A Week of Visiting

I had a fantastic visit with some family last night. My aunt and uncle and two cousins from New Brunswick are in Alberta for a few weeks, so they came up and brought my gramma for a quick visit. This was the first time any of them had seen our new house and a good opportunity to catch up, as I don't get to see any of them often enough. We also went out for a fabulous supper and met up with my other aunt and soon-to-be uncle and another cousin. All sorts of relatives!

This weekend, we're off to Hanna to continue catching up with everyone for a wedding, a little celebration for our farm (which was first homesteaded by Benedicts 100 years ago) and some visiting. Should be fun!

I thought I'd post a few more pictures of some of the crafty things I've been working on:



a layout featuring a photo from Florence



The outside of a birthday card



and the inside

Hope you're all enjoying your summers.

Summer Heat Wave Scrapbooking

It has been so hot these past few weeks. I can't complain, because we had such a cool spring, but I must say it's cookin' in our house! Because of the heat, I've been spending a lot of time in our basement with a fan trained on me. Since I work from home, I can sit in front of the fan on the computer during the day and in the evenings, after my dog walk, errands, and supper, I park myself back in front of the fan reading or scrapbooking.

Speaking of scrapbooking, I haven't posted many layouts lately, so I'll try and post a few over the next couple of weeks. I have actually been getting some Europe layouts done and have even thought of going to Costco to get more pictures printed. Crazy, I know. I put the layouts that I've got completed in albums last night and I have three albums worth all ready, with more to come.

Here are a few of the newbies:





I think I'll do a fast mini album of Ottawa next. That's my project for after I finish the Europe album and inbetween all of the weddings, visitors, work, and trips that seem to fill up every moment of the summer. Perhaps that's wishful thinking.

And now, to catch up:

Our garage sale was pretty successful. We didn't get rid of everything, but I'm hoping I can call a charity to come pick up the rest. I may be making a substantial donation to the Salvation Army this week....

I also got my prize from Just Cre8 in the mail this weekend. I won a little challenge at their last crop and got a whole pizza box full of goodies. Yay! And I've all ready used some of the alphabet stamps on the layout below.





Now, I'll leave you with a copy of the Higginson family picture we took a few weekends ago. This is only the immediate family. Yup, just Brad's parents, brothers and sisters, spouses and their kids. Huge, eh?!



Can you pick me out? Hehehe. Bright green and super pregnant... easy to spot. The funny thing was, Brad looked at it and said, "Man, my cheeks look chubby in that picture." Really, your cheeks look chubby?

Just a Reminder....

Garage Sale this weekend!!!

16530, 67A St.
Friday 4-7 pm and Saturday 9 am-5 pm.

There are some good things for sale, some brand new in boxes and lots of scrapbooking goodies: kits, loose papers and embellishments, and lots more.

Hope to see you there!

Getting Ready and a Garage Sale!

Last weekend we picked up a ton of goodies: a stroller, change table, shelving unit, and a rocking chair, all for the baby or the baby's room. Brad has since been spending his evenings putting everything together and making a styrofoam-y mess of the house.

As we buy more things and build more things, we've realized we need to get rid of some stuff to make room. So, this weekend, we're having a garage sale!!
You really should stop by if you're in the neighborhood. There will be everything from brand new fish fryers to scrapbooking supplies (loose goodies, entire scrapbooking class kits and more) to sporting equipment to household goods. You should stop by to check it out or just come say hi.

16530, 67A st.Edmonton
Just north of Londonderry mall
Friday 4-7 pm
Saturday 9 am - 5 pm

Other updates....
I went to a wedding shower for my aunt last night, which was fun. Lots of good food and good visits, plus I got to meet some of her new soon-to-be-family, which was nice.

We're down to bimonthly doctor's appointments now, so it's getting close. Everything is looking good. Baby Saskatoon is kicking like a soccer player and my belly seems to be stretched to the max (but apparently, it will keep growing).

Another reminder... stop by our house for a garage sale Friday and Saturday!

Another Weekend Down...

Our summer seems to be a collection of weekends spent travelling from place to place, with a few days of work in between. It's passing in a blur, and with summer passing quickly, it means baby is getting closer. Yikes... are we ready?

This weekend, we actually only had one night away from home (a rarity for us lately). We spent Friday night shopping for a stroller and then grabbed some pizza and some movies and just had a night to veg out and enjoy our cool basement.

Then, we were off Saturday morning. We loaded up the car, the dog reluctantly got in his kennel in the back (after he apparently had a conversation with Brad about our need to travel so much) and headed to Airdrie. We stopped in to see Brad's troopmate, Dave's new house and had a bit of a visit with him and then left Bailey with him over night. Then, we were off to meet up with some friends from Lake Louise in Calgary on our way out to a wedding in Bragg Creek. The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Our old neighbours from Lake Louise, Martin and Carrie got married on her parent's ranch south of Bragg Creek. Beautiful location, beautiful day, great food, great company, good music.... good day all in all.

Then, Sunday morning we met up with a bunch of Lake Louisians for breakfast and a visit, headed out to pick up Bailey, stopped in at my grandparents for a quick visit and some snacks and headed home (with a quick stop at IKEA).

Phew!

A few shots of the wedding:









And Steph, Broc and Kale, after Kale's first hike in Waterton last weekend:

Summer Fun With The Family

Another long weekend with the family, this time, we were in Lethbridge visiting Brad's family. We saw so many people! There were like thirty people in Brad's parent's house at any given moment. We got to meet some neices that we'd never even met before, which was great, plus, we got to see neices and nephews that we haven't seen in five years and Brad's brother and girlfriend who we haven't seen in almost four years! Plus, all of the regulars :)

We celebrated Brad's dad's 70th birthday on Sunday and had a fantastic BBQ. I think he really enjoyed seeing everyone and getting the whole family together. We even got some pictures (I actually don't have a copy, but I know there are a lot of them out there) of the WHOLE family.

Thank you to everyone who gave us early baby gifts, I spent my lunch break looking at everything and this baby is going to be spoiled! She (man, I hope it's a girl now that we have an entire wardrobe set up for a little girl) will be the best dressed baby in Alberta.

We got back late last night and are now trying to settle back into the work routine today. This weekend, we have a wedding, but we're only going overnight, so we get a little longer break between events. Whew! The weekends are almost melting together this summer. This week, the house needs to be cleaned and the yard needs to be weeded, mowed and just cleaned up in general. We're going to try and get ready for a garage sale in the next couple of weeks, too. Out with the old. Need to make room for this baby's clothes!

Birthdays, and baby updates

We spent our long weekend at my parent's farm in Hanna. It was so great to get away and relax and visit.

We had a surprise birthday for my dad on Saturday, which went well. Miraculously, the surprise was kept until just before the party started, so he just had enough time to clean up before guests started arriving. It was fun to see all of the neighbours and some of dad's college buddies. Lots of reminiscing.

We got lots of time with Curtis and Brandi and Jada, too, which was great. We usually seem to miss them or just catch them for a few hours, so we got a good visit in this time.

I just got back from a doctor's appointment and everything is going well. Saskatoon is right on track. Two months left.... And we're wrapping up our prenatal classes. The second last one is tonight. We are learning about baby health today. Should be fun.

This weekend we're off to Lethbridge for Brad's dad's birthday and some more visiting. Should be another fun one.

In a few more weeks, we have a weekend off, so we're planning a garage sale :)If you're in the area, you should stop by. There will be all kinds of goodies for sale...

Okay, more Ottawa pics:

Brad and I playing at the War Museum. We're all about hands-on displays...





The library in the Parliament building, inside and out. This is the oldest part of the building, the only part that survived a fire.