A new addition to the Hawkins Family

We have a new addition to our little family and no I am not pregnant. This is our first mother and daughters photo. Isn't it cute? Too bad the new addition isn't actually looking at the camera. Her name is Minnie and she is a miniature pincher (mini-pin - chihuahua plus a doberman pincher mixed). In other words I have a Paris Hilton dog. I know I can't believe it either. Pick up your jaws everyone! It is true! I know I used to hate small dogs but this was totally unexpected. My heart never saw her coming. Here is a full grown picture. She looks bigger in this pic than she is. But here is Minnie Hawkins. She received her name because I have to name all my pets after a Disney character. Plus I called her a mini-me for a while because she is so tiny and she is a Mini Pin so it all seemed to just fit. Minnie is 7lbs right now and the vet has estimated her to be about 2 years old. She was born into our family on Sunday, May 3rd in the afternoon. We found her on our front lawn but she didn't come alone....

Minnie arrived with Dori or so we called her temporarily. Dori was a Black Lab puppy about 4 months old. Nala was let out to go the bathroom and she started barking. I went outside and saw these two peering their little heads out of the side of a bush. Aren't they both adorable. Jeff took them inside and bathed them both. They smelled awful and he fed them. We couldn't let them stay outside in the rain.

Dori and Minnie stayed the night with us and we found a home the next day for Dori. She was too big to stay with us for long and the Humane Society couldn't take either of them as they were full. This is Nala being introduced to them on a completely friendly and bark-free environment.

Aww!!!! How could you not instantly fall in love. Look at Dori's face!!!!!!!

Nala became instantly jealous of Minnie however and I worried about that. We weren't sure we were going to keep her yet but I told Jeff she was on a trial basis depending on how Nala would react to her. Well she seemed to be okay with Jeff around but if I went anywhere near Minnie, Nala would jump over to me. One night Nala went to her bed and I was petting her good night when Minnie came over and when one of her feet hit the bed I heard Nala let out a low growl! Whoa! Minnie get away from the bed (not neutral territory).

The first family photo! Of course there are 5 of us in here. We had to put one up for adoption but she was still a family member for a day.

There last night as sisters. They wanted to spend all their time together.

As you can see below, Nala has let Minnie grow on her. they sleep together now. This morning I found Minnie not sleeping in her own bed but in Nala's right next to her although she was under the blanket. Ahh, Nala is going to share.

Warning! This next part is disturbing. So don't continue reading if you're weak in the stomach.

Tuesday night I found a leakage from Minnie's bum. Yep, a nice little white worm! And another 3 minutes later, another worm... about 5 minutes later, yet another! This lasted through most of the night so I went to check her bed blanket and a whole bunch of dead ones were there crusted into the blanket. GROSS!!! Yeah basically. So Jeff and I grabbed some Q-tips and kept checking for them to just crawl out.

So I called the vet the next morning and we took her in. They told me she was underweight and a little thin. Not too much but by a pound or so which on a little dog is a lot since she is a toy dog. Then they came in after her fecal test and confirmed she had tapeworms from fleas. (We have been giving her flea baths every 4 days now) and she also has whip worms.

As if that wasn't enough they came back in from the blood test to tell me that my little one was going to die!!! Yes you heard right. She has heart worms which is basically like telling me she has cancer. The heart worms are damaging her heart every day. And its fatal if we don't kill them. They felt so bad knowing that this little one was found by us only a few days ago and they gave us the worst news ever! They then told us that we can treat it and kill the worms but its very expensive ($750 -$800). Its a 3 month process and she is confined to a bed for 2 months. No play time or anything. Once the treatment starts she will be very sore and if she even walks too much it can cause an embolism (blood clot) from the worm breaking off and she could die from that.

I was heartbroken. She is so young and has taken over my heart already. I let Jeff make the decision and he said we should save her life!! So we are going to!

Pray for my little one!

Dad's 80th Birthday!

For my dad's 80th birthday my siblings and I decided to surprise him. He knew that Denise, Jeff, and I were going to San Diego to visit him on the boat. What he didn't know was that Jeni and her family and my brother Charles were going to surprise him on the morning of his 80th birthday. This was 2 days before when Jeff and I decided to dance at the restaurant near the marina to a live band. The next day we all went to the San Diego Temple. Its so beautiful!!! I loved being there and the presence of the spirit can be felt just on the grounds. We took most of these pics for Jeff and I and for Jeff's mom who loves this temple.

Jeff and I really can't resist being romantic. I hear it wears off after the first year of marriage but I really hope not!

I love this pic of Denise and I. Too bad I look like the Chinese kid. How did I end up with such small eyes?Denise has this friend of hers that likes to randomly put things in her purse when she is not around it. She found a mini etch-a-sketch one day and decided to pursue being an architect so she decided to use that and begin sketching the San Diego temple.

It actually turned out pretty good! At least now she has a fall back plan and she can take her drawings with her anywhere. Hope her clients have good eyesight looking at that small thing. At least she is saving paper and going green!

Here we are the morning of my Dad's 80th birthday. We decided to take him out to breakfast. He still has no idea the other kids are showing up at the restaurant to surprise him. I am just praying he doesn't have a heart attack. When we got there Denise said, "Hey dad, look who I found." My dad's jaw could have been picked up from the floor it dropped so low! It was absolutely fantastic! He teared up as we were seated at the table. Jeff loves to do this monkey face of his and he pulls on his ears too. Natalie is trying to impersonate him.

As you can see everyone is happy! I love family reunions!

This is Raymond and Maybelline. They are just some of the ducks that live on the boat. We made the mistake of feeding them one day so now they come to the back of the boat every afternoon awaiting their mid-day snack. If you don't bring it they will walk up the boat docks and stand next to your boat and quack at you very loud, might I add.

This is Denise and Natalie looking at dear old Maybelline and Raymond.

Later, we headed to the park. Natalie loved that!

She loves to jump up in the air and land on her bottom. I am not sure why. That poor tale bone.

Dad's Birthday dinner....

The "dad's life book" We presented Dad with a scrapbook of his life and the decades that are filled with his story. We then each contributed a part to it. Jeni and Denise wrote two poems and I wrote a letter to him. He of course broke down and cried! I love you Dad!

The next day we all went to the San Diego Zoo. This pic was awesome. The old and the Young both being pushed around. Life really does circle itself, doesn't it.

This had to be awesome! Dad wasn't too happy about being pushed around in a wheelchair but he can't climb the many hills at the Zoo. So here he decides to push Jeff! That didn't last very long.

Pending a sea lion show...

Playing with Gorillas.

Natalie thought she wanted to be like the rest of us... to push a stroller/wheelchair. Oh how they want to grow up so fast... Just stay young while you can.

Looking at turtles. Dad and daughter.

For lunch we ate at home.. Isn't this the cutest pic ever??

We went to Sea Port Village the next day. It was beautiful outside!

Natalie loved to roll around the grass with Jeff.

Jeff has forgotten his age and decided to climb this. It was clearly not a playground but he didn't mind.

But he forgot to wear his shoes so Natalie thought he could borrow hers. :)

Denise bought a beautiful kite for Natalie. She loved flying it.

She sure does like piggy rides though.

Hanging around for lunch..

...and ice cream...

The last day Jeni and Zack left for Laguna Beach and the rest of us went to Joe's Crab Shak for lunch. Its a really good thing Jeni didn't go because they all ate fish straight from the shells. Crabs, lobsters, mussels... there is no way Jeni would have made it through lunch. The waitress gave us a roll of paper towels and said she would bop us on the head if we asked for more napkins. Charles got bopped at least 3 times!

Here they all are with their napkin/bibs! What a bunch of kids!

Jeff did a wonderful thing for my Dad and I love him for it! He has such a wonderful heart. He took the rails on the back of the deck off which were peeling and looked awful and he sanded them down and then re-stained the wood.

The finished project. It looked awesome and I know my Dad was truly greatful!!!

It was a wonderful trip but wore me out beyond belief. I came home and slept 12 hours that night!! and then followed that later in the afternoon with a 2 hour nap! I was exhaused but Dad's reaction to all of us showing up was wonderful and I will never forget it!