Holidays

Well we have almost been on the East Coast for a week and it has been awesome. Tonight we are vegging so I thought I would write a little note and post a few pics. First of all Abby did amazing on the long plane ride. In fact she finally fell asleep when the turbulence hit
We spent a few days in Halifax area. We spent a few touristy days in downtown area which was so much fun. We had yummy yummy food. We tasted what they claim is the best ice cream in Canada but I wasn't so convinced. Our car broke down right before a roundabout which was fun in the middle of rush hour. Luckily Ryan's uncle was only 20 minutes away. We were able to stay with my friend's Mom and her husband. They were super duper nice to us and leant us their car for the evening and morning. We saw some amazing gardens in the city and then we headed off to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house.
Nova Scotia is so beautiful with lots of hills and trees. I couldn't believe it. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa live in Truro so we spent a night and day there. It was pretty fun as they had never met Abby before. They have this amazing park and hike into some waterfalls which was really fun until Abby did a faceplant on the cement. Not so much fun and she has a huge bump on her head today.
Today we headed off for PEI. I am kind of a nerd but seriously I loved Anne of Green Gables growing up and this has always been a dream of mine to come to PEI. Once again another beautiful province. We live in such a beautiful country. The ferry coming over was fun and a nice break since it is blistering hot and our amazing little car doesn't have air conditioning. Sure makes you appreciate the times you live in. Think of those pioneers I don't know how they did it. Don't get me wrong I am ultra grateful to have our little red Honda it has just been super duper hot here.
So that's all for now but think of me tomorrow as I visit The Green Gables site and hopefully my husband doesn't get too bored. He is pretty sweet since he has been here before and he keeps patiently listening to me oohing and aahing over everything. There are a lot of more great pics but you will just have to wait.

Reunion/Anniversary

Well time seems to go by so fast these days I can't seem to keep up with it all. For the long weekend Abby and I headed out to Alberta it was a weekend packed with fun. We flew out on Saturday morning and we had a pretty good flight. I had booked a super early flight thinking Abby would sleep but she was far too excited for that. She wanted to touch everything and move everywhere. Luckily it was only a two hour flight so we did great.
Saturday was just my own siblings at my parents farm it was so much fun to see the cousins get to know each other and play together. I can't believe how many cousins Abby has already it is crazy. Here is a pic of all of them on the steps. We were missing four in this pic. Two of my brother's daughters couldn't come because of work and my brother in Colorado didn't come until Sunday with his two boys. Fun times and Abby was loving that Grandma let her have a pink popsicle. The rest of the weekend we had most of my cousins on my Dad's side of the family. It was so much fun. My favorite part was we all hiked the farm and my Dad and his siblings pointed out special places they had when they were growing up. It was really neat. After the hike we headed down to the river for some refreshment. Of course we built the traditional rock bridge. For some reason every reunion a rock bridge gets built. Initally Abby wasn't too keen on the cold water and was not going in there but after a bit she sat right in the water with all her clothes on and was screaming when I took her out. Kids!!
Here is a fun pic of some of the cousins getting a ride back to the farm house. We definitely have a great family heritage to be proud of and it was really a great time to get together and visit with each other again.
The only thing missing was my cute hubby who had to work. Next time I am going to work extra hard to make it happen that he can come because both Abby and I missed him. My cousin Liana graciously gave us a ride back to Calgary let me stay at her house and then drove us to the airport. When I put Abby to bed that night we tried to put her in the trundle bed and she totally came out climbed up the stairs and was like hi Mom. Too funny.
All in all it was an awesome weekend.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. Can you believe it? Three years already. It seems crazy. After a crazy shift at work I came home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers and then Ryan and I headed to a movie. I have to admit the best present ever besides the flowers was Grandma and Grandpa took Abby for a sleepover and so we got to stay out late and then sleep in. I am really a simple girl and simple things like that really do make my day sometimes.

The countdown is on for our family vacation to Nova Scotia and P.E.I. We leave next Monday for two whole weeks. I am so excited to see that part of the country meet some of Ryan's relatives and just have some fun family time. Only five more sleeps!!!

Summer is here

Well since girls camp it feels like life has been a whirlwind. Between working, Abby, and yard work I feel completely exhausted but that is the joy of summer right. Long days and warm weather. Abby got her first hair cut and she looks completely adorable. Here are some before and after pictures.

My old roomies and I got together and went for brunch. It was so much fun to catch up with the Berrydale Girls. Since we lived together we have all gotten married. Theresa is almost ready to defend her Phd and Sara is getting ready to have her first baby. Man how time flies. We had so much fun at 129 Berrydale so that was a nice treat to meet up with them. By the way Cora's is delicious for brunch if anyone is looking for a great place in Winnipeg.


My sister Leslye came out for two weeks. We did lot's of shopping including a little day trip to the States. We had so much fun on the roadtrip and had a lot of laughs. We also took a trip to the zoo, lots of walks, and just fun sister time. Wouldn't it be so much fun if she lived closer. Abby definitely thinks so. Aunt Leslye was able to watch Abby a few times and I know Abby had a blast. Here is a pic of Abby enjoying a bite of her first hot dog.

Thankfully vacation time is fastly approaching. July has been crazy since I have been working a few extra shifts to make up for the long weekend off and two weeks at the end of August off. I can't wait to go home this weekend and see all of my brothers and sisters at the Smith Family Reunion. It will be awesome to see all my cousins and their kids as well. I can't wait to see those mountains. YEAH!!!! Then only a few short weeks and we head off for a family vacation with Ryan, Abby, and I. Nova Scotia here we come. I am so looking forward to those two weeks where no one is working and we can do pretty much whatever we feel like doing. We will also get to introduce Abby to her great grandparents for the first time and I will meet some of Ryan's relatives for the first time. Of course I get to visit PEI where my favorite childhood character was created "Anne of Green Gables" Only 19 more sleeps but who's counting??

FYI I had two meals of steamed green beans from my garden this week so YUMMY!!!! I love that I am eating food that I grew.

Girls Camp

Well girls camp was so much fun. Despite hearing Nurse Smith what seemed like a billion times I had an amazing experience. I was able to really help a few girls and I was able to deal with each problem that came my way.My testimony of priesthood blessings was strengthened as I watched a girl who was in total pain get a blessing and then was up and about playing games.
I was able to teach a workshop about having confidence in who we are as daughters of God and ignoring those negative thoughts and opinion of others. I hope they all got it so they can avoid years of worrying about what others think.The only downfall was I didn't have my adorable Abby with me or her Dad. It was also great to be there with my sister and neices. We definitely all had a great time.

Yesterday we were at my sisters for dinner and then were playing some Rock Band. This game was so much fun but definitely the cutest was Abby. She loves music already but check out how she is a natural with the microphone. What a cutie!!!
Just a few more pics of our cutie pie. On the top pic she is in her cute dress that Aunt Candice sent from Africa and on the bottom one of her cute bathtime pics. Enjoy!!

MS Bike Tour

Well we recently booked our cabin for our weekend away in September.Ryan is once again participating in the MS Bike Tour. He will be biking 140km over 2 days in Riding Mountain National Park. He was able to do it two years ago and it was such a fun experience. We both feel like this is such an amazing event and when you have someone close to you who has MS it makes it that more special. Anyway I just wanted to let everyone know about it and if you interested in helping him reach his goal of $1000 feel free to follow the link below and donate.

Ryan's MS Pledge PageHere he is crossing the finish line in 2006.

Off to Camp

Well tomorrow I leave for girls camp to be the camp nurse. Last year I had a really great time at girls camp except for the fact that I had a two month old and we were still getting to know each other. Luckily we survived.I am sure it will be an adventure but it will be the first time I leave Abby for any length of time. Tonight she didn't want to go to bed so great and it made me slightly sad to leave her for five days but I am sure we will both survive.
Since I don't have a computer at my leisure anymore it is currently sitting on our bedroom floor patiently waiting for something to happen with our basement. I haven't had much time to do blogging but Ryan is done his summer school now so I have the laptop again.
Abby is doing great. Today she tried to run at church and it didn't go well face plant on the floor lot's of crying after that one. She has turned into a bruiser child. It is pretty crazy how fast she can go now. Parenthood definitely gets more amazing as the months go by.
Just for a little update my garden is doing awesome. My lettuce is growing fabulously and I am pretty sure I will have my own garden salad this summer. YEAH!!!


Here we are in our summer eyewear. Isn't it great to have sunny days where you need a hat and sunglasses?

Murphy's Law

I entitled this Murphy's law because my last post was all about gratitude and being grateful for everything I have been given which I have been doing pretty good at least I thought. Anyway last week when we got the torrential rain here our little basement didn't do so hot. I was working a couple of night shifts and my poor husband tried to break it to me gently that our basement had flooded. WHAT??? Anyway not so much fun as we have had to gut the entire basement move everything from the basement to various places in my house and garage and have a continuous fan going and dehumudifier to try and dry the place out. This is not so good for my organized and neat personality. Clutter and I tend to not get along but here I am learning a lesson in patience and gratitude yet again. Patience in that it is going to be a long summer of living in the upstairs only so please please let the sun shine and gratitude because my husband is so handy and did a lot of work on his own. We have had so much help from our inlaws and the Barfuss's what we would do without them? On Sunday night we discovered more leakage in our spare room and our amazing hometeachers came over for a couple of hours and helped clear the room out. Total testimony to me of what the gospel is really about. My nephew Ben saved me on Friday night by coming over and watching Abby while Ryan did some demo work and then again on Sunday those Barfuss kids saved us again. So grateful to have such awesome neices and nephews so close. Abby has not been herself the last couple of days maybe she doesn't like caous (not sure how to spell that) either??
On a fun note a couple of weeks ago we took Abby out on her first canoe trip. It was so much fun and she loved it for the first half hour or so. We canoed out to where Ryan proposed to me AHH!! Okay we are kind of sappy but it was fun nonetheless. Theses are all pics of her in Grandma and Grandpa's canoe because we obviously couldn't take pics of ourselves.

Joelle and Nicole took such good care of Abby on Sunday and gave her her first pedicure. It was so cute and Abby was definitely having a riot.