Catsitting

Here’s a cute story Jenn and I wanted to share.

My parents have been spending this week on a cruise. Yes, another one! Since Jenn and I live the closest, we have been in charge of their house - getting the mail and papers, and generally making sure everything is okay.

Well, on Thursday I decided to take a look around the outside of the house because they have a vandal neighbor. As we walked around the side, out jumps a kitten from the bushes. We figured it belonged to the neighbors next door, and it somehow managed to get out of their fenced yard. But as we tried to leave, it kept following us. So we rang the neighbors’ doorbell... No answer. Great.

We tried repeatedly to just leave, but by the time we made it to the car, it would be hopping frantically after us. So then I stuck my hand through their fence and dropped the kitten inside. It made a lot of sad noises, but we got into the car and began to drive away. We hadn’t even made it 30 feet before the kitten was back out and running into the street. Fine!

What do we do? We can’t just leave it to follow us and get lost and/or hit by a car. It seemed hungry, but we knew better than to feed it as my parents’ house, where it would return, expecting more. My mom is allergic to cats. So we thought we would give it some milk, but put the bowl in the neighbors’ front yard, and while it drinks, we will leave... Great plan, except my parents left town... no milk in the fridge. Wonderful!!

I got some water, but it was still clearly hungry. I looked in the fridge for items it might eat. But I had no idea what was good or bad for it. We tried meat, but it wouldn’t eat it. Finally we tried cheese, and it inhaled every little piece. It seems that it wasn’t just hungry, it was starving.

All the while, I’m hoping Jenn isn’t getting too attached to this under 6 month-old kitten. We can’t afford to take care of it, it would eat our fish, destroy the furniture, and most importantly, it’s not ours! But we don’t want to be held responsible if it gets lost or dies. After waiting for nearly an hour for the neighbors to come home, we were hot, tired, and had nothing to do. So we decide to take it home, but come back to return it later.

Note: Do NOT take kittens on car rides. It freaked out! It made all sorts of horrible noises, was climbing all over the place, and it actually tried to jump out the window. Thankfully it was closed, but I doubt the cat appreciated it too much. When it crawled under Jenn’s seat, I grabbed it. Being held seemed to calm her down.

We knew the kitten wasn’t going to find its way to our house again, so we weren’t afraid of feeding it there. But when we tried to give her milk, she acted strange. She wouldn’t drink it, and behaved like it never had milk before. Soon after that, she scarfed down a dead bug. This cat had been on its own for a while. I’ll admit, at that point, I was tempted to keep it. But the reasons why we couldn’t were still in place.

The kitten took a nap outside on one of our blankets while I read and Jenn drew. Afterwards, we drove the kitten back to the neighbors’ house. Again, it freaked out, but I was quicker to hold on to it this time. We saw that someone was home, we knocked on the door, and the kid who answered seemed to recognize the cat, and was very surprised to see it again. He said it was theirs, we handed it over, and that was the end of it.

Don’t tell Jenn, but even if she didn’t get attached... I did.

Our Trip To Colorado

I was planning to write my own blog post about our trip to Colorado, and for many days now, I believed I had. So, here it goes.

Labor Day Weekend we went to Colorado to see Kenny as he came home from his mission. The drive there was excruciatingly long, but fun. Adam and I ate snacks and sang songs the whole way. We arrived hungry and tired, but excited to see Kenny. After we quickly checked into our hotel and freshened up we headed over to see Kenny for the first time in two years and to see my parents' apartment for the first time ever. We got there and ate dinner. It was my Dad's delicious spaghetti. After catching up with everybody, the guys practiced their song for sacrament meeting the next day. It was nice to see them all singing together again. After that, Adam and I went back to our hotel to get some much needed rest.

The next day, bright and early we got up and dressed for church. We all met at my parents' place and followed them to their ward building. It was awesome to see Kenny pass the sacrament to us and great to hear the boys singing their song again. After sacrament meeting Adam and I returned to our hotel room for a nap. We went back when church was over to see Noah get the priesthood. Which was pretty cool, and Mom was obviously a very proud MamaLlama. After that, we all went outside and had family and couple pictures taken by Mom's friend. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

We returned to the hotel to change out of our Sunday clothes. Then, back again to my parents' apartment for dinner. Which was roast and potatoes. Yum. When our tummies were full, we retired to the family room for a little impromptu talent show. Kenny started us off by singing his arrangement that he wrote on his mission (in his head) that he had keyed into his music program so we could all hear it. Noah then sang and played a couple of the songs he has written on the guitar. Cubby then sang us her song, "Lullaby" which is a very sweet song. Tori sang, Mom showed off her crochet, and Dad, Ty, Cami, Adam, and I all enjoyed showing off our audience skills. It was a great family time.

Monday, we gathered at the apartment for breakfast. After eating, we went to the park behind my parents' place and played frisbee. It started out with just a couple of them playing, but soon, everyone but Mom and Dad and Zuzu were in on the fun. After that, Adam and I went to take some nice pictures with the scenery while the others played bocce ball. Mom then helped us take couple pictures too.

Then, we wandered over to the playground and took some pictures as a family, which was both difficult and fun as we had to hold the pose for 10 seconds. At that point, Kenny suggested another location for a family picture. It involved him running from one side of the little river that ran through the park to the other side. We didn't think he could make it, but he did. We had to hold that pose for 20 seconds, but it was easier that time. The running around the river made Ty think that it wouldn't be so impossible to jump across it, so he and Noah began discussing that possibility. Finally, Noah decided to give it a try, with Ty to follow if he made it. Much to Cami's relief, Noah did not get across the river. Sadly, he did injure his knees and feet in the attempt, and we all felt a bit bad for goading him on. Not bad enough to not laugh and post the videos we took, but bad enough to help him back to the apartment.

Shortly after that, we left to drive back home. More singing and snacking occured, along with laughing about all the fun we had.

Welcome "Home" Kenneth

Elder Kenworthy has returned home... to a place he had never been before. He left Utah for Florida, but came home to Colorado.

I met Ken less than a month before he left for his mission. Still, it feels like one of those "I've known you forever" things. And thanks to the wonder that is the internet, we were able to keep in touch. It was awesome to see him again, but it ALMOST feels like he never left. Though I'm sure those who live/lived with him felt differently.

Our previous attempts to get to Colorado didn't work out due to various forces working against us. But we really wanted to be there to see Kenneth again. So without blizzards or viruses to get in our way, we made it to Longmont, CO safe and sound.

When we arrived, we were greeted with spaghetti, which was really good, but my car-sick stomach kept me from enjoying it as much. After dinner, Steve, Ty, Ken, and Noah all practiced a hymn they would sing the next day in church. Below is a picture of them practicing; then us sitting around listening to mission stories and such; and the shock-ed and amaz-ed RM (yes, he was posing for the picture).


On Sunday, the whole family went to church. Just before the testimony portion of sacrament meeting, the Kenworthy men sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" (Hymn #335). Like those who approached them afterwards, I'm not one to give praise to people singing (except to Jenn), but they sounded incredible. After church, we were all able to witness Noah receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Then someone from their ward took family pictures and couple pictures, which we'll be sure to show off when we get them.

We then ate dinner as a family again. Then came the talent show. Ken wanted us to hear an arrangement he wrote while on his mission. Jenn had always told me that Kenny could read and write music and hear it without actually hearing it. He told us that he came up with this arrangement one night when he couldn't sleep, and he wrote the notes down in a little notebook. Then he took it to a sister in Florida who played it for him so he could hear it. When he got home, he plugged those notes into a music program he has so we all could hear it as well.

After that, Noah and Cubby played and sang songs they had written. Tori also sang. The musical skill of the Kenworthy family is unbelievable. Jenn and I were wishing she had her mandolin to play, but we didn't bring it for fear of it getting damaged during travel.

Ty, Cami, Jenn and I all needed to get back home on Monday, but no one seemed to be in a big hurry as we played and hung out in the park for hours that morning. I don't remember who started it, but Ty, Noah, and I were throwing a frizbee to each other. Then, one by one, more people joined. Before long, all of the siblings were throwing the frizbee in a giant circle. Ty threw it to me, me to Cami, Cami to Jenn, Jenn to Kenny, Kenny to Noah, Noah to Cubby, Cubby to Tori, and Tori to Ty. It was a very nice family moment that I was glad to be a part of.

Here we are throwing the frizbee; me catching the frizbee; Jenn missing the frizbee; Steve, Karen, and Zuzu watching us; and Cubby in a tree. There was also a squirrel running around that seemed to be playing with us and the dogs. It would get very close to us and teased and taunted Cricket. It was pretty funny.



Jenn and I took some pictures of each other at the park. Then Karen took some of the two of us together.




We then did some more family pictures on our own. We didn't use our camera, but here are some that Ty posted on Facebook. In order to get everyone in there, they set the timer on each of the cameras, then ran to get in the picture. The best was when we took a picture from the other side of a creek, so Ken had to run around and across the bridge to get in the picture. Sadly, we don't have a copy of that one yet. But all the pictures turned out well for us having to hold the poses for 10-20 seconds each time.


As Jenn and I were preparing to leave, Ty and Noah were looking at the creek running through the park and talking about the possibility of jumping across it. There was an "I'll do it if you do it" discussion, and Noah went for it. After seeing what happened, I can understand why Ty didn't try it. Here's the video...


...and here are the bloody results. While Noah was being treated for his injuries, and the damage was done, we said our goodbyes.

All in all, it was a great trip.