Sunday, July 30, 2006

A Chocolate chip a day...

So this last week we've had Ben's brother Chris staying with us. He was originally down in Kansas for the summer selling Alarm systems but decided to come home early for various reasons(I think there's a certain girl in his life that may have influenced this decision). Anyway, he has no where to live right now so we've lent him our spare room. Here's the background to my story: At the beginning of the week I was sick with some sort of flu/heat stroke thing or just some mystery puking illness. Anyway, we weren't sure what it was and just assumed it was heat exhaustion since I had that last year - mostly we didn't think it was contagious. Turns out we were wrong. Chris got sick this week and was up Wednesday night puking (thank you earplugs). Anyway, he had the house to himself all day Thursday and had to fend for himself. I just assumed he'd found food to eat because I know Chris isn't shy about digging around in our pantry or fridge - plus I offered him food when I got home, which he refused. I think I may have been wrong judging by what I found on Friday. So Friday morning Chris had gone home to Claresholm to get ready to head down to Echo Lake with his girlfriend's family (she's really nice by the way). Since he was gone for the weekend I thought I'd be a good little housewife/host and clean up a bit around the house. I tidied the living room and kitchen, organized the pantry and then decided I'd tidy up the spare room. Well I walked into "Chris's" room and this is what I found:




Seriously, it was too funny. This it the type of food a grown 23 year old eats when he's sick: a handful of chocolate chips and an un-cooked Pop Tart (He's like a little Chipmunk). He really needs a wife, someone who can take care of him when he's sick.

Anyway, that was my humour for the week. Nothing else exciting has happened besides that and finishing the fence. Today we're headed off to Nate and Tans new house for Nates 33rd B-day. I'm kind of excited to see it with all it's new furniture, it will have me itching for a new home (like my 1 year old house isn't new enough). But you know what I mean.

*Chris if you read this, please don't take offense, just be happy you made me laugh, it really is funny!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Fence time

So these last few weeks Ben and I have been working on our fence and we are almost done. Right before I went to the lake our neighbour came by with his bobcat and asked if we wanted to build a fence. Of course we did and of course we would LOVE the use of a bobcat to dig our holes. Need he even ask? So he so kindly dug all our post holes which seriously only took a half hour. We thought we were home free after that...Or so we thought. You'd think that with a handyman for a husband this fence would have been done in a day (also judging by the size of our yard). But no...we had some setbacks. The first was when our other neighbours not only refused to pay for their side (understandable) but when they also refused to help. I know he's a handy guy too, so it seems ridiculous that he wouldn't even help. Oh well...we'll put the nice side facing us.

Anyway, I went to the lake and Ben stayed behind to work. In the evenings he would work on the fence all by himself. Let me tell you, leveling a fence post is not an easy job... for two, and very likely impossible for one to do. But he tried anyway. SO to make along story short, the posts weren't level so we had to dig them up (which was ok since we didn't use cement) and then we had to put them back in. This seriously took so long. Right now we have all the fence posts in, and I think by the end of this coming weekend we will have the fence built - how exciting!!! Our first Fence in our first home!! So here are some pics:



Friday, July 14, 2006

Sylvan

You’d think that a full week of Holidays with days and days at the beach, a million things going on at once (ok, I lie, just two things going on at once – the beach and the water), a different bathing suit almost everyday, all my siblings together under one roof, three Grandsons (5 ½, 1 ½ and 6 months), a full moon every night (you have to know my brothers to get it) and a fancy digital camera would result in some serious photo opportunities, but you’re wrong. After this last holiday, I somehow managed to only get a picture of Marcus with a pink cowboy hat on. Seriously, why even have a camera? I remember going on this holiday thinking how I was going to take so many pictures and then post them on my blog and fascinate all my readers (although I think it’s just Mom and Tan reading cause no one else ever comments) and somehow this is all you get. ENJOY!

So the week was fun, I said Goodbye to Ben on Sunday when he dropped me off at Nate and Tans. I really (really) wanted him to come, but I guess when we prayed his business would be successful we should have been prepared for it to be this successful. We had a nice little drive to the Lake and met the rest of my family there. That night was fun because everyone was there (but Ben of course). We did the usual Woodruff stuff, like watching a video Jeff made of Moths up in Crowfoot (sick…seriously sick) and then playing Dominos. I think we ate our junk food rations for the entire week in that one night. Who’s idea was it to have a healthy week anyway? Some one crazy that’s for sure.

We spent most of the time at the beach relaxing, floating, building sand castles, and dreaming of KFC. We honestly stayed out all day long – most nights we didn’t eat dinner until at least 8:00PM – some days I didn’t eat lunch at all, I was just having too much fun soaking in the rays. Some how I thought it was quite the feat to be the “only one who stayed at the beach all day”- I think my sunburned body would disagree. Every night after dinner we thought of all the wonderful things we could do as a family at night, but somehow Becc's Favourite “So you think you can Dance” and other various TV shows took precedence – which was ok because our “UNO” games, Ice Cream trips and midnight swims made up for it. We were so grateful for out lighthouse (mom) on those midnight swims. She definitely knows how to work a flashlight, especially when she used the brightness of the full moon each night to reflect light for all us swimmers (you have to know Nate to understand). I tried so hard every night to stay up late with the “singles” but as it turns out I’m just not young and fun any more, all I could think about in the first few minutes of the nightly 2 AM movie was how badly I wanted to sleep, the movie always lost that battle especially since I knew I needed to be prepared for Marcus’ daily 7:00 AM wakeup call – I’m surprised Josh never learned that lesson after his first 7:30 AM wakeup by Matthew. Some people never learn.

So Jared Came Thursday Morning, Ben came Thursday night and Sarah left for her camp Friday Afternoon. We joked about having soooo much fun once she left, but she’ll be happy to know that we didn’t do anything exciting. Although that's when Jeff and Yuka came - they were fun! Oh... we also went Go-karting, that was fun too! But it’s just not the same without Sarah, I don’t think I can even count the number of times someone said “I wish Sarah was here”.

So the week ended with a day at the beach, a forgotten much needed application of sunscreen and the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Let me tell you, an air conditioned theatre does nothing for a sunburn – I had no relief.

In summary: The beach was fun, the sunburn wasn’t; the kids were cute, the 7 AM wakeups weren’t; the ice cream trips were great, the mint paddies not so good; the Cabin was Wonderful, the spiders in the bathroom were horrible;

But mostly – it was great to be together again, the week was just a lot of F-U-N!! What’s the plan for next year?

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

It's Stampede time!!

I love the Stampede...actually I think I love the memories of the Stampede more than the actual Stampede itself. Now, for how much I love the Stampede, I thought maybe I'd get out of it this year just because I'm lazy - but no such luck. Somehow, my two week Holiday erased my memory of all the work events going on this summer - particularly the one planned for today. So as it turns out EnCana decided to take us to the Stampede!! So I brought my camera, my Cowboy hat, and a smile - I was ready for fun! We had a nice buffet lunch, went outside to watch the Rodeo, and then I took a $55 cab ride home - thank you EnCana. The cab driver (who was very nice) Actually thanked me for living in Okotoks...who knew anyone cared? I figure, if I"m not using the free drink tickets, I might as well use the free taxi ride.

So here are some pictures from the day. Sorry they are so small, but for some reason my BLOG won't let you click and expand any of my pictures unless they are in the small format. It seems like everyone elses BLOG can do that, any suggestions?? So all you have to do is click on the picture and it will open it in another screen a lot bigger (hopefully).


So, here's the "Burning" CS (Calgary Stampede for you Rookies)





Here is one of a saddle Broncin' cowbot






A Bull Ridin' Cowboy






And me (I'm on the right (for you Rookies)- the other girl is Christina, a coworker of mine)





Anyway, I know I promised a BLOG about the lake, but you just need to be a bit more patient. I'm actually working on getting ALL of my pictures organized for that one. You'll see.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Summer is here!!!

So we spent the last weekend down at Echo lake with Ben's Family. I had a lot of fun!!! It was sooooo hot, but sooooo perfect! We spent most of the time on the water or shopping - which is the perfect recipe for a poor sunburned girl. My shoulders got some serious sun!! I wore SPF 30 religiously, but the sun burnt through the sunscreen without any thought of how much pain it would cause me...very inconsiderate.

I think my favourite part of the trip was the time I spent with Emily. We were joined at the hips (well my knee and her hip). It was fun. Everytime we were in the boat she was on my lap; if we weren't in the boat I was on the trampoline with her, or floating in a tube with her, or reading a book with her or giving her princess necklaces (which she gave to me as well). She was Princess Emily and I was Princess Meagan.

I think Ben had lots of fun too, although he wasn't allowed to hang out with me - I was already taken. He did spend lots of time driving the boat for us, which we are very grateful for (except the part where he made me fly through the air on the tube...I got serious air!). I think he also spent a lot of time with Carson, Ben really loves Carson. This is how he describes it "that kid is cool, he is just so cool". Eloquent I know.

Anyway, here are some pics from the weekend:

Me on the Wakeboard (the photographer was smart to not zoom in on my cellulite)


Ben on the Wakeboard...Intense


Ben and Carson...Poor Kid



Emily and Me



The Girls and our Sunglasses

Anyway, I'm off to another Lake for another week of Holiday, this time with My Family...Stay Tuned for the Blog about that.