First Day of School

Well it's that time of year again. That time where parent's get a bit of breathing room and the kids go off to school. Mixed feelings ... not really. Mostly excited for them to meet some new friends and learn and grow. Also excited for myself to get a little time with Madison, just the two of us. We've never really had that before so, yay for new beginnings and fresh starts:

Homeward Bound

When it was time to pack up and come back to Lethbridge we fit all our new acquired belongings into the van and started our drive. We stopped for the night just more then halfway home from Salt Lake in some motel in a city we never heard of before and started our trip again early the next morning. We did stop in Great Falls to do a little last minute shopping and enjoyed the absolute Montana-ness of it all with the quads or 4-wheelers driving on the streets, parked in the lots like a car and the different dress code they have down there. Not that I'm poking fun but it sure is different then what we're used to!

We took plenty of pit stops and let the kids move their legs. I think one of the nicest things about taking the trip slow was being able to enjoy the scenery. It really was such a nice time of the year with all the colours and warm sunshine. We usually do the drive through the night when it's too dark to even see what we're driving through. It was a good ending to our trip.

My Life Is Now Complete

No week long road trip would be complete without a pit stop at an army surplus store. It being my first time in such a wonderland I had no idea what to expect. They had everything you could ever imagine. Camping supplies, army supplies, interesting little trinkets and flags. We walked down every single aisle and the kids explored army tents, tanks, Arctic sleds and Smoky Bear Hats. They had dessert storm coloured boots, and anything camo you could dream off. I think my two craziest finds in the store were these; the gas masks. It wasn't so much the gas mask that was so bizarre but the face that they were child sized... because you know every child should have their very own gas mask. And the second thing made me think immediately of my sister because she just loves such treasures as this Santalicious hot plate. I was just completely shocked that it had already been discounted one time. Seriously people, who could pass this sexy stud up at first sight? I know he'd be an essential at my Christmas table. ***note the sarcastic tone in my typing*** So we passed on Santalicious, in fact we passed on everything in the store and left empty handed. There was however was thing that tempted us, a sleeping bag for two. How cute is that!?

My Kind of R&R

Kids love attention. Kids love to run. Kids love animals. What has all three? Morgan Utah. Ryan has these cousins that never let on that my kids are annoying or patience testing. They just play with them, cuddle with them and laugh at their goofiness. They take them on the 4 wheeler, the tractor and paint their nails. Not only are there these amazing cousins but friends their age. Brayden made a new best buddy and they quickly bonded over shared love of riding bikes and running wild.

Our first month in Canada was hectic. Ryan worked, went out of town on a short motorbike trip, left again to pick up our new van in Montreal, we had the Beattie family reunion, the Porter wedding and so when that was over and we had a few extra days before Ryan took off for the Philippines again I was all about the relaxing. So I just vegged while the kids explored and played with what they could find around and they did not come up short.

And if that wasn't enough there was this:

So it was no doubt we decided to extend our stay in Utah a few days so Ryan could work from there I could finally get a few days to recuperate from the time Ryan had spent away the last month and to re-enegergize myself before he left for another 3 weeks on his next business trip.

Foster Time

One of the summers we were living in the Philippines another family from Focus came out to live for those few months. They lived down the road from us with their two kids. We had some really fun times and did a couple trips together in those few months and they even made it out of the country to Hong Kong. Sadly the end of summer came and we had to say good-bye. *tear*
While we were in Morgan Utah we were able to get together for a fun afternoon at the Foster's house. The kids had such a great time and it felt so amazing to catch up and just talk about life with people who knew what it was like to live in the Philippines and are just amazing people. It was nice to meet the two newest additions to their family and hear about the directions their lives have taken them.
So while the adults were catching up Sydney nearly loved their dog Chewy to death and Madison got into some awesome lipstick that would not rub off for 2 days!

Hopefully it won't be too long until we get together again!

Ice Cream and Cupcakes

Our main reason for going to Utah was for Wesley and Beth's wedding reception which was at Ryan's aunt and uncles house. Saturday afternoon it was a buzz of getting everything looking top notch for Wes and Beth. The hundred's of perfect cupcakes needed to be picked up and organized, the decorations needed to be hung and placed around the yard and the center pieces needed to be laid. My kids got absolutely spoiled with attention from Ryan's cousins. Wesley took Brayden out on the tractor and Bryan took the kids out on the quads 4 wheelers and kept them busy playing all afternoon. Alyson painted Sydney and Madison's nails to perfection while they walked around showing off their new colours, the best babysitters ... EVER! Madison was a bit of a pill with all the craziness but she finally let me put her down so she could have a nap.

By the end of the afternoon the yard was so beautiful. The colours went together perfectly and everything looked amazing! The cupcake icings only accented it all.

My kids were in sugar heaven with the ice cream buffet and cupcake table. I think Madison ate as many cupcakes as Bryan (Ryan's youngest cousin ... who's 16) which I'm sure was in the double digits. The ice cream I had was cake batter flavour and it was dreamy! If I was younger and it would have been more acceptable I would have gone back for more.

It was another hot summer day and the poor line up was standing there with the hot sun beating down on them. So many people came out to celebrate and there was not one single break in that line up for them to take a break. Finally around the time the party was supposed to be closing (but with still no slowing of the guests arriving) this huge dark cloud offered a little relief to the heat. The downfall was it looked like it had potential to storm the party out. It was off to the side but was slowly making it's way to the house. Maybe I'm just used to the flash floods in the Philippines but I was starting to freak out that it was going to just start pooring down and drench the poor bride. Thankfully we got lucky. It did rain, but just a light rain for a few minutes. Just long enough for us to run and save all the gifts and the presents, move the line up out of the rain ... and then it stopped. No harm done and the relief it brought from the heat was totally worth the run up and down the few stairs a few times to save the presents!

With the clearing of the rain came this beautiful rainbow adding to the perfection of the evening!

Happy Birthday To Me

Well it's that wonderful time of year again ... that time where we celebrate me, wonderful me. The kids and I dropped Ryan off at work in the morning and went out shopping for school supplies. We met back up with Ryan for lunch and headed to Salt Lake for the rest of the day. We had breakfast for lunch at the IHOP and bought a bigger then Brayden stuffed bear at Costco and then went to Temple Square.

Such a hot day and the kids seemed to have a lot of energy to burn. We take the kids to temple square every time we go to Utah but it has been a few years since our last visit and that's a pretty long time when you're 6,5 and 2! So off we went to tackle the heat. We started with a nice family picture in front of the temple, because you just gotta do it and then we went and let the kids run down where the water flows and play in the nice little water area in front of the temple. Of course the grounds were perfectly landscaped and everything looked amazing. It was a Friday and so there were a lot of brides. I think we saw 5 or 6 different brides outside the temple taking pictures as we walked around. In one picture I was able to capture three beautiful brides. I love seeing brides and just being thankful that's not me posing and trying to get Ryan to smile nice all day long in front of the camera. It's hard work! With that being said it's always nice to look at these other couples, their pretty dresses and their newly wed smiles... how quickly the time passes.

We took a lot of time to walk around since the day was perfect. We walked around the temple grounds, the tabernacle and the visitors center. It was nice to take the time to admire all the detail put into it all, all that detail and perfection done by hand. Walking around it and looking up and taking in the massive size, the design inside, all the stained glass window. It's no wonder it took 40 years to complete it.

It's not only the temple that's so pretty it's the whole tempe square and all the different building laced together somehow to fill those blocks.

Mr. and Mrs. Porter

We woke up early from our KOA campground site just outside of Yellowstone to find it freezing outside. I hadn't seen my breath in years. Not a good wake up call. I reluctantly pulled myself out of my semi-warm sleeping bag and made a mad dash for the showers and stood under the hot water as long as I could. I am seriously a baby now when it comes to cold temperatures. It's pathetic. I then ran back to our tent with a towel around my head so my hair wouldn't turn into icicles to find Ryan had the van on with the heaters blowing like mad. We were trying to make a warm environment for the kids to transfer into. As we were rolling up our tent with our freezing cold fingers that were refusing to do what we wanted I could feel tears in the corner of my eye fighting the cold.
Finally we all made it into the toasty warm van and headed to Rexburg Idaho for Ryan's cousins wedding. We did our final beauty touchups in a gas station restroom and we were ready.
Wesley and Beth Porter were sealed for all time eternity in the Rexburg Idaho temple. It was such a nice sealing! After all us guests shuffled outside into the warm sun and waited for the new Bride and Groom to walk out and greet all their fans. The kids ran around on the nice grass, we visited with family and enjoyed the welcomed change in temperature from earlier that morning.

After a little bit out came Wesley and Beth. They looked great and Beth was beautiful. So congratulations to the newly weds, definitely worth the early morning freezing wake up call!!

And Hello There Yellowstone

We took a little trip, just the 5 of us, to get some nice good quality time together before school started and Ryan went back to the Philippines. We were heading down to Idaho/Utah for a family wedding and so we left a few days early and went to Yellowstone National Park. I had never been before but Ryan's curiosity was sparked as he drove past the exits on his way from Montreal. I'm not too sure what I expected but it was not what we got. We pulled up to the national park entrance and paid our $25 fee and off we went ... in Yellowstone.

We entered in the north entrance to the park and headed southwest. We stopped at one of the first points of interest on the map because the kids were getting anxious and it looked cool. It was the Mammoth Hotspring Terraces and they were HUGE. They were so white from the calcium carbonate the is continually forming and reshaping the landscape. It was blinding the same way snow is on a clear bright sunny day. The further down the terraces we got the darker the stone became taking on this orange glow. It was so pretty with the mountains and blue skies in the backgroud!

As we drove from point to point I was awed by the views out my window. The colours were so vibrant I couldn't catch them with my camera lens the way I wanted to. The air was warm and clean and it was something I hadn't seen for so long, something so different then the tropical jungle I was used to covering mountains. I was a little bummed we didn't see a bear because I really wanted to BUT we did see a wild roaming buffalo and that was super cool!

Our last stop in the park was Old Faithful. You cannot go to Yellowstone National Park and not see him blow! So we did and it was pretty neat. Not to sound corny but it's something you gotta see, one of the things on the list. For example a few things on our list are: eat a hotdog from a vender on a NY city street, go on an African safari, and visit South America. So Old Faithful, crossed off the list.

So if you go by Yellowstone, most definitely take the time to venture around the park. It's quite the drive but we only saw a corner of the park and it was incredible. I would go back for sure.

Beattie Time

Up on the top of a hill in Westcastle the Beattie's settled in for a weekend of fun. Grandma took Brayden and Sydney up to Westcastle on Thursday night in her motorhome so they could get an extra night in on the action. They sat on a couch at a table in the motorhome and coloured and read books the whole way up to the mountains. Talk about travelling in luxury! I stayed home and waited for Ryan to arrive home from Montreal with our new fabulous van so we headed out early Friday morning. As we pulled off the road towards the coveted camping spot Jes and Jim claimed two quads met us at the bottom of the hill with Sydney on one grinning to her ears. Brayden had already left earlier that morning to go fishing with the older boys (where he caught his first fish!).

We got our tent set up and enjoyed the freezing brisk air filling our lungs with crisp smells of pine. Loved it. Once we were all settled in and did a little showing off of the new van we all went for a walk down the creek to throw some rocks. I have seen so many breath taking landscapes in the last five years as we've been fortunate enough to travel through south east Asia but there is something magnificent about the rich green pine trees, crystal clear water and blue skies of the Canadian mountains. A little bit of snow caps still in the distance thanks to the late summer with the sun warming us. It got to be quite warm up there and after lunch after the boys got back from fishing we went swimming in the lake. I want to clarify by "we went swimming" I don't mean me. That water seriously felt like it was on the verge of freezing over so I decided to try to stay warm on the beach and watch all the kids teeth chatter instead.

The rest of the weekend was filled with just as much fun. Kaden has his own quad, perfect mini quad, and he took Brayden for a drive. We brought a small parachute with us and Ryan had some fun with the kids while we got lunch prepared.

My kids got so filthy it was on the verge of disgusting. If I didn't have the excuse that we were living in a tent I would be ashamed of myself but you know what ... we were camping, we lived in a tent and they are just kids. Kids are supposed to be disgustingly dirty when they play outside all day. If they came back clean I'd be suspicious. Who cares really when they cleaned off in the river wading or cliff jumping like Brayden!

We played games and had some great laughs. I can't remember what the game was called and apparently I've missed out on it's awesomeness on TV since being in the Philippines but whatever it was, Ryan kicked butt and won! The kids just ran around and were never bored exhausting themselves so that all three kids were easily put to bed even if all three of them were all beside each other in the tent. The first night we celebrated Brock's birthday so we had pinata and cake! Seriously I'm not too sure how we could have done anything more then we did. One night we all sat around the fire and we threw flour into it making it HUGE. Probably not the best game to be playing with Ryan the pyro right there but it was cool and the first time doing that for me. We had church up in the mountains and even got a primary presentation with all the kids singing us a song. It was great.

Of course we ended with a little photo shoot down by the creek.