Hola

This is just to say I'm alive and kicking! I'm turning over a new leaf in Blogging and plan to give some updates more often! It's so easy to just enjoy what's going on right in front of me and not write it down. I really want a record of all the awesome things that my cute kids and Zach and I are doing so I'm going to start up NOW.

We're off to an indoor waterpark in Niagara Falls tomorrow for our Spring Break. I think the kidlets are going to loose their minds when they see how incredible their life could be if we LIVED at a waterpark full-time. I know Kaitlyn would be all for it. :) I'll send updates of the event.

Happy 2010

Here's to starting FRESH in 2010. We had such a great Christmas break together. Kaitlyn learned Santa Clause is her friend and Liza developed a very serious fear of the man in red. This was our first time staying home for Christmas in 9 yrs. We of course missed seeing friends and family and the usual holiday traditions, but we made the most of it and relished not standing in lines at the airport, living out of a suitcase, and being scheduled to the hilt trying to fit everyone and everything in. We spent 2 1/2 weeks at home loving our little family here. We played games, slept in, ate great food, watched movies, and literally just loved being together. Good times and great memories. We will be going home next year for Christmas which also made this year that much better because we knew it was a rare occasion.

We got to actually participate in all of the ward and school Christmas parties. It was really fun to not miss out.

Happy New year! We got to go to a party at some friends house and it was the real deal. Kaite even stayed up the whole time. We watched, in true Canadian form, the US/Canada Hockey match to celebrate, there was tobogganing in the back yard (not sledding, eh), and really great food. Great times, good costumes, crazy kids.

Kaitlyn's first snow man. We named him Larry.

My 3 yr old is so big! We went to the ward for a Christmas day dinner the bishop put on for who ever wanted to come. It was fantastic and made our Christmas day feel official.

The spoils of Christmas morning

The only present Zach didn't take back was the fantastic breakfast. Cinnamon Rolls, Egg Casserole and fresh fruit. YUM, YUM, YUM. I live for food like this.

Christmas eve we went to another party with friends and it was the greatest. Santa even showed up. Liza might need therapy.

We took the girls bowling for the first time. HILLARIOUS. Kaitlyn is an incredible bowler if the ball just can stay fast enough to make it to the end and have enough force to knock the pins over. GREAT MEMORIES!

Mostly we did a lot of this though. SNUGGLE AND SLEEP. What a good time.

The end.

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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!