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!!

Sarah and Fraser's Wedding

My beautiful niece Sarah was married in the Cardston Temple to Fraser Perry on July 31st

It was a picture perfect day and the happy smiles on the bride and grooms faces pretty much tell the story. Sarah is a very special person and we are so happy that she has someone to share her life with forever.

This is a very photo heavy post... good thing they are both so photogenic!

My Julie took this picture and did the photo editing, a budding photographer perhaps... what do you think?

The wedding party- sure made for a nice picture!

Sarah and her bridesmaids- my girls, her two sisters and a good friend.

Sarah showing off her shoes- they were a gorgeous cobalt blue (too bad I cut them off)!

Sarah and Fraser with Julie and Brent (her Mom and Dad)

Aunt Julie and all the bridesmaids- this was the first time Julie had seen all the girls in their dresses, she couldn't get over how great they all looked. Aunt Julie looked amazing too!!

Maryn and Julie

Max outside the temple

Dallin and Sam trying to stay out of trouble!

Sarah and Fraser at the reception in Montana- they are standing in front of the quilt that Maryn made. I just missed taking a picture of Sarah wiping the tears away from her eyes as she looked at the quilt. It will be a real treasure for Sarah and we were so glad that she liked it!

More cute bridesmaids pics- they were all so done with having their pictures taken by the end of the day. 

Me and Shaina

This is at the end of the reception in Calgary- it was starting to get cold (nice cardigans girls!)

Julie and Shaina enjoying the fabulous buffet!

Shaina got to be the present girl- here she is putting away a card.

Grandma Davidson tying the bow on the back of Shaina's dress- no one can tie bows like Grandma!

One of the many beautiful food tables.

Julie and Brent did an amazing job getting their yard in tip top shape for the reception. It looked so good. Julie might have to stay home for a few weeks so she can enjoy it.

The whole wedding was just beautiful we were really glad to have been a part of it. Family is such a wonderful blessing in our lives. Weddings are great but the most important thing is the   Temple and how we honor the covenants we make there through out our lives. I am so grateful for this blessing in my own life!

One year of posting!

I have been blogging now for one year and when I look back at what we have done over the past year I am so glad that I took up this little hobby! Other than this blog, I don't have another full year of our life "on record" so I am obviously going to try and keep going with this and try even harder to make it a place where we can all look back at the events in our lives with JOY!!

So here is just a bit of what we have been up to this summer...

THis is Dad and Sam making a VOLCANO!

Sam had "Do a science experiment with Dad" on his bingo sheet a couple weeks ago. They made this cool volcano complete with foaming green lava!

This is Dallin's dirt cake. He made it for a F.H.E treat. He has also been having a great time reading the "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" series. The summer bingo program has been a huge success so far and Dallin has used his blackouts to buy books which was a bit of a shock to me! Dallin continues to love skateboarding and playing with Shaina and Sam. 

Shaina has been busy making videos with Julie. (I wish I could figure out how to post videos without it taking all day, if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it) She also went to a U of A B-ball camp for a week. I can't get Shaina to go to bed before 10:30 on any given night, so going back to school might be a bit rough at first!

Julie went to Young Womens camp at the beginning of the summer. She did all kinds of great activities and had a fabulous time despite the never ending rain! Julie played Mom for a few days while I went to Seattle for a nieces wedding, I was totally comfortable knowing Julie was in charge. She has been a great help to me all summer. Thanks Julie!!

Max just got back from Scout camp. It was nothing short of a truly epic adventure!  I can't even begin to let you know what happened! They had a great time and Max came home injury free for the first time in his scout camp history!

This is a homemade slip and slide that Max and Julie created one afternoon. It occupied everyone for the better part of the day. The kids have all been having a great time playing together this summer, I am so glad they are friends and that they really do like to be together!

Maryn has been working at Lauph and Learn and keeping on top of her summer school courses for her dental hygiene program. She has been a great help around here with the kids too. When I was gone she took everyone to see a movie and helped keep everyone happy. I can't even tell you how much I will miss her. I am going to fly down to TX with Maryn at the end of the month and help her get set up in her apartment. Seems like yesterday that it was me moving away from home to come here for school. 

This isn't the greatest picture of Russell, but I don't have that many in iphoto. Russ is having a great experience on his mission. He always sounds positive and is working really hard and having lots of success. His weekly letters continue to amuse us and help us see that he is still the same Russell that left here a year ago. He has almost been out for a year, and they say the second half of a mission goes way faster than the first. (not so sure I believe it!)

I really needed to do Caylee's photo challenge cause I couldn't find a picture of me to post. I have been busy having fun with the kids and tending dogs! I have tried with limited success to stay active running and biking. I have read a few books and done knitting and now I'm learning to crochet! This is the first year in a few that I haven't been to camp and I have to say I have missed it, I hope we will have time to go camping before summer ends.

Mark, on the other hand has been at both YM and YW's camp. It really does take a significant amount of his holiday time, but he really enjoys going and I know it's good for the youth to have him there. Like I said before, the scout camp was beyond the typical adventure and I can't even begin to tell the story, maybe I will try to convince Mark to tell the tale here!

I hope you are all having a great summer spending time with family and enjoying the great outdoors! We are off for a week in Montana. I Love SUMMER!!!