I am happy to announce the news that "CATOPIA" is now finished! I have just a few words to say on this unexpected but none the less happy occasion. First off, my husband is a genius. Next, the cats are (quite obviously) obsessed with it. And finally, I would like to say that I look forward to Phoenix being able to watch them at play from his crib. We'll see how nap time goes with this soon to be trio. ;)
Freshy and Luther about 2 minutes after it was completed. Josh had to ban them from the room so he could finish it without them jumping all over it.
On a side note, I would like to just say that Jeff Bridges is my favorite actor. The End.
Tonight, Mum sent me some adorable and hilarious old pics of me and the family. I recently have loved looking at baby pics because I know Phoenix will have a little something of me in him, so when I look at them, I think of what he will look like :) Plus, in case our house burns down and these pics are lost, I will have them right here!
This one is a personal favorite. The permed hair and bunny shirt tied together with the foofy bow in my hair = 1993. What a good year. Haha :) We are going to Ohio for Christmas and I am gonna take some pics of Josh when he was a baby and add them to this. Don't want to hog the blog, eh?
Doesn't my Mum look like a supermodel? I know. Michael- that lil' mock turtle neck and prep academy sweater wearing chap looks like he is on his way to becoming Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. HAHAHA!!
See, in this picture of Em and I, there is SUCH a distinct resemblance to her and James (her son)! I see James in that face, so we'll just see what my lil baby boy looks like!
So Josh didn't grow up with animals. At all. I grew up with A LOT of animals of all shapes and sizes. I have a special love for them and I'd like to think that its mutual ;) Anyway, when we met, I had two cats. He has never loved animals or even liked them much (except for fish...which aren't even pets in my book, haha) Anyway, he proved that he could love me through thick and thin because guess who came to live with us in our new home once we got married? Yes the cats. (Not that I would have had it any other way.. ;) So sadly one was hit by a car and was killed and I was really really sad, so Josh said we could get another cat. I fell in love with two twin brother kittens who were abandoned in a box with their sibling on the side of a highway in SLC. We went to meet them and their sweet foster mommies Ellen and Kay. Not only did we love them, but I instantly fell in love with the kittens, whom I referred to as "the boys". We named them Luther and Liger. Josh was neither here nor there about the boys... So he said. Sure when you haven't grown up with animals, you don't know what to expect. They butted heads a bit, but as the cats and Josh have grown, I have watched him become more tender and caring about them and their needs. Last November while we were at my parent's house for Thanksgiving, sweet Liger got out during the night and was hit by a car and killed immediately. We were devastated. Me in particular. Luther walked around the house calling for him for a few weeks after. I wonder if he even remembers him now. We just moved to a new home in Provo and there are two boy cats who frequent the yard and have made friends with Luther. They are so fun to watch together, because at our old place, there was an evil black cat the prowled the neighborhood and would attack our cats. Luther would just run and come inside all shook up, but Freshy...? She is a boss. She would screech and puff herself up so much that I think the black cat got scared that she was going to draw humans to the scene and would usually leave without too much trouble. Although he did get her in the back once and gave her an abscess. Jerk cat.
So now that you have background on our kitties Luther and Freshy, here is some solid proof that Josh has a lil something for them. The picture of Freshy for instance is a perfect example. Notice the blanket wrapped snugly around her? That is all Josh. If he finds a cat asleep and there is a blanket around, he will make sure that blanket is softly burrito'd around them. Freshy is now a "daddy's girl" and prefers to go to him for loving rather than me! He has also built and installed an awesome kitty door, complete with a carpeted balcony and a ramp going up to it for easy access (Freshy has jumping issues). He ALSO is going to put a burlap-like material around the first 3 feet of the kitty ramp as a scratching post, AND above the ramp, he will be installing homemade carpeted kitty homes for each of them. Emily called it Catopia. I know Josh likes to have a project going and all, but I have a very hard time believing that he doesn't REALLY love these cats. Though he may never admit that he really loves them, as the Savior said during his Sermon on the Mount "By their fruits, ye shall know them". Even though Josh is already AWESOME with little kids, I feel like these past 3 years have been great for him to learn to discipline and love them, just like he will with our children that will come into our lives. Some may say that is a silly way to look at it (they are just cats after all), but say what you will :) I have definitely seen an awesome change in the way they interact with each other.
Just a quick plug for a great place to get into family history! I am not good at genealogy, but still want to help in the work. So I index! It is SO EASY and pretty fun too. It takes about 15 minutes a day to do a batch of names. These names are from all sorts of things like draft registrations, boat passenger lists, birth and death certificates, etc. All you have to do is look at the written names (some of which are quite interesting to decipher) and then type the info into the family search document they give you. Anyway, there is my plug :)
So we had a garden this year. It started out being Josh's garden. Then half way thru it became my garden. No hard feelings, I really liked learning to take care of it. When Josh decides to do a project, the boy reads EVERYTHING about the subject beforehand. So when he was taking care of it, there was really nothing for me to do with it. With our efforts combined we grew captain pumpkins!!!! (geddit?) Anyway... these weren't just any pumpkins. These were pie pumpkins! Perfect for getting the most flesh out of them to make yummy recipes for the fall. We grew four, but one wasn't quite as ripe as we wanted so we only cooked 3 of them. We also grew a couple of cute buttercup squash, which apparently have a yummy sweet flavor, not unlike butternut squash. I am going to make some buttercup squash casserole in hopes that it will be as big of a hit as sweat potato casserole. I'll let everyone know how it goes... Anyway, back to the pumpkins. So you have to get them cut, scooped of seeds, cooked, then scooped of flesh, and finally pureed. Well Josh cut and scooped the seeds, but got an allergic reaction to the skins and had to retire early from the pumpkin making party. He's fine, it was more comical than scary. Well it was comical then. Once I started scooping the flesh and trying, TRYING, to puree the stuff, I realized that this was a serious all night job. Number one, they take forever to cook, number two, they hold some serious heat, so I opted to not sit around even longer and wait for them to cool, and number three, the flesh is so dang thick that pureeing it was a nightmare! I need to get one of those really cool hand food processors.. Know what I mean? Cause our food processor was NOT a happy camper after about 1 pumpkin. As the pureeing continued, the kitchen not only smelled of pumpkin, but burning food processor motor. Great. By about midnight my poor feet had enough of this and I ended up falling asleep on the couch with one pumpkin to go. Yeah, maybe I'm a sissy, but I don't even care! So the next morning I woke up to realize just how much pumpkin got all over the kitchen and just how well it dries and adheres to surfaces. So. I finished the last pumpkin, and then next two hours was scouring the kitchen of anything orange that wasn't supposed to be there. Haha... But long story short- we got 10 CUPS of pureed pumpkin all ready for making pies, rolls, cheesecake, cookies, soup, etc! YAY!!!! I am definitely going to make a pie for Thanksgiving! It freezes really well too, and can last up to a year in a deep freezer. I'm sure I'll use it all by then, but I have never done anything like this and wanted to share the experience. Mostly, because I am sure I will continue to do it in future years and I want to look back at this first experience and laugh at how immature at being an amazing homemaking mom I was. ;)
Here is a cute pic of our little sweetheart. I hear so many people say something to the affect of "enjoy your time before you have kids, you'll never get it back". I have thought about that lately. I have decided that I am SO excited for the time I will have WITH our kids. I have had such a good life. I have done so many amazing things, plus I didn't get married until I was 24 and for me, that was exactly what I needed. Josh and I have been married for over 2 years and have had many cool experiences by learning and growing together. I don't look back at the time we have had and think "I wish we had done this or that before we started our family". For that, I am so grateful :) I think it allows me to go into this next part of life happily and hopefully. As I have watched my sister Emily with her baby boy, I have learned that being a mother is the most important and the most rewarding calling we as women can have. But something I really love about Emily, is that while she knows how important being a mother and wife is, she also knows the importance of keeping your self happy and healthy with the things you love. Sometimes I think mothers get so into being a mom that they forget who they are and what they have loved to do; while they have a very happy relationship with their children, they lose that healthy relationship they once had with themselves. Em has helped me to see the importance of keeping that healthy relationship with yourself all while giving that love and service to your family as well. I love that! I know that life as a mother isn't always what you think it will be... But I think planning, prioritizing, and goal setting is so important to everyone - and especially mothers :)
Here goes nothing!
I decided to delete my facebook profile. I was spending too much time on it and realized that I couldn't keep doing that, especially when I want to be a great mommy to our baby when he comes and a great wife! I think that prioritizing life is exactly what I need to do now to prepare for motherhood. I don't want to regret spending time on things that just aren't important! So this will be like a family journal/blog. Nothing like hitting two birds with one stone eh? I am excited to be able to look back at the memories we make as I record them on this blog - and happy to be sharing them with good friends and family!
