Nana and Papa come visit us in St. Albert

I have been looking forward to my Mom and Dad coming out to see us for like 2 months+. July 15th finally came! yay! They stayed in a Hotel 5 minutes away from our place and were here for 4 days. My brother and his new girlfriend from Las Vegas stayed with us for a few days and were here for half of the day that Mom and Dad came. It was so refreshing to have my family here, and have them to be with during the day! Sometimes I get lonely since I only know a few people here in the Edmonton Area. My Mom especially was so happy to Jayna and Julian, and Jayna was super excited. She even slept over at their Hotel one night and had such a good time. We all went swimming at their Hotel one night which was actually really fun. It was a nice pool (surprising for a Hotel Pool) and we had it all to ourselves. I actually went in a Hot Tub for the first time in over a year for more than 5 minutes!! ( first chance to go in a hot tub since being pregnant ). Julian came in the pool and he LOVED it! He kicked so much for like 45 minutes and then was totally pooped out after and had a great nap. Jayna is such a good little swimmer. I brought her life jacket and she was good to go. It was fun to be able to play with her in the water one on one while my Mom had the baby. We ate at yummy restaurants, went shopping, explored some parks, walked the bridge across the Saskatchewan river near downtown Edmonton, and cruised downtown for a few blocks. My Dad said he saw a park in the city area, so we walked to it. Turns out it was a bit sketchy... We saw a needle on the side walk, saw some sketchy ppl, Cops were there talking to some guys, and a guy was wiping his dogs bum with klennex, multiple times!! Ya we had a good laugh and were grossed out, and bugged Dad for picking such an "awesome" park to check out haha. How were we to know? lol. My Mom and I went out for a morning with just Julian, and shopped for my birthday. It was so fun. That was always one of my favorite things to do with my Mom growing up. Her and I shopping for clothes or whatever together. Julian was an angel and slept pretty much the whole time. I totally scored and got some amazing deals on some super cute tops, a tank top, a belt, a long dress, 2 jean Capris, earrings, and necklaces. Totally scored a pair of Guess and Silver capris for 34$ each reg $80! I love good sales! And I really needed some Capris! ( I finally lost my baby muffin top, so I can actually fit into normal bottoms, hallelujah! ) We went to Famoso for lunch after, but got it to go because my Dad was dropped off with Jay at the Hotel without a cellphone ( he had been with Andrew earlier until he had to go to work at noon ). We get there and they are just chilling watching T.V. So Mom and I ate at the dinning room at the Hotel, and kept our Mom/Daughter Date going. It was so nice to spend one on one time with her for my 30th. Nana and Papa seeing Julian for the first time since he was just over a month old:

Our walk across the Saskatchewan River:

Here's Josh and his new girlfriend Shelby. I think they will get married. Just my feeling. But they just started dating, although they have known each other for like 7/8 years. They met on his mission actually, and she was only 13! haha. She is such a sweetheart and I have high hopes for their future:

Papa and Jayna. This is my Stepdad Dave. He came into our lives when I was around 9 years old, so 21 years ago. I call him Dad, I have since I was 12. He is an amazing Dad and I love him very much. We are his kids, he didn't have any of his own before he met my Mom. He totally accepted us and took us in as his own and did the best he could with his "ready made" family. He had never held a newborn until Jayna came. He has come a long way with my kids and is an awesome Papa!

Some pictures of us girls! I saw this shirt at Old Navy that says " Nana thinks I'm the BEST!" I knew my Mom would like that, so I got it for Jayna. I also got her one that says "Papa thinks I'm great!" Usually things don't say Nana and Papa on them, so that was kind of cool.

Eskimo kiss, and butterfly kiss. My Mom used to always do that with me, and some things you just pass on cause I do that with Jayna now. lol.

My Mom was wanting a picture of us looking at eachother. 10 years ago, I would have complied, but now I just laughed and made it cheesy. So happy my parents came out to see us. It was a really nice 4 days with them. I will be happy to be home in September and have my family close again!

Long Island Lake, July 13th 2014

A few Sundays ago it was super nice out and we wanted to go to Long Island Lake again. We invited the Sadlers to come with us, and they said yes! So after church off we went! It was nice to have another family to be with. They left before we did, but we had a nice time. I went swimming for a while with Jayna and it was so fun! Having a baby, a lot of times Andrew plays with Jayna and I stay with Julian. It was nice to be with my little girl and have some quality time one on one together. I miss that sometimes with my Jayna girl, because I definitely don't get as much one on one with her now! I also just love our time as a family. Having Andrew gone so much really makes me love our Sundays all together. There is no greater joy than when we are together and everyone is getting along and happy. Family truly is everything. It is why we are here on this earth. I feel so blessed to have my husband and children. So very blessed. Here are a few pictures from our Sunday Funday in the sun... To start off, our sweet little boy just chilling. He is 3 months and 2 weeks old here:

So uncomfortable, however Jayna likes to have a sleep session in the sand at least once when we come to the beach...

Andrew wanted Julian to have his first lake experience. Interesting enough, both of our kids first time in the lake was in Alberta. I knew he wouldn't like it much, and he's still so little, but hey, what the heck. He did cry, but all those pictures he is totally naked in, so I won't post those ;)

Here's a photo of Jayna's first time up to her neck in Lake water. She took it like a champ, no crying for her. She really has always been a water baby...

Even though we give up our summers in beautiful BC every year, we find the best places to enjoy wherever we are. This world is definitely a beautiful place! Oh and here's one of Andrew and Adam with their girls: