Thank You for Being a Friend

I'm having fun using lines from '80's sitcom theme songs as post titles these days. Prizes go out to those who guess which sitcom. All prizes are in the form of "Them Bournes" bucks, redeemable at any of our "Them Bournes" stores. Look for one in your neighborhood.

A while ago, some of my high school buddies and I got together to tell each other some hilarious jokes and reminisce about old times. Some of us actually go back as far as elementary school, and the topic of our favorite school library books came up somehow. Yeah, it was that kind of party. I remember there were cards in the back of some books at Jerry Potts Elementary that had my name on every single line. I wasn't a big reader mind you, but I loved (and still love) to draw, so I would sign out every "how to draw such and such" book they had on the shelf and spend hours in my room practicing my skills. I got pretty good at drawing such and such after a while. I would also sign out any book that just had cool or funny illustrations in it, like "The Art of Star Wars" or anything by Shel Silverstein, and try and duplicate them in my own sketchbook. It was a real passion of mine, and I've even spent time recently trying to find some of these books on Amazon or eBay, but they're either too hard to find, or too expensive to buy.

Anyways, one of the books that I used to sign out all the time, and I've tried to track down, was a Garfield book that was entitled "Garfield, His 9 Lives". It's not a collection of Garfield comic strips so much as it's a collection of stories, written by various authors and illustrated by various artists, that tell the tale of Garfield's other 8 lives. I mentioned it to my high school chums that night, and we all did that kind of squinty smile as we vaguely remembered it's contents. None of us could remember if it was all that good, but if nothing else, it had a certain sentimental value. Long story short (or is it already too late for that?), this past week I got a package in the mail from one of my friends who flew back to Toronto the day after our get together, and in it was a copy of the Garfield book. It was from his own childhood collection, and he had gone through some difficulty finding it. I laughed and laughed when I saw it, and reading it was like hitting the refresh button on the part of my brain that stores memories of childhood library books. He gave it to me with the instructions that I pass it down to my posterity, and that I never let it leave our bloodline, and I've given my word that it shall be so.

I don't want to embarrass him by mentioning his name, but I will say that our oldest daughter was named after him, and his last name is a two letter word that starts with an "H" and ends with an "O". I don't even know if he reads this blog, but I'll say my thanks anyways. Thanks buddy, you're a pal and confidant.

The Rattler

It's pretty hard to find Ashley without her little rattle in one of her tiny, clenched fists these days. It's her all-time favorite toy, and make no mistake, it is her toy, and no one else's. If you attempt to pry it from her Kung-Fu grip, she quickly snatches it away and then proceeds to beat you about the face and neck with it. She's got it when she eats, when she gets her diaper changed, when she's just sitting there being cute, and even while she sleeps. And yes, if you try and pry it from her Kung-Fu grip while she sleeps, she will still beat you about the face and neck with it. Her love for that rattle actually comes in pretty handy as it keeps her nicely pacified during most of the day, and it's also become a source of great entertainment for the rest of the family - even if you're the one being beaten about the face and neck with it.

And At The End Was You

We made a really quick trip to the Zoo on Wednesday. We planned on making it a really regular trip to the Zoo, but Ashley's afternoon nap went a couple of hours longer then we expected, so we got pressed for time. We still made it to all our usual destinations, but we sure didn't see that many animals. Maybe it was the time of day, or the fact that it was a little cooler that afternoon, but yeah, those critters were not to be seen. We ran into a lot of people we know, but due to the lack of animals, we didn't really take any pictures this time around. We did see Tony Danza driving the "Who's the Boss?" van down Memorial Drive on our way home though, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Stake Fathers and Kids Camp

Previously known as the Stake Fathers and Sons Camp, I believe this is the second year that they've decided to make the event more inclusive for kids who don't happen to be sons, but still love camping just as much as anyone. It's also nice for those of us fathers who don't have sons, but still love camping just as much as anyone.

After getting the vehicle all packed and fueled, Emma and I made a quick stop at McDonalds for a Happy Meal, and headed west for the Bow Valley Campgrounds. We got there at about 7:00pm, while it was still reasonably light out, so after stretching our legs for a bit and exploring the grounds, we decided to set up camp while the sun was still shining. It being Emma's first time camping, I decided not to bring a tent, just in case we had to pack up and come home in the middle of the night. Instead, we put the back seats down in the Hilux, filled the back with foamies, and set up our sleeping bags with plenty of room left for our stuff.

The camp agenda called for hot chocolate and games from 7:00 - 9:30pm. We had hot chocolate, and donuts were provided as well, but the games didn't start until a little after 9:30pm. In the meantime, we had tried roasting some marshmallows, but Emma was "a little bit scared of the fire", and she didn't like the cooked version of marshmallows anyways, so we just kind of explored and got to know some new friends. By the time the games started, Emma was crashing, so we played for a little while and then headed back to our tiny camper for the night.

Emma was so excited about getting to bed, it was really fun to watch. We got into our jammies and sleeping bags, read a story, said our prayers, and then it was lights out. Trampas Mayfield from our ward had brought out some glow sticks, and he had given a yellow one to Emma, so it served as a perfect night-light for her, as it was pretty dark out there in the woods. I was a little worried about being in such close quarters with Emma because she's a pretty wild sleeper. She's been found in every position in all sorts of locations around her room when we've peeked in to check on her in the night. I don't know what did it, but she slept like a log the whole night through, and hardly stirred a bit. I know because I didn't sleep very much at all. I never really do on camps. It got pretty cold after a while, but I had brought an extra sleeping bag for that very reason, and I ended up unzipping it and laying it over the both of us sometime in the night, and we were just fine. As soon as the sun came up, it warmed up the vehicle quite nicely, and by 8:30am, when we woke up, it was warm enough to be able to get dressed and ready for breakfast in no big hurry.

We had a big camp breakfast provided by the Elford family, which consisted of pancakes, sausages, muffins, bananas, orange slices, and orange juice. We ate healthy portions of each, to make sure we had enough energy for all the days activities. Emma did a great job helping me wash our dishes after we ate, and then we all gathered together for the days spiritual thought, given by President Miller.

After the thought, it was time for the hike. Emma brought her walking stick and a rock she had found, and I brought the water and some granola bars. President Stephens drove us to the trail head, along with Scott Wolff and Scott and Liam Pickles, as our vehicle was still in camper mode. Emma was one of the younger, if not the youngest child there, so our pace was a little bit slower than everyone else's along the trail, but I often prefer taking it slow. I like being on the trail more than getting to the end of it quickly, which probably explains a lot of my hiking experiences as a youth. I suggested early on in the hike that Emma pick a couple of flowers to bring home to Mom, and that only served to slow our pace even more, as she was now completely focused on keeping those flowers safe in her hands. She's so cute.

There were signs along the trail that told the story of a man who was brought to the basin we were hiking in by some natives a long time ago, and Emma had me read each one out loud to her. According to Emma, each blurb about the man ended the same way: "And he forgot his walking stick in the car" as she had made that same sad mistake herself. It made for an emotional first leg of the hike, but she got over it soon enough.

We came to a bridge over a fast flowing stream, and once in the middle, Emma immediately concluded that we were lost. Luckily the trail picked up again at the other side, so disaster was averted.

Soon after the bridge, the trail turned from gravel into wooden planks and stretched a little ways over the lake we were circling. Emma dubbed them the "water woods", and we crossed quickly in case there were crocodiles in that mountain lake.

Soon after the "water woods" we came to a little dock that we rested on for a little while. It was a great place for taking pictures, and it was also the first place where we ran into other people since we started the hike. Emma didn't want to leave this place, but I had a feeling that those we drove with were already waiting back at the car for us, so we pressed on.

The last leg of the hike grew emotional again, as Emma was tired of walking and wanted me to carry her the rest of the way. I knew we didn't have far to go, so I told her to keep walking so that she could tell her Mom that she did the whole thing without help from Dad. She didn't like that idea at all, so I tried to take her mind off of walking by pointing out sights along the trail, and before she knew it, we were back again. She was so proud of herself for making it the whole way, telling everyone she could about her success. I was pretty proud of her too.

After a short reunion with her walking stick, we drove back to the camp for the BBQ lunch, again provided by the Elford family. Emma's never been much for burgers, but these were pretty tasty, and she ate a good portion of hers along with some Jello cubes and more bananas and oranges. Again, she was a great help with the dishes. After lunch, the kids were issued some balsa wood gliders, and for about an hour, the skies over the campground were alive with an aerial stunt spectacular.

The last item on the agenda was a model aircraft demonstration put on by Guy Elford, who had organized the camp. He brought out two remote control helicopters, and two remote control airplanes. Only one of each was in working condition due to some unexpected landings earlier that summer. Guy flew one of the helicopters inside the mess hall for a while, and then flew his airplane around the camp for all to see. The kids loved it, though some were disappointed that the landing was a successful one.

Emma really didn't want to leave, really. I didn't really want to either, but almost everyone else had by the time we got our vehicle all packed up and ready. She cried herself to sleep as we left and didn't wake up until we got home. The sadness of leaving the camp was soon dispelled by seeing her Mom again and reporting to her all the exciting things we had done on our trip. It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again. I hope whatever Stake we find ourselves in next year organizes one of these camps, because we both had a great time. Next time we want to "build a tent", and maybe even spend a little more time by the fire. I can hardly wait.

Yards of Fun

Where should you go if you want to go face first down a water slide, jump around in a bouncy castle, and eat hot dogs? You should go to John and Jen Gilchrist's backyard of course. That's what we did, along with the Whiteheads a couple of Saturdays ago, and we had a great time.

We also took the chance to stop by our old house, since the Gilchrists live on the next street over from it, and drop off a mail key which we had neglected to leave behind. There was a bit of a front yard party going on there, which has become a regular occurrence according to our old neighbours across the street. I guess now that our old house has become populated with young single males, and the house next door has become populated with young single females, the partying never stops. I guess our old neighbours miss us being there just as much as we miss being there.

Jury Duty

Tammy received a summons for Jury Duty earlier in the month. She didn't think it would be plausible, so she filled out the form that excuses her from duty with the reasons that she's a nursing mother with a baby who is scheduled to have heart surgery during the time she was to serve. They sent her a letter back last week saying that she's officially excused. I've never served on a Jury before, but if it's anything like that Pauly Shore movie, they can summon me for some hilarious courtroom hijinks anytime.

Daycations

We're most likely not going to be making any big trips anywhere this year, so we're trying to make up for that by having a lot of day trips here and there. The most popular destination this summer seems to be Calaway Park. Emma is now at the age (or now at the height) where she can get on a lot more of the rides, usually accompanied by one of her parents, so it's getting to be a lot more fun for us. The past couple of times we've gone, almost all of Tammy's family has been able to make it too, which allows for a good rotation of watching kids and going on rides for everyone.

The most notable rides that Emma is now allowed to be a part of, are the log ride, the spider, and the kids bumper cars. She loves the "ride" part of the log ride, but isn't too keen on the "getting wet" part. It doesn't bother her enough to keep her from going on it again and again though. She just plain loves the spider ride (if you don't know which ride that is, I can't help you, because it's too hard to explain), and though she loves the bumper cars, she's usually the kid who's just off by herself, doing donuts.

We still have to make time for all the other staples of the park, like the little kids roller coaster, the swings, the planes, the boats, and the egg ride, but there's adults among us who only like those types of rides anyways, so it's still fun for everyone.

There is a ride that Emma is big enough to go on that I probably shouldn't have taken her on. It's the drop of doom. She really wanted to try it, but once it got going, she was all tears. It really silenced the rest of the folks on the ride, and most of the spectators too, but the worst was when the ride attendant gave me the bad parent shake of the head when it was all over. It's not that great of a ride anyways, so we'll probably skip that one from now on.

As long as the weather holds up, I'm sure we'll make it back there a couple more times this year, but I'd like to visit other attractions around the area too. Maybe we'll give Galaxyland a try when we head up to Edmonton next month.

Tour De Citadel

It was one of those rare days a little while ago, where the weather was beautiful, and we didn't have anything going on, so Emma, Ben and I decided to tour the neighbourhood for a couple of hours. Emma rode her bike most of the time and I walked Ben, but sometimes I carried her bike and she walked Ben, and the rest of the time I carried her and her bike and walked Ben. We made a stop at the Esso station on Country Hills Blvd. for Popsicles, and then spent a good hour in the school field where we let Ben run around off his leash. Emma would run as fast as she could through the field, and after a little head start, Ben would chase her down like she was a baby deer, and screaming would ensue. It was a lot of fun.

Later that night, I was putting Emma to bed and we noticed out her window that there was a single star in the sky. I taught her the poem "Starlight, Starbright" which she rehearsed back to me with her eyes closed in a very dramatic way. Then she clenched her fists, shut her eyes extra tight, and made her wish. You're not supposed to, but I asked her what she wished for, and she told me that she wished that we could go on another bike ride the next day. That really made my day. Unfortunately, we didn't go on a bike ride the next day, because we were too busy going to Calaway Park.

Chalk Drawings

This is a new hobby Emma and I have discovered. Not Royal Academy, I suppose. Still better than a finger in the eye, ain't they? Emma's drawings are usually of lakes or faces, but the one that makes me proudest is when she wrote out "Dad" all by herself. It rains often enough that the drawings never last long, but that just gives us a reason to get back out there and draw something new.

The "E" is for "Entertainment"

This is one of the only pictures Emma let me take of her when we went to Chuck E. Cheese's a couple of weeks ago. I'm not overly keen on the food there, so we ate before we went and bought $10 worth of tokens. We spent a few fun filled hours there, and even Ashley got to go on a ride or two. This little disguise was what Emma traded her tickets for at the end. She looks a lot like an old employer of mine in this picture.

Berry Picker Picture

Since Emma has repeatedly demonstrated her nose picking abilities, we thought we'd let her try her hand at berries. It actually wasn't a planned event, but when we were out at the Williamson's earlier this month, Tyler noticed that their Saskatoon berry bushes were ready to be harvested, so the kids were sent out into the fields and put to work. They had a good time doing it, and as you can tell by the picture, they were out there until the sun went down. The Williamsons left for a British Columbian vacation the next day, and there were still plenty of berries to be picked, so Emma, Tammy, and Gramma Bourne went back out there a few days later to get the rest before the birds did. Again they had lots of fun, and I'm glad Emma finally got the chance to pick something she was allowed to eat afterwards.

Citadel Fire

I took some pictures and a couple videos of the fire that brought down a couple of houses in Citadel back on the 17th. The houses are right across the field from my parents house, so we all had a pretty good view from start to finish. I think we were some of the first people in the neighborhood to notice the blaze, but by the time it was all over, the field below was full of hundreds of onlookers. They must have had five or six crews on site that were trying to localize the fire to just the two houses, but even a third one started smoking as the siding was melting away. It didn't look much like a winning battle until they brought in the Bronto Skylift, which completely suppressed the fire in a matter of minutes. It was pretty scary to watch, and you couldn't help but feel horrible for the people who were losing their homes and everything in them. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Poor Emma cried and cried when she saw it, but I'm hoping it helps her develop a healthy understanding of what a fire can do if you're not careful with it. A lot of people there were speculating that the house had been struck by lightning, but we were pretty sure that wasn't the case, and we heard later that it was started by a couple of kids playing with gasoline and matches in the garage of the first house. The second house got it the worst though, and it is all but a pile of rubble now.

Abridge Too Far

I was asked to be the concluding speaker in church last week. It was originally supposed to be my Gramma Bourne speaking, but she couldn't do it, so I filled in for her. It was a tough week to get a talk written as we had a million things going on that week, and also because I didn't remember that I was speaking until Wednesday. I spent most of Saturday getting it ready, breaking for a few hours in the afternoon to attend a surprise 30th birthday party for my good friend, Kevin Buchanan. I was to be a surprise guest at the party, but the real surprise guests were Emmanuel and Dean who flew in from Toronto to attend. Anyways, I was able to get 15 minutes worth of material written on the topic of Discipleship by late Saturday night, and I was able to go over it a couple times and make revisions between Bishopric meeting and Sacrament meeting on Sunday morning, so I felt prepared.

I wasn't aware of this before hand, but the other two speakers that day, the youth speaker and one of the Elders, were both giving farewell talks as they were both getting ready to leave the ward. Erica Takahashi was leaving to attend BYU Hawaii, and Elder Blocker was leaving to go home to Utah. They both gave excellent talks, but due to the nature of farewells, they both went significantly over time. I really didn't mind at all, but I was left with the dilemma of trying to condense a 15 minute talk (it actually ran for 20 minutes when I timed it the night before) into less than 6 minutes. I made the observation that as the concluding speaker, you often find yourself in a position either like Mormon or like Moroni. As Mormon, you find yourself having to abridge a large amount of material into a much smaller record, and as Moroni, you realise that you have more time than originally thought you would, so you have to keep on writing. I was in Mormon's shoes that day. I also noticed that it was probably the first time in my life that I had been the oldest speaker in a Sacrament meeting, and that I suppose life must all be downhill from here. I skimmed through the material pretty quickly, and a lot of people told me they enjoyed it, so I think I was able to pull it off. There's a lot in there that I wish I could have covered however, so I'm contemplating writing it all out the way I wanted it to be presented, but it's all in point form, so it's a matter of finding the time to do it. Maybe I'll find myself in Moroni's shoes sometime soon.

Templates

I've had a few people tell me that the blog template we previously used, showed through our pictures too much to make them enjoyable. I think it has something to do with screen resolution settings, because it looked fine on our monitor. It's too bad because I liked that template, so until I find another one that I like, we're now the happiest home in the Matrix. I'd actually like to learn how to make my own template, but when it comes to HTML, I'm more of a neophyte than a Neo.

Baby Bed Head

I don't know what she does in her sleep, but sometimes Ashley wakes up with some pretty wild hair. It's getting pretty long now, and it's also pretty wavy, so when you couple that with all the cowlicks she has around her head, there's not much we can do to fix it. Her hair also seems to grow fastest in the "Mr. T" zones, along the top of her head, and around the ears. Emma's did the same thing, and I think we ended up giving her a trim when she was about this age, so I think it's Ashley's time to face the shears.

12/August/08 Update: I should have waited one more day to post this entry, because I could have mentioned that Ashley turned 6 months old on the 12th! Still under 13 lbs and wearing 0-3 month sizes of clothes, she's a small girl, but still on the charts, and putting on more chub every day. She's on the verge of sitting up by herself, something a that a little more weight might help with, and she's already cut her first tooth! She's come up with a new way to suck on her soother to help relieve the discomfort of cutting those teeth, as shown in the picture below. We've started her on some "solid" foods now, and she really likes them, even though she makes unpleasant groaning noises during the entire feeding process. She's a happy mama's baby, and we all love her to pieces! Happy Half-Birthday Ashley!

11,111

I'm 11,111 days old today. That's about as interesting as this post is going to get.

July, A Long Look Back

I need to get this blog back up to speed, so I'm going to recap some main events in July in one post here, and then we should be back with live, up to the minute coverage, for the remainder of August.

We sure didn't do much stampeding this year, but we did manage to eat a fair share of pancakes. I think it was 8th ward that put together the pancake breakfast that 3rd ward was invited to, and though I believe it was a tri-ward function, we only saw about 30 people there at any given time. Quite the contrast when compared to the Panorama/Coventry ward breakfast which we attended that saw about 700+ people come through the line, most of them being people from the community. I guess Coventry ward did quite a bit of advertising for it, and they brought in a fancy fire truck, but it's still impressive considering that there were 3 other pancake breakfasts going on in that area that morning. I especially liked how they put up a sign that said "FREE CHURCH TOUR" as opposed to the regular church tours that cost $12 dollars a person or $45 dollars per family. I also liked how a group of young people came through the line, quietly ate there pancakes and sausages, and then started Bible bashing with anyone they could find who wasn't preoccupied with juggling children. I guess I just thought it was peculiar, because I like to do my Bible bashing before breakfast.

We sadly missed out on our tradition of attending the town of Carstairs Beef and Barley Days this year, due to a case of the lurgy that was plaguing most of our family at the time. It's really too bad because they've started doing the kids races again (I don't know why they ever stopped), and I think Emma would have really enjoyed that.

The town of Raymond played host to the Navratil family reunion this year (Tammy's Mom's side of the family), and it was well attended and celebrated with games, trampolining, a BBQ lunch, and a slide show of Tammy's Aunt Rita and her trip to the Czech Republic, where the Navratils originally hail from. We traveled down the night before and stayed at Tammy's Aunt Kerry's house along with the 7 Mason's, Kimberly, and Gramma and Grampa Olsen. It was a full house considering Aunt Kerry has 5 of her own kids still living at home, but most of the kids slept in a big tent out in the back yard, so it wasn't all that crowded. First thing in the morning, Emma carved her foot up, scratched up her leg, and bruised her bum pretty good when she took a misstep through a hole on the side of the ground level trampoline they have in their back yard. She was very brave as I cleaned the gunk out of the groove in her foot with a Q-tip and applied the anti-septic, and though she limped around for a while after, the wound really didn't slow her down much at all. I took the picture today, so it's healing up well, and it's all but a scar and a distant memory for her now.

We made a trip to Calaway Park on a Wednesday in July, even though the dark clouds on the horizon should have kept us away. We managed to get there and get in 4 or 5 rides before the downpour hit us. Tammy had already taken Ashley indoors to feed her, and Emma and I took refuge on the carousel, so we all managed to stay pretty dry. It rained hard for about 20 minutes or so, which was no big deal, but the thunderstorm that accompanied it, along with hordes of people running around screaming, made Emma a little bit nervous. After the rain stopped, there was nothing but blue skies, so the rest of the day turned out pretty decently.

Tammy arranged a play date for Emma with our next door neighbours daughter from our old house in Coventry Hills back at the end of the month. Her name is Katelyn, and she was one of Emma's best friends when we lived over there. They went to what Emma calls "Our Park" (she has a different name for every park we've ever gone to) and then they went back to Katelyn's house for some snacks. Emma's attended a play group here in Citadel a couple of times now, but she's just seen so much change in her life since Ashley was born, that I think it was really good for her to get back to her old stomping grounds and reconnect with her old friend. I think it was good for Tammy as well.

Speaking of kids named Katelyn, Joe and Erica had their second child and first daughter back on the 14th of July and they've named her Caitlyn Evangeline Bourne. Since we were all under the weather when she was first born, we still haven't been over to see her yet, but we're very excited to go pinch them cheeks just as soon as we can.

Well, me thinks that covers July. I'm sure there was more to it, but I've already worn out 2 keyboards on this post, so I'm going to go lie down. Wait, I should also mention that today is 08/08/08.