buddy

This past Saturday the Sanders family dog, Buddy, died. The past couple years have been rough ones for him, and we knew it was coming soon- but of course we are are all still sad.

We got Buddy when I was 13 and in the 8th grade. My parents brought him home from a charity auction. I was so excited because my parents always told us we couldn't have pets- other goldfish. He was cute and so full of energy. He loved to play. He would bring us toys to throw, but once we threw them, he would play keep away and wouldn't give them back! He also loved to be loved on. My mom didn't like him wandering the house because he shed so much, so a lot of his inside time was spent in the kennel, but I would open the kennel door and just pet him and talk to him. He was a sweetie.

He had a little wading pool in the back yard that my sisters and I would throw ice cubes in that he would try to find before they melted, and then once his feet were all wet, we would throw another ice cube down to the other end of the patio and he would run after it, slipping and sliding. We thought that was hilarious. We also loved putting his big orange tennis ball on the trampoline and he would get underneath and bark and hit it with his nose trying to get it off. Then, one day, he learned that he could get on the trampoline and that was even more fun! I can't help but feel partially responsible for his bad hips in his old age.

As fun as he was, he did get into his fair share of mischief too. When he was puppy he ate an entire bottle of ibuprofen and had to get his stomach pumped and at one point he broke his hip and had his leg in a cast. He chewed through the cable on the side of the house- so Cox had to come out and run a new cable line and made dad had to put a copper pipe around it to keep him from chewing. He also chewed through a bunch of garden hoses. He had a tendency to escape and run away from us when he was younger, but as he got older, if he got out, he would just come sit up by the front door until someone let him inside again.

Overall, he was a very smart and generally well behaved. He knew lots of tricks- sit, lay down, shake, speak, catch- but his most impressive was "dead dog"- he would lie completely still and you could poke him and mess with his ears and paws and wouldn't move. He would even slow his breathing- it was very impressive. At any age, he was always so excited to see us and always ready to give and receive love- and we always knew he would protect us and make us feel safe. I'm gonna miss the old guy.

Nathan was sweet enough to go to vet's office and do some clay paw prints so we could all have something to remember Buddy by. I wish we had taken some more pictures of him! These are the only ones I had on hand.

This is Buddy (on the left) with his offspring "Puppy" or as I so lovingly referred to him as "little black stupid"- and my dog Daisy. Another thing I will always remember about Buddy is that he would let Daisy sit on him. She didn't like putting her butt on the ground, so Buddy would lay down and Daisy would lay or sit on top of him.

This is Buddy with his favorite big orange tennis ball, that I mentioned earlier.

And this is a very unflattering picture of Buddy trying to get the ball away from me. 

I'm so sad that he's not in our lives anymore, but so glad that he doesn't have to be lonely or in pain anymore. Bye, Buddy! We love you and miss you!

we did something!

On Monday, March 18th, we actually went out did something out of the ordinary! My dad gave me and Nathan, and my sister, Jessica, and her husband tickets to the Suns vs. Lakers game! I was so excited! I haven't been to Suns game in what seems like forever- and I was even more excited because it was against the Lakers and I got to see my favorite player Steve Nash again! Also, my dad gets GREAT seats through his work, which gives us access to the club area and the nice bathrooms.

Nathan suggested that we bring our camera, to see what kind of shots we could get- I think we got some pretty good ones. We got better ones in the second half because Nathan figured out how to turn on the rapid shot feature. We still don't have any photo editing software- so these are just straight off the camera.

So here are some pictures I snapped of the pre-game, warm-up stuff, while Nathan was getting us some dinner.

Jessica wanted me to take a picture of this orange guy.

Here is Nash, warming up...

And he is my favorite Suns player, Dragic, high fiving the player we dubbed "tall guy-" he's 6'9"!!

Here are some of the Sun stretching and warming up...

 

Soon it was time for the player introductions-which I couldn't get any good pictures of, because it was dark and everyone was moving around too much- but I did get the Gorilla and dancers (in outfit #1) with the "Beat L.A." sign!

Game time huddle

Just before the game started we noticed the Gorilla rising up on a large black tower. 

"What is that?" we thought

It was another HUGE Beat L.A. sign.

 

I zoomed out a bit so you could see how big and high up it was.

 And then, the game started. These are the game shots I took during the first half.

And here are the Suns dancers, sometime during the first half in outfit #2!

And here are my two favorite players about to re-enter the game at the same time- Dragic & Nash.

And this one looks like Nash is about to give Dragic a hug...

...and this is Dragic rejecting the hug. 

 HALF TIME!

The half time show was pretty cool, but extremely hard to photograph. It was guys doing some wicked sweet tricks on a trampoline. The issue we had was they were constantly in motion, so the camera kept auto focusing on all the people in the background, rather than the performer.  Nathan took like 100 or more photos, but none of them really gave the show justice- I did pick out a few that were ok. Check out, how high they bounce!

Getting ready to start the 2nd half with the Suns dancers in outfit #3! My brother in law, Jon was kind enough to remind Nathan to take pictures of the dancers while my sister and I were in the bathroom. 

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Gorilla and some other guys came out did some pretty sweet dunks!

And here are some more game shots from throughout the second half of the game.

And when all was said and done-

Yay! Suns win! Lakers 76- Suns 99!

And the dancers came out in outfit #4! Seriously though, why all the wardrobe changes for cheerleaders?

Not only was it a Suns victory but Nathan caught me a free t-shirt AND since the Suns got 99 points, we got coupons for free tacos AND we found $5 in the parking garage. Booyah!

Here is a picture that a very nice Lakers fan took of Nathan and I after he caught me my shirt...

Here is a picture of Jessica and Jon....

And here is a picture of me and Jessica.... 

And one last pic of Dragic in post game interview. 

As many of you know, when capturing a sporting event, you can get some pictures that turn out looking ridiculous. Well I got a couple of this guy (Luis Scola...)

Who we decided looked an awful lot like this guy (Russell Brand.)

Here we have Scola looking like a ballerina:

And in this one it looks like he running away from something like a sissy girl.

Yes, I may be easily amused, but those pictures made me laugh.

Doesn't he really look a lot like Russell Brand, though? CRAZY!