Calvin

Calvin
Born March 7, 2010

I work as a nanny. The family I work for has a cat that lives outside. I noticed her one day and thought, "Is she pregnant?" Sure enough, a few days later, I came to work to find baby kittens.

There was one that stole my heart immediately. He was the cutest one of the litter with brown, black, and white in his fur. He is super fluffy and has this face that is unreal. I would hold him every day and say, "Do you want to come home with me??" He couldn't though. My grandma didn't want cats in the house, which is why I didn't move my cat here.

6 weeks later, I came to work to find that 3 of the 5 were gone. My little kitty was still there. That was it. I had to have him. I was going to work this out. I called my mom and we discussed it. I called my grandma and told her my idea to send him to Missouri with her in 2 weeks and he can live there with my other cat until I get married. She said yes, knowing how much I miss my cat and unable to deprive me of this little guy.

He came home with me that day. The second Grandma saw his face, she felt the same way I did when I first saw it. It is the cutest face ever!! It ended up costing too much to take him on the plane to Missouri, but he had proved himself enough to stay. He is a very good kitty and I stay on top of the scratching and little box. He has been very fun to have around the house and I'm so happy to have a kitty with me again.

He is super playful and sooo loving!! He follows me everywhere! If he can't find me, he meows really loud and walks around. Then I call him and he runs to me and starts kissing me. He sleeps on me, no where else. He begs for food like a dog. I've never seen a cat want human food so bad. He BEGS! He loves pens and giving kisses. I love him.

First day at home.

He will not sleep next to me. He has to be on me.

He is quite the pest with my stuff. He knocks the stuff off of my table several times a day and I had to move all my valuables to a very high place.

Paint on his forehead. He absolutely cannot be in the same room as me when I'm painting. He ALWAYS gets it on him and everything else.

He is obsessed with that hole in the sink. He plays with it all the time. Then the second he feels like his hand is getting stuck, he meows. I also laugh when he squeezes through the bathroom door to come inside. Once he's through, he turns around and swats the door frame, like it was attacking him.

He sits in the bathroom when I shower. Then when I'm done, he hops in the tub and gets his feet wet. Here is a wet paw print on the bathroom rug.

He has to be with me all the time, even when I'm getting ready.

My sister-in-law edited some photos for me. Here is one of them. I have missed having a cat so much. I'm so grateful that he's such a good kitty and was able to stay. My grandparents really like him. I love feeling a cat walk across the bed or snuggle up for a nap. Their little faces, meows, and purring warm my heart.

Mike Posner - April 22, 2011

I entered another contest with Mix 107.9 and won the chance to meet Mike Posner. He's a very good singer and has been one of my favorites. I knew I would regret it if i didn't enter, even though I just won The Ready Set contest. I got to bring a friend, so I brought Ashley. She was excited. The contest said "Lunch with Mike Posner" but there was no eating with him involved. We ate, he came and took pictures, and then we left. We got autographs too. It wasn't what I expected, but it was still really cool. He's taller than you'd think and he was really nice. I love his voice even when he talks. It's so mellow. Ashley and I basically made fools out of ourselves, but that's ok. I got a nice, big hug from him :)

General Conference April 2011

General Conference April 2011

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference in the Conference Center this April. My friend, Linnea Holbrook, was singing in the choir from BYU-Idaho and gave me an extra ticket. I got to sit with her family, which included her dear mother from Alaska and her sister, Andrea, who is on her way home from serving her mission in England. She was still a Sister missionary at this time. It was such a blessing to see her since she'll be back in Alaska. Linnea was all over the T.V. when the choir sang. We were so excited. I also saw Holly and her family, Brian from the Kearney Singles Ward in Missouri, a girl from the Platte Woods Single's Ward who's serving her mission in Salt Lake, and Steven Sinnett who is my friend from Alaska that is serving in Salt Lake City as well.

Afterward, we went to Golden Coral with Linnea's whole family. It was fun to talk Judy, Andrea, and Linnea. They are such dear friends.

2011 Projects

2011 has been the year of projects for me! I haven't had a lot going on. I work as a nanny, which I love. I don't go to Single's Ward and I don't have many friends here. I spend a lot of time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, but I've had a lot of time to do some fun projects.

My cousin, Ashley had a baby girl. She asked me so sew these cute little owls for her room. I looked at an example, but basically made it all up myself. No patterns or anything, just went for it. It was really fun and I think they turned out darling.

For awhile, I've been wanting to buy some skirts, but they are so expensive. I haven't found one I really, really like either. Ashley introduced me to this store called Material Girl's Quilts. They have the CUTEST fabric I have ever seen! I decided to make my own skirts. I really love wearing them.

I've been planning and preparing for my future house. I decided to make pillows for my future living room. It was costly and time consuming, but really fun to do. They are huge!

This pillow is different. All through high school and college, I slept with a stuffed tiger because I liked having something between my arms. When I turned 20, I decided it was time to retire the stuffed animal and get something more mature. So I made a pillow and I've been hugging it while I sleep. However, it's been getting deformed and dirty, and I wanted one with the cute material from Material Girls. So I made this one and I like it a lot more.

I have also been wanting a new purse. I haven't gotten a new one in 2 1/2 years because I can't find one I like. So I made a bunch the style I like. I made sure to get a wide range of colors for any outfit :)

Then one night, I decided I wanted something to hold all of my recipes in a nice, organized manner. I was going to paint a box, but I couldn't think of how I wanted to paint it. So I decided to use scrapbook paper, mod podge, stickers, and ribbon instead and I love how it turned out!! I stayed up till 5:00 one morning writing down all of my recipes in color coded pens and made cute little dividers for each section.

I got way too much material for my pillows, so I made another skirt out of the extra as well as this apron for my friend, Holly's bridal shower gift.

The Ready Set Concert - November 13, 2010

The Ready Set!!
November 13, 2010
The Avalon Theater

The Ready Set is my favorite singer! I've already talked about that in 2 previous posts. I have already posted the pictures from March, but here are the pictures from the first time I got to meet him.

He came to Salt Lake on the Hey Monday tour as one of the opening bands. I was so excited to see him for the first time. He is such a fun live performer! I got Linnea hooked on him in September when I fell in love with him. She came down from Rexburg to go to this concert with me. My cousin, Mitch came too.

Linnea and I drove past the Avalon theater a few hours before the concert because we were already close by. I saw his bus which I recognized right off, and I almost peed my pants. He was here!! I got so excited and was positively giddy until the show later that night. We sat in the street and watched his bus. We wanted to just go up and knock on the door, but we didn't want to be creepers. We saw George (his stage manager, in the picture right above).

Linnea had a family thing so she came a tad late to the concert. Mitch and I got there early and stood in line outside...right by his bus! I touched it :) and got this picture. Then as we were standing there, Andy (his bass guitarist) walked past us with food and said, "Excuse me". Then I saw his sound guy, Derick. I couldn't believe it!! We ended up being in the wrong line and had to go to the other side which was forever long. We stood in the freezing cold for about an hour and missed one band. The venue was small and personal. We were fairly close to the stage. Linnea came and we watched 2 more bands before The Ready Set. I was so excited to see Travis, the drummer, getting ready. He's my favorite.

Then Jordan came out and I screamed! Here they all are head banging.

I like this shot, especially because you can see one of Travis's famous faces that he pulls while playing.

I bought a shirt form Jason, the merch guy (I know the band pretty well haha).

After the show, Jordan tweeted that he was outside the venue. We got to meet him. He signed my back and then we got a picture with him. He is way shorter than I thought. He was so nice though! As we were leaving, I said, "It was a really great show." He said, "Thanks! Thanks for coming." :)

I follow all the band mates on Twitter. Here are their comments after the show. Sorry about the swearing, although it shows how Jordan doesn't swear. I thought it was really cool that they said these things.

It was a great night!! I can't believe I got to meet him! I love him so much. Linnea came and spent the night. The next day, she came to church with me. We hardly spoke to each other and when we did, it was about last night. We were both just thinking about how awesome it was and how badly we wanted to see him again. I seriously considered driving or flying to either San Diego or Phoenix for another show the next weekend, but that would've been ridiculous.