Meet the newest member of the Hager family.......Mocha!  

We weren't exactly looking hard for a kitten, but Joshua has been begging for one for almost a year now.  In fact one day he and his friends from down the street came up with a list of possible names based on what color and gender the kitten would be!  After visiting Cran Hill this summer and seeing how the boys enjoyed the kittens there I thought maybe this would be a good time to get one.  I looked briefly on Craigslist and found a white kitten with blue eyes listed.  I never had a cat with blue eyes so I wanted to see it.  Off we went one night to go take a look at her.  Upon our arrival the lady who was giving the kitten away walked right up to our car and said, "I'm colorblind, my daughter just told me it's eyes were green, not blue."  Ah.....yea....not what I was looking for.  Of course the boys saw the kitten and wanted to get out of the car immediately so we did.  The white kitten's personality was great, but she just wasn't very pretty.  Sensing our disappointment the lady offered us the option of seeing a tortoise shell (tortie) kitten.  As soon as we saw her Joshua and Cory had decided she was the one.  These kittens had been born in this family's barn and the mama cat had disappeared right after having them so the lady had to bottle feed 4 little girl kittens (2 white and 2 born black who turned out to be torties).  Not only were they hand fed, but loved on and handled by the families 4 children.  It doesn't get better than that when looking for a kitten that needs to get along with young children!  We took her to her new home that night!  The boys were beyond excited with the new little fluff ball.  She weighed all of 2 pounds and was 9 weeks when we got her.  She is VERY social and doesn't mind be loved on and man-handled by the boys. 

Welcome to your new home kitty!

Oops, we forgot to tell you about the big furry orange monster cat that already lives with us!  Needless to say Mocha was a tad bit scared of Logan at first (notice how fierce she looks in the picture), but by the end of the night they were already getting along.

Can you tell the boys are in love with our new kitten and can't get enough of her?!?!

More Memories At the Cottage

We have been able to create so many fun summer memories out at the lake thanks to my uncle and aunts kindness in hosting us many days this summer at their beautiful cottage! Yet again we were graced with a nice day to enjoy the water and all the fun it holds. This particular day my uncle picked up the old Hobie Cat sailboat that was my grandpa's that he hold sold to someone on the lake. We spent a bit of time cleaning it, but overall it is in fantastic shape still! The boys like playing on just me, my brothers and my cousins did back in the day. Another fabulous day and more memories banked.

Cory's obsession this summer, wakeboarding.


My uncle Steve showing off his skills slalom skiing.

He is seriously fast and very good!

Cleaning up and playing on the sailboat.

Hanging out on the sailboat.

Just thought this picture was funny as everyone just had to look at the dead fish we were passing.

Matthew and Rachel.

Joshua steering the boat with Uncle Steve.

The boys playing on the sailboat.

Perhaps a bit random, but just as we pulled into the garage that night our Expedition flipped to 90,000 miles.

Camping at Cran Hill Ranch July 2011

This post is a bit overdue thanks to our lack of Internet for almost 2 months so bare with me as I back track. We spent a majority of the week of July at Cran Hill Ranch camping with Cory's family and some extended family too! The weather cooperated for the most part, raining at in the wee early hours of the morning while we were all sleeping while the sun shined most of the days. Our days were filled with swimming, tubing, boating, playing in the sand, playing on the playground, visiting the animals, pony rides, tie dying t-shirts, and we of course had to indulge in ice cream each and every night as it is tradition at Cran Hill. Only one little snafu of having the power go out right around dinner time on our last night which in turn stopped all water we had coming into our trailer....thank goodness it was only a couple hours and all was back to normal. We had a wonderful time and look forward to booking our trip next year!

Joshua and Eli playing in the sand.

Cousins and second cousins playing on the playground.

Matthew and Allison being silly together.

Tradition: Eating ice cream on the store's porch steps.

Matthew hanging out with Uncle Paul.


Matthew tie dying his first t-shirt at Cran Hill.



Joshua was able to do a lot of the tie dying of his shirt by himself this year.



Joshua fell in love with the kittens in the barns.

Matthew petting the kittens.

Feeding the goats.

Matthew liked petting the goats.

Grandma and Matthew greeting the donkey.

Joshua on his pony ride.

Lookin' like a pro after so many summers doing this.

Matthew's first pony ride.

Matthew liked his pony ride and doesn't appear to be allergic :)

Trying out daddy's shoes....big shoes to fill.

Matthew and Aiden taking a break from playing outside to color in the trailer.

Joshua and Allison hanging out at the beach - two peas in a pod!

Joshua and Allison playing in the sand.

Finding their tie dye t-shirts on the line.

Joshua modeling his tie dye creation.

Matthew modeling his tie dye t-shirt.

Matthew and another kitty.

Daddy's New Wakeboard

The boys just had to try out daddy's new wakeboard.........seems they have some growing today before they can actually use it!

Another Beautiful Day at the Cottage

We braved the bad weather forecast and went out for a visit to the cottage on Saturday anyway. Thankfully the clouds cleared after a few minor sprinkles and the blue sky and sun graced us with their presence the rest of the afternoon and evening making for another beautiful summer day. Cory wakeboarded, my brother slalom skied, and Rachel and I both tried (not all too successfully) to drop a ski, even my uncle got in on the fun this time and slalom skied. Joshua was able to try out the new tube with my cousin Rachel and had a blast too! In the evening we actually got Matthew to try out the EZ Ski and he even briefly stood up while riding it behind the jet ski! Of course there were several boat rides and jet ski rides throughout the day and the night ended with a boat ride in the dark which was definitely a highlight for the boys. We had tons of fun once again thanks to my uncle and aunt and can't thank them enough for creating wonderful summer memories with us.

Playing in the water and the sun tuckers you out!


Joshua and Rachel try out the new tube.

Rachel got her own wild ride on the tube!

Matthew was brave enough to jump off the dock just like Joshua was doing!

It's hard to see, but Matthew is standing up on the EZ Ski!

The littlest EZ Skier we've had yet!