and the Earth shook

It has been a very busy and eventful couple of weeks.

First off, Anthony has been really sick. I already posted a video of him wheezing and telling you about him being diagnosed with Bronchitis and a Sinus Infection. Well, the doctor at the student health center gave Anthony some antibiotics and a steroid and told him that if he got worse to go to the ER. Anthony sang at the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference and was feeling horribly and couldn't catch his breath so we spent our extra time change sleep-in hour in the ER. After a chest x-ray he got a new diagnosis - Bacterial Pneumonia. Yeah. So now he's on a different course of antibiotics and is supposed to go to the doctor if he isn't feeling better in three days. We're halfway through the second day, and I foresee us going back to the doctor.

After Stake Conf. on Sunday I was standing in the kitchen and Anthony was at his computer in the living room when something moved all weird like. I had no idea what was going on and Anthony & I just stared at one another for a second... then I realized the water in the fish bowl was sloshing around and our walls were swaying and creaking. I felt my first big earthquake. It was a 5.6 about 65 miles to the NW of us...pause, we're having another small one right this second. Also, there is a tornado warning for our area. Wanna come visit?

Work is going well. One of these days I'll actually explain what I do.

Hemingway and Winston are doing well. They went to the vet last week and Hemingway weighs 2.4 pounds and Winston weighs 1.8 pounds. That's almost a pound each in the last three weeks. Hemingway has started making these cute noises, and Winston purred for the third time today!

That's what going in this neck of the woods, how about you?

Time Flies!

So I was looking at pictures today and here are pictures of the boys first day of school from 2006 and 2011 They grow up so fast!!

An author and a statesman

Thanks to everyone who gave name suggestions for the kittens.  After two weeks of observing their personalities and mannerisms (and not wanting to get attached with names in case we had to give them away due to Anthony's allergies) we have finally named the little men.

The kittens were living in squalor and I've had a heck of a time litter box training them. They have been quarantined in the bathroom for 4 days, apparently that will help them grow accustomed to going in the litter box.

I had some inklings the kittens had worms so I took them to the veterinarian. They were weighed ( H is 1.5 lbs, W is 1 lb) and given their first set of shots. After a little testing it turned out they have roundworms, which the majority of kittens are born with, so they got a little medicine.


Anthony is SO good to let me keep the kittens even though he's pretty sneezy and his eyes get red and itchy when he holds the kittens.  We had to go buy allergy meds & eyedrops that seem to be helping, but sometimes he's still pretty miserable.  I'm grateful he loves me enough to try to manage his allergies so I can keep the kittens.

Back to the kittens, let me tell you an awesome thing about each one.
Winston is unique in the way he climbs off his platform, it's so dang cute.

Hemingway is unique because he is polydactyl, meaning he has extra toes.  It looks like a little thumb, which cats don't ordinarily have.  It doesn't hinder him at all, and the vet called him "mittens" all day because of it.  Apparently Ernest Hemingway, (author of A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea) owned several polydactyl cats which is why they are often called Hemingway cats.  Interesting huh?

New additions

After my hamsters sadly perished in this Oklahoma heat I needed something to love on. So we got a fish.

Meet our Crowntail Beta, Little Chunk.

However, a fish just wasn't fulfilling my need to . . . mother (for lack of a better word). So, today I talked my husband into getting kittens. Yes, you read that correctly. This dog lover and that allergic to cats man now have two adorable kittens. Itty bitty ones.

(No, I'm not pregnant, just chunky)

Tonight while Anthony was in the Priesthood Session of General Conference I ran some errands with Erica. I got home about two minutes before Anthony, and there were no kittens to be found. The door was locked, the bedroom & bathroom & patio doors were closed and there was no explanation of where two living breathing creatures could have gone. We scoured our entire apartment, took apart bedding, pulled out and looked under furniture, kitchen appliances, etc. No kittens. Anthony thought he heard some squeaking in the couch so it now has some large window cutouts in various areas of the back and sides. You also read that right. My allergic to cats husband literally ripped our couch apart trying to find lost kitties, to no avail. By this point I'm getting a little emotional and we decided to say a quick prayer.

Anthony decided to check under the ledges of the drawers and guess what he found under the bottom drawer?

The little stinkers found a gap we didn't even know existed and climbed right on in. If Anthony hadn't felt that gap and thought to pull the drawers out I don't think we would have found the naughty little fuzz balls.

See how they climbed in? The drawer was still out at this point because I found the following items jammed in the back, must have been falling out of drawers over time.
A ton of grocery bags, a washcloth, soup can label, alarm system agreement, and a ladle.

After a prayer of thanks our little storm clouds are now hiding/napping under the ripped up couch while I clean.

Now, if you're read this far you get to partake in a little fun!

We can't think of names for these cuties. Want to help?

We want to stay away from cutesy stuff like; Tiger, Cloudy, Fluffy and so on.

Please leave your name ideas in the comments and we'll let you know what we decide!

P.s. since Anthony is allergic to cats and we don't know how well my "you have a cat when you're allergic" method is going to work... so I have heavy-heartedly agreed to give them away if his allergies get bad. If that's not love on both of our parts I don't know what is.

Chickens, camels, and pigs! Oh my!!!

You know, you wouldn't think Oklahoma would be so exciting, but let me tell you - it is. You wanna know why it is so exciting? Because they have State Fairs (granted, there is a State Fair in every state, but I've just never been able to go before) where you see huge horses, tiny pigs, chickens hatching out of eggs, and life-cycles of butterflies! Ok, so maybe it's not that exciting, but guess what is? RIDING A CAMEL!!!! That's right, I paid $5 to ride a big, soft camel named Tantor around a ring 3 times, and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!


Never in my life did I think I would ever ride a camel... and now I have! In Oklahoma. Also, this guy captured my attention and heart as soon as I saw him. *sigh*

No, not the farmer you sickos, the pig!!! He sure did squeal like he thought the Grim Reaper was coming after him, but he finally settled down once he was with his mama and 16 brothers and sisters. That's right, that mama pig had 17 babies. Can you even imagine!?!?

Did I ever mention that I went fishing? Well I did, and this is us fishing.


And this is my new best friend out here, Megan. Seriously, you would be so lucky to meet her!


And this, this is the view of our little fishing hole. Gorgeous right!? I stood in that little patch of mud all night and caught 8 fish. That's right, 8. And they were accidental too. I didn't even want to catch anything. Still though, it was a super fun experience that I hope to repeat in the near future!

The Lone Star State

I FINALLY made it to Texas!!

Anthony & I haven't been to the temple in a while and decided before Saturday rehearsals are in full swing this is a perfect time to go. While the Oklahoma City Temple is about 45 minutes away from where we live in Norman, the nearest Distribution Center is three hours away in Dallas. Anthony & I needed some things from the Distribution Center so at 6:30 this morning we headed out.

We were lucky enough to watch the sun rise as we drove.

We also saw the "mountains" here in Oklahoma as we drove West.

We made it into Texas, a first for both of us!

First we went to the Distribution Center, which is handily located in the temple. However, they only had clothing and such so after getting a few things we headed down the street to a tiny little LDS bookstore to get a book I've been eying and little plastic holders for our recommends.

The Corner Market and Bakery was down the street & around the corner so we stopped there for lunch. The Paninis were phenomenal.

Even though we ended up in a Spanish session it was such a magnificent and beautiful afternoon. I love learning new things :)

finding puddles when I prayed for rain

Many people wonder "why do bad things happen to good people?" but I wonder, why do bad things happen at all? I don't care if you're a good person or a bad person, bad days are just plain old bad days, and we all hate them.

Maybe it is true that "bad" things happen so that we can know the "good" in life. Any church-goer, or someone with a parent or grandparent who was a church-goer have heard the same thing before... but maybe there's something to it. In The Quest for Joy, Barbara Workman stated, " We may not feel deeply enough to know joy unless our hearts have been hollowed out by sorrow. A heart may not be big enough to know real joy until it has been stretched and pulled by trials and hard things." Maybe it is true. Maybe, just maybe, it really is true that without having your heart ripped out of your chest you won't realize just how much you can fit in that beautiful little muscle. Maybe being thrown down the metaphorical stairs of life, and getting kicked in the face by Mother Nature are ways for someone to be at the bottom of those stairs to pick you up and dust you off. Maybe someday there really will be that moment where you lay eyes on someone and think "oh, so here you are". For some of us, that may be a sweetheart, and for others it might be a child, and for others it might even be the perfect pet - I'm not judging. The point is, maybe it's true. Maybe the only way to get to Heaven is to pass through Hell. And maybe we don't get it right the first time, or we miss a detail, so we have to do it all over again.

Maybe bad things happen so that we can recognize the good. I definitely admit that I take good things for granted, a phone call with my mother, a text from a friend, or a lunch date with a loved one... but suddenly, when those things are whipped away, I realize how much I miss them, and I promise myself that I will never take them for granted once I get them back. But I, just like you, dear reader, am imperfect, and I often go back on my word. And when I go back on my word, the next thing i know I just expect those phone calls and texts and luncheons, without realizing just what a treat they are. So maybe, just maybe, bad things happen to remind me what is really important, and what not to take for granted. Maybe I no longer have someone's hand to hold so that I can remind myself that if he reaches for my hand in the grocery store, I'll hold it willingly, even if it makes carrying a basket full of green peppers and tomatoes (oh who am I kidding? A basket full of ice cream and hard shell chocolate syrup) uncomfortable to carry. Because I can tell you right now that I would much rather have the indentation of a shopping basket tattooed on my arm than no hand to hold.

Maybe some things happen as a punishment, maybe as a lesson to learn, and maybe because we've asked for them. I often wonder if when i pray for things, if I'm not taking into account everything that could come along with it. It's like praying for rain but then hating the mud puddles that come along with it.

Have you ever noticed that when people pray to God for something, and it does not turn out quite how they expected or wanted, they blame God? I am in no way excused from this. I've been known to yell at God quite profusely from time to time. But maybe if we realized that when we pray for something, it goes into God's hands, and God sure does see a lot further and a lot more clear than I can... and maybe he's just aching to scoop us up onto his lap and say "now you listen here,baby girl, I knoy you said you wanted X and Y... and you're right, they can make you happy, but not as happy as Z that I can see but you can't yet. I promise you that if you just hold on a little longer, and trust me on this one, that you will be so " much happier in the long run. Will you trust me on that?" Some people could look up into His kind eyes and be like, "sure, no problem.". But me? I'm ashamed to say that i've now realized that I am the kind of person who would look at Him and say "I can't see what you can see, but I can see this thing right here, and I know it will make me happy now, so let me just have that." And then, because God is so nice, he will give me that little piece of happiness that I could see, and then because I didn't see the bigger picture, and didn't trust that it was there, I am not ready for whatever it was that God saw when it comes, and it feels like my whole world has fallen apart. I need to constantly remind myself that I can't see the whole big picture.

So what do we learn from this? I'm not sure, but at O dark 30 in the morning I feel like it is something big. Something that I'll need to re-read in the morning, and maybe the morning after that too.