1st Day of School

Todd, a Junior in High School this year

Tiffani, a 7th grader

Trent, 2nd grade

Our New Kitten

The Bowers Family finally has a pet?!? Even Dad has fallen in love with our new kitten! Wow! 

We are all a little in disbelief. If you know anything about David, you know that he has been very adamantly against our family having any furry friends as pets.

How did this happen? 

It all started when Trent, our youngest, spotted a mouse in the garage. At first I thought he was joking. The only time in 12 years of living in this house that I've known of mice inhabiting it was when we heard them scurrying around in the middle of the night, in the attic space above the master bedroom. This led to the subsequent discovery that our attic space was un-insulated, due to an oversight by the builder of our new home. That problem was quickly remedied.  Anyway, when Trent yelled, "I saw a mouse!" I turned to look and saw it too. I called David at work, who promptly went to the hardware store and bought all kinds of mouse traps and poison. 

Then we decided to get a cat.  

We visited our extended family, the Stapletons, on the 4th of July, and they had brand new kittens, which we fell in love with. Within about a week, after shopping around and doing all kinds of research, we decided on a sweet little kitty, the sister of the Stapletons' kitties. She had been well cared for and received lots of love and attention from her first owners. 

 From the moment we met her, we knew this adorable, loving kitten would be a perfect fit for our family. 

She was 9 weeks old when we brought her home on July 15th. 

 The kids made this little house for her out of cardboard boxes, colorful duct tape, and carpet remnants. 

They were so exited to introduce her to it!

Deciding on a name for our kitten was lots of fun! We made a connection right away between her unique markings and the markings of "Penelope" the wharf cat in one of our family's favorite children's books. 

In this book, Penelope is described as having "three black spots" on her back, "of which she was very proud." She also had a long, black tail, just like our kitty! 

In the story, Penelope, who is bored with life on the wharf, signs aboard the S.S. Sweetwater as the ship's cat after convincing Captain Ned that the markings on her fur represent a treasure map. At sea, a pirate crew, whose captain has overheard Penelope's claim, storms the ship and kidnaps Penelope. After the pirates (much to Penelope's surprise) dig up a buried treasure, Captain Ned reappears with a blare of trumpets, saving her from walking the plank in the nick of time. 

In following with the book, our first idea was to name our kitten "Penelope" or "Penny," but the name just didn't seem to fit her personality. We decided Penelope the wharf cat must be one of our kitty's ancestors!

 We tried out other names, but finally arrived at one we could all agree on, and it suited her perfectly. We decided to name her "Sophronia," the unique name belonging to one of the sisters of Joseph Smith, Jr., our prophet of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

We call her "Sophia" or "Sophie."

What a precious little bundle she is! A great addition to our family :)