To Make Memories

I've been thinking a lot about memories lately. Some because I swear there are days that my short term memory is non existent, some because of this blog and the insane amounts of pictures I take, some because of the fun things we do as a family, some because of the lengths that I've gone to preserve our memories, and some because of tragedies in other's lives.
When we first had Zane I took a lot of teasing because of the number of pictures I took of him. I always had my camera nearby. I literally have thousands of pictures of him (and Rhett's closing in) in his short lifespan already. Sometimes I think that I'm a little crazy, but then I remember how fast I forget things and how quickly I remember them when I look at the pictures. When I look through the albums it reminds me of things, and stories - some are written down and some are triggered by the pictures and the ones I've written. I cherish them and know that in years to come when they are grown and gone the effort will have been worth it.
Then there are things that I purposefully plan in an effort to make memories for the kids that they will remember. Traditions are always a great way to make memories and I think Cliff and I have done a pretty good job of melding our family's traditions. This is the first year that we won't be spending the July 1st long weekend in Raymond. So we are trying to do fun things here. Last night we walked down town (oh wow is it ever a zoo here in Sylvan!) and went to an ice cream store that we don't usually go to. The Big Moo (I think, or just the Moo) sells food and hard ice cream and always has crowds. Although it took a long time to get our ice cream and was outrageously priced, I'm hoping it is something that the boys will remember. We walked home with ice cream dripping and Zane suggested the next time we wanted ice cream that maybe we should go to Dairy Queen! Unrelated, but still cute, Rhett LOVES puddles. When we walk anywhere he's always say hi and bye to the puddles and waving to them. Including the lake. I can't convince him that it's a lake and not a puddle. Every time he sees the lake it's "hi puddle". It makes me giggle and be glad that he's 2 this summer. It's fun to see him learn and grow. He looks like such a big kid now with his long skinny legs and arms. Sigh.
As I said before some tragedy has also had me thinking of memories...a family in my home ward suffered a house fire on Friday. It destroyed everything. No one was hurt but the family suffered a tremendous loss. All their physical mementos of their lives were lost in the fire. No pictures, journals, trophies, music, collections - all is gone. And as I've thought about this my heart just breaks for them because I can't even imagine what it feels like to have a lifetime of stuff destroyed and gone. But part of me remembers that it is stuff. It doesn't make it less important because it is stuff, but the most important thing is that no one was harmed in the fire. They as a family are whole in the physical sense. Re-building their house, collecting new "stuff" and making new memories will be hard and painful. But they have each other to do that with, and that is the most important. It also makes me thankful for technology. I blog and print that and save it as my journal, I also save it on a memory stick. Theoretically, if my computer is destroyed by something I can still access my memories and pass them on to my family. The same goes for my pictures. Technology has made it possible to compress so much information into such a small place that I am able to carry it in my 72 hour kit.
And so I hope that we all continue to make memories - hold on to the good ones, let go of the bad ones and learn from them all!

Am I Prepared?

Earlier this week I had the constant feeling and impression that I needed to make sure our 72 hour kit was ready and accessible. It consumed my thoughts and I felt an urgency that I could not put off. I knew it was the spirit whispering so I took some time of my day to go through our kit and organized, added to it, and made a list of things that I still need to collect for it. As I was doing this I kept thinking of different scenarios that would cause us to need our kit and what we would do in these situations...what I would grab if we had to leave immediately, or in fifteen minutes or in 2 hours. It was really interesting to me to think of the things that held such importance in our lives that I would grab them in the 15 minute situation and others in the 2 hour situation. I also know that we would be heading to Raymond if anything did happen. My mom suggested this awhile ago and it makes sense for us to head for our families if there is a crisis. So tomorrow we are going to have a family home evening on being prepared, and exit strategies out of the house and that sort of thing.
The kids and I really enjoyed the sunshine we had this week. They've both got tan lines for the first time...we're not hibernating inside an apartment anymore and both kids beg to go outside all the time. I'm sporting some pretty good lines myself this year and hope that the sunshine keeps up so I can keep the tan. It's nice to be a darker shade of white!
I feel like time is just flying by as we go from one activity to the next. I've been working on a quilt, we've gone to the park, played with the Robison kids and Cliff and I were able to do a temple session on Friday. It's always great to go to the temple and feel the peace and comfort that comes from that sanctuary. I am so thankful that we have a temple close enough to go to on a monthly basis and for a great friend who will watch our children all day so that it's possible! Thanks Leslie! We both were able to get some answers that we have been working on for awhile so it made the trip just that more special and nice.
Yesterday I finally finished re-painting the bathroom. Way back in February when Cliff put in the new tub and toilet the walls got a little mucked up in places so cliff mudded and sanded and I painted....The bathroom is NOT my favorite room to paint in the house. Ours has too many little spots that a roller won't fit and the last time I did this I had Kinsey here to help. So much quicker when you have someone cutting and someone rolling. Oh well. It's done, it looks good, and hopefully when we sell people will think that too!
I can't believe that it is almost the 1st of July. We're not going to be home for the first this year... That has never happened in all of my 27 years. But the kids and I are staying for almost 2 weeks at the end of July after Alisha's wedding. We're looking forward to lots of fun times with family and friends. We're very lucky that our families will let us come and stay for such long times and that Cliff is willing to let me and kids go. He misses us so much but knows how much I miss our families and how important it is for the kids to have those family ties as well.
Have I rambled enough? I think I probably have. I know it was fairly random but honestly that's how my brain has been working lately! Hope all is well with everyone!

Pictures, Father's Day and Cathing up

I know it's been awhile. And I have been doing things. But mostly I just didn't feel like I really had anything to write down. So we'll add some pictures and start to ramble and I'll probably get to the end of this post and realize that I really did have something to say!

This is the quilt I made for Lara's baby boy Burke. I went to her shower Thursday night and had so much fun. Everyone loved the quilt and I owe it all to Whitney's fabulous tutorial! Thanks Whit!

I took the kids and went to the Innisfail Parade on Saturday morning with Dave, Leslie and the kids. We met Leslie's mom there and it was great! It rained all the way to Innisfail and all the way back to Red Deer but it didn't rain on the parade! The kids had a blast running after candy, waving to everyone and enjoying the free for all we gave them on what they ate. Zane decided to eat a piece of salt water taffy and pulled out one of his fillings. ( I don't usually let him eat that stuff just for that reason but didn't notice what he chose out of his bag) Hopefully we'll be able to get into the pediatric dentist sooner than later to get it fixed! After the parade I took the kids back to Red Deer and picked up lunch at Wendy's, which is something Zane has been wanting to do for quite a while. Rhett fell asleep on the way home and Zane and I were able to have some fun time together. We played a game, did some mazes in his maze book and wrapped Cliff's Father's Day present. After Rhett woke up they decided to do some more decorating of the wrapping...

And they couldn't wait for Cliff to open it so we all got to enjoy Daddy's father's day gift a day early....

Rhett has the tail end of his croupy cough and Zane's only on day 2 of it so we stayed home from church. Too many kids in our ward to go out in public with that kind of stuff. The Robison family came over for supper and some fun and we let all the kids take a turn at the drums with Cliff helping...it was so much fun to watch all of their different reactions and expressions. We are so blessed to have such great friends to share good times with.

With today being Father's Day I would like to thank my husband for being the wonderful man that he is. He is so proud of his boys and is such a great daddy with them. I count my blessings every day that he is ours and know that he will do a wonderful job of showing them how to be a righteous man, a worthy priesthood holder and some day a wonderful husband and dad themselves. I love you hun! Hope you had a good day! And of course I am so grateful for my own dad and for Cliff's dad. Both continue to be great supports to us and wonderful examples to their grandsons. My children are truly blessed to have these great men in their lives.

Life is good, the sun is shining at the moment, and I am loved. What more could I ask for?

Kidnapped....

Can you be a willing participant in a kidnapping? Because that's what happened to me and why I dropped off the face of the earth again. Let's back up....Dad had an Edmonton run a week ago Thursday and dropped mom off for the night. He was supposed to pick her up the next morning on his way back to Lethbridge but he, mom and Cliff all agreed that the boys and I should pack up and head home with mom for the week. So, they twisted my rubber arm and off we left for the wonderful world of quilting where I completely ignore the fact that there is a computer with internet and just quilt and play at parks and see old friends and hang out with my sisters and my mom and possibly spend too much money on very fun material. See, doesn't that sound like so much fun? I know you are all jealous and would love to be me. Sorry!

But seriously, we had a fantastic time. My mom and I quilted late almost every night I was there (and I finished Lara's baby quilt which turned out soooo cute!) I'll post pictures after her shower. I came home with lots of fun material - some that I took with me, some that my mom gifted me, and some that I bought. Also borrowed some quilt books from my mom and can't wait to finish the 2 quilts that I have on the go so that I can get busy on new ones. Oh, and I forgot that Tisha gifted me a ton of fabulously cute scraps. Seriously, if you're a quilter you should drop by my place so we can ooo and ahhh together.

AND we were totally spoiled and got to see lots and lots of Grandpa Dooley. Usually it works out that he has really long runs when we're around but this time was great. Zane even got to go with Grandpa on a short run. If you've already heard this story just skip this part but it makes me giggle every time so I want it recorded for when my memory is gone! Grandpa and Zane had to leave by 6:00 am and when Grammie woke him up he wasn't very coherent and fairly grumbly until she asked if he was going with Grandpa. Then he was wide awake and out of bed real fast. Got dressed without a grumble and they were out the door. Of course Grandpa had to stop for Tim Bits before they got to the big truck...and he bought a 20 pack. By the time they had the big truck unloaded Zane had eaten...wait for it....15! Yep, that's right. He said that it gave him a little bit of a tummy ache so hopefully he's learned his lesson. My dad has a GPS unit in the the truck and when they were on the road it said " At the end of the road turn right". Zane immediately asked "Grandpa, who said that?" Dad pointed and told him the GPS unit had. "no grandpa, who said that?" Again dad pointed and told him that had. "No, Grandpa (very slowly and with emphasis - he does this when he thinks we haven't understood what he's asked) Who said that?"
This time Grandpa told him that the GPS was a small computer and that it tells him where to go. "oh" He totally understood that concept and watched the screen all the way to Taber and back to Coaldale (it has a little marker representing the truck on the road) He was also very impressed that Grandpa's bunk had 2 beds although he told grandpa it would be better if there was a ladder and not just steps to the second bunk. All in all he had a great time.
I got to go out for yummy cheesecake with Lish and Kizzy and cousin Ash. We had lots of laughs and fun and of course the yummiest cheesecake in town. AND I got to meet the new man in Kizzy's life - Danny. Very nice guy and hope all goes well with them!
And now we're home. It was a great time...probably one of the last that we'll have that will be that length...mom has a new part time job at a lawyers in Raymond and Zane will be starting kindergarten in the fall. So we definitely made the most of the time we had!