Special Occasions

Summer is always a busy time for us. My girls definitely keep me busy and I find it a little harder to get some pages done with both of them at home. It is almost impossible to keep Ayden inside on those bright sunny days. Likewise, it is almost impossible to convince Raquel into going outside. Now that she is older, she would rather spend time on the computer. Thankfully she loves to read, so on our recent trip to the dentist, in the city, I bought her a new series of books to read, (it's never much fun to start a series and than have to wait for the next book). I myself know all about that, as I recently finished the fourth book in George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire and am now waiting to read A Dance With Dragons, which will soon be published (I hope).

I finally got a couple of pages done though. I started working on several at one time. I should know better, as I always find it harder to come up with a concept and it takes me longer to get them done. From now on, one at a time, unless it is a two page layout. I decided to use Vanessa's latest kit, which is currently on sale for a limited time in her store. The backgrounds in it are beautiful and some of the elements rather unique.

It was a perfect match for this first LO and gave me a chance to work with some of my old pictures. Some of the pictures weren't really in such great condition, but I restored them the best I could. This is my mom's 1st cousin and her family. Her communion dress was quite pretty, but I bet she must have been a little chilly as they were all standing outside for the family picture.

First Communion digital kit credits: Communion Kit from Blushbutter
Font used: Cataneo BT

This second page I did as a surprise for my cousin. This is my uncle with his granddaughter, at her baptism last year.

Baptism digital kit credits: Communion Kit & Flourish swirl Photoshop brush & digital stamp from Blushbutter
Font used: Edwardian Script ITC

It's kind of hard to believe it is almost August and summer is halfway over. Ayden is hoping Lady will be coming home soon. We got to go for our first ride on her a couple of weeks ago, and it was great. We still haven't really got a pasture fixed up for her yet, but once that's done we should be getting her home and than the girls can get in some riding practice. My parents and niece were down here a few weeks ago and we all had a wonderful visit. We took in the Bergen Rocks exhibition and also took Madison to the Calgary Stampede. It was her first time and I think she really enjoyed it. Both Raquel and Ayden are looking forward to a trip up to their grandparents house in about a week or so. My parents birthdays are both at the beginning of the month, so I though it would be a good time to go. Ayden birthday is at the end of the month as well. She will be turning four already. Time sure does go by quickly.

We've been enjoying some nice summer weather lately. Which of course at this time of the year means lots of thunderstorms later in the day. We sure do get some severe ones in our area of the province. But I have always enjoyed watching the lightening and listening to the rain. It's supposed to be quite nice this weekend is well, so hopefully we'll be able to get out and enjoy the long weekend. Hope you all enjoy it as well. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

Celebrations

I actually got my page for the May challenge at Blush-n-Dusty finished early for once. Usually I seem to get busy with other things and leave it till the last minute. This month the challenge was to do a page featuring a birthday (and hopefully have a cake in the picture as well). You also had to use something from Lara's newest mini kit, Vintage Birthday which she was featuring as a freebie on her blog for May.

I decided to do a page for my heritage album. I knew I had this picture of my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Peter scanned and Lara's kit seemed to go so well with it. It even has my uncle holding his sister's cake. So it fit perfectly with the challenge theme. I know my children love celebrating their birthdays and always look forward to having cake. It is such a joy just to watch them enjoying their special day. My oldest will be having his 20th birthday in a few days. He lives quite a ways from me now and I miss making him his favorite things for supper on his birthday. I hope he has a wonderful day.

Celebrate digital kit credits: Vintage Birthday, Amid Memories and Dainty from Dusty Bear.
Fonts Used: Renaissance Regular

Both girls have been enjoying school, as this is the time of year when a lot of fun activities are happening. Ayden was thrilled, as she got to go with her class to one of the local restaurants this week and make pizza. Raquel got to have a sleepover at school with her class. They camped out on the classroom floor and got to watch a movie, play games and hang out together. Raquel is counting down the days till the school year is over and looking forward to summer vacation. She decided to spend this weekend at her dad's, so it will be rather quiet here at our place. I think Ayden and I will have to make a trip to the farmer's market tomorrow to keep ourselves busy.

We've been enjoying some wonderful sunny days the past couple of weeks. The yard work is slowly getting done and the girls and I are looking forward to some visits to our local greenhouses soon. The past couple of days have been rainy and wet, but we really did need the moisture. This coming long weekend is supposed to be cool, so I put off buying flowers till next week. As it is a long weekend I'm sure we will find a few other things to do though. I hope you have a wonderful long weekend also!

Time Passages

Today marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which was founded to put a focus on environmental awareness. We really should try to do our part to protect the environment and our natural resources all year long. If you are interested in checking out how your own habits impact the planet, take the Footprint Quiz from The Earth Day Network.

Time certainly does go by quickly. I've been meaning to get this page posted all month and just never seemed to get around to it. The March challenge at Blush-n-Dusty was to do a page featuring a baby photo of yourself, using Dusty Bears' Darling Baby kit. So this is a picture of me, at a few months old. The picture was not in very good shape and I had to do some restoring of it, so I decided to touch up the pink color of the dress as well. The quote I used on it, was from a card my mom sent me not very long ago and I thought it was quite appropriate.
Darling Baby digital kit credits: Darling Baby, Spring Sprung, Wintertide Elements & Affinity from Dusty Bear.
Fonts used: Porcelain & tabor handwriting.

We had a wonderful Easter holiday. My parents came down from up north with my niece, Madison. Everyone had a good visit and the girls really enjoyed having their cousin to play with for a few days. Following their visit here, they headed for Vancouver, to visit with my youngest brother and his family. On their way, they stopped in and spent the night with my mom's relatives in Kamloops. I had given mom some of our old family pictures, to see if they could identify more of my "mystery" relatives. When I spoke to her last week, she told me they were able to name a few of the people, so I am eagerly waiting for her to send them back to me.

My mare, Lady, is away getting saddle broke. I am looking forward to finally getting to go for a ride on her. She is 3 years old now and I halter broke and broke her to lead myself. Raquel and Ayden have both ridden on her bareback, while I lead them around, so I think the cowboy who is breaking her for us should have a fairly easy time. Ayden is really missing having her in the yard, so maybe this weekend we will have a chance to go to the arena where she is and check out her progress.

Raquel has no school tomorrow and is finally going to take her babysitting course. It has been postponed several times, due to various reason. She is anticipating being able to babysit and make a little extra spending cash. Following that, she is off to spend the weekend with her dad, so we should have a quiet few days at our house. Hope you have a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

One's Life Story

I finally got another page done for my heritage album. The February challenge at Blush-n-Dusty was to do a page about someone who you miss, that has passed away, using Blushbutter's newest mini kit, Miss You.

I decided to do a tribute page about my paternal grandmother. She passed away in 2007 and I will always miss her. I only saw her a few times in my life, once she came to Canada and I was fortunate to go to Germany and visit another time, when I was about 18. My oma always made me feel loved and I often wrote letters to her. When my dad went to Germany to attend her funeral, among her things, he found one of the letters I wrote to her when I was about nine. He brought it home with some other mementos from her life. My oma overcame many difficult situations and saw the world go through many changes. She lost her husband and her home in the second world war, but through it all managed to keep her children together. She spent several years in a refugee camp in Denmark and when she was finally allowed to return to Germany, rebuilt a home for her family. She was a strong, courageous and very determined women, I will never forget her and will always respect her.

The quote on this page is from Helen Adams Keller: One's life story cannot be told with complete veracity. A true auto biography would have to be written in states of mind, emotions, heartbeats, smiles and tears; not in months and years or physical events. Life is marked off on the soul by feelings, not by dates.

One's Life Story digital kit credits: Miss You and Miss You mini kits by Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Wenceslas & Delitsch Antiqua.

Over the past couple of weeks we tried to spend some time each day watching some events from the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. What a fantastic sporting event it was and Canada's athletes certainly made us all proud to be Canadians. The weather here has been wonderful for this time of year. We've been enjoying some really mild temperatures and our snow has been slowly disappearing. Although it is way to early for winter to be over, it sure does feel like spring is on it's way.

March is looking like a rather busy month for us. Raquel will be turning 11 in a couple of weeks and she is looking forward to taking her babysitting course near the end of the month. I decided to register Ayden for swimming lessons this month. This will be her first set of lessons with out me in the pool with her, so the first lesson or two might be a little interesting. She will be going a couple of mornings a week, which I'm sure she will enjoy.
I hope you have a good week, thanks for dropping by my blog.

Time Stretches Still

Summer is going by so quickly, it's hard to believe the days are getting shorter already. The girls have been keeping me busy and Raquel has been monopolizing the computer. I actually feel a little guilty that I haven't gotten around to finishing a page for quite some time and updating my blog.
When I had a few moments, I've been working on another page for my children's heritage album. I finally got it finished after a call to my aunt yesterday to establish a date on it. This is a picture of my grandmother and my great aunt, it was taken a few years before my grandma passed away. The quote I used is by Nick Edelstein, it reads "When lilies fade, memories flood and time stretches still."


Time Stretches Still digital kit credits: Secret Garden from The Dapper Doxie
Font used: Heather & Park Avenue PT

We've been busy enjoying the summer weather and spending lots of time outdoors. The girls also enjoyed going to the Calgary Stampede and watching the fireworks a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend we finally went and did a little camping. Ayden enjoyed the park at the campground the most. It was nice just to sit by the campfire and look at the stars and get away from the yard for a few days. Raquel spent the weekend riding in the mountains with her dad again and she is away this week spending some time with him. Ayden and I are spending a few quiet days without her. It's been a rather gray and rainy week so far and it's not supposed to turn sunny till the weekend, so we are stuck inside trying to keep busy, much to Ayden's disappointment. Hope your summer is going well!

Faith in a Seed

Deb, at The Dapper Doxie, has out a new springy kit call Secret Garden. The kit has some really lovely garden graphics and she will have it on sale for a very limited time this coming week, along with the rest of the products in her store. I haven't scrapped any of my heritage photos for a while and decided the kit would go perfectly with this picture my mom found last time I was up at their place. This picture is of my grandfather, (a couple of years before he passed away), with my mom and my aunt. It looks like they were all enjoying a task many of us do at this time of the year, getting the garden ready for planting. The quote I used is from Henry David Thoreau, "Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."

Faith in a Seed digital kit credits: Secret Garden from The Dapper Doxie
Fonts Used: Rockwell and Jacki's Hand

We are having a nice long weekend. The weather has been lovely so far and the fire ban in the county was lifted, so we've been able to have a fire in the backyard the past couple of days. Raquel had an extra day off from school and was thrilled when we sent up the tent for her. Both girls have been having fun playing in it, although it is still a little too cold here by the mountains for Raquel to be sleeping in it yet. She tried it out last night and ended up coming in around 11:30 PM with a cold nose. We plan to get a little work done around the yard tomorrow and get the camper ready to go for some excursions. Monday is suppose to be cool and rainy so the last day of the long weekend might have to be spent inside. Hope you are having a terrific Victoria Day weekend. Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Adorable

Lara, at Dusty Bear, has graciously accepted me on her creative team. I love antiques and old things and I've always enjoyed using Lara's kits, they are fill with such beautiful vintage elements. Now, I will have the opportunity to play with them more. I used her most recent kit, Adoration, on these pages. I scanned these pictures the last time I went to my mom & dad's place. I wanted to use all the pictures, so I did two pages. They are meant to be companion pages, but are not really a two page LO. This is me, with my older brother before we had other siblings. I do not really look like I enjoyed the whole photo shoot thing much, which is probably about right, as I still don't like having my picture taken.
Siblings 1970 digital kit credits: Adoration from Dusty Bear
Fonts used: Font Leroy Brown
Adorable digital kit credits: Adoration from Dusty Bear
Fonts used: Font Leroy Brown, 1942 Report & Times New Roman

Today the temperature finally started to warm up. Usually that means I will have a headache or two, to go with the pressure change. I'd rather have those than the -30 C though. I was really surprised there was a bus several times this week, as it was so cold in the morning. Raquel has been following the Iditarod at school, for her Language Arts class. The Iditarod is a 12 to 17 day dog sled race held in Alaska, it has been called the "Last Great Race on Earth". Each musher has a team of 12 to 16 dogs. The course of 1150 miles goes from Anchorage to Nome. Each student is following a musher, Raquel picked Dee Dee Jonrowe. She is so proud, that to date (day 6), Dee Dee has not lost any dogs and is now in 25th place. Ayden has been enjoying her swimming lessons and is getting more confident in the water all the time. Things will be a little busy around our house this weekend, as we have a couple of birthdays to celebrate. Hopefully we will find some time to get out and enjoy the wonderful weather. Have a good weekend!

P.S. I love you!

February is Heart month, if you are interested, you can check out the following links to find out more ways to keep your heart healthy, the Heart & Stroke Foundation and The Heart Truth. Of course, February's most celebrated holiday, Valentine's day, is also around the corner. So remember to wear some red on February 14th to show your support of the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

Deb, at The Dapper Doxie has a lovely new kit in her store this month, that is just perfect for romantic occasions (and it's on sale for a limited time). I decided to do another page for my heritage album, because I love these old shots of my mom and dad. They have been a couple for over 40 years and I really admire them for that. These pictures, of my parents, were taken before they were married. My dad was quite proud of that Comet Capri, as it was his first new car. The journaling reads: Barbara gave Eckhard this picture while they were engaged. She wrote him the little note in the locket, on the back of the picture. These pictures were taken in the spring of 1967.

P.S. I love you! digital kit credits: Parisian Rose from the Dapper Doxie.
Fonts used: Mutlu, Porcelain & Whisper Write.

We had a fairly quiet week this week. Ayden is getting much better at floating and blowing bubbles in the pool. She is getting a lot more confident in the water, although I'm not totally sure that is a good thing, as she is such an independent little person. Raquel had a winter carnival today at school this afternoon, to finish off the week. She had a good time and especially enjoyed the fact that there were no classes pretty much all day. We went and did some shopping the other day and I got myself a new external hard drive. I found a good deal on a terabyte that I couldn't pass up. So I spent some time cleaning out files and rearranging them this week. Hopefully now my desktop will perform better, as it's memory was almost full. We are supposed to have another mild weekend, which will be so nice. Hope you enjoy your weekend also!

The Dance

Happy New Years!!! It's been rather busy at our house with everyone home over the holidays. I think Raquel's actually looking forward to school starting again on Monday, so she can go and hang out with her friends. We took our tree down the other day, so we could set up the "inside bouncer" the girls got for Christmas. This cold weather has certainly been keeping everyone indoors. It looks like we will finally be getting a break from the cold weather we've been experiencing. It will be nice to have some milder temperatures this week, maybe Ayden will get a chance to go outside and enjoy the snow for a change.

I decided to do another page for my children's heritage album. My maternal grandparents were married in Saskatchewan and soon after moved to British Columbia. Although Mike & Lena shared a life filled with many new experiences, their time together was relatively short. Lena passed away from an extended illness not long before her 36th birthday. Leaving Mike alone with their 3 young children to raise by himself. I imagine it must have been a very heart breaking and difficult time for the young family.

The journalling reads:

In 1942, shortly after Metro (Mike) & Lena’s marriage and subsequent move to the interior of British Columbia, they had this professional wedding portrait taken.

Together, Mike & Lena had four children, Peter, Joyce and Barbara, as well as an infant daughter who predeceased them in 1947.

The couple was married for 13 years, until Lena passed away in 1955.

The Dance digital kit credits: Wedding Dreams from The Dapper Doxie (some items colorized).
Fonts used:Papyrus, French Script MT and Edwardian Script ITC.

Wishing you health, prosperity and happiness in 2009. Have a nice weekend!

Memories

I think maybe my muse has taken off for a warmer climate, not that anyone could be blamed for that, with the cold temperatures we have been experiencing. It looks like we shall be getting some warmer weather just in time for Christmas, which will be nice, as we have friends coming to visit.

I finally got my page done for this month's challenge at Blush-n-Dusty. Vanessa has designed a beautiful mini kit, which you can obtain for free, if you participate in the challenge. The challenge was to do a page of your family, using one of several quotes and some items from the kit.

These are a couple pictures of my family. The picture from 1978 sure brought back a lot of memories. We often went to my Grandma's in the spring and the picture was taken at her house. (We had some fun trips with 5 kids in the car.) My mom did a lot of sewing then and she made the dresses my sisters and I are wearing in the picture. I remember, not too long after it was taken Carl, Sherri and I got our glasses. Now we all live in different places and it is not very often we get together. We had the other picture taken at mom & dad's anniversary last year. We've all changed a bit and certainly grown older.

Family Memories digital kit credits: from Blushbutter Family Memories, Fairy Kisses in Blue Mega Kit, Easter Basket and Victorian Heritage Replica Scrap Kit.
Fonts used: Aubrey & Delitsch Antiqua.

We have had a couple of busy weeks cleaning and baking for Christmas. Both Raquel and Ayden have been a lot of help with keeping things clean. Ayden loves making cookies with me. I think, if you need to develop some patience, you should try baking with a 2 year old. Some of the cookies look interesting, but we had fun and I'm sure they will taste terrific. Raquel is off at her dad's for a few days and will be back tomorrow, to spend the rest of the holidays at home. Ayden was so thrilled today, as she got a big girl bed. Now we just have to see if she will sleep in it. I think tonight, it will be time to help Santa get ready and I will have to spend some time wrapping a few presents. Watching my girls open them up and seeing the excitement in their eyes has got to be one of the things I enjoy most about Christmas.

May the spirit of the holiday season remain with you through the coming year!

Enchantment

New fallen snow certainly looks beautiful, we had some more this week, so it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Snow certainly does make the world an enchanting and magical looking place. The girls think it is awesome and just love playing in it. I took these pictures after our first real snowfall about a month ago. The quote reads: "The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found." - J.B. Priestly.

Enchantment digital kit credits: Snow Flakes Winter kit from Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Lily UPC & Old English Text MT.

I did the page below for a quick page exchange at Blush-n-Dusty this month. I had a hard time deciding which way I liked it the most, so I decided to use it both ways. This is another page for my children's heritage album. This is my mom and her older sister, taken when my mom was about 3 months old. This is the earliest picture I have of my Aunt Joyce, I think she looks so cute in her pigtails.

Sisters 1950 digital kit credits: Snow Flakes Winter kit from Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Microsoft Ya Hei & Viner Hand ITC.

We have our Christmas tree up and it looks terrific! We all had fun putting on the decorations, although we did end up with a LOT of decorations on it. Ayden is really enjoying it and loves to have the lights on all the time. Ayden can't quite say Merry Christmas, but her version sounds pretty cute. Raquel has been enjoying the Christmas crafts and hot chocolate that they are having every day at school this month. She is looking forward to Christmas holidays and is eagerly waiting for Santa Claus to get here. Her list has been checked over and over, with last minute revisions being made. I've been busy trying to get my Christmas cards in the mail and I think later this week, Ayden and I will have to go and do a little shopping.

Have a great week!

Moments

There are all kinds of moments in life. Some we wish we could forget and some we will always treasure. Memories can fade over time, but the moments captured in pictures can not be changed. Perhaps that is why it is said, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

This is the only picture I have of my father with my grandfather. (I love the little details, like the toys my dad and uncle are holding.) Not long after it was taken, my grandfather, Karl, returned to service and was later declared missing. The journaling reads: "This picture was taken on Karl's final leave home during WWII. (left to right) Hans Joachim, Elfriede, Eckhard, Karl & Arno. Shortly after it was taken, Elfriede and the children fled to a refugee camp in Denmark. The Russian soldiers ransacked their home in Penkun, Pasewalk, Germany. The marks on the picture are from their boots. Relatives recovered the picture and returned it after the war."

Family Moment 1943 digital kit credits: A New Beginning Digital Scrapbook kit & freebie from The Dapper Doxie
Fonts used: Kunster Script, Narkisim & Pristina

This week at our house was rather a long one. Ayden, Raquel and Vern have all been sick. Raquel stayed home from school most of the week, but was starting to feel better Thursday. Ayden finally seems to be feeling better today and more like her sweet little self. She REALLY dislikes taking any medicine, so it's pretty hard to give her anything to make her feel better. We had a pretty good snowfall earlier this week, but the temperatures are supposed to be mild, so most of it will probably melt away before we get more.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, I hope you have a nice weekend!

Forever

This month's challenge at Blush-n-Dusty Yahoo group is to create a wedding LO, using the beautiful mini kit from Blushbutter. You can get it as a freebie for participating in the challenge. Although I do have wedding pictures of my own, I decided I would rather do another couple pages for my heritage album. I think my wedding photos can wait to be scrapped for a few more years. These are some pictures from my grandpa Mike's wedding to my grandma Kay. My grandma Kay liked colors such teal and aquamarine, so I decided to colorize the paper and elements that I used.

Forever I & II digital kit credits: Victorian Wedding Digital Scrapbooking kit and Mini Wedding kit from Blushbutter
Fonts used: Porcelain, Chopin Script, Qlassik Bold & Kayleigh.

The journaling reads:

Katherine (Kay) met handsome Metro (Mike) on a blind date, which had been arranged by their mutual

friends, Milton and Alice. Kay had never been married and Mike was a widower with three young children,Peter, Joyce and Barbara.

They were married on August 8^th, 1957 in Winfield, B.C., where Kay’s parents lived. Kay was 38 and Mike was 37. The family settled on the outskirts of Vernon, B.C., where Mike built them a new home on 2 acres of land. About a year after their marriage, their daughter, Gaileen was born.

Mike and Kay were married about 12 years, when Mike suddenly passed away, in 1969. Though they were short, they were happy years, filled with family and friends. After Mike’s death,Kay never remarried. Strengthen by her faith in God, she led a peaceful life, until she passed away.

We are having a rather quiet long weekend here at home. Vern has been working all weekend, but will be taking tomorrow off and we will have Thanksgiving Dinner. He ended up having a few more days off, last week, waiting for his floor system to be delivered, which finally got here Friday. Raquel decided to go to her dad's to celebrate the holiday, so Ayden and I were just hanging out at home. That was until I broke my toe on one of her little stools. So instead of making pumpkin pies today, we got to go to the hospital and wait around there most of the afternoon. They took a bunch of x-rays and it was defiantly broken, (it was sticking out at about 90 degrees the wrong way). So the Dr. froze it and gently repositioned it. Trust me, I do not recommend breaking your baby toe, I bet my foot will be black & blue tomorrow. "Ouwie", as Ayden says. Ayden keeps trying to put soft things on it for me, she is so sweet.

I updated my Two Hearts page from Mike & Lena's wedding. I talked to one of my great aunts this week and she was able to give me a little more information about my grandma Lena. You can check out their wedding page here, if you are interested.

I just wanted to say thank you to Karrie at Kez Creates for giving me a little blog award last week. That was so nice of her. Karrie has some terrific Los on her blog and she always keeps an eye out for the latest freebies.

My Nominees:

Doxie Designs Doxie Archives

Idgies Heart Song

Penlins Designs

Thanks for your comments. Hope you are having a nice long weekend, Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll Meet Again Some Day

September's challenge at Blush-n-Dusty Yahoo Group is to create a heritage layout. I haven't joined in one of the challenges for a while, but I couldn't pass up one of my favorite subjects. For participating, you get Dusty Bear's newest mini kit, Floral Heritage, which contains that unusual album page for a frame.
I have LOTS of pictures of Great Uncle Harry. Harry was the first husband, of my Great Aunt Dora. Even though Dora later remarried, my mom told me that Dora really loved her Harry and missed him till the day she went to meet him again. My mom lived with them for several years and has fond memories of being in their home. It took me a little while to get these pages done as I had to restore some of the pictures and go through all my bits of information to write up Harry's story. The journaling on both pages reads:

Harry Hupalo was born in the Ukraine in 1902.

He immigrated to Canada in 1921, at the age

of 19. Harry worked as a laborer on a

farm near Fenwood, Sask. From there he

moved to Kelvington, Sask, where he continued

work as a farm laborer. In 1923 he managed

to get a job with the Canadian National Railway,

working only the summer months. During the

winters he cut cordwood for a farmer. In 1926

he obtained a full time position with the CNR in

Preeceville,Sask. This is where Harry met the

love of his life, Dora, in 1928.

Dora worked in Preeceville, doing general

housekeeping and babysitting. A year later in

1929, Dora and Harry got married – Dora

being age 15 and Harry age 27.

Harry worked at Lilian Junction, Sask. for the

first couple of years, after they were married.

In 1932, Harry was promoted to section

foreman in Ketchen and the couple moved into

their first two-roomed house, which Harry later

added an addition to.

Unfortunately, Harry & Dora could not have

children. They quickly filled this void by taking

in Dora’s younger sister, Anne, who lived with

them for 8 years. Dora’s brother, Mike and

youngest sister Leona, also spent much of their

teenage years at their home. Harry & Dora

also sponsored and paid for Harry’s five year

old niece, Olga, to immigrate to Canada from

the Ukraine, after her mother passed away

when she was a year old. When Dora’s

brother, Mike, unexpectedly found himself a

widower, with three young children, they gave

their youngest niece, Barbara, a home for an

extended time. They also cared for Anne’s

young physically handicapped son for many

years. As well, they adopted a son, Joseph.

Harry continued to work for the CNR in

Ketchen, for 22 years. In 1954 he was

transferred to Yorkton, Sask. and the couple

moved to Ebenezer, Sask. Harry & Dora

enjoyed the perks of his job and often

took regular trips, by CN train, across

Canada to visit family members in Manitoba

and British Columbia. Harry also enjoyed

working in his yard and on his cars.

Harry passed away suddenly while in Yorkton,

Thursday, August 16, 1962, of a stroke, at the

age of 60. Harry is buried in the City of

Yorkton Cemetery, Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

Dora, who always treasured his memory, was

later interred beside him, when she passed

away in 2003, at the age of 89.

When I was scanning pictures, I also found the newspaper clipping of the poem that Aunty Dora wrote as a tribute to Harry. She had actually written it on the back of one of his pictures also. The newspaper clipping reads: HUPALO - In loving memory of my dear husband Harry Hupalo, who passed away August 16, 1962.

I think of you with love today
As I have done so often
And feel once more the sudden blow
That doesn't seem to soften.
You wished no one a last farewell
Or even said goodbye,
You were gone before I knew
And only God knows why.
When I am sad and lonely
And everything goes wrong,
I seem to hear you whisper
Cheer up and carry on.
Each time I look at your picture
You seem to smile and say
Don't cry, I'm only sleeping
We'll meet again some day.

-sadly missed and longed for by his loving wife Dora.

Harry Hupalo and We'll Meet Again Some Day digital kit credits: Floral Heritage and Amid Memories Elements from Dusty Bear.
Fonts Used: Kayleigh, Christmas Card & Porcelain

We are having a week of nice weather and the leaves are starting to turn colors. Ayden and I are enjoying the chance to spend a few more days outside. Raquel has decided to join the choir this year and she is looking forward to starting her riding lessons again soon. Later today Ayden and I will finish making the Lime Pickles we started yesterday. Ayden is such a good little helper, well maybe good is the wrong choice of words, but she certainly is cheerful and willing.
Hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Happy Birthday Ayden!!!

The last couple of years have sure gone by quickly. Ayden is growing so fast. We had a fun time opening a few presents and watching her blow out the candles, over & over. The girls & I spent the week running around getting presents and school supplies. Raquel got a haircut, (but she can't tell the difference). Now we have just one more day of clothes shopping, in the city, next week and she will be ready for grade 4.

I haven't done a page for the girl's heritage album for a while, so I decided to do one from my dad's side of the family. This is one of the pictures my aunt sent me, from Germany. It is the earliest picture I have of my paternal grandparents. There seem to be no pictures, from their own wedding, that survived WWII and I feel fortunate to have the ones I do. I like the extra bits that show up in the picture, like the tray of drinks and the musical instruments. How formal they all look, it must have been a beautiful wedding. I don't know anything about the rest of the people in the picture. My oma passed away last year, and no one else seems to know now.


Family Wedding 1939 digital kit credits: Victorian Wedding Digital Scrapbooking kit, Victorian Heritage Replica Scrap kit, Summer Dreams, Easter Basket, and Baby Girl Heart Strings mega kit from Blushbutter.
Fonts Used: Orange LET, Cantaneo BT, Perpetua & Champagne

Have a nice weekend!

Spaghetti! Spaghetti!

Summer is here! We've had some beautiful weather the past few weeks and the girls & I have been spending lots of time outside. Raquel is enjoying the fact that school is out for another year. She is so proud of herself for passing into Gr. 4. We had a busy couple of weekends, with Vern's mom & Jim stopping in and then Brian & Judy surprised us with a visit this past weekend. My mom & dad will be coming this weekend with Madison, so of course, the girls are looking forward to that.

Here is another page for the girls heritage album. I decided to do this page, because Raquel brought home the poem in her end of the year school work and I thought it was so cute. It seemed to go so well with this picture I had of Vern. Seems to me that this is exactly how a 4 year old feels about spaghetti. The poem is by Jack Prelutsky.

Spaghetti! Spaghetti!
Spaghetti! spaghetti!
you're wonderful stuff,
I love you, spaghetti,
I can't get enough.
You're covered with sauce
and your sprinkled with cheese,
spaghetti! spaghetti!
oh, give me some more please.

Spaghetti! spaghetti!
piled high in a mound,
you wiggle, you wriggle,
you squiggle around.
There's slurpy spaghetti
all over my plate,
spaghetti! spaghetti!
I think you are great.

Spaghetti! spaghetti!
I love you a lot,
your slishy, you're sloshy,
delicious and hot.
I gobble you down
oh, I can't get enough,
Spaghetti! spaghetti!
your wonderful stuff.

Spaghetti! Spaghetti! digital kit credits: A Touch of Legacy from Nath Fun Stuff.
Dragonfly by Art Within Designs from kit elements
Fonts used: Calligraph421 BT, Accent Wet Noodle, Alba, Papyrus & Blackletter686 BT

Thanks for your comments and have a nice weekend!