Cherry Picking

Every year around this time since I've been a little girl I've had to pick cherries. I've grown up with a sour cherry tree in the back yard. There have been only two years that we didn't pick and that's because the first tree had succumbed to a common cherry tree illness and had been replaced with a new tree that had yet to produce any produce. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a way to explain the dichotomy of my family's relationship with these cherries.

When I was a child the day to pick cherries had some joy attached because everyone was involved, often even some family friends, and we'd turn it into a party of sorts. We'd have a BBQ and with an above ground pool in the backyard how can you go wrong? Well, now it is a challenge to get everyone there on the same day nevermind the same time and the work required comes with dread. It's funny because every one wants the cherries but no one wants to do what has to be done to get them. Ideally, they should be picked, pitted and canned in the same day. If you're thinking that sounds like a long day with a lot of work, you'd be right. The last couple years I have been unable to help with any of these processes due to Brad and myself being out of town, and I feel right guilty about it because I was still able to reap the rewards. Beautiful jars filled with lovely red balls of deliciousness.

This year I was picking with my dad and my niece Jenna and there were many, many cherries. So many, in fact that we were unable to pick them all in one day.

And on and on we go....

Carlon continues to grow and continues in his cuteness. We've taken thousands of pictures and trying to sift through them all to find good ones to post is like, sorting through diamonds to find gold. Brad has been busy with his job and thanks to many stressful events occurring at the church recently his job seems busier than ever. He has had the opportunity to preach twice already this summer and one of those times he used my cinnamon buns as an example for joy. One would expect summer to be a slow time for youth activities but that's the best time for Brad to visit with his students and try some different events. Last week it was an excursion with the senior highs to Stanley Park (Carlon and I were able to join them) This week is Mission Encounter, three days of local outreach activities combined with devotional and prayer time, and sleeping at the church. Brad and I will be driving to Edmonton in a couple days and from there flying to Winnipeg for a denominational conference. While we are there we're planning to see some friends as well. Then it's back to Edmonton to spend quality time with the Alberta Reids and visiting with our new nephews.
Oh and we're planning to take advantage of no PST in Alberta and get ourselves a new camera so we can take millions of pictures.

I will write another post when we get back from our trip. I promise :)

Carlon posing and practicing his sitting

Happy about his new toy

Cinnamon buns bring great joy

Just hangin' out in his stroller while mom has a "coffee break"

Siiting up... practice makes perfect!

Looking like a cool dude hanging out with the senior highs at Stanley park.

I can sit.... all by myself.... sort of

As the title says, Carlon is getting bigger and better at many things. He's finally enjoying his baths (especially afterwards) he loves being on his tummy (easier to play) and he's been working on sitting up by himself (he'd much rather stand, with someone holding him) all these things prove he's growing up, and a Dr's appointment today proved he's getting bigger (19lbs). Before we know it he'll be graduating from high school.

talkin' to myself

loooong overdue

So sorry to all who follow our blog and have been wondering what's going on in the lives of the BC Reids. Our camera refused to upload pictures to our computer making the blog entries seem pointless. The problem has now been solved; Brad picked up a memory card reader last week and we have quite the backlog of photos so over the next few days I will be making a few entries to get you all caught up on what we've been doing for the last 6 weeeks.

We spent some time in Edmonton over Easter the last entry was a video from that time but we have alot of pics to show as well, such as Carlon meeting Ama for the first time and his two cousins Madi and Olivia.

toys are awesome!!

Family time in Fairmont Hot Springs

Well, we are long overdue for an update thanks to our camera acting up... It's really time for a new one but, that's another story.

A few weeks ago we spent 6 days in Fairmont thanks to Brad's parents and sharing their time share. We left Sunday morning driving through Washington because the Coquihala was closed. We gave ourselves two days to get there and Carlon was a trooper. We had a wonderful time being together just the three of us, no distractions little to no thought of the stresses that have been surrounding us recently.

Carlon took a big step in development rolling from his back to his side and one night even sleeping nearly 10 hours... sadly he hasn't done it since. Oh well, I can't complain he still sleeps through the night.