Another Merrill Wedding

So May was a busy month for us.  After our wonderful visit to Alberta in April we rushed home to finish getting ready for Talia's wedding. 

Yes that is 3, count them, 3 weddings in 3 years.  And my mother and sister have been here for all of them.  Gma Merrill made it to two and Ginamarie was here for two.  We wish Cody, Mimi and baby Hannah could have come but at least we got to visit them in Alberta.  I am so ready for the break in the action. Thank goodness Zach is only 15.

Here are a few shots of the lovely bride outside the Toronto Temple

the Bride and her Maids

check out the cowboy boots on the bride

Talia made her bouquet and the ones for the bridesmaids but the honour of making boutonnieres for the boys and corsages for the ladies was give to my wonderful sister Sheila.  As always she did a great job.

Ginamarie was able to decorate the cake for us.  Wow she is good.  

Gma Merrill is a great baby tender and story reader.  

Gma with Audrey and Gracie

 

Everyone looked beautiful

with 3 of my 4 princesses

Gracie Isabella Haw

I love the Mountains, I love the rolling hills ....

I love the varying landscapes in Alberta, the flat prairies, the rolling foothills, the deep coulees, the river valleys,  the hoodoos, the majestic mountains. 

Looks flat to me

Zach's geography teacher made a comment about how Saskatchewan was flat but Alberta was not.  I am guessing she has never been to Alberta because seems to me that Alberta has some pretty flat spaces too.  I took a picture for Zach to take to school to prove that Alberta can also lay claim to "flat land".

Folks out here in Ontario don't really know what a mountain is.  They ski down large hills or into what I would consider a coulee. They all need a trip to the Rockies to open their eyes to a true mountain.

We had the opportunity on this trip to take Zach to climb his first mountain - a real mountain.  We went to Waterton and climbed Bear's Hump.  There was quite a crew of us with Gma Merrill, Uncle Phil, Morgan, Rod, Me, Zach, Cody, Mimi and even little Hannah.  Hannah and Zach climbed their first mountain the same day.  Zach at almost 15 years and Hannah at almost 2 months. 

Oh how I love the mountains!  And of course what trip to Southern Alberta is complete with out a picture of Old Chief.  And Waterton with its sheep and deer.

And of course, when you are in the country you are bound to run into a herd of cattle somewhere.  Even on the highway.

And then there is Cardston with its' beautiful Temple.  All Temples are beautiful but this one will always be my favourite.

I have now lived more of my life in Ontario than in Alberta but I will always consider myself an Alberta girl. I've learned its OK to love two provinces. They each have their own beauty. 

Hoo Doo you think you are?

While in Alberta last month we took Zach on a field trip to Drumheller and the Dinosaur museum.  Since Zach was skipping school we figured he needed some "education".  Plus, Rod and I had never been there either.  We wandered through the Museum enjoying all the different dinosaurs. I found one I wanted to take home.

At least I think he would have been cute.  It is hard to tell when he is nothing but bones.

A few more dinos

he looks short now

Flowerpot Island

We also drove out to have a look at the Hoo Doos. They remind me of Flowerpot Island up by Tobermory, Ontario. 

Hoo Doo, Drumheller

Here's some more shots of the Hoo Doo.

I've got my EYES on you

A typical Merrill Boy

Every Princess needs a crown

How else will you know she is a princess?!?!

In April we had the opportunity to crown a new princess in the Merrill Family.  Cody and Mimi are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl.  On April 22 we were able to participate in Hannah's blessing day.   It was a wonderful experience. 

Hannah is a precious little girl.  She was long awaited and we are so happy to have her in our family.  This makes little princess #4. 

We love all our granddaughters very much.  They all come with such individual personalities. It has been fun watching them develop into little people.  We look forward to watching Hannah grow up and hope that she moves closer to us so we can see it up close.

I have started a tradition for my children that each family will receive ONE blessing gown crocheted by Grandma.  I love making them along with a blanket.  So far each gown and blanket has been different.  This year I even included a pair of white shoes and a crown.  I wish I had found the crown pattern for the other girls.  I guess I will just have to make bigger crowns for the older girls to wear for dressup.

Now that Hannah has her gown I am anxious to hear if the next baby (late September) will be another princess or if I will have to create something for a little prince.  Either way I need to get started soon. 

I would love to find more patterns for christening/blessing dresses.  I have this thing about not repeating a pattern, especially when it is a gift.

So anyway, here are some pictures of Hannah's dress and crown. 

And on his farm he had two GOATS

We are slowly accumulating animals. VERRRRY SLOWLY.  We currently own two horses, one of which is living at another farm right now so that he can be ridden in the winter.  The other one is up for sale as I don't have a lot of time for riding and it is no fun by myself. 

We also have two goats, Whinny and Miracle.  These two girls are very friendly, at least if you aren't a dog.  They love to charge the dogs and make them run.  They live in a large dog run during the week and we let them out to graze on the weekends.  We need to fix the paddock fence before we can leave them in the field.  They just crawl under the fence right now.  They will follow us all around the farm. 

On Sunday afternoon we took Gracie and the two dogs (dog sitting for Brock and Jenna) out for a walk on the trail behind the house.  We looked behind us and this is what we saw, two goats following us down the trail.

Miracle and Whinny

Zach, Gracie, Gpa and the goats

They followed us the whole way and when we turned and headed for home they actually led the way.  The found the path back into the property and were the first ones home.

This week we are also dog sitting for Brock and Jenna while they are in Alberta and BC.  Evie is a boxer puppy who just wants to play.  Tucker is an old timer and doesn't want to play.  Evie begs and begs him to come play and he just growls and chases her away.  She thinks it is a big game and keeps coming back for more.  For the past two days we have tried to wear them out by keeping them outside as much as possible.  It seems to be working because every night they both conk out in the family room - Tucker in his dog bed and Evie under the coffee table.  Last night I sent Tucker to his kennel first.  I came back and found Evie curled up in his dog bed.  She didn't fit in it as good as Tucker does.

Evie in Tucker's basket

 I'm hoping before the end of these 10 days that Tucker will finally tolerate Evie in the house.  If  not this will be along 10 days.

Family Day

A day off at our house isn't really a day off.  It is just a day of different work. Family Day started at the crack of dawn (as always), at least for Rod and I.  We were both up and moving before 8:00 while the kids were still in bed snoring away.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the middle of February.  The sun was shining and the air was still.  The temperature was even acceptable.  The morning was spent chopping down a few trees and lighting the fire pit to burn the branches and an old couch.  The fire burned for hours.

Normally I'm not a big fan of chopping down living trees and today wasn't much different but these trees were blocking our solar panels and they had to go.  Originally we tried to just top the trees and hope that would do it but as we watched the panels we discovered that the 2 pines and 2 maples were still cutting down on our solar harvest in the morning.  During the winter, when solar hours are at a low, we couldn't afford to have panels that aren't producing.  So, as sad as it was, 4 big beautiful trees found their way into my burning pile.  I now have a huge empty spot between my house and the neighbour.  Can't wait for spring so I can go out and dig some holes and plant some new, smaller trees to help block the view of the house next door.

two dogs, two goats and a yard full of snow

Brock and Jenna came out to help chop down the trees and play in the yard with the dogs and the goats. The dogs are learning to respect the goats' space.  

Jenna and I built our first snow woman of the year.  She had pine cones for eyes, cantaloupe slice for a mouth and a wedge of cantaloupe for the nose.  And of course she had a broom in her hand so she could get some work done. 












Amber brought the girls out in the afternoon and left them with Gma so she could go shopping with Jenna.  The girls and I spent time playing in the yard with the sled.








Gracie had fun making snow angels.  









The evening was spent at the bowling alley.  Poor Gpa had an errand to run and he missed out on all the fun.  We used his credit card so he could feel included (haha).

Gracie with her 6 pound ball

Sydney giving a big push

The bowling crew

By the end of the day I was so tired I couldn't wait to fall into bed.  Sometimes it is more restful to work than stay home :)

when blogging disappears

this has been a crazy few days.  First I go to log in to my gmail account and it tells me that there has been something fishy going on with my account and I am now locked out.  I finally figure out how to request having my account restored, but I screw that up by typing in the wrong verification number and I can't remember all the silly details they ask me.  Somehow I end up on a page that asks me to change my password, which I do.  I try logging in and WOW, there is my gmail account.  Then this morning I check my facebook and find out that my mother can't find my blog.  So I check it out and sure enough, my blog has disappeared.  I spend over an hour trying to figure out how to reinstall my blog.  Suddenly, I am able to find it again.  This post is actually a test to see if this is really working or if my day is going to get worse.  If you can see this blog please try posting a comment and see if things are working again.

I didn't realize how important blogging was to me until I discovered I might not be able to continue with my blog and that I have lost all my previous blogs.  Now I need to figure out how to make a back up of everything in case this happens again.