Project 365 : Week 10

Time is just flying by! Sofia is already 7 weeks old and it only feels like yesterday that she joined our little family. I was warned that time wouldn't stand still once she arrived, but it seems a little unfair that the last weeks of pregnancy go by so slowly, and the first few weeks of her life went by so quickly. She has changed so much already from the helpless little lass to a rather engaging little girl, we've been enjoying her great big grins and I can't wait until she starts to giggle. She's been sleeping so well and we're going on our second week of her consistently going 8-10 hours at night. We're very blessed!

As seems to be more normal than not, this week was quite busy. Merissa came up for the weekend and we were able to spend a quiet weekend just hanging out. Sometimes its good to have an excuse to do nothing, especially when we tend to always be on the go. I was quite thrilled that Merissa took some family photos for us, she did a great job!

Earlier in the week we turned a repair job that Byron needed to do into a road trip. Sofia and I drove up with him to Boyle, AB and while he worked, we enjoyed the gorgeous fall weather. Fall came just a few days earlier up there than it does here, so Sofia enjoyed her first glimpse of golden leaves there.

All of the Mosher's happened to be gone over the weekend so Byron and I took care of Petunia, the milk goat. I loved having the fresh milk! Growing up with goats I didn't mind having her around at all, it was kindof fun. I'm beginning to reconsider my reluctance to have milk goats around, she has so much personality and being able to run out to the barn for milk is rather a satisfying feeling.

We're off again over the weekend for a whirlwind trip to visit with my sister, Byron's grandpa, and pick up a truckload of apples from Calgary. Then crashing back with Mosher's for some family time over Thanksgiving. Life keeps racing along, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Right now our little family has so much flexibility and I don't want to take these moments for granted. We won't always be able to ride along with Byron while he manages work, but what a treat it is for the moment.

Project 365 : Week 9

We're still awaiting the grand entrance of baby Bam-Bam *sigh*, so I have lots of time to be uploading pictures! I have to admit, that with just Byron and I (and we lead what a lot of people would consider a fairly laid-back life), its hard to come up with a photo for everyday of the week, but while it stretches my creativity, I don't view that as a bad thing :)

1. Yes, this is the extent of our excitement some days :) My cats stalk the sheep. The woolly creatures have provided us with loads of entertainment, but I am glad that Keegan took them home again. They wouldn't stay penned and had developed a taste for garbage ....

2. I love this car, end of story. The fact that's its only one of two in Canada kind of adds to its attraction, I must admit. I can't remember what its called, but you can't miss it if you are visiting the Reynolds-Alberta museum, its sort of the exhibits pride and joy.

3. I love this man, end of story. Actually not quite,I think there is a happily-ever-after in there somewhere :) We're so enjoying our little piece of earth, even though we share it with about a million mosquito's. Although there is a ton of work to do, we're enjoying being able to do it together. Even if that means sometimes I just follow him when he does all the work ...

4. It struck me as funny the other day when we were at the "big house" how the little kids are all grown up now. These boys all used to be shorter than me, and I can remember it too! Its sure neat to watch them grow from little boys, to young men and watch as God works in their lives.

5. A scrapbook page in progress. I've been doing a lot of that these days. It helps to pass the time, there are moments when I just feel like I'm 'hanging' and waiting for the next stage in life. Have to keep reminding myself that I shouldn't be to anxious for these last few days to be over. We get to create just a few more memories as the two of us.

6. Joshua Shonwise drove up from Olds to fix all of our plumbing problems, included was replacing my electric stove with a gas range. It was rather an exciting day for me :)

7. I finally finished re-doing the antique crib for our little one, and in a few months, Jordan, since its actually hers. I started the process well before we moved from Duffield, but because of all the spindles, and the fact that I am a procrastinator, it took me way to long. But its done now and I figure that's all the baby was waiting for, a place to sleep. Hopefully this means Bam-Bam will come now :)

Project 365 : Week 8

After about a one year sabbatical, and before another probably of the same length, I've decided that while I wait for baby to arrive (due date is Monday), I might as well try to be a little productive and instead of lying about on the couch feeling like a pumpkin, I am sitting at the computer still looking like a pumpkin, but at least doing something.

Back to Project X, oops, I mean Project 365 :) 

1 . Byron and I drove down to Wetaskawin today to drop of supplies for his current job and while driving encountered come pretty gorgeous clouds. These were the friendly ones. We saw a couple of funnel clouds as well, but they weren't showing up in the pictures.

2 . Byron and his partially dismantled dually. Its all put back together again and running like a top. I can't believe the things he can pull apart and put back together again ... properly. He's rather a wizard with vehicles.

3 . We had a baby robin just sitting on the fence post one afternoon. It let me get within a foot or so and though I was tempted, I resisted the urge to pick it up and adopt it, especially as the Mother bird was watching rather warily from the tree above.

4 . This is me, 8.5 months pregnant. 

5 . With moving, baby .... I didn't get the garden I was wanting, but have been able to move my little tomato plants along with us through everything. We have a total of 22 tomatoes on 18 plants, 4 of which have ripened this week. Yummy!

6 . I drove down one afternoon to see where the boys were working and snapped this photo of their job site. If I wasn't already in love with the place we are in, I might be tempted to wish to live here.

7 . Just my kittens. Poor things, they are going to be shocked when the baby arrives because currently they think they are the greatest things ever.

Polkadot Door Bloghop!

Its the Polkadot Door Blog-iversary! 

We're so excited to be celebrating 2 years on the web, and in the spirit of celebration, we are having a bloghop where you'll find lots of prizes and inspiration along the way. Hurrah! 

 

A bloghop on the Polkadot Door wouldn't be complete without an inspiration challenge. We asked each one of some of our favourite friends throughout the world to create a project based on the above inspiration challenge. 

Here is the card I made using the inspiration image as my starting place. I decided to highlight the pink, browns, and green from the colour palette and of course .... buttons! 

 

• Plus, there's a chance to play along with us! Use the inspiration we gathered, link your entry back on the Polkadot Door blog, and you could win a shop credit to Scrappin Patch. 

• You have until May 10th to complete the hop and link up your sketch challenge entry below to be eligible for the hop prize! 

• But that's not all! If you leave a comment on this post you are eligible to win a this fantastic blog candy from us, The Polkadot Door!

Hop along with the lovely ladies below and have even more chances to win prizes as well as be inspired to use the inspiration before May 10th. 

Dee Dee

Lisa

Rebecca ( You are here)

Cheryl

Geri

Megan

Scrappin Patch 

The Polkadot Door

Thank you so much for hopping along with us for our 2nd blogiversary! I am thrilled to be in the company of these talented ladies and hope you'll find the hop fun and inspirational, as well as motivate you to play along with the inspiration. 

Can't wait to see what you all make using the inspiration!

This Old House

(front of house)

This post is roughly 7 months overdue! I promised Mom I would send photos of our place just after we were married and have only now gotten around to it. Thats one excuse anyways. The real reason of course being that up until this morning there was always at least one room in the house that wasn't quite organized enough to post pictures :)

(back of house)

We live in a modular home on 3 acres just outside of Wabamun, a little town of around 1000 people. The outside has been neglected for quite some time and now that spring is here we're really looking forward to giving the place a little bit of TLC! Hopefully within the next few weeks Byron will be building a deck off the front of the house the full length of it and he's also going to be fixing the fixing all those ruts in the driveway. If we stay long enough (its always up in the air being in a rental) we're hoping to put a garden is a well.

(our driveway from the house)

Welcome inside! Its nothing fancy, but we it works well for our needs.You enter the house through the laundry/utility room.

Right across the hall (hate this configuration by the way! :) is our bedroom. The upside down q in "Mosher" in temporary. Walmart didn't have an "O" so I compromised.

Then there the guest room at the far end of the house which is going to be the baby's room once it arrives. I'm doing my best not to collect to many items at this point, but its really hard not begin to start some accumulating.

Across the hall from the guest bedroom is "Byron's Room". The only real downside to our place is that there is not a garage or shop for Byron, so most of those items that would usually find their way into the garage, have found their way into this room. Its always a work in progress ....

Just so you have an idea of the over all size of the house, this is from the end of the hall (right outside the two spare bedrooms) looking the entire length of the house. Thats our room on the left, and the laundry room on the right.

and of course the bathroom (second door on the right ;). When we moved in it was school bus yellow and horrible peeling baseboard. We repainted the walls, as well as the vanity and medicine cupboard which were "oak". Our entire bathroom renovation cost $50, which included a new toilet and baseboard. It was $50 well spent in my books! If was our place we would probably replace the flooring as well (its a nasty cork look alike), but its good for a rental.

Our huge living room! Normally the coffee table is in front of the couch, but its currently home to my seedlings which love being in front of the south facing window.

The office is at the end of the living room, to the right. The entire rooms forms an "L", inside of which is the kitchen (through that opening). Its such a nice, wide open area and we've enjoyed it immensely! Regardless of whether one (or both) of us is working in the office, or just sitting in the living room, or in the kitchen, we're able to be very interactive.

and finally, the kitchen! Its kindof of a weird layout, but I don't complain because its nice and big! This view is from my desk, looking in. Once Byron builds the deck, we'll be able to use those patio doors and I have a feeling they will be used a lot.

and thats all! Hope you enjoyed the tour :)

The Honeymoon : Greece, Part II

This particular post is slightly random, I'm trying to get ready to leave in the morning for BC (hurrah!!), make dinner, wrap gifts, and blog. Its not always the most effective way to do things, so multi-tasking. I did want to put the final Greece pictures up though. I thought we had some more interesting ones, but we didn't pull out our cameras as often as we should have!

 On the the little train, on the way up the mountain.

 We liked to think of this as "our" private beach. In reality we shared it with a herd of goats who had a watering trough up the hill. We caused the goats no end of anxiety since we they hadn't expected us, but once the first goat decided we were harmless, the next 200 did as well . . .

 On the map, this road was marked as an "unsurfaced secondary highway". It was little more than a trail cut into the side of the mountain with steep drop offs to the ocean below. We discovered our rental car really wasn't made for off roading.

 A few of the goats that also called the road, home. You had to slow almost to a crawl and beep the horn hoping they would move. Which they did, eventually. Animals on the road were a very common occurrence in Greece. Usually it was dogs or cats though. They will just lie down in the middle of major highways and everyone just drives around them.

 Our first view of the Meteora, about a 2 hour drive from where we were staying. Absolutely worth the drive!

 These Greek Orthodox Monasteries were built during the dark ages because at the time people believed that this area was exceptionally holy, and extremely secluded. Until this century, the monasteries were accessible by ropes, rock climbing, or the odd stair cut into the rock faces. They  are still fully operational as religious places but are now attracting millions of tourists as well. They supplied skirts for all the ladies, and men in shorts to wear when visiting. An odd experience. These places were amazing. Most were still accessible only by long flights of stairs cut into the mountains. We did a lot of walking up and down that day, but saw so much history. They have not only been religious hideaways, but during wars were also refuges for the people because they were nearly impenetrable. 

 At the doorway to one of the monasteries. We climbed all the way up and then found out this one was closed for the day.

 All in all we visited 7 of the monasteries. We are standing at the main one looking to its next door neighbor. These buildings just seem to grown from the rocks! I cannot imagine how they were built hundreds of years ago.

 Looking from the next door neighbor, to the main monastery. 

 Us! Of course :)

 Random photos from inside the buildings.

 One of the many seaside villages we visited.

 The very uncool little black car, that was ours. Didn't really mind driving it around though, because everyone drives ugly little hatchbacks so we fit right in. Byron was very glad to get home and get inside his big black beasty.

 Views from our apartment.

 We had half of the top level. The whole two weeks there was no one else in the other suite. The land lady lives in the basement with her family. Studios Madalana

The Honeymoon : Greece, Part 1

I think that one of the reasons I have taken so long to post the honeymoon photos is that there are 1200 of them to sort through! We spent so much time wandering through Greece and Rome, so many memories are associated with the pictures that I have a hard time sorting through what you all might like to actually see! I was contemplating just having one honeymoon post, but as the Greece post is very clearly going to be two posts, I will not even venture to say how many this could grow to!

Byron surprised me with most of the honeymoon, and as we moved on from one stage to the next it just got that much better. Almost 13 days after the wedding, we took off from Edmonton to Athens, Greece where we stayed two nights before taking our rental car to the little region of Pelion. A not well known, but gorgeous and semi secluded area of Greece. In many ways its a place that time has left partially unchanged. I loved it! We had an apartment for two weeks, the use of the car, and the entire region to explore ...

As a small side note, excuse the photos. Its a miss-mass of iPhone and camera photos.

This was our very first picture in Greece, taken by a street vendor with a Polaroid. He dumps bird feed into your hand and snaps a photo before you realize it is going to cost you 5 euro.

 Our first two days were spent in Athens. Here, we are in the Olympic Gardens, created obviously for the 2004 Summer games. It was a very interesting place to walk through, but had definitely seen better days. Throughout the entire country there certainly was evidences of better days ...

 The gardens bordered the parliament buildings. 

We spent the morning wandering the gardens, parliament buildings, and took the time to watch the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A marching band accompanied the regiment in with the Greek National Anthem.

At the Parthenon. Apparently there are a few of these, but this is the Parthenon. We did go inside the gates too. Its quite something being there. These buildings (or ruins) are thousands of years old. Its amazing how small one feels when you are next to something that has seen the rise and fall of empires.

First view of the Acropolis. All I can say is ... amazing. We hiked from here, to the top (and back down around, and under and ... everywhere that day!). The view is breathtaking, you can see almost the entire city of Athens. It was incredibly cool from way up there as we were able to to see the entire modern city but interspersed quite regularly are ancient ruins or still standing antiquities.

Taking a picture from the top of the amphitheatre below.

The Parthenon in the Acropolis. Its been under major construction for years. I was a little disappointed I have to admit. Seeing such an old building with modern construction materials and scaffolding surrounding it, detracting from the effect a little.

I found him up there all alone, so took him home :)

This was from the back side, we hiked down again.

Why yes, we were a little sun burnt and windblown. Why do you ask?

Finally moving out of Athens and onto Pelion! We really realized just how much of city people we are not on the honeymoon. It was so nice to get out of the hustle and bustle (and worrying that there would be riots and demonstrations while we were there) of Athens and into the almost forgotten region of Pelion. Such a different pace of life. This was the sign on the beach we went to frequently. Still not sure what it says, but I am really hoping it was`t a no trespassing sign :)

The view from our front porch.

One of our little day excursions was taking this cute little train from sea level up into the mountains. It used to be a mining train, but has since been turned into a tourist thing. It was the rattliest little engine, but the views were gorgeous, and the little town it took us to, absolutely spectacular. We had seen quite a few mountain villages by this time, but this one was really quite unique. It almost felt like something out of a fairy tale. The train takes you to the village and then parks for three hours and let you wander about, which of course we did.

The final bridge before the village. For the life of me I cannot remember what it was called.

Views from the train ...

This is the view of Afissos, about 3 km from our place. We walked here a few times for the beach and dinner. I think you might have as well :)

Literally, this is the end of the line. The major highway on Pelion ends at this village, in this parking lot. From here, you have to walk in. The village is so old that cars are either not allowed, or just will not fit in the narrow streets!

I have so many more photos to share and will get to them soon!