Ryan's Wedding & RS fireside.

We went down south last weekend, for Ryan Kurtz' wedding. It was a beautiful day, the weather was great and I'm pretty sure it was the most beautiful reception I've seen. Aunt Sheila did an amazing job decorating!

It was nice to have another family filled weekend! We planned to come home Saturday night but the weather was awful so we slept in Coaldale another night. We headed home Sunday morning just in time for me to frantically finish crafting for the RS fireside.

The fireside was so nice, our ward is extremely talented in the music department.  We did a simple hot chocolate bar and treats.

jam packed fun weekend! Dec 5-7th

 This weekend we managed to pack it full of fun stuff! We did Heritage park for the first time and meet up with my parents and Darren & Laura.

We waited quite awhile for the horse rides, but the kids loved it!

After this picture Will tried to shove his soother in the ducks mouth!

Will loved the horses!

Santa was there, Will was a little unsure! Levi asked for a small Christmas tree, that definitely isn't on the letter he sent to Santa. 

I loved all the Victorian houses and architecture! 

They had little mazes for the kids to do!

It was such a fun thing todo, we will have to go back in the summer!

That night we had the Santa Claus parade and Roger & Trisha came down to watch! Dave got to take Levi in his cruiser and that kid was just so excited! Also we learned that the Strathmore Santa Clause Parade is sooo tiny, HA! Like 10 vehicles long!

It was so hard to get a decent picture at night plus all the reflectors on the cruiser.

After the parade we went to the festival of lights, it was so good! They had santa, free snacks and hot chocolate, and so many lights. By this point we were all pretty tired and came home to just watch the fireworks from our house. I made my mom take a quick family picture because I don't think we got one all day! Can you tell were all tired, and maybe a certain 4 year old was crabby?

The next day after church was Levis preschool concert, the main reason my parents came up for the weekend. It was so cute and only 45 mins long (my kind of concert!). Levi did all the songs and actions we were so proud, last year theres no way he would have sang let alone do actions too!

After the concert we headed into Calgary to the First presidency's devotional and Stake Carol Festival. Dave and Laura were both in that, so it was fun for the kids to watch. It was such a long day, the kids had sat for over 7 hours that day but they did amazing!

It was so nice to have my parents up for all the festivities, and get some time with them. Now that we dont live 10 mins away, we don't get very much one on one time.

2014

Everyone's asleep in the house. Its quiet and rare. I'm listening to Christmas music while sitting next to our Christmas tree. Thoughts are just swarming around, I find lately its getting harder and harder to find some quiet time to just ponder. Life just gets busier and busier. But tonight its there, and I feel blessed. 

As this year is closing I keep reflecting back to where we were a year ago, and how things are so different. Last year at this time we were up at Daves graduation in Edmonton and moving Dave to Airdrie. It was so many emotions, and so much unknown. I am so grateful for where we are and that we made it. That was an extremely hard time for me, and reflecting back I realize its made me so much stronger of a person. Made our family so much stronger. Change is hard but change is good. 

Will was just starting to crawl and walk the walls, now he's talking lots and so busy. Will has the most delightful personality, he is very aware of others feelings. He's a ham and knows it. Loves to make everyone laugh. Loves to kiss and hug, he is always willing to snuggle. This kid has moves, and loves to dance. If a fun song comes on in the car he always bobs his head to the music.

Levi has grown tremendously. I'm so proud of how well he's adjusted. He is so good at making new friends, I hope he can always have these social skills. He is very much becoming a leader. He is willing to take charge and problem solve. I am so excited for him to start kindergarten next year. Levi just loves to learn, he still asks me a ton of questions everyday. He's doing swimming lessons again and getting braver in the water, it makes us so proud.

Dave is on a new rotation for work, he's now running the okotoks courthouse. Its an earlier shift, so he leaves here about 4:45-5am and if he isn't stuck in court or have a prisoner run he's home by 4:30pm. There's been a lot of overtime with this new shift, and the unpredictability has been an adjustment for me. We just got use to the mon-fri 7-6pm hours. But Daves enjoying this new change, running his own courthouse. What a good man, I'd never wanna get up at 4 am.. yesshh! He also just got called into Young Men's and I think it'll be fun for him, I doubt he'll complain to have to go camping. HA!

I'm still babysitting 2-3x a week and hair's slowly picking up. Eventually I'll just do hair in the evenings. These last few months I'm finding it all a little overwhelming. But I've learned a lot about myself and learned to really treasure the time alone with each of my boys, and my nights alone with Dave. I've really been enjoying my calling, its been a really great way to get to know the ladies in our ward. Plus I love a good party, and now that I'm planning them I know its gonna be a good time! 

A year ago who would have thought we'd be moving to Strathmore and now call it home. We love this town and can't wait to quit renting and settle down here. Ive got the home owners itch again. I feel so blessed for the way things have turned out and can't wait to see what 2015 will have in store for us. 

What a wonderful year and we've been blessed greatly.

its beginning to look like Christmas...

 Will fell asleep on the couch right before we were gonna set up Christmas so we organized a few things till he woke up. Its pretty cute when he just konks out wherever.

 After setting up the tree, Dave took the boys outside to play in all the fresh snow we just got.

 Will loved being out side but HATED that his hands had to be covered up.

Levis always loves playing in the snow and can always stay out there longer then any of us. He just loves building and doing anything that Dave does outside. Were hoping to find him snowshoes so he can go out with Dave.

 Can you tell Movember has started?? Lovely!

It felt really weird decorating in our new house. I feel so confused where to put new things and our tree isn't by our fireplace... it all feels so weird. But it'll work out. Im sure ill rearrange things several times before Christmas actually gets here!

Halloween 2014

 Im not a huge halloween fan. I dont like scary things, I hate the blood and gore stuff and I kind of find it all just annoying. But I tried to have fun with the boys this year. We had 3 parties we went too, and I skipped one - 4 is just too much! We watched halloween movies ( thank you netflix!), painted pumpkins, handed out treats to my visiting teachers and decorated the house. 

Since Levi had 3 parties he got to choose 3 costumes, Iron man, Wolverine and a "worker man". Last year I bought a ton of costumes when they were like $3 on clearance and then Levi got a them for Christmas as a dress up trunk. So we didn't have to buy him anything! And Wills little zebra costume we found at a thrift store in Kalispell. 

The wiggliest zebra there ever was.

"Workers have big muscles Mom." -Levi

Dave took Levi Trick or treating and Will and I handed out the candy. Dave and Levi filled a bag so quickly that they were back in 20 mins to go out again. So Will and I got a little snack while passing out candy. 

They went for about 45 mins and I think Levi brought home a pretty good haul! 

And we can't forget Will...  He always wants to do what Levi's doing!

They both were waiting for the trick or treaters to come. Will went to bed around 7:30 but we let Levi stay up till 8 in hopes of a few more trick or treaters. I think we got 15-20 kids total. We have so much candy left over. 

Heres a few pics from the Halloween Party I organized with out play group.

All in all it must have been a great Halloween, because Levi's been begging to go again.