Deck and Fence

We've finally made some more progress in developing our home. This summer we've had our fence built on both sides of the back yard and a deck built on the side of the house. It's nice to have at least that much done, but there's a lot more to do. I'd like to start developing the main portion of our basement in the new year and there's a few more landscaping features I'd like to add before we move. We didn't put a fence up at the back of the house because we figured someday someone would want to put a garage back there, and that would just mean tearing the fence down again. We're hoping that these little projects will go a long way in increasing the resale value of our home as it is such a small place. I guess we'll find out next year.

Summer Fun

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful summer so far! Emma has had a great summer taking in some of what Calgary and area has to offer. On July 7th she had her first trip to Calaway Park. She and I went with Kristie and her 4 kids. Kristie had a $7 admission coupon for me to use, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to see how many rides Emma could go on. And, thanks to her Dora sandals, she was tall enough to go on 4 rides. She had such a good time! Her favourite ride was the Tot Yahts - little boats that go around and around in about 2 feet of water. Each boat seats 4 youngsters, so she was able to ride with Keegan, Amber and Kaylie. And each seat has a little steering wheel in front of it - she was so excited to steer, she kept bouncing up and down in her seat. For a while, there weren't too many people in line for that ride so the kids just kept riding it over and over again. The other rides she enjoyed were the Egg Ride, The Carousel, and a newer ride - I think it was called the Sky Rider. I was able to ride with Emma on these other rides, so I got my fill of excitement too. I gotta say, I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older or because I've been pregnant, but I don't have much of a desire to ride the "big kid" rides anymore - especially the ones that spin. Just thinking about it is enough to make me a little nauseous, and that is a feeling I do not crave. One of the highlights of our trip was that we got to watch Keegan and Amber in a stage performance with the Calaway Park Performers. They were approached before the show and were asked if they would like to participate. Keegan was Anakin Skywalker and Amber was Princess Jasmine, and they both did a fantastic job! Unfortunately, we weren't able to capture it on film because Kristie had forgotten her camera at home and my camera had ran out of battery power thanks to all the pictures and videos I had taken of Emma on the rides! Typical first-time mom, I guess!

Other things Emma and I have enjoyed this summer are the Panorama Hills splash park, Lake Chapparel, and the zoo. Emma loves the water and really enjoys playing in the sand, too, even though she sometimes tries to taste the sand. And she loves to see the animals at the zoo, but the last time we went (just last Thursday) she got a little spooked. The male lion was pacing along the edge of his cage, just a few feet from us, and he kept growling. I think Emma was surprised at how loud it was, and she started to cry a bit and clung to me pretty tight. Then after that, every time we got close to any other animal, especially the big ones like the black bear and the gorillas, she was extra cautious, but she still wanted to look at them. Unfortunately, Mike hasn't been able to enjoy these things with us because we always get invited during the week, when he is busy at work, but we are planning on going to the zoo again with Heather, Tyler, and Lucy and that trip will definitely be on the weekend. I can't even explain how much fun it is being able to stay at home with Emma. She is so much fun - she makes me laugh every day, with her "magic tricks" and her goofy faces she's always making. She is so curious about everything, I'm so lucky that I've been able to take her out to see all these things we've done this summer. I feel so blessed that we are in the position to have only one income that we can live on, so I can stay at home. And Mike is such a hard worker and a fantastic dad - he loves coming home and being able to spend time playing with Emma. Anyways, I hope to keep everyone posted more often as to what we've been up to so my entries don't take all day to read!

Reunion

I had my 10 year high school reunion this past June. I wish I could say I had a great time there, but I totally spaced and thought it was in July and therefore missed it entirely. I have however, had the chance to catch up with some long lost friends over the past couple of weeks to help make up for it. Last weekend, Sean Fraser, Emmanuel, and I went over to Kevin Buchanan's place in Arbour Lake and yuk'd it up through a few hands of cards. Kev has his own little girl now who's a bit older than Emma, Sean is driving an M3 that is probably a bit younger than Emma, and Emmanuel has been working in San Fransisco for the past long while. Today we went with Emmanuel to the airport to see Kurt who was in town breifly. We only got to see him for 10 minutes or so, but he'll be back at Christmas at which time we'll try for at least a half an hour. Getting us all together these days is about as rare as seeing Cobra Commander's face but I always have a blast when we finally make it happen. I should have taken pictures but I forgot the camera. We had one of my mission buddies over for dinner a couple weeks ago too. Wes Sallenback is his name, from southern Alberta. It was kind of timely as last week was my seven year anniversary of coming home from the mission field. He had moved back to the mission for a spell so he was able to update me on the status of a lot of the folks I knew out there. Anyways, I guess the moral of this entry is that it sure is heart-warming to see old friends again, and that if any of them came back to town and didn't make time for a quick hello, I'd be crushed.

11 000 Days Old

Tammy turned 11 000 days old today. Thanks again to Dale for reminding us all how old we are.

Drumheller

This past Monday was a holiday for us, so we took the chance to head out to Drumheller for the day. Both Tammy and I hadn't been out there since we were kids, so it was almost like a whole new experience for us. That place is pretty fantastic, I don't remember the museum having so much to it, but there was a lot to see and do. The museum led us to discover Emma's second fear though, she was pretty nervous around the dinosaurs. She would point to them and growl when we were a ways off but as soon as we got up close she clung to us like Sunday pants in a static storm. I don't blame her though, some of those dinosaurs looked like they could swallow you whole, no biting, no tenderizing, just down you go. Her favorite part was these globes that they had everywhere. They showed what the earth looked like at the time the dinosaurs you were looking at were around, and she would yell "ball!" and we'd go over and she'd just spin them around, over and over. They also had a little kids area with all these foam balls you could launch through these air tubes and she enjoyed that as well. We went to the water park in town after the museum and saw the worlds largest dinosaur, which is huge, and Emma was pretty amazed/scared. We thought for sure she would be up that night with bad dreams but she was fine. It was a great little trip that we plan to do again when the kids are a bit older and can get more out of it.

Fully Fledged

We got some good news last week. Modus decided not to wait for the traditional three month probation time to expire to hire me on as an official employee. Last week they brought me on permanent, which means we're on the benefits plan, I'm eligible for bonuses, and I got a raise. We're an excited family as this comes at a great time for us. It's really busy there as I'm currently the sole drafts person but Paul should be back soon. This may mean a speedier departure from Calgary for us as we've been looking at possibly moving to Carstairs. If we do move to Carstairs, it will mean that all of my siblings who are married, have married people from small towns and then moved to that small town. Alison to Turner Valley, Heather to Cochrane, and Me to Cartstairs. Hopefully Trevor will marry someone from Australia or Greenland or some other far off place. Beeeoooom!

Emma's First Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Emma's first birthday down at Bowness park. The weather was perfect and we managed to get a really nice, secluded spot on the far east end, despite how crazy busy it was there that day. Almost everyone on both sides of the family were in attendance so we had a pretty good sized group. We had a big picnic-style meal, games of skill, water balloons, and some folks even managed to get in some canoeing on the pond. Emma loved her first cake and raked in quite a loot from both sides of the family. Thank you to everyone who came and who brought gifts or food and thanks for helping us have such a good time.

Father's Day 2006

Last Sunday was my second Father's day in a year as Emma was born on Father's day of last year. She made me a card and we spent a lot of time playing together that weekend. I really enjoy being a Dad and owning my own child. She's a great little girl and she makes me laugh everyday. I hope this cloning thing gets going soon so we can have more just like her. Here are a couple twisted comics relating to Fathers that might hit home with some of you.

Fortress Hike

On June 17th we took the young men in our ward on a hike up Fortress ski hill. They had all spent the night before at the ward Father's and Son's camp out at Camp Gardener and we picked them up in the morning, half dead, to walk up the steepest hike I've ever done. Most of the kids had no problems with the hike but a couple of them wanted to give up on the first bunny hill. We leaders ended up carrying their stuff and sometimes them the rest of the way. We all made it to the top and the views were great, while they lasted. We were perched at the clearing on the top of the climb for no more than 10 minutes when some nasty clouds came over the mountains and hailed a mighty hail upon us. We quickly finished our lunches and headed back down the now muddy trail and arrived at the vehicles about an hour and a half ahead of schedule. The boys really impressed me with how quick they were and how much energy they had for staying up all night by the fire. We have a couple more camps and trips planned, so I'll be getting my share of the great outdoors and stinky deacons this year.

Tammy 3.0

I haven't had a chance to write much lately so I'm getting a bit behind in my current events here. The major event that I didn't want to go unblogged was Tammy's 30th birthday which occured on the 28th of May! There was definately a lot going on at that time for us, so it wasn't as grandiose a celebration as I wanted it to be, but we did get a chance to get together with both sides of the family and yuk it up. Tammy and I also went out to see a movie together for the first time in ages. My Mom Emma-sat for us while we went and saw "The DaVinci Code". We both thought it was pretty good but neither of us have read the book, which I've heard is better. So anyways, Happy 30th Birthday Tammy, and I'm glad to have been around for the past 1/6th of your life!