People I Love: Kathy

I've decided I'd like to dedicate posts here and there to people that I love. Today, I'd like to write about my mother-in-law Kathy, since it's her 40th (wink, wink) birthday today!


I literally could not imagine a more perfect mother-in-law. My thoughts about this sweet woman:

-The first time I met Kathy, I was stunned with how gorgeous she is. And the more I've gotten to know her, the prettier she becomes because she is so beautiful on the inside too.
-She has always made me feel so comfortable and welcome. Our first Christmas married, she spoiled me rotten. She took such great care to plan so many gifts that I would like. I felt so special and cared about.
-On that same note, that's what Kathy is good at: making everyone feel special and cared about. She is always doing things for other people. Truly, one of the most selfless people I've ever met. She will do anything for anyone.
-She organizes these wonderful parties for extended family. They are elaborate and take so much work! She always has all these little games planned, delicious dinners, good desserts. She puts so much work into making sure family time happens.
-Birthday crowns! She makes birthday crowns for everyone in the extended family. And they are elaborate!! This means she's making 50+ crowns every year. She's amazing.

-I think a story Brendan tells captures Kathy well--I guess Brendan loved his stuffed animals when he was young and wanted to throw birthday parties for each one all the time. Kathy would go all out and make the stuffed animal a cake, etc. What a fantastic mom.
-She is so generous. One example: we lived at their house for a couple months and she wouldn't allow us to buy any of our own food or anything.
-She is so talented! She designed their gorgeous house and has decorated it so beautifully.
-I have never met anyone so organized. Everything in her house has a place. And it's always there.
-Everything she does is exceptional. I don't think she's capable of doing anything half-heartedly. I've noticed this with her callings, parties (like my bridal shower and baby shower), her job (after all, she won employee of the year in the school district her first year!), making movies for people...everything.
-Speaking of making movies. I had to get some video clips put on a DVD for a teaching certification I was doing. I didn't really know how to do it, so I asked her for some help. In true Kathy fashion, she stopped everything she was doing and made me a fancy-DVD with a menu, music, pictures, etc. It took her more time than I initially thought it would, but she acted like it was no big deal.
-She keeps all these amazing traditions. She buys us all a Christmas ornament every year, depending on what we've been working on for the year. She buys Cameron a nutcracker every year for Christmas.
-She is an amazing gift giver. For example, for my most recent birthday, she gave me a book of my blog for all of 2009. It is beautiful. It must have taken her ages to design it. That means so much when she is so incredibly busy.
-She is such a hard worker. She works full-time and does all the book-keeping for Greg's business. She is seriously busy and stays on top of it all.
-She tolerates her husband's and sons' endless teasing so well. :) She's so good natured and is so fun to be around.
-She is such a good grandma to Andy. You can just see how much she loves him. She bought puppets to entertain him with when we skype.
-Most importantly, she raised my sweet Cameron to be the wonderful man that he is. I couldn't be more grateful for that. There are so many things I see Cameron do and I think..."He got that from Kathy," or, "Kathy taught him that."

I love you very much Kathy! Thanks for all you do. We miss you!

My Shows

I probably should be embarrassed to admit it, but I watch a LOT of TV these days. When I'm left without a car a lot of days and nurse a few hours a day and Cameron works late, it's easy to just pop on a few shows. I don't watch all of these all the time, but some favorites (in no particular order):

We don't watch it as religiously as we used to, but it'll always be a favorite.

One of the funniest shows ever. We are soooo happy it's on netflix now.

We're into this one right now because of Vocal Point. GO BYU!

House is such a fabulous character.

We had high hopes for this one when we saw the ads all summer. (Who doesn't love Job?) It hasn't quite lived up to our expectations but we still enjoy it, perhaps because of how it seems to parallel our lives right now.

A new one we sometimes watch. Pretty funny.

A big favorite of ours. We stumbled upon it a couple years ago and have loved it ever since.

LOVE THIS SHOW. It's got mystery, but isn't too dark. And Dr. Brennan is just an adorable character.

Embarrassing...I'm a 26-year-old that watches (and enjoys) the Disney Channel. Maybe it's because I didn't have it growing up and desperately wanted it. Anyway--I love this show. I discovered it this past summer and can't get enough of it.

Also found this one this summer. There was a marathon on while we were packing to move. I had never understood why the family was famous so I curiously turned it on. This family is crazy...which is very entertaining. Cameron won't admit it, but I even got him into watching it.

An embarassing guilty pleasure. But I have loved it for a few years now.

I found this one because it's on before Modern Family. It is soooo funny. A hidden gem.

Who doesn't love this show?! A favorite for Cam and I.

A new show that is totally a guilty pleasure. But I look forward to it every week.

This is an oldie, but I really like it. I'm always up for a good mystery and there are plenty of re-runs of this on.

Considering pregnancy consumed my life for nine months, this show blows my mind.

I am not very crafty.

I am not very crafty...but I'm becoming more so. I don't know if it's because craftiness seems like it should accompany my new role as a stay-at-home mom? Anyway, this is my latest decorating/crafting endeavor. I'm really happy with the way it turned out! (Though I think it looks better in person than it does in the pictures. I know nothing about photography.)

I was looking for a way cheap way to decorate the wall behind Andy's crib. We recently visited Cameron's cousin Aisling (who has the cutest decorating taste and is extremely crafty) in College Station. I loved seeing how they've decorated their new place. Their guest bedroom has a vinyl tree on the wall, which inspired me to create this:



Supplies:
2 rolls of brown, vinyl electrical tape from Home Depot=$8
scrapbook paper for the leaves=$2
sticky tak stuff I had hanging around

I was so surprised at how easy it was. The tape was so easy to work with and just did whatever I wanted it to do. It's fun to feel like I created something for Andy to look at!

4 Months Old

The little light of our lives is now 4 months old! I don't think we could possibly love and adore this little guy more than we do. He is an absolute joy. We see more and more of his fun personality each day.

Andy...
-Is so social! He loves attention, talking, being talked to, playing, laughing, smiling, singing. Sometimes it gets a little exhausting because he only lasts about 5 minutes without interaction, but we love his energetic, fun, strong personality.
-Still loves to eat. However, his social personality gets in the way because he'd rather unlatch a million times to stop, talk, and smile at me (so cute!) than actually eat continuously.
-Is getting better at sleeping! His naps are getting longer and longer and he's getting better at falling asleep unassisted. He usually goes to bed between 7-8 PM, wakes up a couple of times to eat during the night, and gets up about 7 AM. I LOVE knowing I have the evenings to do what I want. He's now taking 3-4 naps, each about 40 min. long.
-Much to our dismay, he's not sleeping very well out and about anymore. Guess we'll be spending lots more time at home now!
-Sometimes likes walks. He ends up crying for half of them though. Not sure why?
-Giggles! Sometimes it's in response to something random (like the doctor listening to his heart) and sometimes it's when I do some sort of obnoxious laugh or throw him up in the air.
-Is so strong. Still not good at rolling over. But he stands assisted like a pro. And I think he's even close to sitting by himself. He just isn't good at balancing yet, but he has the muscles for holding himself up. He's always trying to sit up in his car seat.
-Loves bath time. He loves to splash around.
-Loves mobiles and hanging things. He's getting much better and reaching for things and grabbing them. He's almost mastered putting his own binky in. He gets frustrated with his own lack of control, but he's getting there. He also gets frustrated when his hanging toys don't do exactly what he wants. This guy definitely has a strong will.
-Got his first little stuffed animal. He likes holding on it and sucking on it. (But he likes holding and sucking everything.) It's a cute dog named Carl.
-Had his first cold. It was very sad. He hated his nostrils being suctioned all the time.
-Sucks on everything. But I don't think he's teething.
-Loves being sung to still. His favorite song now is this song my grandma taught me: "Reuben, Rueben, I've been thinking." I usually make up my own words: "Andy, Andy, I've been thinking what a good, good boy you are. You're so good, I love you so much, you are my shining star." It always makes him beam. Too cute.
-Makes quite a variety of noises.
-Is in 3-6 month clothes (has been for almost a month)...but I swear he's almost grown out of them. He is getting so big! Which brings me to his current measurements: 16 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile) , 25 inches long (50-75th percentile), and head circumference is 75-90th percentile. We are happy about this because he was soooo tiny when he was born.

Andy still leaves me completely worn out most of the time, but I LOVE being his mom. I never could imagine my heart would be so full!

We didn't take enough pictures this month. I'm vowing to do better this next month.




Andy and Carl:

Andy's Blessing

Andy was given a beautiful name and a blessing on Sept. 4 in my parents' ward in Bountiful. We moved just a few days later, so it also served as a good opportunity to say bye to everyone. We are so grateful to everyone who was able to come. Though I'll never organize a big event like a blessing again while moving (WAY too stressful), it turned out really well.




Thanks to Cameron's mom, Kathy, for the darling blessing outfit:



All Andy's grandparents:
Grandpa Greg and Dad:

Grandma Jean:


With Aunt Christine:

Aunt Abby and Sawyer:
Aunt Rachel:

My cousin Kameron who I LOVE. I was so grateful he made the drive to come!

Aunt Christine and Uncle Ben:

Cameron's cousin Erin, her husband Jared, and Uncle Brendan:
With Aunt Sara:
Cameron and his brother Brendan: