Spring- Summer 2015

Okay, skipping right from Christmas to Summer and doing so in November... pretty much par for the course with me. Though you can probably already tell what we are up to at any given time with a glance at my Facebook page, I  like to have things written out for our family to look back on so I try (not well) to record our adventures. I wish I was better at doing this more often because now I'm reaching back alllll the way to Easter and trying to remember what even happened.

Easter, as it often does, landed on a Conference weekend this year. We had a pretty simple holiday but I was excited to play the Easter bunny more so than last year now that Luke is more little boy than baby. On Saturday I took Luke to a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt during Priesthood session. I think I got there maybe five minutes late (if that) and all the eggs were already gone! I've learned for next year that kids are voracious when it comes to Easter Egg hunts! A friend let me use some of her daughter's empty eggs to set around and let Luke pick them up, so that was nice. The next day was simple. We got up and had cinnamon rolls (trying to make that a conference tradition) and let Luke find his basket. We gave him a little candy and some simple toys. We watched Conference and then had Ham and Cheesy Potatoes for dinner-- my Easter classic dinner.

Luke "hunting" for eggs.

A week or so later we had such a treat to have our friends David and Weston come and stay with us for a weekend. Bryan grew up with these guys and then they all lived together in college. In fact, before Bryan and I were Bryan and I we were all just good friends. I've written about them before. It was a pretty relaxing weekend of playing games and just hanging out. We went out to eat at The Counter (drool) and they got to meet Luke, which was really neat.

Luke and his new buddy Weston playing on the computer.

A few days before Easter our niece Ella called us multiple times begging us to come visit them in Utah for the weekend. It was pretty last minute so we didn't go but we promised we would visit over Memorial Day weekend so that was our next trip! Road trips are hard with kids. But we had fun and mostly just relaxed and played games. My favorite kind of vacation!

Luke helping Ethan play at the park near Grandma Sandi's house

A couple posts ago I wrote about our sweet Callie and how she died. I was really not sure when I'd be ready to have another cat because I didn't want to feel like we were replacing her. However, it just so happened that a family in our ward/neighborhood had two cats that had a litter of kittens each right around the same time. They had twelve kittens to find homes for! We wanted to help them out and we love kittens so we decided to go for it... we got two! Just after memorial day we were finally able to bring them home. We named them Clara (after Clara the companion from Doctor Who) and Watson (From Sherlock).

Clara and Watson join the family

In June Luke and I had Mommy & Me swim lessons from a family in our stake. For two weeks we got up and out the door by 9 with our friends Jennifer and Tyson. Luke had fun in the water but was also pretty independent and didn't want to do the things we were trying to learn a lot of the time. Still, he did learn a lot. One thing he loved to do was jump in the pool into my arms. We had fun showing off his skills to dad over the summer.

Also in July I cut my hair to my chin, updated my Etsy shop, we had Father's day and Luke went to nursery! He... did not like it at first. He cried a lot the first few times and then for several Sundays we was just kind of sober but now I drop him off and he runs off to play without so much as a goodbye when I'm trying to smother him with kisses.

We invited Bryan's mom and his brother Mike to come visit us for the 4th of July and again we had a nice relaxing time. We had delicious food and set off poppers in the street. Luke LOVED those! Then after Luke went to bed Grandma stayed home with him while the rest of us checked out fireworks all around the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun!

4th of July Spread

Luke didn't want to let me take a picture of him in his Captain America shirt

Sandi had to go back to Utah after the weekend but Mike was able to stay with us for a week. We are pretty chill so we didn't have a lot of activities planned or anything but on Saturday we all went to the World Center for Birds of Prey that happens to be, oh, a 10 minute drive from our house. It was seriously awesome too!

We also went to Bryan's company (Clearwater Analytics) party. They decided to host at the zoo, which was so fun! We didn't get to be there too long because I'm kind of strict about Luke's bed time but we did get to do some fun things-- like feed a giraffe! Luke was in awe.

Just a little bit later than that a few friends and I decided to check out a petting zoo in Caldwell, ID. it was a lot of fun but also like 45 minutes away waaay out in the country. We had fun but man, was that a hot day. My cousin Melissa came and she was super pregnant with twins-- poor girl.

We also had a fun Stake pancake breakfast celebrating pioneer day. We had a pie baking contest and then got together later with friends for swimming and a barbecue.

Climbing trees at the pioneer day celebration!

At the end of the month my sister Natalie came to visit for a couple days with her kids. She lives overseas most of the year but they set up camp in Utah for the summer and, since Boise is not too bad of a road trip, I begged convinced her to come. It just so happened to land on a little family holiday we celebrate-- Harry Potter's birthday! So, since we all love Harry Potter I decided to throw a simple party.

Pin the scar on the wizard

Mixing potions

Drawing our Patronuses

Last of all, Butterbeer!

Just a week or so later we took our second road trip to Utah for the summer for my nephews Elijah and Tyler's baptism! We had a lot of fun with almost all of our family together, playing games and hanging out. One day we had the chance to go down to BYU and check things out and that was neat to see. We met up with my old roomie Alicia and caught up. A lot of stuff has drastically changed there since I was in school. Sigh, I'm old. The baptisms themselves were so neat and the spirit was really strong there. I'm so so glad that I got to be a part of it. That evening I even got to see my long lost best friend Ashley who I hadn't seen in over four years! I miss my friends!

Hanging out at BYU

After we got back to Boise, we had yet another fun time when Bryan's cousin Brynn and her family came to stay. They have a daughter about two weeks younger than Luke so those two had fun romping around together. We got to go to the zoo again but this time we spent a lot more time looking at every exhibit and it was so fun! But... then it got hot. We also went to Brynn's sister's wedding open house, played games and hit up H&M (a must when Brynn comes to town).

Lastly, we finally got a new oven. I haven't written about it on here but we were dealing with a horrible mouse situation where the mice had peed on the insulation of the old oven and taken some out, which made it unusable. It smelled like mouse pee every time I turned it on and the safety of it's use was compromised. We tried to get our builder to pay for it since the mice got in through a hole they hadn't sealed but they wouldn't So, we relented and just bought a new one over labor day when we thought the mice were all gone, Spoiler: they weren't actually >:( but we are working hard on that issue now and they haven't done anything to the new oven so far. The oven is covered under a 3 year warranty that would cover situations like that, though. That is making a veeeery long story short. But we were without the use of an oven for over 6 months. Stove top, Slow cooker, Grill. At least it was summer time!

Well anyway, we sure did a lot this summer but I loved giving Luke all of these new experiences! Next up, Halloween... which will be much more timely!

Goodbye Sweet Callie Cat

I had meant for my next blog post to be about our Christmas... and it's February, of course. However. we've had a bit of drama in our family this week. Our lovely and loving Callie died over the weekend and we've been pretty upset. Writing about it is cathartic and I'd be remiss to not pay her tribute, so here goes.

Some of you may remember when we brought Callie home. We were in love and obsessed pretty much from the get go and that's how it continued on up until her dying day. I feel guilty because she got quite a lot less attention once Luke was born but that's just the way of things. She was always skittish of the outdoors but in recent months she would tentatively go outside if we left the door open. Usually we were very aware of her doing so and would herd her back in when we were done being out. A few months ago I let her out without realizing it and panicked for 24 hours until she made it home the next night. I hugged her tightly and kissed her a lot and swore to be more careful. Well, last Friday she made another escape without our knowing it. On Saturday Bryan and I started noticing she hadn't been around so we searched the house and she was nowhere to be seen. I posted a picture of her on our neighborhood Facebook page and told everyone to keep an eye out. When I checked it again a neighbor had commented to call her. It was 11 PM by then and too late to call so we waited until the next day. I had a weird feeling about it so I made Bryan do the calling. The neighbor said she'd seen a run over cat that could be her. We checked the area she mentioned and found nothing. All the while we left food and water out on our porch and hoped she was just having an adventure and would come home soon. The next day I set about trying to find out who cleaned up road kill-- hoping to rule out that possibility. I called one place who said they didn't do it and to call the Fish and Game Department, who told me they didn't do it and to call the Highway District, who told me they didn't do it and to call the Humane Society. I called and they said we'd need to come in to see if she was there and that they had a book of deceased pets to look through. About this same time I reported her lost through her microchip company. If an animal is brought in by animal control they are scanned for a microchip and if something comes up they call the company the microchip is through who then call you. When she had escaped months ago I reported it as well but had forgotten to withdraw the report when she returned. This time the company almost immediately called me but told me that I hadn't actually registered so I'd need to do that and pay the fee for me to use their services. I had really thought I'd registered and thought it was odd that they'd call me this time and not the first time I had reported her as lost. Bryan got home from work and we headed out to the Humane Society. I looked through all the cats that had been brought in while Bryan looked through the book of deceased animals. She didn't show up in either one so, with some hope, we went to the front desk to fill out a lost report. Bryan left to go change Luke's diaper while the girl behind the counter asked me for our contact information, etc. She then asked me for Callie's microchip number and I was distracted waiting for her to ask me more that I didn't notice she'd gone kind of quiet. A moment later another girl came by the counter and shocked me from my reverie by gently saying, "So we do have the cat. Her microchip number came up. She was hit by a car. I can take you to see her if you'd like." At this point I got up looking for Bryan and my emotions really started bubbling to the surface. They took us to a small room where something lay on a table beneath a towel. They lifted the towel corner for all of 15 seconds to show us Callie's face and paws before covering her back up. They started talking to us about cremation or taking her home while I stood there crying and all I could say was, "Can't I see her again?" So they unveiled her face again for the remainder of our time there. That image is seared into my mind forever and has been the source of a lot of my emotional outbursts since. She lay there, her ears shrunken back and quite obviously a shell of her former self. I had the urge to reach out and touch her paws one last time but I didn't. We decided not to take her body or her ashes home. It felt weird to bury her here in our subdivision which lacks a sense of permanence for us. We asked them if they could make an imprint of her paw for us but that is a service they do not offer. I wish we could have had more of a service for her. So we drove home feeling hollow-- like we were missing a member of our family who would never return. That night was fraught with tears but the following days have been mostly better, save a few emotional moments. Everything reminds me of her. I keep expecting her to walk around the corner or to jump in my lap. How can she really just not be here anymore?

I'm no stranger to pets dying. A few months after Bryan and I got married my childhood cat, Libby, got stomach cancer and was put to sleep. That was an incredibly hard thing to go through because she was also a very special cat which is why we felt so lucky to have found a cat like Callie. It felt like we had her forever while she was with us but now that's she's gone I realize how short it was. She didn't get the long life she deserved. Libby had a good long life-- 13 years. She was an outdoor cat and had many adventures. On Callie's only second escape into the outside world she met her end. It doesn't feel very fair. Luke will soon forget her. Our other kids will never know her. I'm certain we will get another cat but I'm not sure it will live up to her. How could we get so lucky a third time? She had such a sweet personality. She was warm, loving. If our laps were available it seemed like she was always sleeping on one of them. When we came home she would come running to greet us and she always wanted to be in the room we were in rather than on her own. She was such a low maintenance cat and never ever once had an accident in either of the houses she lived in with us. She was so beautiful, with her calico coloring and bunny soft fur. She loved to tease Luke. She'd let him get right up to her before running away a few feet and letting him catch up and then running again. When she came into my life I was in desperate need of something to nurture. We'd been trying for a baby for some time and it had been breaking my heart. She happily allowed me to nurture her and by so doing she nurtured me in return. I hope that she and Libby have found each other and are romping around happily. I'm grateful to know I'll see her again and I'm grateful for the time we had with her. Callie, we love you and we'll miss you. So much. 

Callie

I'm pretty sure the word 'smitten' was invented to rhyme with kitten because that's what I am. As I type this blog, I have a sweet little kitten napping in my lap, purring so serenely. I can think of only one other thing sweeter than this.

We pretty much always had cats growing up. I would say I am both a dog and cat person but, as cats are pretty low maintenance, we seemed to have them most. Just last summer, we lost my sweet cat, Libby, to stomach cancer. It was pretty heart breaking-- I'd had her since I was eleven. I knew I wanted to get a cat of our own but we'd just moved to this new place and signed a lease saying we wouldn't have pets. If we did, I was sure we'd have to pay a lot extra on rent. I was pretty resigned to the fact that we probably wouldn't have pets for a while. I also thought Bryan wouldn't really want one for a while but, to the contrary, we both kept bringing up the possibility of a kitten. Last Thursday when I was picking Bryan up from work he told me he had a surprise for me. He had called our property management company to see if it was even a possibility. They seemed completely fine with it and said all we'd need to do was pay a pet deposit that was refundable and it would be fine! We were overjoyed and were going to go to the Idaho Humane Society the next day.

A week or so before we moved out of Utah our friends, the Pfaffs, started fostering some kittens for the Utah Animal Adoption Center. We hung out with them one night and were able to play with all the cute little kittens. There were two there that they had named Calvin and Hobbes that had orange/black/white coloring. Since Libby was a calico, I've always had a soft spot for cats with this coloring. All the kittens were cute but I was especially drawn to these two. Perhaps this visit was why we started thinking about the possibility of having a cat.

At the end of their time fostering, Jewel and Pfaffy adopted Hobbes for their own. After initially thinking the pair were boys, they found out they were really girls. It was around this time that we found out that we could get a kitten and told them. They kept telling us we should drive down to Utah to adopt Calvin so we could have matching "friendship kitten bracelets." I thought there was no way we'd drive all the way to Utah for a cat, even though in the back of my mind I kept thinking about how drawn I'd been to her and how I was worried I'd be disappointed in another cat from a humane society here. Bryan told me I should call the store they were at to make sure she was still there and when she was he surprised me and told me he really thought we should go! (He hates road trips even more than me!)

Utah Animal Adoption are the ones to actually adopt out a pet but they are housed in pet stores. Our little kitty was at a Petco in Farmington, UT. I called ahead and asked if we could reserve her and they said no. I explained that we were coming from Boise, ID for this cat and it would be a six hour car ride and could they please do it. She said they could hold her just for the day but we had to get there before the store closed. I said, "Okay, do you need my name or anything?" and she said something like, "Oh yeah, what is your name?" That felt a little fishy but I decided to just go with it and picked Bryan up from work. We hurried and packed and were out the door on our quest for kitten!

Five-ish hours later we got to the store (so much easier to type out than to experience) and I said, "I called earlier about reserving this kitten here." The employees hadn't heard anything about it (I told you it felt fishy!) but they hadn't sold any kittens that day so she was still there. They started on all the paperwork and then this girl started taking us up and down every aisle showing us what we could get for our cat... (Generally, I like to be left to my own devices when shopping...). The Pfaffs met us there and we headed to the register to buy all our kitten supplies and kitten!

Bryan rang up all the supplies while I was chatting with our friends and then the girl at the register said something like, "This is weird. I keep trying to ring the kitten up but it won't let me." They got the assistant manager, who said we couldn't use a debit or credit card because the money needed to go to the UAAC. We didn't have cash but I happened to have some counter checks so that wasn't a problem but then he said, "Actually, you can't adopt this kitten today. We need a signature from either the manager or someone from UAAC and neither are here right now. You will have to come back tomorrow at 9 AM." We were a bit taken aback and disappointed but Bryan and I are the types to just go along with it. We were ready to leave and come back the next day but the Pfaffs thought that was ridiculous, especially since they'd been the ones to foster the kittens in the first place. Jewel thought that possibly she could sign the paperwork since she volunteered at UAAC so they got her on the phone with someone from there to see what they said. That person referred her the person in charge of the cats at UAAC, someone who Jewel actually knew, who told her that it would be fine to go ahead without the signature. We told the assistant manager that, who looked unconvinced and went to call his manager. The other employees thought this was pretty ridiculous as well.

The guy came back and said, "Unfortunately, we can't take a check." We thought, "Oh, good, they're at least going to let us adopt the kitten today," and then he continued, "but it doesn't matter anyway because you can't adopt her today." Pfaffy and Jewel were very displeased and it was pretty evident on their faces. They said something to the guy like, "Why have cats here to adopt if you can't actually adopt them? That doesn't make any sense! Does it make sense to you?" The guy squirmed uncomfortably and said, "Um, no?" but he didn't really have any control so he couldn't do anything about it. We left disappointed but ready to come back first thing the next morning.

On the drive back to the Pfaff's house, Bryan and I talked about the whole thing and discussed what we wanted to say to the manager when we went in the next day. We wanted to tell her that we understood the process but that the employees should all know what it was and wouldn't get so far as to get most of the paperwork done and have us up to the register, ready to adopt before finding out we couldn't.

The next morning we came in and said, "We were trying to adopt this kitten yesterday but we didn't have a signature or something." The employee had no idea what we were talking about. Then we said, "We were supposed to get the signature of the manager-- Jeannette, or something?" A light went on and she headed to the back to find the manager. When she came back she had the paperwork signed and we never even got to meet the manager but we were, finally, able to adopt our kitten. Suffice it to say they will be getting a less than pleased review on the internet.

Anyway, we were very glad to have that drama behind us and to now finally have our new kitten! We decided to name her Callie since she'd previously been called Calvin but now we knew she was a girl. We took her to the Pfaffs, then Bryan's mom's house and then finally on our five hour car ride. Poor Callie had a lot of change over the weekend! She was so good in the car and didn't make a peep--she slept most of the time. Here are a few pictures I snapped on the ride:

One thing I love about Callie is how interactive she is. She plays with us and comes to find us to do so instead of keeping to herself. As I wrote this post, she woke up and started climbing all around me. I set her on the ground but she just kept climbing up into my lap. She loves being around us and we love having her around!

Yeah, my kitten is pretty much really adorable.

Dear, Sweet Libby

Copyright © 2011 Brian G. Rudd Photography ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (http://briangrudd.com)

Today has been a very sad day for me. Libby, my sweet cat, had to be put to sleep. She had been losing a lot of weight and wasn't eating much at all. Lindsay said that it became drastically noticeable within the last couple of weeks just how much weight she had lost. My mom took her to the vet today and he found that she had stomach cancer. He said that the tumor was about the size of a plum. I was very distraught but knew that she needed to be put to sleep because she was in a lot of pain.

When I was eleven years old I wanted a kitten of my own so badly. My parents decided that if I saved up my money I could buy one from the Humane Society. $50 was a lot for a little kid but I was able to do it through chores and odd jobs. Thirteen years ago this summer I picked out a little calico cat that I could hold in one hand. I named her Libby because that was a name of a character on a TV show I liked at the time. I was probably more rough with her when I was younger than I ought to have been. I know I must have dressed her up in doll clothes at least once. Libby endured it but remained a sweet cat. She became the friendliest, most personable cat I know.

Libby, unlike many cats, would always come when I called her. I would put down my hand and she knew exactly what that meant, for she would come and put her head right beneath it. Sometimes I would bring her into my room and put her on my bed and she'd fall asleep there with me but I had to leave my door cracked else she'd jump onto my nightstand in the middle of the night, knocking things over so I would let her out!

I've always bragged about how smart Libby was. Sometimes people might leave the basement door open and she'd saunter downstairs, only to find that someone would close the door behind her! She would just come to the top of the stairs and stick her paw up under the little gap between the floor and the bottom of the door. Then, as much as a cat can, she grasped the door and shook it until someone came and let her out.

Libby loved to be outdoors. We have a bit of a forest behind our house and she loved being out exploring or lazing about on the grass in the warm sun. If she caught site of you taking a walk you might even notice her trailing you from several feet away! She certainly loved people.

This photo was taken when I was fifteen or sixteen years old:
I went to college and had to leave Libby behind in Maryland with my parents. Apartments in Provo, for the most part, are not very keen on allowing pets. I feel so sad at having had to leave her. I feel sad that I couldn't be more a part of her life during her last days. I hope she remembers me always and knows that I love her very much.


The last time I saw Libby was during the days before and on my wedding day. I remember that every time I came home for a visit and she was out in the driveway I would scoop her up and pet her and hug her and kiss her on the head. Though preoccupied with my wedding, I am at least certain I was able to give her this love for the last time. She loved having so many people around for this event and especially brought joy to little children. A couple days before the wedding my parents invited all of Bryan's family over for a barbecue. They had just arrived that day and no one was more exhausted than poor Ella, who cried a fair amount. Her dad took her outside and she cheered right up when she saw Libby, exclaiming, "Ki-ee!" Ava also loved seeing Libby, and would crack up when she got the opportunity to pet her. Here is a picture Lindsay sent me today of Ava petting Libby:
And Ava's reaction:
Seeing these today brought peace to my heart for Libby because of how happy she made people and how many people loved her.

I had an inkling that something was going on because Lindsay texted me and told me that Libby was skinnier than ever and that my mom was going to take her to the vet. So, my mom called me this morning and told me what the vet had found and that she needed to be put to sleep. I cried on and off all day because Libby was more than just some animal to me. She'd been in my life for more than half of it! She was a part of my family and it hurts knowing I'll never be able to hold her close to me and kiss her head again. It is still hard to believe she is gone.

I asked my mom to take one last picture of her before she was put to sleep so that I could see her one last time. She sent me this:
It hurt to see how thin and sickly she had become but at least I got to see her one last time, even if it was through picture message.

Mom stayed with her while they put her to sleep and held her in her arms as she drifted off. I asked if they would bury her in the backyard so that I could go to her grave and say goodbye the next time I am in Maryland. They did so-- my dad even left work especially to come home to help with it. Here are some photos Lindsay sent me:
She is at rest, looking peaceful and much healthier than before.
My heart aches at the look on my mom's face. I think I've worn that expression many times today. I think everyone realized they were even more attached to her than they had thought.
After the burial, they said a little prayer. It seems she was laid to rest in a beautiful spot. I miss her so much now. I just wish I could have been there for her. Even though I haven't been able to be near her I knew I could see her again when I visited back home but now that is gone. My consolation is this:
Maybe this sounds corny, but Heaven seems to be smiling down on her. I know that one day I will see Libby again. I like to think that she is so happy in Heaven, much happier than she was here on earth. Maybe my grandparents are up there looking after her for me. And maybe, just maybe, she can look down on me and know how much I loved her. Libby, you are so loved.