Edmonton - Part 2

After a week with my parents, Jared came up to meet us in Edmonton. We had a very fun weekend planned with our friends, the Jarmans. We stayed at West Edmonton Mall and had some fun with all the kids!

Lance and Jared went on the MindBender roller coaster at Galaxyland. They were really scared....

The 3D Haunted house...before....they weren't so smiley afterwards.

We hit up the Water Park. What a fun day. It took almost the entire day to convince some of the kids to go on the waterslides. Once they finally went down a few and realized they were FANTASTIC, we were racing to fit in all the slides before the Water Park closed.

Livie loved the water, and for being the actual "baby" of the group, she certainly wasn't a "baby" about going down the slides.

A dinner in a fancy shmancy restaurant to end off the weekend. Great weekend. These cute kiddos are such lucky punks! :)

Edmonton - Part 1

In February, the kids and I had a week off. We headed up to the Great White North to have some fun! Our first big activity was ice fishing on Family Day. My Dad took us to Wabamun Lake and we spent most of the day waiting and hoping. And hoping and waiting some more. But then it happened: I caught a fish!

No fish sticks for supper that night though. Catch and Release Lake means new lease on life for the fish, YOLO little buddy!

We also went to the Silver Skate Festival  and it was very cool! Lots of incredible snow sculptures, but the best part was the ice slides! We went down them over and over.

Most of the week my mom and I just hung out with the kiddos, occasionally coercing them to do things they just really don't want to do....

That's the end of the pictures I took, but not the end of the fun we had. I got to see so many friends and cousins (and their adorable children) during our visit. We watched movies, did some shopping, played games, ate yummy food, etc. It was a great week!

Double Digit Midget!

A couple weeks ago, Carter turned 10. Yes 10! It's been an entire DECADE since this sweet baby made me a Mom. A job that he and his sister make me thankful for every single day.

I remember my own 10th birthday so well. My Aunt Loreen called first thing in the morning and said "Happy Birthday ya double digit midget!". I have officially turned over that title to Carter now (....although he will probably surpass my height in a year or 2, and I will be the midget again. Sigh.).

It was his "Family Party" year (we alternate friends/family birthday parties at our house), so we had a party for him with presents and cake and alot of laughs.

I saw this Kit Kat cake on Pinterest and wanted to try it. Just a regular 2-layer round cake with icing, kit kat bars around the edge (9 whole bars!), and smarties on top. It turned out really cute, not to mention delicious! I am forever convinced that cake tastes waaaay better with some chocolate on it :)

This kid is just the best. I can't say it any other way. We love him and the dynamic he brings to our family. He seems so mature lately, and we are so proud of the person he is now, and is becoming as well. Happy Birthday Carts!

Renovation Station

So lately we have been focusing on getting our basement finished. The plumbing is done (hello new bathroom!), so now we are waiting on the cement to be poured. As of right now, our basement is just a giant litter box for the cat...haha! I am so looking forward to it being done and usable.

Last weekend, we rented this machine to haul some gravel into the basement. It's a "Dingo", and not only did it do the job, it was also a super fun toy! Rides for everyone! I think Jared wanted to keep it. I could easily get used to this whole Farm-Chore thing if we could always use fun toys like this.

This is the basement window we loaded all the gravel down into, and the cement will be poured through here too. 

Child Labour. The best way be productive aaaaand teach your kids values.

Remember how this basement looks, because in a few short weeks it will be completely different :)

First Ski Day

One of our most favorite things to do together is go skiing! Last Saturday we went to the Pass Powderkeg hill for the first time ever. It wa awesome! It's a great little hill with lots of fresh powder. 

Hayley's favorite part of skiing might be warming up with hot chocolate in the Lodge...

World's Best Backwards Ski-er!

This is very typical Carter while skiing. He gets so bundled up, you can't even see if he's smiling, frowning, asleep, etc. He is usually the last to get cold though, so I won't discourage the bundling.

Beautiful day spent together, and it got us super excited to do more skiing this winter! 

Twenty Fourteen!

This year for New Years Eve, we had a little party at home...just the 4 of us. It was fun and silly and just what we needed after travelling 33+ hours on terrible winter roads the previous week. We went for an evening walk with the dogs...and the cat! She likes walks too apparently! She totally kept up with the rest of us, and was so happy to follow us down the road. It was hilarious.

We had an appetizer night. Here's the spread:

We played some games, ate some food, and took a bunch of silly Selfies!

We actually let the kids stay up until midnight this year to watch the countdown. In previous years, we would watch an earlier countdown and put them to bed...they were pretty excited to stay up late.

I love the "fresh start" that the New Year provides. A time to think back on what was good, what wasn't so good, and how to improve things! 2013 was a good year for our family and we know 2014 will be just as great! Happy New Year!

Christmas on Location: the 'Hoof and the 'Park

This year for our Christmas holidays we made the trek up to Jared's homeland of Vanderhoof BC. 4 out of his 8 siblings also brought their families for a visit and we had a wonderful Christmas together!!

We started it off by building a massive snowman. Alot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this abominable fella! It took 4 1/2 hours, a bunch of men over 6 feet tall, and some encouraging honks from passerby vehicles to complete this task. 

On Christmas Eve, we made the traditional ginger bread houses. SO. MUCH. CANDY.

the finished products....

Our tradition with Carter and Hayley is to open Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve. They love getting them, and so do we :)

Christmas Morning!!! So sleepy, but excited to get the present-opening started. We had 8 kids and 11 adults crammed in the family room. Surprisingly it was a fairly organized process!

It was our niece Renne's first Christmas! It was fun to watch her try to rip open presents, with her parents helping. All dressed in matching Sock Monkey jammies.

In the afternoon, we took the snowmobile out, tied the sled behind, and gave each other rides around in the snow. The dogs loved chasing along behind. And the kiddos played in the snow. With their new stuffies. Very important.

Then we headed to Sherwood Park to spend 2 days with my parents and 3 out of my 4 siblings. We had our Annual Party Night (!) in the basement. We played Catch Phrase, 7 Up and Down, Game of Things, Just Dance on the Xbox Kinect, Air Hockey, and even mastered a few Christmas Carols on the color-coded handbells. That was a highlight, we thought we were pretty skilled. My favorite part was everyone ringing their bells on the last note of every song. Maaaaybe you had to be there to share in the hilarity.

This year Jared won the coveted title of "Air Hockey Tournament Champion and Studmuffin"!! (Okay maybe that's not the actual title). Thomas (last years trophy winner) had to hand over the trophy to Jared. Until next year. When I will win it.

We loved being able to see most of our family members this Christmas! Hope to see the rest of them very soon!!