SUPERBLY SYLVAN

Still catching up here....

In July we had the opportunity to participate in what is becoming somewhat of a tradition (we really hope it lasts for many more years) with some very dear friends of ours.  For the last few years we have gathered at a rented cabin at Sylan Lake with our wonderful university friends/roommates and their families.  This year, between all the cameras that were there, there were over 1000 photos taken (lots by the 3 muskateers in the previous post) - so I'll really try to condense them into just a few of the best ones.  What started 20+ years ago with 3 roommates, plus 1 good friend, and 4 girlfriends, has now morphed into this huge gathering of 8 adults and 17 kids.......all staying in one cabin for 3 or 4 days.  FUN FUN FUN!!!  The best part is that all the kids are old enough to kind of take care of themselves, and be safe - and everyone has friends their age to hang out with.  It's been so fun watching these kids grow up together.


sorry in advance for the large numbers of photos...

perhaps an overcrowded boat - but i think we were still within the boat capacity limit

Bruce was the first person in the water (at least, for something other than swimming).

He was also the first to be able to surf without the rope (mostly - couldn't quite thow it back in the boat, even though it was slack most of the time), and was the first to successfully dock his board on the deck of the boat and walk in when he was done.  Yay Bruce! Way to set the bar.

apparently sunglasses increase the cool factor....

mandatory swim time - everybody out of the boat!

a lot of posing takes place when there are cute girls around, haha

Missy has always been adventurous and willing to try new things.  She got up FIRST try on the surf board, and got the hang of it pretty quick.  Next summer she'll be throwing in the rope for sure.

some of the young ones.  our girls are on the ends

some of the teens

we have a TON of pictures of kids jumping off the boat!  this one was jumping backwards

Mackenzie and I waited until all the talented younger kids got off the boat before we were brave enough to give the surfing a try (after Bruce, Missy and all the other smarty pants, I didn't want to make a fool of myself)

i didn't entirely get the hang of it, but i had fun trying, and got up my first try (for a few seconds), and had a long turn on my second try..... maybe next year....

Kenzie and I, or looking at the picture - Me and Mackenzie

I think Kenzie and I were the only ones to wear wetsuits that weekend

everybody worked up an appetite

evening activities

(look at the window at the back, haha)

game time (telephone pictionary)

next day - breakfast in pj's on the deck

another beautiful day

Marissa, Sydney, Jenna

Emma & Marissa

Erica

Ready for some tube wars... (Mackenzie, Leah, Ross, & Levi)

I don't think I want these two to be my spotters

the war continues

hmmm, I don't think I want these 3 spotting for me either

Ross, Kenzie, Leah

(Renee and Josh on tubes)

Me, Carrie, Renee

Carrie & Ross, Bruce & Christy, Renee & Steve

We had so much fun together.  This is the night we were leaving, but we couldn't pull ourselves away until about midnight.  We let the kids think it was their idea.

somehow Darryl and Terri missed all our pictures (except the group one), sorry about that

Ross, Steve and Bruce.  Three really great guys!

All of us!  We'll see you next year! (hopefully). THANKS CHILES!

THREE MUSKATEERS!!!

Marissa had a great summer, it seems like she was always on the go (more about her summer later).  She got to spend lots of time with two very wonderful friends.  That time together was even sweeter since Sydney lives in Taiwan, and Jenna lives in Edmonton.  Oh, how we wish they lived in Calgary (with their families of course).

These three girls are evidence of the positives, and negatives of digital cameras.... we must have 1000 pictures that they took together.  So fun for them, but some very ridiculous pictures to have to sort thru... Oh well, good memories :)

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Remember in the last post when I said time flies.  It's kind of been the theme of our summer.  How is it possible for 18 years to have passed so quickly???   So this is how we spent so much of our summer time. Getting ready to send Ross off to university in Edmonton (U of A) took tons of time. So much has changed since Bruce and I were there. We finally got things settled, with only days to spare. He's in the faculty of science working toward getting in to Medicine after his mission (and a bit more school).

Ross's last night at home...

Anyway, one of the biggest stresses was trying to find Ross somewhere to live. Ross only had 2 friends he knew going to school in Edmonton. One is a girl, and the other lives in Sherwood Park with his family. This meant that he had no friends to room with. After a couple of trips to Edmonton, some internet searching, some phone calls, and a lot of driving around we finally signed him up to live in a basement suite in a house very close to campus. The owner of the house is about Bruce's age, and went to U of A when we were there. Now he still lives in the upstairs and rents out his basement to 5 LDS boys. Each one has their own bedroom, but they share a very small (never updated) old bathroom, and a tiny kitchen (with no table).

Entrance and edge of kitchen.  The counter with the stool is the only 'table'.

The rest of the kitchen. 

Seriously, this is the whole thing - it's tiny.  But honestly, how much cooking is Ross really going to do anyway.

The family room, or common area.  The first view is as you come in to the room, the second picture is looking back up towards the kitchen.  You gotta love the carpet!!!  Straight out of the 70's.  Thick shag, still remarkably squishy for being so old (and yet, I had trouble taking my shoes off and walking barefoot).

We decided that this just might be good training for his mission.

This 'bedroom' is right off of the family room.  Luckily, it is not his room.  I can only assume that this was the last room to be rented.  I'm sure it's probably less than 6 ft. wide, and not much longer.  But at least it has a big window.


 

The very old and dated bathroom.

The laundry room, and a deep freeze for any good old home cooking the boys can get their hands on.

And down at the far end of the hall, far away from all other activity we find Ross's room.  Sorry about the photo quality, the tiny room, poor lighting, and iphone camera, don't make the best pictures.  This is his BIG desk (on moving day).  The desk fits perfectly in the corner butting up against the door.  Next to Bruce is a small gap (where he stores an electric keyboard) and then his night table.

The night table is obviously next to the bed.  He has a great bed.  His old bed frame saved from a couple of years ago, a new mattress, and a beautiful new quilt handmade with love by grandma O.  Some of the fabric came home with her from her trip to Africa last year.  Can you say spoiled?  (Or maybe he's just LOVED).

At the foot of the bed he has a bookcase, then turning the corner for the next wall... a small closet rod with a small shelf above it to mimic a closet with no door.  Next to that is Ross's dresser and a small chair tucked behind the door.  Everything is basically touching whatever is beside it.... but he sure fit a lot in there (and empty space in the middle too).

These are some friends from home that happened to be in Edmonton on moving day, so they came and helped out a bit, and made sure Ross was settled in ok. (and left him a stash of soda pop).  Speaking of stashes, I forgot about the totes stashed under his bed with all sorts of non-perishable costco food, and a secret stash of homemade salsa and bottled peaches - 2 of his favorite foods.

Here he is!  All moved in!  All grown up!

Here's Bruce reliving his university days, walking to campus.  The picture is taken from the end of Ross's street (about 4 small houses away).  The tall buildings are the U of A Hospital, and basically the edge of campus.  The small gray house just above Bruce's head is where I lived for second semester of my second year at university.   Ahhh, those were some good days......

Good luck Ross!  We miss you already, but know you'll have a great time.... make the most of it!!!

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED

I can't believe how times flies.....
I really thought I'd be able to keep up with this blog this summer - things to take pictures of and time to post about it. Ha!

You already saw the pictures from Trek, and Ross's wisdom teeth getting pulled. There was also birthdays, weddings, a funeral (no photos on those)... Marissa did some 'nannying', we had some 'lake days' with friends, work for a few, an opening night midnight viewing of the new Harry Potter, lots of visits from friends and family, babysitting, hiking, Marissa had EFY and 'SOAL', Ross did a 4 day canoe trip, and interspersed thru all of that - getting Ross ready and off to university. (It doesn't sound like it was as busy as it felt, lol).

Somehow we managed to avoid most of the rain too. It seemed like the sun was following us. I heard a lot how cold and wet it was this summer, but I didn't feel it. Yay!

Stay tuned and I'll try to get some photos up. It was a great summer! We had a lot time together as a family, and with loved ones....I wish it was summer all the time!

A LACK OF WISDOM

WARNING: THIS IS ANOTHER MEDICAL TYPE POST - COMPLETE WITH GRAPHIC PHOTOS! VIEWER DISCRECTION IS ADVISED!

6 months ago Ross's teeth were bothering him, so he had a checkup with the dentist. At that appointment the dentist suggested that he get his wisdom teeth pulled in about 6 months. The teeth were starting to cause some discomfort, and they would need to come out before his mission next year anyway. So today was the day!

Ross is a good sport and let me take all the pictures i wanted on my iphone (so the quality is not quite as good as a real camera). And Dr. Fairbanks (who Barb works for) was also a good sport, calling me over to snap some of the grosser pictures.

(By the way, if you want a better look at these - click on them and they will zoom in)

A self portrait on the way to the 'procedure'










Freezing the gums, so he doesn't feel the needles














Injecting the 'real' freezing















"My tongue feels weird"















The x-ray before any teeth were removed. Looking pretty good if you ask me.














Some pretty harsh looking tools, are you sure you want those in your mouth???














"Ahhhhhhhh!!!! I can't feel my lips and chin" (This picture was posed for, but I have since realized that Ross has never had a filling before, and therefore, no freezing.... so this was totally new to him, haha)








Tooth number 2. Tooth number 1 was sooo fast, that I didn't even know he had started.














Left side done. Somewhere along the way Ross picked up some new shades, too bad he couldn't keep them.












This was the most difficult tooth, but cool to see. The tooth was still down below the gums, the deepest of the 4. Dr. Fairbanks called me to take extra pictures on this one. Here he has sliced the gums open, and pulled them back to expose the tooth underneath. Kinda cool to see it just sitting way down there. (zoom on this one if you're not squeamish)




Move it to the right














Move it to the left














Now we can see the roots, just have to pull it away from some connective tissue, yum













two stitches to close the hole (they need to be taken out in 2 weeks) (zoom this one too)














4 ugly HUGE teeth with giant roots. That might hurt a bit.














still smilin'....... for now

W2Z (or West to Zion 2009)

This past week 4 of us had the opportunity to participate in our Stake Youth Conference called West to Zion. It was very similar to Trek, but not quite as intense. Ross and Marissa went as youth, and Bruce and I went as a Ma and Pa. It was fabulous.
Some of our new family members.


The first and last picture are in order, but the others are in backwards order, I'm too lazy to switch them around.


Reading letters from home. They were supposed to be delivered by pony express, but we were rushed due to threatening rain, so the plan got changed.


Two of the wounded. The only blood I saw on anyone there - Marissa and our friend Michael. Missy was playing 'the great escape' and ran thru a river, and at some point tripped and fell into a tree stump of some sort and scraped up her arm pretty bad, and had blood running down her arm. Michael somehow managed to cut himself with a knife (but didn't feel anything), and had blood dripping. He got 4 stitches.


Dutch oven dinners.


Sweetwater crossing re-enactment.






Bruce is wearing the red bandana. Poor kid, didn't know what he was getting in to...


We got attacked by indians! Very politically incorrect, but oh, so funny.


The 'buffalo hunter' provided our hungry family with beef jerky.


The prettiest wild flowers were everywhere. These ones were my favorite.


The grungy dusty leaders from our ward.

It was a lot of work to be prepared - but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.