Catching up...

I guess that means I have to start with last Thursday. It was full of packing and cleaning out the van. Making sure we had what we needed for 3 days away. Scott was hoping to finish his work early, but that didn't happen and we headed out of town around 5. The kids did quite well on the drive to Alberta. They were excited to see Nana and Grandad and that usually makes the trip go faster. We made on stop at a gas station and Caleb did very well on his first car trip since getting potty trained. There weren't any accidents, which was really awesome! I had packed extra and ended up coming home with only one load of laundry. It's a nice feeling to put most of the clothes back into the drawers and be done with it.
Friday, Scott went to visit his Grandpa. He's pretty close to passing away, but is holding on. That afternoon they brought great grandma over to have tea and visit with the kids. I think everyone enjoyed the visit and it was good to see her again. It's been almost a year since the last time we saw them. We had planned to get together at Christmas time, but the flu kept us apart.
Saturday was pretty quiet in the morning,but the afternoon was quite long. The wedding was at 1 and went pretty fast, but then the supper wasn't til 5. We got to the hall around 4 to visit with the family, but most of them didn't arrive til 5, so it was a good thing we'd brought a bag of small toys and things to color. Things are done a bit differently up here, as far as how people go through the line for food etc... It's up to the MC? I'm not sure what they call them, but they usually have people answer questions about the bride and groom. Whoever answers first gets to take the people at their table to go through the line. This time they wanted people to text the answer. It was hard enough to know the answers, seeing as how we had never even met the groom before, but to add texting:). Scott is the only one of us that has texted and has a hard time because the buttons are so small. We ended up being one of the last tables, but it was okay because I think they brought out fresh food shortly before it was our turn. I think that Garrison ate the most and it was quite surprising because he'd eaten 3 bagels, plus eggs and other things during the day. I'm quite sure that he's going through a growth spurt because shortly after we started the drive home he said, "I'm hungry!" We were like, "What? How can you be hungry? You just finished a plate of food and a plate of dessert!" Anyway, they fell asleep for part of the drive home, but woke up about halfway through and were getting pretty cranky by the time we arrived home. About 20 minutes of so of the drive it was just pouring down rain. I can see why there's so much flooding in the province after driving through it. It reminds me of the heavy rain in the south. The problem is that we don't have the absorbent soil that they do. It forms rivers, lakes and ponds in the fields. The ditches in Alberta are all quite full from what we see, so it wouldn't take too many more rains like that before there would be some overflow. The nice thing about it though is the color of the grass in the field. It reminds me of pictures of Ireland. All the different shades of green.
Sunday was really not a good day for the kids. I had to keep them all downstairs because they were Cranky! That also meant they weren't listening well. They would have been a lot better off if they took long naps, but only Caleb got a proper one. That meant the evening was long as well. Thankfully they went right to bed when we got home and Monday was much better.
Yesterday was SO BUSY! We had a message on the answering machine when we got back saying that the date for the old fridge and freezer pick up had changed again and they were coming between 12 and 5. I spent the morning getting things cleaned up and out of the way so that they could get the freezer up from the basement. They arrived at 1 and tried to get it out, but ended up leaving it. Scott spent the rest of the afternoon hacking it up and hauling it out himself. It made a terrible mess, but it's out now. He'd scheduled an oil change for the van at 2, so I took it in, with plans to get a couple groceries afterwards. An HOUR AND A HALF after my scheduled appt they actually took it in. We also had them check the key fobs that weren't working properly. I'm sure that most of you have experienced the total shock at the price of such little things, but I have to say that it's bordering on the ridiculous. They said a battery would cost $6.95, but after labor and tax we'd be paying about $120 to get them fixed. If we replaced just one of them it would cost $114! They changed the oil and ended up telling us that the break pads would need to be replaced in the next month or so, as well. So, we said never mind about fixing the fobs, we'll just use our key for now. I thought that after being there for 3 hours I should hand them a bill for my wasted time, seeing as how I came in for an "appointment":). I didn't end up doing it though. Just thought about it...
I did get groceries after, but it was 5:30 when I got home. Thankfully the kids were tired because they hadn't taken a nap and bedtime came early. It was nice to wake up to a "mostly clean" house this morning. To just fix breakfast and deal with the dishes. There is laundry, but there might even be time for a bit of baking today:).
On a different note, we found out that Scott's granny passed away on Sunday. She's been holding on for the past 8 years or more. When I first met her when we were courting I really didn't think that I'd see her again, here on earth. She surprised us all by how long she lived and how quickly she passed away. We were expecting Scott's grandpa to pass away quickly, but here she ended up going first. So, Scott is taking another trip to Alberta for the funeral. Thank the Lord for each day that He gives. We're not promised tomorrow...



Wedding Humor:
Garrison asked what the bride and groom were going to do at the wedding. I told him that they would say their vows, exchange rings, and then kiss. That would signal the end. He said, "on the mouth!" I said, "yes." He said, "yuck!" Funny guy. At some point during the wedding he said, "yeehaw". Not sure what he was thinking about at that point, but there were a lot of cowboys at the wedding:).

Caleb was not happy with the flower girl. He told Scott as she walked past dropping flower petals that she was making a big mess and that was bad:).

At the reception one of the boys remarked that the material used to hold the candy looked like the bride's "tail". That's what they heard instead of "veil". So, their hearing might not be the best, but it sure does provide for some good laughs:).

Kiersten was so eager to eat the chocolate on the table that she ate a piece with the wrapper on when we weren't looking. It came through in her diaper the next day. Thankfully it wasn't one of the little glass marbles that were used as centerpiece decorations for the table! The kids kept asking if they were candy. When I brought in the groceries Kiersten pulled two bags all by herself. She found a candy bar and was saying, "chockyate! chockyate" She's a girl for sure. VERY sad when I didn't give her any... Caleb says it, "shlocklate". Kind of a hard word to say for those two, but they sure know what it is:).

I think that's it for now. The laundry awaits!