Snow Much Snow

Back on January 25, we had a huge snowstorm come through. Danny had a flight to Seattle booked for that morning - he got out of Columbus right before the snow. I'm pretty sure he said they were the last flight before they shut down the airport! We spent many hours shoveling snow off of the driveway those few days!

This was taken a few days later -- I feel like we got more than 10"

The house sure looked "purty," though!

It was so cold after the snow that it stuck around for what felt like weeks!

 

Baby Odie 2026

I uploaded these photos of Oden from my phone back in April. Back then, I intended on just writing a quick note showcasing our beautiful pup. Since then, a lot has changed and I feel this is a good spot to memorialize our sweet, perfect pup.

Back on May 12, we got the horrible news from a state highway patrol officer that Oden had been hit by a car, not far from the house. He did not make it. 

I had just gotten home from work -- I would've just passed the spot on SR61 where we later found Oden. When I got home, I thought it was odd that I was not greeted by Oden. Typically, I could hear him jumping up on the door as I punched in my entry code in the garage. I thought, maybe he's with Danny in the basement, maybe he's with the kids. We had been having our fence replaced in sections, so I didn't even think he would be out back. I put away my things from work as usual, went upstairs to say hi to the kids (neither of them knew where Oden was), and then went downstairs to the basement to say hi to Danny. He was on a work call, so I mouthed, "Where's Oden?" He immediately went upstairs and then outside to look for Oden. Not long after, Danny got the call that we had lost Oden. I've tortured myself since and have watched all of the Ring camera footage leading up to us finding Oden. It's awful. 

Danny came back inside the house and just said, "Oden's gone" - I didn't believe him. I lost it and then didn't tell the kids in the best way. I was so upset and in disbelief. Danny then went back outside as I told the kids and then I went to tell my parents. Afterward, while we were all upset, I couldn't find Danny. I didn't know the trooper had told Danny where Oden was. He had walked through my parents' yard to where Oden had been hit. I got ahold of him on the phone and we decided I would meet him with the car. When I got over to 61, the trooper was still there. There was another car and a man in neon construction clothes. I have since learned that he was the one who hit Oden. I'm sure his day was ruined as well. The trooper helped us cross the road to Oden. He just looked like he was sleeping in the tall grass. He hardly had any visible signs that he had been hit. I just started crying and Danny picked him up and we wrapped him in a mattress cover and a towel I had brought. When I had talked to Danny on the phone, I contemplated what to bring - I just kept saying out loud, "I don't want to do this!" I didn't want to pick out the blanket or towels that we were going to have to wrap our sweet boy in. The task seemed so simple and so difficult at the same time. After Danny picked up Oden, he decided to carry him home. I don't know how he did it. Oden was Danny's shadow.

When we got home, my mom told us we could bring Oden to her vet and they would help us. We placed Oden in the back of the Blazer and we all said our goodbyes. It didn't feel real. It felt like a dream. Danny and I drove him to the vet and they very calmly gave us instructions on what to do. It was awful handing his body over. To never see him again.

I'm not sure what was the worst part - the suddenness of it all? The horrible way he was taken from us? The fact that none of us got to say a proper goodbye while he was still with us? We are all going to miss him SO SO much. I miss how excited he would get to go on a ride in the car -- it was almost impossible to get his car harness on him. I miss how he loved sitting on your lap on the couch - even though he would move over to Danny the second he would sit down next to me. I miss how during dinnertime, all you had to say was, "get on your spot" and he never hesitated. I miss how he'd look at me, longingly, from the couch as I prepped dinner each night. I miss how he followed the sun as it moved through the house during the winter months. I miss taking him for walks and how he'd eat his "greens" on the way. I miss how he would always find tall brush or grass to go #2 in - he made cleaning up after him so easy! I miss how Colin used to turn his ears the "right" way...and how Cadence hated it. I miss how soft his ears were. I miss how he was magnetized to cardboard boxes - he loved destroying them like they were his favorite toy. I miss how he was the "goodest" boy -- he never barked, he never destroyed anything in the house, he left food in the pantry alone, he never had an accident in the house, heck, he never even really shed! Yes, he was uber protective of us and we were always on guard when someone new came to the house, but he was just the sweetest boy to our family. We always joked that we felt like we stole him from some poor family that was probably missing him. The dog that started out as "Pop Rocks" when we thought we were going to adopt Carmen from the shelter. The way he stole our hearts and made us laugh as he jumped like a pogo stick over the tennis ball at the shelter. He completed our family and we have huge, gaping holes in our hearts now. We will miss our sweet boy, our "Odie," our "Odester," for forever.

Trip to Cali to Ring in 2026

To wrap up our crazy year of traveling, we spent the glorious week between Christmas and New Years on the west coast. Dad drove us to the airport the morning after Christmas Day and we got to San Diego a little bit before midnight local time.

We started out the next morning with a stroll through Balboa Park.

They had such pretty flowers -- some had silly names!

We rented a quad bike and rode around Coronado for a bit!

Before dinner, we checked out the sunset at the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park -- fitting!

We also got a pic with the D&V carving Danny spotted when he went with Colin in July!

The photos we got were just too good!

There was a crazy guy out there surfing! It was chilly!

We hit up our favorite pizza spot for dinner, Pizza E Birra. Wish we could eat there every week!

Next up was a hike at the Mission Trails Regional Park

Cabrillo National Monument

We spoiled ourselves with dinner at Dukes in La Jolla. We can't get enough of the Hula Pie!

Before we left San Diego the next day, we made a pit stop to check out some beautiful cars. I can't even fathom how much money was in the showroom. Colin was in awe.

I think the Bugatti was the most expensive car in there - it was not for sale.

Next up, Waldorf Astoria in Monarch Beach. We got our stay mega comped because of all of Danny's travel and Hilton stays. We felt like royalty!

Beautiful sunset near the water amongst bonfires.

We walked to dinner one night and the entrance to the resort looked so pretty! We didn't do a whole lot there since we don't golf, but we played some cornhole, took some walks, relaxed, and hung out by the pool (mostly chilled in the hot tub). 

The next day, we made our way to Disney to ring in the new year! Since we aren't Disneyland newbies anymore, we knew what we wanted to hit up, so we just did a day pass with park hopper capabilities!

We watched the guy draw this with water and a broom!

The crazy kids and their spinny rides!

It rained a LOT that day -- at least we got to ride most of what we wanted (I think I was the only one bummed that Goofy's Sky School was closed). This was us in line for Indiana Jones -- the ride had to "pause" a few times -- luckily we finally got to ride!

Space Mountain :)

Decorated so pretty for the holidays

We got to see fireworks twice that night -- once at 9pm for the east coast folks and midnight for the locals!

The next day, VCA sent us this adorable pic of our pup

While Danny and Colin checked out the Universal Studios shops, Cadence and I went on the Warner Brothers tour (Colin went with Vince back in July). It was pretty cool! Here's a "street" that's been featured many times -- one of those was on Friends!

This was featured in Gremlins

The famous water tower!

Tom Cruise's reserved parking spot

Photo op! Pic taken by our tour guide :)

Friends lot

Abbott Elementary trailer!

The Friends store had some cool stuff -- including yummy food!

The end of our tour - the couch & fountain from the opening of Friends

Abbott Elementary

I thought Dad would like to see these

And Colin would be impressed by these from Minecraft

"Central Perk!"

From the Lego Movies

That night we enjoyed ramen for dinner in Culver City. Culver Studios was lit up nicely for the holidays.

On our last full day on the west coast, we checked out the spot where they parked all of the Rose Bowl parade floats after the parade. The parade was too early to get to after being at Disney until 1am, so this was the next best thing. It was a shame the rain put a damper on things, but it was still neat to see the floats up close!

We knew Momma would like the owl.

Love the show Shrinking!

Had to show Pops the bees

The San Fran float was so cool!