Okay so before you get too deep into this blog post, I want you to know something. I already know that I'm crazy. I'm well aware of that! Haha! I mean, who throws a birthday party for their dog?? Well... Let this be an example of who I am as a person. I believe that this life we have been gifted with deserves to be celebrated. Big and small. Yeah, you throw birthday parties for your child who just turned ONE! Or for your sweet grandmother who made it to 80 years old! But why can't we throw a party for the other special family member in our lives? "Man's Best Friend" deserves to be showered with their favorite snacks and people too, right?!
I had this idea to throw Zoey a birthday party because well, we've had her for 4 years and we never celebrated her birthday! Why? The truth is, we actually don't know if Zoey is 5 or when her real birthday is. We adopted her on May 24th in 2014 from The Almost Home Foundation and we were told that she was just under a year old but they weren't sure exactly her age. She had all her adult teeth already, but she was still a puppy! Since we never really knew when she was actually born, we figured we could make her adoption day be her birthday and since this was her 4th year as OUR puppy and she was just under a year old when we got her, we thought we could throw her a big 5th birthday party and it was so much fun! I love celebrating even the smallest occasions in life but this was no "small occasion". We wanted to make it big and we all had such a blast!
We snacked on "Paw"-tato chips, "pup"corn, pretzel fetch sticks, Soda "pup", and Zoey's favorite human food- apples!
It isn't a party without an invitation, right?! HAHA!
This was probably my favorite thing out of the whole party! Haha! Everyone could fill up their "doggie bags" once they left the party! My first plan was actually to throw the candy bars all over the yard and when everyone arrived I would hand them a baggie and tell them to "clean up the front yard" HAHAH!
HUGE shoutout to The Hungry Hound Boutique in St. John, Indiana for having the CUTEST dog birthday treats! They were perfect for the party!
And for the main dish, we served grilled hot "DOGS" and hamburgers. How fitting, right?
Zoey had the BEST day! She celebrated with all her favorite people and played all day long! What's so crazy about giving your pup a good day that makes her happy? I hope this post inspires you to maybe even throw your doggie their own birthday party! They will love you forever, even more than they already do!
So I couldn't make this blog post without going down memory lane with you over the past 4 years that we've had Zoey! The 2nd half of this post shares some of my favorite memories with her. Some of these are even more memorable in my life BECAUSE she was there to experience it with Brian and I! During our 4 years together, Zoey became not just the family dog, she became more than that....
She turned us into the craziest dog parents you probably will ever meet!
She comes with us everywhere! We go camping with her, to the beach (pictured below was the first time Zoey saw sand, and she went NUTS!), we go hiking with her and explored Starved Rock, she even came with me to work one day on "Bring Your Dog To Work Day"! If dogs were allowed to go, she was jumping in the car to come with us!
She especially loves our trips to Starbucks together!
There wasn't a family photo that Zoey wasn't a part of because, well... she's family too now! And everyone loves her!
She was even a part of our engagement pictures because we couldn't imagine going through this exciting time in our lives without her being involved!
Throughout the years we've spent together, she has celebrated life's exciting moments and holidays right along with us from Halloween, 4th of July, Easter, Christmas, Valentine's Day and everything in between!
And during all of these holidays, she has created quite the collection of toys that she receives as gifts and well, just because!!
We all especially love her signature head tilt...
How excited and curious she gets over the outside world....
And also how cuddly she is! Her most used nickname is "Snuggle Muffin", mostly by me of course! Haha!
But even though we have had so many fun times together, spoil her with so many toys, bring her to all of our family gatherings and travels, we do have our fair share of moments embarrassing her! I mean, come on! Isn't that what parents do?!?!
No matter how many cute faces you give us, and how many things you get into (like shoes, food coloring, wooden door frames, garbage cans, and Daddy's belts), we will always love you pup! You are the sweetest dog with the biggest personality that I've ever met and I'm so happy that you are mine!
We love you Zo-Zo!! <3
