It's a Love/Hate Relationship

I introduce to you the mom of Doug, the devil, and one of the funniest people I know. If you ask any one of my friends what they think about Kirsten's sister,  you could get a variety of answers. From "she hates me with a burning passion" to "Kendall and I are closer than anything".  This year she convinced my parents into getting her a puppy. Because Kendall is just the most responsible person in the world.

Courtesy of my phone

Kendall and I visiting Park City: Courtesy of Colleen Keblish

Here's a brief history of some of the ridiculous things Kendall has done to me:

When Kendall was around six years old and I was eight, we went to the neighbors house to pick peppers with our best friend Adam. Trying so hard to be cool, I said that I loved peppers. I then picked up what I thought was a bell pepper and took a nice big bite out of it. It was not a bell pepper. I screamed and rolled on the ground and covered my eye. Kendall and Adam laughed their heads off. I yelled at them to stop and Kendall told me I had anger management problems and as a red head constantly being told that I had anger problems, I threw the pepper at her. To my surprise, it hit Kendall directly in the eyeball. She cried and cried her whole way home, where she had to rinse her eye in the shower and I got in trouble for being so mean. 

When Kendall was seven years old and I was nine, I stole something from her room. I can't remember exactly what it was but I it was probably some sort of toy. I was soon caught by seven year old Kendall, who then screamed and cried saying that I had to give it back. And as a nine year old girl, I refused to give it back. Instead of logically, telling on me she threatened to pee on my floor. Thinking that Kendall was bluffing I folded my arms and refused again. But she wasn't bluffing. She squatted down and peed right there on my bedroom floor. I stood speechless. And then without even asking for her possession back she left the room and said "next time it will be poo". 

When I was twelve and Kendall was ten, we sat doing homework in the kitchen. We got in an argument and I began to give her the silent treatment. A few minutes later, she asked me how to spell February. And as an annoyed older sister, I obviously continued to give her the silent treatment. She whined and screamed for me to tell her. Then she picked up an orange from the counter top and threw it at me. 

A couple months after the "orange incident" we went outside to practice lacrosse together. As a very unorganized family we had lost every last lacrosse ball. But instead of giving up and going inside, we tried to find something to use instead like a tennis ball. Kendall called it improvising. First, while I was actually looking for a ball she picked a light-bulb sized rock in her stick and threw it at me. Luckily, she missed and I scolded her. But as usual, it didn't get through to her. I told her I didn't want to play anymore so she picked up another orange, this time rotten from the back of our pick up truck, and threw it at me. 

Recently, we were playing legos. I know, right a fourteen year-old playing legos, but it does happen. Not really caring very much I didn't jump to pick pieces out of the lego box. Unlike Kendall and her friend. When I did sit down to play, I picked up a bunch of random legos put them together in the shape of a square and told them that I had made my house already. Then laughing they took a lego plane and crashed it into my house. I have to admit it was pretty funny, so I was laughing, too. But Kendall kept bragging about all the pieces she was finding. So jokingly, I tried to grab her stuff. But she fought me back and dug a lego into my wrist. When I told her she cut me and that I was bleeding, she said "good". She then said that I "sucked at playing legos and that I was annoying" I then called her a mean word and left the room. Listening in on her and her friend's conversation, she said that I started it. Great, because I totally wrecked my own lego house.

Usually, Kendall and I get along really well. We have nicknames for each other, chill out together, and she admits that she'll miss me when I go off to college. But based on this information, would you let Kendall own a dog. Neither would I. And I wonder why Doug is so weird. 

Park City Is Not Vail

Courtesy of Travel Agent Central

“Did you go skiing yesterday?” was a question I was asked way too many times this weekend. No, I didn’t go skiing on Saturday, mainly because my boots weren’t in yet, but I wasn’t planning on skiing anyway. No matter how many times my mother tried to convince me that it was tradition to ski on the first day, I still was not going to ski. Don’t get me wrong, like most PC locals I love to ski and I’m on the Park City United Team. But I knew that skiing on opening day wasn’t going to get me anywhere. 

So on Saturday, I went on a trail ride, watched some tv, ate a pre-thanksgiving dinner with the neighbors, and saw the final Hunger Games movie (which was a pretty great conclusion to the series by the way). But I did no skiing whatsoever. And that worked pretty well for me. As the whole town was together skiing on six runs. 

I’m excited to be skiing this season at the new One, Park City. But I’m also a bit worried about Vail taking over. When Vail first bought Park City I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t think Vail would really change anything. Recently, though, I’ve been hearing about all the changes that Vail is making. As my Mother works for Park City, I have been told over and over again that Vail’s upgrades will be great for Park City. She said this before she was handed a bright red jacket with an ugly letter “i” on the back, and told that she was a volunteer rather than an employee, and couldn’t go ski on employee day. One of my best friends wasn’t hired by Vail because they don’t want as many young employees as before, even though they are extremely low on employees. The high school student that camped out from Thursday night to get first chair was kicked out, because they didn’t want the tent making the place look bad.

If I had one thing to say to Vail, it would be that Park City is not Vail. They are taking the family feel out of Park City. They keep trying to turn Park City into something that it’s not. And in the process making the locals of Park City angry. Sadly, they are forgetting that while Park City is a tourist town it is also for the locals. Park City needs to stay Park City, and while bringing us all together may make a lot of money, I see it as a mistake that it is going to be very problematic.

To Lose a Best Friend

To have a best friend means a lot. Helen Keller once said, "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light". Everyone talks about what it's like to have a best friend. That they will always be there for you. They say that best friends are the only people that really understand you. That a best friend would die for you. And they will. I have several best friends that I know that would, figuratively speaking, die for me. As I would for them.

Recently, I found that you actually don't realize what you have until it's gone. I could very well be talking about friends and moving on from a friend, as I have experienced this first hand. And while this hurts, I find that you usually move on from a friend for a reason. But losing a best friend is very different, losing a best friend is like losing a piece of yourself.

I knew that my horse Sarge was going to be put down for a long time. It was something that I knew would happen. I put off the fact that he would be gone, for months. I didn't cry, I didn't think about it. I didn't want to have to deal with that pain for longer that I had to. In the very end, he could barely walk or chew. At nine o'clock on Monday night, I was sitting in my bed reading a book when I realized that tomorrow was his last day. I realized that I had just spent his last sunset with him.

I walked to the kitchen and reached for some carrots, apples, honey, oatmeal, and some salt (Horses love salt). I then cut the carrots and the apples and mixed them with the honey and oatmeal in a big plastic bowl. With a wooden spoon I stirred it all together and added a sprinkle of salt. And then I sat and cried.

You can't change the past, I knew that. But at that moment, I wished that I could go back to when Sarge was still healthy and happy. I wish I could go back in time and spend a whole day with him. I wish I could've gone back and ridden him through the field and braid his mane. I wish I would've done better. Everyone does. I think everyone has a point in there life where they look back and they wish they would've have done things differently. And that can wreck a person but it can also make a person better.

So from then on I vowed to try to cherish everything and everyone. People need to start cherishing what they have while they still have it. Because one day everything will be gone and all that will be left, is memories. Cherish your friends, and try your best to keep them from slipping from your grasp. Hold everything you have close to you and don't let it go, because someday it might not be there anymore.

Many of you may have seen me at school on Tuesday. Many of you may have thought to yourself "Why does she look like that? What is she wearing?". And to those of you who judge anyone by what they look like then you should stop and ask yourself if you really know them. I didn't choose to go to school with watery red eyes, a stuffy nose and a big sweater. I needed to, because that morning I woke up extra early and I walked outside with my plastic bowl.

What hurt most about that morning, was that he looked the same as he always had. He licked as much as he could out of my bowl. And through the darkness I braided his mane and looked into his eyes for the last time. I kissed his face and whispered goodbye. And under the rising sun at 6:30 in the morning, I saw my best friend for the very last time. And walking away, was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

When I moved here five years ago, and I met you, I didn't know you would mean this much to me. Goodbye Sarge, I love you. And I hope there's carrots up there for you in heaven.

Rest in Peace, buddy

Doug Takes a Shower and a Night of Caffeine

On the night Doug took a shower he had an unruly amount of energy I compare this to my night at the football game because my friends and I had decided to walk to Wasatch Bagels to get coffee. I ended up getting the most delicious black and white mocha, which is a shot of espresso, chocolate, white chocolate, and steamed milk. It ended up being a wonderful thick and powerful master piece. I drank the whole thing on the way to the football game.What this resulted in was a me talking at full speed and spitting out things that don't normally come out of my mouth. I stayed awake and ran around for hours. I giggled and laughed and froze my butt off. I even spilled hot chocolate all over my white sweater. Which I then profusely scrubbed with hot water in the bathroom. Then so I wouldn't have to carry my wet sweater all night I hid it behind a bush in the corner of the field. I then went home and bonked on the couch. I don't even know what caffeine does to the brain. I say this because this it is what happened the night my sister put Doug in the shower.

Although I don't know why the hot water sparked Doug a burst of I do know that energy bursts are common in Bichon mixes. Alike adrenaline and citrus that causes bursts of energy in people, random moments can spark energy in small dogs. So after being shampooed and scrubbed clean he was set loose in my parents bedroom. To my surprise, he was nearly half of his normal size. I guess his fur is almost as poofy as my hair. He then began to run around the bed grunting, barking, and growling. After he decided to dig for nearly half an hour in the same place. Then he ran back and forth over and over again. Until finally he fell over and fell asleep right there. Just like us he gains energy and loses it. He's hungry and then he eats until he's hungry again. It's a cycle. A cycle that happens to every one in a different way. We inhale then we exhale, and then we repeat. And although Doug's repetitive gain and lose of energy is much funnier than most, it's still the same. By the way, Doug on caffeine would be very bad. It's best to keep him away from caffeine for as long as possible and rely on showers to give him his burst of energy.

Let's Talk Books

On average I enjoy reading three books per month. I love to read, but sometimes I need prompting on what books I should read and where to get them. It's hard to find a book that you absolutely know you will like because you haven't read it yet. So the best way to find a book you know you'll like is to find a book you love and look for books with the same genre. You can also try to find books that relate to you on a certain level. Now, I'm not saying you should go off and read every book from the same genre or every book with a strong female lead, because you are missing out on many other great books out there. I'm saying, often, to find a book that you'll like you have to relate a bit, and that does not mean you can't explore. Jump out of your comfort zones. I enjoy reading Michael Crichton and John Green. While totally different authors, they still appeal to me because their opposite style of writing captivates me. My favorite book is called Falling Into Place as seen below.

Falling Into Place

Falling Into Place follows Liz Emerson as she tries to kill herself and what lead up to it. The book is in perspective of an all-knowing character that is revealed at the end of the novel. The book sounds a lot like Thirteen Reasons Why but it isn't. The stories are very diverse as Liz is struggling throughout the novel to stay alive, whilst Hannah from Thirteen Reasons Why is already dead. The reason Falling Into Place is my favorite book is because it is shown through a surprising perspective. The book also follows several characters that affected or were affected by Liz. Another part of the book that I love is the use of physics. In the novel, the author relates real-life situations to different parts of physics. The author, Amy Zhang, was only eight-teen years old when she wrote the novel. I think it's incredible how someone so young can write such a creative and engaging book. I can barely write a five hundred words in a blog, let alone a well written book.

I have also recently read many other great books. One of which is Looking for Alaska. Which is currently a best-selling book. John Green has recently become an extremely popular author for all ages, as recently two of his books have been turned into movies. I have read both of his books that have been turned into movies, and loved them. But this book was different. Although it was a great book and I read it in a few days. I felt like it didn't have as much thought or meaning to it as his other books. The book was beautifully written, but in a way it copied Paper Towns (one of his novels that was turned into a movie). Both Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska are about a quirky, nerdy boy who falls in love with a crazy, fun, and bold girl who ends up leaving him in one way or another. In both novels, he finds out that this girl is not who he thought and in the process he ends up finding himself. While the words of John Green are compelling, inspiring, and everlasting, I found that I ended up reading the same book in different way.  I love John Green's books and he's hilarious, don't get me wrong, but I'm just waiting for him to do something new and inspire me with that.

Books to me are a way to escape the world you are in and be someone else for a while. Unlike movies, books require lots of imagination. Through imagination you can come up with your own story, and interpret it in a way that no one else can. Books are used as a way to read the same words but read a different story. And I think, that is what is most important, because each and everyone of us has our own story.

If Doug Was in High School

If Doug was in high school I don't think he would do better than most of us. He might have just learned how to climb up stairs, but that just proves that he's a quick learner. Doug would be the kind of student who would be sharing. The other day my Dad gave all the dogs a milk bone and Doug decided to set his own the ground for a moment. Before he could pick it up again, our golden retriever, Yogi, had inhaled it. Poor Doug, at least he's ok with sharing. Doug would also be the kind of student to not raise his hand. He enjoys lots of attention. But more importantly Doug would be a great student because of his willing attitude. Unlike Doug, I wake up many mornings just considering if it's really worth it to leave my bed. And any student that wakes up at six in the morning should understand the struggle. I wonder how a teeny tiny dog like him could have more excitement in his little body than most people do. Doug would make the best student because he would be excited about everything and anything, especially learning. 

A tradition for high school graduates is to have a quote under their senior year photo. Many students choose inspirational quote like "In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality” - Kristian Kan, and others choose their own path. Often a comedic one, like Taylor Lautner’s “I hate shirts”. Man, that kid knew himself so well. 

So as I sat in awe of Lautner’s wonderful yearbook quote, I thought “If Doug were to go to school he would need a senior quote, too”. Therefor at dinner, I asked my family what they thought Doug’s yearbook quote would be. My little sister, keeper of Doug (it’s better that way, otherwise he sits in my room and barks at 5 in the morning until I take him outside) said that Doug’s serious senior quote would be “Forget the tennis balls, I want to be a hero” and her funny senior quote would be “I like chasing tennis balls more than I like chasing my dreams.” Ok, so slightly a double negative but it works. My mom said that Doug’s serious senior would be “Carpe Diem” while my Dad said that Doug’s senior quote would be “Life is like a box of dog treats you never know what you’re going to get”. He was completely serious. But if you asked me my personal opinion I would say that none of those would be his senior quote, because Doug is so hard to define in just one sentence. Although Doug is one of the funniest dogs I know, I would say that he would choose a serious quote, something to inspire people. As he inspires us all to be more free and live life to the fullest. To live life like Doug.              . 

Doug would have to wear clothes to school no matter how many times he would object. So here’s a picture of Doug wearing a sweater. 

Doug's Halloween Sweater

Welcome To My Blog & Things Doug Chewed Today

Welcome to my blog reader, I'm Kirsten and I will be mostly writing about my new puppy Doug. Why the name Doug you may ask? Well, opposite to my families insisting that they picked the name Doug, I chose the name Doug after re-watching up. Yes, Up is one of my favorite movies. It may be a children's movie about an old man flying his house with balloons to a waterfall, but that movie has some really great scenes. So I soon added the name Doug to our list of names which included, Tater Tot, Dylan, Pickle, Theo, Bugsy, Cujo, Kevin, Buzz, Barney, Taco, and my favorite Princess Diana. After nearly a week of trying to pick a name, I just began to call the puppy Doug. And the name caught on. Before that, we had found Doug for sale online. But the woman selling him lived four hours away. Being the extremely spontaneous family that we are,  and my sister begging for a dog of her own, convinced my mom to drive halfway to pick up the dog. So they drove two hours to the middle of Wyoming. At the creepiest gas station ever, they met a random stranger, exchanged 800$ cash for a puppy, and drove away. When he got home he was a sweet little angel and he slept for like three hours. A couple weeks later he is a night terror. Kinda like something out of gremlins.

So for my first post I'm going to tell you about some things the little gremlin chewed today:

-My socks: Just a great pair of socks, with holes in them.

-My chalk bag: Chalk seems like it would taste awful...apparently it's not.

-A vet bill: No explanation needed.

-His treat Bag: I mean he's gonna eat the treats, might as well eat the bag.

My carpet: After pooping on my carpet he enjoys eating it.

(Doug looking very guilty)My toothbrush: Perhaps the most frustrating of all is when Doug eats vomit smelling dried meat (dog food) and then decides to steal and then profusely chew on my toothbrush. Yum....

Me: After attacking all those things, it's my turn to be chewed on. 

But when he's not nuisance, chewing up my things (and me), he's a little sweet heart who could brighten up anyones day. And for size reference, he's about half the size of a gallon of milk.

Although, I love writing about Doug and my blog is called the Life of Doug, I won't always be writing about Doug. Doug is also a bit of metaphor. Because Doug is seeing everything for the first time everyday (I mean yesterday he learned how to walk down the stairs) and he's so excited about it. And I believe that we should live like Doug, because no matter how many times you're stepped on my the other dogs you'll always get back up. So sometimes I won't just write about Doug but other things about life. Like photography, books, movies, travel, and even stories from my life. Ex.

An Extraordinary Story from Last Year

Last year, Me and my friend decided to audition for a christmas play. A Charlie Brown Christmas. For a week I studied Jingle Bell Rock and tried to perform it in front of my friend's deaf dog while she made cream of mushroom soup mix and forgot to add water. I thought that I had nailed it and that I actually wasn't as bad at singing as I thought. But was I wrong. So we drove down to this theatre that we thought was going to be a beautiful popular theatre, we even expected not to get a part. But when we got there the theatre was a dump in a creepy town with creepy people walking their creepy dogs at nine at night and sitting on fire hydrants. Inside there was a sign up sheet with only one name on it. So despite our gut feelings we decided to audition. Upstairs in front of a plastic table we took turns singing. I ended up getting the part of Snoopy. But the funny thing about Snoopy is that he never makes any noise. Or speaks. Or sings. I wonder why I happened to get that part. Despite both of us getting parts we ended up emailing them that we couldn't make the commute. And thank god we did. And that's the story of how I learned I can't sing for my life.

The End.