Celebrating 80 years!

In August, we had the privelage to get together with our extended family to celebrate Granny's 80th birthday! It was a surprise to her because her birthday isn't actually until next January but we celebrated early so that we could also celebrate her older brother's 80th as well. Great Uncle Ambrose had just turned 80 for real earlier this year. St. Germain's hosted the event in their beautiful, spacious backyard and opened up their home, their pool and their hospitality for us all to share a great day together. Thank you guys! You're terrific!

This lady is f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s! Meet Dolores....my Granny. Dear and near to my heart, she is one of the most special, lovely people I know. You would know it too; all you have to do is meet her once to figure that out. She is a wife, a mother of 6, a grandmother, a great grandmother, a sister, a friend and amongst many other fabulous traits, she is also a survivor. She beat breast cancer a few years ago and is simply an inspiration. I love you very much Granny! And I know everyone else does too:) we sure are blessed to have you in our lives and celebrate your special birthday with you.

Meet Uncle Ambrose.....this man; small in stature, but huge in personality and heart also celebrated his birthday. It was truly a very special event to do this together and for him to enjoy the day with his friends, family and loved ones because only a few days later Uncle Ambrose had a sudden heart attack and passed away. He will be truly missed by many.

This is my Poppa! Yes.....we are a little nuts; but in a good kind of way! He is also a very special man who over his lifetime has worked hard for a living, grown to appreciate his family more than ever and has been a wonderful husband and caretaker worrying about and taking care of Granny endlessly when she was sick. The glasses just make for a good laugh:) Love you Poppa!

Mom and Granny...I hope that I am loaded with these genes! pretty wrinkle free!! Beautiful ladies.

It's not just me.....Darcie is a camera lover too!

Great Uncle Barry and Dustin.....uh....does anyone else see how much they look alike here???

Auntie Marcia (mom's twin) was one of the hosts for the "name that tune!" game. She may have been 'bust'in a move' here.....

Pretty Auntie Deb.

Uncle Bill was the other host of the game......in the glasses. :)

She cracks me up! so cute!

the kids wallopped the piniata around. Cameron has her very serious hitting face one here.

The kids spent alot of time in the pool playing around. I loved my fast camera for this!

All in all it was a great day hanging out with everyone.....not long enough, but super nice. Pretty blessed we all are!

Back at'er

well......it has been almost two years since I posted last! Did someone just snap?? literally snap their fingers and make time jump two years? That's how it feels.....when I decided I wanted to blog about business, this one came up too and I couldn't believe it had been that long since writing on it. Many things have changed including our season in life. Can I have all my toddlers back please?? just say'in........big kids bring big schedules and wow! I love our kids ages, but I am pretty much running off my feet all day; but it's a good 'running off your feet all day, falling into bed late at night with achy legs and maybe even a bit of drool on your pillow cuz you're so tired!!'

Anywhoooo, what have we been up to? Brett is ten (yes, we have a child in double digits and that is c-rrrrr-azy!) Mostly it just means that we're old.....Braden...aka: Brado is 7 and is quite the thinker. Kylie is 3! She's not a baby anymore.....and she is losing her baby chub. So SAD! I love that baby chub. I'll just have to squeeze random babies when I see them to get a hold of some. I could squeeze my own love handles, but what's the fun in that really?

My handsome hubby Brad is doing great. He's working hard; got a promotion and is doing more project leading (mostly allllll project leading) rather than drafting these days. He does very well keeping up and not skipping a step when he comes home after a 12 hour day jumping into the chaos with us. I love him so much.

In my last post of October 2008!! (yikes) I was excited about purchasing my new slr digital camera. That feels like forever ago. In the spring of 2009, I decided after some persuasion from family and friends that I would officially start a low key photography business. I would pick a name and just put it out there a bit. Well, goodness gracious! It has been amazing really to see how something that was a faint idea, turned into an actual business. When people ask what I do, I have a hard time spitting it out actually.....I always say "I'm a stay at home mom" and then after much hesitation I sort of mumble..."and I started a photography business awhile ago". Juggling the kids, being a wife, mom, friend, daughter and running a business is nuts on paper!! I don't like to write our schedule down, because then it's real and that scares me. But seriously, I thank God every day for making our life run pretty seamlessly. I think He adds extra hours into our day so we can get everything accomplished before drooling:)

Well, that's a little update from the Friesens for now. I will try and keep up to this a bit more regularly; it actually feels great to put some of my random thoughts down on 'paper' :) Talk to you soon.....

Dana