Home for 3 weeks!

Its been 2 1/2 weeks of just being HOME:)  The lake life is wonderful, but sometimes its nice just to be home for a bit.  I've eased up on doing lashes everyday which is nice, I'm definitely not taking anymore clients...the money is wonderful but being able to spend time with the kids is way more important to me!  I  have 10 clients each month and with losing a few it is way more manageable now... I've had more time for relaxing (and not always having to keep my house clean for clients..lol) Matt went back to Tie with the young men that he teaches for their boys camp, so I was husbandless for 3 days, but we kept busy with play dates.  Nash and Vida birthday parties...Matt got back in time so we could all support and watch Rob waterski in the Nationals!! we went to the spray park, bike rides...Matt had to leave us again after being home for 2 days (he was at work both days too), but his grandfather passed away and he wanted to support his Mum, so he drove with his dad out to Vancouver and flew home 2 days later.   Soon after he was home we went on a horseback riding trip with Tommy and Randea and it was so fun!  The kids rode horses by themselves in the coral than the adults went for a ride around their property...it was a great morning and nice to just hangout.  For the past 2 days that Matt has been off, he and his dad have started putting up our (free) chain link fence!!! This is a BIG deal for us....Ammo being able to just be free in the backyard without tying him up will be heavenly...also the kids can go out and run around and play without me having to be with them...also heavenly.  We are thinking we will get a new fabulous trampoline...as awesome as getting the free one was...it was free for a few reasons.  We need pads and the bounce isn't up to Matt's standards..haha so we'll pass it on to Matt's parents to have at there place.  Our fence is 6ft tall!! haha its kind of funny...no deer will be getting in that's for sure!  and if someone wants to climb it to steal stuff than that will just be funny!  We are grateful none the less, it has saved us a lot of money.  I'm so excited to start fixing up our grass and enjoying the extra space!! 4 more sleeps until we're back to Tie!!

It is so fun having the Byam's living 10 minutes away...Parks loves hanging out with Nash and Drew!

Here he is at there place riding a motorbike all by himself for the first time!!!

playing and no fighting!!

 

The kids and I spruced up our front garden with wood chips and some garden decorations:)

 Play date with Baron!

Rob entered into the Nationals Water skiing Competition!

We are trying to get Grace to use her run bike, but she's more concerned with all her accessories;)

The kids and I had to do some doggy sitting Griz and had a fun time biking through the sprinkler!!

kiddos patiently waiting for the fence to be finished...

July!!

We arrived home from Ottawa on July 3rd!  We took our boat #4 to Little Bow with Julie and her kids, it was seeing them again and nice to be out on the boat!  Some other fun things was getting to set up our free trampoline in our backyard...we went to the Stampede twice this year! Both without the kids which is nice because that place is crazy! We first went with Paul and his kids and Jess our sis-in-law was there too.  They convinced me to go on the crazy ride, that goes up super high really slow than drops down ( i cant remember the name of it).  It was crazy, i'm glad i did it, but cant say I'd rush to do it again..lol  Matt and Paul went on an even crazier one that sling shots you around making you go up and down backward, forwards and upside down...that one would of made me pass out for sure!  Matt and I went back on a date night together and walked through the whole Stampede, it was really nice getting to see everything without the heat...we watched this cool horse pull racing...we also went to our church's Pancake Stampede breakfast...kids went for a horse ride together and than played with cousins for the rest of the day.  Before selling our 4th and last boat for the Summer we went boating on Chestermere Lake with the Prince's.  Than off to Tie Lake for the Hill Family week.  We stayed out there for a week and a half.  Matt had to go back to work for 2 days inbetween and that is when he sold boat #4!! :)  What a blessing to be out of debt! Family week was great, the weather was amazing, lots of boating...waterskiing, wakeboarding, wakeskating, barefooting, kneeboarding and tubing! ofcourse tanning and relaxing.  Sister in laws and some neices did workouts together most mornings, I swam across the lake and back a few times, we did the great escape race...thought we lost a few kids in the forest..not so fun...we had a glow stick dance party night, and the always entertaining talent show:) Great Memories! 

 We went home for Matt's 4 days of work, I did non stop lashes during that time and than we were back at the lake for another 4 days:) We went out for Tammy's 40th surprise bday party and spent it with her family.  We are so grateful for Tie Lake and having such an amazing spot to spend time with family.

June!!

...the beginning of June was all work, I had lashes and lashes and more lashes!  Than it was OTTAWA trip time! We flew out on Father's Day and the kids and I stayed for 2 weeks and 2 days!! Matt also came, but had to leave for work 5 days before us.  It was a wonderful trip!  We drove up to the cottage right away and stayed for the first week with my parents and Jeff and Robyn and Tessa.  We got through the HOTTEST heat wave with swimming, boat rides, sandbar trips, jumping on the trampoline and playing on the atv...the kids played well with their cousin Tessa and had a blast!

 

 We drove back to Ottawa, had dinner at J&R's house and said goodbye because they were flying out to Manitoba for a reunion with Robyn's family.  We were sad to say goodbye so early, but grateful we could spend the week together at the cottage.  Matt and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary on the 25th!! with our first ever overnight away from the kids!! It was fabulous, we rented a hotel suite, went for a yummy dinner and loved every minute of our kidless time out together:)
After that we spent the 2nd week at my parents place going to swimming pools, the beach and of course Calypso waterpark!  I spent the last 5 husbandless days doing some playdates with friends and a fab girls night out:)  I already miss my family like crazy and wish I could go back again this year:( BUT on a happier note my Mom plans to fly out hopefully in October.  Than we plan on doing our next trip early January so we can meet our new little nephew who is due around Christmas!!

Young Women's Teacher!

Shortly after Gracie"s birthday I was asked to be the Mia Maids Teacher in the Young Women's at church...this is a calling that I have always been so worried about getting, but it turns out it's awesome!  I teach the 14-15 year old girls in our church for an hour and it is really fun and uplifting...I couldn't have asked for a better calling for me at this time in my life.

3 months of catch up!

I cant believe i'm 3 months behind! I've had no desire to blog...Summer is just way to fun and busy! But I NEED to do this so today is the day to catch up so all our wonderful memories will never be forgotten:)

Happy 2nd Birthday Grace!!

 What an exciting day! Seriously though...once we told Grace that her birthday was coming soon...everyday the week before her birthday she would say with so much excitement, 'Its my Burfday!".  I decided to go with doing big girl things the week before since she was so pumped...I started napping her in Parks' room and made the bottom bunk all girly for her.  Than soon after it was a fight to get her into her crib at nighttime. Soooo a few days before her birthday she started sleeping in her BIG GIRL BED:) It was a pretty painless transition, first week I would lay with her until she'd fall asleep (about 10mins). Than I explained just a few days ago that she needed to stay in her bed and no more sleeping with Mama...after a little force and patience, she stays in her bed with no problem and goes to sleep right away:) We've had to cut her nap time down to an hour max otherwise she stays up too late.  Ofcourse that wasn't enough growing up, so that week before her big day i started getting her to use the potty...she would always strip her diapers off all day long, so everytime she used the potty Parks and I would clap and make a BIG deal about what a big girl she was...and within 3 days, no more diapers!!!!! She wet the bed once because she didn't pee before bedtime...that last pee is crutial, but besides that she's diaperless day and night:)
Now a week of being a 2 year old she is a pro, she put her princess seat on the toilet, pushes her stool, climbs up all by herself....than yells for me to wipe her!  Its awesome:) During all this I also stopped giving her her bottles too!!  That was more of a challenge for me more than anything because I just love holding her and watching her suck and look so little and sweet....she couldn't care less about not having it...she asks every now and again, but we just change the topic and she forgets:) She weighes almost 29lbs now!  And is healthy and happy as can be:) The night before her birthday we did a family dinner at Gran and Grandad's house with Mark&Merrick and Anders, Barb&Ben, Rachel and Emma, Mike with Reed, Isabelle and River, Grandad and Uncle Paul!  Grace was thrilled with all the attention..and especially being sung Happy Birthday to...she had the sweetest smile on her face.

 The next day was her Birthday Party at our house!  We had 13 little people running around everywhere, balloon twisting, horrible disaster 'pinterst' birthday cake and lots of other goodies, followed by presents!  It was a great day for her and she had so much fun with all her friends:)

The cake was a pain in the butt, but the marshmellows on a stick were cute and very popular:)

Parrttyyy! 

Balloon Twisting was a hit! Thanks to Sara Beth!

Grace was sooo happy with her balloon 'doggie' 

What's a party without the babies...Talia, Brock and Royce (we missed out on pics with 2 month old beauties Cait and Lillian).

Soooo pretty, Grace and Vida Lyons (and yes they are a mini Matt and mini Brandon!) 

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday!

Make a Wish! 

May Long Weekend

We went up to the Lake for the first time this year for May Long Weekend, the weather was pretty nice for May and we had a great time.  We arrived a day before everyone else because of Matts schedule and had to leave a day earlier.  The first night that we arrived Parks was so excited to start fishing, so he and Matt worked together and caught one right away!! The kids were pumped:)  The rest of the family arrived for the weekend the next day/night...Parks ended up catching his first fish all by himself!! and it was BIG too! It was nice to all be together...Rob& Tammy +5 kids, Barb&Ben +2kids, Mike&Jess+3 kids, Mark&Merrick +1 kid, Mum&Dad and us:)

The first catch of the weekend:)

Parks' first Fish!! 

Twins:) 

Enjoying the view;) 

The Lake Life...gum boots and underwear