Friday, October 20, 2017

Leaf Play

It's been great to have a week at home.  The last 3 weeks, I have had more trips away than at home.  One to Lethbridge when my sister visited and 3 trips to Kalispell.

The grandkids have been off school yesterday and today because of teacher meetings.  It was beautiful out yesterday and they came to rake leaves. The big kids do an awesome job.  Not sure about coop, but he likes to play in the leaves.


Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Canadian Thanksgiving!

I make sure my family celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving! It is one tradition I have kept going since coming to the States! They are pretty pumped about a turkey dinner with all the trimmings! Caitlin now hosts her own Canadian Thanksgiving in Seattle with many of her friends. Last evening enjoyed the company of Kirsten and her family and also friends Robyn and Walter. They have joined our celebration for the last few years.



It was a yummy meal!
It was also my sister's birthday. Hope she had a wonderful celebration! We enjoyed her company the last few days of September.


Last week I spent a few days in Kalispell attending a nursing conference at the Rocky Mountain Childbirth Conference! It was very informative. Here it is only the 10th of Oct and I have spent 5 of those days there and about to head over for one more trip.











The trees and the mountains were looking pretty spectacular on the drive over!

One of the trips was so Kirsten's kids could visit their great grandparents! They had a ball!!!
The drive gets a little ling being 4 hours!







We mad a short stop in Glacier National Park! The Going to the Sun Road remains closed due to wildfire activity!


The fires are pretty much contained, but you can see in the photo below that they are still smoldering!


And I actually got to scrapbook
A page the other day!!!




A traditional page with a pocket page. Paper are from a We R Memory Keeper and Fancy Pants Designs. embellishments mostly from Simple Stories. Chipboard letters are from Basic Grey.


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Saturday, September 23, 2017

Hello Fall!

Yesterday I wrote a huge post, pressed save and who knows where it went because it did not show up on my blog!!!

Been having some much needed rain and snow in the higher elevations!

This photo was posted on FB yesterday morning- about 40min to our east in the mountains!

The precipitation and much colder temperatures have aided in getting a handle on the wild fires! We have had over a million acres burn this summer.




Fall has officially arrived.


The trees are starting to change their colours


I spent a week out in Seattle when the air was do bad from the smoke! It was making me sick. Curtis put me on the train in Shelby and I the next morning Cait picked me up in Seattle.


This little minion started preschool while I was away! He told me today, it is awesome! He gets to ride a bus which makes his day!


Mo scrapbook layouts! But I have been making cards




Linking up to the Simon Says Stamps Wed. Challenge where you need to pop it up!!



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Friday, September 1, 2017

September has Arrived!

September 1 has blown in the door!

The big grandkids headed back to school. One in 5th grade and the other in 4th.
The photo Kirsten sent me their first morning back!




Cooper starts preschool this next week!!! He has his "Cars3" backpack and lunchbox all ready to go! Time is flying much too quickly!

Wildfires have again dominated our news! Glacier National Park lost an iconic historical building last night due to wildfire! The Sperry Chalet lodge!




I stole these pictures off the internet to share!



Our state has been burning up for weeks and no one seems to care! The governor finally declared it a state of emergency! I have people I know that have summer cabins in areas near these fires!

And the smoke is bothering me personally! Smoke has been a bug irritant for me for a long time. Just a camp fire sends my allergies over the top! I either wake up with a headache or have one by noon. Curtis is sending me out to the coast to visit Caitlin next week, where the air is clear.

So I have been hibernating in my basement sewing, escaping the smoke! Thank goodness for air conditioning! We need rain desperately and there seems to be none in our forecast.






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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

My Week

I believe Monday's eclipse has dominated the week thus far! Curtis and Toots drove south to Idaho where they would experience totality. Curtis managed to scout out one last hotel room in Butte for outlandish
Price of $172. St least it wasn't the $1000 room in Dillon!!!
They had a good adventure despite all the traffic when they were leaving!


Pictures thanks to Curtis!


I elected to stay at hone and watch it from my backyard. Gosh! We only had 90% totality here! Kirsten brought the boys over and we were all decked out in our eclipse wear!










Not sure Coop knew what was happening but had fun anyways! The drop in temperature was quite noticeable and cool shadows were observed!

Yesterday I joined Kirsten and her minions and quite a few others for some back to school shopping.
Trying to keep track of them all is a feat! But, I think they are all ready to head back next week! And their mother wishes it was this week!






And believe it or not fall is just around the corner! Look at the leaves of this tree in my neighbour yard!



They are starting to turn!

Still smokey with all the wild fires and we've had no speakable rain!

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Sunday, August 13, 2017

Time for an Update!

Busy, busy, busy!
I thought semi retirement would be relaxing and give me time for my crafting!! Not so much! The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind!

We took a weekend trip over to the Flathead at the beginning of Aug! A visit to Curtis' dad who was turning 92. We got to drive through Glacier before all the smoke invaded! Bear grass has been especially beautiful this year, as has the fireweed!






Kirsten and I did a day trip to Missoula for some shopping! That's a 6 hour round trip! She found some cute tops on sale for her new job and some back to school for the grandkids! Then a couple days later Kirsten and I were back on the road to pick up Harlee from Girl Scout camp. That was another 5-6 hour round trip! And we needed to be there between 9 and 10 in the morning!!! We left home at 6:45 with the boys in their pj's!


I found raspberries at Costco on the return trip and managed to crank out a couple batches of jam!



No time for scrapping! But I did finish off a couple cards I had stamped images for!




Penny Black stamp! Dies from quickutz, memory box, IO


Hero Arts flamingo stamp and die, tropical leaves are a Memory Box die and some spritz if Color Shine

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Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Long ., Hot Summer Days!!!

We are currently experiencing long, hot dry summer days.  Although I can see them getting shorter.  It used to be light when I got up from work and it is not anymore.  I know this since I just worked on Monday.

The grandkids came over yesterday to swim in the new pool that papa got for them.  It is quite a bit deeper than the little wading pool they had. (That one went to keep a puppy cool for the rest of the summer.)  Nic got himself a floating last week.  So Harlee had to have one too.  They look like inflated donuts.  Coop has a tiny one.  Anyway they seem to be having fun out the back.  Good thing it fits on the lower deck, because with a hill in our back yard, it makes it hard to put up a pool.


Just went with Kirsten and the boys for their well kid checks.  Poor Coop had to get his ears cleaned out and get 2 shots so he can go to preschool.  Kirsten will get him signed up mid August.

A lot of the state is on fire because it is so dry and hot.  We need rain desperately.  So far July is the 5th hottest on record and 6th driest.  Harvesting is early.  Last Sat. we drove west to Seeley Lake to visit their quilt shop as they were having their big birthday sale.  As we went through Lincoln, which is about 90 west of us you could see the smoke coming out of the mountains and they had a fire camp all set up.



And last week we finished up 3 weeks of swimming lessons with the grandsons.  Coop still won't jump off the side or the diving board.  But he did get in the water and paddle around.  I mean he is only 4.  




Friday, July 21, 2017

Hey!!! It's Friday!!!

And it's been busy! Curtis did an Avis run to East Glacier!
So that meant I was up early!
Boy, it was smokey out this morning! And that reeks havoc with my allergies! Yesterday, I was indoors working so not much chance of allergies bothering me.

But, I still headed out for my walk! Came home and mowed the front yard. Back yard isn't growing that much! Came in and cleaned bathrooms

I ran a few errands!

Kirsten and the munchkins came over after lunch. Harlee and Nic went in the pool! Coop decided he wanted to go swimming when it was time to leave! And it was cooler today, so quite pleasant sitting out on the back deck., as the smoke blew away.

We watched the Thunderbirds flying around practicing since tomorrow is the air show!


Putting up a few photos of Nic from his Boy Scout ceremony back at the end of May! He moved up a level. He is now a Webelos.











One little layout!
From when the girls took a road trip to Seattle last summer to visit Cait.


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