This is my regular summer post where I post that it's been way too long since I last posted, and that it wasn't intentional, but rather just the result of another extremely busy summer! lol!
We once again planted a huge garden and I managed to only have "help" with planting potatoes and no one asked to have their own garden...and I wasn't about to mention it! lol!
We made a point to go to at least a few local parades. As always the kids love collecting all the candy. They just finished their stash today!
Wren was mostly serious during her first parade, but I did manage to get this fantastic smile!
Our favourite part of our local rodeo day was the face painting! So cool!
We literally had all 4 faces painted within 10 minutes!
We got a bunch of flowers given to us by my sister who was clearing out her greenhouse, so each of the kids got to make their very own pot! And we learnt all about the parts of plants and made guesses as to which ones would do well based on how the roots looked.
At the beginning of July, Alex left for a 2 1/2 week missions trip to El Salvador. He had a blast! It was an incredible opportunity for him to grow in character and in his spiritual walk. Hats of to the sending church and in particular, the youth leaders who devoted their time and energy into these youth! My prayer is that this experience will impact him daily so that he views each day of his life as an opportunity to reach out and love those around him!
While Alex was in El Salvador, we took a spontaneous trip to Drumheller. We ended up camping, meaning we had to take both vehicles. It was a LOT less expensive than renting a motel!
My favourite place of all was the hoodoos.
Between Marty and I, Wren even got to climb up a fair distance. It was doable, but lets just say we sure got a workout!!
And then the next day we took the kids to the splash park and to this giant dinosaur...all because we felt we really needed another workout! Honestly! It was only a bit over 100 stairs! lol! Marty and I took turns going up, with Marty doing the majority and I carried Wren on the way down. It was worth it!
One day we headed to the Bass Pro Shop just cause that's the perfect place for my hunting loving men!
On our last day we went to the Royal Tyrell Museum. It is a very cool place, but by this time my abscessed tooth (which had been keeping me awake for 2 nights already) was really bothering me. I broke out in a sweat from the pain! So our time there was cut short. I ended up making it home a good hour before Marty...lets just say that pain can make for a heavy foot!
And on our way home we pretended we saw the Eiffel Tower! lol! I have no idea why, but for some reason Raina has a fascination with Paris and the Eiffel Tower. Perhaps we can go there together some day?!?
I ended up getting in with my dentist the next day. They prescribed antibiotics and referred me to a specialist. That night was awful! I literally spent all night vomiting! I was so sick that Marty convinced the specialist to see me the following morning. We headed in with the upchuck bucket by my side. I spent the next few days feeling awful, and it took almost 3 weeks for me to finally be able to eat a full meal. I'll be sure to keep this in mind the next time I want to loose some extra weight! Haha!
And somewhere in there the garden produced and the weeds grew. I managed to harvest the majority, with the boys' help...but the weeds are still having a hayday!
This is our first and biggest picking of peas.
And the beans...oh my! Did we pick beans!! This was our first picking! We should have picked a week earlier and some were too big. But I still managed to freeze over 200 cups of beans this year!
Last fall we took our pool down. We'd had a windstorm that literally tore off our very secure winter cover and it ended up destroying many parts of our pool. We figured we'd just continue to use it, thinking it was mostly aesthetics. Then our dog decided she needed a swim. In her attempt to get out, she shredded the liner! We managed to patch at least a dozen holes, but it continued to leak all summer. So we decided to take it down and redo the entire pool. We then realized the wind storm had done a lot more damage than we had thought. So we took down the entire pool and got a solid concrete base in place and then proceeded to put the pool up again. We got a call from our water delivery guy, saying the water would be there the next morning...well, at the point only a few of the supports were up! Ah! I called Marty, he rushed home and we spent the entire afternoon and evening setting up the rest of the pool. We finally finished at 10 pm! The next morning the water arrived. And when they had about 2 ft of water in the pool, this happened!
I think we both almost cried! But then we realized it's just stuff!! It wasn't a tragedy at all! Just an inconvenience!
So Marty set to work draining the pool and reinforcing the pool walls...and now...finally...we are enjoying this!!
Sometimes it seems like life is so hard, so many difficult things...and then I head into my garden and gather all kinds of yummy veggies...and even some flowers...and add a glass of wine...and I begin to give thanks and suddenly life seems pretty good!!
Especially when I observe my kids! Seriously! Does it get any cuter than Raina pretending to write with a feather on a piece of board?!?
Or Jackson's big grin at being told he can have breakfast on the deck as I enjoy my morning mocha!!
And then this! He sure knows how to paint the sky in the most spectacular colors!!
And this past weekend we headed to Watrous for some swimming in their mineral spa with some of my relatives. Thanks for taking time for us! We sure did appreciate it!
And in the midst of all this busyness we had a few other relatives stop by. Thank you! We sure appreciated your visits and encouragement!
And last of all...later this week we will be having an exciting first in our family...celebrating Wren's very first birthday as a daughter and sister!! I can't wait to show you pictures of her special day! We've decided to do a few more things than normal, but are keeping the event family centered and relatively low key. Would you do me a favour and join me in wishing Wren a Happy Birthday? Feel free to leave her a birthday message here, or on fb, or for those of you that have my cell number feel free to text. I will read all your comments to her on her birthday later this week! Thanks for helping make her birthday extra special!!
