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Happy Thanksgiving!

You're reading it right, we've just had a lovely Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. I successfully provided the entire turkey feast this year... it was exciting... the turkey was only 2 hours late to get out of the oven while the rest of the food was getting cold. That's at least an improvement over last year when the turkey came out totally dry because I added no fluid. :) You live and learn. We planned on 4pm for dinner so it wasn't a big deal to eat at 6. :) Zach's parents and grandparents drove out for 5 days and joined in the festivities so it's really felt like a holiday. Plus, it's supposed to start snowing any minute now. Very festive.

Since the cold is coming on strong, I've been a baking/cooking fool. Butternut Squash Bisque, pumkin pie(actually that was Zach), apple crisp, stuffed green peppers, bran muffins and Banana Pancakes. yum... I'm making myself hungry. I've decided that's my favorite way to show love... foodf, probably my favorite way to recieve it too.. Just like Dad. I don't know how the love language book missed that one, Dad and I are all for it. That's why I love the family cookbook so much. Thanks again to everyone and especially Marisa. Since I can't personally cook for you here's a great recipe I've found lately that isn't in the cookbook:

Oat Bran Muffins

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups oat bran (I just used regular bran)
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chilled applesauce
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Line or grease 12 muffin cups.
   
2. Blend together brown sugar, oat bran, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add eggs, chilled applesauce, and vegetable oil. Mix until well-blended. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Let stand 10 minutes.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

We continued a year old tradition of going Apple Picking at a farm outside of the city that is really fun. We got a HUGE bag full of Empire, Gala, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith. I'm salivating already about what we'll be eating. I'm thinking we'll keep it simple and delicious by just having baked apples stuffed with granola tonight... again, yum. Anyone want to come visit us in Ontario? We love visitors. It was so great to have Zach's family here and make great memories. Hope you all enjoy what's left of your Fall. :)

Triathalon Man!

Zach signed up for a triathlon a few months ago and after all the training yesterday was the day. His classmate was a really good motivator to do it and they raced together. We camped over at the lake it took place at and we're not sure that either of us got even 3 hours of sleep the night before. yikes! It didn't seem to phase Zach, but I had to take a nap on the beach after. :) tough work for me!

The horn is about to go off, the excitement in the air was thick!

This was right after the race ended. Zach wasn't even too tired or beat up. (it was a sprint, but STILL!) Tough hubbs. It was really exciting to be there and hopefully next year I'll be racing with him.

There was no stopping them from the temptation of sand and mud puddles. Yes, I'm the mother that put them both in white... oh it gets worse!

SERIOUSLY! I still have these clothes soaking downstairs. She was having such a good time, it seemed almost worth it. Liza has defiantly passed the phase where she'd be happy to just watch. In the past 2 weeks she's grown up so much! She repeats many words, although you can't understand them usually, eats like a 5 yr old, and squawks when she's unsatisfied for any reason. Watch out! But she's so happy and her laugh is the sweetest thing in the world.

It has been a great summer. We were all over the place.. hence no blogging. It's so nice to be home again and get back into the swing of things. We went to D.C. and stayed with my sweet cousin and her family, home to Utah a couple times for weddings, reunions, and family, and camped all over Ontario. It's been nuts, but a good kind of crazy.

The Perfect Weekend Break!

I just had the most exciting/relaxing/enjoyable weekend anyone could possibly have! Sadly, I was missing my hubs and cute 3 yr old. Luckily I had some stand-ins to care for my separation issues. I have 6 best friends from high school and we're still best friends and LOVE seeing each other whenever possible. WELL, one of them got married last weekend and we all congregated for the big event. 2 days of travel for 2 days of weekend bliss was TOTALLY WORTH IT. I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of it. I almost teared up when the plane was flying through the valley. I've never really felt homesick before but it hit me starting with Spanish Fork all the way to the airport. Liza came with me but thanks to the greatest family ever I never really saw her... J/K but it's close. She was really happy while I attended wedding festivities. The first night we all met up at Cheesecake Factory and as I drove to get there I had the windows down, the music blasting, and a huge smile on my face. It's incredible how great it feels to turn music up and let wind blow because there are no children in the car. I wouldn't trade it for singing "wheels on the bus" but every now and then it's SO refreshing. After the wedding on Friday I spent the rest of the time with my sisters and Zach's family and it couldn't have been better. Spa night, movies, early morning water skiing, nieces and nephews, the friends, the family, the sun, the heat, the temple, the sleep, the late nights, the food, the JOY! I am really blessed to have so many people to love!

Falling off the Wagon

I fell hard. I've been in a rehabilitation process for months now. Thanks to the encouragement of a couple stanch supporters... you know who you are... and the addition of a new template - THANK HEAVENS- I'm back on the wagon. I tell you what! Change is my favorite thing. Once I switched my template I had absolutely NO desire to even come to the blog but a little re-decorating and we're in business.
So true to form... I've lost all of your blog addresses again. I'm on a mission to start hoping through sites but if you don't see your link please leave it for me. THANK YOU!!!
My little sabbatical was not without adventure. This is what we've been up to for the past 4 months:

Lots of This! It's no wonder I've been MIA. I've got a whole song and dance routine worked up with the Lyrics "Pee-Pee on the Potty"

The Bruce Peninsula over the 4th with my Brothers family. BEAUTIFUL!

SOOOOO much of this. Thank you Canada for having such great beaches!

It doesn't matter how many times we've been to Niagara Falls, we never get sick of it! Zach's sister came for 10 days with the cousins and then we came back the next week with another sister. PARTY TIME!

The Williams Wild Adventures

Well Family of ours,

The Williams have done it again. We're on another crazy adventure. This is Zach's Spring Break from school and we decided last week we should go see something new. So, we booked a couple cheap hotels, crossed the border, and booked it down the interstate to.... Gatlingburg, TN. That's right. Just a short drive past Pigeon Forge. Now there's a destination! Seriously! You wouldn't believe how much family fun entertainment is packed into that nook of the Great Smokey Mountains. Some friends of ours in London came to Gatlinburg with their family and said it was fun. We got looking around and found that Knoxville and it's surrounding area looks like a PARTY and we'd never been to this part of the country. It was an 11 hour drive which would have been fun enough, but as luck would have it Kaite managed (Zach writing now, as Liza is demanding to feed) to do a number all over the car seat and clothes. Car sick?? We don't think so, maybe just a very sensitive gag reflex, but the sheer volume was incredible. THis really nice, young guy at the gas station in Tennessee bought us some paper towels and jugs of water and brought them out to us as we were cleaning her up and said he'd been there before with his kids. Another guy in the bathroom that couldn't have been more than 25 or so yet saw me cleaning up the aftermath, I apologized for the disaster and he said not to worry, he'd been there before with his 4 kids. The whole event would've made great lyrics for a country song. The people may tawk kenda fonny but ye shore caint beat da hauspitality.

We are currently in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. The Smokey Mountains didn't disappoint. We would definitely go back. Gatlinburg is a gem of a town, a mix between cozy ski village and a family theme park with plenty to do. We spent St. Patricks Day there and didn't have to shield Kaitlyns eyes from anything. We kept the kids out late which left them wound up for a night all together in the hotel room. During the hour of getting to sleep every time Liza would make even a peep Kaitlyn would whisper loudly " Liza, be happy!!!" and then Liza would become quiet upon which Kaitlyn would whisper "Tank you!!"

After arriving this evening we spent a little time at the beach to Kate's delight, and tomorrow we had promosed Kaitlyn an entire day at the beach which she talked about all the way over the Appalacian mountains. That and the big, big slides at Mickey Donalds are definitely highlights for her.

Zach and Mar

My 2 Sweet Girls

My great friend Kristen came over this morning and took pictures of the girls. WHAT A SWEET THING TO DO BECAUSE THESE PICTURES ARE KILLING ME I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
THANKS KRISTEN!!!

I just can't get over this look on Liza's face.. I'm not sure what she's trying to say but she tries to say it a lot. :)

This expression is NOT hard to interpret on the other hand. I'm thinking: "You may get me to sit here and even hold Liza but her crying is so not my problem."

My sweet Kaiters

This is the Liza that I know and love. She is really such a sweet happy little baby.

This is the happiest picture we got of them. It's shocking that about a hundred of pictures later, we end up with 1 picture that has 2 smiling girls. It's like a special gift children possess.

My favorite.

Our Recent Family Fun

I think it would be fun to include a "great hair" picture for Kaitlyn in every post. There is obviously a theme going on here. I think I could do a book of pics from her life thus far just of crazy hair. She's got the market cornered

Grandma Bentley came to visit 2 weeks ago and we just sent her home :( Boy we had great times. These sugar cookies were a highlight. This is Melanie's sugar cookie recipe from the Garden cookbook and talk about DELICIOUS!!! She's not kidding.

We all decided Liza looks like my mom from the eyes up. Probably more than that but the eyes and forehead are really a like. Smart girl, Grandma's a babe. I love this picture of them.

Daddy-daughter time is the greatest. Zach's such an incredible Daddy and it shows. Kaitlyn woke up from her nap today and immediatly wanted Daddy to be home to play with. He and Kaite have a tradition of being thrown around on the couch and playing every night. We're lucky

ahhh Grandma and the girlies.

More cookies! I have a cookie fedish lately. these are actually Melanie's cookies again but in their suggested ball format which was equally delicious. Kaitlyn is really sweet with Liza, she especially loves to see Liza's toes. Go figure.

First things first: Bumbo chairs are miraculous. Liza's been sitting in one since she was 2 months old and yet it somehow still fits Kaitlyn. Liza fell asleep sitting up in it. It was HILARIOUS. Plus, this is a great shot of the cute Mary-jane tights. love them.

"Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo" She can't actually say that but I'm working on it because I think she makes a fantastic fairy princess. Zach's sister Jessica gave her these dress-ups for Christmas and she uses them EVERY SINGLE DAY. What a cute princess.

My little peach fuzz. Just these last couple weeks I've started feeling like I'm coming back into myself if you know what I mean. the first few months with a newborn is rough. I am always trying to catch up and stay afloat but I finally feel like atleast some days I'm alert and coherant. Always good news.

FACT!!!

So, once when my family was all together at my parents house and we were getting a little bored or slap-happy or something, we came up with a game called... FACT! The best part of the game is when you say FACT you have to do it with extreme matter-of-factness and swing your index finger up to the sky. You might have to be there, but I'm bringing it to you for your reading enjoyment. So a FACT! can be virtually anything that others might not know about you or others. Yeah, we were a little desperate for some fun, but now it's a tradition.

FACT!: I have a thumb sucker! Last night was her first full-on fist clenched, thumb inserted moment that I've seen. Ahhh gee. Good thing Zach's in an orthodontic residency.

FACT!: Liza is 3 1/2 months old and laughing and smiling like crazy. I thought the hair would fade, but it's not really going anywhere yet. Her blue eyes are adorable.

FACT: when Kaitlyn wakes up she has the GREATEST hair on the planet. The sheer volume is covetous.

FACT: When Kaite speaks she sounds EXACTLY like a Britt. Just try saying Mommy and Daddy in your mind with a Brittish accent and there you go. It is CRACKING me up. She also has impecable spanish accent skills. Any word in spanish sounds fantastic, but in english she's still tough to understand sometimes. Living in a foreign country is apparently rubbing off, even if it is Canada.

FACT!: Siblings are born with an inate ability to create the most work possible for their parents. Example: When Liza is screaming in the car for an hour for no apparent reason, Kaitlyn has knocked off to sleep. Right as Liza's starting to slow and Zach and I are allowing our eyes to uncross, Kaitlyn wakes up crying and proceeds to throw up twice all over herself and the car. That's not an accident, that's a perfectly syncronized performance my friends.

FACT!: In stark contrast to the plane ride to Utah for Christmas, the plane ride home was LOVELY. No tears, no spit-up, no worries. Thank Heaven. This is us STILL SMILING on the last leg of our plane ride to Detoit.

FACT!: This shirt makes me look like Where's Waldo... I kind of wish I had it for a certain dance back in High School. Those who participated will appreciate the look I'm sporting... you kno who you are.

FACT!: (All parental bias aside, ofcourse) This is the cutest 3 month old on the planet! She's just hit the phase when she stops eating to look at me and smile... KILL ME!

FACT!: I would love to hear some exciting FACTS! about my friends. The playing field is WIDE open, there are no rules to what constitutes a FACT! but the wierder the better.

P.S. FACT!: I cannot remember a time when I was able to touch my toes. Seriously. Sad but true.

Family Traditions

Kaitlyn is SERIOUSLY impressed by Duma the waterskiing dog! Who wouldn't be?
Here's the fam, living out our fantasies... yep, this is the level we're on.

Yesterday morning, Mary and I set out determined to uphold a long standing family tradition of attending the annual boat and outdoor recreation show. This year took us to Toronto Canada and I must say that we were not disappointed. Owing to the plentiful and large bodies of water there was an assortment of massive cruisers and also our favorite lines of competition wakeboard and waterski boats. Kaitlyn was like a kid in a candy store with all the lights, color and dauntingly massive yachts that each had their fair share of interesting buttons and spiral stairs to play on. Her favorite trick was to turn off the lights on everyone inside or lock herself in the head (means bathroom for you non-boaters, or washroom if you are in Canada). We enjoyed the indoor wakeboard show that was on a giant hockey rink filled with water like a swimming pool with rails and ramps for the riders to launch from. Lots of Ooo's and claps from Kaitlyn made it all the more enjoyable. Her favorite however was the waterskiing beagle from Chicago who nicely posed for a photo with Kaite on his board. Liza just mostly slept and barfed all day. After 6 1/2 hours of carting around kids all over the show we headed for home. Winter in this part Canada from Toronto to just north of London is brutal due to the snow belt. We ended up driving through a storm on our way home so our 2 hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive. We stopped for dinner only to have one of our children decide that they wanted no more driving in the snow storm and decided to cry to the point of losing the Wendy's dinner she had eaten an hour before all over the car. When she wasn't crying the other one would start in, I think it was just to fill the peaceful silence. So we had dirty pants and pukyface that were tag teaming the parents the last 90 minutes of the drive. All said and done we would do it again for the Boat Show. Sick, but true... it was that fun... and memorable.