Twenty Years!

This post is all about the numbers...

Chad & I are celebrating our 20th Wedding Anniversary today, so I thought I'd compile some of the things we have done in the second half of my life!

We have had a few pets
2 cats
2 dogs
4 fish

plus lots of farm cats, some with names, some not.

 We've owned quite a few vehicles, & not one of them was wrecked!
1 SUV
2 Trucks
6 Cars
13 Motorbikes

Now, considering when I met Chad he was planning on being a farmer, which was perfect since I didn't want to move a lot, our life has not gone according to plan in that department!

We have lived in
1 State
3 Countries
4 Provinces

Many types of homes

1 Parsonage
1 Housesit
2 Co-Housing
4 Apartments

5 Houses

Which required
13 Change of Address Forms
10 Home phone numbers
8 Cell Phone Numbers

We have travelled quite a bit, & made it to
13 countries
19 Passports (including the kids')
11 years of documenting every trip outside of Canada for immigration (there were 28)

We have completed
4 Degrees
2 Certificates
(though none are mine, I still get to count them!)

We have had a total of
10 job titles
and worked for
14 Employers

We have hosted
5 homestay students
and we made
2 kids (We doubled the size of our family!)

Our life is certainly much different from what we had planned, but there's no one I'd rather be on this journey with! During one of the first major life-changing moves we were embarking on, one of my co-workers asked, "So, Chad's going to do that, but are you going to go with him?"

I answered, "Yes, of course I am. We're married!"

When my co-worker replied, "But that's not what you signed up for when you married him."

When we got married, I literally signed up for him. I never signed a contract to be a farmer's wife, or live in a certain place, but I did sign a vow that I'd be married to Chad for whatever comes in life, good or bad. We're not the same people we were when we got married 20 years ago (thankfully!), but all our experiences have brought us closer, since the only thing that has stayed the same through all of this is that we are in it together.

It will be interesting to see how the numbers will change in the next 20 years...

Dog Treats

A few weeks ago a friend of ours gave us some dog food & treats they had gotten from a friend when their dog died unexpectedly.  I looked through the bags of treats & noticed there were some very large freeze-dried treats in one of the bags.  One evening I gave one of these large treats to Digby & he was DELIGHTED!

New treat on the Left, Regular treat on the right

Marker to show scale

The next day Digby was not wanting to participate in any of his regular activities, & we attributed it to the rain.  He really didn't want to go for a walk, & I had to drag him off the front steps, & most of the walk he was very slow.

Later that night I looked at the bag of treats I had given him & discovered that these are not actually treats.  They are "part of a dehydrated meal plan".  Each piece is 1.5 lbs of meat you are supposed to rehydrate them & feed a dog of Digby's size 6 of them a day!  Oops, I guess I'll read the labels a little better on the other bags!

He has fully recovered, & is begging me for more treats...

Digby's New Toy

And now, for your viewing pleasure, I give you "Digby's New Toy", a short video starring Digby, & his new toy!

Final Day in the Van

Our last day of driving took us right into smoke & clouds. It was wierdly dark at 11 in the morning. I told Asher at one point to look for forest fires (he was claiming to be bored), after an hour he asked, "Is it ok if I stop looking for fires now?" There was plenty of smoke, but no fires spotted!

I think Digby was getting bored of all the driving as well.  This is how he chose to sit for quite awhile, & if we moved him, he'd just readjust back to this position!

We made it to BC after 3 weeks of travel, & were welcomed by a giant wind storm which knocked the power out for 2 or more days.  Church was cancelled due to no electricity, but we have gotten power back, & have settled into the place we are staying.  PChad started his new job, the kids start school next week, & then it's time to look for a new house!

Animals at Yellowstone

On our way to Yellowstone we stopped for lunch at a park.  The park was not one of the newest parks we have seen.  It had a wooden Big Toy & Merry-Go-Round.

  I don't think my kids have ever been on a merry-go-round before, but they knew what to do!

After playing for awhile, it was off to Yellowstone!

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We saw lots of Bison which were really near to the road.  Digby was quite excited by all the wildlife we saw too!

Chancery found a very cute little chipmunk, but it was squished by the road, so she was sad about that.

And we saw a heard of elk in the town of Mammoth when we were having lunch on our way out of the park.

We were not allowed to go too close since they had young elk to protect, but they didn't seem too bothered by the people.

Below is a video of Digby when we saw the first bison in the park!

We enjoyed seeing all the animals, but were a little disappointed we didn't see any moose, bears, or mountain sheep, though we did see a dead bear along the side of the road just North of Helena, Montana!

What's Wall Drug?

We set out Wednesday morning from Iowa to South Dakota.  PChad & I had decided to see if the kids would notice the Wall Drug signs if we didn't say anything about them first.  It took a long time, & we were pretty close to Wall, SD before Chancery saw one.  I think what caught her attention was the dinosaur on the sign.  But before we got to Wall, we stopped for a picnic lunch.

Notice we are eating from the 'food' box...

Then we finally made it to Wall, & had a look around.  Chancery was ready to find the next destination, though I think it might take a bit longer if she went by wagon!

Then she thought better of it & decided to travel by jackelope!

I finally convinced her to travel by van, & since we were showing movies,

she decided that was the way to go after all!

Into The States!

Sunday we travelled from Moncton, New Brunswick, to Boston, MA.  We awoke to find that Digby had found a nice spot to sleep, thankfully I had folded all my clothes, so they were just nicely pressed, & warm!

We had a bit of a problem locating my room key, but then Chancery found the notepad & decided to write down some clues...

We did find it in the end, under a serviette on the table!

We got all packed to hit the road only to discover someone had not thought very well about where they should park.  The guy parked behind us left an empty spot though, so PChad managed to get out without too much trouble.  These are the times I'm glad he has experience with driving semis!

We drove, & drove, & drove, & the kids were good for the most part.  At one point we were stuck in stop & go traffic for quite awhile & PChad said, "smells like someone's brakes are burning."  After a little longer he said, "the smell seems to be following us... maybe it's us."  And, yes, it was us.  We pulled off to the side of the road & he took a look & poured some water on the brakes to cool them a bit.  They seemed to be better, but we decided we should have them looked at in the morning.

 After some confusion due to construction & roads being re-named, we found our hotel, then went for dinner.  The kids coloured, did trivia about the baseball player who founded the restaurant.  We didn't do very well on the trivia since we don't know any Red Sox players!

Tomorrow after getting the van checked we're off to Maryland to visit Auntie B & Uncle B!

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 9 years

Chancery - 6.5 years

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 Chancery: "Digby came to sit by me because he really likes my doll."

Chancery: "...but he's sad since I won't let him bite her."

Asher: "Poor Digby, he just wants to play!"

Asher: "Should we get you a toy, Digby?"

Asher: "Are the pictures almost done, so we can get Digby a toy?"

Chancery: "I think Asher is done!"

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 9 years

Chancery - 6.5 years

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Asher: "My dog is about this big!" 

Chancery: "He's right here so everyone can see!"

Asher: "I guess I was pretty close on my estimation!"

Chancery: "We love Digby!"

Asher: "Yes we do!"

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 9 years

Chancery - 6.5 years

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 Asher: "Your skunk is stinky!"

 Chancery: "No it's not!  My skunk is fluffy!"

Asher: "Her skunk does have a nice, soft, fluffy tail!" 

 Asher: "Tell your skunk to stop stinking up the place!"

Chancery: "Maybe it was Digby!"

 Asher: "I suppose it could be!"

Digby: I get blamed for everything!

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 9 years

Chancery - 6.5 years

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Asher: "I got a Simon Swipe for my birthday!"

Chancery: "And I got a frog from the treasure box at his party!"

Asher: "Why are you not letting me point to your frog, Chancery?"

Chancery: "I just don't want you to."

Asher: "Why are you taking pictures of us arguing?"

Chancery: "If we don't argue, she can't take arguing pictures!"