August Long

We spent the holiday on Monday at Waterton National Park. We are so blessed to have such beauty so close. We don't take the time to enjoy it enough! This time we had a picnic lunch, walked around and played a little in Cameron lake, saw the waterfall (as Moses insisted) and hiked a mountain! It sounds like a lot, but the day was so nice. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful. It was really relaxing and a lot of fun.

I know - great hair, right?! I normally try to avoid any even mildly unflattering photos of myself, but I had to include this with the amazing view from the top of Bear's Hump. It was worth the hike. Although you might want to ask Scott about that, he was the one carrying Kael the entire way up and most of the way down.

We weren't planning on swimming. In fact the weather forecast said there was a chance of rain. So we didn't bring suits. Moses and Kael didn't seem to notice!
Warning: the following pictures may contain content unsuitable for all audiences.

While we were eating lunch this bird flew right up to our table and stole Moses' cherry. (He was mad about that later.) We thought it was so cool, we bated the next one. Kael kept putting more cherries out. I think we had 4-5 birds visit us. They weren't shy at all!

What is wrong with this picture? It just goes to show each of our boys personalities. Kael would rather walk, and Moses would rather ride. Unfortunately for them, it is easier on us parents if Kael rides and Moses walks, because Kael is prone to wandering and Moses always stays within arms reach. Life is never simple is it?

Nice to be home...

After all that fun it is nice to be home and sleeping in our own beds for a change. We got the kiddie pool out for the first time this summer (we haven't been home for long enough before this!). The kids had a great time splashing around. Too bad it is supposed to be raining for the next few days. We might not be able to play in it again for awhile. :(

Summer in Oregon

I was able to spend 10 days in Oregon with my friends and family. Scott couldn't come, he's already taking way to much time off this summer. But the boys and I both flew down (airmiles are such a blessing!) and had a great time. There were way to many pictures to post them all, but here are some of my favorites.

My best friend Ellena was in Oregon at the same time as I was. It was so great to see her. We have known each other for 15 years now and we are still in touch! We hardly ever get to see each other, so it was great to spend some time with her. This is the first time I was able to meet her twin girls, and they are almost 2! And she is expecting again, a boy AND a girl. We went to see my friend Valerie who also used to be my roomate. She just had her third baby, a boy named Easton. He was only 4 days old.

We still look young! Valerie is on the left and Ellena is on the right. Ellena is holding Easton in the other picture.

This is Moses and Ella (Valerie's oldest) on their first date! :) Ella drove him all over in that jeep.

We took all the kids to this cool place called Bouncing Off the Walls. Just a big room covered in inflatables that the kids absouloutly loved! And I had to include at least one picture of Bryan with one of his famous poses!

We all went bowling. It was so much fun. I was surprised by how much Kael got into it, although looking back I probably shouldn't have been. I wasn't even planning on letting him bowl, but he refused to be left out. He was so excited everytime he got a turn. And when it wasn't his turn he was still trying to take a turn. He actually picked up an 8 lb ball all by himself and almost dropped it on his toe!

Aren't those shoes just too cute!!!! I have to admit, Moses' favorite part was seeing the ball come back out of the white thing. He would throw his ball and not even watch to see how many pins he knocked down. He just ran to watch for his ball to come back. And he informed me more than once that he was organizing all the balls as they came back up for everyone else.

Nana took out the horse once and gave both boys a chance to ride. And no, my mom is not short, that horse was just REALLY tall!

To see the rest of the pictures from my trip click on the picture below.

Summer Visit '09

Wasa Lake

We spent the week camping with Scott's family in Wasa. As you can see from the above picture there are a lot of us! Scott used to go there every summer while growing up, so he and his siblings were really looking forward to taking their kids there. We had all kinds of weather, from hail and rain to really warm sunshine. We spent some time at the beach, and we went to a historical fort town for a day. It was really fun. But by the time the week was over, I was really glad to go home and take a shower. A week of tenting it is a long time!

Before... and After. The water was occasionally running off the tarp, we knew it would inevitably land on Kael. Sure enough, right down his neck! He was surprised, but didn't even really cry. Although it was wet our first day their, at least it wasn't too cold.

The second day we were there was so nice. But it was deceiving. One minute we were at the beach enjoying the sun. We saw some clouds in the distance and decided to pack up and head back to camp, just in case. Just as we pulled into our campsite the rain started. The hail came not long after that. It seriously POURED! When we came back to camp we noticed the tarp had blown off our tent, so Scott and I were busy trying to secure it in our swimsuits with rain and hail pelting our backs. In a matter of minutes the campsite was covered with rivers and lakes. If you look closely at the picture you can see the marble sized hail and the rivers of water. What an adventure!

Kael is so easy to please at this age. Give him a truck or a puddle and he will be happy for hours!

He really is happy... I think.

This was at Fort Steele. We got to ride a train. Kael slept through the train ride so we made it up to him by letting him ride the little horse while the rest of the kids made old fashioned ice cream.

If you're interested, you can see even more great Wasa pictures by clicking on the photo below.

Wasa

Film For Thought

My nephew Taylor is a budding film maker as I am sure you can see from the following videos....looks like his specialty will be documentaries.....lets hope he's not the next Micheal Moore!



Moses does make me laugh sometimes!

Happy Birthday Red Grandma

Scott's mom, a.k.a. Red Grandma, had a birthday on July 4th. That day isn't celebrated with fireworks here in the north, but she is such a great lady that maybe it should be! Instead, we celebrated with a fire in my new backyard fire pit. Scott was camping with the young men from church, so he missed the festivities. Scott's sister came into town with her 4 children and we all ate hot dogs and cake. It rained, but only for a little bit. And we stayed almost completely dry under our big willow tree. I should add, Scott's sister had the best idea of roasting cocktail wieners over a fire. They don't work so well on a bun, but they were super yummy and the kids loved them! You should try it.

BTW - the little baby in that last picture really is Kael with his cousin/shadow Broke. He just looks so different since we gave him that summer haircut - sometimes I don't even recognize him!

Family Pictures

Family Pictures

Family Picture time!! My friend Karma Olsen took these pictures for us. She did an AWESOME job! Sorry - there are some repeats with different finishes. They just all looked so great! (just click on the picture up above to view them all)

FIRST FISH

Moses and I went camping with Grandma, Grampa, and cousins to Castle Falls. Just like his Dad, Moses pulled his first fish from the castle river. It was so funny, Moses was just fishing and I went over and pulled his line and I was like "Moses, you have a fish", and of course he said "No I don't". I told him to real it in and yes....as you can see he got one!



We had a great time and it brought back a TON of good memories from my great childhood. I love the mountains and it was a great time being in nature and enjoying family....even though LaShauna and Kael couldn't be there.

KISSES

Happy Birthday to Scottie!

For the record, I did not forget my husband's birthday. It just took me awhile to TELL him happy birthday, on his actual birthday. And that was because we weren't celebrating it that day. And I told him the night before when we went to bed just before midnight. And over and over for the next 3 days! And it doesn't count as forgetting because I still had things planned for his brithday. And I bought his presents weeks in advance. So no matter what Scott tells you, now you know. I DID NOT FORGET SCOTT'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

Can you tell Scott loves fried foods? Homemade fried chicken and homemade french fries - Yummy!

AND homemade pumpkin pie. Someone sure loves him and did NOT forget his birthday!

Camping in Drumheller

In the middle of our wonderful time in Brooks, Scott took some vacation time. We decided to go camping in Drumheller with our good friends the Steeds. We miss the Steeds. We used to live so close and now we are so far. :( But we still manage to get together now and then. Moses really does love Jason and Kate.

We had a great time hiking, even if at some points it was more like rock climbing. I was glad Scott was carrying Kael, even though it made me really nervous to watch them at times. Kate was helping Moses most of the time. I think everyone thought it was better that I not try to hike and take care of a child at the same time. I am such a wimp when it comes to heights and steep inclines, there were points when I think Kate had to help me more than she helped Moses!

Kael's First S'more!

For even more great pictures of our camping trip, visit Jason and Kate's blog (jasonandkatesteed) by clicking here.