Ethan's new necklace

Ethan was showing us all the different objects he was able to throw into the tree near the house. One object was this purple headband. He showed Sara and I that for guys, it is a cool necklace. He is so cute - usually provides me with a laugh or two when I go visit them. Thanks Ethan - Lola loves you too.

Let's go for a swing!!

Ethan and Sierra asked me to watch how high they can go on the swing set. Between that and the trampoline, they are kept quite entertained outside. The Big Sky and fresh air was the perfect mix to tire out the kids for a nap later in the day. Their napping allowed Sara and I play a game of cribbage. I will have to come back soon to complete our second game Sara.

Brody's new siblings

While Sara had to do something in the house, Sierra and Ethan showed me their new dogs outside. Here is Sierra with the new husky, Maya (yes looks similar to the dogs in the movie, Eight Below (such a cute movie).

Here is Maggie (believe she is a german shepard, but not sure).

Here is Maya and Maggie looking at Ethan has he tries to open my car door. Sorry Ethan old habit - I always lock my door despite being in the country. I find it cute how both Ethan and Sierra likes to go for drives in my car. One of these days Ethan we will go for a ride.

What Big Teeth you have!!!

I went to Three Hills yesterday to do some scrapbooking and visiting with Amy and then went for a visit with Sara down the road. Ethan saw my camera and wanted to take a photo of us. So Sara and I made funny faces for Ethan. Seems we had a theme - big grins to show all our great big teeth.

Happy Birthday April Babies!!!!

Today we gathered to celebrate all the April birthdays that are occuring in the family. Sara (13th); Garron (15th), Char (17th), Amy (29th) and we also added John (Feb 16) as we weren't able to be altogether for his. It was great seeing everyone in one place and were able to have share some great laughs, which is always fun. Amanda made this yummy cake with all their names and she added these beautiful daffaodils too. Happy Birthday Everyone!!! Next one is Ocean (this Thursday!) - she will be 6 years old - where is the time going?

Happy Birthday Sara

Today we celebrate Sara's birthday. Another year has past - wow what a year it has been! I have just seen Sara, so last night as I was driving home, some thoughts went through my head about Sara. I asked myself - "What are some words or a description that come from being friends with Sara?" So I thought by using her letters in her name, I would put fingers to the keyboard and share them with you.

S - Sounding-Board (she has a good ear for listening and a great pair of shoulders for a good cry), Sensitive, Sister, Special Person, Sharing - willing to share her experiences, share her time, share her thoughts on a subject.

A - Admire - Admire of what she has overcome and willing to share initimately to me and others so that we might benefit and might apply it when we face our challenges in life. That takes so much courage to do Sara. Thank you for that.

R - Respectful, Reality-check (especially when you need it to hear it); Resourceful - resourceful in her knowledge and life-experiences and resourceful of finding great deals through freecycle online.

A - Accepting of others - she loves you for who you are. Available if you need to vent too.

Sara, wishing you a wonderful birthday surrounded by your family and friends. Thank you for being who you are - if you didn't already know, you are special to me and so glad to call you friend, confident and a part of my family as a sister. Will no doubt see you over the weekend.

IL DIVO!!!!!

(L to R) Carlos (Florence); David (US); Sebastien (France); Urs (Switzerland)

David, Carlos, Urs and Sebastien

Sebastien and Urs on the big screen and you can see the 4 of them on the bottom left corner.
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In December, Char told me that Il Divo was coming to Calgary. Boy I was very excited to hear that - Il Divo has become one of my favourite artists/band to listen to. I know I am not one normally for "opera" music, but these guys make it exciting to listen too. When I went online, I noticed that one of their stops was Montreal. I made an impulsive decision - I called my Aunt Dee and Uncle Alan in Montreal if they would like to go see them when they come to Montreal in April. They said yes, so I went ahead and bought 4 tickets. So for Christmas I treated myself, my aunt, uncle and my mom to see Il Divo live in Montreal. Being that it fell within the Easter weekend it gave me a chance to visit the rest of my relatives in Montreal as well (you will notice the photos from the previous blog entries). My uncle and aunt treated us to a wonderful Italian restaurant across from the Bell Centre for dinner. It was very yummy!!! We went to concert and enjoyed the opening act of William Joseph, a pianst. He was quite good. Then came on stage the group I couldn't wait to watch perform and listen to the songs that I have played countless times in my car. I was not disappointed - they sang some of my favourites from their previous 2 CDs too. Mama was one of them - a tribute to their mothers. I agree with my aunt Dee, you had to pinch yourself as it sounded just like it on the CD - the clarity was awesome which I wasn't totally expecting being a hockey stadium and all. It was funny to watch the blending of generations as all ages of ladies were surrounding the stage to give the guys flowers, gift bags, envelopes (no clue what is inside) while they were singing. The constant performer - singing while smiling and acknowledging the gifts they were accepting. So now when I listen to Il Divo in my car, I can really picture who is singing and their faces. Being that they were performing in Montreal - Sebastien and Urs spoke to the audience in French and David and Carlos spoke to us in English. David during the encore performance he mentioned that he looks forward coming back to Montreal when they tour next year - my ears perked up for that - another tour - another chance to watch them sing live again. Thank you Uncle Alan, Aunt Dee and mom for sharing in this experience with me - it was fun. Though majority were foggy - happy to have some photos turn out okay from the concert.

Penning Clan

Here is a photo of my relatives from my dad's side. (L to R) Hannah, Mikayla, Debbie, Leighton, Aunt Carol, Uncle Bert, Janet and Rachael.

Uncle Bert with Janet and Rachael.

Janet with her husband Eddie, myself, Debbie with her husband John and their two children Leighton and Mikayla. It was wonderful seeing everyone again. Easter weekend was definitely a sporting weekend too - Golf you had the Masters (Zach Johnson the winner); Hockey (well we know that out come - there is always next season Canadiens) and Curling (Canada's Russ Howard won on home turf). So between visiting John, Debbie and I watched all three sports on TV.

Easter Sunday

I went to Montreal for the Easter weekend and I stayed with my cousin Debbie. The last time I saw my relatives was late 2003, so it has been awhile to say the least. Above are Debbie's two children Mikayla and Leighton. They are dressed in their new Easter clothes and Debbie tells me they were up like at 7am hunting for their chocolate eggs!! I remember being a kid and waking up waaaay to early in the morning. (Side note - I remember one Christmas where Debbie's mom - Aunt Carol told me to put everything back into my stocking and go back to bed. Well, I can't blame her - it was 4am!)

After church we went back to Uncle Bert and Aunt Carol's place for lunch. This was the first time I had been at their new home. It was wonderful seeing a couple of familar photographs I had taken and given to them as gifts on their walls. Above is Mikayla with her cousin Hannah (her mom in my cousin Janet) all dressed up.

All the little cousins together. Being the only boy must be rough for Leighton, but he seems to do just fine. In this photo he was hamming it up for the photo - looking at the position it looks as he is pretending to have a lightsaver like Luke Skywalker from Star Wars - another thing he loves to watch. (L to R) Rachael (first time I met her), Leighton, Hannah and Mikayla. Find it interesting as it was 1 guy and 4 gals for the older cousins too (my brother with myself, my sister and my two cousins Debbie and Janet). Poor guys always out numbered!

The Next Maurice Richard

My cousin's son Leighton is a major hockey fan. Of course being from Montreal - he is a #1 Montreal Canadiens fan! Leighton and I played some one on one in the basement over the weekend. He is quite good at playing. He whipped my butt good in getting the goals into the net. Debbie, John and I watched the game Saturday night - the great rivalry of Montreal vs Toronto Maple Leafs. It was quite exciting at times as one of the Canadien player, Ryder played a "natural hat trick" I believe in the 2nd period. For a novice like myself, a natural hat trick is 3 consective goals are achieved by the same player. Unfortunately, Toronto beat us by 1 point preventing the Canadiens to advance to the Stanley cup playoffs. But Montreal got the last laugh you might say - the next day the New York Islanders won their game ending Toronto's bid - so neither teams are going to the Stanley playoffs.

Quilt #2 - the Personal quilt

Here is a photo of the quilt you haven't seen in progress. It is made up of t-shirts that are sentimental to my dad or holds a personal memory to. If you click open the photo, you will see a photo of Kathryn during track and field trials in 1992 for the ParOlympic Games that were held in Barcelona. (Of course, Kathryn represented Canada as a freestyle and backstroke swimmer). The paint-brush photo of my dad was designed and made by my brother Bruce for my dad's 50th birthday (it was this year that my father did 50 marathons which happened to occur in the 50th state of Hawaii, in his 50th year.) Above that photo, is a photo of my cousins children - my dad's 3 great - nieces and one great-nephew. Of course you will see multiple t-shirts of Terry Fox. Those who are close to my family, will remember the connect with my family and the inspiration that Terry Fox gave us Canadians to plow on despite what we have to face in our lives. So going from left to right - Me (Laura), Sheryl, Agnes, Evelyn, my dad Peter, Elsie, Sharon, Linda and Brenda. These are the ladies that I see every Monday night - we have plenty of laughs and sharing our week with each other. Definitely have made some wonderful friendships with my Monday night meetings. Thank you ladies for making quilting so much fun. Looking forward to our next project.

The Traveling Quilt

Well, here it is. The final product of the t-shirts of my dad's traveling be it with his marathon days or his cruise days.

The final touches

Probably Brenda or Linda got a hold of my camera and took a photo of me going over one of the quilts to cut any of the loose threads. Brenda made me a great meal last Wednesday and we finished off the second quilt. So as she sewed the binding, I was helping push the material through while checking out to see what threads needed to be cut. Since it was one on one with Brenda and I that night, I had a wonderful time sharing with Brenda and in return as well. Thanks Brenda for your friendship and teaching me some new skills too.