The four of us went to visit my in-laws last weekend, and it was a great (although totally packed) 4 days of fun. On Sunday we decided to take a trip to Banff, but the weather was uncooperative... so we opted to drive through Kananaskis instead. The mountains and scenery were still gorgeous, regardless of the pelting rain and gloomy skies.





Our faithful roadies, Chimpynuts and Burrito.


Munchkin crashed early on during the drive.


We took a slight detour to Dead Man's Flats to see my brother- and sister-in-law's condo... I'm extremely envious of their patio's mountain view :)


Munchkin travels so amazingly well... I don't remember her complaining the whole day.


Monster on the other hand, was a different story.


The clouds finally decided to clear up on the last third of the trip.








This is my favorite shot.






That's a mischievious look if I've ever seen one!


Posing with Grandma at a waterfall in the Kananaskis village.

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His new favorite activity? Jumping on our bed. Or his bed. Or the couch. Anything with springs, really.

















This kid would die for a trampoline.

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Oops, I did it again. Fell off the productivity wagon and didn't get it done. And it's not that I've been super horribly busy or anything either, although I wish I could use that as an excuse this time. All my ambition and and creativity just went poof. Plus I kinda feel like I got stalled a bit because we went and ordered new furniture for the living room [YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY :)] so I want to wait until it arrives and figure out the arrangement before making up my mind of what to put where on the walls. And I still haven't even decided what to do in the rest of the house... oh well. I guess I'll just sit tight and wait for that magic nudge from the creativity fairy.

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The kids and I went to the lake 2 weekends ago for a family reunion and had a total BLAST. The weather was perfect, the water was icy, the food was amazing and the company was awesome. I want to freaking LIVE THERE.

Jonah was completely in his glory, running around with a lifejacket on and throwing hundreds of rocks from the beach in the water. The highlight of the day was riding in my uncle's boat. He loved it so much they took him out 3 times! He was totally enraptured - the roar of the motor, the wind and water spray in his face and the sensation of speed - it was pure, unadulterated joy.







I wasn't brave enough to venture in the water, but others didn't mind.


Anni had fun on the beach. I tried to coax her into the water but she screamed like a banshee when I dipped her feet in...


This is as far as I went in.


Jonah wouldn't let me put sunscreen on his face and wound up with a nasty sunburn. Poor little guy...


(experimenting with cross-processing...)


Our dog came along with us and had a heyday.


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmdarkchocolatedippedstrawberries!!!!


We stayed at my mom and dad's for an extra day before heading home. This is the nest of baby blackbirds that's in the shrub right next to their deck. I'd never seen baby birds before!




The kids got treated to a tractor ride by my dad. Anni was scared at first, but she grew to like it.

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I discovered this blog last night, listed on Blogger's Blogs of Note. It totally blew me away! I found it really encouraging as a budding "artiste" that art can be anything and everything you want it to be, and just how interesting it is how other people view the world we live in. Some of the weirdest and fascinating ideas and concepts I've ever seen on one site. The human brain is an amazing thing!!

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It's sprinkler time!



I thought he wouldn't like the sensation of being sprayed, but he LOVED IT. He got completely soaked and didn't want to come inside and dry off.


His shorts got so bogged down with water... it made me giggle.






Munchkin didn't want to get wet. She preferred to just sit and watch by the sidelines.

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Okay, so this month I'm taking on a project that should've been done over 2 years ago when we moved into our house: hanging pictures and art on the walls. The reason I haven't done it yet is because I'm partly lazy (yes it's true) and incredibly indecisive. Art is a very personal thing and means something different to everyone, and I want my house to be able to "say" something about me, our family, our life, etc. There are just way too variables involved cluttering my creative process: which ones should go in which room? should I make a grouping? how should I group them; in a pattern, a line, or at random? should the frames match? does it matter if they don't? and most importantly, which photos/artwork to display?

So without further ado, here are the befores.

Living room. This pathetic arrangement is so boring it hurts. It's getting changed.


Eating area. I think I've decided what's going here... but knowing me, I'll likely change my mind another 14 times before committing to something.


Piano... nook? Haha. Not sure if this will stay, I think I just need to arrange some things on the shelf to make it more interesting.


Back entry. This room needs help in a bad way. I love the cheerful color, but it needs something. Being greeted by a lonely freezer isn't exactly what I have in mind for guests.




So there you have it. Hopefully 31 days is enough time!!

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