Sabbath

After church today, we were invited as members of the branch council and their families to our 1st Counselor's house for a bbq.  It was a great time.  Those Sisson's know how to throw a party.  It was a great crowd and we enjoyed burgers, hot dogs and catching fish.

It brought up an interesting and friendly debate among the group as some participated in canoeing, swimming and playing, while others didn't.  Sabbath Day.  It's a toughy.  I happened to teach a lesson to the Young Women that day on the Sabbath Day, so the topic was fresh in my mind as well.

We had decided ahead of time not to bring the kids bathing suits and not swim, but then you get into the nitty gritties of the topic and who's to say that swimming is bad and canoeing is ok.  Or fishing.  I go back and forth on things that I think are ok on the Sabbath and things I don't.  I try pretty hard to leave all work to the rest of the week.  Even preparing meals with lightness and avoiding things like laundry and cleaning.  However, there have been times when we have guests coming for dinner that we do a quick tidy up and vacuum.  Who knows!

I know growing up that the rules went back and forth on whether we were allowed to watch television on Sundays or not, etc.  It was pretty hard and fast rule that there were no sleepovers on Saturday nights leading into Sunday, and there were no birthday parties on Sundays.  It's a hard rule to enforce when your kids are heartbroken about not going to their BFF's party.

I'm not sure where I stand.  And I'm sure it's the type of thing that you're constantly fine tuning.  The advice I gave to the Young Women was this:

It's called a day of rest.  Sometimes people joke about it being a 'day-off'.  A day of rest becomes a day of naps.  I explained that for 6 days a week, we are immersed in this world.  We're surrounded by outside influences all the time.  We live in the world, but we're not supposed to be of the world.  I told the girls that Sunday is a day that Heavenly Father has given to us as a gift.  And we should think of it as a gift.  It's a day that we can set all that other stuff aside and become rejuvinated through him.  We can worship and recharge our spirits, so when Monday hits, we're ready.  He knows how hard it is and has given us this wonderful gift of the Sabbath Day to lean completely on Him.  Take advantage of it.  Use it as a day to recharge your Spirit so you can face the world again.

That's my philosophy.  I don't know how that interprets into every situation yet.  But that's my guidepost for now.

Love much?

Some friends of our moved away this summer and left some things for us that they didn't want to haul across the country.  Including these Shrek and Donkey costumes.  My kids finally broke them out and had a blast playing around in them.  It was so hilarious.

Logan is also obsessed with wearing my glasses these days.  And I'm obsessed with his face!  I can't get enough of it.  He might get a complex with all the photos I snap of him.  

 

At the Park

Logan is giving me his best 'cute' face to convince me to take him on the big slide.  The pictures don't do it justice.  It is a BIG slide.  

Logan said, "Mom, I'm a boy, right?"  I think he wanted to convince himself, since he was wearing Lucy's helmet and riding her bike.  

Long Distance Relationships

Well, my sister's hitched.  We logged in to Skype to watch the wedding, which was a little hard to hear with all the other people around, but it was good to at least see it.

My kids favorite part was Uncle Mike make faces at them over Skype.  I don't blame them.

  

Uncle Phil's Wedding

Today was the real purpose of our visit to Montreal.  My Uncle Philip's wedding.  It was a bit of a drive to the wedding location and we really didn't want to be late (due to traffic) so we set out plenty early.

I love a wedding, because it gives me an excuse to dress my cute kids up in nice doo-dads.  Seriously, they're cute.

It turned out to be a pleasantly warm day with rain and thunder after photos outside were taken, which made it cozy to stay inside the reception hall and dance.

My Uncle Phil is not one that I would have guessed would ever get married.  I'm not sure how old he is now.  My mom is 58 and she's the oldest.  Phil is the youngest, so my guess would be somewhere in his early 40s.  He has long hair down to his waist and spends most of his time drinking or at bars.

Just last summer, when we were visiting, he spoke of an ex-girlfriend and pronounced that he would never get married.  No surprise there.  A few months later, we found out he was engaged.

My mom had been doing some family history work at home a while back and had the thought that the Favreau name would end when Uncle Phil passed on.  He's the only boy and since he's not married, (not that these things always go together), he doesn't and wouldn't have any kids.  She said a quick prayer that Phil would find someone to love and that the Favreau name could continue on.  A few days later he called to say he was engaged.  Tiny miracles.

So we all turned out in celebration of this wonderful and surprising event.  My Uncle Phil is also a 'metalhead', so we weren't surprised when the music for the wedding consisted of Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Def Leopard.  Heavy on the Slayer.

It was a beautiful wedding and it is so obvious how much my Uncle loves his new bride, Suzanne.  She is beautiful and very sweet...and also a metalhead.

We had a great time visiting with cousins who we almost never see (this was the first time I had ever met my cousin John in person).

Logan found a friend with a toy skate board that he stuck to like glue...until the skateboard broke.  Then he was out of there quick, claiming he had nothing to do with it.  I hope not.  

Max was bored.  But he figured out ways to entertain himself.  

Tomorrow, we drive to the airport in Ottawa to see Grandma and Bumpa and Sam off.  It's the end of our family visit and we're bummed.  School is just a few weeks away and the summer is slipping through my fingers.  I'm trying not to think about my sister getting married in a few days and the fact that I won't be there.  But it's hard to not think about it.  Maybe the beach will comfort me.

The rest of the Science Center

After Star Wars Identities, we went to the cafeteria for a bite to eat and then finished the rest of the science center.  Not as exciting by far, as Star Wars, but we still had fun.

Making bubbles around ourselves

Being as loud as we possibly could:

And posing in front of a really big wheel:

When we left, it was overcast and the ground was wet from rain.  It was still warm and the docks looked beautiful all lit up.  It was a great night in Montreal.  Plus, it was late enough that there was no traffic.  Ah!

Star Wars Identities

Did I mention I hate Montreal?  For it's traffic.  Grrr!  We we're NEARLY late for our Star Wars exhibit because of silly Montreal traffic.  I nearly had a panic attack.  It was a lot of money and a totally cool experience that we wouldn't be able to replicate.  Fortunately, we snuck in under the wire.  We were technically 8 minutes late...but somehow they were about 9 minutes behind schedule.

The Star Wars exhibit was awesome.  They had tons of original costumes and memorabilia from the movies.  And you got to create your own Star Wars character.  There were ten stations for creating your  own character.

In every picture of Max, he had to pretend he was holding a lightsaber.  Every. Single. Time.

Lucy and Logan both chose to be Ewoks.  I was a Wookie.  It was great fun.

Lucy's the only one who chose a new name for herself.  

That's the toughest looking Ewok I've ever seen.