Brody's Birthday Invite!

Our little man turns 1 soon, and I'm excited to throw him a little party! Here is the invite to his tractor party! We love him so much! I can't believe it has already been just about a year!

Summer Fun!

Summer's not summer unless you have the Raymond Parade on Canada Day! This was Brody's first time with the parade idea, and he absolutely LOVED the sucker that mom and dad let him have.

Brody got to meet my cousin Lana's baby, Mason! They even had the same shirts to wear for Canada Day! Best buds in the making!

Brody's getting pretty handsome!

We went up to Waterton for the day last week and enjoyed spending time with all of the Nelson cousins, including Lisa's kids, Hunter, Cassidy, Cambree and Brooklyn. Here we are at the new spray park enjoying the beautiful day!

Summer would also never be complete without a few tractor rides with Dad!! Here is Brody on his second ever tractor ride!! He always has fun until he discovers all of the neat buttons to press, and Dad has to hand him back to Mom so that he doesn't hurt anybody.

We hope you're enjoying the good weather too!

Quick Family Vacation

Kevin and I ended deciding to make a trip to a homecoming in Okatoks last Sunday into an overnight family vacation to Calgary! It was the first real 'trip' we've gone on as a family, and Brody did so good in our hotel room! We had a great time spending our Monday morning at the Zoo with my cousin Lyndsey, her son, my Aunt Lynn, and my Aunt Lorena. Here are a few pictures from our fun (but chilly) time at the zoo!

The dinosaurs!! Beckam and Brody were a little bit concerned when it started to growl.

Brody and the Gorillas!

Kevin chased a peacock around with Brody, but it refused to show us it's pretty feathers.

Going for a ride on Daddy's shoulder! Brody's busy looking at the giraffe's.

Flamingos!!!

He fell asleep in the stroller just before we got to the tigers, which ended up walking right up in front of us and paced back and forth! It was so neat to see it so close up, as we were only about a three feet away from it! It even gave us a good growl. I never thought to take a picture though. Sorry!

We also headed up to the new mall in Balzac. It was our first time going, and Kevin spent several hours roaming around the Bass Pro Shop (hunting/outdoor store) there while I hit the real mall! It was successful! I love being able to shop at all of the stores that they don't have in Lethbridge. It is possible that I spent too much money while I was there, BUT, in my defence, most of the money was spent on things for Brody. He needs them, right?

Anyways, I love being able to steal Kevin away every once in a while from his work, and this trip was no disappointment. Hopefully our next family trip won't be too far in the future!

Brand!

It was branding time for the Nelson's this weekend, so we all loaded up and headed up past Spring Coulee to the branding corals. Brody got to ride a horse with Dad while Mom watched nervously on. I have only seen Kevin on a horse one other time since we met, so I wasn't 100% sure he knew how to ride very well... Let's just say, for someone who has a family with a bunch of horses, I haven't been able to get him to take me riding even once. (I think this is because he doesn't know how to properly saddle them, but he denies this.) Anyways, I guess Brody was worth getting on one for him, and Brody seemed to enjoy it, although he was mostly interested in trying to get the reins into his mouth.

First you have to wrestle the calves...

Kevin's job, as he doesn't know how to rope them. If the ropers miss, then Kevin and the other 'younger men' have to literally chase them and wrestle them so that they don't run past and join all of the already-branded calves at the other end of the coral. This year Kevin only got one good kick to the stomach and to the arm, both delivered by the same calf.

Then the calves get branded, get their vaccination shots, and sometimes, get castrated...
You have to feel bad for the poor little guys, but when you're the wife of a rancher, you just have to learn to deal with it... and the smell that accompanies it.

My Dad really seems to like to come out branding with us when we go, so he took charge of the actual branding part of the job. Lets just say that he didn't smell too great on the way home, but he seemed to have fun. Thanks for your help Dad!
(He is in the purple sweater here)



You also have to guard the gate. Usually you have to watch the unbranded calves to make sure that they don't run past and joing the already-branded ones. This year, however, we had even worse luck with calves that were already branded joining the ones that weren't yet. That really makes for confusion for the ropers, so on the next bunch we switched the gate guards (I being a new one), and we then only had two sneak back in, in comparison to the roughly 20 that snuck back in for the first bunch! You'd think those calves wanted to be branded again!

Here is a picture of my nephews Noah and Orin guarding the gate by Kevin. The pole Orin is holding is more to wave in front of the calves to scare them away, and it usually works. The calves are so jumpy that they run away from you as soon as you make a movement... unless they sneak up behind you to get back into the pen, like they did yesterday. If that's the case, your only hope is usually to wave and yell, and then move out of the way fast if that doesn't work.


Break time!! Brody came out to see Dad while we waited for the branded calves to get counted. He was pretty excited!

Roxy, my sister-in-law, helped Maysa and Kasen lead the horse around the now-empty coral. Maysa is fearless. If no one had their eyes on her, she would wander down to the end of the corals with the calves and try to pet them. I finally picked her up to keep her from wandering away, and she fell asleep in less than a minute. She napped for the next three hours. I guess all of this branding wears a little girl out!


My other sister-in-law, Brett, tried out the ropes on her husband, Shawn.
Preparing to swing...

Success!

News of the Day

Yes, it is true! I will be teaching grade 2 in Stirling School next fall for the year! I am so excited!

I decided last minute that I was going to apply, as I had planned on just subbing, but because I need to bank in my hours in order to keep my teaching certificate (two years of full time teaching completed in 3 years), and especially as I didn't sub even for six months after having Brody, I think it will be wisest for me to go full-time. This way I can get the hours in quickly and won't have to worry about loosing my certificate as much.

I am definitely very lucky to have gotten a position in Stirling, and seriously, how much more fun can you get then grade 2? (well, okay, I'd say that about most grades, but still).

Right now my biggest concerns are:

1. I am going to miss a lot of Brody's 'one-year old' year.

• That makes me so sad. I know I'll still be able to spend time with him every day, but it is just not the same. I keep trying to remind myself not to worry because he will be napping for a good portion of the time I'm gone anyways. I need to decide where we will send him while I'm working. It is so nice to have the Daycare here in Stirling, especially when it is so close to the school. I like the program that they have so far, and I know that it is still improving all of the time, but I wonder if I might find a situation where he can stay with someone with just one or two children at home, so it is slightly quieter and more like he would be experiencing if he were home with me every day. I'm not even sure how much is appropriate to offer someone for a day-home situation as opposed to the day care. Is that normally more expensive? I could also see if I could get different people to watch him for different days of the week, but I don't know if it's better to be consistant with them? I need to decide soon, because I want to make sure that the daycare is not full for the fall if I decide to go that way.

2. Where do I start?

• I am feeling kind of overwhelmed as to where to start with my planning for next year! There is so much to do, but there are still a lot of things that are not set in stone yet, so I don't want to do major planning until I have a more certain schedule. I'm nervous that my ideas won't work, or will not be as good for grade 2 as I think they will (as most of my experience is with the older students). I'm nervous that some of the parents that I now have a good relationship with will be unhappy with the way that I teach their child, and will wish their child was in another class. I'm worried that I will be overwhelmed with all of my work and will not have enough time to spend with Brody and to do house work and yard work, and that Kevin will be too busy farming to help as much as he thinks he will be able to. So... I guess I need to take a deep breath and think short-term for now, and remember that I really do enjoy teaching and that it is wonderful to see the students learning and progressing.

Any advice or ideas for me, I'd gladly listen. I hope that everything will work out in the end.

Surprise, surprise!!

This month, for the May long weekend, it was my parents 30th Anniversary. Kim, Deanna and I decided that the best gift we could give them would be to plan a surprise get together in Calgary while my parents were there for Mark's graduation from Med school. Mom and Dad were staying at Kim's house overnight Friday, so Deanna and I showed up Saturday morning, and came to the door at the same time to surprise them. We ended up having to tell Dad in advance to stop him from taking mom golfing for the day before we even got there, but the reaction of my mom was still worth it.

We are so glad that my parents have worked so hard on their marriage and have continued to grow in love for each other. They are such a great example to us of what a marriage should be like. Here they are in Bowness Park, near Kim's house. We spent the day there with each other and enjoyed the beautiful, sunny weather.

Kim and her baby Zac

Keira Rose

Brody's first time sitting on the grass... he was quite entertained by toucing all of the pieces and trying to pull them out and put them in his mouth.

Brody was trying to push Zac over to get the ball... Keira would have none of it.

Brody was trying to show off his clapping skills to everyone, but it looks like there were more interesting things to look at.

Deanna and Kim

Brody also got his first full-head hair cut last week. I'm so used to it being longer now that it has taken a while to get use to the new look. He did pretty good for the top, but when I started trying to do around his ears he kind of freaked out. Here's the before pictures.

It wasn't a mullet yet, but I wasn't too keep about it starting to get longer in the back so... snip!

...but Mom!!! I liked my long hair! Can't you put it back on???

(half-way done)

This kept him quiet while I did the sides, but then he rubbed it on his hair-covered high-chair and I had to take it away before he was eating his own hair... and then he wasn't so happy again. It wasn't exactly the best hair-cut ever, but it will grow back in fairly well.

To my wonderful mother...

I love my mom!

She is and has always been an amazing woman! I'm sure that I realized this as I waited in heaven to be born, as I watched her patiently wait through months of bed-rest in the hospital, with a three and five-year old at home with their dad. I'm sure that I knew how strong of a woman she was to have the courage to bring me into the world, even though doctors told her that it would be unwise because it would be so difficult. Without that courage, I wouldn't have life . I don't know that I could have been that patient, but you were. Thank you Mom.

Because of my mother, I have a knowledge that I am loved - my parents love me, and I also have a Savior who loves me. Without the many family prayers at 6:30 A.M. every school day, her emphasis on reading the scriptures (and example doing so), her unwaivering faith and testimony of the atonement and the truthfulness of the gospel, and without her example of service (especially for her family) and charity, I know I would not be the person I am today. She helped me learn that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring joy into my life, and so I owe to her the beginnings of my own testimony, and to the joy I have found so far in my life. For that, I thank you Mom.

My mom, more than anything, has brought and kept our family relationships close, and continues to strengthen those relationships by getting us together whenever possible. I am so grateful for all of the family home evenings, games nights, exciting trips and fun activities that she is always so eager to plan for both our close family, and for our extended family on both sides. It is easy to see, by her actions, that family is central to her life. As my sisters and I move on in our lives to new stepping stones and adventures, I grow more and more aware that we are so lucky to have a family that has such a stong foundation, built by the efforts of my mother (and father). Thank-you Mom!

My mom has always been a good friend of mine, and I don't recall a moment when we have had any major difference of opinion to cause bad feelings. Although there will always be more that I can learn from my mom, I have really enjoyed the closeness that has occurred with her since I became a mom as well, or rather, even in anticipation of the event. Each day it seems that my eyes are opened even more to realize the extent of service that she has given to our family, and that she gives to my new family even now! I have no idea how I did not appreciate so many of the things that she did in the years that I grew up, but now that I am beginning to understand, I recognize that there is no way that I will ever be able to repay her for all of her continued efforts. Not only is she a great mother, but she is also a caring grandmother who, I'm sure, would do anything for the kids. Her love doesn't go unnoticed, and I'm grateful to have her support as I learn the ropes on motherhood and raising children. Thank-you Mom!

We are so lucky to have her in our lives!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I love being a mom!!!

I recently gave Brody his first hair trim - just around his ears and his sideburns. This is the "before" picture. I was going to take more pictures, but I found that it was more difficult than I thought and Brody was not impressed that he wasn't allowed to turn his head to look at the scissors. By the time I was done, he was definitely not in the mood for an "after" picture. Oh well!

Kim came down from Calgary for a few days, so we enjoyed going to the park here in town and giving the boys a ride in the swings! My camera batteries died before I could get a shot of Zachary and Brody together though.

He loved it!

Kevin and I are now the proud owners of this great car!! It has WAY more trunk space than my old Honda, and I love driving it (mostly because I am not a fan of manual cars, and this one is an automatic!). If anyone is interested in buying a 2002 Honda Civic, you might be able to bargain with us! I'll hopefully have some pictures up soon on autotrader.com or something. I'll let you know.

Brody has been such a happy kid lately that I find it so much harder to leave him when I get asked to sub-teach! I just love spending my days with him and making him laugh, which is usually easy to do.

He's getting around pretty quickly now, but this is what he does to get there! First, he pushes with his legs to make his bum go up in the air, then he pulls his front half forward to straighten out again. We love laughing as he does the "worm" across the room to get his favorite toy... the TV remote.

Brody also just got his first tooth at the end of April!! His second one is almost through now too, but here is a picture of his tiny first one, although I don't think he was too impressed with me taking this picture :)

We love him!

Inspired

This made me cry. I came across it while blog-snooping, and was really touched by it. It is worth listening to and I was truly inspired by it!

Easter fun... and not so fun

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that everyone had a great time with the people they love most this week!

Here's a peek at our Easter weekend (or at least Good Friday).

I'll explain as to why the rest is not included later...

On Friday morning, my mom called to let me know that Deanna, my two neices, and herself wanted to come out to Stirling for our Easter Egg Hunt at the park by my house. The community puts on the hunt every year on Good Friday for the kids, and if you don't come on time, you miss it, because almost ALL of Stirling's kids come intent on finding the most candy - and there is a lot of it! I hadn't been to the hunt before this year (obviously because I had no kids), and wasn't even sure if I would go this year, as Brody can't eat any of the candy yet anyways, so I was glad for an excuse to be able to go to be with my sister and her kids! Lauren absolutely loved the whole hunt, and Keira was happy once she had a candy in each hand to hold, and didn't show much interest after that. I hadn't seen Deanna and her girls since Christmas, so it was so nice to have them down for a visit. My neices grow up way too fast for me to only see them every four months!

After the Easter candy hunt, mom, Dee and the girls came back to my house to dye some Easter eggs. Kevin's family has a tradition of throwing Easter eggs down the hill behind my backyard, and since my mom and Dee would be at my house when this happened, I figured that Lauren would need some eggs to throw. She was totally amazed at the colors that the eggs were turning. It was sure cute.

I also wanted to check out the egg decorating going on at my mother-in-law's house, with all of my Nelson neices and nephews. My mom watched Brody while I swung over to get some pictures of the kids in action.

Kason (2), showing his favorite egg

Amy (11) and Gracie (10) guarding their eggs and finishing their last touches. All of the egg-dyers seem to end up with at least one blue or green or pink-fingered hand (as seen here).

Lauren, with her bunny ears on, ready to throw her first egg down the hill. She was not too patient, however, and I was nearly hit by her flying egg before my camera was down. Her next throw went flying backwards instead of forwards, so we quickly moved Brody to a slightly safer location. :)

Kevin, trying to teach Brody how to throw an egg like a man! - Brody just wanted to put the blue egg in his mouth though.


That evening all of Kevin's siblings decided to leave the kids at home and go see a movie together. Brody's been really good and consistant with bedtime lately, so although Kevin and I have never left him with a babysitter (YW age) except when we were only somewhere else in Stirling, I decided that, as he would go to bed soon after we left, it shouldn't be a big concern to leave him with a trusted babysitter, who is over often just to play with Brody, and who watches him for me while I teach piano. She is so great with him, and he always seems to do so good with her, so I felt pretty confident that Brody would be fine if we left him with her. Right before we left, though, we got a phone call saying that everyone wanted to carpool in together. I told Kevin that we should take our own vehicle in, just in case we needed to come back early, but he assured me that his parents would be home if she needed them, and that he was sure Brody would be fine. I decided I probably was just over-worrying, and so we piled into Jimmy's suburban with everyone else to go to Lethbridge.


Of coarse, because I thought it wouldn't, something happened.


Just as our movie was starting we got a call from the sitter saying that, although he had fallen asleep soon after we left, Brody ended up waking up later with the flu, and had gotten sick in his crib. He also had managed to mess his diaper so much that it hadn't all stayed in where it should (TMI?? - this has happened to him before with me, but I imagine that, for a 13 year old, even one who is as good with babies and kids as my babysitter, having to deal with all of that would be quite the ordeal.) Anyways, I felt awful for leaving a babysitter to deal with all of that, and I couldn't exactly tell all 12 people I was with that they needed to leave the movie they had paid for to go right back home so that I could relieve my babysitter and be with Brody (who, of coarse, I could hear whining his 'I'm sick' cry in the background while I talked on the phone to my sitter). After calling my in-laws, I found that they were not home for the night, as Kevin had thought, and so I ended up having to call a neighbour, Geneil, to come to my house at 9:30pm to calm down a worried babysitter and help clean up and comfort my baby! Thank goodness for amazing neighbours (SERIOUSLY! She is the best!) and for a forgiving babysitter (next time, although that might not be fore a while, we will bring our own car to Lethbridge!!). I owe them both, big time!


Anyways, Brody did end up with some kind of flu bug, affecting all of his digestive system, and giving him a fever Saturday and Sunday. I cannot tell you how many diapers I have changed this week, and then how many outfits I have had to thoroughly clean because of leaking diapers (again, TMI?? sorry!). We are still waiting to hear back from lab tests (also unpleasant) to find out if he needs to take anything else, but he seems back to his normal self, or nearly so. I hate having a sick baby though - you feel so helpless to do anything for them.



Despite all of Brody's sickness, the Easter bunny braved the chance of catching the flu, and gave Brody some yummy treats and gifts on Sunday morning. Of coarse, because he is such a loving son, he immediately consented to allow his parents to eat all of his treats, but he seemed to like his other gifts. I'm sure he will look forward to the Easter Bunny's visit again next year!