Week 5

Gavin and Teague live in Jungle Green! Now all the kids' rooms are done, and the master bedroom is just waiting...

I did these paintings for my 2 little guys too.

This week we had a blast taking care of these 2 cuties.

This was the first week we didn't make it out to the theater, but we did rent Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton are a good pair, but I think I liked the storyline in the first movie better.

We had a pool party for the young women and young men and began filming for our Stake Film Festival this fall.

I got a new do...

...with chunkier layers and highlights. My hairdresser had fun!

We had lots of fun play, park, and swim dates with the neighbor's, Lamb's, Larson's, Albers', and Martin's. Kaleb also went on a cub scout hike and I started reading my friend Laura's book. You HAVE to finish it Laura, it is great!! We celebrated our one year back in Canada, and I went to the orthopedic specialist. He said my knee caps are mobile (which is not so good), gave me another prescription, and I start physio for them the day after we get back from our vacation. I was a little aggravated though, because I saw him for literally 5 minutes (and paid $40 out of pocket) and he barely looked at my toe- just long enough to say that the joint in it is solid and that physio won't help it. I have a huge "rock" in the ball of my foot below it and a "worn" spot on the tip of it where it hits the ground funny now. I'm hoping to see the doc that actually did my surgery two years ago while I'm in Vegas. Hopefully, he can tell me some specific things to do/tell my physio therapist that can help- ugh!

*Why would this paragraph have a passport picture above it? Well, that leads us to today's story. At 12:30 this afternoon I was getting our passports ready. I knew Len's and the kids expired this year and I wanted to double-check when. I knew they were issued in September, so of course they would expire then, I just didn't know which day. Was I shocked when I saw that they expired on April 1st (no this is NOT an April Fool's joke!). Anyway, I call Len to tell him and he gets a little freaked out to say the least, thinking our vacation will not happen now until we can get them updated, etc. I seriously told him not to lose faith, and said a prayer on the phone with him right then. I then requested prayers from our families, and our prayers were answered. Only 3 hours later we had Leonard's new passport in hand! (We'll just use the kids' birth certificates.) For anyone who has ever worked with bureaucracy, you know this was truly a miracle. Thank you Heavenly Father! We are so excited to head out tomorrow morning to visit with everyone!!

Help Wanted: Tunes for the Road

I am SO excited because this Saturday we are flying out west for 3 weeks to visit our 3 families. We'll be flying in to Vegas for a week, driving to Utah for an overnight stay and family pictures, driving to Idaho for a week, driving to California to go camping for a week, then driving back to Vegas so we can fly home. Yes, we will be busy but we just can't wait to see everyone! (We want to see as many friends as possible too, so let us know if you'll be in town when we are.)

I LOVE music and road trips are the best time to just crank up the tunes, singalong, and pass the merry hours. Our radio is always on in the car. At home this summer, I've also had the satellite radio on through the TV. I've discovered some new favorite songs by these artists: Marina and the Diamonds, Paramore, Neon Trees, Tegan and Sara, Stars, Paper Tongues, just to name a few. I've even caught myself dancing along to Katy Perry and Kesha- shhhh don't tell.

Here's the thing though, we are Luddites. We're not anti-technology we are just SLOW to keep up with everything and so we do not have an I-pod or any MP3 player for that matter. So I just can't download some fun songs and bring them on the trip with us, I have to buy good old-fashioned albums to take with us. Okay, not records but CD's. Anyway, here is where I need your help. What CD's should I buy? Obviously, our kids will be with us, so we don't want anything with bad lyrics, but they like to rock out too, so we are good with any genre. Please let me know your favorites!

Week 4

Pinkalicious! We got Noe's room all painted now. (Thanks Gregg!)

We drove down to Smiths Falls to spend the day with the Holden's. They're moving to Thunder Bay next month- so happy for them, but so sad for us.

We went with the Backstrom's to see Shrek Forever After. Kelsey came too and her mom watched Teague so I could actually enjoy the movie. (Thanks Diane!)

After our Young Women's Activity this week, I invited the girls over for a slumber party. We pigged out on pizza, popcorn, oreos, and ice cream. We also watched "Ever After."

We had a Relief Society Activity this week too, an old-fashioned Strawberry Social with the most delicious strawberry shortcake served on homemade biscuits- delish! The ladies also swam.

We had lots of fun play days this week. We went over to the Martin's, the kids swam everyday with Kelsey & Bailey, and we finally made it to visit with the Park Group. Gavin had a blast playing in the muddy water.

I got some more paintings done, these are for the play room.

*We also went on many walks in the evenings. My knees and ankles are feeling better, but they still hurt and there is definitely something wrong. I go to see a specialist on Wednesday, wish me luck!

Spice-y

This OLD SPICE commercial has to be my favorite commercial of all time! (Click on the red words to direct you there.)

However, this NEW SPICE commercial is quickly becoming my new favorite! (Click on the blue words to see- go BYU!)

Week 3

Our major accomplishment of the week was painting Kaleb's room and rearranging his furniture. All I can say is that I love Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint! Now I can't wait to get the rest of the bedrooms painted.

We went with the Martin's and Cameron's to see "How to Train your Dragon." It was a really cute show, but Gavin wouldn't wear his 3-D glasses, can that hurt his eyes?

We had the Martin's over for a play day and went to the park. Aren't they a cute bunch?

We got together again with the Martin's and Cameron's to take a dip at the Snook's. I'm so glad the weather has had some hot days this year! Last summer, it was pretty cool.

I finally finished reading book 4 in "The Wheel of Time" series. This tale is EPIC. I'm enjoying it, but it is just really l o n g. I've only got 8 more books to catch up and then who knows how many more to actually finish the story.

I painted 6 small paintings for Gavin and Teague's room. Now I need to do their 2 big ones.

Sunday night we had dinner with the Martin's, Cameron's, Woolsey's, and Layne's. I forgot my camera, but while we were there Teague decided to walk across the room, and then do it again, and again. He is an extreme furniture cruiser (climbs up on the furniture- the sectional in particular, then cruises back and forth across it barely holding on to the back), but he has never taken more than a few steps on the ground without holding on to anything. He did great though! After we got home I tried to take some pictures, but he was a bit tired. Gavin was great cheering him on, I'm just sad his face got cut off in the above picture. These guys are becoming good friends!

*A word about my knees. Last week, they were feeling tremendously better with the aid of my prescription drugs, but my ankles were hurting a lot and at the end of each day my left foot would be red and swollen. Now that we are into week 4, my knees are hurting really badly again along with my ankles, hips, and lower back. I think my broken toe from 2 years ago has come back to haunt me. I don't know how to describe it, other than it has "fallen" and hangs down below the rest of my toes. I think I'm walking funny to overcompensate for it and that has caused everything else to get tweaked. I've got to see an orthopedic specialist. I don't want to cause any permanent damage- ugh!

Parting Ways

My sister, Erika and her husband Tom have been separated for a year, and now their divorce is final. I'm always sad when divorce happens, although I do feel there are definitely times when a marriage shouldn't continue. I think this was one of those times and I'm very proud of my sister for going through such a difficult thing. I wish them both happiness in their new paths.

No Pain, No Gain? (Week 2 Lowlights)

So after last week's attempt at jogging each morning, going on family walks in the evening, and taking the kids hiking at Pink Lake with Teague strapped to my back, this week my knees decided to give out. They were sore all last week, but I was thinking, "No Pain, No Gain- I am not going to sit around and let my body rust." Well unfortunately, I pulled all of the ligaments in my knees and have been in excruciating pain 24/7 ever since. I finally got to the doctor on Friday and she is very concerned as it is both of my knees that are hurting. She said it could be that I injured them while exercising, and she prescribed me some heavy duty anti-inflammatory and pain killers and told me to stay off of my feet completely for a few days and then try to stay off them as much as possible for the next 2 weeks. If the pain is still severe in a week, or if I have pain in any of my other joints I have to go back to test for rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Lovely! I'm sure they are just injured at my vain attempt to get back in shape. It seems when it comes to exercise, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't- ugh!

We have THE best neighbors in the world though and I think my kids were over at their house swimming everyday this week. Kaleb and Noe even had a sleepover on Friday. We also had their friend, Claire over during the week and they went to the park with their daddy.

I did take the kids & neighbors to the cheap $2 theater to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." It was pretty cute, except I missed the last 2 minutes of it when Teague decided all of a sudden he needed to throw a fit- silly boy!

I also did 7 paintings for Noe's room. 5 of them are little 5x7's (that I'll actually hang horizontally) and 2 are 12x16's. I love how the blue turned out on them, but I don't care for the green at all, so I may re-do them in just pink, black, and white.

I finished this month's book club selection. It was a fun story with 2 tales woven into 1. The problem is- it ended too early. I want to know what happened next with all of the characters. It's a great little summer read.

The saddest thing was that I missed out on going to Girls Camp with my Young Women at Voyageur Provincial Park. The overnight hike was on Tuesday, then everyone else went up Wednesday. I was just going up for dinner and testimony meeting on Friday, then spending the night to help bring the girls back home the next day. I am so bummed I wasn't able to go!

Another sad thing I missed out on was the wedding reception of one of my previous Young Women, from when we lived here before. Congrats and Best Wishes to Marieve and Brian!

Home Spa

Thank you to all who voted on our poll to choose the accent color for our master bedroom. Aqua beat lavender and red by a landslide! I think we're going to choose 500C-3 Spa.

Week 1 Highlights

We have 10 weeks of summer vacation and we're trying to make the most of them! Here's a few things we did last week:

2nd Annual Kick-Off Summer Banana Split Dinner

We also gave small gifts to the kids- new sandals, swimsuits, pajamas, toothbrushes, and body puffs.

It was like opening Christmas stockings in June!

Farewell to Friends

Noe went to a goodbye party for her friend Zara who moved to Indonesia, and we all went to the Stevenson's farewell pic nic at Rockcliffe Park. We wish them luck on their next adventures!

Midway Fun

Kaleb and Noe went to their friend, Claire's summer party. They rode go-carts, bumper cars, a mini-train, played mini-golf, went rockclimbing, and played arcade games.

Eclipse

I went with the book club ladies to see Eclipse on opening night. Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Happy 143rd Birthday Canada!

We went down to Parliament Hill to see the visiting Queen Elizabeth II; ate hot dogs, corn on the cob, and strawberry shortcake; and watched the fireworks at Petrie Island.

The Great Outdoors

We went with our friends, the Backstrom's out to Gatineau National Park and hiked all the way around Pink Lake. Afterwards we took the kids to the park so they could cool off in the wading pool.

Happy 234th Birthday America!
We thought about making another run for the border to celebrate in the US, but with Church and Presidency meetings we just stayed home. We had a nice FHE then went on our usual evening stroll through the neighborhood.

*Last week we also had dinner with the Camerons & Martins, I started jogging again, we drove Len to and from work each day, and the kids went swimming a few times with friends. In other words, we had a great week and hope this week is just as good!