Weekend Activities

Well, Brian and I were CRAZY or should I put 'CrAzY?' Naaahhhhh busy this weekend.

Friday night we walked in the Relay for Life walk that was in Hastings, MI. If you don't know much about the RFL, you should look it up. They raise millions of dollars every year for cancer research. In the past, I made bracelets to sell. This year I made a lot of pinwheels and pinwheel barrettes. I think I sold maybe 6 items. Thank you, Addie, for buying one!



It's usually located at Tyden Park in Hastings.





As you can see, it was Twilight themed.



Here is a luminary that my Mom and I decorated. It's in memory of my Grandfather. He passed away from liver, lung, and bone cancer in 1998.



This is a luminary that we made in memory of my Uncle Gene who passed away from bone, kidney, and lung cancer in 2008.



Roger B. was the husband of my cousin, Sheila Marie. He passed away in 2009 from brain cancer.

On Saturday, Brian and I ventured over to Brighton, MI. We had a birthday party to go to for a very handsome little man. He turned one.



I kinda sorta fell in love with a golden retriever, Kodee.



There was some pool party fun for the kids. Hey, Lindy... Where was my kiddie pool? It was around 93 degrees and the humidity slapped you in the face.



The cake was kinda cool. It was a jungle themed party.



Here's the birthday boy eating his cake. Which, at one point he picked up the entire piece of blue fondant elephant and ate it in one bite. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the face he made.



And here he is eating his candle. ;)



Here's the family.



And I had some fun with the balloons on the balcony.

On Sunday we had a Hayes Family reunion. I think the last one was about 13 years ago. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. The last one I remember was Grandma Hayes' 80th birthday party.)



It wasn't a huge turn out... But we were glad people showed up. I had cousins there that I hadn't seen in years.



We played ladder ball.



Cousins went to great lengths to rescue our ladder ball pieces.



Here is Cheryl with Carter.

We had a great time. And reminisced about our younger days.

On Sunday evening Brian sat down on our sectional. And I thought to myself, "When was the last time I even sat down and relaxed?"

We managed to get a few good shots of the kitties, too.



Here's Bella and her belly floof.



Here's Georgia. I tried to get a flattering picture of her. She seems to be losing some hair on her belly and legs. We're not sure why, but she doesn't act stressed or anything. She's the same old weirdo she's always been. And I mean that with love. She's our oddball kitty. :)



Even when Aesop isn't in the picture, he has to ruin in at the last second. This is NOT a first for him.



And here's our little man all sprawled out.

Alex 2011

Hi, everyone. Meet Alex. His mother, a co-worker of mine, asked me to do his senior portraits. I happily obliged.

Summer Lovin'

It's been three weeks since Amelia's passing. It still doesn't seem like she's gone. It's amazing how much an animal can tug at your heartstrings. Since Amelia has been gone, I've noticed Aesop has been a lot more loving. He is by our side every night. He even will bring a toy on our bed and play with it if he doesn't feel like sleeping with us. I know this because I woke up with one of his favorite toys under me... I happened to wake up because he was pawing at my legs constantly until I discovered the toy. He is such a precious little man. I've been watching him closely and giving him a lot of play time. He seems to have more energy than our other cats combined. He's super playful and attacks my feet all the time. I have to surrender my shoes to get away from him. Too precious.

We've been through a lot of good and bad this summer; being verbally harassed on a weekly basis by a former neighbor, Brian getting attacked several times by a pit bull (owned by aforementioned neighbor), finally moving to a new house, adjusting back to the "country livin'," Cognac mysteriously going blind overnight, Cognac getting his vision back two weeks after that, our one year wedding anniversary and finally Amelia's passing. Oh, and also this week we managed to catch the common cold. Yeah, that's right, in the middle of the summer. How ridiculous is that?

We have a lot coming up, too. Coming up this weekend we're heading to Battle Creek to help out Brian's parents with a tree that fell in their yard, on Sunday I'll be doing senior portraits for a co-worker's son. Then in the upcoming weekends we'll be attending a white caps game - courtesy of HPS, a Hayes family reunion (which I'm going to make a guess that we haven't had one in at least 10 years), we'll be going to Carter Yung's first birthday, attending the wedding of Rachel and Chad (Rachel was one of my GORGEOUS bridesmaids), having a movie date with my cousin Addie, and you get the idea - BUSY. Our weekends are booked up until August 28th! Eeeep!

I'd also like to mention that I've been caught up in the book of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Could by Ben Sherwood. I'll be seeing the movie soon and I want to be prepared.

Brian and I have been going on a lot of walks now that we live in the country and don't have to look over our shoulders for a pit bull on the loose. It's been fun. I love being outdoors. Tonight I went on a walk by myself and took my Canon along.

Picture time!:



If anyone can tell me what bush produces these flowers it would be greatly appreciated. We have three thriving bushes of these in our back yard. They are gorgeous.







So open and peaceful.





This little guy was on a flower and the sun was coming through the trees. I couldn't pass it up.

And now some fairly recent pictures of the kitties:



Cognac and Aesop sittin' in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. These two have turned into snuggle buddies.



Brian and I have come to the conclusion that Aesop does not know what "personal space" means. At all. ;)



Heeeeeeeeeere's Bella!



Here is Cognac's emo shot.



Aesop playing. This is one of his favorite toys. He drags it with him all over. He even lays himself down on it and eats out of the food bowl at the same time.

Lastly,


This is the last picture of Amelia ever taken. I'm assuming she had a hair on her eye, if you're curious. Sure do miss her.

Remembering Amelia

I have been putting this off.
Amelia lost her battle with Feline Leukemia on July 6, 2010. She was around 10.5 months. It literally happened overnight.

It's heartbreaking. We tried so hard to keep our feline leukemia positive kitties alive. We ultimately couldn't save her from herself.

This hit Brian and I like a ton of bricks. It was so sudden that it still bothers us. We were so involved with Aesop and Amelia. Trying to keep them active and playful, giving them the best food available and giving them so much love. Though it feels like it, our efforts were not wasted. She was happy while she was here and lived her life to the fullest. She was fearless.

As sad as I may be, Amelia was an amazing cat. She was spunky and full of energy.

Here is a look at her life:

Amelia, a few weeks old, with formula on her chin. At this age she (and Aesop) had to be bottle fed.


Amelia with her brother, Aesop. They were cuddle buddies.




Her fuzzy kitten phase.


She was so gorgeous.


I don't really know how I even got this picture. Usually two small kittens this age have difficulty sitting still.


Here they are cuddling on my lap.


Here's the close up of her.


Sleepin'.






Boy, when she was tired, she was TIRED.


Beautiful markings.


Sleeping with Aesop.


So little and precious.


Here she is in the new house.

I bet I have more than a hundred pictures of her. I'll be making a shadowbox in the near future with her pictures and some of her favorite toys in it. I'll follow up with that in another blog.


In this picture, half of her whiskers were gone because she played too rough with Aesop.

All we can do now is hope that Aesop doesn't have to go through the same thing. Right now he's as big as a moose, towering over our adult cats.