Great Aunt Linda

Emma has 3 great aunts named Linda. She had only met two of them until last week when one of my Mom's younger sisters (Linda) flew in from Montreal to visit for a week. The last time I had seen my Aunt Linda, or any of my Mom's family for that matter, was when our family made the trip out to Montreal about 18 years ago.

My Mom and Linda spent the better part of the week shopping and visiting friends and family all over Calgary and the surrounding areas, but we still had a few chances over the week to sit and trade stories and pictures and have some laughs. The picture I've posted is one of many that we took when my Mom and Linda stopped by our house on Thursday night, but it's the only one where they weren't in hysterics.

With everyone on Facebook now, we can keep in touch with our far away relatives a lot easier than in previous years, but we'd still like to make the trip out there again someday soon to visit with everyone. Perhaps we'll stop in a few places I served as a missionary in Ontario along the way.

We're so glad Aunt Linda made the trip out here and that she made it home safe and sound. Thanks for all the gifts and souvenirs from Montreal, say "Bonjour" to everyone out there for us, and we hope to see you all again soon!

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.

Kids Day at the Stampede

A few weeks back, Emma and I had the opportunity to go to the Calgary Stampede with Kristie and her kids on "Kids Day" - July 11th. Our first stop inside the gates was the free pancake breakfast, which we made it just in time for, before they closed the gate and ran out of food.

Our next stop was the agricultural tent, where we saw a bison, baby chicks, pigs, and cows. Amber and Kaylie even got to see what it was like to milk a cow, however this cow was made of plastic and produced water.

This was the biggest horse we had ever seen - it's hind end was easily over 6 feet tall. We later found out there were even bigger horses in the tent next door, but they were all in cages and we couldn't get as good of a view.

This sheep was being sheared, and not really enjoying it too much, it seemed. Every time it let out a "baaa" (which was about every 10 seconds) Emma would jump. She was frightened and intrigued at the same time.

We attended the "Superdogs" show, where dogs from all around the world do tricks and play various games like musical chairs (rugs) and frisbee catching. All the dogs were taught everything, and performed everything, with their owners (not special trainers) and 35% of the dogs were rescued from shelters. The show was a little long, but I didn't mind too much, as Emma had peed in her diaper while sitting on my lap near the beginning of the show, and somehow it all leaked out the bottom of her diaper and onto my shorts. Luckily it dried by the time we got up to wander around again.

The highlight of the day for me was attending the BMX show. Some of the tricks those guys were doing were pretty amazing, and it made Kristie and I feel young and cool again.

This is two of them flipping together. They got some pretty good height.

To end the day off, we went to "Buckaroos", a place where kids can play, jump in bouncers, and race in little cars. We ended up seeing some people there that Kristie and I knew as kids and hadn't seen in a few decades. Other people we had seen earlier that day were Ann Marie Houghton and her kids, Dorianne Varty and her kids, and our Uncle Rod Navratil and his son Jason who were both working at the gate.

It was a long, hot day for both Emma and me, as we didn't get home until close to 9:00 that night, but it was all well worth the exhaustion. I think Emma had a pretty good time at her first Stampede - she has since asked me a few times when we can go back.

Paul and Francesca

It was my privilege this past weekend, to stand in the wedding ceremony of our good friends Paul and Francesca Jensen, and enjoy a front row seat as they exchanged rings and vows and became Husband and Wife. I was one of seven Groomsmen who were each paired up with one of seven Bridesmaids, and I took my place as the next guy down from the Best Man.

Each one of Paul's seven Lieutenants were entrusted with a specific task, and were each bequeathed a ring of power to aid them on their journeys. There wasn't actually any bequeathing going on, but we pretended there was to make our tasks seem cooler. I was given the ring of picking up the wedding cake and posting signs on the highway, and after they were married it morphed into the ring of driving them to the airport at 5:00am and picking up their mail while they're away on their honeymoon.

The seven of us looked pretty spiffy in our tuxedos (even after some last minute adjustments due to a poor display of measuring on the part of Tip Top Tailors - zing!), but eating pizza and watching Jackie Chan while you get ready is no match for spending 3 solid hours on hair and makeup, so the prize for "best looking group of people all wearing the same outfit" went to the bridesmaids. We placed somewhere after the waiters.

The wedding was held on a beautiful day out in Priddis, and after an emotional ceremony and a couple hours of photographs, we all went indoors for some food and the program. Several speeches and toasts were made, a fancy feast was had, a cake was cut, and songs were sung to honour the new couple. After all of this, the dance began and lasted until the wee hours of the night.

Emma enjoyed the day just as much as anybody thanks to a fun ride in a golf cart, a colouring book that came with her meal, a deer siting, and a new little friend she played hide and go seek with out in the hallways. She was a real hit at the party too, being so cute and all, but she tuckered out after a few dances and Tammy took her home to bed so she'd be up for Church the next day.

I was not up for Church the next day however, as another part of my stewardship included sticking around to act as a designated driver. I reassured everyone that I drove that I had gone 29 years without having a drink, so I might be the most sober person they knew, but I did warn them that I was night blind, so they had to make the choice. Some people thought it was funny.

I'll end this with a big congratulations to Paul and Fran! It was an honour to stand so near by and watch you two get hitched, and we wish you many long years of happiness!

07/07/07

The fellow who owns the building that Gramma Bourne works in hosted a stampede BBQ down at the Zoo this past Saturday, so we tagged along with Gramma and Grampa Bourne and Aunt Sam for some eats and a stroll around the facilities. It was an after hours event, so there were hardly any other humans in the place, just us and a wedding party, and that made it all that much more enjoyable. Some of the buildings were closed off, but we got to see quite a few of the animals who were still outside, and they were all up and about since the day was cooling off and evening was approaching.

With dinner came a show that helped get everyone excited about the grasslands, and ended off with an up-close encounter with a Prehensile-tailed Porcupine for the kids. There was no petting of course, but the kids got to stand around the handler while she explained why that particular animal looked the way it did.

Very few of the pictures we took actually turned out, but it's no big loss as I'm not a big believer in Zoo pictures anyways. The Zoo is really something you have to go to in order to enjoy, and I'm sure there are much better pictures of animals in their natural habitats floating around in cyberspace then the blurry ones taken from behind the smudgy glass of some sleepy critters cage that you typically get from the Zoo. Tammy just picked up the "Planet Earth" series on DVD last week, and the high definition close-ups of the animals they've compiled are almost as cool as seeing the real thing. I give them two opposable thumbs up.

More About February

So the word is out that we are expecting a new baby to arrive early in February. We're extremely excited and had a hard time keeping it under wraps for the short time that we did. Tammy found out the night of her birthday, but wasn't sure that the test was conclusive until the next morning, so that's when I got the call at work. I was so happy I had to leave the office and run around outside for a while.

This baby will be the first baby on either side of our family to push the grandchildren count over the children count and the first to buck the generational gender matching trend. I may need to explain that...

On my side of the family, my parents have 5 children - 3 girls and 2 boys. My parents also have 5 grandchildren - 3 girls and 2 boys. On Tammy's side of the family, her parents have 7 children - 6 girls and 1 boy. Her parents also have 7 grandchildren - 6 girls and 1 boy. This child will be the first to break these trends on both sides, whether it be a girl or a boy. I don't know if this is a good omen or a bad one, but it's an interesting happenstance and I've been referring to the baby as the "chosen one" ever since Tammy pointed it out to me.

We haven't gone for any ultrasounds yet or anything, but Tammy feels great and I'm sure we'll be posting more news about the pregnancy as it comes in.