Catie and Sommer

The oldest girls have "graduated" and are now able to come to the civilized lunches we get to go to every once in a while. They joined Mom and all of the sisters that are here (minus Kerri) for lunch at Cheesecake Cafe on Monday. In case you are wondering, YES, I did eat out a great deal this weekend. 

Retuning

So I just discovered some sweet tools on Picasa, and this is the result of some playing. 

Sarah

I really liked this shot I got of Sarah. I just love it when it comes out all clear and you can really see the detail in their little faces. After shooting some shots with our camera, and then with Scott's, I realized how much I want Scott's. Oh well, we'll have to really save our pennies for that one. Until then, I'm totally satisfied! 

Picnic in the Park

I was just fooling around with the camera while we were picnicing at Confederation Park Monday night with the Palmer clan (minus H&G). Cyndi made us all dinner and then good times were had throwing a baseball and football for the rest of the night. I just realized how little I post any of the Palmer pics. I guess that's because it's so much easier to get the little kiddies to pose for you, so I decided to get some "action" shots of the night. Michael catching for Brett
Jeffrey tossing the football around.
Kandice admiring her nice throw.
 

Belated Birthday

Well we finally got to celebrate Cyndi's birthday with her on Saturday. The family went out for dinner at Chili's and then back to the house for ice cream and peaches. She didn't want a cake. The kids all chipped in a bought her a private ballroom dance lesson for her and Kevin, and a cd of a bunch of ballroom music to get them started! We think they'll love it.
She's really just posing for the picture since the flash was taking forever.
This is Michael and me at Chili's before everyone got there. We had just been at Peter's with my family while they ate dinner so we got to the restaurant early.
I just liked this one of Michael eating his ice cream. 

Family Night

So Amy and Brad and kiddies arrived early this morning, and we're so excited to have them here. They had to drive through the night so needless to say, they were wiped. We all met at Mom and Dad's after work and such for pizza. I brought my camera of course!! I hope none of you are sick of seeing pics of kids that aren't mine, but they are the best to practice photography on. I had to take advantage of all 10 grand kids being here at the same time. I'll be taking lots in the next few days I'm sure. Anyway, there are 10 in total as old as 10 and as young as 8 months. They love being together!

Here's Catie and Sommer with the babies. It's so hard to take a pic of all of them looking in the same direction at the same time

Lara was mocking my self portraits. It's the only way to document that I was actually there too.
So she did one of herself to show me what I looked like...pretty funny actually. I have much more practice than she does hey?
The squish man!

Pics continued

Here's Sarah with her new toothin. She's just 12 hours older than Erik. She's still warming up to all of the strangers around her, but she's just soo cute!
This is Annie (Annalyn) after pouring water all over herself in an attempt to stay cool.Matty's fauxhawk. Sweet hey?
Mom watching us all tear up her house. She looks great in this one, and is finally getting along better with that foot of hers.

Pics con't again!

Here's Annie with Sarah. She's a poser for the camera, and is quite photogenic too!
I think this is one of my favorite shots of the night. I love the lighting on this one. Here's the kiddies trying to pose for a pic. It's so hard to get them all looking at the same time. This is the best one I could get.
I made them all make funny faces, and they did a pretty good job hey? Funny kids!

She's a beautiful girl.

Well since Lara's recently found this song that I love soooo much, I thought I would put this slideshow together. I sure love all of my little girls. Check it out here

Matty Moo!

This is Matty! He was driving the car yesterday while we were out in Cochrane and he was in heaven. He's got the best little lips and the hugest eyes and will certainly kill the girls when he's older.

Pics that I couldn't post...grrrrr!

Here's the girls at lunch yesterday! Oh the fun that was had. Honestly I think we could talk for hours. Until I started having roommates at school...you know who you are...I didn't get along with girls too much, but these two made it easy! I'm grateful to have them in Calgary! Here's to you Ash and Amy! I was filling them in on my blogging addiction, so of course I brought the camera to document the lunch!
Here's Hannah in the car on the way to Cochrane. Honestly she makes taking a cute picture easy. My nickname for her is Tinker (like Tinkerbell). She's so petite and happy all the time. It just suits her.

She didn't make it through the whole drive.

Lunch among friends

Well I had lunch yesterday with my good friends Ashley and Amy. We try to do this once a month, and we haven't had one yet that lasts less than 2 hours. Yesterday was no different, and we almost hit the 3 hour mark, but I have to admit, I love every minute of it. It's so great to have friends that you can pick right up with as soon as you see them. We go way back, and everytime we're together, we don't miss a beat. It was great once again, and we hope to have one more before Amy gets married on the September long weekend. This honestly will be the first wedding I've been too that's not a Mormon wedding. I'm super excited!

Well after that I headed to Mom's house to pick her up, and then to pick up Erin so we could go out to Cochrane and get some stuff from my dad's old showhome. We arrived at 4:47 and apparently no one there had to stay until 5:00 today, because everyone was gone, and we had to turn right around and drive home. Bummer! But, I'm heading there again today and we have the key, so I'm sure we'll find success. There are tons of things they used in the showhome that will match my house perfectly so I'm excited to buy some of it up! After we got home from Cochrane yesterday, we went and met Erin and Scott and the kiddies at the mall for dinner. It's such a great idea because everyone gets to pick exactly what they want. The food court was a great invention indeed. Now that I've got my new camera, I was thrilled to talk to Scott about the possibility of taking a photography course. We both have discovered a love for it, and although he's ahead of me with equipment, I have vowed to get into it more when it's a financially realistic. We walked around the mall checking out the camera stores, and then Michael left me with them to go help one of his friends learn to ride a motorcycle, and they drove me to meet him when we were done shopping. Ever since I started reading Harry Potter, I have grown a love for reading, so yesterday, my only purchase was 3 Jane Austen books for 10 bucks. I'm so excited, and have already started to read Pride and Prejudice. I also got Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. That should fit the reading bill for a little while at least. I'm always so excited to find a bargain.

Open Wide

I just thought I'd put these pictures in here because Michael always mocks me for making this face. He says that I've trained my nieces and nephews to make this face because I do it all of the time, so the other picture is of him mocking me.

This last one is of Michael getting ready to ride the scooter. I just love it because it makes him seem like he's just a little boy! He really is a little boy at heart, so I love to be able to capture that whenever I can!

The Devil Wears Prada

So I went to see The Devil Wears Prada yesterday with my mom and Erin. It was so good! Meryl Streep was amazing in it, and scared me to death. If that were real life and I had to work for someone like that, I would have quit after the first day. She was terrifying. I'm grateful that I don't have to go through stuff like that at my job. It was fun though, to go out with Erin and my Mom. We had a good time, and it's nice to get a chance to see a movie Michael would never take me to. It's strange that we go to movies he likes all of the time, but if I want to see a movie that is the slightest big "chick-flicky" I have to go with girls. Why is that? I see movies like X-Men, and Spiderman, but I can't get him to go to my kind of movies. I'm probably no different than the rest of the world, but I just find it funny. Anyhoo, tomorrow's my last day of work before the extra long weekend we get. I'm super excited for the extra time because I'm having a hard time getting back into the daily grind after my week off. I'm going to lunch with Amy and Ashley, my wonderful friends, on Friday, and that's always a blast. Sometimes I get sad because I feel like I don't have any of my friends around me in Calgary, and then I remember that I always have the most fun, with these girls. After my fun afternoon, I'll have to spend a lot of the weekend catching up on stuff I've been putting off for play time! I hate that. When do you get a vacation from the laundry?

Well as promised, I finally got a picture of the fate of our old camera. It's pretty funny actually. I'm glad he got that mad because I'm so happy with what we have now.

Erik the Lion

Erik growls at you because he's so tough, and it's hilarious

He's not so tough now!

Erik a little nervous of the dino

Windermere 2006

Well here's some of the shots taken on our great vacation. I would have posted them all, but I can't believe how long this took to load. We had a great time, and I've put captions on some of the pictures for your reading pleasure. Expect some more later when I can focus on one or two. I LOVE our camera! Double click on the show and you'll be able to see the pictures a little bigger!

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The New Camera

Yes....I know.....you are all so excited about the fact that we got our new camera! I'm thrilled myself, and I LOVE it. It's my new best toy ever. I spent a lot of time playing with it and trying to figure out just what it is capable of. The first night I put it to the test was the night of our Melchin family picnic at Shouldice Park. Here's just a sample of what this baby can do! We left the next day for Windermere, and I took tons of pics out there. This is our little Hannah
Sommer B
My new name for Erik is Squishy
I love this one of Papa and the Squish
Here's a pic of us (minus Amy) at Ross and Nicole's Wedding Reception.

You can tell what my future babies will be put through when they're born. I love taking pics of the kiddies! They like to have their picture taken, and will pose for me! Why do we grow out of that? Why do most adults shy away from smiling for the camera? Come on people, we're documenting lives here! Get on board!

New Post for the New Look

I got bored of seeing my glitter letters not sparkling and so I decided to change it all. I sure love all of this stuff, and it took me way less time than last time to do it all. I'm grateful for that. Well, I know I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I should update. I missed posting Michael's birthday way back on the 6th. Sorry honey! Heather and Gannon and the kiddies were here for a while so free time was spent with them. But alas, he's another year older and I love him! Happy Birthday! Other than Gannon and Heather being here, not a whole lot is new. I'm getting really excited for this work week to be over because I actually get the whole week off next week and the whole Melchin clan is going to Windermere to stay in a cabin for the week. Kerri will be here, and Cade will follow after. I love it out there, but the only bad thing is I have to leave Michael here for a few days so he can work. He'll join us midweek. It's amazing how soon that separation thing sets in. I used to think that people who were going away from their spouses and were sad about it were wimps, but I am now what I made fun of. Oh well. I'll admit it! Kerri arrives tomorrow and brings...MY NEW CAMERA!!!! Yes we finally bought one and we're so excited...maybe me more than Michael. We decided to invest in a good camera that can see us through for quite a while. I'm excited to test my photography skills at the lake. I'm sure I'll get some good ones and I'll give Scott and Heather a run for their money as the family photographer. Well I now have to run off to a baby shower but I'm sure I'll be posting again before I go.






I just love this picture of Michael and Nixon so I thought I'd share it.

Back at it

Well we got back from our Invermere trip late on Monday night. It was so nice to be out there. The weather was beautiful!! It was so hot. On Saturday, we launched the jetskis and had a grand ol' time out on the lake. Michael and I were stuck on the XP when we were all together because Emily needed the stabily on the GTX for her gentle pregnancy ride. We were more than happy to oblige, but riding with 2 people on the machine is so hard. It's so unstable, and an extremely rough ride. My arms and legs were super sore the next day from clinging on for my life. It is always nice to get out on them though. The lake was so nice, but crowded. When I say crowded, I mean insane. There were so many people out there who didn't seem to have a clue what they were doing. It was a little frightening at times. Emily and I let the boys go out for a little while and we stayed on the beach. Michael sure loves those things, and I must admit, I find him very attractive while riding them! He's so cute. We then went back to the condo for a dip in the pool and some yummy dinner. We made chicken, corn on the cob, and veggie skewers. The corn was so yummy I want Taber corn to get here! I loved it. We then hit Dairy Queen for some treats, and back to the condo for a movie. We watched the Pink Panther. I fell asleep and missed the end, but what I saw was funny!

Sunday we went to Church, came home, watched a ton of movies and basically just sat around. I fell asleep early and totally missed the arrival of the rest of the family. We woke up on Monday and started all over again. I chose to sit at the pool this time though. It was a good thing for me because one of the jetskis broke and a lot of time was spent trying to fix it. I however relaxed at the pool with Cyndi. It was so nice. I really love it there! We're going back to stay at a cabin with my family the last week of July. It's always nice to be right on the lake. It feels so different when you can wake up and get right to all the water fun. I'm excited for that!

Yesterday was spent relaxing and hanging out with Erin and the kids, and my mom. I played with the kids and finally got to show Mom and Dad the cruise dvd Michael made. They liked it a lot. It's so good. Then I headed home to find Michael there finally. They work really long days now so I don't see him until later everyday. We then drove to Peter's and got some treats. I have to go into work today and get some stuff done, and then it's right back to it tomorrow. It's so hard to want to go back to it after all of that. Oh well, what else can I do?

The only really fun thing going on is our quest for a new camera. We are deciding between a few of them, and it's taking a while. Our options are fun, and I can't wait to just have it. I'm sure it won't be too much longer. Are you all so excited?

Feeling Hot Hot HOT!

Wow is it ever hot here today. It doesn't help that my work building's AC needs some repairs, so we roast all day there too! It's only bad here because you can't go home to AC. Most of you who are living in way higher temps may have it rough outside, but at least you can live inside. We however, get no break. I think I may end up sleeping in the car tonight. It reminds me of the summer Joslyn got married (Lis, I'm sure you remember) it feels sort of humid which is so strange for the dry lands up here. Oh well, we complain when the temps lower too. We're never satisfied around here.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't checked out Michael's Blog, you wouldn't know that we saw the sneak peak of SUPERMAN RETURNS. And let me just say that Superman has indeed returned. It was awesome! I really liked it and highly recommend it to everyone. It was good clean entertainment. The new superman did an excellent job! Go see it right away. Don't wait on this one! The only draw back was that we got home really late, and I suffered at work today for that one.

Only 1 day left at work until we leave for the weekend. It'll be so nice to be in the heat, but have a pool to jump into. You can't complain when you're at the pool. Michael and I are heading up a little early with Jeffrey and Emily, so we need to go get some food. The rest of the clan is coming out on Sunday, which is a little sad because I thought the plan was for the whole family to go together. At least that was the impression I got from the family meeting. Oh well, you do what you can! Before we go I have to do a whole bunch of stuff around my house. The last thing you want to do when it's boiling, is clean, but it has to be done! And I hear, it only gets worse.

Singing Girlies

Since I don't have kids of my own, I'll brag about my nieces and nephews. This was what I captured when we went to Utah back in 05. My favorite is Liv wanting to get her picture taken, and Sommer as she realizes she's being taped. The end I totally mistake the wrong house for Amy's. Oops. They watched the Lizzy McGuire movie a lot...that's all.

The Sing Off

Well I'm still trying to get Lara's camera working. I'm sure you're all so sick of me saying that I don't have a camera. I'm sorry. I'm working on it. Not much to report though. I had a short weekend and had to go back to work today. I'm totally spoiled that way, but once you go to 4 days a week, it's so hard to go back. We don't work Friday though and I'm so excited because we're going out to Invermere again with the Palmer clan. Should be good times had by all. We spent the whole day Saturday looking for cars. All that did was expand all of our options and now I seriously don't know what we're going to get. I'll keep everyone posted though. The topic of cars sure gets a great reponse on my blog. Who knew? Sunday night was worth mentioning. We went to Lara and Sean's for dinner and after Lara showed me the ways of Karaoke on X-Box. Oh my was it so much fun. At one point Lara and I had ALL of the kids, and we were having a sing off to a medley of songs. We were so serious about this sing off that at one point the phone was ringing and the babies were crying, the kids outside were yelling, but we didn't let that stop us. Sadly I was defeated, but she's had 2 days to practice her skiiiils. So funny. I don't know if any of you have played that singing to a song you've never heard, but let me tell you, it's an experience. I spent a couple songs singing so ramdomly just trying to get my voice to match the little bar. I laughed pretty hard. I'm with Jeni on the actual purchase of an X-Box. Michael has the same sort of addictive personality where he stays on things like those for hours, but it would be worth it to get one just for this game. Hilarious.

New Car??

Well Michael and I are off tonight to test drive a couple of cars that we're thinking of. It's so hard to be in our stage because we hope to have kids in the near future and this car has got to last for a while, so what kind do ya get? That's the dilemna for us right now. I know that with Michael leading the way, we won't make the wrong decision though. Not only does he know everything about cars, but he also never makes a wrong decision since he comtemplates things forever. Anyway, it should be fun at least to drive around something new and fun for a little while. We'll see how we end up. We are thinking about the Toyota Matrix or the Pontiac Vibe which is basically the same car. The vibe has a better base model and better financing rates, but who can turn from the Toyota name? The other kind of car we're thinking about is a used Mazda Protege 5. That's probably my favorite choice. We wanted something more suited for a few kiddies. I guess I'll just have to keep everyone posted on what we do. Well I just got home from work, cleaned up, and had my visiting teachers over. Michael's just running in the house as it's totally hailing outside. It's pretty funny actually. We've got to bust it if we're going to get all of the places we've got to go. Just thought I'd update everyone. It is just pouring out there. I just thought I'd tell everyone. If I didn't have to go somewhere I would be out there right now getting soaked. I LOVE doing that! Stupid car appointments.

Invermere and back again

Well we just got back from Invermere again. We left on Saturday and got back yesterday. Michael and I had lazy fun. We watched a ton of movies, hung out in the pool (I have the pink shoulders to prove it) and walked all over the town. It sure is beautiful there. One of my favorite places in the world I think. While we were there we came across two fawns in the grass right outside our door. There were there all alone, and one was not moving at all. I was nervous that it was dead so I tried to get as close as I could to see if I could see it breathing. The other little one, as I was doing this, went and stood over it, and started wimpering at us. It was so cute/sad all at the same time. We didn't know what to do, so Michael called someone out there, I have no idea who, and asked what we should do if there is a dead deer on the property. Lucky for us, I spotted a breath not long after that, and later when we went back, they were both gone. I guess the mom will leave them to get food, or sleep on her own, and then come back for them. She must've come back! They were so cute though. It was like seeing Bambi in real life.

We had a great time out there, and now that we're back at home, we're working on selling our car, and getting a new one. That is fun/stressful. We wish it would just sell already. I guess it hasn't been listed that long, and everyone who has looked at it wants a deal. We can't all get a good deal people. Hehe. Other than that not much has been going on. Oh, I watched the end of Scream 3 on TBS last night. I was all alone in my room, and I used to watch those scary movies all the time, but I kept finding myself sinking lower and lower into my pillows, and as soon as it was over, I started calling to Michael to tell him it was time for bed. I really just needed him in the same room. Man, I've become a chicken. What's wrong with me?

Lara let me use thier old camera until I can get a new one, but what do ya know, I can't get the pictures onto the computer. I don't have the right cord. So, here my blog is again, pictureless. Isn't technology wonderful. My pictures are stuck in my camera, and I can't do anything about it! Oh well, we'll see what I can do.

I am nothing...

without my camera. I know I've said it before, but it's true. None of my blogs mean anything to me without my pictures. And since it's not just that simple to go out and pick up a new camera in our stage of life, you all will suffer. I am sorry for this. Now, for a little update. So since I last posted, things have been pretty run of the mill. On Thursday I went to Enrichment with Emily where we "learned" how to make authentic Mexican tortilla soup from a lady in our ward...who is from Mexico. It was so good, and I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to make it. Sad. Then we met our hubbies at Moxies where they ate, and we had dessert. Friday we watched Erik for Lara and Sean, on my request. He was so sad because he woke up early from his nap, he didn't know where he was, and his mama wasn't there. So we drove him around until he fell back to sleep. When he woke up again, he was much happier and even cracked a smile or two while we were at the Palmer's place. Once they came and got him we started to watch "The Pink Panther" with Jeffrey and Emily and Kevin and Cyndi. I have to admit, I only made it about 20 minutes in before falling asleep so we'll have to try that one again. Saturday was spent not doing a whole lot, and then Saturday night we went to Kandice's recital, which was awesome by the way. I'll put on the footage Michael got, if she'll let me!!!!! Sunday was fine, the Missionaries taught again so that was nice, and then we went to Palmer's for dinner. We left there early because we were hoping to watch the cruise dvd that Michael had made of our vacation, but it wasn't quite done so we spent the rest of the night inside. It was probably the most boring night I've ever had. We finally got to watch it last night, and I must admit, it was worth all of the time (about a month every night) he spent on it. It was amazing! Tonight I actually made dinner, which was really good if I do say so myself. I was in the mood for Mexican so we had a Cafe Rio type salad. I did the best I could. I made salsa, and seasoned chicken with lime and cilantro. We had black beans, peppers, and avacado on top, with tortilla chips and a ranch/lime/cilantro dressing. Chad Simmonds stopped by to see Michael so he joined us. He was the first person that has eaten dinner at our kitchen table. Congrats to Chad. Anyway, now it's off to clean up a little and do some laundry. Those things never end hey?

NO NEWS

So I'm sorry that I've been awol. I really have a hard time posting without a picture to go along with it. I guess any post is better than no post. Not a lot has been going on lately. Kandice had her grad on Friday, and we went to the convocation and we went to see them all dressed up. Those girls looked beautiful! It was very fun to see them since most of the are in our Sunday School class. I'll be sad when they leave us for the single's ward :( I know they must move on though, and these years hold great things for them. Saturday, we did nothing. It was so nice. In the evening we went to Jeffrey and Emily's and watched some of Ultraviolet. It was brutal! We then played some family feud. That was great except Michael and I stunk at it. We did however win the last game. Woohoo for us! Sunday we got to Church and found out that the Missionaries would be teaching our class for three weeks, so we just sat and watched! We then went to Lara's for dinner, and played with the kiddies. Monday we went to check out the furniture and accessories from my dad's showhome. He's getting rid of all of it so I might be able to cash in on some great stuff for a low price. Last night we went to Brett's basketball game...which he won...with the whole fam. All in all, not a whole lot been's going on, but I just thought I'd fill you all in a little!

Funny

Hamburger Trick Watch it now on StupidVideos!

I thought this was pretty funny, if for nothing other than the hilarious commentary. Kerri I thought you would like this the most!

Mario - Live Watch it now on StupidVideos!

This was just cool!