This is my "cousin" Coco - she's a King Charles Cavalier. Isn't she beautiful? I wanted to post this picture for some comic relief because there has been so much sadness out there in DWB land over the past week. We already miss Dakota, we are so worried about Bear's safety and happiness, we want Laska to find his way back home and, most of all, we were heartbroken to hear about the loss of Baby Chloe in Huskee & Hershey's house. Each of these stories alone is sad enough, but together they're overwhelming. We're saying healing prayers for all of our friends and we're hoping they each experience peace in their lives this week.UPDATE: Laska is home!!!!
Sometimes these dawgs live in Arizona and sometimes they live in Northern Idaho. A while back BRD and Hootie, along with their parents, left Arizona to go back to Northern Idaho. I think maybe they fly North in the summer and South in the winter, except I'm pretty sure they drive. All along the way they picked up rocks for me! Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. I'm not sure about the order but it sounds like a lot of driving!
All of these places are very far from my house - 2,432 miles to Arizona, 1,857 to Colorado, 2,206 to Utah, 1,813 to Wyoming, 2,116 to Montana and 2,620 to Northern Idaho. Whew! By my mom's calculations, BRD and Hootie drove 1,144 miles between Arizona and Northern Idaho. They are true traveling dawgs!
The rocks came individually wrapped and labeled so we'd know exactly where each came from. So organized! We carefully unwrapped them and put them with their labels for a photo documentation of their origins. 
Also in the box was this very interesting dawg toy. I had to check it out right away because it reminded me of someone I know. The yellow cat stuffie made me want to shake it and bite it and rip it apart! 
Hmm, I wonder why. Even Ziggy got in on the action and stole it away from me... 
Remember, my mom was an aunt before she was born so, though she's far from her 20's, she's not in her 80's either! Many of you will recall that last September my mom's nephew and his wife were in a horrible motorcycle accident that claimed the wife's life. It was a terrible time for the whole family which was only compounded by the fact that it coincided with Hurricane Ike. 
Well, the nephew that got married on May 30th is their oldest son. It was nice for my mom to go back to Texas for a happy reason. Chet and Cristina originally got engaged while visiting us (pre-me) with their whole family. Chet took Cristina to 
Next Mom and Leah hopped on a plane to Lost Wages! There they met up with Rambo and Midge's G-mom and JB and Chester's mom. I'm still horrified that they would actually do this without me, Ziggy, Rambo, Midge, JB and Chester. The nerve!!! My mom said she drank more margaritas in Vegas then she has her whole life! 
They hung out by the pool, ate delicious food at a place called 
Leah loved it so much she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face for days and now wants to jump out of a REAL plane (this does not thrill my mom one bit). My mom says it was so nice to finally meet other DWB and CWB bloggers and she thinks another trip should be planned so more of us can get together. Lost Wages is a great place to do this because there are usually inexpensive flights and hotels but if any of you have any suggestions please chime in! Wouldn't it be nice if the humans could get together some time this Fall???
The last leg of their trip required the most effort (understatement). Leah and my mom left Lost Wages and headed into Arizona. First they stopped at the Hoover Dam to look over the edge and admire the new bridge being built. Then they headed to a place called Peach Springs to spend the night before hiking 10 miles down into Havasu Canyon (a side canyon of the Grand Canyon) for a 4 day camping trip. 
The day was slightly overcast, which is great for hiking. Last August there was a devastating flash flood that washed through Havasu forever changing the landscape and the course of the beautiful blue river. 
Havasu Falls now flows as a 1-part fall rather than the 3-part fall it was the last time they were there. 
It was still breathtakingly beautiful though. Two new falls were created during the flood and one of the falls had a beautiful swimming hole. 
The group spent quite a bit of time there swimming and jumping through the waterfall. 
They did the trecherous rock climb down to Mooney Falls 
and spent time down there exploring the many changes to the river. 
On the last day there my mom and Leah decided to join 4 others and take a helicopter out rather than hiking up the 10 mile trail. 
They still had to hike 2 miles to the Indian village where the helicopter left from (which was about all Mom's poor feet could handle). When they got on the flying bird they were laughing and giving each other high-5's over their decision! The flight was a mere 7 minutes for a hike that would have taken 5 hours! 
The nicest thing for my mom was not to be totally wiped out for the 5 hour drive back to Lost Wages.
One more night in Vegas then they hopped on a plane back to ME! My mom has told me not to worry, she's not going away for any length of time again until Thanksgiving. Hmmm, that is unless all of the human DWB and CWB people decide to get together in the Fall... You can never trust humans...
