Hamster Derby Day

This weekend I went to Coalville/Park City. Here are some pictures from the weekend.
These pictures I took because I was so amazed as to how BEAUTIFUL the leaves are up Provo canyon. HOLY SMOKES. ANd yes... I took them while driving the car... but look, I safely made it home. This top one I took with the window up... then I busted a brain cell and rolled the window (it was even raining, but come on... Sacrifice brings forth blessings-right?)....
It's the not the most beautiful of all the scenery and these pictures, I should point out, are not doing this canyon justice, it was so beautiful. I even said, out loud to myself (yes, I was talking to myself-it happens, get over it) Fall is DEFINITELY better than spring. The jury is usually out on that one. You know, the competition between spring and fall- it's a tight race, but FALL is for sure my favorite time of year. It's just so...peaceful. I love it. I love the colors the activities, ALL OF IT!

Psst... No Children were injured during these events...

Here is Bubba. He was doing a snow angel. Do you think they are at all ready for snow? Good thing because they are going to get A LOT , and I mean A LOT of it! (sorry Sarah for the reminder).
Bubba loves his picture being taken. LOVES IT. He will pose, then run over and inspect the picture and tell you to do it again. This is why there are so many of him....

This is Bubba watching Monsters vs Aliens. Aparently it was much more comfortable to have the rocking chair on top of him, than him on top of the rocking chair. He sat like this and watched the movie. Sarah probably shouldn't look at this post... I might get fired.
Yeah, I am definitely babysitter of the year. Here is Bubba climbing down the stairs on his belly, face first. I am at the top of the stairs, earning my "Babysitter/Aunt of the year award".
Sariah took this picture of me and Bubba. She told me she can take better pictures than me... it's probably true.
Here is Sariah in all her cuteness. We were watching what Sariah calls our "Prophet Movie" aka- General Conference.

Here we all are. We were waiting to leave to go the Hamster Race.

Bubba uses everything as a gun, even if it doesn't look like a gun, it's a gun to him. A gun or a bow and arrow. This is Sariah with Bubba's "Gun". Oh wait... this is when it was a bow and arrow.

THIS... is when it was a gun.

Again... a gun. I think he was trying to incorporate the baseball bat into the gun, but it wasn't working really well. All that matters was that to him... it was. Just for the record, this kid... is an amazing aim when throwing a baseball. I was so impressed. We were playing catch and he'd make it in my mitt EVERY TIME. I wasn't as good as him. He had to work harder than I did.
Here we are at Petco waiting for the Hamster Race. Don't they look like they are waiting? LOL! We got there an hour early because I was running on Dad time and didn't' want to miss it or be late. There were a total of 3 pets in that store. So.. imagine trying to keep two kids entertained for an hour inside a pet store. Once we found the "squeeky" dog toy isle, we were set. ALthough... I"m sure many a Petco customer/employee was cursing out name. It was one LOUD 30 minutes. These two were just so excited about racing their hamsters. They talked about it ALL morning long.

OKAY... Meet the contestants...

Here we have RockStar, who when trying to get him in his ball, I put my hand in his cage to "assist" him into the ball with the plastic door to the cage and he jumped at me! I had to repeat in my mind... "I love Bubba, I love Bubba, I love Bubba, BUT I HATE ROCKSTAR!"

I didn't get a good picture of Rhino. Rhino is such a calm hamster. She would never lurch at you. This is her pink cage. Sorry there isn't a better picture.

Goin' out to get the hamsters. I made them ride in the trunk of my car. Cause they stink.

Gettin' ready. Rockstar and Rhino are in their balls.
Okay... Bubba and Sariah were SO EXCITED for this. I really should have given them some Mt. Dew before the race. But maybe we would have been disqualified for giving them steroids. Bubba and Riah were so shy. I felt bad.
So there were only 4 hamsters total (including our 2) and there were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place prizes. But 1-3rd got a ribbon too. First the other two hamsters that we hate raced. Then Rockstar and Rhino raced. The rules were strict. You couldn't let the ball hit the track until she said go, if you did, you were disqualified. If you pushed the ball, you were disqualified. I was like... SERIOUSLY! Seriously.. he is 2 1/2 and she is 5, and there is 1 of me... count them 1 OF ME! I re-explained the rules to Riah cause I thought she would do okay not to break the rules, but 2.5 year old Bubba... fat chance! So I helped him hold his. They did good. Riah did touch her ball, but luckily the lady didn't disqualify her for "pushing" it. There were 4 prizes and 4 hamsters... come on now.... RELAX! One of the kids had this little white "rat" looking thing and it kicked trash. We don't like him.


Here is Rockstar taking 2nd place. GO ROCKSTAR!. P.S. I was the one rooting them on. I was the only yelling "Go Rockstar, GO! Go Rhino... Come on Rhino MOVE!!!! MOVE!!!!" Rhino got gun shy. It was sad cause I guess she practiced all the time. We put her on the track and she just sat there.

Rockstar is in the blue ball, and Rhino in the purple ball. you can't see Rhino in this picture because she wouldn't go, thus the "MOVE Rhino, MOVE!" that i was yelling.

This is Riah racing against the other hamster that didn't move. She was more hopeful this time. Although she kept running backwards. I'd spin her ball so she was facing the right direction and she'd stop, turn around and start running again. Sucker! I did this like 10 times +. The crowd helped me cheer her on this time. It was lots of fun. The kids had fun, even though they were super dee dooper shy, they had fun.Rhino was slow... but she moved the second time... FINALLY! I think they were a little confused what with all the people and stuff.

Rhino won a new yellow excercise ball with a toy in side. And Rockstar won a second place ribbon and a hamburger chew toy (in the picture above- in the hamster cage). It was fun. See that blue ball? I bought that so that I didn't have to touch the hamsters, otherwise they would have had to switch, and I would have been captain switcharoo... not happenin'!.
TOTALLY WORTH IT! Plus, Bubba was excited that RockStar had his own ball.