Blessed and Watched Over

 Ammon is in charge of building the new chapel up north.  Even though Toronto temple is still being worked on he came home to do this project.  As usual Cora didn't have a lot of notice to get all packed up and loaded up as she will be going with him.  We have really loved these last few months when the girls would just drop in and stay undetermined days.  It was great for the girls to be so close to each other as well as their husbands were away.  They spent days at the beach and lots of time at each others houses, movies and dinner,  and we had lots of picnic lunches.  It has been a fabulous few months.  Braydon has come home to work about the same time as Cora is moving, which I feel is also a blessing.  As much as we will miss Cora and Jane, we are so excited for them to be back with Ammon again on a regular basis.  It will be great to have him home in the evenings and weekends.  Cora got everything pretty much packed up.  Ammon flew home and then they made a few loads into a storage unit and loaded up what they were taking with them and made it to our house later Saturday.  Sunday we had dinner with everyone for the reunion then Ammon took off.  Cora was going to follow him that day, but thought Jane needed a day to just be in one spot after all the travelling the last few days.  Monday she got up and I packed her some snacks and off she took on the 6.5 hr drive, with no air conditioning on a hot day.  She had taken a spray bottle of water to spritz them both with if needed.  Four hours into the trip there was a truck that had wood come out and it was so close, Cora couldn't swerve around it.  She almost got hit, but drove over all the wood.  She immediately knew she had a flat tire.  A nice man stopped and asked if she was ok.  Cora changed the tire and got back on the road, but then realized that the other tire was flat also.  At this point she was not sure what to do.  She had already used the spare.  Ammon and Dave were both in meetings at work and she couldn't get a hold of them.  Nathan was trying to help her use AMA, but they wouldn't let her.  Some nice men stopped and overed to take her tire into the nearest town and get a new one.  Another man had her sit in his truck with air conditioning, a tow truck kept calling her and asking if she was ok.  He had a couple of assignments in front of hers.  I think in all she said that 10 people stopped to offer help.  She was on the side of the road for 3.5 hours.  Jane did so good.  The guys came back with a loaner tire that didn't exactly fit but would work and the man with a/c said he knew a good mechanic 30km away.  The car had also mot been running well after the hit and had died once already.  She put her blinkers on and the man followed her as she slowly crept along.  As she got to the town, the car was still going and at this point she had gotten ahold of Ammon.  He was lining up a trailer to come haul the car.  So she kept driving.  It started driving slower and slower and after crossing a double lane highway and almost having it stop, Cora decided that it was time to stop and wait.  At this point she should have been long home.  Another hour and Ammon got to her.  They barely got the  car loaded on the trailer and made it home.  This is a very condensed version. A 6.5 hour trip turned into 13, but there were so many blessing along the way.  They made it safe in the end.  There were so many kind people that stopped to help.  I have listened to way to much Dateline and was a little stressed, but she called us often and kept her phone charged.  The wood coming off could have hit her and been so much worse.  Kind people, Jane was good, and so much more.  Prayers were answered.  They were definitely watched over on that trip.  We are so thankful.

Reunions

August was the month of family reunions this year.   We had so much fun.  Smith reunion was first weekend in August. As usual everyone had a meal they were in charge of.  Nicole took most of the pictures, cause the rest of us didn't. :) She is always good at that.  Kita and Nicole did t-shirts for us again.  Steve did an awesome design. We packed in as much as we could in 2 days.  Thursdays started with dinner at Cannon and Nicole's.  Dave and I got there really late as we had to work and haul water for cows before we could leave.  It was nice and we stayed a bit.  We slept at Leah's each night so we didn't have to travel so far.  Friday we all met back in Cardston and traveled to Waterton.  Some hiked bears hump and other walked around the town.  We all met back for lunch and then went to HillSpring.  Levi and Cannon had blown up all our tubes and Levi met us at the canal for a float.  It was the coldest day, but we had one chance so we got in anyways. There was bridge jumping and then a trailer ride into the little store and a drive around the village.  And of course a stop at Pioneer Parlor for ice cream.  Natalie had dinner ready for us when we got back. Saturday mom and dad did breakfast and we watched the parade.  We ended up just hanging out at the Airbnb that Jones' had rented the rest of the day.  I was in charge of lunch and Kita did dinner.  Some went to the mud bogging and rodeo, but it was just relaxing and whatever you felt like.  When it was all done we wished we had another day.  I love when my family is able to all get together.  It is always just easy and low key.  Talks, laughs, serious, special, fun, and always lots of memories are made. 

Most chaotic family picture :)

Cora always has to give a tuddle when she is near water.

Cora was pleased that everyone loved Jane and just took her everywhere they went.  It was kinda funny.  I think some were surprised at how Cora just takes her along, hikes, trailer rides, mud bog.  Where Cora goes Jane goes and it isn't slowing her down.

Just hanging out. 

Games.

Trailer ride

Cool people with same great taste.

Tubing.

Nicole got lots of pictures, but I don't love the update on this site and pictures were a pain to upload.  Used to be a breeze.  So just a sneak it is. 

Puzey reunion was the next weekend.  The girls went to Cardston to see a play Thursday.  As always they did a great job.  Friday we went to Myrna's for dinner and hung out for a bit.  It was nice to see everyone that was able to make it.  Saturday afternoon we all went to the lake.  We had a fun floating on the lake and being chill enjoying the sun.  Had dinner at the lake that Jared bbqed.  We had planned on staying and chatting for a bit, but Cora's SIL was coming to stay with us on her way up north.  Leah and Braydon also came in Saturday night.  Sunday we all got to go to church together.  It is fun to have so much family back in the ward, we took up 3 benches and it was awesome.  Dave and I wanted to dinner at our house so Leah and Braydon could eat with us.   We just kept is simple, but the house stayed cool and not to hot.  I had a game that I had planned on playing, but was just enjoying talking with everyone.  It was a nice, fun weekend.  It is nice to have everyone close so we are able to get together often.   Again I took no pictures. :(

Baby Blessing and Father's Day

After being in Boise, the girls and I gathered some ideas and made a trip to Ikea.  They helped me pull things together and now I feel my home is more inviting.  I had hoped to get it all done before Ammon and Cora had the baby blessing.  My coffee table is on back order, I home it comes in soon. 

 Ammon's parents and brothers stayed with us for the weekend of Father's Day.  Cora picked up Ammon and Braydon on the Friday, Ammon's birthday.  Our EQ was having a shooting activity.  They got home and he left with Dave.  Later Cora and I went down to meet them and bring birthday cake. 

Saturday we moved cows.  It was great to have them there.  Ammon and Cora drove on of the truck as we went back and forth.  With less cows it went faster and was fun.  All went smooth. 

After we got them all moved, we did a few chores around the house and meal prepped for when Ammon's family arrived.  Cora makes a great pizza.  She served that Saturday night. Cora has great in laws.  They were wonderful to be with. Sunday was J's blessing.  They had decided to do it after church at our house.  (Dave had said that he would like a new tie for Father's Day this year.  I found an awesome one).  Ammon gave a beautiful blessing.  J was not happy until they sat her back up after the blessing.  

Leah got some great family pictures of them.  I will share when she is finished editing.  Blake was able to call and it was fun to have all my kids talking together.  Leah and Braydon don't often get to join the call because of their work schedule. It ended up being a beautiful weekend. 

Some other happenings this month.  Leah had a work conference in Toronto.  Braydon was still out there.  Leah's clinic took everyone to a Blue Jays game.  Had a box and bought them all merch.  They invited Braydon along.  They even made gf food for him.  

Months ago it was announced that Blake's mission would be splitting.  He got the new last transfer that he would be staying in Freetown.  He is happy about the assignment.  He really like Makeni and his MP and wife.  He is now ZL 1.  He isn't companions with the other zone leader, but they get along really well.  His companion was transfered to the new Bo mission.  He was transfered out the next morning.  Blake was in a trio for a few days until his new companion arrived.  He is training again.  Very happy about that.  His comp is from the DRC. He speaks French and so their communication has been interesting. But Blake said he is wicked smart and will get it quick.  

Dave's work bought tickets to the local baseball game opener.  It was a family event so the girls came with us.  Dave enjoyed showing off his little granddaughter to people.  She did well and was happy through most of the game.  

The Oilers are in playoffs for the Stanley Cup.  We aren't hockey fans.  But since a Canadian team made it in and had such a great comeback we started looking up scores and highlights.  Leah's boss gave her his sign in info and she invited us to come to her house to watch game 6.  Dave didn't really want to go, also didn't want to stay by himself.  I had just planned to have a fun night with my kids.  Dave ended up coming, Leah made us pizza and salad.  It was a good game. We had a great evening and will be watching game 7 on Monday all together.  

Back in March we were asked to fast and pray for rain for the next two fast sundays.  We did and of course many more prayers.  It has been awe inspiring to see the rain we have gotten and when we have gotten it.  The Lord know exactly when we need some more and sends it.  The fields are greening up and hay looks good for the cows.  We have been truly blessed and prayers have and continue to be answered.  God is not only good, but great.

Hello May, Goodbye May

We got to spend a lot of time with the girls in May.  Leah's office was closed for conferences and stuff and both the boys are still working hard in Toronto.  It has been so fun.  Lots of walks and chats and late nights trying to get the littlest girl to sleep.  She is growing and starting to smile and talk a little.

The Bean Buddies got together one night.  Dave and I went to bed long before they were done for the evening.  Just like old times, except a crying baby in the mix.  I told J that Maycie was going to be her friends' mom so she needed to be happy for her. :)

Leah has started taking some official pictures.  Also started an Instagram @windypeaksphotography 

I have had her taking our family pictures this year.  She is hoping to do some grad and family pictures for others as well.  She is just starting and looking for volunteers to practice with. But I have been very happy with all her stuff so far.  She did awesome pictures of the Hatch's (see June post coming soon)

Dave's dad had rented some cylinders before he passed away.  Every few years the farm gets a notice to pay the rent.  When I saw it this year, I started thinking of ways that we could return them and not have to keep paying rent on the empty things that we were not using. Dave agreed and in the end we took his truck on a day trip to Great Falls to return them. He was worried that his truck would not make it.  We started early in the morning and just took it easy.  2 hour wait at the border, but we made it and it was a fun trip.  Rained and blew a ton, but we got them returned and Dave took me to Fuddruckers. 

The next weekend we went to Boise for Ty's homecoming.  Leah came with us.  We had some very sketchy hotels and they were pretty horrible.  The trip was fun and Kita's house was luxury.  We left as soon as Leah got off work on Friday and drove 1/3 of the way.  The next morning we got an early start, Dave wanted to see the Teton Dam.  It was really neat.  Unbelievable that they never even got it filled before it collapsed. We made a stop after at Reed's Dairy, which was awesome as always.

It was a lot of fun to be with my siblings again.  Kita's house was so cozy and inviting, I was inspired to make some changes and update my place a bit when I got home.  Saturday evening Kita had brought in a food truck, Sunday was fun.  Kita had given us all instruction of what to do right after church, but we got waylaid and Taylor and Erin did it all.  I was not much help.  After a fantastic brunch we headed back on the road. The next morning we made a quick stop to see the Helena temple and then on home.

For some reason I had a crazy headache most of the weekend.  It was so nice to have Leah along.  Leah is always fun to be with, but so helpful this trip as she chatted with Dave and helped deal with the lunch.  Love my kids.  The older we all get it is just more and more fun to see them become their own families and the directions they take with their lives. 

I have been doing more MOA.  Really enjoy it.  I will be having a lot more work days in the summer as I fill in for people.  We still get to see lots of the girls and love every time they come out. 

Dave's job is gong well.  They are always throwing new things at him and he is great at getting the most efficient way to do things figures out and organized.

Cora is such a great mom.  She finds joy in everything J does.  She just has fun and hasn't let it change her life.  She is determined that she is going to be an outdoorsy girl.  Cora puts her in her carrier and goes for walks or to the park or just sleep in her seat outside every day. 

Blake is really loving Makeni.  He is the JR Zone leader.  He has he enjoys that but hopes to train again sometime. His comp is an interesting dude, they had no water of power for 20 days.  His last baptism they had to haul water for.  They pumped it and hauled 58 buckets of water. 

I know I keep saying this, but I love how Blake has just embraced the changes and his happy and doing all he can.

There are the highlights from May.  Or what I can remember anyways

Big Catch Up

I realized as I was importing pictures that this probably would have been better in two posts, but I'm lazy and may not get to the second one for a while, so here we are. Dave finally got a ski day.  The weather had not been nice all season.  Not enough snow.  It was a lovely mild winter, but not great for skiing.  I went to the ski hill with him.  He got two days in.  Both were beautiful with perfect snow and not many people there.  One day was so warm I went for a walk.

The girls and Ammon came to the temple with us for our ward temple trip.  Braydon was in Toronto.  

My sweet Grandma Southam passed away. She had been wanting to go for years and was in a lot of pain.  I think it was a blessing and she gets to be with Grandpa again.  Thankful for zoom as we were able to watch the funeral. 

Ammon and Braydon have been back and forth to Toronto a lot. Many trip to the airport. Usually take the red eye flight.  I go with them often to help them stay awake and they stop off here to sleep on the way back.  The company even flew Leah out for Easter. She had a couple weeks off work and she got to spend one of them in Toronto with Braydon.  They went to Niagara and tried some fun restaurants.  She had her birthday while she was there and they bought her a cake and a little gift. 

Cora and Ammon leased a place and we went to help them move some stuff in.  It was a lovely wet snowy day.  The girls will be living 1/2 a block apart for the next year, which I think is so fun.  

Cora had her baby the end of March.  Jane is the sweetest little thing and we are really enjoying her.  While Ammon is away, Cora has come to stay with us and we have loved it.  Leah will also drive up often. Cora is so fun to watch as a mom.  So is Ammon.  They are good parents, as we knew they would be.  You can just see how much they love this little girl.  Cora is fun to watch as she finds so much joy in everything Jane does. 

This picture in her car seat is so funny to me.  She seems slightly perturbed. :) Going home from the hospital.

Jane has checked cows a few times with us.  Already teaching her how to work. 

Leah picked up Braydon and they went to the temple in Calgary with his brother and then they came to our house so Braydon could meet Jane. Leah said that he had not ever had sundowners, so we had a bottle of Martinelli's and Jane and Braydon had their first sundowners.

Talking to dad while he is away. 

Leah took some family pictures of the Hatch's.  She took a lot of cute ones as she played with light and different settings. 

Blake was transferred to Makeni a few weeks ago.  He said it is more bush and he loves that.  The area was pretty dead, but he is determined to make it fire.  He is in a complex with 6 elders and they are having a good time. Working hard, living in hot hot weather, most days with out water of electricity.  But he is loving it there. 

Baby Shower

Leah threw Cora a baby shower.  She chose a book theme.  She did things a little different than the baby showers I had been to and it was my favorite one.  She didn't want all the usual games and wanted it to be more relaxing, come and chat, interactive if you want to, low key, classy vibe.  We gathered all the kids books from our basement, plus some that Leah found at second hand stores and little libraries around town.  She went with sage green and dusty pink (had to have pink of some sort:)) for the colors and had balloons and painted some books to say BABY.  And those were the decorations.  Just simple and cute. There were just a few guessing games scattered around the room.  Predict when baby is coming, jar of treat-guess how many, how much do things cost, baby name suggestion, and then the hit of the party was coloring blocks for the future little girl to play with. Then I made a few different cookies, so Leah wouldn't have the gluten in her house and Leah did an apple cider.  She left it out for people to snack on during the whole thing.  Only thing was we forgot to ever check and refill the water.  Oops. 

Lots of people came and it was so good to see many that we haven't for a while.  Cora got some great things to help her start this journey with a kid.  And she got some great books and idea of books from people.  Weather was good, which was a surprise.  Last couple of years when my kids have a big event, marriage, farewell, etc it is either the coldest stormiest day of the year, or the hottest.  So we lucked out this time. 

The blocks were really fun.  Even after the shower was all over we had some that stayed to chat and color and it was great. 

I think Leah did a great job.  It was fun and just casual.  Just like she wanted. 

Being Crafty:  Quilted things are super trendy right now.  Quilted bags, hoodies, skirts, etc.  So I thought the other day, what about a quilted tie.  I started with fabric I had in the house and made the pink and green one first.  But when done, it wasn't quite working for me.  Leah suggested that my colors weren't working, so I tired with black and white that I had.  I like it much better, but not how it ended up being straight lined up.  Third try was a blue and tan one.  I did have to purchase a bit of tan material, but in the end I LOVED it.  I seriously think it is so cool.

Dave wore it to church for me and I was actually disappointed that no one said anything.  Finally at the end of choir as we were walking out one person said something.  It made my day. :)  Honestly maybe others didn't love it as much as I do, but also it seems no one ever compliments people on their ties.  Girls get compliments on dresses all the time.  I always tell guys when they have a cool tie.  That is all they get to change people, next time you see a cool tie, tell the dude.  Anyways, I digress.  I really want to make a quilted peasant skirt as well.  That will be my next project. 

Blake:  This kid has been out almost 6 months.  It seems so long and has gone by so fast.  I miss him.  His letters make me laugh.  He tells it like it is.  It is a hard mission.  It is hot and dirty, they cook over fires.  They lose either electricity or have no water often.  And he just rolls with it.  He says it feels like home and he is loving the people.  They have so many that want to hear the gospel.  He likes his companion and has found a cousin he didn't know in the mission that he also gets along with.  They are in the same zone.  A few weeks ago they won a chicken for having the cleanest apartment in the mission. 

He got a steal of a deal on a guitar and has been playing.

These poor shoes get so dusty and dirty.  He gives them a clean every night.

The kids love the elders and always run up to them and talk with them.