Well - Kevin has been slacking on the posts as of late, so I guess I'll just pick up where he left off.

We've had an eventful July already.  I've taken the boys on a few adventures, to the zoo, Calaway, Riley Park, etc.  All trying to keep cool in this awesome heat!

This past weekend was a huge deal for me and my family.  Mainly a big deal for me because I was in charge of the entire weekend.  Organizing activities, meals(groceries), arrangments, etc.  I had a blast doing all of this, but it was definately a full weekend and I am glad to say that it is over and that it was a huge succsess.  I couldn't have done it without the help of the Calgary people and even help from the relatives from Vegas. 

Our activities included:  Swimming, Family Dinner #1, BBQ Breakfast, Scavenger Hunt, Chinese Food dinner, Family Dance, Golfing, Cooking "Class", Weiner Roast, Family Dinner #2, Program and Auction, Church, and Family Dinner #3.

We all had such a fun time, and it was so fun to be together as a family.  All of the activities turned out really well.  The food for the weekend also turned out really... (click here to read the rest)

I turned 30 years old on Saturday.  I finally feel a bit like an adult.  The best part of my birthday this year was my birthday party Friday night.  Without my knowledge for the past month at least she had been planning a surprise party for me.  It was truly a surprise.  I had no idea.

Earlier that day my dad had taken me out for lunch and then to the woodworking show to look at all the cool power tools they had.  I'm starting to realize the reason he did this was to get me out of the house so Elise could get things organized for the party.  He took me out for Vietnamese food.  It was awesome!  The woodworking show was pretty cool too.  I liked looking at all the cordless DeWalt power tools.

My dad dropped me off at the mall where the Elise and the Leavitt's were waiting for me (it's tradition that we eat dinner at the mall on Friday's).  Elise mentioned that her parents might end up going to the movie with us (we were gonna go on a date).   I'll try to make a short story short.

After picking up the babysitter we went to meet Elise's parents... (click here to read the rest)

Bretton stopped by last night. (I've called him Bert ever since a time we rented skiis and the guy spelled his name Berton Reedy).  It was really good to see him.  I was totally caught off guard by his beard which he has been growing since before the Oiler started the playoffs.  We went to McD's and let the kids play in the play area.  I feel kind of bad because Brett hasn't eaten ad McRaunchy's in close to 5 years (so he says).  I guess I was a corrupting influence on him.

When we got home I took Mason up the street on Brett's bike.  It's a sweet ride.  I haven't driven a bike in a long time so I was a little un-easy.  Besides, his bike probably doubles the weight of my old bike.

After dinner we headed to the Royal Tyrell Museum.  It was really amazing. The kids had fun but I'm not sure they could really appreciate how truely cool the exhibits were.  I'd really like to go sometime without the kids and take a couple of hours to read about each exhibit.  By the end of the night the kids were really tire and irritable.  We had to make an abrupt end to the trip.

We had a great time hanging out with the Lee's.  I hope to do more things like this before the summer ends.

On the way home we passed the giant dinosaur that we had climbed up.  Mason said "bye dinosaur, I hope you feel better now that all the people are out of your mouth."  Elise and I chuckled for quite a while over that statement.

We got to Drumheller around 2pm.  There was a really fun outdoor water park that we took the kids to.  I couldn't help myself and had to jump in with them.  We ran into my cousin Jennifer and her husband Bruce and thier kids.  The were camping this weekend too.  It was good to see them.  There was a huge statue of a T-Rex that you could climb up in and look out from it's mouth.  After we wore ourselves out at the water park we a couple of us climbed up to the top.  We counted 105 stairs.

After the water park we pulled over near at a playground and cooked up some steaks and veggies.  Dinner was really good. Thanks Gordon.

Mason, Gordon, Spencer and I went down into Horseshoe Canyon to do some exploring.  We had a riot!  We would run down the hills and jump of ledges.  I was really impressed to see how well Mason could keep up.  He loves that kind of stuff.  I felt like a kid again.  The views were spectacular.  I really should do that stuff with Mason more often.  He's old enough to hike and explore and he can keep up pretty good.

On our way to Drumheller we stopped by Horseshoe Canyon.  It was spectacular!  I was really looking forward to running through the canyon with Mason and Gordon.  Just before we headed into the canyon we saw a helicopter.  My first thought was "If that thing is less than 200 bucks I'm gonna do it."  Sure enough it ended up being about half that for our entire family to go for a ride.  It was a totally spontaneous decision but it was so worth it!

We went camping again this weekend.  This time we went with Sarah and Gordon Lee.  It was fun to hang out with them.  We camped at a little place outside of Strathmore.  We were hoping to camp at Ealge Lake RV park, but it was booked and expensive so we ended up staying at Strathmore Highway Camping.  It was a little different than I'm used to.  Friday night was cold and rainy so we didn't really do much other than set up camp and eat dinner.  It was cold enough that we were worried about the kids so we ended up going to bed pretty early.  Porter was miserable.  Last time we went camping he was okay, but this time he moved and bugged us the entire night.  Elise woke up Saturday with a migrane.  Yay!

The one really great thing about the camp ground was the play area they had.  There were slides, a trampoline and a sand box.  The kids loved it.  Mason grew quite attached to a train that was there.  He loved it.

Saturday turned out to be very pleasant.  It was warm and sunny.  We were going to stay two nights but with Elise's headache and Porter keeping us... (click here to read the rest)

? Well, we have been slacking in our posts lately.  It seems hard to find the time to sit and focus for more than 5 minutes.  We had a fun holiday weekend down south in Hillspring for the annual Gibb family reunion.  Lots of food, fun and family made for a great time.  Kevin took Friday, Monday and Tuesday off (due to July 4th).  It was a well needed break.  Saturday was spent doing the usual Hillspring celebrations.  BBQ beef and homemade rootbeer.  Yum...Ending off with awesome fireworks provided by Jay Jenkins.  Kevin had a ton of fun lighting them off - it was great.  Monday was spent in Waterton relaxing.  It rained and hailed hard in the early evening which brought the day to a quick end.  We lazed and enjoyed the trip back to Calgary.  We finally did what Kevin says we have to do every time we drive to Southern Alberta.  We went to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.  It was interesting - I'll give it that.  The boys were not at all entertained by the exhibition and made it a very stressful visit, but I'm glad that we fianlly did it and can mark that off our list of things to... (click here to read the rest)

? Well what can I say.  Life is busy as usual.  Not much new has happened lately.  We've been pretty focused on house stuff as of late, but I'm sure as time passes other things will become top priority.  Mason continues to have soccer each Saturday morning, although he chooses to watch rather than play.  We've realized that he's just a little too young for soccer this year.  I think we'll wait a few years before we put him in soccer again.  That is if he even wants to play in a couple of years.  We had our friends Ryan and Lisa + Jillian over for dinner last nite.  It was a fun time...the kids played pretty good with eachother too.  Porter managed to break our nice Greg Olsen painting today.  It's my fault anyways that it wasn't put up on a wall yet...it just means another thing to fix before it is ready.  I'm just grateful that he wasn't cut on the glass.  We went to Costco for lunch also today - it's becoming quite a regular habit now that the store is so close to us.  I've been working hard on the ward's Preparation plans and presentation for the end of the month.  It's amazing how we learn... (click here to read the rest)