the party is over

Well the birthday was a hit. The girls all had fun and I am tuckered out..

I think I will let the pictures tell the story tonight.

just what I wanted
Oh cool
Karrisa and Robyn scrapbooking
Erin Scrapbooking
I love scrapbooking

Teaching her little cousin how to bake with her new "easy bake" oven.
the kids baking up a storm.
Destiny and kaity
proud to be eight
my cake
love my horse cake
I got 3 boy friends.. oh no..!
not boys!
birthday girl

boys vs girls

Well Destiny is going to be 8 tomorrow.

She has two friends with her tonight and boy oh boy... Well really... Girl ohhhh Girl.
She is having a prebirthday party sleepover ... which I think would be a princess party.. but oh no... note to self no odd numbers when you are dealing with girls.
I sort of remember something about that when I was little... Any way my question is why are boys and girls so different?
Two weeks ago, Hayze had 2 friends over, one of the best times in months.. Destiny has two girls over and I am mediator and referee to she said, she did, I don't want to.. etc. Not that they are really bad ... they are just really different.
Why?
the girls

Well I am all set up for the craft that I am going to have them make and the table is ready.. I am sure the girls are going to have a blast.

Twylla brought over the cake today. She won't beable to make it for the party so she delivered it today.. How spoiled am I? not only does she make the cake she delivered it too..
the cake

Happy birthday baby.. I hope that this birthday brings you tons of joy and that you have another fabulous year.


love mom.

A NEW LAYOUT

Well the children are both at sleepovers and Jim is rodeoing..
I cleaned my office today so what better place to be but at my computer.
I bought and downloaded some new digi scrapping kits and did a page tonight.
I really like the paper in this kit... let me know what you think.
Sping Concert 2007

I spent my evening mostly on Ikea goddess found some freebies there. If you are intersted in digi Scrapping there is a ton of sites. You could be days just following the likes from one site.

I had a very enjoyable night doing just that.
good night. 12:40 and got to work tomorrow.

would you eat this?

African-Thai Stew

Not something you would typically see on our menu, but we have committed to week nine of "The Dinner Fix" by Sandie Richards.
If you haven't tried any of her meal planning cookbooks (I have all four) you really should.


I went out Monday after printing my grocery list for week 9 off the Internet and picked up all my groceries for the week. Now we are committed.

African-Thia Stew was our third nights supper served with fresh veggies and dip..

We loved it.!!!!!!!!!..
Well Jim and I did.. In fact Jim said it was the best supper he has had in awhile.. that might have something to do with the fact that he made it... but it sure was tasty.. And the kids, they ate it.. not there favorite but ate it just the same.

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion
1 large sweet potato (1lb)

2 stalks celery
1/2 of a small green pepper
2 tsp fresh garlic

3 cups chicken broth
1 can chunky tomatoes
1 can chickpeas

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground Coriander
1 tsp tsp chili powder
2 tsp fresh ginger
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup raisins
3 tbsp peanut butter

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro. add to top.


Add ingredients in order up to lime juice.. simmer for 25Min's then add raisins and peanut butter simmer a few more minutes and top with cilantro.

VERY TASTY.

i am doing it..

Wasting time on my computer.. as some would see it. I call it getting interested again. I had such a fabulous weekend with my family I felt like I need to scrap it and share it with my family and friends.
Here is my digital layout for Hayze to bring in his 9th year.
what I do at nine
It feels good. Now I have to get some house work done before I pick up the kids for hockey practise.

a "real good day"

What makes a good day? I actually feel like I had a real good day today.. I am "happy'.
My son Hayze turned 9 today.. nine. I don't feel like I can have a 9 year old but I do and I am soon to have a 8 year old little girl in two week..

today was relaxed with nothing planned for a party. Hayze invited a few family friends but not a bunch of friends from school.. we had hot dogs and ate cake that he had asked Twylla to make.. It was really nice and relaxed.

Hayze played hockey today and scored a hat trick and received the hard helmet from the team for a job well done. That was a huge thrill for me..




hayze and cole drove his quad that he got from his grandma, and his sister and dad went for a horse back ride..


And what a great excuse to get rid of the Christmas decorations... Yes today was the day they finally came down.. better late then never.

yesterday Jim and I took Hayze and a couple of his friends, Kody and Jayse to the movie Alvin and the chipmunks.. So good. we all loved it.. .. Loved it...
then the boys went bowling.. I watched.. now that I think of it .. why did I not go shopping.. oh well the bowling entertainment was fabulous. then we came home and the boys played guitar hero that hayze got for his birthday.
It was a great birthday.. I hope that he loved it as much as I did.. it has been great.

I loved today..!!

Funny How Life Changes Things

Well it has been over 4 months since I have posted anything and I realized that I need to get back at it.. If for nothing else to spark my interests again in all my hobbies of pictures, scrapbooking and my computer.

The time since I have posted has been a world wind of emotion and activity.

Losing my mother continues to leave me with such an emptiness that I didn't even know was possible. As the days move forward it is becoming more real for me that she is gone and my loss continues to grow. I am sure, as they say, time will help fill the void. Time has pretty big shoes to fill..
Kids are a wonderful buffer for times of grief. I have thought over the last few months, that is one of the main reasons God so graciously have us children, to ease the pain. They miss their grandma terribly and have fantastic memories that we encourage them to share with us all the time. They do remember all the funny stuff and help me lift my sorrow.







The kids lives are very active too, so their activities keep us on the run and busy with our time.. Hockey, Ringette and Rodeo are great ways for us to stay active and involved. When I returned home the end of September it was right back into life as we know it and all the runny around it includes.






Christmas was hear at home. Opening gifts with the kids and relaxing. We haven't yet had the time to rip everything open but the gifts were all so fabulous.
We left for Melfort on the 26th to be with family and stayed for a week. The time at home was probably what I needed to move on in some areas... Just to be able to smell my moms cloths and remember her smell for a brief moment was great.
The tradition of Santa coming was continued on new years eve with all the family there. It was nice for the kids and familiar for the rest of us.



Our family left the 2nd of January to come home and then me and the kids left for Red Deer the following day for a ringette tournament for Destiny.
She did very well, getting a hat trick in the first game and a goal in each of the following games. I am so very proud of her progress.
We are off to rodeo this afternoon and I am excited about the kids learning some roping techniques this year at rodeo club.

Happy New Year to everyone and hope that my post was not to much of a downer.. However.. It feels good to be writing again and maybe,, just maybe just writing how I feel will help me feel better today..
I feels good to get my "Beyond Obstacles" attitude back.

I wana be a Cowgirl

Well as the summer is drawing to a close Rodeo is going full force. 2 weeks ago at the little britches rodeo Destiny kicked some but and won 3 halters, 2 t-shirts, a ball cap, a metal plus after winning the barrel race, pull bending, key hole and goat scramble she ended up winning "all around cowgirl" for all ages and took home $175 dollars and a saddle pad. I am not sure who was prouder.. Her or her dad. Hayze has been doing quite well too. He is a little more cautious but has a nice style. He will be in the same age category this weekend as his sister.. I am not sure how that will go.. He just bought himself a new horse and he is currently out riding it as I type. The kids are getting good at going out and catching their own horses and getting more independent. This is good news considering the Winter series starts at the end of Sept.

Here is Destiny in the practice pen last night.


We are off to Patricia little Britches rodeo this weekend and we are going to make a weekend out of it. We are taking our holiday trailer with us and Stacey and her kids and Karla and her family are going to be with us. It should be fun.!

completed project..

Well the shed is complete.... on the outside. We worked on it yesterday afternoon and got it to this point.




I still have to do the inside and organize it for the garden tools and lawn mower but it feels good to get the outside done.

Our Tiger lilies are blooming and look really good...




Our flower beds are going to be great next summer.. However I am struggling with a bad weed in the beds.. I think I got it from the horse poo that I got from the pasture. It is a nasty.. any advice?

Great Adventure

Well My old college roommate has just returned from Africa and has shared her story with her friends. It is an amazing journey and I am very proud of her for doing it.
I wanted to share her story and some of her photos with you.
....................................................................................


So it was touch and go a few times but I made it back alive!!! I really don't even know where to begin to tell anyone what we saw or what we went through...every day was an adventure!

Day 1 involved a close call with elephants...I have never been so scared in all my life!! After running for dear life we managed to get to our first camp safely!

Day 2 was a very long day we hiked 12 kms in about 7 hours...the climb up Kili is to be taken pole, pole (slowly, slowly). It was a long day...to top it off...I got sick that night.

Day 3 this morning was not good for me, I was sick from altitude and was afraid to go any further...I thought if I am getting sick now it is only going to get worse...Thomas our guide was great...he went through all the symptoms with me and felt it was safe for me to go on...he let me take the lead...and trust me...this day we went pole, pole, pole...slowly, slowly, slowly...I was weak and exhausted, but we made it to our next camp.

Day 4 I felt much better today, but thankfully Thomas still carried my back pack...we made much better time and got to Kibo Hut, where most of the routes to the summit lead. When we signed in and told them we had taken the Whiskey Route (the Rongai Route) to get there...they were much impressed.

Day 4 - 5 It was Lana's turn to get sick...we were up with her most of the night...she was much worse than I had been.

At midnight they woke us up to make a push for the summit...to be honest...it was awful. It was cold, dark, and with only 50% oxygen, we were weak and fatigued quickly.

At 6:30 a.m. on August 4, 2007, we reached Gilman's Point. I started to cry, I was frozen and just wanted to go back down. Due to fatigue, nausea and cold we all decided to go back down at this point. We didn't make it to the summit of Uhuru, but we had made it to the top of Kilimanjaro. Mission accomplished...time to get the heck of this mountain!!

Day 6 After hiking for 15 hours the day before, we woke up at a beautiful camp in the rain forest. With only 3 hours ahead of us to get out of the park we were anxious to get going. I don't think I was the only one with tears in my eyes when we finally saw the gates. We had made it!!

Dineen







Dineen is the girl in the middle.

Way to go girl.. Great memories.

Summer lovin'

Well the summer has been very great.. the weather hot and doing some activities witht he kids. Boating was fun in July but has come to a halt with the boat doing everything short of exploding the last trip out.
It is funny how we all say how fast the summer is going.. I know that I say that every summer and in the winter 2 month can drag for what feels like eternity.

I have been juggling the kids from house to house for child care and they have been having a really good time with that too.. Maureen our regular babysitter has just taken them swimming for the last three days and there grandpa Jack is going to watch them again tomorrow. We had Shelby over to babysit one day.. She lives just down the road. and a friend Michelle watch them one day and Hayze finally got to go biking in town for the first time. So they really haven't noticed how hard it has been on me to juggle them around.

Next week Hayze is in hockey school and the week after the kids are going to Saskatchewan for a few days and then I will meet them there and we will finish our summer off there.. How lucky are we... ..




Our family and friend garden continues to flurish. We are working on our yard as we can and we just got more sod laid.. It feels that it is starting to come together.
Going to get some fencing done and then we can let some animals lose on this overgrown grass then.... it will look good.

never ending, never ending, never ending, never ending

the yard continues to grow out of hand and we are working at it when we can. tonite we have decided not to do anything out doors and relax. Last nights project was to move the little shed back to where it was but move the door so it faces the other direction. With two nites of stess and destruction of the shed.. it is moved.
We will get it back together, make it into a garden shed. add some rock and forms around it and it will look good as new.. the shingles are still good..


the kids are fishing with their grandpa jack and joyce tonite down by the river.
sleeping in a tent and entering a derby.. I bet they are having a blast. they forgot the camera so they will have to just share there stories..

Lane and Victoria

I went home this weekend to be with my mom and dad and go to my cousin Lane's wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and we all had a very nice time. I was able to take some family picutes of our little family and ended up taking well over 400 pictures on the whole weekend with the help of Hayze.
Tough enough to wear pink

We danced until passed midnight and mom even got up to shake a leg.


The kids got to meet new cousins and spent time with their older cousins. they had so much fun.


Thanks Lane and Victori for the nice time. We really enjoy our tour of your home and the visit. We truly wish that you are able to visit us sometime.

July 4.....

I went home to be with my mother for an apointment in Saskatoon. My whole family was able to be there aswell as Cousin Stan... Who picked me up at "old mcdonalds" resort for a couple night stay in Saskatoon.

This was a outcome of setting the timer and getting a group photo with everyone and the boys in there new straw hats.

Making the best of It

We took the boat out yesterday, to lake Mcgregory for the day.. Well, morning really. It turned out quite cold and the kids were not all that excited about going in the water. Hayze tried knee boading about 6 times. Almost pulled himself up, he got tired from so much pulling and then Jayse tried. He pulled himself up after the second try.. Had to let go quite early thow because his little hands were freezing. We have decided that 30 above is nice boating weather.



Destiny going to bring us into shore.







We made the best of our cool day and stopped and had a campfire on our way out. It was a lot of fun. Hayze had picked out some lunchable for the kids and they had those little weiners in them. We found some really little twigs and the cooked them over the fire.. We had a lot of laughs over these little weiners.. Jim and I even grilled our ham and cheese sandwiches. It turned out to be a nice trip to the lake.

When we got home I got the kids to help weed the "family and friends garden". I had to pay them each 5 bucks... and tell them they could spend it on anything they wanted...It looks beautiful.. with 5 of us doing it.. I think they got over paid...
We went into walmart ... Hayze and Jayse saved there money and Destiny and Kadin bought gold fish... .18 cents each.. they still have money left over... Yes.!!! Fish.. they are in Distiny's room... Sparkle, Dazzle and little Ememe...(hayze named that one.)

got to use our Gazebo last night to eat supper. jim and I moved it onto our cement pad.. It was so nice to not have bugs and just sit and visit with Stacey and Jim for a little while.
This morning I woke up to the sound of metal rolling past my bedroom window.. Yes it didn't make the huge wind storm that blow through... I will see if we can fix it.. if not.. I guess I am not buying the new furniture that is on sale for outside.. I had it pickout to go inside the Gazebo... Oh well... Will have a look when Jim gets home.. I can't lift it myself.
Have a great day.