Tia is Engaged!

Mike and Tia

Tia got engaged to Mike Stankey on January 18th, though naturally the temple was scheduled before that.  I would have written about this sooner, but Tia and Mike were just a bit stubborn and wouldn't send me a picture of them both together.  Tia always claimed that Mike had all of the pictures, and when I asked Mike for a picture he told me that his ear was in the picture of Tia that he had sent me the night before.  I love them both anyway.  It is so fun to have them around, and I didn't exactly remember to try to take their picture when they were here either.

Mike is from Ohio, though his family lives in Michigan now.  Tia and Mike are currently there visiting his family.  He is the middle of 3 children with an older brother and a younger sister -- all of them grown up.  Tia and Mike met during a Family Home Evening (they're in the same ward) and Mike said he got up the courage to talk to her when they were carving pumpkins.  Mike attends BYU and is in the U.S. Army Reserve (though he hasn't done basic training yet -- that comes after the wedding).

I love a lot of things about Mike including his smile, his thoughtfulness, and his good humor.  Once somebody was trying to ask Tia out at work and Tia said, "Oh, I have a Mike".  I like how much Tia smiles because she has a Mike, and he loves her so well. We will like having another son-in-law. They are getting married on May 5th.  This is also Tia's Dad's birthday, and Mike's Mom's birthday so there will be a lot of celebrating to do!

A picture from Kayli's birthday celebration in December

The Poor Pooch

Teddy in his cast and cone.

See Kayli's feet?  That's how close to Kayli Teddy likes to be right now.
Every minute of the day and night if possible.

I believe the story goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a fun, wiggly, poofy dog who liked to chase things.  He was visiting his friends in another house where there are dogs and cats to play with, and he decided that chasing one of the cats would be really fun -- and it was -- right until he slid on the wood floor too close to a wall vent and sliced open his foot.

Poor Kayli and her friend, who really dislike blood, were trying not to pass out while trying to figure out what to do.  They ended up driving Teddy to the Instacare for dogs up in Orem.  Teddy had to have stitches, which naturally he couldn't be awake for.  He has a cast-like thing that is supposed to stay dry, and the cone to keep him from biting his cast (which in the picture is covered with a sock).  The cast can come off tomorrow I think, but the cone has to stay on for two weeks.

So, Kayli's nice happy dog has become like a clingy two year old child who just wants to stay by his Kayli all of the time.  She went to the temple for an hour the other day and he cried and cried the whole time she was gone.  There was nothing I could do.  It was very sad.  He kept trying different doors hoping she would come through one of them.

He's gotten a little better since then, but he usually stays very close to whoever is home.  When I came home from orchestra last night he came right over so I could pet him and he sat on my feet in an effort to make sure I didn't go anywhere again (which is a trick Trisa and Travis' dog uses all of the time!).

It will be a nice thing when Teddy goes back to being the fun, wiggly, poofy dog that we all love -- with the non-cone, very cute, puffy face!