True North Strong and Frozen!

Well, the night was blowing and cold and filled with lots of snow. Tyler and Scott both moved our vehicles out to the road allowance last night so we would have a hope of getting anywhere this morning. We woke up at 8:30 and decided it was time to determine whether anyone was going anywhere. Tyler made a call to his Dad to learn that he had been out - left at about 6:30 and then got stuck on Highway 567 since it hadn't been plowed, and finally made it back home around 8am. All Rockyview Schools are closed today so Lucy doesn't have school - but she wasn't going to go anyway because of her vaccination appointment. The trouble was, things out here look like something akin to "The Day After Tomorrow" but as soon as you hit the city, the snow is melting on the roads and everything is fine...so calling in for a snow day sounds kind of lame. Well, we decided to cancel the vaccinations today - even if that means weeks before we can get them back in again - because Tyler and I did not want to have to carry three children out through the snow to make it to our van that was park outside the property. Tyler still ventured in as he had a performance review this morning and had to teach at 11. Here are a few shots of our yard from the comfort of our home. There were few places I could actually take a picture from because most of our windows are covered with ice. The black dot in the distance is Tyler, literally crawling through snow drifts to get to our van, using two shovels as walking sticks to help him along his way. He said that Cochrane was beautiful and sunny, but once you got to the top of the Cochrane hill, there was only one lane of traffic being directed by the police because so many vehicles had gotten stuck. To top it off, we don't have hot water - again. This time, our pipes are fine, but because we have such hard water, it builds up on the elements in our hot water tank and eventually need to be replaced because they just don't work anymore. So now I'm in the process of boiling water on the stove to put in the tub so I can get cleaned up a bit. This is like "Little House on the Frozen Prairie!"

So Big!

We finally had a Doctor's appointment today for Logan and I. This was supposed to be our 6-week post-pardum visit. Logan is 10 weeks old. The appointment was originally scheduled for the 6-week mark, and on the day of, I was all organized and getting things going so we could make it to our 1:15pm appointment. For days I had been thinking I should just look at the calendar to confirm the date and time, but didn't...you can see where this is going right? So finally at 11:45am, as the kids are eating some lunch, I look at the calendar and see that our appointment was for 11:15am...not 1:15pm. Mommy-brain! So I called and apologized and rescheduled for the following week. That time, we had sickies, so we rescheduled the appointment because no one felt like leaving the house. So here we are at 10 weeks, having our 6-week appointment. Logan is 9lbs 4 oz and 23 inches long. Pretty on par with all of the charts, not that we worry about that too much. He's alert and smiling and starting to jabber, which is just the best. Except his favorite time to jabber is usually right after his 5am feed...not my favorite time for baby-talk. Although it's hard not to indulge him, because his voice is so cute. He's sleeping pretty good. He can usually go about 6 hours at night and has 3 good naps during the day and a few cat-naps in the evening. It's not exactly perfect, but at least it's predictable for the most part.
Tomorrow we have an appointment for his first set of immunizations. I always have mixed feelings. I feel bad for the little guy having experience the pain, but happy to know that a moment of pain and a few days of aching equate to a lifetime of health. Plus, a recently immunized baby is usually a little bit sleepy - so I can count on some decent naps - at least tomorrow afternoon. Lucy is also getting her preschool vaccination tomorrow along with Logan. She's not the least bit impressed or excited about. The appointment has been scheduled for about a month now, but I only told her about it yesterday. There were tears and questions, and all I could do was to reassure her was that the benefits outweigh the cost. And I promised that the public health nurses usually give out stickers to good patients.
The other 'big' aspect to our day was the dentist bill I received today after my 2+ hour visit to get some cavities filled. Being students with no medical or dental coverage, living in a trailer on your in-laws property with 3 young children definitely qualifies you as the type of people who can afford an $859 dentist bill...during tax season...when your husband has to take the day off work in order to watch those 3 children so you can actually GO to the dentist...especially when it comes with the knowledge that they only worked on the left side of your mouth, and the right side is still to be done! Needless to say, I came home in tears. My mouth feels better - and it's cheaper than letting them rot and getting a root canal at some later date...I guess it's another one of those "the benefits outweigh the cost" type situations. Although I didn't get a sticker or anything. And two hours away from the house, by myself is not really relaxing when it involves a lot of drilling, poking, rinsing, and jabbing. Seriously, those rubber damns are annoying. Lucy followed me around the house for about half an hour after getting home just rubbing my side, or back, or whatever she could reach (I'm referring to my bottom) to help me feel better. I'll have to remember to do the same for her tomorrow...I'll probably avoid rubbing her bottom though.

Spring into Winter

As per usual, we have gotten more snow in the last week than we did all winter. Wet, wet snow. We usually get a huge dump around the end of April or the beginning of May and although it's depressing because we're just starting to get used to the idea of Spring, it also helps rush spring along as everything gets green pretty fast. So we're sitting here in the midst of our snow-storm, looking forward to the green it will bring, but not really enjoying the white we have to endure. Well, the kids have enjoyed the opportunity to make snow angels and snow pies one more time. Plus, their dad swooped in lat night to save the day (it was a stressful one) and took the kids outside to build a fort. They played outside for hours and had a blast, Lucy told me that I wouldn't want to miss 'this cute picture'. They ended the evening with a dip in the hot tub. What an awesome dad. Logan an I bundled up and ventured outside to check out their progress for a few minutes. It gave us an opportunity for some fresh air, and for him to try out our snugli for the first time. I think he likes it.

A Whole Lotta Love Wrapped in Respect

This past weekend was fun, yet crazy. My big-little brother got hitched to an awesome girl. The wedding was held down in Cardston, so on Thursday, we loaded up the van with kids and gear and headed down. Stayed in a motel in Cardston that was cheap but proved to be awesome and were prepared for the temple early Friday morning. My sister Sam was decent enough to watch our kids so we could all go inside. She's awesome. The ceremony was beautiful and as I sat in the sealing room, I realized that this was the first wedding of my immediate family I had ever been to. I've been to two of Tyler's sibling's weddings, and a few cousins, but this was the first in my family. Pretty awesome. Going to the temple for weddings always reminds you of your own (or should) and it was a great time to reflect and calm down.
Although it was April 23rd and I only brought a light jacket (because if watching Miss Congeniality has taught me anything, it's that on April 23rd, all you need is a light jacket), we ended up with some snow and it was a bit cool outside. We still took advantage of having our kids in Cardston and took a few temple pictures as well as showing them just inside the lobby, so they could see this beautiful place that we talk about all the time, and hopefully get a bit of a feeling as to why it is so special to us, and will be to them someday too.
Then it was time for Dude and Becca's triumphant exit. Everyone cheered and snapped pictures. Most of the photos didn't include Logan as it was chilly outside and I wanted him to stay warm. We headed for a quick check-out of our hotel and a bite to eat at DQ - one of Cardston's only restaurants, and then it was on the road home to be back in Calgary in time for the family dinner that night. The family dinner was at Joey Tomatoes and the food was awesome (way to go guys), but it was noisy, which was tough on the little guy. We spent most of the time outside on the patio with the kids so they could run off the energy they had accumulated from a lot of time in the car. To our surprise, Lucy and Emma both tried Calamari and liked it...and the proceeded to tell everyone that they had eaten squid.The next day we hung out at home for a bit and watched Avatar with the kids, got ready, and then headed out to the reception at the West Stake Center at the beginning of a snow storm. We stopped at McD's on the way to feed our kids. Because of the roads, we didn't stay long, but it was beautiful.Sunday was a full day too - with church and a gift opening at my rents. We got to visit a bit more with family who had travelled up for the wedding, and then headed home to our beds. We also received news that day that Jason and Ali had their baby girl - Sarah Faith. She's a cutie - much like her older brother, Jacob. Hooray for babies! We also heard that cousin Jennifer is engaged and getting married at the beginning of June. It's a pretty quick engagements as they are headed out to Nauvoo for the summer to do the pageant out there. We're still trying to see what plan we can come up with to attend. Here's hoping!

You might be a red-neck...

We've had a few fun family events in the last couple of weeks, but I never get much time to blog about them. Mostly, because my computer is in my room, which is where Logan sleeps and his sleeping is more important to me right now than my blogging. Except at this moment, obviously. General Conference weekend was great. Just what I needed. I enjoyed watching all the sessions, and I must admit that having church from the comfort of your living room, while wearing your pajamas, or at your parent's house while eating cinnamon buns is pretty nice. We spent the saturday sessions at home, just hanging out and then headed to my parent's for the Sunday sessions and Easter dinner. The kids had an awesome time having an Easter egg hunt at grandma's and playing with cousins they hadn't seen in a while.We spent friday getting ready to hang out with some of Tyler's co-workers. You might be a red-neck if you live in a mobile home and own a big-screen TV. Well, we decided to further the stereotype. The plan was to have a red-neck BBQ, so we got our gear on:

and prepared to deep-fry a turkey. It was a pretty awesome experience, and the turkey tasted great. It was the first time I'd met some of Tyler's coworkers and I made sure they knew I didn't usually look that way. We had a good time. Turkey frying was a new experience for us, so we made sure to read the instructions and follow them to the tee. The directions tell you to put the turkey in the pot first and fill it with water till the turkey is covered. This will tell you how much oil you need to use. So we did this. Turns out, we needed more oil than we had purchased, so the boys ran to town to purchase some. We filled the pot and let the oil come to 325 degrees and then added the turkey. Whoops! Too much oil. Things kind of bubbled over a bit, and orange flame at the bottom of a propane tank that's being fueled by cooking oil isn't exactly what you want to be seeing. We threw a bit of snow on the hot grease to keep things under control. Heart rates were high for a few minutes, to say the least. The turkey took about 45 minutes to cook and came out nice and golden. We dug in right away as it was getting late and we were starving. It was pretty awesome. Probably the best turkey I've ever tasted (I hope my dad doesn't read this!) and it was pretty simple. Except for the paranoia of a grease fire...
We took a red-neck family photo quickly and the kids and I headed home while Tyler continued to play host until 1am. His parents were out of town for the week, and were coming home the next day, so he had a bunch of clean up to do to get the house back in the state it was in when they left. Having party's at your parents house while they're on vacation seems like something a teenager would do...especially party's that involve fire extinguishers.We finished the weekend off with a Bridal Shower for Becca on Saturday, and birthday dinner for Alison on Sunday (with Icecream cake). We've been having a pretty great time. Things have settled down around here and we're getting into a new 3-kid routine, which I always love. Who would have thought I'd be so lame as to love predictability and really not enjoy spontaneity. I like being spontaneous, just in predictable ways!

1000 Words

One of the joys of a brand new baby is that when they are ready to eat...they are READY to eat. There's not much you can do to delay them. Such a moment occurred last week as we dropped Lucy off for school. Logan decided he was hungry, so we sat on the couch in the lobby of her school for him to eat. Max entertained himself with the surroundings, which include life-sized statues of horses and this mirror. I glanced over at one point while he was making faces at himself and realized that it looked like I had twin boys, rather than him looking at himself in a mirror. A realization such as that made me grateful for the situation I'm in. Twin Max's? That would be tough...cute, but tough.
But look how handsome he is in his new clothes from Grandma. I guess it wouldn't be too bad. Of course, pictures are still and silent shots of your children. I imagine if pictures could talk, I might feel differently.

It was needed

Does anyone else feel like the first session of conference was awesome and exactly what they needed? A few words of comfort, a few words of encouragement, a bit of chastisement and council to do better. I'm feeling good and looking forward to the next.