Just Because....

I was looking back at my sister's blog and I came across this post she did last winter. I laughed then, and I am laughing again now, so I thought I would share it. Enjoy!


http://lenlouadoption.blogspot.com/2009/12/snowmen-fun.html

I've been tagged.....

Well, I guess I will play the game......

4 shows I watch - Survivor, The Biggest Loser, Criminal Minds, The Good Wife, Glee, House, Parenthood, Super Nanny, Medium - - - woops, I guess I watch too much TV!!

4 phrases I say a lot - I love you, go to bed, zip it, who did this?

4 things I've learned from the past - I have always been watched over by my Heavenly Father and can always see the evidence of His love for me in my life.

4 places I'd like to go - Europe, somewhere warm, a cruise, somewhere warm

4 things I did yesterday - laundry, cleaning, played a game with my kids, ate ice cream with a new friend

4 things I love about winter - Staying inside, walking in a mild gentle snow, Christmas, watching my kids play outside

4 things on my wish list - happy kids, happy husband, a new dress, springtime

Feel free to join in the fun!

My Relationship with my Appliances

I have come to realize that I have a very real relationship with my appliances. I have my favorites, and my not so favorites too. My all-time favorite is my dishwasher. I LOVE my dishwasher. It really does make my life so much better. When we moved here we did not have a dishwasher for about 5 days. Oh my, what a long 5 days. I have a brand new dishwasher - and it works so well and fits so many things in it. I rarely have to do many dishes at all, and for that, I love it the most. I also love my washer and dryer because of all the hard work they do for me too. They have a huge job to do for me and my family! I even had a little conversation with them the other day. The previous owners did not do a very good job of cleaning out the laundry room and after I had spent a couple of hours cleaning out all the dirty socks and underwear they left under the washer and dryer, I wiped down these lovely appliances and had a little chat. I told them that if they were nice to me, I would greatly appreciate it. They aren't the nicest looking appliances on the block, but they do the job and it sure beats having to wash my clothes down in a river somewhere! My next choice for appliance favorite it a toss up between my fridge and my stove. I like my fridge, but it too isn't something too spectacular, but it does the job and keeps my food at the right temperature. I think I just have a little bit of appliance envy as two of my sisters have recently purchased really nice refrigerators and I think I am just a teensy bit jealous! That leaves me with my stove. I spend a lot of time with my stove. I feel like I am with my stove A LOT!! I actually really miss my ceramic top stove I used to have. There is nothing wrong with my stove here, but I am still getting used to it and how it cooks and I have had a few things that have burnt on my lately and I am not used to that at all!! I am trying to be patient and just be grateful that I have a stove and that I don't have to cook over an open fire or anything like that. I am looking forward to the day when we will remodel our kitchen next year and I am hoping to maybe upgrade my stove, and possibly my fridge. It really is such a huge thing for me as I spend so much time in my kitchen it seems. Maybe next year I will have a real contender for the top spot for my most favorite appliance..... ; )

Adjusting Well

Well, it has been all of two weeks since we have moved and we all seem to be adjusting fairly well. It took a little bit to get used to driving our kids to school - they always walked on their own to and from school before, but it is a bit too far here. Brendan does walk as long as it isn't too cold or dark, so that helps. Brendan was given the opportunity to join the basketball team the first day he was in school, and has already participated in his first tournament. His team won 3 of their 4 games! I have been to parent teacher interviews for my girls already. After all of 8 days of being in their classes, all the girls' teachers were very positive and kind. Every single teacher said the same thing about all three girls -- that they were all adjusting very well and it seemed as though they had been there since day one. Matt is really enjoying his job too. He really loves not having such a long commute and is really enjoying the people he is working with. I have to admit that we are all adjusting well and it feels like we have been here much longer than 2 weeks. Our ward is very welcoming and it seems like a nice ward. I think that is the only thing that still makes me feel like the move is still a little fresh. I know it will take more than 2 weeks to get to know everybody there, so I am trying to learn at least two new names every week. The kids are missing their friends of course, and they ask to write them letters and emails and to call them fairly often, but I am glad that they had such good friends there. I am sure they will make good friends here too. All in all, we feel very blessed to have this move work out so smoothly. It really does confirm that this was the right decision for our family.

Settling In

What an amazingly busy week! Moving is such a big job and it really wasn't a whole lot of fun, especially doing most of the packing without Matt around. I must admit, though, that this move went so smoothly. We had so many good friends and neighbors come to help load our moving truck last week. We had our whole house and garage empty in about 45min. It took a little longer to pack the truck, and there was a few moments that I was worried we wouldn't fit everything in, but it was amazing how my mom and Matt juggled, and fit everything into the truck. I am so very grateful for my mom and dad. They drove Matt up to Edmonton, helped load the truck, and stayed to help unload the truck in Lethbridge as well. We had a bit of a caravan going down south. Matt took Grace and Brendan in the big moving truck, Mom and Dad took Anna and Rebecca with them, and that left me with Sarah and Gideon in our van. We had some awesome friends that took all our kids (except Brendan - he was a big help with the move) for the entire morning so they were out of the way, and then made lunch for us for the drive down as well. It was so hard to say goodbye to our neighbors and our close friends and family in Edmonton. We are really going to miss everybody! We had some people from our new ward that came to help unload the truck and we had the entire truck unloaded in about 45 min. It is so much more fun unpacking than packing that is for sure. Since we were moving to a house that was about 600 sq feet larger than our last one, we have more than enough space for everything too! Here are a few pictures of our new home! I still haven't put up too many pictures, and I have no furniture in the front room or our family room, but we are doing pretty good for only moving in 5 days ago!

Everything is covered with snow now, and we are soooo grateful that we were able to move in before the bad weather hit!

My kitchen - they painted the cabinets black, which is not really my style. I am really excited that my mom and dad are so handy though and we are going to renovate our kitchen next summer!


Brand new dishwasher - - I love it!!


I think this might be my most favorite room in the house. We were so cramped into our tiny little eating area in our other place, that we are really enjoying all the elbow room here! The kids are totally enthralled with the fireplace. I had to laugh at the comment: "Now Santa can come down our real chimney instead of knocking on the door!"

Anna and Rebecca's room

Sarah and Grace's room. We just got them a set of bunk beds and that will free up some space in here soon.

Master bedroom - I love the flooring in all the bedrooms. It is really beautiful!

Ensuite!!! Need I say more!!!


Main bathroom - - I hope to get a new shower curtain soon. I have had this one for over 10 years and it is definitely time to change things up!!

Brendan and Gideon's room

This is the closet in Brendan's room. He LOVES this space and thinks this is the best room he has ever had!

Downstairs bathroom

Family room downstairs

"Toy Area" downstairs. I love all the space the kids have to play!

Laundry

Food storage

General Storage area. There are still a few boxes to go through, but these are generally just storage stuff anyway.

I am so happy and relieved at how smoothly this move has gone. It was a lot of work, but we are really happy with our new home and feel that this is going to be a positive change for our family.

Better Late Than Never....

I have to admit, that I really dislike Halloween. It is definitely nowhere near the top of my most favorite "holidays". It has become so commercialized and my kids become very demanding and whiny about what they want to wear for a costume that I am ready to just cancel the whole thing. I of course don't, because I know what that feels like. Growing up, my siblings and I were not allowed to go trick or treating. We still dressed up for our school parties, but my dad would not let us go door to door as he felt this was begging and that was something he never wanted his kids to do. As an adult, I can see where he was coming from, but as a child, it felt really unfair. Of course, having to stay at home and hand out candy to all my friends was not the funnest job either. So, every year I have to convince myself that I am helping build memories for my kids and try to help them have a good time. This year as Halloween fell on a Sunday we had a "Trunk or Treat" at the church that we attended. It was really nice to have my kids feel like they participated in Halloween and it only took 45min. I don't know that I will ever like Halloween very much, but unfortunately I really love all their candy!! I've got to get something out of it, right??

This picture isn't great, but I have Anna and Rebecca as 2 little witches, Sarah as Mickey Mouse in pink boots, Grace wearing my poodle skirt from high school, Gideon as a doctor and Brendan as a whoopee cushion. Glad we are done for one more year!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Matt and I were married 9 years ago today. It was a day just like today - sunshine and just a slight breeze. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed being outside to take pictures on our November day. We have never really done anything too crazy for our anniversaries. We would get each other a small gift and usually go out for a nice dinner, but that was about the extent of things. I have to admit that this year, knowing that we would be apart, I did not plan anything. I didn't even buy him a gift -- just one more thing to pack, right? So I was totally not expecting what Matt did for me today.

It started at 7:30am with a knock on the door. A good friend handed me a box and said Happy Anniversary and went on his way. The box had a note on the top from Matt saying that this was his "Box of Love" for me. He even said I could use the box to pack with then I was done with it!! Inside were a bunch of funny little things, including a fake, plastic, bloody Halloween arm - - it was supposed to be an extra hand for me with the kids!! I laughed and the kids thought it was awesome, and I was pretty impressed that Matt had arranged to have this delivered to me since he has not been home for 2 weeks. I felt a little guilty that Matt had taken the time to plan this and I had done nothing! So I got on the internet and ordered him a cute little "Edible Arrangement" and had that delivered to his work. I really wanted him to know that I was thinking of him as well. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of the most amazing anniversary I have ever had!

I had another knock on the door at 10am. This time it was a CD that he had made for me with a whole bunch of songs that we both love. I love it and it really means a lot to me.

Noon brought another friend with a poster that Matt had made. He had drawn a picture of himself with his arms open as wide as the poster board would allow, and said, "My love for you is bigger than this!"

4pm - Knock, knock, knock! I receive a 3-pack of DVD's for the "Love Comes Softly" Series

Then at 5pm, another friend brings over a HUGE candy letter. It made me laugh out loud!

Here is what it said:

Dear "Sweetart"

This letter may be a "Shocker", but it is no "Mirage". I "Stride" to be your "Lifesaver" by protecting you from the "Aero"s and "(licorice)Whips" and "Allsorts" of "Big Turks (Jerks)". I "Wunder(bar)" if you think I "Excel" at being a "FunDip" or a "(Mr.)Big""Nerd(s)". I hope to "Skor" a "Bounty" of "(Eat)More" kisses (big red lips sucker) when I see you soon.

Love your "Extra""Big Hunk"

I kept calling during the day and saying thank you for the "special deliveries" and each time Matt never said anything else about it. So after the candy letter I figured he was done. I was so totally blown away at all the work he had done to make my day special. Then, another knock on the door came at 8pm. A good friend had a card in his hands and said that he had to come and translate the card for me. Matt had written a message for me in Spanish and had our friend read it to me in Spanish and then translate it for me. I was a little embarrassed for our friend as he was reading how Matt feels for me, but it was beautiful.

I was just putting my baby to bed when the phone rang and another friend said she was outside my door with yet another package for me. It was the second set of the "Love Comes Softly" DVD's. How lucky can one girl get anyway!!

It has been the most memorable anniversary I have ever had and I didn't even have my husband here with me. Matt is an amazing husband and father and I count myself lucky to be married to him for eternity. He is definitely not perfect, but then neither am I. The last nine years have been amazing and I am looking forward to many many many more!

Bored and Lonely

I cannot believe I am actually admitting to this, but I am really bored! And of course a lot lonely too!!! It's not that I don't have a lot to do, but I don't have anybody to do it with, which of course makes the lonely part of this make sense. We got possession of our new house today and I am kind of bummed that I couldn't be there for this day. I know it really doesn't make any difference when we get the keys, and our moving day will be much more exciting, but it is one more thing that Matt and I have not been able to do together. I think most of this is coming from the fact that our 9th anniversary is coming up on Wednesday, and I think it really sucks that we are so far apart. We will definitely be celebrating this special occasion very soon as we are down to 10 more days and we will finally be able to reunite our family. It really hasn't been that long of a separation in the grand scheme of things, but 2 1/2 months is long enough for me! I know with all the last minute stuff that needs to happen in the next 10 days will go by in a blur, but it will be a good blur knowing that it will all be over soon. Moving is not my most favorite thing to do, but it does feel good to get rid of a lot of "stuff" that we really don't need. The bittersweet side of this is that I have to leave my good friends and awesome family here. There will definitely be an adjustment for all of us. I hope my kids can adjust well to their new schools and that we can settle in quickly. Ready or not, here we come!

T - 20 days.....

Holy smokes!! It seemed like the day would never come and now there are only 20 days left. I am in the midst of packing and cleaning and trying to stay sane on top of being both mom and dad and keeping a house full of kids running at the same time. I love my calendar, by the way. It is my saving grace. I had a nightmare last night that it was moving day and I remembered it wrong and wasn't finished packing yet. Then the truck wasn't there, so people kept putting boxes out on the driveway... and then it started to rain, so I was running to my neighbors trying to borrow tarps.... and all the while people were throwing things into boxes and packing for me. It was gross. I am working hard every day to make sure that doesn't happen.

I had such an awesome surprise yesterday. Matt was planning on coming home this weekend because he had 4 days off and said he would be here Friday by supper time. Well, when he walked in the door at 2pm on Thursday I was more than a little overjoyed. Just knowing I wouldn't have to pull down the ceiling in our laundry room by myself was enough to put me over the moon! We have to have a new dryer vent installed before we move out (as part of our selling conditions) and so the ceiling had to come down to give the plumber access to put it in. I was more than a little shocked to find out that there was almost an inch of lint on the ceiling because the dryer vent wasn't hooked up properly. CRAZY!! I am glad it is getting fixed and even more glad that I don't have to worry about it anymore.

I dream every night of my new house. I tell my kids about it all the time. Every time I sit down at our crowded little table with all my kids squished together and screaming that someone was touching them, I dream of my new 19'x11' dining room....... I know it will not cure everything, but seriously having room for everybody to have their own chair and their own space will make a world of difference.

Here's hoping I can make it through the next 20 days so I can enjoy it!

First Haircut

I have been putting off cutting Gideon's hair for quite some time. I knew it needed to be done, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut his beautiful, soft, blond curly hair! I loved playing with it just as he was going to sleep and feeling that so so soft baby hair. I knew as soon as I cut it he would look so much older and I wasn't too keen on losing my baby so fast. His super cute locks of hair were becoming a magnet for little girl hair accessories, so I decided that as much as I love his little baby look, and because I waited so long for another boy, that it was time to make the first cut.

Here he is before....

.... and during...... (I am amazed it turned out as well as it did with all this moving around!)

... and his reaction.... (and mine too a little)

Gideon is still super cute though and will be just as cute as a toddler as he was as my baby!

Our New House!!

Originally I was not supposed to be in Lethbridge this weekend. Matt was planning on coming back up to Edmonton for Thanksgiving since he had some time off work. Those plans all changed last Monday when we got an offer on our house. The people who put the offer in wanted possession by November 16, which only gave us 5 weeks to find a place and move. So we decided that having me travel to Lethbridge to look for a house for us to move into was probably a good idea. We had looked at about 12 houses last month, but didn't really want to put in any offers until we had sold ours first. There was one house we saw that caught my interest, but I kind of forgot about it as the month passed. We looked at 4 or 5 more houses this weekend and we actually saw another house that I liked too. So we had a choice between two different houses that were both great choices. We ended up going back to both of them later in the day and it ended up being the feeling of coming home. We are so excited that the offer we put in was accepted with minimal negotiations and the plus side is that it is available immediately! We are hoping to have the conditions on our home in Edmonton removed by Wednesday and then we should have the conditions for our new home in Lethbridge removed by Friday. Our possession date is set for November 1st and we are hoping to have a few things tweaked and ready for us to move in 2 weeks later. It is amazing to me that so much can change in such a short period of time. Last week at this time I was not sure where my life was going, and now there is tangible evidence that I won't be living in limbo forever. I think it is very fitting that this all occurred on Thanksgiving weekend as well. I am so thankful for my family and the fact that we are all going to be able to be together again soon. Here is a little sneak peek - more pictures soon!


On a sadder note, I am missing my Grandpa Webster as he passed away this past week. I am so grateful that he is with Grandma again. I know he has missed her so much and I am so very blessed with the knowledge of life after death and forever families. I guess I am also a little thankful that Grandpa died when he did as his funeral is on Tuesday and I am able to attend. I know that my Heavenly Father is mindful of me and I feel very blessed and thankful for all the tender mercies in my life.

Gideon's First Birthday

It amazes me that a whole year has passed already. We have thoroughly enjoyed having Gideon in our family. He is a very happy baby and is loved by everybody so much!

On the day of his birthday I made sugar cookies and let the kids ice them for FHE. Matt was away and so we held off his "party" until he was home on the following weekend.

I so love the curls in his hair and I am trying to gear myself up to cut it so he doesn't look so much like his sisters!

Gideon's first birthday cake!

Not quite sure what to do with the candle...

...and wondering what happened to it!

Mmmmmm....... cake!

LOVED his new puppy!!

and his new phone!

Happy Birthday little buddy!!

First Days of School

Brendan's first day of Grade 8!

Grace and Anna's first day of Grade 3 and Grade 1. Rebecca didn't actually start on this day because of staggered entry for kindergarten, but it was close enough!


First actual day for Rebecca

Rebecca loves school already!

A Job Well Done

Matt had his final day at work and they had a party for him to say good-bye. The weren't sure what to get him for a going away gift, so they just had a money jar available for donations. He sure was excited that there was enough for a new hiking backpack and an ipod!

Grace's Birthday Party

Grace had her 8th birthday party the day before school started this year. She was busy at her daycamp on the day of her birthday and then got baptized on the Saturday after that. It was a busy couple of weeks for her, but I think she had lots of fun!

They all had a blast with some bubbles!

Then they made bunnies out of washcloths with pompoms and ribbons

Grace had her dad's leftover cake from his farewell party the night before.

Happy Birthday Grace!!

Tomatoes!!

I decided it was way past due to trim back our tomato plants today. I saw a neighbor's plants last night and thought it looked so nice being able to see the actual tomatoes on it; ours were hidden by all the leaves. Here are the results!

Before.....

After.....

I don't know how we got so many tomatoes on one plant, but I think it's awesome!!

These are some that I already had picked, and my pruning shears weren't so careful with.

I hope your garden is growing well too!! Happy harvesting!!

A Special Day

Grace got baptized today! It was a very special experience for her and for our entire family. Since our lives got a little rearranged with moving, we had to rearrange the day that Grace was getting baptized too. Our stake likes to have all the child of record baptisms done once a month, but that date was after Matt would be gone to start his new job, so we were able to get special permission to have her baptism done today. That meant that we had to arrange everything as well. We did get to learn how to fill the font and that was a new experience for us. Grace was so excited and just glowed afterwards! It was great to have lots of our family share this day with us as well.

Grace and her Dad

Grace with Grandma and Grandpa Murray

Grace with Grandma Hatch

Three of my four girls - Sarah was a little hard to catch today!