December 12, 2010

On Wednesday for our advent calendar, I took the kids toboganning after school. We brought some friends along too. It was the perfect day to go. It was the warmest day (for winter) and the kids had a ton of fun on the hills near the overpass. Tyson (who has never gone toboganning before, and is kind of cautious when it comes to things like that) loved every moment of it, and did not want to leave. We also had hot chocolate afterwards with whip cream. (Nobody seems to be selling chocolate whip cream this year, which is my favourite to put on hot chocolate)

I took Kaitlyn to singing lessons and then after we got home, Grant took Kaitlyn shopping. She needed some new dress shoes for church and Grant wanted to get her 2 new dresses for when she turns 12 and goes up into YWs. I was a little worried about what they would come home with. As they were leaving, I was like "Please don't buy anything crazy or awful" (so supportive, I know). I was surprised with their great choices when they came back. Here is a picture of one of the outfits that she ended up wearing today for church.

On Thursday I had a photoshoot during the day downtown. As soon as I got home I did a little christmas craft with the kids (that was our advent activity for the day). We made snowmen with styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, brads, and yarn and toothpicks. Nothing elaborate, just simple and fun. Then it was time to get dinner ready and then head out to take McKenna to kickboxing. Grant had to take Kaitlyn to the school to watch her christmas band concert. Kaitlyn plays the trumpet. After kickboxing, I went to the church for our Relief Society Christmas dinner. It was very yummy, and a nice little program.
On Friday night the kids had a christmas movie night for the advent calendar. They watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" and others. They had a nice array of treats for the evening and Grant and I went over to my sister Charity's house for her annual adult family christmas party.

It was a fun filled night full of games, yummy food, family and presents. Charity always comes up with fun games and puts a lot of effort into making her parties fun and festive.

mmmm....yummy!
Grant and Seth had an arm wrestle for fun.

Grant and I in front of Charity's lovely Christmas tree.

It was a fun night! Saturday was another busy day. I had to drop Kaitlyn off at a friends party, then I took McKenna to a kickboxing tournament. She didn't enter this one because she didn't feel ready. She just wanted to see what it was like and what was involved. It was fairly intense. Afterwards was the big grocery shopping trip. I was so tired, but it needed to be done. We had dinner and as soon as Grant got home from work, the kids drew names (each year we do a kids draw, so they have the opportunity to buy for eachother)  and then we went to the mall to let them shop. I took 3 of the kids and Grant took the other 3 so they wouldn't see what they were getting. I think Catcher ended up getting the best deal of the night. He was buying for Damian. He really wanted to get Damian a scooter, and I told him that he probably wouldn't find a scooter for $20 (their limit). We were in toys r us though, and he fell in love with this awesome looking scooter. I took a look at the price and it was regular $50 on sale for $24.99. I pitched in the little extra since it was such a good deal and exactly what he had wanted to buy. Blessing in disguise for my little guy.

Dec. 7, 2010

Saturday was a busy day. Drayton and Presely and Isabella had slept over the night before. I had to take Maiya to a friends b-day party. She got to go to Chuck E Cheese, and had a blast. Then I took Damian to gymnastics for his last class until January. He got his badge. He's been doing so well. Then I had to go pick up Kaitlyn from her friend, Averys sleepover.
For the advent calendar we decorated sugar cookies. I hate making sugar cookies because they take so long and never seem to work out well for me, so my friend Megan (who sells her baking) made me 2 dozen sugar cookies that I bought off of her for the kids to decorate.

When Grant got home we got ready to go to our ward Christmas Party. It was a turkey dinner. I believe there was supposed to be a small program as well, but we could only stay for the dinner (so yummy, and the kids had fun). Then we had to go home and get the kids ready for bed. Kaitlyn and McKenna babysat while Grant and I went to the Kyles house for an adult Christmas Party.

Lots of yummy food, great friends and fun games. I love Christmas. Always lots of fun.
Along with this time of year also comes sickness. We came home to Tyson vomitting. Catcher and Maiya had been sick for 1 day each during the week. Then on Sunday Damian and Kaitlyn woke up sick and vomitting. Grant was up a lot in the night cleaning so the house didn't smell like vomit and so it was cleaned up for when I woke up (what an awesome and thoughtful husband). We didn't end up going to church. For our advent on Sunday we decorated our tree, and had our special layout of treats. Poor Kaitlyn and Damian couldn't really enjoy it because they were feeling so awful, but they watched us decorate and put up their own ornaments. One of our traditions is to get each child a christmas ornament that they pick out from the Hallmark catalogue. It's fun to see what they pick, and I think it will be a good trip down memory lane for them to look at them when they are older (like, I remember when I was into that). Here are the ornaments they picked this year

Damian - Indiana Jones, Catcher - Ironman
Kaitlyn - Harry Potter, Tyson - Spiderman
McKenna - Alice in Wonderland
Maiya - Barbie.

The tree always makes Christmas feel official. We were going to watch the First Presidency message on tv, but we couldn't find it. So we had a family home evening lesson instead.
Monday was my day for feeling ill. I did not go as far as vomitting, but I was exhausted all day and could barely keep my eyes open. McKenna also was sick. I fell alseep at 6pm while the kids were watching a movie, woke up at 7pm and then went back to bed at 9:30pm. Our advent was supposed to be toboganning, but we decided to do it on a different day because of feeling so yucky.
Today (Tuesday) I woke up feeling 100 percent better. I also woke up to a thoughtful gift from Grant. I have been saying that I want to get a nice nativity at some point, but every year goes by and I don't buy one. He left one out displayed for me this morning, and I love it.

 After we took Maiya to school,Grant and Tyson and I went to the mall to shop. Just a few last minute gifts. Grant started feeling pretty ill while we were there, and was full blown sick by the time we got home. I took McKenna to kickboxing and then when I got home I got the kids ready to go out to the Festival of Lights (that was our advent activity today). The weather was pretty decent, so it was good timing. The kids got to decorate cookies in the kids tent, we walked around to look at the lights and they "skated" on the pond. (We didn't bring skates, so I should probably say that they slid around on their boots on the pond).

December 3, 2010

So we officially started our advent calendar countdown on the 1st of December. My kids love this tradition. It gives them something to look forward to each day. On day 1 it was Kaitlyns day to open the container. Each container has a slip in it with something christmas related written. Day 1 (Wednesday: Everyone receives a candy cane.

Along with their candy cane, we explained the symbolism behind it.
I went into Calgary to do a newborn shoot of a sweet little boy. He was an angel. Here is a sample picture of a Christmassy one I took of him.

Kaitlyn had her singing lessons, and then Grant and I went out to the mall to look around and get a bite to eat. It's always fun going out alone together.
Today was our second day of the advent calendar.
Day2: Candy Cane Ice Cream after school. I LOVE candy cane ice cream. It's my favourite. Too bad they don't sell it year round.
(You'll notice Catcher is missing his two front teeth in this picture. He has been losing all of his teeth at once it seems)

Maiya had the afternoon off of school, so she got to hang out with me today. I had some baking to do. McKenna needed me to bake and decorate a dozen cupcakes for a penny carnival they are having at their school. Her class is in charge of a cupcake walk activity. I made her a caterpillar cupcake scene complete with grass, caterpillar, ladybugs and a sun (which Damian thought was an octopus, haha)

I made a wreath with the leftover cupcakes for the kids for dessert.

Maiya helped me make some cookies today. You always seem to need to bring a plate of cookies everywhere you go during christmas, so I figured I should start making some.
Here she is adding the finishing touches:

I took McKenna to kickboxing (she is doing really well. I love watching her). Then it was a night in, full of vegging in front of the tv and editing the newborn shoot.

Today Damian opened the calendar.
Day 3: Open Christmas Books
I got these extremely new looking books from a yard sale in the summer for 25 cents each, and knew that they would be perfect for my advent calendar, so I saved them until now. We will be reading them tonight for bedtime stories. Tonight Kaitlyn gets to go to her friend, Avery's house for her b-day to sleepover. I am just heading out to do some christmas shopping for Grant. Hopefully I'm beating the weekend rush while the kids are in school.

November 16, 2010

Lots going on, but not too much to say. Halloween came and went. Not the best picture, but here's a quick snapshot of the kids as they were leaving to go trick or treating. I made McKenna wear a coat under her costume since her ghost outfit was so thin....she ended up looking like a marshmallow. Maiya was a unicorn, Tyson a panda bear, Damian and Catcher were ninjas, and Grant was a Robot/space guy. We had gone to a trunk or treat on the Saturday, and then went out for trick or treating on sunday. Kaitlyn surprised us all by not wanting to go out this year. She wanted to hang out at home and watch halloween specials and hand out candy to the kids.

She ended up changing her mind after the kids came back after their first round (Catcher was done and wanted to come home), then she decided she wouldn't mind going out. She dressed up quickly as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. They all got wayyyy too much candy. I put away a bunch to put in their stockings for Christmas.

I have been doing alot of photoshoots these days, and I did one for my sister, Charity, and her family on Nov. 1st. This picture ended up being a random snap of Drayton with their puppy "Jack" on the sidelines, but I actually really like it. So cute.
Here's a cute one of the girls too

The kids have been going on a lot of skating trips for school. There have been the usual lessons to drive them to (Singing, Kickboxing/Muay Thai and Gymnastics) as well as Cubs and Activity Days.

Grant and I went on a date to East Side Marios (one of my very favourite restaurants) Kaitlyn took a quick picture of us before we headed out.

I went out with some girls on the Monday (8th) for dinner. We went to Joeys. I've been catching up on photoshoots, collecting new props and coming up with new ideas for next year for my photography. I have also spent a few days doing my usual house cleanse. I can't believe how much "stuff" we have, even though I feel like I do this a lot and don't feel like I bring a lot in. Grant has been the most awesome husband ever by planning out a bunch of new meals, saving the recipes, writing out a grocery list, buying the food and then making the dinners for me. He is AWESOME!!

There were a few days off of school in a row, so some time was spent with the cousins. We had Drayton, Reese and Presley sleep over. They watched the new "Karate Kid" movie. Damian and Drayton happened to have the same pjs, so I snapped a quick shot of them (they look a little crazy, but they were trying to do Loud faces because of their shirts and this was in the morning, so bed head!)

Today we woke up to a winter wonderland. Maiya and her friend Carter went out to enjoy the snow. I also realized that Tyson doesn't have any snowpants or boots for this year, so Grant went out to go buy him some.

Well winter is finally really upon us. I can't say I ever really welcome it, but I am excited for the Christmas season. It's always so fun and there is such a good feeling come christmas time among people.

October 24, 2010

Wow, well life has not slowed down any since we got back from Mexico! Full speed ahead!
First though I wanted to add a few pictures of my kids enjoying the fall. I took these pictures just before I left for Mexico.

Kaitlyn.

McKenna.

Damian.

Catcher.

Maiya.

Tyson.

A lot has been going on around here. We got back from Mexico on the Friday night. Took Saturday to relax and enjoy the kids and unpack. Sunday we had the Sherlocks over for Thanksgiving dinner because Josh was going to be leaving on the Tuesday to drive their moving van to Ontario. I helped Alex sort and clean her house to wrap up all of the loose ends before she had to move out of the house. The kids had their lessons as usual, Kaitlyn in her singing lessons

McKenna in her kickboxing

Activity days, cubs for Damian etc.
On the 14th we had a girls night for Alex to say goodbye. We went to Andrea Jacksons house and just chatted and had snacks. On the Friday the 15th, Alex and her 3 kids came to stay with us because their house was pretty much empty. On the Saturday, Garth and Sarah and their 4 girls also came to stay at our house bringing the total number of people in our house up to 18. It was tons of fun! Maiya went to her first "school friend" party with her friend Myra. She got to go to Butterfield Acres.
Her mom sent me a couple of pictures.

I've crammed in quite a few photoshoots over the past 2 weeks, and have been spending a lot of time catching up on those. Grant and Garth went to go see the movie "Red" and us girls had a night in watching "Leap Year" together.
Tyson got a haircut. The lady who did it spiked it up into a a faux hawk, but we just keep it down.

Sunday was the Primary presentation at church. The kids did well. Maiya went home to change though because she got gum stuck on her dress. We had a family turkey dinner (that I did not have to cook, yay!!).
Monday Grant and Garth went to WWE Monday Night Raw. In this picture Grant was strategically placing his ticket over Garths new moustache.

Tuesday morning Garth, Sarah and the girls went home. I took 4 of my kids to the dentist to fill cavities. Wednesday morning (really early) Alex left with the kids to the airport to move back to Ontario. I didn't get any pictures, so I will add a picture I took of their family previously

We will miss their family, and hope that great things await them in Ontario.

More photoshoots, Damians gymnastics, Maiya and Damian hanging out with Drayton and Presley, Kaitlyn and McKenna slept over at Isabellas etc. I got to take pictures of my nephew Beau this weekend and will add one sample:

What a cute little guy. Saturday night we had a Halloween Party with a few friends. Kaitlyn got to babysit for one of our friends. She has been getting a lot more babysitting opportunities lately.

Don't pay too much attention to my costume. I didn't have a costume, but Grant said I couldn't cop out and had to participate by wearing a costume. So I ran downstairs and grabbed his punisher costume and added one of my boys pirate hats, lol.  Morgan came as Edward which was hilarious.
Grant even gave everyone a goody bag, haha! Us girls got some socks included so we had to model them:

Te quiero para siempre México! (I love you forever Mexico)

I will forever be in love with Mexico! What an amazing trip. It was our first "real" vacation that did not involve going somewhere to visit family or for weddings etc. Just Grant and I on our own schedule doing whatever we wanted to do in such a gorgeous place! I had kept a point form journal while we were in Mexico so I could remember it. So I thought I would write it out here.
Day 1:
~A very good flight, we had an awesome pilot.
~ Was a bit baffled by the whole airport process, as I've never gone this foreign ever. We were warned about time share sharks, but in our confusion got swept into a conversation with one. They had directed us towards her, saying if we were with sunwing we were to go see her. After a bit of conversation I realized who she was and started looking away to look for our bus (she got much more aggressive about keeping my attention when she realized this). Off we went to our bus without a timeshare and a little bit wiser, haha!
~The bus trip was insane, but exciting. There seemed to be no rules when it came to the road. Every vehicle and pedestrian had to fend for themselves, never assume you have the right of way. Whoever is quicker, gets to go.We off roaded in this bus multiple times.
~We checked in to the Palladium Vallarta Resort and our stuff got sent to our room. We took some time to walk the grounds and investigate the resort. It was gorgeous!
~We were starving and headed to the buffet for dinner, and were so pleased with the selection and service.
~There were vendors in the walkways for a special night, I loved the dresses.
Here is a picture I found off the internet of the resort at night. It was a great place to stay:

Grant bought some lucidore masks for the boys from one of the vendors. Here is one of them:

We had a quick nap (we were exhausted) and then we headed off to the live show to watch the dancing. It was such fun, lots of energy!

Day 2:

~Woke up and went to the buffet for breakfast.

~Went to our sunwing meeting and then purchased 2 excursions.

~took the bus to a town called "Bucerias". I called the town bus the "Nascar" bus. It was crazy fast, especially on the corners. They even had the doors open while they were driving, so crazy!

~we went to the outdoor market there, bought some dresses for the girls.

Grant at the market in Bucerias.

~it was fun looking at the shops.

~went back to the resort for lunch (did I say I LOVE not cooking)

~we went to the lobby to access the wifi so we could contact my Mom to let her know we were here safely.

~we had a small nap in the room with our a/c

~afterwards we headed to archery. I got the best mark of the group.

~afterwards we headed to the beach. Grant braved the extreme waves of the ocean and also discovered the effect of salt water in the eyes. I enjoyed lounging on the beach with my book and pina colada.

~went to dinner. Love the buffet. every night is a different theme, so the food doesn't get boring. We sat on the open side to feel the breeze and enjoy the view.

~Watched a performance about mexican history. All of it was in spanish, so I couldn't understand it, but I love going to live shows anyways.

Day 3:

~Breakfast buffet. I just LOVE their cream sauce that they put on pancakes. No maple syrup. 

~We went to the mini zoo to see our animal friends

 We LOVE the baby monkey. What a fun little guy. There were also deer, ostriches, rabbits, peacocks, turkeys, kawatis, parrots and some other randoms. In a seperate area there are some crocodiles and a boa.

We signed up for archery for the morning and afternoon session. Grant really loves it. He got a bullseye this time. After his bullseye, the instructor challenged us to a match. He won of course, but it made it more fun.

Afterwards we headed to the pool to cool off.

Grant played some more water polo and volleyball and ping pong.

Lovin' this resort! The service was wonderful. They kept it so clean. You always see people sweeping, wiping things down, collecting dishes as soon as you're done, your glass is never empty.

We used one of our a la cartes to go to the Bambu restaurant there (you have to dress up for it). It was really nice and it was air conditioned, but to be honest I was just fine with the buffet.

Day 4:

~We got our wake up call at 6am.

~a bunch of us left in a cab for our excursion. The cab was surprisingly slower than the buses.

~ When we arrived at the "Vallarta Adventures" building, we were taken to a dock where a speed boat took us on a 25 minute ride through the Banderas Bay to get to our destination. That in itself was awesome! I've never been on a speedboat.

~Next we were met by a big yellow open air off road vehicle called a Unimog to drive us into the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

We got geared up and the guides gave us a briefing. Then we headed over to the mules. I must say that I was a little nervous about this part the most. It was quite the experience.

It was pretty exciting. The guides sometimes would find it funny to yell "andale" to get the mules going much faster, which made me so nervous.

When we got off the mules, we had to hike the rest of the way up to the first zip line.

Grant was the first one to head out on the zip line. It was long and very high up.

What an amazing experience that was.Unforgettable! We did 10 different zip lines throughout the trip. There were hanging bridges and waterfall rappells.

Love this picture of Grant. Seriously, he was so fearless the whole time.

We got soaked, and it was AWESOME!!! The last zip line was a race! Me against Grant....Grant won!

It was a blast, and I would recommend this excursion to everyone. I have never done anything like this before. If I can do it, anyone can.

At the end of the adventure we purchased these pictures of our adventure taken by the photographer of the excursion. (Well worth it). There was a lady selling authentic mexican quesadillas, and they were soooo yummy!

Went back to the speedboat in the Unimog. We had a great group that we went with. So fun!

~When we got back to the resort, Grant crashed while I relaxed and read my book.

~We went down to the buffet for dinner and then browsed the vendors that had their booths out.

~We got some of our usual virgin drinks from the bar (me- pina colada, Grant- lime marguerita) and listened to a live mexican band playing at the bar.

~Then it was time for the main resort performance. It eneded up being a sort of talent contest.  I got picked out of the audience to be the Canadian judge for the show.

 We were given paddles with numbers on them to rate each performance. All of them were awesome!

We had acts for Michael Jackson, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Daddy Yankee, Selena , Madonna...

It was so fun to be up close on stage to the performances. Afterwards we headed back to the room to sleep.

Day 5:

~Breakfast. Sat with a couple we met on our Outdoor Adventure excursion, named Jenn and Steve.

~Went to the pool. I finally got to go in.

~Grant joined the volleyball team. His team won one of the 2 games played.

~Grant joined in on the water aerobics and also played their "crazy game" (that's what they call it, because they are pretty random)

This game was a snadal flinging contest (who could fling the sandal the furthest with their foot) and they also had to do a sexy dance down a little runway. Grant won!

We spent most of the day hanging out with Jenn and Steve by the pool (well besides Grant doing the games)

~Later on we went to the ocean and Grant went boogie boarding

We went to the performance again that night. All of the awards are presented from the day on stage just before the performance. Grant got to go up and accept both of his awards (one was a medal and the other was a tshirt)

The performance was an interpretive dance of the elements.

Day 6:

~Woke up, got breakfast. Headed to the pool with our new friends (Jenn and Steve)

~Grant and I played a game of "21" in the pool.

~Grant played water polo with a bunch of people. He was the goal tender.

~Later on we grabbed some lunch and went back to the room to get ready for our 2nd excursion. Our Pirate adventure.

Jenn and Steve were also going on this adventure, so that was so awesome to have friends to go with. Makes it even more fun!

We were met at our resort by a pirate and driven to the marina.

Such a cool ship. Each grou got their own pirate to cheer for (and they would also be your waiter and bartender for the evening). Ours was Rico! We LOVED him. He was great!

The show was great, the food was amazing. There were fireworks, we got to dance a lot. It was such an awesome experience.

This is Jenn and Steve. Instant friends!

This excursion was a blast and I highly recommend it. Well worth the money.

Small world, somebody on the ship came up to me and said "Are you from Airdrie?" I was quite shocked since I was in mexico. I guess she has seen Grant and I around at the kids school.

Our friend Steve got chosen as the winner of the on board draw and our friend Jenn got chosen as Miss Canada. All of the girls had to dance at one point and I got to dance up on the stage with the pirates. I'm not sure why, but the pirates kept centering Grant out for some reason.

Day7:

~Slept in a bit and went down for breakfast

~spent the day at the poolside with friends

~Went back for a cool down and rest.

Had a late dinner @ 8pm.

~Met friends at the bar @9pm and watched the performance together. It was masquerade night.

What a fantastic performance. My favourite parts were the Phantom of the Opera parts.

~After the performance there was a beach party from 11pm-2am.

Day 8:

~Woke up and got our stuff ready to go.

~headed down to the buffet for our final breakfast, boo!

~Went straight to the pool to soak up some more water and sun. Jenn and Steve were there. We were so happy to have met them on this trip. It felt like we had known them forever.

~Later went back to our room and called a bell boy to come get our stuff.

~We still had some time to kill before we had to leave, so we roamed the resort saying our goodbyes.

This was one of our favourite resort guys, Miguel.

~We had a little lunch and then went to the lobby to catch our bus to the airport.

I was so sad to leave!

~The airport was impressive and had many shops. The baggage area was crap. Pretty sure we got scammed into paying for overweight luggage (which I am positive was not overweight at all). We ended up payign $180 in fees for that.

~When we got on the plane, the third seat in our row was not filled, so we got the whole row to ourselves. The flight went well. It was fun watching the sunset overtop of the clouds.

We just LOVED our vacation to Mexico, and are determined to go on vacation again. It took us way too long to go one one. I love you mexico!