Mosaic

This mosaic is made up of every picture we've taken of just Emma in the two and a bit years she's been alive. She's just so dang cute.

Cliffhangers

Here's some pictures of the family rock climbing trip we had a few weeks back, out in Wasootch. Tyler knows a bit about the sport, and brought enough equipment to keep two climbers and two belayers going, so we set up two routes and made a day of it.

A family from their ward was also there, and they had some harnesses small enough for kids, so Lucy and Emma got to try climbing for a bit. They both did really well until they hit the "above Dad's head" mark, and then they wanted down.

We thought it was best if Emma's Mom didn't climb while she's pregnant, but we managed to get my Mom a good ways up the side of the mountain. She climbed really well and got a badge of honour in the form of a scraped elbow while she was up there.

It was a lot of fun, the weather was great, and everything was going really well, but what happened later that day was something that nobody could have predicted...

Kelly and Dan

It was a big weekend for the Olsen and Glenn families as Tammy's younger sister Kelly married Dan Glenn this past Friday down in Cardston. Tammy and I had made the trip down to the temple the Saturday before to watch Kelly go through for her first time, and Emma stayed at Gramma Bourne's house, but Emma came along this time, and thanks to Gramma and Grampa Olsen's portable DVD player, she barely noticed the drive.

The thing I noticed about the drive was how smokey all of southern Alberta was that day. Luckily, there wasn't an overly smokey smell in the air, but it sure seemed to amplify the already scorching heat they're experiencing in those parts lately. Tammy's other younger sister Amanda, brought her boyfriend Randy who is a professional photographer, and we're hoping he got at least a couple shots where we're not all sweaty and squinting.

After the pictures we went to a farm south of Cardston for a big family dinner. The house we ate in seemed more like a community hall, with a huge great room that easily sat both sides of the family. A necessary expense when you consider the couple who owned the home had 10 children of their own. Like all farms, it had a trampoline out back, a tire swing, and some horses. Emma spent a good amount of time out back enjoying all those features.

Tammy spent the better part of the next day helping to decorate the gym of the Crescent Road chapel for the reception that night. I showed up later with Emma, but still early enough to do a mic check since I was to be the Master of Ceremonies. This is the fourth wedding I've MC'd, and I did a "great job" according to my 2 year old. She did an even better job saying the blessing on the food when all other adults turned the opportunity down, cranking up the cute factor to maximum, and getting "awes" instead of "amens".

It wouldn't be Disco Dan Glenn's wedding reception without a dance afterwards, and it wouldn't be an Olsen reception without taking dozens of family pictures before everyone leaves. After all that, Iain and I took the kids home while the wives stuck around to help clean up. We got stuck on Deerfoot for about an hour, and didn't get home until almost midnight, but Tammy and her sisters didn't get home until about 3:30am, since they decided to have the gift opening while they cleaned.

I'll finish this up by saying that we're very excited to have Dan as part of the family, and we wish both him and Kelly all the happiness in the world!

McMurray Family Reunion

Tammy's Gramma Olsen was once a McMurray, so we try and attend bi-annual McMurray reunions as often as occasion permits. Folks travel from all over western Canada and the US to attend this event, which was conveniently held in Balzac this year, about 10min from our house. We don't really know anyone outside of the Olsen chapter, but it's still fun to go and enjoy some good food and let the kids run around and play games. We posed for a big Olsen family picture, but I guess no one took one with our camera, so here's a picture of Emma fishing for some prizes.

Beef and Barley Days 2007

It was that time of year again in Carstairs a few of weeks back (we're getting behind in our posts), when the town comes alive and celebrates being a town with their annual Beef and Barley Days brouhaha. I've been to about 5 or 6 of these now, and though I've eaten their pancakes, I've never been served or even seen signs of beef and/or barley. We must be missing something, it is a big town.

After the pancake breakfast, everyone parks themselves along the side of the road to watch the parade go by and to have candy thrown at them. The parades are actually pretty good for a small town, even if you include those who sneak in and try and use the parade as a venue to express personal grievances. Last year it was a clown in his clown car with a sign that read "poverty is no joke", and this year it was a guy towing his wrecked vehicle with a sign that read "what are we going to do about thieves in our community?". Talk about your Debbie Downers.

After the parade, we usually wander around town with the family and some of Tammy's old high school friends and check out the shows and games they've got going on. Emma took a ride with Kaylie in the tractor train, and some of her older cousins went in the bouncy castle, but there wasn't much else going on outside of that this year. We ended the day with a trip to Burger Baron where we got our own beef, but no barley.

Maybe next year I'll enter a float into the parade with a sign that reads "Where's the Beef?" and pack it full of sad, hungry children or something. That should get results.