Big Year

Well, it's been over a year since the last post so we figured it's about time for an update. Here are some of the things that have happened in our lives since the last post, in chronological order:

-May/June/July. Remodeled kitchen with a short vacation in the middle. We fully gutted the kitchen and put in new cabinets, counters, stove, and found hardwood floors under the laminate flooring so had the floors refinished while we were at it.










Lucy and Emily lent some assistance...






-June/July. Went to Europe for three weeks with our good friends Steve and Jenny. We visited Italy, Paris, a couple of towns on the NW coast of Spain, and Barcelona. Hard to put the trip into words but needless to say, it was phenomenal.

-August-October. Agreed to buy a new construction house in Issaquah and then backed out once we realized it was not the right house for us.


-November. Found out Makayla was pregnant!







-April. Bought a house in Richmond Beach (NW Shoreline). Yup, stereotypical white picket fence and all.





-April. Sold our old house. We were very fortunate that the house sold in just a few days.


-May 22nd. Makayla threw out the first pitch at a Mariners game. It was UW Medicine night and as she was a patient at UWMC and now works there, the CEO asked Makayla if she wanted to participate in the ceremonial first pitch.






-July 13th, 2009. Welcomed Cameron Todd Kliger into the world! He gets his own post, though.

Thanks for reading through and catching up on the past year with us. Hope your life has been as full of fun, joy, and gratitude as has ours.

Formal pictures

Emily was spayed on Monday the 14th and while there, Kris took some formal pictures of the little one. She looks like a dog in these, rather than a little puppy. We also weighed her...36 lbs then so I bet she's 37 or 38 lbs now and eating 3 1/2 cups of food a day. Yikes!

I'm extremely biased of course but I think she's absolutely beautiful.

Puppy Size

'Danielle keeps repeating it over and over again.
We've been back to this animal shelter at least five times.
It has been weeks now since we started all of this,' the mother told the volunteer.

'What is it she keeps asking for?' the volunteer asked.
'Puppy size!' replied the mother.


'Well, we have plenty of puppies, if that's what she's looking for.'
'I know... We have seen most of them,' the mom said in frustration...
Just then Danielle came walking into the office
'Well, did you find one?' asked her mom.
'No, not this time,'Danielle said with sadness in her voice.
'Can we come back on the Weekend?'


The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed .
'You never know when we will get more dogs.
Unfortunately, there's always a supply,' the volunteer said.
Danielle took her mother by the hand and headed to the door.
'Don't worry, I'll find one this weekend,' she said.
Over the next few days, both Mom and Dad had long conversations with her.
They both felt she was being too particular.
'It's this weekend or we're not looking any more,' Dad finally said in frustration.


'We don't want to hear anything more about puppy size, either,' Mom added.
Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday morning.
By now Danielle knew her way around, so she ran right for the section that housed the smaller dogs.
Tired of the routine, Mom sat in the small waiting room at the end of the first row of cages.
There was an observation window so you could see the animals during times when visitors weren't permitted.


Danielle walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to take a closer look.
One by one the dogs were brought out and she held each one.
One by one she said, 'Sorry, but you're not the one.'
It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup.
The volunteer opened the cage door and the child carefully picked up
The dog and held it closely. This time she took a little longer.


'Mom, that's it! I found the right puppy! He's the one! I know it!'
She screamed with joy. 'It's the puppy size!'


'But it's the same size as all the other puppies you held over the last few weeks,' Mom said.
'No not size.. The sighs. When I held him in my arms, he sighed,' she said.
'Don't you remember?
When I asked you one day what love is, you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart.
The more you love, the bigger the sigh!'
The two women looked at each other for a moment.
Mom didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
As she stooped down to hug the child, she did a little of both.
'Mom, every time you hold me, I sigh.
When you and Daddy come home from work and hug each other, you both sigh.
I knew I would find the right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms,' she said.
Then, holding the puppy up close to her face, she said, 'Mom, he loves me.
I heard the sighs of his heart!'

Growing Up

It's amazing to me how quickly Emily grows. She weighed 32 pounds a week and a half ago so I'm guessing she's between 33 and 34 pounds now. The changes in her size are noticeable from week to week and right now, her back legs are longer than the front so I call her 'Hot Rod'. In fact, she's starting to outgrow the size medium dog crate we have so we purchased an extra-large, the size recommended for labs, which is a huge crate.

Recent adventures

We've been having loads of fun lately, especially hanging out with the Brookses. Magnusson Park has a 9-acre off-leash area and we've gone a few times. Emily is warming up to the water:



while Lucy already loves to swim:

The two dogs get along great (as do the people).

Here's the dogs on the way back from Magnusson:

And they clearly wear each other out...

Jenny and Steve (aka 'The Brookses') are remodeling their kitchen and I've been helping out. Of course, one needs to take a break now and then, too.

A tooth!

Emily and I were hanging out at home last night. At some point, I looked down at an odd looking object on the floor and upon closer inspection, it was a tooth! And not just any tooth, it's an upper canine. So tiny looking now, hard to believe it fit in her mouth properly. Pretty dull too, at least compared to a month or two ago when those things were like little razors.

Why so exciting? Until ~6 months ago I was unaware that dogs lost their puppy teeth just like humans. And, it's another sign that Emily's growing up.

Many of her front teeth are coming in and the new canine is too.

Sleepy girls

Makayla went to her folks a couple of weeks ago and we took Emily to the breeder's (Kris) to be boarded for a few days as I was working during the day. Kris has three adult dogs and also Zoom, one of Emily's littermates. The two kiddies had loads of fun playing and sure tuckered each other out.

Zoom's on the left, Emily on the right.