Thursday, May 29, 2014

Winnipeg & Family

A few weeks ago we hit the road to 'One Great City' to take in the Canadian National Women's Soccer game against USA, and to have some family time.  Here are a few favourite shots.

So exciting.  Loved the sunset view, too!  It was a great game - we scored in the first half and the US didn't answer the goal until near the end of the game, making it a 1-1 tie.  US is ranked #1 in the world and we are ranked #7, so it was pretty impressive. 

My fam!!  We are the 3 in the first row, the 5 behind them & the 4 behind them.  My other 2 are off walking.

At the {brand new} park the next day.  We adults had slide races, and M got this shot of me and Mom - I see where I get my slide style from! Matchy matchy!! Ha ha.

 Follow the leader...

Apparently my brother has spent more time training his kids in this fine art than I have... I really did laugh out loud at this one, all by myself here.

 At Levi's rugby game.  Nolan had a great time exploring in the woods.

 Just loved this shot.

This is the boy who made me an aunt, way back almost 17 years ago.

Love this.

Go Pipers!  Back in the day I also played Piper rugby at John Taylor. (And we were Provincial winners, too!)  I'm sure he's not really scowling at me...

 My beauty.  She and the rugby player above are 3-months-apart twinsies.

So this was one of the funniest things ever.  Here is K, my lovely niece in her dance recital costume after the dress rehearsal.

Madeline posing with K...

 
And Z wanted to get in on the posing, too, of course.

Enter Nolan, with the instructions to "Put your hands on your hips!"  So he walks over and puts his hands on Z's.  I'm still laughing.  So funny.

 Almost...

Got it!

Friday, May 23, 2014

Scrapbook Pages Part II

After I got caught up on the camping laundry I took a few minutes to shoot the rest of these layouts for you. A bunch of us spent the day at the church on National Scrapbooker's Day a few weeks ago, and while I didn't do anything new, I did get all the ones finished that I started or prepped at the retreat.  (The first bunch are in this post if you wanted to see them, too.)

These first four I had all the photos ready and then forgot all the pocket pages at home...  So here are two pages of last July and two pages of last August.  The rest are from last summer and fall.

Thanks for looking!











Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Camping Highlights

The Victoria Day holiday in the middle of May marks the first weekend of the camping season - "May Long"  if you live in Saskatchewan. We went up to Greenwater Lake and met up with friends from Saskatoon, and there were plenty of highlights:

* Packing the first aid kit and finding a 'what to pack list in it that I had cut out of a magazine.  So helpful!

* The views on the drive up: the soft new spring green of the valley, the dark storm skies over glowing bright yellow fields, the sun rays streaming down through the clouds...

* Madeline reading Nolan a story on the way up "...mooses, meeces, moosi... What is the plural of moose?"

* Nolan having so much fun playing outside, in the trees, in the dirt, free to run.

* Using the 'Night Sky' ap to check out the constellations.

* Watching Haley do 'poi' and teaching M who caught on pretty quick to the basics.

* Sunday morning:  Me: Nolan, you make us happy.  Nolan: Yes, I do.

* "This is the best feeling in the world!" -M, after learning to chop wood.

* "I need to golf." -N, picking up a ball and club.

* Seeing Sean and M coming back from dumping the waste and seeing M at the wheel of the truck!!

* The shimmery tinkling of the ice on the water - yes, there was still ice on the lake, and at the one beach where it was right up to shore, there was a nasty cold wind coming off it, but the sound was enchanting.

* We went 'treasure hunting' and found two geocaches - that brings us up to 24 finds for TeamLinz.

* Seeing so many deer and rabbits.  We saw lots of gophers and squirrels, too, but they were more pests.

* M enjoyed spending time with the other girls and riding her bike; Nolan liked biking and going to the parks and the dogs our friends brought along.

* Having a borrowed trailer and not a tent.  :)

* Driving through Kelvington on the way back and seeing the places Sean used to live & work.

May Long is a cold camping weekend, and I need to add long johns to my packing list, but we will definitely do it again.  We are already looking forward to the next trip coming up (and at the surprise that these same friends will be at the same campground for part of it!)  I love that we are a camping family.

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

Thinking

What have you been thinking lately?

I've been thinking about thinking.  Specifically, paying attention to what I am thinking and stopping myself from thinking things that are not helpful, things that are negative and should not be allowed space in my brain; choosing instead to think about solutions to those problems, or on any number of positive thoughts.  I'm choosing thoughts that remind me who I am and of all the great qualities of the people around me.

I've mentioned this before, but it's still what I'm thinking, so it's worth mentioning again.  :)

I'm thinking of which way I can drive so we pass machines on our travels.  I'm a mom with a boy.  We were thrilled to get home this morning in time to see the grader work on our alley.


My brother used to tease me about being in love with a little blond boy.  I'm thinking he was seeing into the future!

(*This one's for Girls Only!*) I'm thinking about what a great product the Diva Cup is and recommending it to all my friends.  Look it up and let me know if you have any questions!!

I'm thinking about how much I am looking forward to seeing my family soon and taking in the Canadian women's soccer game there.

I'm thinking about drinking my coffee black.  We are almost out of the vanilla syrup we use a lot, and Sean thought maybe we should take a break from it for a while.  He often drinks his black, but I think I will join him and try it for the rest of May...  Cutting out sugar is never a bad idea.  Yesterday's was not bad after the first few sips, but today's was nasty all the way to the bottom.  I will confess that I had to have an Oreo after...

I'm thinking about all of you who read this and I'm grateful that you care!  XO