Akre Reunion

The last weekend we were in Saskatchewan we travelled to Outlook for an Akre Family Reunion.  What a special time with family!  It's crazy to think of all of the people and families that have been created all because Grandma and Grandpa fell in love!

The Crew - 67 out of 76 I believe (and 2 more on the way!)

our little family

the original 7 - now all married with kids and grandkids of their own

It was a fun weekend...

playing horseshoes

playing

eating - Akre's know how to eat - so much good food ALL weekend!

love these two!

lots of time to fellowship!

snuggles with Uncle Dan

Grandpa Akre was a John Deere man - so in his honor this tractor was parked at the end of the driveway the entire weekend

bonfires at night

On Sunday morning we had a church service of our own - Matt lead the family worship team

and Dan spoke - so fun to get to hear Dan speak - he has a gift!

Dan spoke about how so many times in the bible people would build an altar as a reminder of the good things that God had done for them.  We broke into small family groups and talked about all of the miracles and good things that our family as been blessed with and then we made an altar in remembrance of these things - very cool - we have much to be thankful for!

family laying down stones and telling stories of the good things that God has done!

our altar of stones

 One last thing to do before we left SK - take a picture with the beautiful canola field - there is so much beauty in a summer on the prairies!

What a treat to see most of the Akre family - I am thankful to get to be a member of such an awesome group of people.  It was neat of Saturday night some of the uncles and cousins put on a concert - I just sat back and watched - when family gets together there is such a force that binds them it's like no time as passed since they were together last - there is such fun and love in this family - all different generations enjoying being together - enjoying family! 

Sully's Dedication

What a special time this Sunday afternoon in Lloyd was for our family!  Since we first found out about being pregnant and being blessed with having a child we knew that this child was not our own.  Sully is a gift to us - we have been blessed with being Sully's parents and will provide his earthly home, but he is God's child - and He is the ultimate Father.  That being said, we wanted to have a formal time to dedicate Sully to the Lord.  A time that we, along with our family, would be able to pray over his life and as parents make it known of our desire teach Sully about Jesus and raise him in a way that he will know God's unending love and desire to have a relationship with him! 

We were blessed to have a large portion of our family all together at once for Sully's dedication (we were just missing Auntie Becca and Uncle Nathan - the down side of having family so far away)

it was very special for us to have my dad lead our time!

Matt and I wrote a letter to Sully - in it we told him of a life verse that we picked for him

we assigned different aspects of Sully's life (future wife & family, career choice, hobby's etc) to different family members to pray for - we asked everyone to write out their prayers so we can keep them for Sully to be able to read and return to as he grows

and how else do we remember significant moments in life then with a good photo shoot!

Uncle Dan & Auntie Hailey

Great Papa K - we were so blessed to have Papa share in this day with us!

4 generations of Kaminski men - praying that the great legacy of strong Christian men lives on!

what a special treasure that both Matt and I have grown up in such amazing homes with amazing parents - we realize how rare this is now a days!

Sully's Papa, Nana, Grams & Gramps

this picture makes me smile - can you tell that he is well loved on?!

We do not take our role as Sully's parents lightly - may we be found faithful!

Sul's life verse:

"Be strong and courageous...The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged" 

Deuteronomy 31:7-8

We love you Sullivan Richard Kaminski - thank you Jesus for this amazing gift!

Let's Go On a Date: July

Date Card...

When I was making these cards up last November I knew that we would be traveling home in July and I assumed that my parents might be willing to babysit their sweet grandson for the night - I just didn't know what our date would entail.  But, as we got closer to heading home, we both talked about how fun it would be to go to the Calgary Stampede again - and so our July date decision was made!

The stampede is known for all of the crazy carnival food they have (like deep friend butter?!) unfortunately for Matt his tummy was not feeling 100% before we got there so the only fun food he had was a snow cone - still good though!

love dates with this guy!

after spending the afternoon walking around exhibits, the fair grounds and watching entertainers we ended the evening with the chuck wagon races and the grandstand show

the show is advertised as the greatest outdoor show on earth and it lives up to that name well

this year did not disappoint - it was a GREAT SHOW!

It was a fantastic day - great weather - good fun all with my favorite person!

Love Tour 2013

Every summer, since Matt and I have been married, we have made a trip home to the prairies - we call it our "Love Tour."  Normally we drive in the summer and fly in the winter when we head home.  It's a beautiful drive, but also a long drive.  This was Sully's first year to make the journey by road and he did GREAT!!!  8 months proved to be a wonderful time to travel!  We did try and take more time to stop and smell the roses on the way :)

We stopped in D-Dutchman Dairy for some ice cream and a tour of the farm

Sully's first calf meeting

kisses!

checking out the city of Golden on our supper break from driving 

Pit Stop - Stretch Break!

we stopped at a pet store for one of our pit stops - those places are like free entertainment for kids!

We made it to Didsbury and had a week to spend with Mom & Dad Morgan!

this horse was my dads when he was little

These two little cats were the friendliest things - I gave them some loving one evening when we were outside and the next morning they showed up while we were having breakfast on the patio - and then later on that day...my dad was not overly impressed with his new acquired pets :)

we did a lot of relaxing in the Dids

my beautiful friend Alise came to visit for the day!

and Darcy came to visit with her wonderful kids - two very well behaved, smart little men and one CUTE as a button little girl - sweet baby Izzie - so fun to see Darcy in action as a mommy - she is so natural and awesome at it!

After a week in the Dids we headed up to Lloydminster to see the Kaminski clan!

The Saturday we were in Lloyd we had the privilege of attending Laura and Jason's wedding!  The Hastings have been an important part of our lives for years and years - my parents were Laura's God parents which we always said made us God sisters - it was fun to be able to share in Laura's special day!

waiting for the bride

Laura was a beautiful bride (Jason looked pretty good too!)

Mom, Dad, Papa, Dan & Hailey watched Sully for us while we went to the wedding reception - I think it was a treat for all parties :)

while we were in Lloyd we were able to finally meet Baby Elsa!!!  Last summer Aubree and I took a baby belly shot together and almost one year later we were all together again.  What fun - Elsa is a beautiful, smart little girl!  I can't wait for more hangouts hopefully in the future :)

Matt and Nick have been friends maybe since Jr. High - they were roommates during university and now have become dads within a couple weeks of each other - oh how the years go by

Uncle Dan

a special gift from Grams & Gramps!

While we were in Lloyd we made a little trip out to visit the Wacks/Deck's.  Jody and Kyle have a new house that we needed to have a tour of.  I love going to visit the farm - the landscape is breathtaking and both Roberta and Jody's houses are sooooo beautiful - these ladies have taste!  And to top it all off they always let me play farm when I visit.  Years ago they took me play with their horses - so fun and even though this was a short visit Rick still took us to see some brand new (eyes still fused) baby kittens...the CUTEST!

After a quick and busy weekend in Lloyd we headed off to Christopher lake for some R & R with Mom & Dad K.  We had a great time with fantastic weather!

Sully getting some ice cream with Grams

playing in the water

chillin in the sun

more ice cream :)

our traditional last day at the cabin picture (sad it's a different cabin this year but thankful to have a cabin we could use)

after the lake we travelled on to Saskatoon to spend a night at Dan & Hailey's house - it was so fun to see all the changes they have made and work they have put into their place - it's such a great house!

Sully met his fur cousins - Snookie

and Lucy Peaches

while we were there we all went to taste of Saskatchewan - such a cool annual festival that Saskatoon puts on!

yum yum!

yes yes that is cheesecake on a stick!!!

tiny chairs we found in our travels

we are so thankful that Sully did so well traveling!

such a great Love Tour - we were well loved!