Summer Shade

so, I am a day late, but this week's SPT is shade, and I have a good excuse too, there really is no shade, when the sun doesn't shine, nor is there a need for shade. Today, at least for most of the day we had some sun
this is all of the shade that I get in my backyard for most of the day
and when the sun is shining, and kids are playing, and I am hoping for some shade from those sun rays there is not even enough room for me to sit in a lawn chair, so I resort to shades

Water

This weeks summer SPT challenge was water, and water is always a big part of summer. We have long cold winters, and short but relatively hot summers. It is also Stampede week right now in Calgary, so every morning there are free pancake breakfasts all over the city, a sprinkling of free BBQ's of course daily activities at the actual stampede, and cowboy hats, boots and western shirts everywhere you look. On Saturday we went to a Stampede breakfast at Chaparral Lake, ate a quick pancake breakfast, and then went to enjoy the beach.
The water was actually quite warm, although I wouldn't really be swimming in it, but wading was great!
Ethan LOVED it. He kept filling the bucket up with wet sand, and dumping it all over him. I had some very dirty boys to bring home, but they were happy, and we had fun.
that we right after a jump into the water, although it looks like he thinks that water is might cold, but he was swimming and splashing away.
and I just love pictures of my boys, even when they would much rather ignore me and keep playing.

Canad Day SPT

This weeks SPT challenge is Summer Sun, and I had grand plans for my family to go on a wonderful picnic to Elbow Falls, maybe put our toes in the water, and take in the summer rays. Today actually happened to be overcast all day, and rained on our way there, and home. Thankfully we were spared the rain on our stay and had a perfectly enjoyable time; not too hot, and not too cold.

so this is my summer sun (not so sunny day) but at least you can see some sun coming through the clouds.
Jordan and Skyler ventured through some very cold water to the big rock, and had to pose for a picture.
and Ethan loved throwing rocks and mud into the water.

I love family outings, they are so fun, and create such wonderful memories of time together.

Something Borrowed??

So again, going along with the month long theme, of something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. This week we are on something borrowed. This one is easy for me. My husband and I have owned our home for just over a year, and there are many things that we do not own ourselves yet, like rakes, special tools for developing our basement, power washers, and vacuums for the vehicles (ours constantly rotates on the bottom, so it can't be used outside)
this is something that we borrowed recently, we spent many hours on Saturday cleaning out our vehicle, both in side and out, and this is the all in one machine that helped us do it. Our cars do look really pretty, at least for today!

But, my favorite thing to borrow is my brother!
I know he may look a little young, but he is 16, and loves spending time with his friends, but is always willing to help out. I am the mission home cook, so every couple of weeks when big meals come up I "borrow" my brother to play with my too munchkins and keep them busy until my husband is done his work day. What wonderful siblings I have!

Mothers Day

SPT This week is something new, and I am glad it was after mother's day! Our family had a great Mother's day Since both my mom, and my mother in law live only minutes away it is sometimes hard to decide where to spend our time on special occasions. This year we decided that we would host a meal for each. When I got up I was expecting to go and get started on breakfast for my mother in law when I found this on the counter.
I love my husband, and the small things he does, it's the note that always makes me melt. so my day started off with my something new, a new watch! it was much needed. here has my last 3 watches
the middle one is the most recent, and the face plate is broken, and the band does not stay done up as well. I love my new watch!

Then we went on with breakfast for my mother in law, but my husband took charge, and I got to sit and enjoy
I didn't get a picture of breakfast, but Jordan made eggs Benedict (with homemade hollandaise sauce) and it was delicious. Our gift to her was the decorated paint can in the middle of the table. I made pampering kit's which I filled with fun little pampering things for her.

Unfortunately we had another meal to do that day for my mom, so as soon as we were finished with one we were working on the other. I must have been too busy with dinner to take any pictures, because I do not have a single one of my mom yesterday.
I made my mom a pampering kit as well, and helped one of my brother with the flowers in a vase full of Jelly beans.

Jordan and I stuffed and put on the turkey, peeled and cut potatoes, and then rushed to get our family ready for church. afterwards we raced home to finish dinner off with Yorkshires, gravy, broccoli and cheese sauce, and the cheese cake that my brother had brought over. Dinner was delicious, and then all of the men in my life (I have 4 brothers) cleaned up while my mom and I talked. It was a busy, but wonderful day!

Something old

Lelly thinks of May as wedding month and has challenged everyone to come up with tings that match the saying
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

It is crazy how hard I found it to come up with something old. I have only been married 3 1/2 years, so all of those wedding gifts aren't really old, the old car that we did have - wrote off in a car accident, the old house that we did live in - moved to a new city. It took me a while but I did finally come up with this.
Our lawn mower is old, it spent about 10 years with it's previous owner who sold it to me for $9 at a garage sale last year. I can't even get the baby started, I need my husband to do that , but she works and will buy us a few years before we become proud owners of a new lawn mower.

SPT challenge

So, this is something new, but it sounds like some good thought provoking challenges. This week, Lelly's SPT challenge was to decide on one thing that you would spend money on for yourself equivalent to a tank of Gas. This is all related to the large rise in Gas prices over the past couple of years. I have found this challenge really difficult. It is not that I do not like to spend money, I just don't typically spend it on myself. It actually costs about $90 to fill our Van, and I know that these beautiful shoes fall short, but I have thought about this al week, and this is the best that I can seem to come up with.
So, if I had $90 I guess realistically I would buy these wonderful shoes, and then spend that last $30 on my kids, or my husband. I always find it easier to buy for them anyways.