An Ode to Kenzie, AKA MacKenzie Diamond (2008-2023)
Kenzie was a beautiful brown Labrador Retriever who we had to say goodbye to just recently. She was my husbands birthday gift 15.5 years ago as he so badly wanted a puppy and his parents obliged. It was love at first sight.
I also heard about crazy stories as “she was wild” in his words. He tells the story about one day Kenzie being in the backyard and she was running around and his dad came out to see her and she managed to get his glasses from his face and she was, “going crunch, crunch, as she ran away from him, playing the ‘game'”. He tells it well.
I showed up on the scene in 2011. Kenzie was still full of beans. My now husband, worked weekends then, so I spent countless hours with Kenzie, with my then young kids. The age of my kids throughout the pictures will give you an idea of how full of a life Kenzie had. My daughter said to me the other day, “mom, I only remember life with Kenzie, I don’t remember her not being around – it will be weird.” Yes, my love, it will.
Kenzie and I had tons of fun together. Locally we hiked through Heber Downs Conservation Park and biking at Greenwood Off Leash Dog Park.
Heber Downs
Kenzie and I would hike through Heber Downs Conservation by ourselves or we would make it a family event. We would spend hours in the summer in the water with her or just throw a stick for her.
We even made new friends on our hiking adventures!
The Cottage
When I met her, she didn’t like water. At the time we had a cottage, so off to the cottage Kenzie, Mike and I went. Her and I had a discussion about swimming together. She would have nothing of it. So, she “accidentally” fell off the end of the dock. Well….wasn’t that a start of a HUGE love affair. That night I remember letting her out of the cottage before bed to go pee. We heard a “thump, thump, thump, splash” and guess who came back so very wet – Kenzie. We spent the next bit trying to dry her off before we went to bed.
The next morning Kenzie and I managed to go swimming together. We had fun exploring the lake and playing in the shallows. Great weekend with some great pictures to share. We continued to take Kenzie to the cottage with us for the years we kept the cottage. She had a blast with the water and the kids.
New Friends
When my husband moved in with me, a family decision was made that Kenzie would stay with his mom. Once a dog family, always a dog family, we welcomed our own puppy to the family. A red lab you all know – Maze. Kenzie loves puppies and they were instant friends.
This was so much fun we added a second dog to our household, a black lab you all love – Nyx. As you know, Karen brought home Nala at the same time and Kenzie would just want to hang out with the puppies. She loved when they climbed on her and covered her in kisses. Family time with Kenzie, Maze & Nyx brought nothing but smiles to everyone in the room. Don’t miss Nyx in the right picture! The three of them are fighting for fire time!
Play time
If we weren’t playing in the water with Kenzie, we were playing in the snow.
She loved every toy we gave her and every ice cream outing we had.
Kenzie even joined us on some of our Everything-Dog.ca adventures. We had a great time at Rooster’s Fries (blog here)
And we visited Crock-A-Doodle with her as well! We had so much fun! (blog here)
As Kenzie got older, just hanging out with her was also just nice.
Enjoy Dog Heaven Kenzie, you will always be in our hearts.
