Nali's 4th Birthday

So for those of you who are worried that I'm not putting on the pounds the below picture should put you at ease. So yes, into the 29th week and the scale keeps on moving. I really hate really really hate being pregnant. I'm grateful that I can but it's not something I in the least enjoy, my back kills, I don't sleep and night and I hate looking in the mirror.
Anyways, the other pic's are Nali's 4th birthday. Hard to belive. Some of you have been there for all of her parties. We missed you and hopefully see you again. She had a great time. The little girl helping her with her presents is her cousin. The are so cute together.
Anyways, I'll write more soon...

Things I LOVE about Canada or at least find humorous!

So, about 2 weeks ago Sam, Nali and I went on a little road trip. Sam had to do an inspection in Glenwood and since he gets reimbursed for gas we thought that we might as well join him and see some sights. Below is our favorite beach in Waterton, there's snow in the mountains. It was a pretty nice day other than the Gale Force winds. It was unbelievable. Nali couldn't even walk into it. Water was being blown off the lake about 20-30 feet it was really quite entertaining. Notice the waves in the pictures, remember this is a lake...


In all my years of living in Southren Alberta, I've NEVER come across a cattle drive. So on this little roadtrip we took we ran into 3! YES 3!!!! Seriously the first one kind amusing, the second one a litle irritating and then the thirs one was "Are your freaking kidding me!" Well the pictures below are of the third one. The funny thing is the ranchers/cowboys doing the cattle drive look at you like you shouldn't be on the road. Seriously...the kind of eye you like "HOW DARE YOU DRIVE YOUR CAR ON THE ROAD!"

What would you do if you saw this coming at you down the road...

So Southren Alberta can be windy. You either love it and appreciate that because of the wind we have the mildest winter climate in Canada and no smog/pollution. Or you absolutely hate it and curse it. So this is a common sight driving around, rows upon rows of windmills. It's great, I love it, I think it not only adds to the scenery but shows us that people are thinking of alternate fuel resources.

The last picture is my most favorite. We pass this sign every time we go to Castle Mountain to go snowboarding and it always makes us laugh. It is seriously in the middle of no where. You can see that it used to say "1.7 km straight ahead." Well there was nothing ever 1.7 km ahead. I would really love to see this so if any of you make it up this way I will be sure to call the First People's consulting and set up a show.
I hope that all of you enjoyed the pictures from our little sight seeing trip in Southren Alberta. It really is a beautiful place and I love the diversity it offers.

HALLOWEEN PIC's....finally!

Well I finally got around to putting our Halloween pic's on the computer. After much tribulation about Nali not being a horse for Halloween she was very excited to be a dinosaur. We called her a "Nali-Saurus-Rex". We had a great time trick-or-treating with her. I think we only hit about 15 houses but they loaded her up. Our neighbors were great and would make a big deal about her. It's weird but it made us feel even more like this is our home.


The snow pic's are from the day before halloween. It's almost a tradition that Halloween is cold here. Next week will probably be really mild and nice again. But this week was freezing

A quick story, Monday morning I was sleeping in Nali's bed as she was watching TV in our room. I heard her get socks out of her drawer and then I kind of blanked out. A few minutes later I hear the back door close. I pop up and look out the window. There was nali in her little summer coat and a pair of gum boots playing in the snow with her pj's on. So I went and told her to come in and said that later in the morning I'd get her ready to play in the snow. It shocked me that she could get out of the house. And it suprised me how ambitious and old she is getting.

So Nali had an issue with Halloween. She's been hounding us about it for weeks. Last week she woke up at 2:30 AM and yelled from her room "NOW IS IT HALLOWEEN???" I yelled back "NO!" a few minutes later "NOOWWWWWWWWWWWW????!!!" Anyways, that's been our life well after since the snow fall she doesn't believe that it's halloween because there's snow. What a kid....

Nali's loot! The first time she's collected Canadian Chocolate bars. Notice the Coffee Crisps in the pic. They are to die for!!

Bedroom Reno's

Well, we finally did it. We got our bedroom done. Below are some random before and after pic's. We're very happy with the results. It finally feels like our bedroom. Anyways Enjoy

O Canada, Hockey, Thanksgiving and such...

Well, it's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. So what does that mean. Well for starters it's not the shopping frenzy that is is in the USA. Not at all...we get Monday off as a holiday, yes we eat turkey, yes we watch football (It's the CFL though, Canadian Football League 3 downs not 4, shorter/wider field and huge endzone). It'll be nice to here though for the first time in 4 years.
So the NHL has officially started (why do they call it the National Hockey League when 2 countries are involved, shouldn't it be the international hockey league. And why do they call the NFL, NBA, MLB World Champions when they're only in 1 or 2 countries). So tonight is the battle of Alberta Edmonton Oilers versus my favorite the Calgary Flames. How exciting. Hockey night in Canada, have I already said it, it's good to be home.
So being in Canada the news is somewhat diferent then the US news. For example one of tonights headlines is where our Prime Ministers hockey alleigance is. Last night the Ottawa Senators played the Toronto Maple Leafs. When Toronto scored Prime Minister Stephen (not Steve as George W. Bush likes to call him) Harper raised his hands in a somewhat jubilant motion speculation started on is he a Leafs fan? Heaven forbid the PM who was born in Toronto likes the Leafs. How incredibly funny. It just shows you how big hockey is in this country. Ya gotta love it.
So just so you all know I'm going to the Dixie Chicks on November 6th. I'm SO excited. I never thought that I'd be a "Chicks" fan but I've really grown to love them. I think their last album "Home" is amazing. Check it out.
Lets see I'm 20 weeks now, things are going well. We're excited to have the baby come but dang I'm a little nervous as well. It's going to be a big change going back to the infant stage.

Thoughts and a few random pic's

Ok, I don't have anything really new to post. Above is one of my favorite pictures of Nali ever. I just thought that I would post it to give you all something to look at.
So tonight at dinner a bird few into our dining room window *SMACK* Holy crap. Serious...Sam thought it flew away but nope, it was dead on a car mat that I had been cleaning outside. Nali looked out the window and was quickly tramautized. So I told her that it's just sleeping and will wake up and fly away. Well I distracted her as Sam went outside to take care of business. Nali was much relieved when later the bird was gone.
So, whats new with us. We had our ultra sound last week. Everything is good. We didn't find out what we were having...maybe we will later...maybe we won't.
We are enjoying the new season of wonderful TV shows. How would we get through the cold and dark winter without them. The Amazing Race is amazing. We love it and would love to one day be on it. Survivior...hmmm...I've watched every episode since it's conception 6 years ago. I think that we watch it more out of habit then really enjoyment. I think that doing the "race" tribes was boring. If they had been people straight from Mexico, Asia, America and Africa then you would've seen cultural differences. They were all Americans and thus behaved so. I found it interesting though that other than their race all the tribe members where unique and different thus killing any real stereotypes that you wanted to have. Like the Heavy Metal Latino guy. I had NO idea. So in that aspect I believe it was a sucess. I don't think that the race concept would work well with "The Amazing Race". Just imagine...which "race" is amazing?!
I have a new calling. I'm now in the Primary Presidency. I was rather nervous/skeptical at first but 3 weeks in I'm loving it. We have about 40-45 kids. I love how primary is going back to the basics. These kids really are amazing. It's one of the coolest things to here them sing at the top of there lungs "Scripture Power". What a treat.
Ok, so below is a picture of my little (I have to stop saying that, she's nearly 20) so my younger sister Heather. She ran a Half Marathon on September 9th. She placed a suprising first. It was great to watch her run. She did great. I'm proud of her. This picture was taken at one of the water stops.
Anyways, I could ramble on a little more but I have a meeting to attend.

My Belly, Skater Girl and Throwing Rocks

Ok, Ginny this shot is for you. I'm sure in the coming weeks there will be more to show but this is it at 17 weeks. What a wonderful self-portrait

My little skater girl. She LOVES skateboarding with her dad.
Ok, I promise that this wasn't planned. She is a skater underwear hanging out and all.
Sam and Nali throwing rocks in the river bottom. We hiked down there one night. They had a great time throwing rocks while I do my typical photo taking.

Well

Whoop Up Days and The ReAl Madrid

So here's a few random pic's. I don't have any of my belly yet (sorry Ginny). Below is Sam and I at the Real Madrid ReAl Salt Lake soccer game. I got Sam tickets for his birthday. Some people were suprised that we would drive that far for a soccer game. We would respond that it's a lot closer than Spain. We had a good time and were glad that we went. Nali stayed in Canada with Grandma.
David Beckham...when he'd touch the ball the whole stadium would light up with flashes.
Nali sharing her ice-cream cone with her cousin Hailey. We were at the Whoop-Up Days parade with my 2 brothers, sister-in-law, her parents and sister and cousin Hailey.
Nali just chilling before the parade started.

Nali's Room done....well almost!

So we FINALLY got Nali's room semi-done...it's painted carpeted and looking cute. We still have the shelving to do, closet doors, window coverings and a bed. But it's nice to have a room that's just for her.

Before:


After:

Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach oh My!

So yes I realize that it's taken a month for me to get these pic's on. But what can I say better late than never. So these are our California pic's. Below is Santa Monica Pier. We had a good time there. We even saw a few dolphins out in the ocean.


Here's us with Minnie it was so cute, Nali ran up to her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. It was cute to see her excitement.

Nali and Cinderella...ok so I had NO idea that to see the princess's at Disneyland is a near impossible feat....you think o Disneyland princess's everywhere right....NO!!! So I guess they only come out for 20 minute blocks in random places. So you see a line up in the middle of no where you know there's a princess near by. So you run over only to find that the Disneyland "Bouncers" have cut the line off. So you start stalking them. I honestly got a glimpse into the life of the paparazzi. Between Sam standing in line to hold our spot to see Sleeping Beauty while I was with Nali seeing Ariel we managed to get pic's with Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. Seeing the reaction on Nali's face was well worth it all.

Sam and Nali at Venice Beach. She LOVED it. We got out of the car at the parking lot and she ran all the way down to the ocean.

Nali and Snow White. It was so cute. The princess's were all very friendly with her. Nali soaked it all up.

Waterton Lakes National Park

So at least a few times a summer we head on out to Waterton Lakes National Park. In the past. Pre-Nali we usually would got on amazing hikes or great mountain bike trails. But because of the little one we started going on little hikes and then spend a good 2-3 hours at the lake shore throwing rocks (the first time there she was eating the rocks). This tradition that started 4 summers ago continues on. Now we even bring out our little BBQ and have a great time. It's wonderful that regardless of what we're doing in the park we have a great time there.

Below is a picture of Nali's first outing to the park 4 summers ago.

(Notice that she's on the same beach)




Below is a picture of the result of these outings. Before we're even out of the park she's out like a light.

A little side note: On Monday we saw Heather and Tory Johnson there. For those of you in Utah in the 105th ward you'll know who they are. What are the chances?!

Our Hometown

So now that we have a blog I thought that I would post a couple of pictures or our home and home town. I guesss that it's not really a town. We have 80 000 people which does qualify us to be a city.The above picture is our wondeful home. We LOVE it. We've put a lot of work into the inside and it looks great and feels like home now. I just finished painting Nali's room and we've ordered carpet for her room and ours. When it's complete I'll post the pictures. We've become even more grateful for our home. We bought it for $155 000. By the time we moved in the housing market in Lethbridge was booming. Our home had appreciated aprox. $20 000 before we even moved in.

The "High Level Bridge" is the train bridge that connects the 2 coulee sides as well. It is just over 1 mile long. It was built 100 years ago. I believe it's 100 year aniversary is next year. It is the highest bridge of it's type in the world. It's beautiful to look at. The sun sets right behind it. There is also a golf course at the bottom of it. Trains still use it. When you're in the river bottom and you here a train coming you can run to the bridge and feel the vibrations on the beams. One of Sams hobbies is collecting old postcards of this bridge from ebay. We have several including the building of it.

This is the view of the river bottom that divides the west side of town from the south side. We love this area. It's refered to as the "coulees". This is where Sam and I do the majority of our biking. The beginning of our trail is about a 5 minute bike ride from our house. A few years ago there was a huge flood that washed out some of our trails. Sam and I feeling ambitious repaired our trails and even put in a new bridge. We've seen deer, rabbits, owls, beavers, snakes and fox's on our rides. It's great to have such a beautiful place so close.

This picture is of a storm we had about 2 months ago here. That odd spaceship shaped building is an old water tower that was in town. It was turned into a resturant about 2 years ago. It's very expensive but offers a great view. We've only ate there once and we all ordered appetizers.

Well here it is my first full entry enjoy!

We have a blog...now what?

Ok, so this will be a work in progress...we'll see what we can get done.