I Skipped Monday Again....

I really should just write off blogging on Mondays so it seems... I had full intentions of blogging yesterday, but then I ended up going last minute apartment searching with my Mom and Sister yesterday! Luckily we found one for my Mom!

It has been birthday crazy around here lately!! Sunday was M's!!! Yup he is another year older! We didn't do too much, just dinner with his parents, I made a cake and we had a nice mellow evening. Yesterday was Grandma's, and today is my sisters!!

Our weekend was pretty laid back as well! Friday night M had ball and they won!!! Yay!! Saturday we did housework, picked up ribs for dinner and watched Friends With Kids. It was a pretty funny movie! I also changed the curtains around in the house. The ones from the bedroom are now in the great room and I love it:

I put ones that we had stored away in the bedroom.

On Sunday night I decided to hide my fear and made things happen for myself, hopefully with the support of those around me, but I made my photography facebook page. To say I was scared to hit share is an understatement, but I think it is time I put myself out there!! I have had a lot of support from those around me and I am very appreciative! Feel free to check out my page here and like it!!

Yesterday I took M's truck in for an oil change while apartment searching. We had made some lasagna on Sunday, so we had that for dinner last night and then M was off to fire practice.

Today I finally got my photo book in!!! Sooo excited!! I love how it turned out:

And then my scentsy order came in!!!

Meet Whoot:

He is hard at work right now baking a birthday cake, or so it smells!! I love it!!! I am soo happy scentsy is finally in Canada!!

I am actually considering selling it, because I love the product soo much!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!!!

Road Trip Day 8

July 9

Today was a nice and laid back day! Just what we needed before starting up our travels home!

Mike went hay bailing with Brent's Dad while Brent went to a council meeting and Jenna and I went to town for water and to get the mail.

We all met up for lunch.

After lunch Mike and Brent went to cut hay with Brent's Dad. Jenna and I decided to attempt bathing their new dog. It actually went over well, she didn't seem to mind! She is a pretty good dog and with some behavioral training and socialization I think she will work out just fine!

After we finished bathing her we decided to make the boys some fruit slushies and take it out to the field for them! It was neat to see the three of them cutting hay all at once!

On our way back home we stopped to see some big horn sheep! And then some deer and baby sheep, as well as some new fawns! We also stopped into to visit some of Brent's family!

Everyone we have met here are so kind! Very friendly place! I even got to meet Brent's grandparents! They were soo sweet!

My sunburn is beginning to feel a bit better, my upper back was definitely the sorest!

The boys actually beat us back for dinner, but Brent wanted to show Mike the excavator! This gave us time to get dinner going, actually gave Jenna a chance! I stayed out if the way! Jenna sure knows her way around the kitchen! All of the meals we had were fantastic and for the most part home-made!

I ate pork, moose and elk!

As we waited for Mike to come up with the excavator the dogs finally let loose and all four of them began to play! Sooo cute!

After dinner I showed everyone some of the pictures I had taken! Brent went bailing and the three of us decided to race over to the canola field for pictures with the sunset! We missed the sunset! But the pictures were still nice!

I had a shower and could not believe the dirt that came off of me!

After that M and I packed up, so we were ready to go.

Road Trip: Day 7

I am back at work today!!! Soo I hope you enjoy Day 7!!! We are just about finished with the recaps!!

July 8, Day 7:

This morning M and I managed to sleep in until 8! After we got up and realized that the dogs had not woke us up, but instead they slept in Jenna and Brent's room and Gracie woke Jenna up several times! Stinker!

After our pancake breakfast, we got the quads all ready to go to move the cows!

What a neat experience that was, except it took a while as the cows did not want to go! Once we got them out of the yard they co-operated a bit more!

After getting them to the new pasture, we headed out for a quad ride and Brent gave us a tour if the land around! The quad trails were fun! Us girls ended up with mud on our feet and legs and a few splashes on our clothes.

We stopped at the mountain peak and took in some fantastic views! We decided it was not the best place for our wiener roast and went to the cabin instead!

We roasted up some sausage and hung out! Jenna and Brent's friends Kevin & Christine came up as well! We had a fun time!

I found a couple of ticks crawling  up my leg! Yuck! I became paranoid and applied more musk oil! I don't usually wear a high spf sunscreen but borrowed some of Jenna's, but it didn't matter! I got burnt! I don't usually burn ever, but I am guessing it is because of the Musk-oil! I was glistening pretty good!

Before heading back to watch the Riders game Christine and I couldn't help but to comment on how dirty Jenna's shirt was! All three of us were wearing white tanks (and pink underwear which came into topic later)

Jenna fixed our white shirts on the way home! Christine and I were covered in dust! I was pretty much driving with my eyes shut! Once we arrived back at the farm and realized how dirty we were we couldn't help but to laugh and share a few more drinks!

A few more friends came over to watch the game. Brent brought the TV outside and we watched the game. According to everyone over here, M and I have accents, which to us they do! So much time was spent joking around about the differences! The language interpretation only got worse as the night went on!

The Rough Riders actually won!

It was a super fun day, aside from my intense burn!

Road Trip Day 6

Day 6, July 7/2012:

Gracie and Lily got us up at 5 am, but luckily settled back in until 7 after their pee! This part of the time change sucks because they are pretty routine girls!

Breakfast was had and then the boys went crop touring and into town to get fence posts, while us girls went and got water for the cistern! Just another thing we have soo differently at home. With the cistern water, that would be water for showering/cleaning, etc. It is not drinkable. They have a well on the farm, but it is not good water. We have to drive about 15 to 20 minutes to get water.

Brent and Jenna have 4 pigs. Lily saw her first pig! What a riot! She did not know what to think of them! Gracie wasn't phased at all!

When we all got back we went fencing- we brought the dogs along too! Luckily I popped an allergy pill before going because we were in a hay field and black flies were buzzing around!

The other big thing around here are ticks! I had always thought that only animals had to watch out for them but both of the guys ended up with ticks on them, but Jenna and I were good.

We got the fence up and repaired another one so the cattle can be moved in tomorrow!

On our way back to the farm we saw Pelicans! Another thing I was surprised to see here!

We made burgers for lunch and the guys finally came home, turned out they got the tractor stuck in the swamp!

So after lunch Mike went hay bailing and us girls and Brent went to pull the tractor out!

Two songs came to mind to describe my day! "The Truck Got Stuck" and "Ticks".

Once the tractor was out, Jenna and I came back and lounged in the sun for a bit!

The guys went to town to get some bullets and once they got back we went gofer hunting! I've never seen soo many gofers! Jenna and I sat in chairs in the back of the truck with drinks in hand as the guys had their beer and guns in hand! Im pretty sure some of the gofers were left laughing because a lot of them were just missed!

We had pulled pork for dinner and then Brent went bailing and Mike went touring on the quad!

When Mike got back we started grooming all the dogs. Brent and Jenna just got a new dog that was a drop off! She is a border collie cross and seems well natured!

We were all tired and went to bed early!

Weekend Rewind!!

I am taking a little break from the the Road Trip Recap!!! Today I am going to tell you what we did when we got home and how our weekend went down!!

We got home Thursday at 5 AM! We went right to bed and then I was up before 10 AM. I have spent the weekend catching up on that missed sleep! Soo glad we drove right through because had we stayed over in the US and came home Friday we would have been stuck for a while because one of the Michigan borders was shut down because of a bomb threat, which means security would have been crazy and long wait times!

M slept until around 12 and then we emptied the truck onto the side deck. I wanted everything washed before bringing it in!

We also decided it was best to give the dogs a much needed bath!

Gracie couldn't stand to be soo clean!

The rest of the day was spent doing LAUNDRY!!

We also decided we better put up the pool because we are in the middle of another heat wave!!

It is not much, but enough to get wet in!

We had a pretty lax day to say the least!!

Friday we HAD to water the front lawn! It was is dead. Very very dead!! But everyone else`s is too!!

We worked on more laundry. M decided it was best to turn his fire pager back on and within 45 minutes he was off to a hay wagon on fire!

We were going to go into town and get groceries, but I didn`t feel like trying to figure out what we needed on my own, so we survived one more night with no groceries! M didn`t get home until supper time and dove right in the pool!

We had dinner and then off to ball. The boys have been on a losing streak lately, clearly they need to snap out of it!

Saturday we finally got some groceries. M ended up getting a couple of medical calls in the afternoon. The pager has been pretty busy since he got home!

Saturday night we went to M & J`s for an outdoor movie night!! We watched American Pie Reunion. I had made Cake Batter Krispies to take over for a snack!! Another awesome Pinterest find!! They turned out to be the best rice krispies EVER!!

Sunday we decided to get everything completely unpacked and put away!! We also tidied up the house! M`s parents were coming home from their trip and we decided to have them over for dinner. But first we had to go to the farm and see their reaction to their new kitchen that was finished while they were away! It looks awesome!!

I tried two more recipes off of Pinterest for dinner last night!

I made these:

PIN

but skipped the salt and Rosemary and used all seasoning and parm cheese!

and these honey glazed carrots:

PIN

Both of them turned out good and I will be making them again!!

M ended up having to play ball in town last night for a friend, so dinner was cut short. We then decided to pick up the groceries we forgot!!

That was our weekend in a nut shell!!

Now M is back to work!! I still have until Tuesday!!

Road Trip Day 5!

Today we were up at 7 and got everything packed up! We can't seem to sleep past 7 because it is like 9 am, even though we are hoing to bed later!

My hair worked!!

Today we had a photo shoot with the very talented Whitney Cowan at Edworthy Park! Alison had arranged for this and we are very grateful! Not only did we get to meet another awesome Calgarian, but we had a blast! Whit was sooo much fun!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE them!! My walls are awaiting them!! You can check out her blog with our session HERE!!

We saw a sneak peek and love it! She totally captured US!  Only downfall was the amount of mosquito bites I got, but in all honesty Whitney had it worse as she stepped in a crazy amount of mud, ended up with not one but 3 creepy crawlers on her! She took it like a champ! I wish I had my camera too!!

Gracie was actually having fun too! She is sooo weird on this trip! Not a traveller! Yet she isn't one to stay home either!

I was very impressed with how active the community is! Tonnes of trails, which we do not have at home! We have a few trails but after you do them a couple times they are boring!

Its getting warmer as we leave Alberta. We are up to 28.

We saw bison today and in all honesty, just as we were warned, the drive to my cousin's is pretty boring! Although we thought it would be flatter!

We also drove by the salt flats in Chaplin! Looked like snow!

We had our first argument on the trip today too, although it was not directed at each other but more out of frustration trying to find somewhere to eat! We don't really like Swift Current! Poorly laid out, lousy service and to top it all off I spilt my ice cream in the parking lot before getting in the car! I was already working on a short fuse out of hunger and driving frustrations! M managed to cheer me up though!

We caught up to a crazy storm as we approached Moose Jaw!

We are hoping Wanda (the GPS) can get us there as my cousin doesn't have an address, but she gave us GPS co-ordinates! Yup! They live on a farm outside of Regina? I think! Luckily Wanda accepted that, but she doesn't seem to know any street names! She instructs us to turn left on unnamed street and turn left off of unnamed, unpaved street? So in my opinion she is just taking us on another adventure!

It is flatter now! As we got off the hiway and drove through a village called Pense - we were waved at by several people! Such a friendly place!

Went through a neat old town called Lumsdun!

Well Wanda was right and got us there and no name streets do exist! We felt like we were in the middle of no where, and lost cell service somewhere!

Overall it is not as flat! Maybe Manitoba?

We made it!! Thank you Wanda!

We stayed up and visited for a bit, and then got settled into bed.

Road Trip Day 4: Canmore/Banff & Meeting Alison!

Went to Canmore and Banff today! Had an awesome day! I will forwarn you - picture overload!!

I could totally pack up and move to Canmore! I loved it! Real estate prices weren't bad either!

We saw elk in Banff! Just stunning! I love observing wildlife and having a chance to photograph them is just right up my alley!

Mike spilt the dog water when stopping at a pull off - the girls were not impressed! They think Daddy is a crazy driver!

We are pretty sure Gracie is homesick! She is just not herself! But Lily is making up for the lack of her enthusiasm! She is spun!

Sooo apparently when you get a flat tire on the highway, around a bend, you empty your vehicle on the road to ensure you don't get hit! Its true! It happened! Not by us obviously, but someone placed a cooler, helmets and other objects to create a traffic break so he had room to change his tire. It just led up to a lot of chaos and almost accidents, as well as a car in the ditch!

We cannot believe all the housing in Calgary! All built within I would say 10 to 20 years! The architecture is great! But Canmore still has my heart!

Mike is demanding a car wash! He cannot stand a dirty truck and I will admit it is very dirty! After our off road excursion in Montana! I don't see they clay coming off easily!

Car washes are not as common here! At home they are pretty much on every corner! We found one but we had to wash it ourselves. Alison called it a wand wash? Lol

Back to the hotel we went to get ready to head to Justin and Alison's!  I attempted a trial run for my hair for our photo shoot on Friday - it flopped! Lol!
As we headed over to Alison's we got a crazy storm just out of the blue! Hail and all! It came down fast and hard, flooding the roads. But just as we pulled into their drive way the sun was beaming and a double rainbow appeared! I promised her sunshine and warm weather! Both of which she should have for a while now!

Alison made a great pasta dish, salad and bread! We broke into a bottle of skinny girl cosmos which I had never had! Needless to say I will need to find it at home!

Typical Cruz decided to show Gracie and Lily where the fun was at in Calgary! They went mudding in the back yard! They had a blast! But the mud - it was everywhere! So after dinner we had to preform operation dog wash x3. The girls wanted no part in this! But after we brought them in they were all pooched!

Gracie broke out of her homesickness and made herself right at home! We are pretty sure she didn't want to leave!

We had a great visit! I'm sooo glad we were finally able to meet! She is honestly soo sweet! Im lucky to have such a great friend! Justin and Mike had a lot in common as well including their hate for pinterest, video gaming and they both thought it was weird to meet "a stranger". Alison and I reassured them we were not strangers and that we knew each other very well! I wasn't even nervous to meet her! Usually Im nervous to meet new people, but in my eyes Alison wasn't new! We have been close  friends for a couple of years, just so happens we are thousands of miles apart! We discussed "road tripping to Dominican, but I was sure to leave her with some incentive to come to Ontario with Stratford's Rheo Thompson Mint Smoothies! They are to die for!

All in all our time together was tooo short, but it wont be the last of it! Miss you guys already!!

Today was filled with sooo much fun! Awesome part of our trip!