Mount Washington Getaway!

We were lucky enough last week to be able to go to the Tennant's (people who are involved in camp) chalet and spend a few days in Mount Washington. We asked them if we would be able to borrow their chalet this summer for our leadership camp for a weekend getaway and they said yes! So we will be taking up our campers and cabin leaders up to this amazing place this summer! They also then said that we could come up for a few days now to check it out, and be able to come up with a game plan for the summer! So Jon and I went! It was really neat to go back to the same place (well different chalet, ours was a few doors down) that we spent our honeymoon, only in a different season! I have a hurt back right now (LAME) that made ithard for me to do many crazy things, but it was two days full of relaxation and fun!

Here is the chalet, all snowed in! To get to the door, you have to trek up the hill on the right, and then scramble overtop of the snow hill!

Going out for a walk
Getting ready for our snowboarding adventure!

Very excited!

Putting on my boarding boots that I havent worn in three years!! It feel sooo good to put them on again!

On the hill! I was only able to go down a few times before my back said NO MORE, but it was fun while it lasted! It's funny how it all comes back once you are out there.

Jon kept telling me how awful he was on a board, but he did great - really a natural, which is not at all surprising! He just loved his life this whole day!

Our last day there - in the background you can kind of see the buried interpretive center where we will be starting our hike from this summer! We were sad to leave, but had a really great time! We want to go back if at all possible sometime so that we can snowboard again, and try the night tubing that they have there!

I love when we get to go away and spend quality time together. We really are the best of friends, which means we always just have so much fun together.

First Snow Day!

We spend most of our holidays in the prairies, where it barely snows at all while we are there, and then we come home and this is what happens! (and I realize the date of this says Jan 26 - it was actually right at the beginning of January!)

Happy Birthday Aimee!

I love birthdays, they are just so exciting! A day that the Lord has created just for YOU! This is the day that He said "You will be born!" I find that VERY cool!! January 1st is the day that Aimee graced the world with her presence. She was the Victoria New Years baby! We got up and had a family breakfast that morning with Tim, Lois, Aimee, Calea, Jon and myself eating the famous Lampard pancakes! Let me just tell you, I am SO happy that Aimee was born, and was very glad that we got to celebrate a little bit with her. Aimee is smart and challenges me constantly (in a good way!), and she has the most beautiful and infectious smile! She is quick to laugh, and will always tell what she thinks! Her love for her family (and her friends that are family) is so deep, and so real. This is a girl that has taught me more things about life and faith then I could ever even count! I just feel incredibly lucky to be able to call her a sister. Happy 28th birthday Aimee!!

Lois cooking the pancakes, and Aimee grinning because ITS HER BIRTHDAY!!

The siblings eating breakfast and have a good time!

Luke and Care came over later in the day, and when they did, Makenna was in the backseat sleeping and snoring like this:

Seriously, how cute right?! Anyways, Aimee I am so proud of you, moving away and doing something crazy, and kicking butt at it! You are amazing, and I have NO doubt whatsoever that you will succeed in whatever you choose to do. I love you girl, and wish you the greatest blessings on your birthday!

New Years Eve

We brought in the New Year of 2011 by having party at the Lampard's with lots of fun people! Staying up late is proving to be a hard feat for me these days, with my strict 10 pm bedtime! But I was able to stay up until 2:30am, playing games and having a good time! By 2 though, my eyes were starting to close, and everything was becoming SUPER funny - a sure sign that it was WAAAAY past bedtime! But it was a fun night!

Calea at abot 6 minutes to midnight, ready to go outside and bang her pot!

Jon at about 5 minutes to midnight with sparklers!
Marika and Natasha also ready with their pots!

YAY!! Happy New Years baby!!! Don't we look happy?!

Nate and Jon and Tim singing a song that I can't remember - but it was funny!

It was lots of fun, but mostly I am just excited for a brand new year. Starting the new year of 2011 feels like a fresh start, and with it a new outlook. This year is going to be a big one for us - but a really exciting one! We are now a year and a half into our marriage - still crazy in love, but past the brand new honeymoon stage, and starting to look at whats next, and where to go from here! Wild Side gets launched this summer - a brand new program that is our baby, and that our hearts are being poured into! September is sure to bring a whole set of changes with life changing all over again! But I am ready for all this excitement! I feel more rested, and happy and content then I have in a really long time! Jon and I may have NOTHING figured out some days, but we are together, and happy, and experiencing life as God answers some big dreams. Yes, I would say that 2011 is going to be the best year yet :)

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning for our family holds a few traditions every year without fail! We get up early, open up our Santa presents, open our stockings, and then our presents from each other. When we are done, we eat a yummy breakfast, and then go to church. We always go our own seperate ways after that, to spend time with different family members (mom goes to LeeAnne's, Brandon goes to Neil', and we go to the Cicon's). But our time together in the morning is always really special time, full of smiles!

Brandon opening his stocking presents - more socks!! The boy got a LOT of socks this year!

Sporting our Santa presents - new Lulu sweaters for all three of us!
Mom opening her stocking!...mmm candles, her favorite!

Jon all excited about his new toque!

Mom's new crib board! Jon and I spent all of December making three of these crib boards - one for mom's (whose ended up being my favorite one), one for Tim, and one for my Grandpa. Jon cut all the wood, inlaid the middle piece, sanded it all. I measure all the holes and did most of the drilling! Then we carved the respective names on them, and Jon stained them! They turned out pretty well... very handmade! Mom loved this crib board so much she took this picture of hers!

Only one thing left to be said.... I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas this year was SOOO great!! The first three pictures are actually of the 23rd, when we spent Christmas with Neil...but I figured since we slept over, it was the 24th when we woke up there, so these pics can be added in on Christmas Eve :) Let me tell you, Christmas Eve is my FAVORITE day of the whole year!! (second maybe only to Jon's and my day of births!). It just just a time that is sooo joyous, and our whole family is together, and we just really have fun. We all catch up, and eat amazing food, and enjoy being family!! Christmas Eve is a day I always look forward to, and this year was no exception!! I looove Christmas!!!

The three of us at Neil's house on the 23rd. It was a very quiet, fun night! Grandma Doris was there too, and then when she left, the four of us hung out and played silly games and played with our new toys!

iTouch!!!! YAY!! I was sooo stoked about this!!!!
Brandon with his new laptop, and Jon in his new sweater! I love my boys immensely!!

Christmas Eve was spent at Auntie LeeAnne's, as usual. Here she is getting the last minute touches ready on dinner!

Uncle Keith and Rayne - this girl was a PARTY girl that night! (not that you can tell in this picture...) When it was like 10 pm and time for them to go home, she ran over to me and asked if I would hide her - trying to evade her parents! She wanted to stay and party because "all the big kids" were still there!

Me and my beautiful girls! Brooke, Alexis and I always have so much fun when we are together! My mom bought them Dutch Blitz for Christmas, and I taught them how to play and was surprised with just how well they caught on! Here we are being silly... pretty typical!

Cousins! Brandon, Alexis and I just before dinnertime. Note Alexis' very pretty Christmas dress! She looked so festive! I also love this picture, because Brandon is actually smiling big - that does not happen often!

Pablo spent his first Canadian Christmas with us! Here he is sportin his new Canada hoodie that we bought him (Jon had his name) - we even got his name stitched on th pocket.

My AMAZING family. You three are everything to me, and I am a lucky girl to have your love! Also, aren't we a GOOD LOOKING bunch?!! I sure think so...

I love Chrismas especially because it is when my grandparents come home to visit! Here is my wonderful Grandma (again, a rare picture... she does not smile big often either... wonder where I got it from?!) and my wonderful husband!

Look how happy we look! I love this :)

Very cute!

We tried to get a picture with all the cousins, and we had a couple that were good, but Jace wasn't in them, because he didn't want to be. When Lauren brought him over, he was NOT happy. Note me holding on to him, but letting him fall, because he was so swirmmy!! He just wanted to play and resented us for taking him away from his toys!

This girl is one of my favorite people! It was so great to hang out together, and catch up on life. It's funny to think that I used to baby-sit her when she was like a 6 year old, and now she is all grown up, living on her own and going to university! She is driven, and smart, and seeing her with Pablo made me happy, because they are so mature and great together! I love you Jennabear!

Overall, it was jus a great time!! I miss my family terribly when I am away, and having a small fix of them was really really good. They are awesome, as you can see!

Precious Time

Seeing as how it is now almost the end of January, I figured it was time to update on whats been happening, starting with where I left off... Christmas holidays in Medicine Hat.

A small part of our holiday was spent with two of our dearest friends! Ben and Shayna made a stop in Alberta on their way from Saskatchewan to British Columbia. It was such a blessing to be able to spend some extremly precious time together! Being apart has been hard, because the 4 of us are so much better together! But we had an amazing time, and it was some of the best days I have had in a really long time! I was so excited and giddy in the days leading up to them arriving, and once we were together, it amazed me with how easy it was to just be together. It was as though no time has passed, even if life was very different. All three nights that they were there, we stayed up ridulously late - like 3 am late! - and we talked until our mouths hurt, laughed more than I thought was possible, played games, told stories, and just enjoyed being together! We took a ton of pictures in those few days, but here were some of my favorites:

Seeing them have fun together always warms my heart. They are the best of friends, and love each other deeply, but they fight like they are siblings. Jon takes such enjoyment out of teasing Shayna endlessly, and she does not take well to it! But, at the end of the day, Jon would go to the end of the earth for this girl, and Shayna sees him as a brother. She is just as much a part of our family as Jake is (even more, seeing as how she is a person and not a dog.....)

Not too sure why I have crazy eyes, but I love this picture because this is a time when the camera truly catches you laughing and having fun, not just posing. Look how BEAUTIFUL she is!!!!
We went for dinner to Rossco's for wings to celebrate my birthday! Yay for me being born!
Then we went to see Narnia in 3D - my very first 3D movie, and how lucky it was Narnia! I LOVE Narnia!! (and so does Shayna - it was her love for it that got me hooked!)

Ben and I hanging out one morning while Jon and Shayna cooked breakfast for us!

LOL! Love this! The boys being silly... and right after this picture, Jon of course made Ben so awkward. They are great friends, but how that ever happened is truly God driven, because they couldn't be more different! All goes for Jon, nothing held back, while Ben is much more conservative. Yet they have such similar heart, and let me tell ya, they sure how how to treat their girls :)

Favorite. Picture. Ever.

LOOOOOOVE

Sad because we had to once again be seperated for months on end. LAME! We may have potentially cried a LOT immediately after this picture, but yet it's okay because we know that we will always be each other's favorite friend!!!

It was oh so wonderful to see you two, and so very sad to see you drive away! But the great thing about lifelong friends is that you know there will be a visit in the future to always look forward to! I love that they walked with us through every stage in our relationship, and now even though we are far away, we get to experience theirs. It is very sweet, and oh so special! We love you guys!

Christmas with the Lampards

When we got home from Medicine Hat, we went to Luke and Care's house and celebrated Christmas with the Lampard's. It was a night full of delicious food, presents, krokinole, killer bunnies, and lots of laughs.

The boys with their new "40 Years" Canucks books. Jon got a little bit teary a few days later when he was reading in the book about Trevor Linden's last day on the ice
This is NOT a staged picture... this was her true excitement when she opened up her brand new deluxe scrabble board! It was very funny!

I love having a "little sister".

Funny side note: We picked names with all of us siblings for Christmas this year, and I got Calea's name and she got mine!

My incredible parents in law with the new picture frame we got them, full of pictures of the nine of us

This picture was one of my favorites... are they related or what?!

I was very grateful that the Lampard's were so great about doing Christmas a few days after the 25th, so that we could enjoy our time with my family as well. And it was a wonderful night, full of love! They are a truly amazing family, and every holiday I spend with them, I am more and more pleased to be a Lampard!