One of the best things about having Concert Loving Friends- they take you with them!!

Angie is the QUEEN at being on top of concerts- buying tickets, reminding me we are going and telling me to just come!! 😂😂😂

We have been to more concerts in the last 2 years then Justin has in his entire life- and it has been a blast.

NOW... do we listen to Mariana Trench on the regular- no. Did I think it was Mary Anna's Trench for about 3 months- yes. Did I know all of their songs- no. Did I know 50% of the songs- no. Did I know a total of 4 of the songs- yes. Did they gain a fan that night- 100% yes.                                                                                                                                                      Funny Tid bit about this Concert. After the first song, it looked like something stung or hit the lead singer in the face. He was fine for the first song and then all of a sudden he had a HUGE goose egg growing right before our very eyes. Apparently he hit himself with his guitar as he was changing guitars after the first song right in his right eyebrow. At one point in the first couple songs he was singing with blood in his eye! By the end of the concert- we were WAAAY close- like 3rd row- his eye looked so painful. He posted on insta that night and the next morning and it is quite a sight. Poor guy!

He also had his mic stand malfunction twice, his battery pack replaced a couple times, his mic finally restrung under his shirt- his guitar strings go stuck and he sang through it all. Guys we have never seen more things go wrong at a concert- but it was fantastic regardless. 

We ended the night with ice cream and drinks from 7-11 before heading home!

Angie and I also booked a AIRBNB for later in April with our kids- that we are super excited about and we caught up on all our crazyness. 

One more thing- friends who are ok with your live being insanely busy, are priceless. Sometime we go months without seeing or talking- beside the occasional text- but when we get a evening to hang- we pick up right where we left off. Thanks for being those friends Conways!

House Update- Roof, Basement Floor, Kitchen and Tub

Its hard to move fast when the weather has a hard time cooperating! Nevertheless things are moving- just not a quickly as we had hoped for February! Justin has been working hard and in the last couple weeks he has gotten a few things checked off the list-

✔ Started shingling the roof. Southside and East side done! Now he needs to wait until it warms again to work on the Northside and West side (which is the hardest of our roof line and it connects to the Garage roof) 

Why is he doing this not in the summer?? Before we can drywall or insulate it has to stop leaking on the inside. The titan walls have done a good job protecting the inside- but it still needs to be water tight before we can move on with some of the inside.

✔ Master tub and stand alone filler arrived!! I was questioning Justin as to why we had to decide on this a couple weeks ago- but apparently the plumber needs these measurements to do his rough in. We totally switched around the entire master bath in January and we both felt really good about it! The tub is for a single person- and not large by any standard- but its enough for me :) Justin has this thing about "stewing in his own filth" so the bath is for ME!

✔ Basement in floor heading in! We have been heating this basement since Dec 2022. Trench for the plumber. Getting it levelled and gravel spread. Then insulating and NOW in floor heating. This is something we wanted in both other builds but just didn't happen. We know our family will LOVE this feature next winter and cant wait!

✔ Kitchen ordered- and I can NOT wait until Justin gets the mock up and have asked almost every day if he has gotten the email yet. Picture- white, wood, sage green, no uppers, huge island, gold (or black) pulls and farm house sink. Guys... its going to be awesome.

Selman Dinner

Today was such a fun day with family!

Justins Aunt and Uncle came up to Canada with all of their kids and grandkids to spend a week Skiing and seeing family. Obviously we all wanted to see them- so Grandma Moxley arranged with Aunt Karen and LuWana to have a family dinner at the church. I may be wrong but out of the 98 descendants of Barker and Mae Selman 80 were able to attend. 

There we sooo many cousins- Remy was in Heaven. She played hard from 4 until we left @ 9:00. Barker was busy playing basketball. Annaliesse wasn't feeling great so she just laid around most of the afternoon. Kalia soaked up all the Camille time she could get- all the snuggles and the hugs. 

Amanda and Karla put together some fun tasting games- where we tried to pick out which snacks were from America and which were from Canada. Justin and I were bang on- as we have done all sorts of these tasting games with our kids. Everyone had a great time. 

Last Day of School

 

Comparing first day photos to last day photos never gets old for Moms.... it does however get old for HighSchoolers. So for Kalia you get her first day of school picture and her soccer medal picture that happened 2 weeks before the end of school. Grade 9 was everything Kalia wanted it to be- as I hope to back date this blog :)

Annaliesse rocked her last day of Grade 8 and mostly annoyed I wanted a picture... can you tell? LOL

Barker moving on from Elementary into Middle School. Grade 5 was great- lets see what Grade 6 has to offer.

The littlest hobo is done Grade 3- if you ask Mom- she would be going back to grade 2 and staying little forever- but thats not the way things go in this life. So she is moving onto Grade 4 and going to have a great time her SAME teacher for another year!

 Now we had plans for this last day of school. We found out today that all of our town permitting is done and ready for us to go ahead and build our house. It was thrilling news after feeling we had been jerked around for the last couple of months. Celebrating with our kids last day of school, mommy getting a new job (more on that later), the permitting coming through and HELLO to Summer 2022.

We got too excited.... 

Justin came home from work early today- walked into the house holding his hand funny and says.... "I think I broke my finger." 

He just wanted to let it heal and keep on trucking- but it looked so horrible I asked him to head to the hospital to get it checked out. It was definitely broken and surgery was discussed for awhile- eventually deciding against it. 

While Justin spent the evening at the hospital, I took the kids on the planned Celebrating Schools Out Activity- Jurassic Park 2 at the local theatre. It was so fun- even better when somthing scared me- I screamed and THAT scared the kids. Barker jumping like a foot off his seat and Remy giving a small whimper of fright. Kalia just laughed and Annaliesse rolled her eyes. 

Sad reality this set us back- ALOT as I am back dating this blog. We didn't get to start the house until Remy's birthday on August 25th.

Grade 5 & Grade 8 Grad

 

Barker your leaving Elementary school in the dust! Even though Remy is not keen to be left there without you! 

You were in Mrs Reeds class this year and loved her as a teacher. She is everything a school teacher should be. Kind, firm, engaging, encouraging, fun, spontaneous, and the best part, great with little boys. You loved your final year at Spitzee and had so many of your friends were in your class. I convinced you to change out of your sport shots and T'shirt for this- and boy did you look spiffy! 

Grade 5 boys drumming drummed the school pupils into the gym for the assembly and you grinned the whole time. We got front row seats to your big day- as we made Grandpa come so we could sit beside the "important people" in the front :)

The Grade 5 slide show was so fun to watch and your graduation picture along side your adorable Kindergarten picture was just sweet. We know you'r going to love Grade 6 at Senator and you found out even more friends are in your Grade 6 class than your Grade 5 class. We wish your new teacher luck- your not going to need it. Your going to Rock it!

Annaliesse graduated from Senator Riley Middle School this year. Can you believe it? How can she be going into High School already. High School in High River starts at Grade 9- which in my option is WAAAY to young to be in High School but what ya gonna do? 13 years old and becoming a Freshman. 

Kalia, Grandma, Aunt Laura, and Aunt Lindsay helped Annaliesse get ready for her big day. I was hanging at the hospital for the morning -forth day in a row getting IV meds for a nasty Kidney infection. As much as I wanted to help her get ready- it was special for her and Kalia- as the aunts and Grandma helped Kalia get ready for the same grad- only I was at work for Kalia's. AND Just so we remember- you LOVED your Grade 8 Grad Dress. I found it at Winners and brought it home for you to try on- alas it was to small and you were devastated. You begged me to make it work, but it was just too small. As a compromise I told you I would look at other Winners to see if we could find a bigger size. A few weeks later I scored big and found the same dress just one size bigger at Winners on Heritage Drive. You were dancing and grinning from ear to ear when I FaceTimed you to confirm you still wanted it. You loved beautiful in the dress Annaliesse- but you could have rocked anything. You are beautiful from the inside out.  

Annaliesse was a spokes person at her Grade 8 Grad. She spoke on behalf of her 8M class and announced the Grade 8s who were voted "Most Likely". There were lots of different categories for the "Most likely" that she announced them in 2 batches. Once after her speech from her homeroom and the second batch after all the other home room speeches and a few teacher speakers. Annaliesse's homeroom speech talked about the struggles her graduating class had doing 1/2 of their middle school years doing COVID, funny jokes about learning time, and growing into Grade Nine.

Annaliesse herself was voted Most likely to Become Mayor. Which is SUPER fitting if you know Annaliesse :) Annaliesse we filmed your speech and LOVED sitting second row for parents (front row was taken dang it!) to your first public event. When you become successful in all that you do- we will be there to cheer you on every step of the way!

Snapshots

 

I love this Sunday picture of the kids with Justin making tacos in the background. This is a very typical minute at our house. 

Also this face... Barker got a bowtie in his stocking after asking for one for a couple years. Justin really didn't want him to wear one, as he prefers long fat ties and wants his son to feel the same. Barker has worn his Bowtie every Sunday since Christmas. He LOVES it.

Kalia went Ice fishing with a friend and her Dad. They caught only one fish, and accidentally dropped that one fish back into the HOLE!! HAHA Kalia said they laughed and laughed. She had such a fun day.

Barker and Mommy reading Harry Potter together 😍