Bought and Sold the Boat!

The weather has been great lately!  We've been outside a bunch...the kids and I are loving the new bike stroller, it makes jogging ALOT harder!  but as long as I get out early enough when the sun is warm and air still crispy fresh...I'm a happy runner:)  Unfortunately are whole family...each individually...has been sick, and not just the stuffy nose kind...its been the puke all over the house in the middle of the night kind!  Matt drove out to Utah a little over a week ago to buy a Malibu wake boarding/skiing boat to sell here in Canada, so we could make a little extra money.  Matt drove to Utah on a Friday morning and was home with the boat late Saturday night!  He's a trucker at heart:)  At first I was terrified about the amount of money it cost (that we don't have!)...but big risks get big rewards:) well usually... You can sell them for way more in Canada!  and TODAY after only a week and 3 days the boat is SOLD and gone!  We have been blessed so much throughout the whole process, the boat was sweet and we wish we could have kept it...kind of bittersweet right now...hopefully we can buy and sell a few more and save up for our own one day.  First things first though....we should probably buy a truck so we can actually tow our boat:)  Thanks again to Matt's parents for lending us theirs:)  Anyways  this past Saturday my amazing husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law built a wonderful deck in our backyard!! I am sooo happy!!!  It is like a whole other room in our house:)  Matt still needs to put the railing on, but we loved chilling out there today in the sun!  My grass needs some TLC, and Parks really wants a sandbox...lots to do but its going to make this summer awesome!  My last post of good news is that we are flying to O-Town in 1 more week!!!  Its been a long countdown, we will be celebrating Grace's 1st birthday out there and its just going to be a great trip:) cant wait! xo

Hard to tell but we are sitting in our very first boat;)

Here's what it looked like-1999 Malibu Response LX

these are some important people:)

Grace making us laugh

He is just so handsome! notice the new haircut and of course he always wants to be wearing his firetruck PJ's!

By far the happiest member of our family with the deck is Ammo, I thought he would just want to run away when he's out there (cuz our yard isn't fenced in yet) but instead he just sits up there like the King of the world:)

Yup that's right I brought her highchair onto the deck and fed her bfast:) I'm excited okay!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

My Mom is an incredible woman.  She has gone through a lot in her life so far, and it is truly a miracle that she is still alive, healthy and well.  I know that The Lord gives us trials and tribulations in our lives to help make us stronger and more humble...I don't know why it has to be that way, I guess it's not for us to know, but my Mother has endured through things when she could have giving up.  She is my Hero.  So here is a little sprinkle of my Mom's life... She was born on an Indian Reservation in Quebec.  Her parents were living with a Native Family (friends) while my grandfather was working nearby.  My grandfather (had red hair) was half Indian and half German....and my grandmother was French Canadian, quite the combo eh.  Beautiful baby Carol was the only strawberry blond haired baby on that reserve:)  They didn't live their long, they moved to Vankleek Hill, Ontario where she was raised.  She was the middle child with two brothers.  She was 100% tomboy.  Sadly, her parents and brothers have all since passed at young ages.  She is the strongest woman that I know.  She has and will do anything for her family.  At 23 years old she married my Dad...they have been together for 39 years!  After being married for 9 months, my mom was in a horrible car accident.  She was coming back from Quebec with some friends,  after dropping off a few people and no longer having to be squished in the back seat, she decided to take her seat belt off and lay down so she could sleep the rest of the way.  The passenger fell asleep...as well as the driver.  The car drove off an overpass that was 5 stories high, throwing my Mom out the back window.  She landed on the concrete and never loss consciousness.  She flipped herself over and began to crawl off the hwy. to a nearby hill.  She had a broken back, pelvis and ankle. As well as quite a few lacerations all over her body.  As people from the oncoming cars began to stop and get out to help, my Mom started yelling for them to get her two friends out of the car...almost immediately after her friends were taken out, the car exploded. 
She was rushed to the nearest hospital and quickly turned away due to the extent of her injuries...the only other nearby hospital was on strike at the time, however still accepting patients.  She stayed at that Montreal hospital for the longest 3 weeks of her life.  She was strapped to a striker bed so she couldn't move...the service was horrifying.  Regular nurses weren't there, and the ones that were had no idea what they were doing.  The striker bed had to keep being flipped over (for bedsore issues) however if my Dad wasn't there to help do it, they would almost always do it wrong...ripping every needle from her body and making a big tangled mess!  They wanted to than put her in a rubber suit for a year...where she wouldn't of been able to move a muscle...this is where my Mom decided to freak out and demand to go to another hospital for better care.  They said if she was able to find a Doctor that would take her she could leave.  My Dad worked hard and got her into the Civic Hospital...the Doctor examined her right away and told her she would be going into surgery the following morning before she started to paralyze.  The Doctor put rods in her back, she had a cast from her foot to her knee and another one from her pelvis to her neck for about 6 months.  She stayed at the Civic for about a month.  She's had 5 back operations in total since the accident (that was 32 years ago).  One year after the accident a miracle happened...she became pregnant with my brother.  With an unstable pelvis and rods in her back, her Doctor was worried, but referred her to a specialist.  Jeff was born a month early, the specialist Doctor allowed my mom to go through 18 hours of labour before deciding to do an emergency c-section,  baby Jeffrey was under a lot of stress and his heart rate was dropping.  He weighed 7lbs 2oz and had to stay in NICU for a bit due to possible blood poisoning.  Three months after giving birth, she had her second back surgery to have the rods removed.  Just over two and half years later I was born!  Luckily I was a scheduled c-section born nice and healthy at 8lbs3oz.  However, while my Mom was recovering in the hospital she got a horrible fever and bad shakes...something was not right.  The nurses and Doctor realized that they left the placenta in her!  and it was starting to poison her body...unbelievable!
My Mom was always so grateful to be a stay at home Mom, she would work a few nights a week at a kids clothing store, so that she could have us dressed nicely.  Once we were in school she started working with my Dad as a relief superintendent cleaner/rental agent in a residential apartment building.  That was over 20 years ago and both of my parents are still with that company.  They have worked their way to the top.  My Mom is now a Property Manager of 8 high rise apartment buildings. My Dad is the Area Manager of all 29 buildings.  They are an amazing team.  My Mom is a hard worker and very dedicated.  Even though my Mom has a lot of nerve pain and arthritis in her body from the car accident, she has never let it slow her downI hope and pray that the remainder of your life is happy and peaceful watching your grand kids grow and appreciating every second we are together.

My beautiful Matron of Honour

Mom anxiously awaiting to become 'Nana' to her first grandchild

This picture is so precious to me, she is so full of love.

11 years ago she met Matt, and took him in as one of her own without question, a true mother!

I know Jeff would agree that growing up and being at the cottage with our Mom and Dad is the best place on earth. We have so many great memories there!

I love you mom

Together for 39 years

Of course I couldn't forget this picture, it's hard to believe that Ammo was ever that small:) Mom came with Matt and I the night we bought him, Nana's always had a soft spot for Ammo...and Ammo LOVES his Nana!

Always making me laugh;)

Mom is always ready to work, and at the cottage you can count on her being right there beside you AND still managing to get snacks, lunches and dinners made for us!

Nana excited for grand baby #2 arriving later that year:)

Nana enjoying her first grand daughter:)

Nana and Papa with their two grand babies

Living so far away is very hard, but Nana and Papa were eagerly awaiting their trip to Alberta to meet the third grand child when she was just one week old:)

Family really is life's greatest gift...and I am sooo thankful for mine:)

Grace 11 months...AHH she's almost 1!!

What a change in just one month...she loves to pull up onto things and stand...always standing!  Her balance is awesome, she can stand on her own but doesn't trust herself yet.  She started walking with a toy 'bin' at her Gran and Granddad's house a few weeks ago and will now walk with anything that slides.  She is starting to use her walker now too, so we shall see if she beats her brother on walking...he took his first steps 2 weeks before he turned one.  (comparing is bad i know:)  anyways Grace can also crawl up our 6 stairs from living room to kitchen...she's fine as long as she doesn't try to sit or look back, she has fallen from the top twice now, and hardly puts up a fuss.  I'm still nursing.  I plan to stop sometime this month.  It's just time for both of us.  Her newest sign that is so cute is 'bird' and she'll say the b sound.   Also the d sound for Ammo:)  She sleeps all night now!! no more waking up and sitting up.  Usually asleep by 7pm and up at 6:30am (wish I could change the wake up time, but really I shouldn't complain).  Besides being happy all the time, she is an awesome girl. 

Showing me where baby's eyes are...

I'm pretty sure she will eat anything that is put infront of her (or atleast try it). Her fav is cheese strings, veggies, strawberries, any bread/buns.

All prettied up for church

Finally starting to like the walker:)

Happy Easter!

I am so grateful for Easter and the true meaning of it.  This year Parks is old enough to learn about Our Savior's Resurrection.  He loves watching the animated movie that we have, and it really helps him understand who Jesus is and what he has done for us all.  I get such a warm feeling during this special holiday and I am so grateful for my family and the time we get to spend with each other.  I cherish every second.  I know that Heavenly Father exists and is watching over us, he sent his only Begotten Son to earth so that we could all learn from Jesus, and more importantly, have The Atonement in our lives.  Hope everyone had a great Easter like we did:)
Matt was off work for the Easter long weekend so we did a lot of fun family time stuff...decorated Easter cookies together, Parks did a little Easter egg hunt and got lots of goody's in his basket from the Easter bunny (ie Nana and Papa).  The weather was beautiful, so we went to the park and had a picnic...and on Sunday we had a family dinner at Gran and Granddad's followed by an outdoor Easter egg hunt for all the kids.  Here are a few pics...

Easter morning...checking out their baskets...so cute!

definitely not edible with the amount of icing and sprinkles Parks puts on

He is just growing up way too fast! His size 3 pjs are way too small now, its like he grew overnight or something...I cant handle this!

Picnics are the best!

Parks loves big slides now! and Gracie does too:)

Parks favorite thing to do these days is pretend to be a gopher running around...than Daddy shoots it and well yeah...Parks is the gopher:) Its awful I know. but Grace thinks its so fun when Parks plays dead.

Grace hates her walker, but if you give her a box of some sort she is happy to walk!

I just think Parks is the cutest most sweetest little boy ever! He was watching a show with Matt and I just had to take a picture of his perfect little face:)

Ready for church wearing her Easter dress from Nana:) This was the first time I put on her bracelet from Christina...She loved looking at it and watching it sparkle...than she just ignored it and it looks so cute on!

Ballerina Girl!

Auntie Kristi this picture is for you! She's been practicing hard for you:)

April update!

It was SPRING a few days ago! and for us that meant we could finally start doing things outside without freezing!  Our family LOVES being outside:)  It helps the kids burn off energy and they sleep wonderfully at night.  At the beginning of this month we lived at Matt's parents house for a week to watch our two nephews that are living there for a bit.  Grant and Sue went to Hawaii for a muchly needed break.  It was really fun spending time with the boys and getting to live in a much larger house.  Grant and Sue live on just over 300 acres of farm land so it is wide open spaces...perfect for kids and dogs!  When we got our last big dump of snow here it was snowmobiling heaven for the kids...it melted quickly though and it really was starting to feel like spring weather, I even got a bit of a tan on my face:)  Unfortunately for the past 2 days it is winter again!  We woke up the other morning to a good 10-15cm of snow:(  Gotta take the good with the bad I guess...we did get 1 good week of Spring.  Yesterday Matt and I splurged and bought a Schwinn double seat bike trailer/stroller.  The kids and I are so pumped! I cant wait to get some exercise whenever I want with two kids...usually I have to wait until Matt gets home or when they nap.  it sucks because that's usually when I'm too tired to do anything.  The life of a mom right.  Biking, rollerblading and running here I come!:)

at Grant and Sue's

This little girl is so happy to be outside

and of course Parks too...especially when there are tons of puddles to jump in!

Grace and I have been going for some bumpy walks on the dirt road by Grant and Sue's, she loves it though...drinks her bottle and than passes out:)

Using Seth's board

Here is my sexy husband changing the oil in the car..lol

Matt taught the boys how to make a harness with his fire rope...in case they needed to save someone, so the next few pics are us spending quality time:)

She prefers to crawl!

This is where Grace spent most of her time...she loves Gran's piano

and this pic is my favorite, they were being so cute that morning...Parks was teaching Grace how to play, wish I would have had my video camera