THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life ~ June Edition

We're at the part of spring where all of the flowers are gorgeously in bloom, the air is fragrant, some days are 25°+, while other times it's a torrential downpour for days on end. The world feels like it's coming alive and I love it very much. May was a month full of friends! <3 From brunch in Red Deer (with an accompanying apiary detour), to a double date night sushi feast, to celebrating Nicole's birthday with a Girls Night at Japanese Village (her restaurant of choice), to Carrie spending the weekend at my house now that she's back from Morocco, to reconnecting with high school boys that I've known since Grade 10. I am so grateful for the roles that you all play in my life and the ability to connect with you as often as I do.

I attended my favourite OddBird Art & Craft Fair, which happens twice a year. I'm always one of the first through the door and I always get rewarded with a swag tote. One of my happy places for sure!

Then it was Mother's Day and I felt very loved and celebrated! My family woke me up with cuddles and gifts, and then we went out for a very nice Mother's Day brunch at a French restaurant called The Marc. Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Just living my best Mother's Day life over here!

I celebrated the eight year anniversary of my food blog; Erika Eats Everything! More than ever, I am incredibly grateful that I am still out here eating everything.

Then we were off to the mountains for May Long Weekend! First we went to Canmore and spent time with more friends! I loved getting to see Lacey and it was extra nice that we got to go out for a fancy double date night dinner.

Then we were off to Banff where we enjoyed the town (even though there was a blizzard!), cooked meats on a hot rock, and completed the Tunnel Mountain Summit hike.

We also spent a day in Lake Louise with Angela and Greg and the kids, which was super fun! They were visiting from London and it was really nice to see them over here in our province! Angela and I spent the afternoon at the BASIN Glacial Waters Thermal Wellness Spa and it was very magical!

Mountain time is always the best time! The fact that we have access to this paradise after only driving for a few hours is something that I am always appreciative of. The spring has been springing!! It's all so stunning, everywhere that you look!

A very exciting thing happening in our house right now is that we are incubating chicken eggs!! We are doing this through a company called Nanny McCluckins. You can hatch various types of birds with them and we are doing the Chick Hatching Experience! They provide you with everything that you need. We were given nine eggs and if they all hatch we'll have nine babies!! The eggs take 21-22 days to hatch. (We are on day 9 as of today.) Then we'll get to hug and kiss the babies for a week before we return them to the farm to join their flock. This has already been really fun and educational so far!

I am still lifting weights once a week and I have achieved a new personal best! I can now deadlift and squat my body weight! I'm pretty impressed with myself. When I started I couldn't lift... anything. And now here I am! I feel so strong and it's awesome! I'm probably in some of the best shape of my life!

And finally, we always have the most fun at Claw Park! I have way too many of these shitty stuffies but I also love them.

Things are pretty great at the moment and I'm excited to start gearing up for the summer! Life with Archie: Somehow the school year is almost at its end! Grade 3 seemed to fly by!! Archie had his class photos taken in April and we finally received them. The year was a bit strange where they had a Grade 3/4 split for the morning with Mme. Jones and then just Grade 3 for the afternoon with Mme. Kaya. Two different classrooms too. It didn't seem ideal to me but the kids seemed to do fine with it all year. I think because the Grade 3 French Immersion class is so small (15 kids) it made things complicated.

Archie built a Keepsake Box at the latest Kids Workshop at Home Depot and a Star Wars N-1 Starfighter Mini at a LEGO free-build event.

Chef Archie is still cooking up a storm on a weekly basis! We love his food! His dishes this month were; Chicken and Cranberry Wraps, Curried Tuna Salad Wraps, Burrito Bowls, and Pork Casserole for Tortillas. All so delicious!

Archie's class had a fun event where they built Bee Houses! I volunteered to help and had a great morning doing this wood project with the kids!

Archie also loved his time in the mountains, of course. He absolutely adores spending time with Caledon (Lacey's 15 year old son) who he idolizes. They also have the same hair? Plus he enjoyed cooking meats on a hot rock, loved getting to see his cousins Amelia and Laura, and is always happy to become a mountain boy.

We've been doing a ton of gardening and working hard to get all of our gardens ready for the summer!

Archie did a Stay Safe Home Alone Course! As soon as he was old enough I signed him up! (It's for kids aged 9-13.) He spent the day (along with his friend Caelyn) learning all about how to stay home alone. Now we can leave him alone should we need to! (But this also made us realize that we needed to have a landline installed because he has no way of making a phone call.)

And finally: Archie in a nutshell. Poutine, graphic novels, cars, and a book about world flags. Ha ha!

June is going to start off pretty quietly but then really pick up toward the end! Father's Day is this month and Tim has requested that we have dinner at Flat Boy Burgers, one of his favourite burger joints in town. He's pretty easy to please! The school year is coming to an end and Archie will be finished Grade 3! His last day is on June 23rd. We can't wait to celebrate another wonderful year completed! Our summer of adventures will be kicking off right away! We are returning to Stettler (which we have visited the past two years) to spend two nights at our favourite farmstay, Ford's Farmstead! Stettler is also known for its Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions (which we have never done) so this time we are finally giving it a try! We're doing the Bison Burger BBQ at Country Hideaway which you get to by diesel train. I know that Archie will love this. Tim is coming too! The end of the month is me and Tim's 13th wedding anniversary! This year we are going to celebrate by having dinner at Bar Bricco, a highly acclaimed Italian wine bar restaurant known for small plates and handmade pastas. Should be a very nice night out! We have a big summer ahead and I can't wait to get it all started! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: June 14th is Amy Bull's 18th wedding anniversary!

Wishing you a romantic day to celebrate the two of you! <3 June 20th is Laura Mitschke's 11th wedding anniversary!

Wishing you a romantic day to celebrate the two of you! <3 June 24th is Sarah Turnbull’s 44th birthday!

Wishing you the most fabulous day and I hope that you get to feel very celebrated! You're a woman who manages to do it all, for better or for worse, and it's always an impressive feat. You will always hold a special place in my heart and our long history is something that will forever bind us. Love you always. <3 June 30th is my 13th wedding anniversary!

Marriage isn't a piece of cake. (See what I did there?) But I am so thankful every single day that I get to do it with Tim. I love our life and I love everything that we have built. I love our adventures and I love our joie de vivre. Things aren't always easy but as long as we're doing it together I know that we'll end up where we're meant to be. I love my husband. <3