Happy Birthday Jaren!

Jaren holding all the awards he won recently!  You go Mister!

Eleven years ago, I got the best birthday present ever - a 10 lb 8 oz baby boy!  Now, fast forward to today.  This handsome young man is fast approaching my height, is smart as a whip and has the memory of ten elephants.  He is fiercely loyal to his friends, knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things, loves karate and nature and is more than a little particular about most things.  He loves his brothers - as long as they are not in "his" room and is a really great cousin (maybe it is easier to be patient with cousins).  He is still a momma's boy(maybe he has a soft spot for me because I shared my birthday with him), but still has fun with dad (dad is way cooler and has way more adventurous side than mom). 

I am so glad that we were blessed to have Jaren in our family.  He is such an easy kid to be around and I LOVE HIM so much!  Happy Birthday Jaren!

I am still here

WOW!  It has been a long time since I last blogged.  This summer has been the busiest one ever!  So many things going on - fun things, work things, kid things.  You name it.  And soon, I will blog about them!  Stay tuned!

Waterton 2 Glacier Relay

Swift Mother Runners at the start line.  Does it look like we know what we are getting ourselves into... Well, 161 km and lots of wind and crazy terrain was what we were in for...

Look at this team!  Some of these women had to run SUPER hard legs to run and they did it with style and grace.  I couldn`t believe how tough these ladies were (are)!

Me, Megan, Kathy, Jodi, and Heather perched on the ledge, checking out the view from the top of Erin`s super hard leg.  Poor Erin!  It was the hardest leg by far!  At least she didn`t puke when she got to the top like one poor guy!

Yikes.  Who is that girl...

We did it!  After 17 ish hours, we finished the race.  We weren`t in last place (or first either), but we made it.  There were bumps and bruises along the way, but I think we were all made stronger and we certainly made new friends!

At this cool spoon shop in East Glacier, MT.  A mouse ran across the floor an scared some of us (not mentioning any names).


So, the long and short of it is, we started in Cardston, AB at 6 am Saturday, June 25 and ended up in East Glacier that same night at about 10:30.  There were no bears or mountain lions ( I think someone saw a fox), but there were plenty of porta potty stops, snacks, laughs, and a lot of good times.  I would do it again.  I think.

GRASS - AT LAST!

Well, I know this may not seem exciting to some of you, but we are SUPER stoked to finally have a nice lawn!  I know, I know, I should have taken before and after pictures - then you would all realize why I am so excited, but alas, I was too busy doing other things!

Anyway, here is our lush, green, gorgeous, 2850 sq ft lawn!  I didn't know that GRASS could make some one so happy (not the smoking kind - come on people!)

In this pic, you can see a couple of dead spots.  We need to get those replaced.  There was a ton of rain here before they cut the sod, so some pieces were really wet (and smelly) when we got them.  Those pieces died pretty quickly, but the sod company said they would replace them!

YAY for green, green grass!

Pretty

This is my new bracelet that I picked up at Wal-Mart this week.  Isn't it pretty?  I think so too!

Pan Am Games in Regina

This past weekend, Jaren participated in the first Pan American Martial Arts Games in Regina, SK.  This event was put on by the World Martial Arts Games Association and it was by far the biggest tournament that we have ever been in!  Jaren was super excited to be there and the day started with Opening Ceremonies where each province marched in with their flag (accompanied by tons of cheering, of course).  We were then addressed by some of the people who organized the tournament, including the WMAG President.  Following that, we were able to watch a super cool chinese (I think) dragon dance ( I will post more pics later - Lindsey has our other camera on  his golf trip). 

Pictured above is Jaren getting ready for the competition on Saturday.  First he did his kata.  He did pretty well at it - I am pretty sure he got fourth (they show their scores, but anything below 1st, 2nd, 3rd, they don't announce).  Next came his favourite event - point sparring.  He fought really well and won his first match.  His next match was going pretty well, then when they threw in the towel (that is what they do when the 2 min is up), the fighters were tied for points.  UGH!  That means first point wins.  Unfortunately, Jaren did not get the first point!  So, on to match #3.  Guess, what?  Same thing happened again!  This time, Jaren was ahead for a bit, but when the time was up, they were tied - and again, he did not get that first point in.  This led to one very sad boy.  He loves point sparring and so wanted to get a medal in it.  This really seemed to affect his confidence in weapons sparring, but he was able to pull off a BRONZE in that category!  Hooray Jaren!

Here is the tough fighter sporting his medal.  We had a good chat after the events and he realized that it isn't all about winning.  He went in and fought some really awesome competition - you had to get 1st or 2nd in a qualifying tournament in order to get into the Pan Am Games - and he improved his fighting skills tons!  All in all, it was a great experience!  We are SO proud of you JAREN!

Three more sleeps

Three more sleeps until we leave for the Pan Am games.  Jaren is super excited.  He keeps telling people that he might be on TV.  So cute!  Wish us luck and send us positive - "assertive fighting" vibes!