Happy Canada Day

The kids have been asking to go flying for a long time and we finally had a morning with good weather to go!  One of these days we're going to have to get a babysitter so that I can go flying with him again... it's been far too long!

While I was waiting for him, I took a few pictures of the kids.  It wasn't the best lighting, but it was fun to try.

Since Canada Day is on Sunday, the Town had all their celebrations today.  We skipped out of everything this year except the fireworks... and we probably should have skipped them too!  We'd put the kids to bed as usual and then woke them up so we could go down.  It took them forever to wake up and then they were cold because we'd pulled them out of their nice warm beds.  They were almost asleep multiple times while we waited for things to start.  Lennard was working, so we sat with him and had a front row seat.

Happy Canada Day!

Nauvoo Hair

We haven't posted much about our preparations for Nauvoo, but Lennard's beard and hair are definitely good conversation starters!  He's finding it very hard to deal with all his curls and 'wings' around his ears as his hair has got longer for the Pageant and everyone makes comments about how white his beard has come in!  He's looking forward to a good haircut and a shave the night the pageant ends!

Fun at the Creek with Friends

Shannon invited us out to Beazer to play in the creek this afternoon.  It was such a beautiful day with friends.  Payne's came out too and all the kids waded and swam while us moms were able to sit and visit together.

Shannon and Gwen

Our skinny boy!

Emma and Wyatt were playing in the mud on the bank of the creek and Wyatt got a little carried away... they were both throwing mud balls at each other, but a 12 year old has a little more punch behind his throws than Emma's 8 year old arm.  Ha! ha!  Shannon was so mad at him, but I was having a hard time not laughing...so he thought I approved!  She was SO covered in mud!

 Thankfully, Crystal and Shannon came to the rescue and helped Emma get a good chunk of the mud off of her before she got in to the van to ride home!

The first thing we did when we got home was to get her into a bath to soak her hair.  There was so much sand in the bath that the entire bottom of the tub was black.  Gross!  She had fun though!

Soccer Tournament

The kids had their final soccer tournament today.  They ended up coming in 3rd place!  

 Coach Hansen has been great with this little team.

 I wanted a picture of Ben like this too, but he refused.  They were both mad that they didn't get to bring the team trophy home with them. 

Last Day of School!

It's so hard to believe that this school year is done already!  Wow... the time has flown by!  I walked the kids to school and got pictures of them with their teachers.

Ben and Miss Sykes - Grade 1

Mrs. C. Vornbrock and Emma - Grade 2

 They have both done extremely well in school and we are very proud of their progress.

When Lennard got home from work, he and Ben headed off with the trailer to go to a Father-Son's Camp (AKA: Man Camp) that our Ward put on out at the SpringGlen Campground.  Ben was SO excited to get to go!

Since the boys were off playing, Emma and I went on a mommy-daughter date to Lethbridge!  We went out to eat at Tony Roma's. 

Emma was so excited to try a new restaurant and was even more thrilled when she got to have ribs!  When the server offered her a bib she thought it was great... and so did I... it saved her clothes!  ha! ha!

 She polished off her meal and then ate half of mine too!  I love the baked potato soup there... yum!

After dinner, we went shopping and Emma picked out some new jeans!  She hasn't liked wearing anything except leggings, so it was fun to see her in something different.

It was a super fun night together.

Note:  Ben and Lennard had an amazing time on their campout.  They stayed up to 11:00pm!  Ben ran wild with the other boys and even got to try his hand at knife throwing (his favorite)!

Carnival

It was the end of the year Carnival at the school today and I was in charge of cutting and serving watermelon to all the kids.  I was busy enough (with sticky hands) that I didn't end up getting any pictures the entire day except for this one of Emma!  I feel bad that I didn't get any of Ben, but he was off and running the entire morning whereas Emma kept coming and checking in with me and not wanting to be away from me... funny girl.

They had a Volunteer Lunch for all of us at lunch.  I had to pass out all the appreciation cards to the Smoothie/Fruit Friday volunteers on the committee I chaired this year.

Once we got home, Lennard went over to help Hill's move.  It's hard seeing good neighbors leave, even when we know we will still have a good neighbor coming in.  The kids will miss their boys SO much!

Soccer was cancelled tonight because of a thunderstorm, which worked out well for me since I had Book Club at Crystal's tonight.  I love Book Club and the gals that come.  It has been such a wonderful blessing to have made such good friends.  It's been over 9 years since we've been meeting together and, not only have we read a lot of wonderful books, but we've made friendships to last a lifetime!

New Bikes

We had a super busy day today!  I went out to Mountain View this morning to get an airplane inspection packet that had come in the mail for my dad.  He has to have them fairly quickly to process them, so I headed down to Babb to mail it to Nauvoo so he could get it sooner.  I got to the bank afterwards and then ran goggles to the school for the kids before they went swimming with their classes.  I managed to fit in lunch with Lennard at A&W (such a nice break!).  

Then, when the kids got home from school, we headed in to Lethbridge to look for new bikes!  Ben's was getting quite small and Emma's was so heavy and worn out (second hand when we got it).  Grandpa N treated the kids and they were SUPER excited to pick out new bikes!  Thank you, Grandpa!!

We went out to Henderson Lake afterwards with a bucket of KFC for dinner.  It was a bit windy, but the kids had fun playing on the playground!

Running Club

Emma's teacher sent me this picture of her and her classmates that ran 26 miles in their running club at school!  I knew that she'd been working hard to get enough miles in, so I was happy to see that she'd made it!  Good job, Emma!

Ethan, Landon, Emma, Alyssa, ?, Nash, Anson

Happy Father's Day

The kids were SO excited to give their gifts to Lennard this morning.  The Bishop cancelled all their meetings this morning, so he had the whole morning with us!

 Ben filled out a questionnaire about him and gave him a coupon for a movie night with some popcorn.

 Emma made him a card and gave him popcorn too.

We attended our Sacrament meeting and part of Sunday School and then headed out to Mountain View so that we could be there when my parents got set apart for Nauvoo.  As we walked in they were just finishing up Sacrament meeting and handing out bottles of root beer.  Lennard got one (we had to bug our ward for not doing anything for Father's Day!).

It was a wonderful experience to get to listen to mom and dad's blessings as they were set apart.  We had a quick lunch with them afterwards and then they were off for Nauvoo!

Birthday/Father's Day Dinner

Since my mom is always in Nauvoo for her birthday and it is Father's Day tomorrow, we got as many of us together as could come and went out to dinner with my parents!  We went to the New Dynasty for Chinese food and it was delicious!  It took a little bit to figure out what to order, but everything was wonderful and there were almost NO leftovers!

 I love being able to do things with my family... especially when it's to celebrate my parents!

Student of the Week

Ben was awarded Student of the Week for his class!  Thankfully his teacher took a picture and sent it to me.  He was SO excited to show me his certificate!

Another Field Trip and the Last Day of Baseball

Ben was doing so much better when he woke up that he was able to go to school... and since I'd been on Emma's field trip the day before, he wanted me to go with him on his field trip today!  I contacted his teacher and she said it would be fine, so I got to have a morning with him at the Remington Center.

 Ben loved the wagon ride!

 Most of the kids didn't enjoy the smell in the stalls (although it was extremely clean!)

He loved getting to pet the horse.

 They also got to 'build' wagons and explore more of the museum.  It was a fun morning with him.

After school, Ben had his last baseball game.  He hasn't loved it as much this year and has informed us that he doesn't want to play again next year... I guess we'll see what happens.  Emma was having a rough time and so I spent most of the game dealing with her meltdown in the van (trying not to put on a show for everyone...) I did manage to sneak out a few times and get some pictures though!

 Ben loves to play back catch.

As soon as we got done with baseball, we raced home so that I could get everyone dinner and then go set up for the Relief Society activity tonight.  We had a photography nature walk and summer social down at Lion's Park.  We didn't have tons of sisters show up (about 20), but it was quite windy so I think that prevented some from coming.  It was a fun night though and many stayed until about 9:00 visiting and eating yummy food.

Jr Choir Trip

I got to go as a parent helper on Emma's Jr Choir field trip to Lethbridge today!  We had to be at the school for 8:00 so that she could get photos done.  I helped get gowns on all the kids and Ben just hung out.  He said he wasn't feeling great, but he didn't have a fever and I figured he'd be fine once he got going... not... 

As a bunch of the moms were sitting in a classroom waiting for things to get organized, I got a text from Miss Sykes saying that Ben had just thrown up in the classroom.  I hurried down there and found him sitting on the floor hunched over a garbage can looking quite green.  Poor boy.  

I knew that Lennard had a full day planned at work, so I called my mom to see if there was any way she could watch him since I was committed to going on this field trip.  They are crazy busy getting ready to leave to go to Nauvoo on Sunday, but thankfully mom raced in from the airport and picked him up from school.  I felt so bad not being there with him.

Once that was taken care of, the choir kids were separated into groups.  I had five kids including Emma to keep track of during the day.  We loaded onto the bus and headed for Lethbridge.

The kids performed at a Seniors home first and did a great job, then we headed over to go bowling!  I didn't know beforehand, but they paid for the adults to bowl with the kids, so I got to bowl with Emma!  We had a bunch of candies and each time they bowled they picked a candy and depending on the color it told them how they got to bowl.... sitting down, backwards, opposite hand, etc.

When bowling was done, we all loaded up again and went to get food.  It was a gong show at the food places (McDonalds, Taco Time, and Burger King).  There were crazy line-ups and there were kids everywhere!  My group of kids all wanted to go to McDonalds, but Emma wanted to go to Taco Time, so she went with another group.  We were a few minutes late getting back to the school, so kids were racing to get to their buses!  It was quite the end to a crazy, fun day!

Mom had Ben at home when I got there.  He'd slept almost the entire morning.  He was sick all over their little room and was quite upset that he'd made a mess, but he was doing much better by evening time.  I'm so grateful she was able to step in and take care of him.

Ward Potluck and Devotional

It was our annual Ward Picnic today... but the weather didn't cooperate!  We usually go out to Bond's backyard, but it was so windy that they decided to hold it at the church.  It was fun getting to visit with everyone.  It looked like there were lots more that came because it was held indoors.  The kids had fun playing with all their friends and the food was great!

Best buds... Auri, Emma and Izzy

 After the picnic was done, we found a whiteboard in one of the classrooms and snapped some pictures so we could send them to Nauvoo for our ID badges.  It was hard to get a decent picture without natural lighting and shadows, but we did our best.  It's getting real!

This evening we were able to take the kids up to the church and watch a devotional being held in Raymond and broadcast all over Southern  Alberta.  President & Sister Nelson spoke.  I loved getting to hear about what it's like to be the prophet's wife and how he receives revelation.  It was a wonderful meeting and I'm glad we got to go.