Sugar House Journal March 2016

March 2016 | Vol. 2 Iss. 03

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King’s English Bookstore Hosts Best-Selling Author

By Elizabeth Suggs | elizabeth.s@mycityjournals.com

page 7 Before the book signing, Jessica Day George had a Q&A and gave out prizes.

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Page 2 | March 2016

LOCAL LIFE

Sugar House Journal

Toys “R” Us Is Toys No More By: Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

T

oys “R” Us has closed its doors and emptied out after years in the Sugar House area.

Many rumors have been flying around that the Marriott bought them out, but according to the Sugar House Community Council, there are no set plans to have a hotel be built where Toys “R” Us was located.

“The Dee’s Corporation, the same [company] that owns all the rest of the buildings in that area, are looking for a new tenant for that building,” Judi Short, vice chair member of the Sugar House Community Council, said.

The company did not originally own the Toys “R” Us building but recently was able to acquire the building and will be doing a redevelopment of what is considered “Shopko block.”

“As I understand, they will be looking for a tenant for now. Their future plans say a hotel will go there, but that part is so far up the redevelopment chain that it could change. I have no idea on their time frame either. I doubt it is imminent,” Amy Barry, the chair of the Sugar House Community Council, said.

Many Sugar House residents were unaware of Toys “R” Us closing and were shocked when they heard the news. The Toys “R” Us has been a big part of the community since it was one of the only locations left in the Salt Lake Valley.

Empty Toys “R” Us. –Natalie Mollinet

“When I was 11 years old, my friend and I bought light sabers. The cashier gave us free batteries and announced on the loudspeaker that we were about to duel on the countertops. Lots of memories at that Toys “R” Us,” Josh Bello, a longtime Sugar House resident, said. l

Store closed sign at the open door. –Natalie Mollinet

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LOCAL LIFE

Page 4 | March 2016

Sugar House Journal

FacesPlaces AND

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

Jade Johnson: “I like Sugar House because there are a lot of local shops which are really cool, like Sugar House coffee. There are just so many places to go, like whether you want to eat, sit down to read books or do homework.

There’s lot of different things to do down here.”

Aaron Hubbard: “This place is a very friendly place. There are so many people here, and it’s very well diverse. Its fun and it’s very energetic.”

Nikee Miller: “I love walking everywhere.

I love walking through the park, taking the tunnel over to Whole Foods and shopping, and Carters, obviously with the children, and I shop the rack a lot. I just think they have a lot of good stuff. I really love the new park behind Westminster, but that’s just really fun. We like to walk around there sometimes. We’ll just go to Whole Foods and grab a muffin and go look at the ducks. But, yeah, Sugar House Park is great – it’s just fun. People are investing more in Sugar House.”

Frosts Books: If you’re looking to shop locally, look no further than Frosts Books just on the South West corner of 20th East and 27th South.

Richard Frost, the grandson of the owners who originally started the book store in 1959, still works at the store. Frost’s parents owned the store for 20 years up on Foothill Drive, and later he took over and has been the owner for 25 years. The new location in Sugar House has been going strong since 2002 selling all types of books including local books. Frost is more than happy to help you find the book you need or want.

Feldman’s Deli: Miss that east coast Jewish sub? The only place you’re going to get that taste is at Feldman’s Deli unless you’re willing to drive 400 miles to the next nearest place. Feldman’s Deli is located on the Northeast corner of 2100 E and 2700 S. The owner Mike is a super friendly guy and will be more than happy to chat with you about how the deli got started. “When you move, the first thing you miss is the food you grew up with. We’re from Jersey, so we’re surrounded by delis of all kinds. We moved down here 16 years ago and loved living out here, but we noticed that there’s a whole lot of franchise restaurants and not a lot of authentic restaurants. After about a dozen years of living here, my wife wanted to get back to work because she grew up in the family bakery business, but did not want to do bakery. So we asked each other, ‘Well, what’s missing in Utah?’ We both said there’s no real deli in Utah not like what we grew up with… and a year later Feldman’s opened.” Feldman’s Deli has been in Sugar House since 2012 and you have to try their sloppy joe or Radio from Hell. Mike said he loves Sugar House because of all the different people that move here and know what a deli should taste like.

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LOCAL LIFE

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Art Fit for Sugar House S

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

ugar House is a very cultured place with different kinds of people, from hipsters to out-of-towners to lifelong residents. At the Sprague Library on Highland Drive, the art galleries featured there are chosen specifically for Sugar House.

looks like caveman drawings, but with a more modern twist. Other interesting art galleries are coming up, and all are anchored towards Sugar House residents.

“What I specifically look for at Sprague is – if you follow the galleries here, there’s a

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Sugar House Art Walk. –Laurie Bray

Currently at the library there is art featured called “If I Were a Caveman This Would Be My Wall: Works by Alan Durtischi.” The gallery features art from an oncologist from Bountiful who does his art as a hobby. The art

huge amount of variety here, in terms of the artwork, and that’s quite purposeful because we have such community use of our meeting space,” Celeste Metz, the head chair of the committee that chooses the galleries, said.

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Metz added that there are children that visit the library, along with different types of community groups that reserve the library to hold their meetings. She hopes that with so much of a variety of people using the library in Sugar House, she will be able to use the art to draw people in.

Sugar House has over 30,000 residents and does hold quite a dynamic of students, older residents, young families and small families. And with multiple elementary schools that are in the area, picking out an exhibit that will entice the local demographic can be a struggle.

“Sugar House is so diverse. We get so many groups of people, and we’ve got a lot of people who appreciate arts and crafts because we have gallery spaces. We have a lot going on here culturally, and so we kind of want to be part of that. We want to be active and engaged in it,” Metz said.

Along with the galleries featured at the library, the community holds a Sugar House Art Walk every second Friday of the month, when people can follow a map to different locations where local artists can display their artwork.

Laurie Bray, with the Sugar House council, who’s in charge of the walk, said that the

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walks are geared towards the places where people can come visit again, but the art is all local.

“Our venues of course include a few galleries but also include Sugar House Coffee, the Greenloft Coop, Unhinged, Cameron Wellness Center and Smith Crown Vacuums. These places display art from mostly local artists,” Bray said. “The galleries choose their own artists, and artists are welcome to reach out to several of them. Some, like Local Colors and Rockwood Art Studios, have artists who pay monthly to have space there so they are not able to accommodate others. We hope to get people’s return to visits to the venues and their business at these places, too.”

The art walks have been a success, attracting about 70-90 people to the venues, and even more during the summer months when musicians and dancers perform.

“We know that our public and our patronage love it -- very educated very broad patronage,” Metz said.

The Sugar House art walks are held every second Friday of the month from 6-9 p.m., and the maps can be found online at sugarhouseartwalk.org. The exhibit “If I Were a Caveman This Would Be My Wall” runs until March 12.

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SH Coffee Art. –Laurie Bray

Page 6 | March 2016

LOCAL LIFE

Sugar House Journal

Sugar House Girl Keeps Her Integrity in the Fashion World

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

M

oving to the other side of the world can change a person for better or for worse, depending on the friends you make and the environment you are in. One Sugar House woman has kept her integrity and, even being surrounded by fashion models and designers, decided she was never going to change to fit in.

Mquiston Stoddard, or as her friends call her, Q, is a homegrown Sugar House resident who went to Highland Park, Hillside and Highland High and knew that she wanted to be a fashion designer. She applied for the best schools and got accepted, starting out her training in Florence, Italy.

“School consisted of waking up, going to school, doing ridiculous amounts of homework and then sleep and repeat,” Q said.

This is how school was for Q, not only in Florence but also her time in New York City and finally graduating in Milan, Italy.

“My biggest struggle was staying motivated,” Q said. “It is really hard to drive yourself when no one else really cares if you fail or succeed.”

Q paid for all of her own schooling and said that money was always very tight. She always had the struggle of choosing between eating and buying her supplies for class. Q had to do some odd jobs to get by and stick to a super strict budget, but she made it through alive.

As many people can imagine, working in the fashion world is a world of its own. Q did face a lot of struggles being a part of a culture

Q in Milan. –Q Stoddard

where you’re supposed to act one way, look one way and be one way.

Q did get slack about her curvy body from people in the fashion world, but she knew that she was beautiful on the outside and inside.

She was raised in a strong family that knew being a daughter of God was more important than trying to fit in, and she said that her fami-

does your food budget...

Fashion designs from her third semester in Milan. –Q Stoddard

Another fashion designed. –Q Stoddard

ly really was her support group and the people she knew she could rely on for anything.

“I think it really helped having such good parents. They are the motivators in my success.

I want to make them proud and show them that I am who I am because of how they taught me,” Q said.

Q recalled a story of when a teacher told her to go get some money and then come back to school so she could look more like the other fashion designers.

“It hurt, but I vowed that day that no matter how my image changes I will not change how I treat people. I think that is the worst thing that can happen to successful people, is thinking they’re entitled to act better than other humans. I mean, for goodness sake, we are all humans,” she said.

Even though Q loves her Sugar House home, she wanted to work in Italy, but it’s extremely hard for Americans to get work visas in other countries. In her situation, there was a mistake in her graduation and some paper work in the application. Now her plans are to create a fashion line here in Utah to show the world what Utah is really made of.

“Sugar House has really developed since I’ve last been here. ‘Downtown Sugar House’ is awesome,” she said.

Being in Italy made her homesick for Sugar House. She missed the park and being able to see the mountains, and even after snowboarding in the Alps, she said that Utah really does have the greatest snow on earth.

Q is currently working at Fantasy Bridal in Murray and running her own fashion website. She really wants to start her fashion line here and be able to show her future kids the hard work she has come to learn traveling around the fashion world.

“I want to show my kids the importance of passion and hard work, but I don’t want to get so lost in a career that I can’t help raise a family,” she said. l

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March 2016 | Page 7

on the cover

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

King’s English Bookstore Hosts Best-Selling Author

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By Elizabeth Suggs | elizabeth.s@mycityjournals.com

essica Day George, a New York Times best-selling author, came to the King’s English Bookstore Feb. 9 to showcase her new book, “Fridays with the Wizards,” before heading off to tour her book.

“I wanted to explore the castle some more, since the last book took us away from it,” George said. “I had hinted in book one that there was something up with the secret passages.”

Her next tour locations will be at Weber State University on Saturday, March 19, at the Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience in April. Some past locations were in Kansas and Texas, and during the end of February she paid a visit to her previous hometown in Idaho.

According to George, while she was living in Idaho, New Jersey, Delaware and Utah, she focused all of her interests on her book until she became published. Though she obtained a bachelor’s in humanities and comparative literature at Brigham Young University, she had no plans to have what she called a “real job.” All she wanted to do was write.

As Jessica Day George debuted her new “Fridays with the Wizards,” she saw an old friend from George explained that while waiting school. --Elizabeth Suggs for her book to be published and moving around, she worked at a wedding invitation her books are for children, the time it takes to create a book factory, video store, libraries and bookstores and as an office varies from story to story. worker at a school.

“Some books take maybe three months for the first draft.

The idea of not getting published was not an option. For Some have taken a year. Everyone is different,” George said.

George, it would happen no matter how many “not real” jobs “I’ve had friends who take years for every book. That’s just she had to endure. how they work.”

George is now an author of 12 books. The most recent of Before “Fridays with the Wizards,” George showcased her these books is “Fridays with the Wizards,” the fourth in one previous book, “Silver in the Blood,” in July at the King’s Enof her many children-based book series. However, the idea of glish Bookstore, where the children’s event marketer, Whitney writing for adult readers as well isn’t in her plans.

Berger, expressed her gratitude for George.

“I can be a lot more playful. I feel like it’s easier, and more “We usually try to get the day-of release, but some days we acceptable, to make jokes during tense scenes in children’s have to do it a day or two after,” Berger said. books,” George said. “I also like the challenge of working According to Berger, because of the “strong children’s around the parents and adults. You can’t just go out and train book author community” in Sugar House, it’s easy to have a griffin when you’ve got to hide the griffin from your parents many children’s book author signings with a large turnout. It and still get to class on time.” just “makes sense” to have so many books, both of George’s As a full-time author, George also expressed that though and other authors showcased.

The King’s English regularly has both new and old authors showcasing their books for readers of all ages.

“I like going to different places, so I can’t really say I have a favorite,” George said. “I love the King’s English, though, because it’s my ‘home’ store. I know everyone that works there, and I stop there all the time.”

For authors in the making, getting published isn’t about expecting to have your work immediately accepted.

It’s about understanding that there will rejection. According to George, to be published, there must be heart in the book that’s being written. Once there’s that, that’s when the real work starts.

Before the book signing, Jessica Day George had a Q&A and gave out prizes. --Elizabeth Suggs

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Page 8 | March 2016

GOVERNMENT

Sugar House Journal

Nightmare Parking in Sugar House

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com Parking in the heart of Sugar House can be a pain, especially down by McClelland Street.

A couple of the businesses, including Pei Wei, Barnes and Noble and Habit Burger, are ticketing people using their parking lot even if there aren’t customers in their parking lot.

Many people have parked in the Pei Wei parking to go to businesses across the street only to come back and find a parking ticket on their car because they weren’t Pei Wei customers. More than just Pei Wei is getting involved; other businesses in that area will ticket or ask you to move if you’re not planning on dining with them.

The report stated, “the unfortunate thing here is that we will not see any cohesive, consistent or sustainable solutions come into fruition in this regard unless there is some sort of parking authority who helps to regulate and provide consistency.” In short, there is parking but every parking place is being managed in a different way.

With many renovations completed in Sugar House, the area is supposed to be walkable place with the addition to the tunnel under 1300 East connecting the park and the heart of Sugar House, as well as the additional parking around the Shopko area.

Parking in Sugar House. –Natalie Mollinet

Along Highland Drive just past Sugar House Brewery, there is an underground parking option, but you do need to be heading south to get into the underground parking. If you are there for more than 20 minutes, there is a $10 charge. But if you’re planning on eating at Buffalo Wild Wings, the Pub or other restaurants along that strip, you can get validated.

One resident, Lisa Morrise, said there are too many restaurants around and not enough parking.

“Clearly not enough [parking] for the volume of business. And [if I recall correctly], some of the lots have had huge car-eating potholes,” Morrise said.

“I receive a lot of negative comments from people regarding parking in Sugar House.

Diamond Parking has managed to convince property owners to utilizing them to protect their spaces, but really this is only hurting the businesses who lease space from those property owners,” Summer Shumway, the chair of the Sugar House chamber, said.

An extensive study was done with the parking situation involving Sugar House and downtown Salt Lake. The study showed that there is more than enough parking in both areas, but the area isn’t being utilized properly.

“Sugar House is supposed to be a walkable community and people should not be punished for parking one place and visiting numerous establishments. They should be encouraged to do so,” Shumway said.

Sugar House is an accessible area if you know how to navigate it. The additional parking underground on Highland Drive allows access to the restaurants on McClelland as well as the new restaurants along Highland Drive and 2100 South.

Most of the parking available is on the street on McClelland, with limited parking spots near the Habit Burger for tenants in the nearby apartments. In the near future, parking is going to become limited as development begins and could cause problems in that area.

Bill Knowles, the Sugar House ombudsman said, “What parking will go away will be the parking behind Fats Grill and Leisure Living.”

The new buildings, according to sources, will have parking for not only residents in the upcoming buildings but also the public. The large business building that is set to go up where the Dixon building and Hyland Plaza are will have a 450-car parking garage. When that building will be completed is not yet set, but more parking will be available in the future. l

GOVERNMENT The Expecting Granite Block Changes

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

March 2016 | Page 9

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

T

he sign for Boulder Ventures apartments near the old Granite Furniture Warehouse building is evidence of one of the few changes coming around that area. The new look will include residential buildings, as well as new business buildings.

There are two businesses, Boulder Ventures and Craig Meacham, who own the buildings in what many consider the “Sugar Hole,” which is the area around the old Granite Furniture building and Hyland Plaza. Meacham owns Hyland Plaza, the Leisure Living building and the Dixon building along Highland Drive. These buildings have already been knocked down to make way for a new business building.

Bill Knowles, who is the Sugar House Ombudson, said he has seen the new building plans and that the building will fit into the Sugar House look.

“It has interesting angles to it and will be a tall building. There will be some landscaping and public space in the back with park benches and nice landscaping,” Knowles said.

A new street will be added, connecting Wilmington and Elm Street, and there will be not only more parking but also more room for people to walk.

One of the major plans that will need to be completed is renovating the canal that runs below all those buildings. The water from the canal is used for farming farther west, and as per a contract between the farmers and the city,

that canal needs to be turned on by March 15.

The city is more than happy to let Meacham and Boulder Ventures build there, because they have agreed to renovate the canal under the buildings, which is a job that has been sorely needed for years. The builders will be renovating about 560 feet of the canal, which will be beneficial for the farmers down the canal.

Many of the residents in Sugar House feel that the new buildings will take away from the charm that Sugar House has to offer, such as a lot of small businesses. Some people believe the small businesses are being pushed out due to higher competitors being brought in.

“I think the area is too crowded as it is.

I don’t like driving down 2100 South anymore. We don’t need more people crossing the streets ... and getting hit by cars. I say keep the charm,” Kristen Valdez, a frequent visitor to Sugar House, said.

Kirk Hauffaker, who is a member of the Utah Heritage Foundation, had his take on the changes in Sugar House and if they’re affecting the history.

“In only the last 10 years, more than 50 years of historic architecture in Sugar House has being erased. Quickly, Sugar House is losing the character of place that multiple generations of people have strong emotional connection to,” he said.

Other residents in Sugar House believe that the changes were coming and are needed to the changing community.

Boulder Ventures coming to Sugar House. –Natalie Mollinet

“Frankly, none of the buildings in question are really iconic or historic in any significant way. What gives Sugar House its charm is that it is a trendy suburb. Replacing worn- down, barely used buildings in the interest of paving the way for new businesses and residences is good for everyone,” a new resident in Sugar House said.

The next phase after the demolition of the Dixon building is to knock down the buildings north of it. The buildings that will be demolished are the buildings where The Bar in Sugar House resides as Sugar House Furniture building coming down. –Natalie Mollinet well as Fats Grill. These buildings are owned by Craig Meacham and were actually constructed by his grandfather in 1956, on the site for the Hyland Lumber and Hardware Co. “Although the Sugar House master plan lists historic preservation as one of its goals, nothing in the zoning ordinance provided incentives for historic preservation or for protecting small, local businesses, should the property owners decide to redevelop the block.

As a result, the new development came at a higher rate per square foot for tenants, and effectively barred some small local businesses A hole where Leisure Living once was. –Natalie Molfrom remaining in the historic Sugar House linet business district,” Lynne Olson, a member of in the works for around eight years, waiting the Sugar House community council, said. to see how the development around it would Businesses around the area knew that they look, as well as getting feedback from retailers were in trouble when the new buildings were around the area,” Ferrari said. being built around them in 2006. Some of the Some businesses around the area said that businesses stayed in Sugar House, including they weren’t for more retail, but rather a place Sugar House Furniture, Standard Optical and where people can live so they can get more the Square Nest, which have moved to Meacustomers coming into their businesses. Boulcham’s new building at the Vue. der Ventures talked with Westminster College The new building replacing Dixon alalong with Fairmont Park and Forest Dale Golf ready has businesses planning to move in once Course, and the new building will have plenty it is finished. As for the old Granite Furniture of parking and will actually be constructed as building, Boulder Ventures doesn’t have pertwo buildings. mission to demolish the building yet.

More is to come in the future with the According to Lindsey Ferrari, who works changes in Sugar House’s development. For for Boulder Ventures, a lot of input was put more information, residents can attend the into what would be built where the Granite Sugar House Community Council meetings Furniture Warehouse building was located.

“The warehouse building project has been held at the Sprague Library. l

Page 10 | March 2016

EDUCATION

Sugar House Journal

Former Student Returns to Highland High as a Teacher

J

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

enny Hardy had never planned on coming back to Highland High to teach after she went to high school there for four years. She then attended BYU, earning her bachelor’s in film, and later moved across the country to Boston, where she earned her master’s in film.

“I never planned on being a high school teacher, so being back at Highland is a bit of a surprise. The schedule of a high school teacher does allow me some free time in the summer months to pursue creative film projects if I choose to, so that’s very nice,” Hardy said.

Hardy grew up in Sugar House along Parleys Way. Her older siblings went to Highland, as well as her little brother. Her mother, Kerry, still works at Highland in the registrar’s office and has a reputation amongst the students as being sweet and awesome.

“I love working with my mom. Highland already felt like my family and now it literally is. The students are always happy to find out that such an adorable woman is related to me – I think they like me more when they find out who my mom is because she’s so great,” Hardy said.

On the side, Hardy does freelance video work throughout the school year and feels like that video production void is filled in her life while she is teaching. She enjoys doing film because she can be creative and can still use that skill to help her students out while she’s teaching.

“I love the creative ideas I see my students come up with.

I have the fortunate job of being their creative outlet during the day, and I get to see a side of their personalities that I think doesn’t always manifest in their other classes,” she said.

Hardy has had a long-time love for film. In fact, in her senior year she was elected as a student body officer over assem-

blies. She made a Highland film with the help of her fellow students called “The Chronicles of Highland: The Ram, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” She directed and did all the editing for the film and is still remembered by students who attended that year. Four years prior to that, she played the character of Legolas in another Highland film, called “Lord of the Rams.”

She has already started making changes to her video production class at Highland. She is in charge of Highland’s news show HTVS that airs once a week in the morning for the whole student body.

“Last year, I updated all the equipment we use in our studio, so our HTVS broadcasts are now live-streamed through YouTube on our channel (HTVS News) in glorious HD. The program already had a long line of award-winning films, news stories and commercials at the Utah High School Film Festival and other competitions, and I plan on increasing our presence in those areas,” she said.

Not only is she planning to change how much Highland is involved in state film programs, she has updated their video editing system at Highland to include 20 new iMac computers with Adobe Production Premium.

“We also have started streaming sporting events on our YouTube channel this year so you can watch them and hear live commentary on the home basketball games from the comfort of

• We welcome our newest Chamber members M&T Bank, and the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival.

• Our general monthly meeting is the first Wednesday of each month at Westminster on the Draw. See our FB page for details. Facebook.com/SugarHouseChamber Please utilize www.surgarhousechamber.org/events for directions to meeting • Our next monthly networking meeting will be March 10 at One World Gifts located at 2166 E Highland Dr from 5:30-7:30. (Depending if it doesn’t get out in time, April’s networking meeting will be at the Cameron Wellness Center 1945 S 1100 E at 5:30-7:30 on April 14th.) Free for members, $10 for non-members.

See FB page for details.

• Sugar Days and Sample Sugar House will be April 21-24. More details to come!

Save the date!!

• Share the love #iHeartSugarHouse. Tag your favorite Sugar House business or place in Sugar House.

To learn more about becoming a member or if you have questions about the Sugar House Chamber, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Phone: 801-448-7292 Email: info@sugarhousechamber.org Mail: P.O. Box 520356 Salt Lake City, UT 84152-0356 http://www.sugarhousechamber.org/join

Jenny teaching her TV 2 class. –Natalie Mollinet

your living room,” she said.

Not only is Hardy a teacher, a daughter and a sister, but she considers herself to have a nerdy and geeky side. She is a diehard Whovian and admits that her favorite doctor is David Tennant.

“No contest, though I do actually like all of them for their own reasons,” she said.

Hardy loves being back in her old stomping grounds and hopes to continue to grow the broadcasting classes there.

“I don’t completely know what the future holds, but I do know that working at Highland has been a great experience and I look forward to building the video production and TV broadcasting programs here,” she said. l

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EDUCATION

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

March 2016 | Page 11

Girls on the Run at Beacon Heights

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

I

t’s time to “run like a girl” for the female students at Beacon Heights. A new program is being brought around to help female students gain confidence in a happy, healthy way.

The Girls on the Run (GOTR) program has a mission to “inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.”

GOTR started in North Carolina in 1996 and now helps more than 168,000 girls in cities all across North America, including here in Sugar House, to help the female students of Beacon Heights find their potential and happiness through running.

Tina Dinh is a fifth-grade teacher at Beacon Heights who brought the program to her former school, Rose Park Elementary. After she saw the great success she had with it there, she wanted to bring it to Beacon Heights.

“I focused on teaching positive body image, making good choices and empowering them to do something that would make a positive impact on others,” Dinh said. “The program has brought friendship, boosted confidence and created lifelong runners.”

The nonprofit program here in Utah plans to have 1,800 girls involved at 120 sites, Bea-

con Heights being included.

GOTR starts with helping girls better understand who they are and what’s important to them, and then looks at building healthy teams and relationships. They show how girls can positively change the world. The girls only meet twice a week, and certified coaches teach the girls 24 lessons that come in three parts: understanding ourselves, valuing relationships and teamwork and understanding.

Heidi Morton, who is over the Utah division of GOTR, said that the program has also had a lot of positive feedback from parents. A survey was conducted surveying 1,200 girls and their parents, and 96 percent of parents said that the program was a positive experience for their daughter, while 98 percent said they viewed their coach as a positive role model for their daughter.

“It’s easy and simple and really just a tool to get out and move. It’s not really about training girls to be runners or athletes, but to help boost their self confidence,” Morton said.

Morton said she gets comments all the time from mothers saying they wished they had the program when they were girls.

Studies show that girls start to have a low-

er self-esteem when reaching third through eighth grades.

“Girls really try to act like their peers and talk like them,” Morton said.

The GOTR program helps bring out their own character strength, and she feels like at these ages they can grab them and help them celebrate their uniqueness.

At the end of each season, the girls and their running friends complete a 5K, which gives the girls a tangible sense of achievement, as well as a framework for setting and achiev-

ing life goals. Results include healthy, confident girls.

Third- through eighth-grade girls can be involved in GOTR, while at Beacon Heights the program is open to girls from third through sixth grade. The girls have been running and building relationships since Feb. 25, and the girls are enjoying it.

“Girls on the Run makes girls feel good about themselves – any girl, anywhere can appreciate it. That is why I continue to support the program and bring it back to Beacon Heights year after year,” Dinh said. l

Science Night at Dilworth Elementary Getting Bigger Every Year

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

E

verything from lizards to snakes, from Aside from the animals, students learned outer space to dropping eggs, was found how a green screen works on news stations, at Dilworth Elementary School on its science walked on the Star Trek bridge and got to be in night. This was Dilworth’s third annual sci- an earthquake simulation. ence night, and every year more and more kids Talking to any child was almost impossicome. The fifth- and sixth-grade kids were able to show off their science fair projects. Students built airplanes and tried to see how far they could fly, watched chemical reactions and learned how they can bring science home.

Jeanne Shope is not just a volunteer but a mother of two of the students who attend Dilworth. She said that it’s a fun night and the kids get interested in what’s going on.

“I love it. It’s the biggest one that we’ve had. We started doing this two years ago,” Shope said.

One room allowed students to hold reptiles from huge snakes to little lizards – a lot of the male Science projects done by the students. –Natalie Mollinet students hung out in this room and loved being able to hold the reptiles. Hogle Zoo brought animals including a ble because of how excited they were running great horned owl that students could come up from room to room, working on their crafts and pet. and running back and forth from the egg drop Aiden Hogle-Weimt, a student who was room to dropping their eggs, seeing if they very into his lizard, said that he was super ex- could actually be able to not break their egg. cited for the event even though it was his first Not only were students invited to attend, but time. parents could come and have dinner with their “I’m pretty much excited to see every- children, provided by the school. Students were thing,” he said. also encouraged to take an experiment home

with them.

As students went to eight of the different activities that they could do hands-on or watch, they received a stamp. Once they received enough stamps, they could go back and get a prize.

worth came from Michael and Christina Hight, who believed that since science is usually portrayed as a tough subject, it was the best way to help kids get over that fear and to help kids get hands-on experience.

“We wanted the most memorable event of the year for students to be education, not assessments,” Michael Hight said. “Science Night seemed like a great opportunity to expose students to the why of education. One day you might want to engineer a better bridge, work in aeronautics, build the next killer app or make improvements in weather predictions.”

Originally, the funding for supplies for science night was denied by the STEM Action Center, but thanks to the Hights, principal Wright, the PTA and the school Students hold a snake provided by Hogle Zoo. community council, science night –Natalie Mollinet has been able to continue as a collaboration of the school and community, and it has been a success.

Jared Wright, the principal at Dilworth, “You will never see so many kids happy said the kids come back with a greater love for while unsuccessfully dropping an egg withscience. out it breaking,” Hight said. “Watching their “I loved seeing the kids trying the dif- structure collapse on a shake table, their paper ferent experiments, learning how to program airplane taking a nose dive or their computer using CODE and how much they loved the an- program not doing what they expected -- no imals. I loved the event because the students matter what they decide to be when they grow saw just how fun science can be,” Wright said. up, they will benefit from learning to enjoy The brains behind science night at Dil- persisting until they succeed.” l

SPORTS

Page 12 | March 2016

Sugar House Journal

The Tall and the Small of New Highland High Athletes

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

M

aking any team when getting into high school is quite the accomplishment.

Highland High’s boys varsity basketball team put three new freshmen on their team, including 6-foot-3, 170-pound freshman Jackson Hawes. He may not be the tallest kid on the team, but he is for sure the tallest freshman.

Jackson didn’t expect to make the roster, but he is really glad he did.

“I thought I was just going to make sophomore, but when I got the chance to practice with varsity they saw something in me, and that was pretty cool to play with them,” Hawes said.

Hawes is a broad-shouldered kid who most consider to be pretty tall for his age. He said he doesn’t get sick of people commenting on his height.

“It’s pretty cool actually. I get that a lot you know, obviously,” Hawes said.

Even though he’s a freshman, he doesn’t feel like the other guys on the team treat him any different, and he gives a lot of credit to his coaches on how they coach the team.

“Coach Boyce is always energetic and brings a lot of energy to the team, pumping us up before the games,” he said.

Hawes not only plays for Highland’s basketball team but also plays for Highland’s football team. He considers basketball to be more his passion.

“I think basketball in college would be

Boys basketball team. –Highland High

awesome. I’m going to go on an LDS mission after high school, but, you know, after that, if I could play college basketball I would take the opportunity,” he said.

Hawes said Highland is looking like a pretty good team this year, beating most of the best teams in the division and may make it to state. State tournaments for high school basketball begin in early March.

On the other end of the spectrum, Highland also has a new wrestler on their junior varsity team – a freshman named Abram Toronto.

Toronto is actually 10 pounds under weight, sitting at 100 pounds and being 5-foot-

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Abram Toronto Wrestling. –Elaine Toronto

2, but he still wins most of his meets. He did some wrestling before he came over to Highland, but said he has to work harder to beat kids who are bigger than him.

“I just try to be quicker than the people I wrestle,” he said.

Not only does Toronto practice with his team, he takes time at home to make sure he has all the skills he needs to take down the bigger competition. His mom got him a wrestling mat to practice on at home, and he does basic moves that he doesn’t need a partner for.

Toronto is trying to gain the weight he needs to be in his weight class and admits that

it’s hard to compete when you don’t have the weight advantage on your side. Although he’s under his weight class, he’s still winning most of his games and even made the junior varsity team. He also is a part of Highland’s boys lacrosse team, but he likes wrestling more.

“Wrestling is way harder and more fun, so I like wrestling,” he said.

Both athletes say their time at Highland so far has been positive and they’re excited to continue on in their sports through their high school career. They also want to help their teams win championships and, in general, help add something to their teams and school. l

SPORTS

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

March 2016 | Page 13

Small Wrestler Has Big Determination

By Natalie Mollinet | natalie@mycityjournals.com

I

t’s almost your typical story of David and Goliath: someone you would feel has the disadvantage actually ends up having the advantage – even if they’re 4-foot-4. One Highland student, Zach Schreiter, not only is small in stature but also has had to deal with his own Goliath: cancer.

Zach is your typical teenager. He loves being outdoors, hangs out with friends when he can and is big into swimming, wrestling and karate. He attends school every day, enjoying his honors language arts class, weight training and seminary. The only atypical thing about Zach – besides that he’s a black belt – is that he is a dwarf.

In his younger years at Nibley Park Elementary, Zach got teased a lot for his height.

“People would call me names because of my size, and that is the type of bullying I got during my younger years,” Zach said.

But this didn’t stop him from accomplishing things and continuing in what he loved to do. Karate is one of the many things Zach enjoys doing and has practiced for five years.

One day, however, during one of his classes, his teacher noticed something odd on the back of his neck.

“I was having pictures done for my karate and I had my neck in a certain way, and my master saw this weird lump on my neck and pointed it out to my dad,” Zach said.

A few weeks later Zach found himself at Shriners Hospital, but doctors didn’t know what it was, so they told him and his parents to go to Primary Children’s Hospital and see if they knew what was going on.

“They looked at it, and they wanted to do surgery as soon as possible,” Zach said. “After the surgery, about a week later we got the results that it was Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a cancer that affects your lymphatic system, the part of your body that helps fight off infections.

At first Zach was fine with it, but as he talked with his aunt

more about it he broke down. “[It was] a good life lesson to learn and very painful; it took away most of my strength and stamina,” he said.

Zach’s treatment began in August when he started school, but he was able to still complete his homework and school assignments without missing regularly. According to his classmates, Zach maintained a positive attitude through his treatments, so not many people even knew what he was going through.

“My friends and family keep me positive,” Zach said. “The students [at Highland] treat me like a friend.”

Zach said during his time through chemo, his biggest support was his dad.

“He did everything for me during chemo, like he helped clean my PICC line when it needed to be cleaned and made sure I took my medication and knew how to give me my shot if I couldn’t do it. The rest of my family gave me love and support that I needed,” he said.

PICC lines are the long thin tubes that doctors put into the vein of the patient when they give chemotherapy and other medicines. The line has to be changed every week to reduce infection.

“My friends and family motivate me because they are the ones that truly care about me,” Zach said. “There is an end to this pain, and I have to keep giving all I got and do it with a smile, which motivated me through chemo.”

Zach at the photo shoot where his coach noticed the bump. –Zach Schreiter Zach carried that support, and after four months of being in and out of the hospital, he had his last treatment on his mother’s birthday.

Even though Zach had lost a significant amount of weight and was very weak, he wanted to continue on to the next step – it was wrestling season.

Zach made the JV team, and his teammates are always there pushing him on the sidelines.

AND PAY HALF WHAT “My teammates tease me in a fun way and support me,” YOU PAID SOMEONE he said.

ELSE LAST YEAR. Zach may be short for his weight class sitting at 113 pounds, but he feels like it’s a OFFER PERIOD challenge and also an advanFEB. 22 – MARCH 31, 2016 tage being short.

“The advantage is I have a low center of gravity and a lot of upper-body strength in my weight class. The challenge is that my opponents will have more reach than me,” he said.

After high school, Zach plans to go to college but first serve an LDS mission, a challenge he’s looking forward to.

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SPORTS

Page 14 | March 2016

Sugar House Journal

Westminster Skiers Train to Win

By Tyson Peterson | tyson@mycityjournals.com

S

kiers from Westminster took to the slopes in Park City Jan. 4-6 at Utah’s Invitational Slalom. The Westminster team finished second overall in the mens rankings for Alpine events, due to the 77 points they scored in the giant slalom event and the 90 points they scored in the mens slalom race. Skiers Giulio Bosca and Tim Lindgren finished third and fourth respectively in the mens slalom race, and the team finished fourth overall in the giant slalom race.

“My skiing has been getting better, and I’ve been doing well. My goal was to be at least in the top three, if not the winner,” Bosca said of the goals he had for himself.

Bosca, a senior at Westminster, not only finished third in the slalom race but also third in the mens overall individual rankings.

“I’m originally from Italy, but I stayed here in Utah mostly training at Park City. I also went to Minnesota, where they have smaller mountains but good snow. I was able to get a lot of runs in out there,” Bosca said.

“Giulio is very self motivated and wants to be the best he can be.”

Head coach Chris Hendrickson appreciates Bosca for being self-motivated to become

the best he can be.

“I don’t necessarily do any different training with Giulio. All our athletes work very hard on their conditioning and on the hill. They’re all very motivated, training themselves and working hard,” Hendrickson said.

The Westminster Alpine skiing team consists of 14 athletes: five women and nine men.

Along with Bosca, there are four other seniors on the team.

“We have a lot of good athletes on our team. We are all very experienced and we’re all good skiers. I try to look at what each skier does best, and then try to model my skiing after that. There isn’t just one teammate I look to as my example. We all have really good skiing skills,” Bosca said.

Hendrickson has served as the head coach since before 2009, and he also serves as the golf team head coach.

“He is an amazing guy. I love him. He puts us in the best condition possible, not only physically, but also our attitude and mindset.

He can’t go out and ski for us, so he tries to make us as ready as possible before we compete,” Bosca said. l

Giulio Bosca takes third in Mens Individual rankings. Also pictured are Erick Read (first place) and Ola Buer (second place). –Joseph Sipe

Theatre and Community at Westminster

T

he performing arts may not be the first thing that out-oftowners associate with Utah, but people who live here know that our state has long been a supportive and active home for the fine arts. From Provo to Salt Lake City to Sugar House, Utah residents have a special love of the theatre, and that’s one of the many reasons that the Westminster Theatre program continues to grow and flourish.

Westminster theatre students come from all over the country and the world, and they form one of the most closeknit academic and social communities on campus. This is to be expected, of course. Unlike other programs that bring students and faculty together for bi-weekly classes and the occasional study group, theatre students also see each other at nightly three-hour rehearsals when they’re involved in upcoming shows.

Furthermore, they take classes that challenge them personally as well as professionally, including “The Performer’s Body,” “Yoga for Wellness,” and “Dance and Movement,” to name a few. These courses dig deep and bring participants together in a way that a class like “Business Quantitative Methods,” for example, usually doesn’t.

For theatre students, their responsibilities go far beyond earning good grades. In addition to strong academic and creative performance, there is a built-in expectation of

community because, ultimately, community and connection are at the heart of all good theatre.

Strong community within the program is what teaches these young actors to support one another and what gives their on-stage performances the sparkle and sizzle of real life relationships. But there’s another important way our theatre students develop community — by connecting with you! After all, what good is world-class theatre without a world-class audience?

Our neighbors in Sugar House have always been great supporters of Westminster performances. If you’ve been involved with this current season, then you’ve already had a chance to see “Behold,” “Zebulon” and “Don Juan Comes Back From the War,” but there are still many great opportunities to experience Westminster theatre.

There are two shows left in the 2015-2016 season.

“Our Country’s Good” runs February 25-27 and March 3-5 and follows the founding of Australia’s original penal colony, based on journals and letters of the soldiers and convicts who were there to witness it. This year’s musical is “Gypsy,” which runs March 31-April 2 and 7-9. This classic show is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease and burlesque artist. The story focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become syn-

onymous with “the ultimate show business mother.”

Then, this summer, the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival will once again be taking Sugar House by storm! The Great Salt Lake Fringe is a multi-day performing arts festival in the heart of Sugar House, where artists from Salt Lake City and beyond come together to tell their stories. The festival, which was founded last year by Westminster Theatre professors and students, will run July 29 - August 7, 2016.

We hope you’ll stop by again to see some amazing original pieces created and performed by Westminster students and members of our community.

For more information about all of these exciting events, check out the websites listed below, and we can’t wait to see you at the next show! https://www.westminstercollege.edu/theatre_arts http://www.greatsaltlakefringe.org/

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

Highland Boys Basketball Team Wins in the End

By Tyson Peterson | tyson@mycityjournals.com

H

ighland boys basketball faced off against Bonneville on Friday, Jan. 29, in a home game that stayed close right down to the last seconds, finishing 68-65. After being down 29-39 at half time, Highland fought their way back to win by three points.

“We knew they were going to play physical, so we knew we’d have to come out and be physical with them, and just play hard,” Rick Schmidt said of preparing for the game against Bonneville.

Schmidt, a senior and power forward, is the team captain for Highland. Schmidt was among the top scorers in the game, but with minutes still to go, he got his fifth foul and was forced to leave the game. Schmidt has scored 246 points with a 51-percent field goal percentage during his career at Highland.

“I feel like I was getting hammered, but that’s the way the game goes. I think some of the fouls were pretty weak, but that’s the way they called them. You just have to battle through it and let the refs do their job,” he said.

Due to the physical nature of the game, Highland’s top scorers had four fouls apiece or more.

Schmidt was the only player to get five. Many of the fouls were in the first half before Highland left to the locker room down by 10 points.

“We knew we needed to rebound more. We needed to improve on that and step it up. We had a lot of guys step up. Brevin Elsholz really stepped up, and Ryan Lambson did a great job as well,” Schmidt said.

Lambson, also a senior and point guard, played many of the minutes against Bonneville. He, along with Elsholz and Schmidt, were the top scorers in the game. Lambson has scored 122 points with a 51-percent field goal percentage during his career at Highland, while Elsholz has scored 189 points with a 44-percent field goal average.

“We know that everyone in our region is really good. I mean it’s a jungle. I think we played them a little lighter in the beginning, but we came back, and we’ll be back again next week,” Lambson said. “When we started banking those threes, I kind of looked and thought, this is bizarre; we might win this. It was kind of up and down the whole game up until the end, and that’s when I thought we might actually win this.”

Head coach James Boyce applauded the team’s success.

“To win games like these, you have to go out of your way. You have to go out and do it, and that’s what [the] guys did,” Boyce said. l

Highland players get ready to rebound. –Tyson Peterson

March 2016 | Page 15

SPORTS

Classic Broadway Tale Finds a New Setting at Valley Fair Mall

G

et ready for big laughs and unexpected love as Desert Star Playhouse kicks off its 2016 Season with “My Valley Fair Lady: Get Me to the Mall on Time!” is hilarious parody for the whole family, which opened Jan. 7 at Desert Star Playhouse.

“My Valley Fair Lady” is a comedic farce full of romance, outrageous characters, and the timeless conflict of East side vs West side. Sparks fly when Jenna Doohickey, a tough girl from West Valley City, enlists the help of nerdy British professor Phineas Philpot, to help turn her into a “proper” lady so she can win the object of her heart’s desire, Freddy Huffington. Aided by their new friend Colonel Flanders, the professor will stop at nothing to merge the worlds of East and West. But will Jenna’s new found propriety be all it’s cracked up to be?

Written by Ben E. Millet and directed by Scott Holman, “My Valley Fair Lady” runs Jan. 7 through March 19. The evening also includes another of Desert Star’s signature musical olios following the show. The Salute to American Bandstand Olio will feature some of your favorite songs, with a unique and always hilarious, Desert Star twist!

Desert Star audiences can enjoy gourmet pizza, fresh wraps, burgers, scrumptious desserts, and other finger foods as well as a full selection of so drinks, smoothies and a large array of iced and hot steamers and coffees while they watch the show. Food is available from an á la carte menu and is served right at your table.

CALENDAR: “My Valley Fair Lady: Get Me to the Mall on Time!”

Plays January 7 - March 19 Mon., Wed., Thurs. and Fri. at 7 p.m.

Sat. at 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Tickets: Adults: $22.95

Children: $12.95

(Children 11 and under)

4861 South State Street Murray, Utah 84107 Call 801-266-2600 for reservations.

For additional information, visit our website at www.DesertStarPlayhouse.com

Brevin Elsholz puts up a two-pointer. –Tyson Peterson

Page 16 | March 2016

H&R Block

Sugar House Journal

I

t’s everyone’s favorite time of year—tax season. Most of us groan inwardly and possibly become very, very sleepy as we procrastinate even thinking about tax returns. Some find ambition in their bloodstream and attempt to stumble through the complicated forms and publications on their own. And then there are the rest of us. Taxes are confusing, but choosing a professional tax service doesn’t have to be. H&R Block is here to help.

H&R Block is the world’s largest tax services provider, having prepared more than 650 million tax returns since 1955.

There are approximately 12,000 company-owned and franchise retail locations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, and on U.S. military bases around the world. An H&R Block branded retail office is located within five miles of most Americans.

Even with its large network, H&R Block hasn’t forgotten its Main Street roots. Brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard A. Bloch founded the company in 1955 based on a culture of providing superior client service and a pledge to stand behind their work. As it’s grown from a hometown company to a the leading consumer tax company, bringing tax and related solutions to clients year round. H&R Block still strives to uphold that original philosophy. Today, H&R Block continues to honor their past as they look at your life through tax, and find

ways to help.

Tax starts with income, but it’s ultimately about outcome.

H&R’s newly expanded service offering, called Block Advisors, is in the outcome-optimizing business. This means the advisors not only work to reduce their clients’ tax liability this year, but also develop tactics for next year, while being available to advise and answer questions all year long.

Tax planning is what sets Block Advisors apart. Instead of simply preparing taxes, they prepare taxpayers. That is exactly what they mean when they say “customized solutions” and “strategies that go beyond the return.” They work hard to understand your life, and set a customized course to achieve your best financial outcome. With a one-on-one relationship with a dedicated advisor from year to year, you can know that they comprehend your financial goals and your priorities and have your best interest in mind.

Everyone must do their taxes, and H&R Block provides that much needed service. Not only that, they have the expertise and history behind them in order to get maximum refund results. Visit www.hrblock.com or call 800-HRBLOCK to learn more. You can also drop by one of the following Block Advisor locations to see what they can do for you: 3438 East 9400 South, Salt Lake City; 645 East 400 South, Salt Lake City; 3865 Wasatch Boulevard, Salt Lake City. l

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

March 2016 | Page 17

Page 18 | March 2016

Sugar House Journal

Birthday Music I Can Hear – 11 Birthday Freebies for Restaurants and Shopping

H

appy birthday! “It’s scientifically proven that people who have more birthdays live longer.” “Age is just a number, in your case a really high one.” “You think age is funny? Wait until you look in the mirror.”

Is it that time of year again when you open your Facebook page to find a barrage of jabs from family and friends who figure a digital greeting means more than a card and cake?

Well guess what? I have a digital birthday surprise for you too.

Whether you are 40, 50 or inching up on the world of 60 and beyond, getting another year older does have some perks, and I’m not talking about ordering off the senior menu at Denny’s, or the loss of hearing most distinguished adults can’t escape. I’m talking about Utah’s favorite “F” word … FREE! There are dozens of companies out there just waiting to send you a free gift for your birthday – restaurants that want to feed you and stores that want to give you freebies or money to spend. Here are 11 birthday freebies that topped my list.

*Kmart and Sears: Join the Shop Your Way Birthday Club and you will receive a special gift on your birthday. Mine was $10 to spend in the store. Plus, when you register your kids, they’ll get $5 in birthday bucks, a birthday crown, a happy birthday certificate and a birthday fun pack. *Ulta Beauty: Sign up for the Ulta Rewards Program and get a special birthday surprise.

Last year mine was an exclusive lipstick that sells for $18. *Sephora: Get a FREE gift from Sephora on your birthday. Last year mine was a beauty product valued at $25. *Aveda: Join their birthday program and receive a FREE exclusive offer on your birthday. Last year mine was a bottle of an essential oil. *Victoria’s Secret: Sign up for emails and receive a special gift for your birthday. In past years this has been a $10 gift card. *Kohls: Sign up for YES2YOU rewards and get a $10 Kohls gift card for your birthday.

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*Famous Footwear: They send rewards members a $5 gift card. Last year that bagged me a free pack of socks. *Red Robin: Get a free certificate for a burger for your birthday. *Noodles and Company: Score a free bowl of noodles. *Shula’s 347 Grill (West Valley City): Receive a complimentary entrée with the purchase of an entrée of equal or greater value. *Boondocks: Birthday Club members enjoy an unlimited FREE pass!

Cashing in on the goods is easy; you simply join each company’s monthly emails.

A little tip: these emails can be cumbersome.

My advice is to join only the companies you enjoy hearing from, and don’t stash them away for just your birthday. Most of these companies send out special coupons during other times of the year too. Lastly, make sure you are signing up for their actual birthday club and not just their monthly newsletter;

some of them require different forms. You can find dozens more and links to each of the forms on www.coupons4utah.com/birthday.

Free lunch, shopping, dinner and entertainment on my birthday is birthday music I can hear. l

March 2016 | Page 19

MyS ugar H ouseJournal.Com

Wild Child

T

oddlers and raccoons are eerily similar.

They eat food off the floor, have nuclear levels of energy, and they’re very clever, without having a shred of common sense. When I learned my daughter was expecting her first child this spring, I thought she should practice by raising a raccoon. Here’s my advice.

When holding your little raccoon for the first time, you’ll be awestruck. You’ll touch her tiny fingers, gaze into her dark brown eyes and sniff her furry head. She’ll cuddle into you and all will be right with the world—for about seven minutes. Then she’ll get hungry, and stay hungry for nine years.

As you’re breastfeeding, you’ll feel that wonderful bond between the two of you, the love flowing and “$#*&!!!” Do not punch your baby raccoon in the face when she bites you.

As your little raccoon goes from crawling to running away from you at the store while stuffing candy in her mouth, you’ll wonder if you’ll ever stop being tired or ever spend another moment not worrying.

The answer is no.

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All your clothes will be smeared with peanut butter, yogurt and snot. You’ll wear them anyway. When she shaves the dog or colors the tub with Sharpies, take it in stride.

One day, you’ll rock little raccoon to sleep and place her gently in her crib. You’ll be relieved you can use the bathroom alone for the first time in days. Before you get comfortable, little raccoon has tunneled out of the crib and is frantically clawing at the door, shoving her fingers under the door and doing her best to chew through the door to get to you.

Bath time will be a wet lesson in patience.

Wrestle little raccoon into the tub, distracting her with toys as you lather her furry body.

Keep her calm as the shampoo drips into her eyes and she shrieks while crawling up your arm, soaking your last semi-clean T-shirt.

In the middle of the night, you’ll be anxious about little raccoon. You’ll sneak into her room like a ninja, to make sure she’s safe.

As you tiptoe back to bed and step on a wooden block and slam your hip on the doorknob, you can’t swear, because not only will little

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to scream, laugh or cry; so you’ll do all three.

But even with toys flushed in the toilet, melted crayons in the dryer and the layer of stickiness that coats your entire house, you’ll love little raccoon more than you ever imagined. And one day, when she has her own little raccoon, you can pass your hard-earned advice along to her. l

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raccoon wake up with an ear-splitting scream, but she’ll use the swear word exclusively for eight months.

Little raccoon will love to make cookies.

She’ll push the chair to the counter, climb up next to you and turn the mixer on full blast, shooting sugar and eggs everywhere. She’ll screech and jump onto your chest (whether you’re ready or not) and grab your hair so she won’t fall. Your hair will eventually grow back.

Strap little raccoon into a stroller with a broken wheel and steer through a crowded mall with one hand, carrying a 25-pound diaper bag.

When she escapes and scampers away, ignore the judging glances from childless women.

Prepare yourself. You’ll leave little raccoon playing cheerfully, only to come back three minutes later to find she’s disappeared.

You’ll search every room, closet and drawer to no avail. Immediately after you hysterically call the police, little raccoon will come stumbling down the hall after napping under the towels in the laundry basket. You won’t know whether

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