Okay, so we held a suprise 50th Wedding Anniversary party for my in-laws yesterday and family came in from all over the country for the party. It was a wonderful day. My father-in-law even cried when he saw his brother that came up to Maine from Texas.
Here is a picture of the happy couple:
Here is a picture of Payton with her great grand-father, Pa-Pa Boston (he lives in Boston)
We were able to keep the suprise and it was a great party!!
Now to the awful thing that happened...On Friday, my sister-in-law and I were going to spend the day together shopping and cooking. She lives just down the street from us so we put our dogs in her outdoor pen together for some play time. The fence on the pen is 5 feet high, and somehow our chocolate lab, Blaze, pulled the fence in and climbed out and over. Her neighbor gave us a call and was able to keep him in her yard until about 2 minutes before we got there. Of course he was headed to the local ice cream shop which is where he went the last time he got free from our house. (Guess we should not have walked him up there for an ice cream)
Unfortunately, Blaze was struck by a car. We took him to the emergency animal hospital and he did not survive. His back was broken and he was paralyzed when we picked him up from the side of the road.

My sister-in-law and I were able to stay with him until the end. My DH came home from work to help me tell the kids. As you can imagine they were devastated, especially my oldest son, as he and I picked Blaze out and they were so close.
It was a rough day, but we managed to finish up the shopping and cooking, although much later than we had planned. We all miss him terribly, and I swear I hear him at night.
RIP Blaze