Introducing: Sushi, Chop Sticks, Tofu, Bamboo, and Wasabi

Okayu has loved having her belly rubbed for the past 2 weeks or so.  If I'm lying on the bed she just plops down on my chest and neck, assuming the position for me to scratch her belly.  

When a mother cat nurses her babies, endorphins rush in.  I'd say more like drugs because she looks high almost every time I rub her belly!

On Brigham's birthday, Okayu was showing signs of the 1st stage of labor.  She was really loud and vocal and very needy.  She also had some discharge coming out.  Hyrum was afraid he'd miss something so he slept in my bed (Daddy slept on the couch...good Daddy!) since the nesting box was in there.  Okayu was up most of the night, but I did catch this moment of her sleeping against Hryum before waking up again.  

Its a long story but she ended up giving birth in my dresser drawer.  That was not at all as we planned but she kept wanting to get in there when she was in stage 2 labor (mucus plug lost, panting, bearing down).  Hyrum and I kept directing her to the nesting box but no luck.  She even completely stopped panting and bearing down at one point.  I knew then that we had been stressing her out by not letting her go where she had planned on going all along.  So much time had passed, she was exhausted, and so were we so I took out all the clothes, put in old towels and doggie pee pads, and let her do her things.  Within 10 minutes, she had had her first baby!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

These were taken on day 3 of one of the kittens that we sometimes lovingly call "fatty" because it was the chunckiest baby out of all of them.

Since Hyrum loves all things Japanese, we decided to call them:  Sushi, Chop Sticks, Tofu, Bamboo, and Wasabi.

 

Battle Creek Falls Trail

The post before this one (4th of July 2023) had a group picture of us with water in the background.  The water coming down in this picuture is what fed into the water from the other picture.  In years past when going to this area for fireworks there has never been water.  Just goes to show how much snow we got this year!

I have been to the Battle Creek waterfalls before but never saw it as 2 falls coming down (or going over this bridge!) until this year.  Again, so much precipitation this year!

This hike is barely a mile (but steep) but just like in times past, it kicked my butt!  It was a really tough hike for me but so worth it getting up to the top.  The cool breeze coming off the falls was so nice!

 

4th of July 2023

We had an incredibly lazy day on the 4th.  We were totally planning on going swimming but we ended up just lounging around the house, the boys and Daddy playing games while I made cards.  

Towards the end of the night, we headed up the mountains (around the Pleasant Grove area) with part of the Doll family and just enjoyed the nice breeze and tons of fireworks.

And there really were tons of fireworks.  My camera does not do it justice!

Some Other June Happenings

For Mother's Day, I got my Mom some llama earrings (she loves llamas!) and a type of activity book for her and I to work on together.  We have worked on it for a little over a month, every Sunday, and I've loved how it has gotten us to remember things as well as learn new things about each other.

Some of the activities have needed pictures.  Here was the very first one I put together.  The first picture is probably my favorite picture of my Mom and I together when I was little (I was around 3 years old).  The one on the right is the last time we were together in April of this year.

One of my qualitites that we went over was being a good friend so I put together this little timeline of some of my dearest friends.  I couldn't get them all in (and I'm hoping my dates are right) but I sure do love all of my friends, past and present!

This is a cropped version of one of the pictures we used in our books.  I thought Mom looked so pretty and happy that I wanted it journaled here too.

One of the things we went over was touch.  I love the soft, silkly feel of Okayu.  Next to her is Pinkie, probably my favorite stuffed toy David has ever gotten me.  I sleep with it every night.  And then of course there is David.  My favorite thing of all time to snuggle!

Helen's birthday and Father's Day were close in dates so we celebrated them together.  David is wearing one of his gifts from Levi (shirt).  Levi had also gotten him a card that when David opened it, it said things like, "Dad, dad, dad....father, father, father..." over and over.  Most cards turn off the sound when you close them but this one was made so that you could not stop it from talking for 2 HOURS!!!!  Hilarious!  Levi was nice though and warned him that if he tried to take out the battery that the card was made to spew out glitter.  Ha!  This is him nervously ripping it apart.  But to his luck, it didn't explode.

Cami and I are starting up our weekly hikes.  We have been to Grotto Falls before but never with the amount of water that was coming out of the falls like this time.  It was awesome!

Hyrum went on a youth temple trip (Provo temple).