Evan is in School!!

September 1, 2010

Evan woke up VERY excited to get on his bus and go to his first day of school! I cannot believe that my little boy is 3 years old and in preschool now. I wanted to get a picture of him and he insisted on his picture being taken in front of our neighbors flower pots. Silly boy!

In case you are wondering, yes I followed the bus, no I didn't cry (until the second day) and yes he LOVES it! Everyday he comes home and says that school was "really really fun" and when I ask him what he learned he says "nuffin!"

August Fun- the SMA walk and roll

Angela Mosco is an amazing woman and mom of Evan (the other Evan) who has SMA. Last year she organized the first annual SMA walk and roll. Well, we had the 2nd annual event this year and it was SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

I adore the other kiddos in Calgary who have SMA and their parents inspire me. I learn from them everyday and I love them more than they will ever know!!!

I still can't believe that God chose me to be the mother of this special boy. I often wonder if I am enough for Evan. I do indeed have a lot of guilt, constantly wondering if I am doing enough. Then I remember that God chose Evan to be in our family. God went to very specific measure to make sure that Evan could be with us. That means that I am everything that Evan needs.

Enjoy some of the pictures we got of the event to help the kids in Calgary!

before hand we took our boys to a bakery where we got doghnuts as big as my head!

even Raina wore a T-shirt in honor of Evan

Evan's physical therapist came to support "her" kids as well!

August Fun- Brandon and Waterton

It is about this time in our summer that our camera broke. I still had the big camera, but haven't been able to get the pictures off of it yet. I got home from San Diego and picked up my brother from the airport the next day. He spent the week with us while Justin worked on his teeth.

I have to give a special shout out to Brandon because for some unexplainable reason he doesn't appear too much in my blog or the pictures I take. I really don't know why! It was so much fun to have him here for some one on one time and I have to say that he is a really easy house guest. He was cool to do whatever I needed or wanted to do, whether it was doing chores or fun stuff around Calgary. I enjoyed sharing our music choices and just talking. My favorite is to listen to him talk about his wife. When Brandon talks about Serene it is impossible to feel just how much he loves her. It is inspiring to me to see how much he loves and respects her. Unfortunately for you Brandon there will still be no pictures posted even though we did take that ONE picture, but know that I have your curly hair, lovely smile and awesome Fedora engraved in my mind forever :-) Thanks for coming Brandon!!!!

Following Brandon's trip we packed up the family and headed back down to Waterton for another week. It was a very relaxing week, which isn't normal for us, but was very nice. We went on a 13 mile hike with the boys on our backs. (Yes, you did read that correctly!!!) It was beautiful but we were ill prepared for the weather on the top of the mountain. We were all frozen and our poor boys were not pleased with us at all. We had to run down below the tree line and spend some time with our frozen babies against our chests inside our coats. Lanny and Mark came on this adventure with us and I do have to say that it was sooo much fun to have them there.

Once "Ranny Ranny" and "Grandpa Mawk" left to go back to work the Law's joined us. I love having another picture lover to hang out with. I know Lindsay got some great shots and I can't wait to see them. My favorite part was watching Landon and Isaac play together.

We didn't plan any of the trip like this, but as soon as the Laws left the Cartiers arrived. It was fun to get to know them a little bit better too. Towards the end of the trip the Bultsma family made an appearance (it was a great surprise for me) and then we packed up the van, had one night alone in the cabin and left for home.

Filled with sick kids and a night with no sleep (and throw up), lots of kids, eating wild berries, ice Cream and fresh bread everyday, hiking and wild animals, swimming everyday, bike riding, friends and family ... it was a week to remember!

San Diego finished

The rest of my San Diego trip ... in a nutshell
(I can't believe I'm not done yet!)

Randomly two of my siblings ended up coming home. It was so much fun to be with my family like that again. There were no spouses, so it was kind of like it used to be (just older)

these boys are too stinkin' cute!

Uncle Ben helping Evan do some pull ups ... Evan was pretty darn good at them too!

We ended up dressing in matching shirts without planning

I surprised Ben with an invitation to the Bronco/Charger game in November. It was so much fun for me and ................

he literally cried!!!!!

we got to eat (and expose my kids) to panakuken

Got to love on Sheba, play with sparklers, and play AWESOME games of Guestures

(you should seriously play with my mom ... it is funnnny!!!!)

Playground time with my family and Mandy was sooo much fun!


Evan kept pretending to shoot Grandpa and then Grandpa gave the BEST death scene ever!!!

Evan was THRILLED!!!


We surprised Grandpa at work for his birthday. It was fun to see him in his element.

matching dresses with a sister is always fun too.

What a GREAT vacation and I WISH it didn't have to end, but I think that I dragged this post out long enough!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup ME, thats who!

12:05 AM
Guess who just realized that she's 28?
Weird!!!

San Diego Wild Animal Park

This last trip to San Diego was unique in the fact that I was going back for something that only involved me. This meant that I was the only visitor. I had know idea what to think. Remember that I am the oldest of 6 children and the house was always chaotic and full when I was growing up. Anytime I go back it is for something big, like Christmas, graduations, weddings, etc. and EVERYONE is there. This time there weremy parents and my little sister, and we didn't see a whole lot of her. It was fun to have some one on one time with my parents and I could see how wonderful it was for my kids to have that one on one time with Grandpa and Grandma.

One of the special things we got to do was go to the Wild Animal Park with my mom. Here are the top 10 things I liked about the Wild Animal Park.

#1: Really cool parrots as you walk in.


#2: Having Evan ASK me to take pictures of him in different spots he thought were cool ... like this tree!

#3: Feeding the ducks with my boys.


#4: Seeing how much fun Evan had playing in the misters


#5: Petting the deer. Landon was trying to be brave. He would get as close as he could while having a death grip on Grandma's hand. We did eventually get him to feed a deer.

#6: Really tired babies, who sleep through anything. (why doesn't he sleep like this at home?)

#7: Baby Elephants who play together


#8: Evan's experience with the Lorakeets
At the Wild Animal Park you can buy some nectar before you go into the Lorakeet cage and it pretty much guarantees that the birds will land on you. I asked Evan if he wanted the birds to land on him and he said yes.

Well we went in and Evan is holding his nectar out for the birds (with a huge grin on his face) when all of a sudden .... a lorakeet flew right behind his head and landed by his shoulder, literally scaring him to death. He took his cup of nectar and threw it at the bird. He was terrified!

Once he calmed down he was really sad that he didn't have anymore nectar. Lucky for him the worker saw everything and gave him some more nectar for free. From then on he was in hog heaven :-)

And my ALL TIME FAVORITE THING THAT HAPPENED AT THE WILD ANIMAL PARK
#9: My Mom and the Lorakeets!!!

These are all of the pictures I was taking of Landon and the Lorakeets. It wasn't until after that I saw my mom's expressions!!!!!! She was NOT impressed with the birds, especially when they pooped on her. Evan thought it was so funny and kept telling everyone that the birds pooped on Grandma. These pictures just make my day!

#10: I got to take the best two animals home with me :-)