Paradise

It's been a little while since my last post because Lee and I just got back from the Bahamas!  We went to Atlantis resort, a vacation spot on our bucket list for a while, and let me tell you it did not disappoint!  What an amazing resort!  It was absolutely MASSIVE, which at first we thought was a negative thing since we felt completely lost and overwhelmed the first day!  We had no idea where we were going and even the map was so big that we couldn't really figure out where stuff was!  But it soon became a fun adventure trying to figure out ways to get where we wanted and exploring new things.  I seriously am not sure if we ever walked the same route twice! We tried, but somehow we always ended up taking a turn that we thought we took last time, but soon realized we were now seeing something else that was new and cool and we hadn't seen before!  It took us a couple days to discover this really neat marina that was behind one of the hotel towers, when we happened to go out a back door.  It was full of cute little stores, and icecream shop and the most amazing yachts I have ever seen!  Lee called it his spiritual Babylon because he couldn't help covet those boats!!  Ha ha.  They were all lit up at night and stuff too.  We spent a lot of evenings walking through the marina and there was live entertainment sometimes too.  Our resort also had a free movie theatre that was pretty neat so we did that a couple nights.  The best part of the resort was "Aquaventure", this huge waterpark.  It had a "Rapid River" that you rode tubes around that took about an hour to go through, and it was wonderful!  We spent most of our time on that!  It took you through some wild rapids and up conveyer belts and down some really fun waterslides.  The coolest one was straight down and then it shot you right back up the other side like a rollar coaster. So fun!  There were some other slides too, some that went through a tube that had sharks swimming around you (kind of sounds cooler than it actually was).  There were so many pools and beaches and places you could go and none of them were really that busy.  It was great to explore and go to different places.  We tried snorkelling a couple times - it wasn't the best snorkelling we've seen, but we did see some cool fish.  We really didn't leave the resort since the rest of the island is kind of in poverty, and it would be a little scary I think.  Plus we definitely had everything we needed right there.  As long as we were willing to walk!  Our feet were so sore by the end of the trip.  The only negative thing I would say about the Bahamas was that it was really windy the whole time!  And sometimes cloudy... which made it feel pretty cold.  But most of the time it was sheltered enough that we could still enjoy everything that we wanted to do!  But if you notice in most of the pictures I have posted, it is cloudy and windy looking - that is because we got the camera out only when it got too cold to enjoy the water!  It really was sunny more of the time.  We also really loved the food in the restaurants there!  It was pretty darn expensive, but definitely DELICIOUS!  I especially liked this authentic BBQ place that had HUGE family size portions - you should have seen the Nachos Lee and I got as an appetizer, we barely made a dent!  The had probably a whole block of cheese on them and tons of delicious shredded BBQ pork! SO good.  There were some fancy and amazing buffets too.  So basically we ate hardly anything for breakfast and lunch to save money and the pigged out for dinner! Yum.  Food is one of my favorite things about a vacation, I LOVE eating out!!
The whole trip was a lot of fun, and I love spending time with just Lee and I together, it's just a neat feeling to be able to focus only on ourselves.  So THANK GOODNESS for wonderful parents (and siblings that helped out too) that took great care of our kids while we were away!  They probably had more fun than when we are home, and the house was probably kept cleaner too!  Still don't understand how my Mom does it!  We were so grateful for this time away, and it made me appreciate my kids more.  I totally missed them by the end of the trip.  We just kept talking about how much they would love it there and when we would bring them back there one day!

   

Oh and one more CRAZY thing.... We had originallly booked this trip for 2 weeks earlier, but due to us wanting to be in Calgary for the temple dedication, and also wanting to give my parents more time to get over jet lag from their trip, we changed the date.  And I really would probably not have bothered but it worked out so that I even was able to save money by changing it.  And HALLELUJAH that I did!  We found out that there was a hurricane that hit the Bahamas right during the time we would have been there!  The Atlantis resort was put on lockdown and they sent a bunch of people home early.  That would have been super scary, I am so glad we narrowly missed it!  Definitely feel like we are watched over and protected!!

Scarlett's Favorite Things

Just had some cute pictures of things that Scarlett loves, so I decided to write a quick post about them.  She loves drinking milkshakes and will NOT let anyone take the cup away from her!  She had a bubble bath for the first time the other day, and was such a goof ball in the bubbles, it was funny to watch her!  She loves the bath!  Scarlett also LOVES her baby cousin Brooke, and when we babysat her for the first time the other day, she would not leave her alone!  She just laughs her head off at her and loves to touch her and take her soother!  And lastly, I put her on the counter the other day when I was trying to make dinner and she made her way into the sink!  She was giggling and smiling like crazy, it was hilarious.  Who would have thought a sink could be such a fun and exciting place to be?!  What a funny girl we have, we just love her to bits!

HALLOWEEN!!

What a cold Halloween we had this year, but it did not matter a bit to the kids, it was still a super fun day for them all!  The only trouble was trying to put warm enough layers underneath the costumes without ruining the look of them!  It turned out okay, but I made sure to get pictures before they all put on coats and looked like  marshmallow people!  I love how cute Batman Trio looked together! Too bad we didn't have one for Scarlett to join the theme, but she was one darn cute elephant anyway!

We went Trick-or-Treating with our neighbors this year, Grffin's best buddy Jack!  They had a really fun time and kept eachother going!  I really don't think Griffin was dressed warm enough, but he didn't complain at all.  Mason and Dakota had it all figured out this year, and ran from house to house, not wanting to be slowed down with the little kids!  We let them go ahead just a little bit.

Scarlett didn't quite figure out the whole idea of Trick-or-Treating quite yet... she wouldn't hold a bucket, and had no interest in standing by the doors waiting!  She did however, LOVE the fact that she got to be walking around outside in the cold!  She walked all over the place with Daddy, the neighbors and their dog in the wagon with Nash!  Finally after almost an hour she resigned to the cold and just wanted Daddy to hold her!  She was pretty thrilled to see all the candy though and walk around the house transporting them everywhere!  Her poor little cold red cheeks though! :(

The nice thing about the cold weather was that everyone seemed to end early and we were able to shut down the candy giving around 7:30, for a nice quiet evening of eating all the leftover chocolate bars which I carefully ensured to save our favorites! 

The Calgary Temple!

We finally made it to the Calgary Temple Open House last night, and it was a wonderful experience!  I just find it so neat that there is a beautiful temple right here in our city, and that this is the temple that Lee and I will be going through on a regular basis.  What a beautiful building it was, and it felt amazing to be inside it.  Jocelyn was kind enough to watch Scarlett and Griffin while we just took Mason and Dakota through.  We knew Scarlett would be impossible at this age, and Griffin would probably be a little disruptive and so we thought it best to leave him as well.  (Actually the main reason was because some of Lee's friends from work were going to come with us and we wanted it to be the best experience possible for them, but they ended up cancelling out at the last minute).  My favorite thing that came out of the night was a comment that Mason made after the moment of silence in the Celestial room.  He said "I feel like I'm going to happy cry".  Obviously he was feeling the spirit, and I was so touched by that.  He recognized what it was, and in his bedtime prayer he also thanked Heavenly Father that we could feel the spirit in the temple.  So sweet.  It makes me so happy that my children can have opportunities even at this age, to feel the spirit and build their testimonies.  And it sure proves the authenticity of the temple.  What a great place to be.
I sure wish I had a picture of us outside of it, but it was quite dark outside and we didn't have our good camera, plus we were already running really late to pick up the younger kids!  But here's a beautiful picture I found online of what it looked like all lit up at night!

Dakota's Birthday Party

I finally got around to giving Dakota a birthday party with her friends.  We kind of wanted to wait until "Brave" was in the cheap theatres so we could take them there, plus I wasn't really up to throwing a big party much sooner than this!  So it worked out perfectly.  I made the easiest cake ever (I just got an edible print out cake topper off Ebay), picked up the girls from school (I only let her invite 6 plus Holli) and brought them to our house for cake and presents.  Dakota got a lot of "Brave" stuff.  We all kind of think of it as "her movie" since she looks so much like her, so that was obviously the theme of the party!  The girls had  a lot of fun, and we only had to put up with the chaos for a short time before we took them to the theatre, bought them all treats and enjoyed the show!  Pretty simple but she loved it!

And here is a picture to gross you out of Lee's leg / ankle that he injured in basketball a couple of weeks ago.  He actually got hit in the calf - which is quite swollen, but now it's all drained down to his foot and made some beautiful colors!

Little Monkey!!

It looks like Scarlett will be taking after Griffin in the "Mischief" category... unfortunately.... although I have to admit, it is good for a laugh now and then!  Today Scarlett got into the big bag of flour in my pantry, while I was trying to actually be a good Mom and do a Thanksgiving craft with the other kids!  I guess that's what happens when I ignore her!  She came over to me all coated in white powdery stuff that had made a nice paste in the areas where it mixed with her drool!  How lovely!  Well, she sure was proud of herself!!  She paraded around with her best smile while I took some pictures and couldn't help but laugh.  I LOVE these pictures of her, they show her personality as best as still photos can!!  What a MONKEY!!

  

Birthdays!

   I'm a little behind on my blogging - you'd think I'd have lots of time with being out of commission with my surgery and stuff, but I'm actually still finding myself quite busy.  Catching up on computer stuff, my mending / sewing, organizing cupboards and closets, Lee's paperwork, and random things around the house.  And I'm actually feeling pretty good now and able to do most stuff, except for lifting Scarlett and other heavy things!  It's been a long recovery though - it's been almost 4 weeks and I'm still quite swollen and sore.  But thankfully I'm out of the worst of it and feeling pretty much myself again!
   It was my birthday a week or so ago, and we had to drive down to Ashley Lake that day so that Lee could install new cabinets at the cabin - so most of the day it didn't really feel like a birthday, but there were at least some nice moments in the morning!  Lee was sweet - I woke up to his special homemade omelettes, complete with pineapple and orange juice and a bouquet of flowers.  The cutest part was that he had stayed up really late after I went to bed so that he could pick up all the ingredients at the grocery store, and then he cooked bacon, sausages, and cut up peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and the meat all into tiny little pieces.  There was TONS of it, and it must have taken him hours!  Very sweet.  I love thoughtful things on my birthday better than just buying me a gift!  My Mom also brought me a little cake and a gift, so that was very nice too!
   While we were down at Ashley Lake it was also Dakota's birthday, and I still wanted to make the day feel special for her, so it involved some planning ahead of time!  My Mom and I decorated the house with streamers and balloons while she was sleeping, planned a few games and a candy hunt to entertain the kids, and bought her a cake and presents to open while we were there.  She had a great day and felt special indeed!  Here's a few pics of my birthday girl!!  The Big 7!!  One of the games we brought was for them to have wars with "Silly String", so they had fun spraying each other and running around!  I kinda forgot how messy it would be to clean up, but oh well!