Ian's Birthday Getaway via instagram

Last weekend Ian and I skipped town to celebrate his 33rd birthday (when is it no longer 'appropriate' to share ages?).

I had planned a weekend without kids and booked Ian off work for the Friday so we would have more time.  We drove into Edmonton by lunch, spent the afternoon with the girls running some errands and made dinner for my family.  We stayed to eat and then said goodbye to the girlies with a big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting :)

We stayed 2 nights in a hotel in the west end and spent our time shopping, sleeping, watching movies, relaxing in the hot tub, going out for dinner and I sent Ian for a massage (I tried to get myself a pedicure but it was all booked).

 

 

It was wonderful and relaxing.

*I think this past week back home with the girls was extra hard after experiencing the freedom of our previous weekend ;)

August

Our summer continued...

Grandma and Papa's - We went for a weekend visit at my parents house in August.

Tutu's - We (aka -'I') made lots of tutu's for Hailey and her upcoming birthday party.  She has been enjoying dancing in them!!!

Somebody learned to walk this summer!!!!!

She is much quicker and more stable now.  She is trying to master running!  It sure took her long enough as she was almost 15 mths old.

Hailey's 3rd Birthday - There were festivities galore at the end of August as we celebrated Hailey's 3rd birthday.  Just 2 more years until school *only somewhat joking ;)

For her party there was a bean bag toss, fishing, a teepee to play in and tutu's for our dance party.  I left it pretty open with no structured games.  They could just travel about as they chose.  Maybe next year will be the first 'drop-off' party where it is just me and her party guests!

David and Christy's Wedding

My little brother got married our last weekend in Edmonton.  It was so wonderful to have all (minus my sister serving a mission) of our family together.  I felt a little sad as I was so busy dealing with my 2 handfuls (aka - children) that I was very distracted and feel that I missed out.  It was so sweet though to see my new sister-in-law walking into the chapel to meet her soon-to-be husband, my brother.  

It was a sweet moment as Hailey yelled out 'DAVID' when he walked into the chapel and again yelled out as Christy put on David's ring "YOU DID IT".  It was what we were all thinking :)

I feel so lucky to have Christy as part of our family and I feel so thrilled that my brother has such a wonderful woman by his side.  I know he was never my 'responsibility' but I always felt, just a little bit, that I needed to take care of him and make sure he was okay.  Now I feel 'at ease' knowing Christy will do a better job of that than I ever could.  Welcome to the family!

most of the pictures are of the girls - I left the couple/group shots to the real photographer

 with uncle David

 my sisters family

 imagine trying to get these 3 girls to stay together and still for one picture

Liora thought her boquet was pretty smelly :)

"dancing with Papa"

 fabulous decorations

classic shoe game

our family of four (crazy)

our little Quinn

Me and my girls :)

Galaxyland

Lately I have been spending far too much time reading other peoples blogs, instead of writing my own.  Here are some more 'catch up' posts from our summer (I guess it isn't over yet - Our last adventure will be Hailey's 2nd birthday tomorrow).

One of our days in Edmonton we took the girls out to Galaxyland (really we were shopping and made a stop to play).  They got to ride on the train, Hailey went on the carosel and they all played in the ball pits.

the only pics that turned out were in the ball pits

The twins loved it and had a blast - Hailey hated it.  You'd think that a child who loves balls would love a whole pit full of them?  Not so!  this picture clearly shows her dislike when we 'made' her go in.  She did have fun though in the tunnels and on the slides.  She also loved the carosel and talks about the 'horsie-ride' all the time.

Here is auntie Christel with our sweet Quinn

Surviving on my own!

The past week without Ian has been good but lonely. I miss Ian so much everyday but have been very blessed this week to have lots of friends calling and coming by to visit. I spent a couple days with Ian's aunt and uncle, a few days with a friend from Calgary and some great times swimming with the Gibb Gang. I had a couple work days and managed to get out and do some shopping. It is amazing how healing shopping can be!

I am definitely ready to have Ian back but still have to wait another week. The public schools have spring break this week so I am heading to Edmonton for the whole week to visit family and friends. I am super excited as I haven't had much time there in the past few months, especially not for friends. So if you are an Edmonton friend and have time to visit this week please drop me a line (at my parents, on the blog, email or facebook) and I will get back to you.

Early Christmas

Ian and I had fun this past weekend decorating at my parents house for Christmas. We did it a bit early this year to take advantage of the clear roads. We left Friday night to visit family, though the main point of the trip was for our branch youth temple trip. We arrived at the temple on Saturday afternoon to find out that our whole group canceled, due to a sudden blizzard in Lloyd that melted a few hours later. We still enjoyed our weekend however and I came home with an early Christmas present to me.... a new vinyl cutter. I have been having a great time and a crazy time figuring this thing out today and am very excited for the new possibilities with my business.