Tim, Ashlee, & Kinsey

She cracks me up!

2010-11-25T21:20:00.002-07:00

Kinsey talks so much that there is no filter from what she thinks to what she says. It keeps me laughing all day long. I just wanted to share a couple things she's said the last two days.

During Sunday School Kinsey was sitting with Tim (she's decided she doesn't do Nursery these days) and then when to sit with Bupbup to get some candy from his pocket. With Kinsey not on his lap Tim leans over and put his head in his hands. Kinsey watched Tim for a bit from Bupbup's lap, then got down, walked over to Tim and yelled "WAKE UP!" In the middle of Sunday school. Everyone was killing themselves laughing at Tim.

Recently when Kinsey is playing with Kamry or Danyca and she really wants them to pay attention or do something she'll use their middle names "Pamry Dawn" and "Danyca Rose". But I didn't think she actually knew that was their middle names (and I'm not sure where she figured out their middle names anyways). Anywho, yesterday Kinsey and I were at the church by ourselves. We were the only ones left there after cleaning up from a RS quilting day. She couldn't find me in the church and I could hear her calling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy Rose! Mommy Rose!" So when I saw her I said "Did you just call me Mommy Rose?" And she replied, "Your name Mommy Dawn?" I told her it wasn't and then she said "What your name Mommy?" I said it was Ashlee Ann and now her favorite game is to ask what everyone's full names are.

And then today...I was cleaning up Kinsey's bookshelf in her room and she has some shapes flash cards that the box was wrecked. So I asked Kinsey to go to the kitchen and get a zip lock bag to put the flash cards in. She plays with my zip lock bags all the time and knows what they are.... or so I thought. She goes to the kitchen and comes back with a dish cloth. So I send her back to get a bag. She comes back again, but this time with a napkin. I said "No Kinsey. I said go get a little baggie like you put your sandwiches in." And Kinsey sighed and said, "For crying out loud Mommy." I was laughing so hard that I made her repeat it cuz I couldn't believe that she even knew that phrase let alone how to use it properly. (Her daddy says "For crying out loud" all the time.)

Snowy Days

2010-11-19T09:21:00.003-07:00

I'm so glad that the snow wasn't here last weekend when we had to drive to Portland. But I'm totally welcoming it now. I'm loving BC snow. Probably cuz I don't have to drive anywhere. And Tim no longer has a 45 minute drive to work (one way). So bad roads don't make a difference to us (Tim walks to work.)

Winter here is much different than in Southern Alberta. Winter meant SO COLD there. Here it just means a ton of snow. Much better!
Kinsey and I went out to shovel our driveway yesterday and I could find our snow shovel. I texted Tim and he informed me that we don't own one. Goes to show you that in Southern Alberta you just wait for the chinook to roll so that you don't have to shovel or plow. I told my dad yesterday that I didn't have a snow shovel and that I was just gonna wait for the chinook. He laughed and said I better find a snow plow for Tim's quad or a snowblower. haha

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I did some blog catch-up.
So go check out these posts too: Mr & Mrs Pavan,
Smile! =), and Pickled Beets.
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Mr. & Mrs. Pavan!

2010-11-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

So my baby sister is married! I just can't believe it. Is she really old enough? I guess so. :) Last week was crazy busy for me doing the last minute stuff for Britnee's wedding. Her wedding was on Saturday but it was in Portland so that meant a drive was involved too. Before we could go I had to finish up the slideshow and the "musical dating story". Plus Britnee had asked Tim and I to sing at the reception so that meant a few (or many) practice runs. Then there was the packing. Had a ton of stuff to take out to Portland. And now that Britnee is endowed that really gives us a big problem when it comes to a babysitter at the temple. We had no one to watch our little ones while we were at Britnee and Alan's sealing. Thank goodness for Facebook cuz a friend of a friend of a friend knew a YW that would come to the temple and watch our kids.

Kinsey was helping Daddy practice his guitar for our song for the wedding.

Anywho, we headed to Portland at 4pm when Tim got off work. We drove straight through. Kinsey is a fantastic traveller and I'm so glad. She's REALLY into Princesses right now, so add a dvd player with Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel and you're set. Oh and you must bring along all of your princess barbies too. :)
Friday Tim and I wanted to go to the Portland Temple for a session. And as we're getting ready to go I realize I have forgotten my recommend at home. Lovely! Well after a few phone calls to the temple and back home to my Branch President I was able to go. So we got to do a session and we even got to be the witness couple. That celestial room is soooooo beautiful! It was breathtaking!

Saturday morning was so busy. Rush rush rush! But the worst part was Jennifer realized in the middle of the night that we all had forgotten Jayda's flower girl dress back here in Canada! So Dad and Jenn zipped out early to go and buy Jayda a new one for the wedding. And it was beautiful! We all made it to the temple on time and even without my recommend I was able to go in. Phew! Kinsey cried the ENTIRE time with the babysitter while we were in the temple. I had warned the babysitter that this would happen. She's got some bad separation anxiety right now. Won't even stay with people that she knows really well like Mama or her Aunties. (And we won't even discuss Nursery.) Has to have either me or Tim all the time. But Auntie B only gets married once and Tim and I weren't gonna miss it. So Kinsey just had to cry. (Sounds bad I know)

The new Mrs. Pavan looked stunning! Alan was one lucky groom. (I may be a bit bias) Of course it rained. Luckily it just misted for the picture taking part, but still....it was WET! But we knew it would be. At least it was warm and the leaves and greenery were so beautiful for the photos.
The reception was so much fun too. Lots of laughs and a few happy tears too. Yummy food and fun dancing. Then the new Mr and Mrs had to leave. They had a flight to catch to New York to catch their cruise to the Bahamas.

We had a fantastic time at the wedding. Way too much fun! Sunday we did the drive home. 9 hrs and 20 mins from the hotel so not too bad. We had to make a few stops along the side of the road to "pee on the rocks" as my newly potty trained little girl doesn't have a very big bladder. (Gas station bathrooms are nasty so I was okay with her peeing on rocks instead.) But we made it home!

CONGRATULATIONS BRITNEE & ALAN!

PS Sorry I have no pics of the Bride and Groom. I was in the wedding party and Tim was busy chasing Kinsey. I'll have to track some pics down.

Smile! =)

2010-11-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

Kinsey has this fantastic smile these days. She cracks me up!

Pickled Beets

2010-11-02T08:04:00.002-06:00

My mom makes THE best pickled beets. So she came over to my house after work one day and taught Kimmy and I how to make them. Kinsey and Kamry liked helping out too. We did 25lbs and Kimmy and I split that. Then my dad came home with 25lbs more and asked us to do them for him too. Pickled beets are loved in my family. So the next morning Kimmy and I did the other 25lbs for Dad. My house smelled terrible for a few days. It was a lovely mixture of beets, vinegar, and paint (as I painted my hallway earlier that day too).
Kimmy said she opened one of her jars and the top ones weren't quite pickled yet. So I haven't tried them. Pretty soon I hope.

Trick or Treat!

2010-10-31T10:41:00.000-06:00

The Church had a pumpkin carving contest for the community. It was so much fun getting together with everyone to carve. Kinsey didn't like putting her hand in her little pumpkin. She was happier with a spoon.
Very hard at work.
I asked Kinsey to "smile ice" next to her Cinderella pumpkin and this is what I got.
Mommy & Kinsey with our masterpiece!
She LOVED her Cinderella pumpkin.
Daddy did the Charlie Brown pumpkin.
Tadaaaaa!
And here's my little Princess Cinderella trick or treating!Walking around Galloway with her Daddy. Kinsey found her favorite buddies out trick or treating.

Kimmy and I stayed home to hand out candy so Brendan and Tim took Kamry and Kinsey out. I'm told Kinsey was all business. Had it down to an art. Knock knock, "Trick or Treat", they'd put candy in her bag, then fill Kamry's, then Kinsey would put her bag out again and say "More Candy?" and she'd get more. Then it was on to the next door. :)

Loved dressing up my Princess. She sat and let me curl all of her hair. And she loved the make-up and sparkles. She makes me smile!

Potty Magic!

2010-10-29T13:16:00.005-06:00

Kinsey has totally rocked this potty training thing! For months now she has been using the potty here and there. I wasn't trying to potty train her, just get her used to the toilet. So she would always pee before baths or before putting a fresh diaper on before bed and times like that. I wasn't ready for the potty training thing when we lived in a holiday trailer. But we're feeling pretty settled in our new house so Kinsey and I went to town and bought some special panties. She was excited.

We started with pull-ups and candies. This did not work! I think the pull-ups just felt like diapers to her and candy isn't really a prize for Kinsey (she gets to have treats anyways). So we stopped for a few days. Then we started brand new with panties and Princess stickers. Amazing! We only had 3 days of accidents (which is pretty amazing cuz Kinsey drinks so much and she also poops 5-7 times a day). And by day 4 she was fantastic all day. And she's never had any accidents at night. The first few days she woke up early (for us) cuz she said she had to pee, but no she sleeps her normal schedule and still no accidents. She's really got this figured out! I'm so proud of her. Princess stickers were the best. She loved them!

Then it was time to leave our house. I was nervous. But on day 6 we headed to Kalispell for a day of shopping. No accidents all day! Awesome eh? Like I said...Kinsey has totally rocked this potty training thing.

She gets the "reading in the bathroom" thing from her daddy. The princess dress over top of her mis-matched pajamas is just a bonus.
And sometimes when you fall asleep on the drive home from Kalispell it's very hard to stay awake and pee on the potty before getting into bed.
She had to have a little rest while peeing. Mommy held her head up. Her potty chart is full of Princess stickers. And now we're making up spots on the chart to put the stickers. She loves it. I honestly would've thought that candy would have worked better than stickers. But not for this princess loving little girl.

So I'm a bit worried about her trick or treating with no potty nearby. I hope she does well. She's so good at home now and it's only been a week and a half. I remind her lots to go, but every now and again I walk by the bathroom and see her with her pants to her ankles doing the shuffle walk to the potty all by herself. We have a lot of leftover diapers and pull-ups. Guess I'll just put them in storage with the outgrown clothes. :)

Life at Our House

2010-10-11T09:16:00.004-06:00

Painting, unpacking, painting, cleaning, and more painting. The paint fumes in this house are insane. But it's much better than what the house smelled like when we bought it. We're getting lots done. We're finished painting in the entrance, living room, dining room, and kitchen. It's been a lot of work. And I'm actually getting stuff put away and finding a "home spot" for them. It's really starting to look and feel like home.

We had some helpers come over for a painting party.
And Kinsey was so excited when Mommy finally gave her a paintbrush!

There was so much paint on the floor. :)
And we're exhausted. But loving our new home.

Now I'm off to scrub the floors and stuff a turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Settled!

2010-10-02T08:58:00.003-06:00

Well we're getting settled. Got a TON to do still, but it's coming along. Still working on cleaning, unpacking, and painting. Some days the house looks like a complete disaster! But we're loving it. I was surprised how quickly Kinsey is adjusting. It was only the first 2 nights that she asked to go and sleep in "Kinsey trailer" and then we got her room set up and she loves her new bed. Anyone that comes to visit she asks "You see Kinsey room?" And she's loving that we found all her toys again...it's like Christmas. haha

We went to the parade for the Jaffray Fall Fair! Kinsey got way too much candy. We didn't stay for long cuz it was freezing and we had to go to town that day and pick out carpet for our new house.
Way too happy to have her Dora couch back. Felt like "home" I suppose and she fell right asleep.Kinsey can't get enough of her new big corner bathtub. She loves it. I have a very hard time getting her out. I keep asking her if she's done and she replies, "My still swimming Mommy!"She was very helpful when I was trying to put all her clothes away. And occasionally I find her hiding in there with the stuff all pulled out of the bottom shelf.We love the island. I want a bigger one (one day) but for now we love love love having an island. And Kinsey loves eating her breakfast up there while watching cartoons. (Just like at Auntie Jenn's house.)Having cousins near by is THE BEST! And we're working on the potty thing. It's coming. Some days are much better than others. :)And we got to go to "Jayda and Parker School" and join them for the Terry Fox Run.
So the house is getting put together. We're so happy. Took us a week and a half before we got our satellite tv to work. Too many trees around here to get a good signal. But we finally found a clear shot and it's wonderful to have tv again (just in time to watch Grey's the other day). And last night we finally got internet. Wohoo! I'm painting the living room and kitchen today. I'm so excited.

To me it doesn't quite feel like "home" just yet, but I'm sure that'll just take a bit. Cuz living in Jaffray really feels like home to me!

Moving In!

2010-09-21T14:49:00.000-06:00

The other day when we went to my mom's house to get our trailer and move it to our new house, I realized that I didn't take one single picture of our "house" for the past 5 months (which is so not me). We parked up by the barn and even had our own driveway.

This is how close we were to Mama & Bupbup's house. Kinsey loved living so close to them. And Tim and I feel so blessed that they let us stay with them for so long.

So we just got possession of our new house. We have a lot of work there that we need to do. Mostly cosmetic - so that's good. I figured the easiest way to show you our house is to go room by room (when we get each room done). We started with the living room.

Our very first project was get rid of all the window coverings and old carpet. Kinsey thought this was fun!

Kimmy & Kamry came up and helped us clean, clean, and more clean. And then helped us put away all our kitchen stuff.

Tim and Brendan ripped out the carpet in the hallway and bedrooms.

And the living room!

New carpet in! Ahhh! I love it and it makes the house smell so good.

Now to get all our furniture moved in and then I'll work on painting and more cleaning and organizing. Sounds fun!

Goodbye Stirling!

2010-09-17T14:11:00.005-06:00

Moving - ugh! And moving in the rain - double ugh! So you haven't heard from us much as September has been soooooo busy. Our house didn't sell this summer. :( And it's getting too cold for us to live in our holiday trailer much longer (our furnace runs all night long). So we decided to rent out our house in Stirling. I so didn't want to do the landlord thing. But we had no choice really. Well that is if we wanted to stay in Jaffray. So we did. Within 45 mins of posting our rent ad on kijiji we had a ton of people call me. And I think we've found some good renters. (fingers crossed)

Kinsey and I spent almost 2 weeks down in Stirling packing up and doing some cleaning. Tim came down on the weekends and we loaded him up. Now the pics I have here are deceiving cuz it looks like we had nice weather for moving. But we didn't! It rained so much! Everything had to be tarped. Sheesh! Anywho, the packing was a lot of work (and bonehead me only had flipflops to wear for carrying and loading all our stuff) and a lot of trips back to Jaffray for Tim. And then we had to store all our stuff for a few weeks until we got possession of our new house. Ugh! But we got all our stuff to Jaffray (we have way too much stuff). Every time Tim would head off to Jaffray and leave me and Kins in Stirling Kinsey would cry and say that she wanted to go to Jaffray too. So finally when the day came that we handed the keys over to the renters and we driving to Jaffray Kinsey says, "Mommy, my go Jaffray now?" I said "Yep, we're driving to Jaffray now!" And she replies, "Good! My love Jaffray!" I love Jaffray too!

TRIP #1

No stores would save any boxes for us so we had to buy all these bins (almost 70 of them) to move our stuff. Kept things nice and organized though.

And made it to Jaffray with the 1st load.

TRIP #2

My uncle happened to be in Stirling for the weekend with his trailer so we loaded him up and sent a load home with him. Trying to keep it out of the rain was a bit hard. The upright deep freeze didn't fit in my dad's garage.

Half in - Half out! (I'm so done with all this rain!)

TRIP #3

This was my other uncle's stock trailer. We loaded it to the tip top! I forgot to get a better pic of it. It was so full of all our "must not get wet" stuff like beds, tvs, furniture, etc. Stored it in my dad's barn for a while. :)

TRIP #4

Last trip! Had to get the hottub!

Inside of the car and truck were also plugged. Poor Kinsey had to squish in the back with all that stuff. haha But we're all done now. Well....we're done phase 1 of the move. Phase 2 - move into our new place.

GOODBYE STIRLING HOUSE!

Kinsey's 2nd Birthday Slideshow

2010-08-31T15:09:00.000-06:00

This is the slideshow that I made for Kinsey's birthday with pics of this last year.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kinsey!

2010-08-30T12:40:00.005-06:00

My Kinsey turned TWO! Can you believe it? I sure can't. However, I suppose when most people hear how well she can speak and that she can easily carry on a conversation, they usually think she's older than 2. But to me it's still a shocker. My baby can't possibly be 2! :-)

We had two parties for our Kinsey - a family one and a kid one. I love the parties! We had fun and Kinsey loved the parties. She totally got it this year and KNEW it was her birthday. She spent the day saying "It my berday!" So cute!

We decorated fishy cake #1:Loved everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her:Actually knew how to blow out her candles this year:And then we did fishy cake #2 for the kid party. Here's our birthday girl at her fishy birthday party! (Can you see her fishy shirt?)The fishy decorations!Showing me how old she is!We put the Happy Birthday sign and asked her what it said. She said, "Ummm, Daddy love me!" heheSome of Kinsey's friends at her party! We decorated fishy cookies. Fun & messy!She was really excited about the presents and kept saying "Oh thank you. More present!"
The kids watching Kinsey's slideshow.
So there you go. My sweet little girl is now TWO! She's so much fun. Totally my best little buddy. We love doing everything together. Love her to pieces!!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY KINSEY ANN!

Six Years Later

2010-08-27T08:33:00.000-06:00

Wow, six years! Have we really been married that long? Sometimes it seems like only yesterday that we were there. And yet, I can look back at all the amazing things we've done together these last years and it seems like it's always been US. I'm so glad I have you to go through this journey with. I wouldn't want to do all life's ups and downs with anyone else. You're my absolute best friend and I feel so blessed to be able to say that. You're the best daddy Kinsey could ever, ever ask for. She adores you as I do. Love you forever and ever!

Six years down - Eternity to go!!!

My New Nephew - Carson Nate

2010-08-27T08:13:00.003-06:00

My sister Jenn had a beautiful baby BOY yesterday! We're all so excited to finally add another boy to our family. Parker was way out numbered. Carson Nate arrived at 3:10am on Friday 27 Aug 2010 (on his Mommy & Daddy's 11th wedding anniversary) weighing 7lbs 7oz with a lot of black hair like his sisters Jayda and Danyca. We love him to pieces already!

I can see clearly now...

2010-08-26T07:35:00.003-06:00

....the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way!

Ya, I can totally see! I'm loving this no contacts or glasses thing! The whole reason I got the lasik eye surgery is cuz I could no longer wear contacts. I'd try wearing them for a few hours here and there and then my eyes would be so sore that I'd have to wear glasses for the next 3 days. And oh how I hate wearing glasses. So annoying at the beach swimming or if you want to wear sunglasses or any sort of working out. Ugh! Anywho, I've been having problems for over a year now with my contacts and my optometrist suggested I look into the surgery. I was going to have the surgery back in February, but it was one of those weeks when everything went wrong and I had to cancel it. So it was a spur of the moment thing this time. Tim came home from work and I told him I booked the surgery and I was getting it done next week. :) I'm so glad I did it!

I saw 20/20 the first two days after the surgery then things started to go kinda blurry. I was worried. But I had another appointment up in Calgary for a follow-up as my one eye was a bit inflamed, and they told me the blurriness was swelling that was causing halos around lights, computers, tv, etc. and it'll all go away! (The inflammation that I didn't even notice was cleared up too.) So tomorrow it'll be 2 weeks and I can sooooooo see! I have been able to see with no halos the last few days. It's amazing to wake up at night to check on Kinsey and be able to see the clock and where I'm going. Love it! And thank goodness I'm not an eye drop junky anymore and I can wear eye makeup again. My eyes feel great.

So if you've been thinking about it.... GO GET IT DONE! I should've done this years ago!! And that's my only complaint. :)

New Calling!

2010-08-23T08:21:00.002-06:00

Relief Society 2nd Counselor! Ya, that'll be quite the change from my nursery calling in Stirling or from have the summer off here in Jaffray. hehe Looks like we're staying in Jaffray - house or no house!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Kinsey 23 mths old)

2010-08-22T07:50:00.000-06:00

Kinsey LOVES to sing Twinkle Twinkle and she does all day long. She's really into babies right now and likes to sing them to sleep (don't know where she got that idea ;-) ). Love her!

Temple Day!

2010-08-21T07:31:00.002-06:00

We went to the temple this weekend to see my cousin Jilly get married. Kinsey loves temple days! She loves to see the temple! It melts my heart! However trying to take a picture at the temple was a different story. She was not having it. She is sick, so I'm blaming it on that. :) But she did love her new princess dress!

I wear my sunglasses....

2010-08-14T19:24:00.000-06:00

.....at night! And all day long! I totally got the lasik eye surgery! Yipee! I was a wee bit worried about having the surgery on Friday the 13th. But other than waiting for my surgery for FOUR hours, it went rather well. It totally didn't hurt (lasik doesn't hurt, but if you choose PRK it hurts BAD so I'm told). Well for about one hour after the numbing wore off my eyes felt like I had been slicing onions -- they'd burn and tear, but that's it. The smell of them burning my cornea was probably the worst part of the entire surgery. Ugh! But today I'm impressed! I had my surgery at 4:30pm yesterday and this morning at 8:30 I passed with 20/20 vision in both eyes! But I have the sweet sunglasses that I'm not allowed to take of even at night and I'm not allowed to touch my eyes for a week. And I'm totally an eye drop junky! I have so many different eye drops that I have to do that I'm putting drops in like every 30 minutes. But I can see!!!!

Kalispell's Ducks!

2010-08-02T06:55:00.003-06:00

What's a trip to Kalispell if you don't stop and feed the ducks? It's a must on a Sunday afternoon after church with a picnic in the park.
Kinsey's getting brave. She'll let them take the bread right out of her hands now.
Love these 3 girlies!
We wish B and Alan were in this pic!
Someone forgot to tell Kamry that the bread was for the ducks. She thought she'd have a little nibble. :)
Gotta smell the flowers too!
And then Kinsey drove us all home!

Water Fun

2010-07-31T06:42:00.000-06:00

We usually spend the August long weekend in Kalispell. Kind of a tradition I suppose. So this year we were all down there again. But this time with a new member of the family. We got to go wedding dress shopping with Britnee there and we also got our bridesmaid dresses. It was so fun. Plus one evening we went out to Alan's family's cabin. We had a super yummy dinner and did some water fun.

Auntie B and Uncle Alan taking Kinsey and Danyca for a ride.How's Brendan doing back there?Auntie B showing us how she learned to wake surf.Kinsey is not a fan of a lifejacket.And then Tim decided he was going to try wakeboarding. You know cuz the last time he did it was BEFORE his mission which was......11 years ago! I was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to even get up. (Nice support from the wife eh?) But he did! Not too shabby!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2010-07-19T06:34:00.000-06:00

Yep, I turned 28! Seriously, when did I get so dang old? My family cooked me a super yummy steak birthday dinner and cheesecake birthday cake. Mmmmm! Kinsey spent the day walking around singing "Happy Berday Mommy!"

I guess Tim thought it was time for me to have scriptures that say "Ashlee Nilsson" on them instead of "Ashlee Wright". What? We've only been married almost 6 years. Well, I suppose it was time too. My other ones were well "loved". I got them when I started Seminary 14 years ago!

Calgary Zoo

2010-07-17T14:19:00.000-06:00

When we went up to Okotoks to meet baby Tayden we also went to the zoo. Kinsey loves animals and we thought this would be so fun. I'll be honest...she liked the zoo, but didn't love the zoo. It was a lot of watching animals sleep in the far back corner of a pen. Not so exciting for her. Her favorite was hands down all the butterflies. She loved that place. (Such a girl eh?) And the new Dinosaurs Alive scared her to bits. Every time one roared or moved she would climb up Tim and hide while saying "Too Scared!" hehe

Take her to the zoo to see all the animals and all she wants to do is talk on the phone!

Yep, more phone talking!
Too scared!!
Hurry quick! Take the picture before she realizes there's another dinosaur behind us!

Baby Tayden

2010-07-17T13:50:00.001-06:00

We made a trip to Okotoks this weekend to meet brand new little Tayden. Julie had her little boy just the day before. Way too exciting that our best friends both had their baby in the same week.

Tayden is such a little cutie!
And Kinsey and Kyla really liked each other too. heheWe went to a Stampede breakfast with the Allreds and Kyla & Kinsey liked the petting zoo.

Congrats Julie, Kendell, and big sister Kyla on your little boy!

B's Engaged!

2010-07-14T14:12:00.002-06:00

Ahhhhh, my little sister is engaged! I'm way too excited! Britnee and Alan went to the Oregon Coast to visit his sister and he proposed to her there. I'm so happy for them!

Congratulations Britnee & Alan! You're better than the best!

Bowling

2010-07-13T13:34:00.000-06:00

I am a TERRIBLE bowler. Like sooooo terrible and for some reason Single Adults like to do it all the time in Lethbridge. I never got any better - 5 pin or 10 pin. Ugh! In highschool we had a PE unit on bowling and your grade was determined by the score you got bowling. Ya, I would've failed. Lucky for me, my boyfriend at the time would throw a few balls here and there for me when the teacher wasn't looking to up my score. Shhhhh don't tell.

Anyways, Auntie Kimmy thought a FHE night of bowling would be fun. And she was right. It was Kinsey's first time. She loved her fancy shoes.

Kinsey showing the camera her cool shoes:All the kiddos:

Kinsey trying for a strike!Kinsey would do her "happy dance" after each ball she threw:
Kamry thought it was FANTASTIC!
Good idea Kimmy! It was a fun night. Next time I should go in the lane with the kids to have the bumpers up. hehe

Miss Alexa

2010-07-09T13:10:00.003-06:00

We rushed down to Lethbridge today when Tim got off work. Tara had a beautiful baby girl. We were so excited to meet Miss Alexa. Kinsey kept telling us that she wanted to hold "Baby Lexa".

Congrats Trent, Tara, and big brother Blake. Your little girl is beautiful!

Surveyor's Lake

2010-07-08T12:59:00.000-06:00

We love Surveyor's Lake. I spent countless summer days there growing up. We would camp there and have our swimming lessons there every year. However I have never taken Tim or Kinsey there. So we did. Kinsey now has decided that she loves playing in the sand and in the water. Too much fun!
Tim did some snorkeling and found some pretty good treasures on the bottom of the lake.
We always did the little hike/trail around the lake. Daddy and Kinsey were having fun trying to spot all the turtles. (There are a lot of them.)However they did find a funny looking troll under the bridge.

Quad Rescue

2010-07-06T12:38:00.003-06:00

Our neighbors here in Jaffray had a "mishap" the other day while quading. Actually it was very scarey as they somehow got off the trail and started straight down a super steep bank. Luckily the quad got wedge on a little tree and it stopped their fall. They were both okay. A couple days later Tim went up to help them get the quad back up the cliff.

The little tree on the right is what stopped them:Winching the quad up the bank:
Removing the tree the quad was wedged on:
There's the "lifesaver" tree:

Bye Bye Grampa

2010-07-05T12:00:00.001-06:00

We're so glad Grampa was able to come visit us. Hopefully next time he can bring more of that Las Vegas sun cuz Kinsey thinks here in Canada we need toques and mitts in July. hehe We're glad we got to do lots of fun things with Grampa like camping, scenic drives, and quading. Goodbye "Rumpa"! Hope to see you again really soon!

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T15:26:00.001-06:00

Had a very fun Canada Day! Went to Auntie May's annual pancake breakfast. Soooo yummy! Tim missed out cuz he had to work. Then we headed to Lethbridge to meet up with Trent, Tara, & Blake for the Fireworks. Fun day! I ate way too much!

My Canadian Girl!Mommy & Kinsey!The two cheeeezers - Blake & Kinsey
Fireworks!
I love watching these two best friends with their little ones.
HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

A Ride Around The Mountain!

2010-06-29T13:28:00.002-06:00

My favorite quad ride is the one around the mountain range here. It's a long ride (took us like 5 hrs). I haven't been on a good long ride in years because of either being pregnant, nursing, or no babysitter (you know, mommy stuff). I was so glad that I got to go. Tim wanted to take his dad on that ride too. It's so pretty. This here is a waterfall that we can look over. There are like 5 or so hunting/guiding cabins on that trail around the mountains.

There must have been some CRAZY spring run-off this year cuz the trail was really cut up. The pic doesn't show it too well, but Tim's one tire is way off the ground here just trying to cross this deep rut.
And then the trail to cross this creek was completely washed out. We didn't want to turn around....so we made it through. It's so hard to tell from the pictures, but this was a really steep drop down into the river. My Dad and Tim's Dad had to hold the quad back so it didn't flip over while Tim drove it down.
Then to get up the other side, we had to winch the quads up the steep bank. It made for some extra fun on the trip! Dad and Tim love this kind of stuff! However it was Tim's dad's first time quading....maybe not so much for beginners.
Found this GIANT tree along the way!And of course if there's deep water to play in.....Tim will. He went back and forth a million times playing in the river.
Tim and his dad enjoying the view!
I love, love, love going for a good quad ride! Wohoo! Lucky for us, we live in the most beautiful place to quad!

Grampa's Visit!

2010-06-28T09:46:00.000-06:00

Grampa left sunny Las Vegas and came to visit us! Kinsey was very excited at the airport watching for Grampa to get off the airplane.
We did some camping with Grampa at North Star and after that we did some mountain things around Jaffray. Tim had to take his dad on the drive up First Peak. We always love doing that drive. I think Grampa was a wee bit nervous of the cliff when he looked out his window.
But the cliffs are worth it. When you get to the top you can overlook all of Jaffray. Love the view!Kinsey slept the entire way up on that bumpy road.
And we always have to take the trip over to see "the lake" once we're up first peak.

We got to do other fun things when Grampa was here, but I'll post about that later.

A little more of North Star Lake

2010-06-27T16:14:00.001-06:00

We went back to camp at North Star Lake again. This time we took some of Tim's family. Rachel and her family came out from Alberta to check out the lakes, mountains, and quading around Jaffray. We lucked out with beautiful weather and had such a great time.

Kinsey & Kara wanted to try the dingy out. Kinsey took Daddy & Grampa on a quad ride.Kinsey LOVES her big cousin Kara. She won't give Kara any space. heheOh look! It's a quad picture....and I'm actually in the picture! Can you believe it?Time for a swim in the lake!The water was CHILLY!But Kinsey came around to the water temp. Can you see that she's wet and her feet are in the sand/rocks/dirt? We're making some progress!
It was a super fun camping trip. Kinsey was very sad to see Auntie Rachel and her cousins leave. But we'll see them again very soon!

Quading with TnT

2010-06-19T10:07:00.000-06:00

We were SO EXCITED when we heard the news that our best friends bought a quad too. Way too much fun!! We loaded up and headed to Cardston. Trent & Tara watched Kinsey for us while we went to the temple then we went quading out at the farm. Fun fun!

Tim and Trent with their two little buddies, Kinsey & Blake!The creek that sometimes is only a little trickle was quite a bit faster and higher after all the rain that Southern Alberta got. Tim loved playing in it. However he did get stuck in it with both Kinsey and I on the quad too. I had to get off, with Kinsey, and wade to the shore. I was wet to my knees!TnT and Blake! (and Tara's baby bump)We climbed to the top of the coulee cuz the creek was too deep to cross.And then Uncle Trent got a flat tire. Ugh! But Kinsey was there to fix it up!This is how the ride back to the farm went...And Blake & I limped Trent's quad back.

It was such a fun day! Now Tara need to have that little baby of her's and we'll take them out quading in the mountains around Jaffray.

Camping - North Star Lake

2010-06-16T10:51:00.003-06:00

This last weekend we tried some camping closer to home. We went to North Star Lake and we had a blast. It was actually sunny and hot - can you believe it? There were a bunch of us camping there once again. We even got to celebrate Kamry's 1st Birthday while we were camping there. We had fun!

We went for a quad ride, but had to borrow Bupbup's quad cuz some bonehead (hehe) busted the wheel on our quad the first night. Kinsey loves "pod" rides.
Went for a hike along the lake.Went for a ride in Bupbup's fishing boat.Hung out with Daddy.
Actually got our barefeet a wee bit dirty in the sand while playing/swimming in the lake.And went for a ride in the dingy.

It was nice camping so close to home. Tim was still able to drive into work Friday morning from the campsite. (Well his commute went from 7 mins to 15 mins, but he survived it.)

Camping - Writing on Stone

2010-06-07T10:18:00.000-06:00

Had to stick with the tradition and do Writing on Stone again this year. We had a big crew this time and it was a ton of fun. The weather cooperated and we didn't have rain. We're really tired of rain! It was so good to see all of our Alberta family and friends now that we've moved to BC. The drive to Writing on Stone was MUCH longer coming all the way from Jaffray though. But it was worth it.Our Kinsey does NOT like to get dirty. She was very upset about her barefeet being the the sand on the beach.
Saturday morning Kinsey wanted to see what Daddy was cooking on the grill and grabbed it. She burnt both her little hand very badly! I felt so bad for her. :-( Her hands were so blistered! But she's a trooper and bounced back later that afternoon. Love her!After a lot of tears, some painkillers, some bandages, a blessing, a long nap, and a ton of kisses... she was all smiles again! Tough little girl! She had to show every stranger in the campground her "mitts" (bandages) that she had to wear because her hands were "Ouchie! Hot hands!"

Big News

2010-05-21T12:38:00.003-06:00

So I know we've been "missing" for a while, but with good reason. We moved! We have been busy busy. Tim got the job as the Head Electrician at the lumber mill near Jaffray. We're so excited.
We put our house up for sale, loaded up our holiday trailer, and came to Jaffray. Tim's now been working at the mill for two weeks and really likes it there. We're living in our trailer right now until we decide what we want to do as far as housing goes -- buy or build. Each morning when I open the blinds Kinsey says, "Oh trees! Two trees! Oh mountains!" (In Kinsey language "two" means "a lot".) Yes, I love the trees and mountains here too. Stirling was short on those two things.It's been a crazy few weeks, but we're so happy to be here in Jaffray. Kinsey loves spending time with all her little cousins around here. And we can't complain about the quadding that is possible around here. Oh and the lakes! Love the lakes! I must admit that it still doesn't seem "real" to me that after 10 years I'm living in Jaffray again. Feels like we're on a extended vacation here (but Tim goes to work).

WE LOVE IT HERE!

Book of Mormon Stories

2010-04-19T11:48:00.002-06:00

Kinsey loves to sing! She knows the actions to so many songs now. This one is our newest and she wants to sing it all the time now. The boat part of the actions is obviously her favorite.

Snow Much Fun!

2010-04-17T11:20:00.003-06:00

We we had a lovely snow storm the other day. We're not supposed to have snow in April! Kinsey and I missed the storm as we were in BC at my parent's. But Tim took some pictures for us.

This is the road outside of our house.

Nice spring weather eh?

Kinsey and I made the most of the snow when we got home and built a snowman.

She didn't like that she couldn't walk in the snow.

She was concerned that the snowman had her mitts on. hehe

But she like the final product.
But now I could really use some warm weather. I'm so done with cold and snow!

Duck, Duck, Goose!

2010-04-13T10:07:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went down to Kalispell for a little bit of shopping. My dad came too and of course he had to take Kinsey to feed the ducks again. She liked it last summer and she really liked it this year now that she's a bit older. We stopped at the grocery store and bought a loaf of bread and fed all of it to the ducks... and geese... and swans... and seagulls... and Canadian geese.

Those geese were the same size as Kinsey.

I really didn't like them. They'd hiss at ya and they'd snatch the bread right out of your hand. Eeek!

Kinsey would throw the bread into the water and then say "Got it!" when the duck ate it. She said it for every piece of bread she threw.

Bupbup and Daddy would throw the bread in the air and the seagulls would catch it.

Feeding the ducks from the bridge.

We had fun! Thanks Bupbup for taking us to feed the ducks!

Farm Fun!

2010-04-12T14:28:00.001-06:00

On Saturday we went out to the Rasmussen Farm in Cardston. The weather finally smartened up a bit so it wasn't sooooo freezing. Just kinda freezing. haha We got to do a bunch of fun things on the farm.

We went quading a bit with the little ones around the farm, but then they each fell asleep so Blake's grandma babysat both Kinsey and Blake while we took the quads and went geocaching.

We also got to help feed the baby lambs a couple of times. Kinsey loved the "wittle seep" (little sheep).

She thought it was neat the lambs had a bobby (bottle) just like she does.

She had this one little lamb that just would NOT leave her alone. All Kinsey wanted to do was hug and kiss it.

Kins loved being in the pen with all the little lambs, but she got a little concerned about them nibbling on her boots and coat.

Then she spotted the horsey. We love horses. Daddy took her over to pet their noses.

Uncle Trent brought over his horsey Maverick and Kinsey got to go for a ride.

She thought it was pretty fun riding that big horsey.

Uncle Trent took Kinsey for her first horsey ride. Fun fun!

My little Kinsey was so sick this day with a bad head cold. But she was a trooper. She still had so much fun out at the farm!

Along the Road

2010-04-06T13:52:00.001-06:00

So it was a bit of a long drive from Fairmont back home so we made a few stops along the road. All those touristy things that we see all the time cuz we drive that road so much yet we've never stopped for a pic with Kinsey. And Kinsey & Blake loved being free from their carseats for a little run!

Stopped in Sparwood at the "World's Largest Truck". I used to work at the coal mines near Sparwood when I was 18 and I actually got to drive a truck similar to this. Ya, they let ME drive one!

Here's Kinsey hanging out in the big tire:

Daddy & Kinsey just chillin:

Our little buddies, Kinsey & Blake. (Check out her hand on his knee. Awe!)Then we stopped at Frank Slide for some pictures.We went for a walk in the big rocks and then had some lunch before heading home. Blake looks like he was forced to sit next to Kinsey in this pic. (He probably was forced. He loves to just run!)
Daddy & Kinsey in the rock slide!
The stops made the drive much more bearable. And I haven`t been to them in years. Now Kinsey wants to talk about the Big Truck and Big Rocks all the time.

Hoppy Easter

2010-04-05T13:22:00.004-06:00

After Tim's birthday we switched gears into "Easter Mode". We packed up our holiday trailer (yes, in the cold) and headed out to BC for the weekend. Before going to the campground we stopped by Mama & Bupbup's house in Jaffray to decorate some Easter eggs.

Kinsey loved to color the eggs and then dip them.

Here's the finished product:

The next morning we headed to Fairmont Hot Springs. Love it there!

The Easter Bunny brought Kinsey some goggles and she would NOT take them off. Her poor little squished eyes.

We had a whole bunch of us camping there in Fairmont and we had awesome sites. Just us up in this one area. My entire family was there, Jenn with her family, Kimmy with her family, Britnee, Mom, & Dad. And Trent, Tara, & Blake joined us too. It was fun!

Easter morning was COLD! But Kinsey went out of the trailer to find a trail that the Easter Bunny had left her of little chocolate eggs that lead to her and Kamry's Easter baskets. There were a ton of those little eggs and at EACH ONE she's say "Oh egg!", pick it up and put it in her bag then say "Thank you Bunny!" It took us a very long time to reach the end of the trail.

She finally found her Easter basket. Very exciting!

Kinsey and her little cousins, Kamry & Danyca, all in their matching Easter jammies!

Mama & Bupbup did an Easter Egg hunt for everyone later that evening. Kinsey was napping but we didn't want her to miss out on the action. So I carried a sleeping Kinsey while searching through the forest for my Easter Egg. Found it!

Kinsey was slowly waking up when Tim found his egg. (Can you spot his egg?)She woke just in time to find her egg. Good thing too cuz she was very excited about it!Here we all are with our Easter Egg Hunt finds! It was so much fun!

Easter Sunday! Kinsey in her new Easter Dress!

The Family - Easter Sunday

We had such a fun time in Fairmont. It was dang cold though. But we survived. However I think we've all come home and now are sick (some much sicker than the others). Still it was worth it. We had a blast!

Happy Easter!

Oh No... The Big Three Ohh!

2010-03-31T14:40:00.005-06:00

It's Tim's 30th Birthday! Crazy! I went all out. I love doing birthday parties, so a 30th birthday is fun stuff. Kinsey and I found all sorts of decorations and put them all up. Tim was working nightshift so while he was gone we decorated. We had the table done up, sign in the window, signs on the door, balloons, and some hangy things from the ceiling. It was too much fun. When he got home in the morning it was all done up. We had a bunch of people come over for Tim's party. Tim requested ribs, baked beans, and texas sheet cake. He got it all!

Took me and Kinsey forever to make and cut out this sign. (I'm so not crafty!)Kinsey wanted to open the presents:

Yes, he requested 30 candles on his cake!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TIM!

Camping! Finally!

2010-03-26T11:19:00.006-06:00

We went camping! In March! It was cold, but we couldn't wait any longer. We bought our new trailer back in November and we haven't been able to use it... until now. Loved it! We stayed close to home as usually our first camping trip of the year starts like this or this. So we just went to the RV Park near Taber. It was really nice there down on the river. Not to mention we pretty much had the entire campground to ourselves. Kinsey couldn't get enough. She loved it and had to drag her inside the trailer to warm up. She had a blast. We had a few campfires and everyone came out at least one time for hot dogs, smores, and hot chocolate. Fun fun! Tim was called into work the last day we were there, but that was okay as we were only a few minutes away from his work. Kinsey and I went and dropped him off and we went swimming at the pool in Taber. Wow, that's a nice pool for kids. Kinsey had so much fun there too!

Tim and Kinsey warming up by the fire:

Kinsey & Daddy petting Diesel (Kinsey won't leave the dogs alone. She loves them!):

Kinsey with her FAVORITE person... her daddy:

Kinsey loved running through all the leaves. She liked the crunching sound:

Kinsey found some "smart pills" -- now she really will be smart when Bupbup shows them to her:

She wanted to stay outside forever!

She would feed the dogs one little bite of dog food at a time. And they let her:

And of course she had to play a little soccer in the leaves:

Can't wait to do this again VERY SOON! Yay Camping!

Loving Baking Together!

2010-03-10T13:32:00.006-07:00

I've told you before about my Baking Buddy. We started with the Snugli, moved to the Bumbo Chair, then the highchair, and now she stands next to me on a chair.

Well she starts on the chair and then climbs her way up onto the counter. The little monkey!

We always bake together. If she's napping then I'll wait until she wakes to start baking. Now we never do anything fancy. Mostly cookies! It takes me probably 3 times as long to bake with her, but we have fun. She absolutely loves baking with Mommy.

She has to copy everything I do. If I put on an apron, then she needs hers on too. If I pull up my sleeves, then she needs hers pulled up too. If I wash my hands, then so does she.

She has to pour all the ingredients in and we count as we pour each in. I'll scoop up the ingredients and she'll squeal "Sinsey Help!" (Sinsey is how she says her own name.) I have a wee bit of a problem (or a big problem) with trying to keep her little fingers out of the stuff. I have little holes in everything. She says "poke, poke, poke" and just can't help herself. At least this time she was supposed to poke the huckleberries down into the batter for the muffins. (But I see a ton of huckleberries on her face - I think she snuck some.)

We make quite a mess with all the flour and sugar on her chair and the floor. That's always fun to clean up afterwards.

And sometimes we forget that the oven mitts go on our hands instead of our feet.

But we have fun together. It's something we both LOVE to do together. And Daddy loves the results. :)

PS Please excuse the wild hair. We usually bake in the mornings, before we get dress and "done-up" for the day. hehe

Is she really 18 mths old?

2010-03-01T14:23:00.004-07:00

My Kinsey is 18 mths old! I can't believe it. No longer my baby. However I think she'll always be her Daddy's baby. When he holds her he says "Oh my little baby!" She's totally a little girl now. She's oodles of fun. Here are some little facts about her:

-She talks and talks and talks. She's doing some sentences now too.
-She'll repeat ANY word you say except for phone (to her a phone is a "show")
-She has her own bedroom now, but doesn't sleep in it. Misses Mommy's face I guess. We'll work on it. :)
-Just in the last month or so she's FINALLY figured out how to climb onto the couch which means she's also figured out how to climb on chairs to get onto the table. Lovely!
-She's starting to watch cartoons now. Her favorite is Spirit.
-Blankie and soozy (soother) are a must if it's nap time.
-Loves playing with baby dolls now. Her favorite is to put diapers on them.
-Loves to wear boots. If her Mommy would let her she'd wear them around the house all day long.
-The laptop! If you happen to walk away from it and leave it open, she will be there pushing buttons in less than 3 seconds. She's fast! I swear she keeps an eye on it even when I think she's doing something else.
-She still has a bobby (bottle) even though she's using it less and less all the time.
-My mom says that Kinsey can "smell" phones. Loves them! Even if you hide them she will eventually find one. (Caught her standing on the keys of my mom's piano reaching for a cell.)
-When she finds a phone she talks to Mama (my mom). I'm not sure why she thinks only Mama is on the phone. The odd time she will say that it's Auntie B on the phone.
-She loves doing action songs like Popcorn Popping, Once there was a Snowman, Picture a Christmas, etc.
-She has an AMAZING memory! She remembers everything. At the church this week I caught her climbing the stairs to go up on the stage. I asked her where she was going and she told me she was going to find Santa. (Santa was on the stage at the Christmas party back the beginning of December and we haven't talked about that since.) And if someone like Mama or Auntie B has a sleepover at our house she remembers in the morning without me reminding her. It's crazy!
-Points out pictures of Jesus and the temple when she sees them and is VERY excited that she found a picture of one of them.
-When we sit at the table to eat or get ready for bed it is Kinsey that tells us it's time to pray.
-She loves to bake with Mommy.
-She loves all animals especially our dogs and Bupbup's (my dad) kitty.
-Stuffed animals get hugged and kissed by Kinsey over and over again.
-Kinsey only has 7 teeth! I know! Eating is a bit of a problem as she has nothing to chew with. Luckily in the last few months here we got her top teeth so now she can at least bite.
-She doesn't sleep through the night. (Enough said!)
-When Daddy comes home from work she won't let him go. Daddy has to do everything with her and Mommy's not allowed to help.
-According to Kinsey, Daddy and Mommy should not hold hands when sitting on the couch. She'll pull our hands apart and say "No hands. No touch." It's so funny.
-She sings while she plays. No words, but she does her "la la la" and sometimes a little dancing while she plays.

So there you go. There are a bunch of little facts about my 18 mths old Kinsey! Love her to pieces! We have so much fun together!

Temple Yay!

2010-02-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

We went to the temple yesterday and Kinsey was very excited about it. She would point and show us the temple. I cut the video off too soon cuz she kept saying "Temple Yay!" and clapping. And as we drove away she waved and said "Bye Temple". I sure love my Kinsey!

Show or Phone?

2010-02-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Kinsey is a little parrot. She will repeat everything we say. Well almost everything. She will not say "phone". She actually argues with us saying that it's a show and not a phone. And boy does she love phones. She's always trying to snatch a phone to call Mama.

Cool Stuff

2010-02-23T14:47:00.004-07:00

I told you in my last post that our fridge died on the weekend. Tim was working nighshifts so he didn't get a chance to look at it until yesterday morning when he got home. He found out that our fridge wasn't a complete write off and it could probably be fixed.

Kinsey was very interested in what Daddy was doing to the fridge and had to get right in there with him. (Please ignore the crazy morning hair.)After watching Daddy for a bit she wondered away and came back with a little step to sit on. But watching wasn't enough, she grabbed the screwdriver and got right in there with Daddy.

The repairman came later that afternoon and got our fridge working for us. (Nothing that $$ can't fix right? haha) Thank goodness cuz it was really inconvenient using coolers out on our back deck for our food. The guy was here for about an hour fixing our fridge and the entire time Kinsey had to be there watching him. He had the fridge pulled out on an angle and he was kneeling behind it. Kinsey had to go around to the other side of the fridge where there was about a 6" gap between the wall and the back of the fridge. She peeked at the guy through the little gap. She kept saying to him "Fridge? Fridge?" I guess she was wondering what he was up to. But she was also very polite and kept offering him a cookie or a drink. She'd say "Cookie? Ya? Drink? Ya?" Over and over again. It was really cute. I wish I took a picture of her peeking through the gap at him.

I took "advantage" of our fridge being empty to give it a super good cleaning. Every corner is sparkling and it's all nice and organized. The freezer had to be cleaned as I had melted popsicles all over in it (it sucks when your stuff thaws). Kinsey loved the clean fridge. When I'd turn my back for a second she'd climb right in, but kept telling me that she was "Freezing!" (She makes tight fists and shakes her head and arms when she says "Freezing". It's so funny. She does it when we're in the freezer section at the grocery store too.) Ya, it's supposed to be cold Kinsey.

Even with the shelves put in she pulled out the crispers and tried to climb in there. She was very upset when I put the food back in as she no longer had a "cool" place to hid. :)

My Kinsey even makes me laugh while cleaning the fridge. I'm so lucky to have her. She makes everything fun!

One of THOSE weeks...

2010-02-22T12:40:00.007-07:00

So last week stunk! (Is that even a real word?) We had some bad luck. I found myself walking around saying "Seriously? Seriously?" after more things kept going wrong. (I think I watch too much Grey's Anatomy.)

First, our check engine light in our car came on so we had to take it to town to find out what's wrong. The problem can be fixed under warranty but it still cost us from them to look over the car. But on the way to town a stupid bird flew into the car's grille and broke it. That was Thursday night. So I guess that was 2 bad luck things.

Then we headed to Jaffray for the weekend and had a bunch of fun, but when we got home on Monday we found out that our deep freeze wasn't closed tight. Yep, a bunch of thawed food. What a waste. I had to throw up so much. More bad luck.

Then Kinsey woke up Wednesday morning with a rash that covered her from head to toe -- seriously. Back to the doctor we went. She has a viral rash and an ear infection. No fun! (I checked out the calendar and since her cracked elbow ER visit the very end of October we've been to the doctor every two weeks since. Each for real things too. Not just a paranoid Mommy. Man!)

Then on Thursday night Tim was backing out of our driveway to head to work and he backed into my sister's car. Tons of damage on Britnee's car and our bumper is all cracked. Ya, $$$$! And we don't want to put it through our insurance cuz our insurance rates would go sky high for the next 6 years. Not cool!

Then Friday night I kept hearing a clicking noise coming from the kitchen. But I couldn't find out what it was. Well Saturday night I figured it out when I noticed that my freezer was completely thawed. Yep, our fridge has now died too. It's only 5 years old! Sheesh!

I had an appointment for lasik eye surgery for this weekend, but I had to cancel it after all this stuff happened now. I'm bummed. I hate wearing glasses and I can no longer wear contacts. What do ya do though? Gotta fix cars and fridges instead.

Yep it's been one of those weeks where I'm nervous to go outside cuz something may fall from the sky and land on me. haha. Gotta laugh or else I may just cry. Ya that was one awesome week. But it's all okay cuz none of that is a big deal right? I have all the things that really matter. The rest is just stuff. However...

Seriously? Seriously? Ya, seriously!

Get Organized

2010-02-11T07:40:00.012-07:00

I know, I've so been neglecting my blog. With good reason though. I've been working on my new years resolution. Normally I don't make them. Okay actually I've never made one before (shocking I know). But I did this year and it is to "Get Organized!" And I've been doing it. It's so refreshing.

So this all started because I have been told by many that it's really time to move Kinsey out of our bedroom. Fine! But moving Kinsey out of our bedroom caused a domino effect. You see, to move Kinsey into her bedroom would mean that I would have to clean out the spare bedroom. And to do that would mean that I'd have to sort through all the baby equipment, baby clothes, and clothes that Kinsey still hasn't grown into yet and move them to the basement. Which also means that all of our papers/filing that in that spare room needs to be moved to the basement as well. Which means then our basement needs to be organized as it is totally junk/clutter chaos down there! See... It's not that easy just to move Kinsey out of our bedroom.

Anywho, we started....

PROJECT #1: Actually this has nothing to do with moving Kinsey to her own room. It was to make sure my 2009 Journal was completely done. Printed! Saved! Burned onto a CD! CD placed in our fire safe! First thing crossed off the "Get Organized List" that I have taped to my kitchen cabinet.

PROJECT #2 and #3: Kinsey and I spent a couple days sorting through all baby stuff and clothes and organizing it into LABELLED bins for storage in the basement. But while I was doing this I thought it was also about time that I sorted through mine and Tim's closet/clothes and donate a bunch of those too. We donated a ton of clothes. Feels so nice to be rid of all those. So now the spare bedroom closet and our closet both look fantastic. Well Kinsey's closet has turned into her toy room now, but it's still pretty fantastic as it's not baby stuff storage. Two more items crossed off the list.

PROJECT #3: On Tim's days off we tackled the insane basement. There were seriously boxes down there that were unopened from the day we moved here 3.5 years ago. Junk, clutter, garbage, and more junk! Two full days down there and we emerged with an amazing basement. I spent $200 on bins to store everything and boy was that money well spent. Everything is where it's supposed to be and in LABELLED bins. We did take an entire pick-up truck loaded above the cab with garbage to the dump. Can you believe we had that much junk, clutter, garbage, and more junk in our basement? Well if I had a before picture of our basement you'd believe it. We have a food storage area (stuff like you'd put in your pantry - soup, KD, flour, sugar, etc.), our actual food storage (the stuff like wheat, beans, etc. that are supposed to last 30+ years), our emergency kit stuff, an exercise equipment area, TV area, a guest bed, and office space. Crossed off the list! (This "before" picture of our basement is actually from a few months ago and it wasn't quite this bad anymore. It was organized chaos instead. Yikes!)

PROJECT #4: While dejunking the basement I also dejunked my "junk" cabinet in the kitchen. Much nicer! Crossed off the list!

PROJECT #5: Papers! Ugh! I swear I have way too many. But we've moved them from the spare room and they are now in my new office space in the basement. My filing cabinet is now all organized, but I'm still working on filing some papers and doing some (okay a lot) of shredding. Kinsey doesn't like this project very much (or really she messes up my piles of papers and scatters all the shredded paper around - so helpful) so I save it for when she's napping and I have all the house work caught up. It waits for me patiently in my basement. Almost done that one though.

PROJECT #6: Move Kinsey's crib to her own bedroom. Done! Well her crib and clothes are all down there. But that deserves a post all on it's own. Crossed off the list! (Someday I'll actually decorate her room - it's just not on the Get Organized list.)

PROJECT #7: Organize the garage. This was actually one of the first things done. I don't remember exactly when cuz I didn't do it. Tim did it! Maybe he did it when I was finishing up my 2009 Journal. I dunno. But it's done. Crossed off the list!

PROJECT #8: Move all our fixed bills over to be paid by our credit card. Hey, we're paying them every month anyways. So we might as well use our credit card and get the points then pay it off. Right? More points on the credit card equals more free groceries. Nice! Crossed off the list!

PROJECT #9: The pantry! Kinsey and I tackled that one yesterday. Okay, I organized it and Kinsey tackled it. A pantry has way too many things for little hand to get a hold of and make a mess with. First she dumped some of those Little Graduates finger foods (kinda like cereal) and then walked all over them crushing them into the floor.... I cleaned them up. Then she got some mini marshmallows and dumped them on the floor and then stepped on them.... I cleaned them up. Then she got the raisins and dumped those on the floor and then stepped on them.... I cleaned them up. Then I finally was able to finish up the pantry. I can actually see the floor in there now and everything is back in its place. Lovely! Crossed off the list!

PROJECT #10: Submit our benefits. Ya, I've had a clip on the fridge holding all our benefit stuff from 2009. Yikes! I wasn't really worried about submitting it (even though it was on the list) as it didn't think there was too much money there that we'd be reimbursed for. I was wrong. I did it all up yesterday and we are going to get a really nice cheque in bit here. Okay, a REALLY REALLY REALLY nice cheque. Ya, looks like prescriptions, vision care, and chiropractic appointments really add up over a year. It's gonna be sweet getting that money back into our pocket. Crossed off the list!

So I know these don't seem like a lot, but it has made HUGE changes in our house. We're getting closer to being totally organized and it feels like I can breathe again. I swear the disorganization was drowning me. Mostly the junk and clutter was drowning me. The other stuff is just nice to have organized. We've been busy as this is all being done while still having to do normal, everyday housework. It's a lot of work, but I'm loving it! Still have lots to do (it was a long Get Organized list), but I'm just glad things are getting crossed off.

Church Day

2010-02-01T10:56:00.003-07:00

Is it brain washing when I say "Church Day! Church Day!" and Kinsey replies "Happy! Happy! Happy!" For real, that's how it works around here on Church Days.

Our Church is at 9:00 and for us girls that don't usually wake up till 9:00 that's early. So morning comes and I'm rushing to get me and Kinsey dressed, hair done, and fed. As well as snack for Kinsey as sometimes she doesn't eat her breakfast quick enough and Nursery snack. So to keep the two of us (and Daddy if he's home) motivated and "running" to get to church before 9 then I keep saying "Church Day! Church Day! Happy! Happy! Happy!" I honestly say it all morning while getting ready and not on purpose. I just say it now out of habit I think. Well now all I have to do is the "Church Day!" part and Kinsey finishes up with the "Happy!"

Nursery is really coming along. It feels like my nursery now. I have 10 kids -- the junior nursery. They're all 2 and under. But it's good. I actually really like being the nursery leader. Totally exhausting though. I feel like I'm standing on my head for two straight hours. So when I do the Church Day Chant it's probably more for me than anyone else. Keeps me going! Try it next Sunday. It totally works. And you can even get your kids on board with the chant, but probably not your husband. (Tim said yesterday morning as I was running around getting everything ready that I was like a "junk yard dog". Oh yes, he did. And it was so true. Whatever, 9:00 church is early and we got there with no time to spare. See...... haha)

CHURCH DAY! CHURCH DAY! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY!

It's Been A While

2010-01-27T09:08:00.002-07:00

I know, it's been ages. So much has happened and I haven't blogged about any of it. I'm so busy with my new years resolution. So much is getting done. Not fun, but loving it! So..... refreshing! I'll tell you more about it some other time. (Or when it's completed.)

I'd give ya some other updates, but stupid blogger won't let me cut and paste. Are you having the same problem? It won't work. You see, I write in my journal and then I cut and paste it into my blog and then do a little editing so that it can be read by the general public. But all the details are cut and paste from my journal. I'm so not going to retype it all. And it won't work on blogger anymore. Do you know why? Is it happening to you too? Or am I doing something wrong?

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Our Christmas in Jaffray

2009-12-23T17:29:00.005-07:00

We spent this past weekend in Jaffray. We're not able to spend Christmas there this year as Tim has to work from the 22nd until the morning of the 28th (stupid shiftwork!). So anyways, we went into Jaffray to do our Christmas there with family. It was a busy, fun filled weekend!

We left for BC first thing Friday morning. But along the way we had to stop and mail Kinsey's letter to Santa. Let's hope he gets the letter in time!

And Friday afternoon we had a gingerbread house making party at my sister Jenn's house. Ya, I totally sucked at that. My roof kept sliding down and the walls caving in. So I don't have a picture of our gingerbread house/pile as it really was that bad! And Friday evening we had a house warming party at my sister Kimmy's house. Yep, she moved back to Jaffray after being in Castlegar for the last two years. We're so excited to have Brendan, Kimmy & Kamry closer!

Saturday we went to the Live Nativity at the Church. And Kinsey got matching shirts for her buddies Danyca and Kamry to all where to the Nativity and to the carolling thing afterwards. Kinsey was very excited about all the animals at the Nativity. She especially liked the "gonkey" (donkey) and Daddy even got a ride on it for her. She didn't stop telling me about how the donkeys says "ho haw" for the next two days.

And here is Kinsey and her cousins on Sunday in the beautiful Christmas dresses/clothes. Sunday night we all went to Jenn's and had an appetizer party (so yummy) and watched The Nativity movie.

Monday Me, Tim, and Kinsey went out a visited all our extended family in Jaffray and dropped of Christmas cards. Then that night we had our big turkey dinner at Mom's. After dinner we did some gift exchanges. And the little ones loved opening some presents early.
Here are Mama & Bupbup's favorite little people: Kinsey, Jayda, Kamry, Parker, & Danyca.
Here's the whole family:
And now that we're back at home Kinsey is having a blast playing with her new table, blocks, and books. And all day long she asks me where "Ganca, Parper, Jaja, and Kware" are. I'm not joking. She asks me a million times a day.

Tis The Season...

2009-12-17T16:37:00.012-07:00

We have been crazy busy around here. As I'm sure you have been too. Getting ready for Christmas is a ton of work. Especially because our Christmas is starting early as we head to BC tomorrow morning! Eek! So here's a quick peek into what we've been doing this last week...

Got Christmas pictures done:

Went and found Santa at Tim's work Christmas Party:

"Helped" Mommy make Nuts & Bolts:

Made two double batches of Sweet Addiction Nuts & Bolts:

UNdecorated the tree for the millionth time:

Sent out a TON of Christmas cards:

Did a bunch of baking (this is only some):

Wrote a letter to Santa:

Wrapped presents with Kinsey's "help":

Finally got around to decorating the sugar cookies:

Found Santa again at our Ward Christmas Party:

Tried to be crafty (I suck at it) and made these:

And got into the stickers:

We've been hard at it here with all this stuff. PLUS Kinsey's been teething. And yes, if we don't leave the house, then Kinsey stays in her jammies all day long. But she does get clean ones before bed.

We're exhausted!!!

Ho Hooooo

2009-12-10T15:39:00.004-07:00

My Kinsey is hilarious! This little girl keeps Tim and I in stitches all day long. She just doesn't stop....ever. Seriously, there's not pause or even a mute button on this little one. She talks non-stop. Ya she's only 15 mths but she can say anything. I think her favorite is "no, no, no" and she always says it three times just like that. My favorites are "mommy" and "I love you". I love it! Ball, puppy, and buffalo are the other ones that we hear a ton around here. When Tim calls us from work she will actually talk to him on the phone. It usually goes like this "Hi! Dad! I love you! Buh Bye!" And she's always very animated!

Kinsey's new favorite thing... Santa! I know! I was so prepared for one of those screaming/crying pictures of my Kinsey on Santa's knee this year, but no. She loves him. We had no problem getting her picture taken with him at the mall. Well, there was one little problem -- she wouldn't stop saying "Ho Hoooooo" long enough to smile for the camera. :) And then we went to Tim's work Christmas party and once again there was Santa. She had to keep going over to him to show Tim and I that "Ho Hooooo" was here. Oh ya, and according to Kinsey Santa doesn't have reindeer. He has a "buck". Yep, there's Mr. Ho Hooooo and his Buck! (Yes, she can say Santa but prefers to call him Ho Hoooo.)

Kinsey is so friendly. She would sit with absolutely anyone at church - even if we hardly know them. I chase her around church trying to save people from her. I've told my Mom that I can't let her out of the shopping cart when we go places cuz Kinsey would honestly take any stranger's hand and walk right out of the store with them. She's so trusting that it scares me. She's a handful, but such a sweetheart. I'll have to make a new video of her doing her "surprise face". It cracks me up! It's gonna be the perfect face for Christmas morning. Christmas is going to be a blast. Kinsey's so excited about everything. She's loving our Christmas Tree. She's pretty much stopped pulling the balls of the tree now cuz I showed her how to lay under the tree and look at the lights. She points to each light and says "pitty" (pretty).

And that's our Kinsey. She's a busy one, but way too much fun! We love her to pieces. Life must have been boring before her!

PS I no longer have to chase Kinsey around church on Sundays. She's not old enough to go to nursery, but Tim and I got put in as nursery leaders so she comes with us. I'm totally loving it! What a fun calling!

Truck Time!

2009-11-25T10:01:00.006-07:00

Over the past year Tim's been working on some upgrades and accessories for his truck. You see, Tim has been collecting pop cans for money and he fills up our vehicles at Fas Gas to get the cash back promo that they do. He's been saving all these $20 bills that he's been getting here and there from those two things and calls that his "Truck Fund".

He started with some stuff that can't really be seen like load levelling air bags with an onboard compressor and gauge. He's also done a 2" levelling kit, the headache rack and box rails, 3" tube running boards, chrome handles, chrome door spears, and a remote starter (okay that one was for me). But he is really excited about his most recent upgrade... his wheels. He got the big, chunky tires like he wanted and new rims. To be more specific they are American Eagle chrome on black rims and 35" Kelly Safari TSR tires. We're loving it! The truck barely even looks like the truck we bought a summer ago (the pictures just don't do it justice). We still have more that we want to do to the truck, but the Truck Fund is running low after the last purchase. But we're really happy about our new wheels and just love our truck!

BEFORE:

AFTER (well in progress...):

Disney on Ice

2009-11-23T13:04:00.007-07:00

We had the funnest weekend! It was a super long drive, but we went to Spokane. It was Mom's birthday and she wanted us all to celebrate with her there. What a great idea! It was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we left the Daddys at the hotel with the little ones and went to the Spokane Temple. Oh wow is it ever beautiful! I've only ever been to the Cardston Temple as there aren't too many around these parts. Then Saturday afternoon we went to The Olive Garden for Mama's birthday party. And after a little shopping we headed over to the ice arena for Disney on Ice. It was fantastic! Kinsey was in awe the entire 2 hours. She squealed and pointed and clapped and loved it all. It was so great to see her. I ended up staring at her with a silly smile on my face more than I did the show. To see your little one love and enjoy something so much is the absolute BEST thing. She spent most of the show standing on Bupbup's lap. You couldn't peal her eyes away from the skaters. The show was Mickey Mouse, The Lion King, Cars, Little Mermaid, & Tinkerbell. Kinsey loved all the animals in the Lion King and also loved trying to catch the bubbles (from the Little Mermaid) and the pixie dust (from Tinkerbell) that they shot out over the crowd. We had such great seats. It felt like we were right there on the ice too. haha So much fun!

Watching the show with Mommy:

Kinsey & Kamry loving it all:

Kinsey wearing her Tinkerbell tulip hat that Bupbup got her:

Kamry rockin' the Tinkerbell hat:

Kinsey with her worried face. This is the part in The Lion King where Moufasa is trampled by the wildebeasts. Kinsey was pointing, shaking her head, and saying "No no no". Bupbup told her the lion was "just sleeping". Oh boy!

I so wanna go back next year. Maybe Daddy will join us next time. I have a feeling he will!

We've got Attitude!

2009-11-06T09:27:00.006-07:00

So it's November and most people are thinking snow and Christmas. But in this house, we're still thinking camping. We're always thinking camping. We went to Calgary yesterday and got some Attitude!
Yep, we bought a new trailer. Actually we bought an Eclipse Attitude Toy Hauler. We're in heaven. Tim wants to load up his quad and go camping today. Too bad he's at work or we just may have. Tim's favorite part is the whole loading up the quad thingy, but mine is the two queen beds that lower from the roof. Awesome eh? Well that and the microwave. (Cuz it isn't camping unless you have a microwave right? haha) We're really excited about our new toy hauler. Is it camping season yet?

The only problem is now we have two trailers sitting in our driveway. Do you want the other one?

Ugh! Tim wins again!

2009-11-05T09:23:00.003-07:00

Why do I even bother? Tim wins ever year! So yes, Tim did the monster. Kimmy & Kamry did the wolf and Minnie Mouse and they came in as a tie for 2nd. Kinsey and I lost....bad. We did the bat the the Trick or Treat. Next year I'm doing a smiley face. It'll be easier. haha

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T09:27:00.010-07:00

We had a super fun Halloween around here. Kinsey loved every minute of it and that totally made it for us. It's so great to see a little kids face light up. She's so excited about everything. What a fun age!

She was very interested in carving pumpkins:

The gooey insides didn't bother her one bit. She kept saying "Ohhhhh":

Here's our little ladybug:

She loved looking at herself in the mirror (such a girl eh?):

All set to go Trick or Treating:

Knocking on Granny Dodie's door:

Trying to steal some pumpkins:

Taking a little break cuz Trick or Treating is hard work:

Family Pic:

Showing off our pumpkins and her Halloween jammies (Judging by her face, I think the cement was cold. Ooops.):

5th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest

2009-10-30T20:24:00.008-06:00

Yep, this is the 5th year! So just like all the other years pick your favorite. You have to choose only one. The contestants this year are Tim, Ashlee, Kinsey as well as our guests Kimmy and Kamry. Remember Britnee's wasn't invited back (hehe).

The entries are:

Bat

Wolf

Trick or Treat

Minnie Mouse

Monster looking through blinds

So leave a comment to vote. But if you don't have a Blogger account here's how you vote (please vote!):
-At the bottom of this post click "comments"
-Type your vote in the "Leave your comment" section
-check the "Name" dot
-type your name in that field
-then click "publish your comment"

PLEASE VOTE!

Bad Fall... My Poor Kinsey

2009-10-29T17:56:00.005-06:00

So we've had a few not so fun days around here. Our poor Kinsey is not feeling so well. Tuesday morning Kinsey was in the kitchen with Tim and well... she fell out of her highchair (don't ask). We were hoping it was just a bad fall and that she was all fine. No such luck. She wouldn't move her right arm. Not at all. She just kept crying and her wouldn't even try to move her little arm. So we took her to the ER.

We went over to Raymond Hospital as I hate the wait in Lethbridge. They're so good there. So quick. They got us in right away. They checked her arm out and said she was for sure favoring her right arm. So now they wheeled her over to the xray machine and on the way there she opens her eyes (she fell asleep on the way to the hospital) and sees all these people looking at her and gives us a big smile and says "Hi". Then the crying started again (poor baby). Xray was not fun. We had to twist her little arm all different ways to get some different xrays. They gave us the results immediately...

Kinsey has a cracked elbow. So not fun! However it's not really bad as they couldn't see it very well on the xray. The doctor told us to come back in a few days if she seems to be still favoring her arm.

So now it's been a few days and I'm not sure what to do. She's now using her arm again, which is so good, but I know her elbow must still be really sore. She cries so hard when I try and put her shirt on or putting her arm through her carseat straps or if she just puts too much weight on it. Last night she tried getting off the couch and twisted her arm.... Let's just say that a LOT of crying followed that. I feel so bad for her. I wish I could switch her elbows. But we've been told that even with a crack that they probably wouldn't cast her arm cuz little kid's bone heal so well and so quickly that they'd just let it be. So I just don't know.

So here's my Kinsey in a giant hospital bed:
And on a happy note... check out my cute Halloween Kinsey:

Kinsey's Animal Sounds

2009-10-15T09:53:00.004-06:00

Daddy was reading a story to Kinsey and she had to tell him all her farm animal sounds. Some of them she's been doing for a long time now, but just this week she started saying her piggy, rooster, and duck sounds. (13.5 mths old) If you can't get the video to work then go check it out over here.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

2009-10-09T13:03:00.003-06:00

For FHE last week Tim took us to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Tim and I both haven’t been since we were little kids. We took Kinsey and she loved it. But of course she would right? She loves all things animal! There was a little 15 min movie at the beginning of the museum and Kinsey was in awe. The movie goes through the way the Indians used the cliff to hunt the buffalo 5000 years ago. Every time the buffalo came on the screen she would squeal and point. She also had to make sure that Tim and I both saw the buffalo too. It was a fun day. I forgot how interesting it was there.

Kinsey fell asleep on the outside walk to see the cliff:

Can you see the cliff behind us?

Kinsey, Mommy & the buffalo:

Daddy & Kinsey at the look-out:

Keeping Up?

2009-10-03T08:29:00.002-06:00

How do you keep up? Being a Mommy is busy work. I feel like I'm always playing catch-up with my journal keeping. It bugs me. For some reason it keeps falling to the bottom of the list after housework, grocery shopping, meals, exercise, and play.

I hate being behind in my journal. But I don't know when the best time is to do it. Should I wake up early before Kinsey and do it then or should I catch up on some sleep? Should I do it while she naps or is that a good time to do some housework? Should I do it when she goes to sleep at night, but that's when I usually workout. And it doesn't seem to happen when we're both awake. And let's not bring up Facebook. I just don't know.

I'm thinking of setting aside one day a week for my journal and organizing my home videos and pictures. A specific day! A just do it day. Do you think that'll work?

When do you journal? How do you get it all done?

13 Months Old!

2009-09-30T18:49:00.000-06:00

Have I told you how much I love this little girl?
She's my world and I wouldn't have it any other way!
She makes me laugh all day long!
How did I ever get so lucky to be her Mommy?
I love you Kinsey Baby!

Family, Parades, & Huckleberries!

2009-09-22T17:23:00.009-06:00

This last weekend we went to Jaffray for the Fall Fair. We had so much fun! We got to spend lots of time with family, enjoy a parade, quad/hunt, and go huckleberry picking.

Got to go for walks with 2 of my very best friends!

Jayda & Parker drove this little float in the parade and won first place! Kinsey had to try out the driver seat with both Danyca and Kamry:

The hunters weren't so mighty as they came home empty handed. But they sure have some cute little girls!

Mmmmm huckleberries! There's nothing quite like them. Yummy!

Missing Corn

2009-09-12T14:03:00.004-06:00

I decided to try and freeze some corn today. I've never done it before, but I watched someone on You Tube do it this morning and I think I've got it figured out. hehe Oh course I had help from my little buddy. She's always there to lend a helping hand. We went on the deck to husk the corn and she was busy carrying all the cobs around. I went around and gathered them all up, but was still missing one. I finally found it......

Kinsey had put it in the seat of her car and was trying to make a quick getaway. She's so funny! She's such a little smartie. Remind me when my keys or wallet go missing that they're probably in her car cuz this isn't the first time that the missing object has been found in this location. We search for ages for her bobby the other day to finally find it in her car.

I sure love my little buddy! She makes my days so fun!

Camping at Little Bow

2009-09-11T14:14:00.006-06:00

Tim was off so we went camping. Are you surprised? We decided to try out Little Bow. I've never been there. Tim grew up there. Well not exactly, but he grew up in Champion which is only minutes away from Little Bow. With all the kids back in school we had the campground to ourselves. We had fun hiking, riding bikes, fishing, playing on the swings, swimming the dogs, and eating campfire pies.

Here's our campsite:

Kinsey & Tim went for a walk:

A little hike along the water:

Maybe it wasn't a "little" hike. Kinsey got tired:

Watching the dogs play in the water:Looking for good skipping rocks with Daddy:It was so pretty there:

Can you see that black line across my bum? Well I have a bruise across my bum shaped like that line. My tailbone is so sore. I jumped back when a wasp came at me and tripped on the campfire ring. It was ugly. I have two huge bruises on my calves where the ring caught them and a giant bruise on my tailbone where I landed on the ring. It's ouchie!

Camping at Pole Haven

2009-09-04T22:56:00.009-06:00

After Kinsey's birthday bash Tim still had a few days before he needed to be back at work, so the three of us headed out camping. We went to Pole Haven and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't dump our quad over in the river like last time. But we had much better luck. Actually the three of us just took it easy and did some gentle sight-seeing quading around the area.

We had a great time relaxing. Well, except for the bear sighting...TWICE! Have I ever told you how completely freaked I am of bears? I won't camp in a tent because of bears. I'd lay away all night thinking I was hearing a bear outside our tent. And then that really did happen and that was the very last time I slept in a tent. Anywho, bears.....yikes! And yes we saw a bear twice while quading.

Here's a video of Kinsey telling us about the bear:
(To be honest I don't think she even saw the bear cuz I made Tim turn around so fast. hehe)

Kinsey loves camping, but nap times kinda get thrown off when we're out there. I swear every time she went for a walk or a quad ride with Tim she came back sleeping. Each one of these pics is from a different time:

And have I ever told you about Kinsey's best friend. It's Diesel. Those two love each other. Kinsey just can't get enough of him and is even starting to try and say his name. She calls him "Dies" - not bad eh? And even though most people can't tell our two black dogs apart, Kinsey can. She climbs on Diesel and rides him like a horsey and plays "peek-a-boo" with him, but she doesn't really have a whole lot to do with Dexter. Just her and Diesel! Here they are playing peek-a-boo (Kinsey's laugh is so dang cute.):

Kinsey & Mommy ready for quading:
Kinsey & Daddy at the top:

Kinsey was giving Daddy kisses through the window:

Our campsite:

It was right on the little creek and yes, Kinsey is sleeping in the backpack in this pic too:

Kinsey & Daddy:
We sure had fun. But I don't want it to be the last for the season. So we haven't put the trailer away yet!

Kinsey's Slideshow

2009-08-31T09:43:00.003-06:00

Happy 1st Birthday Kinsey!

2009-08-30T18:50:00.007-06:00

My baby turned 1 year old today. Can you believe it? I sure can't. This last year has been the best with my Kinsey Ann. I feel so blessed to be her mommy. She's my little buddy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We celebrated with a Farm theme 1st birthday party. She loves animals so it was the perfect party for her. She loved having all her little friends over. It was so much fun! Here are a bunch of pics from the party:

Ya, you don't want to know how many HOURS it took me to do this cake. It was my first time doing one of these:

I made a cake and a cupcake tower. Ummm yes, it was necessary.

I also had to special order all the decorations from in the States cuz the banner has her name on it and I got farm pencils that said her name on them too (so worth it, right?):

The Birthday Girl:

Kinsey's buddies:

Kinsey & her newest cousin Kamry:

Wearing her Birthday shirt (hehe):

Singing "Happy Birthday"! She thought it was pretty funny, but didn't seem to notice the candle she was supposed to blow out. Lucky Parker was there to help blow out the candle.

Danyca was showing Kinsey how to eat the cake. Kinsey was more concerned about the icing that was stuck to her hand.

We made Farm Animal Balloons:

Present Time!!
The party was chaotic, but boy was it fun! It was so nice of everyone to come to Kinsey's party. I love this little girl so much! What did I ever do before her? One year old... Wow!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY KINSEY ANN!

Camping in Kalispell!

2009-08-04T18:59:00.006-06:00

I know I'm really behind on my blogging. We've been so busy having fun this summer that I haven't got around to blogging about the fun. Sorry! I'll do some catch-up posts.

For the long weekend we loaded up and headed camping in Kalispell. We met Mom & Dad there. We stayed in a really pretty site right on the Flathead River. Kinsey loved camping with Mama & Bupbup. And I loved having two extra people to help me chase Kinsey around. She's so good at walking now and can cover a ton of ground pretty fast. Took all four of us to keep up to her.

We did a lot of fun things. We shopped a few different RV stores and each found our dream RVs (maybe next year). The girls shopped Target and got some super deals while the boys did their own kind of shopping at all kinds of truck accessories stores.

We also swam and played in the river at our campsite.

Had a picnic in the park and fed the ducks.
Played on the swings. Kinsey would cry every time we tried to pry her off of.

Ate some yummy food. (Can you see Kinsey behind all the food?)
Hung out by the campfire that was right on the river.
And danced a little in the parking lot.

Boy did we have fun! Thanks Mama & Bupbup for camping with us in Kalispell! We miss you guys already!

McLean Creek Camping

2009-07-27T09:39:00.002-06:00

This last weekend we went camping up in Kananaskis at McLean creek. We went with Trent, Tara, & Blake and Adam, Steph, & Clinton. We stayed in a really nice place and got to see some dirtbikers try and climb the hill called The Widow Maker (they eventually made it). Saw some 4x4ing. Saw some idiots sink their truck in a giant mud hole. Tim was so bummed that he didn't have his quad with him.

Here's Kinsey sleeping on Clinton's shoulder after a little bike ride:

Elbow Falls:

Kinsey & Blake enjoying the view:

Kinsey & Mommy:

Another pic of Kinsey & Blake at Elbow Falls:

Some 4x4ing that the boys did while the girls and babies were back at camp:

Kinsey REALLY enjoyed camping - just listen:

Stepping Stones!

2009-07-11T23:08:00.002-06:00

It was exactly one year ago today that I cried when I walked out of my office for the last time after working for 7 years. And today I cried again. Kinsey and I have decided that we're finished nursing (that's a very long story in itself). We're done. As I nursed her for the last time I cried. The crying really has nothing to do with nursing. It's that my baby is growing too fast! Next month she's a year old. Well at the very end of the month, but still next month. Can't I just keep her tiny forever? Keep her in my arms sheltered from this crazy world? She's my little buddy! We do everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) together. I can count on one hand how many times I've been alone in the last 10.5 mths. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Being a mommy is the best thing ever! And my little buddy thinks I'm the coolest. She loves when I sing and dance. She joins in and giggles. And she doesn't mind all my singing and dancing to Michael Jackson songs that I've been doing lately. Ya, it's not all easy. But it sure is fun way more often than it's hard. My sister tells me it's just all stepping stones. I told her how I felt silly crying about stopping nursing and she said it's the same as when she put her little girl on the Kindergarten bus this year. And it never ends. (I'm sure my mom could tell me that!)

Ah stepping stones! I guess I can't avoid them. So I'll enjoy each day with my Kinsey Baby as she grows into a little girl. I don't want to miss a second!

Kinsey's Daddy

2009-06-21T13:11:00.007-06:00

Kinsey has the best daddy! She is one lucky little girl She adores her daddy. When he comes home from work she attaches herself to him and nothing can get her off him. She knows when Daddy goes outside she gets to go with him. Thank goodness we finally got one of those baby hiking backpack things for poor Tim. They do everything together outside -- feed and play with the dogs, mow the lawn, weed wack, you name it! Daddy is her favorite. He's so good to her. I always knew he'd be a great daddy. Happy Father's Day Tim!

This is the card/poster that "Kinsey" made for her Daddy. We put it on the wall so he'd see it when he walked in the door from nightshift.

My Beautiful Niece!

2009-06-17T12:56:00.000-06:00

My sister Kimmy had a beautiful baby girl! Kamry Dawn arrived ON HER DUE DATE - June 16th at 10:00pm. Kamry was 8lbs 6oz and 21". She's just so pretty! Kinsey and I went over to Trail to meet Kamry. It was a long drive, but so worth it! Kimmy did so well. I'm so proud of her. I just can't believe that my little sister is a mommy. But she'll be an amazing mommy. I just know it! Congrats Kimmy & Brendan on your little girl!

Kamry & Mommy:

Kamry Dawn:

Kamry's Aunties arrived to cuddle & kiss her: Kamry and her little cousins that all came to see her in the hospital:

Our Kinsey Baby

2009-06-13T18:33:00.002-06:00

So it's been quite a while since I actually have been able to sit down and write an update. I've just been so busy that I haven't found the spare time to keep up with the blog. I'm going to try and do better.

To catch you all up on Kinsey I thought I'd do one of those 25 facts thingys. So here it goes:

1. Kinsey is 9.5 mths old.
2. Kinsey started crawling at almost 8 mths.
3. Kinsey started climbing as soon as she figured out crawling and has had many bumps cuz she didn't know she needed to hold on.
4. Kinsey started walking at exactly 9 mths and is getting very good.
5. Kinsey said "Mom" for the 1st time on Mother's Day and now when she wants me to pick her up hangs on my leg and says "mom mom mom".
6. Kinsey has been waving bye bye since Easter (about 7.5 mths old). But she doesn't do the typical baby wave. She does a princess wave - like what you'd see in a parade. It's adorable.
7. Kinsey weighs 18lbs 10oz and is 28.5" long. Yes she's very tall.
8. She's a cat napper. (Enough said!)
9. She loves to eat and will eat any food I give her.
10. She has no eye color. They are kinda grey and kinda green and kinda nothing. No one knows. I put hazel on her passport cuz I didn't know.
11. She loves her bath. When the water is running she tries to undress herself.
12. She only has her two bottom teeth and she's had those since she was 6 mths.
13. She loves books. She loves to pull them out and flip through them but really loves when I read them to her.
14. She is chatty. Always jibber-jabbing away.
15. She makes the funniest faces -- you remember the video. Her new one is this wrinkled up nose one. It's cute.
16. She no longer plays strange. She'll go to most people now.
17. She'll sing with me. I'll sing the ohh & ahh part from the song Last Kiss (you know it right?) and she'll copy me. It's so dang cute.
18. She LOVES dogs. Especially Diesel. He makes her giggle forever and he loves her too. Won't leave her alone.
19. If Daddy goes outside she has to go with him. And if she can't go, like when he's leaving for work, she'll have a meltdown.
20. Kinsey is still nursing but will also take a bottle. I just wish she would try and hold her own bottle.
21. She has this crazy attachment to her blankie - this just started two weeks ago.
22. She's an amazing traveller - loves her carseat. I'm not sure why I even bothered to worry about the flight to Vegas.
23. Kinsey loves to drop things from her high chair or out of the shopping cart for Mommy to pick up. She thinks it's a fun game.
24. She loves folded laundry. The pile of clothes doesn't interest her -- just the folded ones.
25. Her favorite thing...a cell phone. Always wants a cell phone. Why do we even bother buying real toys?

And that's our Kinsey. She's a bit of a ham, super noisy, crazy busy, and a bundle of fun. Man, my life must have been boring before her. She is entertaining...to say the least. Her daddy and I love her so much!

Viva Las Vegas!

2009-06-10T15:03:00.005-06:00

We just had such a fun weekend. We caught one of those $29 flights out of Great Falls to Las Vegas. It was so much fun. We didn't do the tourist/the strip thing this time. We went down and spent the entire time with family. Tim's dad, sister, and three brothers all live in Vegas. It was so fun to spend time with them. Most of them hadn't met Kinsey yet and Grampa hadn't seen her in a few months.

Kinsey & Mckenna watching a movie:

Madison & Kinsey swimming:

It was such a nice and relaxing vacation. We swam all day in their pool, ate amazing food (I probably gained a ton of weight, but I'm not going to weigh myself to find out), and hung out with family. The weather was perfect. It was around 30*C the whole time (which is better than the 4 inches of snow we got here at home when we were gone). We were spoiled. With so many arms wanting to hold and play with Kinsey I wasn't even sure I had a baby. Well until she needed to eat or sleep...and for some reason no one wanted the diaper duty.

Vegas Baby!

Megan & Kinsey enjoying the "cool" evening:

Kinsey was amazing! Not a single cry the entire time. I was freaking out and had major anxiety about flying with a 9 mth old baby. But no worries. On the flights both there and back she slept from take-off till we were walking off the plane. Amazing eh? And even with the drive to and from Great Falls she slept and only woke while we were at the border. I worried for nothing. She's such a good traveller.

Okay so we didn't completely avoid the strip.

Daddy & Kinsey at the slots:

At Excalibur:

Mommy & Kinsey on the strip:

Vegas was a blast. It was so nice to see family. We miss them already. And Kinsey really misses all her cousins that played with her non-stop. We can't wait to go back (or to have them come visit us *hint*hint*).

Kinsey getting some Grampa time:
Kinsey with Auntie Theresa, Megan, and Mommy:
Thanks for having us!

Kinsey's Walking!!

2009-05-30T22:57:00.003-06:00

Kinsey Walking (9 mths old) - May 30/09
Originally uploaded by trnilsson

Kinsey is exactly 9 mths old today and she's decided to walk! I know!! She just let go and took 6 steps all by herself. And now she's been doing it over and over again. She thinks it's a really fun game to walk back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. She'll even stop walking and catch her balance and then start walking again. She's only been crawling for just over a month (which I haven't even had a chance to blog about yet), but I guess she'd rather walk. I just can't believe how big my baby is! Earlier today Tim found a lost video of Kinsey when she was only weeks old. She was so tiny -- like eating her little fists. How did she get this old? I swear I just blinked and now she's already 9 mths old. Thank goodness for pictures and videos to help us remember, eh?.

Tim Quading

2009-05-20T11:19:00.001-06:00

Tim Quading
Originally uploaded by trnilsson

Tim went out quading with my dad and my brother-in-law Brendan last weekend. The water was faster and higher than normal. Guess it's that time of year. He was trying to cross the river, but ended up getting swept downstream instead and never made it. I wonder if it made Tim worry a bit....

Strawberry

2009-04-25T09:58:00.005-06:00

I'm a huge picture taker (not a photographer). I take pictures of everything. I don't want to forget anything. And I'm always telling my Mom or sisters to take pictures too. But I'm a hypocrite. There's something that over the last almost eight months that I had not taken a picture of. Tim told me I needed to and I have to agree.

Since Kinsey was 3 weeks old I have never taken a picture of her back without a shirt on. I love those pictures of babies that are naked and facing away from the camera with their little bums showing, but I don't have any of those of Kinsey. Why you ask?

Kinsey has a birthmark which I know isn't really a big deal, right? She wasn't born with it. When I was dressing her for her blessing day I noticed this tiny little red mark on her back. I thought I scratched her or something. But over the weeks it grew. And it grew fast! And it's still growing. I asked the doctor about it and he said it's a Strawberry Birthmark. He said that her birthmark will continue to grow and the bump will too until she's 12-18 mths old. But in most cases Strawberry birthmarks disappear by the time the child is 5 years old. It's a lucky thing that it's on Kinsey's back and not on her face like so many are.

So I'm not really sure why I didn't tell you about her birthmark or why I haven't taken a picture of it. When I take her swimming I make sure her bathing suit covers it. Mostly because I don't want strangers to wonder what's that huge red bump on her back and stare (cuz you know strangers stare and don't ask). I know I'm being weird about it. It's actually a pretty big deal. We have to go see a specialist about it in May. Right now her birthmark is a bit bigger than the size of a toonie and it bumps out about an inch from her back.

Here are some pictures of Kinsey like never before:

Kinsey's Silly Face

2009-04-22T12:47:00.001-06:00

Kinsey's Silly Face - 7.5 mths old
Originally uploaded by trnilsson

Check out this silly face Kinsey has been doing the last few days. It cracks me up. When she gets into the garbage I’ll tell her to get away from there and she'll turn to me and makes this face. Way too funny!

Easter & Camping

2009-04-15T10:52:00.006-06:00

Tim had five days off, so we headed out camping for our Easter Weekend! Our first trip of the year never goes as planned and this was no exception. The place we had planned to camp still had so much snow. So at the last minute we switched campgrounds. We ended up going to Lundbrick Falls. It was a really nice little campsite right on the river. It was pretty chilly at night, but we dressed warm and it was cozy in the trailer. The Easter Bunny brought Mommy and Daddy some new bikes (what a good guy) so it was fun to pull Kinsey around in her Chariot with the bikes. She loved it. It was an easy way to put her to sleep. Kinsey was very sick though. She and I have been sick for over a month now. This time she was puking everywhere. Poor little girl couldn’t keep anything down. She even puked all over her new Easter dress. But she was still very happy while camping and was sleeping through the night. Weird!

Hanging out with Mommy in the trailer (with some wild hair):

Decorating Easter Eggs:

Kinsey loves camping:

Roasting some hot dogs with Daddy:

She was really excited about her 1st Easter basket. Thank goodness the Easter Bunny found her camping:

Her pretty Easter dress:

On Sunday we headed to Jaffray for a few days. Tim did a ton of quading and I actually got to go for a ride too. It's the longest I've ever been away from Kinsey. But Kinsey's Mama did a very good job of taking care of her. It was so fun to go quading again after 17 months of not being able to go on a "real" ride.

We found a HUGE mud hole that Tim just had to play in:

Zoo Much Fun

2009-04-06T10:37:00.004-06:00

We took Kinsey to the Zoo for the first time. We went up to Okotoks with Trent, Tara, and Blake and spent a few days with Julie, Kendall, and Kyla at their house. They were such great hosts. They even put up with my sick (and crying) baby. The six of us took our babies to the Zoo on Saturday. It was a little chilly, but was actually pretty nice out for April. Kinsey wasn’t really excited about the Zoo. She’s still pretty tiny to grasp the animal thing. She fell asleep within the first half hour and slept till we were ready to leave – hours later. But Tim and I still liked the Zoo. We hadn’t been since a week after our wedding. I’m sure we’ll get to go many more times with Kinsey.

Kinsey & Mommy with the Lions:

In the Dinosaur area:

The girls and the babies:

The gang:

My backseat buddies - Kinsey & Blake. I tried getting a picture (but wasn't fast enough), but sometimes I'd look over and they'd be holding hands. It was way too cute. You can see in this pic that Kinsey just pulled her hand away.

Happy 29th Timmy!

2009-03-31T19:03:00.001-06:00

Today is Tim's 29th Birthday! We did three different parties. First we had a birthday breakfast Saturday morning. While Tim was working afternoon shift we decorated. When he got home at midnight the kitchen was all ready for the breakfast. Okay I admit, the decorations were more for me than for Tim. hehe

Then we did a birthday dinner here at home on Sunday with cake and candles and such. On his actual birthday we went out for dinner. Three parties! Kinsey and I got him a new BBQ for his birthday. We totally surprised him. Oh ya we're sneaky cuz I love a good surprise.

Happy Birthday Tim! We love you to pieces!

Easter Craft

2009-03-30T20:38:00.005-06:00

She did it and I loved it, so I had to do it too. My sister and her three kids came to spend a few days with Kinsey and I. We had a blast. And because my sister loves doing crafts with her kids I thought this one would be perfect for all of us to do. I'm so not crafty but even I didn't screw this one up. It's so cute. But I have to admit that I couldn't make the bow - Jenn made it for me.

My Poor Kinsey

2009-03-24T15:29:00.004-06:00

Kinsey has been so sick this last week. It has not been fun. I feel so bad for her. I took her to the doctor yesterday and I really thought he'd just send me away saying that she just has a cold. But not the case. She has a middle ear infection in both ears. Ouch! I guess that would explain why she's been on painkillers for days now. So she's got a bad cold, a double ear infection, and she's teething (lucky her second tooth cut through the other day). We're exhausted. We haven't been sleeping. And I can't keep blankets on Kinsey. She has these bicycle legs that kick all blankets off. And she's so wiggly. She's all over in her crib. I checked on her at 6:00 this morning and this is how I found her:
When I placed her in her crib her feet were at the other end and she was sleeping on her back. She's a crazy sleeper. And thank goodness we got the King bed. She joined us in bed this morning and this is how she flipped around. She'll toss and turn till she gets on her tummy. So we have this big bed and she sleeps sideways on one size and Tim and I "cuddle" on the other side. And my nose was right by her peed diaper. Lovely smell to sleep next to.
But I'm so not complaining cuz at least she was sleeping. We've been up for hours in the night with her coughing, ear aches, snotty noses, and gooey eyes. My poor Kinsey. I hope she's better soon.

Royalty

2009-03-17T20:01:00.002-06:00

I feel like a Queen - no, a King! I got a new bed today. A giant bed. A bed that will fit all three of us. I'm so excited! After 6 months of me, Tim, and Kinsey all squishing together in our bed we decided on an upgrade (Yes, Kinsey seems to end up in our bed by morning). I'm so excited to go to sleep tonight. Only one draw back....I have no bedding. All of my stuff is for a queen bed. I'm needing some king size sheets. I placed a few orders on some bedding and I'm still waiting for them. This is also why you don't get a pic of the bed. You have to wait till I decide on some bedding before I take a picture.

Cushiony Love

2009-03-09T17:57:00.007-06:00

So we did what most people think is the most ridiculous thing to possibly do. We put carpet in our house....well in our living room and up the stairs. The carpet layer guy came to our house and looked at our empty living room then turned to me and said, "Please tell me I'm going upstairs." I told him that the living room was where we were putting the carpet. And this is how the rest of the conversation went:

Carpet Guy: So you want me to cover your hardwood floor?
Me: Yes.
Carpet Guy: Your brand new hardwood floor?
Me: Yes.
Carpet Guy: Your sight finished hardwood floor?
Me: Yes.
Carpet Guy: Your beautiful hardwood floor?
Me: I know. We're crazy!

But I love it! It took a bit for me to get used to it, but now I just love it. Kinsey loves it too. Now she likes to play on the floor (we got the thick cushiony padding) and with her now sitting it doesn't hurt so much when she tips over. My house doesn't echo so much now. It's nice. And the stairs are no longer slippery. Those things were beautiful, but they were a death trap. The carpet has already been broken in. Blake peed on it the very first day - he's lucky he's cute! Just kidding, well sorta - he only got a few drips on the carpet.

But we didn't get rid of all the hardwood. Our hallways, kitchen, dining room, and upstairs are still hardwood. And the carpet guy was very careful not to damage the floor in our living room. So we can pull the carpet up and have the hardwood back one day.

Six Months Already!

2009-03-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

Why is time going so fast? Kinsey is 6 months old! I can't believe it. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was brand new? I guess not.

I took her for her 6 mth shots the other day. She did so well. She didn't even cry! She only fussed a little cuz I had her arm pinned down for the needle, but as soon as I let her arm go she was happy again. And while we were at the clinic I had her weighed.... 15lbs 10oz. Despite LOVING her cereal and other solid foods she's still a thin little girl. But she's healthy.

Kinsey and I had a pretty long week last week. She was fussy which isn't normal for her. I was blaming the fussiness and her first fever ever on her immunizations that she had earlier in the week. But I was wrong. Her first tooth popped through. Ahhh! I was hoping she wasn't going to have any for a while yet cuz.... she's a biter (if ya know what I mean). Yep, she got her first tooth at exactly 6 months old. I guess that explains why she started drooling.

Oh and she's been sitting by herself now for the last couple of weeks. She loves being on the floor surrounded by toys. She only tips over every once and a while when she has to reach too far for the stuff that I've purposely put out of her reach like my cell or the TV remote. Why are those two things her favorite?

I took her yesterday to get her 6 mth photos done and to get her passport photo. I love how her photos turned out. The photographer and I looked like fools trying to get her to do just the right smile. She only tipped over once and bonked her head. A few pictures had some pretty red eyes in them. But her passport one is so funny. I guess passport pictures aren't always the best, eh? Gosh, mine is terrible. At least she's still cute in hers. hehe Now I gotta get the papers all filled out so we can take her across the border.

Being a mom is the best job ever. I love the opportunity I have to be at home with Kinsey. She's such a joy. Both her daddy and I love her to pieces. Her little laugh (which is more of a big laugh like her daddy's) is way too cute. What an awesome sound! I'm so blessed! How did I get this lucky?

Valentine's Weekend

2009-03-03T19:55:00.010-07:00

So I didn't get a chance to tell you about our Valentine's weekend in Jaffray. We had such a good time. It was great to hang out and spend some time with family. Saturday morning we packed up all the stuff for breakfast and took it over to my sister's house to celebrate her 30th birthday (Yes her bday is on Valentine's Day). It was fun. Us girls and kids hung out all afternoon while the guys went for a snowmobile ride. Mama bought her grandbabies some super cute Valentine glasses.

Kinsey with her cousins Jayda, Parker, & Danyca:

(So just a little side note here. I have a cute story that I wanted to tell you. So my nephew Parker is such a nice little boy. He's so kind to Kinsey and just loves talking to her. When we were in Jaffray in January Parker (who's 3 yrs old) came up to Kinsey and placed his cheek against hers and said, "Oh Kinsey, will you marry us?" It was the cutest thing in the world.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

And that evening we all went out to the steak dinner and dance that the community put on. I haven't been to a dance in ages and I loved it.

Kinsey loving Auntie B (just before dinner):

Kinsey dancing with Mama:

And then Sunday was wonderful. My cousin who lost her little baby boy just over two years ago FINALLY was able to adopt. She went to Florida and picked up her little baby. He's so tiny and so cute. And we all got to meet him on Sunday when she got back to Canada. So happy for them!

Kinsey & Jonas:

Wii not Fit

2009-02-21T17:40:00.004-07:00

Tim got me Wii Fit yesterday. I've been wanting it for ages. I thought it would be a fun way to get back in shape after Kinsey.

Well, I did the fitness test yesterday and my Wii Fit fitness age is............41 years old. Holy Crap! Stupid thing - there wasn't an option to say that I had a baby only 5 months ago. But I'll show it. Stay tuned!

PS My abs are wicked sore from doing the hula hoop on it yesterday.

Baking Buddy

2009-02-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

I love baking. I can't bake anything fancy, but I still love it. I'm no Martha Stewart, but my husband loves the banana bread and cookies that I make. And these days, I have one awesome sidekick while I bake.

We started out baking in the Snugli:

But her little hands started reaching for everything so...
...we moved to the Bumbo seat:

But her long legs were in the way so...

...now we use a high chair:

Before I know it my little baker will be standing on a chair next to me while we make cookies for Daddy's lunch. I wish I could pause time for just a little while. I'm sure enjoying this!

Sleep Tight

2009-02-13T09:32:00.003-07:00

My baby has slept through the night for a week straight! I loved it! I know some of you can say that when you baby is only a month old....well not us. We've been working on the sleeping for about 5 1/2 mths now. hehe
Do I think that from now on she'll continue to sleep through the night? No. Do I think that she won't be sleeping between Tim and I anymore? No. Do I think that tonight I'll be up every hour on the hour? Yep.

But it sure has been a nice week. I've got way more accomplished during the days this last week than I have since Kinsey was born. Sleep is nice!