Brewster Rocket

This week we've been thinking about and working on Christmas presents. There were two big ones that we knew we wanted to get off KSL, so we were working on finding the right ones: a basketball hoop and a dog.

We have been getting flu shots and finishing up everyone's covid vaccinations (the kids can now get vaccinated, and the parents can get a third shot, so we are doing all of those now. On Monday Boo got her flu shot. She was sad when she got it, but she also got a sucker, so that was good enough that she stopped crying right away.

Later in the day Mike got his flu shot and his final covid shot too. After that he went to check out one of the basketball hoops that was for sale, and decided to buy it. It took about three hours to get the thing in the car (we had to take it apart and dump out the gravel from the base, and some of the parts were rusted. They broke one of the bolts, but otherwise it came apart without any trouble.

On Tuesday, we played with the Dalyais for the first time in a long time! They went to Flat Iron Mesa Park and invited us to join them. We were excited, and then we realized that the car was still full of basketball hoop. The girls really, really wanted to go, so they decided to get the basketball hoop out by themselves. They came up with the idea of using one of the iron bars as a lever, and they managed to get it out! We had a wonderful time with the Dalyais at the park, and then we went and picked up the gravel from the basketball hoop, brought it home, and set the whole thing up. It is an awesome hoop and has been enjoyed already.

Wednesday morning it was Alison's turn to get shots (flu and Covid). It was fairly painless, but it did take most of the school day. This was not the best week for school; Alison was having trouble focusing. The kids did some good stuff anyway.

Wednesday after Mike got off of work he took Gideon to get his shots. Gideon was not as good as last time, but he made it through alright. The most interesting part of Gideon's shots was that they were at a pharmacy on a target. While we waited for the 15 minutes to check to see if there was going to be an allergic reaction, we wandered the store and he decided to spend his savings on a large electronic T-Rex toy that plays music and moved around with a remote control

Alison spent all week haunting KSL looking for dogs. Most of the ones she asked about never even answered her texts. She finally found one that sounded OK, if not perfect. It had been around kids our kids' ages and was very gentle and kind, which was the most important thing to us. It was a golden retriever mix, which was a nice plus. But he was only 7 months old, not neutered or vaccinated yet, and Alison did not want a puppy. However, after so many people not responding and the good description, she decided to text anyway. He responded that we could come Thursday afternoon. We went and were really impressed! We never would have believed he was still a puppy; he was calmer and better-behaved than our old dog Rusty. He was very calm and gentle with Boo and Sara, who were intimidated by him, but when Timmy invited him out in the yard to play, he was happy to run and jump with him. We were really happy about him, but one other person had responded right before we went there, so we decided to meet the other one on Saturday and then decide.

Thursday night it started to snow! We were excited to go out in it, but Nature Group in the snow was pretty intense. Everyone but Rea begged to go home early at least once. However, between hot soup, a sled with blankets to sit in and rest, some singing, and another kid's find of a mysterious rectangle of black glass mounted on a wooden back laying in the bushes, we made it through the whole time. There was a lot more snow up at Dimple Dell than in Taylorsville, so we were able to come home and warm up and feel good.

We had to clean up and have dinner quickly, because our old home teacher Brother Pope had called Mike and wanted to come over and catch up. We always enjoy talking to him, and he is one of the most supportive people about our early retirement ideas. We did a financial freedom class with him and his wife and the Dalyais many years ago, so we have the same ideas. It was fun to catch up and hear about how the financial program he'd taught us has grown and changed. We'll be getting together with him and his wife to talk more in a few weeks.

Saturday morning was the Ward Christmas Party. We had breakfast casseroles for brunch, which were delicious. Then the Primary kids did a Nativity play, narrated by two of the young women and with Christmas songs sung by the congregation accompanied by a brother on the guitar. The kids also sang the new Christmas song they learned, "Little Lord Jesus." It was very nice! Then the kids did a manger craft while the adults played Christmas Around the World trivia, and Mike and Alison won! That was exciting.

After the Christmas party, we went to meet the second dog. This one looked like a good choice: a five year old German Shepherd, very gentle with the baby and toddler in his house, only being rehomed because the baby was allergic. But when we got there, he hardly paid any attention to us. He would play fetch - he obviously loved fetch - but he wouldn't let us pet him or interact with him other than throwing the ball. We quickly decided that we liked the first dog better and asked if we could come get him. The owner said yes, so we picked up our wonderful new dog!

His name is Bruce. It's not our favorite name, so we had long discussions about renaming him. Finally, jokingly, Mike suggested the name Brewster after the comic character Brewster Rockitt. Alison thought that was a great plan: start calling him Brewster (because that's an easy nickname for Bruce), then Brewster Rocket, then shorten it to Rocket. All of us think Rocket is a better dog name than Bruce, so he'll probably be renamed in a week or two.

We are slowly acquiring all the supplies needed for a dog; things went a little faster than expected, so we're working on it. We need to pick up proper food bowls at Savers on Monday. We're looking KSL for baby gates to shut in the area under our front room table for a kennel (since large dog kennels seem to cost almost $100 on KSL). We're also going to try out an invisible fence system because there isn't a great place for a fence in our yard, and there's someone with one of those on KSL too. 

We got him a Kong, but he doesn't seem to like it :(. We hope to find him a toy he really likes soon. He doesn't know any basic obedience, and once we find out something he likes enough to work for it, it'll be much easier. We're lucky he's such a calm, well-behaved dog, because even without a really good reward (so far he's rejected peanut butter, hot dog, and cheese), he's very easy to get along with. 

Sara is nervous of having a dog so close, but since he's so calm, she's getting brave fast. She likes to sit up high where he can't reach her, but sometimes she'll come down and cuddle with Mom even if Brewster's on the other side, and she'll walk past him if he's distracted. Timmy absolutely loves him, and so does Boo; they spend almost all their time with him, and Gideon is pretty close too. Rea and Alison are happy too. Mike is OK with having a dog because everyone else wants one so much. Brewster slept badly last night, which is normal for the first night in a new house, so Mike is tired today. Hopefully Brewster sleeps well tonight and everyone is happier tomorrow.

After we got the dog home, Alison, Rea, Sara, and Timmy went to the drive-through Living Nativity at the Lutheran church down the street. Mike was making dinner and Gideon and Boo stayed home to help Brewster get comfortable in the new house. Last year, the nativity was amazing, but the line was insane. This year the line was completely reasonable and we really enjoyed the nativity again. They do an amazing job and I think this will become one of our Christmas traditions.

Since the dog woke up every hour the first half of the night and cried because he didn't know where he was, and then Boo woke up every hour the second half of the night and cried and then the dog barked because he was worried about her, we're all pretty tired today. Hopefully tomorrow is better!