Bella

I have to admit that I love dogs. I don't remember a time in my life when we didn't have a dog. Two vivid memories come to mind. One was when we lived in Seattle and I was around the age of 5 or 6. We had a huge black lab. He would come in and lay right between the archway of the dinning room and the living room. I would get one of my picture books and lay on my back with my head on his tummy and read for what seemed like hours. He was very gentle and didn't mind me using his tummy as a pillow.

The other memory was of a little black dog named Cubby. When we moved to Provo, the first thing we did was find some stray dog to call our own. Growing up, I slept in an upstairs bedroom with no heat and in the winter months and believe me, it was really cold. I would fill a hot water bottle full of hot water and put it under the sheets at the bottom of my bed, kneel down and say my prayers (probably the fastest prayers ever) and quickly jump into bed to get warm. Cubby would jump up on the bed and cuddle right next to my back. Between the hot water bottle and Cubby, I slept quite comfortably. I don't know why she always chose to follow me up to that cold room when there were two warm bedrooms downstairs. Maybe she knew I needed her to stay warm.

Now we have Bella and what a delight she is. All dogs have their own little personalities that endear their owners to them. Bella has certainly endeared herself to Neal and I. I caught her sleeping on the bed the other day and just had to take a picture of her. Notice that her head is on the little pillow.