March 2008

We are adjusting to life as a one dog family. Having Otis made the transition easy for Maggie as she doesn't realize Nala is gone. Otis is enjoying his new status as well. He has many more privileges, such as sleeping in the house and being allowed on the bed. Of course, I had forgotten what it's like to be awoken at 5 a.m. to a dog trying to get your attention because he wants to go outside. Once it gets warmer and we get the backyard going, hopefully we'll have a fence and a doggie door so Otis can let himself out!

Maggie is talking more and more. She loves to smell food and declare it "Dee-lish-ous!" Her imagination is growing. She will have two toys talk to each other and will often make us food in her kitchen to eat (and we are told to "Eat it!"). She still loves books, but is not content to be read to. She loves to "read" to us and will make up stories as she goes. So far, my favorite is the "Princess Bassoon" story. I plan to upload it to YouTube for all to enjoy.

We are trying to figure out our summer plans. Along with putting in a backyard, we have 2 weddings to attend and would like to get a family vacation to Yellowstone in at sometime. That may get pushed back to fall, which would be fine as I'm sure Yellowstone is lovely in the fall. There are also lots of places right around Billings we'd like to see and maybe do a little light hiking this summer (if Maggie will cooperate and ride in the carrier!)

Rest in peace, Nala

Rest in peace, Nala.

On Saturday, March 15, 2008, we said goodbye to our beloved Nala. The lump the vet found last summer grew and spread. Nala had at least 2 tumors and the vet felt that surgery would be too much for our old girl (she was born in September 1992). We had 2 weeks with her before making the difficult decision to not allow her to suffer any longer. She had difficulty going up the stairs, didn't always finish her breakfast, didn't enjoy playing with Otis or taking long walks as much. It was time.

We adopted Nala over the Labor Day weekend back in 2002. We got her from the Golden Years Alaskan Malamute rescue, near Holland Michigan. All it took was one visit and we were hooked! Nala had beautiful read coat and a wonderful personality. We got her after we bought our first house. She loved Michigan -- lots of snow, cool temps, we lived near 2 parks so she got lots of walks. She also knew how to be a couch potato! Much to Rocky's chagrin, she adopted her place on the couch. We took her camping and if we were still living in Michigan when we got married, she would have been a part of the bridal party! As an only dog, Nala loved to play. Any toy we bought was quickly destroyed! We bought her a giraffe-spotted stuffed bone that she would play with for hours, though it only took her about 20 minutes to break the squeaker. She also loved to chase squirrels. Mals are not built for speed, but she did catch one -- in the parking lot of WXMI TV station in Grand Rapids. She was so proud of herself, seeing the squirrel on the ice and knowing he couldn't go anywhere. She killed and carried it until Rocky was sure to see it.

She came along in the cab of the Uhaul when we moved to Richmond, loving all the attention the entire trip. We bought a house with a big back yard and she quickly found her favorite spots. Nala was lonely in Richmond. We worked further away from home and were gone longer. So in November, we adopted Otis. Nala didn't like to play fetch with us, as every toy needed to be kept from Otis. But she enjoyed playing with him. Otis was quick, but Nala was bigger. She never lost a match.

Nala liked Maggie from the start. She was always interested in checking out the baby, especially if Maggie was in her car seat or on the floor. Nala was always very gentle and never got jealous.

Nala never did like the weather in Virginia. The heat bothered her. She dug a lot of cool dirt holes in the backyard. So she was thrilled when we moved to Montana. She was like a puppy again after the first real snow fall. She bounced and played. She also loved staying in the nice cool garage. At night, she would go stand by the door to the garage when she was tired.

I don't think Maggie quite realizes what has happened. 2 nights ago, she went and sat by Nala, gave her a hug and a kiss. She really didn't pay much attention to her after that. Nala did love the attention from Maggie. Maggie always shared her half-eaten baby carrots with Nala. And Nala could always count on some pats to the head.

When I said goodbye to Nala this morning, I told her to look for Moria, Lady and Alan and Frank Gilbert. They would know where all the animals to chase are.

February 2008

Happy new year! It's been an interesting year so far. Maggie is learning so much so quickly. She is identifying shapes and colors. She loves to sing and dance. She loves "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" at the end of the Chicken Little DVD and loves dancing to Dan Zane on the Disney Channel. She loves it when I dip her. And we must all dance together. Maggie is quickly becoming a little girl, instead of a toddler.

We started Maggie in SoccerTots a few weeks ago. She tells us "I LOVE soccer!" (She LOVES many things.) She is pretty good at kicking the ball and has pretty good coordination. One of the really nice things she is learning how to follow directions and take turns. While she probably gets a lot of that at day care, it's good for her to see it in other settings. But it's loads of fun to watch 10 two year olds running around, laughing and trying to figure out how to play without using their hands.

It's a lot of the same old same old for Rocky and me. Rocky is getting a lot of hits for the Gazette web site. I think he'd still rather be teaching, but enjoys what he does while waiting for something to open up at one of the colleges. There's lots of expansion going on at the Clinic and I feel like I'm right in the thick of it -- and not just because the HR office is next to some of the construction and it can get a little loud.

We are getting our first "real" winter in 4 years and still don't want to go back to VA. It has actually been fairly mild, with some sub-zero temps to bring us back to reality. I kind of forgot what bitter cold felt like. But I do love that we have snow, even though it is mostly gone right now. It would be nice to have a light dusting, especially over the backyard. But it was nice enough today that Maggie and I took a walk to the park and played for about 30 minutes (that wind does get chilly). I love living just 2 blocks from a state park!!

Merry Christmas 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Well, another month got away from me. November and December were busy in the Dailey house. We are now all unpacked and settled into our home. I found the last box of Christmas decorations in the crawl space, behind the crib mattress. Once I found that box, I figured I know where everything is.

My dad came out for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed putting my kitchen to a true test with a turkey and all the fixings. We all really enjoyed it. Rocky worked the day after by shooting a story with the early risers at Target. (You can see it on Billingsgazette.com.) We did do a little shopping on Black Friday, but fortunately, the stores in our area were not that busy. Maggie had fun opening her presents from Papa "Wich" and visiting the airport.

We took Maggie to see Santa at the Gazette family Christmas party. She was very excite to see him, but didn't want to get too close. She took a bag of candy and the gift (a singing Eeyore), but wouldn't let us get close enough for a photo, even with Momma and Daddy. We also got a family photo taken and she was very good through that.

Rocky and I are both done with classes. I'm taking a break and am going to try to figure out what I'm going to do. The pre-reqs for the MBA course are difficult to do online, so I'm looking into other options for that. Rocky is still waiting to hear if he was accepted into the PhD program at MSU. So, no classes for us this spring.

Rocky's parents came out for Christmas. They got a chance to babysit Maggie. She really enjoyed spending time with them, unless Momma or Daddy was around. She loved playing "Get Papa!" or scare "Grain-ma". Several times, she would make sure all of us were around. She impressed Papa and Grandma with her prayers "Bess us oh Lowd" and her singing -- especially "Feliz Navidad." We got a very cute video of Maggie saying "Mewy Kis-mas, Felz Na-dad, Joy Nol" now we just need to get it so we can share it. She was a very good girl at Christmas eve services.

We had a really nice Christmas. Way too many presents, which at the time of this writing, some are still waiting to be opened by Maggie. She loved her kitchen and Woody doll. I think next year there will be a limit on the number of presents!! The rest of us were very blessed with gifts as well. We had a very nice lazy day.

November 2007

I knew it had been a while since I last updated. But we have all been busy here since moving into our new home. We moved in September 21. We got some great help from a co-worker of Rocky's and a co-worker of mine (we've even found a babysitter!). We are in love with our new house. Rocky has done a great job of getting us unpacked and settled in (my job is to keep Maggie out of the way -- easier said than done some days). We bought a nice dining room table and chairs and are looking for a rug to go underneath. We recently purchased a sofa/loveseat set for the family room. We have found we need more bookcases (big surprise). Rocky has been hanging pictures so it really feels like we are home. Next spring, we will fence the backyard and look into some landscaping. I think we are going to try using rock around the fence to deter Otis from digging out.

Rocky's parents came out the weekend after we moved in. They brought the china cabinet we got from Uncle Matt and Bonnie helped me wash the china. We only lost 3 pieces -- which I thought was pretty good from it being packed in 1992 and having traveled quite a bit in the last 15 years. We got all the china in the cabinet with a little room left over for some crystal. While they were here, we celebrated Maggie's 2nd birthday. She had a lot of fun opening her presents. I think her favorite presents were her Piggly Winks dolls and her tea set. She opened the dolls first and was having so much fun, we saved the rest of her presents for later.

We also took a trip to South Dakota. I attended a nursing job fair at SDSU and Maggie & Rocky came along for the ride. Jeffery Darnell was born September 28th, so we also got to meet him while visiting pretty much all the other relatives in SD. It was a quick trip, but fun and hopefully worthwhile as far as recruits!

Maggie loves all the room in the house. She loves to run in big circles in the family room. She really loves just hanging out on the stairs. They are the perfect size for her. She is getting really good at going up and down them by herself, but will sometimes ask us to "care-we-u" (carry me). Her hair is getting long and sometimes she will even let me put in ponytails (not very often though). I have to be a little sneaky. We are working on Maggie sleeping in her own bed right now. She's doing pretty good, but does wake up at least once a night looking for me -- I need to train her to ask for Daddy.

We took Maggie trick or treating for the first time this year and she LOVED it! We took her to just a few houses in the neighborhood, which gave us a chance to meet some of our neighbors. It took her a few tries to get "Trick or Treat" out, but by the end, she was an old pro. I think at the last house she said "Trick or treat. Tank you. Welcome." She also enjoyed giving canny (candy) out to the kids who knocked on our door. Though I think she tried to give one little girl the tootsie roll that was in her hand and half eaten! And she always had to take a treat for herself after handing it out. I think we probably saw over 50 treaters, which is much more than we ever saw in Grand Rapids or Chester.

September 2007

This is going to be one crazy fall! A week before we started officially looking for a house, we wandered through an open house on River Oaks Drive. It was a beautiful house, great view, had everything we wanted and was within our price range. The realtor showing the house said the builder was going to finish the basement and raise the price, so we though that would push it out of our price range. When we saw it in Sunday's paper for the same price, we decided to take another look. We asked our realtor about it (as he just happened to be the listing agent). Still within our price range, and still loving it, we decided to make an offer. 3 days later it was accepted and we will soon be home owners again! Now we need to find furniture to fill it up. We bought a refrigerator at Best Buy (that was our one MUST have before moving in) and are trying to prioritize the remaining wants: dining room table, sectional, grass, fence, new bed for us, bunk beds for Maggie, exercise glider, new guest bed. I put a few more pictures on the photo page. But I am just head over heels for my new kitchen! I can't wait to get in a start cooking! We close 9/21 and are moving in that weekend.

For Labor Day we drove to Eugene Oregon to visit my Aunt Patsy and Uncle Ed. Ed has cancer and we wanted to visit while we could. He looks great! He took Rocky to opening day for the Oregon Ducks (the Ducks won). Patsy and I played with Maggie and had a chance to catch up. Sunday we went to a winery and relaxed. It was a long drive, but very pretty. The Columbia River/Gorge is phenomenal! We got there late in the afternoon and enjoyed a beautiful sunset (after the sun was behind the hills). We took 2 days to drive home (better idea). The winds had shifted in Montana and we could actually see the mountains instead of just smoke. It is sad to see all the fires burning the state. So much charred ground. Intellectually, we know it is good for the mountains to have these fires, but it would be nice if they weren't all black at once!!

Both Rocky and I are trying to figure out how to go back to school as well. I'm STILL waiting for my accounting book, but as long as I attend the lectures and read the prof's notes, I can keep up (except with homework). Rocky is headed to some training this week and is hoping to do some reading while on the airplane. Maggie is moving up to the 2-year old group in day care! Doesn't see possible that she is going to be 2 very very soon. She's no longer a baby! She loves to try to do things herself -- especially change DVDs in her player! "I get it" is her new favorite phrase. When she tires of anything it is "Momma's turn!" (very rarely is it "Daddy's turn.") With the move coming up, we've put potty training and getting rid of the bottle on hold. I think moving up with the 2 year olds will push both of those. Maggie loves to be read to and is trying to read along to "Green Eggs and Ham." She also loves to sing and sings along to all her favorite theme songs "Veggie Tales", "Sesame Street", "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", and of course "Elmo's World." She will actually recite most of several "Elmo's World" episodes, even though she rarely watches them anymore.