His bum will have a lemony fresh scent

Last weekend, Anthony and I took his first trip to Price. I loved introducing him to our large extended family, Anthony loved getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa and I'm pretty sure they loved spoiling him, their first grandchild.

When we realized we were running low on baby wipes, Grandpa volunteered to run to the store to pick some up.

My poor dad didn't know why we were all laughing when he walked in and handed us these, which he pointed out, he got in both colors since he didn't know which ones we would like best.


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Great Danes are the New Mutual Fund

About a week ago, we finally got Anthony to sleep and were looking forward to catching some much-needed shut eye. I just gotten into bed and was drifting off to dreamland when I heard our first-born (our giant dog, Parker) throwing up at about 1:30 a.m.

Great, I thought. Something fun to clean up in the morning. (Because I was NOT going to get out of bed to clean it up then, no matter how gross that sounds. I was exhausted. And that's why tile floors were invented.)

But I heard him pacing back and forth and just had a feeling something wasn't right. So I got up to check on him. I'm glad I did.

Turns out that he wasn't just sick from eating his dinner too quickly or some other benign reason that pets get sick. His stomach had flipped upside down, something that is called "bloat" and is a major threat to giant breed dogs (although it can happen to any dog, so read up on it here). It's the second leading cause of death among big dogs after cancer and we've been terrified of it ever since getting Parker as a puppy because it can kill them within a couple hours and can occur at any time, without warning.

I grabbed my trusty laptop, read about his symptoms and figured out what was happening. I yelled for Z to get out of bed to take Parker to the vet while I stayed with Anthony and then yelled louder for him to get dressed QUICKLY since literally every minute counts with getting the dog treated in time.

Z rushed to the emergency, 24-hour vet where we took Sydney when she ate a sock last year (we have the best luck, don't we?) only to find out that they didn't have a doctor in until 8 a.m. So, while Zach was driving all around the Salt Lake Valley at 2 a.m. with our dying dog in-tow, I found another vet that was open, called Zach to give him the address and then I let the vet know that Parker was on his way in.

They immediately did an x-ray and the vet confirmed that his stomach was flipped. She then told us that she could do emergency surgery which would save his life but cost us a small fortune. If she didn't do the surgery he would definitely die within a few hours.

So, we did the surgery even though this is not the smartest investment we could make with our money. I don't believe Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey recommend putting your hard-earned cash in something that boasts such impressive returns as pooing Volkswagon-size presents on your back lawn or shedding enough hair to make Donald Trump a new toupee every single day. But, since we are not the kind of people who can look into the eyes of an animal that we love and see as a real part of our family and just let him die when he doesn't have to (and, for the record, I am glad we are this kind of people), we did the surgery and he is making a stellar recovery.

And besides, when was the last time your 401-K snuggled with you on the couch?

Parker has to take 16 pills a day while he's recovering and he has a pretty brutal scar, but is already acting like his old self. Minus some testosterone. (While he was out, we also had him neutered. Poor guy.)

Image taken by Atelier Photographie

If you live in the downtown/Sugarhouse/Millcreek/Highland area of Salt Lake and have a pet that you care about, I recommend you put this number and address into your cell phone in case you are in need of help in the middle of the night. They're open 24-hours and did an excellent job taking care of Parker:

Advanced Veterinary Care
1021 E 3300 South
(801) 485-2306


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Monday Lovely: Marcae's Marvelous Cookies

My great friend, Marcae brought a platter full of these beautiful cookies over last week and they were almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.

(For the record, Z & I ate EVERY SINGLE ONE before the night was over. Our only regret was that we didn't have any for the next day.)


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For the grandparents

In case you're interested, recent photos of Anthony are available here...


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Monday Lovely: Super smart sisters

My sister Malarie is a senior at Southern Utah University (go T-Birds!). She worked hard last semester, juggling work and school, and got straight A's--a 4.0.

Now, when people tell us apart they can officially say she's the pretty, athletic AND smart one. That makes me the uh, old one. Great.

Oh well. Congrats, Mal!


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Our newest new addition

If you're like me and occasionally catch something on TV, or maybe saw on a blog you're stalking, about some person who has prepared for months (Maybe years? I have no idea about these sorts of things), sacrificing food cravings, committing to daily, hours-long, grueling athletic training, turning their body into a perfect machine in order to complete an exhausting triathlon, mountain climb or some other extraordinary physical feat, and you thought to yourself "Why would anyone want to make their life SO HARD?"

I'm afraid that Z & I are those kind of people (only with fewer rippling muscles, a lot less discipline and higher junk food intake. Um, much higher junk food intake.).

Right smack in the middle of our house remodel, an international vacation (thanks, SkyMiles & Maegan's Bed & Breakfast) and oh, a little thing called PREPARING TO BIRTH, HOUSE AND CARE FOR A BABY, we decided it was a great idea to buy a building that we will remodel and then into which we will move our restaurant.

This is exactly the kind of decision that is typical of us. We always do things the hard way, I'm not sure why. The first year we were married we lived in a charming little apartment (it was smack in the middle of an industrial area, but I thought it was still charming). I was working at my first real job out of college and Zach was working three jobs (we're still not sure why he did this, there really wasn't a reason for such madness): UPS, Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Rock Creek Pizza.

When his friend decided to sell Rock Creek, we bought the equipment and put it in storage for a couple years until we could find a location and get funding for Z's restaurant.

In the meantime, we bought not just one dilapidated old, run-down house (which caused my grandmother to cry out of sadness--real tears!--when she set her beautiful brown eyes upon it), we bought TWO dilapidated, old, run-down houses. The reason we were able to buy two of these beauties is because they were so old and neglected that they, together, cost less than one normal house.

We decided to renovate them and become landlords while living in one and renting out the other. So we lived without a fridge for a few months, with cut-up plastic garbage bags--and the free ones that the city provides for leaf collection, no less!--on our windows in place of curtains and without a real front door for longer than I care to admit. But we were happy in our (once-) sad little house.

This craziness we're now throwing ourselves into should help the restaurant gain the more neighborhood-focused feel we've been looking for. But it's also kind of insane. We're going to do some remodeling on the building that currently houses Highland Perk Coffee. And, we're keeping Highland Perk running through the construction (or at least during most of it).

Which means Zach is currently running two businesses. Which is a lot of work.

Which means he's home less than usual. Which is a lot of work. For me.

But, once summer rolls around and we have our new pizzeria/coffee house and we're sitting on the little patio, taking in the geraniums (don't you think this place is just begging for some geraniums?) and chatting with the wonderful neighborhood customers, I think it should be worth it.

At least I hope so.

Since we're joining the two businesses, Z Pizzeria and Highland Perk, we need a new name. Ideally, we want to keep the name "Z Pizzeria & [SOMETHING HERE] but are unsure of the 'something here' part.

Any suggestions?


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