The latest Escapades

I know, I know, he looks so sweet(photo by Eric Cahoon http://erincahoon.blogspot.com/2010/10/for-naomi.html but don't be deceived.

I never knew that the terrible two's really existed until three with Kiah and even then there were never really that many giant disasters.... and.... now...I...learn...my...lesson.

Yesterday was a day of big lessons. It all started with an alert from Kiah - MOMMMMMM! "Cayden is throwing clothes". I was working on getting my laundry room ready to tile and so I had finished all my laundry and had moved everything out of the room. Each basket was sorted and in each according room, ready for putting away.. or was. When I went in every piece of clothing had been flung from the basket in various areas around and on the bed. And not only that, but EVERY pair of socks had been pulled apart and thrown into the massive mess. I started over, and needless to say - put them straight away. What a way to start a morning.

Then....a couple days ago we received a giant load of books from a neighbor - YAY! I got them all put away the night before and sorted by size, type, shape, etc., and separated from all of our other books so the kids could enjoy the new ones...until... I heard the ever growing in volume MOMMMMMMMM! from Kiah and went in to find every. single. book. covering the whole floor.

After instructing this one to be cleaned up by the assailant I got back to work trying to get mortar mixed and tiles laid. The hyterics of the next 'MOMMMMMMMM' ensured a real disaster awaited. It did. Cayden had climbed up to the sink and filled two giant bowls and a roaster with soap and water then... proceeded to dump them over the edge and flood the entire kitchen!!! Well that clearly wasn't enough water so he turned on the tap, extended it over the edge of the counter and let it spray. ARGHHHHHHH was my only response and Cayden clearly got the idea because he ran and hid. I got enough towels and soaked up the mass of the mess but of course it had ran under my island, stove, fridge and shelves which were not so easy to clean up. Well several towels, hours, and fans running later most of the water had dissipated.

I made it through the day with no more giant disasters and got 3/4 of the room tiled (mostly after Chase got home and was able to help avoid any more 2 year old creations).

This morning I was reminded of my lovely two year old when he asked me for a drink of water which I poured for him from the bathroom sink next to me as I sat doing what we all have to do when we first wake up in the morning. Then a thought struck me - my mouth guard should have been sitting where his cup was on the edge of the sink and it WAS NOT THERE! I stood up to find it in the yellow tinged abiss below. At least I saw it before I flushed. ARGHHHHHH! - he ran and hid.


Needless to say he has been well aquainted with time out the last couple of days:)

The Love Letter

Recently a lovely new girl moved in and was teaching us a lesson. I was lucky enough to be able to sneak in on this lesson as I usually don't get to. It was a really nice lesson and she handed out these thank you cards to us and asked us to give them to someone who we thought would need it. Well I love giving cards and so had plenty of people come to mind immediately, so I decided to ponder on this and decide later on who to give it to.

This lesson was a few weeks ago and late last week I was reminded of this little card waiting patiently in my bag to be used, by a feeling. I was spending some time with one of my good friends and I was looking at her thinking how beautiful and amazing she is and how lucky I am that she is my friend. I have many friends and people in my life that I think this about, but this feeling became so strong to me and it kept coming back everytime I thought of her in the few days after that. I wanted to give her the card but I didn't feel like I could fit all that I had to say in it..... so I wrote her a love letter.

I know this may sound so dorky but one of the things that I am really bad at is keeping in touch with people and feeling like the people that I love don't really understand how much I love them, and maybe I don't understand how much I really love them. If I think about this and record many of the reasons I care about them then maybe I can do better at taking care of them and keeping them in my thoughts (I have a best friend since birth who rocks at this by the way... she always remembers everything that is going on in all of her friends lives and remembers everyones birthdays EVERY year!)

Anyhow so I wrote this letter and told her several of the reasons why I love her and love that she is in my life and included it in the card. She is my wonderful friend.

She called me today to say thank you. The funny thing is that she was thinking many of the same things about me at the exact same time we had been spending time together that I was thinking about her..... But neither of us had said anything - why? I guess it may be inappropriate sometimes to say things like I love you and why, at a random time to someone who you do? But perhaps more often than not it is entirely appropriate. Why aren't we allowed to do this? For me I think it is the intimacy of it. At this point in my life I am working hard at letting walls down and letting people close to me see the real me... and help the real me. She also said many sweet things to me about why she loves me and told me a story about the first time that we met. The clarity of it was interesting to me because I always wonder what people really think about me and she gave me some insite into what she really thinks of me. It was nice, brought tears to my eyes, and made me feel like she really loves me too..... and it was okay for us to say this and to talk about it. At the end of the conversation I felt like something had changed in our friendship, something was there that wasn't there before and I truly treasure it.

It may have been dorky, wierd or risky for me to write this love letter but I know that she will treasure it and she really made me feel loved in her reaction to it.

I wonder what would happen it I wrote a simple love letter to many of the people that I treasure. My husband, my son and daughter, my mother, my family, my friends. How would this strengthen our relationships? How would their response make me feel? How would I feel knowing they have this letter to look back upon listing a wide range of wonderful things about them on a day when they really need it? I am grateful for that lesson and the cards that were handed out and know that that little gesture by my teacher went a long way today.

So... I challenge you to write a love letter. Let someone who you care about and admire know how you feel, and allow them to have something to look back upon to remind them of this. I could have just told my friend, but I was afraid that I would get flustered and it would be awkward and I wouldn't be able to say all that I wanted to without losing my thoughts - so I just wrote it down.

Kind of a random entry I know, but I think I might get a few more love letters on the go:)

Struggles

A couple of weeks ago I did the Riding Mountain Olympic Triathlon. I did this race last year as well and it was miserble and cold, foggy and pouring rain and I didn't really like the distance. I vowed to never do it again. Funny how you change your mind about things after a while. Anyhow I signed up again this year for the Olympic distance which is 1.5k swim, 40K bike and 10K run. Anyhow the weather was awful, again - pouring rain - but this time add high winds into the mix and you end up with huge white caps on the swim, crazy head winds and side winds in the bike and a freezing run. Funny thing is I still had fun. I love to race. I love that it is hard and that it took a lot of preparation to get there. I love that I really am not there to race against anyone but myself but the others really help me to push past my barriers, I love that I have family and friends there every race to cheer me on and take pictures, I love the lone long runs and rides I get to do late in the evening or early in the morning ALL BY MYSELF, I love the feel of the water as I glide through it and practice my stroke effectiveness for hours until I can feel the power of my swim. I love feeling tired after a training session and knowing that I worked hard, and that even though I worked hard, in the end it will give me more energy. I love Triathlon and am so lucky that I get to do so many each season. Now to the Struggles part... This race was HARD! I don't think I have had a race this hard since the two races when I started Triathlon 7 years ago. The swim was killer and I couldn't even see the bouys between each wave, I swallowed so much air trying to avoid swallowing water that at one point I had to stop and let many many burps out, it was kind of funny though - the bike was really hard because of the wind and the bike course in this race is all ready challenging because of all the huge hills in the course. Then I got to the run. Well at this point I realized that several people had had to drop out because they were done for after the swim, and several had flat tires on that nasty bike, I thought to myself, if I finish I will celebrate. I felt okay at the start of the run, but tired. And then this blog started in my head and continued to distract me throughout the run. Through all the leg cramps and sore knees, I thought about how we all have struggles. How most of us try most of the time to pretend we don't have struggles. And how when we are having struggles sometimes we feel like they are worse than anyone elses. And that brings me to this thought - this race was a struggle - it was hard - really hard. And I still had fun. It taught me many lessons - like most struggles do - and in the end it was all worth it.

I started triathlon because I like to be active, I knew how to swim, but not fast, I had a mountain bike and I knew how to ride it and I could learn how to run (or to walk-jog or wog as I call it). I really hate running and I am still not good at it - but improving and continuing to practice. Anyhow, I fell in love although the first few races were a disaster. It was a challenge and it gave me something to be proud of that I could do. It has helped me deal with all kinds of other struggles by both distracting me and empowering me and I think everyone should try it.

If you can swim - doggy paddle included (and if you can't then take lessons), ride a bike, and walk - you can do a triathlon. There are lots of "Try a Tri" races with nice short distances all over Canada. I believe the one in Saskatoon in May is 200m swim (flutter boards allowed), 6km bike and 2km run. Friends, if you want to try it I have lots of tips and advice and I can help you find some good resources and help you set up a program (mind yo not so many tips on how to win - but lots on how to have a great time:)!

Dispite the struggles I still had fun!


And was so proud of myself when I was done:)

....and I am sure I will be back again at this race next year.

Princess Room

I am so happy! I finally have one room in my house done - Yay! It is funny, because this room all along has been the "that room doesn't have to get finished until last" room - and here it is number one. I think I just needed to get a fun one done to get into the rest. What do you think? Kiah adores it! She is in love with the pink and she calls it her princess room. Guess the total cost to turn this:



into this:





Here is my very close estimate(keep in mind this room was gutted and redone - head to toe):
carpet - (on discount at end of the roll) - $75.00
paint and supplies - one can primer and paint- step dad works at the hardware store - free
antique bed - out of old house on our property - free
feather duvet - handed down from great grandma - free
pillows from china - $5.00
pillows from discount bin at Home Sense - $6.00
Duvet cover on clearance from Home Sense - $30.00
New sheets - on sale at walmart - $12.00
New pillows - also on sale at walmart $6.00
Bed side table - covered cardboard box - free (this will be replaced once I find something that will work - but no luck so far in my price range:))
Darling princess cutout pictures - awesome aunt emily made them- free
china ballarina painting - $12.00
Stretching boards (for painting) - Micheals - $8.00
I am a child of god picture - frame - $15.00 - and I made the letters
Flowers and vase - had in the 'craft cupboard'
Pretty letter "K" - on discount at Home Outfitters - $5.00
Old trunk for dress up clothes- out of old house - free
Antique garbage tin- old house - free
Pretty pink wire jewel box - double discount bin at Home outfitters - $2.00
Chandelier - old one from living room - free
Spray paint - $30.00 (for bed, trunk, garbage bin and chandelier)
Curtain - home depot - $10.00
Pink bed "swoop" - walmart $9.00
matress - had
wood for bed support - $15.00
labour - sweat and tears - me - free I guess.

Grand total.....$235.00

Think I could make it on a room make-over show?

Too bad I have to move the destroyer and his bed in there while I get his room mudded and painted! I think the 'white' duvet will have to be removed to get through that one alive. Ha ha. I am so excited that Kiah is totally in love and loves to sleep in her new room!....For those of you who know...the owl... is still there - I was thinking of tying it into the princess cutout picture somehow by writing a story about a princess and a king and the king gets turned into an owl by the villain but then he watches over her always... what do you think my options are:)?

Awesome Dad!

We love the Dad in our family! He is so great at playing with the kids and teaches them all kinds of new things all the time. He is an explorer and an adventurer and is always playing spontaneous fun new games that just naturally happen when he is playing with the kids. We all adore him and the kids constantly miss him and ask for him when he isn't around. He is the best breakfast maker around and spoils us quite often with the pleasure of his specialty pancakes or waffles - no matter how I try - even with directions - mine never turn out as good as his. We are so proud of how hard he works at school and are amazed that he continually does so well despite having three other jobs, owning our own business, having kids and a wife, a huge acreage, and a busy calling at church. We know that he will be a fantastic vet because of his natural ease working with people in business, his attention to detail, his skill with surgeries and working with his hands, and his continual need to analyze, research, and learn. I am so lucky to have someone who adores me and tells me that I'm 'hot' when he knows I need to hear it and even when I may not, who trys so hard to provide our every dream and wants us to have anything we could ever dream. He is a dad who would protect his kids as fiercely as this mother bear, even from this mother bear:) He has such a big heart and it has an especially soft side that is wrapped around both of his kids fingers. He is a good leader and makes sure that we are always on track while making decisions. He ensures that we remember to say our prayers always and is great at explaining things about the gospel and life to the kids, (and to me:))in ways they will understand. He will always do all he can for all of us and we think that he is such an awesome Dad!! We love you Dad and cherish you always.

Fishing

At the beginning of June we went to spend a few days with Grammy and Gido and one of the highlights was the trip to Angling Lake fishing!! We went after supper, and when we got there we had the lake to ourselves and the water was glass! We piled in the boat and had a great time! Kiah took her brand new pink fishing rod that flashes pink and green when you reel in the line and Cayden took his brand new mini rod - thanks Gido! Kiah was the only one to catch a fish and it was huge! We all had fun and fell asleep in the truck on the way home. I will have to admit, Kiah was a little dissapointed after Gido had filleted the fish and she thought she got to keep it as a pet - she exlaimed "Gido - Why did you peel my fish"?! when he came upstairs with the left overs. Now she knows - when we go fishing - we eat the fish. Mmmm.

HAPPY #2!!!

Cayden turned two May 26th! He is getting to be such a big boy! He is still such a jolly sole and continues to be the most mischieveous little rascal I have ever met. He keeps me on my toes and we love him soooo much. We love your grins and giggles, your love of teddy bears, the way you say 'YAASS', the way you march your arms and are on a mission no matter where you are going, how you love it more than anything when we laugh at you, your love for animals and the outdoors, your bountious energy, your instant smile in the morning, your quickness to appologize and forgive, that you are a milkaholic, that you love us and tell all of us all the time and smother us in morning hugs and kisses. Happy Birthday my boy!

Remembering Spring

I know I am behind, but you have to admit - we really haven't had summer that long yet.

We did so many fun things this year waiting for spring and the sunshine to finally arrive.

Went camping in the living room. We even built a fire to warm up the chilly campground and stuffed all involved with marshmallows.

Visited Grammy and Gido and played in the rain, sunshine, and mostly mud. Cayden was captivated by the new babies and they had fun for days playing 'picnic' and making mud pies.



Then we went home and celebrated easter again with Dad and once again, someone forgot to close the door at bedtime and the easter bunny got in! Check out that do!
When its too cold to play outside - a giant bubble palace built by dad is the next best thing!


When all else fails - find a spot somewhere where there is sun shining and take a nap.
Then when there finally is a warmish day and the rain stops for a couple hours... rush down to the lake and cram in some playground time!!! (while dad stays home and digs yet another hole for a sump pump:))

Apple Guru

A fabulous friend of mine once posted how popular Apple is in their house.

I think I am in for the Apple craze here at our house. It started with the iPhone. Now somehow the idea came about for two new iPhone 4's - so we can see and talk! We will SEE about that! Now the iPad has made its way in and is watched over carefully.

What is funny is that the kids are totally crazy over them too. One night Cayden was thought to be long gone to bed (and I mean at least two hours thought fast asleep)... I was doing laundry and Chase came in and asked where Cayden was. "In bed", I replied. He came back a second later to whisper - look in our room. And there... as happy as can be.... was Cayden. He had Chase's phone, had figured out how to open the case, turn it on, flip through the aps and find his alphabet game, start the game and play. Not bad for a one year old! His grin was so funny when he looked up and saw he was discovered. Ha ha ha!

China

China. May 2010. China was fantastic! I loved it. Every minute of it. The yucky toilets, the bumpy noisy bus rides, the adventures of trying to cross a street, the wierd and wonderful food, the adorable children and elderly and all the amazing sites. Oh ya and I can't leave out the undescribable shopping.

We travelled from Beijing in the north to a coastal city of Dalian. There we visited family, ate yummy real chinese food, went out with a local in his junket to see seaweed, clams and oysters in mid-crop season, hiked a mountain, splashed our way through freezing tide rising ocean to a hidden cave, explored local seaweed factories and fishing villages, stayed in a mansion and had custom made cashmere coats, suits and dresses made.
Off to the south to Nanning. Here we explored the night market to see the really wierd food and caught a long bus ride to Bama. Deep in the lush, hot, humid countryside surrounded by limestone mountains, we explored Bama area. Here we met locals, went to a christian baptism in the river, explored massive caves, saw a local putting a live cobra into a huge bottle of vodka in mid flare, met a lovely young local girl named Cecelia, ate local food, plucked a chicken, swam 2km through a historic cave, drove way up into the mountains squished with a chinese family, drank 'long life' water from the mountains of the centurians, got stuck in a traffic jam because the president was leaving from the same airport as us and got to the airport 10 min before the flight left (but we still made it because it was a tiny little plane and everyone on the flight had been stuck in the traffic jam).


Flight east to Guilin in southern central china. Hot tourist spot and completely different atmosphere than anywhere so far. People everywhere and things were so much more expensive. You even had to pay to take pictures of people. Here we had massages, shopped for art, took a motor boat for a 5hr ride down river to admire the amazing limestone cliffs and mountains of the area to Yangshou. Rented motorbikes for two days and rode around through the local villages, talked to locals and gave away treats and gifts to the kids, scaled a huge mountain for magnificent views, watched a farmer ploughing his rice patty barefoot with his water buffalo up close, and took a bus ride with a crazy driver that was willing to drive at any speed and straight into oncoming traffic horns blaring to get us back in time.


Shenzhen was next and here we met with the gentlemen from China that we do business with. We ate the finest food I have ever tasted, toured the China cultural village and saw a couple of chinese shows complete with dancers, acrobats, chinese dragons, fire spinning, trick horse riding, moving stages and fire works - it was amazing! We went shopping for cool electronics and cheap clothes, bags and accessories, shopped for art at the largest oil painting market in the world, saw the factory where our cameras are made, went for massages again and had several business meetings.

Beijing was our last stop. Here we shopped. Oh, and one day was spent hiking the most amazing great wall of China!! It was spectacular and a tough 5 hr hike complete with a rickety old zip line at the end to get to the bottom of the mountain. Totally china style. We did manage to make it to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City but mostly we spent the remainder of our time in China dealing on pearls, electronics, bags, and clothes - and all kinds of wonderous things. We spent one of the last evenings at the spa where we enjoyed several hours of massage, free food and drinks and the best pedicure ever! Then we packed up the four extra suitcases that were purchased there (one each) plus our giant backpacks that had arrived half empty and climbed on the flight for the 3 min. flight home (just joking it was about 24hrs but because of the time change) we arrived 3 min. after we left. Ha ha.

I highly recommend china to anyone who wants to go on an adventure. It is not for the weak stomached or those very afraid of dirty everything (but this is Chase and he still had fun:)) - but the best shopping in the world, the most amazing culture and sites, and friendly people if you make the effort to communicate with them. I am already planning a trip back!

My house is burried!

A winter storm hit last Saturday and I think there was an extra large snow cloud right over our house!


Finally got the walk up to the door cleared.


Don't walk under that one.


There was so much snow on the roof!



I was stiff and tired after this job, that is for sure!!!

The fun part after all the work:)


I almost got lost in that big fluffy drift- so fun!

LAS VEGAS

So much for heading south to get warm!!! Chase and I had a business trip to Vegas last week for a conference and we were hoping for warmer weather but it poured the whole time we were there. They got more rain in the five days that we were there than all of last year! There was some flooding but we didn't get caught in any flash floods so that was good.


We had a very busy week and I can't believe how many miles that we walked - I wished that I had been wearing my GPS so I knew the number! We saw a couple great shows - inluding Cirque du Soleil - O - which I highly recommend to anyone - the ticket price is worth it! IT is the one that is on, over, in and above water - SOOO COOOL! We also got to ride over the strip and downtown in a helicopter and had dinner with a famous millionaire (from a TV show) that we didn't even know was famous - we was a friend of the people who we went for dinner with. Mostly we were super busy at the conference and in meetings with people for our business Trail'n Security Cameras and tried to squeeze in a couple fun things and some shopping. I can't believe how many - way to expensive to even walk into shops(most empty) - that there are there!

We were especially excited to come home and barely make it home - the only way we did was through lot's of praying and Chase's impressive snowplowing, wheel spinning, drift jumping driving to get down our road. This morning I shoveled about five foot drifts of snow off our whole roof and then jumped off the roof into them because the snow was up to the edge of the roof after I had pushed it all off - some fun for all that work! HA - glad to be home and see my sweeties - they had so much fun with Grammy this week! They had worked hard all week on a 'welcome home mom and dad' Party complete with invitations, hats and a pinata!