Abby goes to Canada...Again!

During October my family took, yet another LONG trip to Canada. This time for my cousin's wedding. And this time we got pictures...not much but a few!

Day 1, Hour 2- Looking pretty good! Abby's got her "loops" and everything is good!

Between the US/Canadian border and Taber (the town where my aunt lives) there is this tourist information/museum kind of thing. It has a big statue of a dinosaur that provides the perfect picture oppurtunity. It has been tradition since I was a little girl to stop there to take a break. We ALL have a picture of us standing by the dinosaur, and this trip was no different.

This is the picture of me and the Dino when I was in Kindergarten. (It was the middle of the 80's...need I say more!)

18 years later, a new generation enjoys the thrill of being amongst the Dinosaurs.

Day 1, Hour 9 - Still looking good, but you should have seen her the last 7 hours. (Hence the lack of pictures in our progress!)

Here are just a few more pictures of Abby exploring the place. Abby had so much fun walking around, it was a rough experience putting her back into the carseat. (All you mom's know what I am talking about! )

Uncle Nick and Abby exploring a cave!

Abby on top of the world!

That's the end of the pictures (I don't know what happens), but we had a wonderful weekend. The wedding was beautiful and the food was WONDERFUL (seriously food tastes so much better in Canada), and it was fun to see everyone again. We look forward to the next little get-together.

Abby LOVES Olives!

Mmmm! Yummy!

We're Back!

I don't even want to talk about the last..what...three months!

So let's skip the excuses and get down to business. :)

On Sept 27th Abigail turned into your classic 1 year old. She began walking the same day. (We have video of her first steps, but we don't have to cord to download to our computer. So you'll just have to trust us.) Anyways we celebrated her birthday with food, fun, cake, and presents. Abby especially loved the attention...and the CAKE! She did not have to be coaxed into trying the cake... she dug in with both hands first thing.

The cake was so good she even wanted to share. Here she is shoving a piece of SLOBBERY cake into Uncle Cody's mouth!

After she finished her cake (well not the whole thing) and we got her cleaned up, it was time to open presents. I think she enjoyed this almost as much as her cake. It was fun to watch her get excited. (Once again we have footage of this but it is stuck on our camera! Sorry). Anyways Mark and I got her a shopping cart with food and a baby doll. She LOVED (and still loves) her doll. She gives her hugs and kisses and pushes her around in the cart. It is adorable. After all the present were opened, it was amusing to watch Abby go from one toy to the next and to the next. She couldn't decide on what toy to play with first. Anyways Abby had an eventful and memorable birthday party, and we can't wait for the next one. Happy Birthday Abby!

MAJOR Bad Hair Day!

Good Mornin' Abigail!?! Rough Night!?!

We're getting there people!

Day 14 - Subflooring

That's right folks ...we've got subflooring. I can't believe the difference it made to have decent plywood installed over the YUCKY whatever that was! Anyways here are a couple of pictures of the new subflooring! Wahoo!

Day 15 - Flooring

The VERY next day....(Yeah we couldn't believe it either)... they came to install the floor! It took them all day, but hey it looks amazing! I absolutely love it! What do you think? (The pictures really don't give it justice though)

Day 20 - Scraping, Filling, Taping...YUCK!

Since we have been in a mess for a couple weeks now, we decided... hey what's a couple more days...and got the bright idea to paint the entire kitchen/pantry area! It was a perfect opportunity! Anyways so today we scraped off some of the residue left from the previous baseboards (it was the rubber kind you glue on..yeah no fun!), we have filled in holes, and taped trim...all so my dad can begin painting ASAP! (Seriously I think my dad got the better end of the deal!) I got this picture of Abby "helping" dad! It was ADORABLE...if I do say so myself!

Well we look forward to the completion of this MAJOR construction project and will keep you posted on any improvements that occur in the near future...Meanwhile stay tuned!

Abby's 1st Camping Trip! What A Goodie!

Last Wednesday my family, Abby and I (Mark had to stay home because of our kitchen disaster...see Caution: Post) went on an overnight camping trip. We went to Birch Creek Campground...literally out in the middle of nowhere! But it was beautiful and a WHOLE lot of fun! We took the four-wheelers and fishing poles and enjoyed the time we had to spend in the beautiful great outdoors!

Abby had so much fun playing in ALL the dirt...really she got FILTHY!!! But you know I wasn't about to fight her.... she was just having WAY too much fun!

The only thing about her getting so dirty was getting her clean...How would I get her clean again!?! (That was the million dollar question!) Just washing her hands before dinner took about four wipes...each hand! I wasn't about to use all my wipes to clean her off to just get dirty again! Uuummm???? There was the creek (I thought)...but I couldn't do that to my sweet Abby! No way!

And then as we were visiting around our camp... there it was...the solution to my internal debate! The stock pot of warm water (primarily used for washing dishes...but in a pinch can also be used as a make-shift bathtub for little ones!) Hey it works!

And don't worry we monitored the temperature of the water and pot VERY carefully! But it worked perfect! She LOVED it! Just look at the gleeful look on her face as she splished and splashed in the stock pot!

We eventually got Abby all clean and ready for bed...Phew! After a peaceful night sleep...ZZzzz! YEAH RIGHT!! It decided to rain on us ALL night long! It probably hadn't rained for 3 months, but the one night we were there it POURED (or so it felt like)! Anyways...after a peaceful night sleep...for Abby.... we awoke to slighlty damp dirt.... (I swear it had rained more than that!?!) And Abby hit the dirt pile yet again! We had to "bath" her once more before we left, but she didn't mind! We made it home safe and sound...and somewhat clean... and decided we had so much fun camping...(and now we know how to get Abby clean after a long day in the dirt)...I think we may go again next week!

Caution: Construction in Progress

Once again I must apologize for my slothful behavior in posting!

But I do have a good excuse...or two or three!

#1 excuse- Two weeks in California...(stay tuned!)

#2 excuse- Flooded Kitchen... while in California... (thus the construction in progress!)

#3 excuse- .....

So you see we have been BUSY trying to get our home back into a living condition again! I will elaborate...

While we were enjoying two wonderful weeks in California, My sister was taking care of our home...watering, weeding, mowing, etc. One day while making her rounds my sister found my kitchen a flooded disaster! She frantically grabbed at any towel she could get to soak up the water, meanwhile called my grandpa to help shut off the water. Phew! What had happened was the water line to the ice maker had sprung a leak and was shooting water everywhere... Anyways... They got the water turned off and cleaned up, and then anxiously awaited to see what damage was done! When we got home a couple of weeks later we assessed the damage and to the naked eye you wouln't think there was much damage! But when I could no longer open or close my pantry door (due to the swelling of the linoleum) we decided it was time to get insurance involved.

Well to make a long story short, Our Insurance came to assess the damage, a cleaning and restoration company came to assess the damage, and sure enough there was major water damage! We ripped out the linoleum and about two other layers of subflooring...and now my kitchen is torn apart...literally (half of my appliance are out of commission for the time being), as well as my living room. Everything from those two rooms have been stashed away in the other two bedrooms, (I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!) and to make matters worse... I have about six loud, HOT, annoying fans scattered throughout my house blowing HOT air to dry up the floor....AND we don't know how long we will have to have them! 

Needless to say we spend alot of time outside or elsewhere!

But on a MUCH happier note, because there was so much damage to our kitchen and living room floors... I get new floors in both rooms and insurance gets to pay for it all! YEAH! Finally carpet in my living room! Anyways here are few pictures of the construction so far... I will definitely keep you posted on the progress!

Here they are tearing out layer #2 of the subfloor!

Water damage behind the refrigerator! Yuck!Damage done behind the washer and dryer! Here are the LOUD and ANNOYING fans I was talking about!

   Abby was curious to see what was going on in the kitchen...but for obvious reasons we didn't want her in there, so Mark rigged up this "gate" so she couldn't get through. It was so funny watching her try figure out how she could get through!

Happy 50th Grams and Gramps

This year (in December) my Grandparents are celebrating the 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Congratulation you two! Because of this my whole family (extended and all) rented a Lodge in Island Park as a celebration of their 50th/family reunion. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity so we lived it up...really we did! We spent four days and three nights up among the trees and splendor! Here it is our home away from home!

If anyone is looking for such a place I highly reccommend it!

Bonus! It is also for sale!

So while we were there we pretty much did everything you could imagine...ate, slept, visited, ate, played games, watched movies, ate, sang around the campfire, rode horses, excercised, ate, slept a little, canoed, hiked, killed tons of mosquitos, ate, attended a play at the Playmill in West Yellowstone, ate, relaxed in a hot tub.... you catch my drift. This post would be way to long if I continued much longer. But here are a few pictures of our adventures in the great outdoors.

Our first stop takes us to West Yellostone and the Playmill theater! Here we are ALL walking around West as typical tourist do...but alas we are not typical tourist now are we. No..but what is it that seperate us from the rest of the crowd. None other than our matching RED T-shirts. (I told you we lived it up!) Everyone...even the babies had matching T-shirts. AMAZING!!! (You gotta now my grandpa...He DOES NOT where T-shirts!) Anyways we were all (well most of us) were pretty proud of our shirts.

As we continue the next stop is Big Springs and floating down the river. Most of the family (excluding me and Abby and a few other fearful folks) rented canoes and floated down the river starting at Big Springs. It was a fun experience for all the foreigners! (Literally.. foreigners!)

Just look at us...what a herd! And that's not even all of us!

Finally out last stop...Horseback Riding. What an ADVENTURE! Again most of the family... excluding those horrified humans.... rode horses through natures best.

So anyways as you can see we had a FABULOUS time...and there are much more pictures and adventures for show and tell, but for the sake of my fingertips and your eyes I am going to finish this post real soon. I just want to end with some (okay lots...but how can you narrow down to only a few when you have OVER 500 pictures...sorry) final pictures of we the "Blanchard Beauties!" Enjoy!

"No tell 'em" Lake! Aaaw! This is the life!

Last Saturday we spent the day fishing at "No tell 'em" Lake! This is a lake we have been fishing at for years, and is one of our favorite places in the world. We like to think that we are the only ones who know where it is located, and up until now I actually DID believe it. Unfortunately I have just recently found out that this lake has an actual name, and can be found on almost any map of this region. (Don't even think about getting the real name from us!) It shattered all hopes and dreams of ownership of this wonderful and beautiful lake.

Here see for yourself!

Mark, Abby, and I did not participate in the fishing festivities, we more or less went along for the ride. My parents brought their raft and so we spent most of the time drifting lazily upon the water. Abby loved it! She loved looking at her reflection in the water, she loved splashing in the water, she would have jumped right in if we would have let her! When we had to leave she was heartbroken! My parents also brought along their four-wheelers. Again Abby loved the thrill of the ride. We went on this little trail up the mountain! I hate to even mention this but there was snow...yes, SNOW! I was so surprised at how much snow! We had to blaze our way through piles of snow, only to reach the top of the mountain to see the most breathtaking view (maybe that's a little dramatic) of the Tetons! It was such a beautiful day and you could see them so clearly! (Although the pictures don't do it justice...I had to settle for pictures from my sisters camera... I, like a dummy, had forgotten mine!)

The piles of snow we had to break through to pass! "Come on Dad, Let's get going"

What a view!!!

"Look Mom, No Hands!" After our little joy ride, we had a picnic and hit the lake for more floatin'. Abby got so excited to be back in the raft she could hardly contain herself (and neither could I!).

"Aaaww! Mom, Just let me jump in... Please!"

Well anyways, we spent a fabulous day at "No tell 'em" Lake! And we look forward to many more days spent in the peaceful surroundings of this wonderful place!