Mothers day weekend

There are a few real perks to being a Mom.  

Staying up past the kid's bedtime watching M*A*S*H and eating chocolate.  Perk.

  

Telling your kids that "the only thing you want for Mother's Day is for them to all join you on a walk through a field of shooting starts" and they actually agree to do it.   Definite Perk.

Kinda played the ol' Mother's Day card perfectly, eh?  

Whatever gets them loaded into the van without complaint, that's what I say;)

It was an absolutely beautiful day!   

The sun was out and so were the shooting stars for that matter to.

We walked a short ways up the Red Rock road and I could not believe how stunning the ground looked all carpeted in vibrant green and purple.   Life after a wildfire is pretty darn pretty.   

While Sam barraged us with questions such as, "Why are we doing this again?" and "When can we go?" the rest of the kids happily walked along enjoying each others company and finding all sorts of fun along the way.  

This garter snake was one of their finds, though I wouldn't call it a fun one.  

Ew...Ew...EW!!!

We spent the rest of the evening down by Upper Waterton lake paddle boarding and soaking up the beauty of a perfectly calm spring evening.  

I'm pretty sure that I could paddle board forever and never grow tired of it.  

At one point Jessica and I took our boards right up to the shoreline on the west side of the lake to inspect the dozens of little waterfalls that we could hear cascading over the edge of the mountain.  The air was cool in the shadow, the water was trickling all around us, and the burnt floor of the mountain was COVERED in bright yellow glacier lilies.   It was stunning!!!

I breathed in deep (deep breathes of cool mossy air are the best) and thanked God right then and there for that beautiful moment. 

Sigh...Peace.

Perfect Mother's Day Gift!

Sunday morning, the kids made breakfast in bed, filled me up with gifts and cards made at school, and even agreed to take a photo or two with me before we headed off to church.  

Abby spoke in Sacrament meeting today and I was so touched by her Mother's Day message. 

She is a sweet soul, a deep thinker and has a tender heart in moments like this.  I love that about her!

Abby and I were both presented with our Young Women's Personal Progress medallions today.   

It felt so good to be finished and I loved that Abby and I got to finish and receive them together.  

After church we learned that Jewel, Ava, AND Mya all received theirs on the same day as well.  

What are the chances?

Of course we had to pose for a picture;)

We ate supper outside on the back patio while we listened to birds chirping and bees buzzing and then wrapped up the night by visiting Grandma Hardys grave together.  

What a special and wonderful woman she is and how grateful I am to know that my kids have three angel Grandparents looking after them!

If I could be half the Mom that Marilyn or my own Mother were - 

I would be a happy mamma indeed!!

Welcoming Spring

Oh what a long winter we just head.   So SO LONG!!!

By the end of April we were starting to finally feel a little bit hopeful that we'd finally seen the last of winter.    This first week of May has truly been a welcomed sight as we basked in some of our favourite spring pass times with out the slightest hint of cold weather.  

Nate's team (the Tigers) played their first official baseball game this past week.  John is coaching this year, which only makes sense to me as he usually coaches from the sidelines anyways;)   It was cute to watch John coaching with all his heart, Nate playing as fiercely as he could, and Sam stepping in to be the helpful more experienced big brother/assistant.   Sam is playing on his own team twice a week, and has a paid gig umping during the season twice a week as well. 

  There is a whole lot of baseball love going on around these parts.

On Friday we drove out to St. Marys for the first time this year.  The sun was shining, the wind was almost non existent, and John was in the mood to hunt for fossils.    Even though he did managed to find a couple, the most exciting part of the outing (to me at least) was that we fired up the old Can Cooker for one of my favorite outdoor meals.   It was good I'm telling ya.

   Really though, everything tastes delicious when eaten outside. 

We spent Saturday morning working hard around the house.   We planted various flowers in our five flower pots,  gladiolas and forget me nots in the front flower bed, and rigged up a screen cover that I hope will prevent the magpies from attacking my future vegetable garden.   As our work neared an end, John got increasingly determined to get us all out to Payne Lake.  (Apparently this marked the opening day of fishing season here in Alberta.  How could we let that go uncelebrated?) .  

Jess, Nate and I visited and explored while Sam and John did most of the fishing.  Those two determined men even stayed longer into the evening, eventually coming home with three trout.  

We will cook those trout up for Sunday dinner today and no doubt here all about how "this is the first of many fish they plan on bring home for us this summer." 

Sigh...  and so it begins!

15 puppies

Jess has been a tad obsessed with puppies lately.  (That is a huge understatement, as they are literally on her mind 24/7) 

One day, a few weeks back, I'd arranged to take Jess out to my friend Ky's house.   Ky owns a side business in which she breeds German Short haired Pointers, and she had recently welcomed 15 little ones into the world.   Oh my goodness, they were cute little things.  

They ran around the yard and explored, nibbled on our boots, and yelped for attention.

The only thing cuter than the puppies - was Jessica's happy smiley face.  

I'm pretty sure that Jessica's version of Heaven consists of lots and lots of puppies.