Finally...

This is for all my loyal and faithful readers...all 3 of you. I haven't really posted anything since October so there's a lot to catch up on and I'm not really sure where to start. Here's a quick chronological review (which I may fill in with better detail later).

I had my last birthday in November...I turned 29. This is it. This is the end. Much to my disappointment, I can feel my youth dissipating each day. I am officially getting old. I didn't really think it would hit me that hard but I was wrong! When people would ask me my age, they would seem surprised and now when I say I'm 29 they get this look. It resembles a look of pity and it is almost always accompanied by a sad shake of the head...Hopefully I'll be able to keep things in perspective and be too overwhelmed by my accumulating age.

I was offered a job!! This is very exciting news for us. I was really concerned about even looking for a job because jobs are scarce out here and the wages are much lower. I really didn't want to have to find work at a crappy retail store. I wanted to be able to work flexible hours with good pay and be able to be at home at night with the kids. Bob let me know that one of the office assistants was let go and asked me to bring a resume down to the office. I printed up a quick resume and took it in. They interviewed and hired me in just a couple of days. It is a fantastic job! The wages are amazing and they allow me work when Lukas is at school so I can be at home when he is. So, Bob and I both working for the same company.

We also had Christmas!! We were all able to fly back to Calgary and spend Christmas with our family and friends. The kids were so excited. When we asked Kailyn what she wanted for Christmas she told us that she wanted to spend it with Grandma--she was so shocked and surprised when we told her about our plans to go back.

Bob and I just got back from a beautiful trip to Jamaica! We've never been able to take a trip together and it was a fantastic getaway for the two of us. I got my very first stamp in my passport!! The weather was great--not too hot. I didn't come back with a sunburn! We relaxed on the beach, took tours, climbed the "Famous Dunn's River Falls" and ate a ton of amazing food.

I realize this is a very condensed version of life for the last several months but life has been really busy and I am trying to get my groove back. I seem to spend every day catching up. I usually work every other day so on my work days I'm catching up on things I missed from the day before and when I'm home I'm trying to catch up on laundry, cooking, cleaning (which I hate) and of course, visiting friends. I will make a better effort at updating the blog on a more regular basis...maybe...if I have time...

Wait Just a Little Longer...

Friends check every once and while to see if your blog is being updated...REAL friends leave comments like, "Ummm Halloween was months ago...get to work!" Unfortunately for my REAL friends, you'll have to wait just a little longer. I started a job in December I am trying to get my new groove. On Monday morning Bob and I will be heading to Jamaica for a week courtesy of my sister, Elizabeth.

Hang in there--I promise I'll post and update everything when I get back!! For my friends, Dee, Starr and Debbi, even though I neglect my blog, I check yours every day!!

Be back in a couple of weeks!

Halloween

Bob loves Halloween. It's his favorite holiday--in the real world, Halloween isn't a holiday but in Bob's world it would be! Last year he was the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera. He actually starts planning what he's going to do for Halloween a whole year in advance. We'll be sitting, eating our children's candy after they go to bed and he'll be scheming over what costume to wear for next year!

A couple of weeks ago I asked him why he couldn't apply that same planning and attention to our anniversary that he gives to Halloween. He simply said, "Halloween ONLY comes ONCE a year..."

Yep, it made no sense to me either! Gotta love Hot Bob! Our compromise is that I will start showing more enthusiasm for Halloween when he starts showing enthusiasm for our anniversary...

You Asked for It!!

I have had several people ask me about my weight loss so let me back up a little and fill you in on the whole story.

Several years ago we took our kids and spend the summer in California. I was still carrying a little leftover baby weight from Lukas but I was determined to lose it while I was down there. I was success in losing weight but not in keeping it off. This is me and my sisters during my skinny Cali days:
For the next 4 years I gained weight despite the fact that I was constantly trying to lose it. I tried EVERYTHING to get it off. I signed up at a gym. I hired a personal trainer. I tried several diets. I signed up at a different gym. I would do 1 hour of cardio and 1 hour of weight training 5 days a week. Still no weight loss. I know that muscle weighs more than fat but my back fat was still exploding over the back of my pants.

After we moved out here the pounds just kept coming until I weighed the same amount as I was the day before Kailyn was born. This was incredibly depressing. My clothes no longer fit and I was sinking lower and lower.

I started going to the gym again. I started working with a trainer...again. I started journaling my food intake and after 6 weeks and all the self control I lost...2 pounds. 2 STINKING POUNDS!! I sacrificed chocolate...I sacrificed popcorn...I cut back carbs for 2 pounds!!

My brother in-law, Richard (is opening a Gold's Gym out here) was listening to me complain...again...about my fat situation. He had been approached by a company that wanted the gym to carry it's products. Richard was going to do some research and try it out himself. But out of kindness, or a sincere effort to stop my complaining, he asked me to give it a test run.

This is my friend, Jillayne and I in March right before I started working out:I was desperate. I had no other options. I'd tried everything else.

The program I'm on is called Isagenix and basically it is a cleansing diet. Our bodies are filled with toxins (some of those are environmental and some are things we eat). As a natural defense, our bodies surround these toxins in fat to prevent them from entering into our blood stream causing more harm and damage. The cleanse removes the toxins and the fat comes off.

I still exercise. I still try to eat healthy and get rest. I don't feel hungry or deprived and I still eat junk, just not as much and not as often. The biggest difference I noticed was my energy and endurance. I could barely jog a block without being winded. About 3 weeks after I started with Isagenix I went out for my jog. I would do a walk/jog for about 3.5 km. I got to my first "rest stop" but I wasn't tired so I kept going. I got to the next "rest stop" but still wasn't tired. I kept going and jogged NON-STOP for 5.2 km! Never in my life had I ever done anything like that before.

I am happy. I am healthy. I AM HOT!! I love it!

Let me know if you have more questions. I'd be happy to answer them!!

...But Now I'm Found!!

It took:
1 husband
6 kids and
1 metal detector
45 minutes to find
2 rings in
8 inches of leaves and grass!

I can't believe they found it!! So I put them on for a quick picture and now they're off until I can take them in to be sized. Miracles happen!

I've Lost It...

Yesterday we spent the afternoon taking hundreds, yes hundreds, of pictures. After I finished my post last night I called my Mom (who has been requesting more pictures) to let her know I put the new pics on the blog. While I was talking to her, I looked down and noticed that my wedding rings were missing from my finger. I'd mentioned to Bob a few weeks ago that my rings were loose and spinning around my finger but, I didn't do anything about it.

Right now my rings are out on the lawn somewhere. Hopefully we'll be able to find them soon. Bob is bringing home a metal detector from work to check the lawn. Bob and Kelly searched through all the pictures to find ones where I'm still wearing my ring and ones where it's missing. Here's one of the last pictures when you can see my ring...

Then we had this HUGE leaf fight on the lawn...

Then we dog piled Richard and in this picture my ring is missing...Keep your fingers crossed...

Finally, a new post!

Yes, I know how horrible I've been...and I know it's been over a month since my last post. Here's the update:

Bob was finally offered a full time permanent position with the environmental company that he's been working for (yes, the same on that drove over him). He loves his job. He's been travelling all over Ontario for work so we haven't seen him a lot this past month. Bob's also busy working with the Young Men at church. In his spare time (ha! like he has spare time!) he could be found reading or catching up on Heroes.

Kailyn has started grade 3 and is making friends in her class. She started back at ballet and taking piano lessons. She also started attending Activity Day Girls with the other kids from her church class. She loves to read and just finished the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Lukas is in Senior Kindergarten, which means that he's at school all day every other day!! He has the same teacher that he had last year and he seems to be doing much better. He is sleeping much better at night and so he's much more relaxed and has less headaches. He has several little friends that he enjoys visiting, Claire and Simon are at the top of his list.

Now me. Well, in June I started a cleansing diet that helped me lose 25 pounds over the summer. My wonderful husband commented that I must have so much energy now that I don't have to carry around a huge sack of potatoes everywhere I go. He was trying to give a compliment and it totally crashed and burned. But, I feel great and I'm so much happier with my appearance. I workout at the gym 2-3 times a week, I've been helping Kelly to paint the kitchen and then all the usual "Mom" stuff...laundry, supper, chauffeuring children to different lessons. Enough about me...Here's a few pictures that we took today! A big thank you to Jayden for coming out and helping us get a "few" pictures!

Montreal (just a preview)

Bob has two very good friends from high school, Colin and Paul. The three of them all have birthdays within 2 weeks. A couple years ago we all met in Winnipeg to celebrate their 30th birthday and made a "pact" that every 2 years they would get together. This year the deal was to meet in Montreal (where Paul and his wife Bonnie live). Bob and I left last Friday and drove out to meet everyone. We had an amazing weekend! We spent the first night riding roller coasters at LaRonde--I'm terrified of roller coasters. The second day we spent shopping (window) and toured around old Montreal. The third day we went sight seeing and walked down to the park to see the locals playing drums (an informal jam session) and live role players (some dressed in costume) having a battle with styro-foam weapons. Bob and Paul borrowed swords and joined in--they're geeks. Then we headed back to the hotel for an evening swim and dessert! The weekend couldn't have been better! A huge thank you to Paul and Bonnie for showing us everything they love about Montreal and to Colin and Nikki for making this a fantastic getaway!

Bob and I ridiculously tired after the drive to Montreal.

Colin, Paul and Bob just being themselves!Our tour guides: Bonnie and Paul!Bob, Paul and Colin after the battle...Bob and I

Cupcake Madness

We made mini cupcakes for James and Angie's wedding...a lot of cupcakes! When we were done, there was about 45 dozen! We made them all from scratch: carrot, chocolate fudge and white almond. Of course, after every batch, we would have to test them to make sure they were good. Then we made the icing and had to test it as well--we all know it better to test the icing on something more than just your finger so we had to eat more cupcakes! They were delicious!

James and Angela

I was able to drive down to Idaho with James on Sunday for the wedding! We stayed with Angela's grandparents for the first couple of days until my parents, Shawn and Jonathan arrived on Tuesday night. It was so great to meet Angela's family and get to know them a little before the wedding. There was lots to do and get ready before the big day. On Monday, Angela and James got dressed up in their wedding outfits a headed out to have their photos done (it was a little different but wonderful to have that done so the wedding day wasn't so chaotic).
Tuesday we relaxed a little, visiting with friends and family. Wednesday Angela went to the temple for the first time and then we headed back to her grandparents house for a wonderful dinner. A few of us, including the bride and groom, took off to Boondock's for some late night go-carting. As luck would have it, I often had a slower cart and Angela would wait for me on the track. At first I thought, "How nice, she's waiting for me 'cause my cart is so slow". But then she pointed and laughed at me and DROVE AWAY!! What a little punk! I have to admit, if the situation had been reversed, I would have done the same thing.

Thursday was the wedding! T flew up from California, which was awesome! It was a wonderful ceremony--Angela was so beautiful and James could hardly contain his excitement! the reception was held in Angela's grandparent's backyard. Kara and Patti did a phenomenal job decorating. It was such a wonderful experience to be down there--the wedding, the family everything was perfect.

Congratulations James and Angela! I am so excited for the two of you!

Family Fun

This has been a really busy week--starting with a trip to visit my extended family in Drayton Valley. I was coaxed into camping (which I never do) but instead of staying in a tent we were in a huge RV. We had dinner with my aunts and uncle, my grandma, cousins and their kids. Percy and Cindy brought out the quads to give the kids rides--which was so fun.

Here's Percy and Lukas going out for a spin before dinner.

Percy took Christa, Devon and I out again for some puddle stomping for a few hours the next day. There were muscles, I didn't know I had, that hurt so bad the next day. But it was totally worth it and I would go again in a second. We got stuck in the mud more than few times and at one point I got off the quad and sunk down and couldn't get my boot out. We were completely covered in mud--so much fun!
Christa covered in mud! Huge thanks to Sherry, Grandma, Cindy and Percy for planning a great weekend! I haven't had that much fun in a long, long time!

Zoe in Heals!

Zoe and I have the same taste in shoes--she's always walking around in my shoes. She's the cutest little thing! Kailyn and Lukas love spending time with her.

Butterfield Acres

Yesterday we spent the day at Butterfield Arces with Kati, Lilla, Izsak, Heather, Zeke and my Mom. It's a farm so, naturally, it smells like poo. We had a great day--the weather was perfect and the animals were so cute.

Kailyn, Lukas and Lilla

Kailyn & LukasHeather driving a tractor...

A New Love

A few months ago I had a crush and, as with all crushes, it came to a sad end. But today I found a new love (similar to the other but bigger--I know size doesn't matter but...). Here's a preview of my new "sole" mate. I made a permanent commitment today--we'll be together forever!

Confessions of a Blog Stalker

In the last year, since we moved to the other side of the world (London, ON), I've taken up a new hobby. I am a blog stalker. Before you judge me too quickly, understand that I've had a lot of time on my hands and rather than sit and think about my own life, I read about other people's. Most of the blogs I read I have stumbled onto through my friends' blogs (so there is only a few degrees of separtation). Some blogs I read are people I'd seen before but never really got to know. Others are people I've heard of but never met.

A few months ago, I stumbled on a blog through a friend of a friend of a friend and she had taken part in a TV weight loss program. My interest was peaked because I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to loss weight for some time and because she lives in Calgary. I watched the show and was motivated by her drive to succeed and reach her goals. I emailed her a couple of times--nothing big--but when I came out here to Calgary for the summer I sent her another message letting her know I was in the city. For the record (and I'm sure everyone says this) but I've never taken stalking/lurking to this level before. This is a whole new experience for me. She sent me a quick message back but I had so many things going on that I didn't get a chance to call her.

A few days later, I went to see my bff, Al. She had told me that some people from her neighbourhood had stopped by and asked her to join them in a late night walk. It didn't take long for me (with the help of my CSI detective skills) to realize that the person I had been blog stalking was one of the people that had invited Al for the walk. So we put on our shoes and walked the two blocks over to her house and I introduced myself. We had a great chat that evening and I've invited myself to go on the evening walks as well.

A few days later, I met up with a girl I've known for a while and we were swapping blog stalking stories. Her experience was pretty funny too.

I realize the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem...I stalk blogs...so now what?

Fun the "White" Way

Kailyn, Lukas and I headed down to Cardston to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa White. They took us into Glacier National Park to the mountains for the day and out for lunch and pie! I was able to snap a few pictures along the way:

Lukas eating snow! Yep, that's right. Not only did we have to stop so the kids could touch the snow, but I turn around and there's Lukas with a fist full! I can see how it could have been refreshing on that warm day!

Ode to the Bradleys

These are my wonderful friends, the Bradleys. I met them a couple of weeks after Kailyn was born when we were living in Edgemont. Alexis is only a few months younger than Kailyn. Jaxon is a year older than Lukas and Rylee is just turned 3. We've been through a lot together over the years...spent a lot of late nights drinking diet Pepsi and trying to beat Jeremy at cards.

When Jaxon was born, Bob and I had just left to go camping for the weekend (yeah--I think that may have been the last camping trip I was on) and when we got back we heard that Allyson had been in the hospital in labour. So we shower, of course, and head directly for Rockyview Hospital. When we arrived at the information desk they told us that only really close family and friends we allowed to visit. I adamantly proclaimed that we were really close friends (which we were). The information woman then smugly replied, "Well, she was released 2 days ago." with a look that said, "Yeah, some friends you are!"

Anyway, it was Jeremy and Allyson that sponsored my last trip out here in March--which was a fantastic trip for me. Things had been kind of intense for me and it was great to step out of that world for a bit.

The other day I was trying to figure out my summer plans and was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to drive out to see my friend, Starr, in Saskatchewan. I asked Jeremy if I could borrow one of his vehicles for that week. Then he called me on Wednesday and said I was welcome to come and pick up his Sunfire anytime. I tried to remind him that I only needed a car for that week in August but he insisted that he wasn't using it anyway. I now have my own set of wheels!!

It has been great to spend time with them--even though Allyson kicks my butt every time we play cards together. I think life is difficult, a lot of the time. It is a tender mercy to have such good friends. Thanks for all you do for us!

Baby Zeke Day!

Kailyn went down to visit with my Dad in Hill Spring so yesterday Lukas, Zoe and I went to meet up with Heather and Baby Zeke! He is so adorable! Zoe absolutely loved him and kept trying to pick him up. We were able to fit a booster seat, forward facing baby seat and a rear facing baby seat in the back of the car. We took the kids out for lunch and chatted for the afternoon.

Heather and Zeke (with his eyes open!)

Zeke looking so tired after having some lunch--it takes so much effort to eat...Zoe covered in stickers that she got with her kid's meal.

After a fun afternoon, I was off to see some old friends from Rockyview Ward. It was great to see Judy, Pia, Theresa, Treena and Sarah (and Matt, of course, who decided to join us for girls night). I had a wonderful time catching up with these great friends. Thanks guys!