Famulak Family Fun... haha cheesy alliteration.

This month we've been able to have a couple really fun weekend trips with Nick's side of the family. Nick's dad's birthday was on July 11th, so both sets of Nick's grandparents and all of his Aunts and Uncles and cousins went camping up at his Uncle's land north west of the city. Nick and I took a tent to sleep in and we all just had an awesome time hanging out, sitting by the fire visiting, and staying up way too late! His land was right on a lake as well so we even got in a little bit of boating.

Nick and Uncle Brad setting up our tent...obviously I helped a lot.

Kyla, Jaylin and Andrea put on these hats and came up with this pose all on their own. So cute!

Nick's brother Bryan on grill duty

Playing a little friendly football.

Nice form Nick...

Who can chop through the log first? Is it Neil in his birthday crown???

Nope. Nick was the victorious one!

Nick's cousin Mike decided he wanted to take home this GIANT rock to use for landscaping his yard, so all the men got together and had to figure out how to get it in the back of the truck. It was quite the ordeal to watch, and quite hilarious. Just picture 6 or so men trying to push, pull, roll, slide and lift an 800+ lb. rock. Pretty funny...

I loved the little path that led down to the lake. It was so peaceful, and with the sun streaming through the trees like this, it actually reminded me of
the Sacred Grove.

Nick's sister Alysha and I down by the lake

A little blurry, but Nick had some sweet air!

The birthday boy celebrating the big 5-0 !

Then, a couple of weeks ago Nick and I drove down to Outlook, Saskatchewan with his parents and sister for his mom's cousin's 25th anniversary party. It was like a mini-reunion for his Mom's side of the family so it was great to see a bunch of the family that I've basically only met once at our wedding. We stayed out on their acreage and quite enjoyed the quiet farm life. This place was teeny tiny. Like seriously, it made Cardston look big! On Saturday morning, us girls went for a drive into town to get the local tour and an icecream cone. We went and walked out onto this old bridge (which used to be a train bridge and has now been converted into the longest pedestrian bridge in Canada) and the river view was beautiful! Nick and the boys went gopher hunting, then that evening we all got together for the party and just spent the rest of the night visiting with everyone.

I love the architecture of this bridge, isn't it beautiful?

Alysha and I down by the river. We had to go wading since it was SCORCHING out, and I was basically a sweaty mess! yuck.

This was a small cone. And she had already licked a lot off! Go figure...

Is it bad that I think my husband looks hot with a gun?

Our wonderful hosts Susan & Murray

The whole clan L-R: Brenda, Ernie, Donna, Chris, Kali, Murray, Susan, Dad-Neil, Alysha, Me & Nick and front: Flo, Thomas, Gpa Cyrille, Mom-Teressa, Kaitlyn

Nick's mom and her favorite cousins growing up, Susan and Brenda

The lake

Cute little Levitucus & Dandilion with Auntie Trunchbull ...
bruhaha I'm so random but I crack myself up!

Why I LOVE going to the lake:

Sleeping in and waking up to my Dad's pancake breakfasts
Reading lots of good books
Going wakeboarding and skiing on smooooth early morning water
I get to RELAX. all. day. long.
Seeing how bad of a sunburn my Dad will manage to get
Taking pictures in Big Fork
Playing Cards and Board Games and chatting into the wee hours
Watching movies in the middle of the afternoon
Tanning/napping on a towel in the sun
Evening family swimtime out in the middle of the lake
Henry Weinharts Vanilla Cream Sodapop
Taking leisurely tube rides (I have retired from the vicious ones)
Watching (or driving) the boys on vicious tube rides
Making meals and doing dishes as a family
Enjoying the peace and serenity that only the mountains can give you
Spending quality time with my family

Macho...macho...man.... (can you hear the song in your head?)

Four Generation tube ride: Mom, Grandma Hull, Jill & Dani - Sweet....

Tom, Nick and Alex getting some sick AIR!

Think they're excited to play with fire?
(please take note of my Dad's shirt we got him - haha so funny!)

Dani was not a fan of our Canada Day fireworks :(

Mom, Jill and Grandma Betty enjoying some shade

Nick and I swimming...

My cute parents - notice how burnt my Dad is (classic Ron.....)

Trip to Tacoma!

Last month we welcomed into the Schow family the newest member of the next generation. Landon Reed Schow was born on May 20, 2009 to Shane and Jennica, and this past weekend was his baby blessing in Tacoma, Washington. My ever generous parents used thier air miles to fly me down there to meet up with them and Shane's family. It was seriously such a fun trip! I hadn't seen any of Shane's family since last August, so the kids had changed so much. Ian is almost 6, Kelsey just turned 4, and Kaden is almost 3. Last time they took awhile to warm up to me, but this time was the complete opposite and I loved it. From the moment I opened the van door, the kids were chattering excitedly telling me all their news. It was so cute! I had a great time just hanging out and playing with the kids, and visiting with Shane and Jennica. We sure don't get to see them enough! Mom and Dad got there a few hours after I did and we had a yummy barbeque and spent the evening eating and playing with the kids in the backyard.

Kelsey and I (doesn't she have the prettiest red lips!)

Haha! Kaden can't reach the door handle so he stands outside and yells until someone let him in!

This is the kids' best funny faces. Kelsey had obviously had a little spill...

Backyard BBQ! L-R : Mom, Kelsey, Kaden, Jennica, Shane, Dad and Ian

My favorite picture: I love the chaos of Kels attacking Dad, and Dad choking Ian! Hilarious.

On Saturday we took the ferry over to Anderson Island. We explored the shoreline for 'treasures' and found washed up jelly fish, seashells, sand crabs, barnacles rocks and tons more. The kids were so excited about everything. We also enjoyed wading in the water (even though it was pretty cold - like Waterton water) and sitting in the sun.

Entertaining the kids until it was time to leave for the ferry ride.

These first few minutes on the ferry was probably the only time the kids stood still

Real starfish on the pillars by the ferry. They were huge! I didn't even know there are purple ones!

We went out for dinner at a really cool restaurant called, 'The Rainforest Cafe' and the kids were over the moon. The whole restaurant is decorated like you're under a canopy of rainforest with all the vegetation, flowers, fake (moving) animals, and stars peeking through. There's even the occasional lightning and thunderstorm with "rain". It was awesome and the food was great. Since it would be Jennica's birthday a couple days later, we had them come out singing with a sparkler dessert, and then we all shared. When we got back to our hotel, we took the kids swimming and then they enjoyed a "hot tub-bubble bath" back in the room since the real hot tub was out of service.

On Sunday we hung out for a couple hours at Shane and Jennica's, then headed over to the church for 1 'o clock sacrament. After church we went over to Jennica's parents house and had lunch a visited for a couple hours. I had to catch a bus back to the airport just before 7pm, and then I flew home to Edmonton at 9:30pm. It made for a late night of travelling, but I had a good book and the trip went by quick. It was a fabulous little mini vacation, and I'm so glad I was able to go and spend time with my family. I missed having Nick there with me, and it would have been great if Jill would have been able to come after all, but hopefully next time!

Shane & Jennica's family after the blessing

Mom & Dad before church (aren't they cute...)

Outside Shane & Jennica's house

Baby Landon and Grandma Schow (isn't she beautiful!)

Life Lately...

Mmm...the yummy sugar cookies Paige and I made and decorated

Finally I have something worth blogging about! A couple weeks ago our friends, Paige & Jeremy, came to stay with us. Jeremy had to some work to do up here so Paige and their little boy Chase came along too. They ended up being here for a week and a half and we had such a blast! I don't think I would have been able to get through the rest of my time off work if they hadn't been here. Paige and I marathon watched "Felicity" and it really brought back some Junior High/ Highschool memories for me since that was when it had origionally aired. It's a great show-and now Paige is totally hooked on it (unfortunately though, it was only 4 seasons and is long since over). Ohwell... We did decide to get out of the house a few times, one of which was to go to the park down the street. It was a really nice afternoon, and we had fun playing with Chase.

While the boys worked we had a good time just relaxing at home reading, watching shows and just taking it easy. Kay came over one night and we had some classic girl talk while the boys played games. (Kay made me promise not to post any of our 'sweet' pictures from that night, so I am honoring my word.) We managed to keep the shopping to a minimum and only went out to eat twice (once for lunch, once for dinner). The dinner was at Joey's and was a girls night out. Kay, Julie and Christa met up with us and we had such a great time chatting the night away, talking about what girls love most to talk about: boys. Haha - we all swapped stories like our first kiss, first time we met our spouses, our marriage proposals, etc. The restaurant was crazy busy and our food took FOREVER, but for once it didn't feel like it at all!

Paige and I before dinner ~ I love ya Paigel~

L-R: Me, Julie, Kay, Paige and Christa

I figured I better include some pics of the boys:
Nick and Chase on our delicious Costco run

How many men does it take to feed a baby?
(they were having struggles...haha)

The last Monday Paige and Jer were here, it was Kay's birthday so I made a yummy Skor cake and we headed to her house to hang out. Unfortunately the only picture I took was of the cake...

Paige let me gel Chase's hair for the bday get together,
so I made the most of his curls. He is so cute!