27 weeks

Just as a reminder...here's 22 weeks:

my big boy!

Watching Cade grow from my sweet little baby boy into a big boy is mostly the unrecognizable day-to-day changes. A couple things this past weekend, though, make it sooo obvious!

Because of another lovely summer diaper rash, we put Cade to bed in big boy underwear. He wore them most of the day Saturday & Sunday without an accident! It's a learning curve for me...like what do you do at the park or when driving in the car...but I think he's trying to tell us he's ready to ditch the diapers!

There's also his new fearlessness going under water at the pool.  I'm happy he's not scared of the water, but a little fear wouldn't be a bad thing, right?!  :)

Today, we headed to Mitch Park to watch some kites. (You can see a couple big ones in the back of the first picture.) The first time he headed up this 'ladder' I kept a hand on him, but he did great. SO I had him do it again to take a picture. When he was half-way up, I asked him to stop so I could step back & take a picture, but he just kept climbing & went all the way by himself.

So if THAT didn't make you grimace, this will! Because when I walked around & saw him swing out over this giant slide, I definitely gasped! :)

Hamburger Cookout at the Vesta's

Thank you Vesta's for the awesome cookout! We appreciate your hospitality!

Kati here is the picture with the bow colored against black and white. I figured out how to do it and I think it turned out awesome. I might enter it in the county fair!

Family Pics

We Won! We Won! We Won!!

OH MY GOSH!!!!

We started the game in the field. The opposing team Kremlin, who had beaten us all year long by more than 10 points every time, scored 4 runs in the opening inning. We came out and scored one run. The second inning we held them to no runs. We came out and scored 7. The third inning we held them to no runs and we came out and scored five. So the score is 13 to 4 we are ahead. I tell the girls all you have to do is get 3 outs and we win. So what do they do..... They start bobbling the ball. We could not catch a break. Even their little girls that normally strike out were getting hits. Would you believe they caught back up to us and tied us at 13.

So we are up. We only need one run and we win! Kaitlyn gets a hit, then Jenni gets a hit, then Samantha gets a good hit but the umpire calls Kaitlyn back to third because they got the ball in the infield before she was past half way to home. (Yeah right) It could have been called either way so out comes Brianna. She had three really good foul tips but then struck out. Erika was up. She had two strikes and I'm thinking oh my Gosh we are going to go into another inning because the next batter is really inconsistent. The pitch goes out, Erika swings the bat, I hear the metal hitting the ball and Kaitlyn takes off running and WE WIN!!!!

The girls were all screaming, I was crying. It was the most exhilarating feeling ever. My team that I coached won our tournament!!!! These girls were so wonderful. It was a total blast!

Jenni Softball Finals!

OK! I need lots of prayers! Jenni's softball team which I coach is in the finals of our tournament!!!!!!!

Monday night we played two games and won them both! The first one in extra innings. Now all along I have believed these girls had it in them but we would come out and lose our minds and the opponent would get 7 runs in one inning and kill our chance to stay in the game.

Monday night they hit well and we came out on top. I am so stinky proud of these little girls you just can't imagine. So tonight win or lose I am thrilled we made it to the finals. The worst we can do is 2nd place.

It is double elimination so if we lose the first game we have to play a second. I'm hoping for the win in the first one so we can get out of the heat. Cheer us on in your minds. Our first game is 7:30 in Medford. I'll let you know when we get home if we are champions! :)

Abby's Dance

Abby will be dancing in MWC at the Rose State College (same as the last time) on Saturday Afternoon and Sunday Morning. All I have is arrive times not dance times but she has to be there on Saturday @ 1:00 for her solo, Sunday @ 8:30 for her duo - Jail House and her other dance sucks and it's not worth seeing but it is at 1:00. : )

I have class until 9:30 on Thursday so we will most likely head to the city on Friday Morning. We will be staying with mom.

Hope we can see you all at some point this weekend!

Ethan Update

Had baby check up and ultra sounds done last week - Everything looks good and he are right on target growth wise. I have to start taking iron - no surprised had to with last two. He is moving around a lot now.

And I have to say I have been crazy busy but Brandon has been, too! Not only has he been hanging out with the kids he has found time to get Ethan's room put together.

My photography sucks and as I was trying to get pics the camera died... BUT I think you get the idea!

Kati Update

I didn't think life could get any crazier but it did! Last week of school - I started one of my summer courses so that was a little crazy, Monday of the next week was our Graduation and I "needed" to be there AND my second class started. Tuesday of that week I left at 6:00 am with students to go to a Leadership Camp. We had cabins with air con and bathrooms - it was nice BUT it was still camp. Got home Friday to go Camping with the family....

Missed week of both my classes - YIKES!

So I have had a lot of work to do for my classes and feeling guilty about not being home much.

Summer Camp

Ok well Jessi is packed and ready to go to the summer basketball camp at OSU. Her friends mom is taking them because I have Jenni's softball game tonight. It is only for two days but I'm really sad. I think she is too. It is probably better that I don't take her.

Happy 16th Anniversary, Bengi & Tim!

Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry.

~Tom Mullen

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that.

~Michael Leunig

I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage. And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them - it was that promise.

~Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth

I now think of marriage like I think about living in my home state of Minnesota. You move into marriage in the springtime of hope, but eventually arrive at the Minnesota winter, with its cold and darkness. Many of us are tempted to give up and move south at this point, not realizing that maybe we’ve hit a rough spot in a marriage that’s actually above average. The problem with giving up, of course, is that our next marriage will enter its own winter at some point. So do we just keep moving on, or do we make our stand now – with this person, in this season? That’s the moral, existential question we face when our marriage is in trouble.

~Bill Doherty

Marriage is someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single.

~Author Unknown

This cartoon from "HowToRuinAPerfectlyGoodMarriage.com"

I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each other's gaps.
~Rocky

It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

~Rita Rudner

I have no way of knowing whether or not you married the wrong person, but I do know that many people have a lot of wrong ideas about marriage and what it takes to make that marriage happy and successful. I'll be the first to admit that it's possible that you did marry the wrong person. However, if you treat the wrong person like the right person, you could well end up having married the right person after all. On the other hand, if you marry the right person, and treat that person wrong, you certainly will have ended up marrying the wrong person.

I also know that it is far more important to be the right kind of person than it is to marry the right person. In short, whether you married the right or wrong person is primarily up to you.

~Zig Ziglar

Cade is now Bengi's favorite!

So I was flipping through a random magazine we received in the mail, Distinctly Oklahoma.  

On the page below, Cade pointed to the lady in the red dress in the bottom, center picture and said, "Aunt Bengi?"

Here's the close-up of the pic...I thought this would make your day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMI!

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday dear Kimi
Happy Birthday to you!!!!


Hope you have a great Day!

Makes ya wonder

Okay, the story is......This was obviously a vehicle fire. It was a call I went to and you may ask why I am posting this. The front cab was virtually destroyed. The front seats burnt to the metal frame and as you can see for yourself the dash melted. I have previous experience and know for a fact how hot a vehicle fire can get. In the up close picture, you can see a white object afixed to the passenger side dash. That was or still is a bible that only burnt around the edges. I dont know if the cover burnt off or if the firefighters sprayed it off when extinguishing the fire. Anyway, amazing story...Thought I would share.

New Stuff House

Back porch with new set up.

Abby's room standing just inside entrance. Closet is door on picture.

Abby's bed.

New grill after 5 year stint with old one........Bout damn time....Other was rusted and falling apart.