Calgary, Alberta L.D.S. Temple Open House

All of us Alberta Lows (8 adults, 7 kids) got tickets for the last day of the open house of the brand new Calgary, AB temple. We met up at the hotel, had a pizza party, swam in the pool and then afterward celebrated Papa Low's birthday with delicious chocolate cupcakes made by yours truly. Yum.After the kids were all down we played cards! It was a blast. The next morning we got up bright and early to get to the temple by 8:15. It was beautiful. Then we got late check out so we could swim a bit longer and play with cousins. Such a fun, family filled festivity. And awesome alliteration.

Little Miss Addie showing off her delicious chubs in my favorite onesie undershirt. She just looks so creamy to me in it. It is white with tiny light pink stars on it and a pink bow. So sweet. Makes me want to eat her. And live somewhere warmer so I could see those cute arms more often. :)

Jace was really excited to see his cousins. ;)


Prepping for the delicious cupcakes.

  

Ha ha! Happy Birthday Papa!!

Adaleigh doing her nightly push ups. That's how she keeps her arms looking so toned.

Bright eyes and arm rolls, can it get much better?

Tali and Kara at the hotel, up way past bedtime, chowing on junk food.

Mmmmm...See, they were that good.


Our Rook tourney. We were the overall champions! Whoop whoop.

Adaleigh the card shark just helping me out.

Kamry went and checked on her kids and this is how they were sleeping! Soo cute!!!

...And this is how ours were sleeping. HA! Interesting position Zach.

 

The whole gang on a COLD morning at this beautiful temple. I loved the "wheat" theme they had in the stained glass and on the door handles and everything. It really was so beautiful inside and it was fun to take our kids and have them understand where we were and how special it was. Zach's favorite place was the baptismal font. Kate and Kara loved the sparkly lights. The chandeliers were incredible. I am so glad we all went up together and went through the temple.

Our little family at the temple.
When did we get so many kids?!

Cold little almost-one-year-old Benny boy.

Justin took the kids swimming while I packed up our room. Addie just kicked it for a while. I know I rave about this girl a lot, but she really is SUCH a good baby. Super happy, chill, along for the ride and excited about it. I love love love her. This is the kind of baby we needed for #4! :) Gotta love the soother smile. 

Swimming with Papa!

Zach standing on the water. Amazing, right?

Kate is our little water baby. She LOVES it.

Brian is such a fun grandpa.

And 7/12 of the Low Grandkids. They had a great time together! Yay for cousins!! Now move closer!

Crazy Hair/Rainbow Day!

The girls finished off their "Colors" theme at preschool with a crazy hair day/rainbow day. Naturally that makes me think that they need to wear every color of the rainbow and clash like crazy, so they did! It was fun letting them pick out whatever and doing their hair crazy. 

And I love the silly faces they pulled. Especially Kara using her finger to help her cross her eyes. 

She's an Eater!

We thought we would let Addie participate in Thanksgiving and gave her her first taste of real food! :) She loved it and was so great with it! She's been wanting something for a long time, watching with longing in her eyes as we take each bite. Now she just wants to eat everything we do! Looks like we are going to have to find room at our tiny table for another chair! Yikes.

:)

 

It's extremely out of focus, shakey, and LONG, but at least we got it on video! 

 

Look at that cute profile. :)

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!