Summer of 2014 - Family Time!

Summer of 2014 has gone by so fast. I feel like we did not do much. Then again, I feel like we were always busy. Weird eh. We had a lot of Watters family visit and that did keep us busy. Chris' sister Wendy and her boys visited early May before Elva got sick. We had fun with going to the Dinosaur museum in Drumheller, going to the zoo and going to Thomas the train exhibit at heritage park. That was a favorite. Caeleb liked riding the train and he liked hanging out with his cousins.

Jared, Landon, Jared's girlfriend Heather and her little girl Kaylee visited us next. They came for the Calgary stampede but we got some good walks and visits in. Jared is hilarious and it is always so much fun to have him around.

Chris parents visited us a couple weeks after Jared. We went to the zoo with them too. It is nice to have zoo passes this year. We go quite a bit and both Caeleb and Elva are learning so much about animals. They are always game to go to the zoo. I think it was the hottest day of the year when we went to the zoo that time (40 degrees). Lou Ann and Gary are so good to their grandchildren. They got Caeleb and Elva backpacks and Caeleb is using his for preschool.

Last of all, Chris' brother Eric, his wife Rachel and their two little girls Olivia and Eve came to visit in the middle of August. I had to work the weekend they came but Rachel and I got a few good visits in (I needed those talks) and we had fun going to the zoo on Monday and having a games night.

So that concludes our Watters family visits. I did work twice as much in August (8 shifts instead of the usual 4) so that seemed to take up a lot of that month. We did not go camping this year which is too bad as I love to camp but we are saving our money for a special anniversary trip in the fall. I did set the tent up in the back yard. We used it as shade as the kids played in their kiddy pool that I bought for $9 at Walmart. They loved it and were entertained for hours and hours. We also went swimming several times at Sikome lake which is only a 10 minute drive from our place and its free! I am all about saving money. That sometimes isn't a good thing.

Mom planted me a little garden when Elva was in the hospital but I did not do a very good job at maintaining it. I won't beat myself up over it. I will just try better next year right. We did get some spinach, beans and peas from it and we did enjoy our raspberries again. And our slow motion flowerwork show. Except it was a dry summer so the flowers and grass did not flourish like they did last year. The kids and I enjoyed many trips to the parks around out house and some stroller trips to the store. I do love to walk but I could do better on my jogging. We also enjoyed a few trips to the farm. I love to go there! I feel like I can let go of my stresses and enjoy the simple life when I am there. However, I do know I need to make my home, my beautiful, little Copperfield home (complete with my mom's old rocking chair on the front porch), my sanctuary now.

We got another vehicle! Since we have been married (it will be 5 years this coming October), we have shared one car. We have done some pretty crazy car juggling to work things out between Chris' job and my job. When I worked evenings when Caeleb was one year old, we would drop Chris off at work in the morning, come home, drop Caeleb off at the babysitters in the afternoon, go pick up Chris, drive halfway across the city to the Rockyview hospital, he would drop me off and then go back to his job (his lunch break) and then he would pick me up at 11:30 at night. Oh, and then there were the mornings where we would wake the kids up, drive me to work, drive them to the babysitters, I take the hour and 1/2 bus-train ride home after work and Chris picks them up at the babysitters and we meet at home at 5:00 pm. Yep, we are a crazy bunch. But I must say, we have worked well as a team. Anyways, so we now have a mini mini van called a Mazda 5 and I love it. I thank my brother for finding it for us. Thanks Nathan. It is a 2008 but in great condition and has a lot of fun things - heated seats for one. I am enjoying my freedom!

Chris worked the August and September long weekends but Nathan, my friend Lindsey (who is living with us for the moment), the kids and I did escape to Camellia and Doug's house for the September long weekend. I hadn't been there in about 9 months. We went to Waterton to skip rocks in the lake, walk around, play at the park and Nathan treated us to an ice cream cone. It was a relaxing get away.

Well, it is September now. It snowed a lot last week (crazy huh) and Chris, the kids and I had fun making a snowman. It has since melted and was beautiful out today. Gotta love Alberta weather! Chris has been crazy busy at work but we are getting our weekly date night in and that is very important in our lives right now. I know regular date night is extremely important in helping keep a relationship where is should be. I think work is starting to slow down for him which is good because he has been too busy in my books. I don't think I could have handled what he has had to handle juggling work, church and family. He is an incredible person!

Well, I have been at this post for days on and off so I will put an end to it and publish it. That was our summer in a nutshell. It was simple but good. Until next time.