Pets

Reading the news has been depressing recently (I mean it kind of always is depressing but especially recently). Although I could talk about that and maybe it would be good for me to write it out, I'm not going to right now. Instead I'm going to write a post about pets.

There were periods of time growing up that we had pets and periods of time that we didn't. When we did have pets, we mainly had cats. Now that all of my siblings and I are adults, five out of the eight of us have pets of our own; four have cats and one has dogs. 

I am one that does not have a pet and do not plan on ever getting one. I could name multiple reasons why I won't but I'm not going to get into that here. With that being said, I do like pets and think other people's pets are adorable.

With all of my traveling and staying at different family member's homes this last year or so, I've been around cats and dogs a lot. Sometimes they do cute things and I have more pictures than I'd like to admit of my siblings' pets on my phone.

So without further ado, enjoy some cute pictures of my siblings pets. :)

My sister, H, has three cats and is living with our mom. The cats are Ollie, Poppy, and Mishka.

All three of her cats love boxes. Here's Ollie!

 

 I like to call this Mishka's model pose! ;)

 

 Poppy loves sitting on Mom's lap. Anytime Mom sits down, you can guarantee that Poppy will be there soon.

 

Poppy loves boxes, whether sitting in them or on top of them. She also likes to sleep in this pose which I find funny (maybe to block the light from getting in her eyes while she's sleeping. I don't know. 🤷).

All three cats love hanging out on the stairs at the house (which kind of makes it an obstacle course to go up or down the stairs). :)

My brother, Matt and his family, have two cats, Artemis and Apollo. 

Artemis got injured awhile ago and they ended up having to have one of her legs amputated. She is doing well, though, and has adjusted to only having three legs. 

Both of their cats love to go outside.

 

I think this is Apollo, although I can't tell for sure. Artemis and Apollo look a lot alike.

I think this is Artemis.

My brother, Tim, has one cat. His name is Ash (short for Ashitaka).

 I'm currently staying with my brother, Tim, in Virginia. Occasionally, when I'm watching a Korean drama with my door open, Ash will come in and watch with me. :)

 

And my one sibling that has dogs is Lara (and her family)! Rocky and Denali. Rocky is about 15 years old and Denali is a year old.

I've dog sat for Rocky multiple times! Since Lara and her family used to live in Virginia, I dog sat for them a lot.

When he was younger, Rocky liked to chew things that he shouldn't. Now he basically just sleeps a lot and doesn't get into too much trouble. :)

Denali is a year old and is adorable! She's a very social dog and likes to be around people all of the time. She's a sweet dog.

 

Denali likes to lick. I don't like being licked, but it's hard to stop her sometimes. 

See picture below to see a different reaction to being licked by another dog.

 

Although I don't like this picture of me, I wanted to remember it. I went on a walk with one of my former co-workers recently and she brought her dog with her. I wanted a picture of us before we parted ways and we decided we wanted the dog in the picture too. So she picked up her dog and the dog immediately licked me once she got close to my face and this was my honest reaction to her licking me. C and I had a good laugh about this picture for awhile after this. 🤣

I don't have pictures of my brother, Peter's, cats. But Peter and his family have two cats, Savannah and Shadow. They're pretty cute too!

Well I know this is a random post about my siblings pets, but I just wanted to share and I thought pictures of cute animals might be an okay post. :)

Visits With Friends And Family

This year has been really hard for me personally and for my family in general. As I've already mentioned on my blog, I lost my job earlier this year. I have been looking for a new job and have had quite a few interviews. Each time I have an interview and don't get a job offer or even a second interview, I lose confidence in myself.

My dad died in July and the months leading up to his death were difficult. My dad was put on home hospice care about a month before he died, but he wasn't doing well before that too. I came to Utah in May to help my mom and sister with taking care of my dad. To say this year has been difficult is an understatement.  

Although it's been hard, there have been some good things about it too. All of my siblings were able to come to Utah to surprise my dad for Father's Day. I met my great-niece for the first time. I've been able to enjoy some outdoor scenery (going on hikes, taking scenic drives, seeing pretty sunsets, rainbows, and flowers). I've met up with some friends.

We had a family photo shoot on Father's Day. These were the last family photos (with all of my siblings and my parents) before my dad died. 

My great-niece and I. Isn't she adorable?! :) She's my first great niece or nephew and as of right now my only one.

While my dad was on hospice care, it was hard to get myself out to meet with friends or really do anything outside of my parent's house (besides going on walks nearby, running errands, and occasionally taking a scenic drive).  About a month after my dad died, I started feeling like I could meet up with friends again. 

I contacted my friend, Shari, and asked if she'd like to go on a hike. I met Shari in Virginia but she's working remotely and living in Utah now. We would occasionally go on hikes together when we were both in Virginia so it was fun to go on another one together but in a different location. We went on a lovely hike near my mom's house. 

Some pretty flowers on our hike!

One of the views on our hike!

I moved around a lot growing up. Although I only lived in Utah for two years before going to University, I made some good friends in those two years. I met up with some old high school friends not too long ago, Kasey, Amanda, Natalie, and Whitney. 

It was fun catching up with them, reminiscing about the good ol' days as well as updating them on what's going on in life now!

 

A pretty sunset I saw on a walk near my mom's house!

At my most recent job, we had an office in Virginia, but we had some remote workers too. Working in the office, I didn't have much interaction with my co-workers who worked remotely.

During the pandemic, we ended up closing down the office in Virginia and we all worked remotely. Because we were all remote, we started having a weekly zoom call to talk about any questions we had about work and then we usually ended up talking about personal things too.

Because of these weekly zoom calls, I got to know the two people who were working remotely before much better. Janice and Irene were the two remote workers and both live in Utah. I became friends with them and I met up with them for lunch recently. It was fun catching up and seeing them again.

I know Diana from Virginia. She was in town for one of her old roommate's wedding and invited me to breakfast one of the days she was here. 

Diana is one of my good friends. She's been my friend since the beginning of my time in Virginia (so over 11 years). She is awesome! It was good to see her and eat a delicious breakfast at Kneaders. 

Although this year has been really really hard, there have been some good times too. I'm grateful for my family and friends and for their love and support during this difficult year (and always).

Mirror Lake Scenic Byway

Three Sundays ago, my sister, H, and I went for a drive on the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. We stopped at multiple overlooks along the way and saw beautiful scenery. The main place we wanted to visit on our drive was Mirror Lake. We stopped at the lake and walked around it! 

Enjoy the pictures!

A waterfall at one of the overlooks on our drive!

We arrived at Mirror Lake and walked around it. It was 30 degrees cooler at the lake than at my mom's house and it was lovely.

 

The trail around the lake was about 2 miles around, flat, and gorgeous!

Isn't it beautiful?!

H and I on our walk around the lake!

I'm glad H and I were able to go on this drive. It was really nice to get a reprieve from the heat and the scenery was beautiful!

Dad's Funeral

I've been having a hard time deciding how to write this blogpost. I have so many things to say but don't quite know how to say them. 

My dad was on home hospice care for about a month before he died. We're glad that he was able to be at home in his own bed surrounded by family and friends his last days on this earth. 

It's been a roller coaster of emotions for all of us since he was put on hospice care but especially the last few days before he passed. It was tough (and still is). Sometimes I'll see something that reminds me of my dad and it'll make me teary-eyed or I'll think of something that my dad might like to hear and want to tell him about it but then realize that I can't anymore. It makes me sad. I know it'll get better with time, but it's still hard.

 

My dad's viewing was on a Monday evening. It had rained quite a bit that evening and when we all got back from the viewing, there was a double rainbow greeting us. (The view from my parent's neighborhood.) (It's hard to see the double rainbow in this picture, but the next picture shows it better.)

 

 

The view from my sister's neighborhood about a mile or two away. Isn't it gorgeous?! I like to think that the double rainbow was my dad pulling some strings on the other side to say hello/tell us it'll be okay.

 

The next day (Tuesday) was my dad's funeral. It was a beautiful service and I learned some new stories about my dad that I had never heard before. 

There's one story I'd like to tell about the service. My niece, Cami, gave the closing prayer at the funeral. Before she gave the prayer she announced that she would say the prayer in French (since she served in France on her mission) because she thinks that's what Grandpa would like (since Dad spoke French too). She proceeded to say the closing prayer in French and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye among our family at that point. (And I think it is exactly what Dad would have wanted.)

At the gravesite, my brothers, brothers-in-law, and uncles (my dad's brothers) were the pall bearers.

 

Since my dad served in the military for a few years, he had a U.S. flag draped over his casket and then the flag was given to my mom.

 

They did a 21-gun salute and played taps. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye at the grave site as this was all going on.

My dad was a huge BYU sports fan. So we thought my dad would appreciate a BYU casket in true blue color. :)

After the burial at the cemetery, my parent's ward provided lunch for all of our family members who were there. The food was delicious! They had funeral potatoes, salad, fruit, rolls, jello salad, and desserts. Since my dad loved Mountain Dew, they also had some of that there. Although I'm not a big soda drinker, I drank a can in honor of my dad. :)

My mom and those of us staying at her house received a lot of flowers after my dad died. Here's a picture of a few of them. They're beautiful and they really made the house smell good.

I got teary-eyed when I saw who some of the flowers were from... some of my friends from Virginia. Thank you friends!

My parents at a family reunion in Virginia in 2019.

 

My parents and all of my siblings in 2019.

 

I love you and miss you Dad. Until we meet again.