Goodbye to my sweet kitty...

It's Thanksgiving morning, and I will soon be going over to my parents house to help get things ready for today.  But I wanted to take a moment to do a post in memory of my darling kitty who died yesterday. 

Those of you who know me know how much I love animals, and especially my kitty Fluffy, who I have had for almost 13 years.  Since I don't have kids, he has become my baby, and has been such a sweet companion for me all this time.  For years, every time I would come home, he would come and find me, and every night when I would write in my journal he would jump up on my lap for a few minutes, and then jump down and curl up in a box on the floor to wait for me to get done.   He was so much a part of my life.  Here is a picture from earlier this year of him sitting on my desk in the sun, and one of him laying on my bed:

A year ago he started getting sick, and so we took him in and found out he had kidney problems.  But we've worked with the vet and have been able to have him on a low dose of medication, and he's done fine.  But I noticed on Tuesday night that he hadn't eaten very much, which is a bad sign, because he loved to eat. Then yesterday before I went to work, I could tell he was a little bit listless.  I came home from work at 12:00 (because I wanted to get some cooking done for Thanksgiving).  But I could tell he had really gone downhill, and I couldn't get him to eat anything. 

Jan came home and we called the vet.  It was hard timing, since it was right before Thanksgiving.  They didn't have an appointment time, but said we could admit him for the afternoon and they would run some tests.  So we went shopping and had gone over to Emilee's house to cook when we got the bad news.  They said he was really bad, and that they could hospitalize him, but that he had a really poor prognosis of getting well.  That's when we knew it was time to let him go.  He hates being at the vet, and I just couldn't keep him there for days and days knowing he would probably still die.

We went back down to the Vet's office, crying and praying all the way.  The interesting thing is, I had listened to a talk by Elder Bednar on the way home from work about the enabling power of the Atonement, and how we can't always change our circumstances, but that we can pray for Heavenly Father to strengthen us to bear our circumstances through the power of the Atonement.  I know it seems like a small thing to have a kitty die, but it was an incredibly hard thing for me, and I'm so grateful I had listened to that talk, and was able to pray specificallly for strength.

They gave us some time to say goodbye to him, which was such a blessing--although very hard.  Here are a few pictures:

The hard thing was that he was so alert--but when I put him back down after holding him, he could hardly stand, and we knew that it was right to help him go peacefully.  The doctor told us that if we hadn't brought him in when we did, we would have been frantically searching for a vet on Thanksgiving--so I'm glad it worked out the way it did.  The technician came in, and it was so peaceful--I just petted Fluffy's head, and he laid his head against my hand and went to sleep.  It was such a blessing to have it be so peaceful, such an answer to prayers.

We took him to Mom and Dad's house to bury him.  It was pretty late by then, but we were able to get some of the family there (I wish we could have had all of them--my family is such a comfort to me!)  My kiddies gave me such tight hugs, and Steve dug a hole out in front by the rose bushes (Dad teased later that he would bill us for funeral services, and Steve said that if there was money coming for this, he should get it because he had done all the labor).  Mom and Chelle made a "grave marker"  for Fluffy out of a stone.  Dave and Melissa came with their kids, who gave me hugs and comfort, and Dan and Emilee came, and had made a "funeral program" for me (Dan always has to bring humor in to try to make things better):

(I was going to put the inside of the program in as well, but it had middle and last names of some of the kids on it, so I thought I'd better not)

We had a little funeral service, which was sweet, and I got a picture of me with the kids, and a picture of his little gravestone that Mom and Chelle made for him:

Then we went inside and were talking, and Jenni gave me this note, which was so darling.  It made me cry because it was so sweet:

It says, "I feel very sorry for your kitty Fluffy dying.  I know it is very sad.  I know it will come back soon."  Isn't that sweet?  It was such a hard day for me, but my family are so wonderful to understand how sad I was, even over a kitty, and did so much to help me.

Today I am still feeling sad, but grateful for so much peace, and grateful that Heavenly Father loves me so much and understands the pain I feel.  I'm so grateful for my good family, and that I will get to see most of them today.  I really am so blessed!

Nieces Sleepover in pictures

It's 12:30, and our little nieces just left about an hour and a half ago from our third sleepover.  I've got a busy day today (and tomorrow with a bunch of Stake Primary things), so thought I'd better hurry and get this post written before I get so busy and don't get around to it.  But, warning--I think I'm going to get the award for the most pictures in one blog post.  With nine little girls staying over, there were so many cute things going on that I just had to take tons of pictures.  So, here is the nieces sleepover in pictures!  I'll put the description above each picture:

We have 10 nieces, and all but one of them was able to come (we really missed little Dannan, who got H1N1 at the last minute).  We had pizza when they first got there, and while I didn't get a picture of them eating pizza, here are their cups that we labeled for them.  It really shows how many of them we had there!

After pizza, I told them that I had a present for each of them.  We sat them down on the floor and I talked to them for a few minutes...

I showed them the presents I had wrapped for them in gold wrapping paper. We talked about how gold is beautiful, precious, and special, and that they are also beautiful, precious and special too.  I gave them each their present, and got a picture of them holding them:

 Just like the for the boys sleepover, we got them pajama bottoms.  They loved them! I especially loved Sabrina's reaction--she looked up with such an excited look in her big blue eyes and said, "Oh, pajamas! Thank you so much!"  We had them all put their pajamas on, and then got a few pictures:

Then we did a craft where they were each able to write a thank you note to their parents.  They sure had fun!

After the craft, we had to get the obligitory picture of each of them sitting by the tree.  So here I present nine of my ten nieces in order of birth:

Holly, age 11

Kate, age 7

Jenni, age 6

Brianna, age 5

Lizzie, age 5 (it was crazy hair day at school)

Annika, almost 5

Emma, age 4

Sabrina, age 4

Dannan, age 3, is the one who was sick, so since she coudln't come, I put in a picture of the card the girls made for her.  We missed you, Dannan!

Mieka, age 2 (sorry about the pizza sauce on her face Melissa!)

After the crafts and pictures, we lined the girls up on the counter, and they helped us make cookies.  They had so much fun, and were so darling! Here are some pictures.  The one of Emma standing in the sink is  because she spilled flour on her leg, and Jan didn't want it to spill all over.  :)

Aren't they cute!  Then they each got to decorate their cookies with whatever they wanted in them.  Here are pictures:

We got all ready for bed, and got them settled on the air mattresses to watch a movie as they fell asleep (or so we thought...)

After this picture, we had the curse of the girl's sleepover--which is that they are so cute and giggly they just can't fall asleep (or focus on a movie, for that matter).  The picture above was taken at around 8:30.  It wasn't until about 11:10 that they finally all looked like this (and actually Kate and Jenni are still awake):

 Thankfully they all did relatively well sleeping, although I had to take Lizzie to sleep in my bed in the middle of the night. 

This morning, they all came and piled on my bed and I read them stories from a book that Annika had her Mom buy to leave over at our house (thanks Melissa!).  The girls were so cute, listening intently--although please note that we had just woken up, so no hair is done, including mine! I'll put some of those pictures in (we really are almost done!)

Then we made heart shaped waffles for breakfast.  The girl's loved them!

Finally, we deflated the air matresses, cleaned up, and watched our 32nd birthday video, which the girls love as much as the boys.  Here are the last two pictures:

Well, you've finally made it to the end of this post.  Congratulations!  Let me just end by saying how incredibly grateful I am for my nieces and nephews, and that Jan and I have such a close relationship with them.  I've said this so many times before, but one of the heartbreaks of my life, to quote Sheri Dew, is that I've never had my own children.  I am so grateful for these sweet children who help fill the void in my life, and who give me so much love and happiness!

Nephews sleepover in pictures...

Last night we had our third nephews sleepover! It was so fun.  This time we all of them come, except Logan, who got strep throat at the last minute :(, and Camden, who wasn't quite ready to stay with us yet. (Make sure to check out Jan's new blog she just created at: threesacrificesaday.blogspot.com for her account of the sleepover). I just love our sweet nephews, and it is so fun to have them come over. They were so good, and we had such a great time together. I have lots of pictures, so I will tell the story of the sleepover in pictures...

When they first got there, while we were getting things ready, they had a pillow fight. Boys are so fun!

After we had pizza for dinner, we did crafts. The boys each made thank you cards for their parents, and we did a turkey craft by tracing their hands and feet. The boys sure had fun!

 

After the crafts, we lined them up and gave each of them a pair of pajama pants that I found on a really good sale.  They were so excited!

Then we had them put the pajama pants on, and they sat on the couch together show them off. I love how their shirts totally don't match with their pajama pants!  Joey is the most hilarious--red plaid shirt with blue smiley face pajama bottoms.  So cute!

We got a picture of each of the boys individually holding their crafts that they made.  Here they are, oldest to youngest:

Ethan, 8 years old

Joshy, 7 years old

Brendan, 7 years old

Truman, 5 years old

Joey, 3 years old

 

Brayden, 3 years old

Matthew, 22 months old (with Ethan peeking behind him!)

After the crafts, the boys blew up the air mattresses (I love that they are old enough to help with that), and then jumped on them (because they are boys...)

Then we made cookies and they each got to decorate them. 

After that, we watched "Up," and then went to bed.  Brayden and Brendan went home, so we only had four boys sleep over--but they were so good. We told them stories and sang them to sleep, and they actually went to sleep (unlike our giggly nieces, who take forever to fall asleep--but we love them too!) 

This morning, I woke up to boys talking.  They came into my room to see the kitty (they all love Fluffy).

Then this morning we had the first real snowfall of the winter.  I had to snap this picture of them looking out the window:

Then they helped me make waffles (no pictures of the waffle making), but they were so good to help.  They each learned how to separate the egg white from the egg yolk, and did great!  Once the waffles were done, we let them decorate their waffles.    I love how Truman is pouring a whole bottle of sprinkles on his!

Finally we did our traditional watching of the 32nd  birthday video that Dave, Dan and Ems made for us (the boys love it because all of their father's are in it), and it was time for them to go home.

We sure had a great time at our nephews sleepover, and we are so grateful that they all live close by and love us so much.  They bring so much joy into our lives.  Next weekend we will have the nieces over, so watch for another long picture post about that one!