The Story of Us

May May May, and a bit of June

2011-06-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

May is a bit of a blur. I had a great Mother's Day weekend.First it started on the Friday where Nate and Brielle had a Mother's Day Tea at Strong Start.

I was able to sucessfully surprise my mom with flowers this year ( I have never done that before). Ginny and I were able to take Cindy and Judy out for our annual Mother's Day Lunch.

Sunday was a nice day for me. The kids all gave me nice homemade gifts and Tanner gave me some Cirque Du Soliel tickets, that was great :) Raeann, Krista and I had a dinner at our place for Kathleen and it was a really nice night.

I really enjoyed Mother's Day weekend.

Tanner went to Quebec with his Grade 8 class. I think this was his 6th year. It was another fun filled trip.

While he was gone, we were still busy with baseball, homework and the daily grind, but I have to say the kids were really great and I was really impressed with Tyler and how much he helped. That was a big change from last time Tanner was away. He really struggled with missing his dad and it came out in bad behavior. So it was a huge relief to have him be so great. The kids were also able to go to the Temple for the 1 yr anniversary and plant Dogwood trees and have other activities to celebrate the Temple.

Because this day was so long, (We had Nathan baseball pictures at 8am then I had Jitterbugs at 9:30am, Ty had baseball pictures at 11am so we stopped and played at the Children's festival in between and then we went to the temple) I thought the kids could use some crazy run around time so we stopped at Captin Kids for a bit. it was a full day and I was tired, but it was worth it, we generally had a great day, in between the times I could have killed them :)

We were all happy to see Tanner again and we had a nice long weekend together.

Nathan and Brielle had a yummy field trip to Birchwood Dairy to see how Ice cream was made....and then eat some.

We had some beautiful days among the rain and during papers they found a patch of dandelions that they have to stop and play in,

The rest of the month was more and more baseball, and lots of Canucks!!!! We have made it to the Stanley Cup finals and it has been fun and intense at our place. Tyler is a big fan like Tanner now and we have lots of fun cheering when they score and going to South Fraser Way with all the crowds when they win. Brielle is a great little cheerer. She was yelling : "Go Canucks Go" better then anyone and for a very long time! She's so cute.

Tanner and I were able to go and see another fantastic Cirque Du Soliel, it was amazing!!!It was so nice that it was in Abbotsford, it was so easy. Tanner got us front row tickets, which meant that the clowns fouled around with us a bit and taped us to our chairs, it was pretty funny. The other nice thing about having it local is that you see so many people you know. I hope they do it again here next year and we will have to take the kids.

Along with all of this, Tanner and I have been still trying to sell our house. It has been a very frustrating process but we were very blessed to have Ron and Kirsty come help us finish up some things and spruce the place up a bit to maybe help things along. I don't know why it is taking so long, but after us praying, a lot, we have decided that we need to keep this place up for sale. We aren't sure if it will sell any time soon, but we do know we need to be patient and have faith and that the right ting will happen. I was released from Young Women's secretary and called to the Mai MAid Advisor and was given a very nice blessing when I was set apart that helped us both feel much better about the situation and reaffirmed that we are doing the right thing. So I guess we will see, it is in the Lord's hands.

2011-05-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

May 1st, 2011

This was a great week. Monday we had a fun family Easter Monday. In the morning we went swimming and in the afternoon we had dinner at mom and dads. We had so much fun playing "Just Dance 2" on the Wii at a party Saturday night, we had to go buy it and bring it for all the family to play. Everyone danced, it wasawesome. The kids we great, Nathan was hilarious.

The moms danced the dads danced and even grandpa dance to Rasputin...

I have video of that and of Dan and Krista's Bollywood number,

so funny. Dinner was good too, it's always good food.

Tuesday Tyler had cubs and I met Kirsty for Hot Chocolate. Tanner stayed home to watch game 7 of the Canucks 1st round. I came home in time to watch the end. It was so funny to just watch Tanner watch the game. There is lots of yelling and jumping. I think he was on his knees watching for a bit, it as very tense. Thank goodness the Canucks scored in overtime and won! Ty and Tanner were jumping up and down and then they went downtown Abbotsford with some other friends and walked around cheering and being a part of the celebration. They didn't get home until after midnight, but it's all part of the fun.

Wednesday I have JitterBugs starting early at 9am, so the morning is aways a little hectic. To make this better Brielle wasn't feeling well and when I got her up to get dress she stood up and barfed all over me and my bed. Awesome. So I took her with me and made a little bed and thought she would just be lathargic, but that only lasted for my first class and she wanted to go home, but my problem was that it was too late to cancel classes so Grandma K graciously came and picked her up. Poor baby girl was so sick and had a high fever, but as the day progressed she did get better. It must have been a 24 hour bug, but of course on my busiest day of the week. Tanner had his last grade 6 basketball game after school and I was able to go and do my step class that night, I needed a work out.

Thursday Tanner was very lucky and was able to go to game 1 of the 2nd Canucks series with his dad. He had a great time sitting in row 10! He said the vibe was awesome and he loved it! Tyler had a baseball game that night and Nathan had his Ready Set Learn for Kindergarten. He had so much fun doing all the centres and feeling like he was in kindergarten, we are both really excited for him to start school in September.

Friday morning Raeann, Krista and I headed out to Seattle for Time out for Women. We had such a great time and laughed so much, and of course no of us remembered our camera's so we have no pictures to show for it. We went early so we could stop at the outlets and do some shopping, but as soon as we crossed the border we had our first bump with a train crossing, but the train was not moving, so we decided to follow some other people and take a detour. Raeann finally got the GPS working and we were on the right roads and made it to Bellingham, and then to the shopping. Krista and I found a lot of good stuff, and then we stopped for a Jamba Juice where we had our first laughing fit, and Krista could barely eat :)

we got to Seattle around 2ish and we went to the nice hotel Krista booked and dropped off our stuff and then walked down tot he Pike Fish Market and found this little alley cafe and hand a surprisley delicious salad and sandwich and we sat outside in the sun and had some great singers singing. It was so cute to watch one busker tip the other one, it was really sweet how they treated each other. After walking through the shops and market we heade back tot he hotel. Krista is a rep for Time out for Women so she had to get there early. Raeann went to workout and I sat on the bed and read my book. While I was reading, it was so weird, this seagull came on stood on the little ledge on the window by my bed. It freaked me out at first and he kept pecking and slobbering all over the window. This bird stayed there for 20 minutes and then, I think, he actually slipped off the edge and then flew off...so weird! After Rae got back we freshened up and we walked down to the Conference Hall and met up with Krista who had saved us great seats and we enjoyed the evening with John Bytheway. Micheal McLean, and Marima Kullon. They all gave great talks and sang good songs. Marima was very touching, she was from Sierra Leon, who suffered many tragedies but had a strong testimony and an amazing outlook on life. She was grateful to be alive and wasn't going to waste it, plus she had on of the best laughs I have ever heard.

After the night we headed over to Hard Rock Cafe for the worst dinner ever. Krista's nacho's, which are an easy please, were covered in beans....BEANS! they were gross. I ordered a cheesecake, but I got a glass filled with cream cheese, seriously! We walked back to the hotel and saw lots of interesting people.... We made it back and got ready for bed and laughed so much all night. You learn a lot about people when you have a sleepover, it was awesome. Krista and I finally fell asleep, but poor Rae had a harder time :( Morning came way to early, and we walked down to hall. Rae and I left Krista there and we tried to have breakfast at this nice little cafe, but it was a coffee shop, not a bagel shop, so we weren't satisfied at all. We did get some good smoothies from Starbucks though. We had a full day at Time Out and it was so good. The speakers were great and made for a really well rounded presentations. Mercy River sang through out the day, and there was a nice spirit felt all day. We had some good laughs waiting in the bathroom lineups, mostly at Krista gaging and running out since there were alot of stinky moments. We also had on of the best lunches ever. We found a great sushi restaurant. It had amazing food, great people, location, and the decor was really cool. Plus we all ate with lots of left overs for $40. It was amazing! After a great day we headed home and we shopped a little more and had just a great time with each other.. I really loved the experience and the things I learned at the Conference and I really loved going with Rae and Krista, it was full of laughter and appreication for who they are, it was great!

I came home to my family and they had a good weekend too. They had lots of baseball and some birthday parties. Grandpa helped out with Brielle, and Tanner said the kids were great so he took them to Red Robin's for dinner, so I came home to a happy family. Today we had a nice morning at church, Ty gave a talk in primary, and did a good job. We went on a beautiful sunny walk with Cole and Krista after church and had a late dinner. Sarah came over and we all watched Funny Home videos. It is so deceiving with the sun out later, but the kids went to bed and it's time to start another week, time is going too fast.

Easter

2011-04-24T15:58:00.001-07:00

April 24th, 2011

This Easter weekend has been so fun. Friday morning we had a visit from the Easter Bunny! It was a good surprise except Nathan recognized it was Grandma K because of her candy :)

Later we went over to mom and dads for Tyler and Matteo to have there first lesson in cutting the grass. Dad has hired them to cut their grass since Dallin and Jeff are serving missions. They were both excited and eager to make some more money. The grass was crazy long so Rae and Tanner helped a lot but the boys got the hang of it pretty quick and I think this will be a great job for them. After we went to the park to play and the boys did their papers. The rest of the afternoon we went with friends to the Leavitt's property in Langley for a bonfire and be outside in the beautiful sunshine! We cooked hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids all played and went on little adventures, jumped on the trampoline and then al the end of the day went on a hayride.

Bro Leavitt took us to Jamestown, which is the old town they use for movies and what they used for Trek, (it's on his neighbours property). It was really cool and the temple they built at Trek is still up, which was very cool! We were there until it was dark and then we all headed home since the guys like to go play hockey. Ty went with Tanner and he was happy to stay up late and play hockey.

I let the younger kids stay up a bit and watch a movie after they had their baths, but after the day they had they all fell asleep in my bed after 30 minutes :) It was so funny to sneak a peak at Brielle and Nate having a bath. There were both singing a song, which song... I have no idea, but they were singing so loud that it caught my attention and I had to take a picture of how silly they looked ,

Saturday was a clean up day. Tanner and I cleaned and organized the house and garage, which was really good. It was a gorgeous day, the kids road their bikes and played. We lost Brielle for a couple minutes, which was a little scary. She always wants to play out front, which is fine when we are able to keep an eye on her. We were cleaning the garage and she was playing then all of a sudden she was gone. We thought she might be hidding in the house, which she does, but she wasn't coming when we called her in our "serious" voices. So the hunt was on. I wasn't terribly worried yet but I was getting there, and then out she popped. I don't even know where she was, she just kept saying she was with her friends, so I think she was in on of the kids backyard's... we were not happy, well we were happy we found her but ready to kill her!

After lunch and we had cleaned up the house we took the kids and Cole out for the sun. We wanted to go to Cascade Falls but after driving there, the park was closed, boo, so we drove a little further to Chehailis River where we threw rocks and the kids put their feet in the ice cold water...not me.

They all fell in, of course, but Ty was the worse and had his whole side of his body fall in, so cold. I can't help myself from laughing, even when someone hurts them selves, I know it is totally mean but it just looks so funny. We had a nice afternoon outside, we took the kids out for dinner and then home, and tanner and I went to a friends birthday party.

This morning was the Easter Egg Hunt, and the kids were ready to go at 6am. The boys had to wait for Brielle to wake up so I set them to their room until she did. They tried to wake her up without me knowing and then finally at 7:30 I let Nate wake her up, as soon as he said Chocolate, she went wide eyed and was scrambling out of the bed. They did so good, not one negitive word said and they all helped each other so nicely to find everything, it was a nice morning.

Church was good, we had a beautiful musical number of "I Know my Redeemer Lives" and of course, it made me cry. It was also the first Sunday with our new Bishopric, Manual Hererra, Quin Martin, and Adam Swan. It was sad to say good bye to our Bishop, I really like Pat Croonan, but I am excited for the change. Last week when the changes were made, the chapel was filled with the spirit, it is definitely what the Lord wants. Bishop Hererra will be a great Bishop.

Tanner and I have made some new goals to be better at reading and praying as a couple. We know that this is obviously right, but we are going to try harder and make a conscience decision to to do it everyday. This whole house selling thing is not going how I thought, and it is frustrating, but we figured we can't be blessed all the time without doing more work to be worthy of the blessings. I know that I have to be patient, but when things don't work out easily I question if my answers to prayer were my wants shouting over what the Lord know is best. There was a good lesson on Revelation today and I am going to work on and practice knowing my own answers or personal revelations. Krista had made a good comment on recording your process and that is what I am going to try, I almost forget what my answer was 5 months ago. I remember it feeling right and good, but I don't remember there being any doubt, and I wish I would have written down all the feelings, if that makes sense. Anyways this is what I am trying and what Tanner and I are trying together, so we will see what happens.

We had a nice dinner with mom and dad tonight at our place and tomorrow we are having a family Easter dinner, which we are looking forward to.

Bye Bye Jeffy

2011-04-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

April 17th, 2011

This weekend is Jeff's last weekend before he goes on his Mission to Georgia. It's kinda crazy that he is leaving, but it is such a great thing and we are all so excited for him. We all went to the temple with him last week, which is always very special, and over the weekend we had his farewell. It was lots of fun and he had lots of support from family and friends! We are going to miss you Jeff!

The rest of the weekend we had some outside fun with eachother. Friday Krista and I took the kids to the Vedder river. It was a Pro D day and the sun was out for a bit. The boys threw rocks and of course got soaked, but they loved it. I took Brielle's BFF Neko for the day and the also had fun throwing rocks and playing.

We had a new Cold Stone Creamery open up so we had to take the kids out for some delicious Ice Cream, Yum, so good!

Then on Saturday night the Torrances came over with their bikes and we went for a fantastic bike ride along the trails by our place. I haven't ridden a bike for probably 12 years, and Rae brought one over for me, but it was so much fun, such a great family activity. Now, I totally want a bike :)

Everyone rode their Bikes and Rob pulled the 2 girls in a little trailer behind him and they were happy as pie. We went for about an hour and it was great!

Skydiving??????

2011-04-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's April! The weather makes it feel more like November, it's crazy actually. There has been a few really nice days but still so much rain and cold... I need some more sun.

We started off the month by having a big April Fools joke on Colette and surprising her with a big party for her 30th birthday. She was very surprised since her birthday was back in September :) It was a big party at the Leavitts and we all had a blast.

I woke up the next morning to go to the gym and Tanner had a busy morning with baseball coaching clinics and Tyler's practice, so I was rushing home to help and some stopped me to tell me I had a flat tire. I called Tanner to come and get me and he found out that the van was flat too! I guess someone thought they would slash a bunch of tires in our neighbourhood for April Fools, NOT FUNNY! It really sucked, not only to buy new tires for both vechiles but it was a huge inconvience, thank goodness for some friends who helped out last minute. It was brutal!

Baseball season has started and Tanner is coaching Nathan's tball team and assisting Ty's team. Ty's team is at a fun age to watch and Tyler has played really well. He has been pitching a lot and hitting really well. Nathan's team is so cute, they are all just learning. Nate loves to hit and is really good at it but hates being in the outfield, and isn't afraid to say it. He is also the only one out there with sunglasses :) He must have sensitive eyes because sometimes he really struggles to function with out them, it is pretty funny! The only hard part is that sometimes, the two of them end up playing on the same night, so I don't get to watch Nate as much as I want.

Mikey has started to play tennis, he and Cole have private lessons together. He has been asking all year to try it and it has worked out really well. He and Cole love to be together and he is pretty good at the game. He has just started and really likes it!

Nathan and Brielle's favorite gym time of the year was now...when all the gymnastic stuff is out so I had to take some pictures of them on the rings, it was the favorite.

It was Tanner and my 12th wedding Anniversary on the 10th and Tanner has been talking about this "date of the Century" he has been planning for a couple months. He wouldn't tell me what it was, which was a little shocking since he has a hard time keeping exciting things from me, but he did, until I guessed it the night before. I don't even know how I guessed it but it just came into my mind with a few hints. I knew I had to wear comfy clothes and that it was weather dependant. The big surprise was SKYDIVING! I was shocked and freaked out and really excited all at the same time. Tanner was not nervous at all, but I was for sure. I really wanted to do it, but I was nervous. I am glad I had the day to pump myself up for it.

We got there, they weather was beautiful and we got into our jumpsuits, the instructor gave us a 3minute instruction on jumping tandeum and then we were heading for the plane.

I wasn't nervous about the instructors, I knew they knew what they were doing, but I was scared I would do something dumb, especially at the landing. I was expecting way more instruction, but it was pretty simple. We got into this tiny plane that 5 of us fit into , squished and we flew up to 9000 feet in about 15 minutes. It was cold but beautiful, you could see Vancouver Island, Stanley Park, the Ocean, Bellingham and of course all the gorgeous mountains. We had one guy with us that was doing a solo jump, he gave us some high fives, wished us luck and jumped! That was my realization of what was happening, Tanner and his guy were getting ready and then that fast they were out and I was putting my legs out the plane and without even thinking we jumped. I screamed for about half a second and it was the most amazing thing ever. It was like we were just floating, then the parachute went up and the harness pulled so hard up ( that was not comfortable at all) and we took off our goggles and were able to just look around and talk. It was so peaceful and such a rush, I loved it. I watched Tanner land and then after a couple minutes I landed. Tanner loved it too. He was able to steer the parachute a bit. We both agreed that it was just amazing. I would have done it again in a heartbeat, I still would. The adreniline lasted the rest of the day. It was a great date, definitely.

March Madness

2011-03-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

March is always a little crazy at our house. Basketball is just ending and this year Tanner went to Halifax to ref the Men's University Finals.

It was cold but he said it was really nice there. He had the best Surf and turf ever, he really loved the lobster :) Tanner also got very exciting news while he was there. He was assigned a FIBA assignment to go to Spain in July to ref the Men's under 20s European championships. This was such a great assignment and it is such a fun place to go...yes I am jealous! I just keep telling myself "one day I will go with him" when the kids are a bit older. When Tanner came home he kept up with the tradition of bringing home a Big Lollipop for the kids and something sweet for me....

While he was gone we had fun at home playing with friends and family we even went to get a FISH!

Nathan called him "Thunder Wolf" and Ty and Mikey called him "Thunderbolt"and Brielle named him "Strawberry"...whatever :). He only lasted a week, poor thing. But I have to take the blame on this one, maybe even Tanner. The kids were so good at feeding him, but I put rocks in the bottom of the vase/tank and the dumb fish would keep wedging itself in the rocks. I think Tanner might have helped him out a little too rough and it scraped it's belly, the poor thing died after 6 days :( We are not destined for a pet!

The next week were into Spring Break. Tanner was reffing the AAA boys tournament, but this year it was at the Langley Events Center, which is so much closer and Tanner was able to be home a lot more. For the final game I took Tyler and Matteo to go watch and Ty was invited with his Steve Nash Basketball team to play a mini pre game before the final. He did awesome! He is doing the jump ball in this pic,

Watching the final was a lot of fun, Tanner did a great job as usual

and the Olson's met me to watch as well. Ty and Matteo were the craziest fans out there.

They were cheering and yelling like crazy, it was really funny to watch them. They decided that they would yell "Cheeseburger" every time the other team took a shot. I guess they thought it would jinx them :) After we went out with everyone for dinner and the boys were so giddy it was ridiculous but it was a really fun night. Brielle had a good night with Natalia and Nathan and Mikey had an awesome sleepover with Cole.

The rest of Spring Break we treated like a staycation and did lots of fun local things. We went swimming and played at Captin Kids, had park days and playdates and birthday parties. One day we went out to Lyden's roller rink and went Rollerskating, it was so FUN! The kids did great at it, Matteo even won the Limbo contest :)

The rest of March was getting back into the swing of things after the break. Back to school, JitterBugs, and a schedule. We were having lots of showings to sell the house but no bites. I was getting pretty frustrated and still felt like this was the right thing for our family to do so we are still trying to sell and I am trying to be patient. It's all about timing and I know the Lord know's what is best and when it's the right time it will happen... (that's my montra).

Catch up Time!

2011-03-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have been a horrible journal keeper, and I am now going to catch up. Thank goodness I have pictures to remind me. I am going to just post a bunch of pictures with captions, and then I will get back on track!

For New Years Eve we had a family party ay Tanner'sschool. It was so much fun. We had about 10 families and we had half the gym as a giant soccer game- which was mostly our family, Kenesseys and Torrances. And then we had the other half with a giant mat, spring board and lots of kids jumping and flipping! It was a great party.

After, we dropped the kids at home to Emily and Sarah to babysit and we met are friends for dinner to bring in the New Year.

Brielle and Natalia went to a Princess Party together. They dressed up, played games and did a craft. A real Princess came to read them a story too, it was very exciting.

We have had some snow this winter, which I like over Christmas, but that is it.

The kids love it and have so much fun playing it, it's just a lot of work!

Tanner has been busy with basketball in the new year, and had a weekend in Kamloops. I had to bring the kids to JitterBugs with me and as a bribe/reward we went to Tim Horton's for breakfast:)

Tanner took Tyler and AJ to go meet Ryan Kessler of the Canucks. They were one of the firsts in line and they were able to talk with him and get him to sign Tanner's coat and Tyler's hat. Apparently, "It was so AWESOME!"

We had a rough go with the Flu. I got it first and the worst, it took me about 3 weeks to get over it completely and be back to me normal self, it sucked. everyone got it too, except Ty. We had lots of laying around watching tv and sleeping. No barfing though, thank goodness.

I had girls night at my place and everyone just came over and we hung out. Erin just got a brand new puppy and brought her over as well. So that ment that Brielle was not going to bed and was mauling the poor puppy! She loves dogs so much and she was so cute, but I do not want a dog, it will be too much work to keep Brielle away from it!

Nathan Turned 5! This was a very big deal. We gave him a Bike, which was very exciting.

We took him to Red Robin for dinner

and then swimming for his actual birthday and then we had a Lil Chef birthday party for him a week later. Nathan is very vocal about how he is a Lil Chef and that he loves cooking, so the party was very fun and fitting!

Nathan and Brielle have been going to Strong Start for most of their lives with Miss Katelynne, and now she is leaving us to have her sweet baby girl, so we have been enjoying every minute until she leaves after Spring Break. Today they did some wood working, Brielle in hot Pink Safety googles and her purple tutu,

and then Nathan with his hammer ready to smash something, haha

Brielle and I had a girls afternoon on Sunday. It only really happened because the boys didn't want to join us on a walk, so we went with out them. We went to the creek and threw rocks and looked at all the trees, when we came home we made some banana muffins, it was nice to be just my girl and me!

Christmas!!!!!!!

2011-01-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

December 26th, 2010

This week was so much fun. Monday Was Brielle's 3rd birthday and we had a party that morning. All I have to say is that little girls are so quiet, all but mine:) We had 7 little girls over and Tanner took the boys out for a morning of play. These sweet little girls just did the craft, hardly a mess, well expect Brielle, haha. They played so nice together and watched a little movie. I was in some serious shock, it was so great!

Later for FHE we had a Progressive dinner with the extended family. First we went to Krista's and she played a fun matching game with of course candy, Krista always has treats for the kids. Then we moved onto mom and dads for some appetizers and some BiNGO. Then last over to Peggy's for dessert and we had the kids make themselves into snowmen with toilet paper. It was a fun night!

The rest if the week was playdates, carolling, drop and runs, cousin sleepovers, we went to the movies and all was leading up to FISHPOND!

( I still need to get the pictures)

Before Fishpond on Christmas Eve, we had to go have Chinese for lunch. We headed over to Judy's and had so much fun. We Fished, did the Kid's Nativity, Krista did her poem, chimes and then some good food. All in all it was another successful Fishpond! We were able to come home and play a family board game, get the cookies ready for Santa and then goodnight for the kids.

While the kids were sleeping we, actually Tanner, was putting together Tyler's gift, a huge NHL size goalie net. It was so loud and it took forever. We were a bit afraid that Ty would wake up, or any of the kids and think it was Santa :) We were lucky, Ty didn't wake up, but Brielle did and came downstairs. She must have been half asleep still, but she noticed the net and yelled "That's HUGE!", it was so funny the way she said it, but she went back uptsiars and back to sleep quickly.

We woke up the next morning around 7am and were very excited.

The kids went through their stocking and then we went on Skype with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Bob and we opened gifts from them, I love technology!

After we exchanged our gifts

Brielle got alot of Disney Princess stuff

Nathan got Sonic and Mario toys

Mikey got Mario and Sonic stuffies :) He was so happy!

and Ty was surprised with his net!

Tanner got some new clothes and shoes,

and I got Cirque Du Soliel Tickets!

We were all very spoiled and then we enjoyed a nice brunch together

and then headed over to mom and dad's to talk with Dallin and have a Turkey dinner with all the family and play games. It was a great Christmas!

Boxing Day we had another fantastic dinner over at Auntie Laurie's with Grandma K. We ate, played games and hung out. Uncle Kyle played dress up with the girls, he's such a great uncle! :)

After that we had all the cousins over for a sleepover!

We had a great holiday :)

My little boy, is not so little anymore...that goes for little girl too

2011-01-04T21:39:00.001-08:00

December 19th, 2010

This week was the last week of school before the Christmas holidays, which means parties and concerts. It also means that Tanner will be coming home with a huge loot of gifts from his generous students!

I was lucky this year and was prepared for CHristmas before December even hit, so I have been very stress free. We have been able to enjoy the season, so far.

Brielle and Nathan had there Strong Start parties,

and the boys did a fantastic job singing "Viva.....( a french song).

Saturday we took the Santa Train ( The westcoast express) with our friends out to Vancouver for the day. Between the Olson's, The Leavitt's, and us, we were a group of 16. We started with our usual Timbits and Hot Chocolate and then got our seats on the train. There was 1900 people on the train that day so we were very happy to have seats and together.

Out first stop in Vancouver was to find the Woodward Toy displays around town.

The kids were so good about staying together.

Then we went into the Hyatt to see a massive Ginger Bread house with a a bunch of regular gingerbread homes up for display and votes. The kids loved this, there were some amazing creations.

Next stop was to catch the bus to Granville Island, the bus is always fun, Brielle liked that she could stand and not have a seatbelt :)

Granville Island we had lunch, playing with the seagulls, saw some gingerbread men, played at the Kids Market and watched an ELf magic show.

After we headed back to Gas town, checked out the clock and then went back to the train for our seats, which we got again, all together. We had egg nog and hot chocolate, and some delicious kettle corn. We had so much fun together. The kids we so good and happy with all the stuff they did.

Once we got back to Mission, we left to stop in at our Ward Christmas Party, where the kids got to see Santa again and play with there friends.

Sunday morning was Tyler's 9th birthday. Tanner made his favorite breakfast, crepes, so good. Then we had dinner with the Torrances, it was Raeanns Birthday too, and then all the family came over for cake.

We celebrated Brielle too since her day is tomorrow. I can't believe Ty is 9 already, he is such a talented boy who is finding himself and wants to chose the right. He makes his mistakes but as long as he learns then I am glad he is finding his way. I feel like I am in a whole different world with him now. It has been a world of "no hitting, pushing, etc" and "share your toys and take turns", but now I don't even really know how to deal with some of the changes he is going through. It's a big learning game and I hope I can be ready when I, when he needs me to be. It is fun to watch him and see how he reacts in different situations, he is a good kid and I love him a ton. I look forward to seeing what kind of grown kid he will be.

It was nice to spend the evening with family and it was great to know that the next day was the first day of Christmas holiday's.

December 12th, 2010

2010-12-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

This week week was pretty laid back. Tyler has finished basketball and guitar and Nathan finshed up his sports class.

Tanner had some basketball games and I met up with some girlfriends a couple of times this week. I met Kirsty after dance class, had some free starbucks ....we have good secrets :) and then Colette had an Egg Nog and PJ's night. The kids had their preschool Christmas party and got to play and see Santa. At first Brielle did not like him, but she warmed up.

Afterwards, Tanner and and I went over to the Klim's for Tanner's staff party. It was lots of fun and it was good to see everybody. It was a good reminder that drinking makes people crazy and do some embarassing things, but it is entertaining...once a year.

We had a busy Saturday with soccer, birthday parties and play dates, but I got an hour without the kids, so I did get some work done. It was Stake Conference this weekend. Tanner had some Leadership training and then I met him at the adult session of conference. It was a great meeting. Our Stake President counselled us to pick some more eternal/spiritual activities to replace the not so spiritual ones. Tanner and I are thinking about what we can do in our family, in our marriage, and in our personal lives to take on the challenge.

Today was Stake Conference and the boys were so good. I was really impressed with how reverent they were, Brielle, not so much, but I will take what I can get.

News about our house......

So this has been an interesting process for me. It has taken me a couple of weeks, along with some praying and fasting to finally be at peace with things not going as fast as I would like. I had faith that Heavenly Father knew what was best for us, but I was starting to fear that the answer I got to move was just the answer that I wanted to hear. I am not a patient person and I am learning, but I am so grateful that I now feel very peaceful and very optimistic that my answer was right. Since then I have also received another answer to be patient that it will happen...so now I am not worried and I know that this is the right thing for our family. I am also very grateful that I got all of this before I saw that the house that we did want and had us put our home up for sale for, has sold this week. Surprisingly, I wasn't even phased by it. I thought that I would have been very upset, but I didn't even really care. Now I feel less pressure and I am excited to see what Heavenly Father has in store for us, I know he will provide what we need.

Faith and peace are an amazing gift, and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me both through this experience.

Oh December, how I LOVE you!

2010-12-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

Sunday December, 3rd, 2010

I love December, Christmas, birthdays, holidays, I love it. I love all of the Christmas music and how everyone is in such a good mood and wants to celebrate Christ.

I have made a big effort to be ready for Christmas this year before the month started, and I have to say that I have all of the gifts bought and wrapped. I had Tyler's birthday already and we are almost finished up all of the scheduled activites for the month.

At school this week the boys had crazy hair day,

and we had to start December off with some Christmas sugar cookies :)

The first main event this month was to have Tyler's birthday party. I like having home parties, but I like to have his before all the of Christmas decorations go up. I decided to have it on Friday, even though Tanner was reffing. I don't like Tanner missing it, but we had to this year. He chose to have an Avatar party. We watched the movie and had treats, well that was the plan. Ty was allowed to invite 10 friends, which he did, and then he added 3 more without asking me first...

I didn't really care but I was getting a little nervous about how loud it would be here. I ended up being totally fine. It was totally noisy, but only for 2 hours :) We had the movie on but I think only 2 kids stayed longer than 20 minutes to watch it.

Some were playing hockey, some were playing Wii.

As long as they had fun and didn't wreck my house, I was good. Everyone had a good time and I was grateful for some quiet once the kids left.

The cousins all stayed the night for a sleepover.

On Saturday, Tanner and I took Ty and Mikey to go watch the Abbotsford Children's Theatre's production of the Nutcracker. It was so good, and the boys really enjoyed it, and it was perfect for them. It wasn't too long and was colourful and funny. We had a great afternoon. Tanner had a bunch of students preforming so it was nice for him to support them too. Tanner and I love going to plays and musicals and hopefully the kids will too.

This first Sunday, we went to the First Presidency Devotional and then over to Mom and Dad's for a family get together. We have been doing this now for 7 years and it is such a nice way to kick off the season, plus it is lots of fun to hang out with family.

We also decorated the Christmas tree, which is always a special part of Christmas for me. Since Tanner and I have been married we have collected ornaments that are special to us and that represent what has happened that year, so it is lots of fun to reminisce and talk to the kids about what they all mean. It also is a little stressful because as much as I want the kids to decorate, I do have mini heart attacks as they do it, but I haven't lost an ornament yet...knock on wood.

On a scary note, Brielle had an accident this week. She was running into the school with Tyler and tripped and fell on to the cement. Her mouth was pouring blood and after it stopped, I found a gross gnash on the inside of her mouth, where her lips meet. It was pretty open and I was afraid that she needed some medical attention. I hate going to the doctor - the waiting and the stress of holding my baby down while the doctor fixes the problem - I don't handle it well, so I was hoping I wouldn't have too. I took her to see Tanner to see if it was nessesary. He is better than me at that sort of stuff and had to convince me to take her in. I called Rae to see what Rob would say and she said that they usually don't stitch the mouth, but I had to take her in just in case, and Rae was right, thank goodness. We were in and out of the office in 5 minutes. She was fine for the rest of the day and the next morning it was all healed up!

Another bright side this week is that Tanner finally manned up and tried sushi - and he liked them :) I was so happy that we could eat it more often, but then we ordered it twice this week. Maybe it was better when he didn't like it, haha, Why does that stuff cause such an intense craving???????

November

2010-11-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

November, 28th, 2010

This month has had some surprizes. In the first week we were surprised early Sunday morning with Brielle being brought upstairs to our room by her brothers. They were saying "Look what Brielle did" with a giggle in their voices. I was laying in bed reading one of my favorite talks, "Come What may and Love it" by Elder Wirthlin, and I didn't have my glasses on, so as she was coming closer and I was asking "what did she do?" my calm turned into panic as I saw her clearly. My voice was changing because the boys were not giggling anymore. She, for some reason, had decided to CUT HER HAIR!!!!!

I could not believe it, I was so upset, and I did really try to take the advice from the talk, to laugh, and I did. I laughed and cried. It is so superficial, but I loved Brielle's beautiful hair and she looked so different. After inspecting it I found that it could have been way worse. She only cut her bangs, but they were hacked up and pretty short in parts. She looked like a skid, I was so sad. She went to church with a hat on and looked like her cute self, until she pulled the hat off after a few minutes and revealed the new hair. The next day I took her to get it fixed and I have to admit that I am getting used to it now - it will grow fast, but I hate it. People say that she is still cute and that her hair will grow fast, but I can't wait for it to grow. I am a horrible mommy :)

It has been fun to hear other horror stories of self haircuts though, and it does make me grateful. I just don't want anyone to think that I gave her this haircut :)

The next surprise was that we decided to put our house up for sale. We found a house that we love and want. It's in our neighbourhood, it's a great price, and would give our family the space that we need. It was all happening so fast and it was really exciting. Tanner and I both prayed and felt that this was the right thing, and I still do, but having faith and patience in this process is an everyday battle. I know that Heavenly Father will bless us and that He knows what is best for us. If this house doesn't work out, another will. I just hope that He and I have the same plan. I have been praying and fasting to have faith, but that means that I need to just hand it over and stop freaking out about it. It has been up for 2 weeks and we have had 4 showings, but no bites yet. I went to the temple this week and had this on my mind and then this morning I had a little answer to my prayer, and it was in that dream/waking up stage of the morning. I just had this thought to be patient and that it will all work out. I had this overwhelming good feeling rush over me and then I woke up feeling clear-headed and happy. It is one of those things that I already knew, but my heart and nerves weren't completly convinced with faith. I can say now that even though I want it to go quickly, I do feel very different about everything. All I have to do is keep this answer fresh so I can be calm.

The Torrances and Grandma K moved back to BC and we have been having fun playing with the cousins. My kids are such excitable people that they get so happy and want to invite Matteo, Vince, Cole, and Natalia over to play everyday!

We had a lot of Birthday parties this month and I have been finishing up all of my Christmas shopping. We had report cards and the Primary Presentation, and the kids were great. We went to a few movies. I took the kids on my own, a first, to the movies and we saw "Tangled". Tanner and I went to see "Harry Potter".

We had our first crazy snow fall, it lasted a day but it was a very fun day!

They are so cute, and they played out there forever.

So despite our schedules and trying to keep the house immaculate, it has been another great month, that has passed by way too fast!

Halloween

2010-11-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

October 31st, 2010

This year Halloween was on a Sunday, so we celebrated on the Saturday. The kids had fun class parties at the end of the week and were able to dress up for those. Nathan decided that he wanted to be Batman all week, so everyday this week he wore his costume :) It was so funny to watch him run around at the school at lunch all week as Batman, his cape flapping behind him, haha. By the end of the week the costume was pretty thrashed and, to Nathan's dismay, we said goodbye to Batman.

He is so cute!

Friday night Tanner and I went to a Halloween party at the Bucannans, we all dressed up and I was the ever original Black Cat :P and Tanner came from a game so was in his suit, we need to be more creative next year, haha. It was a fun party and we had a good time with our friends.

( we are holding Ivory, Slade and Colette's baby :))

Saturday morning I dressed up as a cat again for dance class and I met the kids at a Community Party for the morning with bouncy castle, crafts and games. It was fun for them and it's a good way to keep them entertained until the Trunk or Treat.

Tanner unfortunatly had to ref a game and it was at the exact time as the Trunk or Treat, so I was on my own, but everything went very well. It was at the church parking lot which made it super safe. We were parked beside the Martins, Joanne was on her own too. We decorated the trunks and the kids were able to go on their own to trick or treat and Emily took Brielle for me so I could hand out candy. Jenna, Ryan, and Alyssa made it too, so we had lots of friends to play with. I was really glad they came.

The night was done pretty fast, Tanner got there just as it finished, and we had just a sprinkle of rain. It was a great night, the kids got a ton of candy and we were all home by 8pm for a Halloween movie. I love Halloween, it is such a fun night!

October 24th, 2010

2010-10-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have gone by so fast, and they have been so busy that it's hard to keep up.

On Wednesday, Tanner and I went to see the Toronto Raptors play the Phoenix Suns at Rogers Arena, but this time our seats were really good.

Tyler ran in the rest of his cross country races and did great. He came in 22nd both times but he had a lot of fun running and he said that it was getting easier each time. I am really proud of him. Kathleen came out for a visit for the week and Cole was being baptized. Mikey turned 7 and we had a fun birthday week with him, I will go into more detail later. My parents came into town for Thanksgiving and that was one fun-filled weekend.

Mom and Dad flew in on the Thursday and we had a great weekend with them. Friday morning we went out early to get some photos taken with them and the kids, and they turned out great. Mikey and my dad went out on a date in the afternoon to play some mini golf. My mom did some crafts with Brielle and Nathan and let both of them paint her toenails - then she painted Brielle's.

After school and papers we went to Toys r Us for Mikey to pick out a birthday gift, and the rest of the kids picked out something as well. We met Tanner at Chuck E Cheese's, my parents were pretty into a "Deal or No Deal" game :)

and we had another little surprise....

The Torrances came out for a surprise visit for Cole's Baptism and Thanksgiving. It was funny to see the kids - especially Tyler's expressions as the Torrance cousins came into sight.

Saturday we had a great day at Cole's Baptism

and over at Krista's after. Later that night my parents took Tanner and I out for dinner and the Cervos ended up joining us as well. We had a great evening and it was such a great day being with all of the family. I can't believe that these boys are all at the age of Baptism now, it's crazy, but it's so nice to see them all growing up and being so close.

Sunday was the day we were having Thanksgiving dinner. My dad took care of the turkey and Tanner and I did the rest. The kids and I made a bunch of tarts

and Tanner took care of the veggies. The house was busy, but I loved it! I love having everyone around and seeing the table covered with delicious food is even better. I must say that the first Thanksgiving dinner at our home was amazing!

Monday, my Mom and I went out for some girl time and when we came back, all of us headed out to spend the day at Burnaby Mountain. The weekend was beautiful, which was shocking since my parents were in town and the weather is hardly beautiful when they are here for some reason. Monday started off the same, but once we got out there the rain started. It was still a lot of fun and it was still beautiful, but not as great as when it's sunny. We walked around and checked things out and then went to Ikea :)

We had a great time with my parents and every time they come it makes me more excited for when they move out West.

The rest of the week involved more of the same usual stuff. I started a cooking class with some girlfriends and Tanner was getting ready for his FIBA trip to Colombia.

This week Tanner was in Colombia for basketball and I was home with the kids.

This isn't a new thing for us, and even though it isn't as hard as it used to be for me when Tanner is gone, I still hate it when he's away. I was excited for him, but it is a lot of work for me when I am alone.

The week was okay, I wasn't as scared at night as I usually am - maybe because I was just so exhausted, but the kids were a bit of a nightmare. They were fighting a lot, despite all of my efforts to keep them busy and having fun. Tyler, in particular had a very rough week at home and at school, which was shocking. He really missed his dad and was acting terrible because of it. It was a big learning experience for me and I was at a loss in more than one moment. After fighting with him for 2 hours about homework, and then his poor attitude towards me, I finally broke down and we had to say a prayer together. It did a lot of good, for that day anyways, and even though he still had a bad week he was better at the end then at the beginning. I still can't believe or figure out who this child was, because he wasn't Tyler.

On a happier note, it was Mikey's birthday this week and we celebrated as a family at Red Robin's on the Saturday before Tanner left. Mikey's birthday is still a special day in itself so I took cupcakes to school,

and we had them with family for FHE that night.

On Friday I had his birthday party with all of his buddies, it was a Ghost and Goblins theme:)

Wednesday we had a very exciting night, Jeff got his mission call and opened it that night. He is going to the Georgia Macon mission and leaves March 9th!! We are so happy for him, even though it seems so surreal that little Jeffy is going on his MISSION!!!!

Friday night after the party, Kirsty came over for a good visit, which I needed and we had a great night laughing and getting caught up. I haven't hung out with her in a couple of months which is way too long.

Saturday I took the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick their pumpkins and then we went out to dinner.

I like to take them out when Tanner is away so that it's still fun for us too. I wanted us to have this great week so that we all didn't miss Tanner so much, but I guess that I can't. They didn't really deserve to go out when you consider the whole week, but Saturday was a great day and they earned it back. I have to say that the other kids weren't terrible, they were actually quite fine. I guess my patience wasn't there because I didn't get any breaks. Mikey was actually great, and I had no problems with him. Tyler kind of set the mood, and I guess that I did too. When you are mad at one, it's hard to turn it on and off for each kid, if that makes sense. I just hate feeling like I have been yelling at my kids all week. Needless to say I am looking forward to Tanner coming home and to start a new week.

2010-10-03T16:57:00.001-07:00

Sunday October 3rd, 2010

I can't believe it's October! We had a great and crazy September and so far October is good too. The weather is gorgeous, but I am afraid since my parents are coming next week the weather is going to turn to yuck, but I do have my fingers crossed because it is so nice here.

Tyler joined the Cross Country team at the school this year and his first race was this week. We all went to cheer him and his friends on.

It's a long race, a whole mile or 1.7 km, but he ran the whole thing. There were at least 100 boys in his race and he came in 30th overall and 2nd for his school. I'm so proud of him, he did so well. I am also so proud of him for trying new things and going to the practices. Ty is really good at joining clubs and teams and expanding his horizons, I am really glad he is like that. It was fun for us to cheer him on and support him. Jenn and the boys were there too cheering on AJ so we had a good crowd to keep the boys running.

Tanner organized the Terry Fox run at his school and they ran that this week, It was the 30 year Anniversary and Tanner had some snazy shirts made up for it :)

The boys spent a lot of time outside this week and playing together, which was nice. I have been frustrated with Nathan and his disobedience this week and how much the boys have been arguing. I hate that, and I really needed peace in the house, so I enjoyed the moments they were all playing nicely together.

Brielle had been obessed with camera lately and she takes pictures herself or wants pictures taken of her whenever she sees the camera, here are a few that were ok,

Friday was a great day for the kids, Nathan and Brielle had a fun morning at preschool and made some cornflake fall trees,

Ty and Nathan both received the Remarkably Responsible awards at their school assembly in the afternoon, ( so even when the are bums at home they are doing great at school....)

Mikey worked so hard this week on his spelling and it paid off, he got a perfect mark on his test, so he was very happy today! After school we met the gang and went Apple picking, but the apples were pretty sad and we didn't find very many, Mikey was our finder and we were able to come home with a few, but it was fun anyways, the kids all like getting together with eachother and they all get along so well, we are lucky.

That night we had a great ward activity. It was a missionary activity with a Fiesta theme. We had about 200 people there and a ton of non members. There was dress up clothes for the kids,

and we had a potluck, which isn't my favorite, but there were some good things to eat. The kids got to hit a Pinata,

and then my fav, a family dance. It was so funny to watch our kids dance like crazy and we had Connor Martin going crazy with them, it was awesome. They are so funny and they do have the moves :)

On our way home we stopped in to Ryan Beaumonts Open house. He is leaving Tuesday to serve a mission in Hungery. It was nice to go and say good bye, plus we got there so late that most people had left so we were able to have some good conversations with family. They are such a great family and they kept saying how much our family reminded them of theirs ( They have 3 boys and then a girl too), I will have to get some tips from Linda and find out what she did to have their family stay so close, I hope my kids turn out great too, it's so hard to imagine them as young adults and missionaries.

This weekend was General Conference, we watched from home and it was a wonderful conference, and a lot of things I have been thinking about lately were talked on. That's what I love about Conference, inspired things are told to you, you hear what you need to hear. It increases my testimony and encourages me to be better, keeps me in check.

The Apple Barn

2010-10-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

This week was the usual stuff, except Ty started playing Basketball. He is playing in the Steve Nash League and of course it is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our Tuesdays are so busy but, he can go play for an hour before cubs and we will switch guitar to Wednesdays.

Thursday we had a preschool field trip to the Apple Barn. All week was beautiful fall weather, except Thursday afternoon, and it poured rain. The kids didn't seem to mind. Brielle loved the animals, the bunnies imparticular and Nathan just loved everything.

We were able to ride the hayride, but we couldn't jump on the big bouncy pillow, which was fine by me, one less injury :)

We saw how they make honey and learn able the apple trees and then we picked up some goodies at the store. It was another good trip there, plus Nathan had Thomas there, so it was even more fun!

The weekend was packed for the kids of fun things to do. On Friday Ty was invited to go on a boys camp out at Hicks Lake with the Martin family, which he loved and had so much fun. Tanner and I went out on a date with some friends to dinner and watched Jared and some other bands play. On Saturday Mikey went fishing with Joe. He loves to fish and Joe even had a fishing rod for him to have. The didn't have any luck with the fish but they had a great afternoon/evening together. We went to watch Tanner play soccer and then Ty went with him to ref a basketball game. Nathan went over to Cole's to play, which left Brielle and I alone for a girls night. It was so peaceful.

Back to Reality

2010-09-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

This week school was in full force and all the kids' classes and lessons started. We are all back into our schedules and so far so good.

Monday we spent Family Home evening at the dyke, under the Mission bridge, and went for a hike/walk and the kids had fun throwing rocks in the river and tried to learn how to skip rocks. We were there until it got dark and as we were leaving we saw the sturgeon fish jumping and flipping out of the water, that was pretty cool.

I went to visit Colette at the Hospital to see her new baby girl, it was so nice to hold a brand new baby, but it didn't make me want another one :) Both of them are doing great!

Tuesday is going to be our busy day again this year. Ty has Cubs, and has also started guitar lessons just before Cubs, while Mikey is doing gymnastics again on the same night as everything else. The driving around has begun :)

They both had their first lessons this week and both did very well.

Wednesday we had a nice evening at home and the homework has begun. Ty has the same teacher and she doesn't do a lot of homework, but he is now into the letter grades and his spelling counts for more. Ty is very lucky that he does so well in school and finishes his work in class, which means hardly any homework. He got his first spelling test back and got it perfect. I hope these good habits of his stick...

Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't walk very well, my back was out. I get so frustrated when this happens. I can deal with the pain, but I hate not being able to do what I want/need to do. So of course I still taught my 2 classes in the morning and then after I was coming down the stairs and I was done, couldn't stand up. So I stopped at the chiro and that made it a bit better. I spent the rest of the day walking like an old women. I made plans with Michelle earlier in the week to try Hot Yoga, and I was really pumped to try it and figured it would help my back. It is an 90 minutes of yoga and I usually do not like yoga, but I did love this. It was such a good work out and you can burn between 700 and 1200 calories doing it. I sweat a ton but, it felt so good and my back was doing much better after. I was pretty proud of myself, I was able to do almost everything, there was only 2 poses my back couldn't do. It was great.

Friday I woke up and my back was in serious pain and way worse then the day before, I saw the chiropractor again and it helped a tiny bit, but I tried to relax more today.

That night Nathan had a Pirate Party to go to, he has been so excited all week counting down the sleeps :)

He dressed up and and was ready to go. They made there own treasure boxes and played a bunch of Pirate games. Nate was the goalie for pirate soccer,

Every time they announced something they were going to do he would turn to me with his mouth wide open in excitement, he is so funny! He had so much fun and it was great to watch him, he is growing up fast!

The boys have been saving their paper money for some big purchases, and thanks to Craigslist, they were able to get them earlier than expected. Mikey got his iPod Shuffle and Ty got his iPod touch, ( he still owes a little more, but we figured he works so hard, he could get it early).

Saturday Tanner filmed his Glee contest video, and later we took the kids to ARC to try out some different clubs. I wanted to sign Nathan up this year to do Speed Skating, but after he tried it today, I won't be. He lasted about 7 minutes with his skates on. He tried, so I was happy he tried, but he was too scared and he didn't like wearing the skates. I am so glad we found that out first. Ty and Mikey liked skating for 45 minutes and then we checked out fencing, rugby, and they also got to see the actual Olympic medals. Tanner took the kids to play at the school for a bit and Ty went to Cole's for a sleepover and I did another Hot Yoga class. I still really liked it and my back is feeling really good because of it. After dinner we just relaxed, my back needed some lay down time so we hung out at home. Sarah came over, we played with the kids, and we watched a movie.

Today my back felt so much better, I could stand straight, thank goodness, prayer and yoga are a good combo! We went to church and after we went to Len and Elaine's for dinner. It was a lot of fun, the Ursaki clan was there and there was so much food. The kids were so excited to play with Jake, their dog and after dinner they hung out with Brian playing video games. Tanner and the men all went to a Priesthood meeting and the ladies all hung out and talked, it was a fun night. When it was time to go, the kids did not want to and they said they wanted to live there, haha, I am sure Brian and Michelle would have loved some more roomates!

Another first day of school!

2010-09-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Sept, 12, 2010

This week was back to school but we had to enjoy the last holiday before we went back. We spent Monday together with our friends at the wave pool and then went over to the Leavitts for some pizza and play. For FHE we had a good chat about the routine of school and the boys picked their chores. Tanner gave the boys their Father's Blessing and everyone was asleep by 8:30, including Ty. We had a great summer, and I love it, but I also like getting back into a routine and having the kids back in school. I don't like, however, waking up early. Every year I have the goal to become a morning person, I just don't know if I have it in me.

Tuesday, we were all up and doing our thing, The boys were super excited, I think Mikey said he was up at 4am....... They picked their clothes and were the most excited about there backpacks. Nathan, who isn't even starting htis year, did not take off his Mario Bros backpack all day! It was only a half day but the boys had a good day. We did papers right away and went to get some last minute supplies $$$$$. Tanner had a good first day as well. When I asked him he said it was good, and that was about all I got :)

Wednesday was the first full day and all was well. I started my JitterBugs classes and they went very well, September is busy for enrollment. I hired Sarah to watch the kids in the mornings while I have class, and I am so glad I did, so much less stress of getting them out of the house and dropping them off in the mornings. We met Cole and Steven at the park after school and that is always a fun . I have had some bumps lately with opening these new Wee Wigglers locations, so I was a little sidetracked this week with that and a little stressed, but by the end of the week, most of it has worked out with our Plan Bs.

I met the girls for Marcy's birthday dinner that night and that was a nice distraction from the stresses of the phone calls that day.

I actually couldn't believe how fast the week went by, Friday was a great day with the kids and Tanner had a practice for this "Glee" contest he and his teacher band are in and then he had a social with the teachers for dinner. I went out to Surrey for Ginny's baby shower/girls night and saw some old friends, it was great to catch up and hang out again. Saturday me and the kids were on our own for the day, Tanner had is basketball super clinic all day. I had my dance class that was a bit of a disaster, the kids were younger then usual and this one little girl kept getting hurt, running into other kids. It's actually intersting to see how some kids are totally not coordinated and how others are. I spent the rest morning cleaning the house. Brielle wasn't feeling very well and spent some time laying around and watching some movies. The boys played outside, it was beautiful, some friends took Ty to the BMX track, which he loved and then later they met Cole at the park. Sarah came and brought me some sushi for dinner, and later we took the kids for slurpees and walked around Mill Lake and played at the park. It was a good day. A lot was accomplished and we took advantage of the nice fall weather. Tanner was home earlier then I thought and we vegged with a movie.

Today was interesting, Tanner was released from Young Men's and called by the Stake to be the Assistanty Ward Clerk, dealing with the finances. It was interesting to me because when he was being asked by the stake president I felt the spirit so strong that it making me teary, and it surprised me considering the calling. I know that every calling is inportant, but I was surprised I was getting so emotional about this one. And then today when he was getting set apart, I was teary again. I know it was the sprirt and plus Pres. Collingridge gave him such an amazing blessing and promised him a lot of blessing, it was just that it was an interesting experience. There is some mixed amotions for Tanner. He is excited for the change and he is willing to serve, no matter what, but he has been in Young Mens for almost our whole marriage and this stint was for 6 yrs. It will be wierd not having him go to mutual every week. But he didn't get home until 4pm today so I guess it's still his time just on a different day :) He will do really well at it, he always does well.

Kennewick

2010-09-05T22:28:00.001-07:00

August, 29th, 2010

We went to Kennewick this weekend for our annual trip to visit Tanner's Grandpa and Grandma. We had a great drive down, it went so fast. We got there around dinner and we had some burgers and Tanner cut the grass.

The kids were having fun swimming, and playing with Ginger,

Sarah is adopting a sweet little boy named Benjamyn who has Spinal Bifeda, he gets around in a Power wheel, and the kids loved to ride around in it.

We spent Friday shopping for school clothes and shoes, and hanging at the house. We swam, and played bocce.

Saturday Cam. Maren and the kids came and we had a big breakfast, and we headed over to the County Fair. The kids played so well together and Kayley and Nathan loved each other right away.

We played in the Kids Zone and watched a Magic Show, where Ty was called up to help.

Peyton rode the Bull :)

We walked through a petting zoo,

And watched the Diving dog show while eating cotton candy and elephant ears, yum!

After all that we headed home for more pool fun. Crazy Uncle Cam took the kids on a drive in Grandpa's golf cart, and we had some delicious steaks for dinner.

Sunday we went to church and all helped with a fantastic roast dinner, Tanner made the gravy, Brielle made funny faces, and the boys set the table. Grandpa and Grandma took care of the rest.

We took some pictures, it was funny because the girls had matching dresses and we had no idea until we got there,

and then we were off for a LONG drive home. It did not go fast at all. But the trip was well worth it, I love going there.

Golden Ears

2010-09-05T22:13:00.001-07:00

We took the kids for a hike up in Golden Ears

We walked around for a while and discovered big rocks and trees. The kids liked to climb the giant rocks

Mikey likes to go off the path and find new things. He did that too often and I was getting worried he would fall of the side of a cliff or touch poison ivy or stinging knettle. He is just so curious.

We went to the water and sat in the rocks and had a snack.

Of course Tanner has to start jumping rocks and so the boys follow. They found a nice little pond of water to play in , and throw rocks.

Mikey and Ty went out in the middle of the river and were sitting on the rock, so Tanner had to throw boulders to splash them.

It was a great day and the kids were great. oF course the day wouldn't be complete if someone didn't step in Dog POO! Thanks Micheal for that.

The Little things we do

2010-09-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

So here are some more highlights of the summer.

We took the kids a few times to an indoor playplace called Captin Kids. It has some fun slides and obsticles for them to play in, perfect for those raining days. We are realizing that Brielle is a total dare devil. She loves the super fast slides and swinging really high on the swing.

Mikey finally lost his snaggle tooth and we were all REALLY happy. I can't believe how this kid just pulls his own teeth out, gross. I am glad he does it so I don't have to touch it.

Nathan finished up his Cooking Classes, he loved them. He definitely has the Cervo cooking Gene, like all the men in the family. He was always so excited to go, he just loves to cook!

We went to Birchwood Dairy for Ice Cream

and to top off the summer, a trip to the Dentist :)

It was Brielle's first time, and even though the picture makes her look drugged up, she wasn't, and she actually did very well. I'm glad Ty took a picture, because while she was having her check up I was having my teeth done in the other room. Ty and Mike had a cavity but they handled it like champs :)

I enjoyed a relaxing girls night, Fish and Chips in White Rock and spent the rest of the evening sitting at Cresent Beach. It is so nice to go to the beach with out kids sometimes. I find the beach relaxing anyways, but to not be on watch constantly was nice.

2010-08-22T15:24:00.001-07:00

August 22nd, 2010

Last weekend was really fun. We were able to go through the temple with Erin and spend some time with Tanner's extended family. Then Erin and Scott were married in the Temple. It was a full day. The kids came to the wedding and then we headed over to White Rock to have a luncheon at the Terry's. It was great to see the family and meet Scott's family. The house was beautiful and the food was delish. The boys were in heaven downstairs, playing Wii and air hockey. They did learn a good lesson though. They were told not to go on the treadmill and they decided not to listen. It got going too fast and Tyler fell and got stuck between the treadmill and the wall. His arm and leg were burned up pretty bad, it was gross! The boys felt pretty bad about not listening and I hope that they will learn that we don't tell them things to be mean, but to keep them safe. So that was exciting but we all handled it well, and Ty was a trooper, he was very tough even though it was so sensitive throught the week. We took the kids home to a babysitter and Tanner and I went back out to Langley for the reception. It was a great reception, the speeches were short and entertaining,the food was so good. Cindy and Tanner made a cute video on the kids answering questions about marriage. That was really funny, Nathan thought they should name their baby "Blade", Ty thought they should go to "Red Robin" for their honeymoon. Cole couldn't remember Erin and Scott's names and Mikey thought they should "Kiss lots". It was awesome.

The next morning we met Michelle before church for a family photo shoot at the park. We went to a park in Fort Langley, and we had a blast with her as usual. She had a videographer with her as well to make a video of her taking the pictures for her blog. The pictures and video turned out awesome.

This week Tanner was teaching at a Basketball camp all week and he refed some games. We had playdates and I had a girls night at the beach with the girls. Grandma had the kids over for a sleepover, they made a a bunch of crafts and slept on the big comfy couch. The big exciting news for me this week was that Keri-Ellen came out this week so we can open 6 new MUSIGO locations in the Lower Mainland. This project has kept me busy over the past few weeks, but we have been go go go all week. Meeting with studios, instructors, writing press releases and marketing. We spent the day in Vancouver meeting with Bobs and Lolo and then we did a class in the park in Port Moody. After we did all our meetings we took the kids to Stanley Park for the evening and Tanner met us there and we played. The kids got some baloons animals from a crazy man..... and we played in the splash park. We went out for dinner and they fell asleep on the way home. It was a beautiful and productive day.

Saturday was a good work day. It was nice to have Tanner home to have the kids and Keri and I could get everything else together. We had the kids help but all the kits together, that was fun :)

Saturday night I was able to pay attention to Tanner, we went to the Michael Buble concert that he got for my birthday. It was an amazing. He had Naturally 7 as the opening act. They were so good, they are an accapella group that sing the instruments. They were so good that you forget they don't have instruments. Michael Buble was so great. I loved it.

Today was a no work, just a relaxing Sabbath day. It was nice to go to church, hang out, play some games and go for a nice walk.

summer, it's going by FAST!

2010-08-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

August 8, 2010

The past couple weeks have been filled with lots of summer fun, and this is the problem with bit staying current with the blog, I am forgetting what we are doing. Thank goodness I have pictures to remember.

The weather has been great and we have done some beach days, some spray park days, we went to the pool and hung out with friends. Lots of playdates and sleepovers. There have been lots of times when the kids complain that theyare bored 5 minutes we have just done something, so keeping them entertained is a full time job and the fighting with being bored can get pretty annoying. We have had some quiet days around the house. I had girls camp and Tanner has had some basketball.

We picked up one afternoon and Tanner took us to a surprise destination, Othello Tunnels. I had never heard of it, but it is Beautiful! It isabout anhour away and there are waterfalls and old tunnels and paths to walk through. We ended it with the kids playing in the cold clear water and throwing rocks. Nathan ended up falling in and getting soaked but he didn't care, we all had a great time.

Ty had his last tournament if the season and then the last game. The tourny was great, they came second. Ty was disappointed that he didn't get a chance to pitch but he played 3rd base and had an amazing catch that ended the inning with no runs in. It was very exciting. I literally jumped up and was cheering like mad. It wasn't just a pop fly, it was hit hard and straight, and he jumped and snagged it, I was really proud of him. In the last game, Ty pitched and did a good job and he had a lot of great hits. He improved so much this season. It was just hard for him to play on Sundays. I want him to be able to play on these teams, but I don't know if he can if they are on Sunday's. I want him to make the choice when he is old enough, but right now Tanner and I make the choice for him and it's tough, I still don't know what I think about it 100%. It is easy to rationalize it, but I also know that good things can come out of it aswell. That is why prayer is so important in these matters and I need my answer to come from Heavenly Father. Sometimes I think I already know the answer.

Brielle and I went to Erin's Bridal shower one night, and that was fun.

Auntie Elaine gave the kids cake and I was dumb and let Brielle hold her piece in the van. And surprise, she made a huge mess!

Tanner surprised me with an amzing date. He got us tickets to Cirque Du Soliel. It was the Kooza show and we loved it.

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend, and that he likes to give me these awesome surprizes. We love this stuff and it was worth every penny.

Tanner got a FIBA assignment through Canada Basketball to ref the Mens Canada vs China game.

Tyler and I went to watch. We had great center court tickets, plus it was cool to go in the back way of Rogers Area and see where the Canucks go and go to our seats from the floor level. The game was pretty good and Tanner did a great job of course. We took Ty to Granville Island for dinner with some other refs and he was talking everyone's ear off, it was funny.

We spent some other hot days at Grandma and Grandpa's playing on their slip and slide. Uncle Jeff is good for some slip and slide fun.

Uh Oh.....Brielle the make up Artist :P

2010-07-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

July 18th, 2010

This summer is Here and the weather has been nice and sunny, I am loving it. I have to admit that I don't like just hanging out, I want to dostuff and this week we did some stuff, but by the end of the week Tanner was refing and I felt a little house bound in the evenings.

This week we went for walks and to the park. Ty had his baseball practices and one game that just he and I went to in Vancouver. It was really nice to just watch him play with out distractions, we had a fun night together. We walked down to the Old Clayburn Candy Store. It took us a little while, but the kids were so excited when we got there and saw all the cool candy.

They picked out their stuff and we walked back home. Ty picked out some Goldmine Gum, Mikey picked out some Razzles, and Nate picked out these little pop cans with fizzy candies inside.

Tanner got them each an old fashioned sucker to have for the walk back, he and Brielle has a little sword fight with there sticks :)

Once we got home we had some fun with the slide and hose in the backyard to cool off.

On Friday night Tanner left to ref the Dolphin Park 3 on 3 tournament in Richmond. Tyler had been picked up for baseball practice for the evening, I was laying on the couch for a bit, and the kids were in the backyard playing. I went out to check on them and this is what was happening....

Brielle had gotten my lip gloss from my purse (she is sneeky) and coloured her face and then went after the boys. I caught her putting it on Nathan, and he wasn't complaining, I think he enjoyed it! I thought it was so funny how careful and meticulous she was bring about it. So I had to capture it on film, I wish I had taken a video, it was so funny.

and then it was Mikey's turn of course. The only downfall was it was kind of hard to get off, especially in the ears :)

The rest of the night was all the same old stuff, bugging for snacks and not going to bed well. Brielle kept waking up every hour and have night terrors, I think, that was NOT fun.

Tanner had to be up and out early Saturday morning to ref in Richmond again, but he was home by lunch time. We spent the afternoon Blueberry picking.

Dan, Krista and the kids met us at this awesome farm and we picked 25 pounds of delicious blueberries. The boys went back and played with Cole and Steven and we went home to make dinner before Tanner had to go ref a Canada Women,s game against Chile. When he came home we went out on a date :)

Today at church Brielle had to go to the washroom so I followed her out even though she wanted to go by herself. She then took off running, down the hall, I was in high heel and could not run after her. But then I couldn't find her. I looked up and down the halls in the bathrooms and nothing. I was ready to kill. I finally heard her little singing voice in the mens washroom. I get her out and spanked her bum, I was so ticked off, she runs off too much and then just smiles at me when I get her. She didn't like the spank but it didn't mean much, because when she was in nursery she some how got out and took off and the Leader was chasing her down the hall. She, Connie, was telling me this and how Brielle is so fast and was weaving through all the people. Connie was laughing about it but it took her some work to catch her. Man, this girl better so be some kind of track star when she's older to make all this worth it! She is so tiring, she's lucky we love her so much.

The sunshine is finally HERE!

2010-07-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

July 11th, 2010

Thank goodness summer has arrived, I am so happy. This first week was spent outside and we have the suntans, some have the burns, to prove it.

Monday night we went with Tanner to UFV where he refed the Team Canada women's team. They were having some scrimages with an Abby high school so we went with the Leavitt's and watched. The kids lost interest after the first 90 minutes so Irene and I took them outside to have a big game of tag. They found soem bunnies and chased them all over the place too. After the game Nathan and Alyssa were the only brave one's to go up to the team and give high fives, it was very cute. After we went back to Leavitts for Ice cream and some patio relaxation. The kids just played, it was great.

Tuesday we went to the spray park for a couple hours in the morning, it was really hot that day, it was fun but it was crazy busy, everyone in Abbotsford had the same idea that day. Ty had a baseball practice in the afternoon and the boys had some friends over. Later that night we went to watch Tanner play soccer. The boys just played with all the kids but Brielle wasn't so easy. She was running to the sand box, then to walk along the retaining wall, then to the park. But the best part was when she tried to pee in the bushes "like guys" and I didn't get to her in time. I couldn't figure out what she was doing and then I saw her pants around her ankles. She peed, but because she isn't a boy, it went all over her shorts, urgh. And then once I got the pants off her, she booked it naked towards the field, laughing! Seriousily, the girl is a handful. Once I took her to the van for new clothes she was pretty good.

Wednesday I had my first morning of JitterBugs camp, and it went great, dispite 1 little thing. The studio got new locks and forgot to give me a new key. After frantically calling around finally got a hold of someone. Classes started a little late, but everyone was good about it. I had 10 little girls and it was awesome. I am so grateful for how well this business has gone, I really feel that Heavenly Father is helping me, and creating opportunities for me and I am so thankful.

It was a really hot day and I really wanted Mikey to learn how to ride his 2 wheeler.He has had the bike for 2 years and we took the training wheels off last spring. Mikey just gives up too fast and he whines and cries, but I had enough and he was learning TODAY! So after 2 hours and a lot of sweat and tears, ( I was getting to be a drill sergent, I was so frustrated it took everything in me to stay patient), he finally did it. He would stop pedalling when he would get nervous and then fall/jump off the bike. But he worked through it and now he is a fantastic bike rider. We are both really really happy!

Later that night Ty had a game and he played so well, he is hitting well and he is very consistant. Grandma and Grandpa came to the game tonight, it was nice for them to come out and support Ty and the kids were pretty excited to see them, Brielle did not like it when they left, she really wanted to go in their car and play Grandma's itouch :)

Thursday was Nathan's first day in his Lil Chef's class. He loves to cook and bake with us, so I enrolled him in a class at the ARC. He was so cute and excited to do it and to be on his own with me, it was really sweet to see him. He was also so well behaved, sat patiently for his turn, used his manners, and listend so well, he was awesome. When we got home we headed straight out for the beach. We meet up with a bunch of friends and played for the rest of the day. It was the hottest day of the week, so it was perfect. The boys were all over the place having a blast, it was so easy. Brielle was even easy, she just went from sand to water, she isn't as hyper about the water as she was last year and that made it easy. We came home for dinner and since it was to hot to sleep we let the kids stay up and watch Alice in Wonderland with us. We all really liked it.

Friday we got papers done pretty early before the heat got bad. I am really proud of the boys, they have had this route for 2 years now and have worked hard. There have been a few complaints but overall they have all done well. They were rewarded today, Jenna invited us to come over fro a swim. Mikey was so excited to play with Ryan and Alyssa took care of Brielle :) It reminded me how nice it is to have a pool in your backyard, not that I forgot, but I would love to have one when we have a house :) Tanner was awesome and played with all the kids while Jenna and I hung out and laid in the sun. The kids love to play with him and get thrown around in the pool by him. Nathan got brave by the end and was going in without Tanner holding him. He had his floaty wetsuit, but he doesn't like to go in if he can't touch. Brielle on the other hand would NOT go in, who knows what that was about????

This weekend we were across the border in Lyden for a baseball tournament. It was long but it was fun. Ty's team got whooped by the American teams, but the learned a lot and Ty pitched some innings. I was really nervous for him, he hadn't pitched yet and the coach just put him in. But Ty did really well. I was a pretty proud momma. Today Tanner took him be himself and I took the other kids to church. I guess the coach had him pitching again and he did well. He had lots of stories to tell when he got home, both him and Tanner were a bit sunburned and tired from the day. I made some banana bread and Brielle and Nathan were right there to help. While I was getting the loaf pan out I heard a boom and looked up to see that Nathan, trying to stir the bowl some more, dropped it smack on the floor. It landed upright, but it made the mix splash back up and it got all over his head, face, pants , and the cupboards. Brielle had her hands over her mouth in shock, and her eyes were bugged out a bit and Nathan had a look of terror on his face. It was the funniest thing EVER!! I had to cover my mouth so he couldn't see me laughing, because now he was crying. Their expressions were so funny and the mix all over him was priceless. Once I composed myself and I calmed and cleaned Nate, I told him that he shouldn't have been touching the bowl, but it was ok. It was so funny, and we still had lots of yummy banana bread to eat.

July 5th, 2010

2010-07-05T14:21:00.001-07:00

It has been a whirl wind of stuff happening these past couple weeks with school ended and summer beginning. The last week was full of parties and Sports day and the Talent show.

Tyler sang a solo in the school's Talent show and was so awesome, even though the mic was too high and we couldn't see his face. He has a great voice and he knew all the words, he sang "Fireflies" By the Owls. He looked so cute up there in front of the whole school. He said he was a bit nervous, but it didn't show in his singing, just a bit in his body language, hand in pockets the whole time :)

The boys had their Sports day and we went to watch and Nateand Jesse manned the Preschool's Lemonade Stand.

Brielle was in and out in doing what she loves the most, being the BINGO caller with the other kids and out making a mess with the sidewalk chalk!

The weather was perfect and we had a fun day. Mikey's team even won the tug of war, he was so happy about that!

We had both Strong Start (preschool) BBQs at Mill Lake this year. It was the usual fun with bouncy castles, treats, clowns and magic, and lotsof friends to go crazy with :)

The boys had another great year at school. Tanner and I are both so proud of them and their fantastic report cards. They are both very smart boys and are speaking french very well. Both teacher commented on how well they speak. We like to take them out for dinner to Red Robins for their hard work all year :)

Tanner had a great year aswell and the end was bittersweet. He had a lot of students shedding tears and not wanting to leave. Even the next day when school was done but, Tanner has meetings and stuff at the school, I went to pick him up and saw a group of girls that came for a visit and were already missing him. It's so funny, but he is a great teacher :)

I also had my little treat at the end of the year. Our girls night out to the movies to see Eclipse!!!! We get pretty excited and there were about 14 of us this year. It was awesome.

We had a great FHE, Uncle Kyle was in town visiting for the week, so we had him for dinner and the evening. We met up later with the Leavitts. It started as a school tour for Erikka and ended with a flip feast in the gym on all the mats. The kids were all taking turns to show there stuff, jumping off the spring board and onto the giant mats, we also played some floor hockey and basketball. It was pretty funny, I wish I had my camera.

Canada Day came really fast with school ending so later this year. We spent the morning at Heritage Park. I did a stage show for JitterBugs,

that went very well, and then we spent the rest of the time checking out the festivites, we did Hay rides and Pony rides, watched the dog show and walked around. The weather turned sour so we left and got the kids some movies and spent the day together.

The rest of the weekend was low key, Tanner refed some games we went on a nice date, and then we had Ty's baseball and a goodbye to Kyle on Sunday. I am just hoping that summer can finally come with some good weather, the rain and gloomy sky is driving me nutty, and I really think it has an effect on the kids too. I just want to lounge at the BEACH!

Such a great weekend!!!

2010-06-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

June 20th, 2010

This was a pretty great weekend. Friday was a a beautiful sunny day and my 31st birthday. During the day I went with Mikey's class tot he Zoo. It was a fun day and it was nice to be with Mikey, and we saw a lot of animals. We saw the Birds of Prey show, and the Lion and Tiger feeding. Mikey's favorite part was the lions and the monkey's and the wolves. I had his two little friends, Jackson and Nickolas, in our group and it was awesome.

Once we came home a did papers, Tanner had to do a favor for his parents and he was bringing home dinner for the kids. Once he came home we got ready to go out for dinner. While we were out we got a call from Sarah telling us that Brielle wouldn't stop crying. She was crying when we left, which isn't like her and I had been gone all day, so it seemed legit. We brought home some birthday cake to eat with the kids and I was fine with the fact that dinner might not happen, and we spend my birthday at home. I walked in and past the playroom and while I was checking in with Sarah, I heard "SURPRISE!!!". I didn't even see everyone hiding in the playroom. Tanner did really good. We all had a great time and I was so happy to have everyone over. I love having a full house and being around a bunch of people. I was feeling very loved and very impressed by Tanner, he did so good, then tot op it off, he also gave me 2 tickets to Micheal Buble, that was an amazing gift, I'm so excited.

Everyone stayed pretty late and the kids had a late night but we were up early the next morning to go to Playland with Tanner and the Leadership kids from the school. We were their for the day and it was a blast, another sunny day, the weather was perfect. Tyler could go on everything and he did. He loved the Hellavater!

I hope all the kids love rides like Tanner and I. We know Ty does, and Brielle right now is a daredevil. It was hard to keep her off of things. She was only tall enough for a few rides, but we road the Extreme Slide and Honey Bee Express a million times. Brielle loved it and would shout out " Whoo Hoo" like she was on a scary ride. it was so funny.

Mikey likes the rides but was a little too short and couldn't go on everything he wanted too, that was hard. But he liked the wooden roller coaster.

Nathan was brave at the start and went on the Log Ride. He was in tears mid way but was courageous and did it! ( not that he had much of a choice :) He was scared, but hopefully with age he will love it like the rest of us. He loved all the other rides he could go on, so that is promising.

We met up with the Fritz's and that was awesome. The kids all went on rides together, and when Mikey needed somene to go on the Scrambler for the 5th time ( I cannot do spinny rides) Kirsty went with him :)

We had a great day together and , of course, cannot forget the Cotton Candy!

On the way home Mikey and Nate got a hold of the camera and took a ton of pictures, some were pretty good, lots were of nothing, but they had fun :)

By the time we got home, we had enough time to relax for a bit before we went out for dinner with Amberlee for her birthday. It was more fun with our friends, of course, and we came home and went to bed... no we didn't, even though we were so tired, we chatted with Sarah about her love life and then finally went to bed. Tanner and I don't know how to go to bed early, we want to, we plan to, we just don't do it.

Today was Father's Day and the kids helped me make breakfast in bed for Tanner. They all were so excited to give him their gifts :Tyler made a card and painted rocks, Mikey made a framed poem he wrote himself, Nathan made a foot print picture for him, and we all gave him a new tie and a England soccer t-shirt. He was pretty spoiled :) He deserves it, he is such a good dad. He brings a lot of fun and laughs to our family and he takes really good care of us. I felt so loved this weekend and I am so grateful to have him in my life.

We had a usual day at church, Brielle was her noisy self in sacrament, and then we had a family BBQ at Cervo's for Father's Day. I talked with my dad for a bit, I was also able to catch up with my mom, I found out that my grandpa has dementia (sp?) That was sad to hear. We aren't surprised but it is so sad to see what happens when you get old. He is 86, but I find this stuff hard. I haven't had a lot of experience with death and I see that, for my grandparents, it could be in the next few years. Plus losing your memories is so hard for the people taking care of you. I worry about my grandma and my mom. I guess it could be worse, he could be in pain or really sick. It just wasn't the best news. I am grateful that they have both lived a full and happy life and that are ready for the next life.

I am looking forward to bedtime, the boys have been a little hyper today, too much excitement this weekend. It was so much fun.

2010-06-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 12th, 2010

Again it has been a couple of weeks since I have written, and I hate that. I have finally got a good routine for writing a family journal and I really don't want to get lazy. But I will catch up and get into this week of fun :) There are a lot of things I have forgotten already, but I will try my best.

The van is great, we love it, we got way more money from ICBC, then we were expecting for the old van so that was happy news, but the only not so good thing is that my neck is starting to hurt. I saw my Chiropractor a couple weeks ago and he did say I had whip lash. It is manageable but it does suck.

Over the past couple weeks our evenings have been taken up a few particular things. Soccer, baseball and the temple. All good and fun things but that is what we have been busy with. Tanner has had 2 soccer games a week lately which has been really fun. He has played at a few really nice parks where the kids have been loving the outside time and with the weather being so on and off, we take every minute of it. I really like going to Tanner's games and we make it a point to go. We have our friends and soccer friends there, plus, I think it's really important to support one another. Tanner has played soccer our whole marriage and I can honestly say that I love going to watch, it helps that I love soccer too. We have also been going to Ty's playoff baseball games . He did really well, Ty is great at batting and has had some amazing hits. His pitching needs some help, since he pegged 2 batters last game, but for it being the first year pitching to each other,all the kids did well. He is taking after his dad and enjoying back catcher aswell.

I had a sweet experience with the kids at baseball the other night. Tyler's team was up to bat and Ty had already run his bases and come home and was waiting on the bench. The other3 kids were playing in the grass area and Brielle came over crying. When she saw Ty, she went to him first. I was watching and listening and could hear that some kids werehitting her. Ty gave her a hug and sent her to me and he dissappeared. She then told me that some kids were hitting her with sticks. I didn't know these kids so I made sure she was ok and told her to just play with Mikey and Nathan. She was fine and went over with them and itwas done. After the game I asked Tyler what happened with Brielle. He just said what I had over heard and then he calmly and plainly said, he went over to those boys ( who were around 4-5) and said "that they were not to hit his sister again and if they did he was going to pick up the stick and hit them with it. He didn't care if they told there parents, because them hitting his sister was not allowed and he was giving them awarning".

I was so proud of him. He was being protective and taking care of business. I didn't ask him to, he didn't even know I saw him talking to Brielle, he wanted to take care of his sister and Brielle trusts him to do that. She will go to him a lot when she's upsetabout something. He wasn't angry he was just telling them how it is. I thoughtit was awesome.

Tanner and I have been fortunate to be able to go to the temple often since it has opened. We are making a goal to go at least twice a month together. We are lucky to have Sarah who is willing to help us out so we can go. I love it there. It is actuallyhard to get up off the couch in the Celestial room to go home, it is already so familiar and it feels so comfortable, and peaceful. Going for ice cream after helps with my motivation :)

Mikey has lost another tooth. It grosses me out so much to see wiggley teeth. I can't believe that he just yanks them out himself. Mike is pretty proud of himself too.

June is so busy with all the wind up's of everything. We had a BBQ with cubs and that was such a fun night. We were all down at the Matsqui trails, it was a beautiful night and the kids had a blast just playing and eating with all their buddies.

Brielle had fun playing wiht Uncle Len and she became the marshmallow Nazi. She got a hold of the bag somehow and became the one who handed them out to everyone, it was funny.

We have been working on Tyler's badges and I was doing a cooking kind of one. Tanner had to run out for a couple minutes and since we were having hamburgers for dinner I thought I would show Ty how the BBQ worked. When we lit it...... whoosh! It blew out a huge flame and it freaked Ty totally out. I was laughing so hard at his reaction and what had just happened. It was so funny and I also knew that that happens some times. When he finally relaxed I was able to see that his hair was totally singed. I was showing him in the mirrior that everything was ok and that his hair just singed and he would just get a hair cut, thenI saw MY HAIR! My hair was singed too. I was no longer worried about poor Ty, he was fine, but the damage to my own hair. It looked like I just rolled in a bunch of brown crispy leaves. I have to admit that through the laughing I was freaking out a bit. But luckyfor me once Iwashed it and styled it like I usually do, you can't even notice. At around 11pm thatnight, I didhave the thoughts of, wow, I guess that could have been really dangerous, and I was really grateful that no one was hurt. I hate when you go to bed and you have the mental images of what could have happened. I felt bad but at the same time, because nothing bad did happen, it was really funny. I am aweful.

We had a fun night together last Friday. We wanted to go swimming at the wave pool. Swimming is the best activity for our family, everyone loves it and it's pretty easy. I called some friends and invited their families and some friends from school. I wasn't sure who would come on short notice, but there was a bunch of us there. We all had a blast. Saturday we had a fun afternoon at Mill Lake, there was a event that the Police put on with Bouncy castles and face painting. We did some mini golf and Ty was able to climb the rock wall.

Sunday we were able to go watch Dance in Motion's year end show. It was fabulous as usual and it is so much fun, I love dance. I was really hoping it wouldn't be on a Sunday but they like for me to come and Tanner had so many students dancing who invited him as well, that we felt it was important to go.

This weekend I was able to leave for a couple days to go with my girls up to Whistler. Colette is able to get a family time share for cheap, so we went for 2 nights. The five of us had so much fun shopping, sitting by the pool, (Saturday was beautiful I even got a sunburn), and staying up all night talking. We went for a great dinner and just enjoyed hanging out. I was also able to find the Olympic/ Whistler Christmas ornament I was looking for last time I was there. It was restful and laid back and just so great.

Tanner and the kids were busy at home, they had the school's end of the year BBQ. Mikey loves the face paint :)

and Tyler had AJ sleep over after. Saturday was the last baseball game and Tanner had a game to ref that night. We left early enough this morning to get back in time for church. About 2 minutes after I sat down Brielle ate a chocolate almond from my purse, chewed it and then spat it all back in my hand, all I could think was : Welcome back to reality :)

I brought the kids home a little treat that I thought was just a Xmen sucker, but to all our excitement there was an actual Xmen toy inside the sucker. That kept the boys so happy for all of sacrament. They were licking those things fast to get to that toy. They were awesome.

I love going out and having time with friends but I am always happy to come home to my family. They had so much fun with dad and I got to hear their weekend stories. I love them so much, I am very blessed.

Playing catch up

2010-05-30T13:12:00.001-07:00

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

It has been two weeks since I have written , so this is catch up. Two weeks ago Tanner left on his week trip to Quebec with his Grade 8 classes. The trip was another success and everyone had a great time. This year they tried something new, and it ended up being Tanner's favorite activity. They went Jet Boating. All 80 of them fit onto one jet boat and splashed around on the St Laurence river. Tanner had 3 rainsuits on and was still soaked, but like I said, he loved it.

My week at home went really well. The kids were pretty good and the week was packed with things to do. Tuesday and Wednesday nights I was able to escape and be at the temple. Tuesday I went with the youth for baptisms, it was such a great night. We had a large group, the first the temple has seen, but the kids were amazing and there was a lot of adults to help. It was a late night for me and the kids. I was very lucky to have Kirsty watch the kids for me, they had so much fun playing with their kids, as usual.

Wednesday I went with my girlfriends for our girls night. It is such a blessing to have the temple so close and be able to go on a week night together. It's also great to share these spiritual experiences with each other. It was a really nice night, and I appreciated another night off, but this time I didn't have to put the kids to bed, Sarah was at our place this time.

Thursday Mikey had gymanastics and then we went over to the school for the boy's Literacy Night.

Mikey put on a great little play and then over to Ty's class for a movie and some story writing. Ty showed me some of his work and I was really impressed with how neat his penmanship is. The night was fun but a little challanging for me. being on my own. I wanted to give the boy's the proper attention they deserved for their hard work, but I still had the younger two to keep an eye on. Nate was pretty good, but Brielle is way to playful and wants to run everywhere I don't want her to. She was a handful. And to make things even easier, we were leaving the school to walk back to the van and Mikey was running and had a major wipe out. cutting both his knees and crying a lot. Brielle doesn't sit in a stroller, so it was hard to take care of him and keep Brielle from running down the side walk, or the busy street. It was a stressful moment for me, but Mikey was so good about it and once we were home he felt better. These are the times it is hard and I feel bad for not having 5 arms.

Friday was a good day, until I was on my way to pick the boys up from school and I got into a car accident. I was at a stop sign turning left. I was therefor awhile waiting for it to be clear. I thought it was and the car in the lane I was turning into was letting me in, so I went, and was t-boned on my drivers side. I don't know where this guy came from, but it was my fault. Everyone was fine, thank goodness, my door was dented and his bumper was smashed. I was in tears, I haven't been in an accident before and I was feeling a little overwhelmed and in shock of what had just happened. I thought it was just my door that was damaged, so after we cleared things up with the other guy, I picked up the boys, late,and we went to do papers. On the last street and man asked me if I knew my wheel was totally bent in?I looked at it and noticed that the damage was alot worse. I went home, called ICBC and got that sorted out. Dropped the kids off at grandma and grandpa's, Ty at baseball, and then took the van to the shop. There they told my that I should not have been driving it, oops, and that it will be a write off.

I couldn't decide if this was a good thing or not. The van was old and needed a lot of things fixed on it, and we were planning on getting a new van this summer. I just hated that this was my fault and I had to pay the deductable. I had a very teary afternoon, and I was lucky, very lucky to get a rental van at 5:30 pm on a Friday of a long weekend. I called Tanner and gave him the bad news. He, of course, was amazing and very sweet about it. He wasn't mad or frustrated, he was happy we were all ok and was sad he wasn't home to help me. But, him being so understanding was the biggest help of all. I knew that when I called him that he wouldn't be mad, but I still felt so bad that I screwed up. We finally got home around 7 and had dinner, pizza, I didn't care we just needed to eat. The rest of the night I wasn't feeling the greatest, but by Saturday I was feeling much better. We picked up Tanner and then we came home to get ready to drive out to Harrison for Katelynn's wedding. It was beautiful and a really nice night.

Sunday we were able to pick up my parents for their week long visit. The kids made a big banner to welcome them (my camera was dead so I will add pictures for this week later when my dad emails them to me :)).

It is always exciting when my parents come and we were very happy to have them. Of course the van thing made it a little difficult, since we had to find a buy a nice one this week. Sunday we had a nice dinner at Tanner's parents and then some relax time at home. Monday we went out for breakfast and then the guys went golfing while my mom and I took the kids grocery shopping...FUN. Tuesday we all went to temple, again, a great experience, and we were able to have a laugh at my dad's expense :) . Wednesday Ty got out of school for the afternoon so he and and my dad could go to the movies just the two of them. Tanner went to Mouat's convocation to see all his past students graduate.

The rest of us went to see Shrek 4 in 3D. I actually really liked it, it was very funny. And the kids, of course, liked it too. Thursday Tanner took the day off and we hung out in the morning, my parentas came to my JitterBugs class to see what I do. My dad came down with a flu or something and just felt awful, so my mom stayed home with the kids and Tanner and I went van shopping. We were trying to find more of a crossover, but found that they had no trunk room. We found some other vans that were nice, but I didn't want to spend so much on a van. We finally found a 2006 silver Montana with only 50000 clicks and it was in great shape for a great price. Friday, we sealed the deal and I am so happy to have that stress dealt with. Friday morning we were able to go to the boy's school assembly. Mikey was getting his Sternersen Star award for " his dilligence in speaking French", and Ty's class did a presentation on the June virtue of Perseverence. He memorized some quotes and told them to the school and they all sang a song. It was very good and I was glad to go and see both of them in the same day. Later, we said good bye to my parents. The trip was way to short and it was a bit chaotic with everything going on. My dad was still sick but they made it home alright. It was a fun visit. Later we went over to see Sarah and Ryan for prom. They looked awesome.

We took the kids out to Red Robin to celebrate the new van. The kids love Red Robin and being a hamburger and fries kind of girl, me and Tanner were very happy there too. Ty had a birthday party, and we had a nice walk home together. Once the kids were tucked in their beds, Tanner went and played hockey with the guys, and I started a new book .

Saturday was a long rainy day. Ty had his league baseball skills competition and BBQ that only he and Tanner went to thanks to the rain. He got 2 second place awards for throwing and hitting.

I was able to start the big clean of the house ( went through all the kids clothes) and when Tanner came home he helped me finish. Tanner went to give some ref training and Sarah came over to tell me all about Prom, she had a great night. Brielle was being so funny , walking around in her sunglasses and summer hat, putting on my lip gloss and then putting it on me. I painted her toe and finger nails and she was insistant on what colours she wanted on both. Pink on the toes and clear sparkle on the fingers. She is so into all that stuff, it was cute. She is also into going on the potty. She has been telling when she has to go all day and she even has gone on sat all by herself and went. I am really hoping that this is the real thing and I can be done with diapers!!!!! I don't want to jinx myself though :)

It was nice to finish the night watching 30 Rock cuddled with Tanner, that show is so funny.

Today if stopped raining for a bit so after church we met up with the Olsons and had some fun at Mill Lake. Tyler of course stepped in some goose poo, and it started to rain on us a bit while we were half way on the walking path, but it was still lots of fun and it was so nice just to be outside and getting fresh air. Tanner BBQed a delicious steak dinner and the night was done, and tomorrow it starts again :)

Crazy Saturday

2010-05-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

This week was pretty standard. I took some pictures of the kids at preschool with Miss Tessa. We go for Nate's favorite time, gym. He loves to get pulled around on these little things on wheels and Brielle loves to jump on the mat.

She also loves to sneak into my purse and steal gum, which she got all stuck in her hair Saturday night. Good thing for peanut butter!

Ty had a baseball Monday night and Wednesday, Tanner and I went to the temple. It was so nice and I am so grateful to have temple so close by. We had Sarah and Emily babysit, and they did a great job for first timers. I am happy to find some new 12 years olds that we can have as our babysitters. Big Sarah is 18 now and she still loves to sit for us but, she will become less and less available I'm sure.

The temple was such a great night, it was really full, so we were there later then expected. I met up with my girlfriend after and was home way too late, but it was worth it. Thursday night Tanner had his soccer game and we picked up dinner to have a picnic at the field before the game, the weather has just been so beautiful and I didn't want to waste it. Plus Mikey had gymnastics and it would have made for a really rushed dinner at home. Friday we went to preschool and had a surprise bridal shower for Miss Katelynn.

I also did some gardening, which I am really excited about. My raspberry and strawberry bushes are doing so well, and I planted more flowers. I am also trying tomatoes, peppers, and basil. I have found that I really enjoy gardening. I just hope everything works. Tanner had some running around to do to get ready for Quebec, so he made us a delicious steak dinner later that night. It was even better eating it outside with my new garden.

Early Saturday morning Tanner left for his week long trip to Quebec. I had a crazy day. I worked at the Children's Festival for most of the day which was a total blast, while Joanne took my kids.

Mikey had 2 birthday parties and Tyler and Nathan had parties that day too. It took some organization, but everything worked out. I came home to vacuum my disgusting van and then I joined my kids outside for a water ballon fight. It was so much fun, the kids in the complex joined in and I kicked all their butts :) After cleaning up the house from all the wet feet and grass. I gave the kids dinner and baths and got them ready for bed. Kirsty came over for some good conversation, chinese food and a movie. I surprised her with a cheesecake birthday cake, yum. Again another late night, but I love Kirsty, so totally worth it. Tanner made it to Quebec City safe and sound, a little late, since the bus broke down, but still safe. Today wasn't an easy day at church all by myself. The boys were great, but Brielle was a hand full and kept running out to get a drink of water. When I could catch her arm before she ran off, she would be loud and whinney, so, her and I spent the last half in the hall or outside in time out. I was getting pretty frustrated.

Mom and Dad were kind enough to have us over for an early dinner and then we had our Sunday tradition of a long walk. The boys wanted to go somewhere new so we picked a new trail to check out and walked around the creek.

It was awesome. We ended up being gone for almost 2 hours. The kids then watched a movie, that Ty bought by accident on shaw on demand, urgh, and then said good night to Tanner on the phone and off to bed. I really needed then to go to bed. The boys were fine but Brielle continued to be a handful when we got home. She was just annoying and was making messes everywhere. I was done. After today, I ended up finishing the rest of the cheesecake, it was actually the second half, oops. But it was goooood, and I don't really care :)

One SICK week, and then Mother's Day

2010-05-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 9th, 2010

This week was a bit of a nightmare. Mikey started to not feel well and had a little flu bug. He felt better Monday and wanted to go to school, but by the end of the day, he was exhausted. Tuesday he stayed home from school and then by the end of the day Nathan started to throw up. Mikey saw Nathan throw up and then he puked too, so gross. That was the last time Mikey was sick, but Nathan couldn't stop, every 10 minutes stuff was coming out of both ends of his body. He was like that for 3 days. Brielle started up at about 11pm Tuesday night. I was up with those two all night. I have to say though, they are the best sick kids ever. None of them complained or cried. Nathan made it to the toilet or the bowl 90% of the time through out the night and Brielle made a big mess, but she was so good about it. I have never down so many loads of laundry, I think I did 10 loads through the night and on Wednesday.

By Wednesday night Brielle was done puking, but her and Mikey were just wiped out until Friday. Poor Nathan could not keep anything down and was getting sunken eyes and dehydrated. But by Friday night they were all doing better and Saturday, Nathan was just a bit tired in the evening. I did sneak Nate out that day for a couple minutes. At preschool we had chicken eggs . He has been waiting 3 weeks for these eggs to hatch and of course they hatched on Wednesday and Katelynn was keeping them until Friday, so I took him in the side door to see these chicks for a couple minutes. He was happy to see them and then we went back home.

Saturday was a beautiful day for the men's church soccer tournament. Ty was so happy to play on the team with Tanner and he actually scored a really sweet goal that was totally legit. I, of course missed it, ( I was driving back from JitterBugs), but the guys were telling me about it and were pretty impressed.

We had a birthday party pick ups and then met our friends at the Leavitt's place for a big bonfire and hot dog roast. It was a great night and we had a blast. Nathan was still tired from his hard week and found a blanket and a nice spot to fall asleep, he was so cute :) It was interesting too, We have been working for the past couple weeks on dong service for others, and really making a conscience effort. At the bonfire Mikey came up to Irene and asked her what Erika liked on her hot dog. She asked him "why? was she making him get her one?" He said "no, he just wanted to do some service for her". She came and told me and I was really proud of him. Our family challenge was making a small difference in our lives, the kids are really trying and feel good about what they are doing. So, we are keeping it going. It was good for me too, to be active in doing small service everyday. It was a grateful moment. My kids are getting it :)

Mother's Day was Great!

Tanner was actually home and not in Quebec like the past 5 years, so I slept in and had a yummy breakfast in bed.

The kids came in excited to give me their awesome gifts and I had my necklace from Tanner.

We went to church and then to Mom and Dad's for dinner. I was able to talk to my mom and remind her how much I love and appreciate her. We were also able to talk to Dallin in Texas. He is doing do good and it was nice to have a quick chat with him.

Dinner was good, dessert was good, and then Brielle had to get her wrestle in with Grandpa before we left :)

The Cauncks game was on and when we came home the weather was just so beautiful I went on a nice long walk by myself. It was a great way to end my Mother's Day. Tanner and the kids did a good job of showing their love and appreciation, I was very happy.

Vancouver Temple Dedication

2010-05-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Today was an amazing day. Our Temple was dedicated and thanks to Auntie Laurie, we were able to go inside the temple for the 12pm dedication session. They day started off a little stressful though, We picked up Krista and Steven and headed out early, but when we were on the highway, half way there, our rear tire blew a flat and we were stuck on the side of the road. Thank goodness for Dan, he was able to drive out and finish changing the tire and switch us cars so we could be ontime for the dedication. We made it by the skin of our teeth and were last in line to get in. This ended up being a huge blessing in diguise. We ended up being in the last row of the foyer, which was great, it was great to be there and the boys had a great view of the tv. But then we saw Pres. Uchtdorf walk right behind us, and then we looked over our shoulder and saw Pres. Monson in the elevator. He saw us and waved at Tanner and then looked at Krista and I and was waving to us, then we pulled the boys over and they waved to him too. It was amazing, to make eye contact with the prophet and wave hello, it was very cool, and it reminds me that he knows us, and loves us. That's when I started to get emotional. Joe Mattie came over and asked us if we wanted to go upstairs to the sealing room, but he only had 4 seats and there was 5 of us so we passed, but a couple minutes later ( during this time is when we saw the prophet getting in the elevator) Joe came back and said he had seats for us, so we were able to sit front row in the endowment room, it was wonderful. Quentin came over to Ty and Steven and told them that after the prayer they should come over to the door, the prophet would be exiting through that hallway and he likes to talk with the children---So Exciting!!!!.

The dedication was wonderful and the spirit was very strong. Dad was singing in the choir and it sounded beautiful. The door beside Dad was open and just down the hall from our open door that Tanner was right beside, so we could hear Dad really well. The boys did great and were very excited for the closing prayer. After the prayer the boys went over to the door and there were about 10 kids there and then Pres Monson, Ann Dibb, Pres Uchtdorf, his wife, Pres Christofferson and his wife all came to the door and talked with the kids. Pres Monson asked if they were going to serve missions, and they all said yes, he then wiggled his ears and said "Now it's recorded". He spoke with them for about 2 minutes and waved goodbye. what an expereince for Ty and Steven. They were face to face with the prophet, he was joking with them and expressing his love for them. We went standing with them but we could see and this was a moment you don't forget. I am so thankful that I could see the prophet that close, but so grateful Tyler could meet him and feel his presence and the the spirit around him.

So amazing.

From bad, to WAY better

2010-05-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 26th, 2010

This week stared out a little... interesting. I find Monday is a clean up day from the weekend so that is what I was doing. Brielle and Nathan were watching a movie, and I went upstairs to clean up and fold laundry. I come down later to check on them, and I see Brielle at the bottom stair with her hand in the cocoa powder. Luckily she didn't make too much of a mess with that, but then I see, she was in my baking cupboard. She had taken the baking powder and dumped the whole thing on the floor, which Nate was trying to clean up. Then I look to the family room to see the floor covered in flour, sugar, and rice. She had dumped everything!!!!

At first, I just laughed, I was in awe of what she had done. I really couldn't believe the waste and the mess. Then the clean up began, it took me 45 minutes and a whole vacuum bag to clean it. I was pretty calm about it, until, she came in while I was sweeping the rest up and she started to dance in one of the piles. She is such a Sassy little thing and that's when I was done with her and she was sent out with a kick in the pants, which she didn't like at all. That set my day back a bit but we went on. We did some gardening and the kids played hockey outside.

Then for FHE we took the kids to go see "How to Train your Dragon". It was such a great movie and the kids loved it. We even ran into the Martin family and we were the only ones in the theatre, minus 1 or 2 other families. The boys were happy to see Connor and Liam. They have now made plans to meet at the movies all the time, they are funny.

Tuesday was our crazy day but, added on was Ty had a baseball game and Tanner had a soccer game. Ty's game was rained out so we headed to the other side of town for soccer. The sky looked better but it didn't last. It started to rain and then hail, but to the men call the game...NO! So we, with Sarah, are in the van watching and cheering. Ty is hard core like his dad and stayed outside catching the far balls for the goalie. Sarah had a Booster Juice and didn't like it so she gave it to the boys the share. when it was gone she mentioned she had an energy booster in it. I don't know if that had anything to do with it but the kids were a little hyper. Luckily there was a covered area they could run under and burn off that energy. The cool part of the game besides that they won, was that when the rain stopped we saw a huge pretty rainbow. We saw the start and the finish of it and it even had another rainbow over top of it. I had never seen that before, but it was gorgeous. The kids loved it.

We went for donuts and hot chocolate. But that wasn't a great experience, since I had a bit of an argument with Tom Horton's. All I have to say is that they had something advertised on the sign and they kept telling me that I was wrong and it wasn't on the sign. Well it was and they finally admitted it to me, but it was a waste of my time and it is kinda stupid, but I don't like false advertising and being told that I am crazy!

Wednesday I went out to Maple Ridge with a Joanne to do Vinyl Signs for the Temple Celebration. Putitng Big Vinyl on these long banners was a little stressful at first but we figured it out and we had a great time hanging out. We thought it was going to take all night but it was only a couple hours so I was able to have a night home with Tanner.

Thursday, Tanner had another game but this time it was dry and the kids had fun playing with their soccer buds. When we got home I had a ton of last minute things to get ready for the TYC stuff happening tomorrow, before Grey's came on :). I was running relay races for the youth and Kirsty picked me up at 7am to get out there for the day. We did a big relay race with some kids, but that was the only one. There was so much for the kids to do, and when it came down to it, they just wanted to hang out with their friends. I had a football, volleyball and frisbee for them to play with outside, but they kids were hanging outside and not doing any of the speaker classes, so we packed up early to not be a distraction. I had a great conversation with Auntie Laurie and she told me some good stories about their trip to Salt Lake when Uncle Paul was called to be an Area Authority. We talked about the temple and other stuff, she is so awesome. We were able to be home around 3pm and found that the kids had fun with Tanner all day and that he went grocery shopping for me :)

Nathan and I did some gardening together, Brielle tried but she just wanted to play in the dirt.

My little Lilac Bush, I can't wait to have flowers, next year.

Saturday morning Ty had his make up game for baseball and then we had a lunch BBQ with all the parents. The weather was awful, it was on and off rain, until we were all leaving and the rest of the day was beautiful, figures. Tanner and I were able to go in to Langley to the events center to watch the Temple Youth Celebration. We went with Julie and Brian, (Sarah's parents) and Olson's and Angie ended up right behind us. The Youth did such a great job with all the music and dancing that represents the last 100 years of BC's culture. The Prophet was there with Pres. Uchtdorf and Elder Christofferson. The Prophet spoke to the youth and it was so amazing to see the youth just wanting to be his presence. It was very moving. The Prophet joked around with them and counselled them.

My favorite was the end when all the youth came out and sang about being the youth in the Latter Days. The temple was built and they sang, (and everyone else joined in), "We thank thee O God for a Prophet" they all waved, and he waved back. What an experience for the youth, it was amazing :)

We were very proud of our Sarah too. She sang in the choir and did a great job.

It was a fantastic night and we had a great time.

Tanner was even more happy with the Canucks killing game 1 against Chicago. The iphone came in handy on the drive out for him to watch the game, haha.

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

2010-04-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life feels so busy and I can't catch up. That's what this week felt like. I was out almost every night this week, I don't really like that. Monday I went to an auction with my girlfriend Isabelle, it was really fun and I was able to get some stuff at a great price. The best was I got Ty some street hockey equipment for $5 and it's like new. He was very excited and has played with them everyday this week. Tuesday I went to Young Womens to help out with TYC stuff. Wednesday night I had a get together with the girls at my place. I had a bunch of Stella and Dot Jewelery for everyone to try on and buy if they were interested. It was a lot of fun and I always like getting together with the girls, Tanner even joined us for a bit and then went upstairs when the girl talk got too intense, :).

As a side note, While I was in the shower getting ready, Tanner had to run out for a bit for his temple recommend interview. Brielle came into the bathroom, and did what she does best, Get's into my Makeup!!!!

She went all out and applied mascara to her eyelashes and all over her eyes. I love that she makes everything easier for me, urgh, but she was pretty funny about it. She was saying " look mommy, I pretty".

Thursday was awesome. I was able to take Kaitlynn to the temple open house. I am so glad we could go and she could see it. She really enjoyed it and we had a good talk, she always has good questions. I think she is interested in learning but is so non commital. I hope the spirit will speak to her and she will come to church. Either way it was a good evening and we had a good time together, I guess I will just keep planting those seeds.

Friday was a Pro-D day and I was thinking I would relax a bit, but no. I had a doctors appointment in the morning that took way too long, and then I went to see Tanner and drop off some clothes, (He ran to school and didn't want to carry a back pack). Then we went to pick up Ty for a sleepover and then do papers. After that Isabelle had the boys for a playdate and I went to go get some plants for the backyard. I am so excited, one of them is a lilac bush, I love the smell, it's really nostalgic for me. Tanner surprised us and came home early, but we had to do couple errands. When we came home from all of that I did some gardening, and the boys and Tanner played some hockey. It started to rain a bit, so Ty and Tanner went to baseball and the rest of us stayed behind. I cleaned up and played a game with Brielle. Then the kids watched a movie and I did my workout. I need to have longer workouts to see better results so I am going to do more P90X workouts and extend my runs with a good power walk for 30 minutes. Then Tanenr was home and we put the kids to bed and then he watched the Canucks playoff game and I had a bath. Ahhhhh, that was my day....crazy. This is why I feel like I can't catch up.

The nice thing was, this weekend was way more calm. We didn't have anything planned but to be at home and do stuff with the kids. Saturday I did have to go over to Isabelles and pick up some dirt and bricks for the backyard. It was hard labour but it was worth it. We spent early afternoon in the backyard. The kids played and I finished up the garden. Then we cleaned up and took the kids to go see, How to Train a Dragon. I had free tickets from the cereal box and I thought I read them over for restrictions, but I missed the Sunday thru Thursday part that the cashier showed me. I thought the boys were going to give me a hard time about leaving the theatre, but the were awesome about it. They didn't complain once, and were fine with coming back on Monday night. I was really proud of them. Instead we went to look for patio furniture, which we found, Yeah! The boys also found some toys they wanted with there paper money, so the day was good.

Today was really nice. The kids now ask for the Family walk whenever it is sunny. We checked out some new paths and went to a couple different creeks, it was fun. Then we had dinner outside. I love eating outside.

The Canucks played tonight and won the first series, whoo hoo. I can always tell how the game is going, even when I'm not watching, by what Tanner is yelling at the TV. Thank goodness they won and everyone is in their happy place (Tanner) :).

I was able to have a good chat with Rob and Erin tonight and catch up, today was a good family day. I feel rejuvinated for this next week. I am so excited for the Temple Dedication. The weekend will be a little crazy, but really great crazy :)

Temple Open House

2010-04-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

This week has been so great, but crazy busy. We started it off by going by going to the temple with the kids and Sarah right after school. The kids were really excited to go and couldn't stop talking about how "beautiful" the temple was, Nathan's favorite word :) It was really nice because Grandma was about to be the usher with our little group.

The kids watched the movie and Brielle was already getting a little restless. She insisted she sit in a chair in the row across from us, and when we let her she actually sat there very quietly. Then we went to go get our booties on and went through the temple. The kids were loving it. "Beautiful" was being said a lot. When we got the the baptismal fon, Mikey got really excited and was hoping that is where he would be baptized. They really liked all the oxen. We moved along and of course the Celestial Room was a hit and the kids were very reverent, Tyler even expressed that he felt really good there. After that we were in the sealing room and that was a sweet moment for me. I remember back when Krista and Dan were being sealed in the Seattle Temple and the amazing spirit I felt when Cole came into the room. I thought it was so special, for them to have him there with them, especially with him so little. I was thinking it was a once in a life time experience, that so few get to experience. I felt so blessed to be standing in the sealing room with all my little children and Tanner and to see them forever with me in the mirrors. It was a small and quick moment, but very special and very strong. That will not happen again while they are small, I look forward to it when they are older though. After the tour and some delicious cookies we took some pictures.

After that we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. That was lots of fun as usual. Ty and I had a basketball competition, and crazy enough....HE BEAT ME! So I wasn't too happy about that, but he beat Sarah too, so I didn't feel as bad. We played and ate and headed back. Tanner had his end of the year party with all his ref friends, and I took the kids home for bed. It was a great Family Home Evening.

Wednesday we headed back to the Temple with the Family. Kyle was in town on business so all of us, Kenessey's, Mom and Dad, and Jeff, all went through. This time Dad was the usher. I actually stayed behind with Brielle and we just walked around and took some pictures and just enjoyed being on the grounds. It was really peaceful, and it was so nice outside.

of course we had to have a cookie, they were soooo good.

After we went out for dinner at Sammy J's. The kids loved hanging with their cousins and Brielle liked to hang out under the table watching her movie on our iphone, she is a little obsessed.

Thursday was a crazy mental day. I had my classes, we had preschool. (I like to take the kids especially on the days I have class). Mikey had gymnastics right after school. I took the kids to the library, and Brielle fell down the cement stairs, moments after I asked her if she needed help and she refused. She got some good road rash on her face, but it could have been a lot worse. We got an oil change then back to pick Mikey up at 5. we rushed home, had dinner, that Tanner, thank goodness, had ready, and rushed back out to Ty's baseball game at 5:30! We played at the park for a bit and Mikey wanted a picture of his big rock climb :)

Ty had a strike out and 2 great hits! His team won 15-2, it's actually exciting to watch this level of baseball now.They pitch to each other, which adds a level of intensity, and scariness.

We left the game, but my day was not done yet, Tanner dropped me off at Irma's for visiting teaching. She is so funny and we had a good visit. I did my run home, and I was happy that even though I wasn't able to run for the past week, I still felt good and did it in good time. This makes 4 weeks for me! I feel good but I am really frustrated with the scale. It is not showing my hard work. Finally my day was done. I was supposed to have volleyball, but everyone sucks and we again, didn't have the numbers to play. Tonight I was grateful for that.

Friday was a relax morning and then we, the younger kids and I, had a field trip with preschool, to the Fish Hatchery. We haven't been there before, but it was really cool and the kids were just fasinated with al the fish.

Brielle stared at this tank and this huge fish forever.

Later that night Kirsty and I went out to Costco in the states. I love it there, such good deals. We went to dinner and had a really nice night together. I love talking with her. I had a little expereince this week, It's a long story but, it was with an arrogant east Indian Dad at Strong Start, whose little boy did something very mean and dangerous to Nathan, and he was basically rude to me about it when I tried to conforont him. I really felt like and injustice was being done and that Nathan deserved better. Nathan has been in trouble more then a few times and he tries to make ammends and does his punishments, and I felt it was only fair that when he gets hurt, he gets treated right. Well, I have realized that I can't make people be decent, and I was really mad and I hate, that, because we are good people, we have to be the bigger people. Sometimes I feel like I am too nice, but I did try. Anyways we talked about that sort of stuff and I felt better, plus time always cools you down. She's a good friend, plus we laugh a lot when we are together so that is fun.

Saturday we had a baptism and then Ty had baseball and then I got to go to a fireside at the stake center for the Young Women Presidencies, stake and ward level for the surrounding area. Sister Mary N Cook, First Councillor in the General Young Women Presidency was there to council us. It was really good of course, and it was really inspiring, not only for the young women but for within our own families. I didn't have anything to write stuff down with and of course, now I can't remember the specifics. I'm really bad that way, I never bring stuff to write things down, I have to start doing that, you think you'd remember, but there is just so much stuff and it becomes a blurr. But it was a great experience.

It was nice to come home and just chill out on the couch with Tanner.

Today we had church and we enjoyed sunshine. It was hot today, so we went on a walk with Krista and Cole. We had a nice dinner and had a dance party in the family room together.

I want to try to do more Book of Mormon stories with the kids, like Pres Bednar talked about in Conference, so we talked about King Benjamin and service tonight and we challenged each other to do a little bit of service each day this week and we will talk about it at dinner. It will be interesting to see what happens and what the boys come up with. We then did the usual of, watching funny home videos and just relaxed. I am so tired. This has been a way too busy week, and I think next week will be just as crazy.....

The Temple Open house is the best way to spend an anniversary

2010-04-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

This weekend was so nice. Tanner and I celebrated 11 years of marriage yesterday. We spent the start of the day spring cleaning together, so romantic, but then met Tanner's aunts and uncles and cousin at that Temple Open House. The temple is beautiful. It is a midsize temple but it felt spacious to me. Everything was perfect. Before we toured the temple we watched a short movie that explains the temple a little bit, and what it means to LDS people. I was really touched by what Elder Jeffrey R Holland said. He spoke of temple marriage and heaven. And to paraphrase, he just said he couldn't imagine a heaven without his family, that just wouldn't be heaven to him, and that was why the sealing power is so amazing. I couldn't agree more with what he had said and it made me so grateful that Tanner and I were married in the temple and that our family is sealed for eternity.

With it being our anniversary, I was really touched walking through the brides room, and then the sealing rooms. Then going to the Celestial room....ahh it was just so nice and the spirit was there. It was just the perfect place to be for our anniversary.

We then went out for dinner and Tanner and I went to see a movie,. We saw Date Night, it was hilarious. We had a really good talk and I am just so happy to be married to Tanner. We love eachother, we support eachother, we make eachother laugh. We have great kids and a great life together.

The beginning of our week was busy. Easter Monday was pretty relaxed. We went over to see the Gruber's new home. It is really nice and they have moved onto a sort of farm. They have a lot of work ahead of them but they are excited about it. The kids loved it and then as we were leaving Brielle fell in the creek and got soaked and muddy, urgh!

We got her cleaned up and the kids wanted to go to McDonald's with some of their paper money. So that is what the had for dinner. Tanner and I refused to eat that grossness. After, we headed to Mom and Dad's for FHE. Dad did a nice lesson from a conference talk. Today at church, one of the speaker's in sacrament spoke on that same talk. Ty leaned over and said to me "that's the same story as at Grandpa's". I guess they are listening :)

Grandma then played a fun game with the aposltes names and noise honkers. Noisey, but we were all loving it.

Tuesday was the start of another session of JitterBugs, and I was doing 2 daycare visits this week, so every morning was busy for me this week. Wednesday was supposed to be Ty's first baseball game, but it was rainy so they practiced instead. I was talking to a girlfriend who was going through a rough time lately and she mentioned that she needed some snacks for the kids. I called Tanner and he and Ty delivered a bunch of goodies to them on the way home. My boy's and her boys have been good buddies for the past 4 years so I was glad theat Ty could have this little service experience for his friend. She called me as soon as Tanner left and was really grateful. She has such a positive outlook and never says a mean thing about anyone or anything, but she did need a little pick me up and a little hope that things will get better. I just wish she would come to church already :)

Thursday night volleyball just isn't working weekly so I figured we would do it monthly until people start showing up regularly. I am not happy about it, but I don't know what else to do so that it isn't a waste every week. So this week Colette and I went out to visit Ginny. It was really fun, but we didn't get home until 2am. Lucky me had Brielle in my bed watching Toy Story 2 and wide awake, to greet me. Friday morning was a little rough. Tanner and his teacher band sang in the school's talent show, but the lack of sleep didn't affect his singing voice. We later had a great evening, we took the kids and went for a walk around Mill lake.

The walk took about an hour, and then we played at the park and had ice cream.

We also saw through the trees that the fair was at the mall. I thought it would be really fun to take the kids on a ride on the ferris wheel. It was getting dark so I thought that would make it really cool with all the lights. The kids were really excited and surprised. We drove over and walked around, and to our dissapointment, Ty was the only one tall enough to ride it and then we looked at other rides, also, for all of us to go on a ride together it would have cost 5 tickets a person, and it was $1 a ticket!

So after thinking about it I just couldn't justify it. I had the cash in my pocket but $30 for 1 ride together, I couldn't do it. So I offered a coton candy, but they really wanted to try the Hoop Shoot.

So that was what they did and they all got the basket and won a stuffy. They were happy. We were all a little disapointed we didn't go on a ride, I really wanted to do that for them, but at the end of the day, we still had fun together.

Today was a beautiful day and I love to go for Sunday walks. I took all the kids and we picked up Cole and went, on the way back to the house we stopped at the park for a couple minutes. We came home and they all played and then cracked up watching Funny Videos.

We also did Skype with the Torrances. We wanted to see them and talk to Matteo about his baptism yesterday! He had a great day and we are really happy for him.

After dinner Tanner and I watched Food Inc. That was eye opening and disgusting. I don't know what to eat anymore. The good thing is that we have been eating a lot of foods from the perimeter of the grocery store., and I try to get my fruit and veggies form the market, but now I want to get my meat from a local butcher. It was scary, it almost makes me want to be vegitarian, almost. I love my burgers too much to give it up. I just want to buy better. Good movie.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April, 4th, 2010

This week was full of fun and Easter festivities! But before the fun happened I had to do something I have been putting off, and not too excited to do. Ty has been a Cub for 3 months now and I needed to start sewing the badges on his shirt. I borrowed Cindy's sewing machine and tried to do it. It took me an hour and a half to sew on 7 badges, some on the shirt sleeve and 2 on the sash. I was getting VERY frustrated. It took me an hour just to figure out the sewing machine. It was not sewing properly, but after Tanner and I figured it all out and I stopped sewing the sleeve together, it was all done pretty quickly. I was actually, very proud of myself, I really wanted to quit and throw that machine through the window, but I didn't and now I know how to do it, so YEAH ME!!

We are now down to just the van so that is taking some more coordination, and the week has been rainy, so Tanner's bike rides to school haven't been the most fun. At least it was a short week. We don't insure the car during the spring/summer to save some money and Tanner does enjoy riding his bike. Tanner also MC'd the French public speaking competition this week, so that was fun/boring for him :) Ty went to support his classmates so he enjoyed seeing his Dad there.

Wednesday and Thursday we had a lot of fun Easter crafts and Easter hunts at Nate and Brielle's preschool. They really liked decorating the eggs and I found out that Nathan loves hard-boiled eggs :)

I was in Ty's class at lunch this week and I heard some of his buddies razzing him about a girl, so I asked them what the deal was and they sang the good old "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" song. Tyler laughed about it and I left it alone, but I talked to him about it at home and I guess this girl really likes him. He decided that he's going to like her too, but said that he is going to wait until he's 16 to tell her so that he can say: "that he has loved her since grade 3". What a sweetheart, and I was glad to hear him say 16, haha. Ty and Mikey both had a rough week in school. Mikey got the boot to the hall for talking way too much. This has been a problem for a little while now and so we told him that if he doesn't listen and gets sent to the hall again, he's going to bed early. That is a big deal in this house, so I thought that it would work. But no! The very next day, he got sent to the hall so he went to bed at 7:30pm that night and did not like that. The good thing was that he did better the rest of the week. I just hope he's better for the rest of the year. Ty was giving some attitude to a teacher and got into some trouble. I don't know if this was just a weird week, but he was giving me major attitude at home too. Ty will give the odd attitude to me, but it's usually to be funny. This was different, he was not himself, it seemed like male PMS or something. So it was a rough week, but after some consequences and a smoother weekend, I think we have worked it out, for now anyways....

Thursday was Mikey's gymnastics and he was very excited to be doing front flips!

I took the other kids to the library. Ty has really embraced reading chapter books. He loves "Geronimo Stilton" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." He reads really fast and just loves it.

Friday we had Easter dinner over at Tanner's parents home and it was another delicious turkey dinner. Grandma gave the kids some pinwheels and they had a blast playing with those, it was so windy outside.

And as you can see, it got really exciting after dinner as the guys took their positions and played some NHL 10 on the XBOX :)

Later that night we went to an Abbotsford Heat game with the Olsons. We like going to games, and it was fun being in a local setting. We saw a ton of people we knew, plus tickets are really reasonable. We had a great time at dinner after the game.

Yum, mini donuts!!!!

Saturday was Conference, and that pretty much was our day. I love being able to watch it at home. The kids can do something else and we can actually hear and get something out of the talks. There seemed to be a strong theme on families. The talks were really great and motivated me to have a better family, and gave good ideas and direction on what to do and make a priority.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny came and the kids had their hunt. They got along so well and helped each other out. I was really proud of them. We had croissants for breakfast and then Tanner and I watched Conference.

As soon as Brielle found her stuff, she got into position and chowed down on chocolate.

When the session was done, I went downstairs to find that Easter had exploded all over my family room. There was garbage and candy and spilled juice everywhere. I guess that's what happens when you leave 4 kids with Easter baskets, but I still wasn't happy. I even had to wash the floor.

We all got ready and headed to the church for the afternoon session. Both sessions were really good and a lot was said to parents and to families. I really felt the spirit when we sang "I know that my Redeemer Lives." It was nice to have Conference on Easter. The boys were well-behaved, but Brielle was a nightmare!! She was so loud, and kept singing songs, like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She knew that she had to be quiet, or we would take her out to time out, but I think that she would rather do that then sit for Conference. OHH, she was so difficult.

We invited Jim, Cindy, and Jeff over for dinner today. We had pasta and homemade buns for dinner and I made cinnamon buns for dessert. It was pretty good, if I say so myself :)

We played an Easter game after dinner that helped us learn more about the Savior and the meaning of Easter.

It has been a great Easter weekend and I am so happy that we still have tomorrow off to play :)

Easter Party

2010-03-29T22:45:00.001-07:00

March 27th, 2010

Today we went to a Easter Party with the kids. It started bright and early with a Pancake Breakfast and then there were activities in the gym.

Mikey went straight to the face painting, which was very cool, and the rest of the kids followed after seeing his face. I was really surprised how well Brielle sat. Nathan was squinting a lot while she out the eye makeup on him, he didn't like the idea that he was having girl makeup on, but he got over it.

Ty went straight to the hockey

Nate went straight to the bouncy castle and

Brielle went straight tot he Basketball.

They played for a bit and the Easter Bunny came and handed out chocolates then there was a big hunt for the eggs throughout the school.

They got too many treats but that was the fun part. It was a nice Free event but you had to register so it wasn't a mental free for all. We had fun :) Later that night we had a weddng to go to. We haven't been to a wedding since Erin's wedding over 2 years ago. It was fun, I always love the dance at the end, my kind of date night, plus Tanner was making us laugh all night so that makes it fun too.

March 26th, 2010

2010-03-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

This week has been again the usual stuff. I have felt a little lost since I am not doing JitterBugs until April, so we have had more time on our hands during the day, but the time is going so fast. I am forgetting what day it is, I feel a little out of sorts. I have been running every other day but I am still not loving it, but I can feel my body craving it, plus I added another km.

Little funny things have been happening around the house, Nathan made a big mess of Cornpops, so he had his first experience of vacuuming, and he loved it and ended up doing the whole room :)

Brielle has been peeling off her clothes all over the place and it is driving me crazy. Wednesday after school we were playing at the park and she was by the soccer field with Ty and his buddies. The next thing I know she had taken off her pants and diaper and is running down the field, urgh!!! So I had to chase her down. I don't know what this is all about but enough already!

Mikey had his first Gymnastic class. He is going on Thurdays and he really enjoyed that. He thought he was going to be awesome on the rings, but when he tried it, it was funny to watch him see how hard it is, haha, he's so cute. He already has a best bud in the class and they talk to much.

Tyler and Tanner went to the Abbotsford Heat game on Friday night and had a great time together. Tanner had him laughing pretty hard I guess, and they were sitting with some guys for his basketball team, so that was fun.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2010-03-29T21:55:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Today was our green day and I wish had taken a pic of the kids in their green shirts before the got them dirty, but I didn't. But it was fun at Preschool. Nate missed it because he's Mr. Popular this week and had a playdate with Trey, but Brielle and I had fun at preschool with all the green snacks :)

After dinner we tried out our new popcorn popper. No more microwave popcorn for us. The kids were facsinated with all the popping : ) and then enjoyed a bowl for a bedtime snack.

Whistler Get Away

2010-03-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

The rest of the week was pretty routine, the weather has been nice and we went for family walks and I have been running every other day. Tanner has had a couple AAA boys games and I played volleyball. Brielle has been striping lately and in PUBLIC! It has been very annoying. My tulips have started to come up, so exciting to see that, and I planted some raspberry bushes a friend gave to me. I really want to plant a small garden with the kids this year and this is a good start, they are pumped to have some raspberries.

Friday after school I headed to Port Moody for the start of a girls weekend in Whistler. Traci, Andrea, and Marie Claire, were my best friends in my teenage years and we were meeting after 6 years of being all together this weekend. We share alot of fun memories together and we were all really excited to see each other and reconnect. The only thing I was worried about was that I am the only one that was still active in the church. I was nervous about the "elephant in the room". But I figured I would take it in stride and talk about things if the moments showed themselves.

So I got to Traci's house and we drove into Vancouver to meet Dre and MC at Society restuarant in Yaletown. It was a funky place with great food.

We walked around after dinner and then made our way back to the cars.We drove back to Traci's place, Traci and I drove together and we had a really good talk about things on the way home. Traci was my maid of honour and my best friend since we were 12. It was heart breaking when she took another path away from the gospel, just after I was married. After talking, I didn't agree with her but I understood her a lot better. It was really good. We had our slumber party and looked at old pictures and talked about old times and what our lives were like now. Saturday we took our time getting ready and then headed to Whistler.

We were staying at the Pan Pacific so we checked in and headed to the village and did some shopping and then to the Spa for our manicures and pedicures.

We were all in the same room, which made it a lto more fun. After we went back tot he hotel and got ready for some hot tub.

It was beautiful outside and the view was great.

Then we got ready for dinner and dancing.

We had a delicious meal and we had to convince ourselves to go back out, it was already 11pm and we were tired, but we really wanted to go dancing.

We danced together so much growing up. So we got up and went. I am so glad we did. I had so much fun, the music was great and were just had a blast.

We headed back to our room and stayed up even later talking and laughing. I miss those girls and I am so grateful that we got together and we were able to have great conversations about church and where everyone was at. It was very sad for my to hear that they had lost their testimonies and that they were living a very different lifestyle then when we were younger. The hardest was to hear how easy it was for them to take the Lord's name in vain. I expected the alcohol and the coffee, even the odd swear word, but it was hard to hear that. Things can change so fast . It also made me so grateful for the testimony I have and for the blessing of just always knowing. I wish that when they were having questions and finding themselves that they would have searched the scriptures and prayed more versus testing out the worlds views and seeing if they felt bad or guilty about living other ways. I just hope they come back soon. Either way, that conversation happened and we all understood each others positions, they are happy and good people, and I felt a lot of respect from all of my girls.

We got up in the morning after only a few hours of sleep and hit the road home and Andrea to the airport. I had so much fun but it was nice to be home.

Puppies

2010-03-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Today after lunch Nathan had a playdate with Jesse and before I went to the airport to pick up Tanner, Brielle had a surprise.

My girlfriend Jenna just adopted a dog from the shelter and to her surprise was pregnant and had 5 puppies. Jenna invited us over to see the puppies. The were so tiny and so cute, Brielle was in heaven. The would sqeak and she would start laughing. It took everything in me not to bring one home. Brielle would hold one and then want to switch to another. It was so cute to see her with them.

We then went to pick up Tanner and Brielle fell asleep. Once Tanner was off the plane, she woke up very happy to see Daddy. Tanner had a great trip and a great tournament, but it's always good to be home. The boys were excited to see him when we picked them up from school, but even more excoted when they saw the giant lollipops he brought home for them. It has become a tradition that Tanner brings those home from his trips.

I have decided that I should start running. I love walking and I played soccer for years, but just running..... I haven't been interested. One of my goals in life is to run in a marathon of some sorts, plus I want to lose some stubborn weight, so I figured I just need to do it and try to enjoy running. I did a 2k run and I wanted to do it with out stopping. I did it in 11 minutes but I did want to puke and my heart felt like it was beating out my eyes, but I did it.

Tyler was lucky and had cubs tonight and got to go to the Planetarium. He had fun with his buddies. The rest of the night we just spent relaxing together.

2nd week of Spring Break

2010-03-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

This week was great, we had lots playdates, park dates, sleepovers and a fun FHE with friends, but the highlight was definitely our mini trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We wanted to have a little get away with the kids to have some fun family time without distraction. Tanner had a lot of basketball over the past 2 weeks so this fit perfectly in between the tournaments. We drove down to Olympia Washington, ( just over 3 hrs) with a stop out the outlet mall. I wanted to get a few things and was very happy to find them all :) But it was a little rushed since the kids were very impatient and ruining this fun shopping for me. Once we got back on the road the kids were ok in the car. We found out that someone has stolen our DVD player from the van the morning we left, so that made the drive less enjoyable, worse on the drive home.

So we got there and it was huge. We went to check in and the lobby was full of people and had a very woodsy feel to it.

We went to our room which was very cool and the kids were excited to see their log cabin room with their own tv!

Then on went the bathing suits and we went to the water park.

This is when I wish I had me video camera to record their reaction. They were so happy and kept saying " we love you mom", "you are the best dad ever", "this is the best". It was great. There was waterslides, wave pool, spray areas and toddler zones. It was so family friendly and perfect for our family.

We had fun for a couple hours then had dinner and Tanner took the boys to the arcade and then we got our pj's on and then went to the main lobby for story time.

My kids weren't overly interested but it was cool anyways. We went to the candy shoppe and got some fudge and then back to the room for bedtime.

The next morning we had breakfast together and then back to the water park, that was all the kids wanted to do :) We stayed there until mid afternoon and then packed up and headed home.

We had such a great time together and plan to go back for spring break every year. Ty and Mikey loved the waterslides, Nathan liked karate chopping the waves and sprays, I loved the wave pool, we all had fun together there. The only thing I didn't like was that I had pool hair and looked psycho, so I opted not to be in the pictures, haha.

The next morning, Thursday, Tanner left bright and early for Hamilton. He was refing the women's University Nationals and is gone until Monday. He has had a great tournament and refed the final today. I am looking forward to him coming home tomorrow. I hate going to bed and not having all my family under the same roof, it's hard to fall asleep. It doesn't help that for a couple nights Brielle woke up around midnight and was up for a couple hours. Thanks goodness for a tv in my room, a VCR, and Toy Story 2 :)

1st week of Spring Break

2010-03-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday March 7th, 2010

This week has gone by so fast and it has been a great Spring Break week.

Tanner has been busy with basketball. It is wrap up time now with all of the Provincials, so I only have to endure 1 more week . It actually hasn't been too bad. I only had one freak out. Every year it gets easier and the kids get another year older, which helps. Tanner does the best that he can and is really helpful when he's home and is plugged into the family. We are getting better at supporting each other each season. This year Tanner was an Evaluator at the Jr. Girls, refereed 1 day at the AAA girls, refereed the Canada West CIS Final Four at SFU and is going to the CIS Women's Nationals next week. His grade 8 team at CDG also qualified for Provincials and should have been in the final, but lost a quarterfinal game by 1 point. Tanner wasn't there, but apparently it was a bad call by the ref. This cost them the game, but they had a fantastic season and ended up finishing 5th in BC.

We, at home, had lots of play dates at the park. I know I have said this but the weather has been so amazing and we did not want to waste it inside. I also met up with some old friends for dinner this week. Traci and Marie Claire are good friends from before I was married. We have moved around and had a lot of life changes. We have kept in touch but we don't see each other very often. It was great to see each other and to catch up. It is interesting to see how choices affect our lives, some good, some not. Both of these friends have decided to go leave the church, they definitely haven't forgotten it, but it's sad for me to see what they are missing. When you go through so many spiritual experiences with friends as you grow up, and you know they had a testimony and to watch them not want that any more is hard. It's a reminder how fragile a testimony can be and how I need to be moving forward every day. One of these friends is more happy them the other with her life choices but I know they are missing something very special. But, you never know, things can change and so do people. We talked about the temple open house and they both want to come, that was good news. It was great to see them again.

Today we had a ward, maybe a stake, fast for our personal preparation for the temple and missionary work for the temple open house. I have felt like I have been coasting lately. I have been doing great and life is good, but I am lazy with personal prayer and scripture study. I recognized this before the challenge to fast and have been thinking about what my problem was, but fasting really helped. It helped me think about what I want in this life and the type of experience I want for the temple dedication. I am working harder to make personal prayer and personal scripture study a priority. Church was a regular day, and I expected a big spiritual day with everyone fasting with the same purpose. I was disappointed and then realized that I learned what I needed to and it was one of those small and simple lessons.

Tanner's Uncle Vern came over for dinner, he was visiting from Medicine Hat. He is also our financial advisor, we finally got the boys' newspaper money into a mutual fund and set up an RRSP for me too. These were things that have been on my mind and I feel so much better to get them done. He is such a great guy and we had a good time laughing with him. The missionaries came for dinner as well. They challenged us to read the Book of Mormon together every day. I know this isn't a new challenge but we do the Articles of Faith with the boys instead of reading. Tonight we are going to do what the missionaries asked us.

This week we are trying to toilet train Brielle. She is doing great, but not any better

then she was a week ago. She will go no problem if she isn't wearing anything, but she is late to tell me when she has underwear on and playing. This might take a while. She has also really got into Cinderella she has watched it about 5 times this weekend.

Nathan's Birthday Party

2010-03-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Today was the best birthday party ever!! We had 11 of Nathan's friends and since the weather has been so beautiful, we walked over to the park. We played for an hour, which I was spent pushing kids on the swings, and then walked back home for cake and gifts, and then the party was done. So easy and everyone had fun. I usually don't have the outdoor parties, since all my kids are winter babies, but I lucked out this time!

One of the many favorite gifts was the bubble wand. Brielle is obsessed with Bubbles right now. She was in heaven. They kids loved playing outside and Nathan loved blowing bubbles for them.

2010-02-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

This weekend was full of birthday parties for Ty, the Primary swimming party, Tanner refed the SFU women's playoff series, I went out with some friends, and I went down to the states with a girlfriend for some costco shopping. Such good deals!

Oh, I forgot, on Thursday at preschool, the kids learned how to make Prantha. It's a delicious Indian food. It's like a thin spicy pancake and you can throw chopped vegis in it. Sounds gross?

It's not, they are soo good and the kids loved making and eating them.

Saturday was a cleanup day and Tanner didn't have to ref, the series ended quick, so we went out for dessert and over to the Olson's. Thank goodness for Sarah. She loves the kids and misses them, so she calls and tells us to go out so she can babysit, I will take that!

Today was good, church was good. The talks motivated me to be better and reminded me how quicky I can get caught up with life and spend to much time on things that don't really matter, in the eternal realm of things. I need to take a step back and spend more time on the things that matter most, or make more time for those things. It was good, I like coming home from church feeling that way. So times I don't hear anything during sacrament. The kids were a little restless today bvut I still got something out of it. Also, good new for the Mission chapel. Teh council meeting on Monday went really well and there was no opposition holding the city back from moving to the next step. The rezoning was approved, so hopefully they can start building

soon??

Today was also the Gold medal game for mens hockey, Canada vs the USA. When we got home the US had just tied it up and they were going to overtime. Itold the boys we could invite Cole on a walk to the creek, so we quicky walked over to Krista's and it was like a ghost town, No one was outside which never happens in our neighbourhood. We did hear lots of house's yelling at their tv's. We got to Cole's just in time to see Canada score!!! It was awesome. That made 14 gold's for Canada, which is the most any country has won, by 4. Canada did so well at the games. Watching the closing ceremonies was kinda emotional, seeing the hard work and unity. The Olympics are awesome.

Our walk was awesome, BC is so beautiful and the kids had fun. I love Sunday walk, and even better, coming home from a Sunday walk to a steak dinner. Tanner is the best, yum!

A pretty AWESOME day!!!!!

2010-02-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Today Tanner took the day off work. We were asked to be at the Vancouver Temple today to be in a movie for the open house. It was a great experience but it reminded me way I am not a movie star. I am so wierd when I am being filmed so this made me self conscience. I even got the giggles in between takes. Tanner was great, so we will see if I make the final cut. The kids were fantastic and the film crew were really nice. I am really grateful for the opportunity, I just hope I don't look totally weird.

Since we were already in Langley I figure we should spend the rest of the day downtown with all the Olympic festivities!! We were a little nervous with taking the kids down, but it is a once in a life time experience. The kids were great and since it was a bit rainy the crowds weren't as big.

Once we found parking we walked down to the Canada pavillion.

Tanner and Brielle waited in line while the boys and I curled wil bottled vitamin water. I actually won and got......a free lipbalm!!! But then Tanner was almost to the front of the line. We went in and met Kristy Richards, who was a gold hopeful in the womens moguls, but she wiped out, it was cool to meet her .

Then we waited in line to hold the torch. The line ups were 5 10 minutes. The kids played some games and then we left that where the kids played a hockey game and won polar bear toys for their goals. Ty won a T-SHIRT for scoring all 3 shots!

Then we walked down to Robson square to check out the action, see some street preformers ans stop for a snack at the candy store.

Then we headed to the Bay the wait in line to get the mascot stuffies for the kids. They had been begging for them all day and once we got in they were a little more expenisive then I thought. At the Bay, you can only pay cash or visa. I didn't have enough cash and we don't have a visa. So as we were trying to explain the situation to the boys, which wasn't going to hot, a lady told us that across the street at London Drugs,they were selling all the mascots for half price. I told her that I loved her and we were off. We got the $60 stuffies for $30, BONUS! We were all happy. Then we were making our way to the cauldron and rings. We were crossing the street and Ty froze midway. He saw a truck turning left, so he stopped, but the truck was waiting for him to go. I am yelling at him to come but he wouldn't. Then I was screaming at him. I had Nate and Mikey by the hand Tanner was already across with Brielle and we are holding up traffic. He finally came and I was LIVID. So I yelled at him and he got teary eyed. We went into the mall to get out of the rain that had started and to help Tyler to have a break. Then too girls came up to him asking him why he was sad and we just said he was cold. We didn't want to tell them he was in trouble. But they handed him a pair of Olympic red mittens.

They were the last pair, so the other kids got chocolates. Mikey thought that was totally unfair. But we said they were for the family and they did a good job taking turns wearung them.

We then walked to the Olympic Rings and Cauldron, which is the pictures I really wanted to have.

Overall it was a great day and finished off with some Pizza. We were only there for about 4 hours, but that was enough. Canada won alot of medals that day so spirits were high and the atmosphere was great.

It was nice to be home by 7:30pm and the kids were able to have a decent bedtime, it was a school night :) The kids wanted a picture of them and their mascots. Brielle refused to get in the picture, instead she stood behind me and made the boys laugh, she likes to make the funny faces and shake her hips. It was pretty funny.

Nathan is 4!!!!

2010-02-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

I can't believe my baby boy is 4!!! It was a bit of a hectic day but we celebrated none the less. Nathan chose pancakes for dinner and opened his gifts from us and Grandma Susan and Grandpa Bob. Plus he got his cards and gifts from Uncle Cam and Grandma K so he was very happy.

We enjoyed some yummy cake with whipped cream and berries, his fav, and I like that kind of cake too :)

After dinner we had a visit from Auntie Krista and Cole with some McDonald's gift certificates, so now Nathan was really happy. They also brought Tanner's cousin Blake, his wife Steph and baby Lucy. That was a nice surprise and fun to spend more time with them this time them. They are visiting from Alberta to watch Steph's brother compete in the 4 men bobsled.

Nathan had a great birthday even though he was convinced he wasn't really 4 until his party.

Brielle loves puppies

2010-02-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Today was fun, we had a playdate at a new friends home, well not a new friend, but the first time we have been to their home to play. It was to Nate's friend Trey's and we had a great time. Isobel and I hit it off well and they kids had a great time in the sunny back yard. The highlight was when the neighbour came over with his dog. A really playful puppy that loved to play catch. He was great with the kids and the were killing themselves laughing at this dog, and we were killing ourselves watching them.

( I am looking for the pictures????)

2010-02-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February, 21th, 2010

Saturday we had birthday parties, but it worked out really well. Ty had one at the pool, so I took him and went swimming with Brielle, while he was at the party. Nate had one next door, Tanner dropped him off and had an afternoon, just him and Mikey. We all really enjoyed our afternoon. It's not often we can have individual dates with our kids this time of year, so I really appreciated the time today. Tanners basketball team had a semi final after the parties, which they one :)

Tyler had the Baden Powell Banquet and then him Grandpa, and Jeff went to watch Tanner's game. It sounds like we missed a good one. Ty came home all excited, the fans were a little crazy and Grandpa had to have "words" with some fans because of their conduct towards the refs. I hate missing that stuff :)

Today we had a usual Sunday, we were invited to the McAdams' (a new family in the ward) home for dinner and that was fun getting to know them, and then we went to Connor Martin's baptism, where the kids were having a tough time behaving and we were having a tough time staying patient, so we didn't stay long afterwards.

Brielle has been wanting her door open at bedtime, which has been going well. Tonight when we went to check on the kids she was not in her bed or in her room. We found her snuggled up in Mikey's bed, both of them sleeping.

Pro- D....Ski Day

2010-02-21T22:11:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Another beautiful day and the kids had no school. We had no plans, just play, relax and I wanted to clean up the house and van. The only thing we had to do, was papers. We stayed in our pjs until lunch and had pancakes, we did papers then played outside while I cleaned the van. I tried to teach Mikey how to ride his bike but that didn't go well. It has been so frustrating with Mikey lately. He quits very easily, and I struggle with that. He is done with karate and he wants to try gymnastics. But he really doesn't want to do anything. I just don't want him to miss out on things and feel left out. I am trying to find that line of letting him try something and then move on / and push him to finish and give things a shot. It's very hard. So today he wouldn't try to ride his bike and just kept crying. He was being difficult because he was afraid he was going to fall. I reassured him to I would hold on, but he would even try. So I had enough and sent him to his room until he calmed down and at least tried to ride. Eventually he came back down and tried. He did it for about 10 minutes and stopped because he "likes to run better". At least he tried and we will try again later. Other then that, we all had a great day together.

Tanner had a great day skiing and snowshoeing up at Hemlock. It was great weather, but he said the snow was a bit slushy. He had a full day and then a game to ref in the evening.

Candy Shoppe

2010-02-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

This morning before I had class, Nathan, Brielle and I sat and watched a movie. It has been awhile since I sat and watched a whole movie where the kids stayed snuggled on the couch the whole time with me. It was really nice., the little moments. The kids had a field trip to the Candy Shoppe in old Abbotsford. Jen took the kids and I met them after my class. They had a little tour and then made their own candy, dipping marshmallows in chocolate and sprinkles.

They had so much fun and it was short and sweet. They each made 2 and I let them eat 1. Nathan was saving 1 for Mikey and Brielle ate through the plastic wrap to eat her last one, she's crazy.

This is a picture of Tessa's ( the teacher) little boy Cooper, who loves Brielle. He is so sweet to her and lights up when we come to preschool. Tessa also said that he keeps our Christmas picture that we gave her in his room so he can see Brielle, what a sweetie :)

The weather has just been unbelievable!! It has been sunny and warm, I Love it. We have been outside so much. It has also made lunch time supervising so much nicer. I brought some balloons for Brielle to play with, but she just wanted to play in the puddle, urgh

Then this afternoon we went out to the park and Cooper and Brielle insisted on pushing out the toys by them selves, so cute.

Russian Figure Skatings

2010-02-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

This week has been fun. Monday Tanner and I had our Valentines date. It started with beautiful flowers and a nice card. That is my favorite part, getting a good card from Tanner. We went over to the spa for a couples massage and out for dinner after. It was wonderful. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed every minute. The only part I didn't love was after my sauna and shower I blow dryed my hair, but there was no straightner, and my hair NEEDS a straightner now. I thought I was smart by putting some salon mouse in my hair, but no. My hair was BIG. So going out for dinner, I had that massage face ( kinda sleepy) and huge pouf hair that I tied into a pouf ponytail. Oh well it was still a great night.

Today Mikey had a field trip to the ARC to watch the Russian figure skaters practice. I decided to let Ty skip the morning to come watch. The kids were walking over to the ARC but Mlle HArvey asked if I could go early to save a spot in line, since it's first come first serve. Because we were there we were able to watch the girls warm up, close up.

Brielle loved it. The boys watched for a whole 2 seconds, but she was loving it. She liked it when they jumped and spun around and even tried to copy them. It was very cute and earned some smiles from the skaters.

When we were watching from the Messinine, the kids enjoyed it but we could only watch for 20 minutes to let the next group in. Which was fine because my kids were losing interest. I thought it was cool though.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

February 14th, 2010

I am a big romantic, I love it and I love Valentines. I am going to recap the week and come back to today.

( I put this picture up because Brielle has been acting like a puppy alot lately. She can be so cute... but it can also annoying at times, like when she insists on crawing instead of walking or licking my pants. She found this puppy in the van and carried it around for most of the photo's. I thought it was pretty fitting :) )

The past couple weeks have been busy with the same stuff. Last Sunday we had Tanner's cousin Brian and his wife Michelle over for dinner and cards. We had a great time and it was fun getting to know them better. Lucky them, got to see Brielle fall and hit her eye on the corner of the stairs. I didn't think it was that bad until Tanner came to see how deep it was. It was deep but I opted for no stiches. I avoid that as much as I can. We have had quite a few bad cuts in the past couple months, but overall, the kids haven't needed much first aid. Tanner didn't agree with me 100%, but she was fine. It has healed really fast. I wish I took a picture of her eye on Monday because that was when it was swollen and a little bruised. This was taken at the end of the week.

Monday night we had fun with our friends at the wave pool for FHE, Tuesday Tyler had his test runs with his Kub Kar and to his disappointment, he lost every run :) But we figured out fast that his car wasn't heavy enough so we are fixing that for the big race next Saturday.

Wednesday we did the ever fun, Going through all ther kids clothes and organizing their closets. This week was nice, Tanner had no refing until Saturday afternoon. I took advantage of him being home.

Thursday Tanner's boys had a playoff game, which they won, and after dinner the kids made Valentines cookies for school the next day. They all like to decorate and bake with me.

I had volleyball, which was awesome.

We had a lot of women show and I was in my happy place :)

The part that wasn't so good, was I dropped the iphone in the rain and the screen turned black, we could barely see anything on it. I felt sick, like just got a speeding ticket sick. But I was happy when I took the phone to the apple store and was told there was no water damage, the back light was burnt out, and because there was no damage to the phone itself, we are getting a new one in the mail to replace this one, at no cost. WHEW!

Friday was the Valentines Parties at the school and preschools so we were busy celebrating. The kids loved the treats and all the excitement of the Olympics. We watched the opening ceremonies, which were awesome, and Kirsty and I went out to the movies. We were all romantic and saw Dear John, which we loved. It's written by my favorite author, Nicholas Sparks. we had some dessert after and had a great time as usual.

Saturday we went to Tanner's team's championship game. They won the Abbotsford -Mission Championship and are now on to the Fraser Valley's. After we met Michelle at the park for a photo shoot. The weather kinda sucked, rainy and cold, but we still had fun and Michelle was great. The boys were getting cold, Brielle was having a blast, so we had to cut it a little short. Plus rain and my hair don't really mix ( CURL & FRIZZ). The boys were excited too, they saw cranes and an eagle, very cool. Mcihelle was nice enough to edit the pictures fast and give them to us at church this morning. There are so many great pictures, but this is just a few,

After pictures Tanner went to ref a game and we came home to relax. After dinner the boys had a fun night ahead of them. Mikey's Sun Hang Do had a movie night for the kids and their family/friends. It was for 3 hours and they did martial arts, games and a movie with popcorn. We picked up Cole and dropped them off. Tanner, Brielle and I went grocery shopping and out for dinner. When I picked up the boys they were having so much fun running around. They had won some door prizes and they also were given glow bracelets ( which they LOVE). Needless to say they were a little hyper, Cole was sleeping over so I had them all set up in the playroom with pj's blankets and pillows. I thought a movies and darkness would calm them and they would start to doze off....NO Way, they were up giggling until 11:30pm. I don't mind them having fun and staying up. But now I was fearful for tomorrow, so I had Tanner end it and they were asleep in minutes.

That brings us to today. Tanner made us a delicious crepe breakfast,

and we went to church and Tanner's parents for dinner. The kids, mostly Brielle, were getting super grumpy so we headed home and had a relaxing evening together watching Olympics, Canada won it's first GOLD METAL tonight and a first on Canadian soil, Whoo HOO!

I did another stupid thing and dropped our camera out of it's case onto the hard kitchen floor, and broke it. I am having bad luck with our electronics. I am so lucky Tanner is way more forgiving then I would be. I really want to kill me for doing this. I just hope this bad luck doesn't come in 3's.

Tanner and I are excited for our Valentine gifts tomorrow, couples massage at the Wild Orange Spa, and dinner. But lucky for me, Tanner has been sweet to me all day, I love him.

2010-01-31T22:37:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

Today was a hectic day that Tanner and I did not see each other. I had JitterBugs and then had to evaluate a new licensee. I then had to go grocery shopping, where I had 2 people ask how many kids I have. I guess my overflowing cart was causing some stares. Once I got home, Tanner had his soccer game, but it was raining, so we didn't go watch. He played the first half them had to go ref basketball. They day went quick and the kids were happy eating their chocolate pudding after dinner. I was in the kitchen when Brielle came in and said " Uh oh, mess" She was showing her hands that were very messing. I laughed and agreed, then pickup her up to wash her hands but quickly found out she was totally covered in pudding.

I took her looked at the table,

and then straight up to the bath. WHY IS SHE SO MISCHEVIOUS???? But she did pee in the potty twice later that night and only did a little pee on the floor. Pretty good for having no diaper since 4pm, I hope this is the beginning of the end of diapers :) :)

2010-01-31T22:19:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 29th, 2010

This morning we went to preschool and Brielle found the new toy. It's a cookie playset that is so cute. It has a oven mitt and everything. She spent the morning making cookies and giving them out to everyone.

Nathan, shockingly, did art today. He painted with shaving cream, and loved it :) Another example why I go to preschool, so I don't have to do these messy things at home.

Here is Jesse, Trey, and Nathan, being silly together.

Today the kids had a class castle building competition. Tyler's class made one out of popsicle sticks,

and Mikey's was out of gourmet coffee cans.

This was the week end celebration of Carnival. Mikey's class won!!! It was pretty awesome.

Later, after school while doing papers, Mikey bit it pretty hard down a driveway face first. He scrapped his knees and nose, so Tanner and Ty finished up the route. Tanner had a local game and I went visiting teaching while the kids played over at the Martins. I love that when the kids have fun playing together, they then beg for a sleepover :)