Our Little Suz

Suzy, Sam, & Lily

It was a very sad day for our family. My mom and step-dad had to put their little dog to sleep. Suzy has been in the family, yes I said in the family, for 12 years. She was such a sweet dog! This dog was treated like royalty from sleeping in the bed to staying and doggy resorts! Suzy has been sick for a while but continued to get better each time, this time was different. She wouldn't eat or drink anything no matter how hard you tried. Eventually my mom had to take her to the vet to be on an IV for day, but unfortunately her kidney's weren't absorbing the fluid. She was having kidney failure. I can't imagine making the decision to put your dog to sleep but you have to do what is best, and she was not going to get better this time.

They took her into the vet yesterday early morning and obviously had a very hard time handing her off to the nurse. Suzy hadn't been doing anything for two days. Which was very unusual because she was always barking and licking your face! The morning before she was put to sleep she kept looking at my mom and Steve. My mom kept saying that Suzy was making it a lot harder for them because she kept lifting her head to look at them. But it was time. They handed her to the nurse and just cried. It's crazy how our pets can become such a big part of our lives. They truly are a man's best friends! We will all definitely miss our little Suz!!!

Beautiful, Sunny Caribbean

We had a fabulous trip! We went with some friends to Orlando then on a Western Caribbean cruise. This was our first cruise and we absolutely loved in! The weather was amazing, the ship was wonderful, the service was incredible, the entertainment was great, the food was OKAY but plenty of it and the ports were a blast!

Our trip started on a VERY rocky road! We boarded our NWA plane at 7:00 AM and sat on the plane for a good hour until they finally told everybody to get off the plane because they had to fix something. Well at this point we were not going to be making our connecting flight so we had to figure out a new route to get to Florida. UGH! After a lot of phone calls and shuffling around we were able to get on a Delta flight at 5:00 PM. So what to do for 8 hours at the SLC airport? We went to Gateway and watched a movie! Not exactly how we planned to start the trip but it all worked out and we ended up in Orlando by midnight! We spent the next day at Universal Studios and then shopping of course! We had a blast.

We boarded the ship on Monday and the first thing we did was EAT at one of the buffets. I always heard that you definitely don’t starve while cruising, that was the truth…there was food everywhere! Being on the ship is like being in a little city, they have so much going on and it’s hard to imagine you are in the middle of the Ocean. Every night we went to a Broadway style show, it was great entertainment! The boys especially enjoyed the costumes!

{That’s all I will say about that}

Our first port was Grand Cayman. We spent the day swimming with sting rays and snorkeling at a “coral reef” that was not really a coral reef! The sting rays were amazing but the snorkeling not so much. Our stay at port was short but I felt it was enough to see the city. I am not sure I would want to go back and spend an entire week on the island I think the 8 hours was probably plenty!

Our second port was Cozumel, Mexico. Of course we love this place! This was our sixth time to Mexico in 3 ½ years! Because Phil speaks Spanish we are able to get around easily and see anything we want! We spent a lot of the day at the beach and then shopping! I have to say that Cozumel has the best shopping out of the other cities we have been to! There was a lot more to see than just MEXICAN trinkets!

Of course we had a Formal Night. It was so fun to get dressed up and see all the other people decked out! We had a cocktail party (fruit punch for us!) before dinner, and then of course enjoyed another great show that evening! Next cruise I will definitely go all out on the formal night because it was a lot of fun!

Every night we would come into our room and our cute Steward had created little animals out of our towels, and sometimes clothes! One night we came back to the room and found somebody lying in our bed! No, it was not real! Yes, I freaked out! Overall we had a blast and will definitely be cruising again, hopefully SOON!

Doris Emma Bryan

My dear sweet Grandma passed away on May 6th at home with all of her children around her. She was diagnosed with ALS just a short time ago and it took over VERY fast. Nobody expected it to happen this fast but I truly feel like this is such a great blessing for her. She was basically alive in a dead body, not a great way to live. I am very grateful for the time that I was able to spend with her. The last time I saw her was right before my trip and I just sat with her and cried and kissed her. I told her that I loved her and she was able to muster up enough energy to write “I Love You” on her note pad. On Wednesday morning last week I received a message while on the cruise ship that I needed to call home. I knew immediately that it was an emergency because nobody was just going to call the cruise ship just to say hi. I started freaking out and hurried and called my mom, she told me that my grandma had passed that morning and to try and call my dad. Luckily that day we were getting off the ship so I was able to call him from Grand Cayman. It was a very hard phone call to make; we basically just sat on the phone and cried. My dad has been living with my Grandma for about 10 years now and has been taking care of her 24-7 because they refused to put her in a home. I know that this time alone is going to be very hard for my dad because he is so used to having her around all the time. They have formed such a strong bond. My Grandma’s husband passed away 3 months before I was born and she hasn’t dated a day in her life. I am sure she was very lonely and was excited to reunite with her sweet hubby.

The funeral was on Saturday and I wasn’t able to make it home in time. We checked on flights and they were $2000 so it wasn’t really an option for me. It was very hard for me but I was able to go to the cemetery on Sunday morning and spend the day with my Dad. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation, I have no idea how families get through death without the knowledge of Eternity. I look forward to the day I will be able to be with my Grandma and give her a big hug! I love you Grandma!!

FREE RIDES

Public Transportation finally comes to UTAH! On Saturday we, along with everybody else in Kaysville, had this great idea of taking the Frontrunner to Gateway for some dinner and shopping. Really this was my step-dad’s idea and secretly my mom and I knew that the crowds would be way too much for him to handle! But we went along with his ‘great’ plan and headed to the station in Layton for a FREE ride to SLC! ‘Free’ being the key word there, I think if you tell anybody in Layton that rides are free all sorts of people are going to come out of the cracks to take advantage. At the station my prediction was correct there was a 2 ½ hour wait to board the train! As soon as Steve heard that he was saying ‘come on guys let’s go!’ So instead of a free ride we drove ourselves to Gateway for an evening of fun.

{of course i couldn't leave without getting a picture!}