Madison Jade Graham!

Yesterday Madison Turned 2! I can not believe how fast this time has gone. The last 2 years have been crazy and SO fun with her in them. She loves her sister Ava SO much and wants to do everything she does. If Ava is doing it she wants to do it. Some of the major events of the past 2 years include...RSV, 6 Ear Infections, Ear Tubes, 2 Trips to the ER for the same injury, lots of bumps and bruises and LOTS and Lots of laughs.
For those of you who don't know Madison you are missing out on one of the cutest kids ever. We call her our living doll since she not only looks like one but is about the size of one too. Today we went to the DR for her well check and she is a massive 21 lbs 12.5 ounces and is 33 1/2 inches tall. She has SO much personality in that little body. Some of the things that come out of that little girl still surprise us. She loves to growl at you, and it is funny how low she can growl. She has recently begun to say no I Madison. She wants you to know who she is. She likes to put her hands on her hip s and talk to you. She Loves animals and colors and food, not that you would guess by her weight.
One of her favorite things is drawing especially with daddy and sissy. She loves Mickey mouse and wants to go see him at his house....one day we hope. Now she likes Kinley but she is starting to like her more. We love our crazy Monkey Madison and all her crazy anticts and are so glad that she came to us. We also love that she is starting to let other people see her and her personality.

Farewell to a dear friend

Today was a hard day because we had to put a dear friend to sleep today. We have had Chinook for 13 years. We got her as a small puppy my sister's senior year and loved her. She was our little snowball and a lot of fun. We have taken her as many places as we could and loved having her. About 7 years ago Seth met Chinook and just after that we found out she was very sick and had to have an emergency surgery to save her life and she had a 50 or so present chance of making it. She came out of that and did pretty well for several years. Later she got sick but has always pulled through. Last year she had a spot she licked so much she got a major infection in it and it looked like a tumor, and had it removed, not to long after that she chewed the end off a leather belt and got it lodged in her throat and had to have it surgically removed. My mom and dad looked at putting her down then since we thought she might have a tumor in her throat or something like that, but my dad wasn't ready to give up on her then and we found the end of my mom's new belt in her throat. After that my mom was thinking her time was coming. We took her camping 2 times and to Jackson hunting at thanksgiving. After our trip to Jackson my mom thought she might pass because the trip took so much out of her.
Today my mom called and wanted me to come and check her because she hadn't been acting like her self this week. When seth got home at lunch we went to go see her. Usually she is barking anytime anyone comes near the house and we hadn't heard her, but i figured she was outside so she hadn't barked at us, so I got her in and had Seth go out and ring the doorbell and knock and she just laid there and I knew she was not feeling good and needed to see the vet. My mom had told me she hadn't been eating or drinking either. We got an appointment for a few hours later and got her taken in. We did blood work and found out that her kidneys were bad. The vet put it this way that if she was a human then she would be on dialysis and on a list for a kidney transplant, but since she was a dog there was nothing they could do for her other hen to humanely euthanize her. I called everyone and Gina came out to say her good byes. Everyone but my sister and dad already had, but my dad is in North Dakota and we didn't want to make her suffer until he could. Gina and I stayed with her when they put her to sleep, it was a very quick and peaceful passing. She just slept and that was all. She was a fiesty and crazy dog and I can't imagine never having her but it is hard to say good bye. I felt she was ready to go and wanted us to feel good about her going. Rest In Peace Chinook January 30, 1998-March 4, 2011