*JAN*
-After Parks birthday Matt decided to teach Parks and I to snow ski at C.O.P for our first time! It went great (Grace spent the afternoon with Auntie Barb and had just as much fun).
-The kids did lots of GTing behind Grandad's snowmobile, which they love!
-Our 2nd attempt at skiing we brought the whole family to Castle and met up with Rob and his older kids, sadly shortly after starting our day, Madelyn and I got stuck in the chair lift (bunny hill ofcorse) for 40 mins only to be emergency evacuated by sitting on a metal t bar and being lowered down!
Just my luck..haha
-The kids and I flew to Ottawa for 2 weeks to meet Spencer for the 1st time (he was 5 weeks old). We had our Christmas together (Mom kept the tree up), we did lots of swimming, Grace learned to swim alone with just puddle jumpers on. We went to the Nature Museum with everyone, we enjoyed lots of snow at Uncle Jeffie and Auntie Robyn's house. It is also so wonderful spending precious time together.
*FEB*
-We arrived home from Ottawa mid February. Daddy really missed us! although he did manage to squeeze in some backcountry skiing with his brother:)
-Matt bought me roses for valentine's day..brownie points!
-The kids were able to go biking mid Feb. with NO SNOW! Thank goodness for Chinooks
*MARCH*
-weather was warm, we played at the parks and biked a lot.
-by the end of March we got a big dump of snow!!
-Parks started OMBA bball for his 1st time, I cant say he could dribble or even really knew what was going on during 'games' but he loves it and has fun...I had to remind Matt that that is all we can expect out of a new 5 year old.
-We decided to take a Tie Lake trip and lucked out with beautiful warm weather with lots of snow! The kids had a blast being pulled behind the snowmobile, Parks went on skis behind the sled for his 1st time and even hit a mini jump a few times:) I was able to go up into the backcountry with Matt, Mark&Merrick, Mike and 2 of his friends. Luckily Gran and Grandad offered to babysit the kids:) It was heavenly up there, truly untouched and oh so beautiful. The boys went skiing, I mostly just hung out in a little valley. Than we did more doubling on the snowmobile which surprisingly is a crazy workout in the deep snow!
-End of March Matt started the basement RENOS!! We are on our way to having a basement!!
-St.Patty's Day was extra fun this year! We tried to trap the leprechaun in this fancy box that Parks made, and put money inside with lots of glue so that his feet would get stuck... BUT he was too smart for us and used his gold chocolate coins as stepping stones, he took the money but left lots of treats! Not to mention turning Ammo's water, our milk and the water in Mom's flower vase all GREEN!
-We went on a Temple date this month and had Jimmy's Shwarmas after! yum!
*APRIL*
-Easter was a big highlight! Nana and Papa spoiled the kids rotten AND the Easter bunny! They also got to do an egg hunt in the living room.
-All the snow melted quickly so the parks were flooded, Parks and Grace were still happy to play in their gum boots! and were happy to get their bikes out again to enjoy the warmer weather.
-Matts buck (Roger Clifford- named by the kids) scored 216 gross, mount was finished and ready to be hung in our living room...I actually dont mind it at all.
-We went hiking with Mark, Merrick and Anderson in the Kananaskis and had a picnic lunch...sadly it was a really windy day.
-Trampoline was set up and ready for a lot of jumping:)
*MAY*
-We went out to the lake for Matts 4 off early May and had it to ourselves. It was SO hot and gorgeous out! We suntanned in our swimsuits and filled the kiddie pool up for the kids to play in! It was heavenly after a not so long winter;) We went canoeing, fishing, shot our bows...it was great family time just the 4 of us.
-I took a trip to the Cardston Temple with Barb, Becky and Mum (before Becky left on to her mission) we later visited Granny and took some pictures with her.
-Mother's Day was lovely, the weather was nice and warm so i did a little tanning on the back deck while the kids played in the kiddie pool. Later I went to Pre School with Parks for a cute mother's day presentation. He served me some snacks and sang some cute songs than gave me a painting of his feet in the shape of a pretty butterfly. I love being a mom.
-We bought a boat with Paul and Grant and Sue...
-Matt and I celebrated our 13 year anniversary from when we started dating on May 19th.
-We went up to Tie Lake for the long weekend with Rob and Tammy and their 5 kids. The kids caught snails, went biking, canoeing, tubing behind the boat, ate smores at the campfire. It was a great way to start the soon to be SUMMER. Matt and Rob went waterskiing with the dry suit on.
-The Audi arrived to Canada for Matt to sell...
May 28th our beautiful Gracie girl turned 3 years old!!! She only wanted to invite two of her favorite friends (who happen to be 5 years old) Bella and Kyla. We did a pampering girls party with manicures and pedicures with Randea Prince as a helper (who Grace also loves).
-Parks lost his 2 bottom teeth! and looks pretty funny with still no top 2 teeth!
*JUNE*
-Beginning of June with went up to the lake for 4 days off, the water was still quite cool but Parks went kneeboarding for his first time with Daddy beside him than went a few feet behind the boat alone!! We are so proud of how brave he is. Mom and Dad went for a ski and wake skating, the water was glass. It was another awesome weekend.
-mid June we invited the Byam's and Sellar's up to the lake...no family was there and it was a great weekend! Everybody did something behind the boat even all the kids, it was great company and fun times.
-Towards end of June Parks graduated from Pre Kindergarden!! We all went to his mini graduation party, Miss Sandi will be greatly missed but he is excited for a new teacher and new school!
-Shortly after it rained and rained and rained, this is when the horrible floods happened in some parts of Calgary, Okotoks and worse was High River, that whole town was under evacuation.
-A day or two after the flood, the kids and I were booked to fly to Ottawa for 2 weeks! We spent most our time up at the cottage. Parks caught tons of fish: sun fish and small mouth bass, sometimes by only using his net! Aunt Robyn and Uncle Jeff came up for the 2nd week, I drove back to pick Matt up at the airport where we got to stay in a hotel to celebrate our 8 year wedding anniversary:) I love hotels. We headed back to the cottage the next day and celebrated Canada Day with fireworks. We headed to Calypso waterpark together, that was a blast as always! I was brave enough to try the scary loopy loop one with Robyn and MOM!! haha I was so impressed Mom went! Parks and Grace were so brave with doing the slides, they love it there. We did Britania Beach and Andrew Hayden Park together, Mom and I went for sushi (my favorite sushi ever). Always fun spending time and so nice that Matt got his holidays for ALL of July this year and was able to come!
*JULY*
-We arrived home early July from Ottawa, I did eyelashes like mad for 2 straight days to catch up on clients than we were off to Tie for 2 weeks!! It was the Hill Reunion week so everyone was going to be out. We slept in the camper for a week or so (Parks and Matt tented for 2-3 nights)...we are really excited to have our own space at Tie...hopefully next year! Lots of tubing and watersports, Grace waterskied with Daddy and air chaired for the 1st time, Parks has mastered kneeboarding all by himself and loves doing doubles with cousins, Grace also learned to kneeboard with Daddy, and no longer needs Dad to hold the back of her kneeboard! so proud of our tough girl:) Parks also loves waterskiing and is getting more and more brave with cutting back and forth. He still has yet to go over the wake, hopefully next year he'll let us untie his skis to make it easier:) Both kids LOVE swimming and can do it alone with their life jackets (Parks can even swim without a jacket for a bit now but needs Dad beside...but with more practise I'm sure he'll get it next Summer).
-We came home for Matt to go to work for 4 days and I had lashes...than off to UTAH for a week! Tyler and Madelyn got married and there was no way we were missing it:) The drive went really well! After the wedding we went to 3 water parks in 4 days! It was HOT and so much fun! We stayed at Peter and Kristi's house and it was really nice getting to hang out with them.
*AUGUST*
-Matt was back to work after getting covered for a few days for the wedding. But only for 4 short work days and we were back up to the lake with Matt's Fire Fighter friends from his hall. Ras and Tamara with their 2 kids and yellow lab, Trevor and Adeline with their 3 kids and black lab, and Andy and Julie with their son. It was a blast and really nice to get to know each other better. Our kids (and dogs) got along great!!
-Rob was entered in to the Waterski Nationals again this year so they were staying at Grant and Sue's for a few days which is always fun. Matt and the kids were able to go see Rob ski for one day. I was able to go to the Temple with Grant, Sue, Rob,Tammy, Barb and Ben (Matt was working). It was really nice. The girls went to Jimmy's for shwarmas afterward where we got funny pics with one of the worker boys...Sue even did a little dancing with him! haha We also went to the High River Spray park free BBQ, there was a petting zoo and bouncy castles, than we hung out at the spray park where a game of Hill family tag quickly took over!
-We hung out with the Byam's at their place for a campfire and weiner roast.
-Finally stayed home for Matt's 4 off. It was a nice little break to catch up on house things:)
-End of August we invited Julie and Kendall with their 3 kiddos up to Tie, the weather was great, Julie and Kendall conquered the kneeboards together! we lost power for a few hours one day...and had to make our fabulous breakfast with their propane bbq:)
-Grace learned to ride a 2 wheel BIKE!
*SEPT*
-For the Long weekend we were at the lake with family getting in a lot of surfing. Cam and Debbie Cook came up towards the end of weekend to visit with Grant and Sue. We were able to go hiking with them up to Lemon Lake, we did some fishing and ate them over the fire (and didn't get eaten by a bear) so I'd say it was a success!
-Parks had his 1st day of Kindergarden!! and loves his teacher Mrs. Slavin:) He has full day school every Monday & Wednesday and some Fridays. Its going to be a great year!
-Grace started Ballet classes on Mondays for 45 mins (which ended up not being very good so I took her out, but she really loved it...), She also has Joy School every Wednesday for 2 hours and on Fridays for 2 months has a rec center class that does crafts than swimming for 2 hours. She misses her brother when he's at school so its important to keep her busy:)
-Parks' OMBA bball started up again and he is loving it, he practiced lots with Daddy so he learned to dribble and make baskets. He is doing so well. Matt is on the board with OMBA and also coaches the Tykes (Parks age) so it is a fun Thursday night for us all!
-We went boating at Pine Coolie one night with Byam's and Allred's it was a gorgeous night with glass water.
-The Annual Fire Fighter Parade for the fallen fire fighters, was fun to go to this year. The kids got to ride in an old Fire Truck that lead the Fire Fighters in the parade, than the wives and family walk behind all the Fire Fighters. I felt so proud of Matt as we walked the downtown Calgary streets.
-Julie and I took the kids and visited Matt at his hall, we dressed up in the gear and took pictures. Than headed to the ZOO (sadly a lot of the zoo is shut down due to the floods, so our annual zoo visit wasnt as fun this year.
-We helped Daddy set up some tree stands in prep for good ol hunting season.
-Chase and Uncle Peter and Uncle Paul drove out from Utah for Grant's Surprise 70th Birthday party!! Peter and Chase slept at our house and it was a lot of fun seeing them!
-Matt turned 29 years old this month, I made him a nice dinner and he ordered himself a 'go pro' camera that he is really excited about.
-End of September Parks and Grace went to the dentist (Grace's 1st check up). Parks had 7 cavities:( from not flossing! Grace only has 1 but also has some chips in some of her teeth. Parks toughed out 3 cavities with Dr. Gallop and was so brave for the painful freezing needles and having to keep his mouth wide open the whole time.
*OCT*
-Mommy changed our Dentist to Dr. Williams because he uses newer tools and also laughing gas for the kids so they can be more comfortable during fillings. Parks has had 2 visits for fillings and never cried once unlike his visit at Dr. Gallups where he screamed for 20 mins in pain. We are very happy with our dentist now!
-Matt worked SO hard in our basement, getting it all framed in so that we could have mud/tapers come in and do the dirty part. They took 4-5 days and did a great job! We quickly primed the whole basement to be sure the drywall was perfect before we paid the guys. Than we started all the painting, it got done in record time all before Nana was coming. Sadly we had to postpone the carpet installation a few days but it all worked out! It was a lot of work!
-Nana arrived on the 13th and stayed for a week. She slept with me in our bed while Matt slept with the kids (and at work for night shifts). My Mom was a HUGE help, we finished priming/painting all 4 doors and the trim before the carpets. Washed all the windows in our house! Than she helped decorate my lash room, we cooked a yummy turkey for thanksgiving, she was able to come to school for Parks' special day, we had so much fun. Went shopping at Ikea. We went to Kaben Farms and enjoyed some warmer weather. Nana babysat overnight so Matt could take me to dinner and hotel night for my 30th birthday! We love you so much Mom.
-I turned 30! Went to the Cattle Baron with some close friends: Prince's, Allred's, Suykens, Sellars, Bateman's and Byam's. I felt so special and grateful to have such awesome friends in my life! Matt rented a hotel room for the night and it was wonderful!!
-By the end of October Matt was able to get a lot of hunting in, and he shot a bull moose! For his 5th year in a row...haha
-We got some SNOW right before halloween, kids did some gting behind the snowmobile with Anders.
-Parks dressed up as Iron Man and Grace was Cinderella, they loved going up to the houses together and were really good about saying there thank yous.
*NOV*
-Paul flew to Canada with his fiance Alissa, we were excited to meet her! We went out for dinner with them and also hung out a bit at the house after hunting. She is really sweet, they are planning to be married in January. She flew back after a few days and Paul stayed to hunt for 2 weeks.
-I tried my very best to be a patient hunters wife this year, Matt was better this year than last and didn't need to be out every spare moment, although it still feels like he was.
-To put more salt in my wound, my Maxima was having engine problems so we brought it in to Nissan and they fixed the problem $600 later. About a week of driving it, the engine seized! It would appear that the mechanic didn't tighten the radiator cap on well enough and it all leaked out. The Maxima than needed a new engine...which was not going to happen, so we said our goodbyes and Matt actually sold it for $600!
-After being carless and husbandless (hunting) for 2 weeks i was not a happy wife. We didn't have enough $ to buy another car so luckily Barb and Ben offered us their Honda until hunting season was over. So i was able to drive that for about 2 weeks:)
-We bought a Toyota Tercel on the 30th for $1000 and it is a blessing!! It will be Matts baggin wagon he says, he will drive it to work to save on gas.
*DEC*
-And here we are in December, my long lost blog is FINALLY all caught up. Im sad I dont have pics from the whole year but atleast these memories are locked in!! I will now start blogging religiously every month.
