.my Mom, not your Mom

This Saturday (July 4th) my amazing Mother ran her very first 5k race. Something that I've not yet ventured. She took first place, although she was the only person in her division (age 60-64). She ran the entire time without stopping or walking.

To some this might not seem like a great feat. You may be thinking 'What, 3 miles? I could do that in my sleep.'

But to me it's been absolutely incredible to see her, and the way she's turned her life around since she was diagnosed with pre-diabetes a few years ago.
She immediately changed her diet and dropped pound after pound. She eventually started to walk on the treadmill. Walking turned into running, until now she runs almost 3 miles every day!
I truly admire her so much.

Here she is with my sister Gwen at the 4th of July race in 2003 (the year I graduated HS).

And here she is now (note that she is ahead of that seemingly very fit lady in grey)


and with my brother Tyler


What an inspiration, right!
I'm fairly certain that my mom weighs less than me now. (Hmm.... on second thought, I hate this stinkin' race!)

I can't be too sure, but I think my Mom is pretty happy these days.

And she deserves it.

.Meanwhile, in Canada...

While all of you American's are getting ready for Independence day, we're already celebrating Canada day up here! July 1st! It's probably the only time that we are ever one step ahead of the US. haha

Sure we don't have any fancy dancy parades and we can't do our own fireworks without some kind of permit. But we can definitely have BBQ's and go to city firework shows! (It's pretty weird to think that just last summer I was in the Draper, Utah parade sitting on an enormous boat/float waving and throwing candy all day.)

I love parades and fireworks. A lot

We went to our friend's, Adam and Kyla's house for a BBQ and card games

Then we all went to Sherwood Park for an awesome fireworks show! We had a perfect view sitting right by the water!

The next day I got to have Air's little sister, Tiana, all day while her parents went house hunting.

We jumped.

and hosed.

and played frisbee.

Lots of fun! :)
She didn't want to leave..... ever.

.so happy

I am so glad it's summer.
I remember pretty vividly the way I felt by the end of this last winter.
Can I just tell you, this was probably the L.O.N.G.E.S.T. winter of my life. I couldn't wait to just go outside and bask in the warmth of the sun and walk on some green grass. I kept looking at summery pictures (like this one of my nephews camping) just longing to be there again! haha, I'm sure it didn't make it any better that I was living in a basement apartment with teeny little windows!!

On Saturday we really got to enjoy our summer in Edmonton. Air's little bro Josh is here staying with us for the week and we've had a lot of fun hanging out! We took him to our ward party to show him off to all the teenage girls. haha They loved him.

A family in our ward brought their pet chameleon to the picnic... it was pretty sweet. I loved it.

Air thought it might improve his creepy factor..... I think it may have made it even worse. Nice try hun. haha

Here's some pictures of the lovely flowers I planted in my gardenia!
Thank goodness Air's done teaching seminary for the summer.
This is him with his class on the last day! Jumping for joy no doubt! Although, all of the kids always tell him that they really miss his class during summer break... :)



One more thing. My sister Gwen birthed baby Ian Wade Ruebush friday night at 8:15pm. This makes 23 niecephews for us!! Looks like he's a real cutie!! Definitely got that Ruebush nose!

.Wanting to play again

I love to play the piano.

That's not to say I'm really good at it or anything. I took lessons when I was young and hated it then. I really wish I would have paid more attention. I just remember laying limp like a rag doll on the piano bench whining about it whenever I was supposed to practice. My poor mother. And poor Darla Anderson who tried to teach me.
I think I had zero ambition as a kid, but that's a whole other story.

Anyway, since I've been living here I haven't seen the light of a piano for months!! And it is really bringing me down. I need to practice again! I was just getting kinda good too (at least I think I was?) I don't want to buy some crappy little electric keyboard that sounds nothing like the lovely sound of the strings and acoustics of the real thing, although that's probably all we could fit in our apartment at present....

This piano is awesome.
I would actually like it in red, but I know that Air would probably just die if I tried. haha

I can promise you this: My kids are going to play the piano. And they better like it.

Ok ok, I'm not going to be that strict... but I definitely absolutely positively am going to try to teach my kids to enjoy playing the piano. I think that hearing my children play beautifully will bring me a lot of joy someday. And I look forward to that.

If only my grandma could still be around teaching piano lessons then.... hmmm.... that would be awesome.

.Application Status: ADMITTED

Great news for us today! Air's application to the Bachelor of Arts program with a major in Psychology at the University of Alberta was
ACCEPTED

We can finally start making our plans for this Fall. Sheesh, they take FOREVER to make decisions! (ok, I'm not really one to speak here)
He has already been going to school at the U of A for a semester, but just as a part-time student. It's a great school and has a very convenient commute since the LRT train goes straight from here to there.

I know he loves the ride because he took some cool pictures this winter going over the river to the school.


Congrats hunny! You're gonna do awesome and I sure love ya!