Crowsnest Mountain

{Post from Andy}

The Crowsnest mountain can be seen while driving through the Crowsnest pass along Highway #3  For travelers who are coming from BC towards Alberta this mountain seems to stand all alone like the Lonely mountain in the Hobbits tale. The mountain was originally named by the Cree Indians due to the ravens that nest in the area.
Ever since I saw it for the first time I imagined the beautiful views you will behold from its lofty peak. After having looked into the matter it was clear that it could be scaled without too much difficulty. One of my friends from church (Ewoud) who also has a love for mountains and hiking agreed to come along and together we decided we would scale this landmark.

Since there were no signs we had to do some route finding. At a higher elevation we could follow the cairns. A cairn is a human made pile of rocks that are put along the trail to guide you.

On our way up we had a view of the seven sisters, its northerly neighbor.

There was an easier piece about three quarters of the way up and here we are looking down on the sisters.

 The top of the mountain has a commanding 360 degree view.

One of the rock bands we had to climb through was secured with a fixed chain to aid hikers.

Once back at the car we had a good cup of coffee and could cross this mountain off our bucket list. Mission accomplished.  Thanks Ewoud, can't wait for the next hike!  

Family Photos 2017

"This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Picture Credit; Ashley M Photography - Taber Ab.

A summer of water fun

With the constant heat this summer it proved to be a few months that had a lot of water involved! Here are a few of the activities that we enjoyed either by ourselves or with friends. These next pictures are taken at Rolling Hills reservoir where we spent a day with other families from church.    

Having a backyard pool leaves me always humming and hawing with whether its actually worth the work and cost of keeping it nice (we fill it with pond water so it is can be hard to keep the phosphate count down) and also the worry of having a pool with a two year old.  This year it did provide again hours of fun for us and friends who came to enjoy it with us, even though it is quite small.  Those days when it was 37 degrees outside even I (I would go a whole year summer without once wanting to go in if it was just me) jumped in along  side the boys and we cooled off and felt refreshed.  Sometimes at the end of the day Andy would join us which of course created more fun than anything else.  Funny how dads have that effect.
It was remarkable how brown all of us got from being out there and when I would go to town I was often stopped by people wanting to look at "such a tanned baby!" .  I wasn't sure if this was a compliment or not. ;)

Seth, Tristan and Rowan have a little hobby which is fishing.  They aren't very good at it (or maybe we pick the wrong spots to stand??) but sure have a ton of fun keeping the rods in good shape and also collecting new tackle whenever a few spending dollars land their way.  Often Andy took them to the pivot pump site while he was working by it and the boys would don their life jackets and fish by the canal.  What a good life these boys have!

We have friends with a boat and every summer they ask us to come along for some time together at Sherburne Lake. This year we got all three boys on the water skis.  The three pictures below feature Rowan.  We were all surprised by how well he did, being the youngest, and it was very much fun to watch him ski.  So much intensity and determination. It was a fun opportunity for them all.

Andrea and Andy helping him off the shore.

Andrea helping Rowan come back to shore. (He refused to fall)

One proud little man.

On labour day we spent the afternoon at the same above mentioned beach, this time we could do some wind surfing, and more sand digging. It never seems to get old. Always treasure hunting and shell finding.

...and that's Tristan!  There is hope for Andy to have a surfing buddy in the not too distant future! 

Farming the fields

It's been a cold week here going into Thanksgiving, so looking at these pictures is reminding us of the gorgeous summer we had.  Summer 2017 really was a beautiful time.  No major calamities for this family and day after day of sun and warmth. Week after week of getting up and not even thinking about the weather.  This also was one of the driest years on record with this area receiving 12 mm of rain since June.  The pivot in the potato fields ran for six weeks straight.  What a glorious summer. It's quite a concept to be able to have that much dry weather and still see the bounty come off the land at harvest time.  All thru irrigation. Which Andy loves so much, as the gravel yard on the farm can stay firm and rut free, weeds slow down in growth and yet the lawn remains emerald green due to lawn sprinklers.  I'm pretty sure our kids think this is all normal. Which it is not. :)

Lawn irrigation - a regular sight around here. Fun for the kids to play in!

The side yard.

Andy spent hours taking care of the pivots this summer. 

He had some pretty faithful helpers - one of the many reasons we love farming!

The beautiful field of corduroy. Aka potatoes.

At the end of harvest they brought me some. Notice the heart Seth and Tristan found for me 💓

Our forecast, over and over again. 

The "other" field was a mixture of peas and triticale - sold to the neighbor for forage.

 A friend let us borrow his baler to make some small bales off the dry corner piece to feed to our sheep. 
It was a fun experience and Tristan was in his element. (above)


 Every 8 weeks a new shipment of chicks arrives as well.  After shipping and cleaning, getting ready for the new babies is always a lot of work and once the chicks are safely in the barn and drinking and eating, we feel like we can relax and life can resume.   😄  (below)

There are 86,000 chicks in that truck!

The boys love helping during this time!

 Occasionally we hold back a few chickens that are ready to ship so we can butcher them our self. They become pets for the boys and grow to be enormous.  Seriously, that is a lot of meat.  This particular rooster was lovingly named "Fatso" and happened to collapse and die before we had a chance to butcher him.  It was a sad day.  

 We have a friendly neighbor who has befriended our children.  He takes care of the grazing land next door to our place. The University of Lethbridge uses that land as a place to research native bugs and beetles. This fall the man has picked up the boys on Thursday mornings and eagerly takes them to the fields where they get to learn how and what the university students are doing.  The students are thrilled that the boys are homeschooled and they have been bringing along extra things to show them.  Life experience = the best experience.