Shasta Cat

For those of you who don't know, we have a cat named Shasta or as Brody likes to call him, kitty. I got him the summer of my sophomore year in college. It has definitely been a bumpy road with this cat. I'll start at the beginning. When I first got him I started to let him go outside. He ended up licking up some anti-freeze that had leaked out of a car. His kidneys shut down and he got very sick. We had to take him to the vet every other day for a month to get injection of fluid pumped under his skin. Anyway he recovered and I was afraid to let him go outside again. He got depressed and wouldn't eat so I called the vet and he said it would be fine to let him start going outside again. So I did and things were fine for a while. Then I got a call and someone had found him and he was badly injured. Turns out he had gotten attacked by either a raccoon or a possum. He had 100 puncture wounds in his tail alone (300 stitches) he had holes the size of dimes and nickels clear through to his bones. He had to have several surgeries, he had tubes hanging out of him. It was awful. Well after that I decided no more going outside for Shasta. It had been about a year and Mark and I moved into an apartment that wouldn't let us have a cat so Mark's parents offered to take him until we moved. After a few months Judy asked if she could let Shasta go outside I told her it was fine, her neighbor hood is a lot calmer then Isla Vista our crazy college town. Anyway she started to let him go outside and things were going good. Then she had a small party one night and one of her friends ran over Shasta and broke is back leg. This cat seriously has 9 lives. Well that brings us to our current situation. We love Shasta he was definitely our first baby. Overall he has been really good with the move and having a new baby in the house. He did attack Brody once and got him pretty good. After that I was ready to get rid of him. But we deiced to have his claws clipped really short and also gave him a summer haircut and thought we would see how things went. Well after his grooming he really started acting out, he peed in the office and on some stuff in the garage. We got so fed up with him that we decided to start letting him go outside. I really didn't think it was a good idea considering his past experiences. Well I'm happy to report it has been the best thing we could have done. Shasta is loving going outside. He doesn't go very far, he seems to really like just hanging out in the back yard. We leave the garage door cracked at the bottom and he comes and goes as he pleases. Now whenever he is inside he mostly just sleeps and cuddles with us because he is so tired from his outdoor adventures. Here are some pictures of our furious furry friend. He looks a little funny right now because of his lions haircut, they weren't supposed to shave his tail but they did. It might look funny but with the heat he loves having the short haircut.

Trip to Taos

So last weekend we decided to take a trip to my hometown Taos. It's an eleven and a half hour drive and Brody did really well. We only had to stop twice, once for gas and lunch and again for gas. I couldn't believe how good he did. We got to Taos Thursday night and just hung out with the family. Most of the trip was just spent at the house hanging out and playing with Brody. We did a big dinner on Saturday night with steak and crab legs. We played bachi ball and had lots of fun. On Sunday we actually went to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. I thought it was really good. When we were all together on Saturday we were able to take some good family pictures. I love getting everyone all together in one picture because it doesn't happen very often.

Mom, Dad, Sydna, Kelley, Mark, Brody and me.

The three girls and Brody.

I liked this one because we were doing "how big is Brody" and he looks like he is waving at the camera, but Mark is looking down so the next pictures is better.

I love that Brody is clapping in this one and showing off all of his teeth.

Brody 10 Months!

Time is just flying by. I can't believe my little boy is 10 months old. He is getting so big. He is standing on his own and trying his best to walk. He has taken 4 steps on his own and then kind of just plops down. He babbles all the time, the three words we can definitely make out are momma, dad and kitty. He loves his kitty, chases him around all over the house. He is also starting to sleep a little more. He had been going to bed around 9pm but recently changed to 8pm and then he usually sleeps until 7 or 8am. He is a very happy baby and is rarely cranky, which I'm very grateful for. One of his newer things is how he tells you he is hungry. His smacks his lips together and makes a noise. It's not the sign language we have been trying to teach him but at least we understand what he is saying. He is eating more and more. He LOVES vegetables, any kind. His new favorite thing are crunchies. They are these little Gerber snack that he can munch on and he thinks they are the coolest things. He is still breast feeding 3-5 times a day. I'm hoping to make it to a year but we'll see. He has seven teeth (4 on top and 3 on bottom) it totally changes the way he looks. Here are some recent pictures of him.

This was back in April he went through this funny tongue stage.

This was in early May just before his 4th tooth on the top came in.

We recently had a play date with Brody's friend Kayson, I'm so mad I didn't get any good pictures. This was the best one and Kayson has his back to me.

Last weekend we went to Taos for a visit and Brody had a play date with his Taos Girlfriend.

Her name is Maisy Rose, aren't those blue eyes beautiful!

And here is my handsome man. Look at all those teeth!

More Cakes

So I've made two more cakes. The first one was for our friend Shara's sisters birthday. She loves pink and zebra print so this is what I came up with.

The next one is one I made with my mom and my sisters for our uncle Pete's birthday. He loves lots of different things so the top of the cake just says happy birthday and then around the side of the cake we did lots of different stuff we know he likes. There is a parrot, a tequila bottle, a sail boat, a New Mexico flag, a cactus, a chili ristra and a margarita glass. It was a lot of fun to make both cakes.

Ok I still have several other posts I'm working on. I promise another new one tomorrow.

More Visitors

So I'm beginning to catch up with my blogging. I was able to upload pictures to the family visit post but because I originally started it on May 12th it appears below the previous post. Anyway like I have said May has been crazy for us. We have been going non-stop and have had lots of visitors. My sister was here for 3 weeks. We absolutely loved having her. We went to lots of yoga and Pilate's classes and it was so nice to have help with Brody and someone to just hang around with during the day. She is leaving to go to South Africa for 6 months. I'm going to miss her so much my heart hurts just thinking about it. Brody was really cute when she first got here and was obsessed with her suitcase.

I know I look like I'm choking her in this picture but it was just a really big hug!

One of our other visitors this month was our friend De la. We call him De la because his name is Eric De la Cerna. We met him in Walnut Creek when we first moved up to northern California after we graduated. Mark and him worked together at Wells Fargo and we all became fast friends. He is one of the funnest people we know. He came to visit the weekend after Mother's Day. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures. We had a really good time, we went to Oasis, Shady Grove and Rudy's and a few other places I can't think of right now. He and Mark went downtown on Friday and had a really good time and then Sydna babysat Brody and I was able to join them on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. De la really enjoyed to scene downtown. He loved all the live music and roof top bars, not something you get a lot of in San Francisco. Well I promise to keep posting I will have another new post tomorrow maybe I will be caught up by the end of the week.

I'm Still Alive

Sorry I haven't been blogging very much lately. We have been crazy busy! I have several blogs to post but we are in New Mexico right now and I need to wait to get home and upload some pictures. But I have a Mother's Day post, a new cake post, shaved Shasta and probably one on our trip. We will be home on Monday and I will get to work. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Family Visit

We had a very fun, very busy weekend. We had both sets of grandparents and my sister in town. On Thursday we went to Salt Lick for BBQ, it seems to be a habit with us and out of town visitors. Then the guys played golf on Friday and Mark's mom made us an amazing dinner. She has this great crab recipe with orange juice and chili flakes, it's so yummy. She also made lamb, asparagus and spelt (I'm not sure if I spelled that right). On Saturday we went to Hula Hut for lunch and then took the entire family downtown for dinner. It was a lot of fun we ended up at Buffalo Billiards playing shuffle board until way too late. Tim and Shara took care of Brody for us AGAIN. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! Sunday was a pretty mellow day. It was my first mother's day. I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture with me and Brody. Judy made french toast souffle and we had a nice breakfast here at the house. Judy and Joel left on Sunday, we did Sushi for dinner and then my parents left really early on Monday morning. It was a great weekend, I really enjoyed having everyone here.

Mom, me, dad and Syd.

Mark and his mom and dad.

Me and my mom and dad.

Brody giving a great big smile, he loved having everyone here too.

28th Birthday

So Friday was my birthday and it has been crazy ever since. On Friday my sister flew in to see me. Mark surprised me with a new laptop and a limo for my birthday. So Sydna, Shara, Ashley and I all went downtown for dinner and dancing. It was a fabulous time and we definitely had way too much fun. Then we came home and had a small accident. I was getting up from the couch and hit my toe on the bottom of Marks foot and my big toe nail came off. Yes I know that is so gross, it hurt so bad and there was blood everywhere. It is still killing me! Anyway on a better note, we had a BBQ on Saturday. Matt, Abbey, Savannah, Matt, Krista and Dusty all came over. It was a pretty mellow night we just made some hamburgers and hot dogs and played Apples to Apples (which if you haven't played is the best game ever). Sunday was very relaxing. We got my laptop up and running and made a wonderful dinner from a recipe I got from Shara. It's so good, you stuff chicken with mozzarella and bacon then dip it in bread crumbs and then sear it and marinate it in spaghetti sauce. It is really yummy! Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal, went to yoga and pilates. Syd came with me and really enjoyed the classes. Then my mom flew in on Wednesday and Mark's parents and my dad get here on Thursday. So that's what's going on with us. Here is a cute picture of all the girls from my birthday.

Sydna, Shara, Me and Ashley

Me and my seester!