Sister Reeves and such

This past Friday I attended a tri-stake Fireside in which Sister Linda S. Reeves from the General Relief Society came to speak to us.   It was incredible and uplifting and edifying and everything else in between.   It was interesting to watch her speak.  She had come prepared with a video and photos to share, but minutes into her presentation she acknowledged that she was feeling as though she needed to switch gears.   Instead of talking about her original topic which was "Loving as Christ Loves" she instead spoke to us about Testimony.  

It was interactive and informative and inspiring and (yup) everything in between!

Because we have a cousin who works as a secretary to the General RS presidency, Jewel was able to play that card beautifully and snag a picture with her after wards.  She's lovely and graceful.   

 I, on the other hand, looked awfully chubby  grubby in this photo.  I'm pretty sure I had pizza sauce on my skirt too.  (Some of us don't get to be as graceful in life, I suppose;)

A neighbor who lives down the street made a skating rink in his backyard.  He's obviously an optimist and decided to take advantage of the -30 degree temps.  (ie; when life hands you lemons;)

Anyways, he told John to bring the fam down any time they wanted to skate.   It made for a pretty fabulous Friday afternoon as we found some sticks and a puck and played a game of hockey together.    

Nate especially enjoyed it and skated until the sun was almost down.  He was most thrilled to share with us the technique he apparently mastered for stealing some one's puck (which involves using his own stick to lift someone else's off the ground.)

Nate came home that evening and declared with a smile that skating is so much easier when done outdoors. 

How very Canadian of him!

Second Week of Holidays...

Oh Boo-hoo, woe is me.... school starts tomorrow!   

Obviously it's hard to consider work/school tomorrow seeing has we've just had the most fabulous Christmas vacation ever!!

It was just P.E.R.F.E.C.T!

Nate got sick with a brutal cold - which is exactly what I wanted to happen. (Better now then when school is in.)  

We had family come visit - which is always nice.

Enjoyed a Calgary vacation with my family - thanks to my Brother's fun surprise.

We watched lots of movies - can you say "couch potatoes?"

We ate yummy snacks non stop - that's what New Years resolutions are for.

Went on dates, played board games, and read more then we have all year - which still isn't much, but still.  

This past week, we made sure to cram into our very busy holiday schedule a couple of more fun days before real life sets in again.   

On Monday we all travelled to Castle Mountain for some downhill skiing!   This is our third year taking the kids and we enjoyed it just as much as ever, despite the -28 degree temperature.
Yup!  -28 degrees!!!  Our kids were real troopers.  

Abby continued to improve and enjoy skiing.   She went from the hill to the lodge, entirely on her own.   We pretty much just trusted that she was alive and well and not curled up in a broken ball somewhere at the bottom of the hill.   

Sam and Jess surprised me the most.   Our family has not ventured far beyond the Bunny Hill (in case anyone was starting to be impressed or anything) but these two kids sure do love SPEED!!!   They were often spotted whipping around a corner or racing down the hill, one after the other.   They reminded me of two Super Mario Kart racers.   

 Nate sure impressed us too.   He would have been content to spend the day sitting in the warm lodge eating Doritos and hot dogs and playing Candyland with me but he really did spend most of his time on the hill with Dad.   He's really getting confident and for the most part, can do an entire run all by himself.  

For the second year in a row, I managed to roll down the mountain and live to tell about it.  I caught on faster this year though and felt a little more comfortable venturing places on my own.   I did throw a little tantrum (when I fell down and couldn't get up) - but only once.    

 I also hit a tree, but again - only once;)  

The Gladdings (dear sweet friends of ours from our former 5th ward days) invited us all to watch the movie MOANA with them.   Their grandson in law had a role in the production of the movie and so they were excited to show it to us.   We stayed until the very end of the credits to find his name as well as his daughters name.   Did you know that if any employee has a baby while working on a movie that baby gets a spot in the credits.   True story.  There is a section in the credits just for "Production Babies."    Anyways, we found little Sariah's name and LOVED the movie tonnes!   Moana is a new favorite of mine.  I could relate to her as I too feel as though the ocean is calling to me.  haha. 

  I really must go someday. 

As the week neared an end, we knew we had to get out to Waterton for a bit of X country skiing.   Of course, it was another balmy -15 degrees out (actually it did feel balmy compared to our ski trip earlier in the week.)     The trail was unusually quiet on this particular day and for most of the time, we were pretty much alone.  

Akimina Rd (the road up to Cameron Lake) has been closed for over a year.  This past summer NOBODY was allowed up there due to construction, so I was super excited to be able to ski in now.   I was very surprised by all the changes.   First thing I noticed as I approached the parking lot was that they had clear cut a large portion of the forest to make room for a larger parking lot (cue Joni Mitchells song "Paved Paradise) but that is not all.   They also tore down the visitor center (the one that had the large telescope where you could look out to the far end of the lake with)   In it's place they have built two smaller buildings.   Along the outer edge of the entire gargantuan parking lot they have built an additional four or five buildings, each one consisting of four bathrooms.   

I'm sure from a park admin perspective, building 16+ bathrooms makes perfect sense (and I may even appreciate this once the busy summer rush sets in) but I don't love change and it all just seemed a little too "Lorax-y."     I'm not sure why nobody asked my opinion about this though? ;) haha    

Anyways, we skied through the barren wasteland  parking lot to the lake where we officially rang in the New Year with sparklers.  

We lingered for about 5 more seconds before turning around and heading back towards the van.   We were all COOOOOOLD!!!!!

Poor Nate was particularly cold.  And hungry.  And exhausted. 

He cried the whole way back to the van, except for the moments where he paused long enough to tell me that he "hates Waterton" and "Why do we always have to come to Waterton?" and that he is "NEVER coming to Waterton again!"   

It was a really special day;)

As I mentioned earlier, we all go back to school tomorrow.  

I'm already looking forward to our February break.  Soon after that, we'll enjoy our Easter break in April. Then May long weekend.   And then school is basically done.

So really- Summer is almost here.

Whoop Whoop!

First week off....

After our AMAZING Christmas celebration, we have spent the past week enjoying lots and lots of family time.   Some of our post Christmas Highlights include:

Late nights watching movies and sleeping in forts.  There have been a couple of nights where we have ALL (John, the kids and I) hauled our foam mattresses out into the living room and slept together on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.    Other nights, when John and I prefer actually sleeping comfortably, the kids sleep in their self made forts or under the pool table.    

 It's made for lots of late night giggles and silliness!

I've spent a few days practicing black and white photography.
I call this random one "Shoulder Angel."  haha.  (PS:  Sam is a clown)

This photo absolutely melts my heart.  This hear is ma baby!   I can't stand it.  

 John and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this past week.  John was sweet and bought me 15 roses, one for every year we've been married.   To be honest, he did this because I demanded asked him to (I LOVE fresh flowers) but I kinda think that makes it even sweeter of him, you know, that he would cater to such an entitled request and all.   Fifteen years hardly seems like any time at all.  

We are a couple of babies still, the two of us.   

Each year, at some point after Christmas and before New Years Eve, our little "shelf elf" hides all the Christmas decorations and covers the tree with New Years goodies.   Nothing major, just some party hats, balloons, streamers, and noise makers.   It always provides a nice face lift for the tree and it gives us a few more days enjoying the pretty lights!

Our family was introduced to the Whirley Pop this week (thanks to Aunt Rachel!;) and as a result we have eaten an exorbitant amount of popcorn and spent an equally ridiculous amount of time watching movies together.   This week marks our 6th annual Lord of the Rings marathon, so the ol' Whirley Pop couldn't have come at a better time!  

On Friday we joined the rest of our family at my brothers house.  Chad was hosting our pre-New Years get together, only little did our kids know, he was cooking up something BIG!   We arrived around noon, John and I made a can-cooker lunch for all of my siblings and their fams, and then Chad let everyone know that he had booked FIVE ROOMS at the Sheraton Cavalier in Calgary, AB.  

EEEEEKKK!!!!!!

Growing up, this was a favorite place for my family to come.   Dad brought us kids here on several different occasions, one even being New Years Eve years and years ago!!!!

The kids were elated.   We hadn't even been at the hotel for ten minutes before they were in their swim suits and in search of the pool and water slides!

They swam and played together for hours, stopping only when we had to eat or sleep;)

Chad surprised everyone (again) with an amazing pizza party style supper.   

The cousins stayed up as late as they could (some made it to midnight) playing games and visiting together.   

On our final morning there, they all donned party hats and rang in the New Year (a few hours early) with noisemakers!  It is at this moment, I believe  that they sang a song they'd written the night before;  something about how "everybody wishes they were part of our family...."  haha

It was a wonderful time together.  Relaxing, entertaining....and pretty darn near perfect!!!

There's no better way to ring in the New Year then with a good ol' Hotel TRASH AND DASH!!!