4th of July

 4th of July was pretty low-key this year. There was a (very necessary) firework ban in place since there had been so many fires this summer already, and conditions were ripe for another one starting. It was the 250th anniversary of the USA this year, so that was exciting.

Getting our annual kids picture

Our house is still all decked out from the kids' birthday, so we were all ready to go on that front

We had a family movie night, and ate ice cream sandwiches and popsicles. I'm sure all the pets enjoyed having a quieter celebration.

We did a vote, and the movie that ended up winning was Pee Wee's Big Adventure, which is weird but fun 😄. The part that had the biggest impact on me as a kid was when Pee Wee goes to the Alamo. I remember being completely shocked that there wasn't a basement lol

We also had a fun celebratory Sunday dinner the next day

June Misc.

We spent the first half of June in Japan, and here is what we did the second half:

Oliver and Max when I was coming up the stairs - it reminded me of passing through the sphynx gate in the Neverending Story, lol 

Taking Dorie on a car ride - Nora put the window down a little so she could sniff (Mike was driving)

Carrie came out to Utah for a visit. We brought back some treats and snacks from Japan, so we had an evening where we looked at some pictures from the trip and sampled the Japanese treats

Cute Max on the red couch

Putting the clean laundry on the bed to hang them up/fold them - Little One got to them first

When Mike comes home from Costco with a rotisserie chicken

Ev, Marolyn, Carrie, Mike, and I went to see "The Sheep Detectives" movie

Starting a game of Iron Dragon - this is a game that takes multiple days to play

Day 2

Oliver was taking a nap on the back patio

Watching from the stair landing

Day 3 - we got some snacks

Ev was the winner!

We went to see My Fair Lady at Hale Theater

The decor at the dinner centered around flowers and hats

V's friend joined us, which was fun

Max started having some medical issues this month. We noticed that he wasn't eating as much as normal, and then we noticed that his skin was turning yellow. We took him to our normal vet office and they hospitalized him for a day. He had very high bilirubin levels and pancreatitis. They gave him meds and fluids, and we picked him up at the end of the day.

They left in his IV cannula and wrapped it up incase it needed to be used again in the next couple of days. Since it was the weekend, they said if he didn't improve, we should take him to the 24/7 MedVet location in Salt Lake.

My poor boy

Unfortunately he didn't do very well, so we had to take him to MedVet on Saturday night. They had a long wait there, so they weren't able to see him until 3:30 am. They admitted him for hospitalization for a few days so a specialist could do an ultrasound and try to figure out what was going on with him.

Doing a new puzzle at Sunday dinner

We got to meet Beth's new Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, Frida. She is adorable

Patriotic July tablescape

We celebrated Mom's birthday

We went to the U of U orientation for new students and their parents

Ev "taking notes"

There had been a big fire on the mountain behind the U recently, so they cancelled any outdoor activities for the orientation since the air was still really smoky. We got a view of the burnt mountain when walking between buildings

They had a nice lunch buffet for everyone

Mike and I wandering around for a bit while Ev was still working on her schedule - they have the students register for their classes at orientation

Juno helping with the laundry again

Max was able to come home on Tuesday. The ultrasound showed that he had a big cyst that was blocking his common bile duct. The doctor was able to drain most of the cyst by needle aspiration, and he was able to improve enough to go home. She said that the cyst would probably refill, but they didn't know if it would refill quickly or take a few months. If it refilled slowly then maybe they could manage it by draining it periodically, but if it refilled quickly then it would be harder to manage and they might consider surgery. 

We set up Nora's room for Max so he could have a nice, quiet place to recover and to make it easier to measure how much he was eating and using the litter box (it is hard to tell these things when he is out with Oliver). He was very happy to be back at home.

Sweet cuddly boy

Max loves Nora's hair

Max with his shaved tummy/side from the ultrasound and shaved legs from the IVs 😞

We all spent lots of time with him, which he loved

Oliver getting some love too

Utah has been having so many fires - it is scary. Some days the air was really, really bad.

Mike took a photo when he went to get the mail

It reminded me of Mistborn

Nora was very diligent about giving Max all his medications on schedule. She made chart on her whiteboard to keep track of everything.

Taking Max back to the vet for some follow-up blood work

A couple days later - really loving the beautiful blue sky!

Although it was still not looking great down south

It was great to have the air quality be good again so we could take Dorie for a walk

I love dramatic clouds

Our book club book this month was one that I picked - All Creatures Great and Small. When I was growing up, we used to watch the TV series that was made 1978-1990. It was fun to read one of the books that it was based on. Nora listened to some of it with me, and it is so interesting how veterinary practiced has changed from the 1930s (when the book is set) to today.

Juno looking very elegant on the soft blanket

ZZZZ