Canada 2012 cont'd

My dad is selling the Magrath homestead (which I am devastated about) so we went out to tour it with my Grandpa and have him tell us all about it. If I had the money I would buy this place in a heartbeat. To me it is paradise and I have lots of fun memories there as a kid. I will be sad when that heritage is sold to someone else. Mark complains that Canada is to cold to live in so I promised he could leave for a month every year to a hot destination while I stayed home to milk the cow and gather the eggs. :) He's not convinced yet, but it doesn't stop me from dreaming. :)

 I love love the old barn.  How fun is this hay loft with rope swing and basketball hoop!

Can't you just see it filled with hay for our milk cow and baby kittens?

 Grandpa telling us about the old equipment that we found.

 Yep, definitely paradise. :)

 This is where the Japanese families lived who came to help on the farm way back in the day.  There is even a little Japanese bathhouse behind the main house with an old old stove in it. 

We made a couple of trips to the straw bales.  My kids were constantly begging me to go play on them.

Yes, I know this is a million pictures of straw bales. :)

You have to look at these pictures while singing the Indiana Jones theme song since that is what Mark was singing as they raced around the bales. :)

We helped Grandpa do some work with the cows and the loader.

And of course we had to stop in Waterton.  We can't ever go to Alberta without going to Waterton no matter what the season.

This is the road to Cameron Lake.

And we made a couple of visits to G&G Williams.  Yep they are still kick'n at 102yrs and 87yrs

Feb/March & Easter

When you get this far behind it's hard to know where to begin.  Despite the lack of “me” in Feb. and March we managed to survive those months and even enjoy a few moments. We managed a trip to Lincoln beach with cousins Kate, Wade, & Piper.

Pit stop :)

 A picnic trip up Hobble Creek Canyon with Grandma Judy. This trip was a great stress reliever. It was so nice to just enjoy being together as a family and watch Mark just run around with the kids like he didn't have a care in the world. Made me realize how stressful the last couple of weeks had actually been with me not feeling well, Grandpa Jay moving on and Mark writing his last board exams. It was great to get outside and enjoy nature and run our stresses out in a heated game of freeze tag and giggles.

 We also managed to get in a trip to the Golden Spike so Sammy could see the trains. It was fun except Grandma got stung by a wasp and the entire drive I felt like I was going to throw up.

 The end of March brought a 3 week break for Mark so we packed our bags and headed out. (Poor Marky - all his vacation time for the rest of his life will be spent in CANADA!! )We drove up to Rexburg on Tuesday morning (after everything went wrong like Mark losing his drivers license and waiting at the DMV for hours for a new one and Wilson's biopsy coming back from the dermatologist and having wait at the pharmacy for his meds!) where Tena made us some homemade mac and cheese and we played with her at our hotel pool. Wednesday we were up and hit the road for Canada. We enjoyed a beautiful drive up through Island Park and past Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana. This kids did great and we made it to the Motherland by dinner time.   Being home this time was SO therapeutic for me. I loved being home with the spring breezes, huge sky, never ending fields and mountains on the horizons. It didn't hurt that my mom spoiled me by getting up with my kids while I slept in every morning and making delicious meals. I always love my Mom's home cooking but when I am pregnant it is the most comforting delicious food ever. Thanks Mom for spoiling us all. :) We enjoyed Easter in Canada and had fun dying and rolling Easter eggs, pondering and celebrating the life of our Savior and partying for Sammy's Easter birthday. (self reminder- Sammy's birthday will have a post of it's own since my mom has all those pics)

 Easter traditions - rolling our Easter eggs down the coulee.

 Man I love this land of never ending fields and sky.  The sky is my favorite of all of God's creations - well other than the fabulous people in my life. :)

 I love driving out to rural anywhere and I get really frustrated in Utah when we go on beautiful rural drives and then massive homes on acreages ruin the scene.  Thankfully that hasn't happened here.....yet.

 Attena at her finest.

 Uncle Marky

 Grandma is an adventurer at heart.  She hauled us all over those coulees just enjoying the beauty of the day.

 Zina and her rock treasures.

 Attena and Wilson in a game of something.

 Adam doing something crazy as per-usual

 My kids have THE best aunties and uncles in the whole world.

Mark, Adam & Attena helping Wilson and Sam.

They also have the best Dad in the whole world.

What a great Easter we had!