Flu Season

Blah...

I am sick.

The first thing people tend to ask me is if I have the H1N1 flu. I have only been sick for 1 day people, I don't know what I have. But it sucks. It hit really fast, I have a fever and I am exhausted, unfortunately I can't sleep because my whole body hurts.

I so feel like that cartoon. Except that would be me holding Wilbur instead of a teddy bear.

But when your the mom, you don't get time to be sick. You get to still take care of the kids, do the laundry, make supper, do the shopping and still find time to drive everyone from A to B to C. Not that I am trying to complain, but men just don't get it! I have a great husband, until I am sick. lol Anyone who is married understands what I mean when I say that. You don't get the whole, let me take care of you thing. (although they do usually say it)

Nope, men just don't get. They come home from work and still wonder why you haven't fed the kids all day and why you aren't dressed. "Did you get this done today?" "Did you remember to go...?"

Nope

No rest for the mom's.

"If you have more than one friend, you have more than your share!"

I remember when I was younger my mom told me that if you have one true friend throughout your life, you are more blessed than most. I have had many friends come and go over the years but a few have stayed with me and some new ones have joined. Of course my sister has a special place in my life, not just because she's my sister but because she is also my friend. Even if she lives far away from me, I know she is always there.

I had one friend since I was a little girl that I thought I would be friends with forever, and although we still keep in contact via facebook we grew apart just before high school. But it was because of my friendship with her that led me to my oldest and dearest friend. (It's my blog and I can call her what I want, so we'll call her Mandy) Mandy and I started off as rivals but became friends eventually. I am happy to say that we have been friends for more than 27 years! We have survived moves to different towns, to different countries and back again. Our friendship has seen us through so many things that I couldn't possibly even list all the things we have gone through together. She has by far been one of the most influential people in my life thus far. She even helped me with my decision to marry my wonderful husband! She has been my rock for so many years, and even though we don't have the kind of friendship that we would talk everyday, the times when we do get to talk are wonderful. I would be lost without her.

I have had other friends that have impacted my life over the years, and if any of them are reading this, I am not trying to overlook anyone. I am using my blog as an outlook of thoughts and feelings, as I seem to be having a tough time with the changes life brings lately.

I had another friend that I was really close to for several years. Even to the point that we moved next door to her and her family. Everything seemed to be going great- I thought. We would play cards and go for lunch and have the everyday kind of friendship that everyone needs. Until one day she told me she didn't want to be friends with me anymore because of my religious beliefs. She didn't want our kids to be friends anymore so they would not feel influenced in anyway. I was shocked and so hurt that I swore that I would never let anyone in again the way I let her in. It took me a long time and MANY, MANY tears to be able to face the loss of that friendship. She sold her house about a year later and moved away. We have since started talking again, very little and distantly, but it's nice to not feel completely broken over it anymore.

Getting over her was not easy, but I made a new friend that helped me along my journey. She knew my fears of opening up to someone again and walked me through it. Literally. We would go for walks in the evenings for HOURS just talking, laughing, venting and even losing weight while we walked. Others joined us along the way, some came and went, some left, but through it all we stayed close. She brought out the person in me that laughed. I don't mean just a little, occasional laugh, I mean the type of person who can laugh till their abs hurt, tell there our tears in your eyes, till you can't stand up and walk because you are laughing so hard. I became that person. I starting really laughing. I found humor and joy in things that I took for granted. It was great. Sure enough... she moved away. Again I am trying to face that crappy loss of friendship. Yes we are still friends, don't get me wrong, but our friendship has changed. We don't get to hang out or talk every other day. We don't get to have our "what's for dinner Wednesdays" or our "Bree" moments or all the other many things we established that I miss dearly. I know she has a new and hard (VL) journey ahead of her and I know that I have to take a backseat to that. I just don't have to like it.

My common denominator is that they have all moved away.

I want to laugh again! I want to stop being angry at all the things and people that influenced my loss(es).

People stop moving away! My poor little heart can't take this!

Job Well Done

I have been very proud of my kids the last couple weeks. They both have some financial goals in mind and have been learning to earn money and handle it properly.

My son's goal is to save up for a new BMX bike and my daughter's goal is to save up some money to go to China to visit Regan's parents. (although that possibility is looking very slim at the moment)

After a recent snow fall, J-Bear and Regan went door to door shoveling sidewalks. Regan made him go up to the door and talk to the people and he just helped when J-Bear needed help to shovel the walks. He was able to shovel 3 walks and driveways and earned $22.00. He came home and we made up three jars for him to put away his money. 10% tithing 10% savings and the rest can go toward his bike. It was really exciting for him to see the money and it was a great math tool too!

There was a day last week that J-Bear had school and Babbling Brook did not, so I brought her to work with me. She was a great helper! She put together a whole bunch of new patient charts, got some filing done, pulled some charts for the next day, helped the hygienists with a few things and even got to help out with babysitting while moms were getting their teeth done. She did a super job! So much so the EllyMay gave her $20 for helping out. She was so excited! She came home and did the same thing J-Bear did with the jars.

Yeah, maybe now the kids will get a better sense of money and budgeting! Maybe they'll be able to teach us a few things. lol

Thanksgiving weekend

We celebrated our thanksgiving like alot of Canadians. We went shopping in the states! lol The dollar is very close to par and judging by all the sales, they were expecting us. Even at the border the lady asked us if we were going down to visit all our next door neighbours and she didn't mean the US citizens!

We went down to Kalispell for the weekend. We had stayed over night at my parents house and left early Saturday morning. We had a FANTASTIC day shopping. Even the kids were into it! We got our Halloween costumes and my daughter even got all her Christmas shopping done. I got a fair bit of things knocked off my Christmas list too.

My parents met up with us on that Saturday evening. We stayed at a hotel in Whitefish. It was the Holiday Inn Express. We stayed in a family room that slept 6. It had a water slide for the kids and a hot tub for the grandparents. I have to say, we were very impressed with this place. The price was very reasonable and that's not just cuz I split it 50/50 with my mom. The continental breakfast was easily a $20.00 a day savings in itself. If you are ever in the area, I would totally recommend this place.

The next day, the girls went in one vehicle and the boys went in another. It is alot different shopping with girls! We had a great time. My daughter is at a great age, she was right into the shopping thing and was helping grandma try to find new clothes. We ended up finding more things for her than we did for grandma though! We did some of the things boys wouldn't think to do. Like go up and down the isles at the grocery stores. Americans have a lot more selection of food than we do. (Ok my American bloggy friends, don't get excited, we just have higher food standards! lol) Seriously though, I got tons of products that we can't get up here, not to mention all the different flavors of pop we brought back!

We came home on Thanksgiving Monday, but not before we hit a few stores in Whitefish! hehe We had lots of fun shopping! Overall we had a great time with my parents.

Just hanging

I haven't felt like blogging much lately. I have had this whole week off of work and really have no excuse why I couldn't blog. After my last post I have since made an appointment for Regan to go get his moles checked. Our doctor is out of town for a few weeks so we get to wait a bit. Plus of course being the in the Canadian Medical system we'll probably wait another 6 months or so to get him into a specialist to really evaluate them.

We haven't heard anything new on Regan's cousin. Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.

My daughter had another cross country race last week. (the second and final one of the year) and she came in 3rd again. She wasn't feeling very well as they got their immunizations at school that day. So she was thrilled to come in 3rd place. The field we were at for the run was an off leash dog park. There were HUGE dogs running around! It was all I could do to not have Regan run beside her the whole time to keep any dogs away. LOL Unfortunately if any of you know my husband and a dog did come after them, I think he would run faster than our daughter! haha he's going to hurt me for that one!

It really sucks to have a whole week off and nobody to spend time with. :( I know- poor me! But really. My kids are at school, Regan has to work, my friends all seem to move away. You can only clean the house so much before you get discouraged and bored. That's where I am at. Completely unmotivated. I even made a list of things to do today so that some things would actually get done. I wonder if I will get to the list! lol

Somebody please motivate me....

Grey's Anatomy

Like most people, I like to watch the occasional T.V. show.
I really have gotten into watching Grey's Anatomy the last 2 seasons.

I like watching the drama of other people's lives. It makes me grateful that things aren't really like that.

Or are they...

What do you do when T.V. life starts to emulate real life?

We received some horrible news today. Regan's 32 year old cousin, mother of 4 (ages 4-12) has been diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. Very similar to Izzy's condition from the show, she too had very minimal, if any signs that something was wrong. Only the reality is, is that she has been given 5-12 months to live. There's no writer strike, there's no contract negotiations, no one is leaving to go to a different show.

This is reality. And it sucks.

This is Regan's 4th cousin to have cancer, 3 more are now being tested and the second one in this family to be given a time line.

Any extra prayers would be appreciated for this family.

Cross Country

Just a quick update and a proud mommy moment. My little girl had her race yesterday. Her first cross country race with the school. She is in grade 5 and they had the grade 5 and 6 girls race together. She came in 3rd overall and 2nd in her grade level. She was so excited. She got a medal to wear around her neck. Which of course she had to sleep with it on! lol And of course she had to wear it to school today. Her coach was so proud of her and her team mates. They all did a great showing for our school.

She has one more race next week I believe and she can hardly wait!

Running, Running, Running

As a family we always seem to be running. But for this week I really mean it literally.

Today my daughter has her first cross country race with her school. She has been training really hard with her team. Even running outside for 40 minutes in 34 degrees Celsius. I know she will do well as she has previously ran a couple of 10km races.

Regan will be running a 10 km this weekend with some of his family out in Banff. We normally have a big group going out for the Melissa's run, but with the grandparents in China, I guess it's not quite the same as there is only 4 of them running this year.

Both the kids start basketball this week. They had all their try-outs 2 weeks ago and now the practises begin. J-Bear's coach left a message on our machine saying to come prepared for a vigorous work out. lol He's probably going to be running too!

And my running is chasing them all around and getting them from A to B to C!

A Funny Accident

My story today had me laughing so hard at work I actually had tears running down my face! As many of you know, I work in a dental office. Today while EllyMay and I were working on a patient, I was telling a story. I had just finished rinsing off a tooth and I had looked up at EllyMay and he started jumping around and screaming.

Ok?

I am looking at him wondering what the heck he is doing. And then I realized that my water syringe had gotten stuck in the "on" position. So while I was looking at him I was completely soaking him with water and because I was telling a story (which I use my hands to talk alot) the water had sprayed all over the room! It must have been close to a minute before I made the connection! ROFL Remarkably it totally missed the patient!

Ahhh... That has got to be one of my favorite accidents! LOL

To "internet" or not to "internet" That is the question

Regan and I ran into a friend the other day. We have known for a while that something was going on with him but didn't know "too" much about the situation. While we talked with him for a bit he expressed his concern for his marriage and his future. He then brought up a point that Regan and I have been debating about for a while. His quote was "if I could go back in time to prevent where my life is now, I would never have allowed the internet in my home."

huh...

What an interesting point. In recent weeks I have had the unfortunate event of helping a friend learn how to check the history on a computer. What we found was disappointing to say the least. Even today while I had to "re-show" this friend how to check the history, we found out more info that we didn't want to know. The information was about person that has been married for just over 3 years and is currently active on a dating profile and searching for "hot singles" in the area.

Does anonymity give us too much freedom and not enough accountability? Do people really think their actions will not lead to further complications? Do we really need to have "instant" information at our finger tips? I know there is a lot of good things on the internet. I myself would be very frustrated and lost without my online banking. However, at what point does the bad out way the good?

So dear readers (lol- all 5 of you) what do you think? Is the internet in your home worth the risk? Can you really have control of yourself at all times? Can you be accountable for your actions even if they are anonymous?

and yes... I do realize that I am blogging this on the internet. The irony is not lost on me :)

Will and Deb's Wedding

Things have been crazy busy this last weekend. My brother Will and Deb got married on the Monday. I had guests arriving on the Friday and some stayed until Tuesday morning. Things were crazy around my house with feeding 21 guests for Sunday dinner, but if was alot of fun to have the family all together.

My job for the wedding day was the bride. I was asked to keep her calm, keep her dancing and mostly do her hair. No pressure! Everything worked out great. She looked absolutely beautiful and Will didn't look half bad either.

The kids were very excited and they all looked amazing. My sister Leigh did the 3 little bridesmaids hair. She did a beautiful job and the girls were very co-operative. Even Mimi kept her rollers in overnight!

It was a great start to the union of their two families. Congrats to them all!

Retro night

We had my oldest brother and his wife and two of their kids come stay with us the other night. We decided to be adventurous and went rollerskating. Not rollerblading, but rollerskating. I don’t think the place has changed in 30 years, even the smell!





What a strange feeling to be back on the roller skates! I am not a big rollerblading person, so it truly has been over 20 years since I roller skated. Regan and I had been there while we were dating for a young single adult activity with our church, but we roller bladed back then. Yes Deb, we had roller blades back then! LOL


It took a few rounds around the track before I started to feel comfortable on the skates. My kids and husband were much faster than I was, but I blame that on me having the camera! *CL and I went around several times just chatting it up about our summers. We did even notice that most of our family had been sitting down for a while! Regan and I then joined up and skated around together for a while. J-Bear skated up to us and was joking that “this is like a date for you two!” If only he knew that every time Regan and I are together we try to treat it like a date. It was nice to hold hands with him and just skate together. It’s moments like that that remind us of how much we enjoy each other.

First Day of School 2009

The start of a new school year, the end of another summer. Wow where did the time go!

The kids had a great first day of school. I was worried about BB at a new school and she did wonderful. I took the first hour of work off so I could take the kids to school on their first day. She didn't even look back after she hopped out of the van! Ok that part was a little sad for me :( When did my little girl start growing up?

J-Bear had a good first day too. Although he didn't like having to wake up so early in the morning again. Unfortunately neither did his poor little body, as he went to bed with a fever and some tylenol. Usually his fevers don't last very long. Hopefully this will be the same. Who gets sick the first day of school??

Today will be the first day that they will be getting a ride with our new travel arrangements. I wonder if it will be harder on mom than on the kids?!? hmmm...

Anniversary

Yesterday was the 12th anniversary of our marriage. So many wonderful years, many tough moments and two beautiful children and we would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Marriage is sometimes tough but by far the best adventure I have ever known.




We never got to spend a lot of alone time this last weekend but we did celebrate it in true fashion. Yep, we went boating! But I am proud to say that I am the mother of TWO wakeboarders!!! Yes sir ree! Just like the beginning of the summer, J-Bear decided he wanted to go wakeboarding. AND HE DID!!! We sure wished grandpa S. could have been there to see it! I wish that more so than anyone, so he could have driven the boat and Regan could have been in that iceberg of a lake!! Lol It was very exciting to see all the “firsts” this summer, as 3 more of my nieces tried waterskiing this weekend as well. My sister’s two little girls and my niece GG too!


On Sunday we also got the opportunity to drive south and support our new niece’s decision to be baptized. Ok so she is not my niece yet, but that will be rectified shortly. It was nice to finally meet Deb’s family! It is funny how you can talk to people you have never met and when you do meet them it feels like a long lost reunion!


All in all I can’t think of a better way to spend our anniversary! With family, friends and a boat! LOL

A full weekend

Yeah my kids are home with me! I have missed them dearly. It has been another busy weekend for us. We got the boat out on Saturday. We were joined by family on both sides which was nice. It is always more fun when you have more people with you. BB had a couple good ski runs and J-Bear went knee boarding again. Deb and I had a good tube ride where we laughed so hard our abs were hurting! The only tragedy from the tube was the loss of my baby toe nail. :( It is amazing how something so little can be so tender!

Unfortunately Deb and Will hit a deer on their way home from the lake. Like they needed anymore expenses added to the situation of moving, wedding, selling house, back to school fees, 7 kids, etc.. Hopefully things will start looking up for them soon.

Yesterday at church was filled with mixed emotions again. On the bright side, a lady in our ward came to see me in the library and offered to take my kids to school in the morning. She will come and pick them up and drive them to school, so NO bus at all!! YEAH!!! I couldn't have asked for a better situation. What a huge relief!

We joined Regan and his family yesterday for dinner and visiting. Regan's parents leave on Wednesday for China for the year, so it was great for the kids to be able to see them before they go. Hopefully they will get one more chance before they go but you never know. Here's praying that they have a great and safe year over there.

Top 10 Things Said at Work

As many of you know I work in a dental office and over the years I have heard and said many funny things that weren't intended to come out the way they did. So I thought I would write some of them down and share them with you.


Number 10
I have a cold so I have frequent urination.

Uhh... ok?!? Don't really see the connection there but I'll play along



Number 9

Look at my boobs! They're huge!

Lol- a patient said this to EllyMay when she came in shortly after she had her twins. Awkward...

Number 8

oooh.... you have a very active tongue.

haha, probably wouldn't have been a big deal except the hygienist panicked and started blushing


Number 7

You have a very gentle prick.

ROFL! A temp assistant said this to EllyMay about his freezing skills. (I hope)



Number 6

My broken tooth is cutting up the side of my tongue. Look. Put your tongue in and feel it.

This was said by a elderly lady to Dr.G (other dentist at my office) He said later why couldn't she be younger... lol


Number 5

What color were you before you were adopted?


LOL this was said by a elderly lady to one of our receptionists. She was commenting on her sking color and asked about her parents color. When she told her she was adopted, this question followed.



Number 4

I like 69

Ok this was me. EllyMay and I were picking shades and one of the shades is B69 and I forgot to say the "B". Again it wouldn't have been so bad until the patient cracked up laughing.


Number 3

How about I lay you back and do whatever I want then?

LOL One of our hygenists had a very quiet patient and couldn't get a response out of him so she was just going to get started and those are the words that came out!


Number 2

I'll be right back with your flouride and then I will get you off!

ROFL- uh buddy- skip the flouride! LOL



and



My all time favorite...



Number 1


Does sperm cause cavities?

LMAO... it's a good thing I was out of the room for this question or I may not have been able to keep my professionalism. Is this really a problem? However we did look it up on the internet afterwards and it is a "basic" solution and since the mouth is "acidic" it would in fact help! who knew?!?

Questions, Venting and Stress

I have been trying really hard to keep my blog positive but I have had so many things going through my mind lately that I need to express them somewhere. So if you don't want to read about the realities of life you may want to skip this entry.

I am so stressed about the kids in the mornings before school. Our babysitter has recently moved and I haven't had time to even look for a new one nor do I know if that is the best thing anyway. The kids are now 10 and 8 and have proven themselves to be fairly responsible. Do I trust them to get themselves to the bus on time? Will they be safe walking by themselves? Brook's bus comes almost a half hour before J-Bear's. Is he OK to get out the door on time to make it to the bus? What happens if one or both of them misses the bus? Who do I have as an emergency contact? Do I get them cell phones so they can both call if there is a problem?

I got a letter from Revenue Canada last month. I have been randomly audited for my child care expenses. Apparently I have misfiled them. So I am having to redo that part of my taxes and wait for my statement to tell me how much I have to pay back. What if they audit me for the last 7 years because I did this wrong? Will I have to pay back thousands of dollars? Will I go to jail for tax fraud? How sticky are they?

As you have read over the last few entries, my close friend, babysitter, back up for the kids has moved. I obviously am struggling with this. I know I need to just get over it and it is what it is but if I have one more person tell me that I should be happy because she is going to be family- I am going to SCREAM. I don't visit my family lots so that is not a plus!

Family- where to start! I don't want to say too much at the risk on offending anyone, but I am going to vent a bit. We have such opposite extremes on our family. We have people who don't even acknowledge you when you are in the room and people who are so involved its frustrating. I think the thing that is getting harder is that my kids are of an age where they "see" things around them. Questions like :Why doesn't so and so come over to our house? Why doesn't so and so want to spend time with us? How come we never get to sleep at so and so's house? How do you answer questions that you don't fully understand? Children see things so black and white and its hard to explain the grey. It still hurts none the less.

Money- We are hurting right now. I know, I know who isn't. With back to school supplies and clothes and with actually taking some summer holidays this year, we are hurting. So I don't think it is my responsibility to have to worry about taking care of anyone other than those who solely depend on me at the moment. Regan and I both work full time- not because we want to, but because we have to. It was never in the plan for us to have me work this long. Yes I would love to be able to be a stay at home mom but we live in the city and big places come with big expenses. Yes we have two incomes but we also have 4 people to take care of. How much am I going to have to pay back to the government? Maybe jail isn't that bad of an option!?!

Work- Regan is an electrician and there is a recession. It is scary. If he takes a day off will that be the last day? It is that touchy at work right now. I am fortunate to have been at the same office for almost 10 years. I have a good job and have good co-workers. But even in the best of situations you can have your off days. I have been very sensitive to little comments made here and there lately. It makes it tough, especially in light of the whole childcare thing. However the whole money thing keeps me here. Although I have been entertaining the idea of something closer to home or to the school so I can be near the kids if there was a problem.



Tomorrow will be a much happier post. I promise!

Just another day in the life

Yesterday started off great. I had a great morning at work followed by a long lunch and an easy afternoon, of which I got off work early. Regan met me at work at we headed out to the matinee to go see Angels and Demons. We both really enjoyed the movie. It wasn't quite as intense as the first one but still carried our attention throughout the whole movie.

We then headed over to the in-laws and helped them get a few more things crossed off their list before they head to China next week. I would imagine that it would be pretty overwhelming and scary to leave everything behind for a year. They have lots to do but are getting that list smaller everyday.

Talked with the kids again last night. They got to stay at the pool after hours for a water polo game. Apparently both my kids are good at it and really enjoyed it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering how much time they spend in the water.

Update:
I just got a text from my sister saying that the kids passed their swimming lessons! Yay! Brook passed level 6 and J-Bear level 3. I am so proud of my little swimmers!!

Working Out

Since the beginning of the summer going to the gym has been a bit of an obstacle for us. Mostly because we haven't been around. For me it has been longer because of my knee. Thankfully that is finally feeling better (for the most part anyway). We made it to the gym last week for the first time in weeks. We had a sub teacher for our class which admittedly was nice. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy our regular teacher but the subs tend to be a little easier on us than she is. So I figured it would be a good introduction back into the gym life. HAHAHA Geri (our teacher) was back last night. Needless to say walking is a struggle this morning. So is sitting, standing, bending and lifting! It is going to be a funny day at work for both me and Regan I am sure!

We were so tired after the gym that we called it an early night and went to bed. Not before Regan cut the grass and I talked to the kids though. The kids are still having a great time. Brook was so tired when I called at 7:30 that she had already put her pajamas on and brushed her teeth and was trying to go to sleep. That is a bit of a challenge with all the kids there! J-Bear was also pretty tired, he too was in his pajamas but wasn't quite ready for bed yet. He was excited to tell me every detail of his day. How he can climb to the top of the climbing wall at the pool and how he did a perfect dive in swim lessons today. Only two more days of swim lessons and then I can bring my babies home :)

Yay and Nay

Yay that I got to sleep in yesterday because I was tired after the wedding. Nay that I was the only one home and the house felt very empty.

Yay that I was able to see Deb and help her get a few things packed for the new house. Nay again that she is moving (moved).

Yay that Regan finishes work just after 2:00pm so I wasn't home alone. Nay that he has to wake up so early to start work.

Yay that we could just pick up and go to the movie. We went to see Star Trek. Neither of us are big fans of the series, but the movie was pretty good. Nay that Regan dropped a piece of popcorn in his shirt pocket and now has a big grease stain.

Yay that we went to go visit Regan's parents after. We had a nice time visiting and making sure things were taken care of for the next year while they are away. (China) Nay that we stayed till after 9:30 and almost missed talking to the kids at Aunt Leigh's house.

Yay that the kids had a fun Family Home Evening with the cousins. Nay that we couldn't be there with them.

Yay that they are having fun with swimming lessons, rollerblading, skateboarding and bike riding. Nay that they can't have the same freedom at home in the city as they do in a small town.

Yay that we were able to go straight to bed after we talked to the kids. Regan was especially tired from not getting to sleep in after the wedding. Nay that we forgot to eat supper! (Or maybe that is a Yay! lol)

Good Times

It was so nice to have my children home for the weekend. We were able to get so much done while they were here. We got ALL the back to school shopping done! YEAH!! It was nice to just even have them in the car while we did some errands. It's funny how you can miss the little things that people do. We got to spend some family time together as well, ordering Chinese food, watching movies, popping popcorn, walking to church together...etc. They are now back at my sister's house for the remainder of the week to finish off their swimming lessons. Which they are both doing super good in! Yay for swimming lessons in small towns with smaller class sizes.

Yesterday was the first time at our ward (church) in over a month. It felt almost awkward being there. In such a young, transient ward so much changes in a short period of time. There were tons of new faces and new babies and even new pregnancies. It was also my first Sunday without my partner in crime. Have you ever found a friend that just really gets you and supports you and helps give you a reason to keep going. I would like to say everything will be fine, but as I looked around the chapel I couldn't help feel this overwhelming sadness and longing to be anywhere else. I struggled to hold back the tears. I feel like someone just took one of my life lines . I think a few people may have recognized that insecurity as a couple of them came to talk to me. Either that or they were avoiding going to class and came to the library to hide! LOL Either way I'll take it!

Regan and I had a wedding to go to last night. We have never been to a wedding on a Sunday before. It was a Jewish wedding and apparently they don't have their weddings till after 5:00 on Sundays. It was really beautiful and neat to see the traditions of a different faith. In this case not only was the bride Jewish but the groom was from Nigeria so there was lots of different traditions. It almost made me wish I had incorporated some of there traditions into my wedding. I want to be lifted up a chair around the room and have money thrown at me while I dance!

It was alot of fun and they played great music to dance to after. Me and my co-workers danced till almost midnight, till our feet gave out on us. I had just bought new heels and were wearing them for the dance. My feet were killing me, but they sure looked cute! lol

We got home around midnight. Regan still had to get up at 4:30 for work this morning, so I feel bad for him. Thanx babe for letting me stay so long :)

Playing Dress Up

I have been kid less for almost a week. I really do miss them! I am grateful that my sister was willing to take them for such a long period of time. Turns out it has been a good thing for them because if they were at home they would be so bored from all the things Regan and I have been doing and getting caught up on. I am excited that I am going to go see them tonight though.

There is a wedding fast approaching!! Will and Deb are getting married in less than 4 weeks and there is lots of little and big things to do. The last two nights have been preparation days for the event. Shopping for little final touch details and playing dress up after! :)

I went to Deb's house last night to see if I could help with some of the alterations needed on the dress. We got her all decked out in her dress and shoes and played with different ideas on how alter the dress. Yeah, I think she needs a real seamstress. Pinning a wedding dress is one thing but cutting and sewing it is completely another! Very intimidating to say the least. But that wasn't the fun part of the evening. Next we played with her hair. Oh the possibilities! Do we keep it long or short, straight or curly, up do or down. hehehe- I can't tell you what we decided- but its beautiful!

While Deb and I were doing that my wonderful husband was at home changing the brakes on my van and rotating the tires so the van would be safe for me to drive down to see the kids tonight. I sure love that he has become so mechanically inclined. He has been a good sport the last couple days. He has driven me and Deb to the mall and patiently waited for us at several stores. Although he did get to pick the restaurant that the three of us went to on Monday night. Good trade off! lol

Regan and I made it to the gym yesterday for the first time in weeks. Wow- that was harder than I remembered! I guess that would explain the feeling in my muscles today. OWwww! Hopefully it will be better by tonight when I am loading up my van with boxes, clothes and furniture to start Deb's move to Cardston. They got possession of their house this week and on top of wedding plans we get to find a way/time to get her moved into it. Have I mentioned how much I don't want her to move :(

How do bloggers do this?

I am so far behind on blogging! I don't know how people have time to do this. I am more than a week behind so I am going to have to do a "week in review" type of entry.

The week started off visiting with family in Red Deer. We had a chance to go to the Collicut Centre for a fun swim. We finally headed back to Calgary. Home at last. Even the kids were happy to have a bit of normal life again. Albeit it didn't last long!

On Wednesday my sister and mom picked up my kids and took them down south for a couple of weeks. My sister has them enrolled in swimming lessons in her town. She has been under a lot of stress lately with her husband working out of town and was looking forward to having Babbling Brook there to help her. BB is a great helper! Especially with the younger kids. J-Bear is doing what he does best, keeps her laughing. lol

The World Waterski-Wakeboard competition started on Tuesday and Regan has been looking forward to this for almost 2 years! He went out on Tuesday by himself to catch the action and I joined him on Wednesday after the kids left. We spent Thursday night, all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the competition. It was super cool. Being with Regan was like being with a kid in the candy store. This was definitely up his alley! He got some pictures and autographs of skiiers he has idolized for years and some new ones too. Canada made us proud and won first over all! It was cool to see the athletes receive their awards and hear the anthems playing. It's cool to see it on TV but in person its even that much more powerful!

We had one night that we made it to the late show of the new Harry Potter movie. The movie ended at almost 2:00am so you can imagine how tired we were the next day. Good thing all we had to do the next day was sit and watch the skiiers!

When we got home last night, we had a chance to look around the house for the first time in weeks. Our house was a disaster! We finally took some time to clean the house and get some laundry done. I can't believe how much better I feel when my house is in order. Now if I could just get caught up on everything else... lol

Saturday August 1st

Saturday morning started off a little later than we had hoped. We wanted to see the Jasper Fairmont Lodge so we drove out there first. It was uneventful. I was expecting something cool like the Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton or The Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, but nope just some condo looking cabins. Meh.

We then headed over to the Jasper Tramway. I think this part was the highlight of our whole vacation. If you are ever in the area and want an amazing scenic view, that is the place to go! Just make sure you get there first thing in the morning cuz there were tons of people who had to wait more than 2 hours to wait for their ride up.



The tramway is different than the gondola in Banff and definitely goes ALOT faster! Once you get to the top there is a hike (1.8km) uphill on shale. The air was pretty thin so it was not a fast hike and it was pretty steep so it was a good work out. J-Bear and I made it most of the way, but opted not to keep pushing it so we stopped after we got to the first peak. We ended up wandering a little bit and had a very cool, peaceful moment just the two of us and the 12 baby birds that we found. My adventurous husband and daring daughter kept going. No surprise there! But they were able to get some amazing pictures and had a great time together.


The next part of our trip led us to Horseshoe Lake. There are a lot of cliffs there that are well known in the area for jumping. And wouldn't you know it...


Yep that is my 8 year old J-Bear following in his daddy's footsteps! The 3 of them all had a couple of jumps. I elected to remain behind the camera!

We then headed over to Athabasca Falls. What an amazing waterfall! It was a really hot weekend so the glaciers were melting tons- literally. The melted glaciers fill up the falls. It was at its peak flow level so seeing the power of the water was really cool.

We next headed off the Red Deer to spend some time with my sister and her family. It felt like a very long drive. We were all getting a little sick of being in a vehicle at this point. Once we got to their apartment we quickly ate and put the kids to bed. We had hoped to be able to play some games or cards or something but Regan and I fell asleep shortly after the kids. Too much driving in the sun!

Friday July 31st

Friday we got up early and finished packing up at the time share. We knew we had a long drive ahead of us so we checked out of Fairmont and were on the road by 9:00am. Off to Jasper!

I expected the drive to be scenic, but I never expected it to be as beautiful as it was. Every twist and turn of the road seem to bring new beauty with it. There were so many roadside turnoffs that we couldn't possible stop at as many as we wanted too. We did manage to stop at a few though. My favorite stop was at the Columbia Icefields. I have seen it on the news and commercials before, but honestly I just thought it was a block of ice. lol I would never have guessed that it would capture my attention the way it did. The picture below shows me and the kids walking up toward the glacier from the parking lot. The glacier used to extend further out and much taller than where we are standing in the picture. It tells you how much it has melted over the years. But even the thought of what was still there has been there since the ice ages is purely amazing to me.

After several hours of driving, we decided we were never going to finish everything that we wanted to see in just one day. We decided to stay over night in Jasper. Uh... Friday of a long weekend with no reservations in a tourist area. Can we say $$$$$$$! :(

We did find a nice little place to stay right as you first enter the town. We were relieved to be able to at least find something, it was filling up quickly. We needed to stretch our legs as it was now after 5:00pm (that's a LONG time driving) so we walked around the town site for a bit and got some ice cream, fed the bears...


After we got something to eat ourselves we headed off for the Jasper Hot springs (Miette Hot springs). That was another hour drive each way! The hot springs were nice. The kids had a lot of fun jumping from the hot springs into the cold pool. Which I may add could not have possibly been the 21' it said it was! I am surprised there wasn't ice on it, it was that cold!!

There was a little cafeteria at the hot springs and the fellow running the place was SUPER nice. He gave us tons of ideas as to where to go while we were in Jasper, what stops to make and how to get there. His first suggestion was just down the hill from where we were. We left the hot springs on foot down a path towards the old abandoned hot springs. They closed them in 1984 and have just let them fall apart since then. The hike was about 10 minutes down the path and it was getting dark so we didn't stay long. Plus me and the kids were starting to lose our voices from trying to make enough noise to keep the bears away!

After running like crazy walking back to the van we finally headed back to Jasper and went to bed. The beds were hard as rock but we were all so exhausted it didn't matter. lol I Couldn't even tell you which one of us fell asleep first.

Thursday July 30th

Regan, Babbling Brook, J-Bear and Grace all rode their bikes this morning. Em and I drove them up to the base of the ski hill and dropped them off. While they rode down the hill, Em and I went shopping. We tried on some really cute dresses that go over your swim suits. Just as I was almost tempted to buy something the bikers showed up. So instead of buying a dress, we bought cookies and drinks.

Again it was really hot today. It must have been over 30 degrees at least. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the pool. They had some timed trials for the water slide, so everyone (except me-cuz I was the camera girl) took a turn trying to be the fastest.

While some of us will be remembered for our craziness,

others will be remembered for other things. LOL

In his defense though, he is trying to help Deb plan their wedding. After supper, Will and his kids packed up and headed off to Calgary. This gave me plenty of time to pack, clean up and get ready to leave Fairmont in the morning. Regan and I weren't ready to end our vacation yet so we decided that instead of going home in the morning we would head over to Jasper. Regan and the kids had never been there before and I had only been there once when I was about 8 and we drove through it. So, we are off for another adventure. Yay!

Wednesday July 29th

Regan, Babbling Brook, J-Bear and I started off this morning at the driving range. We had a tee time at 11:30am at Coy's so we wanted to hit a few golf balls before we headed over there. Once we got there we had made it to about hole 3 when out of the bushes Will and his kids showed up. They were looking for golf balls around the perimeter and saw us and came over. We visited shortly and kept going so we wouldn't make anyone wait behind us. Will took his kids to Coy's driving range while they waited for us to finish golfing. The kids and I have really improved on our golf game. Not that we are good or anything but we definitely each had a couple of good shots. Regan is already a pretty good golfer, so his challenge was just having patience with the rest of us.

When we were done we all headed back to town for ice cream. Mmmm. It was so hot out that it was the perfect treat. We came back to the condo and hung out at the swimming pool. At supper time, while Regan was setting off the fire alarm cooking on the BBQ the 4 youngest kids made some new friends and were playing soccer. It was hard to tell them to stop and come eat because they were so fun to watch.

After we ate we headed over towards the original hot springs. We did some hiking up the hill and checked them out and took pictures finally.

We then headed over to the waterfall where they drain the pool at the end of each night. We stayed there for a while into the evening until it was almost too dark to hike back to the vans. We remembered to bring towels but didn't think about a flashlight. Good thing I had the camera light.

Tuesday July 28th

Ok so it has been a while since I blogged and I have alot that I want to journal, so I am writing several posts on the same day but changing the date in the title. Hopefully that makes sense to more than just me!

Tuesday morning was off to a good start. Grandma made breakfast for everyone so that was one less thing I needed to do. Yay for Grandma!! Today was a much more relaxing day. Grandma, Em and I did an aquafit class in the morning. We had a lot of fun doing that. It was the instructors first time teaching aerobics in the water and it was funny to try and keep up with her when you are so much slower in the water. During the class the swimming pool was open to the public in other areas and it didn't take long before *Bigguy, *Taylor and J-Bear were watching us and pretending to join us. It was fun to hear my mom laugh and enjoy herself.

Regan and Grandpa spent a little one on one time together and went golfing down at Coy's Par 3. J-Bear and I went over to the driving range at the Fairmont Golf Course and hit a couple buckets of balls while we waited for them to come back.

Sadly when Grandpa came back, him and Grandma packed up and headed home. They needed to be home for Wednesday so they could go work at the Temple. They left before I could really play some serious cards with my mom. Good thing mom knows I would have won! LOL

Will and his kids and us all headed over to the Fairmont Hot Springs. We watched as Babbling Brook showed off and as Taylor tried some pretty wild and crazy moves on the diving boards. He did a not so pretty dive off the 3 metre and had a good headache for awhile. Poor thing. We had a great time playing in the water together. The boys had several challenges to each other as to who could stay under the water the longest or who could swim the farthest without coming up for air, and so on. I wish I had my camera with me, but alas I had forgot it- AGAIN.

We were all so exhausted after we got back that we quickly ate a late supper and everyone crashed into bed.

Vacation Time

We are into into day three of our holiday to Fairmont, B.C. It is so beautiful here. We got here late Friday night, so our first real day was on Saturday. It was a hot day so the 4 of us went and checked out the new outdoor swimming pool. We just sat around and relaxed. It was what I needed and it was a good reminder as to why we bought the time share in the first place. My parents came out and joined us that night. It didn't take mom and I very long to settle in and start playing cards! I must have been tired, cuz I think she won! ;) I did seem to redeem myself though playing games later with the four adults. hehe- I know they will read this and I had to throw that in!!

Sunday morning the six of us headed off to church. It seems strange to admit that I actually like visiting different wards when we are on vacation. Everytime we do we always seem to run into someone we know or some kind of a connection with someone. Even on our honeymoon in Mexico we still ran into people we knew. It has become quite a funny game for us. "Guess who's going to be at church?" We ended off the night over at the hotsprings. It was so relaxing. Babbling Brook spent most of the time over at the diving boards. It was quite fun to listen to all the people who had gathered around to watch her. Secretly she loves the attention. All the ooh's and ahh's! The reality check for me was when a few cute young boys starting talking to her. I probably should have been worried, but it was kind of cute to watch and see my baby girl growing up.

My brother Will showed up very late that night with his 4 kids. He got here around 11:30 which made things a little tough for me and my kids as they wanted to stay up to see them. Babbling Brook had even set up beds for his two girls to come over into our unit to sleep. They all brought up a load of clothes and the girls went into our unit to get ready for bed and the boys headed to grandma and grandpa's unit right beside ours. Will left to go talk to his fiance' get his shoes from the van and I put his girls to bed. Admittedly it was a rough night for me. I finally snapped at 1:00 am yelling at the girls to go to sleep after several attempts at being nice about it. J-Bear had already crawled into our room and fell asleep on the floor because they were so noisy. They girls continued until after 1:30 and wouldn't you know it they were awake at 7:00 am! You can imagine how fun they were today!! Babbling Brook and *Grace went to an archery class with grandpa today that was fun. Their tiredness didn't really hit until lunch time. Thankfully the two of them had a nap while grandma, *Em and I were at Yoga.

Who needs Yoga on vacation?? ME!! It was great. Maybe it was the fact of no kids around. Or maybe it was that grandma and Em were trying it for the first time. Or maybe it was the way the male instructor kept saying exhale. Em and I laughed about it afterwards while we relaxed in the pool. Ahhh... we felt like beautiful butterflies- so relaxed! LOL

The boys all are out golfing at the moment- although I am not sure how because there is quite the thunderstorm outside right now. Me and the girls all went to get a few groceries and when we came back I had a nap while grandma played cards with them. It was only for an hour, but I sure needed it after last night! The girls are now watching a girlie movie and grandma went to bed. (She says the yoga took alot out of her) So I get a moment to blog and reflect on our holiday. Yeah!

Torn

Well last night was one of those fun nights. As we were about to say family prayer my daughter asked who was going to watch them when Deb moves away. I explained I wasn't sure and that maybe they would be on their own in the mornings. That was met with a very sad reaction and led to more questions when I was tucking her in.

Mommy why do you have to work?
Why are my friends all moving away?
Why can't we move?
Why do we live in the city when you don't want to?
Are you happy living in the city?
Is there something wrong with me that I feel so sad that you have to work?
Can I get a job like you did as a kid, so you don't have to work?
Would you like me to take on more of your chores so you can have more time with us?

Tough questions. Some that really hurt every fibre of my being. I wish I didn't have to work. I wish I didn't live in the city. I wish I could be the one who is home to wake my babies in the morning and the one who meets them at the bus when they come home from school. I love being married, Regan is a wonderful husband and father, but he is not willing to even entertain the idea of moving. If we did move than I wouldn't have to work and I could be home with the kids before it is too late. I don't want to have feelings of resentment but they seem to be creepy up slowly.

How do you find the balance in all things?

Family Camping

Wow I can't believe how fast this last week has flown by. I guess time does go faster when you are on holidays! After not having any summer holidays last year I told my boss *EllyMay (haha- I really do call him that!) that I was going to take all of July off this year. I chickened out and agreed to work 8 days- still not bad.

This last week I have been camping with most of my family and some of Regan's family out at Surveyor's Lake in BC. It's so beautiful there! It has been a family tradition for my family for several years now, and in the last 2 years Regan and I finally got on board and dragged Regan`s sister and family along with us. This year we were also joined by my new future sister-in-law to be, Deb and her 3 kids.

We got to the campground late on Wednesday, so all we did that day was set up camp, eat and have a fire. It was nice to play a few games and sing a few songs around the fire with everyone. It was especially nice to have one big family prayer at bedtime.

Thursday morning Regan and I woke up and went for a morning run. We ran through the campground and around the path of the lake. It was so calm and clear we could hardly wait to get back and get the kids and go swimming. We both have been struggling with our knees a bit and running outside on a trail was ALOT different than running a track in the gym. Needless to say we were both dying in pain a little sore. We spent the rest of the day on the beach just relaxing in the sun, swimming, swinging off the rope (that has now been cut down- tree and all), kayaking and playing in the sand. Regan and a few of the guys took the boat out that evening to the nearby Koocanusa lake for a quick tow or two. After that trip it has become official that there is NO FISHING in our boat again!! lol thanx dad!

Friday was HOT! It sure didn't take us long to get to the lake that morning! The kids had a great time playing in the water and it was alot of fun to watch them play together. The kids did really well to make everyone feel included. It can be tough to blend families together but the kids did great. Regan's back started hurting him today. Just over a year ago he had a pinched disc and was virtually immobile for a few days. Last time it took about 3 weeks for him to recover, so when it started doing it again we had to pull the plug on the boat usage. Much to Regan's dismay. My sister, *Leigh came out today with her youngest to join us. We had a nice family bike ride tonight and walked around the hidden lake at the campground. After we put the kids to bed a few of us went for a walk in the dark and laid down on the road and watched the stars. It was nice and peaceful. I hadn't seen a falling star before then in probably 15 years.

Saturday was even HOTTER!! Wow- over 30 degrees for sure! We started the morning off going to the farmer's market where we lucked out and found a massage therapist for Regan's back. So he got a 20 minute massage to help with his back. The rest of the morning was quite leisurely. Babbling Brook was sun burned from Friday so we stayed out of the sun for the morning as much as possible. By about 2:00 it was so hot we caved and went to the lake. The campground was holding some activities down by the lake so J-Bear and his cousins, *GG, *Evy and *Andy went and made a sand castle. They had tons of fun and it looked pretty good too! A few of us were walking around the lake again and sure enough the clumsy side of me came out. I ended up smacking my foot into a tree stump that was sticking up and broke one of my toes. Owwwww! Only me... The night ended with ice cream, hot chocolate and marshmellows. Yumm...

Sunday- time to pack for reality :( Check out time was 11:00 but apparently we were packing at turtle speed cuz none of us got out of there before 12:30! We must have been relaxed enough from the holiday. Unfortunately Leigh took her kids to the lake so she missed the group shot before we all left.

On our way home, we stopped at the newly renovated Frank Slide Interpretive Center
The kids actually had a lot of fun walking around and watching movies on the event. I couldn't believe how beautiful nature has blessed the tragedy. Many scenes like this:

We didn't end up home until late Sunday night. We had a great time. Got the relaxation we needed just in time to head off for our next holiday on Friday! Whoo Hoo! Fairmont here we come!!

Yay or Nay Weekend

Yay for having a busy weekend
Nay for being tired because of that

Yay for taking Babbling Brook horse back riding for her first time with DJo. Yay for how well she did!
Nay for the soreness from riding a horse for the first time in over 15 years and nay for DJo's dad who didn't have the same positive experience as he flew off his horse.

Yay for meeting up with my parents and going camping together Friday night. Nay for the campers partying beside us till after 2am

Yay for taking the boat out on Sat. It was such a beautiful day! Yay for Regan who did his best barefoot waterski ever!! AND Yay for the friends and family that came to join us.
Nay for the wind in the morning that slowed our start.
Nay for getting back so late with early church the next morning.

Yay for the announcement that we got the next morning! I am getting a new sister in law. Yeppers, my brother Will has asked Deb to marry him. YEAH!
Nay for having to lose 10 pounds before the wedding.

Happy Birthday to You

Ok, so I had a terrible sleep last night. I woke up at 1:45am to the sound of the song Happy birthday to you. I sat up in bed and questioned the noise, but it stopped right away. I figured I must have dreamt it and went back to sleep. 5 minutes later I woke again hearing the same noise, I got out of bed and opened my bedroom door and again the noise had stopped. What the ? I again went back to bed and again I heard the noise a few minutes later. So I got up and was sure it was coming from Babbling Brook's room. I opened her door and loudly asked if that was her, but nope she was sound asleep, she didn't even budge from me being so loud. Now I am confused. So as the typical worry wort mom that I am I quickly jump to conclusions that there is someone in the house trying to lure my kids away with the happy birthday song. (I laugh about that now, but at 2 am it seemed real) So after waiting at the top of my stairs listening for any sounds that would confirm my fears, I hear nothing. ARGGG what is that sound and why does it keep going away??

Again I go back to bed. It's now 2:15 am, I am distracted, tired and Regan is now snoring (which in all fairness he normally never does). I lay in bed awake for another 15 minutes when I hear the song again. This time I was going to find it. I ran out of bed, swung open the door, turned the hallway lights on and just listened. It's coming from the bathroom??? Ok I go in the kids bathroom and wait for the noise again. After tearing about the medicine cabinet and the shelf above the toilet I FINALLY find the noise coming from the garbage can. Right on top was this silly straw from the dollar store that this kids got from a birthday party over a year ago that when you drink from it, it plays the happy birthday song. Seriously it starts to go crazy in the middle of the night?

After realizing you can't take out the battery, I threw the silly thing out the door took the toy to the kitchen garbage and completely burried it so I couldn't hear it again! So again I go back to bed trying to relax from the annoying toy and finally at almost 3am....zzzzzzzz.

Monitored

I have been looking forward and dreading this day for months. Today is the day I get to wear a Holter Monitor for 24 hours. So I have the fears of what if they find something wrong and the fears of what if they don't find something, then what? Despite the knee injury, today is the day I have to stress my heart so the doctors can find the problem.

The appointment started off a little rough. Literally! The tech wipes your skin with rubbing alcohol and then takes sandpaper to your skin where she then sticks the electrode thingys on. Most of that was not too bad except for the last one. She really dug into my skin with the sandpaper. When I naturally jumped a bit, she mocked me! What the? Let me take that to your skin and see how you like it! After she hooked up the electrodes she gave me a piece of paper and said bye. Ok? As I was leaving I was holding my side where she burned me with the sandpaper. Babbling Brook quickly asked in the hallway if it hurts. I said one of them really does, its actually burning and the lady was quite rude borderline mean. Wouldn't you know it a gentleman in the hallway over heard me and questioned my reaction. Seems he is the doctor of the clinic and was not happy to hear I had a negative experience. He quickly brought me back in to the clinic to have someone else take a look at the one that was burning. She readjusted the tape and all was MUCH better. Note to future techs if the sandpaper draws blood you're pushing too hard maybe !

Since then I have been at the gym, running around, doing anything I can to set off my heart. I know the chances of catching my problem are slim, but I think I may have had a few close calls. Now I am utterly exhausted and my knee is killing me, but if I don't have to do this again then it will all be worth it right?

Babbling Brook and J-Bear had some pretty funny moments today. Regan and I have been doing the exercise class "Ripped" and the kids wanted to try it. We bought a couple DVDs of the class, so the kids put one in today to try it out. Hehehe. I wish I could have recorded the whole time. BB finished the whole hour (no surprise there) and J-Bear made it almost 40 minutes. They had weights, used step stools as steps and blankets as mats. It was great listening to them do the class and even funnier that they are both sore from it too!

Dedicated

What a great day to be dedicated. Today was our first Sunday in our new church. What a joy it is to be able to walk to church again. It was fun to see so many of our congregation walking in excitement to the new building. There were 3 wards in attendance today and I am greatful for a wonderful hubby who went early and reserved spots for us and for Deb and *Will.

When church was over we decided to go look at some new show homes over in Mohagany and in Auburn Bay. We found several different floor plans that we liked, if only we liked the price tag that came with them!

My brother Will came over later to hang out and talk about a few things. It is exciting to watch his own "dedication" of sorts start to play out. (more info to follow on that at a later date)

When Will left, Regan and I made rootbeer floats for the kids and watched the movie Barnyard.


It's one of those movies for us that every time we watch it we still crack up laughing. I feel blessed to be able to have these moments with my family.

A Time for Firsts

It was a beautiful warm Friday afternoon and you betcha we were out with the boat. We headed out to our usual spot just outside the city and met up with some of Regan's family. We had a great time boating and just relaxing on the beach. I got to spend some one on one time with my new little niece Breezy (*name changed). It's nice to be able to hold a little one and even nicer to give them back.

Yeah its taken years but J-Bear finally went knee boarding behind the boat! For those who know Regan you can only imagine his excitement! We have tried many times over the years to get him to do anything behind the boat. Even tubing was a struggle most days. We tried to bribe him in the past and finally out of no where and with no pressure he just decided he would go for it. He did great! He stayed up the whole time :) I think he was convinced to go when his cousin *GG, who is younger than him, went for her first time and had no problems either. Yeah for both J-Bear and GG!!

Babbling Brook did really well behind the boat too. She is improving more and more each year. She did a couple of knee board rides and got in a couple of slaloms as well. I look forward to seeing how well she does by the end of the summer.

Today started off with a stampede breakfast in our community over at our new church building that is being dedicated tomorrow. Because the sod was still new, no one was allowed on the grass so it made it a quiet breakfast (no bouncers, no games, etc.). But it was still exciting to see all the people that showed up. We got there at the beginning and it took almost an hour to get our food. I felt bad for the people who were lined up through the parking lot and almost to the street. But hey, its free food!

We were hoping to take the boat out again today but the weather didn't cooperate. So instead we stayed home and got some chores done. Regan and J-Bear worked really hard on the outside of the house today. They finished the fence, mowed the lawn, laid more sod, finished the gate, and trimmed up the flower gardens. It looks really great! Regan does a wonderful job of keeping the yard looking nice. He is known among my family and friends for how good our grass looks!

Babbling Brook and I got to do the grocery shopping. It may not sound as hard as what the boys did, but we faced Costco on a Saturday afternoon and survived!! That's an accomplishment all in itself. Lol

It's nice when you get to have some time to unwind and actually enjoy the weekend.

Canada Day

Happy Birthday Canada!

Today was a quiet day for me. Regan had to work and because I was not moving much (knee) he called his dad and asked if he would take the kids to the Raymond parade. So I stayed home and relaxed and worked on a blanket that I am crochetting. Basically I kept my knee up all day. I have to admit I missed having the kids around but knew they would be having a much better time with the grandparents than being stuck at home with me.

The kids woke up early to be ready to go when Grandma and Grandpa S. came to pick them up. They were very excited to go despite the early hour during their summer holidays. They had a great time down in Southern Alberta. They met up with other family members and watched the parade together and gathered WAY too much candy! When the kids got home Regan and I asked them about their day. Which lead to the following conversation:
(you have to imagine Babbling Brook talking a mile a minute)

Dad: "What was the best part?"
J-Bear: "The whole day was the best part dad!"
BB: "Yeah dad, we got to go to Subway for breakfast, we got candy during the parade and then we went to Aunt June's house for lunch and dad did you know they have Dr.Pepper freezies, and then we got to have more candy and then we went to more families houses and had more treats and then when we left we went to McDonalds for supper and then we ate the candy on the way home."
Dad: "So I take it you had some sugar today. Did you try the freezies?"
BB: "Yep, I had 6 and they were jumbo size"
Dad: " 6 Jumbo freezies??"
BB: " Well 10 if you count the smaller ones"
J-Bear: "and I got to have root beer at McDonalds too!"

LOL I have to laugh cuz no matter how you look at their sugar intake today, they were still in the truck with Grandma and Grandpa for a 2.5 hour drive home afterwards.

Needless to say they had a great time and were still hyper when they got home. Which lead to Regan trying to wear them out by playing "steam roller".

Ah... good times!

Two Steps Back

Ever have one of those days like you were going further back than ahead! That was my day today. I can't even blame work because that part was actually the easiest part of my day. Tuesday and Thursday are mine and Regan's busiest days. It is our days to go to the gym. However since our ward split in January, Tuesday is also the day that Babbling Brook has activity days and J-Bear has cubs. It wasn't so bad when Regan had to go get the kids from school and take them back downtown to the gym but now that it is summer he has to get them from the babysitters house 20 minutes further away. I am very greatful for a babysitter and good friend who was able to take Babbling Brook longer at her house, take her to activity days AND bring her home! I am also VERY greatful for the cub leader forgetting to inform me that cubs was going to be finished for the summer as of LAST week. So here I am racing around and making arrangements to get J-Bear to cubs and an extra hour of driving and sitting outside the church in the hot sun for no reason just seemed to make things that much better .
:(

As frustrating as that was it wasn't the part that made my day that much harder. Almost 2 months ago I was simply running up a few stairs to go tuck my daughter into bed and twisted my knee and dislocated my knee cap. It wasn't even something cool like heli-skiing or barefooting, it was simply 3 stairs. So after weeks of physio and taping and bandaging and icing I have been able to start functioning a little more normal. Until tonight. I started going back to my class at the gym last week and did ok so I tried again tonight. UH... not a good idea apparently! I made it 10 minutes into the class and had to leave. I was able to hobble out of there as descreetly as I could. I guess I should be greatful that Regan didn't have to carry me out of the gym (Again!) But it was still very discouraging none the less. Just when it started to feel better ...

These are the days I look forward to chocolate!

Saturday June 27

Yeah school is done and summer holidays are already here! Babbling Brook and I got to sleep in this morning while Regan took J-Bear to his first football day-camp. We weren't sure if he was going to like it or not but he had a great time.

When that was all over we headed to Regan's parents house where we were joined by most of his family for his parents farewell/ retirement party. It was nice to hang out and just visit with everyone. Babbling Brook was most excited to see her new baby cousin! She is very much at the stage of being a little mommy. She is sad she is not able to babysit yet but she has been doing a good job practising every chance she gets.

After the food and cake was finished the grandchildren put on a little performance for us. We had piano and drum playing and even vocal solos.

The kids did a great job and it was fun to see their excitement as they performed. We finished off the night hanging out at the lake in the parents community. J-Bear and daddy played football with some of cousins and uncles and had a great time tackling each other.

The Beginning

I guess I have finally caved to the idea of blogging! With so many friends and now family signed up, it just seems like now is the right time.

Who we are:
*names changed*

Regan: husband of 13 years
Brooklyn: daughter born 1999
Jared: son born 2001

My family:

*JD- brother married to CL
*Will- brother married to Deb- SIL, BFF, 8GV
their kids: *Bigguy *Em *Taylor *Grace *LL *Bear *Mimi
*Leigh- sister married to *Jay
their kids *Andy *Meg *SS

Regan's family :

*GG *Evy *Bree