R.I.P. Hurley

I can't put into words the love and appreciation I have for my beloved dog Hurley. He always looked out for me, took care of me and made it his personal mission to make sure I was always happy. Hurley was extremely loved by me, Josh and especially JJ. They were the best of friends! JJ would play with Hurley for hours through the gate. Well, last Wednesday it was my turn to look out for him and take care of him in his time of need. He lived a very miserable life, the last little while especially, so Josh and I had to make the hard to decision whether he had a quality of life anymore. When we, and our vet, decided the answer to that question was no, it was time to put him down. He had severe chronic allergies that we couldn't do anything for. He would scratch and chew himself to death. He had a major anxiety problem and was too scared to even eat unless we were sitting there with him. But finally, the last straw was when my super social dog started spending a lot of his time in our dark stairwell instead of with his family. That was very unlike him and we knew he was depressed. It broke my heart to see him live that way. Josh was my hero and took him to the vet by himself. I couldn't bring myself to go with him. I have never felt such pain as I did leading up to that dreaded day and now that he's gone. I have a major hole my in heart for my first baby. We got Hurley 10 months after we were married, we can't even remember a time since we've been married without him as part of our family! He was our baby and he did everything with us! Once JJ came a long Hurley didn't get as much attention, but he was still just as important to me! While I was pregnant and sick, he was always right by my side day and night. I would even wake up in the night and he'd be laying his head on my bed just checking on me. He didn't like the nights when I was sick and throwing up! He would burrow his body under mine, stand me up and lead me back to bed. The first few days he was gone, I didn't want to see or talk to anyone. I didn't want anyone to find out what happened because the pain was too great and I just wanted to pretend it never happened. But now I feel it's important to talk about it because Hurley deserves to be talked about. He deserves a public "obituary" if you will. If I could afford it, I'd have an official funeral for him. He deserves the best. Even people that aren't dog people will tell you Hurley was the exception. I don't care who you are, if you've ever met Hurley, you know he was the greatest dog and loved by all. Thank you Hurley for all the love and joy you brought to our lives. I will love and miss you forever!

Just a few fun pictures to help remember his life by (not in any order).

 Hurley LOVED to swim!

 Hurley had to wear his mussel when swimming because he didn't care for other dogs so if one would have joined him in the Lake, we would have had a problem on our hands!

 Hurley had to wear a mussel once JJ got big and would try and jump on him. I feared Hurley would have no choice but to defend himself it JJ hurt him. But Hurley never had anything but love for his baby JJ. He loved JJ so much and would always lick him any chance he got!

 Nothing made JJ happier than feeding his dog! Before JJ came along, Hurley had a very strict diet and was never allowed people food. Once JJ was eating finger foods, that diet went out the window! JJ fed him EVERYTHING!

 JJ sticking out his tongue like his dog! :)

It finally feels like winter...

First Hair Cut

We finally cut off the curls. He looks five!

Candles

We went to Target to get some candles in case of a power outage.  This was all we could find. We will have light and some guests of honor if we get stuck in the dark.

On the other hand, maybe we won't even light them. JJ is in the pitch black closet right now laughing his head off all by himself.

529 Plan

When JJ was born, I opened up a 529 college savings account with the Utah Educational Savings Plan. After taking some time to visit his colleges of choice, I think we may need to increase our monthly contributions. We were able to visit some fairly prestigious campuses this summer, and although we would be proud to have our smart and funny son attend either of these schools, Lori thinks they are a little too far away from home. 

The whole Cambridge area was really neat. It seemed as though the entire surrounding area revolved around Harvard. There was a lot of Harvard memorabilia and people were bustling all over touring the campus. It seemed that with the exception of one white building, all of the buildings were red brick. I'm not sure we saw the whole campus though, so I could be wrong. I think the highlight of the campus visit was seeing that one of the dormitory buildings is called Wigglesworth Hall. Maybe JJ will live there during his first year at Harvard. That is, unless Yale won him over. 

Yale campus had a much different feel to it. First of all, it didn't seem like the surrounding area revolved around the school. There weren't hundreds of tourists wandering around and we didn't have to pay $15 for parking to explore around the campus. We just parked at a meter on the street for less than $1. The buildings at Yale were much more diverse in architectural style and appeared much older, which is interesting since Harvard is actually an older school. I guess that red brick really never does go out of style! When we drove away from Yale I told JJ to say, "See you in twenty years." He seemed pretty excited when we stood him by the sign for the School of Engineering at Yale. If he goes there, maybe he could buy us a house that looks like the building in the last picture. Lori and I both think that would be a pretty classy place to call home. 

I hope and pray that our son did not inherit our study skills. Otherwise, these two visits may be his first and last to any college campus, let alone Harvard and Yale!