Keeping Busy in Salt Lake

One of our Filipino family members got married over the weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. After months and months applying for VISA's and dealing with all that fun immigration stuff everything worked out and she was able to move to Utah in March and a wedding deadline of 3 months. Of course we had to go for the wedding, no questions, and that is all in a different post but this post is all about the non-wedding fun stuff we did while we were there.
We arrived Wednesday and checked into our hotel which was maybe two blocks from temple square. We all needed some time out of the car, using our legs, so we quickly dumped our stuff in the hotel room and walked to temple square. It was hot, sunny and beautiful. I always love walking around temple square. They keep it so perfectly landscaped and clean. There weren't too many people there and maybe because it was a Wednesday close to dinner time but it was perfect because I could let the kids run a little bit and not worry about them running into people. It also gave me the perfect opportunity to take a picture of them by the water in front of the temple without a bride in the background.

Thursday morning we got to see Christabel and Gabe. It was so great to see her and it's crazy one of my young women from good old Magsungay Ward in Bacolod was getting married in the temple and I was going to be able to witness it. Christabel and Gabe were getting there wedding pictures done Thursday for a few different reasons so I was able to help her get into dress, do her hair and make up before going over with them to temple square for pictures.
When pictures were finished we all went out for lunch and spent some time getting to know Gabe better and making sure he was good enough for our Christabel.
After we went out separate ways we made our way to the temple Visitors' Center and let the kids watch some Book of Mormon movies. We had also never ventured into the South Visitors' Center before and so we checked that out as well. That center focuses on families and the Temple. They actually had a miniature replica of the Salt Lake Temple that you could look in and see what was inside other then the rooms we've been in. It was pretty cool!

Friday was the day of the sealing and I was able to do Christabels' nails, her hair and makeup before we made our way over for the sealing. After the sealing we were able to join Gabes' family at his parents house for a delicious authentic Mexican meal. It was such a great day. Ryan was also able to meet up with a friend who he used to work with at Focus and we hadn't seen him in a few years and we appreciated him coming to our hotel to visit with us.
Saturday was a day for us and we weren't too sure what we were going to do to fill it. We all got ready for the day, got into the car and Ryan decided that we should check out a few things we haven't done before. The first stop was and we were not prepared. It's not a hard hike or anything but the girls and I were in sandals and skirts so although it was doable we probably screamed tourists. The view from the top was amazing and worth the time.From there we went to This Is The Place Heritage Park which is where Brigham Young first entered the Valley. They had huge monuments which told the stories that were a part of the start of Salt Lake. Inside there was a little museum that told the story of the pioneers and all they went through to get to the valley and also told about the Mormon Battalion. It was really interesting and maybe next time we'll actually pay money to do more then just check out the monument and gift shop/museum.
Ryan took us for a trip down memory lane and showed us a bunch of different areas from his mission, which he served in South Salt Lake. He told us some fun stories and bragged about the wheelies he could perform on his bike that were blocks long, parade worthy in fact.
We spent our afternoon at Chuck e Cheese and let the kids go wild with tokens. It was amazing and I know they loved it. Dreams just might come true at Chuck e Cheese. We had a couple other errands to run and made our way to Target and the grocery store to stock up for dinners and went back to the hotel where the kids had a swim. It turned out to be a full day.

Sunday was spent packing up before meeting with a Focus friend for church in Bountiful and heading north to Roy for the wedding reception and then starting our drive home.
It was a busy, fun time but man, that drive kills me. I must be getting old.

Newly Weds

Look at these two, don't they look perfect? The reason we took our trip to Utah was to be there to see Christabel get married. She was one of my young women/seminary students when we lived in the Philippines and it's crazy to say but we've watched her grow up. She must have been 12 or 13 when we met her and now she is a married woman. Unreal.
Anyway, Thursday Christabel and Gabe were getting some professional pictures taken at the Salt Lake City Temple and they had come to our hotel room early to get ready. Not only are there way less brides to share the photo ops with but the weekly rate is a way better deal then the weekend photographer rate. We walked over and followed them around while the photographer did his thing. The kids helped Christabel with the train of her dress and watched as the camera guy posed them and took his pictures. It was fun to watch the girls fuss a little bit over Christabel because she deserved to be fussed over and she didn't have her mom or sisters there to do those things. She just got here in March and unfortunately she only had an Aunt that was able to make it from her side since the flights from the Philippines are ridiculously expensive. Thankfully her in-laws seem to be amazing and were willing to help out a lot. With that being said, I was happy we were there to follow them around and act as her side of the family.

The photographer came up to me and got upset when he caught me taking pictures of my kids with Christabel and told me that I would have to put my camera away while we was there. I was a little ticked off but snuck a couple pictures anyway because it wasn't like I was stealing his poses and they are my children after all and every other wedding I've been to I know a lot of other cameras taking pictures of little moments happening on the side lines. Meh.

Friday was the day of the actual sealing and we were fortunate enough to be invited to watch it. Ryan was one of the witnesses and I got to accompany Christabel into the brides room and help her get ready. The brides room in the Salt Lake City Temple was beautiful and huge. Christabel didn't wear her wedding dress so we weren't able to gape at it as she stood over the big vent that poofs it up but there was something amazing about her in the simple temple dress, she looked beautiful.
The sealing was small which was nice and intimate. The sealer did a great job and after he was done in english he repeated everything in Spanish for Gabes' grandparents (he's Mexican) so we kind of got an encore.
After the sealing I took a few pictures of the newly married couple before we went to Gabes' parents house to eat with his family. The meal was amazing and a real authentic Mexican meal. A lot Gabes' family was there and they were all super nice people. I was so happy to feel that I knew Christabel would be taken care of while she was adjusting to living in the USA and being married all at the same time.
Sunday Christabel and Gabe had a ring ceremony and wedding reception. Ryan walked her down the aisle and gave her away to Gabe. It was touching and she looked beautiful, of course.

Christabel had an entourage help her get ready for the ring ceremony/reception which was so nice. I was able to take some pictures of her getting ready and of her dress, pictures that I wasn't able to take a few days earlier at the temple.

Her ring ceremony was nice and simple and the reception was fun. We had Mexican again and the venue was really pretty. The food and toasts (which I rocked) were done upstairs in a loft area and then we all went downstairs for the cake and dance.

It was such a great few days and I was extremely grateful that we had been able to make the trip and be a part of this wedding. They are going to be a great pair, I could tell. Congratulations you two!

What Does the Fox Say?

Last week on my way home from work I saw a fox running across the road just by our house. It was so fast that I wasn't sure and when I pointed it out to Madison she didn't see it. I was excited because last summer I had seen a fox in the tall grass beside but once they had bailed the field I hadn't seen it again. On my way home today I stopped at the mail box and saw something moving around in the ditch and I was curious and as we were pulling up closer I realized it was a little fox family. A larger fox (the mom I assumed) immediatly ran down into the hole while three babies wrestled and played around. Madison and I watched for a while through our rolled down windows until we heard the mom call (yes, now I know what the fox says) and all of them dashed into the hole. They were seriously the cutest things ever!

Sydneys Baptism

What an amazing day we had today. I was totally overwhelmed with it all, in a good way. Today Sydney was baptized, a decision that she made on her own. She was baptized here in Airdrie by Ryan and a great little program. She had to ask the people that she wanted to speak at her baptism herself and she decided with an amazing friend up here in Airdrie to talk on Baptism and Grandma to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. Both talks were perfect and will stay close to my heart. Sydney was baptized surrounded by her so many people who love her, it was incredibly touching to see all the support. All our family who made the trip and all the amazing people who have made their way into our hearts since we moved up to the Calgary/Airdrie area.

After the baptism those that could stay were invited back to our house for some dinner and to hang out and mingle. I was so excited for our family to meet the great people we've been blessed to get to know and that have made Airdrie our home. It was a perfect day and I am humbled with how loved our Sydney is. Thank you to everyone who made this day so special for her! I was so overwhelmed I didn't even get a picture of her in her beautiful white dress. Boo.

8 = Earring! Finally!

I can't even believe it. Our beautiful girl Sydney turned 8 years old today. Why is time going so fast, I need it to slow down so I can catch up.
For Sydneys birthday today she got earrings and the holes put in her ears to be able to wear them. I had done a little bit of research of where I should go to do this. I had wanted to have hoops in her ears so the backs of them wouldn't stab her and so they would be able to clean and care for. A friend of mine had mentioned doing this with her daughter and having it done at a tattoo/piercing parlour. I was a little nervous about doing that but after reading a few articles I decided that it would be the best decision. They don't use those plastic guns with a metal needle but a metal road that pushes right through the lobe and actually removes a little bit of skin. The bonus to that is that because the only piece that they use is metal they can sanitize it at a much higher temperature then they can the guns. Not only is that a great thing but if you've never been inside a tattoo parlour you would never have noticed how clean and sterile they are. Way cleaner then Claire's in the mall (no offense), plus I thought it would be so cool for the kids to see that type of environment, then they know.
We went in and were greeted by our piercer who immediately made Sydney feel like a princess as she took us all back to her working table. On the way back to her little room we passed two things Brayden noticed. The first was a guy getting a tattoo and how a needle is required to do that and how that needle needed to be put in the skin numerous times. He also saw a man working on a tattoo in the design stages. Hanging on his art table was a simple sketch, beside that one that had a lot more detail on it and then on the table being worked on was a final stage picture. Brayden commented on how you have to be a very talented artist to be able to do tattoos and I loved that he noticed that.
Once we were all standing in the piercers 'office' she explained everything to all of us and how she was going to get these holes in Sydney's ears and exactly what each piece of equipment did. Sydney picked out her hoops with great consideration (as she does with most things) and once she settled on the ones she wanted we were ready to go.
Sydney did so great! She was so tough and the earrings looked so pretty in her ears! She loves them.

My Masterpiece

I think it was about 2 months ago when both Brayden and Sydney started coming home from school with these bracelets made from colourful elastic bands. I asked about it and they just shrugged and told me it was Rainbow Loom and that their friends made them for them at school. Sydney even went on to explain that she had joined a Rainbow Loom club at school that met every Monday at lunch and they made different styles of elastics. Madison had got one of these looms for her birthday a few weeks ago and since then I have been finding these little elastics everywhere on my floor. Everywhere. Today I decided that Madison and I were going to sit down and actually make something cool so we watched a few YouTube videos before settling on an octopus. Holy crap, it was tough and I'm pretty sure I used all the patience I had to finish it with the amount of times I had to start something over. So 2 hours later I had this cute pink octopus competed for Madison and she liked it a lot ... for maybe 2 hours then it was forgotten. Hmmm. Brayden and Sydney both seemed impressed by it when they got home from school so that helped boost up my self esteem.

It's Been A Long Winter

You know it's been a VERY long winter when you come across this! I wonder what other secrets treasures are waiting to be found!?

We Have a Five Year Old In The House

This little girl turned 5 today! It gets a litter harder every time she reaches a new milestone. I can't really say that she's my baby anymore, she's the youngest and she's getting older. With each year older all these new doors open for us as a family and we can do so many different things that we wouldn't be able to do if we still had a baby, diaper bags and nap times to work around and it's so exciting to be reaching these new stages but at the same time sometimes it's hard. Thankfully to make up for the fact that we are loosing our baby we are gaining an amazing young girl. She is always willing to share her last of anything if it means it will make someone else happy. Madison loves to make others laugh and makes the best goofy faces to achieve that. She loves to learn and is very excited to be old enough to start kindergarten in the fall and she is always willing to give me a hug when I need one!
We had a pretty fun time celebrating Madison today with her friends. I rented the church building for the evening and had some of her friends and their families meet us there for a night of nerf gun wars and cupcakes! We all met in the gym, went over the rules and then let the kids go wild with their bullets and when they got tired or needed a break they could hang out in the gym and eat, drink and be merry.

I'm pretty sure that everyone that came had a great time no matter how old they were. My kids got a taste of good old church nerf wars a few weeks ago and so they were ready to go. It worked out great that so many of Maddys' friends have siblings Brayden and Sydneys' age so everyone had people to hunt with.

Thanks for the party Madison! I hope that you'll enjoy everyday of being five! It's a pretty big number.

Merry Christmas!

This year for Christmas each set of grandparents had a full day. That way we weren't rushing around and trying to fit everyone in when others would be there and for this year it worked. Christmas Eve we spent at Ryan's folks place with everyone. We played games, the kids ran around with all their cousins like crazy people and loved it. We had a potluck dinner with an international theme so Ryan and I made some sushi rolls to share with everyone and they were supper yummy, success.
Christmas day we spent at my dad and Peggy's. Kait & Matthew were there and all Peggys' boys came as well. It was so relaxing and I think the first Christmas we've had in Canada where we weren't trying to be at more then one place at once. The kids got to open their presents and then actually have time to play with them! It was awesome. Dinner was amazing as it always is at dads and it was nice to have everyone there.

That night Madison started to act off and felt a little warm but I had assumed it was because of all the excitement. I was wrong. It was because she had the flu and was up puking all night. The really sucky thing was that she puked all over her PJ's and I had only brought one pair. I had to change her into clothes and then she puked all over those as well. I was running out of options and she was not impressed at the thought of sleeping in jeans. Maybe next time she'll try a little harder to get everything into the toilet and not all down her person. Blah.
Boxing Day morning we were off to my mom and Brians house. Madison only puked once that day ... at the 7-11 in the parking lot on the way to my moms house. GROSS. Moms house was great and of course we consumed loads of good food, my family sure can cook! There was SO much food and my family relies on Ryan to finish a lot of it up with his 3rd and 4th helpings but today he was no help at all... why you ask? He spent the afternoon puking out whatever flu it was that Madison had the night before. While Ryan napped the boys went to the school gym and flew remote control helicopters they got for Christmas (Brayden and Brian) and us girls played with our new toys.
This year was so relaxing, I loved spending so much time at each place and being able to let the kids not only open up gifts, but let them play with them and enjoy them before scooping everything up and moving onto the next house. Spending so much time with family was way better, it was a good Christmas!

Sammy Day 25: Until Next Year

Wow, another season of finding Sammy has come and gone. I can't believe he leaves for the North Pole tonight with Santa and we won't see him until next Christmas. Christmas is tomorrow! How did that sneak up on me?
Sammy left the kids each a present as his goodbye. Like last year they were some PJ's and the kids had kind of assumed as much. Hopefully leaving them gifts and not coal means that Santa will do the same.

Sammy Day 24: Like A Wrecking Ball

The kids could not find Sammy this morning. They were freaking out because the day before he hadn't moved and then today it was like he had vanished. Maybe this was it for Sammy!? Maybe he went back to Santa a few days early because he had been fondled too close to Christmas, maybe he didn't love us anymore?
Nope, none of the above. Sammy was just in such an unexpected place no one thought to look for him there. He was above our kitchen table swinging on the light like he was riding a wrecking ball. This is probably the best thing to come of the song by Miley Cyrus.... Our Sammy, making me proud.

Sammy Day 23: I've Lost The Magic

With only a few days left until Christmas it was a little alarming to wake up and find Sammy in the exact same position he was in yesterday because he had been fondled the day before. Yikes. I really hope that he's left alone today, we don't want Santa thinking the kids are misbehaving so close to Christmas.

Sammy Day 22: Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

It looks like Sammy loved snuggling with Brayden the other night so much that he's looking for love in other places now. This guy is hanging from our fridge and it's a long way down but at least he's finding things that are his size. Hopefully he doesn't fall.

Sammy Day 21: We Can Always Use More Angels

It appears that Sammy thinks our nativity could use more angels but I don't see his wings?