Canadian Thanksgiving

Canadian Thanksgiving always seems to come too early. My "Pavlov's dogs" conditioned response is to be decorating for Christmas and shopping after thanksgiving. And it kinda kicked in. I have a few things for the kids already...shhhh. Anyway, with Thanksgiving comes a welcomed day off! Woo hoo! It was a different holiday this year. Justin's parents were in Utah for General Conference and were driving home on Thanksgiving, so we just had a dinner all to ourselves. I was sad we weren't going to spend it with lots of family, but luckily we were invited to Uncle Ron and Aunt Tammy's place on Saturday after conference for dinner. It was delicious!! Always tastes better when you don't have to make it yourself!! Then after we ate Justin went with Ron and Connor and "Little" Justin (Jaclyn's new hubby. He is Justin #2.:) ) to Cardston to watch the priesthood session with Grandpa Low. I stayed with all of the ladies and we chatted and ate our pie while my kids played SO WELL!! We need to come to your place more often Tammy!! Barely heard a peep from them, they loved it there! Thank you so much for having us!!
Thanksgiving Monday I made a meal for our little family. It was a lot of work (only because I made it that way) but it was fun and we got to have tons of leftover turkey! Our favorite! And I even boiled the bones later on and made delicious soup too. Thanks for teaching me Mom! It was YUMMY!!! Zach said it tasted just like Mer Mer's and it was his favorite soup ever. Makes me so happy when my kids just EAT and don't FUSS.

I was in the kitchen from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Does that make it a successful Thanksgiving? Yes...because it included cranberry muffins (MY FAVORITE!), Great Grandma Low's jello, delicious homemade buns (Shirley's recipe...the BEST!), and turkey. The only thing it was missing was my mom's stuffing, which was my favorite part of American Thanksgiving. I was explaining to Zach that there are 2 Thanksgivings, Canadian and American. He asked me, "When the real Thanksgiving comes (American...) are we going to eat with real Indians?" Um, we could probably make that happen. HA!!

Cheers!

The girls made these at preschool. They are the things they are grateful for. Kara is grateful for Dad, Jesus, Princesses, Cousins and family, and Mom. Kate is grateful for Mom, school, sisters and brothers, daddy, and "Nonny" which is really Nani...Kate's favorite cousin...but we don't have favorites, right? She just loves Nani though! Always looks up to her and wants to be with her, talk to her, play with her.

Zach wanted to show his pine cone turkey centerpiece he made for us at school. He also had an Indian hat with a feather he made there for his Thanksgiving feast at school, but I forgot to put it on him! Boo.

 

I made eclair cake for dessert. When I opened the oven I thought "how the heck am I supposed to spread pudding on top of that?" So bubbly and fun. And delicious in the end! It calmed down a bit. 

And this was probably my favorite part of the night. Family Ring Around the Rosie. THIS is what life is all about. Adaleigh was loving it and the kids were too. Babies sure bring a lot of love and joy into a household. I am so so so so so so so so grateful for my family. My kids, my amazing super duper hard working husband, all of my extended family, great friends who are like family, and the Gospel; knowing who I am, why I am here, and what I am supposed to do and become. I could go on and on. I am grateful.

Great, sweet memory. :) Raising kids is busy, fun, hard, taxing, and funny. But you just have to live for moments like this that make it all worth it and beautiful.  Elder Ballard gave an incredible talk that mentioned this. "The joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." This was one of those.

Feeding Frenzy

Here is our sweet "little miss sunshine." Just like the onesie says. Great Grandma French had 4 Great Grand-daughters born within 4 weeks; Joanie's little Avery, Julie's twins - Faye and Anne, and our little Adaleigh.  She sent each of them this cute outfit and wanted a picture of them in it when it fit. I did a tiny photo shoot with her and this was the first picture I got! She makes it easy!

5 months old! Not sitting on her own, just propped up.

 

 

 

I did a few angles because I didn't know what the other girls sent.
 

I started playing volleyball again on a city league team! Wee!!! Justin awesomely took care of Addie and needed to feed her. I pumped 5 oz a long time ago and it was sitting in our freezer, so he thawed it out. She took only 2 oz of it and then refused anymore! Apparently she's a milk snob. Then next day I saw that stuff and COULD NOT throw it down the drain, so I warmed it up and tried to feed it to her. She still didn't want it! But with some persistence (like I always have!!!) she took it. Each of the kids wanted a turn, so I let them have a shot. It's not everyday they get to feed their sister! Especially if she is this picky! Fine Addie, you don't have to drink the milk, but you have to be good for Daddy so I can play. PLEASE!!!!

 

They all had a great time feeding her. I can't believe how old the girls look now, especially Kara in this picture! A baby sure puts things in perspective.

Creepy

Justin is on his E.R. rotation meaning he works many evenings and nights. Which means...I get to do bedtime by myself quite often. Weeeee...anyway,once they are down I have a quiet night to myself which I really enjoy once in a while. Twice while he has been on E.R. I have found Kara like this. SO CREEPY! This time was the creepiest. Everyone had been down for hours. I went and put the computer back downstairs, came up to get my jammies on and brush my teeth, walked in the bathroom and found this! So scary. My heart was pounding like crazy. I made sure she was okay and just sleeping and then picked her up and brought her back to her bed. I asked her why she was sleeping there and she said the bath mat was so comfy, that's why. Eew. Right by the toilet? She did this the next night too. I have found her on the floor in my room in the middle of the night too. So strange. And so scary! For a while she would randomly just come and kiss my arm in the middle of the night too. Sweet, yes, Kara, but can't it wait for morning. When the lights are on? And I am awake?

Stake Fall Fair

We made it home in time for our Stake Fall Fair. This is such a fun activity ... 5 astrojumps, hot dogs or sloppy joes, Taber corn on the cob, homemade root beer, balloon animals, ice cream, shaved ice, popcorn, and cotton candy!

These pictures are taken with Justin's iPhone. I am horrible at staying still with them. Always take blurry pictures. I miss my little point and shoot. Dang thief. So between the low light and the movement = not so good picture! Just squint a bit and it looks clearer. ;)

 

After we ate dinner we kinda just let the kids do their thing. They were so happy! They got to get their OWN cotton candy (even though they ended up trying each others) and choose what to do and where to go. You think they could have made a "child size" or something, but no, the cotton candy was bigger than their heads! Good thing Justin helped them out a bit, but not much!

 

Next was the balloon man! He could make anything! It was awesome. And the line was WAY too long, but it was because he was so great and personable with each kid.

Kate got a parrot. How cool is that?! And it even sits on your shoulder.
 

Kara was next with her princess crown. Wow. Regal. :) She felt beautiful!

And Zach got a sword with a belt holder thing.

 

Face painting!

Last year Kate got Spiderman. This year? Uh...a conglomeration or drawings...butterflies, flowers, and even a glittery mustache. What?!

Can you guess what Zach is? Not a skeleton...a zebra!

And a sparkly butterfly!

 

I got to wear the parrot while Kate went on the astrojumps. Fun night! Thanks Lethbridge Stake!

YMCA Camp Chief Hector

One of the first weeks in September we left our house ONE MORE TIME to stay in Calgary for a few days while Justin had his conference. I hung around the hotel with the kids and visited Alysha and fam. James and Adaleigh really hit it off. :)
Justin's conference was held at Canada Olympic Park. I hadn't ever been there, but it was fun to go and see some of the Olympic hopefuls in their training place. While waiting for Justin to be done, we walked around and found an old bobsled ("Feel the rhythm...feel the rhyme...") and watched figure skaters and some old men playing hockey.

Can you see the white dot on the horizon to the right of the center of the photo? That is the Calgary, AB temple! So exciting! I think this was from Justin's iPhone so I couldn't zoom in, but it looked way closer than this! So the view from Canada Olympic park is much more glorious now. :)


After his conference we joined a bunch of the residents in the resident retreat at the YMCA Camp Chief Hector. Families were invited to come with, so it was a good time to meet some of the other families and residents. We were a bit hesitant to come because we are just sick of travelling and thought that the activities they had planned might not be age appropriate for our youngens', but we went and I am really glad we did! Our kids had a blast. Great opportunities to try new things. Here are the kids outside our bunkhouse. We shared it with 4 couples. There were 3 rooms of 7 bunks each. We had our own room (thank goodness) but in our lodge thing there were 8 kids 5 and under. each family had a baby and it was actually a pretty quiet night!

Our cute lil' camper. If you could call this camping. We slept in sleeping bags, so I think that counts. :)

Finding beautiful rocks.

I made the kids pose on their beds. We each had our own. Haven't slept on a twin size bed for a while! So lonely. Luckily Addie slept with me for most of the night.

Justin was in class for some of the day, so we had some time to kill. The activities were only on at certain times of the day. I am glad so many people came and brought their kids too!

The kids trying to "chop" the tree down. And they just saw "The Lorax." Guess it didn't internalize.

First we went to low ropes with "Stew." He became a favorite of the kids. He had a pretty sweet Aussie accent. ;) Here he is teaching the kids how to spot.

See Kara spotting? So cute.

 

Here they just had a bunch of challenges for the kids to walk across and try to balance.

 

Stew took the camera and I got a chance to spot the kids. It was fun to spend quiet time with them.

 

 

Kate waiting her turn. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They can do hard things!!!! :) 

I had to take Addie and feed her, Zach came over and took a picture of me being a mother, in nature.

After the low ropes Justin had an hour off so we went and found the horses. I wish we got to ride them!

We had to be really careful, because that fence was an electric fence! Stew brought us there and just said, "oh yeah, be careful, it is electric." Mostly to keep the other animals out I think. Each of our children accidentally touched it at one time or another.

All of the horses finally clued in that we were giving them the good stuff. Look at that view!

Tee pee...

He-pee.
Ha ha...Caught you. Love you hon. Totally inappropriate. Sorry!

The kids loved Steve...and his beard. He was the group leader out there, ran the show. And he was SO good with the kids! So patient and fun and positive. They all were. This picture cracks me up how she is caressing his beard. Yuck.

 

Good work Kara! I think this leader's name was Lauren. She was also and Aussie. More than half of them were!

 

The balancing deck. The kids had a lot of fun with this.  

 

  

This was by far Zach's favorite activity. He was actually pretty good at it! Pretty sweet shot if I do say so myself!

 

Stew with his little buddies. 

 

 

 

 

And finally canoeing!

 

 

 
I got to try out my major zoom lens. :)

The Yawneys. :)

Karsten is such a cutie.

 

AMAZING VIEWS!

Justin's classes finally finished so he went out while I stayed on the dock with the babes.

  

 

 

Think we tired them out?? Ha ha! Signs of a successful trip. It really was SO fun. Tiring, but so fun. I am really grateful we had this opportunity. It was awesome. I thought it would be SO fun as a family reunion. They feed you, house you, and keep you occupied doing great activities. But when I heard how much it costs...yikes.