Sunflowers

I had a question asked of me this week from a friend of mine.  We were discussing how some people in their family were leaving the church, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or commonly known and referred to as the Mormon church.  As we were discussing this, Brad and I found ourselves defending the family member and just stating to them, leaving the church for someone is more complicated than one would think.  There are many complex issues that could cause one to leave the church and asked them to be gentle with said family member.  When Brad and I were talking about said issues, we were speaking specifically about the history of the church and the controversies that surround some of that history.  Some have left the church specifically because of this feeling that the church can no longer be true.  Our friend then asked the critical question, "So what if it isn't even true.  It's still good isn't it?  Look at what he is doing to his family.  Is it worth it?"  Both Brad and I responded that if this is where you are at then you are correct in staying in the church but that when it touches your family in some way then the "so what if it isn't all true" suddenly becomes VERY important.  

Two years ago I would stand strongly on the "so what if it isn't all true" side 100%.   Now I don't know really where I stand.  So far I am still standing in the church.  I have found many books that have increased my faith and I have some people who I have thrown lifelines to that have helped buoy me up.  That being said, I am having to reconstruct my whole version of faith and who I am as I have boldly faced the history of the church and the reality that sometimes people in the church and its inspired leader make mistakes.

This morning I was listening to a Mormon Stories podcast that I had almost abandoned.  I say I had almost abandoned it because she felt so angry to me at the beginning of the podcast and I really don't like when anger enters into the rational of why a person leaves the church.  I am a very analytical and emotion free person.  That hasn't always benefited me but when I weigh out pros and cons of situations it comes in handy.  So I had almost abandoned the podcast.  However I stuck it out until the end and suddenly with 30 minutes left I started crying and I couldn't stop the tears from coming.  This woman's personal story that she was telling and her feelings surrounding it so paralleled what occurred within my family that I realized in that moment Brad and I have been hurt more than I thought and that this hurt is deeper than I at first understood.  I then knew I had to write this down so that people can understand what it is that actually transpired and perhaps correct policies or behavior in the church that maybe wasn't meant to be harmful but really is.

Imagine raising a family in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  You raise them in the church because you love the church, you believe its teachings and you feel it is good.  You see the good fruit it produces.  The teachings from the church brought about your marriage, brought about the number of children you have, brought about your education and your culture.  You really can't separate the teachings you learned as a child and implemented in your life from you and who you are and the blessings you feel fortunate to have.  You give all that you can to the church.  You attend every Sunday, you serve where you are able and you prepare your children for baptism, missions and the temple where hopefully they will one day make covenants with God and marry their spouse.  The Church of Jesus Christ is BIG on family.  It is one of our greatest strengths.  It is taught from a young age that families will be together forever in the eternities.  It is taught that the covenants we make in the temple seal us to our families with an unbreakable bond for the eternities...not only me to my husband but me to my ancestors and to my future progeny when they make the covenant.  The importance of sons receiving the priesthood, god's power to act in his name, from their father is also taught and we often speak about being able to trace the receiving of the priesthood from father to son all the way back to Joseph Smith who received it from the original apostles Peter, James and John and John the baptist.  You have taught that to your children.  You know you are not perfect.  In fact, for example, you have stopped paying tithing for a while.  Not necessarily at first because you don't believe in the church per se but rather because you are attempting to work through some things before you start paying again, which you do plan to.

Also imagine you are the type of Dad that takes every spare moment you have and you spend it with your children.  You are the type of Mom that spends many a sleepless night talking to your children when they are troubled just to walk them through it.  You are the parent that cares immensely about your child.  Not even work comes before them but rather it comes with them.  You bore this child, you taught this child, you played with this child.  They are themselves but again, it is hard to separate what is truly them at 19 and what are your teachings.  99% of us who have been parents know what it means for someone to raise a child and love that child like nothing else.  

This is where Brad and I found ourselves in June of 2019.  Jordan was preparing to serve a mission to the Phillipines.  A mission we were very excited for and happy that he chose to serve.  A mission we were paying for because we felt that if he was doing a good thing and we had the means to support him in that good thing, we should pay for that.  We believed 100% a mission was a good thing.  Brad didn't have a temple recommend at the time because of the tithing thing and knew he wouldn't be able to go through the temple the first time with Jordan.  This was something he knew all along.  He still wanted to pay tithing when he was ready and not just so he could take his son through the temple.  Brad's honesty always wins out in every situation.  I had a temple recommend so I would attend with Jordan and his grandparents were both there.  I mention this part because I believe it is important to our story, the fact that Brad knew and accepted the fact that he would be unable to attend Jordan's first trip to the temple.  Imagine how a father like Brad, who is so close to his children, feels about this.  It was not easy for him but he felt like it was best for Jordan.

To explain the next part I have to explain what the priesthood is, what blessing are and some of our history to explain how Brad feels about priesthood blessings.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the priesthood is the power, given to men, to act in God's name.  When I say it is the power given to men, we literally place our hands upon the head of the man/young man and ordain them to the priesthood and ordain them to a station within our church, deacon, teacher, priest, elder, high priest.  We are instructed within the church that the priesthood is meant to be used as God would use it to do good, lift others, serve, when you use the priesthood in an abusive manner, for example to wield power or authority or to control, the spirit of the Lord is grieved and your use of priesthood power is no good and not sanctioned by the Lord.  What do we use the priesthood power for?  For the most part we use it to bless and to perform ordinances.  We use it to bless a person that is worried.  For example, men are encouraged to give children father's blessings, using their priesthood, before they start a new school year.  We use it to bless and heal the sick.  We are not taught that it replaces medicine but rather that the Lord can help heal along with the proper medical protocols.  When we have someone that is going into surgery they will frequently ask for a blessing and the men of our church give that blessing.  We use it for ordinances.  We know, through the scriptures, that someone who baptizes, for example, must have the proper authority to do so and we believe that the priesthood is this proper authority.  So, we use this priesthood to baptize our children and give the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Brad and I were married in 1998.  Sometime during that first year of marriage, I became pregnant.  I was due in August 1999.  I was about three months along when I was in an accident where I was rear-ended coming home from student teaching.  After the accident, I began bleeding and went to the emergency room.  I found out that everything was okay at the moment but that I may miscarry the baby.  I asked for a blessing from Brad in that moment and he gave me one where he blessed that the baby would be born.  I miscarried the next day.  Brad didn't understand why I still miscarried and felt like he must not have been worthy to give the blessing he did.  I took it another way, I felt like if the baby wasn't to come now, it would most certainly come later in our life.  However, because of that experience, Brad stopped giving priesthood blessings of healing.  He still had faith in using his priesthood for ordinances and baptized his children and ordained each of his sons to the priesthood when it was time.  Those moments of performing ordinances were very sacred experiences to him.

Back to Jordan and his mission preparation.  When you leave for a mission and you are a male, you must be ordained an Elder.  To be ordained to the office of an Elder you receive what is called the Melchezidek priesthood.  Again, as I stated before, it has been spoken of many times in our church about how special it is to receive this priesthood and receive it from your father, who received it from his father (or someone else if he is the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and can be traced all the way back to Joseph Smith who received it from Peter, James and John who received it from Jesus Christ himself.  As with the other ordinances, Brad planned on giving his son the Melchezidek priesthood.  One evening we were discussing this with Jordan trying to pin down a date for the ordination to happen when Jordan said to us, "Bishop said you couldn't ordain me to the Melchezidek priesthood."  Brad stopped and asked Jordan to repeat himself which Jordan did.  The bishop had told Jordan that Brad was unable to ordain Jordan because he didn't hold a temple recommend.  Remember, Brad was not paying tithing.  Before I move on, I don't want you to think this was the bishop's fault.  I don't blame the bishop.  He was just following the rule (20.1.2) from the church's leadership handbook.  He certainly could have spoken to us and made sure we were aware of the rule but he had not culpability in this other than following rule 20.1.2 WHICH WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED.  Yes, you read that right, after being 44 years and 43 years as members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints we were unaware of rule 20.1.2 which didn't say you couldn't perform the ordinance of passing on the Melchezidek priesthood if you didn't hold a temple recommend but does say that you must be temple worthy.  It also says if you are not temple worthy, and hold the Melchezidek priesthood you can still stand in the circle but cannot be the voice.

It is like time stopped in our home for a moment as Brad tried to process what that meant.  In his eyes, it meant that he had failed his son.  It meant that his name wouldn't be above Jordan's name when looking at his lineage of the priesthood like his dad's name was above his.  It meant he broke the link.

Again, as I mentioned I had never heard of the rule so I searched for where I might find it.  I googled it, I called our friend, John, who had been bishop.  I called our old bishop, who was now in the stake presidency, to see if he knew of it.  None of them knew where the rule was.  Some of them didn't know it existed.  My old bishop said he'd have to get back to me.  He did get back to me but I found it before.  In the leadership church handbook at that time, it was rule 20.1.2 and only leadership had access to this handbook.  This has changed now. We have an updated handbook, still has this same rule that hasn't changed, but it is available for all church members to access.  Our friend John said it had to do with worthiness and that if he was bishop he would say Brad was worthy.  He encouraged Brad to contact the stake president so he could have a chance to step in if necessary.

This whole thing didn't make any sense to me.  Brad and I had both served missions, we'd both been active, participating members of the church and we didn't know this rule?  I even vaguely remembered a general conference talk from Elder Boyd K. Packer that discussed the importance of it being the father who gives the Elder the Melchezidek priesthood.  I searched for the talk and found it.  The Power of the Priesthood was given in April 2010 by Elder Boyd K. Packer.  Brad and I spoke late into the night about what all this implied.  Many tears were shed as we agonized over how our church and its leaders, who taught us so emphatically the importance of the family, who we tried to do our best to follow, were now keeping Brad, Jordan's father, from being the one who ordained him to the Melchezidek priesthood.  Even worse, if he wasn't worthy to be the voice why was he worthy to be in the circle of men participating in the event?  It felt like a punishment.  At the end of the day, Brad decided he would try to meet with our stake president.

If you go into an meeting with a leader in our church to get approval to perform a certain ordinance it means you feel you are worthy and Brad felt every bit worthy to perform the ordination of the Melchezidek priesthood for Jordan.  He felt so worthy, that as a 44 year old man, father and doctor he was willing to submit to an interview by someone who was called to judge whether he was truly worthy or not.  This was a BIG deal for Brad.  Anyone who knows Brad well will tell you he doesn't deal well with authority.  These interviews are painful for Brad but he loved Jordan so much and saw the thing as so important he was willing to subject himself to judgement from a man who didn't even know Brad.  Again, Brad, knowing our church and its restrictions felt completely worthy.

He went into the meeting with the stake president and told him everything about himself.  He wanted the stake president to know him as a man, as a father and as a church member.  It was so extensive that the meeting lasted 3 hours.  However, at the end of the meeting, the stake president told Brad that he still found him to be "willfully disobedient" by having not paid tithing and told him he wouldn't be able to perform the ordinance.

That night was devastating for us.  Not as many tears were shed as the night we first found out there was a question regarding this, but many tears were shed nonetheless.  Brad made the point that "if my voice isn't good enough for my son's ordination then my voice is not good enough for the church."  

The stake president called back the following day and asked to meet with Brad.  Brad went as asked.  The stake president told him that after he went home the prior evening that he didn't feel right about what had happened so he called the area authority.  (Our church is very organized from member, to relief society or elders quorum president, to bishop, to stake president, to area authority (70s), to apostles, to the prophet)  The area authority had told them to let Brad perform the ordinance this one time.  The stake president also told Brad that when Ben served a mission, unless he was paying tithing, he would not be able to perform the ordinance then.

It didn't feel like a victory.  Too much had already been lost.  Brad was able to ordain Jordan and planned for Jordan to ordain his brother when Ben went on a mission.  For the next six months Brad seriously contemplated on whether his voice was good enough for the church and asked to be released from his calling as Sunday School Teacher in the ward this past January.  A few months later, Brad decided that he needed a break for a while from the church.

So you see, in a situation like this, when it touches your family so deeply, yes, it begins to matter what is true and what is not.

As for me, I'm still standing in the church but my head spins with what is true and what is not.  

So why did I title this post sunflowers?  Let me share a little story with you.

One morning on my mission traveling to a zone meeting in Lujan, Argentina I was especially distraught. I can't remember why I was distraught.  I only remember I was crying. I remember I was crying because one of friends and former companions who was on the train with me that morning sang me the following song:

It's alright to cry.  Crying takes the sad out of you.

It's alright to cry.  It might make you feel better.

Tear drops from your eye washing all the sad out of you.

It's alright to cry.  It might make you feel better.

I still sing that song to my children when they are sad.  Anyway on that particular difficult morning we passed by a beautiful field of sunflowers.  The beauty and vastness of the flowers hit me in a profound way that morning.  It was as if Heavenly Father was speaking to me directly saying, "Hello Chelsey.  I see you. I love you.  Keep going."  Even though all on the train could see the field and all on the train were probably enjoying the same beauty I was, it felt like my own personal gift from God.  Ever since then, I have felt especially attached to the sunflower. To me it is a symbol of hope.

This process of introspection that I have gone through the past year has been really difficult.  In this process I am searching for sunflowers where I can.  I am grateful to have found books such as Planted and Crossings.  I am grateful for the friends who just let me think a little and have given me some breathing room without abandoning me.  I am grateful for a small scripture in the Book of Mormon that states, "I know that he(referring to God) loveth his children; nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things." and another scripture that states, "Behold this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  I am grateful for books like Rough Stone Rolling even though they are hard.  Should I stay and should my children stay I want them to embrace the church warts and all.  That being said, I am looking for sunflowers.  They offer me hope.

Mountains make me feel so small

We went on a hike yesterday and ventured into the deep forest of one of our local mountains.  Brad was searching for a different entrance into one of his favorite kayak runs because the usual entrance is, at this time, not accessible.  So, unfortunately for McKenzie and I, Brad didn't know the trail he was looking for.  I say that is unfortunate for McKenzie and I because usually when Brad doesn't know where he is going he leaves us behind.  The reason he does this is justified.  There are many times when Brad has led me off trail and started blazing his own path where I have been downright unpleasant and complained the whole time.  The boys don't do this to Brad.  They have been on many adventures with Dad blazing their own trail across the terrain.  So, anyway, like I said, when Brad doesn't know the way he usually will leave McKenzie and me behind.  Me mostly.  Even Kenzie will trail blaze with him where I won't.

So yesterday we start out on this trail and Brad takes out his google maps and well, we are not heading toward the river.  He and Ben are tracking it with google earth or something on their phones.  He and Ben say to us all, "the river is 1/2 mile this way" and they point off trail and uphill and start climbing.  I'm thinking maybe I should stay on this trail because Brad has just told me it loops around and will lead us back to the truck.  However, in my head I think, well, I might get lost and should probably follow Brad.  So in some Teva sandals and overalls I follow the lead of my husband and children.  Just about when Kenzie and I were about to break (okay I was probably broken but to be fair to myself I did have a lot of mosquito bites by this point and I HATE mosquito bites) we reached the ridge of the mountain and looked down into the deep gorge to see the river below.  There was no going down from this location.  But the view was stunning.

After I had my respite from the mosquitos and the boys had filled their bellies a little, we headed back down the mountain.  Lucky for us we found a road well traveled (Literally it was a forest service road) that led us to the path that we should have taken in the first place.  So, the result of the hike?  We all got to see some gorgeous sites:

the kids found some great places to take dates on and Brad found his access to the water.  Honestly, the mountains to explore where we live are endless.

A couple of news worthy mentions here:

McKenzie is done working for the summer and gets the next four weeks off.  She spent her first day off taking Jake on a hike.  He is so glad to have someone home again with him.

Also we have a pregnant cat and I'm sure we will be adding pictures of cute kittens soon.  Did you know pregnant cats are called queens?

It's been hot here lately

Like in the 90s - 100s hot.   Like I just can't get cool at home hot.  So....we've been spending a lot of time outside lateley and as much time as we can in the water.

This year we have been working on getting Jake and McKenzie as much exposure to reading the river as possible.  Sometimes Kenzie went in with me and sometimes she gets to go in with Jordan.  Jordan makes her feel much more safe.   Everyone accompanies these two on the river, everyone but me if I'm not in Kenzie's duckie.

Here are the six of them heading into the water park.  Jordan and Kenzie are doubled up in the duckie.

Jordan and Kenzie going through:

Jake heading through:

All of them surfing on the wave:

Jordan and Kenzie surfing in their duckie:

We've also been spending time at the lake.  When we head to the lake, we have learned to get up at 5:00 am (yes it's cold and we wear sweatshirts and sweatpants but the water is so nice)

 because that is when the lake is the least busy.  Since these boys are getting pretty good at water skiing:

They've been working on their bare foot skills.  One of the tricks you can learn after you learn how to barefoot is called a turtle roll.  This last week's trip Riley got this trick down on a short rope.  Before I post the pictures let me give some context and background to the pictures I am about to post.  Jordan learned to barefoot first in the family.  Well, really Brad did, but with regards to the kids, Jordan was the first.  However, he learned how to drag on the bar to start and then pull yourself around and hasn't gotten beyond that yet.  He hasn't learned what is called a deep water start.  Ben learned next and has been working on his deep water start for years.  He started to get it last year but has really started to master the deep water start this year.  So as far as skill goes with this he is ahead of everyone else.  Even Jordan will admit that.  Now just to give you some idea of what a deep water start is like in barefooting you put your feet on the rope, lean back and submerse yourself in the water.  

This is kind of like drowning

 but eventually your head comes up out of the water and you are no longer drowning, you're gliding on top of the water like a ski.  When the boat gets going fast enough, you sit up and drown yourself again, 

only this time it's like 10x the drowning experience when you are learning because you have to get in a position to minimize the drowning but all the drowning in the meantime makes you feel like you are going to die and you usually try and stick your feet straight in the water and face plant pretty hard because the boat isn't going fast enough to keep you afloat.  So, you have to be calm, get in the 3 point position, keep your knees in and spread your feet apart and slowly drop your feet into the water once the boat is going 45 mph.  This takes a lot of presence of mind to do and Ben does it fairly well now.  Once you have learned the deep water start, then you move onto other things like sitting down again and standing back up, then you wiper blade and then you move onto the turtle roll.  The turtle roll is where you sit back down in 3 point stance, go to your back and spin, sit back up and stand up.  So, Ben has been working on the turtle roll while everyone else has been working on their deep water start.

Riley got his deep water start off of a short rope this last trip.  

He was pretty happy.  Then he thought he'd try his turtle roll and well....

He got it...before his brother Ben and so he celebrated right after he got it.

Yes, that's a victorious fist pump.  Only after the fist pump, he was humbled a bit...

Yes, that's him falling immediately after the fist pump.  I'll upload the video now so you can see and laugh with me. 

Just to let you know, Ben did get his turtle roll the same day and on the long rope so he is still the barefoot champ of the family.

There are a lot of good crashes that come along with learning how to barefoot.  We really enjoy the crashes as long as they aren't hurt and so far, so good on the hurt scale.

When we're done with water skiing we just like to hang out together and swim.

We play king of the tube:

We swim, dive and dry off:

We eat, just chill in the boat, enjoy the warmth and try to sleep.  I try to capture it all with pictures but sometimes the pictures just look like we are posing.  Oh well.  Here are the pictures anyway.

Deep and meaningful discussions occur during this time too.  For example, just the other day we decided what all our spirit animals are.

We had a difficult time deciding on Ben's spirit animal which is why there are two.  In the end, we decided the eagle was a better descriptor of his personality than a bear.  And, of course, Jake is 12, so like an otter he is still playful and takes pleasure in the simple things in life.  His spirit animal is more likely to change than the rest of ours.  Then again, maybe not.  Do you think we nailed them on the head?

When we are done chilling in the boat, we start our tube wars and those are fun and full of good crashes too.

We did celebrate the 4th of July since I last wrote.  Our area is in a no fire season right now so there were no town fireworks.  We decided to cross over to the dark side and light some small fireworks like flowers, bees, and sparklers.  

It was worth it even if it was illegal.  I love this country and I love my family.

Blue 3 years old

This is the longest we've ever had a dog.  So, in honor of his longevity with the family I have decided to do a birthday post for Blue.  

Who is your favorite band or solo artist?  Blues Travelers.  I really like the song Run Around.  It may have been written about me.  I give people the run around sometimes.

What do you see yourself doing five years from now?  In five years I'll be eight or 40 in dog years.  I'll be slowing down a bit, but I'll still play with Brad...and Jake, he'll still be home for a little longer.  Jake will take me everywhere in the green truck just like the driving kids do now.  We'll be best buddies.

What do you do when you feel bored? Bark at birds.  Bark at the mailman.  Bark at anything or anyone that comes down our driveway. Bark at bears.  Just bark really.  And chase the cats or hunt lizards.

Who is your hero and Why?  Buck, the dog from Call of the Wild.  I watched the movie through the family room window and felt pretty inspired.  I'm training my humans for the day I leave them little by little by disappearing when it is bedtime and disappearing more in the daylight recently.

Do you have a favorite movie?  Lord of the Rings. I watched it once in the garage with my humans.  The orcs were scary but I was brave and barked at them to protect my family.

What music makes you particularly happy?  Songs like Who Let the Dogs Out...(hee, hee)

How do you handle stress?   I hide in my doghouse.  Sometimes one of my humans, Brad, shoots loud guns and that really sets me off.  I want to be near someone or in my dog house.

Do you like to read?  I'm a dog.  I don't know how to count, much less read. 

What qualities do you admire in other people?  Good petting skills, good food sharing skills and the ability to assert oneself.

How would you describe your own personality? I'm pretty laid back most of the time except when I'm protecting my humans at home.  Even then, in reality, I'm all bark and no bite.  I'm pretty social and have lots of friends.  At night I'm a party animal.  I love to stay up late.

What was your worst moment this year?  When Kenzie brought me down a class 3 rapid and I got scared, jumped out of the ducky and landed myself and Kenzie in the river.  I realized once I fell in that I'd much rather be in the boat, which was now upside down (my bad).  I keep reviewing it in my mind now...if I had only listened to her in the first place.  Heading into the rapid she looked me right in the eyes and said, "No matter what happens Blue stay in the boat.  You hear me?  Stay in the boat."  As soon as I knew I was in trouble though, I looked to Kenzie to save me, followed her directions to come and swam to her side.  I do not like water.  I do not like swimming.  I do like Kenzie though so I got back in the ducky when she saved me despite the trauma of the moment.

What was your best moment/moments this year?  When I hiked Silver.  I went up and down and up and down and up and down herding my human family making sure they reached the summit.  I may have over done it because then I puked.  I loved every moment anyway.

What are you the most proud of that you accomplished last year?  When I became Brad's snow hound on my first back country ski trip.  Before that I thought he liked me but I wasn't quite sure.  Now I know I hold a special place in his heart.  He even has saved a video of me on his phone.

What are some of your goals for this next year?  I would love to learn to fly so I can catch more birds.  I want to tree more bears.  I want to stop treating the cats like they are large chew toys, my humans don't like that.  I want to make people scared of me like the mailman.  I want them to see me as HUGE not soft, and fluffy and fun.  Maybe I should start lifting weights with my humans.  Then they'll all take me more seriously.

Would you want to be famous?  I am famous.

Do you consider yourself a leader?  Yes.  I lead packs of dogs all the time.  Recently I led a pack of dogs and I'm pretty sure we treed a mountain lion.  I mean, I didn't get a picture or anything but we were barking for a long time.

What is your favorite family recipe?  The meat.  The meat one.

What are your favorite family traditions?  Hide and go seek at bedtime.  I hide and they try to find me for two hours.  I love it.  They love it.  We play every night.  Although sometimes they start playing before I even know we are playing and sometimes they cheat and lure me out of my hiding spot with yummy smelling treats.

What career or job do you want to have one day?  Guard dog or bear trapper...perhaps ski patrol rescue dog.

What is your favorite thing to do outdoors?  Nap.

What makes you laugh?  When I poop in my neighbor's yard.  He doesn't like me.

What makes you angry?  Birds.  I HATE birds, especially since they can fly away.  How fair is that game?

What makes you most afraid?  Water.  I had lots of bad interactions with the hated element as a pup.  I still have PTSD from when I was a just a youngling and they made me cross a creek.  Another time they made me get in a kayak with Jordan and he almost made me die.  Oh, and then Kenzie put me in a tube and pushed me into an eddy.  I was fine but it was a near death experience.  All these terrifying incidents before the age of 3 months.  Wouldn't water be your fear too?

What do you enjoy doing for fun?  Playing fetch.  When they throw the stick I get it and won't give it back, then they have to fetch me like I fetch the stick.  Then they stop playing and say I have to learn to give the stick back but I haven't yet and they still play.

What is your favorite color?  Blue.  No wait, yellow.  No, blue.

What do you dream about?  I have this recurring dream.  I'm in a meadow of endless grass.  The sun is shining and my friend Archie is there.  We run through the grass like wild dogs.  There are chickens everywhere, hiding in the grass, startled out by our activity.  I jump, catching one in my mouth.  It's like shooting fish in a barrel.  Before my dog self can enjoy my sweet treat I've caught, I awake to Jake opening my dog house door.

What is your greatest talent?  Well, people say I have an extremely long tongue.  It is too long to fit inside my mouth.  My greatest talent is licking someone unexpectedly.  I love to especially get them right on the smacker.  Some don't like it, especially my human mom, but the kids love it.

What would your perfect day look like?  I wake up.  I am not in my doghouse because they let me stay out to chase bears all night and didn't even get mad when I barked at 5 am.  Everyone comes outside to say hello to me, fourteen adoring human hands giving me pets and scratches.  Brad tells me he loves me.  We go waterskiing and they let me in the boat, but I don't have to get in the water.  I just sit magnificently in the front of the boat, the figurehead they've always needed. 

 We get home and they cook dinner but feed it all to me.  Archie comes over and we tree a bear together.

Any final words?  Yes, I would like thank all my humans who gave me a voice for this interview.  Especially Mckenzie who really, truly seems to understand me the best.