i thought my dog was going to die this week.

she threw up saturday afternoon and we thought it was just a result of exhaustion and too much fun with my brother's dog, nellie. she threw up again once we got home, and then again every hour saturday night. it was a loooong night.

she was still acting weird on sunday. she hadn't eaten since friday and could hardly move. she had no interest in everything she normally loves: food, treats, her ball, socks, and barking at the neighbors. so we did what any normal person would do: started reading about her symptoms online to figure out what was going on. anyone who's tried to diagnose an illness online knows that this is NOT a good idea. it applies to animals as well as humans. the conclusion was she is dying and we must get her to the vet ASAP.

of course there are no vets open on sunday in our little town. the closest one was about an hour away. mike, who is very good about sticking to the speed limit, was driving faster than he's ever driven before. we followed the directions on our phone trying to find the vet, but our trusty map led us to an apartment complex in the middle of nowhere. in the mean time, coco started bleeding and throwing up again. after a dozen calls to the vet trying to figure out how to get to their office, we made it.

a few hundred dollars later, they sent us home with four bottles of pills and the conclusion that she had some kind of gastrointestinal infection but her blood work was normal and she should be just fine. we've had to force the pills down her throat and i'm pretty sure she hates us for it, but today she finally ate a little something. she also dropped her ball at my feet, begging me to throw it and started growling at the mail man. glad she's back to her normal self.

i delight in snow

because coco goes to the bathroom much faster when the ground is covered with it (she doesn't like squatting out in the cold. can you blame her?) and because the dog poop on our grass is buried so she can't roll around in it. for some reason she has an affinity for rolling around in other dogs' business. thank you snow, for covering it up.

and i also delight in snow because it reminds me how great our neighbors are. i came home today to a clean driveway! thanks bryce!

i delight in the senses

coco and i went on a walk this afternoon.
walking in the fall is an experience that involves all the senses.
i felt the same excitement as coco as she pranced and lept on the sidewalk.
i saw the fading sunlight, bright blue skies, and lots of joggers trying to get in a good run before the weather changes.

crisp leaves crunched under my feet, and the few leaves left clinging to their trees are still vibrantly colored.

i turned the ipod volume up and listened to ingrid (and a little guggenheim grotto, the band that opened for her).

coco tried to get a group of joggers behind us and ended up running circles around me, leaving me wrapped like a mummy in her leash. i looked like a fool trying to get untangled.

i saw the new christmas window displays in the stores along center street and felt the anticipation of a new season and good things to come.

i love living in this beautiful place.

i am grateful for my senses to take it all in.

10.1.10

print found here. wouldn't you love any of the prints from this etsy shop?

it's finally friday! we're ready for what will surely be the perfect fall weekend. we're going to the big football game tonight (dear aggies, if you only win one game all year, let it be this one!), i've got a new book for note taking while watching conference, my fabric is almost all cut to start working on a christmas present for my mother-in-law, and i've got a list of new recipes to try out, including pumpkin bread and cinammon honey butter, french toast casserole, and this variation of cowboy caviar for snacking.

also making me smile this week: the excitement of my piano student, emma, who told her dad as she left her lesson, "i have to play 3 songs in 3 different positions! it's going to be so hard, dad, but i can do it." i wish they always stayed that excited about learning to play the piano. and coco, who recently discovered grasshoppers. she doesn't want to eat them, but they make great "toys" because she pounces and they hop away, which means she is totally entertained by trying to catch the uncatchable bugs.

happy first of october.

coco needs a friend

i think my dog needs a new friend.

like a bulldog.

or a beagle.

or a baby.

just sayin'.

ETA: NOT an announcement. but i think #3 is a great choice.

a week of firsts

*mike's first day of his last semester of school. yipee!

*for the first time in months, and perhaps years, we stayed awake for a whole movie. usually we start it one night and finish it the next because we fall asleep, but we made it all the way through the proposal in one. night.

*i got a new calling as the first counselor in relief society! i put an exclamation point cause it's kind of funny. i have no clue what i'm doing. it will definitely be a learning experience, and i feel completely inadequate, but when i was set apart i felt that there is a reason i have this calling.

*i had my first go at making homemade gravy. it turned out pretty okay! at least it wasn't bland, which has always been my fear with making my own gravy. i get nervous with the salt & pepper, afraid that i will add too much. i used the pioneer woman's recipe which also involved chicken fried steak. it was gross. really gross. i think the cube steak was old or something because it was really chewy.

*my little brother is living in logan for his first semester of college. drew has been a welcome houseguest, though feeding two boys proves much more expensive than feeing one. coco LOVES when drew comes over. she paces between the front and back door all night just waiting for him to walk in.

*i took coco running for the first time this winter. it was a red air day in logan, but it was so nice to get out and run. a really weird thing happened while i was running, though. i felt like i was in the middle of a scene from 24. a few blocks ahead of me, this cop had parked across the street from an old beater car. 4 teenagers were standing around the car, and as the cop is walking towards them, one of the kids pulls a gun on the cop. the cop put his hands in the air and started walking back towards his car. i look up and realize i'm running towards a kid standing in the middle of the street holding a cop at gunpoint. all sorts of things start going through my mind. this kid is going to hold me hostage! i'm really tired and i won't be able to run fast enough to get away from him! he's going to grab me and tell me to control my dog but she will be too excited to sit still! then i realized i should probably call 911 or something so another cop can come help the situation. i wasn't very close to any houses, so i turned the other way and kept running to find a house where i could knock on the door (note to self: run with your cell phone from now on). when i turned back around, the cop was inside of his car and the kid wasn't holding his gun out anymore, so i figured the situation was under control, and i just kept running home. it was crazy.

and it's only monday! it's going to be a good week.

happy birthday

even though she's very naughty,
steals our socks,
chews the floor,
ruins my hair bands,
eats anything found on the floor,
thinks she needs to sit on chairs and the couch instead of the floor,
licks my feet,
starts whining at 6 am on the dot,
eats the neighbor's dirty diapers from the garbage,
barks at anything that comes near our house,
and sheds,

this little dog has become part of our family,
and we love her.

she's a soft,
snuggly,
protective,
playful,
loveable,
and smart puppy.

happy first birthday coco!

a winner and a weekend

according to random.org, #5 is the lucky winner! millie, i will be sending your cd this week.

coco got to spend the weekend with steve and diane (thank you!). she loves them and their poor dog buttons. i don't think she left him alone all weekend. when we walked in with coco, buttons ran and hid under the couch and didn't leave his spot for most of the weekend. she also loves riding in the car. she can't get her head far enough out the window to take in all the smells. can i just say that she has been a terror lately? she ruined the linoleum floor on one of our stairs, ate a pair of shoes, and found another way out of her kennel all in the same week. crossing my fingers that she behaves this week, or else....

anyway, mike and i headed to ikea in search of patio furniture. three hours and our savings account later, we walked out with a patio set, bookshelf, and new wall unit for the tv. i just can't get enough of that store.
we spend the rest of the evening with bethie and jacki. we ate dinner at macaroni grill and went to see the play beauty and the beast at an outdoor theatre. we thought the rain had cleared because it started out pretty nice, but after about 45 minutes, the rain settled in and never went away. they cancelled the show because there were puddles of water on the stage and they were a little concerned about the safety of the dancers. we still had a good time, and i want to go back to see another show at this cute place.

Christmas Party #2

Kropf Christmas Party

complete with watching old family videos,

delicious caramels,

and a grandma who couldn't have been happier to be with her grandkids.

We missed you, Bethie and Jacki!

P.S.- Coco loves the snow but she's always cold now. She thinks she needs to be wrapped up in my quilt. She'll start out by sitting on the leftover blanket that's on the floor. Gradually she pulls more and more blanket down to her until she's all bundled up and I'm sitting on the couch without any blanket to keep me warm. Silly dog!

One Step at a Time

I've never been one to enjoy exercising (honestly- who enjoys exercising?) but I decided that jogging has been quite theraputic for me lately. My sweet neighbor and I have been going and it seems that she really understands some things I'm going through right now. Her advice has boosted my spirits a lot.

Yesterday, Coco, me, and my ipod enjoyed a jog up to the temple and around Logan. It's so beautiful right now. I love this season. Coco loves it, too. She's definitly a water dog. Any time she sees water, whether it's just running in the gutter or in the canal by our house, she spazzes out because she wants to play in it. I had to keep a tight grip on her leash or she would have jumped right in and probably sunk to the bottom. Not a great picture because it was taken with my phone, but it makes me laugh how her ears perk up and she carefully inches closer and closer to the water. She loves it.

Having only my ipod and Coco to keep me company was exactly what I needed to feel better. As corny as the song is, I'm pretty sure that during our walk I was singing out loud to Jordin Sparks "One Step at a Time." We all know how I sing loud in the car, what's wrong with singing loud while you're jogging? I keep repeating the lines of the song to myself because it describes exactly how I'm feeling right now.

the weekend: a recap

-I'm seriously so blessed. For the first time in my life, I won something! It was a gift card from TAMN to the Sonora Grill. We went with my parents. I had Carne Asada tacos, Mike had some chicken thing that I can't pronounce. It was delish and we had great company.-My new favorite thing to cook: waffle cookies. I especially hate cooking in the summer because when I turn on the oven, it honestly adds an extra 20 degrees to our already heated home. You don't have to use the oven for waffle cookies. And they are so yummy.
-I liked the lighting in this shot and was thinking I could boost it a little in photoshop. But my photoshop is broken. Sad. I still like the lighting though.
This little girl wasn't intended to be an inside dog, but she hates her outside kennel. She whines and yelps the whole time she's in it. So for at least a couple more months, she'll be sleeping in her kennel inside. She thinks she owns the whole house. Her favorite places to sleep are under the bed and in the pile of laundry.
PS- I finally finished Breaking Dawn. Umm.... Renesmee? Nessie for short? Seriously?? I can't think of anything I liked about the book. It was everything I wasn't expecting and I hated it. I think the reason I liked Twilight in the first place is because Meyer wrote it so that it seemed believable. It seemed like something that could happen. I think she threw any believability out the window in the final book. The characters weren't consistent with how they acted in the other books. And she needs a good editor- 800 pages is way too long for the story she was telling. Half of it could have been cut out. I'm glad it's over and I might have to re-read Twilight to remind myself why I liked the series in the first place.

and puppy makes three

Meet our new puppy, Cocoa.

She has spent most of the afternoon sleeping and all morning she wanted to play outside in the dirt and my flowers. I already love her and want to hold her all the time because I know she won't stay this little for very long.

I just finished making a little book for Mike that I wanted to share. We got engaged two years ago this month. I decided to give him this book before our anniversary so that we was surprised and not expecting it. It's called "The Proper Care and Feeding of Mike" (yes, I'm a nerd and the title is from Dr. Laura's book).

Each page is a different way to take care of Mike. Some of my favorite pages are-

Play with him. Some of the journaling: Mike gets antsy just sitting on the couch but he is easily entertained. Whatever game you're playing, let him him. He likes to win. He is always making up his own words to songs...He could spend hours outside throwing a football and never get bored.

Spoil him. Journaling: Spoil him with lawn care products, weird gum flavors, and Gossners' chocolate or rootbeer milk.

Love him. Some of the journaling: Mike always tells me that doing laundry, cooking dinner, and cleaning the house isn't part of my job description. He says, just love me! And I do. I just love him :)