Exactly Two

This video was taken when Emma turned exactly two years old - June 19th 2007, 11:23am. It was a lot harder to get than last years picture, now that she can (and does) run away every time we need her to stand still for two seconds. It's a good thing she got stuck up on those bars, so Mom could capture the moment.

She's such a big girl now, and so funny lately. Tammy keeps a book of all the hilarious things she comes up with, and all the new tricks she learns each day, and the entries just keep getting more and more entertaining.

We measured how tall she was that day because height experts say that you are half your adult height at age two. She came in at 34 3/4", which means she'll be about 5'-9 1/2" by the time she's done growing. That seems tall for a girl, but it's still not as tall as her Auntie Sam.

Later that night we took her out for some pizza at BP's and she got to share in the biggest dessert her eyes have ever seen. It was only the second or third time she's ever had ice cream, but she hasn't stopped requesting it for supper every night since.

We sure love our little girl, and can't wait for her to become a big sister in February.

Father's Day 2007

This past Father's Day was my third one as a Father, and Emma didn't turn two until this past Tuesday. Weird math, but she was born on Father's Day 2005, so I get an extra one thrown in there. I'm only going to let her use that as her gift to me for a couple more years though. Once she's 5 years old and working part-time, I'm expecting some serious bling, and by bling I mean socks and embarrassing neckties. This comic is for my Dad, because it reminds me of him. Happy Father's Day!

Belated Birthday Blog

Tammy's been meaning to make mention of her 31st birthday on this blog for a while now, but hasn't found the time to do it, so I'm acting as a proxy and doing it for her.

We went to Chili's for a special birthday dinner, but discovered that Chili's doesn't do anything special for birthdays, so from an outsiders point of view, it was a very regular dinner. All that really means is no free dessert, but we split a pretty hefty dose of chocolate cake and ice cream between the three of us anyways.

Emma made her Mom a nice birthday card and gave her a copy of "Cinderella" on DVD and I surprised her with the best of the first 5 seasons of her favorite kids show "Sesame Street", also on DVD. Emma's real gift was wishing Mom a happy birthday about 700 times that day and giving her a big hug each time she did. She kept that up for about a week or so, but Tammy never seemed to get tired of it, and I don't blame her.

Here's one more Birthday wish for the prettiest girl in my world, Happy Birthday Tammy!

Free Tickets

I like free tickets, I rarely turn them down. In fact, a lot of the entries I've made on this blog have centered around having free tickets to something. The past 2 weekends were no exception.

Last Saturday, Jodie and Aaron gave us a couple free tickets to Calaway Park, so we drove out there that morning and made a day of it. Here are some of the pictures we took:

I think the boats are Emma's favorite ride, just look at how happy she looks. It wasn't too busy at the park when we got there, so we managed to hit a lot of rides with little or no waiting, but Emma had to fly solo most of the time since her cousins weren't coming until later that afternoon. I think the boats are her favorite because there are no real surprises involved, but she really didn't like the part where you have to get off and let other kids have a turn.

The carousel sure looked inviting, but Emma got a little scared once it started up and she kept her hand over one eye the entire time. She warmed up to this ride later in the day and named this horse "Whitey".

We unexpectedly ran into Alison and the kids who were there for a birthday party, so Jillian joined us for a ride in the cloud cages and I took Cy on the cosmic spin. The cosmic spin just about ruined my weekend, but it was the spinning strawberries that we went on immediately after that finished me off.

We ran into these two bunnies all over the park, and every time we did, Emma wanted to give them each a high five and a hug. After about the ninth time, they started avoiding us.

We eventually met up with Jodie and Aaron, so Emma and Madison hit a couple more rides together and then it was time for us to go. Emma was getting pretty tired, but she managed to stay conscious long enough to finish off a strawberry ice cream cone before we left.

Alison had told us about a football practice at McMahon stadium that Cy was going to be a part of later that day, so after we left the park we went down to the stadium just in time to see it end. We all decided to head to Peter's Drive-in for some chow, and we waited in line for about an hour to get it, but it was still nice out and the food was worth it.

This past Friday, my Mom called my brother at work and told him she had some free tickets to the Stampeders/Eskimos game that night. Trevor wasn't interested, so Tammy and I decided to tag along with Gramma and Grampa and bring Emma to her first football game. Emma's a bit sensitive to loud noises, so the first time the crowd cheered and the fireworks went off when the Stampeders made a touchdown, she cried. There was no consoling her either, until Grampa gave her some binoculars to look through, and then she was fine the rest of the night.

We left the game a bit early to avoid the rush and the rain, but not before the fellow in front of us gave Emma a little football that he'd caught when they launched them into the crowd. It was the highlight of her night.

We had two great weekend events thanks to the generosity of good folks on both sides of the family, so a thank you to the Dykes and Gramma and Grampa Bourne for thinking of us when you got them free tickets.

Bouncy Castles

Last month we had the opportunity to play on a few bouncy castles with Emma. The first time was at Cardel Place at a drop-in gym for tots. Emma and I were feeling a little bored that day, and knowing how much Emma loves to run around in a gym, I decided to take her on a walk to Cardel to play with other kids. They had all sorts of fun stuff - slides, parachutes, balls, gymnastics equipment, and of course, the ever-popular bouncy castle. It had little basketball hoops on the inside, and a slide for a graceful exit. Emma had a blast.

About a week later, Heather and Tyler invited us all out to Cochrane to play on the biggest bouncy castle I've ever seen. It took up the whole gym at the church out there, and this time there was way more "big kids" than "little kids". It was kind of like an obstacle course built inside of a bouncy castle, so we were able to have relay races through it. It was so much fun! They also had a few Sumo wrestling suits for those who wished to jump on other people after bouncing in the castle, but Emma and I didn't watch any of the Sumo matches due to her being completely terrified of the suits. Even when Mike suited up, she was shaking so much I had to take her out of the gym to reassure her. All in all, we had a great time, and we're grateful to the Williamsons for making each of our trips out to Cochrane a blog-worthy adventure.

Masters of Marriage

It takes six years to earn most Masters degrees, and June 2nd was our sixth anniversary as a married couple, so you may now consider us "Masters of Marriage" (insert echo effect).

The traditional anniversary gift for your sixth year is supposed to be something iron, and steak is high in iron, so we celebrated with a dinner at The Keg thanks to a $50 gift certificate I won at a work Christmas party. $50 doesn't really cover a dinner for two at The Keg, but it put a big enough dent in the bill to keep us from washing dishes all night. Neither of us had been there before, so we were total Keg "neophytes" as D would say, but our waiter was a good sport and we both ended up with meals we were very satisfied with.

Despite having six years under our belts, I think we're still marriage "neophytes" as well, and I'm sure we have a long way to go before we're the masters of anything, but like an education, I look at our marriage as an investment that only appreciates in value. I appreciate and love my wife more and more every day, and I'm glad to be a "neophyte" if that means many many more years together.

In the News

CTV News came around to our neighbourhood a while back to get some reactions to the new school list that the city put out. They managed to catch Tammy and Emma at the park, and after some convincing, they managed to get a comment out of Tammy. She was a little hesitant to go on camera as she wasn't wearing any make-up that day, and she didn't think she had much to say about the topic anyways, but it turned out better than she thought. Watch for Emma trying unsuccessfully to steal some kids bike.

In other news, Kelly and Dan are engaged with a wedding date set for August 17th, my brother is working with me at Modus for the summer, and Sam graduated high school last week. Congratulations to all of them!

Lake Minnewanka

Here's some pictures from the hike the young men and the young men's presidency did last weekend out at Lake Minnewanka. We stayed overnight at Two Jack campground, ate a pancake breakfast (with syrup this time), and then spent the rest of the day on about an 18km hike. The weather was perfect and we got to see plenty of wildlife along the trail. We actually planned to make it all the way to the lookout, which would have been about a 21km hike, but some mountain bikers warned us that they saw a grizzly bear digging just off the trail up ahead, so we decided to turn back. The pictures tell the story better...

This is Isaiah supervising the deacons setting up the only tent you can see from space. It's a 9 man tent divided into 2 compartments. The smaller compartment might sleep 2 full size young men's leaders, and probably only one full size high priest group leader, but the four deacons we had there all crammed themselves in, leaving Isaiah alone in the larger compartment. They claimed that they did it for warmth, but I think the warning signs posted all over the camp with pictures of bears on them had something to do with it too.

The trail on the way to the lookout. You get a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains if you ignore the burnt out trees.

We stopped for lunch on this beach. There were spiders. We started walking back along the beach, thinking it would be flatter and therefore easier going, but the rocks were too big and loose to navigate very well, so a couple of us found our way back on to the trail before it got too high off the water level.

The rest made their way along the beach to this spring and then climbed the near vertical mountain side up to the trail where I was standing with my camera. I was impressed that they all made it, and relieved that we didn't have to call for a life boat, and happy that they brought me up some spring water.

After spotting some big horn sheep and some deer a ways off the trail, we came upon a herd of mountain goats on the trail. They were a bit slow to move to the side, but we eventually got through. A lot of them hung around to watch us go by, but that ended when someones dog came around the corner and chased them up the mountain.

Some of the younger boys were a bit hesitant to cross the path of an untamed mountain goat. Joey is actually walking backwards in this picture, and he's holding a knife.

The hike ended with a game of camouflage on the side of the trail. I think some of the other hikers were a bit bewildered when they heard AJ yell "camouflage" and suddenly 10 kids appeared as if from nowhere and pushed him over while he tried to count down from 30.

Despite how out of shape I feel, the only real suffering I endured were a couple blisters the size of Werthers Originals on my big toes when I got home. I have a picture of them too, but that's the sort of thing you don't let people see for free.

Mother's Day 2007

In my experience, Mother's Day is much like the person it is named after. It demands no day off, as it always falls on a Sunday, it demands no parades or fanfare, no lavish decorations or special songs, no particular symbols or traditions, no costumes, and no fictional characters that bring gifts and goodies while you're not looking.

Most Mother's I know wouldn't want all the razzmatazz that other holidays get anyways, but I don't know if that makes it easier or harder to come up with a way to make the day special. I have never been that good at being sentimental, and I don't suppose I'm getting any better, but so far I've managed to stay on this side of offending anyone, so at least I still get fed.

My Mother loves her grandchildren, and so our gift to her was to let her babysit Emma for a whole day while Tammy and I went down to the temple (if you think that's a weak gift, you should see what I got her when I was still living at home). The day we went was Tammy's 6th anniversary of going through the temple for the first time. I wish I could claim credit for the timing, but it was a ward temple trip, so the credit goes to the Bishopric. I also wish I could have gone through a session with her, but I was working in the baptistry with the youth, so we were separated until meeting in the cafeteria. Tammy ended up running into her Aunt and Uncle who were going through the same session as her, so I ended up not feeling quite so bad about her being alone. After the long bus ride back to the church, we picked up Emma, and some flowers, and finally called it a day.

We called the next day "Mother's Day" right from the beginning, as celebrations were going to start early. I woke up with plans to make some breakfast in bed for my wife, but found that she had already been up for an hour with Emma, who had woken up extra early to surprise her Mom. They had already eaten, and it was time to get ready for church, so morning celebrations were put on hold. Afternoon celebrations didn't really happen either. My plan was to let Tammy nap as long as she wanted while Emma and I made her Mother's day cards, but they both ended up sleeping until 5pm, when I woke them up to go to my parents for dinner. Emma and I managed to sneak in our card making time while Tammy got ready to go, so all wasn't lost. We ate a delicious lasagna feast at my parents house with the whole family in attendance, and that rounded out the weekend for us.

Not a lot of fanfare, but at least we're approaching sentimental.

On a side note, I was a little choked about the breakfast in bed thing, so Emma and I put together a "complete breakfast", as shown on cereal commercials, and surprised Tammy with it this morning. Happy Mother's Day Reloaded!!

Special Occasions

I'm quickly approaching the time of the year when I become bamboozled with special occasions. With Mother's Day, Tammy's birthday, our anniversary, and Emma's birthday all happening within the next few weeks, the odds are against me being able to make each event as special as it should be. A lesser man might be worried in the face of such a challenge, but I don't think I'd be able to look at myself in the golden reflection of my "World's Best Dad" trophy, if I didn't deliver. I doubt I would get my Father's Day parade either.

The Williamsons celebrated a couple big days this past weekend - Lucy's second birthday party and the blessing of baby Max in Church. The birthday party was held at the hub (Gramma and Grampa Bourne's house) and almost everyone from both sides of the family were in attendance. Since the party was on the 5th of May, the theme was Cinco de Mayo and came complete with tasty quesedillas and a Nemo pinata. The Nemo pinata went over well with all the children, except Lucy. She was the only one sensitive enough to be troubled by the brutal beating of a beloved cartoon character for the soul purpose of feasting on it's candied innards. After the lynching, presents were opened, songs were sung, and cake was eaten. A happy birthday after all, congratulations on being 2 Lucy!

After the festivities, the two Trevor's, Cy and I, went to go see Spider-man 3 with mixed reviews. No spoilers here, just wait for the DVD. Wait for it to be given to you...for free. After the show was the after party which consisted of our traditional multi-XBOX tournament. It was an off night for me, scoring in the negatives, so I quit early and went to bed.

The next day, Tyler blessed Max in the Cochrane Ward and we went out to the Willimason acreage for some grub and good times. We ate, napped, played some chess, and spent most of the afternoon outside in the beautiful wind. It's easy to feel all cooped up in a place like ours sometimes, so it's nice to get out of the city and see some horizon once in a while. It's double nice when your family is with you too. I hope to live in a place like that someday, but with all the special occasions coming, I'll be broke for the next month, so it wont be someday soon.