Run for the Pumpkin

October 3, 2009 brought our family to Lethbridge to the annual run that's a Stewart tradition and a run that I remember running when I was younger. Rueger had been talking about this race and we decided to enter and he was so excited. This is him coming into the finish line at full speed.

Daddy ran with Briggs and they did amazing. Briggs only stopped once for a couple seconds to take a walk. Dad was so proud of him.
Grandma Stewart came to watch and take care of Devyn. (She didn't know that was a perk of coming to watch)! We were glad she came though even though it was a short race.
Our other cheerleaders. Grandma and Grandpa Perrett, Misty, Hunter, Turner, Summer and Jagger. They made it just in time. It was awesome to have them there to help cheer on the kids. We waited at the bottom of the first hill to see the kids run around the corner and Armes said as Briggs heard all of us cheering Armes eyes started waterting because Briggs started running faster and got so excited.

You guys did amazing. Briggs (4) ran his 2km race in 17 minutes. You did awesome bud and I am so proud of you. It was so much fun to see him running into the finish line. He was so fast and in his words he just "put on the speed."

I called in the big guns Uncle Russ to run with Rueger. I kept telling Rue that Uncle Russ wins all his races. If you listen to him he will help you go fast and do awesome. He did way better than awesome. He was so fast. He did his 2km in 12 minutes. They're were over 100 kids in his age group and he got first place. I couldn't believe it. I knew he was fast but there were so many kids. Uncle Russ paced him and passed some kids pukeing and finished strong. Uncle Russ I owe you big time, he has never been so excited for a long time, and we can't stop talking about it, and I don't want to stop talking about it.


Rueger with his first place ribbon. Briggs was kinda sad he didn't win a ribbon but when your in the same group as your older brother it's not gonna happen. Maybe next year bud. I told him he was the first 4 year old to cross the finish line (I have no idea) and he was so excited. Then the stories started coming out. He now says he was so fast he passed the bigger kids and he even passed a giant. Love him. Congrats boys you are amazing.

The next day I had a race back in the Hat. I ran with Armes assistant Lori and her friend Jen. we had a good time. Actually, we were pretty much the best I know. It was a fun casual run and I had a great time. We walked, we ran, we stepped in puddles, we mocked people. What more could you ask for? Thanks Lori for inviting me I had a blast.

Devyn is 1

My baby is 1 and I couldn't be sadder!!! She is growing so fast. She kills me everyday with her weird looks and tooth grins that she gives me.

We made some pizza and chowed down. The boys were pretty excited for her. Of course she didn't really realize what was going on.

She is so sweet. I wasn't sure about having a girl a year ago but couldn't imagine life without her. She is the sweetest thing ever and I love love love her.

Of course CAKE. She actually liked it but gave weird faces at first. Probably because of the coldness of it.

I wrapped her present in tissue paper and let the boys color and write all over it to decorate it for Devyn. The boys love to write and color and did such a good job. We gave her a cabbage patch doll that the boys named Sally for her. She mostly just bangs Sally's head on the floor, I think she likes the sound of it but occasionally she'll get the bottle and bang it near her mouth., It's really cute. I used to have a cabbage patch kids when I was little. I forgot how good they smell. It's funny how smells bring back memories.

Grade 1

Oh my Rueger. I love this kid! He makes me smile, laugh and have a good day when he's around. He's a big help and loves to play with Briggs and Devyn. I miss him so much when he's at school. He loves school though. That's a good thing I know. I can't believe he's in grade 1. So big.

Boys Camp

Our ward here planned a boys camp. No girls allowed as my boys would tell me over and over again. It was out at Elkwater and just for one night. The boys were so excited to go with dad and leave mom.

They got to eat camp food, sing by the fire, go on a hike, play around and just get dirty!! That's what camping is all about right. No limits. They're were a few minor accidents, of course, men "watching" the kids. A few stiches needed (not our kids) but all in all a good time.

It was awkward being home alone. Devyn goes to bed around 8 and then I watched some chick flicks and that's about it. I know I'm boring. It was kinda nice to go to bed early and do my own thing. I like having my family home with me and am glad it was only 1 night. They keep talking about another one in the winter but we'll see.

Edmonton

We had a couple days off in September and decided to take a little trip up to Edmonton and do some school shopping and get away from things for awhile. This was one of our funner trips. We had a blast. The kids were awesome and so funny.

What's Edmonton without West Ed right? We were walking around the mall and the kids didn't know what we were going to do and kept asking us what the plan was. We walked over to the big window and looked down into the waterpark. The kids were trying not to ask (we have a rule - you ask you do not get) but it looked so fun. Finally Armes told them that this was the plan to go swimming!! AAHHH so excited. With both our children yelling your the best mom and dad in the world we were beaming and ready to go watersliding and swimming.

The boys liked going down the waterslides with Dad and went on a raft ride and looked sooo funny coming down. We spent most of the time in the wave pool though. They love the water.

Since swim club this summer Rueger has turned into a good little swimmer. It's nice that you don't have to watch him every second now. I'm still paranoid and keep a close eye but now I know he can swim and it takes a lot of pressure off watching out for 3 kids.

We decided to hit the mini golf course and dad had to show the boys how it's done. The boys love to mini golf. Rueger is getting really good and was only two strokes behind mom on one of the courses!! Briggs loves to just hit the ball hard and then after 3 or 4 strokes picks it up and sets it next to the hole to get it in.

Briggs is good at hitting it hard. He did get a couple holes in 2 though!! He's catching on fast.

Rueger would always beat mom on the holes with a raised platform. I always maxed out my shots and he would just laugh at me. He is getting good at smack talking!! He learns it from his mama.

Drumheller

Lately, I ask the kids to take a picture and they always want to pose. So I let them. They make me laugh so hard.

Devyn loved the museum. Doesn't she look so relaxed and excited. I don't know why but I love this picture of her.

I have been talking about going to the museum for awhile now. The kids were so excited to see the dinosaurs. Rueger really wanted to see a T-Rex and yes we saw a couple of them. Briggs wanted to see a pteradactyl. There was one on the roof near the end. That was a close one.

It took us awhile to go through and the kids did great. Of course there is a million things to look at. We had a lot of fun and suprisingly enough the kids new a lot of the names of the dinosaurs. We have a puzzle with about 15 different dinosaurs and they're names on it and I guess they actually do pay attention to it.

Love these two. They love each other so much and are so good to each other.

Saskatoon Bound

My cousin Heather had a baby girl and named her Aubrey. This was the perfect excuse for us to go back to Saskatoon and see our friends and see my new baby girl. We crashed with the Baker's for a couple nights and had so much fun. Thanks guys for letting us stay there. My boys loved all the boy toys. I got to see Aubrey and hopefully suprised Heather. I never told her we were coming. I miss her so much I have to call her all the time even if I have nothing to talk about, I miss her. I didn't take pics of the new baby though. AAHH. She's adoreable and Laney was being such a good big sister. And Of Course, Heather looked amazing, as always.

While we were there Circus Gatti was in town. I totally remember my dad taking us as kids to this circus in Lethbridge and totally loved it. As an adult, questionable!! My kids had a blast though, popcorn and candy apples make any event awesome. Rueger and Briggs loved the juggling man and the elephants. We went with Jahn's, Cooper's and Baker's. So fun to be back in town with friends again.

In the morning Armes golfed with the boys. He had a lot of fun and it was golf - could you go wrong??? At night we planned a girls night to see everyone at Earl's for dessert. There was about 10 girls and it was so good to see everyone and they're all doing so good. I miss them so much. Wish I was visiting again soon.

Gone Fishing

Armes the master fishing casting off into the South Saskatchean river here in Medicine Hat. There are huge sturgeons in this river but we were unluck in our efforts.

The kids had their own poles this year and learned how to cast by themselves. They loved to change their hooks and kept on trying. Rueger got really good at casting.

This is when Briggs caught a leaf and thought it was so awesome. At least he caught something! The only sad thing about fishing is when you lose a hook. Tears come and fishing suddenly isn't that fun anymore. Good thing a 4 year has mood swings like a girl and after a couple minutes we were ready to go again.

Although LULU thinks she's a helper I think she probably scares the fish away. We love to take her with us though. The kids laugh at her when she shakes right beside them.

Always happy to go fishing with dad.

Briggs turns 4

Briggs turned 4 on June 8. I cannot believe he is 4. Crazy boy. He is still such a cuddly boy that it doesn't feel like he is this old. He still loves to sit on my lap and be with me. He still thinks mom is pretty cool. I love it. I never want this kid to grow up.

Briggs is into Shrek right now. I don't know why. He always asks if he can watch Shrek. He loves the donkey and the dragon. He always says "he's in love with her." In his cute voice it's pretty funny.

He had a couple of his new friends come over and enjoy the day with him. He was so excited for his friends to come over.

Of course the best part of any birthday is the PRESENTS.

Armes drew Shrek for me and I colored it. Then I traced the head. Then the kids colored the photocopied Shrek head however they liked. Then we played pin the head on the Ogre. It was pretty funny. One kid wasn't sure about being blindfolded by this strange women though. Briggs loved this game and this poster stayed up for a week after so we could still play.


You're 4. So it's time for the training wheels to be gone!! Goodbye training wheels. The first try without them did not go so well. So then we put him on Rueger's scooter for 2 weeks because that will teach you balance in a hurry. Then it was time to get back on the bike.

Back on the bike and.....success. He took off and is so good at riding without those training wheel. We have the most amazing paths right out our front door. It is awesome. We spend a lot of nights out on the path!!

Graduation Time

The gang. Armes, Eric, Erin and Conner. After being in Saskatoon for 6 years the day came to Graduate and move on with life!!!! Yay. I can't even explain how hard these guys had to work and how many endless hours of studying this took for them. Finally it all paid off and it all ended!!

Phil and Colleen came out for Graduation and it was so much fun. Do his parents look proud or what??? I will admit that when his name got called and he walked across the stage to get his diploma my eyes watered. I know lame eh? I think it's cause as his wife I got to see his daily struggles and all the hard times he went through. Sometimes I thought we were crazy to be here, but I am glad to say it's over. At the same time moving was really hard. I was fine until the morning of the move. I was thinking about all my great friends and all the fun times, then Krystyn showed up with McD's breakfast for us and I kinda broke down when she left. I love everyone there. I miss you so much.

Yes, my husband the dentist. Isn't he cute in his gown.

Mom and Dad Perrett at the Banquet. Armes had to give the toast to the family speech. He did such a good job. He was so so so nervous. He practiced and practiced and he didn't even let his parents hear him until that night. He was awesome.

Yes, it's true I get to make out with a dentist ALL THE TIME!