Boulton Creek

We were able to finally go camping with our new tent trailer (Our May long attempt is blocked from memory) We met my parents at a beautiful place in Kananaskis country called Boulton Creek. I spent hours trying to decide where to go but had a lot of trouble finding specifics about the campgrounds in Alberta. So it was a bit of a risk but was well worth it in the end and I had decided that I would do a bit of a write up about it so that maybe other people who are googling might have a bit more luck than I did!
Boulton Creek is a well treed campground that has around 100 sites. It has some sites with electrical hookups but I found that they weren't as private as the others. Probably has something to do with larger RV's needing them? We filled our water tank for free with water that they said was good. We used it for cooking and washing but not drinking. We didn't want to chance it. They have a VERY clean shower facility that had plenty of hot water every time I went, the only bummer is having to pay a toonie each time. The up side though was that I turned off the water each time as well because they gave alot of time. The campground also has a store and restaurant which we did buy icecream at one day. The pit toilets stank a little but really, what can you expect when you're hovering over a tank of.....you know. Well, enough babble, here's a bunch of pictures.

Amigurumi

A coworker of mine lent me a game she loved called, "Katamari." I didn't really get into it but for some reason kept it around the house for over a year. I even moved it! I felt bad and didn't want to return it without some sort of thank you. So I made her her very own Katamari Prince.

She loved it! I think I have to make one for Hannah though because she loved to hug it and carry it around in the various stages of completion.

Life is good I guess. I'm doing what I always wanted to do right? Sometimes I get a little melancholy. I think it's partially the winter blahs. If we could go outside more I wouldn't get so bored and impatient. It's just so mucky right now.

More baby making

Or if you will, making for the baby. Hahahaha I think i'm so funny.

I really like the look of Baby legs but don't want to fork over the $15 or more per pair. So I decided to make my own. I had a bunch of knee highs that were getting holes in the toe so I cut them apart and made leg/arm warmers for Hannah. I don't remember how I came across it but I used this tutorial http://www.flickr.com/photos/babyhopes/237398398/in/set-72157594274454468/ They took hardly any time at all and look so cute on her.

She isn't supposed to look like a jester, she just has been liking wearing hats lately.

Hannah and Daddy playing. I wonder where she gets her silliness?

Excited for Spring

Every year I expect winter to be over after Christmas is. It makes sense in my mind but the world just doesn't cooperate. So i'm getting ready for spring by making clothes for Hannah and researching what plants to plant and when to prune our poor overgrown trees. It is really nice to live down in the valley again though. There are the beginings of buds on our cherry tree!



On a different note, My sweet little girl has decided she has opinions and attitudes about things. Yesterday was one of the toughest yet. Right from when she woke up pretty much all she said all day was , "don't" with tons of attempts at whacking as well. It didn't matter if I told her not to open the garbage or asked if she wanted a snack. It was all the same. Whack..."don't" or "don't....whack, whack. whack. I talked to my sister (thanks Frass) and she laughed. I knew she would understand. It makes me so happy to be able to talk to people who went, or are going through the same kind of stuff. I appreciate it alot! Both my sister and sister(in law) are awesome, truthful, real parents and if anyone other than the two of them read this blog and know them, ask them questions or just chat with them some time. You'll be amazed at their knowlege and insight.


Here is the link to the tutorial I used http://indietutes.blogspot.com/
She was more interested in me reading her a story than being my model. Oh well, i'll like that attitude in about 15 years!

Christmas Crafts

I've been getting more excited about Christmas this year. I think it's because last year I was still in a lack of sleep world from just having Hannah. Also i'm pretty excited about seeing my Mom and Dad. Who knows when they're actually getting here but the sooner the better!

During Hannah's naps I have also started making some Christmas crafts. Some I can't post pictures of yet as they will be presents for some (lucky) recipient! I think that i'm going to start making a bunch of stuff to sell at a craft sale next year though. I think that should be plenty of time to get a stock pile of stuff! I particularly like the "light" garland but can't decide if it's long enough. It's hard to tell from the picture but it's about six feet long. What do you think? I'm also thinking of making the paper stars into a garland as well.

Oh, okay....and another great picture of our girl!

Big party at her crib

Hannah's first birthday party went well considering she has a cold. She doesn't seem to be ill affected by large numbers of people, must take more after her dad that way. My brain is more fried than usual and I can't seem to think of anything to write right now so i'll just post the pictures.

Super cute new sweater from Grandma!

The Grand Finale

So my cake decorating course is over and it wasn't what I imagined it would be but I guess that's ok. I did pick up a few tips and am pretty excited about making cakes in general. Just not the way we were taught. I'm pretty happy with how my final cake turned out. I didn't want to do it exactly like how she was showing us so I didn't get to practice some of the stuff she taught but that's ok because my sweetpeas looked like lumps.

Hannah's first (yikes!) birthday is in a few days, and since before she was born I had planned on making a baby block cake for her first party.http://www.marthastewart.com/article/baby-block-cake?lnc=e9ad3358f23ee010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=collage_kids_more-kids-parties_p8 But now that i've worked with icing I don't want to fumble around with crumbs. And there will probably be lots because i'm making carrot cake. Also I now realize that buttercream icing is really sweet and probably wouldn't go with carrot cake very well. What's the point of having cake if it doesn't taste good? So I have come up with a new idea....but i'm not gonna tell until I make it and post a picture. That will keep everyone on the edge of their seats i'm sure!

Deflated balloon

Our cake decorating class got cancelled last week so last night was our second class. I was excited to learn some great new techniques but was fairly disappointed. I did pick up a few good tips about how to hold the bag without killing your hand and how to really smooth out your icing. But as far as actually doing any decorating it was a big thumbs down from me. We learned how to work with gel paste and how to make stars but instead of everyone making up 5 different colors of gel for the balloons (which does make sense) we had to each make up a color and share them. So for some reason I was the last to get any of the colors so I had to really work to get anything out of the bags and then smear it around to make it fill the balloon. By the time I was done this everyone else was finishing up doing their star borders. So there I was trying to get my border done when everyone else was cleaning up and packing out. I don't like feeling rushed. I mean, I guess I didn't have to have it finished by the time I left but... oh well. Anyway, When I got home I used up the rest of the icing in my bag and practiced a squiggly border and filled the top with stars. Well, not filled because I ran out of icing. Oh yeah, btw and fyi for those people like me who have never worked with shorteneing, Tenderflake and Crisco are not the same thing. Carolyn was telling me the story of how she almost used animal fat shortening to make her icing which made me realize that I just did! As if icing isn't bad enough for you already! EEEWWW!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just started a cake decorating course this last Wednesday. I was a little disappointed because we didn't get to do any hands on stuff yet and I had to buy a bunch of extra stuff on top of what the starter kit would have had. Long story short, I'm only gonna take course 1 and learn the rest on my own. Well, I came home from the class itching to do some decorating. I have never really done any before but I figured...how hard can it be? I whipped up some icing and started practicing. Oh man did my hand hurt! So at least I know now before next class that I need to buy one of those hand workout machines! We have to bring an iced cake to decorate for next class and I have never really done that either. So I wanted to practice but I didn't want to do just a boring cake but as I said my hand wasn't up to doing major decorating. So....here is my thanksgiving cake!

Fun times, sad times

First of all, the fun stuff! On saturday we went to Davison Orchards in Vernon. We saw an ad for it in the paper and it looked like so much fun we went the next day. It's a huge orchard and market with tons to see and do. It was lunch time when we got there so we ordered soup sandwiches and pie from the little cafe. Everything was made from stuff grown right at the farm. Even our fresh apple juice! I had some unbelievable tomato soup. Mmmmm..... I want some more. We then poked around the market and were tempted to buy all sorts of home made goodies like candy apples and pies. We did get some raspberry syrup. We then went and picked our own apples. It's so great to know where your food comes from. We also picked up a fresh cantaloupe and watermelon. Tasty! At the very end we went and saw the animals they have. Hannah really likes animals.

It was a great trip, and we are planning on going again before the end of the month.

Now for the sad news. Ok, so it wont be sad for anyone other than Cory and I. As some of you may know, Hannah has slept in a baby hammock called an Amby since birth. She has loved it and whether it was from the hammock or her personality she has slept through the night since 4 weeks old. Well, the spring for it is good until 40 lbs but the weight isn't the issue, she's too long for it now! So as of yesterday she has started sleeping in a crib. She has taken to it fine other than getting her leg caught inbetween the rungs a few times! I was expecting her to put up a fuss over the new sleeping arrangement but our ever adapting girl is just fine. So today i'm washing the Amby and packing it away. Our girl is growing up.

Here are pictures of the first time in the Amby and the last.....

Whoa.

Hello! It's hard to believe how long it's been since I wrote on here. It's not that i've been overly busy or have nothing to write about, I just didn't seem to have the inkling to do it. Well, let me give a list of what's been happeneing in our lives.

1. We moved out of our house at the end of May. The week before we moved was busy with me packing. It was hard to leave a place that we like not knowing where we would end up especially since the weather was so great that we ate outside every night on the quiet deck enjoying our yard. It was also sad when I came back to clean the empty house and realized that everything I touched we had done something to it to improve it or make it our own.

2. Mom and Dad have graciously opened their home to us for as long as we need. We have now been here for just over two weeks and it is going really well. I don't think that there are many people who could say that living with their parents is very good.

3. We went and saw a house, liked it, put in an offer and it was accepted. The deal is now closed and we get possession at the end of this month! WOW! Way sooner than we expected. The only thing is that there are tenants in the top and bottom of the house and we have to give them two months notice to leave so we may not actually get in to the house until August 1. Hopefully they will leave sooner. The house is nothing spectacular but it has lots of potential for us to make it our own AND it has a big backyard which I love!

4. We got Cory a new bicycle and Hannah a Croozer trailer and I got Cory's old bike. That was one of the main reasons we wanted to move to the flat so that I could be more active. Cory always has been but i'm a bump on a log. And so far it's worked! We have ridden to church (which is about 5km away) a few times and went on a few walks too. It's amazing how far you can go when there isn't an extreme uphill trek on the way home. I even rode by myself on my own initiative!

5. This last weekend we went and picked up our scooter. We have talked about getting one for a while and now we were able to get it. It's great on fuel and provindes us with a cheap second vehicle. I rode it for the first time yesterday and it was fun. I have to get my bike licence before I can ride it legally though because it's a 150cc scooter. I wanted something with more power because I hate seeing those people on the little scooters holding up traffic. This one really goes!

6. Hannah is getting so smart. We are so blessed to have such an easy happy girl. Everyday she is saying a new consanant sound and figuring out how things work. Well, everything except for moving around. She still just sits and plays in relatively the same spot. Which really is ok with me!

So that is the catch up of my life. Hopefully it won't be so long til I write again. Oh yeah, our camera is getting fixed so the pictures are mostly what I found online.

For real this time

Our house is sold! The subject removal date was yesterday and everything is great. I didn't want to pack anything else until I knew it was a for sure thing this time so now I gotta get my butt in gear! We're moving next Saturday so that gives me just over a week. That's ok though because you may recall we've been living with a half packed house for a while now. The only thing left really is the everyday type of kitchen stuff and all the furniture. Things should go pretty quick on Saturday. Anyone up for some heavy lifting?!

7 Random Things

First, the Rules: People who are tagged start by thinking about 7 random facts/habits about themselves. Each player then must write about those seven things on their blog, as well as include these rules. Players then need to choose 7 people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave each person a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.

1. I love to garden but hate bugs so must always wear gloves when i'm near the plants and dirt. There are some pretty weird bugs that live in Aberdeen that I didn't grow up with in the valley. Shudder...

2. I'm slowly turning into a health nut. It's weird because when I first moved away from home I would buy things like sugar frosted cereals pop galore and chocolate dipped cookies. (And eat them for supper if I wanted) But now I really like to make healthy choices. I buy cereals without sugar added, incorporate way more veggi's in my cooking and actually crave water if I haven't had enough. Cool.

3. I have always wanted to be a wife and mother so people always assume that I must love kids But over the last few years I have realized that isn't totally true. The way that a lot of parents are raising their children today I really can't stand to be around most kids. I thank God for my awesome nieces and nephew. Not that I expect perfection (where's the fun in that), but disrespect and kids ignoring their parents continually bugs me. Ok, so it's not really the kids fault but anyway...on to the next one that maybe won't get me shot.

4. I have one eye that is closed more than the other. So does my Mom and so does Hannah. Mine is my right one. I never really thought anything of it until I was in esthetics school and we were learning makeup and the teacher said, "You'll get surgery to correct that by the time you're 30." Ahhhh... I am so glad that isn't true and that I don't care what she thinks. This was also the teacher who said to never let your husband watch your child be born because they would never want to have sex with you again. Her husband left her supposedly for that reason. Sad.

5. I am a craftaholic. If I don't have something to work on that is crafty I will tear the house apart trying to find supplies to make something. I haven't gotten to the point of having to do a macaroni picture yet but i'm sure that day will come.

6. My two top favorite genre's of music are hard rock http://www.kutless.com/ and blue grass http://www.thecrabbfamily.com/

7. I am a messy disorganized person who can't stand to live in a messy disorganized house. I have fights with myself about this a lot, or worse, start to get mad at Cory for leaving stuff around when I have left out just as much. Must work on this.

So that's it I guess, Now i'll tag 7 people. Sara F, Joni B, Laura N, Jessica E, Carolyn M, Jill I, and Molly P.

Bad then good, then better, then worse, then ok

So since that guy backed out of buying our haouse after we had packed a lot of it up we decided to list with our realtor friend. So he came over and assesed that according to what the other trailers in our park have been selling for that he was gonna list it for 184,900. Yikes! I remember when I put out our homemade sign that I was embarrassed to put 174,900 on it. The market is definately crazy. So that is cool that we will potentially get more for it but then we had to get our house in tip top shape again. So we spent yesterday moving the boxes to Cory's parents house and cleaning up. We had also planned on putting outdoor carpeting on the deck but no place had it in until yesterday. So we thought that it had better be done. But first we had to replace a piece of rotten trim that was right beside the deck. Easy peasy. Ooops, did we forget that EVERY single upgrade we have done to this house has been way bigger and more expensive and time consuming than we thought? Yes, we must have. When Cory tried to attach the new board he realized that the wood behind the siding is rotted too. We have no idea how bad it is or how much is rotted but no matter what it doesn't look good. So we phoned our realtor and told him to postpone listing our place until it's fixed. We have another friend who used to do siding coming over to assess it but we're thinking we will probably have to re side the whole thing and replace the wood that the siding goes into. Oh well, good thing the price we will eventually get will make up for the money we have to spend. It will look nice with new siding too....to bad we wont really live in it when it's done!

On a different note I have become a member of an online community called facebook. And I have caught up with so many friends that i've lost track of over the years including my best friend Molly from elementary school! It's neat.

Thumbs down to that guy

What a roller coaster ride. Our house isn't sold. At the last minute (litterally the last minute) the buyers financing fell through. So all the packing i've been doing is for nothing. There is no way i'm unpacking boxes until we move to a new home so we will just have to live on bare necessities. But it makes showing the house more difficult.I know people aren't buying our stuff but it's harder to see the house past all the boxes. Oh well. One nice thing is that about ten minutes after hearing about this we had more people knock on the door wanting to look at it. Again very messy but oh well. Also the housing market is so crazy that even trying to go look at a place is hard. You see something interesting, try setting up an appointment and whamo it's already sold. Crazy. So because we're already mostly packed if something doesn't happen fast we'll probably get our realtor friend to sell it. He thought we should have been listing it higher anyway. So because I like to share pictures, here are some of our half packed house, Hannah and a bit of a picture i painted for Cory's mom. (It's Cory and his brother when they were young)

My new things

I eluded to a few new things that i'm doing in my last post so I had better tell what they are. I suppose one isn't entirely new to me but I haven't done it in a while. I guess i'll start with that one. I went to my brother and sister(inlaws) house and made a ukrainian easter egg. It is a really fun process where you use bees wax over different colors of dye to get the desired effect. I have done them in previous years but this one is the first I actually like ( isn't that right Krina! Hee hee)

I've also started to make ATC's (art trading cards) It is a really neat concept where people all over the world create art in their medium in the form of a trading card and then trade them with other people. I'm just sending out my first four and will be getting mine in the mail by the end of the month. One of the people i'm trading with likes Mexican art so I tried my hand at some. Hopefully she'll like them!

The last thing i'm doing is another type of swap where I had to write about a day in my life. Just an ordinary day and what I did and then I have to send it to three people and three others send theirs to me. my sound lame to some but i'm excited. So here is what I wrote:

24 Hours in the Life of Me

This morning started out the same way as every other weekday morning. With me hastily turning off the annoying alarm clock that signifies that my poor husband has to get out of the warm bed and get ready for work. At least, that is what he says happens. Everyday I turn off the alarm but don’t remember doing so. It’s weird, I can wake up to my daughter making the tiniest squeak in her room but not remember turning off an alarm.
Slowly the haze lifts and I get up and put on C’s housecoat (he lets me use it on weekdays) and join him for breakfast. I never used to like breakfast but ever since I was pregnant I’ve got into the habit. This morning I ate a new kind of cereal called, "GoLean Crunch." It has seven whole grains with no sugar added but tastes great. We are trying to make healthier food choices and finding a lot of great recipes etc.
Our kitchen has three nice big windows and the morning sun was gorgeous. It looks like winter is finally over. Our winters are fairly mild but cloudy so when spring comes with it’s sunshine I just feel healthier.
I faintly heard our five month old daughter’s morning wake-up sounds in between the loud cereal crunch in my head and C and I raced to go see her first. This may sound odd but we had to wait to have a child for almost five years and are blessed with a girl whose temperament is as bright and happy as the afore mentioned sunshine. She greeted us (her dad first, as he beat me down the hall) with her beautiful smile. After a quick diaper change we settled on to the couch for her breakfast and to listen to C read from his bible. Then I watched as they played together the same game that happens almost every morning. Dad bouncing and singing to make her laugh and her ending up laughing and puking on him from the jostling after an all liquid diet. Then it’s off to work for him and back to bed for us.
I have always been a big sleeper and so far I have been lucky to still be able to get enough even with a new baby.
Today is a little different because we are in the process of selling our house and have to meet with a lawyer this morning. So I phoned my mom at nine and asked her if she could watch H while we met with the lawyer. Thankfully she was able to on such short notice and so we got ready and drove over to Grandma’s house in our "boxy but good" Volvo. We had a cute two door sports car until we had H but obviously had to get a more family car and Volvo’s are safe. (Ugly in my opinion, but safe) So we got to visit with grandma for about half an hour before I had to go get C from work and get to our meeting. Can I mention again how beautiful of a day it was? Maybe I had cabin fever and didn’t realize it. Walking down the street I got one of my favorite spring feelings of being a little chilly but the sun warming my bare arms.
We got to meet with the lawyer almost right away and he went over the contract, made a few changes and gave us some advice on what to do next. Pretty straight forward but pretty expensive! Oh well, if you need someone to do a job then I guess they can dictate the price.
We then went and picked up H who was just waking up from a nap and headed home with a quick stop at Mc Donalds for me. C didn’t even make fun of me this time (he hates the food there) but just gave in to my craving. So much for healthy food choices!
I then spent the rest of the afternoon checking email, looking for new swaps on swapbot, reading friend’s blogs and writing up notes for this letter.
Another reason I love spring is how much lighter it is in the evening. So when C got home from work it was light enough and warm enough to eat outside.
Dinner was easy as I have started to plan ahead for meals when I go grocery shopping. I find it a lot easier than looking through a cookbook hoping I have all the necessary ingredients. Tonight was oven fried chicken strips and spicy yam fries. Yum!!
This is the one night a week when C and I go our separate ways for our extra curricular activities. He has choir and I have dance. Every week C’s mom comes and babysits H even though she is sleeping when she gets here. So generous of her.
I picked up one of my friends who takes dance with me and headed down town to the studio. The class is great as it’s all my friends and is taught by my sister-in-law. It’s a mixture of jazz and hip hop and I take it mostly for the exercise. Meaning, I don’t really seem to be a natural dancer! This was obvious the night that I tore a tendon in my ankle showing C my moves! Oh well, it’s fun. Tonight I started dance with a headache but all the stretching and laughing helped to make it go away. We’re finally coming together in some of our routines so it looks pretty cool.
Once C and I got home we were going to play a game of "Settler’s of Catan" before bed but both of us realized how tired we were. We used to be night owls but lately nine thirty is getting late for us. So off to bed with maybe a little reading to unwind.

Doing this swap has really made me realize that there really is interesting things that happen throughout an ordinary day and I can’t wait to receive the ones from others in the mail! Yay for snail mail!

Oh, and what's a post without a new picture of Hannah?

So cute

What can I say. We love our girl. Everyday she seems to have learned something different. Thankfully she is pretty much out of the high pitched scream at the top of my lungs for fun stage. But everything else id really fun to watch.

It looks as though we have sold our house. We have a meeting with the lawyer on Wednesday to go over the paperwork before we sign and there are a few subjects to be removed but overall it has been a pretty easy process. If all goes as planned we will be out of here by May 1st. I know that seems quick but in my opinion, the quicker the better. As soon as the house isn't really ours anymore then i'm sure little things will start needing repair....or heaven forbid something major happen. Not that I think anything will or want anything to go wrong for the guy that buys it, I just want to avoid the situation as much as possible. Anyway, i've started doing a few cool new things but i'll have to leave you all in suspense (all three of you) i've got to get ready for the Easter service.