Sunday School Treat, November 17, 2006

We are part of the assembly at the Gospel Hall south of Glen Ewen, SK. Once children reach the age of 4, they join the Sunday School. Syndey started Sunday School in October, right when the practices began for the Sunday School Treat. Sydney memorized a verse and was to get on the stage infront of a jam packed auditorium and recite this verse. The Thursday before all of the kids got together for one final practice.Sydney is third from the left, wearing a light blue outfit.I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was that my mom and dad came to our Sunday School Treat. I have been going to the gospel hall since 1999 - they have never been there before, so for them to come to this was very important to me.Chelsea, Layne and Tiffany. For those that don't know, these three cuties are Calvin and Adele Hull's children. Adele is Jon's brother. Just so happens we live literally right across the road from each other.
Grandpa Parker and Sydney. John and Eunice and their foster daughter Courtney came down on Thursday, November 16 and spent the weekend with Calvin and Adele so that they could see their grandchilren participate in the treat.
Grandma Henderson and Ty.Okay, so it is next to impossible to get a picture with everyone standing still, or looking at the camera. But hey, this is life.

Sydney's 4th Birthday

Happy Birthday Princess! Sydney turned 4 on October 18, 2006. She got lots of gifts only thing was she didn't enjoy it as she normally would have. That day she started feeling sick. You can't tell from the pictures but she hardly got off daddy's lap that night, normally, she would have wanted to be upstairs playing with the other kids.
Sydney's cousin Layne is her little helper for the evening!More gifts please...lolCuddling up to Grandpa, anxiously awaiting her cake. Mommy, where is my cake???This is the second cake that I have decorated. I did Hayley's for her second birthday - a carebear. I purchased some pans from Wilton on sale and have the intention to decorate the girls and Ty's cake if time permits. You can't decorated this in 20 minutes. For a 'vetran' decorator, I am sure it would take no time at all. This, I call it a labour of love. I took me over 3 hrs to do this as I really had no clue what I was doing. It isn't hard, just time consuming. I hardly wanted to cut into it. LOL. That is what it is all about though, love!Make a wish! With all of this help, I don't think there will be any of the four candles left burning! LOL

Relatives from Denmark visit

My Grandpa was born in Denmark, a family of I believe 14 children. That is 16 total with his mom and dad, my great grandparents. Wow, I just can't even imagine what that would be like, especially without all of the conveniences that today's life offers us. Grandpa was one of a few of his siblings that came to Canada to start a new life for themselves when they were younger. Of the ones that remained in Denmark, his sister Stella had a son, Leif (he is not her only child, but that is who was on this trip). Leif is a Medical Doctor in Demark, as is his wife Kiersten. They have two boys and a girl. Leif and his daughter Kristiani took a trip to North America in August 2006. They were able to spend a few days with my Grandpa and Grandma. My mom had everyone for a family supper while they were here. Though I have only seen Leif twice in my life and his daughter just this once, you just have that feeling of family. No strangeness whatsoever. Pictured left to right is Grandma in the bottom corner, Uncle Harvey (mom's brother), Kristiani, Aunty Lorraine, Leif, and mom (somewhat cut off).Enjoying a relaxing visit in the living room while the kids played off to the side (you can just see Sydney's head at the bottom left corner.The kids always like going to grandpa and grandma's especially for a family supper when all of their cousins are there as well. MacKenzie is at the table and you can see Aunty Lorraine holding Trinity, then mom way in the back sitting infront of the piano holding Kale.I wonder what these three boys will be like when they get older...?!? LOL. Here is Drayden, Jackie and Darren's oldest, Chaz, Amber and Kevin's oldest, then Declyn, Rob and Tara's youngest. Little charmers!Can you say - you are so darned cute!Dishes are done and now it is time to relax. Here is from left to right, Amber, Jackie, Tara and MacKenzie.Here is Sydney's Great-Grandma holding onto her. Poor Grandma had a fall a couple days earlier and you can see her eye took a bit of a bruising.Here is MacKenzie holding little Kale. You know, Kale had quite an entrance into this world. Mom was driving Jackie to the hospital - Darren was to meet them there. Contractions had started so in the car they went. By the time they got to Carlyle - remember, starting point was Manor, only 10 minutes way, her water breaks. All of a sudden contractions come harder and faster. At times mom wanted to stop the car and call an ambulance, Jackie just wanted to keep going. They are almost into Estevan when Jackie thought she had to push. She is still wearing her maternity shorts, gets them off and suddenly she thinks she can feel the head. She feels and sure enough, the baby is coming. All of a sudden he is out. That is right, baby Kale was born in the front seat of his Grandma's car! What a story.

Namew Fishing Trip September 1-5, 2006

The guys certainly love to fish. Apparently there is nothing like a seashore fresh fish fry.

This year unfortunatley didn't go without some scary events. Not for our guys, but for some others who were fishing on the water when the guys rolled in. The wind was strong, not recommended that anyone go out fishing. The group that was out on the water had been out since Friday morning and by Saturday evening had not been seen. Authorites were called and a search began. Thankfully for them, they were spotted from the air via search and rescue and made it back by Sunday evening. Not without an amazing tale. They thought they were going to die. Waves 12' high and they in two tiny fishing boats. They were able to break into a cabin once they finally reached a shoreline and huddled there for two days. How scary is that.Once the wind calmed down, our guys got one good day of fishing in. Alot of fish were caught. Apart from the other events of their trip, they did have a wonderful time. They are already talking about the next trip - this spring I hear???

Clear Lake August 19 - 21, 2006

I love it when our girls sit there with their arms around each other!
Daddy and his precious Ty.
Hayley and her cousing Layne taking a break in the shade in the comfort of their 'vehicle'.
Sydney and Layne are quite a pair. There are no dull moments where these two are concerned!

Me and my girls. How I love them so!
Sydney loves camping! We were all taking a bike ride down by the lake and stopped for the kids to get out to stretch their legs.
Hayley is a funny girl. She has so many faces!
This is the photo we sent out to everyone for the holidays. It was so hard to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.
Sydney and the big bear that sits infront of the theater at Clear Lake.

Well, this was going to be our final camping trip of the season. It sure went by fast. This time to Clear Lake there was also Nolan and Terralyne and Calvin and Adele. There is nothing like being together and having such fun doing what we love to do! The kids absolutely loved it. They are already talking about camping for the 2007 season. We can't wait.

The Forks July 28, 2006

I missed entering this post where it should have gone. On July 28, before the Taylor Reunion began, Nolan and Terralyne and us headed up to where the South Saskatchewan and North Saskatchewan river meet called the Forks. Jon loves it there and it isn't that far from where Jon grew up. What an afternoon of fun. The girls were sleeping when we first got there so we left them to sleep, you can see here when they awoke - rubbing their eyes. It wasn't long before they started exploring and found some shells! What a thrill. The guys took their fishing rods and waded in to start fishing. Low and behold Nolan and Jon both got one. Nolan stumbled across a pool of muck - really. He decided to roll around in it! Then Mariah his daughter wanted to join in the fun, then in goes my husband. Hilarious to watch them run their way into the river for a good little bath! More great memories that is for sure.

La Ronge Camping Trip August 4 -7, 2006

We had quite a summer camping. From Waskesieu we took an unplanned trip up to LaRonge. Nolan and Terralyne were heading up there to see her sister Sarah who is a dietitian up there. We were just pulling out of Waskesieu when the phone rang and it was suggested since we were so close, why not head up there too. After a two second discussion we said yep, let's go. It is certainly beautiful up there. The scenery is from a calendar. Very picturesque. The guys were hoping to fish one day while there but it didn't work out. We had a good time. The girls even got to pick fresh berries. The mosquitoes were so bad that night though we had to call it quits early. Great memories! We took a walk through the campsites which are beautiful by the way and while we were standing on the Canadian Shield on the water, a float plane flew right by us. We didn't have our cameras to capture that moment, but I got a picture of another float plane. You can see that Nolan, Sarah, Jon and the kids climbed some of the rock for a picture - I stayed back with Ty to take a picture. I doubt we will ever be back there again, but we loved it while there.