Going Home

Well, even though things aren't firmly decided we are strongly leaning towards going home. Dana has been offered an amazing opportunity with work in an industry he has dreamed about since we left. And our step-dad, Al, has offered to build us a house. FOR FREE! Well, not completely free, buy pretty much. Can I just say about that, this man amazes me. He pretty much walked into our family by marrying Carleen who had three kids of her own and has not only adopted them (metaphorically) but also their spouses. I have always felt like family with Al. He has such a caring and generous heart. Sometimes I am just taken back by his amazingness. Anywho... so how can you really say no to that? Not to mention that Summerland has always been 'home' to me. It's where I have wanted to raise my children. Playing with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Walking the same streets I walked at a child. Going to the same schools. Same parks. Same beaches. Surrounded by the same amazing people. Not to mention how much I miss family. I honestly didn't think I would as much as I do. Silly things like, long talks with Trish, sewing with mom, Phil and Sha arguing at family dinner, Kaili rocking Ava or Kynan, Rob playing his guitar, and Shane going off on his tangents (well not completely missed but he is missed).

But leaving Regina, has been one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make. Even more so than leaving Summerland. I don't know why, but I love it here too. The prairies are beautiful and anyone who try and say differently haven't been or experienced this majestic land its people. As soon as we moved here, the fields of wheat and farms glowed in the sun, welcoming us from afar. The people welcomed us into their families saying that we would never have to be alone. I have never felt so accepted. The neat thing about living here is that people saw me for me. No preconceived ideas about who I was because they knew me in high school. No history, just me. It has been really nice to be 'seen' that way. And of course the most important thing I have gained out here, a renewed faith in Christ. It has made our lives richer and more fulfilled and Dana and I ultimately know that wherever we go we will be blessed because of Christ's never-changing love.

Going home. Bitter-sweet. But I will say that I am very excited for all the wonderful things that will come from it. To name a few: Ava's 1st Birthday on the beach, Shalane walking down the aisle to her prince (or ball and chain that she refers to him as :) Phil, helping them move into their new home, Jaia's birthday, the McCallum Reunion, Country Markets with my mom, learning to knit with mom, all of Trisha and Greg's wedding bliss, and so so much more.

Week Three

This is the third week that Dana has been working out of town. I have been trying to keep myself busy by doing laundry, painting, cleaning, and playing with the kids. But to be truthful, I am yearning for some adult time. Scrapbooking and sewing time to be exact. I have been feeling creative lately, but have no outlet. My office where I usually work is packed full of all our basement treasures because we are preparing to lay carpet (yay). So yesterday, I took a break from the above and went shopping. I bought the below. Don't you just love JOE???

Ava has moved to the next carseat (what a big girl) and this trip was the first shopping trip where both kids sat side by side in the cart. It was so fun. Kynan and Ava played and when Ava started fussying, Kynan hugged and kissed her telling her it will be over soon. LOL. Like shopping was some horrible thing. They all chirped up after an arrowroot cookie and skiddles.

Love Ava's new face???

Well, that's all I have for ya. Missing Dana, tired of doing laundry, shopping, and kids. That's my life right now. Snoozeville!

My New Obsession

The other day, my good friend Tiff looked after the kids so that Dana and I could dart around town, price out some reno stuff and have a nice lunch date. On our way home I asked Dana if we could go do some 'dream building'. We pulled into the dealership and admired this beute. I sat in it, felt it's new cloth interior and fancy steering wheel. It is a carlike minivan. It seats 6 people. Has fold down seats, with underseat storage, 5 Star safety rating, an excellent warrantee, and it's great on gas. Mazda's traditionally haven't had the best track record, but after Dana did some further inverstigation he discovered they are one of the best out there right now. I WANT IT!

Sooooo.... the deal is, according to Dana, if we move and sell our house I get it! Is that incentive or what!!! No stupid van that breaks down, won't start, and the window won't even roll up.

That being said, I guess I need to eloborate where we are on the whole moving topic. Basically, nothing has been decided, but we are definately looking and being serious in our search. I am pretty sure (not 100%) that we will be back by May. Dana has a great opportunity for work through his previous employer and we have some other cool 'house' ideas. Not to mention being back close to family. It is a little sad thinking about leaving Regina. It really has become home for us here and I think I will miss the wide open prairies and that beautiful country sun; however, we are firm believers that God has a plan and we know we can trust in Him.

Plus, then I get my new cool car! Yay!

Brain Fart

So many things to share that I thought I would just brain fart all over your screen. Hope it's not too stinky.

1. My day was made today when I read this post Kaili made about fabric diapers. The good sense of clothe with the convenience of disposables (actually flushable). I am so excited that my mission in the next few days is to scower all the natural stores in the city to try and find them.

2. I actually had fun this morning at no other than Costco. But I will say that whenever I go into that money pit of a store I always end up spending 3x more than I expect too. I met my girlfriend there and we concluded our shopping extravaganza with lunch and a playtime at Tots Cafe. You moms in Regina would love this, a cafe, with a huge play area and toys for kids, big leather couches for moms to chat and have a specialty coffee. Perfect. And even more perfect when the playdate ends when your own tot asks to go home and go to sleep. Yay!

3. I am a single parent again for the next three days while Dana works out of town again. I miss him, but to be completely truthful it is nice to have time to myself, especially at night, to read, play on the computer, watch something other than sports, and have long hot baths with no one poohing beside you. Of course all of this is done at night after the babes are asleep, if they go to sleep.

4. We had a great long weekend. Our first 'Family Day' long weekend. I spoke at our church this weekend about family and how family comes in many forms. I was a little nervous, but it was so nice to be up on stage speaking again. I totally miss it. Then we went to Ben and Teena's for dinner on Sunday night for bible study and conversation. It was alot of fun. On Monday, we painted our basement (hoping pictures to come soon) and had dinner at our adopted Aunty Peggy's house. A turkey dinner. Yum. I will add here that I am giving up desserts and sweets for lent so I had a second helping of turkey to make up for it ;)

5. Now the big thing on my mind, whether to move back. Dana has been offered a pretty sweet deal with his previous employer ending with the possibility of him owning his own company doing what he loves. Plus, the generous offer from Grandpa Al to help build a house, two dreams rolled into one. And not to mention that I think Summerland will always be home to me. I think Dana and I would move back at this point if we could find a lot for reasonable. We have looked at houses and for what we could build for, buying a house just doesn't make sense. So please pray that something comes up so that we can just make up our minds already. Now, that is not to say that I don't love Regina. I do. There are things here that are not back home that I will miss terribly if we leave, but we can't live in both places and a decision has to be made.

That's about it. So have a happy tuesday as I run upstairs to tend to my screaming baby. Chow.

A Day For Love

I know that some people think it is silly to celebrate love on one day a year when throughout the year is filled with love, but for Dana and I it is nice to have an excuse to do it for one more day. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life you need a neon sign saying 'Show someone you love them today'. We like to think of Valentine's Day not just a couples day, but a day to show love to everyone we know. SO to all of you, we hope you have a Happy Love Day and know that a couple of prairie folk are lovin' ya more today!

You Know You're in the Prairie's When...

This morning, we were heading out to MOPS and Kynan opened the door to this.

I literally had to dig us out and dig around the van just to get in. I gunned it through the snow drift that had accumilated at the bottom of my driveway.

When I got home, it snowed so much again that I had to gun it back up the driveway and dig us back into the house. I was laughing the whole time, thinking in BC it is plus 4 today and their snow is melting.

Ahhh... to live in the prairies during winter :)

I Miss This Man

I miss this man already! We just spent two weeks apart when I visited Summerland, and now he is working out of town for a week :( Last night I froze in my bed because I usually rely on his body to keep me warm through these prairie winter nights;( I made a yummy dinner last night too with his favorite hollandaise sauce and he wasn't here to enjoy it ;( And then I went to kick him to get up with Ava when she woke up the fourth time last night and there was noting on his side of the bed :( I hate being away from him and the hardest thing about it all is that I can't even talk to him, there is no cell reception where he is. So here is to dreaming about the next time we get to see each other.

I also wanted to share what I am reading because it seems appropriate for this post. I am currently reading a book called, 'Power of a Praying Wife' and it is excellent so far. I think so often when we pray, we ray selfishly. Example, 'Please God, let him understand where I am coming from'. But this book talks about praying for our husband unselfishly and first praying for our own heart to change. Dana and I have a great relationship. I am not saying that we are in trouble at all, but we are always keeping ourselves in check and maintaining our healthy relationship any way we can. It's a great book!

Ava Lily Stays Up

Sometimes I swear our little girl stays up at night just so she can have some one on one time with her mom and dad, especially her dad. Last night after Kynan was asleep, she started singing in her crib, so I went to go get her bottle and put her back to sleep. However, when I walked into her room she was sitting up and laughing, no way she is going to bed right now. I brought her into the living room and let her play at our feet while we watched a movie (check out Fridays for reviews). She crawled around playing with various things and then, when things got too quiet, I looked down to see where she was. On the other side of the coffee table, I saw these two little eyes (and nothing else) watching us. I wish I had a picture because it was SO funny. Her two little eyes darted between Dana and I and you could tell that she was smiling. She continued to play and half way through our movie Dana got all gourmet and decided to make some pasta. He cooked up a huge dish, delicious. He gave Ava some plain pasta while we ate the fancy stuff. We pulled Ava's high chair into the living room and continued watching our movie. Not too much longer after, Ava started to skwak. She was reaching for my bowl. I have her a noodle with sauce on it and she gobbled it down. She had a whole tray of plain noodles, but she wanted the good stuff. I sat her on my lap while Dana lovingly fed her his pasta. She loved, often smiling and laughing between bites. She didn't get to bed until 10pm, but we had so much fun with her when she stays up.

The new Banner

Thanks to my fabulous sister-in-law, Kaili, I am sporting a new banner. I LOVE it! She is creative and talented. I have been wanting to change up the look of my blog for some time, but never knew how. Thanks so much Kaili for beautifying my blog.

Film Review Fridays

Well, it seems like everyone is starting themes on their blogs. Kaili, has many good ones: Through Your Eyes, Baby Talk Tuesday, ect. And Angella has Wordless Wednesdays and Foto Fridays. So I thought I would start Film Review Fridays. This week I will be reviewing 2 movies I saw recently.

The first movie being, 27 Dresses, starring Katherine Heigl and directed by Anne Fletcher. This is an excellent girlie movie perfect for a bride to be, a bridesmaid, or any gal who just wants to see a good chick flick. Now, as you will quickly learn, I love movies and I rarely will give a bad review. However, I will be honest that this very comical, but human comedy is probably one that your guy will want to miss. Maybe take a girlfriend instead. You can save yourself all the boy sarcasm and go with someone who will appreciate this movie for what it is. A heart warming romantic comedy. I give this movie 3.5 popcorns out of a possible 5. It's funny, heart warming, sweet, but ultimately not life changing.

Basic Plot: Exactly what the title describes. A 30 something gal who puts everyone else's needs before her own, being the perfect bridesmaid. Throughout all the wedding chaos, she busies herself so she doesn't have to focus on her loneliness driven by the idea that love is a fairy tale. But ultimately finds romance in something unexpected, but real.

The next movie on review today is The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. This movie is hands down a must see. It's thought pervoking, sweet, funny, and over all a very human film about finding out what life is really about. You can watch this movie with anyone, at any point in your life, at any time and if it doesn't make you look at your own life and think about what truly is important..... well then you must be living in denial. One thing I absolutely loved about this movie is it's way to take big life questions, and make them fun and heart wrenching at the same time. My favorite part of this movie was when the two actors are sitting in a sunset on top of a pyramid and Freeman asks Nicholson two questions egyptians were asked when their life was through:
1. Do you have joy in your life?
2. Do you bring joy to others?
This movie is 5 popcorns out of a possible 5. I LOVED it.

Basic Plot: Two cancer patients realise that they are dying and create a list of things to do before they die or 'kick the bucket', called the bucket list. In the process of actually completing things on the list they change each other and help each other realise what is really important in their lives.

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*Disclaimer*
I am not a movie expert by any means, I just watch a lot of movies and have knowledge based on working in my family owned movie business for 7 years. Everyone has different tastes and I will not promise that you will like the movies I like. I wanted to have a disclaimer because everyone else does and it makes me feel cool :) I'm lame I know!

Summerland Surprise

My only regret was not getting any pictures of the lake while I was out there... Let's just say that I am having troubles learning to use my SLR camera so it usually stays in the bag. But here is the picture update all the same.






































































































































Well, for those of you who are curious how my visit out to Summerland affected our decision to move or not. Here is that update. I spent my two weeks spending time with family and friends who I of course miss. It was so nice seeing my niece and nephew and how much they have grown. Family dinners and of loads of laughter. Not to mention all the things I miss about Summerland, like the Beanery, the Bakery, Zia lunches (who know us by name... LOL), the lake, the mountains. I also spent time talking to Al (my father-in-law) about building a house. We looked at lots, drew up some basic plans, talked about possibilities, and even went to the bank to find out numbers. All seemed very positive. The two major reasons why Dana and I are considering moving back is this opportunity to build AND Dana's job. He misses the work he was doing and the people he worked with. Plus it seems that there is more opportunity in the field of work he wants to pursue. Those are two major reasons, plus we get the bonus of family and friends. It was a dream speanding time with my mom, creating, sewing... she even taught me to knit! All these things would be there all the time if we lived there. My mom asked if I felt at home there, and I have to admit I did. It felt like Dana was the one that was away and I was at home waiting for him to return. BUT then yesterday I returned to Regina with the intention to convince Dana that this is the definitely the better choice... to build, but I was shocked how this felt like home too. The sun was shining, snow was glistening ... the prairies gleamed with beauty. The Okanagan is beautiful too, they both are... just different. I didn't miss the mountains nor the lake, but I didn't miss the wide open spaces either. They both feel right. Is that possible. And then I think about, again, all our friends here and our awesome church and I imagine life without them and it makes me very sad. For the first time in my life, I feel like people know me for me and like me. They want to spend time with us. As much as possible. They have become a huge part of our lives, even in this short amount of time that we have been here. So I am torn again. They both are a dream, a house and a job..... Friends and a church. I am so confused. If you believe in the power of prayer, please pray that God will guide us to the decision that He wants for us. So that's the update on 'the decision'. Hope you enjoyed the pictures because my confusing ramblings are definately blah!!!

Home at Last

You might have noticed the lack of posts on my site, the reason being that I have been in Summerland for the last two weeks. It was a fun trip seeing people who we missed and spending time getting reaquainted with the town I love. I will post in detail about my trip once I upload my pictures to include, but I am wiped and will just list a few highlights for tonight.
1. Seeing Baba see the kids for the first time in 6 months. (would have been so much better if she was surprized like I had planned, but sweet nonetheless)
2. Seeing how much Jaia and Lorelei have grown... they are such big little people.
3. Learning to knit from my mom. And quilt. Creating some really cool things together.
4. Eating Long Johns from the bakery.
5. Tumble time with Kaili and Jaia.
6. Movies with Shalane. 27 Dresses is a fabulous movie. GO SEE IT!
7. Watching my brother Greg chase Kynan and playing hide and go seek.
8. Talking to the brides to be face to face about their big days.
9. Spending time with Al looking at lots and dreaming of possibilities.
10. Watching my dad bolt down the halway because he thought Ava was seriously hurt. She had stumbled a bit when she was crawling and let out a big wail, but I don't think I ever seen my dad move so fast. His grandchildren are his joy.

So yah, I am back and currently trying to get adjusted to the time change... 11:30pm and Ava and I are bug eyed watching TV. Kynan is out cold, but I am sure will be up at 5am. Tomorrow, you will find a blog filled with beautiful pictures of what else but my kids.

Goodnight.