Summer Ranch (Dressing)

At the end of July we were lucky enough to head out to the farm again.  It was originally just going to be me and the kids but thankfully Greg was able to take some time off too and join in the fun.

I really can't get over how much I love the farm life.  I never would have guessed but all the fun we had there at Easter couldn't even compare to how fun it was in summer.  AND it was so green and lush and beautiful both on the farm and in town.  We went crazy taking pictures so I'll try and limit.

I also need to say how amazing Brenda's parents are.  I have never felt so included into a family that wasn't my actual blood family.  They are the nicest most chill people ever and they treated my kids like they really were their grand kids.  We also spent some time with her sisters and their kids.  It was so cute how quickly my kids were calling them their cousins and planning things to do together in the future.  The sad part is all their real cousins live too far away to see.  It was one of those bittersweet parenting things.  Happy for them and sad for them all at the same time.

We were lucky enough to be in town for Pioneer Day.  The church there went all out with a dance (where the girls danced with their daddy to oldies sung by an old person band), an ice cream social, a parade (where they got to ride on a float with all our fake relatives and throw candy--which almost hit me and several others b/c it was thrown with such vigor),

games and food and even a dunk booth.  It reminded me of how fun pioneer day was when I was little growing up in CA and our stake did a big carnival/party each year.  I was very nostalgic.  We jumped right into all the events and had a blast.  I loved watching Greg hop his little heart out in the potato sack race and man I can't remember laughing as hard as I did when I was trying to carry his legs in the 3-legged race!  It was great that the events were split by age too because Tati wanted to do all the events also.  And she was fast (but she didn't win).  Greg did and gave her his prize.  She also fell right back into the swing of things with her fake cousins.  She even teamed up with Kaleb to win the 3 legged race in their age group.  All the winners got popsicle coupons so that was a big thrill too.

Chloe jumped right in the line to be in the dunk booth.  It was fantastic to watch her.  She held her nose the whole time awaiting the fall.

The kids made more sugar cookies with Grandma Beth (which I guess is a new tradition they'll have with her), hit up a pinata (for no other reason than it was fun and Grandma thought the kids would enjoy it)

 sewed some marble bags with Grandma (since we brought a bag of marbles for all the kids),

got to feed, Scribbles, the baby cow his daily milk (even though the mosquitos were coo-koo in the barn);

went out quadding and looking at cows (and a giant bull that was very anatomically obvious which was hilarious to hear all the children react to him),

threw some rocks in dug-outs, and we even made some tie dyed shirts--although some of them were hideous (Gavin's shirt started out orange and ended up a gross brown color with the mix of dyes. Luckily we bought a few extra white onesies.).

Greg went on a date to the local thrift store (surprise, surprise) and we scored some amazing lamps for $4.00 total!  They joined the rest of the items in our basement for our future, someday house.  It was fun to go out and be together and also probably one of my favorite things in the world is going to out of the way and small thrift stores.  You never know what treasures you'll find.

If I could pick somewhere to live in Canada, I think I'd choose Cold Lake.  I just love it there.  Then again rumor has it that I wouldn't be singing the same tune come Winter. At the very least, if we can't live in Cold Lake or on a farm, then I would love to have a home like the Beth and Bryce's where everybody is welcome and life is just plain, more fun.