love with the new little pup. my favorite part was when he came out and talked to us all about picking out a name for her. he settled on skeeter. named after a dog that my uncle pete and aunt glenna had and strikingly fitting for her.

i got to spend four days with my family.

we dug up a time capsule.

we played with the puppies.

we drank beer.

we laughed.

we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries.

we cuddled babies.

we ate good food.

we were together. the time together made every long minute of driving worth it. i think that even kenai was a bit sad when we had to head west again. he loved playing with his little sister and became somewhat destructive when we returned to utah.