The Annual 1/2 Marathon

In June, I 'ran' my 4th 1/2 marathon. I say 'ran' because I injured my calf in early June and was unable to train the last weeks leading up to the race. The week of the run I tried to jog but was still in rough shape. I headed down anyway to walk it and have a girls weekend.

My sister Ardie joined me this year. We met up with Maria and Sarah for some quality sister time. We ate some yummy food...

and hit up the Rockbox, an authentic karaoke bar. We crooned away for hours!

Saturday morning, Ardie and I waited patiently for our corral's turn to cross the start line. 

I became carried away but the excitement of it all and tried jogging a bit. My calf felt fine. I ran a really slow pace and stopped every mile to stretch. By mile 10 I think I broke my hip... it hurt so bad. I think I was overcompensating for my calf injury by tensing my hip. I had to walk (hobble) the last few miles. So, I had my worst time ever. BUT I had a great time. My slow pace gave me a chance to connect with the other runners. I had exchanges with bystanders, took pictures of fellow competitors en route and just basked in the atmosphere of it all.


That afternoon we headed to Maria's friends house to do a recording of the song Maria wrote for my parent's 50th. (see previous post)

Ardie and I were pretty sore but we tried to do a little cross border shopping. We were tempted to rent a wheelchair to push each other around. :) 

Can't wait till next year!

50th Wedding Anniversary

My parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in May. All of their 11 children and most of their sons/daughters in law and grandchildren were in attendance. My mom's sisters and brother also made the long trek up to Langley for the party.

On Saturday, all the adults went to the temple for a session then the youth all did baptisms in the afternoon. It was the first time in 50 years that my mother had been in the temple with her brother and sisters. There is something sweet and tender being in the temple with so much family. 

That evening we had a big party at their clubhouse. We made a Thai dinner and participated in tribute/talent show for my parents. I was awed by the legacy of love, faith and service my parents have built for their family. There were many laughs, joyful tears and a small glimpse of eternity as we spent time together.

I have to boast about my AMAZING sister in law, Ashley. She worked for months to prepare a special photo book that chronicles the last 50 years. Then she worked her heart out planning, decorating and helping out with EVERYTHING while trying to deal with a tired and cranky 1 year old. The party would never have turned out as well without her phenomenal talents. I have to applaud everyone for taking on tasks and working together so mom and dad didn't have to lift a finger. It's no small feat to keep my mom away from the work. :)

My uber talented sister, Maria, wrote an original song for my parents. She had Sarah and Ardie on harmonies, back up guitar and piano. They passed out tambourines and shakers... it was pure awesomeness!
Here are the words: (I hope to have a CD of this soon.)

Anniversary Song: 50 years and counting

Mamma grew up in a tiny town

With a grocery store and lots of cows around

Prettiest girl of the Glenwood Three

She’s been workin’ hard since 1940

That’s a trait that didn’t pass to me

But she’s my family

Well she grew up tall and she grew up tough

She knows how to call a fool-man’s bluff

Shoots her marbles straight through the pearly gate

She’s a country-born, farm-boy’s dream

                  Oh, she’s my family

                  Oh, on my family tree

                  I’m her progeny

                  She, She’s my family

Daddy grew up north of Tennessee,

West of Iowa, south of Calgary

Born a man, yeah he’s full of sand
He can run off bears with his own two hands

Handsomest man in any land

He’s my family

Well he grew up wise and he grew up strong

He can walk as far day is long

He can fix your tooth, he can weed your beans

He’s a country-born, farm-girl’s dream

                  Oh, he’s my family

                  Oh, on my family tree

                  I’m his progeny

                  He, he’s my family

We grew up in the prettiest place

Where you walk at night and never carry mace

We were raised on spam, we were raised on love

We were taught to pray up to God above.

And if Monday night tends end in fights,

Well we’re a family

We were raised on love, we were raised up right

We could can a peach, we can take a hike.

We’re a noisy band, yeah we’re the Burnham Clan

We’re a family.

Oh, We’re the family

              Of Ron and Shirley

              We’re their progeny

              We, we’re a family

Here are a few of my favorite candid shots...

(totally candid) ha ha

The Glenwood Clan together again.

Sunday morning, before church, wonder-woman Ashley staged us for family pictures. ( my sister in law Tracy's dad helped out too.)

The noisy band, Burnham Clan!

Most of Ron and Shirley's progeny. (Missing: Donna, Jon, little Shirley, Larry, Rebecca, Sarah, Meg, Erik, Lizzie, Josh, Sam,Alex, Alex11, Tasha (Ian and Cache), Kat, Julia, Isaac, Gid, Bella, Angel and Ryan.)

Grandpa and Grandma with 14 of their 31 grandchildren. Also missing their first great grandson, Cache.

I treasure the memories we created that weekend and all the memories of my childhood. I look forward to the eternities with these wonderful people!

Elmo's Birthday

Way back in May, Greta began talking about how Elmo's birthday was coming up and that we needed to plan a party. I thought it was cute and agreed that we should have a party. My birthday came and went, then Joseph's. By the middle of July, Greta was adamant that Elmo's party was TODAY! It was a Sunday afternoon so I chose to indulge her. I whipped up a cake and told Greta is was time for Elmo's birthday. 

Greta was so excited. She ran upstairs to get Elmo and wrapped toilet paper around his eyes to prepare him for his surprise party.

Elmo could barely contain his joy that we would honour him on his "special day"!

Have you ever seen such excitement on muppet's face?

After cake it was time for presents. Greta had wrapped up one of her special toys in her towel. Elmo was so curious to know what it was.

"I LOVE IT!!!!"

Elmo was so grateful!

How did you celebrate the last day of school?

School let out at 10:45am. The boys were pumped to start their summer vacation. The weather was great and we were going to have some lunch then hit the beach. I jumped on the computer to do some work and Joseph headed to the kitchen to make some victory pain au chocolat. Then there was a scream and yelling. I KNEW Joseph had cut himself. I ran to him to see how badly. It was bad. There was blood all over the counter. I grabbed some paper towel, wrapped it around Joe's thumb and talked to him to calm him down. I told him I would have to take a look at it to see if he would need stitches. As soon as I pulled the paper towel back I knew we were in trouble. Greta and Edwin were now in the kitchen, I told them to put their shoes back on because we had to head to the doctor. That's when they started crying. 

We rushed to the medical clinic. I held Joe's wrist tightly as well as his thumb then raised them above his heart. After waiting in the clinic for 15 mins the doctor was able to see us. He nonchalantly stated that he would take a look at the cut and said it might need stitches but possibly only stereostrips. When he pulled back the towel, he looked over at me and asked how I was doing. He then asked if I could handle the blood. I told him I could. He had me look into the wound... that was still gushing blood. As he quickly swabbed away the blood he showed me how the cut went deep right toward the tendon. He said that he would have to send us up to the hospital. As we left the clinic I decided that it would be rather inconvenient to have Greta and Edwin in the emergency room with me. Luckily, I have family that lives near by. I raced over to James and Tracy's home to drop off E & G. Thank you Tracy for watching my kids. 

Joseph and I then headed to the hospital. We had another 20 min wait, despite the fact that the clinic doctor had faxed up an admittance sheet for Joe explaining what happened and what needed to be done. I had left my cell phone at home and felt that I should give Ryan a quick call to let him know what was going on. Just as Ryan answered and asked "What number are you calling from?" the nurse appeared and told us it was our turn. I quickly blurted out to Ryan "we are at the hospital. Joseph sliced his tendon. I have to go." Not the best way to break the news!

We went into triage and the nurse asked us to explain what happened. She then proceeded to tell me how lazy clinic doctors are and how he could have done the stitches himself. Once we were settled, the nurse looked at Joseph's thumb and called the doctor over. Every time a doctor or nurse looked at Joe's thumb, they would poke and prod it and it would bleed all over. 

Joe was so patient, calm and brave. The doctor felt that he needed to call in the hand specialist. The specialist came down and determined that the tendon was ok but he had cut through the ligaments into the joint.

She stitched up the inside of the thumb then stitched up the outside flesh. I tried to keep Joe's attention away from what was happening. We talked about books we've read, what Joe wanted to do for his birthday and made summer plans. 

The specialist then build a half cast around Joe's thumb and wrist to help with the healing. And then told us our plans for the waterslides and beach weren't going to happen for awhile. 

So, Joe was in a cast for 2 weeks. During this time the weather really heated up. We couldn't resist the call of the beach anymore. For Joe's birthday, almost two weeks after the accident, I wrapped Joe's arm up in a bunch of plastic bags, and off we went.

This is how Joe would one-arm swim.

Despite all this, Joe has been so patient about all of it. He kept apologizing for ruining MY summer! Sweet kid. Always thinking of others. 

 He had a sleep over with two of his cousins. Greta had to join the boys too.

 Joe has now graduated to a plastic split that he has to wear for 6 weeks. He will be free of it on Aug 22nd! Just in time for school to start. He still isn't supposed to get his splint wet. I bought a plastic vacuum bag at a med store to keep his hand dry so he can do some swimming this summer. Once the splint comes off Joe has to do a round of physio.

Our sweet Joe-Joe is now 10 years old! He is such a wonderful boy. We are so blessed to have him as part of our family. He excels at academics. He loves basketball, swimming, skiing and reading. Joseph is responsible, kind, a great example for his family, a peacemaker and he has a great sense of humour.
We love our Joseph. Greta prays for his thumb everyday.

Too Busy To Blog

Life has become extremely busy of late (I will explain more in a later post). So here are a few photos of the last month.

We love our view. I feel like I need to take a picture everyday from every angle.

We had some amazing weather a few weeks ago. We spent some time luxuriating in it.

Our property is home to a den of garter snakes. They were around for about two weeks and now we see neither scale nor slither of them. The kids had a blast playing with them.

At one point they caught 13 of them.

Yes, this is a picture of my Edwin and Greta swimming last week. Yes, it was warm outside, yes, the water was freezing!

We had a few minutes to meet up with some friends at the park.

And go to the waterfall with cousins.

And visit Langley for my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary (again, more on that later).
Greta is strumming the guitar as Auntie Maria sings and plays the chords. They make an awesome team!