Almost done

4 casts and 6 weeks later Chasey's arm is almost healed. He got his last cast on yesterday. 2 1/2 weeks more and he will be done. Little kids are so resilient. He hasn't let a broken arm slow him down in the least. Here he is, trying out his new bike. Scott and I felt like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears trying to find the right size bike for him. But once we found it he was good to go.

Found this on my white board last night

And My Baby Goes to Kindergarten

It is hard to believe, but my baby is old enough to go to Kindergarten. For months now, I have looked at him and thought that there is no way he is old enough. I didn't think this with any of my other boys, but Chasey is a different story. Maybe because he is my baby. Maybe because he is a little guy. He was so ready to go and didn't even look back! I'm so excited for him!

Canada

About 13 years ago, Scott and I and some of our friends went on a trip to Banff. I was around 15 weeks pregnant with Taylor. I know I was 15 weeks pregnant because around 12 weeks I was still sick as a dog and I told Scott if I didn't feel better we wouldn't be going. At 14 weeks I woke up and felt sooo much better. So off we went a week later.

Ever since that trip we have wanted to go back. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. 13 years later we made it back with just a few more bodies with us.

We visited a lot of lakes and did a lot of hiking. During the parts where we were driving, audio books kept the boys from killing each other in the back seat.
Moraine Lake


View of Lake Louise as we were hiking up to Lake Agnes.

Canoeing on Emerald Lake.

Peyto Lake

You are probably wondering if I did any Photoshopping of these lakes to make them appear bluer than what they really are. I'm not that smart. These are straight from my iphone. And yes, they are really this blue.

Not only are they blue, they are so clear and calm. I have so many pix that I took that shows an almost mirror image of the mountains and sky in the water.

We visited some lovely tea houses. Ever wanted a treat at the top of a long hike? Canada has a few tea houses that are at the end of some of the trails in the Banff area. They are up high in the middle of nowhere, however, they offer a decent selection of food and desserts for your picking. We hiked to 2 of them and enjoyed hot chocolate, apple and blueberry pie, and yummy biscuits. And there is no guilt when you have hiked up to them.


View of Lake Louise as we were hiking up to The Plain of Six Glaciers.


We saw quite a few impressive water falls. This one is Takakkaw Falls.


Athabasca Falls

And it wouldn't be right if we didn't visit a few glaciers as well. This was a beautiful hike. We hiked up Parker Ridge to view the Saskatchewan Glacier.

We saw our share of wildlife. 3 bears, at least a dozen caribou, a few elk, a wolfe and a fox, mountain goats and some marmots as well. The only thing we didn't see was a moose. However, I was informed by a reliable source that moose are reclusive and it is unlikely to see them by the side of the road.


And it wouldn't be right if we didn't have some drama added in at the end. On the second to the last day of our trip, Chasey fell from the monkey bars and broke his arm. It was bad enough that we had to drive 4 hours from Jasper to Edmonton so he could have surgery to fix it. Poor kid. He was a trooper though and will have quite a memory from this trip.

Despite the bumpy end, we all had a wonderful time. The boys enjoyed the scenery and hiking as much as we did. Till next time......

Straight from Chase

"I love everybody in the whole world. Except for Satan. He is a butt face."

Amazing.....

So proud of this boy! He was the organist for sacrament meeting yesterday. All 3 songs, plus pre and postlude. He did amazing!

I am a lucky mom.

Still around...

I'm here. I really am. Just haven't taken the time to post anything lately. But here goes.


This handsome guy just finished the 7th grade. He continues to stay busy with soccer, piano, organ and hanging out with his friends.


He also likes to make grocery lists for me on the white board. How nice of him.


Ben Ben spends his time taking self-portraits of himself on my phone. When he's not busy with that he tries to stay on top of his social schedule. I need to get him his own calendar so he can keep track of all of his play dates. They are non-stop!


He loves the "Vordak the Incomprehensible" book series and I often find him reading in his bed.


Owen decided to take on whittling for two days. Inside the house. With no thought of using the trash can that was right next to him.


He is also quite the soccer player and prides himself on running down all the competition on the field. And he does. Do you like the soccer jersey he made for himself? He wanted to look like Lionel Messi. Don't know who that is? Well, you obviously don't have an older brother that idolizes him.


My birthday was somewhere in there. 37 I believe.


Chasey just finished pre-school. Wow. Can't believe I'm done with preschool age kiddos.


He also likes to spend his time adding to his collection of rocks and sticks that he keeps in the corner of the house by the back door.


Scott and I took Taylor and Bennett to see "The Piano Guys" at Abravanel Hall. They put on a great show!


The big news is that Scott turned the big 4-0. He opted for a low-key celebration with just the family and instead...


took us down to Colorado so he could ride a 50 mile straight up the side of the mountain bike race with his biking buddy. We cheered him on for the 2.8 seconds we saw him whizzing by. And that was it.


After the bike race, we drove a little further up the road and ended up at Mesa Verde National Park. Pretty cool place for adults and kids.


I mean what kid wouldn't like climbing a 30 foot ladder...


climbing up a trail with a huge drop-off on one side....


and squeezing through a tight tunnel.

Mine certainly did.