Double Duty

Over the weekend we zoomed fairly unplanned out to Banff - twice. the first trip was on Friday. We planned to go out with Janeen and some friends that were visiting from Utah, as she was trying to give them an all around experience up here in Canada. We drove out late afternoon to meet up with them (as they had left earlier in the day) and decided to go out to Johnston's Canyon. The kids had a really great time climbing the trails, even though it took us quite a while. We had also arranged to view a motorhome in the area so the trip was well unplanned. The kids each had an icecream cone thanks to Grandma and after our excersion up the mountain and back down again, we stopped at the cafe for some dinner...which Tyler claims is the best burger he's ever had. (I try not to take offense since previously he has told me I make the best burgers). We got home quite late, but had decided that the motorhome we viewed was exactly what we had been looking for, so a trip out the next day to pick it up was in order. I made my appearance at the farmer's market and then the family picked me up at 1 and we headed out. The kids were excited for a second trip as this time we were going to do the town of Banff and visit all the shops I had boasted about. The candy store, the rock store and the toy store. The rest of the family went on a hike in the Lake Louise area. We visited our shops and had a picnic lunch. Then we headed back up to Johnston's so we could make arrangements for the motorhome. It took way longer than necessary, but we finally had the motorhome in our possession. We met up with the Williamson's and then headed home...late again. It was two late nights in a row, but a lot of fun.

Cailin's Wedding

On Friday we all got dressed up in our fancy duds in order to attend Tyler's cousin's wedding. Cailin had asked Lucy about 8 months previous if she would be the flower girl at her wedding, and there has been a lot of anticipating for this event. She had to go for a dress fitting to select the perfect thing to wear, and on Thursday evening we headed to the Ranchehouse for a rehearsal. All I can say is 'praise the rehearsal' because Lucy was all nerves and tears that evening as we tried to convince her to walk the long distance up to the front of the procession towards people she didn't know very well. Cailin gave her the options of walking with one of the bridesmaids so she didn't have to walk along, but of course Lucy didn't know them either, so she preferred to be on her own. Cailin was also kind enough to save seats for Tyler and I on the front row with her parents and grandfathers, so Lucy could come and sit with us during the ceremony. The rehearsal was cool and a bit rainy, but we woke up Friday morning to a beautifully sunny day. Lucy got her hair curled and all dolled up. My mom came out to watch Max (which consisted of her sitting in our house while he had a nap) so we could attend the wedding ceremony. We were a bit panicked that we would be late, but it turned out that everyone else was, so we were actually the first members of the bridal party to show up. Tyler saved our seats while I stood with Lucy in the 'staging room' until everyone else arrived. She looked so adorable in her dress, and her jitters seemed to be replaced by excitement. The rest of the bridal party showed up, and I made my way to my seat while Lucy stood in line. The ceremony began and she did fabulous. She looked behind her a number of times to make sure she was doing what she was supposed to do, but she did a great job. The ceremony was beautiful and hot! After all was done, she walked back down the aisle, this time with Cailin (which she was VERY happy to do) and all the guests hit the shade for some lemonade and refreshments. We headed home for a break and to pick up Max while the bridal party took photos. Lucy got a couple of shots with the couple in an old studebaker that Uncle John had restored. When we headed back it was time for dinner, toasts and speeches and all the usual festivities. The kids were antzy as they knew there was a dance promised, and they just wanted to get to it. Sarah and Janeen sang for Cailin and Chris' first dance and then it was time for Cailin and Uncle John to dance. Finally the bridal party was invited to dance and I told Tyler he should dance with Lucy since she was part of the bridal party. She told him she wanted to dance with Max, so she took her partner out on the floor and they stole the show. At first they danced hand in hand, they way they usually do, but when they looked around and say everyone else dancing with arms on shoulders and waists, they corrected themselves. I don't know if it was Lucy's idea or Max's, but it was adorable. The dance got into full swing after that, and so did Lucy. Max was still a bit shy and mostly wanted to cuddle with mom or dad, but Lucy displayed some of her best moves, without hesitation. Most dance circles were formed around her, with all the participants trying to mimic her moves. Not an easy task as there is no rhyme or reason. Max and Dad went and requested 'Pokerface', which is Max's current favorite song, and when the DJ played it, he busted out his best robot moves and then was back to cuddling when the song was done. We ended up staying much later than we planned because Lucy was having so much fun and put two very tired children to bed after 11pm. It was a fabulous day, and we had fun spending it with family and creating precious and silly memories. The next day, when Grandma asked Lucy what her favorite part of the wedding was, she said, "Slow dancing with Max."

Blustery Day

Last night, after a fairly hot but peaceful Sunday we were woken up at about 1:15am to something...although neither Tyler and I remember registering what actually woke us. We both sat bolt up in bed and then heard both of our children crying, which is a rare thing. The wind was absolutely howling and we rushed to their sides...Tyler in Lucy's room, me in Max's. We both reassured them that it was just the wind and all was well. As I sat in Max's room holding his hand and rubbing his back the storm outside persisted and got louder and louder. It got to the point where I was no longer comforting Max because my mind was too concerned. Basically I was scared out of my mind. I wouldn't have been surprised if the trailer started moving, the wind was that bad. There was flash after flash of lightening and booming thunder right outside. Then the hail started in and pounded against our tin roof. I've never prayed so desperately in my life that I remember. After about half an hour of this, the storm calmed down and so did we. It was gone as quickly as it came and turned into nothing more than a drizzle, that has lasted much of today as well. The kids fell asleep and Tyler and I fell into bed. We were exhausted, but managed to both comment that we had never heard anything like that before. This morning we were able to see what damage the storm had done. I assumed my garden would be destroyed, and it was pretty flattened. We also woke up to this sight:The trampoline has gone flying before so we had it staked down, but the wind was strong enough to pull it out of the stakes...except for two, which held it in place fortunately for us, as our two vehicles would have been in it's path if it decided to give. All I kept thinking about was "Master the tempest is raging" and how scared those without faith must be in a situation like that. We are safe, and happy and grateful that the trampoline was the only casualty.

Riley Park

On Sunday night, after getting the kids into bed (finally), we were exhausted and yet still decided to watch a movie with Janeen and her friend Sydney...not just any movie, but a LONG movie. Australia...which was pretty good, but definitely long. So Monday morning came around and didn't show too much quick movement on the part of the parents. While Tyler was in the shower, he suggested that we do something fun as a family that day and we quickly packed up what we could think of for a picnic and headed over to Riley Park. We haven't been in about 2 years, and it's the kind of place that's made for 2 and 4 year-olds. We had a nice picnic lunch and the kids had a blast splashing in the pool. It wasn't as hot on Monday as it had been in the previous week (thank goodness says this pregnant lady!) but still decent enough for such an outing. We were in such a hurry that we didn't bring any sort of water toys to play with, but Lucy made friends with another little girl and didn't seem to notice much the lack of toys. After our lunch the kids were a bit chilly, so we got dressed and headed over to the park for a while. I was pretty much exhausted by this point, so Tyler played with the kids on the playground, plus other people's kids too. He's just begging to be called into the nursery! We headed home exhausted after a quick stop at Tyler's office. We had so much fun that I told Tyler I was going to make it a frequent visit for this summer. It's so close to his office too, that he can pop by for a picnic lunch with his family pretty easily. It was busy, but manageable, and we're usually outta there by 2pm for Max's nap, so we avoid the big afternoon crowds anyway. I love how his genius mind works.
Both kids have been a bit sick since then. Feverish and a tiny bout of vomiting from Max last night, followed by his sister this morning. I'm hoping this all goes away as we have a wedding on Friday that Lucy is the flower girl for, and she's been excited for nearly a year for this moment. I'd hate for a fever to spoil her big day.

Motor-on-Home

On Sunday evening, after spending a relaxing day at Grandma's, Tyler decided to pull out a 4-wheeled motorbike we had inherited from one of our tenants who left it in our shed to see if he could get it working. He and Papa set up their workshop in the living room (an ideal place for such things) and proceeded to fiddle for about an hour, constantly telling us it would 'just take a few minutes.' Of course, I was hoping to get the kids home and in the tub before bed, but couldn't because the power had gone out earlier which included tripping the water-pump in the well, which I needed one of those two men to fix, but they were occupied. So we sat and waited. Tyler teased me about the importance of creating memories was far greater than clean children, which I understand, but a happy mom is always most important...right? Anyway, they eventually got it to some semblance of working condition and allowed the kids to go for a ride down the hill...that is, after they had electrical taped a towel onto it because it has no seat. This project had Red/Green written all over it. The battery wasn't fully charged so it only had enough juice to carry the kids down the little slope of a hill between Grandma and Papa's and our house, and then Tyler had to carry it back up the hill for the next ride. The kids had fun for about 20 minutes going back and forth...Max had absolutely no steering skills, but was not phased in the least by any sort of jostle of hill, whereas Lucy was precise in her direction, but barely pushed the button enough to get the thing moving, and anytime it picked up a little speed, her feet would hit the ground to slow it down. Like I said, the batteries were pretty much dead, so it only goes maybe 5 km an hour...if that. She's my timid girl though. At one point, Lucy jumped on the back of Max's ride and quickly became the world's worst back-seat driver, which drove Max crazy. I finally got the kids heading home, at which point Tyler headed down the well to fix the pump, so I was left to get kids ready for bed (tubless) by myself. Max wasn't too keen on settling down and didn't want me to change his diaper. I decided to put his new diaper on my head as a joke, which quickly turned into a new game, and we all wore diaper hats around the house for a few minutes. It was fun, and I'm sure I'll regret this public display some day, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

Ward Picnic

On Friday evening, although we were hot and tired, the Williamson's (including grandma and Papa) headed up to the church for a ward picnic and movie night. It was a bring-your-own picnic and since Grandma and I were hot and tired and not really in the mood for cooking, we stopped and got some KFC. We all commented that we hadn't had KFC in years and wondered if it was any good. Lucy said, not realizing her wisdom, "That's not real food!" because she didn't want to eat it...but discovered that she actually enjoyed it. There were about 10 families joining in on the games and after a quick meal, the kids were all itching for something to do, so Tyler pulled out the parachute and proceeded to entertain for the next hour. Janie and I both commented to the Bishop that it looks like we found our new nursery assistant (as we've been struggling to fill that calling for while), but of course Tyler would protest highly to be released from Young Mens. I think every mom there was whispering her gratitude that Tyler had the energy to manage all the kids for that long. Once the games were complete, out came the popcorn machine, candy and lawn chairs in preparation for the movie...Johnny Lingo. Since Canada stays so bright so late, we were unable to project it onto a screen like originally planned, so we just pulled one of the TV's out from the library. Some of the kids lost interest pretty quickly and Tyler formed a little game of 500 while others sat and watched. It was fun, relaxing and a nice change of pace from our busy lives. Because we had come aerly to help set up, we couldn't take off before everything was put away, so we ended up pulling out of the church parking lot just before 10pm. The kids had fun, especially when the popcorn and candy showed up...and Max and Brielle kept sneaking off in a little two-some. Hmmm...is there a future there?

Big Boy = Sad Mom

This week Tyler purchased two toddler beds from Walmart in an effort to give us a little more space in our trailer. Max is still sleeping in a crib, but with the announcement of our soon to be new arrival, we're starting to plan now. The plan, as it stands, is to have the older two share a room, and to put the baby in Max's room. The rooms aren't that big and have low ceilings (making bunk-beds difficult) and so we thought the toddler beds would be a good option. Lucy got a Princess themed bed, and Max got a Cars bed. We also bought matching fleece blankets for them. There were lots of options on the blankets and at first Lucy wanted to go with the Tinkerbell blanket, much to the dismay of his Miss-Matchy Mother, who preferred the Princess blanket. Fortunately, when Lucy found out the Tinkerbell blanket was on a purple background, whereas the Princess blanket was more pink, she insisted on the princesses. We set them up yesterday to the delight of the kids (although their patience wore thin as Tyler and I tried to work with some poor craftmanship). Max's bed was up first and he climbed in an out a hundred times...I hope that is not a vision for the future - we have such good sleepers and I'm always worried about disturbing an unbroken system. In one of Max's attempts to climb in he jammed his belly on the side rails and was quite upset by it. This procluded his wanting to sleep in the new bed at nap-time yesterday, and I definitely wanted to do a trial-sleep before we tried the all-nighter. His stomach bothered him on and off throughout the rest of the day and I was worried that this toddler bed would prove to be a bad decision in more ways than one. But after a good night's rest, he seems to be just fine. I also worried that Lucy would have a hard time adjusting to a smaller bed after already being in a big-girl bed for 2 years now. She seems to be just fine though, and slept great last night. Well, nap-time today was the offical trial for Max. I asked him if he wanted to sleep in his 'Lightening McQueen' bed for his nap, and he said "yes!" He ran down the hallway and climbed in...the easiest that process has ever gone. Max usually requires me to cuddle with him for a while in the rocking chair before I put him in his crib, but today he would have none of that. He climbed in, pulled his blanket on by himself and told me to go away. I asked if I could sit beside his bed for a bit (I wanted to make sure he actually fell asleep and didn't just get back up and start playing). He didn't really want me to, but didn't protest too hard, so I stayed. He fell asleep so quickly that it made me a little sad. Who needs a mom anymore when you have a Lightening McQueen and Mater pillow case and blanket to comfort you. What am I going to do without my daily dose of Max cuddles? (always proceeded by a wrestling match of course). He's asleep now...we'll see if he gets the full two hours in the new bed, like he did in the crib. Sigh.