Echo Lake...alone!

 

After the Waterton week our family was headed to Echo with Brian and Cynthia. However while at Waterton we got some possibly devastating news on little cousin Mason. They found what looked like a tumor behind his prosthetic eye and thought the cancer had spread. He had to go for chemo. So Brian and Cynthia headed out to Toronto. Justin had already booked the time off and I was already 35 weeks pregnant so it would be my last trip out of country. We couldn't put it off until the August weeks as I would be 39 weeks then! So we went alone! We thought about inviting others and actually did, but nothing worked out last minute and I am glad it didn't! It was SO nice to just be us, our "little" family. We've never done that before! All of our long holidays are with our parents. It was really fun to just have that time together. And it was awesome that some of our friends were staying in the same bay as us that week too!

Zach with his big catch. We saw this towel below the dock. It was Ron and Tammy's from the previous week! Ha!

Tubing with Drayke.

 

 
Dad went hard core and aided Zach in losing his top tooth! Yikes!

Ouch! 

Daddy teaching her all he knows. She LOVED fishing.

 

Way too cute.

 This made me SO nervous and I was SO against this at the beginning! Putting our 2 year old behind the boat?! She can't swim. What if she falls off? She can't hold on tight enough to combat the initial pull of the boat. She'll let go!!! I threatened Justin and told him how mad I would be if this went wrong and that he'd have to jump in and get her! :) Luckily, none of that ever happened and she had the time of her life! She even stood up!! It was adorable.

Standing!!!

Now seeing these kids do it wasn't as impressive! Time to move on from the EZ Ski.

Look mom, no hands!

Oh, Captain. My Captain. I love this hunk.

 

She is way too cute. Just always happy and along for the ride. Everyone needs an Addie.

Ah! I can't handle it.

 

These girls are pretty cute too! Double trouble, but cute. :)

 

Too much fun! Zonked out on the couch watching a movie at 7 pm.

We took the kids to Big Sky Waterslides and even let them do some extra activities. These guys got so high but were too chicken to go the last foot to the top?!?!

Yes, I was very pregnant. :) And swollen. Yay for summer pregnancies...may I never do that again.

This is what I did most of the time! Started the teal and gray chevron baby blanket for Baby Sven. :) It took forever, but turned out SOO cute and I love it. It's so cozy.

Riding in Papa's truck. We had to take it so we could bring down the boat and launch it. We felt like big kids! :)

Addie's "Anna braids." She always asks for them. Not the easiest thing to do, but she'll sit still the whole time I am doing them!

 35 weeks!! The week went too fast. Wasn't ready to go home.

Since we ditched the boat we got to drive home over the pass. It is SO BEAUTIFUL!

Waterton and Beautiful So Alb

July was such a busy/fun month for us...Justin's Young Men's camp, then the reunion, then the Waterton weeks, then Echo Lake! Justin was working through the Waterton weeks, so he would just come up in the evenings. I was exhausted and there was limited space there in the cabin, so I stayed home mostly and went up for activities then drove home and slept in my own bed. Perks of living in Cardston. :) Jason and Kamry were there for a bit and then the Strate's were there too so the kids had a lot of cousins to play with while there!

The girls had so much fun in this little dingy! Addie was very possessive of the oars. It was hilarious to watch her run and jump in the boat. No fear, this girl. She is so fun.

One place we didn't make it to on the reunion was Cameron Lake. I really wanted everyone to experience it's beauty, but you can only do so much when dealing with 40+ people and limited time. We spend A LOT of time here in the summer, while Justin tries to catch his limit. :) 

 

The girls...my girls with Justin's youngest cousins. They have a blast together! And Sarah is babysitting age and loves it so I get a break! 

 Justin's other cousin was nice enough to paddle a bunch of kiddies around. :)

 

 
One of MY California friends came to visit! She was a champ doing a nationwide tour with her hubby while 30 weeks pregnant! They've always wanted to see Banff, and on their way from there to Glacier National Park they passed through Cardston and stayed at our house! It was so fun to have them. They are a wonderful couple and I loved having some of MY friends come this far and stay! While she was here she did things with the kids, including sparklers and alka seltzer rockets! She's going to be such a fun mom!

Megan and I. She was one month behind me. Everett and Evan bellies. :) Nice photo bomb Zach.

This is my favorite time of year here in Southern Alberta. I LOVE canola fields. I planned my reunion dates around them so my family could see them. :)

 Nasty windshield but beautiful field!!

 

Kate lost her first tooth!! She lost it a lot younger than Zach was, and Kara's aren't even loose!  (Much to her dismay. It was so sad how sad she was!) Crazy how different kids are.

Tiny tooth.