last night matt killed a scorpion with a flip flop.

he got scorpion guts all over his face.

yuck.

aaand yesterday chet had his first swim!

good bye canada. see you in a couple months.

we headed back to the US of A yesterday. our 6 week visit in canada went by so fast. they say time flies when you're having fun. so we must of been having too much fun. we sure loved spending time with our families, and with lots of our friends too. we will miss you guys.

one really nice part of being around family was having all sorts of extra hands to take care of chet. we are so grateful for all the help we got. it's going to be hard to go back to just us!

on thursday we celebrated jacksons birthday with these adorable cupcakes that my sister made. i want to show them off for her because i was so impressed.

cupcakes were followed by some playtime with the crazy hughes kids. i love this picture because it captures that evening perfectly!

and then we finished our canada visit with the annual leavitt family camp out. every summer the whole leavitt gang goes camping for a weekend. this year we went to some land just outside of waterton. it's a lovely little area. the land is owned by matt's sister and her husband. their last name is hoover. so we lovingly refer to the it as hooverland. (pronouncing the 'land' part like you would pronounce it in scotland - 'lind'. hooverlind.)

if i had to describe this years camp in 3 words they would be...

LESS SPIDERY (then other years) and COLD.

this might sound like i'm complaining. but i'm not. both statements are very true!

two years ago we camped at the same place as this year and there were so many spiders. it was disgusting. i hate spiders. i think they are awful creatures.

i swear i spend a good chunk of my time looking for spiders. and not just when i'm camping. always. i am always thinking of good places they might be hiding on me. and always making sure i have an emergency exit plan incase a spider tries to corner me.

i was very pleased to see that hooverland is no longer as spidery. camping was much less stressful. it's not easy being the one who has to protect the family from spiders!

camping was also cold this year. very cold. it felt like we were camping in november, not august. but what can you do. the cold wasn't totally bad...it made our hot chocolate and campfire seem just that much better.

we thought this warm outfit of chets was too cute.

sitting around the campfire was my favorite part of the camp. i love watching the flames.

matt said his favorite part was hanging with the family. and he is right. that really was the best part. but if he had to chose a second favorite i bet it would be four-wheeling. he could spend all day riding around on a quad.

even i gave it a go.

i am 110% girl when i'm driving a quad. i am more then happy letting go of the brakes and just letting the quad coast, rather then pushing the gas!

i am a daredevil when i'm a passenger though. :)

now we are in arizona. yipee.

we survived our first flight with a baby. and a dog. we didn't really have any way to leave tank behind on this trip, so he got to tag along. and he ended up being the most expensive part. we got super cheap flights through allegiant air, so tanks ticket cost more then ours. can you believe that?

ridiculous.

THEY'RE GONE!

i'm not sure who is more thrilled that my mom got her braces off...me or her. i wish i had recorded my moms reaction when she looked in the mirror for the first time. she was soo happy. i am very proud of her. she had to survive 2 years of being a metal mouth, and 1 crazy surgery. but it was definitely worth it. you look great mom!

chet and grandma waiting for dr french.

one last brace face smile.

it's wierd sitting at this end of the chair. i used to be the one behind the mask.

ta daa!

(she had to keep 3 braces on for a couple more weeks. but that's nothing!)

i took a picture of a picture of the before and after.

i think it's neat but, then again, this was my job for the past few years..

1 more week in calgary. then back to america.

chet has grown up so much over our past 6 weeks here in calgary.

he recently discovered his legs.

legs are nice.

they help you stand.

i looove photo booth.

chet and i spent a chunk of our afternoon playing with photo booth.

it makes me laugh...out loud...when i'm all alone. :)

i have always had a love for real photo booths too - the ones that you actually sit in at the mall. but i feel like they are getting harder and harder to find these days. it's sad. instead they have these fancy pants photo booths that, i feel, wreck the photo booth experience. i just want the good old fashioned black and white pictures. with four pictures in a vertical row.

one day i would like to own a photo booth. is that wierd? matt and i wanted a photo booth at our wedding reception. we thought it would be a fun alternative to signing a guest book - people would take a strip of pictures for us as a keepsake instead. but...we were too cheap. instead we took photo booth pictures of ourselves and sent them out with our invites.

chet had his 5 month birthday on tuesday. he celebrated by going to the doctors and getting his shots. poor guy. i absolutely hate watching him get needles. when he was in the NICU i always broke down when i had to watch him get a new IV. (and when they shaved patches on his head!)

chet's measurements at 5 months are...

weight - 12lbs 7oz.

height - 24 3/4 inches.

(which means he is very tall and thin. like matt.)

we have been missing cafe rio while we have been here in calgary. so the other day i googled a recipe to copy their pork salad. and i made it ALL...the pork, the beans, the rice, the dressing. it was much more work then i was planning. but it was definitely worth it. i don't usually brag about my cooking, because it usually sucks, but this was dee-lish.

(you really missed out cichy's!)

if you are a mormon girl who grew up in calgary you might appreciate this email i got yesterday. it's from good old dale!

Pam,

Happy 8,888 days old (on Aug 14)!

Dale.

oh dale!

the last few days have been rainy. and chilly. not very good summer weather. it's been kind of depressing. but there are 2 things that have made it alright.

number one.

matt got off work early on thursday and friday...due to rain. so we got extra time together.

and number two.

we are going to arizona in 2 weeks and the weather there is absolutely, completely, ridiculously hot. so i can find comfort in knowing that i will get to be stinking hot real soon. the forecast in phoenix today said a high of 44 and a low of 32. (celcius). a low of 32? oh my word. we are going to melt.

you know what i love about hot places like that? when you walk outside at night and it is dark out and it is still hot. how fun is that? that doesn't happen in calgary. it always cools off at night here. in my head night = cool.

i thought it was cute matt and chet were flannel twins the other day.

even though it's not cute that we needed flannel in august.

chet and i.

on wednesday i got to visit my old office. it was soo fun to catch up. i miss those girls.

thursday i baked cupcakes. i really enjoy doing things like decorating cupcakes and cakes. and i envy people on TV who make a living doing that. i would be lying if i said i haven't daydreamed about being a trendy cupcake designer! i could call my shop pam-cakes. unfortunately, decorating is one of those things that always turns out better in your head then it could ever in real life. like making an elephant sound. i can hear it in my head but i can't, for the life of me, get that sound to come out of my mouth!

after spending all that time decorating, matt ate a cupcake in one giant bite. he makes me laugh.

on friday afternoon we went to the new giant mall in calgary. crossiron mills. we went with matt's sister becky, her husband todd, and their little ones - jane and hayden. somehow we spent FIVE HOURS wandering around that mall. i have no idea where the time went. we hardly bought anything. but it was a very fun afternoon. and we got to finish off our mall trip with a crepe. matt and i will never pass up the chance to try a crepe.

i think it's fascinating how well chet's cousins get along with him. they are all so sweet with him. i love how much they fuss over him. the bigger cousins are so good at holding him, entertaining him, and rocking him to sleep. and the little ones love to show him toys and make him smile. i have never been super great with kids so i am very impressed by this.

this is chet and his cousin harrison. harrison just turned one and he doesn't talk, but he was able to make chet smile today. it's too cute.

according to the 'table of traditional and modern anniversary gifts' matt and i were supposed to give each other something made of leather, crystal, or glass yesterday. that's what they say is the ideal gift for a couple who has been married 3 years, like us.

interesting.

i don't understand why there are specific rules for what you should give each year. doesn't it only make it harder to shop for a gift when you have ridiculous guidelines to follow? i think so. but it says it's good luck to follow the rules.

dang it.

had i of know this yesterday i would have bought matt a pair of crystal studded leather pants and a glass one of these -(an extra lucky gift because i would use all 3 suggestions.)

unfortunately i only made him a cd. and he got me...nothing. i haaave to throw that in just to bug him. but really, we didn't plan on gifts.

i am excited for our sixth anniversary. the rules say you get candy on that one.

due to lack of...any body, we took our own anniversary picture. with self timer.

we took it right before heading out for dinner. we like dinner dates. and chet spent the evening with his grandma and grandpa leavitt. where he was spoiled.

yesterday my mom said that matt and i are perfect (aww thanks mom!) for each other (oh.). i would have to agree. even though we are very different, we go so well together.

we were laughing at our opposite-ness the other day. you see, right now the background on matts cell phone looks something like this -

while mine is more like this -

i'm quite confident i was born in the wrong country. i spend 6 months of the year pouting about how cold winter is and the other 6 months dreading it. poor me.

a smile!

we saw dinner for schmucks last night.

and we really liked it.

what is this?

in canada, people call it a soother. and then they shorten it to something silly like soo-soo. but i have referred to it as a soother in rexburg and no one knew what i was talking about. in the states i have heard it called a pacifier, paci, and binky. but i feel silly saying pacifier in canada, even though that is a perfect name for it. it does 'pacify'. but, with that said, soother is a perfect name too because it 'soothes'.

it doesn't 'bink' though. at least i don't think it does. so i don't get where binky comes from, but sure..

then there is the term dummy.

dummy?!

oh my.

can't we all just agree on one normal name that i'm not embarrassed to use?

Q: why didn't the pirate go to the movie?

A: because it was rated ARRRR.

chets cousin chloe had a pirate birthday party tonight. she turned 3.

birthday parties in the leavitt family always seem to be a pretty big deal. lots of fun. the moms always make fancy cakes and plan fun party games. and the treat bags are unreal. i had never seen such elaborate treat bags until i started hanging around matt. but since only kids get treat bags, matt and i have always just had to sit back and admire them...until now! chet got his first treat bag today. (which means matt and i got our first treat bag!).

we managed to snap a picture of all the big girls in the leavitt family. that is not easy to do!

chet and i were invited to go on a picnic with a few of his cousins wednesday afternoon. chet is a bit too young to appreciate his cousins, but i had fun! i am lucky to have such nice sister-in-laws. and brother-in-laws. and nieces and nephews too.

these are some of the cute kids that were at the picnic:

matt has been working for his brother's company while we have been home this summer. we are very lucky that he is able to. otherwise, it would have been super hard to find a job for the few weeks that we are back here in calgary. yesterday, at work, he got to cut down an 80ft tree with a chainsaw. he thought that was pretty wicked. such a boy...

next week matt and i will celebrate our 3 year anniversary. it is just crazy to think that we have been married for 3 whole years. i still think of us a young newlyweds, but we aren't really anymore. in rexburg most of our neighbors are just coming up on their 1 year anniversary, so they think we are so much older then them. it makes me laugh. i totally remember thinking that way when we were first married.

the other day matt and i were discussing how we have both changed, in little ways, since we got married, due to the influence of each other. and the first thing matt said that i have taught him is to appreciate a pair of comfy pants. it's sad, but true. :) i looove wearing comfy pants - basketball shorts, scrub bottoms, yoga pants, sweatpants of all shapes. anything but jeans. i'll even take a comfy skirt over jeans. matt used to think jeans were just as nice as comfy pants, but he was wrong. and now, thanks to me, he realizes that!

we spent the long weekend down at the nielson's cabin on ashley lake, in montana. it was so fun. i used to get to go every summer with jocelyn to their cabin when i was younger. then i started working, then she got married, then i got married, and then kids came into the picture, and all of a sudden getting to the lake wasn't as easy to do. life gets too complicated when you're older...you don't get to enjoy summer like you did back in high school. i miss those days!

but no amount of time can change how much i love my best buddy. cheesy? maybe! but it's true.

on the way down we drove 'the road to the sun'. it is super pretty up there. i don't usually appreciate that kind of beauty. i find a tropical beach scene much more appealing then a rocky mountain one. but i have to admit it's nice up there. they are doing construction on the pass so the roads were even narrower then usual. i was happy i wasn't the one driving.

the first morning we were at the lake it was rainy.

but it cleared up real quick and we got to do all the fun lake activities we were excited for.

i'm a chicken when it comes to being pulled behind a boat. always have been. i prefer to catch rays on the boat, then drag behind it! i did get on a tube a few times though...with miss holli. she is, hands down, the bravest little girl i know.

matt, on the other hand, loooved trying everything. wake boarding, wake surfing, saucer-ing, and so on.

this next picture makes me laugh - one of these things is not like the others...

we preformed in the ashley lake annual talent show.

jeff awarded matt the MVH (most valuable hustler) in our volleyball games.

i kicked butt at mexican horseshoes.

the fox's destroyed us at ROOK.

rick taught us how to use a blowgun.

chet sported his speedo. (like father like son).

tank chased chipmunks.

we had late night chit chats.

it was a perfect weekend.

thanks nielson family for spoiling us. you are way too kind!

the double team. for 'those' diapers...