Family Bonding & Roots!

"Family-like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one."
-Author Unknown

"To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there."
-Barbara Bush

"The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege."
-Charles Kuralt

In honor of FATHER'S DAY this past week...
here is a lovely photo I took last week
of Brian and his little girl!
This is taken in Jana's shoe store
SWANK SHOE LOUNGE...
where ROOTS of her passions are!

A photo of us in Jana's store last week!

Mariah had a day surgery last week to get adenoids out and tubes in her ears.
I hope this gets to the ROOTs of her health problems!!!
Nice of her Pederson Grandparents and cousin Morgan
to also come and visit her after her surgery.

The house where my mother-in-law grew up on a farm between Humboldt and Muenster...
where many of the FAMILY ROOTS began years ago.

One of the many barns built by my father-in-law, Greg and his father.
They were on the roof of this barn  working on it
 the day Greg's first son, Bruce was born.

Mariah and Beau at Saskatoon Inn on Sunday when we had a
Father's Day family brunch.

Nels and Brian at the FATHER'S DAY breakfast outing.

FATHER'S DAY Supper at Jana's with our darling grandkids!

The cute poster Brian got as a gift from Jana, Nels & kids
for Father's day.

Jana's store owner/partner, MELISSA recently lost her father.
She had always wanted to do a father's day picnic with him for that occasion,
 but instead shared that desire with BRIAN this year by giving him this lovely picnic basket
 filled with food and fun stuff for us to do a picnic soon!
That was so thoughtful of her to share that with him.

Two things my son, colin brought to us from Montreal while here for a visit this week.
His band's record...and the Montreal Jazz Festival program.
MUSIC is a shared thing in our family ROOTS!

Always enjoy taking our grandkids to see their GREAT
Grandparents... and They love it when we stop by, too.
Here is Mariah with her  GREAT GRANDMA BLANCHE...
so much LOVE in the FAMILY ROOTS!

Like father like son...
sure not hard to see that the apple does not fall far from the tree
in these family roots!
My father-in-law, Greg... with his look alike son.



I realize it has been over a week since my last blog post, and there have been so many things going on around here since then. It has been a whirlwind of activity filled with family bonding.

Last week my son, Colin decided to come home for a surprise visit over Father's Day to bond with family .He had not been home since October of 2010,
so it has been nice to have him home. I have taken many photos of him but he has requested I do not post his face everywhere... so I have respected his wishes here in this blog. I had so many great shots with several of the relatives we have bonded with... but you all know who you are and saw him in person and enjoyed your visits in person!

As well last week, Mariah had a day surgery at Royal University Hospital to have her adenoids out and tubes put into her ears. The surgery was a huge success, and she was happy to have both sets of her grand parents as well as a cousin on their side of the family come and visit her in the hospital. The grandkids are so lucky to have such loving in their family roots!

Sunday was a nice day of Celebration for the fathers in our family. Our family shared a nice family brunch
at Saskatoon Inn...and later that day my kids...
Colin, Jana along with Nels cooked up a very tasty supper at their house for us to all have in celebration.

Colin is a vegetarian so is great at cooking some tasty dishes in the veggie style. He made a delicious egg plant parmesian supper here on Saturday night which we shared with my brother Brian.

Monday my father-in-law, Greg, along with my hubby, and kids  took a very historic trip to Humboldt, Muenster, and St. Gregor to see where many of the family roots began.
We visited grave sites in both Humboldt and St. Gregor along with the family farm my mother-in-law grew up on between Humboldt and Muenster. We visited a special barn that Greg and his father built back in the 50's when Greg became father to his first son. We went to the stunning St. Peter's Abby featuring the paintings of Imhoff. We also went to St. Peter's College where my father in law went to school years ago. Greg was in his glory sharing the FAMILY ROOTS with his children and grandchildren...and we made memories to cherish for the rest of our lives.

Last night my brother, Bob, his wife, Arleen along with their oldest son, Brad and his wife, Janelle joined us for pizza on our deck as we enjoyed the super weather out on our deck.
We thoroughly enjoyed that visit and evening another memory to cherish for a long time.

I am a person who loves to SHARE my life stories and photos... as my blog viewers have already witnessed.
Funny how everyone in our family is not as into sharing as much... but one thing we all have in common and share lots of... is LOVE, which all began in our FAMILY ROOTS.

We have enjoyed the many visits we have shared this past week with our family and look forward to many more of those to come in our future.

On that note... here is my short poem of the day!

Every family begins with roots
and from that they all grow.
Lots of bonding and a whole lot of love
from that will always show.
Love is the glue that bonds us together,
as different as we all are.
And we all remain connected...
whether near or far!