Leah's Baptism

On December 10, 2011 Leah was baptised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. It was a fantastic day, one that she had been anticipating all year long. It was perfect, everything that she had been hoping for.

Almost her entire family was there for the occasion, with the exception of the Ontario Hill cousins, we missed them terribly. The rest of the family made the trip to Spruce Grove/Edmonton from all over the province which meant so much to Leah. We also had friends from several corners of the city come to support her. Having all the family and friends there made the day even better.

Grandma and Nana gave the talks at the baptism and they were definately a highlight. We were so grateful for all of the time and thoughts that went into those talks. Some serious waterworks from this mom...thanks for that ;).

We are so proud of Leah and the girl that she has become. We feel honoured to be her parents and to be allowed to be a part of this journey with her.  We love you Leah!

The Adventures of Peter Pan

This week is Leah's 8th birthday, a very big day in our house. As most of you know, we take birthdays very seriously and like to go way out on our special day but when I asked Leah what she wanted for her birthday this year she simply replied "I don't need a party because I am getting baptised and that is present enough".

I was very impressed with her answer but I still felt the need to do something for her as a family so I bought her tickets to see the play Peter Pan. We didn't tell either of the kids where we were going, we just told them to dress up and get in the car.  They were so excited!

When we got to the theatre they realized what they were going to see and they couldn't contain the excitement. Minutes later I looked over at Dillon and he turned a few shades of green, leaned over the garbage can and tossed his cookies. My heart sank, I felt terrible for him and for Leah, the play was supposed to start in 30 minutes and Dillon was sick. When I started to put his coat on him to take him home her immediately perked up and said he felt much better "let's got watch Peter fly!" So with a little hesitation we found our seats in the theatre. Five minutes before curtain Dillon leaned forward and threw up everywhere (my coat caught most of it).  Patrick and Leah got to enjoy the play while I took my little sickie home. What an adventure.

Happy Early Birthday Leah!

Our New Home

On August 21 our house finally sold and the buyer gave us 30 days to find and purchase a new house. Needless to say I was very stressed and starting to question my decision. Luckily, Karri and the girls came up for a couple of days to help me in my search. We toured several homes and were astounded at some of the things we saw. Some homes were immaculate and others were...well...unsanitary. Towards the end of the day I was a little discouraged. Then we stumbled onto this home, the one we fell in love with and eventually bought.

We have to be out of our house on September 26 and we don't take possession of the new one until October 15th so we will be homeless for a couple of weeks. Luckily, Patrick's boss has offered us his holiday trailer to saty in for those couple of weeks. What a blessing that is! I was not looking forward to the cardboard box on the side of the road, this is definately a step up. ;)
Once we are in our new home I hope to host lots of parties and celebrate lots of occasions. The first one will be Halloween and I can't wait!

Summer 2011...It's A Long One

We have had a great summer so far and do not want to see it end. This summer has been full of fun, adventure and even learning some new things. 

We have spent a great deal of time in the mountains. Patrick and I had the opportunity to go and explore the mountains twice just on our own while the kids got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. 

On one of our trips we hiked a mountain called Cirque Peak, one of our favorite hikes. Unfortunately conditions were not favorable to reach the peak this year but we got as close as we could. There is always next year and maybe we will bring the kids with us!

It is a tradition in our family climb a mountain every summer as a family. Patrick and I had selected a few that we thought the kids would be interested in doing but then when we stumbled onto Castle Mountain we decided that this was the one that we had to conquer.

Castle hike was 540m elevation gain in 3.7 km (one way). It was pretty straight up for the majority of the hike on a very narrow path on the side of the mountain. I was really proud of the kids for making it to the top with very little complaining, it wasn't an easy hike. The views were incredible all the way up, so worth the work. It always feels so good to achieve something great after working so hard!

At the top!

 

 We hiked Cascade Falls...actually we climbed Cascade Falls.

We loved our time in the mountains and we loved camping in the mountains but the time had come to leave the mountains and go camping at Old MacDonald's Campground. There is definately a difference between camping in the mountains and camping at the beach. Patrick and I prefer the mountains for the peace and quiet and the nature while the kids prefer the beach for all the fun. Wow are we ever getting old! :)

We have also been very lucky to see all of our cousins this summer. The kids and I got to go down to Karri and Dave's for a week and spend time with cousins, we LOVED that! Parker and Matt are Dillon's heros. He wants to be just like them when he grows up and I can certainly see why. Parker taught him how to ride a two wheeler and Matt did everything with him including taking him down a waterslide on his shoulders. "He's the coolest" according to Dillon.

 We also welcomed another cousin into our family this summer. Christy had a little boy, Jones Caddis Switzer on August 8th. This makes 13 cousins for the kids. YIPPEE! Congratulations Switzer family.

It has been a wonderful summer! We have two more weeks left and we are going to play hard right up to the very last minute!

Canada Day Weekend

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

The kids and I went out to Spruce Grove to participate in their celebrations but unfortunately we didn't last very long because we brought Pepper with us and they don't take kindly to dogs in public places where they sell food. :( Oh well! We resorted to plan B and dropped Pepper off at Patrick's office and went out for lunch instead.

When we got home we decided to make a Canada Day cake.

The kids really wanted to make something special because Grandpa was coming up to help Patrick build a deck. You see, we have this huge piece of lawn right beside our current deck that died a couple of years ago and we have tried everything to rejuvenate it but nothing has worked so our last resort was to deck it. I am beside myself with excitement. You might ask 'why are you doing this now when you are moving?' Good question! Without a good answer I am afraid. I guess it just took us this long to come to our senses but now that we finally did, all I can say is YAY!

Grandpa (Ken) arrived around 7:30 and the men (Patrick, Ken and Dillon) worked until about 9:30 and then we decided to take the kids to the fireworks for their first time. It was a riot!

The next morning the men were up at the crack of dawn (ok maybe not that early) and at Home Depot picking up supplies for the deck. They worked all day long. Dillon insisted that he participate in everything that the men did. It was really fun to watch them all work together and build a masterpiece. They did an incredible job!

Before

During

After

At the end of the day we decided to celebrate with a wonderful BBQ on our new deck. I called Mark and Marie and baby Josh and invited them to come over for a steak dinner. We were so glad when they agreed to join us in our celebration. Dillon was especially happy to play with Josh!

It has been a great weekend and we are sure grateful to Ken who made the trip up here to help us build this beautiful deck. I am especially grateful to a wonderful husband who has put up with my whining about our 'ugly' backyard for so many months and has never complained once! (Out loud anyways) You did a fantastic job, thankyou!

Lemonade Stand

Last week the kids decided that they really wanted to have a lemonade stand and sell both lemonade and cookies. So, we made signs that Leah posted all over the neighbourhood while Dillon and I set up a table on our front lawn. I only expected the kids to last for 1/2 an hour or so as there is very little traffic on our street but instead they sat out there all afternoon. They had an absolute riot and I have to admit I had a great time watching their entrepreneurial skills develop.

It's Spring...FINALLY!

May has been such a fun month for us filled with so many great activities! We had a great Mother's Day, soccer is now in full swing and we even had a chance to see our cousins and Nana and Papa! So much has happened so I am blogging about it all in one post. 

Before I get to all of that I wanted to post a picture of my latest cake. As many of you know I love to bake and decorate cakes for my family and friends. My girlfriend turned 35 and asked me to make her a spring themed cake and this is what I came up with.

Mother's Day 
The kids have been so excited for Mother's day for the entire month of April so when it finally arrived they were stoked. Dillon's school put on a Mother's Day Tea where all the mom's were treated like queens for a day. It was a very special day in my life. Dillon painted a flower pot and planted the most beautiful flower and gave it to me at the party. He was so proud of his creation and in all honesty, so was I!

Soccer
Soccer started a little late this year as we were waiting for all the snow to melt but now that it has started we live and breathe soccer. We have games every Tuesday, Wednedsay and Thursday night.
Both Leah and Dillon have become quite the soccer players. Leah has really impressed us with her speed and agility and Dillon is such a go getter. We just love watching them play their games!

Family Visit
Last weekend we had the priviledge to travel down to Lethbridge to visit with Karri and Dave and family and see Nana and Papa. We had an incredible time! There is nothing like spending time with family! We got to watch the kids participate in races and play in games. The cousins have inspired our kids so much that they, too, now want to run a race of their own. So, when we returned to Edmonton I found a kids race and signed them up. They will be running a 1K in August all because of the examples of their cousins.
We were also able to be there when Parker played piano in church and see Matt be ordained a Teacher. What a fantasic weekend filled with fun, and great company! Thanks for everything, we look forward to the next time we are together!

Dirty Laundry

Last week I was in the middle of helping Leah get her research report done and I noticed Dillon carrying a handful of dirty laundry out the back door. I was going to ask him what he was up to but instead I stood back and watched. I am sure glad I did because what followed really made me giggle.

He continued to carry load after load of laundry out the door and then he pulled the slide under the tree in our back yard. He climbed up the slide and very carefully he hung each piece of clothing. Then he came in the house and found his supersoaker and filled it with water. At this point I became very concerned so I decided I needed to intervene. When I asked him what he was planning, he just simply replied "Mom, you look like you need some help with your laundry so I decided to wash it for you!" I smiled and got out of his way as he proceeded to the backyard and supersoaked my laundry. What a good helper he is! ;)