Nala Mae is 9!

Today we celebrated a birthday in our family. The birthday of someone that is usually in the background of so many of our pictures, the one that doesn't get jealous if we don't pay as much attention to her on any given day, and the one that was mine and Eric's first "baby", our sweet Nala Mae.

So, today isn't technically Nala's "birthday," but, it is the day we celebrate her birthday. Why?... because on August 11th of 2004 is the day that I brought that sweet little puppy that was in a cardboard box, home to be a part of our family. A couple of years ago I wrote about how Nala became part of our family, and since then we have added another little girl to our family (Vada Belle), and Nala has to tolerate even more love and hugs (which might seem more like torture at times) from all 4 of our kids. Maybe that has something to do why she has even more grey hairs on her face. Nala is our wonderful protector of our kids, loves to just be with us when we are outside, be right by our side if we are going to get the mail, walking to the kids off from the bus stop, or just playing in the backyard. She still tries to run and follow us up when we drive up to my mom and dad's, but she just isn't nearly as fast as she use to be. We wait on her to make it to the top of the hill once we get out of the van, and it seems like every time we go, it takes longer and longer for her to get there. :(
So today the kids wanted to get Nala something for her birthday, and they decided they wanted to get her a new bed to keep on the porch. She has one in the garage that she lays on a lot, but they wanted her to have one on the porch so she would "be comfy there, too!" They were excited to give Nala Mae her dog bed tonight, and she seemed pretty excited, too.
Happy 9 years, Nala Mae! We couldn't ask for a better dog for our family.