Our new guests - Rudy & Wojtek

Yes it's true we have two cats staying in our apartment! Our landlord is giving us free rent for watching her cats for three months while she is gone in Europe. It was an offer that we couldn't refuse.
Although I love Rudy & Wojtek, it has been quite an adventure thus far. Wojtek got a UTI after only being with us for a few weeks. This unfortunately caused him to pee on our floors. Of course the place he chooses to do this at is right by the front door. (Nothing more inviting for our guests than the smell of pee!) So if anyone has any suggestions of how to get the odor out of the carpet let me know, because if you know anything about cats if they can smell pee, they keep going in the same spot! Rob and I have tried just about everything (vinegar, many cleaners, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda).
Taking Wojtek to the vet was an interesting experience as well. He did not want to get in the box! Rob with his redneck skills got some nasty scratches and bite marks. (After showing Rob that grabbing him by the neck skin is more helpful, I am now addressed as the Cat Whisperer.) Rob has got it down now and we give Wojtek medicine twice a day. (Rob really has been so helpful in the whole experience and his car detailing experience is really paying off with the carpet cleaning.)
They also like to meow a lot at night. I'm not quite sure what this is all about but I feel like I have a newborn baby. It definitely makes for some restless nights.
But we do love them. I think Eliza likes feeling like she is in charge of someone. She gets so excited whenever they come out to the living room. And she is quite on top of their bowel movements. She always is sure to announce if there is poo in the litter box.
Liberty is.... well I'm not sure if she likes them or not. I think the cats are more scared of her than she is of them. Everytime they get close to her she starts screaming, but not crying. Lately, when they walk away she will try to follow them. I think she is just very curious about them. I swear today she said "Kitty" it at least sounded just like it and it was when the cat got close to her.

The death of Dora

While Rob was at Adam's Bachelor Party in Mexico he picked Eliza up a Dora Explorer Piggy Bank. When Eliza saw it, it was love at first sight. We had been looking for a piggy bank and she loves Dora, so it was the perfect match. However, Dora wasn't the best designed piggy bank. She was made out of quite fragile ceramic and her head was so big she was rather top heavy. Eliza and I had many discussions about how it had to be kept in a safe place away from Liberty and Luke. During the summer Dora's head broke off, Eliza was pretty sad when this happened, but we were able to glue it back on. So when the arm broke off a couple weeks later, Eliza said "don't worry mom, we'll just tape it." So we glued the arm back on.

Then came the day of Dora's death. Eliza had set her on top of the dresser, which was assumed to be a safe place. But as she was pulling the drawer out to get her shoes, the dresser wobbled and down came Dora right on top of Eliza's head and shattered. It was such a sad ending since the actual destruction had happened on top of her head. After she got done crying she kept suggesting that we could "tape" all of the pieces back together (if you can't tell she thinks tape is the fix all). I had to break the bad news that this time there were too many pieces and we couldn't fix it. Another long crying session began. Eventually she calmed down when we told her that now she could count her money though and maybe she would have enough for a fish that she had been saving up! Oh to be a 3 year old.

Happy Birthday Rob!

Today is October 13th, Rob's birthday. Eliza woke up this morning throwing up so I don't think it will be too exciting of a day, unfortunately. Eliza is a little disappointed because she really wanted to take him to Chuck E. Cheese. He did come home at lunch time and we gave him his present, but tonight will probably be low key. I did want to make a special tribute to him on this day though and let him know how much I love him. He is an amazing father and sometimes I take him for granted. I feel very lucky to have a husband who is strong in the gospel, treats me so kindly, and loves his children so endearingly. I wrote a little email to him today about his strong qualities and stories to go along with them. (It was to help him with a project in class.) But I would like to include it because I think it describes even more reasons why I love him.
Here it is...
Your strong qualities are:

1. Perseverance

An example of this is when asking me to marry you. It all started when asking me out. You continued to ask me out after I had said I was busy the first couple of times. After I had one of the most fun times I’d had in my dating history, I knew I would go out with you again. I let you know though that I didn’t want anything too serious. I also let you know that I wasn’t interested in any kissing. But this didn’t stop you, you continued to hold me close and nuzzled my nose. Finally you got the kiss of a lifetime. After many months of dating, you felt inclined to ask me to marry you. This was the ultimate test, when I would not give you an answer until a month later.

Rob, thanks for persevering. I love being married to you!

2. Hard work ethic

When we were first married, we went to rake up leaves for my Grandpa Brunetti. We finished the front yard and it looked amazing. It was definitely the best I had ever seen it. It was a cold day and my grandfather had said that we didn’t have to do the back. I was fine with that. But you insisted that we finish it. After working on the back yard for only a few minutes, the rake broke. You then took time to go buy a rake and then come back and continue working on the back yard. It was starting to get dark, and I thought it looked great. There were a few leaves still left here and there where the piles had been. With excitement in your voice, you said, “Let’s hurry and finish up this last little bit.” You scurried about and had the leaves raked into a pile in no time. I walked slowly over with the bag and you quickly scooped up the remaining leaves. Soon the backyard floodlights came on. I noticed that my grandparents were watching from their bedroom window. I’m not sure what else you did after that, but I remember that my Grandpa was very pleased with the yard and it was the best it had looked that I had ever seen. My grandpa would have been just fine with a quick rake job, but you went above and beyond, until it was done right. My grandpa was very grateful for your hard work and I often wish I had been more in the spirit of things.

3. Cheerful

This is exhibited every night when you come home. You are always a cheerful person around us. Sometimes it is easy to be cheerful and sometimes it is not so easy. I see you before you walk in the door and there are days that I can see the stress on your face, your eyes furrowed and forehead wrinkling. But as soon as you open the door, your face lights up and you make it a point to be cheerful around the kids and me. You make us feel like we are the greatest things on this earth. It takes effort for a person to always be this happy, but I feel like you do this and I am grateful that you are a cheerful person.

4. Optimist

There are a million stories I could tell about you being optimistic because it is just instilled in you, but the one that comes to mind is you and the train in D.C. (it was as if you willed the train to always pull up just as you were arriving.)
Specifically was the time when my sister Sarah was visiting. We really needed the car so that we could go to all the D.C. sites. You were running a little late and Sarah kept saying, “You are going to miss the train.” You would reply, “No I won’t” and would continue on with your fast pace. You wouldn’t even let that enter your mind. By the time we left the apartment, I was pretty sure that you were not going to make it since we only had one minute left. You continued to believe that you would make it. You watched all the lights and directed me when I should turn or go straight. We pulled up just as the train was arriving. You grabbed your thousand pound bag and ran to the train. And yes you did make it!

Adam & Chelsea's Marriage

Uncle Adam and Aunt Chelsea tied the knot on September 5th 2008. We were so excited! They got married Friday evening at the Salt Lake City Temple for time and all eternity. It was a very special ceremony. I got a little teary eyed at the end because I was so excited for them and their future. I really feel like marriage has so much joy in it (not that it doesn't have hard times), but there is just something about having someone know you that well and working together towards an eternal goal. I am very happy for them and don't think that Adam could have chosen a greater girl! I love her. She is just perfect for him.
After the wedding we walked over all together to an Italian restaurant around the block. (I'd have to say this was one of the highlights of the wedding for me.) It was so great to put things at a slow pace after just getting out of such a spiritual setting. The temperature was perfect and the sky was beautiful and everyone just seemed so happy.
We ate a delicious dinner with much laughter. Hannah shared a song that she wrote and we ended the night with a few pictures and delicious desert. We took Hannah home with us and went and picked up Eliza and Liberty from baby sitters. As you can see by the pictures, everyone was a little tired and was out within minutes.
The next evening, was the reception at Cactus and Tropicals. It was beautiful! Eliza was so excited for it and that she was able to where her "princess" dress made by Chelsea and grandma. There was delicious soup and lots of fun dancing. Eliza was having so much fun dancing that she didn't even tell me that bloody blisters were forming from her fancy shoes. I felt so bad when I peeled off her shoes at the end of the reception. (But she loved telling everyone about her blisters for the next 2 weeks and showing them off.)
The whole wedding experience was ideal and it was great fun having Chelsea's family there. They always make Rob feel more at home.

Eliza's birthday

Eliza turned 3 this year on Sept. 9th!
It was so much fun. She has been looking forward to this birthday for some time now. Every time we'd go to the store she'd say. I want that for my birthday (to every toy in sight). We had to explain to her that she could ask for a lot of things for her birthday, but that she would only be able to get a few. I was a little worried she would be disappointed, but she was completely grateful for everything.
She woke up for excited in the morning and we let her open her first present which was a birthday princess shirt. (She loved it and requests it to be worn often since.) As I was preparing a few things for the birthday, she kept asking when is it going to be my birthday? I kept telling her it is your birthday. She could not grasp that it was the entire day. Eventually we got to the park and had a Dora the Explorer Birthday party. We invited her friends Maya Teemant, Maya Stevenson, Whitney Jeff, Ariah Snow, Lupita and Paola Sanchez, (and Rebecca Sanderson but she couldn't come). The party started out with a Dora Explorer treasure hunt. I told the kids that Dora had called and told me that a squirrel had taken her pinata. She needed our help to find it. We used the "map" (hand made by yours truly) to find it. First we had to go down the slide, then cross the street, then by the frogs (plastic of course) and then to a hidden tree with the pinata. The kids thought it was really fun and I was relieved since I wasn't sure how it was going to go. The kids then all took a turn hitting the pinata. After each kid having two turns we decided it was time for the adults to take a swing. Thankfully Aunt Des finally cracked it open and the candy poured out. We then sang happy birthday, had Dora cake and pink icecream, and opened presents. (I was glad to see Eliza so happy because I always worry that parties can be kind of a bummer for kids sometimes because the parent is so worried about the party they can't focus on the birthday girl. But she loved it. When we first got to the park she kept falling down because she was jumping and running around with so much excitement. I was happy to see her so happy.)
After the party, Eliza really wanted to take her new bike (kinda) out for a ride, so I told her we'd take it up to the parkway in the canyon. She fell asleep on the ride up. (Which I actually was hoping would happen, tricky!) We turned around and came back home for a nap. When she woke up I told her that daddy had a special surprise for her and we had to go. We drove to Chuck E. Cheese's and met Rob there. She opened some more presents, played lots of fun games, and ate pizza. It was a great day! Perfect in my book.
Throughout the week she got some fun presents in the mail from the McMillen family that she was very excited about. It's kind of funny because now every time we get a package, she says that it must be a present for her.
The birthday extravaganza ended with a birthday part on Sunday with the Stevenson side of the family. After every gift she would go around and hug the people who gave her the present. I was very proud of her and what a sweet person she is.
I feel so lucky to have her in my life. She brings joy to me each day! I read in a book the other day to enjoy this preschool age because it is the only time that as a mom you are everything to your child. I think that is so true, she just thinks I'm the greatest no matter what I do. I love watching her little mind go and create new things too. She is an amazing girl and I love her so much. Thanks Eliza for being my Bubby. You are my sunshine!