I debated whether or not to post about the loss of our family pet and decided that I would. This blog is about our life and the things going on in it. When my children look back and read it I want them to remember and I want them to be reminded.
Last night our family dog Cassie went home. She hasn't been herself lately and we could tell that she wasn't feeling well. Cassie came to us as a puppy, we have had her as a part of our family for almost 13 years. She joined our family in Utah and has been part of our family through new babies, moves, marriages, divorces, good day and bad days. She was a bouncy, floppy puppy and we loved watching her run. She was a good dog and produced 2 litters of darling puppies.
She has always watched over us and been a good protector. A few summers ago right after the kids and I moved to Missouri we were out working in the garden and a dog came charging at me ready and fully intent on attacking. I yelled at the kids to get in the chicken area and close the gate while I was looking for something to grab to defend myself with. Cassie, who was nowhere to be found moments before, came charging out of nowhere and put herself between me and the oncoming assault. She was fierce in defending me and would not let me come to her defense as she took on the attack from the other dog. Cassie kept herself between the other dog and us while fighting and while pushing it away from our property giving me the room and the time to run the children into the house. By the time that I got teh children inside, grabbed and loaded the gun Cassie had herded and fought the dog off of our property. We were safe. She came home bleeding and a little torn up but you could tell she was more concerned about checking on us. She was covered in hugs and thank you's. You could tell that she knew she did her job and that she was proud of the job that she did. She was a GOOD GIRL! I will never forget knowing that danger was charging me & my children in the face & my GOOD GIRL charging in to save the day.
She made us laugh a lot. She hated Toads and Frogs! when we first moved to Missouri she would bark and bark and bark at them like they were aliens trying to invade our home planet. We could not get her to shut up! That summer it was so hot that I bought a children's wading pool to play in for the days that we could not make it into town to go swimming. the first day I filled up the pool I went out to check on it to see if it was all of the way full and it was torn to pieces! Cassie was attacking our pool! I could not figure out what had gotten into her. I thought she had gone mad- had rabies maybe. Nope- there were cartoon pictures of cute froggies on the side of the pool and Cassie had to protect her family! We still laugh over that one quite often.
Cassie walked our property line every morning and every night. She patrolled our land at night and watched over the house when we were gone. she always knew where the kids were and kept us all in her line of sight. She is the first 'real' pet that my family has had and loved. I will always love her and be grateful for all of her help taking care of my family. She was a GOOD GIRL! GOOD GIRL CASSIE!
One thing about living here in Missouri that you have to kind of expect to be crazy is the weather. Today is a beautiful 74' and tomorrow is expected to be in the high 90's with an advisable heat warning for the next 5 days. 
There are beautiful horrible storms on days that began without a cloud in the sky & there are days that begin thunderously and end up clear and bright. I am used to storms that build and leave with clear, crisp, cooler weather behind... here it is often the opposite. It will be just as hot and muggy after the storm, if not more so. 
One thing I do love about the weather is that you can watch it coming- the skies out here are so vast and you can see so far that you can literally watch a storm moving towards you. Sometimes it is like they show in movies where you look up to see a storm off in the distance and within minutes it is overhead- which is amazing to watch happen. Other storms linger in the distance, slowly making their way toward you and give you enough time to finish your yard work, clean up & get inside. 
The clouds are beautiful even when they are swirling in different directions over head- which is a good sign that you have perfect conditions for a tornado & the lightening storms, while fierce, are a beautiful display. The worst thing about the weather our here is the wind. Some nights it sounds as though it is going to take the roof off or blow the windows in on top of us- LITERALLY. Those are the nights we usually spend time in the 'safe room' or all of the kids end up in our bedroom. The wind is the worst part for sure. 
The kids love taking pictures of the clouds so we thought we would post a few of our favorites from the storms this month- enjoy!
We were blessed this past weekend with a family birthday celebration for the babies. Ammon turned 2 and Kymball turned 1. We had Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and friends that feel like family come celebrate with us.
There were family members that could not be there and they were missed but we understand the miles and calls of life. Just know that we were thinking of you, we were missing you and we love you!
