I love...

Summer! I LOVE summer! Yesterday, I had to go to the city for a little bit of retail therapy with a friend, and I ended up finding some new bedding for Molly's new room (another time...). Anyhow, I got home and Art BBQ'd dinner, and we ended up having an extra 7 people for dinner. However, IT'S SUMMER. It doesn't matter how many people are here eating....I simply go to my garden and pick some lettuce and veggies for dinner, and get Art to throw the meat on the BBQ. I LOVE summer! It's just seems easier, somehow. And then, we had one of our favorite desserts....ice cream topped with....anything. My current favorite topping is fudgee o's and chocolate sauce. Yummy. Other classics toppings at our house include: raspberries (freshly picked, of course!), caramel sauce, chocolate topping that hardens (just like dairy queen), and lastly, but definately not least...Bailey's. That's Art's favorite. Ice cream with anything plus Bailey's. Good times are rollin' at the Goerzen's!

Fear?

Hannah had swimming lessons last week. We put her in private lesson because she is very, very, very nervous in the deep water. We'd put her in group lessons a couple of months ago, and she failed, which is fine, so we wanted her to have some one on one time with a teacher. She did really well the first day, when they spent time in the shallow pool. The next day, they moved into the deep pool, and things just went downhill. She did alright that first day in the deep pool, but the next day, she was a wreck! After her lessons were over, we went into the change rooms, and she just sat with me and sobbed! I must admit, I shed a couple of tears with her as well. She was so stressed about the deep water...so fearful that she would sink. We talked a lot about it, and it came out that she thought that we were all lying to her - that we would let her sink.

It was interesting as we talking, some of the things that came out. I realized that although it had everything to do with swimming, it really had nothing to do with swimming. She was just fearful. We talked a lot about God, and how He doesn't want us to be fearful, but she wasn't grasping the bigger picture. After I dropped her off at home, I jetted out really quickly to our church, where I knew some ladies had been praying. I got there just as they were finished, and after chatting a couple of minutes, they found out the story and started to pray for Hannah. As the were praying, not only for her, but for Art & I as well, I came to realize that I have some of my own things in my life that I am fearful about.... It was interesting to realize that Hannah is the same as me - her outlet is just different. For her, it's swimming in deep water. For me, it's finances, and our business. I have been making decisions, or not making some decisions, based on fear. I don't like that. At all. She is mirroring me, just her fear is of something else. I don't want to leave my daughters a legacy of fear. I want to leave them a legacy of faith. I went and apologized to Hannah for being fearful, and not trusting God in some things. So, I've made some decisions this week about some things that I need to do, to live by faith, not by fear.

Consequently, when Hannah went to her last swimming lessons the next day, she did AMAZING! Her teacher didn't know what happened...she floated in the deep pool by herself, swam by herself under water. It was so cool to watch God answer our prayers!

A whole lot o' fun!

So we went to the PBR on Friday....it was quite excellent! We had a terrific time just hanging out. I took some pictures, but haven't put them on my computer yet....I'll post them when I do. I did lie about one thing, though....we actually weren't in row 11. We were in row 4. And it wasn't even really row 4 - it was the first row. They were the best seats ever!! They had fire coming out of these bull heads, and we could feel the heat, that's how close we were. Apart from the drunk guy sitting beside me, it was fantastic! After it was over, Art and I went and walked around Capital Ex for a while, just having fun people watching and enjoying the great night. Thanks, Fried, for taking the girls for us so we could have a date!

That was Friday....on Saturday morning we headed out to Pembina River for the day to hang out with some friends and relax. It was such a great day! We'd never been there before, and although we had the camera, we didn't have the battery for the camera, so we couldn't take any pictures (d-oh!). We bought some boogie boards and just floated down the river, played in the river, ate and soaked up the sun. We were definately tired by the end of the day, but it was such a fun family day. I loved it!

Good times...

Tomorrow we are heading into the city to go watch the PBR.

"What is the PBR?", you may ask...Well, the event marks the debut of the elite Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) presented by Wrangler in Edmonton. For two nights, the toughest men on dirt will battle the fiercest bovine athletes in the world in a bull riding competition unlike any the Canadian fans have ever seen...
Sounds like good times to me! In addition, here are a couple more fun things about this night:

• Art's sister is taking the Girls, so we are without kids!
• We got amazing seats (row 11)!
• It's going on at the same time as Capitol Ex, so we get to have those little donutsl
• Did I mention that we won't have the Girls?

I do feel a little bit bad about not taking the Girls, since they are always asking to go to the rodeo, however, we are celebrating the first anniversary of our business (that's my excuse....that and the tickets cost a butt-load). Better luck next time, Girls!

Fruit from the Gas Station?

I forgot to blog about this, and it's kinda funny. The other day, Art was filling up the truck with gas (don't get me started on what that cost!). Beside him, a man pulled up in a truck, and in the box of the truck were boxes and boxes of fruit...peaches, cherries, apricots, blueberries... I asked Art to ask him if he was selling it, and he had been selling it at a country market. He asked us if we wanted any, and I of course said "Youbecha!". We found all the money that we could in all the crevices of the truck, and I got a ton of cherries and 6 peaches and apricots. The fruit was from Ossoyous, so it was very yummy. It was a good stop for us - gas and fresh fruit. Who knew?

Mmmmm

Another sure sign that it's summer here is raspberries. We have tons and tons of raspberries. Today we did our first pick. We only got a half a pail, but it's a start, friends. In another 2 days we will pick again, and then again, and then again.... You get the picture. In about 2 weeks I will probably be cursing the raspberries, but for now, I am loving them! There's nothing like fresh raspberries with some (unwhipped) whipping cream and sugar. Mmmmm....raspberries!

Summer Storms

I love summer storms! We had a great one last night...thunder, lightening, pounding rain. I actually think that a tree got hit by lightening here, because there was a big "BANG!" right after a bolt of lightening. It was excellent! My children, as much as they love storms, also don't love storms when they get woken up out of a dead sleep to a big "BANG!" So I think that for them, the love the idea of summer storms more than the reality.

After our first storm last night ended, leaving us with no power for a number of hours, we see the 'second wave' of the storm coming (this was about 11 pm). So, in our great idea-ness, we decide to make the girls a bed on the floor of our room. That way, they're not sleeping with us, but are close in case they are scared. Great idea. Not great reality. We hear rustling and giggling for a while, until Abby actually falls asleep. And then it's just Hannah and Molly. Hannah's hot and Molly's cold.... They finally fall alseep and then the power comes on just as I had fallen asleep around 1 am....lights, music, fans and everything.... That was fun for everyone! Since the power is on, Molly and Hannah go to their own beds, while Abby is dead to the world (she's quite a sound sleeper!). Then, at 6:30 this morning, there is more thunder....Molly cries, comes in our bed, and keeps wanting to go and sleep with Abby on the floor, who is now awake saying she has to puke. She doesn't, I don't think...she's just tired. I lay awake in my bed listening to moaning from Abby and Molly tossing around...sitting up, laying down, sitting up, laying down. I think I need a nap this afternoon. Don't you just LOVE summer storms?!

Needless to say

My husband....

Is a star! Really, he is. On Thursday he started filming an instructional video in our shop on how to make a ...
bass guitar. This is a project that has been in process for about a year. And now, it has started. He's doing this together with two other guys from our church. One of them has made numerous bass guitars, and the other one is a videographer (a good combination, I would say!). I watched a little bit of the filming yesterday, and it was quite fun! The shop was all set up with lights and mikes and cameras - a little bit surreal. And, I must say, that I was impressed with how it turned out. They only shot the introduction yesterday (well, it actually took Thursday and Friday to shoot it...they had to get used to how things work in 'the biz'), but I think that it will turn out well.

Here's the great thing about my husband....After it was done, I said to him, "Art, will you still love me when you're rich and famous?" And do you want to know what he said? His reply was,
"I'll still sleep with you...."

He was joking, of course, and we had a good laugh at that!

The Park

This morning we went to the park to play, and met up with some friends there. It was fun to catch up after being on holidays. Here's the best thing about this morning.....Molly actually played!! Before we left, she would not go in the sand to play on the playground. Now, after being at a lake/beach for the better part of a week, she is quite excited to go in barefeet and play. Barefeet, people. This is truly a momentus day! She was very excited this morning to "put on her barefeet" and play in the park. Ellie Mae, on the other hand, doesn't love the sand...yet. This too shall pass. So, I had three playing, and the other one walking around. It was a great, relaxing morning!

No place like home!

All in all, we had a fabulous vacation. We've made plans with my sister to do it again next year. This is actually the first time that we have gotten together without my parents...it was good fun. It was nice that her husband was able to make it up to Kelowna, and we loved our time in Chilliwack with them as well. We walked around their beautiful neighborhood, and went swimming, and got lots of strawberries to take home.
We made it home in 10 hrs. - close to record time (with no speeding tickets!). Now, home to laundry and grocery shopping and yardwork... Isn't it funny, even though we thoroughly enjoyed our time away, there's still no place like home!

The Beach!

We loved the beach! Our girls loved the ocean! It was fun to take them someplace they'd never been....They loved looking for shells, walking on the sand, drawing in the sand, and playing in the water. Oh, and another fun thing about our holiday....Ellie Mae started walking! Yippee!

After all that fun in Kelowna, my sister invited us to her place to stay for a couple of days. On the Coquihalla Hwy., we saw two moose (really, if you look closely, they are there!) which was fun.
I got to have a short visit with my friend from high school, Cindi. Her and her husband live in Abbotsford, and have 3 kids, who enjoyed the time playing. They are coming out here in September, so we'll look forward to seeing them more then!

After that, we headed to the ocean. Well, actually, before that we headed to Bellingham to go to one of my favorite stores.....Target!! It was well worth the extra little driving to once again be in shopping bliss! Then, we headed down to White Rock to the beach to visit a bit with Art's sister and brother-in-law, as well as his neice and mom. We ate fish and chips - so yummy, so much grease!! The highlight of that afternoon for me was getting pooped on by a seagull....true story!! Right on my back!

That night, after boating, Trenna's older kids watched the littler kids, and the adults got to go out for dinner. It was very fun to just go out as grown ups and enjoy a nice dinner out.
We also saw my grandparents and had brunch with them one morning...
And spent a bunch more time at the lake. Molly was a little unsure of the sand at the beginning, but by the end, she loved it!

Boating!

Early one morning, I was able to get together with a good friend of mine, Sarah, from the coast. It was so nice to catch up and see her! We also went boating one day... My parents rented a pontoon, which was great! There was lots of room for all of us (unusual), and now we told my parents they have to buy one! The motor was a little bit sissy, but we were still able to pull the tubes behind to play on. We had a contest to see who could do the best tricks, and Meagan and Caleb came in first, with Keeley and I coming in a close second.

The next day, we went to a putting green, which was a lot of fun. The kids especially loved it! It wasn't mini golf, but rather putting. They had real greens and everything! Hannah even got a hole in one... Molly golfed a bit, watched a bit, relaxed a bit....



We had a killer storm one evening. It actually did a lot of crop damage in the area to the orchards, but our kids loved playing in the rain.

We got to my parents in time for dinner, and then they had presents for the kids: tents for the littler ones, and water guns for the bigger ones. The girls definately love their tents... Molly slept in hers the whole time we were at my parents (inside, of course), and Hannah and Abby slept in theirs a number nights as well.

We stopped in Lake Louise for a picnic lunch by the river. Trenna had landed a HUGE bug on her, and she freaked out and subsequently, the girls all dropped their cookies.
The one good thing about going this way was that we got to stop in Sicamouys, and of course we had to stop the Dutchman Dairy for their yummy ice cream! I used to go there when I was a child, so it was fun to take the girls there. They have a petting zoo also, and Art tried (unsuccessfully) to catch a chicken to show the girls.

Summer Vacation

Well, it's beey quite a while since I last blogged...we've had a house full of company, and then went on holidays...Yippee!

As I mentioned earlier, we had my sister and her kids here for a week visiting. It was a lot of fun having them. We didn't do too much, more just hung out and relaxed. I did make the kids help weed the garden, which most of them enjoyed! We also hosted our annual Canada Day party, which was also lot of fun.
Early the next morning, after the party, we headed out to Kelowna. It was a long day of travelling. We of course had to stop in Edson for Bacon & Eggers at A&W. When we got to the Jasper Park gate, where they told us that the highway was closed due to a mudslide, so we had to head down the Columbia Icefields Hwy. to Lake Louise, and then over to Kelowna. Although it is a breath-taking drive, instead of taking us 10 hrs., it took us about 13 hrs. to drive there. Yuk!