thanksgiving

what a wonderful time of year! i love all the changing colors and the chance to give some extra thought to the things i am grateful for. family always tops the list. friends, left behind and newly found. a warm home, food on the table, a husband who works hard to care for me and our boys. the blessing of being a mother to three wonderful boys and growing another (girl hopefully). and most thankful for a loving Savior who knows me and knows what I need to feel peace in my life.

and i am thankful for my camera! i love to take pictures. so, that being said, here are some good ones i took over our thanksgiving trip to good old sylvan lake. feel free to click here and here!

who needs a halloween costume?

so, funny story. about a week ago, after brent left for work, burton woke up and came in to our room. i was still in bed, savoring the last 20 minutes before the alarm went off, all wrapped up in the blankets. i heard burton come in and sat up to say hi. he screamed - literally screamed. not a high pitched fake scream, but a real, scared yell - and started to cry. i brought him in to bed to snuggle him and asked him why he was so scared. he wouldn't answer me for probably 10 minutes. once he settled down, he looked at me and said, "you scared me when i saw you. your nose looked really long and i was scared of your bed head."

geez - i already knew i looked pretty bad first thing in the morning. but is it really that bad?

friends

i love this picture.

not only are my boys brothers, but they are best friends too. and although they have their not so nice moments, for the most part they really get along. i love that they play with each other. i love that they are concerned for each other and sensitive to one another. it warms my heart to listen to my boys play and pretend with each other. and even though evan is not in this picture, he is just as much a part of the group.

my 3 amigos - i sure love them.

p.s. it was crazy hair day at school - i don't spray my kids' hair red regularly...especially since it ended up getting everywhere! oh well, the picture was worth it.

i love where we live

yesterday we went on a small hike with the kids and some friends, just outside of cranbrook. it was a beautiful day - warm, sunny, and so many different colors as the trees are starting to change. i love the fall. i love all the colors and the coolness mixed in with the warmth of the sun. we hiked to this amazing little water fall and had fun climbing the rocks, feeling the water, and exploring in such a wonderful place.

and to think it was just 20 minutes away from our front door. i love this new place we call home!

baby grace

so, we made our last trip of the summer to good old saskatoon this last weekend. brent went to play golf and the boys and i couldn't pass up the chance to tag along and visit the newest member of our family, grace leelynn allred. my sister marion and her husband, tyson, welcomed their little girl on august 26 and we were so happy and excited to meet her!! and she is adorable!! all i wanted to do was hold her and look at her. she has the most adorable feet i think i have ever seen - and her hair!! grace is fabulous and we all love her so much already. burton was especially enthralled with little grace. the first time he held her, he was so excited to see her every movement...."mom, her eyes are opening!! mom, she's yawning! mom, mom, mom......." burton sat on the couch for almost half an hour, holding her with this little smile on his face. it was precious. some time during our 2 day visit, burton said to marion and i, "i loved her before i even saw her!" he is such a sweetheart and so is little grace.

makes me hope this next one is a little girl.

oh yeah, we are expecting:)

first day of school

yesterday was the first day of school. jensen is now in grade one and burton started kindergarten. as excited as i am for my boys to go to school and learn, i find myself experiencing a mix of emotions as i drop them off at their classrooms - separation anxiety (on my part, not their's!), sadness that my babies are growing up, anxiety as i entrust their safekeeping to someone else, worry that they might get picked on and will be able to make friends, excitement for their learning opportunities, gratitude for the ability to send them to school to learn, proud of their intelligence, and extreme love for my little boys.

i am so grateful to be a mother to such wonderful little boys. i am glad that i can send them to school and trust that they will be examples to their friends and teachers, help out, be polite, listen and learn, and act appropriately. they are good boys! i feel somewhat humbled to have been entrusted with the care of such sweet little spirits and find so much joy in being with my boys. i am happy that they aren't too grown up to give me a hug and kiss when i drop them off at school - i hope they never outgrow that!!

starting a new school year has filled me with all of these thoughts and feelings. watching my boys walk from my arms in to the walls of the school has reminded me just how much i love jensen and burton and how proud i am of the little boys that they are!

oh, and i love evan too, of course!

beautiful british columbia

we are loving bc!!



enough said.

things we love: numerous lakes set in beautiful mountain backdrops, warm, sunny weather, hiking in the mountains, driving in the mountains, being in the mountains, living in the mountains.

seriously, we love it.

click here and here for a picture representation of our summer fun.