home sweet home

Let's sum up from July 10th on.

We flew from Auckland to Alberta via Los Angeles. We had a 28 hour layover in LA as our final flight was booked through airmiles and if we missed it, we'd be POOCHED. We had originally hoped to connect with some friends, but all 3 of them were unavailable. HOWEVER, as coinkindink would have it, Lowell's SISTER Julie Anne was in LA with her lovely friend Meghan. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!

They picked us up from the airport in their little PT Luiser rental, we hung out at the beach, slept at the hotel, then headed back to the airport in time for their morning flight.

Here we are on the beach...

I'm proudly donning my Michael Jackson dress. More on that another day...

I sooo inconspicuously snapped this shot of Julie Anne & Meghan for the SOLE REASON of catching the dude in the background with his pants down. Literally...

Let me zoom in on that for you.

Yes, I do believe his pants situation was INTENTIONAL. And quite disturbing.

We also visited Muscle Beach.

Ripped celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger have been known to work out here. Lowell is flexing his pipes off to the right there. We were briefly worried that he was about to get the crap kicked out of him, but his big guns probably scared the buff dudes off.

Fast forward.

We arrived in Calgary at 8pm on July 11th. Julie Anne picked us up from the airport (again- she arrived in Calgary a few hours before us, so she continued to be our chauffeur) and drove us to Lowell's parents' farm where most of the family was gathered. YEAY FOR FAMILY!

On Sunday, we went to church where MY MOM SURPRISED US!

I consider myself an observant person by nature, but I was apparently the only one who didn't notice that my Mom was THERE and huddled beside the mailboxes with a recipe book casually covering her face.

Grandpa D (Lowell's blind Grandpa) was sitting on a chair against the wall, and I was chatting with him (with my back to the rest of the church). He mentioned how great it was that my Mom was there, and I delicately corrected him, "No Grandpa, she's not coming until tomorrow when she'll pick us up to take us back to Lethbridge!" As we continued to discuss how great my Mom was and how much I was looking forward to seeing her, Lowell tapped me on the shoulder and told me to look beside me. Lo and behold, there was MOM in all her shining glory. We shared a tearful hug, then glanced to the side where everyone was watching-- probably relieved that I FINALLY saw the surprise.

After church, Lowell's parents had a welcome home party for us at the farm. There was a great turn out, and it was so good to catch up with family and other community folk.

Lowell and Grandma T catching up.

Marti had recently created her own giant Dutch Blitz set, so we put it to good use.

Our team either won or almost won (because Lance may or may not have cheated)...

In the evening, we had a BBQ with just the immediate T clan (plus my Mom!) It was soooo great getting to know our 4 little nieces again. When we left for NZ, only Carmen (the eldest) was really talking, but now the 3 older ones are all little chatterboxes. And Emily- who we last saw when she was 3 days old or so- now has control of her head! And also her facial expressions...

On Monday the 13th, we drove with Mom back to Lethbridge where Lowell and I set up our new home like mad, and even got to catch up with some friends!

After one week in Lethbridge, we headed back to the farm where we are staying for the summer. Yes, you read that right. Lowell is a farmer. I'm a farmer's wife. More on that later...