What to do

Well, Tyler left today at lunch for Young Men's camp. He'll be gone for 5 days (till saturday) and the kids and I waved goodbye and tried not to be too sad. Lucy's been having a really hard time with separation lately and gets pretty upset every single morning when Tyler has to leave for work, so 5 days is a hard thing for her to deal with. I promised her that we would do lots of fun things this week so the time would pass quickly. She seemed satisfied with that thought and we went in to play...but secretly the fun things are to help me pass the time too. I'm going to miss that guy. This evening we had dinner up at Scott and Janie's because it's Janie's birthday. The kids made her a cute drawing for her birthday and we all ate quickly before we had to go our separate ways. The kids had fun calling her at work and leaving her a birthday message too. After we all ate, we headed to Crapo's for a baby shower for Alana Draper (formerly Christensen) and then it was home for icecream sandwiches and a shower. I bought six movies from blockbuster yesterday to help keep me occupied in the evenings. I have a hard time falling asleep when Tyler's not here, so I figure if I watch movies, I'll be super tired and will just be exhausted when I go to bed. Sarah and Janeen are coming over tonight for Bride Wars. Should be fun.

Canoeing

Some friends of ours are moving this weekend up to Grand Prairie, so we've been trying to spend as much time with them this week as possible. We got together as a big group for a potluck BBQ on Monday night and it was there that the idea was concocted that we should go canoeing, since we have some canoes in our possession. Thursday looked like the best weather day, so we headed out to Ghost Lake and set sail. It was a bit breezy when we first started, but after a few strokes, our warm muscles insisted on removing sweaters. Lucy, as usual, was nervous, but we convinced her that it was going to be fun. Max loves playing 'canoe' in a box in our living room and saying 'paddle, paddle, paddle!' while he strokes the air with a spatula. He kept telling me that we'd have to bring bigger spoons for these boats. He was a bit disappointed that he couldn't paddle very easily in this boat, but enjoyed the trip anyway. We had 4 canoes out on the lake: Ian and Anna and their kids Petra and Kyle; Kristen and Brielle rode with Janeen; Keith and Amy Jeffries and their kids Brytan and Austin; and then our boat with the four of us. Austin is 18 months old and insists on learning purely from experience and not heeding his parents' warnings so after repeatedly being pulled back from the edge of the canoe, he finally went in and realized the water was cold and deep and didn't really like that. On our trip back to the dock, the wind picked up significantly. We had chosen the biggest boat for ourselves, thinking we'd enjoy having the extra space, but not calculating the fact that it would be heavier and my huge arm muscles are not quite adequate. We would get SO close to the dock, and then just get blown back half-ways across the lake. The kids were getting hungry, and were not too pleased with the back and forth. Finally a family in a motor boat came over to give us a hand and towed us back in to dock. The kids switched over the motor boat and I hung on to the ski-rope and was pulled as close as possible. We got our canoe on shore and then ran down the dock to help retrieve our kids. Because of the wind, the motorboat had a hard time getting to the dock as well and again the kids were frustrated with the back and forth. We finally all made it safely back to shore and had a quick lunch and laugh in the truck, safe from the wind. A few of the kids dipped their feet in the lake and then it was back home for naps. It was a pretty fun trip, with only a few minor cuts and bruises. (Mostly to me. As we were loading the canoe down the dock to go in the water I slipped and cut up my foot. Nothing a Diego bandaid and some polysporin can't fix though. Fortunately, Tyler tells me my fall was completely ungraceful, so at least I have that to comfort me.) The worst part of the trip was when I was able to take 2 shots with our camera to have it close up and tell me to change the batteries...which I had none of. At least I got those two shots.

Gymnastics Wrap-up

Today was the kid's last day of gymnastics, and they were told (and encouraged) to bring a friend with them for some free-time. Lucy invited Emma, and Max invited his friend David (from nursery) and they had an awesome time. It was so fun to watch them go at it on all the equipment and just do what they wanted. My kids are really into gymnastics. Wednesday is definitely their favorite day of the week and, except for the first day, they have been very willing and there hasn't been any tears. It's amazing to see how much they've learnt over the last 8 weeks. We missed two weeks while we were in Disneyland, but that didn't phase them. Lucy has learnt how to do a bum drop and land back on her feet, and Max finally walked on the skinny balance beam today unassisted. They had fun showing their friends all the cool things to do, and ended the morning off by having race after race down the track and into the foam pit. Emma asked Lucy repeatedly, "why did you ask me to come?". David and Max kept to themselves most of the time, but interacted when necessary...usually for one of them to tell the other to 'get off' or to say, 'I'm using that one!' The instructors finished the year off with a certificate presentation where the kids got to stand on a platform to olympics music and raise their arms in the air like true champions. They got a certificate with a ribbon on it and a sticker. Then each of the friends got a sticker too. We're looking forward to signing them up again in the fall.

Picasso Jr.

After some visits from our friendly neighbours for dinner, the kids and I sat down to some painting. We had picked up a few ceramic statues from Michael's and the kids couldn't wait more than a few hours before they were ready to break them out and get them done. We spent a good 45 minutes choosing colors and perfecting our art pieces. Lucy had picked out an icecream sundae and a princess castle to paint; Max had a cow and a Dino; and I had a fish and a pirate. I also bought a package of fish magnets that we can paint another day.After our painting, the kids went outside on the trampoline with Dad, and then promptly came back in to tell me we were going for a bike-ride. You can tell how excited Lucy is about the idea.Grandma and Janeen joined us, and we biked down Camden Lane a ways and tried to spy a hawk, a horse, a truck, a tractor, a fox and a llama. We found them all except for the hawk. The kids even spied a culvert and decided to go for a trek inside for a few minutes. The bike home was much more difficult than the way down, but we made it without any major cramping. We stopped a grandma's for a quick popsicle and then headed to bed.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Dad. Today after an exhausting but fun time at church, we headed to my parent's house for Father's Day. We hung out and visited for most of the afternoon, talking about the usual - work, life, Deadliest Warrior. Mom made a great salmon feast for everyone. It was a great time to just sit and visit and relax with family. Mike and Tammy have now moved into a house in Airdrie, so it was fun for all the kids to be able to get together.After dinner, we presented dad with his gift from all of us. I had heard a great idea while at the Cochrane Ward Relief Society retreat. Having every member of the family write down their testimony to give to the parents or grandparents. We decided to do this for my dad for Father's Day. It was a really great experience being able to compile all these testimonies, and I especially enjoyed reading all of them and seeing the similarities and differences. Most of all, it was a great reminder of a wonderful legacy and blessing. We've all had our ups and downs, but it's amazing to say that our testimonies are strong and we're all united still in our faith in Jesus Christ. It's definitely a legacy that we can attribute to my dad, who has never wavered. I appreciate his consistency and his firm foundation and have relied on his strength often in my own life. Dad was very surprised and touched by the gift. We all made the joke that he would make the 'dad' face...and he did. Alison wasn't able to be there as she was helping the kids have a chance to spend Father's Day with their own dad, so we got her on speaker phone for the experience.
Happy Father's Day dad. Thanks for all you do and the spiritual foundation you have laid for all of us. I know that for me, regardless of what my question is, I know that I can go to my dad, and more than likely, he'll have an answer for me.
Now for a note to the Father of my children. I love you and cherish you and appreciate the support you give me at all times. I am grateful that you are always so quick to say "I love you" and "I'm sorry". You work hard to provide for us, and I am grateful to see the ways you lead our family in righteousness. You are my best friend and my partner. I also appreciate that you are able to fix just about anything, because that has definitely come in handy during our time together. (*I'll post about our hot water tank later...maybe when it's fixed and the frustration has ebbed).

Ridin the Wave

We headed to the Southland Leisure center today to celebrate Jacob's 1st Birthday. Lucy was a bit nervous as her last experience at the wavepool wasn't so great. Our kids have become pretty accustomed to the warmth of the kiddie pool in Cochrane, and the wavepools don't offer that same luxury. Plus, she's generally not a fan of things that move, make noise, and really DO anything. We got there just after lunch and hit the pool hard, waves on! Lucy was nervous, her dad was frustrated, but it wore off and we had a good time. The Southland pool has done some great renovations and now there is a great kids area with slides and squirt guns and tons of things for the kids to love. We did that for a while, had a few rides on the waves, and then warmed up in the kids wading pool. Grandma and papa watched all the kids so we crazy parents (Tyler and I, and Jason and Ali) could have a few turns on the slides ourselves. We tried a few methods of sliding as a train, and soon discovered that holding on to each other's ankles and sliding down backwards was the easiest and most fun ride. I was always the kaboose, so I got whipped around quite a bit. It was awesome, and we all have the slide-burns to prove it. We headed back to the kiddie pool for a bit and then wrapped up because the kids were getting tired. We headed back to Jason and Ali's for a BBQ dinner and some fun in the backyard. The kids enjoyed playing with Jacob's new kiddie pool that they filled with balls and jumping on Katie and Rob's trampoline. We had present time and Jacob devoured a cupcake with about an inch of icing on top. It was hilarious to watch. We played TV Scene-it for a bit and then headed home exhausted. It was a pretty fun filled day and I think we'll visit the wavepool again this summer.

What shall we do on a Friday...

Today, the kids spent most of the day up at Grandma Janielee's house. She usually has Friday's off and the kids get so excited to look out our bedroom window and see her car in the driveway. They rushed off to play and I had to drag them home at 9 for a tubbie. First thing this morning, Max surprised me with a real treat...a bed full of diarrhea. It was awful. I've become pretty hardy and can handle a lot of things, but this was a doozie. I hosed him down in the shower, and then hosed down the sheets, blankets, and pjs...and only gagged a few times. What a smell! Once he was cleaned up he was perfectly fine and ready to continue with his day, but it definitely wasn't a pleasant way to start. The kids had fun at grandma's making pictures and tamborine's out of plates. Max and I made masks out of paper plates. One for him, one for me, and one for dad. Later in the evening we headed over to Great-Grandma's house to help her with a few jobs around the house. The kids LOVE great-grandma's house because there are so many things to look at. They enjoyed playing tea-set, with a few of her MANY tea-sets. (I think the Queen herself would be jealous), jumping on the trampoline showing off their gymnastics skills and riding around in Papa's truck. It's an early night tonight, because tomorrow is little Jacob's birthday party. We'll be heading to the wave-pool, so we're excited and nervous about that one. (Lucy's the only one that's nervous).
Happy 4th Birthday Emma!

How about you?

I think that Alberta is always a few weeks (or months) behind the rest of the Western world. In most places 'April Showers bring May flowers' but here we're still dealing with snow in April, so it's usually 'June Showers bring July flowers'. We had a bit of a break from the rain yesterday and decided to hit the zoo before school was out for the summer and it gets overrun. Tyler's not much for crowds...and neither am I when I'm with the kids by myself. The kids were excited for a day outside and to see their zoo friends that they hadn't seen in quite a while. We made stops at all our usual places, seeing the elephants, zebras, tigers, lions, hippos and giraffes. We were also able to see the arays in the elephant exhibit, which Max was really excited about, since the last time we say rays (in San Diego) he was able to stick his hand in the tank and feel them. He was 'very' sadly disappointed that he wasn't allowed to touch these ones. But we enjoyed waving and saying hi. This time we decided to venture somewhere we hadn't in quite a while and go over the Canadian Wilds. It's usually less busy and you get to see a variety of different animals. The kids enjoyed seeing the bears, although Max was crying on his way over. Even though he had just seen more than a dozen other animals, in their cages, for some reason he envisioned the bears being on the loose, and it scared him a bit. They enjoyed sitting on a bear statue and making their growling faces at me. Dad even get in on the show. We were able to see porcupines, caribou, eagles, bison, otters, and wolves. The kids like the taxidermied foxes and wolves they had in the otter house. On our way back through the zoo we decided to hit one more spot we rarely see, the prehistoric park. Again, it was a much quieter walk and the kids had fun seeing their favorite dinos. Triceratops and T-Rex. It was a fun and hot day. On the way home we decided to stop for slurpees. A treat my kids have never experienced. I went for basic orange, but the rest of my family was adventurous and enjoyed bubblegum flavor. I was getting a bit of a migraine as we drove home (loss of vision, and some numbness in my left hand, which I've never experienced before) so we took it easy at home for the afternoon with naps and coloring. While I was at primary meetings and a bridal shower in the evening, Tyler and the kids took Papa to Big Hill Springs park (boots in hand...but no camera!) and enjoyed walking the paths and stomping in the creek. It was a pretty great day for my kids...and on the drive home, there was an awesome rainbow that seemed to land right on top of our house. Again, no camera, so my mind's memory will have to do.

Thank Goodness

By goodness, I mean my kids. In the midst of my frazzled attempt at accomplishing something this afternoon so I actually feel like I'm fulfilling my calling, and repeatedly telling Lucy to be quiet because her brother is sleeping, even though I know she's going crazy sitting beside me at the computer waiting for me to stop typing so we can play together, I turn to look at her and see this:
It put a smile on my face, and did the trick. And then, after an equally stressful evening while my husband was away at the Youth Activity, he came home to the kids in the shower and said, "hey, you go do something and I'll take care of this. Seriously, blog or something." Wow! Those are words I have NEVER heard in 6 years and they were music! So thank goodness for goodness.

Deep Breath

I am feeling overwhelmed today. It started out really great. I had a meeting at Lucy's prospective preschool this morning. I was really happy and satisfied with the teachers and the set-up. I felt really good about the whole situation, and try not to let thoughts of "oh my goodness my baby is growing up so fast!" flood my mind. The kids and I headed into the city to buy a whole schwack of presents. Emma's birthday present, Jacob's birthday present, and shower gift for Sara P, Father's Day stuff, and Grandma Janielee's birthday. Phew, June just got busy. We also enjoyed some foodcourt lunch and the kids played on the mall's coin operated carts for a few minutes. This afternoon I enjoyed putting some things together for my Dad's Father's Day gift and hanging out with Lucy...but since about 4:30pm, I have had a really overwhelming feeling and have been on the verge of tears at every moment. I'm dealing with new tenants, primary meetings and not much else, but I feel overwhelmed...I wonder why? Deep Breath...take it easy. I can do this. Heavenly Father thinks I can, so obviously I can. Time to go to our house in town and fix the washer and dryer, garage door opener and install new locks on the doors. Maybe we'll get some icecream when we're done. That'll cure it, right?

Little Girls

Little girls are made up of pink...that's all I can say. Ribbons and bows and pink and flowers and ruffles and babies. Tisha Elford came over last night with some little girl barrettes she is making these days and Lucy and I picked out a few for her to have. She got quite a collection and is VERY excited about them all. She likes this pink ribbon today because she thinks it makes her look like a present. Her auntie Sarah even picked up a few for herself...so I guess even big girls are made up of ribbons and bows too.And as a side note to my 'little boys' story of a few days ago...little boys are also made up of slivers because they walk around bare foot all the time. I think it's the 'Tom Sawyer' in all of them. We struggled with this foot sliver for about half an hour and then finally gave up, because we figured our relationship of trust with Max was more important that the dead piece of wood in his foot.

My Way

So I went for the big plunge yesterday and got my hair CHOPPED off. Well, it was short to begin with, but this is the shortest I've had it in over 10 years. I told my hairdresser I really wanted something funky and easy for the summer, but that I was nervous I would look like a boy (definitely down-side to the short haircut of 10 years ago...a few people thought Mike and I were twins! argh). I liked the haircut right off, but I always say, you can never love a haircut until you've styled it yourself...so here's a few shots of it yesterday after the hairdresser did it...and today, with my own blow-drying. I LOVE the pea-sized amount of shampoo it took and the less than 10 minute blow-dry. whoo-hoo for summer!

What are boys made of?

I've heard all those rhymes about snakes and snails and puppy-dog tails...which don't make any sense, since the only part of that sentence my boy would like is the puppy-dog tails. MY little boy? Well, he's made up of broken legs (just scratches at this point, but he likes to tell me it's broken), building towers, and hiding socks! I just don't know where he gets it, or why he does it. I will find little boy socks hidden in the strangest places around my house. I can guarantee that I will put a pair of socks on my boy first thing in the morning, and within 2 hours they'll both be gone...usually in different places. I don't know if he has squishy toes, or sweaty feet...but the socks MUST come off! If I ask him within a few hours of him taking them off, he can almost for sure tell me exactly where they are...but any more than that and his brain has filled up with other important information and the sock whereabouts falls out an ear or something...only to be discovered by me at some later date in the weirdest of places. I took some pictures today as I was tidying of some locations where I found socks. At the top of the stairs going into my bedroom. Between the washer and dryer. And the strangest? Under Lucy's pillow. I discovered that one as I was scooting Lucy into bed and trying to adjust her pillow. If we're out at other people's houses, he fortunately has learnt to stick his socks in his shoes, so we know where they are when it's time to leave. It'll forever drive me crazy (since most of the time I only find one at a time and that makes laundry a pain).
Fortunately, my little boy is also made up of chunkies and tasty-parts. The chunkies are his thighs, which he freely allows me to 'eat' and the tasty-parts is his neck...which again, he lets me eat, but not his dad...I think his dad's face is too scratchy for snacks. He is also made up of cuddles and hugs and kisses...which I love.

Welcome Home - bienvenido a casa

We headed to the Calgary airport to welcome my cousin Andrew home from his mission in Chile. He and his family live out in Kelowna right now, but they were flying into Calgary and as many as the Bourne/Jones clans as were available descended to show our happy greetings. His flight was coming in through Toronto, so most other passengers were local, but we waved our Canadian flags proudly, regardless of the stares. His parents had flown down a week earlier to spend some time with him in Chile and flew home with him, so we were able to welcome 3 people, instead of just one. It was fun to see his reactions to the huge crowd, and the culture shock was starting to show, even in the first few minutes. We got a nice shot of him greeting his two sisters...it'll be a nice reunion when Chris, his older brother, comes home from his mission in California. And here's a shot of the whole family (minus Chris) happy to be home and off the 19 hour flight! Our kids also enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with mom while we waited, and then heading upstairs to the airport play-place for a few minutes before heading back home.Welcome home Elder! Bienvenido!