A Time to Celebrate

This past weekend was truly a busy one for us!  It all started on Friday when we went to Ag-Expo with my sister and her family, my mom and also my sister's father-in-law!  We had a great time and I can honestly say that the kids didn't stop smiling the entire day!  My mom, Arren and I split up from Buck and John and took the kids around much quicker than they were wanting to go.  We looked at the majority of the exhibits before lunch and then let the kids climb on the tractors while the guys were finishing up looking around the first section.  After lunch we gave the guys a bit of a head start and let the kids run wild on the bleachers.  When we rounded them up to go check out the rest they were all bright red in the cheeks and the boys were sweating quite profusely.  We went through the last section and I found myself a real prize...my very own cattle sorting stick!  I know it will never be taken by any of the guys because it just so happens to be pink!  It was neat to be back at Ag-Expo, I honestly haven't been since I was probably in junior high.  I had so much fun with my mom and sister!  I love them so much and I truly would not know what I would do without them in my life!  If they lived any farther away I think I would be utterly lost!  I am thankful we live as close to each other as we do and I am even more happy that we share such a strong relationship with each other!

Our future farmers...

...Or maybe not!! :)

Wow!  Do we ever belong to the same family!!

Even Armin got in on the tractor climbing!!

I thought this was pretty cool...I always wondered how the calves fit inside their mama's! 

Arren and my Mom!!

Wow!  That is quite a group, but we had a blast and amazingly no one got lost!!

That night I also went to a baptism, the first of Emry's class mates to be baptized this year, and the son of my super good friend in our ward!  It was such a nice baptism, I loved both the talks that were given.  Kacey's older brother gave the talk about baptism and did such a wonderful job, especially for only being 11!  And Kacey's grandma gave the talk about the Holy Ghost and even though she was speaking directly to Kacey she had my complete and undivided attention!  I was thankful to be able to go to his baptism especially since Emry is the next one in the long line of kids to be baptized this year!  I had tingly's in my tummy watching Kacey go under the water knowing that would soon be Emry!  I just can't believe she is old enough to be at the age of accountability!

The next thing on our busy weekend was celebrating Liam's third birthday!  Liam had invited Calum to come to the Bouncy House and then over to his house for a little party!  Myrna had taken Calum and Armin to the Bouncy House with Rachel and her boys while Jared and I were in Fairmont and Calum had an absolute blast.  Rachel said she thought Liam was a busy boy (which he is!), but she did tell her mom that Calum runs circles around Liam!  It was cute to see him playing with all the other kids, the more he ran the redder he got and the tighter his curls got!  You would have thought that the boys ran themselves to the point of exhaustion but they still ran wild at Rachel's too!

Calum was certain that this little boy was Armin, he was playing right beside him for quite awhile, and even tried to get in on the picture the little boy's mom was taking of him!! 

The lunch Rachel put on was perfect for little fingers!  All kinds of finger foods!

The birthday boy!

Jared put on a magic show for the kids and had them completely captivated! 

Max didn't want to miss anything so he kept his eyes pried open!

After Liam's party we headed over to the Holiday Bowl where we met Jared and Emry for Gilbert's 7th birthday party!  He had invited a few of his friends from school, including Emry, Calum and Armin.  We had fun bowling and after went to McDonald's for supper where the kids again ran wild on the play place!  I was sure the boys would instantly fall fast asleep on the way home but to my utter surprise they were both still wide awake when we pulled into the yard!  Not long after we got into the house though all three kids were out like a light.

Jared had to go up and rescue Calum from the top of the McDonald's play place.  As he was about to come down I could hear all the kids at the top egging him on to go down the slide!  Peer Pressure prevailed!!

Our celebration weekend ended after church today when we went to my sister's to celebrate the actual day of Gilbert's birthday just with family!  It was a fun afternoon with Gilbert's traditional Chilli Cheese Dog's!

The birthday boy!

Someone likes ice cream as much as his daddy!

It was a fantastic weekend, even if it was super busy!  We were able to spend it with some of our favourite people!  Jared was even able to get the painting finished upstairs in our house!  This next week will be dedicated to painting the basement!  I think the count down is soon to be on!  I should have a contest to see what the date will be when we finally get to move in!!