Santa Claus Parade

This year, as every year before, there was the Santa Claus parade in Fort Macleod. As per usual, the weather was chilly, but not as windy as I have seen in other years. It was actually a nice, sunny day and we got a great spot at the front so that we could be done sooner!!
We bundled the kids up and set up shop for the hour or so that it took. We got some GREAT hot chocolate, and settled in for the show to start.
This year it seemed to be all about dogs. Well at least that is what I thought was the coolest part. I got some great photos of them!!












And the bands were great too. Totally brave if you ask me! They must have been freezing their butts off!

The best part of all was spending time together. We are just so excited for the Christmas season to be here and for Summer to have her first Christmas. I know this is a tradition that we will definitely keep up!

Summer with Santa

Oh wow! What an experience taking Summer to see Santa for the first time...She was in her stroller, happy as a clam, when all of a sudden mean mommy and daddy decided to put her on some strangers lap who was covered in hair and totally unfamiliar. Geesh, did she ever let us know how she was feeling! She SCREAMED, and cried and was SO incredibly sad to be on his lap. Poor guy! He was like, "ummm, take your little baby off my knee now!" (he didn't actually say that, but I could tell what he was thinking!) Anyway, we now know of her fear of the scary man, but I am sure once Christmas comes and she sees what she gets from the guy, she will be less and less afraid as the years go by! At least that's my hope, cuz i don't want all her Santa pictures to look like this one! Ha ha!
Well, we are definitley in the Christmas mood here in Lethbridge! It has finally snowed and things are looking more and more like a regular Canadian winter! Crazy Alberta with it's messed up weather!! Anyway, we set up the tree a couple of weeks ago, and so far Summer has stayed away from it!! That's great news as far as I am concerned! Now it gets to stay pretty all over, instead of just at the top! But yes, I have a thing for Christmas and getting in the spirit of things...I have already watched Home Alone, and the Santa Clause more than a few times, and by the end of the season, it will have been like 100! Gotta love it :)
These are our family photos of the begining of the holidays, and I'm sure there will be many more posts to come, so stay tuned!

Young Women in Excellence

As a member of the church, I have been given the absolute privilege and blessing of being the 1st counselor in the Young Women's presidency. It is SO great to be able to associate with these amazing ladies, in that they are great examples and have the sweetest spirits! I only wish I was half as strong as they are...In these days there are so many hardships to overcome, and these young women truly are trying their best to stay strong to what they have been taught! I just LOVE them!!
Last night was Young Women in Excellence where the young women get up and talk about their 10 hour projects they have been working on. The theme was 'Academy Awards' and so it was all decorated (by the miamaids) and then the girls were given little statues of a young girl holding the scriptures as their 'Oscar'. It was a pretty great night, and I got some sweet shots of the girls all glamed up...

Halloween

This was Summer's first Halloween, and she was a ladybug! We took her to the mall, and actually went trick or treating...We losers huh, cuz you know who ate her candy!! Anyway, I made her costume, and also her dad's as he was a leaf, and Summer was the ladybug on it! I made him carry her around the whole time too!!
While we were at the mall, we saw a bunch of people we knew, like her cousins Lena, Mikaila and Hayden and Rylan...They were all pretty dang cute!


We carved some pumpkins...and the idea was to make a pumpkin family...so we have the daddy one
The mommy one
and the baby one
Not to mention Ashley's wicked sweet one that she carved. It was really fun to get all festive, and then all madness broke out when mean old auntie Ashley made Summer sit in a pumpkin! Can't imagine that would be all that comfortable! Anyway, it was a great Halloween staying in and hanging out as a family!

Thanksgiving in Prince George

It seems to be a bit of a tradition that our family goes up to Prince George for Thanksgiving. We've been up there 3 out of the 4 thanksgivings that we have had since we were married, and what a great occasion to make it up north to see my family and to also get a great turkey dinner!!

So, this year we stayed with my sister Laura and her family. They have a great big house and probably the best food I have ever eaten...I would compare staying at their place to an 8 star hotel...no jokes! They have a tanning bed, a hot tub, a jacuzzi tub, big screen T.V's in almost every room...seriously, we were living big for 9 days! Not only was there nothing to complain about, but they were so absolutely generous to our family. Thomas and I got to go out on a date, they helped tons with the baby, cooked for us day and night, and even helped us work out all the details with our broken down car! We can't thank them enough for their great hospitality!The stay was great, and the weather was wonderful. It is so nice to be in British Columbia when it is autumn. Beautiful colours and sooo many trees!! You can't ask for much more than that. So because of the great weather, we took advantage of it and got some family pictures taken. Pam took us to Fort George Park and we took about 200, and only a few worked out because our little baby Summer couldn't keep her attention focused! But that's ok, we still love her like crazy! And I think we got a few good ones!
So yes, the trip was for that great Thanksgiving feast, but we also did a lot of fun things as a family while we were on our little vacation. We took Summer to the pool with her auntie Pam and uncle Antonio and a bunch of her cousins, and she loved it! She loved it so much in fact that we went twice! Prince George's pool is totally rad...they have this lazy river and I sat at one end and Thomas sat at the other and we just Sum float to one of us...it was so fun.
Besides the pool, we also went and visited a lot of family. It was nice to have the time to go and make our stops and see everyone...except my brother Curtis...we wish we would have gotten in a visit! We also had a few T.V nights where we all got together and watched Survivor, Greys Anatomy and Modern Family...gotta love T.V! We had a poker game, and a hot tub party with Brandon and Cheyenne, had a girls golfing outing, and me and Cheyenne went on the razar too. She nearly killed me, but luckily I survived to be a mom to my kid for one more day! Ha ha...she is actually a great driver! There were so many fun things that we did this trip out... I just love my family, and I wish so badly that we lived closer to them!
Now for the big turkey dinner! Mmmm mmmm mmm! My sister Stacey is such a GREAT cook/baker. She put on a huge dinner for 40 people all by herself! The food was worth the 12 hour drive it took us to get to P.G! We had a great time and hearing everyone tell what they were thankful for that day was the best part. Our tradition in my family is to have 3 uncooked kidney beans on your plate, and before you eat your dinner you have to say 3 things that you are thankful for...if you can't come up with anything, then those 3 beans are your dinner! It was hilarious too cuz Cindy seemed to have paid off the neices and nephews into saying that they were grateful for her...I got a couple on my side though! ha ha!
Well, we were super sad to leave! It was such a great trip, and we really can't wait to go again soon! Miss you all up there, and thanks again for the great visit!! Love ya!