May Long

This last Sunday we were lucky enough to be there for our newest nephew's baby blessing. 

It is such a beautiful thing seeing so much family gathering to support the new addition to the family. It's a long way for the majority of the families but as many that could come, did. We all crowded into the first three pews in one of the most gorgeous L.D.S. church I have seen. 

The original Taber church is so unique, and gorgeous! There are rumors that it is the oldest running L.D.S. chapel in Canada. If we move to Taber, I think I will try, plot and plan to ensure that we move into their ward just so we can go to that church. 

The Bevans clan with new addition
Daxon Hayz

Shawn and I meant to only spend the night but we ended up staying at Chandra and Rob's so we could spend more time with the family... and so we could stay up till 2 am playing Rook.

I love Rook. Slightly obsessed. 

The only problem is that I play it enough to get somewhat good, and then don't play it for so long that the next time someone pulls out the Rook cards, it's like I'm playing for the first time again. No more. I love this game and am not opposed to pulling them out and forcing people to play with me. Luckily, Shawn's family loves Rook more than I do. 

We played 4-person, 5-person and 6-person Rook and I loved every game but two particular games stood out to me, not because I won them, in fact, one of them was a HUGE failure for my teammate and I, but because they were hilarious. 

The first was in 5 person Rook. Shawn won the bid and called out for the 1 in Red to be his partner. It was me. I was psyched because I had the 1, 12,10 and maybe 3 other Red. I figured if he called me and made Red trump than he should have at least the 14, maybe the 13 and at least a few more and we should control a good chunk of Trump. 

Man, was I wrong.

I learned this out the hard way when I threw out the ten of trump, SURE that he had the 14 or at least the 13. Nope. Neither. Turns out that my husband/partner had a rubber neck and saw that I had a bunch of red and figured that we could do well since he had a lot of black. 

Man was he wrong. 

We bombed and all we could do is laugh at how ridiculous Shawn's plan was.  I was almost crying tears that it was so ridiculous and that I had the bad luck to be drug down by his ridiculous plan. You think that if you are gonna cheat that you would do good. Let this be a warning to all potential cheaters. It BLEW up in his face, in the tune of -140 pts. 

The next game that made my night was when Shawn and I were playing against Chandra and Todd. Shawn and Todd had taken the easy way out and bowed out of the bidding so it was between Chandra and I. My hand was crap, I had nothing but I couldn't let Chandra have it for 110 so we went back and forth 5 pts at a time till she got to 135 and I quickly passed. 

Chandra's face dropped so fast, I laughed.

Guess she was doing the exact same thing that I was and she got stuck with a mid-range rainbow. She just pulled a straw and picked a random color that we just happened to have. Shawn and I laughed all the way to 120 pts while Chandra couldn't believe her luck as they went down 135 pts. 

Writing on Stone Park

On the holiday Monday we all piled into our vehicles and drove out, past Milk River, to Writing-On-Stone (NOT riding on stone, like I used to think) Park. The hoo-doos are so beautiful and irresistible to climb all over. This was my first time, post-accident, that I ran and jumped and played as I did before the accident. Well, as much as I could wearing flip-flops. It wasn't too bad at all. I think I will never be back to what I was, which is tough to swallow some times but when it gets me down I just think of how blessed I am to be walking. 

Note to self: Carry sneakers with you in your car... It always seems to me that when around the Bevans, we do impromptu hiking trips and I am always in flip-flops. 

Did I mention that the weather was pretty decent? The majority of May longs are full of snow and wind. This time all we had to deal with was a light sprinkling, here and there. We'll take it. 

Shawn finding someone's stash of
matches and, yes, they still work

Mom and Dad Bevans
(with Daxon)

 

Love my handsome husband. 

A 'slide' that Heston fearlessly slid down when noone was watching. It was so steep
that none of us adults dared attempt so Heston showed us once again how it was done.
From top to bottom... Rob stood halfway in-between to make sure he wouldn't hit
the massive rock.

The weekend was great. Full of good food, family, hikes, and Rook. Can't complain about any of that. Love my husband and his family.