Gold!!

Team redeem has tasted gold. After a few ruff years it's great to see America on top again in basketball.



Have you seen D-Will and Boozers new look....

Pierre our "Fuzz"

So by now most of you have met the third member of our little family, Pierre. Others haven't had the chance to meet the Fuzz, so we thought we had better introduce him.

The first question everyone ask us is, "so... uhh... why a rabbit?". That's a fair question, especially because house rabbits aren't that common (and not everyone has experienced bunny love). We live in a apartment and wanted a clean, quiet, and low maintenance pet. Our Pierre meets all the criteria. Most people are surprised to hear that he is litter box trained. When we are home we let him out of his small cage to roam the house.

Pierre is a Mini-Rex breed, also known as the velveteen rabbits. His fur is very dense and soooo soft. It really puts all of your dogs and cats fur to shame.

Rabbits are social creatures, but it happens mostly on their own time. He gives you a good nudge when he is seeking some attention/rubbing/ treats. Turns out he has a sweet tooth for cereal, and can be quite a persuasive beggar bunny. When he gets real wound up he will do little wahoo jumps and heal clicks around the house. Some of his acrobatics even seem to surprise him. When he's relaxed he often feels the need to groom us; a large task for a tiny rabbit. He is one little licking machine!

A word about Warfarin / Coumadin

Hey its Josh, I have had several questions about "blood thinners" lately and thought I would dedicate a post to some of these questions. Coumadin is taken to prevent blood from clotting within the vessels. If and when these clots form, everything down stream from the clot starves. If the heart is downstream we call it a heart attack, when the brain is down stream its a stroke.

So why don't people take their medication? Well no one wants to take a pill, its like admitting your sick or have a problem. And then... there is the history of this medication. It was originally used as a rat poison. The logic I sometimes hear is "If they use it to poison rats, how can it possibly help me?" Lets all remember that the "dose makes the poison". To much table salt or even water can cause death too. So this brings up the other reason people don't like to take this medication, the monitoring. This medication MUST be monitored. Many people see their doctor every couple weeks to have a simple blood test and their dose adjusted. This is done to keep the drug in a "therapeutic level" not a toxic or ineffective level.


Some patients try to go on and off their medication. I believe they think they can just use it when they need it. Sadly no one can tell when they are going to have a stroke or a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism. Coumadin takes about three days to start working, and within those three days it can temporarily increase the clotting risk. In addition this medication does not dissolve clots, it only prevents them. In other words once you have a problem it is to late.

I guess it comes down to this, taking this medication is not convenient BUT it is effective. That has been proven time and time again.

Summer Trip To The Motherland

After six months of nearly complete family isolation we took a vacation back to the motherland. Our summer trips to Utah have become a favorite tradition while we have been away at school. We normally begin the drive to Utah at about 6PM and make the 11 hr trip. This is a true test of endurance and a bit of a living nightmare. This time around the stars aligned and we left at noon-ish. I can't tell you how much better the drive was. We had almost forgot how scenic old I-89 is. We made several stops, I read, we took some pictures, and even went on a little hike to horse shoe gulch.

Once we made it to home, (Yes, we still refer to it as home, I am sure we always will.) we found Grandma and Grandpa Treasure there too! Grandpa is receiving treatment (radiation and chemo) at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and is staying in Utah in the mean time. It was hard for all of us to see Grandpa suffer but we were all grateful he had chosen to undergo the painful treatments so he can be with us longer. Even through the pain Grandpa delivered some pretty good one liners to keep everyone smiling.

Once all the Treasure Sisters were together we decided to go to Seven Peaks water park for old times sake. Back in the day when we worked at Dad's hotel we had season passes and would spend several days a week at the water park. It was a mostly cloudy day, but warm enough to swim. My easily sun burnt husband didn't mind the lack of sun. We got to do most of the slides before lightning shut the park down.

Russell flew in to meet us at the Bastian's. It was like a mini reunion. We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and roasted cheesy hot dogs and made smores. We all enjoyed the pines and the mountains but we all swore off cheesy hot dogs for life. Never read the ingredients on a hot dog package as you eat them. After the Sun went down we put on jackets and stoked the fire. Our home in Phoenix seemed so far away. A jacket in the summer is completely out of the question where the low temperature might not dip below triple digits.