Two Decades...

It was my birthday yesterday. It was awesome. For the first time in a while my Mom took the day off and we played all day and visited with some of my fave people.
The day started with presents in bed...

And then breakfast in bed made by dear Nate!After leisurely getting up and getting ready we stopped at Zach and Stacey's to say good morning...
After that we went to the MALL!!! I got a new outfit... Here is me with my new outfit and an iced tea from the new tea place in Polo Park! I got it free 'cause it's my BIRTHDAY!
We went and had lunch at Chez Sophie in St. Boniface...it was tres chic. We met with Jay who gave me these beautiful flowers....All those flowers are from her garden!! Lunch was delicious and the company was excellent!
Then we went and had ice cream with Si...
...and Trina and Aubrey!(As you can see the flowers were now coming along everywhere with us!)

Then we (Me, Mom, and Zach) went to Brushfire and each painted a piece for someone else...

Then we headed out for supper with the rest of the family whom some I hadn't celebrated with yet...it was yummy.

Thank you to everyone who made this day special...I appreciate and love you all!

Country Escape

Before we get into the fun stuff, let's get some business out of the way. You may have noticed I haven't posted for about 2 weeks...eek. Trust me, I think about it every day. It's always on my mind...sometimes even more so when family and friends comment on how it's been a while since something new has been posted. It seems strange to be posting my adventures when most of you know what I'm up to or are a part of the adventures! This weekend I was out at the Curle-Hodgson's (Brenda, Larry, Isabelle, and Duncan's house) and Brenda and I started talking about a different set up for the blog...we shall see how it unfolds!

Now, the fun stuff...

I got to spend 4 days in the country. Yup, the prairies are definitely what I crave the most when I am happy, sad, and everything in between. Seeing the openness and the fields of yellow canola makes me calm. Those who know me well know I'm a prairie girl through and through. There was play, a baseball game, gardening, resting, and of course cooking.

I went out Thursday afternoon and after a couple hours in the garden weeding, I went and fetched this handsome devil from the end of the lane...

After a swim in the pool we headed out for the baseball game. I snapped this next picture on the drive...priceless.One of the main cooking accomplishments of the weekend was onion rings. Duncan had been requesting them for a while...it was high time. After he realized that all it consisted of was soaking onions in buttermilk, tossing them in some flour, and frying them he said "that's it? why haven't we been making this more often!". I think everyone enjoyed them...Especially Mr. Bug Man...

On Saturday Punk and I did some baking together. If you are beginning to wonder where the other 3/4 of the Curle-Hodgson's are...they were there too!! It seems that Isabelle took most of the pictures from the weekend and the camera seemed to come out mostly in the kitchen. It was a great weekend. I love cooking with those kids! I'm kicking myself now for not picking up the camera more often...

Apple PIE!

One of my treats from Zach and Stacey's trip was a apple shaped mini apple pie maker....a what? Let me show you....
First you roll out your pie crust.
Then you squish it in an apple shaped contraption that I forgot to take a picture of! And voila you get this:And then two extremely cute people gobble them up!
I love treats!! Especially the yummy kind!

Road Trip!!

On Tuesday Nate and I headed down to Grand Forks to pick up Zach and Stacey who had been on a East Coast adventure! We got up early and hit the road...I gave Nate the camera and let her go crazy. It was not only an exciting trip...it was a hilarious, frustrating, delicious, and goofy adventure! This is what was on my camera at the end of the day...

Bright and cheery, ready for a day of driving!Our friend, the truck, and the wide, open prairies...We were pretty happy to see Zach and Stacey waiting for us at the gas station...
as the picture so perfectly portrays.

As with any trip to the US, even the shortest, there must be a stop at Target. It was our first destination after we picked up the travellers. While I do love a good Target run nothing compares to the amount of love Nathalie has for the bright red store. On the way in she told me all about a dream she once had where she flew to US city just to go to Target...

You should have heard the wonder/delight/happiness she expressed upon seeing a shelf of binders.

Zach was less enthusastic, not being a huge fan of big box stores and all, but I think he still had fun...

Nate and I on the other hand had a blast...We left Target 1 1/2 hours later with a little less money and a lot more stuff! By then it was lunch time and so I led the team on wild goose chase around Grand Forks looking for a restaurant Stacey and her family always went to when they visited. I got a little lost, but by golly was I determined to find the darn place, and I did. It's a drive-in called "The Kegs" and it is just like the old A&W drive-ups. You press a button and the waitress comes out to take your order and then she brings it out to you. It is awesome!Sloppy joes, grilled cheese sandwhiches, root beer everything, onion rings, coleslaw, milk shakes...mmhmm good!
Next time you're in Grand Forks you should definitely eat here, so yummy and so ridiculously fun!
After lunch we started off for home...but by then I had gotten a little cocky with my navigating skills. Which means we got a little lost, I made a few wrong turns and ended up at the air base. It wasn't a huge problem considering I knew if we just got going North we would eventually hit Canada. I did start to get a little worried when then the road turned to gravel and there was no signage about. I finally stopped an asked a toothless man how to get to Canada. He chuckled and gave us completely useless directions. So we drove a little while longer with no luck. And finally by some stroke of luck (more like Nate's ability to remember the dinky little towns we passed by on the way down to Grand Forks) we found our way back to the highway. We were so estatic to see this sign...
By then our tired travellers were even more worn out. So Nate and I cranked the country tunes and snapped pictures of them to bide the time while we made our way to the border...
Duty-free was a whole 'nother story...let me just say that we definately did our part in adding to one US border guard's list of stories about not-so-smart Canadians. I was pretty pumped to be back in the homeland. The trip was a blast...but there is nothing like good ol' Canada.

Here are the photos taken in response to Nate's question "How do you feel about being back in Canada?"We made it back 3 hours after the original e.t.a. Pretty good, considering we (I) got a little lost, eh?

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y!

Today was the first day of the St. Norbert's Farmer's Market....aka one of the greatest days ever! I love all markets but I especially love this one...it's the one I grew up going to and even worked at!
We had fun...Nate got the season's first empanadas...
And Stacey and I got some yummy yummy LOCAL veggies!Then in the afternoon we made cookies...ahh, perfect Saturday activities, cookies and the market!
And I also cracked out the ol' ice cream maker and made some mango frozen yogurt. I think it went well with our chocolate whoopie pies...Life is sweet!