Goodness in bar form

So I made some granola bars a few weekends ago. Let me stop you before you start thinking about healthy recipes. There is almost nothing healthy about them, except the oats and nuts. They are sticky, chocolatey, sweet scrumptiousness. They taste almost the same as store bought granola bars but are cheaper to make. Want to make your own batch?

Granola Bars - courtesy of Heidi
1/2 cup butter
40 marshmallows
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rice crispies
1/2 cup coconut (I substituted slivered almonds so Matt would eat them)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/8 cup poppy seeds
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine oats, rice crispies, coconut, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds and half the chocolate chips. Melt butter, add marshmallows and melt together. Pour marshmallow mixture over dry ingredients. Mix and squish into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips and push in. Let cool and then cut into 1 inch 2 inch bars.

*Note: Heidi says you can basically throw in any combo of seeds or dried fruit that you want. You can play around with it but I will just follow the recipe. ;)

I'm pretty sure the secret to the goodness is the marshmallows and the melted chocolate. Mmmm good!

Millarville, Sheep River Falls and the Guenters

July is a busy month for us. We have only been home one weekend this month. After Canada Day, our next outing was down to Calgary for some much anticipated adventures. When we got to Dave and Ashleigh Guenter's home, Oakley was screaming. People must think he's a cranky baby but he isn't. He just doesn't sleep like most babies in the car and so he remembers better than other babies when he should be given food and he didn't have it. To babies, half an hour of waiting is an ETERNITY. Sorry Dave, for our crying boy. Anyways, after food, Oakley was happy to meet Matt's good friend from high school and his family. Lots of smiles were passed around. Matt and I were thrilled to be able to meet Dave and Ashleigh's daughter and visit with them after not seeing them for two years. I was also ecstatic with Ashleigh and Dave's reaction to the granola bars I brought down. We munched on them all weekend.

A view of the farmer's market from the parking lot

For all who don't know, the little hamlet Millarville SW of Calgary has a reputable farmer's market. I have never been to a real farmer's market and I was intrigued to see this large market (over 150 vendors) in such a small place. I proposed an excursion out the next day to check it out. It was a lot of fun! There were jewellery vendors, art vendors, rock and fossil vendors, beef, chicken, alpaca, etc. vendors, hutterite veggies, B.C. fruit, fresh breads, etc. I guess those are typical things for a farmer's market, but please recall this was my first experience. My favourite was definitely the pebble art. This woman (turns out it was the art teacher at the school Ashleigh works at) finds pebbles and makes them into pictures. SO CUTE! We also found a booth that had TONS of different sock monkeys. Ashleigh was excited to find a Toronto Maple Leafs monkey.

Check out the sock monkeys!

Oakley was tuckered out

Here I am showing off my gorgeous amethyst bracelet

After the farmer's market, we drove out to Sheep River Falls. Seriously, beautiful country on that drive! I loved the rolling hills and the pleasing mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. We purchased some fresh veggies, pitas and fruit at the market and devoured a splendidly scrumptious meal. It made me feel so healthy to know that I was eating fresh food. It just tastes better. :) Then we strapped the babes into their carriers and started exploring the area around the falls.  

I absolutely love this picture of my boys! They both have great facial expressions

The falls were beautiful! It was so peaceful to be in the mountains with the fresh air, the sound of the falls, the sun warming me and the spectacular view of Sheep River falls. I would definitely recommend this day use area to anyone in the area. I hear there are lots of legitimate trails in the provincial park or you can do what we did and wander in the day use area.

Buds and babies

Those keys almost ended up in the falls!

The Guenters

The Kastendiecks

As this river begins in the Rocky Mountains, it is cold. Mountain rivers are glacier fed and therefore are a few degrees away from freezing. This river was no different. It was a really hot day so that first step in the water felt very refreshing but I wanted out after a few seconds. Well, the guys are true Canadians and chose to take the plunge into the frigid waters. Here is photographic evidence of the occasion:

Matt's preparing for the cold

Making sure I'm watching

Bam! In the water.

Do you feel cold for him?

True Canadian. Look at that smile. He's not even phased by the glacier water. ;)

I told him he missed the top of his head so he went to make sure all of him was wet. Ha!

Here's Dave!

I love his expression. It's almost a sputter after the shock of the water.

"Ohhhh"

Oakley had a lot of firsts on this trip. It was his first time to a farmer's market, first time to the mountains, first hike (kind of), first time in a baby swing and first time in a bumbo. He loved the bumbo and it was so cute to see his excitement at being able to see so many things without someone holding him. This boy definitely prefers to be up and checking out the world. It was also really sweet to see Elizabeth investigating Oakley. She loved to look at him and touch him and she was very gentle with the baby. What a cutie!

Bahaha! Elizabeth was eyeing the swing so I put her in it. She loved it. :)

So did Oakley

On Sunday, we were able to attend church with Laura and Darren Roberts and visit with them and the Salmons afterward. It was a great weekend with lots of catching up. Thank you to all of you who made it one of the greatest weekends of our summer!

Canada Day

Oh my! I have not posted in a LONG time. Sorry everyone. Well, we decided to go down to Raymond for Canada Day this year. I have heard people rave about the Raymond Canada Day parade so I looked forward to seeing what the fuss was about. :)

We headed down Friday night and stopped with my aunt and uncle in Okotoks for the night. It was so nice to visit and show off Oakley. By ten we were off again and got to Raymond around 1:00. It was so nice to have Rachel drive down with us to help calm Oakley when he spat out his soother, etc. Jake and Riss hosted us for the rest of the weekend. The boys discovered that they both independently found out about and started building their own rocket stove. Like any good boys, they started playing in the dirt and created two different versions of rocket stoves during the weekend. It was fun to see them so passionate about their cob stoves.

Our visit was full of games, husbands playing with mud, wives watching chick flicks and lots of strawberry eating! I introduced Larissa to frustration (also called three card or lucky unders) and she taught me 3,4,5 (or "Count your cards, stupid"). There's something so nostalgic about playing card games in the summer for me. The only thing missing that weekend of my old memories was a propane lantern and a tent.

While we were there, Riss helped me make a Canada Day onesie for Oakley. I was very impressed  with Rissa's skill in doing baby handprints. I painted Oakley's hand red, she held his hand and positioned and I pressed it onto the onesie and then painted two strips to create a Canadian flag. SO cute! I couldn't stop admiring it that night. It was very impressive.

Some of the Smith spectators

Some more

Now, as Raymond is mainly a mormon town and we believe in keeping the Sabbath holy and focussed on the Savior, the town of Raymond decided to have Canada Day festivities on Monday July 2nd instead. we got ready and walked over to where the parade would pass by. There was a whole ton of Smith extended family there. I had to re-meet most of them as the only times I have met the grand majority have been my wedding and a funeral - not the best time to have one-on-one with people. We were all there to cheer on Matt's uncle Darrel in the parade. He has just finished his debut novel, The Anniversary Waltz and he had a float to celebrate the book. I was very intrigued to see floats from Cardston, Sterling, Lethbridge, Coaldale, etc. in the parade. I wondered why they weren't in their own Canada Day parade. That's when I found out that in Southern Alberta, they are all about their parades. Raymond gets Canada Day weekend, Magrath has Magrath Days, Lethbridge has August long weekend and Cardston has something end of August and everyone goes to all of them! That's a lot of parades and rodeos and such. I loved the bag pipes! I was also happy to see candy there. A Canada Day parade is so sad with no pipes and no candy for the kids to catch. Matt caught a roll of toilet paper from the plumber's float. :)  So, my consensus is that Raymond does throw a good parade but I probably won't drive down every year or even every other year to see it. Which reminds me. I was amazed to see how many people come back to this small town every year for Canada Day weekend. It seemed to be a common thing. That's endearing. 

Look at us, all patriotic!

The reason we were there

After the parade, the Nelsons had a book signing and family dinner at the elementary school. We both enjoyed showing off Oakley and his precious onesie. At the luncheon, there were games and such for everyone to participate in but I'm pretty sure the most popular was the giant inflatable balls that you climbed in and then were rolled around. Matt went in and loved it. He wants to own some when we grow up. Interestingly, he said it didn't make him feel dizzy at all, even though he was rolled sideways, upside down and all over. It looked like a lot of fun in a crazy, claustrophobic way but I wasn't feeling well so I bowed out. One day, maybe. We headed home after Matt pushed a few of his siblings around. I almost think he had more fun pushing (or kicking in Tanner's case) than being inside the ball. ;)

Ready to go

I love that you can see Matt almost upside down in this photo. :)

Rollin' around the field

Well, thanks Raymond for a fun-filled Canada Day!