So much has happened since my last post so I will do a little mini timeline to catch you up to speed.
October 13
Our WEDDING DAY! It was absolutely the best day ever! We had such great weather and the wedding itself could not have been more perfect. A few highlights of the day were 1. I had made all of my bridesmaids bouquets and Skylar's flower girl basket, they looked so good! Well about 2 pm we were all starting to get ready in Millington, and one of my bridesmaids says, "Hey Jay, were are our flowers? I haven't seen them yet?" Me, "HHmmmm, that is a great question" I then realized I did not have them in my possession and called my friend that lives in Southaven and asked her to go to my house and try and break in the window, she couldn't break in as easily as I thought so I then proceeded to tell her to throw a rock through the back door and break the glass. I said it's okay, my brother in law works for a glass company he will fix it. She thought I was a little crazy and of course did not feel comfortable doing it, which I don't blame her. Soooo.... one of my bridesmaid's boyfriend and brother-in-law showed up a little early, so I told them I need y'all to go to Kroger and pick up some flowers to make bouquets for the girls. As long as it has sunflowers I do not care! I was a little scared sending men out to do this task. But, they came back with the most beautiful flowers and my bridesmaids and them worked really hard on putting them all together to make the perfect bouquet for my girls. Even used black electrical tape to tie them together. I was so happy and pleased! Skylar's little basket and flower petals were fabulous too. Even though she did not even throw the flower petals down the aisle. :) 2. I was outside posing for pictures and realized about half way in that I was standing in a big ole mud puddle and my beautiful dress was covered in mud all along the bottom. I went inside and my girls were like it's okay, don't worry while their faces said OH SHIT! So they all grabbed soap and hot water and were manually soaking and washing my dress. It was quite comical actually. They then got blow dryers and dried it all off that is until the breaker blew. :) I did not care about having a muddy dress, just wanted it to look pretty going down the aisle. But my bridesmaids ROCK and fixed it! And of course our first dance consisted of Jonathan, Skylar and myself. DUH! Ke he.
October 14-17
HONEYMOON
We left on Sunday morning to head to Gaitlinburg for our little mini get away. Got a very late start leaving so ended up getting to the Smokies pretty late. We saw a REAL bear on our way to the cabin. It was very cool. Had a very relaxing, intimate trip. It was much needed and really beautiful there. We went horse back riding and zip lining one day and had a great time. Learned a lot about horses on our little tour.
October 18
HORRIBLE NEWS
We got back in town on Wednesday and found out Thursday morning that Jonathan's Mother had passed away that morning. It was the absolute most horrible phone call to watch my husband take and hear the news. We immediately went to Millington. His Mother had a heart attack. Very very tragic loss. She was such an amazing Mom to her boys, she had a big heart and always did for everyone else. We have been just trying to take it one day at a time. A lot of people have said that even though it sucks that is was 5 days after we got married that it is kind of a blessing. She was the happiest on our wedding day, I even got her out on the dance floor. I am glad that she was with all of her family and on such a joyous occasion. It's a nice last memory of her. The holidays will definitely be hard this year for Jonathan and his family.
October 31
MORE HORRIBLE NEWS
We took our lab, Jessie to the vet because she had lost a lot of weight to see what was going on and found out she had cancer. It is crazy because we switched her dog food a few months ago and thought she was just loosing weight because of that but we are thinking she had it then. The vet of course told us her quality of life was not good, I just sat in shock and just blank. She is only 11 and was so healthy. So we left the vet in tears and he informed us of all of the signs to be looking for. Jessie had pretty much quit eating her dog food. We would feed her lunch meet and she would hold that down okay, she would still try and play fetch. Monday, November 5 she had completely quit eating and drinking water, she was also throwing up and pooping in the house. I broke the news to Skylar that Tuesday while we were eating at Taco Bell. It was the most horrible gut wrenching thing I have ever had to do as a parent. I told her how sick Jess was and told her she would probably go to dogie heaven soon. The look on her poor innocent face is burned into my brain. She put her taco down and said, "I don't want her to!" while crying her little eyes out. We immediately left and both cried the whole way home, we got home and she went straight to Jessie and just cried on her and loved on her. It was very very hard to tell my child that. On Wednesday Jess had a really bad day, she was very mopey and didn't want to get up hardly. It's crazy because when we left the vet day we found out she had cancer, I was thinking how am I supposed to make that decision on when it's time for her to go? The thought of me having to make that decision just killed me. That ate at me all week, and someone told me, "You will know." Well they were right, that afternoon I knew it was time. She was then suffering and breathing very heavy. Her and I layed around all day, I just kept loving on her and asking her to hang on and crying over her. It was very hard for me. Jonathan was at work and I text him around 7:15 and told him he needs to get home ASAP, Jessie was barely hanging on. I made my sister call the vet that day and schedule an appointment for Thursday to put her down. There was no way I could have made that phone call. Jonathan got home and Jess was still hanging on. We told Skylar that we were not sure if she would make it through the night. I stayed up with Jessie for a long time and her breathing was so loud and heavy that I was just constantly listening for her, quit hearing her around 2, got up thinking that was it, she was gone. Went all over the house looking for her and Dad said she was by the bathroom. Dad had put a towel underneath her because she was bleeding out a little. She was still hanging on, but barely. Mom, Dad and myself just laid around watching her, I debated on calling the vet to make a house call. It's like Jessie did not want to let go and give up. I even told her it was okay, I know you are hurting. Decided to call the vet at 7:30 as soon as they opened, told them I had an 11:00 appointment but was coming in now. She said okay well the waiting room is pretty full so we will see what we can do. My first thought was, "Awe hell no!" I was afraid I was going to have to get ugly but when we walked in Jessie was so limp and I sat down with her while my sister and Jonathan were checking her in. The waiting room was definitely packed, I sat there in that chair waiting/scared and Jessie started choking and bleeding really bad. I called Jonathan over there, as I was shaking with my precious dog dying in my lap, some complete stranger came over there and started cleaning up the blood. It was amazing, I apologized and he gave me this crazy look like it's okay honey! A few people in the waiting room asked my sister if the dog was sick, one asked if she had been hit by a car. Needless to say they all let us go first. The vet tech came out and immediately called her back. I put Jess on the table, the tech listened to her then the craziest thing happened....Jessie pushed back her head and pushed out her paws and that was it! Jonathan said, that's it baby. She passed on her own. It was very strange. The doctor came in and ended up giving her the medicine anyways because she had a very faint heart beat. I am not sure if it was better or worse watching her die like that. A part of me feels at ease because she went on her own and I did not have to watch her sweet eyes drift away while the medicine sank in but then it was very weird and strange to see a dog do that. I was actually okay at the vet, I had gotten most of my tears and goodbyes out on Wednesday. We took her home in a box and my parents buried her at their house. It was really sweet because when we went down to my parents on Friday my Mom and Dad had built a cross and put her name on it and some tree stumps around it. It was bittersweet seeing it. That dog was the most amazing dog I will ever have. Anyone that knew her felt the same way. She was so kind, gentle and patient. She always did the most amazing tricks and was just so well behaved! She is missed very much. I had her for 11 wonderful years! This was my dog and my first experience putting one down. Skylar cried a lot that day, she would just start crying and say I miss "Bear Bear". I do believe she understands. We talk about her almost everyday and Sky says in the spring time she wants Pop Pop to build a white fence around where she is buried and Sky wants to plant flowers. It was a very hard decision to make if we wanted Skylar there at the vet that day but we decided that it was best that she was. She would have been more upset coming home to her being gone without her saying a final goodbye. It also shows her that death does happen. I think it was the best decision and now she knows where Jess really is.
NOVEMBER 8
My sweet fur baby went to Heaven.
NOVEMBER 18
Officially went PRN at work, which means I can work whenever. Very excited about that! I am off weekends!! WHOO HOO! Now that is something to celebrate. I will still be working some weekends but not tied down to it and not every weekend.
Other than the few life changing events, our marriage is great! We are in this together and have a great support system. House updates will come soon. Happy Thanksgiving! We all have so much to be thankful for.
