!,2,3 Away!

Remember when you were young and played this game?
This one could have gone on all night...

Happy Birthday Nana!!

Mom, you're such a kindred spirit.  You're 'of the of the house of Joseph,' as Anne of Green Gables would say.  I love that you appreciate diversity, culture, spunk, and that you have amazing insights about how to live life.  You've been a great spiritual guide and example to me.  You tirelessly serve others, not just your family.  The family reunion is a great example of an incredible event you've helped put together in service to our clan.  I love that you've become a close friend and that I feel like we have grown together, both as friends and in individual ways.  It's nice to be close at heart.  I love you!!
Lindsay

The thing I like best about Mom is how she works so hard to keep the family together.  She is a real example of putting family first no matter what.  Mom always finds a way to make herself available for the kids and the grandkids.  Happy Birthday Mom!!
Beej

She is so willing to give of herself to help out her family and anyone else who may need it.  She also brings awesome ideas and really knows how to make a get-together happen successfully.

Spencer

I've always admired Mom's drive and determination to accomplish her goals.  She is inspiring!  I also really appreciate her support and advice for whatever I need help with.  I've talked to her about all sorts of challenges I'm going through, and she always has good insight and is so willing to help me out in any way she can. It's amazing how committed she is to her family. Happy birthday Mom!!! Hope you have a great day.  Love you tons!
 Rachel

Happy Birthday, Hon
Thanks for all you do for our family.  You are a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother.  Hope your birthday and coming year are off the charts fabulous!!
Love, Gramps

Thank you Mom for all of your kindness and good company over the past year. We always feel indebted to you for helping out with the boys and are so glad that you are close by and so great with the boys. Hope you have a happy birthday and a great upcoming year.
Jordan

Happy Birthday Nana!!  Of course with cousin camp just recently passed I must say I love what a trouper you were with all those little guys!!  Oliver and Ben had such a fun time.  I think that's something I really admire about you - your ability to throw great parties/camps/get togethers.  I also love how eager you always seem to be to open your home to others which is something I know takes a lot of work.  I also really love your dedication to family and willingness to help me out with the boys (and Ruby)  Hope you have a great day!
Charla


Happy Birthday Nana!! One of the things I admire most about you is that all of your children have turned out well centered in the Gospel.  It is a rare thing and a testament to having the right priorities as a parent.  Grateful for all the love and affection you show your kids and especially your grandkids.  We all adore you.  Have a great day and a great year!
Ian


Happy Birthday Nana, we all love and appreciate you so much. It was a beautiful gift to give the boys the experience of cousin camp. We know it takes a lot of work and energy to put that together and make it so fun and the boys really treasure it. Your priorities are really in the right place and it's so kind of you to make time in your schedule to help us all out as much as you do. Hope you have a wonderful day and a very special year. Love,
Melissa

Mt Temple

Mount Temple is one of the classic mountains in the Canadian Rockies.  My friend Randy who I have been on many adventures with and who I credit as the spark who ignited my love of the outdoors has wanted to do it for awhile.  His brother Ken who I now call my friend as well since he has also been with me on many adventures was also with us.  Ken and Randy have grown up in the outdoors hunting, climbing and back packing and I am fortunate that they let me go on adventures with them.

Randy and I have decided we want to get more into mountaineering (Mom you may not want to read the rest of this post despite your persistent efforts in getting me to blog).  Mountaineering involves more technical elements in climbing mountains including climbing with rope and harness as well as climbing on ice and glaciers with crampons and ice axes.  It is very dangerous due to the increased risk of injury as well as increased risks of avalanche and falling into crevasses.  It is also incredibly fun because it increases the remoteness, difficulty (getting you away from the swarms of tourists that frequent Banff and Jasper) and the challenge makes it much more rewarding.

On Saturday we did Mount Temple.  I have done it before but due to the incredibly late spring this year in the Rockies we were expecting snowy conditions.  This was going to be our first Mountaineering ascent and we were ready with harness, ice axe, mountaineering boots and helmets.  But there was hardly any snow except for the very top.

On the way down we got caught in a thunder storm, slippery rock, some boulders that nearly crashed into us and a small avalanche that came down above us as we were getting off the mountain but luckily did not reach us.  We also got lost in some fog but only took about a 15min detour.  So even though we didn't get to bust our chops on our first mountaineering ascent we got enough to handle without having to deal with snow and ice.  Here are the pictures.  Next up were hoping to do Mt. Athabasca in September, well see how it goes.

Kinder Fun

This past month I have been teaching Kindergarten at a Korean Summer School. The students are really great. They are energetic, curious, and fun. It's also cute when I ask them a word in Korean and they try to teach me. :) There are 7 of them and I have them all day. .

We have been doing a lot of fun songs, crafts, and activities to keep busy and engaged in learning during these summer months. Here's a picture of the class doing a counting and number comparison activity.

Yesterday was our Open House, when the parents came to see more of what their kids have been up to! I snapped a few pictures before it started so I could share a sense of the class with you. It's a 'monkey' theme, so it's fun to call them my 'monkeys' and give them their jobs for the day. One student is the 'filler' or 'monkey' helper.

One activity I'm particularly proud of is when they asked,'what's a cocoon?' They are English Learners, but this is a tricky word anyway. We did a whole lesson about the butterfly life cycle, then had a 'caterpillar' visit (it was plastic)... we examined the food he ate (various leaves) and made observations about the different kinds. Then after lunch the caterpillar went missing!! We went on a treasure hunt around the school, visiting the different teachers and gathering clues, and then ending back in our class where we found the caterpillar making a cocoon (or chrysalis for a butterfly.) It was really fun to set it up on our tree and label it :)

The open house went really well! I enjoy teaching these kids!!

Cousin Camp

Hard to know who had more fun at cousin camp this year...me and Gampa (as Jack calls him) or the boys.  The boys were a lot of fun to be with and we really enjoyed getting to know them better.

Top adventures were the Science museum, Waterpark, mini-golf (especially for Julian), spray park, the petting zoo, and playing Tarzan on our backyard oak tree with Uncle Rico - who stepped in as extra helper on the day we had all six.  

Even the thunderstorm/lightning/torrential downpour/hailstorm at 3 AM the night we were camping with the 'Big Three' was an adventure!

Lets get together and do it again :)

Celebrating the Summer Solstice at Fremont

This happened a few weeks ago, but I wanted to talk about my experience at the Fremont Summer Solstice Fair!  It was an interesting and fun time.  Andrew came to visit Seattle for a few days, and I thought it'd be awesome to go to this fair since I'd heard fun things about it.  We started out by visiting the famous Fremont troll, which if you haven't seen yet, you're missing out!

Next, we meandered our way through the various vendors, stopping here and there to get a closer look at some of the hippie-ish wares.  We chanced upon an art booth, where sidewalk chalk, paints, and a communal sculpture were prominently displayed!  We had fun here, employing our somewhat limited artistic abilities.  

After that, we found our way to a display of "art cars." It was a pretty crazy sight!  We saw cars covered completely in magnets, sculptures, even a teeth themed one complete with dentures and toothpaste.  This brick car was just one of many very creatively decorated automobiles.  It has particular significance because Rico and Andrew saw this very car on the road from Provo to Seattle!

For the grand finale, we decided to watch the much talked about parade.  I had no idea what it would entail, so we were somewhat surprised to see it start out with crowds of people careening down the road on bikes.  They were all dressed in what appeared to be colorful spandex.  However, upon closer inspection, we realized that everyone was naked and that it was really just body paint!  We learned from a lady nearby that this is a tradition every year... guess I missed the memo! After the initial shock and averting of our eyes, we laughed pretty hard at the spectacle.  There were several prominent characters, including all of the avengers, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and many other superheroes.  It was still somewhat uncomfortable and it got old pretty quick, so we eventually found an escape from the parade and hightailed it to Paseo, home of the best cuban sandwiches, which is a delicious way to end any event!

Non-sparkly Vampires

One of the things that practically nobody likes is the telemarketer.  They keep calling and hounding you, trying to get you to buy their product at best, or trying to collect a debt for someone who had your phone number previously at worst.  The American Red Cross has taken to using phone calls trying to get people to donate blood.  They can be quite diligent in calling you, to the point that when we see their number on the caller ID, I’ll tell Lindsay “It’s the vampires calling again” because they want my blood.  I’ve got a blood type they like so they call me as frequently as they can to get me to donate (they leave me alone while I’m in my “recovery window”) and will keep calling.

However, they do provide a very valuable service, as anyone who has needed a blood transfusion will attest.  If you are eligible to do so (there’s some restrictions for people who have lived in the U.K. though I don’t know if they apply to anyone reading this, plus this is for the United States, your situation may be different in Canada) I would encourage you to go do a blood donation.  Plus there’s free snacks and juice and you’re helping out others.

Just remember, vampires are relentless…

On Our Way Home

I'm still reflecting on what a great set of family reunions we had this month - both the Young and the Schneider families.

It was great to see everyone again, and to see the young'uns have so much fun together.  The activities and the food, and even the weather were great.  One highlight for me was hearing Bapa reflect on his time in Banff, and visiting the grave sites where his parents and grandparents were buried - a powerful indication that families are forever.  I pray that when we have another reunion after we leave this life that there will be no empty chairs - that all of us will be there in eternal glory with Heavenly Father.  That is our quest and our purpose here in mortality.  Let's do all we can to help each other on Our Way Home.

Luv,

Gramps

Baby blessing

I'm so glad so many of Ruby's family could be at her baby blessing.  Sounds like Ruby will love the mountains, the rolling hills, the flowers, and maybe even the daffodils....

This picture was taken after church the day of the blessing.   What a lovely little girl.

Dinner and a Bike Ride

Edmonton in the summer time is a favorite for me.  I think its partly because it reminds me a lot of my mission in Sweden.  The long summer days and the abundance of natural beauty in the River Valley are really something special.  All of the family isn't bad either ;) In addition to the lovely weekend in Kananaskis Country, an epic raft excursion with Beej, and great visits with Nana and Grandpa (not to mention everyone else) One of the highlights of our visit this year was a double date we took with the Fixsens.  They let us borrow some bikes and we rode from their house downtown to a restaurant near the legislature grounds.  We hit a spot called The Marc and had a lovely dinner.  I pulled a couple of shots of dishes we enjoyed:

To be honest, I overindulged a bit.  That said, Jeff really put us through our paces after dinner with a wide ranging bike expedition through the River Valley.  We passed over a couple of bridges, rode through the University, around Hawrelak Park and Emily Murphy Park and finally back home.  I don't think I burned off all of my caloric intake from dinner, but definitely made a dent.  It was a lot of fun.  Thanks to everyone for a great visit!

Pyramid

One of our favorite shows to watch is "Parks and Recreation."  It features Amy Poehler and Rob Lowe, among other hilarious actors and actresses.  My favorite character (and possibly Lindsay's, I'm not sure, there's so many good ones) is Ron Swanson.

For those of you who don't watch the show, Ron is the head of the Parks department in the town the show is set.  Despite working in the government, he is fiercely libertarian (his idea of the best form of government is one guy sitting in a room deciding what to nuke) and isn't afraid to show it.  One of his best ideas ever is the "Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness" as seen below:

As Ron says, it's a "perfectly calibrated recipe for maximum personal achievement."  While I don't necessarily agree with all the items on here (Ron recommends only 1-3 friends, I think more is perfectly fine), most of them ring true such as Skim Milk (Avoid it), Honor (If you need it defined, you don't have it), Intensity (Give 100%.  110% is impossible, only idiots recommend that) and Skim Milk (That's right, it's on here twice.  Avoid it).