1 year photo shoot

We had Eli's pictures taken since turning one is a pretty major milestone. They were taken by Melinda Gombert Photography. She lives close to us and she does these messy photo shoots that I just couldn't resist. I'm amazed at how many pictures she actually got considering how busy and all over the place he was. After the normal shoot, we stripped Eli down and let him play in a big pile of jello. It was so much fun, he just giggled the whole time. It was like a kids dream come true.

On the left is a newborn photo taken by Ashley Skjaveland and on the right one of Melinda's. I brought the same blanket with us for the shoot:


With Dad:





With Mom:


A couple more:




Jello Fun:

Where has the time gone?

Brent had 5 months off and I have no idea where the time has gone. As of yesterday he only has 2 weeks left. Wow! I have gotten so used to having him here it's going to feel strange without him. We've been so busy trying to make the most of July - including getting a lot of use out of the telescope at night. The International space station was orbiting the northern hemisphere the last few days so we've enjoyed watching it. It's so neat to think that there are 13 people on it and we could see it.

We've been hanging out in the yard, going to the lake, riding our bikes, ate a tonne of pancakes during stampede, lots of bbqing, trips to the zoo, heritage park, calaway, golfing (for Brent) and late night games of Carcassonne. This is the life!

The only downer is that the boys in this house have been sick for the last few days. This is Eli's firs time being sick and it's no fun. They both have had a mild fever for a couple of days so I'm hoping they are both back to normal by the weekend. Eli is one grumpy dude when he's sick....so is Brent.

I had a zillion pictures and couldn't decide which ones to post since I'm so behind. So here's one of a typical moment in our back yard...ahhhh.

Long overdue landscaping post

Brent worked SO hard on our landscaping and I am only now getting it up on the blog. How bad of me!! He pretty much did a complete overhaul of the yard. We now have a sprinkler system (which I've never had before), new fence, new deck, new sod in the back, new trees, a dog run and the front beds are re-done. I didn't realize how lumpy the back yard was until I had the new sod to compare it to. Eli is also enjoying the yard, especially the rocks and shed.

Front when we bought the house:


New Front - we still plan on replacing the cement walkway with brick...one day!


View of the front rocks/path from the neighbors yard. There used to be giant juniper bushes here and then Brent cut them down. I lived with those ugly roots for 2 years. This is so much better:



Old fence:


New fence:


New Maple tree, I can't wait until it gets bigger. So pretty!


Original Deck:


New Deck:


The dog run comes right off the deck and along the side of the house, it's awesome!


Brent's shed and the lilac tree to the right:

Etsy fun

I could window shop on Etsy for hours. It takes some serious restraint not to buy things sometimes. Especially when they are as cute as this:


Will power did not win out on this one, since I bought it. I know where I'll be doing my Xmas shopping this year...