a mouse in the house...

Well, I'm admitting we found a mouse in our house last week! Three years with no *signs* of mice....and 10:30 p.m., watching the news, I see a *flash* of something, run along the wall in my family room. So, I turned my attention to the magazines on the floor right there and sure enough right before my eyes the little critter ran back from were it came!

Something about *knowing* there is a mouse in the house creeps me out! Last time this happened Mark ended up going to the grocery store right then and there to purchase a mouse trap! (Of course, wild broom flailing was involved too)

This time I left the broom in the pantry and just kicked the house plant container where I thought the little guy was hiding, did a little creepy dance and returned to the couch disgusted we had a mouse in the house!

Funny thing.....next morning as we were going through the usual routine of getting the children out the door to school.....Zac was putting on his shoes in the mud room with me saying "come here so I can squirt your hair"....and as he jammed his foot into one shoe he pulled it off quickly and sad "something fuzzy is in my shoe!" I went over and to my surprise a little mouse, on his back, looking dead was in his shoe! Of course this is when I did the creepy dance again and THEN...I realized the fuzzy little critters whiskers begin to slowly twitch! THAT IS WHEN THE really good creepy dance came out with me holding Zac's shoe and Katiana laughing and Dad and Zac completely amused ....and me screaming "what should I do with it?!" I quick, ran into the garage and thought (outloud) *put it in the trash can*......to which Zac protested with his sweet, sensitive heart "you can't just throw it away". I explained that it was a field mouse and I was just putting him in the trash can until I could take it across the street and let it go find a new home where it belonged! AND yes, I did take the mouse across the street to the "new house"!

We are still trying to figure out how Zac picked up his shoes and walked from the family room to the mud room without the mouse jumping out. Mark has a theory about it. He thinks the mouse was in a "stink induced coma" or "high on stink" is what I think he said......hee, hee, hee.......serves him right!

I did it!

...I went running yesterday! After a several week disruption in my *routine* (my definition of *routine* = try to run 3 times each week -- heaven forbid I commit to certain days....if I can just get out ANY 3 days I am successful!!!). It was a good run! The air was crisp and it made me feel alive! Louie was happy to tag along and being the good dog he is.....he took care of his business at just the moment I felt overly winded! good dog!

So, I'm happy. Now I have to stand up from this computer and go run TODAY before Zac gets home!

Au Revoir!

picture of my dining room ceiling...

...mom, sorry this is a day late....maybe you can still use it. Here it is - our dining room ceiling! LOVE YOU!!! Have fun remodeling!

What are sisters for?

Well, for starters....they are VERY helpful in spending your money! OF COURSE, they ALWAYS agree and HELP JUSTIFY spending your money...ESPECIALLY if shoes are involved! AND...WE (sisters that is) WOULD NEVER miss the opportunity to HELP ASSIST our brother-in-law in SPENDING HIS MONEY on OUR SISTER!!! RIGHT?

So.....Jeni, I hope you can find a frame for less money than the beautiful picture you just rec'd!!! Of course, I can always HELP you find something in my neck of the woods if it comes to that!!!

A difference of opinion!

So, here I am in my sweet birthday running glasses that have an MP3 player built into them! and...I just returned home from a nice morning run on the trail above my house...and Louie actually RAN ahead of me today because he saw horses he had to catch up to. AND.....I came home to my husband chopping my petunias!

We MOST DEFINATELY have a difference of opinion about this.

You see, wave petunias are KNOWN for their TRAILING habit and they were carelessly trailing beyond the boundaries of their *space* which I think is BEAUTIFUL!!! BUT my DH thinks they are completely out of control and so he takes the weed wacker to them! I called him a petunia murderer......and we both went on our merry way. Of course, for me that meant downloading these pictures and updating my blog that has fallen behind....and for Mark.....finishing the yard and undoubtedly killing more plants elsewhere! Oh...and now, I'm off for a quick swim and last minute errands and packing because we are going to HAITI TOMORROW........YEAH!

Some good ol' fashion fun!

How about that pie eating contest!!! And a little tug-of-war contest at the QuicKutz summer picnic!

House....

House....Yard....digging as deep as they can for a sample of the earth below us. 38 feet down they went.....hmmmm.....someday this mess will end...

Mark went to the Salt Flats for the first time with a couple of work buddies. I think he had a great time...HOT HOT HOT....and he met an interesting, Volvo loving man from Sweden. He told Mark he had never seen a volvo at the Salt Flats! Next time you see Mark have him do his impression of this man. Funny! Apparently this man comes to Utah every year for the races!

Some more catching up...

Steven turned 18!!! We went to see the new Bourne movie and went to Outback restaurant for dinner! And he is styling now in some new sunglasses and ready for snowboarding with a new pair of boots!!!
Happy Birthday Steven.....

Catching up some more...

Michael went right to Scout Camp the day after we got home from California! I think he had fun....and I think the camp survived too.

Catching up...

Leaving California and family...boo hoo

We sure had a fun time with everyone!

We have tickets to Haiti!!!

It is 5:30 p.m. and I spent the entire day buying our plane tickets to Haiti! The details would bore you so I will just say... Pachelbel's Canon in D will never sound the same after spending 45 minutes hearing it over and over and over as Cheaptickets convinced American Airlines that the Delta portion of our flights were real. Don't ask.

THE GOOD NEWS.... we are going to Haiti, Tuesday, September 4 and will be home Friday, September 14 WITH "K"!!!!

YEAH!!! Hopefully....things will go smoothly. Please pray with us for this.
Love you all!
tash

Hixon Hikers...

2007 Hike into the Hilton Lakes with Grandpa. "S" and "M" went and seemed to really enjoy their time on the hike this year!


I love this picture of "M". "M" had a two day break from camping - one day to go to church and one day to drive home and he was off to Scout camp! He is such an easy going kid who just rolls with whatever comes along!




Click on this set of pictures of "S" free climbing this rock... notice the horizon! The kid has monkey blood for sure! Good thing I didn't go along cause stuff like this causes my heart to skip a beat or two! Of course, because he survived it and I now have some cool pictures it makes me smile! The mom in me is always watching my kids *stunts* with one eye closed!

some California fun...

"Z" mastering the skim board on our last day at the beach! Someone feed that boy!

This day at the beach "M" whose name means "of the sea" was initiated by a stingray! It gave her a nice little quarter inch cut on her ankle as it filled her with poison. I guess they don't like being *stepped* on! She insists it felt "squishy" not slimy. Unfortunately one week later she has developed an infection and if the medication doesn't improve things by tomorrow morning she will have to go to the hospital for an IV to fight off the infection.


















Two days after the stingray incident "M" is back at the beach! She had private surfing lessons from her dad and her uncle Scott. Both say she is a natural! Yep, that is my pretty little tom-boy! ahem....we won't discuss my attempt at surfing...if you have enough money, Mark has a video of the disaster.

Hot Babe...

"I'm too sexy for my glasses, too sexy..." Oh yeah! Look at little L in her "sexy momma" glasses from Aunt J!!! They are so hot....Gavin had to give 'em a try too!

HEAT WAVE...

M & N keeping cool and keeping Louie busy!!!




Look at those handsome boys.....oh, AND smart! They know how to survive the annual Utah July HEAT WAVE!!!

FINALLY!!!

YES! Katiana only needs her passport PRINTED and she can come home!!! Of course, we will have to arrange our travel, interview with the Department of Homeland Security IN HAITI and hope they don't require any DNA testing! FINALLY, we have made it to the home stretch and we can see the finish line!!!
Yeah, we are all sooooo excited!

bark!, bark! bark!, rrrrrrrr! bark!, bark! bark!

Must get water shooting device out of the water hole! bark! bark! bark!, rrrrrr bark! bark! bark!, bark! bark!.......Maggie come help me......bark! bark! bark!, rrrrrr, bark! bark! bark!.......oh you are such a princess! Just get over it and get over here and help me stop this water shooting device from floating in the water hole! bark! bark! bark!, bark! bark! bark! Ahhhhh, finally, got it......now I must kill it! rrrrrrr, bark! bark! bark!
Louie

Why me?

Why me? How did I land here? This family I got is CRAZY....check out the other four legs I have to share my family with...he is just a big pain in my *you know what*! I have to show him I'm the boss.....and he goes and pulls tricks like that (next post). I can chase him up the hill, I can chase him out of the room when he gets too close to my favorite person, I can scare of the big bad dogs and people that walk on our sidewalk and I can do tricks for treats as good as he can.....but I WON'T get wet! Swimming is for lower class muts! yeah that's it, MUTS! I will NOT lower myself to such forms of humiliation... barking at toys floating in big bathtubs! I don't care if those toys can shoot water at you! What a dufus! Why, oh why, oh why ME?
Maggie

4th of July pool fun...

Z and JP....Z loves his little cousins!
SP having fun playing with the big kids toy! This little toy is designed to pull you around *under* the water. SP's arms aren't long enough to get the blower out of his face and combined with the fact that he was wearing a floatation suit it remained partially out of the water making quite a splash! Of course, this didn't slow him down a bit! It was a bit of a problem when he aimed it down.....yep, he came up a sputtering because he hasn't quite figured out how to hold his breath yet.