Carving Jack-O-Lanterns!

Last Saturday we had a pumkin carving fall party with a bunch of friends. Here are Mark, Lindsay, and their girls Abby and Sariah. In the background is Kyle, Zach's friend Sabastian's Dad!
Here is Zach, Sabastian, and Katherine playing on the living room floor. Sabastian's birthday is just two days before Zach's! Katherine and I met on a walk. Coincidence? I think not!
Here are all of the artists with their masterpieces. Kyle and Katherine and their amazing cat, Mark and Abby and their bat, and Justin, Zach, and I with our silly faced jack-o-lanterns!
Ooooh! Spooky!

Karen's Volleyball Tournament!

Karen, Justin's "little" sister, came up to Edmonton to play in a Varsity Volleyball tournament. It was fun to see her crush the ball. I was really jealous! I wanted to be back in high school going to tournaments, but never fear, the feeling passed quickly! Go Cardston Cougars!

Oh no . . . SNOW!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The time has finally arrived here in Edmonton for snow. We woke up very surprised this morning to see this white stuff from our bedroom window. A light dusting, yet nevertheless it is SNOW! I really hope that groundhog sees his shadow this time! Yikes!

(P.S. Isn't that blue house across the street cute! I love the bay window!)

A Big Boy Bath!

Zachary has proudly graduated to using the big tub! He loves to play with his Rubber Ducky and sponge and little submarine! He also scoots around in the water and really looks like a frog.

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Picture Time!

Zach just went and got his portraits taken at Walmart. It was right before his nap, so he was a bit tired, but the shots we got turned out pretty good. I am having buyers remorse though and will feel better if I talk about it. I got the white ones, which now I think washes him out too much. My little Halloween Ghost. I like the body positioning though. The blue ones with the best smile was off centered and looked too dark on the computer when we were ordering them, like his overalls were part of the background. Anyway, you live, you learn. Buy the cutest smile and get someone who knows what theyare doing to take the pictures. Good

thing she had such a great, smiley specimen to work with.

Nice Cheeks!

Zach has recently become very aware of squealing and of his very pointy tongue. He often sticks it out and looks so cute and playful.

Weiner Roast!

This week Zach and I were further immersed in Canadian culture as we experience our first weiner roast! This is a popular thing to do at the beginning of nice weather, and apparently the end. We were saying goodbye to summer and fall I guess. Teenagers go and do it a lot too. Justin said he had many weiner roasts down in Cardston, usually on his friends farm. Anyway, here Justin used his amazing Chief Scout (Canadian equivalent to Eagle Scout) skills to stoke a roaring fire using only paper, kindling, and ONE match! What a mountain man! At least he can keep me warm this winter!
Here we are, roasting weiners with Aunt Shirley and Uncle Will!
Mary was the expert weiner dresser? Bun dresser? Whatever, she was the ketchup, mustard, relish lady!
Lays Ketchup Chips. Can't get those in the states! They are actually really good, but they leave a lot of red dusty flavor stuff on your fingers. They are the Nacho Cheese Doritos of Lays for sure.
I have now been initiated as a Canadian. My first weiner roast was a smashing success! Thanks to the Burtenshaws!

The Mighty Goose

We must be in Canada, eh? Where else do you find a field of frolicking (canadian) geese? Justin actually ran through them with Zach. It was awesome to see them all scatter and fly into the lake. What an animal harrasser!
Here is a portrait of Gunther the Goose. I just thought this was funny. I don't know why!
Zach didn't seem to impressed with the geese. The feeling was mutual once they discovered we had no food.
Our Canadian Initiation Day was complete when we saw this beaver in the middle of the lake...we later discovered it was a muskrat...darn.
So picturesque!Thanks for the day Burtenshaws! It was great!

Happy Thanksgiving ... for us Canadians that is!

I did it, all by myself! (almost) I had a lot of fun this year being in charge of Thanksgiving dinner. Our turkey may have only had one leg and one wing, and no heart or gizzard, but it was still delicious! Luckily for me, Justin's mom was there to guide me! Thanks Cynthia!
Brian and Cynthia brought up these HUGE garden potatoes, freshly harvested. They also brought tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, carrots and zucchini of the same magnitude right from their lovely garden!
Let the feast begin...finally! Thanksgiving takes a lot of effort! Thanks mom, for all of those yummy meals!
I think it went well! We all ate until our eyes bulged!
Zach loved playing and smiling with his Grandma and Grandpa Low. Auntie Karen and Uncle Dallin really got him laughing and moving. Come again soon! He promises more smiles and laughs.

Where did Little Zachy go?

I had another scary/funny mom moment the other day. I was on the couch, the one in this picture. Zach, who is now very mobile, was scooting around. I heard paper crinkling, so I got up to go find him, thinking he would be by the front door for sure. I went there, fully expecting to see him, and NOTHING! It was weird! Then I went into the dining room, the kitchen, the living room. Finally, I found him...in the little space behind the couch! He found a piece of paper that was back there!Sneaky little fella!