Great Grandpa French's Horsies

Growing up I always thought I'd marry a cowboy from Montana or Utah or somewhere. "Cowboy, take me away..." I've always loved horses and have dreamed of riding them (especially on the beach!) and it sounded exciting and romantic to me. :) Well, Justin for sure took me away (to Northern Montana...anyone seen "Meet hte Robinsons?) and his grandpa is a rancher, so I'd say I was pretty spot on, eh? :) Close enough.



One Sunday evening we went out to Great Grandpa French's Ranch on the outskirts of Lethbridge. The kids were SO excited to see the horses and hopefully feed them!



On the way out to find some horses...watch where you step!

  

I love this picture. Grandpa French is and has been convinced for years that Zach is his little Cowboy that is going to take over the ranch. I thought this was such a sweet shot of these two. It just looks like Grandpa is showing Zach the ins and outs of how to run a ranch. :)

Too bad Cynthia wasn't in this shot. We could have had 4 generations.

The man loves his horses. He is such a rancher. I think it is so cool! 

Showing Zach the ropes again.

The kids LOVED feeding those horses. I am so glad they ate what we gave them and didn't just bite the same stuff from the field! Thanks for entertaining my kids!

This is the action shot of the year. :) If you look closely you can see Kara's startled scream and dropping the grass as the horse went to bite it. She didn't seem scared at all while we were there. Just scared for one second, then laughing the next. It was so funny. Every time.

This was right after the previous picture. She got brave, but was still startled every time the horse went to take the grass from her hands. So funny!

Beautiful Horsies.

Oh Zachy boy.

 

Kate took this picture of Great Grandma French.



Doesn't Kate look so old here? I think it was because the lens was so close it stretched her face longer. She just looks so grown up to me.

Bama's Birthday!

It was Grandma Low's birthday! To celebrate us kids planned a dinner get together. I was in charge of the cake and so we found out her favorite childhood cake and attempted to bake it.

I tried to make Zach take a nap at Grandma's house. This is the fruits of my labor. He walked down the stairs like this. It really threw me off!

He's lucky he made me laugh. I wasn't very thrilled that he didn't sleep, but this was too awesome not to laugh at. We don't make him take naps anymore...except on Sundays, the day of rest.

DELICIOUS Dinner! We had Queen Cynthia dish up, sit on her throne, and eat FIRST. She NEVER does this. She is usually waiting until everyone is settled and then finally dishes up. We had Jason's BBQ steaks, sauteed mushrooms, Kamry's twice baked potatoes, and salad.

Remember when I said I attempted to bake the cake? Yep. Attempted was the right word. Talia doesn't look too impressed. It came out SO short and compact! It was tiny! Tinier than even this picture lets on. The mistake...I didn't really clue into the phrase DOUBLE ACTING before the baking powder. Whoops. It was very dense cake. People were nice and still ate some. Brian saw it and went and got a DQ ice cream cake. Thank goodness Cardston has a DQ! I consider myself a pretty good baker. This was a little embarrassing, but I made another one before Echo to redeem myself. With TWICE the amount of baking powder. :) Better!

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Sparkler candles!

Happy Birthday Bama!!! We love you and are really excited to live closer. The kids LOVE going to grandma's house more often. The question is...does she love it?!! :)

Caterpillars!!

In front of our house is this big, branchy, barky, and apparently caterpillary tree!!! The kids played out here on a VERY WINDY day for a LONG time looking for caterpillars and carrying them everywhere. I know this post will make SEVERAL of my friends and family cringe. What? It's a caterpillar. Enjoy!!!! :)




They were beautiful! Blue, red, white, yellow...poisonous?? Hope not.



This was the first WINDY day in Lethbridge. Man was it windy!



They let them crawl ALL over! Fun guys! Not gross!

The little feet would sometime stick like Velcro to your fingers and hurt a little, so I got them some sticks to carry them around on.

Heaven, hey Zach?!

Looking for more. There were so many that day!

Copycat.

Lately the kids have really been into taking pictures. Luckily I have my old digital camera still and they really have fun playing with that. Kara got into a groove with me when she was constantly taking pictures of me and then I'd have to take a picture of her and show here. She always copied my poses. Here are the results! Embarrassing/scary but funny and cute of little Miss Kara Beara.

HA! I love this! She is almost as intimidating as me, but not as stinky and sweaty as I was, that's for sure. :)

She has this great technique where she puts her finger over the flash to create a red glow. What a budding photographer, eh?

AND she can curl her tongue. So talented. This girl has ALWAYS had a very expressive brow line.

This picture is just really creepy. I don't know how/what I did.

Her attempt...not so great. She was probably just scared of seeing what I just did! My attempt at the finger over the flash was great though. :)

See, now she looks like me. :)

July 4th!...in Canada?

Happy Fourth of July!!! I love the patriotism of this holiday. Is it the same here in Canada...no, obviously not. But I miss celebrating it so much, so I still try to even if it is just a little bit!

Red, White and Blue Pancakes!
What kids doesn't love colored pancakes. He still asks for blue pancakes whenever we make them. Too bad I'm all out of blue food coloring now! Gotta put that one on the list.
By the way, this is a 100% whole wheat pancake recipe that is FLUFFY! Yum.

Eating with Daddy on his first day of his residency. What? Work on a holiday?! I know?!...oh wait. We're in Canada!

I signed up to feed the missionaries. They are both from the states, so I had to have them over to enjoy a 4th of July BBQ and flag cake! Delish.

Oh Canada...Day!

Oh Canada Day! We went out to the Raymond Parade, because we've never done it and that's what you do if you live in Southern Alberta!

I love that I caught this shot. Look familiar?

The flag raisers at Iwo Jima.I just thought it was awesome to get that shot. :) Cute kids. I also really like the idea that the flags are. Every patriotic holiday the boy scouts go around and put them up as a fundraiser.
While waiting for the parade to come to our spot (we were at the tail end. Bad planning!! Whoops!) Robbie entertained the kids by letting them wrestle him. Good thing he is super strong and in shape, eh Robs? :) You sure kept them busy.
Waiting for the parade.
SOOO windy! Welcome to Southern Alberta!

Kara got the camera. Cheese!

Our family.

Grandma and Grandpa Low came to the parade too!

Justin's smile just makes me smile. He's the man. :)

The kids LOVED the parade. Well, I think they mostly loved the candy people threw! And the horsies. At one point there was a LONG pause...then is started again. Justin said "Yay, more parade!" Zach replied "More candy!!" Justin--"No, more parade!!" Zach-- "MORE CANDY!!!!"

After the parade, we went to Carol Dahl's house. Justin's great aunt. He grew up going to her place after the parade for a lunch and games and reunion. I LOVED her yard! It was incredible! And I really like this picture of Zach on the tire swing.

Isn't this little house precious?! I loved it! And that little stroller Kate was pushing was a very old antique buggy. Too cute.

This may have been the funniest part of the day. Kate was having so much fun in that cute little house that she pooped in her diaper. She usually goes in the toilet...anyway, I go to change her. Then Justin brings Kara in. Same thing. This wasn't the funny part by the way. They've both been pooping on the toilet for a long time and I don't enjoy changing poopy diapers again. Anyway, I needed a bag or something to throw them away in because the only trash I found was the food trash can and I don't want that smell ruining the party!! I asked Grandma Low for a bag to throw them away in and what does she give me? A bag with a tag that says "RICH BROWNIES" right on it. Brownies!? HA! I had to show a few people before I tossed it. Too funny.

This was a tradition Justin remembers and loves. Carol paints a bunch of rocks and hides them every year. Then the kids bring their rocks in a trade them in for candy. A different kind of candy for every color. The kids loved it!

My kids love Amber...Justin's cousin. She helped Kara find lots of rocks since she felt too old to do it for herself! She grabbed Kara and went for it! :)

That night we went to Cardston's Party in the Park. Music, concessions, horse buggy rides, a petting zoo. Just a cute small town party with fireworks at 11pm to end it all. That's when it gets dark way up here in the north pole! We even woke Zach up. He loved it.

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