Remembering 9/11...

Where were you on 9/11, and what were you doing? These questions have been asked more often than not lately and it has been quite interesting to read what people have written or what they have said. Like everyone else I definitely remember this day 10 years ago very vividly.
It was my junior year in highschool and I was home sick with mono. I had woken up earlier than usual because I was running a temperature of 103.7 and I felt horrible. I was laying in bed trying to fall back to sleep when I suddenly heard my mom say (louder than usual) "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" I immediately jumped out o bed and went into my parents room to find my mom standing in front of the tv in complete shock about what Ahwaz seeing. When I asked what happened she said that an airplane had flown into one of the world trade center buildings. We immediately thought that it was just some freak accident. My mom had to keep getting ready so she was in her bathroom getting ready and j was sitting on he bed watching the news when suddenly out of nowhere a second plane flew right into he other world trade center building. I immediately responded the same way my mom did...all I could say was "oh m gosh, oh my gosh" while staring at the tv in complete awe and shock. It was at this point that we had a bad feeling that this wasn't an accident. When hearing hat this was a terrorist act and we had been attacked I could hardl believe it. These kinds of things didn't happen in real life and especially didn't happen in my lifetime...this is what you learn about in your history class at school.
I remember that the coverage of the events was literally on every channel and since I was home sick and stuck on the couch, all I watched was 9/11 coverage. A bit depressing and overwhelming to say the least. All of my aunts ( especially Jaime) were worried that I would become depressed or upset watching all of this negative coverage by myself during the day so they would take turns coming over and hanging out with me. I spent nearly each day glued to the tv listing to the names of the people who had died or even better names of the people that were miraculously found under the mess of the building remnants. I have never felt so overwhelmed and invested in something despite it being so far away. Although New York and Oregon are on opposite ends of the United States it felt as if it were simply a few blocks away.
Although the events on 9/11 were unbelievably overwhelming and scary it was on the other hand incredible to see everyone bond together and show their pride and love for this country. I saw flags flying, people wearing red white and blue, businesses carrying patriotic merchandise, and an increase in people helping people. It was amazing to see but it was a bit of a bummer that it had to take something like a terrorist attack for us to come together as a country.
The pictures I included in this specific blog is from the flags of honor display in Salem, which is back for a second run. It's simply amazing to see and feel a part of. On the main flags are the names of everyone that died on 9/11 because of the attacks. There were also flags for those from Oregon who passed away in combat. One of those heroes was my cousins husband Captain Drew Jensen. He was a West Point graduate and to say that he was amazing is one heck of an understatement. He is a hero and was one incredible leader and person. Thank you Drew for your amazing dedication and love for our country...you made a huge difference.


I could go on about this forever, but I will close it ip by asking you've same question I answered..."where were you on 9/11 and what were you doing?"

To the BEST K-9 in the land!

Since being back in Oregon I have been spending a lot of time with my wonderful pup Joey. So I decided that he more than deserves a post dedicated to him and only him. Why...cause he is the man! Rather than typing up an akward story in wonky order I am going to pin point the best, funniest, quarkiest and most memorable things about him and his life as a Melton.

-Joey is a dazzling chocolate lab with the most beautiful and soft brown coat. He hast the softest ears in the world and my sister McKenna and I sware that he feels like a little bunny.


-We adopted him from family friends whose 2 pups (1 chocolate lab, 1 black lab) had a litter of adorable puppies together. They had half black and half chocolate labs, and they were all precious as can be, but Joey (or Charlie Brown as he was known before we adopted him) was the one for us!
-When we went to visit Joey before adopting him we went over to our friends house and saw all of the sweet puppies taking a little nap, and we all stood in amazement when we saw that the dogs, yes the dogs had seperated themselves by color. The black ones were sleeping in a pile together and the chocolate ones were sleeping in a pile together. They were all in one big area together, and literally seperated themselves...what the heck?
-Before we adopted you, your name was Charlie Brown...but we soon changed it to Joey-you just looked like a Joey to us. However you have many nicknames, which include: Jo Jo Beans, Jo Jo, Beans, Joseph Alowicious, Gary (inside joke), Beanie, "You're a good man Joseph Brown", Do Do (pronounced "Dough Dough" by Sydney age 2) and Joe.


-You are a funny dog with some pretty interesting quarks, including: you used to get a little nervous and uptight when you were left home alone for a few hours and in the first few months we had you, you developed a stark white spot (shaped like a heart) on your ear from stress...honestly Joe, stress? When we are gone (a few hours maximum) you literally have the entire large backyard, your room (laundry room) which has a giant soft bed, toys and always fresh water, and then you also have access to the family room. So needless to say you have plenty of room indoors and outdoors if we are gone for a little bit. When we first got you, you would dig your way out of the back yard and once you made it to the front yard you didn't exactly know what to do at that point so we would often come home to you laying on the porch and the minute you saw us pull into the driveway you would immediately jump up, wagging your tail and looking at us like "oh yay, thank goodness you are home I've been waiting so patiently for you!" Luckily this phase didn't last long. Another funny quark that you had and thankfully still have is the way that you sit. Rather than sitting like a "normal" dog you would get in the sitting position, then sway your body forward to get a little push then you would arrive sitting on your back legs with your 2 front legs hanging bent with your head held high as if you were a show dog doing a trick. We didn't show you how to do this...no, no this was a talent you were born with. It was always funny though when you were a little puppy doing it because you would get up on your hindlegs, hold still for a bit then would suddenly get really wobbly and wiggly and would slowly start to lose your balance and fall backwards, which was then followed by you jumping up on your legs acting like nothing ever happened--quite entertaining.


-You DO NOT like water...I am pretty sure that you are the only Lab in the history of dogs that is not a water fiend...you have no desire to be involved with anything related to water and actually avoid it at all costs...god forbid you get a little wet from the hose while watering flowers.
-You have been a pretty healthy dog, but we did have one major scare with you when you suddenly could not breathe. My sister yelled out to my dad that Joey couldnt breath, and my dad immediately put him in the back of the car, drove to the vet clinic and was informed that our dear Joey had arthritis in his throat and if this happened again we simply had to grab his tongue and give it a good tug...uh pardon me? Yes indeed the cure for Joe's breathing issue is to stick your hand in his mouth and pull his big ole' tongue. Well ok then. Thankfully we have only had to do this a few times...I think Joe enjoys it just as much as we do.
-Another unique quark is your complete lack for catching treats or yummy snacks if we lightly throw them in the air for you to catch. We have sat you down soooo many times and have tossed a treat literally into your mouth it seems, and 99.9% of the time you either completely miss, wiff it, or hit it off your lip or nose. When you do catch a treat from a toss we immediately freak out and all get so excited because this accomplishment is such a rarity for you--we still love ya though.
-You have such a great personality and a very kind and loving temprament. You LOVE everyone and are the happiest when someone simply takes a few minutes to sit with you and just pet and love on you. You love playing with the kids and have no problem when they sit on you, try to ride you like a horse, snuggle, pet, kiss and basically maul you with love. You are so kind and would never hurt a fly.


-Although you have a pretty good bark (thankfully we rarely hear it) and can sound intimidating or in charge you are such a weenie and actually quite a scardey cat. If there is something in the back yard (animal or person working on the house or yard) you start to bark at them and provide us with such protection by literally sticking your head out of your dog door in the laundry room that points out to the backyard and then you come inside and pace around while looking at us like "well, what are you gonna do because I can't do anything" which you then follow by putting your head back out of the dog door. What a protector you are. I think it's safe to say that you are a "lover and not a fighter."
-You don't eat or chew your food...you literally inhale it. I honestly don't even know how you can enjoy or probably even taste your food when you move that darn fast. However we always know that you aren't feeling well if you stop eating for some reason. Luckily this seems to pass rather quickly and you generally bounce back after a few days...phew!