Some more pictures for Great Grandma!

I cant load very many pictures at a time but here are a few more cute ones of the kids lately. Hope you are having a great visit in Penticton Grandma. Dont know if Edmonton got snow today like us but we got a HUGE dump - at least 4 inches! Was lots of work shovelling thats for sure!!

The Kids Video

This is a quick video we shot tonight of the kids so Great Grandma Atchison can see them! Katie has lost both her bottom front teeth and one top one, she has at least three wiggly ones she is working on too! Josh seems to be teething alot lately but none have appeared so far - ok with me though as I am still nursing! We are all doing well up here in the north... got snow now which the kids at school all love and Katie built a snowman in the back yard yesterday.

For Great Grandma Atchison

Here are a few recent pictures of us.

We went up to the cabin on Tuesday to check out how much snow was there, Josh fell asleep in the baby toboggan while Katie and I were trying to plan out a place to flood a skating rink. We decided we will have to just skate at the lake for this year though because there is not a big enough flat spot for our own rink!

The one picture is of the new skid Rob just built for his truck. He got it all put together today and is ready to go back to work tomorrow.

Crazy Life

wow - I guess I have gotten away from blogging for a bit eh? Its funny how we get so busy with all the day to day stuff of life - six months seems like a long time away when I look ahead but to look back it has flown! We are all doing well up here in the north, wishing for spring days for sure. The sun has been beautiful this week and it has been quite warm but there is still snow on the ground. We had a few feet at least to melt so I suppose it will take a while. I dont know if this will be it for winter anyways so I am afraid to get too excited.

whats new? well, in case anyone doesnt know - I am expecting! We decided to take the plunge and have a second child, so this one is due May 20th. The pregnancy is going well although I must say I am not one of those women who loves being pregnant. It was not fun with Katie and I am not having fun this time either! lol. Oh well, it will be over soon. Katie is SOOOOO excited to be a big sister, she doesnt care if she gets a brother or sister either. Of course we would love to have a boy this time around, but will be thrilled with another girl too.

We are also in the process of trying to buy a farm. We found a 35 acre parcel with a little old farmhouse on it, a barn and shop and its only 10 -15 minutes north of town. We have an offer in on it and are just hoping this house will sell now. All of the buildings need some good TLC but the set up of the land is fantastic and it has an incredible view of the countryside so we are quite willing to do some labour to fix it up. I really hope it all goes through, but am nervous that it wont. We have wanted to have some land with horses and buildings for years so to be close to it now is pretty exciting! We will bring our two horses with us and a friend has offered us a minature horse for when we get a farm, we will probably get a donkey too!




Katie is doing well in Gr 1, she is almost reading now which is so amazing to see! She has a great little circle of friends and seems to be doing well socially too. She is still doing ballet and sparks and hopes to take piano lessons this spring. I think this baby will be really good for her to help get out of some of that only child syndrome that despite my best efforts she has gotten into!
Rob has stuck out his job with Hyland - a small company in town that a business minded friend of ours took over - and it is paying off in the past two weeks finally! There was quite a bit of mangement turmoil when Jason took over and alot of staff left, as did quite a bit of work, but Rob really wanted to stay loyal and believed Jason could turn the company around. It was rough for a couple months as the work was really spotty and our rainy day fund got eaten up and then some, but they have now picked up some great contracts and Jason has made Rob his number one welder as a thanks for staying with him, so he should be as busy as he wants for now!
I have been working in the OR since october and am enjoying it quite a bit. The training was pretty intense and I was often frustrated and exhausted, but now that I am done that its going really well. I will always miss ICU in Penticton but this job is by far my best up here. I have learned tons and cant complain about the hours... mon, tues, wed, 7-3!!!!!! I have to do 11 shifts on call every 6 weeks as well, but so far that's been pretty good too.
I guess thats 6 months in a nutshell, always something new and on the go for us! To all you in the Okanagan - we miss you!!!!!

The Beaton River

Rob has been off weekends for the past few months which is really great as we have gotten to do lots of family stuff. This past Saturday we took the dog for a run down to the Beaton river on the way to Cecil Lake... Its a really pretty drive out there and a nice spot along the river. (The teens party there though so we had to watch for broken glass in a few spots!!! ARGGG. ) All in all we had a great afternoon, throwing sticks for the dog, skipping rocks, writting in the sand and walking on all the big rocks. Katie had a blast playing "dont touch the ground" and trying to get around by only walking on the rocks, so funny because I can remember doing the same thing as a kid. I was happy to get her out playing in nature with no manufactured toys or entertainment. The weather was warm last week so it was a great time to be out too. This last week has been quite a bit cooler and although its great to sleep in compared to Penticton, we are definately missing the hot days on the beach right now!!! It is supposed to heat back up for next week, and there is still August so all hope is not lost! lol.

This and that

Katie is all done soccer for this year - she got her medal and water bottle which she now proudly carries everywhere with her! She has already asked to play again next year. Here she is with her two best buds - Abby and Mackenzie.

We have had a great first week of summer - seems our rainy season might be over now? It was a crazy few weeks of storms but it's been 25 degrees for the past few days, lovely!!!! Ashley and mom are coming up this weekend - Katie is so excited to see her cousins! I am so excited to show Ashley our new town and bring her along for some playdates - I think she will love it.

We have been scouting some hunting area's for the fall - Rob is pretty excited to get back hunting and cant wait for Trevor's visit... hope they get a moose! This was a really cool lean -to / hunters cabin we found north of town - we have found some pretty nice spots so far.

I love this picture of Ross (my youngest brother) he cracks me up - his photography is coming along very well though check out his website at: web.mac.com/ross.buchanan

Hope everyone is having a great summer - we sure are!

A Day on the Farm

Yesterday we went out to Garth and Christy's farm to help with fencing. Garth planted oats for the horses but needed to fence them off so the horses wont get in and trample them while they are growing. So we went out and spent about 10 hours putting in posts and running wire, it was awesome!! Rob and Garth did the posts while Katie and I nailed in the wire. Katie was great - we were so impressed to see her helping out and having a great time being a farm girl. She carried the bucket of nails and helped hold and measure the wire while I nailed, she sat in the back of the truck and held the posts while we drove them down to the boys and she spent quite a bit of time gazing at the horses and talking to them when they came over to visit. She only whined that she was bored once all day! Later in the day Christy (who is 8 months pregnant) and Wayland (thier 18 month old son) came out too and Katie spent a long time playing with them and entertaining the toddler. We really had a good time and it was a great exposure to farm life and the work that has to be done. We have been talking to Garth and Christy about boarding a horse with them and it looks like we are going to give it a shot!!!! AAHHHH I am so excited - I rode as a teen and like so many girls always wanted a horse. Garth is going to help us pick one up who is older and calm, so good for Katie, and Rob and I as begginner riders. Then in august there is a horsemanship course we are going to take up here that is apparently awesome.

It's been a while!

wow - I havent posted in a long time I see. Oops! Between spring yard work and this new internet thing called facebook I havent sat down on blogger in quite a while.

We have been busy in the yard as usual - seems I have my moms gardening genes... and have been planting up a storm. I am thrilled though to find out so much will grow up here and in fact some of my favorites that wouldnt take the okanagan heat are doing well up here! Who would have figured.

I have wanted a dailia for years but they always burnt down south but up here my planters have beautiful dalia's in bloom!!!!

I dug out one plain corner of the yard and put in a few flowering shrubs and a juniper, hung some baskets and got the greenhouse going with vegetables and herbs.

Then last weekend Rob and I put in a stone patio in the back. Our deck was too small for the table set we have and so we decided to make a patio. It was a lot of work but so nice to have Rob around to help with the heavy work. We got in done in two days even!!! I love it and just have a bit of finishing on one side left now.

It has been very warm up here and Katie decided to pull out the slide and sprinkler while I was gardening the other day - she had a great time. Check out the kitchen window view, and more importantly the thermometer!!!! Can you believe it? It is baking in the sun mind you, but I much prefer the 40 on this side of zero!

This weekend Katie and I went to Edmonton with some friends for a ladies weekend, Mackenzie (Katie's friend) had to go for some dental work that would have waited 8 months up here, so we jumped in and had a blast. We cruised West Edmonton Mall, the south point common shopping center (with Ikea and the outlet stores) and just had a really good time. It is only 7 hours to Edmonton from here so not a bad trip at all and the girls were awesome - played the whole trip both ways while Sheena and I yakked our ears off.

Rob stayed home and got the trailer ready for camping and puttered on the yard. We hope to head out camping this weekend around here and are so excited!

Katie is really enjoying school and is quickly learning to read - she can do most of the level 1 readers now with only a bit of help, so cool! We walk to school most days and then usually stay to play for a bit after with 4 other of the kids and moms. I dont know if it was the long winter but we are absolutely LOVING the warm days now! The sun is up when Rob and I get up at 5:30 and it is still bright at 11:00 when we go to bed. Although the ambient temperature is cooler than the south we do find the sun is hotter - we are closer to it from what I have been told but sunscreen is a must outside.