Out of the mouths of babes.....

Last night, I crawled in bed with Chase to "tuck him in" and say prayers with him. He asked me what the big thing on my chin is (yes, I have Mt Fuji growing on my chin!). I told him it was a pimple and he said, "oh, I thought it was a zit!"
I then explained to him that a pimple is a zit and he asked me why I have it. I told him I don't know why I have it and I wished that I didn't and he asked, "why don't you pray not to have them anymore?" I looked at him blankly and said, "umm, I don't know why I haven't done that yet" and he said, "I will do it for you now?"
I feel like one of the children of Israel who was bitten by the fiery snakes and wouldn't look on the staff that Moses held up because it was too easy. Called to repentance by my youngest!

Post Script on psycho cat

She had ONE more!!!! So, we are back to 4 orange ones, 1 calico and the other is actually a gray cat. The kids are in heaven but keeping their distance from post pardom psycho cat.

Psycho Cat!

Ok, I have too many posts about our cat, Minerva who truly is a psycho cat-so more than one post is too many BUT she had kittens at the end of April. We finally got rid of them at the beginning of July and she just had kittens AGAIN THIS MORNING! How can that be? She was still nursing??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! We were going to take her in to get fixed but she didn't give us enough time!
She had them in the bushes this time and the sprinklers turned on this morning and they got all wet! She had 4 orange ones and 2 calico ones like her. The kids are so excited, of course, and Maren came up with the idea to name them from her favorite movie at the moment, Little Women. Oh, the excitement that was felt in our home, knowing that one of the boy kittens would be named Laurie! (The last litter was named after the Percy Jackson series and her first litter last year were named all Narnia names-so apparently we have a tradition going)

SO far, one of the orange ones have died, so I had to dispose of that (why did Steve have an early meeting in Sacramento this morning?) and Minerva only seems to be caring for one kitten. SO, I moved them into a box and then moved them into our "spare" garage where she has had the other 2 litters and locked her in. She isn't being the "good" mama she has in the past which worries me a bit because I think her hormones are out of whack and she will attack us like last time. I mean, Post pardom depression in cats is not fun!!!!! But who can blame her-12 kittens in 4 months-serious cause of whacked hormones!
Maybe I should get her some animal anti-depressants-I don't care what Tom Cruise says-post pardom is real-even in cats!!!!!!!!

RAGNAR relay race in Washington State!

Ok, I don't know why I do this, but I have done the Ragnar Relay Race for the past three summers. The first one I did was with 3 of my siblings and my neice along with a lot of my friends in Utah, starting from Logan and ending in Park City. It was horrible and I vowed to never do it again there but I LOVED running with people and the feeling I got finishing and hanging the big medal and number on my wall closet along with my medals/numbers from the Lake Tahoe 1/2 marathons. (maybe that is why my closet is smelling?!?!?! The "stinky" numbers!)
We then found out that they have the Ragnar Race in Washington state, running through the puget sound islands. My friend Jen and I flew up and joined my sister and my neice and a 15 year old stranger and ran it last year and had a BLAST! It was sooo fun.

SO, this year, Jen and I recruited 4 other people and my sister Keri recruited 5 other people and we ran it again! BEAUTIFUL-so BREATH TAKING BEAUTIFUL. I think I did my best ever even though I was the least prepared because I didn't put any pressure on myself. I just thought I would do my best and finish and that would be enough. I did 14.5 miles and walked maybe 2.5 in there and loved it.

Here are the pictures...

My elder sister Keri who ROCKED this year! Looking good!

Teammate Jessica leaving at "twilight" hence the dorky head light, vest and ankle reflector they make us wear.

The view at a quaint restaurant we discovered last year. The best burger and garlic fries EVER!

My "team" the HOTFLASHES! You too can join us this next spring, April 24-25. We will be doing the LA Ragnar from Santa Barbara to Dana Point on HWY 101-it will be beautiful! Come join us!

(because two of these ladies said they would never do it again :( -I wonder why? )

Maren's Baptism

Here is sweet Maren on her baptism day on July 11th, 2009. She is wearing a dress that her Grandma Hammarstrom made that all of her girl cousins have worn when they were baptized. Her cute hair is by Auntie Ally and her bow by her cousin Erika.

Steve baptized Maren and had mixed feelings about his jumpsuit NOT being the "elvis" jumpsuit-tight, stretchy with a belt!

Maren is wearing a dress that her Grammie Bingham made in Africa for her to wear after she was baptized. The beads on her necklace are from Africa too.

When Grammie came home for awhile before they went back to Africa, we went shopping to pick out the material and pattern. It was quite an experience! Maren wanted these dresses that were big and fluffy and looked like costumes or "mini" wedding dresses. I found myself saying, "I don't think that is appropriate for a baptism dress". We finally all agreed on one that was "fluffy" enough for Maren and "baptism worthy" for me!

Maren asked her Grandpa Hammarstrom to confirm her. Grandpa felt it was a priviledge to be asked and was happy to do it. It was a great day and were so glad to be able to share it with Maren.

First Day of School, Aug. 5th 2009

Ok, here they are-our first day of school pictures, it seems like I just posted pictures from last year!

McKay isn't in these pictures because he was at band when we took these-like Hollie was last year. Speaking of Hollie, she was not pleased that she had to wear here cheer outfit on the first day of school instead of the outfit she picked out.

Kaitlyn is a sophmore this year, Hollie a freshman, McKay is in 7th, Maren in 3rd grade and Chase in first!

Chase keeps asking me if it is still summer because they have started school. It is hard to explain that even though it is 101 outside and it is still summer, but they have to go to school!