Another summer update

July 23, 2009

Garden Update:

Well I lost about half of everything that I planted. There were several factors that played out, but the long and short of it is ... I know better for next year.

Died: 1 pumpkin plant, 1 zuchini plant, 3 pepper plants, 3 cauliflower plants
Survived: all of my carrots, all of my lettuce (which we have been harvesting now for nearly 3 months), all of my onions, 2 cauliflower plants (harvesting for 2 weeks), 3 broccoli plants (harvesting for about 3 weeks), corn (already growing some ears), and my artichoke (the experiment :-)

All in all, I am pleased with my first attempt at a real garden and feel way more confident about next year.

July 25, 2009

This was a mixed emotion day for us. Justin's Grandma Joyce died and we attended her funeral in Lethbridge on this day. It was sad, but there was so much family there that we couldn't help but have a great time. It was awesome to be able to spend time with his family from Nevada and Utah because we just don't get to see them very much and we love them to death.

After the funeral we went swimming at a nice pool in town and then went out to dinner to celebrate Jeremy's 17th birthday. It really was a lovely day.

Funniest/extremely embarrassing moment of the day: There was a short viewing and ceremony just for the family right before the funeral. Joyce's children said there last goodbyes and then they closed the casket. As they were closing the casket Evan screams out and flings himself towards the casket "nnooooooo". He did this 2 times. I was so embarrased that he made a really sad moment kind of comical, but then I got to thinking about what he was seeing. In his mind he was probably litgitimately concerned for Joyce being closed up.

the "Fam"

Happy Birthday Jeremy

July 28, 2009

Spent the day exploring with my friends and their kids. We drove out to Drumheller and went to the dino museum. It was a great day!!! I love these two girls and just had the best time showing Evan something new. What a fascinating and cool place to go! Thank you for the adventure ladies ... can't wait to do it again!!!!

a real dino leg

I LOVE your face Kathy!

Me and Becka

Ok, Kathy and Becka thought this little guy was gross, but I think he is adorable!

Evan on a petrified tree

Love you girls!

July 30, 2009

We went to the Blink-182 concert with some friends of ours. Truthfully speaking, the music all around was great (including Fall Out Boy and All American Rejects), but I was totally caught off gaurd with how foul the band members were. If I had known they were like that I would not have gone! Their music isn't really that bad, but the musicians themselves???? Whoaa!!

Now, having said that ... Travis Barker ROCKS!!!!!!! Seriously this drummer is incredible, which I knew, but what a show he can put on! There was a part in the concert that he played a solo and the set stage literally flew in the air and spun everyway possible while he was still playing a crazy hard drum solo! I was completely blown away and thoroughly thrilled to be able to see that!

August 1, 2009

What a FUN day this was!!! It was another GORGEOUS day, and we spent a good long portion of it at the lake. It was even warm enough that I jumped off the dock into the water (that is saying something). It was so wonderful to be there with friends, but even more wonderful that Justin was there with us. Evan and I go to the lake often, but we never get to have Justin with us, so that was a major treat.

After the lake we quickly jumped in our car and drove out to the Strathmore stampede. It was small and really a lot of fun. The highlights of this part of the day were the petting zoo and the snakes.

The petting zoo had all of Evan's favorite animals and he LOVED getting to feed them. He was so cute with all of them, expecially Sarah the donkey.

From the petting zoo we went to the snake exhibit. They would let these HUGE snakes just slide on the grass and people could pet them. Evan got to pet the biggest one and was hooked! He kept saying, "I want to pet it again!" For whatever reason I was feeling brave that day and did something that I thought I would never do. One of the handlers kept wrapping this GIGANTIC snake around people and I asked him if we could do it to. (I have always had a hard time even petting snakes, and I have never held my brothers snake before!) What possessed me to do it I will never know, but it was soooo cool. I thought for sure that Evan would be fine with it, since he kept wanting to touch the snake, but then during the picture taking he saw the snake head and he DID NOT think that was cool at all. Right before we took the picture it started to rain, immediately after we got under the tent it started to hail like nobody's buisness. It came as quickly as it went, but it was pretty awesome!

All in all, it was a GREAT day!

Evan and the camel checking eachother out ... I HAD to put in this picture (for obvious reasons!)

I was worried that Evan was bite size, but everyone there assured me it was fine.

Now THAT is bravery!!!!
(poor Evan saw the head)

Someone took this picture of us the next day and I cannot get over how cute Evan is here! Seriously ... tooo cute!