Cub Time!

Well, Sam is officially a Cub!!!   

He has only waited anxiously for the past year or so to get to join this fun group of young boys, and this past week he was finally invested.   

I knew Sam was excited when (back in August) his cub leaders attended his baptism.   When Sam went up to them to thank them for coming he also made sure to tell them that he:  a) isn't afraid of snakes, b) likes camping c) and has his very own pocket knife.   It made me laugh at the time as it seemed as though Sam thought those were actually pre-requisites to even enter the program.   It really did sound as though he was applying for a job or something;)  

It is my personal hope that by the time Sam finishes his three years in the cub program, that I will understand better what "dib dib dib" and "dob dob dob" mean.  ;)

I loved getting to watch their opening exercises.    

There's a lot of routine and discipline to it, which are two things Sam thrives on!

It made me laugh though as they were going through the 10 minute opening exercises, the other boys were kinda acting up and being little turkeys.   (ie:  Laughing, running away, picking on each other etc)   Sam though remained completely undisturbed by it all, and stared straight ahead at his leaders with absolute attention.   Sigh...if only I had confidence that would last!!! ;)    haha

I'm proud of this little guy and the boy he is shaping up to be!

(Even if he does like snakes:)

Snowy Sunday

8:30 church comes early around here each Sunday morning.    Today it was especially rough.    By mid morning though the sky was white and giant flakes of snow were starting to cover the ground.  By the time we made it home from church-the kids were on cloud nine!!!

They could not get home quick enough, and they insisted I dig out their Santa hats, and make them each a cup of Hot Chocolate!

Apparently the best part about early morning church is that you have the rest of the day to play in the freshly fallen snow!!!!

What can I say?

My kids are "half glass full" kinda people I guess;)

Sweet October. (So far;)

Holy Cow where is this year disappearing to?   

The other day, I watched a flock of geese fly south and listened to their beautiful song.   Seeing geese fly away to warmer weather always leaves me with a sense of longing.    Days are getting shorter, the temperature is beginning to drop, and there aren't many more months left on this years calendar.   

I feel a strong desire to try and hang on to it all!

For the most part, our days are filled with the regular ol' busy-ness:  early mornings, choir practices, piano lessons, chores, homework, juggling play dates, meetings, volleyball practices and tournaments.   

Of course, ALL of that is mingled with an occasional moment together that makes everything good again, and so totally worth it.  

Our days usually begin with a haphazard and unenthusiastic effort at Family Scripture Study.  On this particular morning though- everyone was on board!   (Hallelujah!!)

Even Nate was participating!   

One day last week, the kids woke up to snow.    We were all surprisingly excited to see it (perhaps because we knew it wouldn't last long;) and I ended up letting Abby and Sam stay home from school.   Why?   Well..partly because the beautiful snowy day must have put me in a particularly acoomodating mood, but also because I needed Abby to babysit for me;)

Shhhhh.....Don't tell John;)

Despite the snowy day mid week,  by the weekend it was gorgeously sunny again!!!    

Thanks to an extra laid back church day (why can't every Sunday be Stake Conference?) we had a lengthy and sunny afternoon to enjoy together.   

There is nothing like a Sunday stroll!

Sam found a geo cache by the creek which was fun for the others.  

And then....he led us straight to another one!!!!

Seriously!  Who is this kid???

Enjoying their "geo cache" treasures:)

It has been a beautiful fall, though the bright vibrant colors never seem to last nearly long enough for my liking.    I'd say most of the leaves have fallen.

Yesterday, I found the kids picking the leaves off our backyard trees in an effort to make their leaf pile bigger.  ;)   They then got the bright idea to move that giant pile onto the trampoline.    For a good hour they jumped and jumped until those leaves had been reduced to nothing but crumbs of what they once were.     When they came in for the night they had tiny leaf particles everywhere.   Throughout their hair, in their shoes, ....EVERYWHERE!!!

Sigh....I guess that's the beauty of fall.

I'll be wishing for these days back again soon enough;)

Wedding

I have an amazing family.  

That's just simply all there is to it.   

I know others think they have an amazing family, but I am convinced- none are as great as mine:)

This past week we were lucky enough to have some this oh so awesome family come and visit as our cousin (Kaleena) was getting married.     Kaleena is a pretty amazing girl, who has lost both of her parents at a young age.   The wedding and the days that surrounded it were full of reminiscing, missing those who couldn't be with us, and enjoying the company of all those who could;)  

On Tuesday, I received noticed (via email) that there was a "Mandatory Family Meeting. At 1:00 sharp.   At Cameron Falls."   All were expected to attend.

I really like those kind of meetings;)

(This isn't even half of the Toone Cousins.   Such a fun group!!!)

The wedding ceremony was in the middle of the day, on a Wednesday afternoon.    

It was so great to be in the temple with all of these people.    They have meant so much to me, and are a great connecting force for me to my own Mother.    

When we weren't attending the wedding or preparing for the wedding - we hung out at my sister Jewel's house.   Snacking on food, catching up, and playing fabulous games of "Mafia" as only Toones know how to.    For two nights in a row, we forgot about routine (and school the next day!) and stayed up way too late!   

Like I said, I have an amazing family.   It's the type of family you can visit with for THREE days, and still feel like it wasn't nearly enough time!

Oh, and I have to thank the best big brother in the world who stood in the rain/sleet for an hour fixing my flattened tire, so that I could get to the family dinner!   (as if there wasn't enough going on already;)

See?   Family is the very bestest!!!

Temple in the morning

The Autumn season seriously produces some of the best sunsets, sunrises and colorful days ever.    

It's a treat to get to capture it sometimes!

Thanksgiving Day

This past Thanksgiving was a quiet weekend filled with family, lots of work, and yummy food!

John has been building a chain link fence for a woman in town and so we opted to have our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday instead.    

Grandpa kindly smoked the Turkey in his slick Smoker!   It was delicious of course;)  

I got two new recipes this year from my neighbor, and I think the Creamed Spinach was a hit!  

We ate so much food- we were too full for pie!    But then, we ate that anyway;)

Once we'd cleaned up, we rolled out the door and into the van for a drive out to Waterton.

It was a lovely drive, (the kids complained the whole way) and I think we all felt grateful for the beautiful area we live in.    

While we were waiting for Elk to emerge from the trees, the kids found this crazy giant/monster/grasshopper on steroids!   It was huge, had a type of armor looking coating around it, and looked hideous.    (John was fascinated)

As we drove home, we paused to listen to a flock of geese fly over head as they made their way south.    

I just LOVE the fall!

PS:  I also love my favorite Thanksgiving Quesidillas.   

(Simply heat up some leftover stuffing and turkey and once warmed, place on a flour tortilla.   Top with mozza cheese and another tortilla and grill until melted.    Then dip in your favorite Cranberry Sauce.)

Best way to enjoy Turkey Leftovers EVER!!!!!

Autumn Rainbow

Two days ago a beautiful evening rain passed over our town.    The sun happened to be setting at the same time, which made for a spectacular light.

At one point I noticed the most vivid rainbow I'd seen all year and I knew I had to try and grab a photo before it faded.

For the record, John LOVES it when I drop everything, grab my camera case and leave with out so much as a word (I'm laying on the sarcasm pretty thick here;) but it's always so worth it to me;)

Sweet Potato Baby

Jessica made us laugh one day as she came downstairs with a Sweet Potato (of all things!) bundled up like a baby!   Throughout the day she carried that thing round, wrapping it in various types of clothing. At one point- I walked into her room to find her baby potato snuggled up in her bed.   

duh! clearly it was nap time;)

She's a strange one.

But so...so cute, so we tend to look past her odd behavior;)

This does however make me question why why Santa bothered to get her that American Girl Doll for Christmas last year.   

Napoleon Dynamite and other funny moments from our week

What a week, and is it not CRAZY that it is already OCTOBER?  

At this rate, it will be Christmas in no time!   Then, as soon as Christmas is over, then it's just a matter of weeks before a week long break in February.   Then it's just a short while until Easter.  After Easter- soccer season.  And after soccer season- Summer.

So really, summer is just right around the corner!   

(At least that is how I chose to see it ok?!;)

   It's been a busy kind of week as John and I have race around between work, play dates, fence building, nightly volleyball, home repairs (and all the little jobs that come with putting your house up for sale;), and getting the garden harvested and prepped for winter.    Let's be honest, most of that stuff was John being busy, BUT when John is busy - I am busy.   So yes, I've been very productive;)!

Abby came to me last Sunday afternoon with an interesting observation that made me laugh.  

 I'll admit, didn't know quite how to respond:   

Abby:  Mom?  You know that song we sing at church that says "Home can be a Heaven on Earth?   Well..sometimes, I don't really think that's true.   'Cuz like, think about it:   Jessica always makes fun of me, Sam is always kicking me out of his room, and NATE always punches me in the face.  So...like, it doesn't really seem like Heaven to me."

I can see her point.   Can you imagine having to put up with all that for an eternity?   ;)

I can just picture the internal struggle she felt as she sang that Hymn at church, not believing a single word of it!  haha.   

****************

The kids have discovered Napoleon Dynamite this week.   Honestly, I've still never seen it the whole way through yet, but the parts I have seen literally make me feel dumber.  My kids though- already have the whole thing memorized.    (Curse their photographic memories!)

When one of the kids makes a mistake, the others say under their breath, in classic Napoleon Dynamite fashion:  "...idiot!"    (It's not nice at all, but totally funny.)

Once after school I asked Sam what he was going to do to stay busy and he responded by saying (in classic Napoleon Dynamite fashion):  "Whatever I want to do.  ...Gosh!"  

 (again, not nice, but kinda funny still;)

And thanks to Napoleon Dynamite, the kids now are obsessed with Tator tots!  Just for kicks, I cooked up a bag of them for supper the other night and it made or the funniest dinner conversation as the kids ate their "Tots." 

************

While sitting at the table during dinner one day Jessica said with a lot of attitude, "Well that was over dramatic."   I'd never heard her use that word before, and when I asked her where she learned it from she just shrugged her shoulders in a "I don't know" kind of way.   

  That's when Abby chimed in and said, "Mom, she probably heard that word from Uncle Jordan.   You know, he always says weird words like that whenever he talks to people!"  haha.  

It's General Conference weekend and we are SOO excited! 

I'm going out tonight to buy all sorts of junkfood in anticipation.

Watching Conference with my family is my favorite part of the fall.   

And of course, after Conference comes Halloween.   And after Halloween comes Christmas. 

 After Christmas....well it's practically time for the spring session of Conference!

Wildlife Festival

This past Friday, I participated in a Photography workshop in Waterton.   (It's the Wildlife Festival right now, and so there's a bunch of various classes/presentations that you can attend.)   I was so glad that Marilee (a photographer in our stake) signed up to go too, as these things are never fun going to alone;)

The class lasted two hours and involved a drive up Akimina Road, a stop near Red Rock for some camera tutorial, and then a drive back.   All the while we scoured the landscape in search of Wildlife.   The first hour and a half was, frankly, quite lame.   We saw little.   

The last half hour was AMAZING as we came upon several bears just off the side of the road.  

To say we caused a "bear jam" would be an understatement.   Imagine 10 amateur photographers all vying for the closest/best angle.    (I'm proud to say that Marilee and I positioned ourselves at the front of the caravan and managed to get some fun shots.)  Not that our photos compared to any the other hoity toity photographers took.  Their lenses were stinking HUGE, and we often had to remind ourselves not to be jealous;)     

It had snowed the day before which made the air quite cool, BUT provided a BEAUTIFUL backdrop!

After the course, I hung around Waterton a bit for some time to do the things I normally don't do when my kids come along.    I stopped off at my favorite restaraunt Vimy's and had a Turkey Club Sandwich and Clam Chowder while I watched the rain fall outside.   THEN, I headed over to the Falls Theatre for a 1 hour presentation about Wolves.  Before heading home I grabbed a cup of steamed milk and drove out to the flat to watch the Elk.    

It was pretty much the perfect way to end a busy week;) 

An evening at Alpine Stables

Once upon a time I had a 33 birthday, and I was lucky enough to be given a gift card to Alpine Stables in Waterton.    That special someone knows me pretty well;)

I thought about going in June - but June makes me want to light myself on fire.    

Then I thought about going during the summer - but darnit all, there was just so much other fun going on!

Finally, this past weekend John and I went on a Fall ride, and it was PERFECT!

We showed up at the stables late afternoon, and were instantly presented two very easy going horses.  

I was thrilled when our guide started taking us out on to the flat.    We often drive out to this area to watch the Elk gather in the fall, but now we were actually getting to ride right into the trees!!!

This is a photo looking back at where we'd been.    It was a beautiful day!

Skeena and Me;)

(Skeena as in the "Skeena River."  Isn't that a great name for a horse?)

Once we crossed the flat, it was straight into the trees!  Riding through a forest is always so much fun, especially when I actually remember to duck for those low hanging branches;)

We spent the hour exploring the woods along the flat, weaving in and out, crossing little streams, and just generally pretending we were true legit country folk.

Occasionally we'd hear the bugle of an Elk off in the distance, but we didn't think much of it.    We were shocked though at what we saw as I came through this grove of trees and approached the shore.

Standing there watching us was the biggest, most beautiful bull Elk I'd ever seen,

and this was definitely the closest to one I've ever been!

It watched us for awhile before it began to saunter along the shore away from us.  

It was kinda funny, at one point it picked up speed and our guide started running his horse with it, trying to stay on it's tail.   I hung back...but not because I was chicken or anything;)

Such a magnificent animal!!!

A few minutes later we were back in the forest, just going along, when wall the sudden we looked over to see this bull Elk staring right at us!  

After those fun encounters I figured nothing could be better, or make this riding trip any more of an adventure.    That's when I looked up to the top of the hill we were approaching and saw a big black bear sitting and watching us.    I pointed it out to the guide and he replied, "Oh, ok.  We'll go up there!"  

So we rode right up TO the black bear! 

We kept a respectable distance for sure, and the bear was completely disinterested in us, but never before have I actually felt like going TOWARDS a bear.    

Being on horseback has it's perks. (A false sense of security being one of them;)

On the way back to the stables, our guide showed us a spot you could stand on and look out and see all three lakes in Waterton.   Apparently it is the lowest spot in Waterton where you can see all three lakes.

It was such a perfect day.

I loved the afternoon with John.

Wildlife was out.

Weather was perfect.

Just...AWESOME!!!

Super Mario, Taylor Swift, and other weekly updates...

This past week I noticed this snazzy little Mario costume on our town "Buy and Sell" facebook page.   I snatched it up faster then white on rice (as my Dad used to say?) and Nate has been wearing it ever since!   

  

At first, I thought he'd just have a little bit of fun and then grow bored with it, just like all the other things I buy for him.   I should have known that wouldn't be the case when he went to bed the first night insisting on wearing his costume.   Mustache and all!   

And when he woke up the next morning?   

The first thing he asked me to do was freshen up his mascara "stache."  haha

For THREE days he wore this costume!

He wore it when I took him with me to go visiting teaching.

He wore it while running around the cul de sac at 7:00 am.

He wore it while we had lunch together at Dave's.

And he wore it while I shopped for paint at Home Hardware.

It baffles me that he doesn't feel insecure sticking out in a crowd as much as he does, but it would appear he is totally in his element!

Just for kicks (as I was taking pictures of him) I told him it was time to take the costume off and not wear it anymore.   (Well...at least not until closer to Halloween for goodness sakes.)   He hung his head down, drooped his shoulders, and started to cry.    Dang, he looked cute!

It's been an interesting week around these parts.    

Abby and Sam have struggled to get back into the school routine, as both of them are in classes this year without any of their friends.  It's brought some heart wrenching moments, for real,  as I've listened to them explain the loneliness or nervousness that they've felt each day.   That said, it has also provided a lot of opportunities for conversation as we've tried to come up with various ways that they could reach out to others.    By the end of this week, Sam was feeling much MUCH more comfortable with his class, and Abby has managed to organize an upcoming "Taylor Swift Party" with 8 other girls, so I think they are figuring things out well enough;)

Speaking of which, this "Taylor Swift Party" has me half rolling my eyes and half wanting to support it due to her new found grade 5 insecurities.    So far, she has spent three afternoons with a few of the girls as they've held very in depth "planning meetings."   They have finally concluded that the party will be on Friday and will go as follows:

Taylor Swift Party

3:00-3:15  -  wait for everyone

3:15-4:15 - make microphones

4:15-5:15 practice favorite TS songs

5:15-5:55 Snacks

5:55-6:45 makeovers

6:45 - 7:45 Sing-off in the backyard

7:45-8:30 board games

8:30 - 9:00 - "talk about life" and "like... just hang out."    

Sigh.....

I'm starting to sense that I am in for quite a year. 

  

Sam had his first cub activity ever this past week, and LOVED it!   

They went out to a nearby farm and learned to saddle up a horse, ride it and drive a team of horses.   He came home with wide eyes and all sorts of stories, and he said his cub teacher (Sister Creed) is so awesome because she likes snakes!  He fell asleep reading his 300 page cub manual, and woke us up at 6:15 the next morning to see if we could go in to Lethbridge to buy him his uniform.     This afternoon, we spent about an hour working on a goal in which he needs to work on the skills of answering the phone, answering the door, and taking messages.    For practice, I got on the cell phone and would call him on our land line so that we could role play the whole phone etiquette thing.   

This is how it went down:

Attempt #1:

Phone: Ring Ring....

Sam (using his best Gollum impression):   Helllo,... my precious!!!!!!!!.........

Attempt #2:

Phone: Ring Ring....

Sam:  Hello, this is Sam.

Me:  Oh, Hello little boy, is your Mom there?

Sam:   No, she's gone.

Me:  Oh, you are home alone?  Well thanks for telling me this.  Is it okay then if I come and kidnap you?

Sam:   No, but you can take my Sister.

Attempt #3:

Phone:  Ring Ring....

Sam:  Hello, this is Sam.

Me:  Oh hi, is your Mom there?

Sam:  She can't come to the phone right now, can I take a message?

Me:  Yes.  Can you tell her to call me at 653-0000

Sam:  Yes

Me (after a long pause):  Okay thanks.  So, you'll tell her to call me?    

Sam:   I will, but I didn't write down your number so just call her back another time.

Sigh....

At the risk of sounding redundant - I'm starting to sense that I am in for quite a year.

Jessica has (in typical Jessica fashion) wormed her way in to the affection of everyone she spends her days with and she continues to love everything about the Whole World!!  haha.   So far, the biggest dilemma of her days seems to be "who she's going to invite over after school."   

She does come home every.single.day with a backpack full of worksheets, crafts and exciting things she's made.   In the midst of my "after school cleanup" I find I'm always throwing it in the garbage, and an hour later she is always asking me where it is?   

I keep telling her that I always put her school art work in her "Memory Box."  

(So far, it's working;)

John and I had a manic episode last week where we just up and listed our house for sale. 

I say we just "up and did it" but really we've been thinking about doing so for a while.   We still debate whether or not we ever could really leave such a great location, but for the time being we are going to forge ahead and act like we can.    This shift in our plan has motivated me to tackle some of the projects I've been putting off, and on Thursday I tackled the dreaded crawlspace!     At first I was just going to organize and arrange all the boxes and you know,  make everything look nice.    Instead, I went through every.single.box scouring through each and every item and then (after sending much of it to the same place I send Jessica's school work) I re-boxed the rest into a much more organized fashion.  

  The whole process did my Type A heart a lot of good, though I'll admit, I had no idea John had received so many love letters from his former girlfriends!  And what boggled my mind even more then that - is that I have actually moved those letters from house to house with us.  THIRTEEN TIMES!!!  haha   

Don't worry - I didn't chuck them. 

Every one of John's precious memories were safely put back in a box titled -

"John's memories from High school/Mission/and those Empty and lost years before he found ME."