Look what the cat dragged in...literally.

Apparently it's a sign of affection when your cat brings you a dead animal and wants to share it with you. This information is new to me and certainly something I was fine with not knowing.

Yesterday our dear little kitty gave me quite the surprise when he drug a dead mouse into the house (this is his first kill in the 6.5 years I have had him.) I'm positive this mouse was alive and well before meeting my friend Milo. I've known for sometime that a creature of sorts was living under our deck and making holes in our yard but I could never spot it. The pets were aware of it's existence too as they would often bark/meow at the side of the deck as if they had seen or heard something. Well, today it was located and captured. Unfortunately for the culprit, he did not survive the capture.

As I was rushing around the house yesterday I heard Colie barking at Milo in her "you have me trapped in a corner" bark. She is currently wearing a bark collar (not the shock kind...I promise it's humane) so I ran in to the living room to save her from getting sprayed by her collar when she was just notifying me she was being held hostage by her brother. When I reached them I realized she was barking at something Milo was leaning over. At first I thought they had a slug... Upon further inspection I realized it was NOT a slug but a mouse! A dead mouse. A bleeding mouse.

When Milo thought I might try to take it from him, he quickly scurried around the house with his prize possession dangling from his mouth. All the while, dripping blood everywhere he went. I finally coaxed him to give up his trophy by offering him some delectable treats. While his attention was diverted I scooped the furry mess into a bag and took him out to his final resting place, our garbage can. I spent the next 30 minutes disinfecting the floor and getting the heebie-jeebies.

After learning that Milo was "sharing" his catch with me because he loves me I spent the remainder of the afternoon telling him how proud of him I was and that he is a good "mouse hunter." I hope he couldn't tell that I really hope he never ever does it again, ever.

Of course while all of this completely grossed me out I managed to find time to take a few pictures...





P.S. I had cats growing up but I was never witness to a kill. Forgive me if this post bores you, it was all new to me and was immediately deemed blog worthy after capturing pictures of the adventure. In addition, it should be noted that Milo was an indoor cat the first 5.5 years of his life so I'm sure he was very excited about his capture.

Mt. Baker with the Kertsons

This last weekend Brad and I did a very unlike Brad and Kim thing. We explored nature. I say "explored" loosely as the reality is that we stayed in an air conditioned cabin with two bedrooms, two baths and a hot tub. So maybe exploring nature the way others do isn't for us...so what. We certainly enjoyed ourselves!

We weren't the only Kertsons taking in some nature this weekend. We met up with Brad's brother, Brian, his wife, Anne and his mom, Nanci in Glacier, Washington located in the foothills of Mt. Baker. Brad's other brother's weren't in attendance as John lives in CA and Scott and his wife Anneliese are expecting their baby boy any day!

Upon arrival at the cabin on Friday night we cooked up some dinner and enjoyed each others company until it was time to hit the sack. The morning brought breakfast with homemade German sausage (Anne and Brians's doing, not ours), hashbrowns and cheesy scrambled eggs. After filling our bellies we loaded our backpacks with the essentials and headed out to see what Artist Point was all about. We had heard this spot provided amazing views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan and the reviewers weren't wrong. Wow.

After taking in the scenery from below (keep in mind we were already at 5100 feet) and watching hikers of all ages and abilities descend from what looked to be a very hard hike to the top of Table Mountain, we decided to brave it and hike it ourselves. Although the trail only has an elevation of 600 feet, it's carved into a nearly vertical wall, is really steep and pretty slick. The jaunt to the top was well worth it though, as you can see from our pictures below. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful and the views were breathtaking.

By the time we hiked back down to the car we were starving and ready to dig into our packs for lunch but decided to hold off until we reached our next destination, Bagley Lakes. Again we were not disappointed and found ourselves sitting along the water, watching the dog swim, Brian fish and inhaling our sandwiches. When the bugs started to bite, we decided it was time to head back to the cabin. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out at the local pizzeria and playing games (Rummikub) until the wee hours of the morning.

It was a great weekend getaway, even for those of us that avoid nature like the plague. Thanks Nanci, Brian and Anne for a great time. Maybe we make it a tradition!?


The Mr. and Mrs. at Artist Point


Mountain man, Brian.


Anne and Brian's dog, Timber. He looks sad in this picture but he was definitely not, he loved the snow.


Nanci ready for the hike to the top of Table Mountain.


Family photoshoot at the top.


Love this photo...two of the four Kertson boys with their mama.


Those small blue spots in the background were tiny lakes/pools of glacier water. Gorgeous.


Anne posing for the shot. Tank tops on top of a snow capped peak!


Finally on board with the jumping pics...


Bagley Lakes


Timber ready for a swim!


Brian fly fishing.


It was so quiet and serene. A perfect place to have our lunch and relax.

Three pups, a sunset and walk.

I've blogged about our new favorite walk before so I'll spare you the gory details. The long and the short of it is, this walk has the most amazing views of the sun setting over the Puget Sound. We decided the pups would enjoy the view so we hooked up the leashes and off we went. The sunset that evening did not disappoint.


Brad and the mutts taking it all in.


Dakota enjoying the view.


Checking out the Puget Sound. (Look at Tank's smile.)


Makeup is not required on walks...


Picture perfect.

Here doggy, doggy, doggy...

Three dogs. One cat. Two humans. Who do you think has the advantage? Yep, the dogs.

While we were in NY, Colie stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. Instead of picking up one dog on Sunday, we picked up three! While Tyler and Tami were in Chelan with Tami's family, we dog sat their pups, Tank and Dakota, otherwise knows as "cousins." Simply saying the word "cousins" gets Colie amped up so having them over for a 5-day slumber party was a real treat.

Like Colie, Tank and Dakota are treated like (human) members of the family and like Colie, they have no trouble making themselves right at home. Since the pups have stayed with us plenty of times before, Milo knew what was coming and hid in the bedroom for the first few hours. After a bit of time had passed, he decided he wasn't going to let the fact that he was outnumbered change his lifestyle. Soon enough, we had all four pets laying on the couch with us and later that night, we had all four pets snuggled into our queen size bed. It was a tight fit, but we managed just fine!


Tank checking his Facebook account.


Dakota napping.


All in!


Where will I sleep?! Dakota is a pillow hog!

A whirlwind trip to NY

The summer of 2010 has truly been a whirlwind of events and travel and our trip to NY to witness the nuptials of our friends, Tracy and Doug, was no exception. We left on a red-eye Wednesday night and we were back in Seattle by 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Upon our 6:30 a.m. arrival in NY we cabbed it to Brooklyn where we stayed with friends, Paul and Liz, in their spacious two bedroom apartment (unheard of in the city.) While the New Yorkers finished their work day, Brad and I napped and walked around the city (Map-My-Run said we walked 4+ miles!) People warned me that New York was HOT in August and they weren't kidding. After showering up (I was sweating immediately after exiting the cold shower I took) we headed out to a scrumptious dinner at Franny's in Brooklyn followed by post-dinner cocktails at a funky little spot recommended by Paul and Liz.

The following day, Friday, was relaxing as we walked around, lunched and napped until it was time to get ready for the wedding. After getting all dolled up we headed to Battery Park by way of the subway. Thank goodness the actual subway cars are air conditioned because it was warm beneath the streets of New York. The wedding was gorgeous and held in Battery Gardens while passers by stood and stared at the bride and groom as they tied the knot. After the rings were swapped we headed into the restaurant for the reception where we ate, drank and danced until the night came to a close.

Just when we thought we were ready to head back to Brooklyn and call it a night, the bride announced that they weren't done celebrating and invited us to join them at a local bar up the street. Remembering that Tracy and Doug flew to Seattle and drove three hours to Chelan for our wedding just last year we decided we couldn't possibly let them down and followed the woman in white to the next stop. While the post-reception group was quite large to begin with, it quickly dwindled down to about ten of us. Thank goodness Brad and I were still on Seattle time (3 hours earlier than NY) because we hung out until nearly 4 a.m.! This is UNHEARD of for us as we are usually tucked into our bed well before midnight on any given weekend.

The next day we rested up from our big night out, enjoyed time with friends before we left and headed to the airport to catch our 9 p.m. flight back to Seattle. Although we were very tired the following day, we couldn't deny the fact that we had a great time on our whirlwind trip to NY.

All our love to the happy couple, have a fabulous time in Europe and we'll see you in September!


This picture makes me smile...


Brad and Paul


Kimmy and Brad


Here comes the bride...


Incredible sunset


Again...


Love this guy.


People think the bride, Tracy, and I look alike. Thoughts?


A sword to cut the cake? P.S. It was delish.


Trying to make a quick get-away.


Kimmy, Tracy and Brad


Brad and Doug


Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Fleming!

Canadian Shananigans

In order to celebrate the last days of Brooke's bachelorette-hood properly, we knew we had to plan the perfect weekend. What does a perfect weekend entail you ask? Well for 18 of us girls, it included a train ride with endless mimosas, delicious eats at fab Vancouver restaurants, going to clubs where we were most definitely the oldest, icing the bride (and other guests) in new and creative ways, having pool parties that turn into hot tub parties, learning about the intimate details of motherhood, wearing matching tank tops, drinking from koozies and sippers with our names on them, having bloody mary's at lunch, finding a new friend in a stuffed animal (free with purchase at Victoria's Secret), eating pizza and Pita Pit late night, drinking Blue Dolphins (waters) at the bar, killing time by taking jumping pics of the bride and simply having fun.

The party kicked off at 7 a.m. on the morning of Friday, July 30th aboard the train headed north to VBC and didn't stop until we pulled into the Seattle station at 10 p.m. on Sunday night. We celebrated the bride for three straight days and she is officially ready to become Mrs. Ware on August 21st and we are officially ready to send her off into the wonderful world of marriage.

A perfect weekend was had by all and many memories were made and captured on film...


Pre-party prep gave us a reason to have a glass of wine mid-day.


Themed room assigments and matching drink koozies are neccessary.


The future Mrs. Ware starting the day with a mimosa.


Brooke preparing for a Muppet.


We made ourselves right at home on the train...


A private room for our sushi lunch...shoes off.


Steph didn't realize we were making silly faces.


Cowboy hats that smelled like maple syrup.


Sweet boat hat! Where's your boat shoes?


SILs at the pool party.


Brookie and Kimmy


The bride and her maids.


All the ladies!


Learning about the fat app for the iPhone.


Bruce loves bloody mary's. Maybe this is where the saying "hair of the dog" comes from.


In front of the Olympic Torch location.


The ladies minus four.


Jumping shot with Bruce flying in.


Thanks for the memories Vancouver, B.C.!