Kayakology

About 4 weeks ago I had the opportunity to go and help one day at the young womans camp, I helped unload kayaks for the girls to go out on Cold Lake. I watched the girls rip around the lake and I was inspired and wanted to try out kayaking with our young men on a camp.

I was driving the long journey home from Cold Lake and thought how fun it would be to take a few days and go down the North Saskatchewan river this summer to see some potential campsites and what the river had to offer for a next summer camp with the boys.

I called Richard Bennett and the 2 of us were going if our wives would permitt.

We planed to do a Wednesday to a Saturday trip from Edmonton to Marwayne. We got time off work and planned to be in Edmonton, Tuesday night to get a few final items for our camp. We rented 2 kayaks and a hotel room for the one night. We had 3 weeks to prepare our gear and our body's for the just over 300km journey.

We built kayak racks for our trucks to haul the boats. You see we had to build one rack for Richards truck and one for mine.
So August 9th we left our families and journeyed into Edmonton with Richards truck and all our gear. we made it into Edmonton around 830pm just in time to hit whole sale sports and get some freeze dry food and some dry sacks for our gear.

we got to our hotel and then went to walmart for some other last minute stuff. We had to fill up his truck at that walmart and found President Christiansen of the Stake President who was filling up his car. We talked of our impending challange and he was excited for us and wished he could come. I have really grown to love that man as I have got to know him through helamans encampment. He was a designated prophet and I spent time getting beads from him to complete my necklace.

Wednesday morning we got up and went to Totem outfitters and picked up our Kayaks and all the gear that comes with them. We headed to the Capalano park boat launch and got ready for our trek. we unloaded the kayaks and filled them with our supplies. There was a Canadian Military exercise going on so we got one of the Privates to take a picture of us before we died.

Floating down the river through the Edmonton River Valley was very beautiful. The Kayaks glided through the water like a knife through margarine. The weather was majestic the river water was like looking down on a mirror. That meant we had to do a lot of the work to move. The average speed of the river was 2-3 km/hour. With our paddling we averaged 9km/hour.

We left not knowing what to expect or where we would camp. That first day we started around 11am and went to 5pm. We floated around 55km. At this point it started to rain and cloud over so we started looking for the best spot. Well we pulled out on the north side of the river in a tall grass, bushy area, as most of the banks were like that. as we got out we got swarmed by mosquitoes. After a 1/2 can of bug spray we ate our dinner and were thinking of setting up our tarps but the weather cleared and we decided to move on. Good thing as right across the river a few meters down was a picnic table and a place with less grass and bush. We ripped across and were glad we decided to leave. less mosquitoes and flatter ground to set up camp.
We both received nice sun burns this day.

Thursday we were on the river by 745 and went 60km. At this point Marwayne was out of reach.
So if we paddled hard we could maybe make Elkpoint.
Another amazing day, weather was nice and we still had some energy. Our shoulders were feeling the pain of the sun burn as well as the muscle burn.
We saw many deer, eagles, hawks, ducks, and even found lots of clams and small lobsters.
Just before lunch a helicopter flew over us and did 2 full circles around us before leaving, I had never seen that before.
By the end of the day we were both getting tired and sore. We were going to stop early and camp on an island as it had a tone of wood to get a fire started, but we decided to continue on. Thank Heaven we did, not 2 km later we saw a yellow boat on the north side of the river and I wanted to check it out. As we were floating over to it, Richard noticed the grass above was short. We docked and climbed up and found a great little camp site.
We found the owner of the campsite and ask if we could spend the night. He said that it was O.K.

We set up a little tent like structure that only looked good in a picture. Once I climbed into it to sleep it collapsed and we had to build a different structure.

Friday morning we were up and at it early. Take down and pack up, eat and on the river by 745am. We were both worn out but started the morning with a good pace.
There was a few more rapids this day. Around lunch we noticed something red on the side of the river bank. we decided to go check it out and eat our lunch. As we got closer to the shore we could tell that the red was tuck tape that was wrapped around a black tarp. When we floated by we could see flies all around the object. It was around 3 feet long and 1 foot wide. I believed that was a body. So we ate our lunch first and discussed what we should do. We though we should call the cops right away, but what if it was just an animal. So we decided to cut open the bag and look inside. We walked over to the mystery package and saw some bear tracks near the bag. I took my knife and cut through the tape and the black tarp and ther was baler twine and tarp straps and more layers of tarp. I continued cutting and I could tell that this bag was heavy, and that I was at the last layer to cut through. I pierced the layer and the smell was overwhelming. I kept cutting and pulled it open and it had hair and the skull looked K9 ish. No human body and so we got the heck out of there ASAP before the bear came back.

The afternoon was hot and we went 65 Km and pulled out our kayaks at hwy36 around 7pm. To our supprise there was a hotel/restaurant and so we went and got appies and Pizza.

we enjoyed a hot meal and slept under the stars and watched the asteroids.

We got Kalinda to pick us up on Saturday and ended the wonderful, hard trip !!!!!!!

NEW TOY!!!

Yesterday I picked up Mark from his kayaking trip around Two Hills, then we headed into Edmonton to drop the Kayak's off at Totem Outfitters. After that we thought it would be a good idea to start stocking up on baby supplies. We were planning on getting the stroller, car seat, dresser, play pen and high chair. Of course though Mark saw an Atmosphere store and just had to go in and look at camping gear. When he was in there he found a stroller for the back of our bike to hold Macie when riding in Kitscoty and Lloydminster, supplies when going on long bike trips and the puppies for the fun of it yesterday. We love it and can't wait to use it, and the extra added bonus I can use it as a running stroller when Mark isn't around and I want to go for a run outside with Macie.

3RD ANNUAL H&H MINI GOLF CHALLENGE!!

Well today was our 3rd annual Hunsperger and Harker Mini Golf Challenge. We started it about 3 years ago when we went mini golfing for F.H.E. I think it was half way through the game when we were both playing decent and we decided to put ice cream from the scoop on the line. Which ever couple had the best score at the end of the match the other couple had to buy them ice cream. The first year we were defeated by the Harkers. Last year we decided to put Dairy Queen on the line and we came out victorious. This year we decided to up the stakes and put desert from Boston Pizza on the line. I was feeling a lose as we went mini golfing about a month earlier with some other friends and both Mark and I stunk it up. However Mark played the game of his life, getting a hole in one about 6 birdies, 5 pars, then the 3 holes he stunk on I pulled it through and putted really well. So for a 2nd year in a row we were the Victors. Weather we win or lose though I am loving this cute tradition with our friends.

p.s. Thanks Harkers for the delicious chocolate explosion

HARRY POTTER PARTY!!!

So this post should have been done over a month ago, but have kept forgetting so seeing as I have some time I wanted to make sure I got this on my blog. Our wonderful friends the Harkers put together this amazing Harry Potter Party. And when I say amazing I mean amazing. They had delicious food, amazingly fun games that were all centered around Harry Potter, prizes for the winners and delicious cupcakes for desert. Mark and I were huge novices at all of the games seeing as we have never seen or read anything Harry Potter and skipped out on the movie as we were both exhausted from a long day of work and still had 10 million things on our plate to get done. It was a blast though and need to give a shout out to Matt and Royall for doing an amazing job. It is making me have a desire to host a huge theme party cause it was so much fun.

NURSERY

I had the whole day off yesterday and to myself as Mark was at work and I spent pretty much all day on line looking at ideas for the nursery. I have fallen in love with these items on etsy and think I have almost pretty much figured out what I want the nursery to look like. Just need to start buying stuff now. Everything is pretty good price wise except the toy chest but I am not buying that one, just love the idea. I want to buy one myself and paint and decorate it myself in the colors of the nursery. Also the chair may or may not be painted I kind of like the authentic look of just the wood showing, especially with the theme of the room but painting it to match the toy chest would look adorable too.

A BABY GIRL????

What, can you believe it, I know I sure can't. Mark did win the coin toss but when we were there at the ultrasound I wanted to know so bad that he was kind, and generous enough to let us find out. I am so glad we found out because I thought for sure like 99.9% we were having a boy. Not even because of the test we took, I was just feeling very strongly that it was a boy and had lots of signs saying it was a boy, but I guess we are not beating the Dudley odd's and adding to the 11 to 3 ratio of girls to boys making it 12 to 3. I am so happy I can start preparing now and start getting the nursery ready. I can't wait to see her beautiful face and see what a combination of a hunsperger and a dudley make.

A Day At The Lake

Today was the most perfect weather to go to the lake. Sunny, no wind, and lots of family. Sadly Mark had to work but me and the puppies had a blast. Although it did wear me out for the night being in the sun all day. Must give a shout out to the Hollands for making this a yearly tradition with our family. We always have so much fun. I was also a little disappointed I could not go on the ski's. I got up last year and was hoping to try it again this year, but baby is way more important then water skiing. Hopefully next year I can give it another try.

MOM'S 60TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

This weekend we had my mom's 60th birthday bash. We had it at my Aunt Tina's house and it was amazing. I can't even begin to describe how much I love this women and I am so blessed to have her as my mother. My mom grew up in Vermilion and this weekend was the vermilion fair so with lots of old friends being around town and a ton of my extended family being up we thought it would be a good time to celebrate her 60th birthday. It is technically not until August 22nd, but a little early doesn't hurt. Mark and I brought our bounce house out which kept the kids entertained all day. We had so many salads I don't think we knew what to do with them all. Lot's and lots of leftovers. We had a framed photo of my mother for people to sign there name and some great decorations. I was so impressed with the turn out and so grateful so many people came to celebrate her birthday. It was a blast and I think my mother was thrilled and overjoyed.

COIN TOSS!!!

We'll it looks like we are not finding out. We have been contemplating, fighting, disagreeing and could not come up with a decision where we were both happy so it came down to the toss of a coin best two out of three. Heads we don't find out the sex of the baby on Wednesday and tails we do. I guess fate was in Mark's favor last night because we turned up heads two times in a row, I never even got to see tails once on the coin. I am a little disappointed but I guess waiting another 4 1/2 months isn't the end of the world.

HEARTBEAT!!!

Yesterday I had one of my monthly checkup's with my doctor and it was so comforting hearing my baby's heartbeat. About two weeks ago I had a really bad fall and I twisted my ankle and bruised my knee pretty badly, I have been a little nervous ever since and worried about our baby, but the Doctor said everything looks great, and the heartbeat was fast and strong. 150 BPM's. I also got my results back from all of my blood work and everything looks really good when it comes to things like down syndrom, spina bifida, tri 13 and other birth defects. Again that was so comforting to hear the doctor say, it does not mean we are totally free from being worried about our baby, but definitely brings comfort.

Less then a week and we have our 20 week ultrasound. I am still so up in the air on weather or not I want to find out or not. I drive Mark crazy changing my mind everyday. Ever since yesterday I have been on a wanting to find out phase so if it stays this way for the appointment I have a feeling I might give in and find out. As of right now I don't really know what is going to happen that day. The thing I am most looking forward to though is seeing that beautiful baby of mine and hearing his or her heartbeat again.