Faithful Friend

I was digging through some photos tonight and I came across these pictures of our family dog, Radar. She was such a special dog and indeed, a faithful friend in the all of the ways that pets can be. Always knowing when something was wrong, when you needed some extra licks or cuddling, she just knew what she needed to be to each person in our family. She was a truly amazing dog, right up to the end.

Radar passed away when I was about 6 months pregnant with my oldest child. It was a sad day, but she will forever be remembered for the remarkable addition to our family that happened by "mistake". (I don't remember 100% how it happened, but she was my brother's dog. I think he needed somewhere for her to be for a while when he was moving -- he brought her over one day and she just never left.)

So there's my little jaunt down memory lane and without further ado - my dear friend, Radar. :)

Patterned Paper and stickers: Thrift Shop by October Afternoon
Flowers: Prima Marketing
Tags (both metal and paper): Tim Holtz
Alphas: Thickers by American Crafts and Tiny Type by Cosmo Cricket
Trim/crocheted ribbon: Maya Road

The Day Before...

This layout is so special in so many ways. The picture is of my daughter and me (I don't get into pictures TOO often) sitting outside waiting for the Flag Day parade to start. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, or wind, or shade to be found... it was hot. I was 9 months pregnant. My mom talked me into going to the parade in the afternoon, because M loves parades. I worked that morning, went to the parade, got a bit of a sunburn, worked a little after the parade, went home and by then my husband was home from work. He fixed dinner, I took a shower and slathered on lotion for the sunburn. I remember putting on pajamas and feeling so relaxed, I was in bed by 9pm at the latest that night. It was a good, exhausting day. 5:45am the next morning my water broke. :)

This is a layout to remember the day before... I spent the afternoon with my mom and daughter at the parade. Its the day before we became a family of four and our lives changed forever (again)!

So if you made it through all of my ramblings, now you actually get to see it. Its a sweet memory, so I'm a little more chatty than I usually am in a blog post. Or it could be that its past 1am and I wanted to get this posted before I went to bed! :)



All patterned paper/journaling card: Fly A Kite by October Afternoon
Kraft paper: Bazzill
Rose ribbon: Maya Road
Button: Stampin' Up!
Ink: Color Box
Alphas: Thickers by American Crafts

Some closer-ups of the details: