Our Dogs

For me dogs have been a top priority to have in family. Matt never had one as personal pet but only as a working animal. Ever since he married me he learned very quickly I can't go through life without a dog. So here is our history of family dogs. It began with........

Kasey

Matt had just moved to Baker City, and after a month of being unemployed and lonely I was starting to get a little depressed. I talked to Matt about getting a dog and he agreed that it was time. We started looking and were unlucky a few times, then one weekend we were at an auction in Ontario. I didn't want to go cause it was a Matt thing, but I decided to tag along. While there I came across a man holding a puppy. I approached him and started commenting on how cute a puppy he had. Then all the sudden out of the blue the man asked me, "Do you want her?" I couldn't believe it. My wish had come true. Of course I said yes and there began our canine family. She was so shy at first, but after about a week she made herself right at home and started to bloom. Of course like any other puppy she had her naughty moments but there were characteristics that I loved about her.She absolutely loved pillows. When she was a baby she would push me off of my pillow and sleep right at the top of my head. Eventually she moved in between Matt and I and then her main place she started sleeping at for all time was right by side under the covers. She always kept me warm. She was a very bright dog but she was also extremely stubborn. So stubborn she could out smart anybody. When we moved into our house we blockaded areas of our backyard to start our grass, and no matter what we did she would always find a way to get on the other side. She was also an escape artist. Whenever we would be out of town we would always get a call from our neighbor saying they found our dog. Matt didn't like her very much cause she would never listen to him. Whenever she would get the chance outside she would take off and go off exploring and would never come when called. I loved her very dearly, and I almost got her to come when called. Sadly, once she was starting to show potential of obeying commands she was taken away from us. We were on vacation in AZ and we left her Vale with Matt's parents and we got a call saying she was killed by a car. I was devastated but I knew she was in better place. Somewhere she could explore all she wanted and not get into any trouble or be in any danger. I will always miss my Kasey Kins.

Of course when you have a canine family the dogs should have a brother or sister to play with. So to make Matt and Kasey we started looking for another dog. More specifically a German shepherd. Matt's favorite breed. Of course we started searching but not too much. Then one week we were in Portland visiting a friend and we saw an ad for German shepherd puppies that wasn't too far away. Surprisingly there were 8 left, all girls, so we took the chance. And that is when we added

KIA

We fell in love with her immediately. Especially her big ears, they were so cute. KIA and Kasey became sisters right away. There was no shyness at all with KIA. She only was timid around new people, but once she got to know you she fell in love with you. We also knew that we would have the greatest potential when it came to training. She learned so fast and the best way she learned was thru food. This dog was such a barracuda when it came to food. Whenever I would cook in the kitchen she would sit right behind me and be on the hunt for anything that fell to the ground. Matt deeply loved KIA. They had a bond so tight you could automatically see she was a daddy's girl. KIA and Kasey also had a special bond. When Kasey died KIA didn't know what do. KIA would follow Kasey anywhere and do everything with her. But to our surprise we never thought KIA would join Kasey in heaven just 5 months later. We lost KIA the same way as Kasey. We were so upset you can't even imagine. We miss her everyday and realize how lucky we were to have her. We definitely miss her barracuda ways cause it made us laugh everyday.

When Kasey died and KIA was left alone, we knew she would need a companion cause she would not handle being by herself, so again we searched for another dog. About a month of searching we found our next family member at a shelter in Fruitland Idaho. She was the only mellow dog. Her name is Sadie.
It took awhile for KIA to get use to Sadie cause she had never been around anything so small. Sadie is a long hair chihuahua and when we adopted her immediately she was full of energy and ready to be part of our family. Like KIA we fell in love with her immediately and to our greatest surprise she learned very quickly what kind of behavior we expect in our family. Sadie and KIA had they sister moments together of playing and sharing love. They even got shaved together. Sadie was okay with haircut but KIA was too embarrassed. When KIA died Sadie had to get use to being alone cause we were too heartbroken to look for another German shepherd. Sadie still misses KIA like we do and she did accept the fact she would be the main dog for awhile. We love Sadie so much we hope we don't loose her so soon. She has scared us sometimes where she has escaped from the backyard and done some exploring, but it makes us happy to realize she knows where home is and when we call her she comes right back to us unharmed. Sadie started to really enjoy being the only dog, but to make Matt happy we found another German shepherd to add to our family. This one will never replace KIA but hopefully he will become the dog KIA was suppose to be. We found him in Yakima Washington. Our newest member is called Zander

Zander is only 5 months old and is a complete puppy. Sadie wasn't so excited, and wasn't sure how to handle his energy, but now they are brother and sister who play all the time. Zander can get rough sometimes and forget how little she is but she knows how to remind him. Zander's first night with us is something I will never forget. Being a puppy in a new place he was completely restless. He was pacing the house everywhere and would not calm down and go to sleep. I figured if he was alone with me he would calm down so I took him to the bedroom upstairs to be alone with him. It didn't work. So I grabbed a sleeping bag and pillow and went outside with him. it wasn't until 3 am he finally calmed down and layed right beside me and fell asleep. So yes, I slept outside on my back porch with the new puppy. It's a good thing I can sleep anywhere. I barely got any sleep but to my comfort every night since Zander calms down at night and goes to bed inside the house. We still have much to teach him but we know he will eventually learn.

That is our family and hopefully we can keep it this way for a much longer time than the last two.

Matt & Lindy: Unforgettable 1yr Anniversary

It seems normal that celebrating 1 year of marriage should be a joyous time. You the husband enjoy an evening together, thinking about how quick a year has past by and then having a little "celebration" time to end it. Matt and I planned a whole weekend together to go camping at Lake Owyhee. We got the boat fixed up and temporary registration so we can have some fun on the water. We got things for the dog to go hiking and exploring. We even had a cabin a stay at thanks to some friends who said it should be available. We got all packed up and ready to leave and so excited to spend some time together. Oh how suprised we were to what really happened.

Here's how our anniversary went:

First we made a call to see if the cabin was still available for us. It was not, cousins of the friend had decided to do a weekend trip as well. So, we ended up buying a tent and we were going to find a cove somewhere on the lake to do real camping. We loaded up and headed out to Owyhee.

During our travels we passed a cop who ended up turning around and pulling us over. According to the cop we rolled through a stop sign, but I guess it is a tough choice of judgement what a complete stop looks like while pulling a trailer with a boat. Of course he wanted to see registration for the boat as well as my car. Both had temporary registration which made them legal to drive. Since it was our anniversary he was nice and gave us a warning.

We arrived to Lake Owyhee, loaded the boat in the water, parked the car, and headed out to find our cove. We ended up finding the perfect place to camp. We started unloading the boat to start setting up camp. Once I finally got the last piece up Matt came upon a problem; the boat had a leak. It was the kind of leak that wasn't bad when you had the boat running but when you have the boat idling. We decided to head up to the cabin to see if any of the cousins had any kind of silicone so we can fix the boat. As we start pulling out we come upon another problem. The boat sucked up a rock.

Since all of this happened we decided to pack and leave and go camping at Bully Creek. I started bringing our stuff down and Matt was trying to dislodge the rock. He got the rock out and we loaded up the boat and headed out. As we were getting closer to the dock it started raining. Matt dropped me off and went to go get the car and trailer. As I was gone something else happened. Matt got pulled over by the sheriff for making a wake in a no wake zone. We couldn't tell where the zone was marked because of weather conditions, but he's the sheriff so he must be right. Not only that he wanted to see proof of registration and do a boat inspection. We got the boat out of the water and the sheriff did his inspection and all. Again since it was our anniversary he gave us a warning. We started heading out back to Vale.

We're driving along, listening to Glenn Beck thinking once we get to Vale everything will be okay. Oh how wrong were we. The worst thing of all had to happen.

A deer ran into the road and we had no choice but to hit her.

She died slowy in a ditch, but the damage she caused us that day made us think; "Could things get any worse now.

People stopped by to make sure we were okay, and thankfully no one was hurt. A park ranger came by and made a report to take to the sheriff. After that we decided to just skip camping and just go home. Once we got into cell phone range we started making calls. Calls were made and we made it to Vale without anymore problems.

We were so upset of everything that had happened we were going to spend the night in Vale and then just head home the next morning. However, Matt's mom had another idea. She let us take her camper up to Bully Creek and we stayed there for 2 nights, just the two of us. We ended up just laying back and relaxing trying not to worry about everything else we would have to deal with when we got back home. We even went out exploring which was the best part.

After all that had happened we made a final decision for next years anniversary. We are going to stay home and go nowhere. Hopefully next year celebration will be better.

Our Story

Matt and I met online on LDSmingle. Before I was completely against online dating cause there were too many risks, but a friend convinced me to give it a try. I met a few people I wasn't impressed so I gave up awhile. Then one day I got a smile from a guy (Matt) saying he wanted to get to know me. Of course I responded and told him to email me. We started emailing each other then 6 months later he came out to Arizona to visit me for a few days. We were meeting just as friends but it turned into love.

Of course he had to return back home and I cried like no other. Then Thanksgiving came and we got to see each other again. The day after he arrived he proposed to me and I was shocked. Of course I had to meet his family so I went to Oregon for Christmas to meet my future in-laws.

We hit it off great, I love them so much.

We were married June 18th, 2008

Two days later we packed up and headed to Lima, OH so Matt could finish school. We lived in little home that wasn't the best place to live, but considering other options it was doable.

He finished school and we packed up my car and a u-haul and headed back west to Oregon.

We are now living in Baker City Oregon where Matt is working as a diesel mechanic for Robbins equipment and I am pursuing my job as a Massage Therapist. Life is great and keeps getting better.