labor/labour day weekend

calgary
sunday morning snow-topped rockies
"tubby dog"
mine's the middle one. i got about 2 bites in and stopped.
sweet potato tongue {one of jeff's homemade tubby dog fries hanging out of his mouth. c.j. is genuinely surprised!}
skipped supper, decided to nap after church
18 months going on 18 {quit growing so fast, sheesh}
future stampede queen, giddy-up!
picked some bounty from mum's garden today

well, how was your weekend? was is un-laborous? did you have fun? was the weather nice?

we had opportunity to go to kelowna, but decided not to go. sooooooo, we stayed around calgary and just enjoyed ourselves. one of the days we did a "sampler" day. we did pit-stops all around the city and only stayed an hour or so. there was a new exhibit at the glenbow, so we used our family pass and toured the fernando botero installation. it was a hit. on monday we spent some time with nena & family on 17th avenue. one of our stops was "tubby dog". as you can see from the pictures the hot dogs were ridiculous. it was novel. later that day we came home and fed the missionaries. one of the elders in our ward is from edmonton. to put that in perspective, it's like being from l.a. and getting called to barstow. the edge of the calgary mission boundaries is 1.5 hours from home. talking to him about it, he seemed to take it quite well and frankly i thought it was pretty cool. i am sure his mom loves it. he said getting mail/packages is great. there is always someone coming or going to drop something off for him. and you know, it just goes to show you, it doesn't matter where you serve. people get so wrapped up in that aspect of a mission.... every mother would want their kid near and safe and sound and serving the lord if they could.

on a TOTALLY different train of thought, chew on this for awhile:

"just because you can, doesn't always mean you should"

today eli began his 18 month orthodontic mission. 4 spacers where put in his mouth to make room for the expander they are putting in on monday. he is going to look very different in a month. he gagged on the impression tray, but in general took it like a champ.

there is always that thought in the back of your mind when your kids have to do something difficult or uncomfortable, whether it's worth it or they need to do it, etc. it's hard to see them be nervous or scared or unsure. life's not always a bowl of cherries i guess. i just reassure and encourage and support and praise {even if they get through something by the skin of their teeth}. at least he is cooperative and will give it a shot.

sometimes that's all that matters.