St. Patrick's Day and Great Grandma French!

Of course we had green breakfast on St. Patrick's Day! Green pancakes, eggs, and milk! Zach still asks for green milk everyday.

And yes all of my kids were wearing some kind of green and yes I did chase Justin up the stairs as he quickly ran back to the room to get some green on.

Zach and Papa playing outside. This was after he shoveled our walks AND Jason and Kamry's walks. What a guy.

Grandpa made a snowman with the kids. The funniest thing was that it was in the middle of our shovelled path to the garage. :) I never moved it though because it made me smile each time I walked by it.

GALAXYLAND!

The kids waiting to get on the train at Galaxyland at the West Edmonton Mall.

The train...woo hoo... I mean. CHOO CHOO!

Grandma doing a photo shoot.

This was the best. We realized that Zach, and even the girls, were tall enough to go on this ride, so we did it! It was so fun to watch them experience new things. The girls were right on the line and I didn't know if they'd love it, but they did! Awesome. Makes me excited for Disneyland in December! (hopefully!)

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Off to a basketball game. Great Grandma French walked with Kara. The kids LOVED having her stay at our place. It was great.

Kate LOVES Dallin. After his basketball game we were going to leave but Kate really wanted to see Uncle Dallin and say hi. When he picked her up she just smiled and stared at him in awe. It was cute.

Just call me Chip!

Isn't it SAD?!! Kara chipped her tooth...with Kate's help, but it was an accident. A "I tripped and fell into my sister with a mixing bowl on my head" accident. Of course the bowl just had to hit Kara right on the tooth. Kara was crying after it happened and I just thought it was Kara being sensitive, so I picked her up and held her and then thought maybe it hit her mouth and her tooth is loose, so without looking I felt to see if it was lose. It wasn't loose, but it wasn't all there anymore!! My heart dropped! NOOO!!! Your cute smile! We went to the dentist and he said the nerve wasn't exposed. She was having slight tenderness, but it is better now. We are getting the sharp piece filed down on Wednesday. Poor Kara! She'll have this for 5+ years until it falls out! Sorry girl! You still have a cute smile. It is just more unique now. :)

Jace Douglas Low

Nope, he's not mine, but he is pretty darn cute! :) Jason and Kamry finally had their little guy on February 28, 2011. He really is such a cute kid with gorgeous hair, that auburny color. Love it. He looks so much like Kamry to me. Talia is Jason's look alike and Jace is Kamry's. Too cute. This was Jace at 1 day old. We had to introduce him to his cousins ASAP. Kara LOVES babies...

Zach with his closest (in distance) boy cousin. Hurry and grow up so we can play Jace!

Isn't he HANDSOME!! I love to cuddle him. I just went over one night and held him for hours. The nice thing was I went home and slept all night. Sometimes just being the Auntie is great. :)

We had a brunch shower for Jace and Kamry the other day. I just had to share a picture of all of the delicious FOOD!!!! Quiche, cranberry muffins, bran muffins, strawberries, pineapple, "nursing" cookies, and gorgeous cupcakes by Kamry's sister Taren.

Cute, eh? Way to go Taren.

The decorations...I know. I went all out!

I tried to write "Welcome Baby Jace" but there weren't enough c's or b's. I tried "Jace Douglas" but again, the wrong letters, and "Jace and Kamry" just looked like a bridal shower or something, so this is what we ended with. :)

And yes, Maren...I posted this one for you. :) I knew you'd love it.

She got some really cute clothes. Yay for baby boys!! Thanks for everyone who came!

And the verdict is...LETHBRIDGE!!

Yep! Justin matched to the Rural Family Medicine Residency based in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. So we will be moving in June-ish. How do I feel about this? Well, I am happy I guess. Kind of "meh" but I think Justin will be much happier in the rural area. I am NOT excited to pack up and leave our lovely house (that I have just FINALLY begun to decorate and get ideas and settle into), to go to a rental, and I am not excited to leave my friends and all of Zach's little buddies, but I AM excited to have warmer-ish winters (at least more breaks from snow and some meltage) and to be closer to family and the BORDER! My homeland. :) So I guess I can't say I am thrilled but I am not too disappointed either. I think it's where we are supposed to be, darn it. :)

It will be nice for Justin to work in new/different facilities and with different staff and faculty and hopefully experiencing new opportunities, especially more forced independence, that will challenge him as a learner and become a better doctor. Also, getting around Lethbridge is a cinch. 15 minutes max to anywhere in the city. We'll live less than 5 minutes from the hospital. Sweet. The not so sweet part will be the 11/24 months that he'll be based out of another rural town. Yikes. We'll go when we can the first year and then the second year hopefully he'll be able to get the close ones (i.e. Raymond, Taber) so he can commute and we can see him. Anyway, this is our big change! On with the packing and rental searching!

My Little Birdies

The kids devouring my breakfast. They do this every morning, so I came prepared with extra straws.

I don't know why, but it really reminds me of the tiny newly hatched birds I saw in the eves of our house (? is that what they are called?) They chirped like crazy and stuck up their little necks as the mommy regurgitated food into their mouths. So sweet. :) Mine was blended in a blender though, not regurgitated. Just thought I'd clear that one up.

This is my Relief Society president, Tamara Livingstone. I also visit teach her. But SHE has been the one lifting MY spirits and helping me out for a few days last week. Monday of last week I was going to visit teach her. I was putting Kara's boots on to go load them up, and had this horrible pain shoot up my legs and back. I don't know what it means to "throw your back out" but maybe that's what I did? It hurt to walk, bend, move, lift, anything. I was crying, still trying to load the kids in the car to go. Then I thought, "Amelia, you are being silly. YOU CAN'T GO." And went inside to call her. I called her, trying to disguise the tears of pain! I don't think I did very good. The next day she sent Emily (her 12 yr old daughter that loves our girls) over to play with the kids after school. Esther stayed too (her 5 yr old). It was wonderful. Esther accidentally left her mitten, so they came over the next morning to get it and ended up playing for 2 hours with the kids. That's when this picture was taken. Sister Livingstone, YOU ARE WONDERFUL and an angel in my life right now. Thank you!

Funny story...when Esther and Tamara were leaving that day, Esther told her mom she'd meet her at the car. She hung back for a minute. When her mom looked back to see what was taking her so long she saw Esther trying to hide her mitten again so they'd have to come back to get the mitten and PLAY!! I love how kids' minds work! So funny.

Cereal Necklaces

It was too cold to do anything outside (again) so instead of watch another movie, I remembered something we used to do all the time at home when I grew up. Cereal necklaces! And the bonus was that I had some semi-fun cereal that would work!

They used Froot Loops, Cheerios, and Honeycomb to make their necklaces. It was so cute to watch their little hands work.

I taped their strings around a toothpick to help them string it easier. It seemed to work.

The proud creator. He ended up just opening the string up and dumping them all off of the necklace into a little pile on the carpet to eat them. I guess it was too hard for him on the string.

Apparently I made the girl's necklaces too small!! Whoops! I thought I was being generous.

They enjoyed their headbands instead.

Kind of messy, but pretty fun! It is definitely easier to just give them a bowl of cereal for a snack, but it was worth a shot!

Wonderful, Wonderful Winter

So, this was taken March 2, 2011 while I was on the phone to my lovely friend Mariah, who has the unfortunate residence of Tampa, Florida. Poor her. She never gets snow! Or cold for that matter! She never gets to enjoy that dry, pasty white skin that I have been sporting for this past winter season. She doesn't get to experience the constant static, the ice winds that cut into your face and make it tingle when you walk outside, the cold air that you immediately and unintentionally cough out when you breathe in, or even bundling 3 small kids just to walk to your garage so you can get into your freezing car to drive to your destination and de-bundle. Poor Mariah. We have a room in our basement. Come visit any time Ri. You deserve a break from that warmth. I don't know how you do it! :)

This was taken on beautiful better days than the one above. This is Avery, Zach's best buddy that lives a few doors down. They are 1 month apart. I think she is the sweetest cutest thing and I love her. :) If we move, I will miss her!

Zach's, well all of my kids' favorite thing to do in the snow. EAT IT!

Our winter cabin, the playhouse right outside.

We dug out this little track/maze for the kids in the back yard. We've had SOOO much snow (this is even after some had melted!). At least this makes the back yard play-able. I wanted to make a snow fort too, but I don't really know how, so I didn't. :)

This is a bunch of kids enjoying the maze on Winter Wednesday...a weekly open playgroup at my house...my attempt to enjoy winter to its end...

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Grandpa reading stories. WE LOVE VISITORS!!! They stayed with us during Dallin's basketball tournament. Thanks for coming and staying with us!!! We all loved it.

I made these watches! There is a lady up here who runs this business, "Wrist Candy," so I invited a bunch of girls over and we made watches. She had MILLIONS of beads and we got to pick our own and put them together. The first one took FOREVER...the creative perfectionist in me. Anyway, it is basically a bracelet with clips to hook to a watch face. A multifunctional bracelet. I love them.

See! Isn't that cool!

On another freezing cold night I went to Maren's concert. She had a singer songwriter concert with a few of her siblings. It was so cool! They were all very entertaining and talented. As was the girl that opened for them! Her name is Livy Jean and she had a pop country kind of style, Taylor Swift-ish. Loved her! She was only 15 or something and was incredible.

On the way home it made me think...I want to be able to do that. I wish I had stayed in music lessons and took them more seriously when I was younger. But volleyball was WAY more fun! I mean, if I had to go on Miss America, which is an impossibility now because 1) I am married, 2) I live in Canada, 3) I am too old, and 4) What would I wear?!, but IF I did...what would I do for my talent portion of the competition??? Tell some jokes? Breastfeed twins while answering the phone and reading a book? Change a diaper with my toes while blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back? I can kinda play piano, and I played the trumpet for 3 years in junior high (1st Chair by the way...mmm hmmm!) and I have a deep appreciation for music, but I want to do MORE. I want to be able to feel that release as I belt out a song and I want to just sit and relax and pluck the guitar. It looks so fun. I also want to learn to play the violin, and the ukelele. So useful. Especially the uke. :)

Anyway...tangent...sorry.
Thanks for the fun night Maren. And Sarah. Thanks for sitting with me! You da bomb.

Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh, I just love holidays. They are fun and exciting. For some reason though I wasn't so psyched about Valentine's Day this year. I think it may have been because I knew it was the first day Justin would be back in the hospitals after his 3 weeks off and that he wouldn't be home until really late. Darn. He was on cardiac surgery though. Pretty cool place to be on Valentine's Day! Healing hearts...

Here's my Valentine. I think he is pretty cute, and yes I made him take this picture because he looked so good in his new sweater vest I bought him in Calgary. I love sweater vests. They just look manly and cozy and huggable. Too bad it doesn't match his suit. Grey vest with a blue suit? Whoops...I don't know men's fashion.

Justin planned ahead and bought me flowers the Wednesday before Valentine's Day! He went out to pick up some groceries since his family was coming up for Dallin's basketball tourney and came home with these beauties. I love them. Aren't they beautiful?!
Growing up we had several rose bushes right in my back yard that always seemed to be blooming. They smelled SO good. Mom would often cut and arrange them in vases on the table. I loved them. There is something amazing about fresh flowers. When we first got married I told him not to buy my flowers, that it was a waste of money. Well, I lied. I love them. Don't get rip off flowers is what I should have said I guess, but Costco always has beautiful flowers for beautiful prices. Good work hon! Keep it up.

On Valentine's Eve before we went to bed Justin said he had to go down stairs quickly and make me a card. Nice gesture I guess, but it was hilarious to have him tell me exactly what he was going to do. I sneakily started making him a valentine while he made mine downstairs and finished while he was sitting on the other couch talking to me. He thought I was writing in my journal which was open on my lap too, but really I was writing him the card he got the next morning. Gotcha!

The amazing card. I love his drawing on the front! And the contents were even better! 2 (fake) tickets to Hawaii!! Was I surprised? Nope. This actually really made me laugh. We've been talking about going to Hawaii since we got married and always thought we'd do it when he graduated from med school. I want to take him back to my old stomping grounds at BYU Hawaii and enjoy the sunshine and trade winds. Ahhh.... Anyway, the last year or so we've been deciding on a time to go and thought May would work for us. And then he gives me this card with fake tickets in it that say "P.S. This is not a real ticket. You have to go online and book one." HA! What an awesome gift hon. Tickets for a trip we've already been planning together and then the permission to go online and book them?? You make me laugh. And that is why I love you.

(I sound like a horrible ungrateful wife! I don't mean too! I am SOOOOO excited to go, ECSTATIC! I just thought it was hilarious that he would "give" me this trip that was already in the works and then go tell me to go book it online!)

One more funny Valentine's Day story...

Amelia: "Hey hon, 6 years ago today I had my last first kiss."

Justin: "You never know."

WHAT?! What kind of answer is that!! Here I am trying to be sappy and romantic and he says that?!

So here's what I gave to Justin for Valentine's Day. My sister Carrie heard on the radio that the best thing to give a man on Valentine's Day is a delicious sandwich. Weird eh? I thought so until I heard the explanation; you don't have to/can't really share a sandwich! If you get them chocolates or pizza or something they feel like they have to share with coworkers and such. But how often do you hear someone unrelated to you say "Wanna bite of my sandwich?" Yuck! We had some leftover roast beef so I made him a man sandwich with avocados and everything. Delish. I also woke up early and made him breakfast. I am sure something was pink or in a heart shape. I can't remember. It was too early. Now that is love.


Valentine's morning Papa and Bama were at our place so we made them heart shaped pancakes with strawberry sauce.

MY VALENTINIES!

I have no clue what she's eating, but she's still pretty cute, right?

Ignore the boogers...if you can.

Oh boy. :)

So the kids and I just basically hung out all day. I wanted to make Valentine cookies, but we had SOOO MUCH delicious junk here at the house from the weekend of fun with Papa and Bama I couldn't. SO MUCH...ferrero rochers, lindors, chocolate chip cookies, strawberry cheesecake, DQ ice cream cake, DQ buster bars, DQ ice cream sandwiches, valentine gummy candies, chocolate almonds...that's all I remember. Hence no cookies. :)

Zach took this shot of me in my awesome heart shirt while I was making our fancy dinner... of leftovers. :) And contrary to what this picture depicts...I'm not pregnant. MAYBE next Valentine's Day?
Justin wasn't home yet, so we ate our candle lit dinner without him! He didn't get home until 7:30. Lame, but pretty cool that he was watching heart surgeries all day.

The kids just tried to blow out the candles all throughout dinner. I had to relight all of them!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Hope yours was as "SWEET" as ours!!