Finally a Break!!!!!!

Jared and I have been going to Kalispell since very early in our marriage!!! In fact we went with mom and dad Puzey six weeks after our wee little Emry was born!!! Jared and his dad rode their motorcycles and mom, Emry and I drove the truck!!! When Emry was older we discovered Jared's childhood memory of going to the Columbia Falls water park, and since then we haven't been able to NOT go!!! Emry would start asking shortly after returning home when we woukd be going to Kalispell again!!! It has become a fun, family tradition!!! Two summers ago we asked Dave and Char if they would bring their family so we could all enjoy the fun of the wonderful slides!!  Last summer Char suggested we make a get together for the entire Puzey clan!! So last summer all the Puzey's were able to take a day and go to the Columbia Falls Waterslides, minus me unfortunately because I had to work :( even though they had a blast last year Jared vowed he would not do it in one day again!! Our kids were good but driving 5 hours to get to the slides, sliding for 8 hours and then driving another 5 hours home makes for a very long trip!!! This year Jared and I decided to get a hotel room and make a bit of a holiday of it!!! Myrna was able to ride and stay with us which made the trip even more fun!!!  Our first adventure was seeing an Elk not far from our home!!!

We got to Carston around lunchtime and decided to get some food in us before the longest leg of our journey began!!

 

Friday was a hot and windy day but we still stopped on Logan's Pass to take some pictures and go for a little walk!!! I love Logan's Pass, I love the altitude you climb in a very short amount of time!!!!  I love the waterfalls, the weeping walls, the wildlife, the man made rock barrier walls!!! We stopped at a beautiful waterfall just off the main road and did a bit of exploring and picture taking!!!

 

 

 

 

Once we got to Kalispell we checked into our hotel then ventured out for supper before letting the kids burn off some energy swimming in the hotel pool!! We were the only family at the pool plus a baseball team of teenage boys!!! When we first got in the pool the boys were doing some pretty intense stunts into the pool!!! Our boys were fascinated!!! The teenage boys would put the lounge chair near the pool and then one at a time the boys would run towards the chair and do some sort of flip over top of it into the water!!! After watching for a bit I noticed Calum trying some of their stunts and then he even got a chair himself, but we had to kibosh that idea before he hurt himself!!! 

Saturday morning we all slept in a little making us miss the continental breakfast :( but we got ready and packed our pool bags and headed to McDonalds for breakfast! After we were on our way to the Waterslides!!! It was so much fun with all the Puzey clan there to share in the fun!! We hardly saw Emry as she was hanging out with Leah most of the time!!! The boys were able to ride all the slides by themselves and seemed to love the independence!!! They were able to go on every slide except the straight down one, Geronimo!!! Though Armin thought differently!!! He escaped the warmth of the hot tub and headed toward the little white slide that he could do all by himself, he bypassed that slide and by the time Jared could catch him he had made it all the way up the stairs for Geronimo only to be carried down by the lifeguard!!! Jared found him with his head resting on the steps pouting!!! It didn't take long for him to get over it once he was given some watermelon!!! We slided for almost 8 hours!!! It was a blast!!! The boys couldn't get enough of the tube slides!! 

After the day with all the Puzey's we all went our separate ways.  We had our hotel for another night so we could take our time getting home!! We went to eat at the yummiest place to eat in Kalispell, "Famous Dave's" it is a BBQ joint that serves many super tasty BBQ varieties on top of a garbage can lid!!!! It was yummy!!!

It was a late night but everyone was exhausted and we all went right to sleep!! The next morning we got up and slowly packed our things before we went out for brunch!! We slowly made our way home back over the Logan's Pass, which was a good thing since our van is definitely on its last leg of life. We actually did have trouble near the top of the pass! Jared thinks maybe just maybe the van was vapor locked. It wasn't overheating and it had a full tank!! It was hot and it did have to work quite hard going up the mountain!! We actually decided to stop at the pull out near the top of the pass to take pictures of the mountain goats!! We didn't know anything was really wrong with the van until we stopped!! It was shaking but we had stopped so we just turned it off and got out to look around!! We saw a mountain goat momma with her baby and we got some cool pictures!!! 

Thankfully while we were letting our van rest Jared spotted a tow truck from the top of a trail we were on and with our camera zoomed in on the door to get the phone number in case we would be needing a tow!!!!

After letting our van rest for an hour and half we got in and prayed it would start and stay running!!! Well our prayers paid off and down the mountain we went, our van working perfectly!!! We got into Cardston around 8:30pm and had some supper and then while the sun was setting we stopped to take pictures of the temple!!!! Jared really is a great photographer and got some unique shots!!

So despite the little hiccup on top of Logan's Pass we had a wonderful trip!!! It was a much needed break, but not nearly long enough! I am thankful for my family immediate and extended! I'm thankful for the fun we have when we are all together! I'm thankful we share the same values, and that we all have the same goals!!! 

Funding Our Local Hospital

The past month has been plagued by hospital trips for our family!! It started with Myrna who called us early one morning quite short of breath and asked us to call an ambulance and have Jared come over. She had been quite dizzy all through the night and it just got progressively worse. Once taken to Vulcan she was doing much better and they were able to determine it was Vertigo. Jared took her up to Calgary to have a CT scan to rule out blood clots! She was able to go home but it took awhile for her to get her bearings back.

The next trip was for Armin, he had been waking up with goopey eyes for a few days and it only seemed to get worse.  The day I decided to take him into the doctor his eye was swollen shut and the skin all around the eye was red, in a perfect circle.  We went to the walk in clinic and waited 2 hours when we were finally transferred over to the emergency room. It was busy and rather full! The doctor looked in on us as he was passing by and did a double take when he saw Armin's eye. All he said is "that's not pink eye and it could be quite serious, I'll be back as soon as I can to check it out." So guess what I did, panicked!  I texted Jared but he was not responding with a speedy reply, so I texted Myrna.  At 8 pm Jared surprised me when he came into the hospital, Myrna had gone to get him from the field since by then my phone had died.  The doctor did come back in not long after first poking his head in and he was able to determine what Armin had was a skin infection around his eye, and if not treated properly it could move into the brain causing the eye to go blind, and in more severe circumstances it could move into the spinal column. So after being there for 7 hours and Armin sitting so still and being so awesome while giving blood for a test we were sent home with antibiotics. The blood test determined there was indeed an infection as well it also showed that he is anemic, something I always suspected because he is soooo pale, but that is something we will have to deal with later.  The doctor decided not to send us to the children's hospital because Armin was so full of energy the entire time we were at the hospital.  The only reason to send us to the children's hospital would be to give him the antibiotics through intravenous so he would get them faster.  Never have I been so grateful for how energetic our boys are until then!!!!

The next episode was with me!! I felt fine all day, Emry and I even went out and watered trees, I was able to clean our house and catch up on laundry. Though at 6pm I started to feel a tightness in my chest and it hurt to take a deep breath and when I did I would instantly start coughing.  I ignored it because we had guests over for supper but once they had left and I was laying with Armin at bedtime I realized just how bad I was.  I was totally reminded of the symptoms when I had the pulmonary embolism. I texted Jared, he was out baling, and when he came in he told me I was going into the hospital. He didn't want to play around after what happened three and a half years ago.  So in we went. We were the only ones there and the doctor came quite quickly.  After listening to my chest, putting me on oxygen, taking a blood test and doing an ECG, the doctor determined my INR blood levels were in fact low (meaning my blood was thick) but no sign of a clot. And my ECG showed a normal heart rhythm so he decided what I was experiencing was adult induced asthma, brought on usually do to allergies.  I do suffer from hay fever and with all the forest fires around the province the smoke has been heavy in the air. And when the wind switched in the evening from the south to the north that is when I started to feel the tightness in my chest. I was sent home with a ventolin puffer which has been great.  I still feel tightness in my chest and if I happen to exert myself at all or even just walk up and down the stairs it is much worse. I take two puffs of the ventolin and I do feel much better.  I hope this isn't a lasting thing but I'm so thankful it wasn't a blood clot, I can live with asthma but I can't and might not live if I had another blood clot.

So with all our trips to the ER recently we have been joking that a wing of the hospital should be named after the Puzey's!!!!!!! We are all doing much better and are so thankful for the little hospital we do have, if making frequent trips there will ensure it always stays open I guess we are just doing our part!!

Have I Mentioned.....

Have I mentioned just how much I love to make cupcakes?  Well, I LOVE making cupcakes!! I love trying new recipes and tweeking them ever so slightly to make them better!!!! My sister invited us over for Lily's family birthday dinner. I asked her what I could bring and in brackets I put (CUPCAKES!!!!!) so to make an already short story even shorter, that is what I'm bringing!!!!!!! I have been wanting to try a toasted coconut chocolate cupcake recipe I found and this was the perfect opportunity!! Though instead of adding coconut extract (I didn't have any) I added actual toasted coconut!!! It gives the cupcake a neat texture with a tasty crunch!!!! The other cupcake I wanted to make was a Reece peanut butter cup cupcake!!! My sister loves peanut butter and since technically it was her birthday only three days ago I thought it rather fitting to make these to honour her!!!! And finally I made a blackberry lime cupcake for those non peanut butter lovers and those who are unfortunately allergic to coconut ( Mark)!!!!!! I was finally able to use my vanilla beans for this recipe, so fun!!!!! I also added fresh blackberries to the batter and baked them inside, a tart little surprise in every bite!!!! The icing was not working for me and after two attempts both ending up in the trash I made up my own icing!!! Instead of using cream cheese and whipping cream with the icing sugar (mostly because I ran out of these specific ingredients) I used butter and milk with icing sugar!!!! And instead of adding instant lime jello powder I used lime zest!!! Yummy!!!!!!! Instead of having a liquidish icing I was able to use a nice stiff icing!!!!  

So, the end result...... Amazing!!!!! I love! love! LOVE making cupcakes!!!!!!

Before and After

Emry got her braces put on today!!! She was a total trooper!  And she was excited!!! I think her braces really magnify her smile and now it truly does sparkle!!!!

Although, as we were driving away from the orthodontist, about two blocks away, she informs me that one of her metal things popped off! WHAT!!!!!! We had to get the van to Speedy Auto glass to replace the windshield so once we got there we called the orthodontist and they were able to fit us in at 4:40pm! Great the van would take at least two and a half hours!!!! All is well now!!! Though she doesn't quite grasp the concept of nine months because she asked if she would have her braces on still when we go to Kalispell! We are going on July 26th!!!!!!!!!!!! But I did inform her that the NEXT time we go to Kalispell she won't have them on!!! This seemed to appease her!!!!!

A Little Rearranging!!!

I finally found a little bit of motivation so I decided to give our living room an overhaul!! I swept and mopped and rearranged the furniture!!!  I like it, Jared not so much!!!! One thing I do agree with him on is the sofa table I put behind the sofa next to the railing, it looks a little funky!! But I won't admit that to him!!!! I also turned our dinning room table so it is perpendicular to our patio doors instead of parallel!! Jared doesn't like this either!!! I really do!!! I guess we will see how long this arrangement will last!!!

I'm Thankful to be Canadian

This Canada day was not nearly as exciting as past ones have been :( the day started too early for Jared, especially for a day off! 

The water co-op has been down for a few days now which has forced Jared to have to haul water for the cows. He also had to dig down to the line to make sure there wasn't a leak anywhere. The tank seemed to be emptying much too quickly. He found the problem, thankfully not too big of a deal, the tub was tipped just enough that the water would run out causing the float to trigger which then constantly filled! 

 After the water was taken care of Jared got things ready to move the bulls across the road and in with the cows! Mumbo was actually pretty good, he did shake his head at Jared and dig at the ground but once the gate was open he calmly walked across!! 

After moving bulls I helped Jared tow the one ton into the shop so Jared could start tearing the transmission apart so he can fix it!! Between all this I spent the day catching up on laundry and cleaning bathrooms!! 

We had been invited to my moms for hotdogs, swimming and fireworks! Before we went there Jared had asked her if we could borrow their big blue tank to haul water for the cows! She said sure, and as payment all Jared will have to do is haul water with it next summer to fill their pool!!! But in order for Jared to borrow the tank he first had to fix the hitch on our trailer!! He had to weld it back on in the heat!!! He was so thankful for the cold water in my moms pool!! 

We got to my moms at 7, the kids swam and jumped on the trampoline we roasted hotdogs and mom had all the kids do some races while we waited for the sun to set!!  Mark's daughter, Danielle, is out for a visit from Victoria with her two kids, Scarlett and Chase!! Scarlett and Emry are the same age and hit it off instantly!! 

With the sun finally down Mark started his firework show!!! Very, very impressive!!! Calum however thought differently!!! He was scared of the loud booms!! I think part of that was due to being much, much too tired!!!

So despite the lack of all day celebrating we did have a good Canada day!! I'm thankful to be living in such a wonderful country!! I love the many different cultures, the extreme changes in landscape, the unpredictable weather and the freedoms I enjoy!!! Happy 147th Canada day!!! I look forward to many, many more!!!