Easter Break

Eater break came at a much needed time!  The kids needed a break from school and I needed a break from work!!  Friday Emry pitched in and helped me organize the basement and put it in order!! We got the majority of it finished that day and Saturday was dedicated to cleaning the rest of the house!

Saturday night the kids dyed eggs to be hidden by the Easter Bunny Monday morning!  But I forgot to set the eggs out Sunday night for him to hide them!! Oops!!! Oh well, the kids got spoiled with lots of chocolate Easter eggs hidden all over the house!

Sunday we had a nice dinner with the Puzey clan at Myrna's house!  Everyone was able to make it and it was a beautiful day to send the kids outside on a treasure hunt!  My dad was able to be apart of the Puzey celebrations too, it was nice to have him with us!  The meal was to die for, prime rib with all the fixings...sooooo yummy!!!!  The kids played, the adults visited and then we had a little session of reminiscing about ancestors past!  This was great to hear what others remembered about family.

Monday we had another nice dinner at my mom's.  Again it was a beautiful day!  We all headed out for a walk over the hills.  We found some water and decided it would be a great place to stop for a break!  Calum loved walking through the water getting absolutely soaked!  Some of the others on our walk grabbed rocks and skipped them across the water!!  Jared being the champion making it clear across the pond!  It was great catching up with everyone!!

Tuesday Jared was back at work but the kids and I were home.  Emry's ankle had really been bothering her all weekend so we took her in to the clinic to have it checked out!! Nothing was broken or fractured but ligaments were swollen.  So she was prescribed an anti-inflammatory and hope for the best!!  Later that day she had a dentist appointment to fill a couple of small cavities!  Wednesday we were home, it was nice and relaxing!

Thursday I had to return the sleep machine I had been trial using.  I found out I have sleep apnea, I was waking up 25 times every hour before the machine and under 4 times per hour with the machine.  So it really does make a difference and boy have I noticed!  So the plan was to purchase one, thankfully our Alberta Blue Cross covers it 100%!  Calum came with me to Lethbridge and we were able to get a few groceries before heading home!

Friday was a kind of blustery day, so the boys and I headed into Vulcan to register the kids for golf!

Saturday we had friends moving out of their home in Carmangay to another house in Barons.  So we headed out to help them move and clean their old place!  It only took a few hours and we were back at home doing chores around the house!  Jared and I headed into Lethbridge that evening to help my uncle celebrate his birthday!  We had lots of fun bowling and visiting with new and old friends!

The week also entailed lots of checking cows since we are heavy into calving.  Every time it was Jared's turn to check he would let Fender into our house to lay in the entry way so he couldn't be a pest with the momma cows out in the field.  He was usually such a good boy laying at the foot of the step.  But once I came out and caught him on the hardwood laying ever so casually by the chair!  Naughty boy!!

Gibson is always so good with the cows and goes out to check all the time!  He is also so good with the outside farm cats we have.  I caught this picture of him with limpy, catching the afternoon sun!!

It was a great week off!!  And much needed!!  Summer will be here before we know it!

Calving

April for us marks the start of calving!  Our first calf born was so tiny, small enough that he could walk right under his moms tummy.  He is starting to act a little more spunky now that he's a few days older.  As of this morning we are up to 10 calves, healthy and happy to be born!  I love seeing them in the field and I love checking them with Jared. Emry has been going out early in the mornings with Jared and doing that check, she loves it!!! She is such a natural with the cows and loves every minute of it!

Day With Mom

Yesterday Calum was sick so I brought him to work with me.  He was a trooper and didn't complain once about being bored.  He brought his iPod and he drew and made stuff with paper.  We went for a walk to the bakery for a snack and later we had lunch at my desk together.  He showed me some videos and we ordered him a new case for his iPod.  Needless to say he wanted to come with me again today, oops!!!  Maybe we had too much fun!  But he's still not feeling well so he needed to rest at Grandma's house!  I love that boy to bits!!!

Our Cat

I was going through the pictures on my phone and have come to the realization that we have a very spoiled cat!!

All the kids love him to pieces and Jared too!! If you ever want to hear Jared talk cutesy to something listen to him talk to our cat!!  Usually Marshmallow curls up with Jared on what we've dubbed their favourite chair. But the positions he can put himself in are very mind boggling! There is also a fight most nights on who gets to sleep with Marsh.  Funny enough he usually ends up sleeping with Jared and I, curled up between my legs, making it very uncomfortable to sleep!

But without this cat in our lives our home would not be the same!!  I feel it gives our kids a sense of responsibility when it comes to caring for Marshmallow.  Now that is getting nicer outside we find our kitty is out exploring more and playing like he really is a cat!!  None of this sleeping all day and all night anymore.  We sure love our cat and couldn't imagine life without him!

35 Years Old

How in the world am I 35?  It feels like I just graduated high school!!  I have so much to be thankful for this year, it truly has been a good year!  Every year I like to reflect on the blessings I have been given and the things I love and this year is no different!!

1. Jared, he truly is my best friend and I couldn't imagine life without all his crazy antics and insistent teasing!!!
2. Our three beautiful children!! Yes, they run me ragged but I love them so much!!
(Emry for her maturity and her never ending help.
Calum for his thoughtfulness-at the Kindergarten Supper Jared bought tickets for the bucket draws and gave 2 tickets to each kid.  There were lots of great things for kids to win-Lego, toys, stuffies-but Calum chose to put his two tickets in the bag to win a ring for me!!! He is so tender hearted, thinking of this still brings tears to my eyes!
Armin for his spunk, he is quite the comedian and I love how he can always make me laugh!!!)
3. My membership in a wonderful Church.  I honestly couldn't imagine where I'd be without such a wonderful purpose in my life!
4. My Savior, knowing that there is a plan for me and I'm not just here by chance really puts everything into perspective.  It is wonderful knowing there is more to this life than just existing and it is because of our Savior and His Atonement.
5. My mom and dad! They have given me so much and I know they are always there for me and they are wonderful friends and examples to me!
6. Myrna!! She is such a wonderful Mother in law and a great friend! I also admire her faith in the gospel and I hope one day to be as strong as she is!!
7. My sister!!  She is such a great example of hard work to me, and is a great friend, she's always there when I need a shoulder to cry on and I love her for it!!
8. My extended family!  I am thankful for the examples of each of them!  I have some pretty awesome nieces and nephews and great sister and brother in laws! They truly are my friends and I consider each one very special!
9. Our home!  Even though it is usually a disaster, I love making memories there with our kids.
10. My job at Rainbow Literacy.  I love the ladies I work with and the job has really made me stretch.  I am thankful I have had the opportunity to learn and grow!
11. The land we live in, I enjoy so many freedoms here in Alberta!  I love looking out my window and seeing nothing but fields and blue skies!
12. Spring!!! I love this time of year when new life takes place!!! We will be having calves soon and I love witnessing their birth!
13. Our community! I am thankful to be apart of wonderful people who are always looking out for each other!
14. Massages!
15. New clothes!
16. Technology! I love having access to what others are up to right at my finger tips!
17. Camping!  I look forward to camping with our kiddos again this summer!  We always have such a great time exploring new places!
18. Trek! I am super excited to be apart of Trek this summer with our Stake.  I am nervous about being a Ma to some of the youth but I am grateful I get to do it along side Jared!  The youth of our Church are so strong, I just hope I can be an example to them!
19. Chocolate Milk or anything chocolate in general!!! It always makes me feel better!!!
20. Reading! I love to read any type of book!
21. Writing! I love to write, I guess that's why I do my blog!!
22. My favorite season is Autumn, I love how the colors change from green to yellow and orange and brown!  I love the long Indian Summers we often get throughout the Fall!
23. Music! Jared has gotten me liking some pretty funky bands that I never would have discovered without him!
24. Movies!  I love our Sunday ritual of watching movies as a family.
25. SLEEP!! I love sleep, especially in my super comfy bed!
26. Weekend getaways!  I'm thankful Jared knows that sometimes I just need a break away from everything except him!  Even if its only for one night!!
27. A clean house.  It really brightens my mood and everything seems to run much more smoothly when our house is clean!
28. Walking!  I hate to run but I really enjoy going for walks!
29. The smell of cinnamon!  I could smell it all day and never get tired of it!
30. Trying new recipes.
31. Our little School!  I love the small classes the kids are in and the new opportunities they have each day to learn and grow!
32. Christmas! I love the sights, the sounds and the smells of Christmas.  I love spending time at home with my family!
33. Warm sweaters and cozy slippers!
34. Our pets!  I love that our dogs guard the farm and bark whenever someone strange comes into the yard.  And our cat, Marshmallow!!! I love how he curls up between my legs at bedtime!
35. Another year to celebrate who I am!

That shouldn't have been as hard as it was!  But I am grateful for it all!  I am grateful to be me and for the opportunity I have to learn and grow in different ways each year!

Kub Kar Building

This year Calum is old enough to participate in the annual Kub Kur Rally for Cubs!!  He is so excited!  He and Jared got to work looking for ideas on what shape to cut into their block of wood. Calum had grand ideas of objects from the Legend of Zelda game that Jared had to gently talk him out of saying it would be impossible to cut those from the block of wood they had!!!  Jared suggested the shape of the electric guitar he got for Christmas and Calum readily agreed!!  Jared drew the design on the block of wood and together they went out to the shop to cut and sand it!

After the sanding came the painting, Calum chose to paint the body of the guitar orange and the neck brown!  Calum was very meticulous with his painting and did a great job!

Finally the trial race at the Church came and Calum had fun racing against his friends!  His car wasn't the fastest but he was loving every minute of it!  After the races were all done, a friend suggested Calum turn his car around and race it backwards, keeping all the weight in the back.  So he tried it and it turned out to be much faster, neck and neck with Blake's car whose was the fastest!!  Too bad we didn't think of that for the actual races!  Oh well, the Stake Kub Kar Rally is still to come and he will race it the fast way that day! 

He had so much fun with his Dad building this car!  Armin was quite put out that he didn't get to build one but his time will come and for now I'm glad Calum had this time with his dad!

Kindergarten Sweetheart Supper

Saturday was Armin's Kindergarten Supper, a fundraiser held each year to raise money to keep our private kindergarten private!  We need funds to pay our teacher and classroom assistant, and to buy supplies for the kids.  Not a lot of expenses but enough that we still need to fundraise.

The theme for the evening is usually a Sweetheart theme because it is held near Valentine's Day.  All the parents help in some capacity, decorating, food prep, buying items for the auction and going to local businesses to get donations for the night!  We were supported really well by our community and had lots of items for the auction and the bucket draws.  We even had lots of items for door prizes as well.  I was able to go and get items for the auction with cash donations we were given and I had lots of fun doing that!

Armin was beyond excited for this night, he got all dressed up in a shirt and tie and looked so handsome! His class is quite small this year, only 5 little kids and one of those 5 is away in Mexico for the winter, so 4 of them performed at the fundraiser and did an awesome job!  They have been learning a lot about polar bears these past few months so they chanted a poem about polar bears.  Each kid had a part to say on their own.  They also did a song that is quite popular:

"Hey Armin?"
"Hey What?"
"Are you ready?"
"For what?"
"To Pop!"
"Pop what?"
"Pop c co!"
"My hands are high, my feet are low and this is how I pop c co!"

And then they do some action, Armin chose to snap his fingers while jumping up and down!  The talent that kid has!  And for the four of them they were so loud, they didn't even need to use a mic!

We were able to raise a good chunk of money despite the low numbers we had out to the dinner.  It was a great night, with fun had by everyone there!