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.

Friends and Family Garden

I wanted to share some picutres of the flowers growing in our garden. These are just a couple of the examples that a blooming so beautifully.
We will take a complete picture of our flowers in the middle of the summer when our bed looks a little better.
We really want to thank everyone for everything that special day. We are so bless that we were able to have you all hear with us.

recent layout.

Gentleness
Destiny was one of 7 kids in her school to receive an award.
She received her award for her Gentleness towards others.
It was a nice ceremony at school, and our friend Jayse won the award for "Self Control".
I am very proud of both of them.

Family and Friends

Hello, I am back from planning, prepairing and cleaning up after our "family and friends" party. We had a absolute blast last weekend and I can't wait to see everyones photos. i was so busy running around I didn't get really any pictures of the event. If you have photos will you please let me know so I can get a copy of them.
I had a ton of help and a lot of people brought food. I didn't even get a picture of the mounds of food that we had. Thanks to everyone and a special thanks to Maureen my sister in law for all the hard work the day of the party cutting and prepairing food and getting everything out. I really felt blessed to have her here.
It was good to have all our family come from Saskatchewan for the weekend.

Jim's family all made it as well except his sister. I am sure we will catch up again this summer.

Well, if you are reading this post can you please just leave a simple comment ... such as hi or read it.. or something.. not sure if it is even getting read and purhaps I am wasting a lot of my time. It still is fun though... I did recently join facebook.. that was addicting at first too.. I do still love to blog.. please read it!!

Getting Ready.

JUMPing for JOY
I have spent two sleepless nights getting ready in my mind for our family party.
I can't wait to have all my family here. It is coming fast and I have just got a couple of things to finish and then, just the decorating .. which are going to be simple. Bright colors is simply my theme. Orange is the color of choice.

I have set up our gazeboo I bought at the end of the season last year. Jason, Tanya, and Stacey helped.
I hope to have some activities for the kids and the adults will entertain themselves I am sure.
I will post pictures of the whole event.
twink

Happy Birthday Tanya

Well life continues to be busy and out of control. Have been busy planning for the family Adoption party that we are have on the 16Th. If you haven't replied to let us know if you are coming can you please email us and let us know.
Our basement is getting closer to completion. I Finished the floor yesterday, Jim and I finished the baseboards last night. Just have to do some trim in the play room and paint the doors do some final cleaning and hook up the TV.. and we are done.....It has been a long time coming but I can see the end in sight.
Baseball was cancelled due to rain last night. what a relief! Jim is helping coach and have one extra night at home has made a difference due to the fact he is leaving today for a 3 day rodeo excursion.
Tanya Birthday.
We had a fantastic day in Okotoks. Something different and out of the ordinary for the day.

What a great way to spent June 5, 2007
The Birthday Purse
the birthday ring
We each got a spa service at a spa in Okotoks. It is alway fun to do something like that at a spa away from work. We were not totally impressed but enjoyed the time together and learned that Bangles is still the place to go..!!
Another "Self Portrait"

It was a great day with friends. Happy Birthday Tanya.. Glad to be your friend.

Canmore Alberta

may long weekend

Pretty Purple Pj's

Pretty in Purple
After a long day of playing, Destiny was ready for a bath and what better to put on after a bath but a new pair of pj's.
I picked these silky bottom pajamas up at Costco the other day and they are supper cute.
I am playing with the settings and lighting of my new camera. I got about a 45% success rate tonite. Not bad considering I am just playing around. I do have to really use my tripod in low lite settings. I am getting a lot of blurry pictures.

I am really loving my new toy.. I took a ton of pictures in Canmore on the long weekend. I am pleased with the way they turned out and will share theme when I get them all sorted out.. I took a lot.!!