thirteen things I am working on...

1. knitting three little hats, just like this one, for three little nieces I will be seeing this weekend.

2. getting the laundry off my living room floor. someday, hopefully soon, I will have a laundry room, and clothes will never be left on my bed, or livingroom floor again. no, really, they won't!

3. signed up for "going healthy in September" here.

should be good! I said I would only eat chocolate on Saturday. I am glad September 1st is a Saturday!heehee. off to a good start! , get to bed by 10, drink more water, and walk three times a week. do- able. I can do it, yes I can!

4. reading Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, part of my 33 things to do before I am 34. got the idea on Elsie Flannigans blog. I think she had a scrapbook page of 23 things before she turned 24, I thought that was a great idea. I am actually enjoying the book.

5. getting ready for the drive to Kindersley again- this time for 2 baby blessings and a baptism. good times.

6. no longer working on my leper bandage! yay, I finished it this last week. I think that project has been going on for at least a year. done. my kids kept asking what I was crocheting. I tried to tell them what it was for, but leprosy is kind of a hard thing for kids to wrap their minds around.

7. photography. I am taking that class, but have not handed in any homework yet. sheesh. I just need to focus on the whole shutter speed thing, and get my camera off the auto mode.

8. seminary starts next week. ack. met with the other teacher today, and we went through the cupboard and threw out a bunch of old stuff. I have a manual now, and can get some lessons going!

9. had my kids help me pick some chokecherries yesterday, and made some syrup. so delicious on pancakes. I need to get the jars put away. I am debating going out and picking some more- it would have to wait till monday when we are back, but I know I will be sad when it is all gone later, and wished I would have made more!

10.wrapping up the school supply shopping, gathering it up into the backpacks,getting ready to send the kids off on Tuesday. :)

11. on Tuesday, the two little girls I will be babysitting in the fall came to visit me. I have babysat the older one before, but their mom is going back to work after a maternity leave, and I have only seen the little one once before when she was a tiny baby. I think it will be good, and the mom is a substitute teacher, so it isn't everyday, which is great! Maggie will have someone to play with somedays, good because I am sure whe will get bored with just me around all day.

12. I need to find my mp3 player and load the Hairspray soundtrack on to it, so we can rock out on our drive tomorrow. so fun. when I took my kids to see it last week, the words were on the screen whenevern there was a song on. how fun. I just wanted to sing along, even though I didn't know the songs too well. how fun. they should have had a sing along night where anyone who wanted to sing could! I would be there!

13. getting my kids to bed so I can scrapbook a page or two. it has been a really long time, and I just picked up a bunch of pictures today, so I am itching to do something with them!

the weekend in a nutshell

yep, it was nutty!
a good time was had.

especially in the new-to- us trailer.
very nice.
and sadly, the heater was used. but glad that we had it. and a toilet. and water. nice. here are the girls modelling the front steps. nice, no?


and here, you find lots of boys watching a movie- I believe it was transformers one of the uncles picked up in Bankok. crazy family. and a few kids playing settlers of Catan at the table. and that baby bed was left in our trailer- when we were out, we came home to a few people playing cards at our table. it was a hot spot, that is for sure!



tried to get a picture of the grandparents and the grandkids. hmm. a very hard thing with this many kids. one baby was sleeping in a tent, and one baby wasn't there, but there are the rest of the crew! wowsers.

the guys usually do golfing, and this time, the girls arm wrestled. these are the top winners battling it out for a MAC gift certificate. it was serious. Devonee beat me bad in the first round, but I didn't feel so bad when I saw these two working hard to beat each other. those are two tough chicks.

we did make it to the beach. but it was so so so so cold. and windy. cold and windy so we didn't stay too long.

these pictures are of a hilarious game we played where four people put on shower caps, then got their heads covered with shaving cream, then their teams threw cheesies on their heads, and which ever team had the most cheesies on the head at the end won. quite funny. Maggie was eating them faster than you could throw them! but not the ones with shaving cream. yuck

even the dads- and Grandpa got in on it. too funny.

another game that was fun was an egg toss. it was amazing how far we all were throwing and catching them- then Maggie wandered a bit close to me- and mean old cousin Jessica (kidding Jess!) tossed the egg to me, but it hit Maggie right on the head and broke. she was screaming, and I was laughing. it was pretty funny. she will still tell you about the bad egg if you ask. for some reason she says it was purple, but really it was a brown egg.

and Sunday it rained, and rained and rained, and we all went home. the end.

Fabulous Friday

1. family reunion this weekend. 50 Livingstones- well, minus the newest one and her mom. smart to not come camping in the cold- although I am hoping it will be a super warm, fabulous weekend at the lake- one can hope, right?

2. this is Jaden, bathing. what a babe! chubby bundle of yummy goodness.

3. I was trying to find a picture of the bed we bought at IKEA, but it wasn't on their sight. interesting. but yes- yay, we have a bed! much to Cory's dismay it is from IKEA, but hey, it has been 13 years with just a matress on a frame, this bed can last for a few years till we can get the "real" stuff! now we just need to finish the basement, get the boys bedrooms done down there, move our old dressers down for them, and set up our new dresser! hmm, that should be in a few months.

4. I left my camera battery charger in Kindersley. it is sadly missed. my battery is of course low. sad. I hope the campsite we are at has power so I can charge it up!

5. as my batteries are low I have not been able to do any "homework" for the photograpy course I am doing through this girl here.
I am aching to get trying the stuff I am learning about. I need to get the basics down, and my confidence up!



6. the baptism of Jed was great. the pictures were not so great. we'll blame it on the camera! hehe. anyways, afterwards we had cake and icecream for everyone! good times.

Jed woke up excited that day. it was sweet.

I was hoping for a great change of heart that day, but he is still the same trouble maker. of course!

7. we checked out the new spray park here in town. it was a bit cold, and would have been funner if it was hot. hmm. is funner a word? I don't think so. anyways, my kids didn't think it was all it could be. good for little kids I guess.

8. I went and helped pack class kits for the Crop for kids. last night. wow. I have never really seen what goes into kits and classes for things like this. but it was quite the kit. I haven't signed up for any classes- but after seeing the goodies you get, it is tempting! I just wanted to give my time to a good cause!

9. My sister Jill is on the reverse trip that I did with Shelley in July, so we are watching her little guy. so funny. whenever he is told no, or mad, he says he wants his mom, or dad, or wants to go home. and we hear that a lot. well, tonight he gets to see his mom, and dad, and go home. and I am betting that tomorrow his mom and dad are going to hear him asking to come to Jack's house!

10. my last day babysitting the girls was yesterday. it was okay, but my boys were actually quite rude to them. Especially Jack and Jed. I really need to get on them and how they need to be nice to girls. teach them some respect! I want to have nice boys.

11. Actually, Sadie has been saying lately that Ben is her best brother. maybe they aren't all bad. Ben is a pretty good kid. if I could just get him so he was offering to help with out being asked. hmm. how do you teach kids that?

12. Cory just came home, picked up some kids and went to go look at a trailer! maybe we won't be tenting it this weekend. we shall see what he comes home with- if anything. our tent trailer has seen better days. sadly. and it sleeps six. we are seven now. so something that sleeps seven- and has a bathroom, would be great. oh, and a fridge, and stove, and microwave, ... I could go on! now that is camping- right?

13. want to see some great pictures? check this out! gorgeous. someday, if I practice really hard, maybe I can be half that good! love them!

14. and since it is friday, and not thursday, I guess I should do the Friday Fourteen! hmm. what more can I say? my mind is blank.

Oh I know, 11 more sleeps till school starts. yay.

peaches

peaches, peaches, peaches.
thanks, Leanne, for starting it all.
I canned peaches all day yesterday- okay, not really all day, but for most of the morning, and Cory even helped me do a batch in the evening.
then today I had to finish the box, because they were ready.
and now Cory wants me to go buy some more peaches to can.
good times. I do love canned peaches, and they are not that hard to can- so I guess it is all worth it.
even Ben, my oldest said we should have a hundred cans for our food storage- which is exactly what Cory told me earlier, so Cory just looked at me with that look- like, yah, that's what I'm talking about!
so, I might be canning some more peaches in the very near future.

I had a little lost purse scare.
since Saturday, I haven't seen my purse.
finally today, I went to the Church to see if I left it there, that's the last place I went, after buying ice cream and dishes for the baptism, which was very nice, by the way! pictures to come.
but, no purse there, so then I headed to Extra foods, where I bought the ice cream and dishes, but they didn't have any purses that were were turned in. too bad I didn't have my purse, because they had a big pile of cases of peaches!
I was getting a bit concerned. I really didn't want to have to call all the places I have card for, get a new drivers licence, etc, yikes.
so once again, I was looking in our house. we had checked everywhere. there was a reward in place, so the kids had looked everywhere. nothing.
then, I am doing laundry in my room- well let me clarify, folding laundry in my room,which will not happen when I have my laundry room all finished in the basement- it will be grand!
I even called my cell phone, which was in my purse- I had left it turned off, but who knows, if someone had stolen, or found my purse, maybe they had turned it on, but no luck there either!- I don't know what I would have done if someone would have answered anyways!
so, emptying out a basket that had some laundry in, and some clothes I had just thrown on it, rather than put away- yes, I am guilty of doing that , and lo and behold, there was my purse at the bottom of the basket. I let out a shriek of joy, and was so very happy!
so today, in a nutshell, peaches, and a purse. yay.

good old Saskatchewan!

I took quite a few pictures of all five of my kids together- just looking for "the one"- a great picture, and this is what I get. silly faces, never all looking at the same time- I guess if I take enough, that one should come along sometime, right? I hope so! I guess I will haveto keep trying. maybe that will be enough of a threat to get them all to look decent- if you don't look at the camera and smile, I will keep taking pictures for a long, long time! haha.
my two sweet girls posed for me by a cool wall, in a small town that had a super fun thrift store. the wall actually had lots of stripes of different colors all along it, although you can't tell by these pictures!

I have always wanted to stop by this barn that was covered in graffiti. mostly names, but sadly none of them were my kids names. I thought that would be cool to get their picture by their name on the wall- but no luck. maybe next time I'll bring along some spray paint! kidding.

I attempted the jumping shot. kind of fun. Maggie loved it and wanted to keep jumping and jumping. good times. Oh, Saskatchewan. your wide open plains. your fun sand hills- but that crazy wind that was blowing the sand in our eyes was not fun. I didn't pull out my camera there- I think Cory would have hung me if I did. the last time we were there- about eight years ago, I changed my film in the sand hills, and my camera was never the same. you could just hear the sand grinding in it. not good.

Leanne and I bought some peaches and canned them- so delicious. Cory said he wants about a hundred more cans of those for our food storage. hmm. do you think I can get him to help can the two cases I bought today? they should be ready to can on Monday. I hope. so delicious. crazy mess of work though.

the gang in SK got me hooked on So You Think You Can Dance, and then we had to head home just when the finale started. crazy. fun show. fun to watch it with a big crew. fun to get together with family. must do it again soon- oh, wait, we are! family reunion next weekend. good times continue!

hi there

so, those pictures of Jed that I couldn't get off the memory card- yah, well, Cory went to try and fix it for me, put the card into the computer, and there were the pictures. nice.
I really wish I had some computer knowledge- someday!

so, here he is, my handsome eight year old trouble maker extraordinaire!


He is getting baptized on Saturday. big day!

also that day, Cory and his brother are planning a canoeing trip in the morning. they are going on the north Saskatchewan river. I like canoeing, but I really don't like that river. it is really dirty looking. I guess that is probably because it is a really dirty river! haha. yuck.
well, big summer plans- tomorrow we - the kids and I, are heading to Kindersley, saskatchewan to spend a few days with our cousins. good times. just need a little get away, change of pace- from our boring everyday nothingness. should be fun! we'll be back by Friday for dentist appointments for one and all. that is something that Sadie is very excited for. funny girl. she hopes to get a princess toothbrush this time! oh, that dentist appointments were looked forward to now by me- not so much fun. maybe I should ask for a princess toothbrush too. that could be fun.
check out my sister Andrea's blog for a little give-away! I can't figure the linky thing today- our internet is weird right now, but a link to her blog is there on the right. fun stuff! check it out!

I can't believe it!

that it is thursday again! where did that week go?

hmm.
well, here's 13- because it is thursday!

1. my youngest boy turned 8 yesterday. we had a yummy homemade ice cream cake. and I guess Maggie wanted to blow out the candles. The nice brother that Jed is, he stopped her.
2. I had a fun little photoshoot with Jed- some of them were so fun! but I put my memory card into my computer to get the pictures, and nothing. the pictures are on the card, but I am not sure how to get them to the computer. hmm. I will have to play a bit today. sad. I want to see them in a larger size than just on my camera screen!
3. while I was taking the pictures of Jed, he was of course being silly, and I asked him- why are you so corny? and he said- because I like corn. funny because I think corn really is his favorite food.
4. this is the before of the big, crazy bleeding hearts bush. it is now gone, but I haven't taken an after picture yet. I hope to put a nice little bush in there soon.
5. I finally stopped at a greenhouse that is off the highway on the way to the city- that I have never stopped at before, to see if they had any cute bushes, but it was closed! what? closed? how rude.


6. sweet little Kennedy on her blessing day.

7. big Harry Potter birthday bash happening here tomorrow!
we bought root beer in bottles, and I had the kids make butterbeer lables for them, we bought jelly bellies, and made Bertie Bott's every flavor beans lables for them.
we are going to make ice cream in baggies for our potions class, I will have a real fortune teller! heehee. much fun to be had.

8. I saw a challenge on Elsie Flannigans blog- she had made a page of 24 things she wanted to do before she was 24, (I think it was 24- don't quote me on that!)I think I want to do that, but I will have to think of 34 things. wow am I getting old!

9. I think the sun is coming out today, after a dismal day yesterday, I think we might have to play outside.

10. just borrowed Eclipse from a friend- just want to read that all day- I think I will have to take the kids to a park, and take my book along. that sounds good to me!

11. the kids I am babysitting brought along a dog that you can talk to, and it does what you tell it, but apparently you have to yell at it, and it is very annoying. I think I would almost have a real dog instead. almost.

12. I really want to do some scrapbooking this weekend. it has been a long time, a very long time.

13. Cory has done some work in my basement! hurray. we are on our way. small steps, but we are moving forward!

13 things

this thursday I am going to tell you 13 things I am going to do this weekend.

1. sleep in every day.
2. dig out the whole horrendous bleeding hearts bush that is right by my front steps. every time I come in that door, it disgusts me. it is unsightly. not sure what I will put there, but anything is better than that. maybe I will show you all what I mean. later.
3. go pick up my boys at my sister in laws, where they are sleeping over, and when we are there, we will hang out in their above ground pool. fun stuff for a hot day.
4. do some visiting teaching- yep, I do that occasionally! we have a play date set up at a park tomorrow morning. fun. my super cute companion is moving in the next month or so. so sad. she is too sweet.
5. watch music and lyrics. rented it, to watch when Cory was gone, doesn't seem like his kind of movie anyways.
6. need to pull out the toddler bed. sadly Maggie is now consistently crawling out of her crib. sad, sad time. naptimes and bedtimes are so much more difficult now. yuck.
7. miss my sister Shelley. she is on another roadtrip- down to a wedding in Utah. how I longed to go with her, but alas, my roadtrip days are numbered. have fun Shelley- stop at lots of targets, and think of me!
8. clean up, of course. always, yuck for this one too!
9. choose between two baby blessings, on Sunday, at the exact same times, on opposite sides of the city. yikes. my sister is blessing her sweet boy, and Cory's brother is blessing their cute girl. hmm. choices. I think I will have to hit one blessing, and the other dinner. fair is fair! right?
10. take some more pictures of the cute baby girl. hopefully my camera will behave this time.
11. miss Cory. he is on a 4 day, 40 kilometer hike in the mountains. not my idea of a good time, we will see if it is his. his back pack weighs about 40 pounds- if my scale is correct, which i really hope is isn't, if you know what I mean ;)
12. just found this blog, makes me want to make home made cleaners, grocery bags, use less plastic, get a rain barrel, and do all sorts of good things for the earth.
13. and if I can ever get maggie to stay in bed, eat my stashed Aero bar. that might have to wait until tomorrow night, she is really being a stinker! pulling the potty trick right now- she is really nowhere near being potty trained, but she knows it gets her out of bed if she says she needs to go. what a little smart alec.