Thanksgiving 2010

Our Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one but it was a lot of fun. It started off with a Rausch family reunion in Airdrie. This happens only every second year so when we get together it's nice to catch up with everyone that we haven't seen in a long time. As usual there were a lot more babies added to the family and all the other kids were so much bigger than the last time we saw them. The adults played games while the kids did crafts and made carmel apples. Of course we had a great lunch with beef on a bun and plenty of yummy salads. After the fun at the church everyone headed over to the pool to swim. When the swimming was over I headed down to Magrath with the kids and Mike had to stay home for work.
On Sunday morning we went to church in My Mom's ward. Even Rhonda and Birkley came. Of course the topic in Sacrament meeting was on gratitude and boy do we have so much to be grateful for. After chuch we had a turkey feast at Mom and John's. Their little house was crowded with Me and my kids. Rhonda, Denis and Birkley, Dani, Melissa and her kids and John's son Spencer and his wife Crystal and their 2 boys. Also Savannah and Austin joined us later that evening for pie and ice cream. We had a great time visiting with everyone.
On Monday we had kind of had a lazy hang out day at Heather's. Ginny and her kids were there so that was fun. Grandpa took a few of the kids in the morning to help him clean his golf cart. They were so excited when they came home bragging that they got to drive it all by themselves. Then for lunch, turkey dinner leftovers, what could be better. In the afternoon the kids just had fun playing together while it gave us a chance to visit. At about 4:30 Russ, Grandpa, and Jantz took the boys out skeet shooting. I know my boys had been anticipating this all day. Russ was going to let them shoot one of his guns. They got back by about 6:30 tired and hungry. They were so excited to tell me how they got to shoot the gun. Heather had packed each of my boys a little lunch and after saying good-bye to everyone we were on our way home. Our weekend was fun filled and we know how blessed we are to have such a great family on both sides.
One family in Magrath was not so lucky this weekend. Jackie and Elizabeth Lauscher were out running on Thursday night and were hit by a car. Jackie was killed and Biz was left with a badly broken leg. This tragety hits a little close to home because Mike and I used to be very close to Becky and Cody lived with us for awhile. I feel so bad for them that they are having to deal with this on Thanksgiving weekend. Also for Kyle whose best friend just lost his mother. It definitely makes me think of all the things that I am grateful for in my life. I only hope that this family can find a little bit of peace in this terrible time of grief. I pray that Kyle will too seeing as this is the second tragety in his life within this year. I am so blessed and grateful for my family at this time.

10 year reunion

So 10 years come and gone. I can't believe I've been out of high school for 10 years already (WOW). Honestly in some ways it seems so long ago and in other ways I feel like it was a week ago. I certainly don't feel any older than I did back then. The only difference is a hubby of 8 years and 4 kids (another wow).
This is the class mates that were able to make it. I thought that for a moment all those emotions of high school would come flooding back. The insecurities, the self consciousness, but when I got there I felt quite confident. I didn't have any big education or travel experiences to brag about but what I did have was Mike by my side. A loving husband who makes me feel worth a million every day. Which is more than I can say for some of the people there. Also 4 beautiful, healthy kids to show off. That was worth a lot to me.
I had to take a picture of Mine and Ginny's babies together. If you would have told us back then that we would be sisters-in-law and have babies the same age we would have never believed it.
Holding up 10 fingers each to show 10 years gone by.
We both look pretty darn good for just having had babies almost 3 months ago. We got our make-up done by Sarah, Kate's sister. She did an awesome job. I don't normally look this done up but it was a nice change.

Swimming Lessons

Mason loved his class and he loved his teacher (Jared Hubbard). He liked using the flutter boards too.


Griffin doing his biggest canon ball off of the diving board.
During our 2 week stay in Magrath the boys were in swimming lessons. So every morning we would make our way to the pool. They were all at different times making it a little difficult for me but I had great help from Kate. I was able to leave Sydnee with her while I ran back and forth to the pool. The boys really enjoyed it so it was worth the hassle. Next year I will have to have better scheduling I guess. The boys all past their class so that was good too.
Griffin working on his distance swim using flutter boards.

Aidan working on his distance swim.

Visiting Magrath

While staying in Magrath for 2 weeks we had a lot of fun. Kyle and Kate were nice enough to let us park our trailer at their house. It was nice for me because Kate helped me a lot with the kids while Mike was back at work. On the first weekend Mike was able to come down so one afternoon we enjoyed a trip to Waterton. We stopped for a hot dog then spent some time at the water. It was quite windy but we had fun anyway.



Another past time was Kate teaching the boys a few notes on the piano. On several occasions I would hear some clucking on the keys and find one of the boys practicing what Kate had taught them. I thought that was really cute and I hope that Kate has installed some music appreciation into them.

Sydnee enjoyed her nightly bath at Kate's using Levi's bath seat. She thought it was great fun.
Usually every night we would put both babies into their swings to get them to sleep. It was cute to see them both enjoying their night time ritual.
We had to visit the skate park several times while in Magrath. Grandma Kimberley gave Aidan and Griffin each a skateboard for their birthdays so they had to show off their skills.


This is what Sydnee would be doing while at the skate park.
One Monday night for family home evening, Kate let the boys paint on some canvases that she had. They thought this was so cool. They were each very creative and were so excited to show their Dad what they had done. They were even more excited when they were told they could take the paintings home.


This was just a few of the fun things we did while in Magrath. I think the boys' favorite part was just playing with their cousins. We all had a great time.

Happy 8th Anniversary

On July 19th Mike and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary. We took Kyle, Kate and Levi out to the Keg with us for dinner. We had a great time. I can't believe it's already been 8 years. The time has gone by so fast and with 4 kids to show for it. We have had our up's and down's but we are still in love now more than ever. Happy Anniversary Babe I hope to have 50 more with you.

Thunder in the Valley

On Saturday July 17th we had a super fun day quading in the crowsnest pass. We met up with Jamey Hall who works with Mike and his family and with Jeff Sillito and his family. We all had a great time, the boys were in heaven. We couldn't get them off the quads at the end of the day.
This is Mike taking Sydnee for her first ride at 2 1/2 months old. I think she liked it as much as the boys.

They were so dirty by the end of the day. A good indication that they loved every minute if it.
After the day of quading we met up with Katie, Jantz, Kyle ,Kate and some of Kate's family at Thunder in the valley. One of the biggest fire work shows around. We were there a few hours early and even though the boys were so excited for the fire works they all fell asleep and slept through the whole show including Sydnee. That was our fist time going to it and it was worth the drive over there. It was a great fire work show. We didn't get home till 2:30am but we had a super fun time.

Mike's 30th Birthday

On July 11th 2010 we celebrated Mike's 30th birthday. We were in Magrath this weekend because this was the start of my 2 week stay. We invited Mom and John to Vince and Heather's and we all ate an awesome steak dinner and skor cake. We had a great time and the boys loved the sparklers on the cake. Now I can bug Mike about being an old man haha.