Autumn time in Canada

 It's absolutely gorgeous in Calgary right now.  The air is crisp and cool.  We've had some rain so it's fresh.  Our two dogs, Elliot and Milo need to be walked a couple of times a day now.  They don't have the dozens of acres to run when ever  they want.  Now they have a little postage sized backyard.  Poor things.  I know they long to run and chase things.  Unfortunately we are having to socialize them to other dogs and cars.  Both of them are doing much better.

 Olivia's school is within walking distance.  It's down a hill.  I hate climbing back up that hill. Boy do  I really need to get into shape.  The dogs are helping me with that.  Off in the distance is the Olympic park for the Calgary Olympics.  I don't remember what year it was for.  

 I handed Ella my camera while I cleaned up dog poo.  Story of my life.  Always cleaning up someones!  I'm dying over my face though!

 This is what makes walking the dogs hard.  These HUGE jackrabbits are everywhere!  No joke, everywhere!  They are bigger than most dogs.  They scare me.

 

I'm definitely settling into living in a neighborhood.  Taking walks helps me.  I don't know how I'll feel about taking walks in -40 weather!  The weather has been perfect for me.  Of course this is my favorite time of year.  We were lucky to move into a community with a lot of kids around.  This has helped my kids acclimate.  It's only been a few months, but I think we've settled pretty nicely.  Oh, there are days when I get homesick for Logan, my friends and Washington.  That's normal. But overall I think our family is pretty lucky to be here!

Amber

We were lucky to have out dear friend Amber come and stay with us for a few days.  We have known this amazing family for a lot of years and they have stuck by us through some really hard times.  My kids have grown up in New Mexico being part of their family.  We spent Holidays with them, birthdays, graduations.  I have watched Amber grow up into an independent woman.

She would help out with my kids and give me a break. Soren fell in love with her and would always tell her that he was going to marry her when he grows up.  When Amber went away for college, Soren asked her to wait for him.  

 It was so cute to watch the kids with her.  They talked her ear off!  Amber spent so much time playing games, making the famous Porter deviled eggs and visiting.  I kept teasing her that she was probably wishing she didn't come.  

 I'm sure glad she did.  Although she probably froze.  She had left a heat wave in New York City to come to Calgary where it snowed! 

 I will always treasure this photo.

 My kids couldn't get their feet off the ground and then there's the leprechaun Amber.

 Ella!  Oh my gosh, look at Anna's arms.  I don't think she even tried to jump.  

We ended up walking through the rain trying to find the Market Craft Beer restaurant.  Found it and it was the best!

 One of the nights while she was here, we all walked over to my neighbors house to play board games.  It was snowing when we left our house.  The kids made this snowman while we were playing.  Love the hot dog nose!

We sure do miss the Porters.  They have been such an strength and example for us.  Miss the laughs and the hugs.  Thanks Amber for the visit!  Anna's looking forward to coming to see you!

New Mexico Visit

Our family was really lucky to have our dear friends Heather and Jamie come and stay with us for a week.  We have known them since our kids were just starting school.  It had been over 4 yeas since we had seen each other and it was amazing to have them here!  Jamie had grown up so much.  I loved hearing the kids laugh all the time.  

 We took them on one of my favorite walks.  

 It's crazy to me how Heather seems to never age.  She has way more energy than I do too.  I on the other hand and definitely "grown".

I don't say this enough to you Heather.  I love you so much.  Your friendship, wisdom, humor and empathy mean the world to me.  You have known me while I've gone through life changes.  Never have you torn me down or criticized how I've done things.  Your life at times has not been easy, yet here you are.  I'm constantly amazed at how much you give to people. Thanks for the wonderful visit!  

Gorilla days of Summer

Instead of the Dog days of Summer here, we're going all out Gorilla.  What do you expect from us Dunows.  We had a house full of extra kids one evening.  The little girls all had ball gowns on and the bigger kids were just being goofy.  Our neighbor put on the infamous gorilla suit.  It thought we would have fun going around the neighborhood knocking on doors with her wearing that.

 It was this little girls B-day and I had made her a bunch of flower clips for her hair.  She wanted to wear them all at once.

 I'm pretty sure we had some people watching out their windows thinking we're crazy.  

We are!

 Ella had a too short prom dress with Doc Martens.  

 Anna had thrown on a black dress over her clothes.  Here we were trying to sneak up to our neighbors dinner party.  He saw and heard us coming.

This is all just the norm for us.  I love having the kids playing around like this.  My stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

Mom made this costume sooooo many years ago to scare girls at Girls Camp.  I had to replace the mask.  I wasn't able to find a gorilla face, the monkey face does just fine.  Still makes small children cry and adults scream.
Side note- We are all wearing coats and sweatshirts.  Hello, it's the middle of August!

First Calgary Stampede.

Troy took Olivia and Soren to the Big Ol' Calgary Stampede a few weeks ago.  The older girls and I opted out for several reasons.  It was hot and crowded but the kids ended up having a wonderful time.

 Kids learned how to line dance.

I'm so glad Anna didn't go.  There must of been a hundred of these mascot things there.  

 Olivia thought this was pretty funny to take a pic with.  Let's see how happy we can make Mom!

 The parade was just right outside of Troy's work in downtown Calgary.  One of his co-workers kid was there and watched the parade with them.