An Exciting Day!

Today is such an exciting day!! It's been a little over 2 weeks since we adopted little miss Ellie...

We were told that her leg would take a lot of surgeries requiring a lot of pins, needles, plates, a lot of healing time and possibly an  amputation. I'm pleased to announce that today...2 weeks from the day of her surgery- Ellie got her cast off!! And is fully healed! I was so skeptical and thought there was no way that she could be fully healed and walking on it in 2 weeks, but our vet proved us wrong! It's so exciting!

ALL BETTER!

What else has been going on in the lives of the Rack's? We had our Wedding Shower/Open House this past Saturday and it was sooo fun! Thank you EVERYONE that came and for all of our great gifts! We have the best friends. Apologies for how crazy it was all night but it was well worth seeing all of our friends and having a good time! It went from 3:00 pm until 12:15 am! LONG day but SO fun! Thank you, thank you- everyone! I didn't take pictures... I suck. But it was a good time :)

A Stressful Week

As many of you have read... we welcomed little miss Ellie into our family on Monday. Oh my gosh! I LOVE her!!! This poor girl, however, is continuing to go through some rough patches even though she has a home now. What happened??
 On Tuesday, we took her to the vet to get her official surgery to fix up her leg. It went great and our vet is awesome! It was nowhere near what we thought it would cost to get her fixed. We brought her home and she was happy as can be

This picture is poor quality but it's adorable :)

Within a few hours, little miss somehow slipped out of her cast and broke her leg again. I honestly have no idea how it happened because she was sleeping right next to me the entire time. So we splint it up to get through the night and back to the vet she went for another surgery on Wednesday morning. This is where the problems began.

The second surgery took longer than usual and I was so worried about her! Rather than the hour- hour and a half the first one took, it was 3-4 hours before we heard back. Her breathing was really unusual so the vet's kept her longer

This is when we picked her up... she wasn't very happy.

When I got home from work, Ellie was home with Dan and she was coughing and gagging every few minutes and then she would throw up. It was the saddest thing ever! To make matters worse, it hurts her even worse because of her torn stomach muscles.We finally came to the conclusion the she had come down with Kennel Cough. It's pretty common in dogs especially ones that were in shelters around other dogs, which in Ellie's case- she was. 

Rather than normal symptoms of Kennel Cough, where dogs still have a good appetite and are still eating, drinking, playing, and acting normal- Ellie was the absolute opposite. She would not eat, drink, or play with us. The first day she was so crazy and we wanted nothing more than for her to rest and chill out and then we did a 180 and were trying to do everything we could to wake her up and play with us..but she wasn't having it. Finally, I hit my breaking point after seeing her in so much pain. I loaded her up in her basket, threw her in the car and went to the vet. I don't know what came over me but the moment I stepped in I just started crying. The vet thinks I'm a basket case now. Great....

He looked her over and knew she didn't have Kennel Cough. This is what happened to her:

When she went in for surgery, she had already eaten and they are not supposed to eat within 8 hours of being put under but given it was an emergency surgery since they had to get her leg put back together they put her under anyways. During the process of the surgery Ellie aspirated and they had to hurry and flush her system causing everything to swell up including her mouth, throat, and stomach. She has the same symptoms of Kennel Cough but its not. 

This is her "car seat". We put her in it because it hurts her ribs too much to hold her in the car so she sleeps in the basket when we drive.

Brandy was jealous...

She hasn't shown too many signs of progress getting better but I'm happy to report she finally ate some food tonight (which she hasn't in 3 days) and drank a ton of water and pedialite. We got her steam ventilator to help her breath better so she doesn't have as many coughing spells and she loves it. 

This is her sleeping in front of her ventilator.

That's the Rackliff's eventful week. I'm really hoping little miss starts feeling better soon!

A New Addition to Our Family

This sweet girl.... is our new addition that we adopted today! Meet Ellie

(That poor patch on her arm is where they've had to sedate her so many times :-/  )

Words can't describe how much we love her already!
As most things have gone for us these past few months, we had no intentions on getting another dog. I've wanted one for a while because I want Brandy to have a little play mate but I didn't want one until at least spring time when we had a fence in. I've been looking for a second dog for a long time, even though I know we wouldn't get it once I found it..(I'm one of those pathetic people that checks KSL pet ads every night just to go to bed feeling awful because I can't give every pet on there a home.) However, the day I came home from Hawaii I saw this post on my friend's facebook page:

This is a little pit pup we picked up yesterday, she has obviously been hit by a car, her back right leg is broken and the other one is swollen and bruised. She is on pain management but we can do little else for her. We are looking for some help- major! We either need a willing rescue to take her or someone who is able to pay for her vet care! Anyone? Know anyone? please crosspost and share share share If we cannot figure out something for her or find the owners who let this happen to her she will be euthanized... I can't let that happen, please please share share share!!!

When I first read this it absolutely broke my heart. Literally. I felt sick to my stomach because I had a feeling she was for sure going to be put to sleep. Who honestly wants to adopt a puppy that they have to pay thousands of dollars to fix?? I know she would've found a home the next day but she was 'broken'. Fate happened to kick in and Brandy ripped her dew claw open and we had to visit the vet.
On a whim, I brought up broken legs on puppies and what kind of options we had and how much it would cost to fix and how do you rehabilitate them and how would it effect their lifestyle? I had endless questions and our vet answered all of them for me. When he put all my answers out, I realized her medical bills were something we could do and could help her get back on her feet. I thought about just paying for her surgeries, fostering her, and then finding her a home.
The next day I called the Davis County Animal Shelter and talked to my new friend Natasha (The one who rescued her). Luckily that same day I called, a group called "The Pit Crew" based out of the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter had rescued her from being put to sleep and taken her to the shelter in Salt Lake. I'm so glad I called because if they couldn't find a lead to get her adopted, they were going to amputate her leg due to the fact they don't have the equipment to fix it and they don't have the money to pay for her surgeries.


Here is Ellie's story on how she ended up in the shelter:
A really angry mom called Natasha yelling at her that there was a bloody puppy in her garage and she didn't know how it got there but she needed to come get it because it was disgusting. Natasha questioned her asking questions such as "was you garage open? do you live on a busy road? do you know who the dog could belong to?" blah blah blah and all the mom could say was "you just need to come pick it up" When Natasha arrived to pick her up she was indeed covered in blood and had what she thought 2 broken legs and she had been left in a closed garage. What she was able to uncover is the mom went out of town for the weekend and her sons had stayed home and bought a dog without permission. Not even a  day later, she had ventured outside onto their busy street they lived on and got hit by a car. The boys panicked and threw her in the garage and left her there until the mom found her!!!! The mom freaked out and didn't want anything to do with the dog and that is how she ended up at the shelter. Heartbreaking... I know!


On with the story, I played phone tag with Natasha and my other new friend John (who is located at the Salt Lake Shelter). I was able to set up an appointment for Dan and I to go meet her and to bring Brandy along to see if they got along. I didn't know what to expect when I saw her, I knew she had a broken leg and the other one was fractured so I thought she was going to have to just lay on the ground and be carried everywhere. I was 100% WRONG. What a little trooper this girl is! I fell in love IMMEDIATELY and the whole fostering plan went right out the window. She was meant for our family! When I saw her, she was in fact walking. She hobbled on her fractured leg that has stitches going all up it because they performed surgery on both legs, and used her  cast to support her up. It is the saddest sight to see at first and was actually some what emotional for me and Dan to watch her. She saw me and instantly wobbled up to me! Love Love Love! Once she came to me she went right over to Brandy and wanted to play. I was so nervous for how Brandy would react with her because the shelter was observing how Brandy acted and that determined if she would do well in our home. Brandy did so good and Ellie loved her! Despite her gimp legs and cone of shame, she's such a happy girl! Before finalizing the adoption, John sent me home with her xrays for the weekend so I could show them to my vet and get a price on her surgeries to make sure we were comfortable with them. He even told me to price out amputation because it's a good possibility we might have to amputate her leg. I'm not a vet or anything but I knew (or thought I knew) that her break wasn't even that bad and we would be fine.

Her poor right leg is broken all the way across :( 

I showed the vet my xrays on Saturday, we talked surgery and I was so excited with the news he gave me! Ellie was going to be just fine and no amputation was necessary. (I knew it!) I called him right after I left here and told him we wanted to go through with the adoption. What do you know... it was his day off so he wanted nothing to do with me. SOO I called him first thing today and set up a time to finish up the adoption papers tonight and took her home!!!!

Let's backtrack a little into the past-
I have a special place in my heart for Pitbulls. Why? Here's why- because before I started dating Dan I was against Pitbulls. I thought what all pitbull haters thought. They were fight dogs, mean, aggressive, made to attack people, horrible animals, all those things you hear everyday when you think of a Pitbull. However, when I met Dan and learned he had a pit I was really skeptic about it because I hated them. Then I met Brandy and it was love at first sight. (I even wrote a whole post about her for hell's sake- that says a lot) She is the sweetest, most loving dog ever and is the biggest wuss ever.

This Girl....

I just love!!! Since I have no kids, and will not have kids for years to come- this girl is my baby. :) Yep- I'm "that" person that posts something about her dog! Not only will you get to know about Dan & I on this blog but little miss Brandy too! She's had a rough week... just in case people wanted to know that. She has her tail wrapped in gauze and tape because she hits it so hard against things that she cut it open. How did I discover this? There were lines of blood all over my walls. Gross... She's just too happy of a dog I guess? 

Not kidding... how many of you have dogs that will smile on command? This one does! It's quite funny, but sometimes creepy because if she wants a treat she will come sit by you and just smile. 

Somehow this week, Brandy also managed to split her dew claw open a little. I could tell it was hurting her because she kept licking it and wouldn't leave it alone. Then, me being the horrible mom I am, walked too close to her on our way down the stairs and her split claw caught on the bottom of my boot and ripped it completely open. Talk about feeling awful! She cried and fell to the ground and was in absolute pain. To stop the bleeding my mom hurry and brought me some gauze and tape and we fixed her up to get her by. 

Then the next day Dan and I took her to the vet to just check it out and rather than just look at it, he ripped it right on out. Did we know this was coming? NOPE! She cried so loud and so hard in pain that my eyes teared up and I almost had to leave the room! 

I'm not kidding, I was cleaning the kitchen and when I finished I found her sleeping like this. Our carpet must be pretty cozy.

These things called "Sing-A-Ma-Jigs" were a hit this Christmas with our family. They're the stupidest thing ever. We had a purple one that was a present for our cute little nephew and Brandy eye balled it for days. I finally gave in and let her have it and she sleeps with it every night (like pictured in bed above) and takes it in the car with her, outside, and when she's hungry she even puts it in her dog dish. Pretty smart if you ask me.

That's my latest rant from the Rackliff family. Stay tuned for more.

Our New Home!!!!

We bought a house! I'm so excited! After a LONG, stressful process we got it! I'm in love with it and am so happy Dan and I have our own home! I'm so excited to start making memories there with friends, family, and of course, each other. We went through a lot to get here but it was worth every tear shed! (A lot on my part) I'll have to post pictures soon when we get all settled and moved in!
The website it is on it lame, and won't let me copy the pictures. SO- if you'd like to see some here is the link:
http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=681128&slink=-1&home=www.utahrealestate.com

Just Married!

Rumor has it that we got hitched? We sure did! SURPRISE! :) Were we planning on  getting married in Hawaii? Nope...
So- due to overwhelming responses of wanting an explanation and knowing all of the details of how it all went down, here it is:
Dan and I were actually planning on getting married sometime in the fall of 2011. We knew we weren't going to have an actual wedding because truth be told, I've never wanted to have a wedding- I've always known that I was going to go to elope somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I think weddings are romantic and all, but the stress and the chaos is just not for me. I'll pass... Anywho- back to fall of 2011. We were planning on getting married in Australia. Why Australia? I've always wanted to go there. It's one of my dream destinations and what better way to visit there than to visit it with the one you love and get married! Obviously, things change.
Last Christmas, (2009) my family had given us a trip to Hawaii as our Christmas presents for Christmas of 2010, which leads to the point of why we were going to Hawaii in the first place.
It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and we were getting ready to close on our house. We were driving home from my mom's house when I mentioned the idea of "maybe we should just get married in Hawaii".(After all, people had been telling us like crazy that we should but I don't like  being told what to do so that automatically singled that idea out of the picture) Dan didn't respond right away and contemplated my offer; after which he responded "should we?" Not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat because I didn't think he would go for it. It was then and there late at night we decided we were getting married and were going to tell my family the next day. Of course they were ecstatic! On top of this, we also decided we weren't going to tell anyone. Why is this? It's caused quite a stir... Given what December hit me with, the LAST thing I wanted was to start a ruckus. I also decided not to tell anyone because I knew out of the hundreds of people that would hear, some were bound to be upset, why not just upset everyone at the same time and deal with it when I get back?! Worked like a charm to say the least...
On Friday, my wedding coordinator got in contact with me, (I had emailed him on Wednesday to get the ball rolling) and within 30 minutes on the phone, we had my entire wedding planned out and I didn't talk to him again until the wedding day. It was great, and not to mention completely stress free.
Not even 4 days later, I went on the hunt for my dress. My cousin Holly came with me- I let her in on everything because she was coming to Hawaii with us and I didn't want to do it alone. We went to a dress shop and within a few gowns, I thought I had found the dress. I tried to put it on hold for my mom to see a few days later since she was out of town but they wouldn't hold it, which makes perfect sense.... but I decided to risk it and just hope it was there on Monday. Even though I thought I found my dress, we decided to try one more dress shop just for fun. I only had to try on 3 or so until I FELL IN LOVE! I didn't fell near as beautiful in the other dress as I did in this one.

This was taken at the dress shop so I could send it to my mom to see what she thought.

My dress was a breeze. I got it straight off the rack and didn't need any alterations, it fit like a glove. I did have my train pinned however so I had to go without for a few days.

Three weeks passed, our secret had slowly began to leak out but I finally reached a point that I really did not care who found out and what they thought, I was just happy to be getting married.
We left to Hawaii on Christmas Eve. Dan had to fly in separate from me and arrived on the 23rd since we booked his tickets a different way. It was beautiful there as always! 

We got SO lucky! We managed to go right during the rainiest season and it rained everyday we were there except our wedding day! The weather was perfect! 

I had full intensions of just wearing my hair down and straight despite having my wedding coordinator tell me not to because it was so windy. BUT- Dan and I went and checked out the beach the day before and there was NO way my hair would have survived that wind. Luckily my mom was able to help resolve that problem and helped me pull it up!

This is when we first got there. All of the boys had already driven down separately and were waiting on the beach. We were old school and I didn't let Dan see me that day up until the beach.

 They took Dan down to the beach and he had to face the ocean and wasn't able to turn around.

This was the behind the scenes chaos that Dan did not have to witness.

Finally everyone was situated and Chris walked me down the beach. (That sounds kind of funny :) but not many people can say it)

 Dan was able to turn around when I was right behind him. The look on his face was priceless!

Notice how Paytie was just playing in the ocean while we were getting married? She could care less.

 The Lei exchange

The vows we had to say with our rings were beautiful! I will always remember them!

These are all of the boys that were in Hawaii with us. From left to right:

My uncle Mark, my brother Carson, my step dad Chris, Dan, My sister's boyfriend Chance, and my cousin's husband Sean.

These are the girls, from left to right:

My cousin Holly, my sister Jordan, my mom Kelly, me, my little cousin Kylee, my little sister Payton, Dan's mom Remy, my aunt Sharon, and my cousin Angie.

Family photos

And the rest is history. I still can't believe all of this. I'm honestly on cloud 9. There really are no words to describe that feeling I felt that day. It's a feeling of endless love, happiness, excitement, and so much more all crammed into one. 

As I mentioned before, my December was a little rough. It took a special person to deal with all of my crying, sobbing, screaming, and yelling. But I've found someone who comforts me when I cry, holds me when I sob, listens to when I'm screaming, and calms me down when I'm yelling. (Dramatic...I know. I DO have a side nobody sees) I've married my true best friend and I can't believe how happy I am. I also need to reach out and say thank you to all of our friends and family! It's amazing the outpour of love we've received from so many people that care. We truly are lucky to be surrounded by so many awesome people!
On one more side now, I cannot wait for the professional pictures! These were taken from my sister, aunt, and cousin's camera and I already love them!