What about something like this off of the back of the garage surrounded by that white solid fencing on 3 sides?

http://www.vogue7.us/great-pyrenees-custom-kennel

Brett and Flynn

I needed a break

It has been forever since I last posted anything on here and so much has happened.  I'm not going to even try and document everything.  Let's just chalk it up to it has been crazy, hectic, and more crazy and move on.

Our kiddos are growing up so fast.  Brett is 23 months old now and is a little talking machine.  I love it when he says "Thank you, mommy" after I give him anything.  He is so sweet.  He also likes to grab your hand and say, "Come on, mommy (or daddy)" whenever he wants to show you something.  He is also hard to entertain.  Even at his age Sam used to love to sit and watch a cartoon or read a book, not this boy.  He is going strong 100% of the time that he is not sleeping.

 Sam turned 4 and she is so smart and is turning into a teenager it seems before our eyes.  Tonight while we were sitting on the couch watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates before bed she cuddled up between Travis and I and said, "I love you guys, both of you, you are filled with such joy!" I was taken aback a bit for Travis and I had just been complaining about money or something and how it seems like you can never have enough.  I just looked at Travis and smiled and then said "We are aren't we?"  We really should be.  We are blessed.  We are blessed every second of every day.

Oh and one more thing, this little fur ball joined the family a while back.  His name is Flynn Rider (Sam named him) and he is a little ball of fire.  I'm sure he will be a great dog but he is certainly in his painful puppy years.  He is cute as all get out but wow, he can wear you out.

As for Travis and I, I have been taking a triathlon break this summer it seems.  I signed up for one in June but it was cancelled due to thunderstorms and I haven't signed up for another one yet.  I think doing the 70.3 last summer kind of ruined sprint tris for me this year.  I'm starting to feel the itch a little bit but now there are no races to do.  Oh well, for the past 4 years I have taken every other year off, granted I was pregnant during those years off but maybe it is a natural bio rhythm for me.

Travis did his first tri of the summer last weekend and he did pretty well.  He had back surgery for a herniated disc in April so I think racing in August is a fabulous accomplishment.  He did it with the green light from his doctor too.

Dakota - the Nebraska Years and then a Reunion with us

When we lived in Fargo, Dakota went to Belvidere to live with Travis' parents on the farm.  She became a real outside farm dog but was so sweet that even Travis' dad couldn't resist her.  He let her ride around in the tractor with him sometimes.  I don't think that he had ever done that with any other dogs.  She was a good dog but I don't think she was much of a herder really.  She had a knack for getting in the middle of everything instead of helping out.

While on the farm she had a litter of pups.  I need to scan some pictures of them and get them in here.  She had seven puppies and one died shortly after birth.  She was a good mamma.  All of the puppies went to live with farmers in the area and they seemed to love them.

Travis and I looked forward to trips to Nebraska to see our little girl.

In 2000 Travis got a promotion and we moved.  We also bought our first house, complete with a huge back yard.  We waited a few months trying to decide if Dakota would really enjoy moving from the farm to the city.  After Christmas we brought her home with us.  She loved it from the first day.  She was a little skeptical of the wood floors in the house and would hurry from rug to rug.  She loved going outside to play frisbee and fetch.  We had taught her how to catch a small football on the fly when we were in Sioux Falls and she didn't forget how it was done.  She would run back and forth and back and forth for as long as we wanted to stay outside.  We also went running with her most nights after work.  She loved to run.  She had no problems running 10+ miles with us.  She would come home and crash but she loved every minute of those runs.  We often talked about how we hoped when her time was up that it would end quickly - like a heart attack in the middle of a great run.  We know she would have died happy that way.

We also took her everywhere with us.  She would ride in the back of whatever SUV we had.  Travis and I would go shopping and take her along and let her nap and people watch in the back of the ride when it was cool enough out.  She also loved riding around in the back of Travis' Jeep.  She would just stand back there and look and look and drool and drool.  My how she could drool!

We would take her to the lake every Sunday to play ball.  We would chuck a tennis ball as far as we could throw it and she would take off like a bolt of lightening.  She was FAST!!!!  And she had hops too.

Sibling Kisses

Brett is 17 months old and at an absolutely adorable stage in life. He is starting to really talk, give hugs, cuddle stuffed animals and pucker up for kisses! He's even saying night-night and an occasional I love you! Here he is puckering up for a kiss with Sam. She is loving it too.

Dakota 11/15/1996 - 1/28/2013 The beginning part of her story

Our first baby, Dakota (our 16 year old black and white border collie) left us today. We are beyond sad yet so happy to have shared the last 16 years with her. Here is her story - Clif's notes version.

On Christmas Eve the year after we were married I decided that a dog would make a great Christmas present for Travis. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a border collie for $50. I told Travis my plan and late in the day on 12/24/1996 we drove to the dairy farm where she was born. She was one of the small ones in her litter. She was a feisty one though. She loved chewing on our fingers. Travis had found his baby. We even gave them a $10 tip for her (they didn't have change for 3 $20 bills). We got into the pickup to drive home. Dakota was scared. She tried to crawl under the floorboard at my feet. She was shaking. When we got home she tried to crawl under the carpet.

We calmed her down. Her first night with us we tried to get her to sleep in a box next to her bed. She started whining immediately and wouldn't stop. We put her in bed with us. She started coughing up what looked like rubber bands. They were worms. Ewww! We took her to the vet and got her some meds. We then tried to get her to sleep in the bathroom downstairs. Whine whine whine but she did fall asleep. She slept in there until we got heat on the porch and then slept on the porch every night.

She loved going everywhere with Travis. When she was big enough she would stand with her back feet on the seat and her front paws on the dash. As she grew bigger Travis would latch her in and left her ride in the back. She would spin around and bark at every sign.

She also loves spending time in the dead pile on the farm. Every night she would reek of dead animals and bring various bones to the front step to chew on them.

She also liked to chase the chickens and the turkeys around the yard.

One day the electricity qent out but it was cold outside so we sat a container of ice cream outside. She found it and polished the whole thing off.

She also likes playing with Travis's coveralls which he hung on the back of the door in the kitchen. She would run and grab a pant leg and swing from side to side.

She also likes to chew the black plastic pieces off of Travis's caps.

One day she cut her leg badly and Travis had to take her to the vet to get stitched up. She needed a plastic cone on her head so she would stop chewing on it and let it heal.

We started running a little but on the farm. She also learned how to catch a frisbee and a football and she would play for hours.

In December of 1998 we decided to move to Fargo for a job for Travis. That meant apartment living for us and Dakota went to the farm to live for a few years.