When the girls are away the cat will play

Here are a few pictures of our cat Charlie plus Brink. They are great friends. Unfortunately, their favorite time to play is either 5:20 in the AM before anyone else is awake or way past bedtime after all the girls are asleep. It is annoying, but they are so cute it is hard to be too mad. Charlie will meow and bat at any toy that happened to be left on the floor. (he usually finds a ball) Brink will chase Charlie around screaming ooh! ooh!, pointing his finger, and trying to pet him. Charlie somehow always stays just out of reach. Although the other day Brink did manage to lad on him in kind of a belly flop. I must admit to being impressed, the cat did not scratch or bite he just patiently waited to be rescued. I am still not sure if I am happy having a walking hairball in the house, but he has been very nice to the kids and they love him.

PS This started out as Dominick's post, but I took over. Sorry Sweetie.

I heard Brinkerhoff playing this morning. He sounded so happy and care-free. So I went to where he was. The picture is how I found him.

These really are the precious moments. Then it was into the real tub.

Dominick

To eat or not to eat?

Are kids taste buds hard wired to their ears? When I first served spaghetti squash one of my little ones said "GROSS" and no one has touched it since. Nick and I enjoy it so why waste it on the kids. I always just fixed them another veggie instead. Last night I not sure why Emily decided to try it. "This is GREAT" was the reply and now they are all convinced that they love it. Mary held out the longest and wouldn't taste it until 3/4 of the way through dinner, but she ate the most (4 servings). All it took was a good word on behalf of the squash form another kid of course...no adults please. If only I could be sure their tastes won't change over night. It seems like I am always making something that I am sure is a favorite just to find out they don't like it anymore. Maybe I need to make a survey for them to fill out each morning a breakfast.... "My Favorites for Today Are"....but who's to say it won't change by dinner. Oh well it keeps life interesting.

There were four in the bed and the little one said "roll over"...

Shh!!! don't wake them.

Actually they were so tired I don't think anything could have made them get up. Just wondering at how peaceful they look, even laying all over each other. No shouts of "Mom, she touched me!" or even worse 'She looked at me." Such a fun memory, soon they will be to big to share a bed at grandma's house. Sure glad I took time to remember while they are still little.

Famliy Photo Mother's Day 2009

Meanwhile at the ranch...

Joined all of the family at the ranch last weekend for branding. Dominick gets so excited at the idea of working cows. It was great to have everyone together for a few late nights of visiting and one day of hard work.

Should have heard my brothers talking about their job on branding day. All they needed to do was push the calves through a chute, but that can get a little boring. So to liven it up they each developed their own was of herding. Jamin would hang on a bar above and when an unsuspecting calf would walk by he would pounce. The surprise attack. Ammon tried to swing in on the bar like Spiderman, but he said this swing attack was a failure. They had the assist were one brother would pick up a calf and toss it to the next who then put it in the chute. But I ave heard that Kaleb was the undisputed calf whisper. He would just calmly walk up behind and gently push it into the chute. Of course his brothers were quick to point out that it was his lack to height that allowed this approach, because he could walk beneath the bars without difficulty. I think they were just a little jealous of his skill. All in all a great job was done by everyone. And with two tables going it was finished in record time.

All of the girls and Brink were fascinated with their new cousin Landon. Everyone was wanting to hold him or touch him and in the process were crowding him and breathing on him. I am sure Landon was just thinking "give me some space", but he was very understanding and patient with all of the attention. He even let Brink rub his head every time he passed him.

This just happened to coincide with Mother's Day so mom got all of us for her present.

Traveling Saturday

Today I had to do a graveside service in Lovell. It is about a 3h15min drive.

Everything was fine until I got to Lovell. Drove to the graveside and there was no hole dug. The family had given the wrong grave for the sextant to dig. But he said he would go ahead and dig the proper grave. So the family and I went to the church for the reception and then back for the graveside. It was a very nice service on a very beautiful day.

Following the service I called my brother-in-law Levi. His wife was visiting her mother in Burlington. So we decided it would be fun to visit with the hearse.

Levi called her to tell her she would be having a visitor. She was not too excited about the unexpectedness. But when she saw that it was her psychopath brother-in-law she acted like it was fun. She wasn't acting. They were waiting for all of the neighbor to call and ask what had happened. Then I drove home.

We have decided that if all goes well we will go to Sheridan next Friday and help brand cows. Everyone from the family will be going. Last year it was a whole bunch of fun.

We found the cat under the bathtub down stairs. We pulled him out and boarded up the hole.

All-in-all a very fun Saturday.