Parks and Grace photoshoot!

My good friend Anona Adams is a fabulous photographer and did a mini photo shoot of the kiddos last month...I LOVE the pictures and I cant wait to do our family photo shoot soon with her!

Happy Birthday AMMO!

Yes it is Ammo's birthday today:)  He is 4 years old!  We bought Ammo from a private breeder and brought him home when he was just 7 weeks old...he is a purebred chocolate lab....and anybody that knows him knows that he is a BIG boy.  We tried to kennel train him right away, but in the middle of the night he would cry so loud...it sounded like a real baby crying!  and ofcorse we had him in our bedroom, so i broke down that first week (first night) and put him in our bed...he would snuggle inbetween our pillows and pass out no problem.  This is where his spoiledness began:)  We put Ammo into puppy training school...he graduated with flying colours...we were on our way to having a perfectly trained dog:)  We than put him into regular dog training classes...and he graduated that, so we decided to put him into the advanced dog training classes...I was pregnant with Parks at this point...Ammo was almost 1 and was becoming a bit lazy with the training, when he was suppose to run to Matt, he would walk lazily as if to say, "i'm too good for this class".  He graduated but we knew we'd have to stay on him if he were to stay well trained.  Once Parks was born we slacked off and made Ammo the amazingly stubborn dog that he is today!  He is a great dog and we love him very much...he just has some issues:)lol  seperation anxiety, addiction to garbage and he's deffinately NOT kennel trained.  He IS amazing with our kids and any other kids in general...he wouldn't hurt a fly.  and that is his best quality.  He is always so happy when we come home or if he's out on a walk especially a run.  He always has his leash in his mouth as if to say, "I'm walking you".  He is the hugest lab I have ever seen for sure! and that is what makes him so special (and lazy).  We love you Ammo...nobody's perfect:) Here are some pics of Ammo over the past 4 years...

Our little guy around 7-8 weeks old

proof that Matt is just as much a suck as me:)

My first born:) HAHA

Ammo pulling the toilet paper out all the way from the bathroom...his fav thing to do when he was a puppy...

The things you do to your dog before you have kids:)

Matt was so proud getting Ammo to lie down in the water

When we lived at Greenview we would bring Ammo out for a walk everynight...it was a great spot to let him run loose

Being such a good boy

We love you Ammo!

Birthday Girl

Well I am 27 years old now. I had a great day yesterday all thanks to my amazing husband.  He stayed home from work, let me sleep in....made me breakfast, I got to go for a morning run (way better than the usual night run), he tidied the house while I ran, got a few love notes:) I was able to sit back and do nothing for the rest of the morning:)  We all had a muchly needed nap...than headed out to get me a new pair of running shoes!! I love them...its like I'm floating:P  Matt got me some take out sushi from the AMAZING Yokozuna Sushi Restaurant here in Okotoks and let me just say it was DELICIOUS!  (Matt and Parks had Wendy's lol).  Ended it with a relaxing bath...I'm excited for the future. Being 27 does not scare me at all, i'm so thankful to be married and have 2 healthy and beautiful kids.  Life is great. 

Catch up!

Well after our Ottawa trip...Matt's oldest brother, Rob turned 40, so Matt went out to Lethbridge for a surprise dinner for him.  The kids and I stayed home with jet lag as it was our first day back home...and bringing them anywhere would have been a disaster.  Matt's other brother Paul flew out from Utah to hunt here for a week, so Matt was happy to join him in that:)  Unfortunately the Elk were nowhere near the property they hunt at, so the boys didn't have any luck.  During that time Mark and Caitlin came back to Calgary to stay at a house in South Calgary...it is always so nice to have them close.  Parks and Anderson are little buddies now...well for the most part anyway:) 
Matt's Dad had his birthday as well so we all got together for that.  This is all in a matter of a week in getting back from Ottawa...that's what it's like here either super quite and boring or crazy busy all at the same time.  As well i had a breakdown and asked Matt to help me get in shape...he became my personal trainer and he loves every second of it:)  He is really great though, he pushes me to do things i never would make myself do otherwise.  So it has been about a month since i started running 4 times a week followed by strength workouts for half an hour...an hour of working out altogether 4 sometimes 5 times a week!  That is more than i have EVER worked out before, and it is going really well.  Some days i cant move because I'm in so much pain...i just got over shin splints from not stretching properly after my runs, so i was out of commission for about a week which was sooo frustrating!  I didn't fall off the wagon though (Matt wont let me)  as per our agreement:)  and of course i have smartened up too with my eating....healthier and in moderation...nothing too crazy cuz i LOVE food, so I'd rather workout hard and be able to indulge every now and again:) 
My wonderful husband turned 26 years old recently.  Parks and I decorated the house with Balloons and beside each one we wrote on a piece of paper saying why we love daddy so much....when he got home from his morning hunt i had made him eggs Benedict for breakie and shredded beef on a bun for dinner.  We express our love through food i guess:) HAHA 
Little Grace turned 4 month old at the end of September...she is loving life.  Smiling all the time, she starting to really get the hang of her jolly jumper and exersaucer (her two faves).  She laughed for the first time too.  It was so cute.  A good friend who is a photographer did a little photo shoot of Grace and Parks....so fun and so cute!
The first weekend in October we decided last minute to go up to Tie lake for the weekend.  It was General Conference for our Church which is when our Prophet, Apostles and other Leaders of the church give us inspired talks and guidance.  It was really nice to be at the lake.  We were fortunate enough to have the Internet available so we gathered together in the cabin and listened while the kids played outside.  It was a good time, Matt even went skiing and air chairing in OCTOBER with a dry suit of course, but still crazy!  The weather was great for our last weekend at the Lake before winter.  The following weekend we drove out to Rob and Tammy's in Raymond for a sleepover.  Tammy watched Grace and Parks the next day while Matt and I went to the Cardston Temple.  The Temple is such a peaceful place and I am so glad we will be able to go more consistently.  Thank you Rob and Tammy!!xo  We had Thanksgiving dinner at Matt's parents place with cousins we hadn't seen in awhile.  The food was amazing:) 
I guess that brings us to now.  We are all sick with sore throats and kids have the block nose at night/runny nose during the day (why is that?!?!).  It sucks but we are getting over it...slowly.  I'm glad to be all caught up now on my blog...i cant wait to order my blog books soon and read all that we've been doing for the past 2 years:) 

Goodbye Summer!

Well we finished off a fabulous summer with most of it at Tie Lake (with Matt being on paternity leave for all of it) by going to Ottawa for 2 weeks. Home sweet Home:) This was Grace's first trip to Ottawa and she did so well on the plane. Our trip went so incredibly fast but we made the most out of every day and had a great time. Some highlights...we headed up to the cottage right away, relaxed and rested, did family pictures, hobos on the campfire, Parks caught his first fish with Uncle Jeff and Daddy. Motorbiking and atv rides. Going for horrible runs with my hubby:) There are sooo many hills! did all that for 5days it was good to be there. After that we stayed at my parents place (broken fridge when we got back and than the stove went for a few days...that was interesting). we went swimming at RPS, visited friends that we hadn't seen in a very long time! Girls night dinner, playdate picnic at the petting farm, shopping with Mom, sushi lunch...mmmm, more playdates, went to the Nature Museum twice cuz it was so fabulous. Walking on the beach, playing at the Park with Nana and Papa. We had the yummiest homecooked dinners, we went to Mountain Apple Orchard and picked 2 HUGE bags of apples, went on a tractor ride and enjoyed the most delicious homemade warm donuts! (they were trouble!). I went crazy making homemade cookies and eating most of them...i wont be eating those for awhile:) Here are some pictures...love you Mom, Dad, Jeff, Robyn and Tessa! Miss you lots.

Parks at 32 months old

Parks is such a lover of life! He is awesome. Matt and I have so much fun with him...some of his favorite things are dinosaurs and their eggs, anything from the movies CARS and BOB THE BUILDER. He loves looking for turtles, frogs, fish and worms. LOVES bathtime especially with Papa in his jacuzzi tub. Loves water in general (as long as it doesn't touch his face, but he's getting better). Loves hunting...I wonder who influenced him on that one. Loves seeing animals...yes dead or alive:) He talks ALL the time. asks questions and loves to know what the plans are for the day. lol. He can count to 10 no prob...almost makes it to 20...but makes up numbers as he goes:) Alphabet is no problem...we are working on recognizing what they look like now...on my fancy new flash cards:) and ofcorse he absolutely loves his baby sister. Parks thank you for being such a wonderful part of our day. Mommy and Daddy love you very much. xo

Grace is 16 weeks old!

She is such a joy in our lives.  Always giving everyone great big smiles.  We just got back from her first trip to Ottawa.  She was an angel on the airplane...slept pretty much the whole time.  She met her cousin Tessa who is 5 months older...they are so cute together, I just know they will be bestest friends when they are older.  Nana and Papa loved every second seeing Parks and Grace.  Sleep wise Grace still gets almost a whole night in...wakes for her quick feed around 5-6am.  Loves her soother still(we are trying to not give it to her so much during the day, but when she is sleepy it helps her pass out right away).  still love swaddling...although Grace is becoming a little Houdini, for awhile she was ALWAYS getting her arms out in the night, so we snug her nice and tight now...haha she loves it.  We try to keep rotating her around during the day...loves tummy time if she's being entertained, starting to grab toys that hang in front of her...starting to like the swing a bit more...not really though.  LOVES the bumbo, she's into sitting up and standing.  ALWAYS sucking on her fists...teething? Today was her first time in the jolly jumper...I think she will be just like Parks in another month and be a jumping machine...as for today she just looked around and gave Parks, Matt and I big smiles:)