Birthdays!

September like quite a few other months in the year is a Birthday month at our house!

For the past couple years Mark and I have done the Melissa's Run in Banff. Last year it fell on the day of my birthday and this year it was the day after. We only ran the 10K this year and I'm pretty sure we won't ever do it again. The run was very crowded and it just felt like a bit of a let down after having run the 22K there before. It was a really fun little get away though and a great thing to do to celebrate being one year older!!

This little guy had a birthday this month too!!

Sam had a birthday on the 18th and believe it or not my baby boy is FIVE!!

I love this little boy and couldn't imagine my life without him in it. Each year when the air gets cool and the leaves begin to change I FALL even more in love with Sam and thank my Heavenly Father for the blessing that only He knew I needed!

I love you Sam... Happy Birthday!!

Peach Pies!!

My mom can do a lot of things. She really is one talented lady and I have always been grateful for the few skills she managed to pass along to me.

If you live in or around Magrath you might know that my mom can BAKE. Growing up we never knew what store bought bread tasted like. With 11 mouths to feed she made bread a lot! My Mom's "parker house rolls" are world famous (seriously, I have had perfect strangers in far away places tell me they have had my moms amazing rolls) and of course kids in Magrath for generations know her for her Halloween cookies! My kids and all their cousins will tell you that Grandma's homemade doughnuts are scrumptious and can put Tim Horton's to shame!! My brothers and sister and I were never hungry, the cookie jar at my house was well stalked for us and all the neighborhood kids to enjoy!! I, however, have a personal favorite and last weekend some of my kids and I drove down to Grandma's to have her help us make them...

PEACH PIES!!

Mom and Shaina putting the tops on the pies.

Some finished and some waiting for filling. Julie, who didn't manage to make it into any pictures, blanched and sliced peaches. I mixed the sliced peaches in the sauce and poured them in to the waiting pie shells. Grandma made the pastry and cut the tops.

Shaina was the "gofor" girl and helped with a bit of everything.

Doesn't that make your mouth water?? Delicious!!

Grandma put Julie and Shaina and I to work and we made 20 pies! We made them all Saturday down at the Stake Campground. We froze the pies and Monday we loaded them in to a cooler and brought them home. I now have 20 fresh peach pies in my freezer and can't wait till tomorrow night when we will bake and slice into the first one! What will be even better, is eating peach pie in the middle of February! If you're really nice to me and the stars are all aligned just right I might invite you over and let you have a taste!!!

Goodbye August

August was a busy fun filled month. We were able to spend time with family, eat good food, stay up late and enjoy the beautiful outdoors. For me that's what summer is all about! I am not ready to say goodbye to summer and all the fun that goes with it! Here are just a few (o.k more that a few) pictures of some of our summer time fun! 

Sisterly LOVE!!

Another fun family wedding- this is Annie and Aaron, they got married in Seattle at the very end of July. I was able to go to their wedding and spend a few days visiting Jim and Marie and their family.

Jim and Marie and their children

We babysat Lacy for a few weeks. It was fun to have two beagles around the house. I got more exercise those two weeks than I did all summer. Lots of dog walks in the ravine in the early morning hours and then the dog park at night.

Mark having a nice afternoon nap at the cabin

Max wakeboarding

Playing the favorite game of the summer "Werewolves"!

Mark getting some air!

Sammy discovered the lake this year-One day he actually swam around between the docks with out holding on to anyone. Next year he'll love it!!

The usual "Dock Wars"

We have a picture just like this one every year (except last year when we didn't go) for the last 15 years! We love going to the cabin and are so grateful to Uncle Brent and Aunt Julie for sharing their little piece of "Heaven on Earth" with us every summer!!

Julie made Pie!

Max did too!

We had a little pie tasting event... Max's won!!!

Speaking of Max- He has been a major source of entertainment for the little kids all summer! At the beginning of the summer I was thinking that he really needed to go find some kind of a job, it wasn't too long after that I was very happy that he was around during the day. Shaina, Dallin and Sam won't ever forget this game... "Tree Man" Good Times!!!!

I LOVE these two crazy boys! 

Dallin at the St. Albert skate park.

I went down to Texas with Maryn to get her all set up in her new apartment. She is sharing a very tiny bedroom with her new friend/roomate Kaitlyn. We spent two days straight going back and forth between her place to Walmart and Target. It was very hard to say goodbye, but unlike a mission  we can talk, text, and skype anytime and she will be home to visit at Christmas! Speaking of missions, Russell is over the half way mark Yeah! I would post a picture of him if he's send home his memory card!!  Maryn started her Dental Hygiene program yesterday and is feeling quite excited, a little homesick and very HOT! 

The 28th was SHAINA'S Birthday! Mark took the afternoon off and we all went out to the splash park in St. Albert. 

Here is the "10 Year old" with her stack of birthday presents! She got a new chair for her desk, an ipod shuffle, a new board game, a wii game (from Max) and a Webkinz racoon (from Maryn)

This last picture is courtesy of Julie. They went out the back gate and did a little photo shoot in the ravine. When I asked Julie how it went she said "I don't know Shaina doesn't like having her picture taken" You would never know it... she's so dang cute!!

School starts tomorrow... I am excited but very sad to say goodbye to summer and to my kids... they DO come home at the end of the day, I'll be allright!!