Colossus Blends Into August

Big month. Lots of things to do, people to see, and LOTS of kilometres put on the car. Lets see now, where were we.....

.....oh yes! We left off at Henderson Lake. After the first wedding of the summer (Brianne and Matthew), we had another family visit: my momma and my grandfolks came down for a couple days! During their visit, we went to the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. It's a beautiful and serene little park, simple structures and nothing but green. Here's a taste of our lil' outing:

3/4 of the Murray clan and the core of my family. xoxo

Aside from a wedding, another family visit, and bringing Arkham home, Q and I were runners in the Canadian Death Race. This would be the third year in a row for Q and my first. We ran as a relay team with two friends of ours and I was the runner for Leg 3. The thing about Leg 3 is that this is the portion of the race that is the total pressure cooker for time: I had to be at my transfer station by 7pm or our team would be disqualified. It is with extreme regret and disappointment to report that I made it in at 7:30pm. *insert uncontrollable sobbing here* I felt awful for letting my team down even though they seemed relieved to be able to go back to camp and relax instead of running for another 12-ish hours. I began running at 4:15pm and never stopped moving until I reached the transfer sta.....sorry, finish line. I know I would have made it sooner had I trained better and trained more. But I am super proud that I ran 21km in 3 hours and 15 minutes, which I think is pretty damn good for an undertrained runner. Next time, I will own Leg 3 and we will continue on. To Jenny Babe, Steve, and me love, Q, I couldn't have crossed that finish line without you three by my side and pushing. Thank you! <3 I can also say that never in my life have been so grateful for the aide bar in the handicap bathroom stalls in public washrooms. My body ached so bad that it was difficult to move any and every muscle and joint. I was sure that I would never be able the bear children. I'm ok now, and children are a long ways off.

Our Grande Cache Death Race camping adventure ended and now we are in August. Once we arrived back in Bridgetown on the Sunday, we worked and on Friday I went back home for Anna's stagette. We played games to get to know each other, had a delicious potluck dinner, played hilarious and "sexy" games, then headed out to Whyte Avenue for some drinks and more fun games that involved the public, more specifically, the public male population. The game we played on Whyte was this: we were all given cards with different "types" of guys to get photos with. I was given two that I thought would be easy and two I thought would be slightly more difficult. It was the total opposite! The two I thought that would be difficult were to "Have a Dance Off with 'That Guy'" and "Get a Piggyback Ride to the Ladies Room from 'That Guy'". They were a lot of fun. The other two were totally eclipsed, so it's not worth it to mention them here.

I get back to Bridgetown on the Sunday (again) and at the end of the week, Q and I are back in the current murder capital of Canada for the wedding. Q was one of the groomsmen and he looked sooo delicious.

Yummy!

This wedding was super fun and filled with energy and love that you could feel emanate through the walls. Anna and Jonas are the couple that sing and play music together and are always up for a good time with those they love. This wedding was beautiful: blue, green, and purple, maids adorned with peacock feathers in their hair and iridescent dresses.  As a tribute to their family, the spectacular couple sang a duet of "Morning Has Broken" with Jonas on guitar. This was just one of the many tear-jerking moments throughout the whole night. The main entertainment: karaoke. Anna and Jonas are some of the greatest karaoke singers (dare I say Lauryn Hill-esque?). After years of going to karaoke night with everyone, I finally sang. The tune of choice was one of my favourites: "Dream A Little Dream of Me" by Mama Cass. I was shaking the whole time and for a while afterwards but I was super proud of myself. The two people that have always pushed me to sing (and I never gave in) were Q and Colin, and they both missed it!  Although I was told by a new friend, Tara, that I "sang the shit out of that song". Thank you Tara! Check out the beautiful and soulful newlyweds:

The new Mr. & Mrs. took my breath away.

And now, here's a glimpse at some of the gang (I'm sorry for those not pictured, :(  your photos were fuzzy) at this grande occasion:

B&BB: Bashmore and Bradley B.

Kristina, enjoying the air conditioning of the local
BPs during the ceremony/reception break. Such a beautiful smile!

Julie basking in the glow of the most beautiful and humungous flowering vines I have ever seen.
Those are 20 year old clematis vines! Mrs. E has the ultimate green thumb I think.

Gorgeous Bashmore

Bashmore and her smouldering sex pot  of a boyfriend

Bridesmaid EVee and her man. Aren't the dresses amazing?!
And the woman wearing it?! Stunning!

Groom's brother & MC, Best Man, and Great Friend & MC

The bride and the rest of her maids

Me love and twin brother of the bride.
I love this photo!

To Anna and Jonas: Congratulations and thank you for a great time! I wish you all the best in the lifetime ahead. You two are fantastic and such a joy to be around. Breathe deep with big teeeeeethy smiles! xoxo

Happiness. xoxo

Majors of July

Welcome to the July post. This has been the busiest July I've ever had (that I can recall). So much has happened that I can barely remember it all. I'm going to do my best, so here we go:

There was a lot of back and forth between home and Bridgetown, visiting and such, wedding related activities in both places, plus one of the weddings. We also had some visitors! Julie was the first visitor and super houseguest in May (wrong post I know) and Kristina made an appearance as well!

To the two beauties: thank you so much for coming to visit!

Ok, so July! Our next set of visitors was Q's Dad and Grandad. They were having a little road trip to come see us and then head back home through the mountains. It was so nice to have them come down and check out our house. It also happened to be Q's Dad's birthday the day that they arrived. Happy birthday Sean! They only stayed one night but it was a great visit. A few days later, we had a bit of scare at the house. Mr. Floyd had not eaten or drank any water and he would barely move. So being the terrified pet momma I am, I brought him to the vet to find out that his bladder was completely blocked and was on the verge of bursting. Emergency! My boy was on the brink of death and in order to treat him they had to put him under anesthetic and express his bladder via catheter. I was given the worst case scenario so I could prepare myself emotionally: that he may die while under anesthetic. HOLY S**T! Naturally I burst into tears and had a very hard time letting him go. Once they took him, I left and decided to go back to work to keep busy instead of going home and fixating my thoughts of the horrible tragedy it could be. A short while later I received a call from the vet saying that they were successful and that he was alright for now. They did however want to keep him overnight for observation. Overnight turned into two days. Two days without him! They were so kind and good to him and to me. They invited me to come and sit with him for as long as I wanted. It was great! And incredibly sad to see him with an IV in his arm and looking hopeless. They had said that after I had left he was improving so much that I could pick up later that night. A humungous thank you to Dr. Kate and Mandy for everything you did for Floyd! I'm so happy that he has the best doctors. Thank you! I was also lucky enough to be able to stay home for three days to watch and care for him. Bliss. Pet momma and her boy got to spend 72 hours filled with sunshine lunches, movies and naps. I insist that you do this (minus the heart-wrenching scare and sick pet).

Taking in the sun feels extra special nice when you are super sick.

Almost two weeks of medication, a heavily sedated Floyd was on the mend and has been flare-up-free ever since. Hoorah! During the last few days of his medication we brought home the newest edition to our little family: Arkham.

Now our home is 50/50: 50% brunette and 50% ginger. Thankfully Floyd and Arkham get along really well and play often. Naptime seems to be a favourite too.

Oh. My. Goodness. Cutest. Moment. EVER.

Now that everything is sunshine and lollipops, the first big event we had to attend was the wedding of Brianne and Matthew. I had never been to Taber before so I made sure to leave extra early. Turns out Taber isn't that far from Bridgetown and the location was a breeze to find. So I had an hour and a half to kill until the ceremony. I decided to explore the country roads after hitting up the nearest 7-11 for a coke slurpee and my favourite gummy candies : Big Foot.  I recommend you do what I did: get a sweet and refreshing snack, go for a drive and park on the side of the road (one where there are no other cars coming your way), crank up the Hawksley Workman tunes and just enjoy the view of canola fields, sunshine, and birds. It may look strange to others that happen to drive by but I tell ya, it was serene. Happiness. I attended the ceremony solo and as representative for three others due to work schedules. Later on we all attended the reception as en entourage. A damn good looking entourage.

Anyways, the ceremony was at the Valgaardson residence in Taber. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING LOCATION. See for yourself:

Look at that dress! Moreover, look at the bride! Absolutely gorgeous.

Now keep in mind that this is a private residence, these people rent out their home for weddings. Great idea! There was so much more to see, for example: the guesthouse that rivals the main house in size and architecture, and all the colourful gardens and water features, but the memory card only had so much space :( . It was a scorcher that day, and wonderful considering it had been nothing but rain for near 3 weeks prior to this day. I got me some sweet tan lines now ;) . It was a beautiful day for a beautiful wedding, very classy: black, white, and deep red, live saxophone player and many happy and beautiful people. The beaming couple looked amazing and the reception was soooo much fun! Congratulations Brianne and Matthew and thank you for a great time! 

Well I'm going to take a little break but I will leave you with a couple photos Q and I took when we went for a walk around Henderson Lake. 

With love,

k+q

It's been a long post, so I'm definitely going to Breathe!

I Almost Forgot!

June now gets more than just an honourable mention due to my quickly decaying memory. It gets two posts! Behind our house and a Q's arms length from the balcony, there is a beautiful tree. I'm not sure what kind, but it's full of gorgeous leaves that make the most relaxing sound when the wind blows through the branches. Within and around this tree, there are many birds that stop by and chat with and taunt the cats. I decided to make some birdseed ornaments for our winged friends. Here's the result:

I made 12 of these delicious beauties, some were pumpkin shaped (testing for the coming holiday). I watched the tree like an eager 5 year old watching a birdbath, waiting for some little feathered guy to splash around for a few minutes. No birds to be seen. Go figure. I decided to let it be and go watch some paint dry. When we arrived home from work the next day, me love said to me: "Hey Honey, come look at the tree!" I thought that there was a plethora of birds munching away at their buffet, so I ran like a 5 year old to the balcony. Nope, no birds. Something was off. It took a moment, but then it hit me: the landscapers had come by that day and trimmed all the trees on the block! All of the lower and reachable branches were gone! And with the branches went the bird buffet, all but one. The one you see in the above photo is the only survivor (funny because that photo was taken before the massacre). The day after that, the ornament was completely eaten with nothing left but the twine on the branch. The meal I made for them was a success! Although I think I will stick with a slightly more elegant way to feed the birds from now on. Then I can breathe calmly. Calm. Breathe.

P.S.: Peek-a-boo!

June

Our first house guest in Lethbridge went back home to begin her sweet new job at the CBC. Go Julie!

I love you too.

So June wasn't as full as May or July and August but I felt it deserved honourable mention in the post relay. JUNE! The weather was nice and I finally went to Vulcan. Well I drove through Vulcan, haven't seen all of it yet. I will go back to dine at the Enterprise Family Restaurant. Fo sho. Look what I saw!:

Jealous much?!

See This Guy.....

.....he's super cute. Not exactly the friendliest at times but you can't stay mad at him because, well, look at that face! So this guy, Floyd, was acting strange, so strange that we wound up making a trip to the animal hospital. Turns out this little guy was having a major flare up of his FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disorder). An affliction that is very common amongst male cats. Unfortunate that my boy is one of those male cats, he is a fighter however. After the first shot of a sedative he was pretty high but fighting it. He looked as if the walls were moving and changing colours as they spoke to him. See:

After about 10 minutes, the doctor was amazed that he was still walking semi-normal and was fairly lucid, so they administered another shot with a stronger dose that would normally knock out a rhinoceros. He fought it still but eventually he gave in and became as limp as a wet blanket. 

It was so sad to see him like that. Once he was rendered immobile, they took him to the back treatment area for testing and whatnot. I came back later in the afternoon to take him home with his handful of pills. 

Floyd recovered and was back to normal: Super Dang Cute.

May: The Beginning of a New, Big Chapter

As usual, I've been neglecting my duties as a blogger, claiming that I have been lacking in inspiration and such, when truthfully a great deal of things have happened that I would like to share. So I think the next few posts that I do are going to be a recap of the past few months. And trust me, A LOT has happened. But where to begin? I figured that there's no better place than May. The reason that May is the first runner in the blog post relay is because me love and I moved (I know I've mentioned this before but this is leading to something else). Moved away from what has been our home for 20 years. Certainly a tough decision but ultimately should pay off in the future for us when return home. We went from Edmonton to Lethbridge in a matter of weeks. It all came and went rather quickly, plus we were pretty lucky. We found a lovely town home to rent that is considerably larger than the one just left: four levels with high ceilings and lots big windows. So lots of stairs mean that I will eventually have a nicer backside and lots of windows for the light to feed the plants and for the cats to expand their curiosity. Cats, that's right, Floyd has a brother now. More on him later.

As seemingly seamless as the move was, it wasn't without its natural stressors. Long story short, the entire situation left me ill. For a couple weeks. During this time, me love pulled the ultimate grand gesture: he proposed! While I was sick and grumpy and without make up on! It was a Sunday evening and after dinner he wanted to go for a walk to check out the area behind our new house. Our house is right on the edge of town, by the train tracks and an old coal mine near the edge of the coulees. We had been in Lethbridge a couple of weeks and hadn't had a chance to begin exploring our new city. Why not get started close to home? As always, I had my camera with me and now that I am an Apple user, I had my phone (which has a better camera than my actual camera) too. Once we reached the bluffs, Q asked me to put the camera away and enjoy the view, I obliged and turned around to see him on bended knee asking me to marry him. Holy smokes right?! Best proposal ever. I continue to smile when I think of that moment. So now that you know the story, I wanted to show you some of the photos I took before I put the cameras away.

The mine has become a scrapyard with no Community College to be seen.
There was another sign saying "NO TRESPASSING" with the "N" backwards.
Out of the four identical "NO TRESPASSING" signs, there was only one with
a backwards "N". How and why did that happen?

Enjoying the view with the camera just before enjoying the view without the camera. 

This Sunday took my breath away.