once an animal lover

Posted on August 13, 2015 by tara

Growing up, I was always known as the “animal lover” of the family. My lifelong goal was to help animals in any way I could.

I always found that I had some special way of understanding them, as they did me.

_MG_2976 They were my safe place. At the end of the day, if I was stressed, hurting, or just needed company, I knew they would always be there for me. There was an inherent trust between us. “You care for me, and I’ll watch out for you”, they always seemed to say. Losing Jax was hard. The trust and security I had relied on throughout my whole life was suddenly shattered, and for a short time, I wondered if it was gone forever. I loved him, but his hurting of my own human child felt unforgivable. IMG_20140729_191344 We are without a pet for the first time in the six years we’ve been married. A little time has passed since the dog bite incident, and Jax officially has a new home now. While I am so happy that he received a second chance and the best possible future, there is definitely an aching void in my heart for my puppy.

My furry buddies are such a huge part of who I am, and I’m sure now that nothing can change that.

Once an animal lover, always an animal lover.

feeding the ducks

Posted on July 22, 2015 by tara

Kaya has been asking to go feed the ducks ever since the warm weather arrived. I’ve been saving the heels of the bread in the freezer for a few weeks, and finally felt like we had enough, so on Monday, we had family night at the pond. This little girl could not have been more excited! We even had some ducklings come over for a snack. Kaya broke the bread up extra-small for their little mouths.
Kaelyn was so intent on watching everything! I love her look of concentration here. She blew bubbles for the ducks, too. Hot and sweaty from walking, but I made it in a picture! I’m trying to do better with that lately. We enjoyed a nice, somewhat long walk home. We love summer and all its beauty.

goodbye, scrappy

Posted on January 9, 2014 by tara

Today, Michael’s childhood dog had to be put to sleep.Scrappy was almost 14 years old (which is such a long life for such a big dog)! The whole family loved him so much, especially all the boys. They always counted him as their fourth “brother”.

I don’t have a whole lot to write, other than that he was a good boy. And to a dog, that is the very best thing you can say.

I’m sorry we couldn’t be there to say goodbye, Scrappy, but I thought of you all day long. I’m so glad we got to see you just a couple weeks ago at Christmastime.We’ll miss your excited, wagging tail next time we come home to visit, but we will see you again someday.

We love you, Scrappadoodledoo.

utah’s hogle zoo

Posted on August 21, 2013 by tara

Are you ready for photo-overload? I just had a hard time narrowing it down when there were so many beautiful animals and fun moments with my two favorite people!After everyone else left Utah to head home to Virginia, it was just the three of us! With no scheduled events or time commitments, we wanted to do something fun together, just our little family. So, we chose the zoo, and I’m so glad we did. It was more than worth it for the memories we made.

(Michael’s wearing my sunglasses, and Kaya’s cuddling with this little puppy that the grandson of the couple we stayed with lent to her. I think she had a little crush on him, so she carried his puppy around a lot! Haha) We were all pretty excited looking at the elephants! Bath time! Kaya loved the giraffes the most, but that could have just been because it was the animal we were able to get closest to. I fell in love with the polar bear (which just happened to swim behind Michael as I was taking this picture)! That one on the top right is completely made of Legos!

Did you know that polar bears have special eyelids that act like sunglasses to protect their eyes from the light reflecting off the snow?

We walked around for about 3 hours (something that would never happen in the Virginia humidity)! Kaya was a trooper and did so well, and passed out just before we left.I’m so grateful for my own little family to enjoy days like these with 🙂

one lifelong dream

Posted on July 23, 2013 by tara

Tuesday Topics this week is on a lifelong dream! I’ve had so many goals and aspirations throughout my life so far, but the one ambition I can always remember having is this…

I’ve always wanted to help animals. I have had a special love and connection with them ever since I was a little girl, and I’ve forever had a desire to heal the sick ones, feed the hungry ones, and love those that had no one else.

me and my childhood dog, Shadow

When I was small, I thought that the only way to help animals was to become a veterinarian, so that’s what I set out to do. In my college years, I realized that that wasn’t exactly what I wanted as a career.

While my current focus is on being the best mother I can be, I hope that one day I can do more- maybe volunteer at a shelter, foster some puppies or even consider working as a veterinary technician. For now, I’ll just keep advocating adoption over buying pets. I’m so grateful for all the amazing rescue organizations that have helped so many pets find loving homes, especially my Jax.Linking up with Lauren and Tiffany!

ten things that make me happy

Posted on May 21, 2013 by tara

I saw this “Tuesday Topics” link-up, and it sounded pretty fun, so why not join in? Here ten things that make me happy, in no particular order… 🙂

1. falling asleep cuddling with my best friend
2. waking up to my sweet, smiling baby girl _MG_3687 3. my pets (and really any animals in general)

4. photography
5. running
6. baking (and eating!) sweets
7. weekends (because that means family time!)
8. writing in my journal (I do it every single night)
9. visiting the temple10. my whole crazy family

the living planet aquarium

Posted on May 16, 2013 by tara

While we were out in Utah, we went to check out the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. I had seen their website and heard from a few people that it was worthwhile. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with how small it was. It was fun for a short visit, and there were a few exhibits that housed larger animals, but most everything else was just fish. (I know, it’s an aquarium… there are obviously going to be fish. I just wish they had had more of the “bigger” animals too!)

Here are a few of our favorites: some very playful otters!The lion fish.And penguins (we definitely thought of Lelia while watching them!) Kaya did really enjoy watching everything swim around!

Michael and Tara

It's Us!

Category Archives: animals