July 24th post

What a rich month it has been; Not that it's been full of joyous moments and fun but rather serious moments that make one appreciate love and be thankful for what we have through Jesus.

The pictures below will illustrate how this month has been. Our little one is still not crawling but hopefully sometime soon. She is slowly rolling forward on one leg so hopefully...I'm often told not to worry that I should appreciate the immobility...which I do. I have safety gates that have to go up that I'm still trying to find the courage to put up since I have to drill into the wall and knowing me, I'll mess it up.

We have had some hot days and the blinds just haven't been cutting it when trying to keep the heat outside so I purchased a set of curtains for the living room and one for our bedroom. What a difference it makes.

We appreciated having the opportunity to see Braden at Dids and get a few meetings there. It gave us a taste for our convention which we were excited to get to. It didn't disappoint and we arrived home yesterday.

 Hanna spends some quality time with U. Graham. Looks like this is on a Wednesday night sometime this month.

 U. Greg and Jenn, Reid and i went to the zoo. We got to see some of the animals that I haven't seen before because every time I've been there, they haven't been out. Above you see the cougar doing his walk back and forth in his cage. Creepy.

 Here's another cool sight we saw at the zoo. 2 baby tigers with their mother. These are massive animals. I would NOT want to come across one of these in the wild.

 Here's another animal I would not want to come across in the wild. The wolf...ok, a pack of wolves.

 We wandered into the conservatory, which Reid wasn't excited about and discovered the world of butterflies. We saw every stage of the butterfly. We even got to see up close the caterpillar with it's beady eyes. They really blended in to the leaf.

 This is Shawn's favourite moment. When Hanna falls asleep beside him.

 Hanna enjoys her pool on one of the hot days we had.

 Hanna shows how much Pihrag she has in her and licks her plate after her lunch. ;)

 Canada Day long wknd we go out to SK for Jake's funeral. We spent the wknd at Mom and Dad's. Hanna had her first boat ride.

 We are all enjoying the sunny weather.

 Shawn wakeboards.

A cool sunset on the way home from SK
                            

We attended Monica's wedding. I will do a separate post with her pictures. If you have Facebook, you have already seen many pictures from the wedding but for those who don't, I will post a few. This picture is a growth from a tree that was taken out and shined up. Jackie Conley's brother did it. It took him a long time to do it and he's looking for a home for it now. 

Apparently the Island is "Utopia". Based on the wknd weather we had, I would have to agree. 

Hanna's new friend, Dave. She loved him from the minute she got there.

                            

Cohen and his mom, dad and brother visit us on their way home from BC. We wish they would have had longer because Hanna took in all the action.

On our way out to Aylesbury, Hanna meets Peanut, (the Andy and Jennica family pet). We had a nice evening and morning with their family.

Our family portrait.

Taking a good sniff!

Oldest and youngest great grandchildren.

Yum! I love ice cream.

 Those of us that were at Aylesbury this year minus Braden.


Thanks to A Heather and U Trevor for some of the family photos from this past week.

So that's about it for this post. As I was uploading the pictures and writing the captions, I had to take a moment and put Hanna to bed. I put her beside me on the couch. She was sitting up. A few minutes later, I looked down and she had nodded off. Tired little peanut. Thanks for reading!

July 5, 2012

I apologize for the lack of updates. It has been an extremely busy month for us as most of you know. I attended 2 funerals in SK, 1 10-year high school reunion as well as visits to SK to help with seeding. (well, not me but Shawn and Graham helped with seeding).
I just love going out to Mom and Dad's this time of year with preps in full swing. I can't believe convention is in a couple of weeks. It is awesome spending time with the workers when we're out there.

The last time we were out for our friend Jake's funeral. We had a wonderful Saturday at Mom and Dad's -partly because it was gorgeous weather and it was too hot to spray so we got to see a bit more of Dad. And to top it all of, we took the boat out in the late afternoon and I had my first waterski of the season. Sadly, I have had to resort back to 2 skis and dropping one in order to slalom. I know...it's bad but that's what happens when you only water ski every couple of years.

Hanna enjoyed her boat ride despite being tired and grumpy. Poor kid is almost over her 2-3 wk long cold. She finally is not waking up coughing (sleeping pretty good actually). She is finally down to 2 naps a day and an earlier bedtime (most of the time). Here's hoping it keeps up.

I wanted to post a couple pictures. I have had a switcheroo of computers and so I have to get re-organized again to get my pictures uploaded etc from my phone. Shawn took a video on his phone tonight of Hanna passionately playing the piano. :) Hopefully it downloads so you can smile. :)

Playing with her new/used toy in early June

This was a special purchase we made in Regina June 1st wknd. She still gets quite entertained by it. And other kids that come over love it too. The only problem is, we go around singing, "If you're happy and you know it.." And "What do you see when you look in the mirror...are you happy now?"

Little peanut travelling May long wknd

Hanna entertains herself while travelling.

Wow! Blogger FAIL! - May long wknd to June 18. Ouch!

So here I am. I have been meaning to update this blog since...May long wknd and now here it is, a month later. As I sort through my pictures, I realize how much has gone on since I last posted. So I will post the pictures and then that'll explain a bit more about the happenings around here. I counted 90 pictures that I've taken since May. Sheesh! How do I choose which ones to put on here?

Prior to the May long wknd we had the privilege of having the workers again. Alea wasn't in the field the first time we had the workers (very, very beginning of the year) so it was LOVELY to spend time with her. Here is she concocting a salad dressing. It was tasty too! And I bet she couldn't repeat the same recipe.

 We finished up our last swimming lesson on May 17 and Hanna received her first report card. :)

 Fun times with Daddy. She giggles hysterically when he does this.

 And then she bites his ear and slobbers in it.

 Hanna is really loving the outdoors. She takes everything in and loves the fresh air.

 After a big walk.

 Ken joined us for the May long wknd.

 We went down to South Calgary one Sunday evening for supper at Kurt Parsons and his new bride Kandis. They have this neat dog. He may not be cute but he's quite well behaved. Hanna loved him!

 Here is a view from my walking trail. I like to walk to the grocery store these days. It helps me do two things at once...get exercise and groceries. Lately we've had so much rain though so that hasn't helped my exercise routine.

 May 30 - I received a lovely bouquet of flowers for my birthday. Thank you Braden! Not bad for being all the way into Ontario.

 Hanna keeps entertained while I pack for the one of 3 trips we took to SK between May long and June 18. Wow!

 These pictures are all mixed up and there's so many of them I don't feel like trying to organize them all. It will take hours and I will be missing out on some much needed sleep. So I'll just explain...on Friday June 8, we had Meghan and Aaron Bryant and there FUN kids for a meal and Rook. We had a blast and Hanna was thoroughly entertained by these kids. They are fairly new to our field. They live in Canmore. She was a Clark from Edmonton.

 Hanna and her new friend Autumn.

 Ok...Saturday June 9. Graham has us over for supper. Little does he know that a couple hours later, we are about to head to the airport to pick up his lovely wife and surprise the bejeerbers out of him. A like the look both these 2 have on their face.

Here she is. The lovely Joey arrives exhausted and sleep deprived into Calgary after a month in France.

So this is how the big surprise happened. Joey told Graham that she wanted to have a Skype date with him at 11:00.

We arrived at the house a little late (about 11:20). Shawn knocks on the door. Earlier in the evening he told Graham that he was going to interrupt his Skype date by banging on the door. So Graham comes down all ticked off. I'm standing there. He's confused. Shawn says, "Are you talking to Joey on Skype?" Graham says, "No, I can't get a hold of her." Meanwhile Joey is crouched behind Shawn. Then Shawn excitedly says, "That's because she's right here!!!" And Joey jumps up and Graham looks at her absolutely befuddled. I have a picture of them hugging but it was fuzzy and Graham.

 The next evening (Sunday evening), June 10 - we celebrated at Bolero - a yummy meat filled restaurant (all you can eat meat and buffet. The meat comes out on long sword skewers and the servers cut off a chunk for you. Soooo yummy. Hanna thoroughly enjoyed the crusty bread they served.

 But after awhile, she got tired out and fell asleep on Graham.

 Skip forward to June 18 - today. Hanna is getting very curious about everything and has to know exactly what is going on. So when I'm at the counter getting her food prepared or preparing my coffee, she has her head cranked to the side trying to see what I'm doing.

 She loves to grab on to things now and also eat on her own. If she's being grumpy I give her a chunk of banana and she gnaws away on it with delight.

 Now jump back to May long wknd. We made the trip out to see Mom and Dad and Gma and Gpa Pihrag and Gma Lewis. We had a lovely time. Here is Hanna and Gma Lewis out in the garden - which was on the job list for that wknd.

 Sunday May 20 - A beautiful day. So nice for Hanna to spend time her Gma and Gpa!

 Gpa Ken gives Hanna a ride on his shoulders and introduced her to every child's favourite flower - the dandelion. She is holding tightly to it.

 Daddy and Hanna in the cowpen.

 Jump forward to May 31st - day after my bday but close. We made the trip to SK again because Graham wanted to help Dad with seeding and we thought we should go to, to help. Mom made the famous Lorrie bday cake. The classic that everyone loves and will not venture away from - homemade ice cream cake. I had the best evening ever. The workers came in for a hymn sing and sang happy bday to me and we had cake and music. What better things in life are there? Cake, music and fellowship!

 My first birthday as a mom. Don't be confused with the #'s on the cake. It says 24 but there are also 4 extra candles to add up to 28. Mom is famous for doing stuff like that.

 Hanna was tired but she would sit on Annette's lap when she played the piano and really enjoyed it.

This picture was taken on one of our trips to SK (ok, the last one - out for Cliff's funeral). I texted this to Shawn saying that's ocean front property in SK.

 And who said there wasn't hills in SK. Look at all those hills!

 Rewind back to May long wknd. We stopped in at Gma and Gpa Pihrags for coffee on our way home. We had lovely cookies. Hanna had banana. And Gpa got a haircut. Both Gpa's got their hair cut that wknd and the comb-overs both came off.

 Fast forward from May  long wknd to the June 1st wknd and after the boys worked hard all wknd, we went for a lovely brunch in Moose Jaw after meeting with mom and dad. I like this picture of mom. Hanna is showing a little leg. :)

 Some of Hanna's travelling pictures. The first one is from May long.

 This is from the June 1st wknd. She loved the yellow pom poms on her socks.

 ...because she liked to pull on them.

 June 1st wknd. Hanna and I spent the day in Regina on Friday (thus the bib) with Aunty Ginny. We had a lovely day. We went to a sweet little kids new and used store. We had lunch at BP's, then on to some errands and then to Currie's for a nice visit and lovely snack.

 Hanna got to know Jake Olsen- Tiffany and Adrian's cutie pie.

 We tried so hard to get them to have a picture together. He was promised wonderful things if he did it.

 Aunty Nicole entertains the kids.

 Then Saturday, we came back in (Shawn and I) to have supper with Renae Peters, Norma Petersen and Renae's mom Dawn as well as these fun boys! Hanna is so aware of kids now and quite enjoys it.

 Fast forward to my short stint to SK. I wanted to come out for Janaya's dad's funeral on Tuesday morning so on Monday morning (June 14) I headed to Swift Current and spent the night with Shannon and Curtis and Hanna hung out with her 3rd cousin - Thomas! He was so much fun.

 He rips around on his knees while Hanna sits and stares at him. It was so nice to see them.

So other than that, we have had Father's Day (why on earth didn't I take any pictures of it??). It was a beautiful sunny day. I woke up a bit earlier than usual to make Dutch babies for Ken and Shawn. I gave Shawn a photo book that I made of him and Hanna since she was born. Then we had Graham and Joey for lunch. We sat out on the deck and enjoyed that for the first time this year! Then for supper, Braden Conley came over since he was in Calgary for the wknd. I made an apple pie to Gpa Ken for Father's Day.

Of course, we received the sad news about our friend Jake being in the hospital. We had just seen him on Saturday as he came to take his new boat out to Ghost Lake. Graham often goes out with him to wakeboard. So we feel for the family. Graham and Joey went up there with Jeremy and Jill to see him and the family and be a support.
Also sad to hear of Lanita Larson's passing. I had only met her once but we are now go to Wed meeting with Garth and Sherry Miles. Sherry was a Larson so that's Lanita's sister-in-law. So our thoughts are with them too.

So in case you're wondering when we're coming to SK..it's been so long I know. We're coming again! I am coming to see some of my old class mates at our 10 year reunion on the Craik golf course. I'm gonna show them how this Mommy can golf. Snicker! Snicker!

It's getting late and I'm rambling. Thanks for looking at this rather long post.