Terry Fox run

This year commemorates 35 years of Terry Fox runs. RES participated this afternoon in the Terry Fox National School Run Day, where schools across Canada hold a run to commemorate Terry and raise funds. Each student was asked to donate a toonie.
I took the littles to go watch the school kids run. It was a beautiful day for running.

Maren

Cassandra running with her friends Jonah Penny and Dalen Wilde

Evan

I remember my own elementary Terry Fox runs. During the lunch hour we would run around the outside block of the elementary school fields. We would start at the top of the hill at Wildwood, go down the hill and around the tennis courts. The run would continue back up the east side of the field till we got to the corner. Then we headed west towards the parking lot and then back up the hill to where we started. Each lap we received a popsicle stick. At the end of each lunch hour we would write down how many popsicle sticks we got. And then at the end of the month or the given time frame all of our totals were added together and I think prizes were given to those who in the school who had the most sticks. I remember how excited I was to get sticks equaling the number of laps I did. (It was also really exciting to find a stray stick on the ground... but I never did that) ;0  

I always thought it was an honour to run the Terry Fox run. 

Time alone

I picked up Savanna from school today and she was really happy when she saw me. As we were walking to get her bike, she told me she wanted to play at Grandma Hardy's and I told her she wouldn't be able to. Then her happy smile turn to a frown, a scowl and a pout. In fact, I practically had to force her to cross the street to the van. She grudgingly made it as far as the sidewalk then just stopped.

Pushing her bike, I passed her to the van and loaded it in. She refused to budge. I started the engine. No change. She stood rooted to the sidewalk. So I got in and started to move down the drive way. No reaction. I drove out onto the street and started east down the block. Nothing. She didn't even turn to see where I was going. (I was watching through my mirrors and over my shoulder.) I went to the end of the block in front of the junior high and turned around.

As I was coming back up the street towards where I left her standing by Grandma's driveway, she started walking west. Past the drive way and towards the corner. I watched her safely cross the street and then turn south and begin to head home. She just kept walking. I stopped, turned the corner too and pulled along side and asked if she was ready to get in. She just "harrumphed" (by dictionary definition it means to grumpily express dissatisfaction or disapproval) and kept on walking.

At this point I easily could have got out, picked her up and put her in the van. But...... It was a beautiful fall day and I knew if I did, she would cry and wail. I didn't have patience for crying and a tantrum so I just figured to let her keep walking and blow off her steam. (I really didn't have any reason to rush her along either.) 

I drove ahead a fair bit and then stopped and waited for her to catch up to me.

(Can you see that grumpy girl a walking home?)

As she neared, I rolled down the passenger window and asked if she wanted a ride. She kept walking. So again I pulled forward and waited for her to catch up. 

I zoomed in with my camera.

This time, I got a smirk when I asked if she wanted a ride. She kept walking. I pulled ahead.

(I felt like I was playing a game of leapfrog.)

As we were waiting again, I asked Tysyn if he wanted to walk with Savanna. He was super excited to. She came beside the van, he got out and started to run down the sidewalk. She started to grin. They both ran a bit then I called them to stop and got Rebekka out. She wanted to walk too. Savanna came towards the van, took Rebekka's hand and led her along home.

At our street 200 S, I stopped at the sign and the kids rounded the corner west towards our house. I drove slowly towards our house and then let Tysyn cross the street in front of me. I pulled up the drive, stopped and got out. Then I went to the street to help Savanna and Rebekka cross. As Savanna walked up the grass to the house, she had a smile on her face. Her whole countenance had changed and she was once again a happy, smiley girl.

We have had quite a few late nights lately. She hasn't been getting to bed early enough and the mornings have been hard for her. I think her lack of sleep finally caught up with her today.

She liked walking home. It sure helped her get over her moody blues. 

Harvest

We harvested more of the garden. Monday we picked tomatoes, onions, zucchini and peppers. This is the bounty. 

Some of the peppers. I'm so excited at how big some of them got!

We got lots of tomatoes. Only most of them are small. And about half are cherry tomatoes! I hope they ripen soon because the littles keep eating them and there aren't many ripe ones left. They keep wanting to eat the "ripening" ones.

We also dug up our three sweet potato plants. And I was so excited because there was actually some sweet potatoes hiding in the soil.

I did it. I really did it. These are sweet potatoes!!!!! Not carrots! Also known as Yams.

I didn't think you could even grow them but I was able to this year.

I started them really late. I think that if they had a longer growing time, then the might have done better. 

I hope to have a bigger and better harvest next year! Just need to do a little more research on growing them!

I definitely am going to try and cook them soon....unless they have to cure first. I did research on them in the spring but I can't remember what it said about harvesting them. I'm so pleased with my efforts!

The last two veggies left in the ground are the potatoes and carrots.

Snow is supposedly on its way this weekend so I guess I'd better get digging!

Weekend

Watched football Friday night. Comets won 26-1. Great game. Devin played a fair bit. Found out Sheralee wanted to go to Calgary next day. Rearranged our plans so I could take her. Jeff and 7 kids not coming to Kalia's baptism anymore. He would stay with kids in Raymond. I would take the two older girls. So packed a bit then went to bed at 11pm.

Saturday morning I was up early. Like really early. Didn't sleep well. Up at 4:30am. Showered. Woke girls at 4:50am. Picked up Sheralee just after 5:15am. Drove her to Foothills Hospital in Calgary. Jared having surgery. Drove dad Hardy's car. Dropped her off at the front entrance doors just after 8am. She is staying to be with Jared. Went to mom Moxley's. Slept for about an hour 8:30-9:30am. Got ready to go to Kalia's baptism. Car not sounding good. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Don't want to wreck it! Left it at Heritage Drive church in the parking lot. Got in Krista's car. Slightly late for baptism at 11:00am. Oops. Nice service. I was asked to talk on Holy Ghost. 

Kalia and Kim

Lunch right after meeting. I brought potato soup. No leftovers. Then back to Calgary for Dad's car. Krista looked at it. Told me what I was doing wrong. (In wrong gear) I took Maren to Sherilyn's. She played. I napped. Cassandra went with mom and Krista shopping. Woke after 2 hour nap. Had hamburgers for supper. Thanks to whomever made supper! Off to women's broadcast in south Calgary. Great meeting. I love to hear from the leaders of the church that serve in the women's organizations of the church. Glad to be with my family. Enjoyed the talks from all speakers. After the broadcast we went to DQ for treats. My girls ordered too much. Brought it home to eat after refrozen. Had fun with mom, sisters, nieces, the cousins.

After treats, went to Walmart to get food for Sheralee. Jared's surgery didn't happen. Rescheduled for Sunday. Sheralee staying over at the hospital. Mom and Krista take food to her so she has food and doesn't have to purchase in the cafeteria on Sunday. I head back to Sherilyn's to change and get forgotten things. Off to Raymond at 9pm. Late night drive. Girls asleep by 10:00pm. Quiet drive home. It was nice. Nearly full moon out. Clear night. Bright sky. Home at 11:30. Picked up mom Hardy. Go to our house. Unloaded and she drove her car away. Talked with Jeff for a bit. Glad to be back. So tired. Unpacked quickly and then to bed!

Fasting for Jared. Fast Sunday approaching. 

The Family- A Proclamation to the World

20 years ago on September 23, 1995,  "The Family, A Proclamation to the World" was a statement issued to the church by President Gordon B. Hinckley in a worldwide general Relief Society women's broadcast. It is an inspired document from Heavenly Father and I am so greatful for the principles and teachings in it.

Curly girlie

I took pictures of Rebekka two Sunday's ago because I curled her hair for church. She looked so adorable.

And this is her at parent preschool today.

We love this girl!

Home made

Maren bought herself some foam rollers on Saturday so she could have curly hair for school picture day today. I rolled up her hair on Sunday evening and she slept in the rollers. When she took them out this morning, her curls were so tight! Much tighter than she wanted. (We should have taken a picture!!) Together we did our best to make them good for her pictures. Hopefully they turn out ok. This picture is what the curls looked like after supper. Maren is a beauty!

Maren's hair totally reminds me of Shelyse's. Maren DID NOT get her hair from my side of the family.

I made JAM DIAGONALS today. I haven't made them in years. They looked awesome and the family loved them.

We had them as family home evening treat. The second pan didn't get the lemon icing because of complainers. The first pan tastes the best!

Aaren picked his pumpkins tonight.

The night time temperature was supposed to reach close to freezing and he is not wanting to cover the plants each night that gets close to freezing, so he harvested his pumpkins and the squash crop last night.

Good growing Aaren. Well done!

It's not big, but it's heavy!

Helping Aaren try and lift his home grown pumpkin! 

Random

B and C helped at the LAHotShots booth at sportfest Saturday. Maren and I went in to go shopping.

At the Lethbridge Bow Benders booth.

The girls did better than the boy.

Goldilocks got a haircut!  ( I meant Devin)

Football

For Devin, life revolves around sports and friends. The current sport is football. He lives and breathes it.

Yesterday was the final exhibition game before league play next week.

They played Ross Sheppard from Edmonton.

And they beat them good!

52-2 was the final score.

Sheppard got 2 points when Raymond took a safety.

Devin didn't play as much as he did last week because they didn't need the defensive line as much. But we enjoyed being at the game.

'Twas a windy day and game. 

Thursday

After 3 weeks of walking to school, Brandon was finally able to ride to and from school today.

Just before school started, he had a crash on his brand new bike he bought this summer.

About the crash-- he was biking in the dirt hills with a bunch of other kids. He had started down a steep hill and some other little kid did too. So Brandon tried to move out of the way instead of hitting the kid. But Brandon's bike hit a big mound of dirt causing him to fly over his handle bars and hit the ground. He doesn't remember exactly what happened. He does remember getting up and seeing that his front rim was bent. He had bruises on his chest from the handle bars for several days after. He also had a mild concussion. 

He was so mad after the crash!! Mad the rim bent, mad the boy didn't wait his turn, mad that his new bike was wrecked and mad he got hurt. The day after the accident, Brandon ordered a new wheel rim from Ascent Cycle. And after three long weeks he finally got a new one. At one point the store got a rim in for him but it was the wrong one so he had to wait again. The new rim finally arrived Wednesday and he picked it up Wednesday night just before shooting practice.

He is one happy rider.

Yesterday Jeff and the three older boys went to Cardston to do baptisms at the temple. It has been a long time since they have been able to go. It was in place of this weeks Tuesday night activity. I'm so glad they were all able to go together. 

RES had a family dance and cake auction fundraiser.  It was great fun.

The dance was in the gym and the music was loud. (Too loud for me. My ears were ringing for a long time after.)

2 parents from each class provided/donated cookies or squares as snacks during the dance and 1 parent made a cake for the cake auction part of the fundraiser. There were lots of great looking cakes!! Last year our kids were really disappointed that we couldn't or wouldn't buy a cake. So this year I made a cake for our family. I told them before we left that we wouldn't be buying a cake so they wouldn't be disappointed. They were excited to come home to our cake. 

This is the only two photos from the dance that I took. 

Anti gravity candy cake I made for our family. 

Ballet

Savanna had her first ballet class today. She told me she was nervous and excited.

She will be taking ballet classes on Wednedsay afternoons 1:30-2:00pm with Elite Dance Studio located in the basement of Terry and Rita Smith's home. Mrs. Chanelle Smith Fibke (their daughter) is her instructor. We love Miss Chanelle and so will Savanna.

When we arrived at the studio, we were the first ones there. I showed her where to put her coat and shoes and then we went downstairs. When she saw the wood floors and mirrors, she had a huge look of wonder and awe on her face. She did a few skips and then stood looking at herself in one of the mirrors. With a huge grin on her face, she smiled at herself.

Two other students arrived and so I left her in the studio and headed out to the van to run errands while she was in her class.

Tysyn and Rebekka were asleep in their car seats. 

Cantaloupe and Pumpkin

Aaren acquired quite a green thumb this summer.

In the spring he planted three things. Pumpkin, watermelon and cantaloupe. He started them all from seed in little pots in the house. He watered them and faithfully tended them. When the weather was nice, he planted them outside. Actually he planted them outside late because we took so long to get the garden ready for planting in the spring.

Anyway, he was super excited about his little plant starts. And was super sad, frustrated and mad when the gophers attacked the watermelon plants and ate off the leaves. So he wasn't able to get any watermelons this year because without the leaves, the plants died.

His cantaloupe and pumpkins have done so good. It's been a hot summer and with his watering efforts, they have thrived. He can't wait to pick the cantaloupe and cut into it to see how thick the fruit meat is. With fall in the air, he will likely pick them within the week.

These are his pictures of his 5 different melons. Each one is different.  

Next year I am going to have him plant away from the squash and cucumbers.

Aaren's pumpkin patch has about 5 or 6 pumpkins hiding among the leaves and vines. And weeds! One of the pumpkins is exceptionally big. It's so big Aaren can't get his arms around it to hug it and he probably won't be able to carry it by himself. He is super excited to pick it for Halloween. We watch the weather nightly and probably within the next couple of weeks he will be harvesting his pumpkin crop.

Originally the seed came from a Giant white pumpkin but I think the pumpkin cross pollinated with the squash from Grandpa Hardy that we are also growing. So Aaren's pumpkins are very yellow!! They won't be green or orange. We will have strange colored pumpkins for Halloween this year.

Football

Raymond Comets had their season home opener tonight.

The game started at 6:00pm. It was a beautiful fall evening. Sunny blue skies, warm weather and no wind.

I arrived at 5:30pm with Evan, Savanna, Tysyn and Rebekka. Devin needed something to eat so we took him leftovers and access bars before the game. We met up with Grandma Terry Moxley, Aunt Karen Taylor, and Aunt LuWana Knopfel. Jeff came after a late evening at work. Cassandra and Maren played at friends, Aaren was at home and Brandon was hunting near Magrath.

The comets struggled to take control of the game. The Calgary team dominated for most of the game but the comets were able to get 1 touchdown earning them 7 points. 

Near the end of the game, the stadium lights were turn on. It was the "Friday night lights."

Devin was able to be a starting player during the game. I was pleased at how much playing time he got. He was too but beat himself up with how many mistakes he felt he made. He took the loss hard. He was sad, mad, frustrated and disappointed at the final score. 

He is behind #4

In the middle of the picture. 

Ready for the play

#63 on the move

Words from the coaches after the game

With my football boy. 

2015 schedule. 

Comets roster (Devin's name is spelled wrong)