packing....unpacking...packing again!

So that is how I have felt lately with our days. Packing...unpacking...packing again. At least this next trip Blake and I get to go together! Between Blake and I going to Chile, Canada, Carmel and now Park City in the last 2 1/2 weeks, it has been quite a busy new year already. We are looking forward to some wonderful family time with Blake's parents and brother and hopefully we will get in some wonderful skiing. Have a good weekend!!

Freezing cold Canada

Aubrey Rose and I were blessed by another trip to Canada. Yes, Aubrey is 10 months old and she has experienced Hawaii already, Canada twice and so many places in between. My grandfather passed away after living a wonderful life following Christ. So it was time for another sweet visit. Here are some of our memories as well as the beautiful scenery Canada in the snow has to offer....and by the way, I DO NOT need to go back any time soon to that weather. It was absolutely ridiculous!! It was beyond FREEZING!!!

Below is my mom's house that she grew up in. There were 7 kids in her family!! My parents shared their first kiss on this driveway as my dad was taking her home after their date.



This is my dad's house that he grew up in on Irvine Road. I have heard many, many wonderful stories from this house, this barn and this street. Thanks Dad for sharing!


Beautiful view at Niagara on the Lake!



Below is my dad's elementary school. So cute!! It is now a personal residence but I LOVE how the people have kept the sign on the outside that reads McNab Public School. I have heard awesome stories from this school as well!

Here is McNab Church which was just down the street from where my parents grew up. Beautiful church!




Here is my dad's side of the family. There were 6 siblings in the family and this is most of the family members from all six of them.


This is how bundled up poor Aubrey Rose had to get everytime we stepped foot outside. I thought she smiled for every picture until she was wearing this! She hated that thing!! For some reason no matter what I did, I just could not get a picture of her smiling in this bunting bag. Yeah, why do they call it a bunting bag anyway???!!!


Some of my cousins and Aubrey Rose

My dad and Aubrey Rose

Chelsey (my cousin) and Aubrey Rose have such a special bond. I LOOOOOOVE seeing them together. Chelsey gets the giggles around her and Aubrey just loves to do just about anything with her.


More cousins...

My sweet Aubrey Rose and adorable cousin Emily

Uncle Dave is so cute with all the kiddos! Thanks Uncle Dave for being so sweet to our little girl too!

At my cousin Vittoria and her husband Troy's home in Burlington. Her kids, Holden and Ava, were sooooo sweet to Aubrey Rose. Aubrey loved being with you guys! And we sure did too!!

My mom, Aubrey, Vittoria and Ava

Chelsey and I on the last day before she left for Fresno.

Until we see you cousins again!! We had a wonderful time together!

Oma with Aubrey Rose. This is my mom's mom. Oma loved to be with Aubrey. And Aubrey loved playing in Oma's apartment. She loved opening her cupboards, baking buns with her, pulling the phone cord and even eating her toys that Oma had for her. Thank you Oma for being so sweet not only to us, but to Aubrey Rose as well!

Andrei and Samantha's wedding!

Blake's cousin, Samantha, got married this past Saturday night. She married the sweetest Romanian guy! The wedding was absolutely beautiful in this adorable chapel in Bass Lake, which is about an hour from us up in the mountains. Congratulations to Andrei and Samantha!

Blake's cousin Courtney Copeland and her boyfriend Andy. He fit in perfect with the family! It was fun getting to know him.

Blake's cousin Katie and her husband Rob. They have become such dear, dear friends to us. We are so thankful for you two!

Another cousin of Blake's, Jessica and her boyfriend Andrew. He tore it up at the dart board later in the evening too.

Katie and Jess shared a great toast at the reception. Little emotional and so funny...perfect combination for a wedding toast.

Adorable sisters....here is Courtney and Carrie. The three of us played on the tennis team together in high school. Little did I know then that we would be family later on. It is so fun being related to friends. Love you girls!

Aubrey Rose dancing with Mimi! It was such a cute moment, I had to get a picture of it. Now looking at the picture today, I sure hope Aubrey does not dance on the tables often as she gets older. Aubrey, if you are with Mimi, that is okay, but don't get crazy girlie!

This is Mr. and Mrs. Sava just before they left their beautiful reception.

We got to spend the night at the cabins in Bass Lake. Bill and Linda were so sweet to take Aubrey Rose home, while we stayed and had a some more fun times with cousins. We played darts until we closed the place down that night. Thanks boys for teaching Katie and I how to beat you!!

Above, we made the boys take a picture showing our scores of both of us beating the guys. We wanted to at least be able to prove that we were BOTH beating BOTH of them. Little did we know that Katie was going to take #1 on our first game and I didn't come in too far behind in at #2. Yeah here is a picture of Rob and Blake sulking in their loss. Blake is that your best depressed look? Two girls just beat you!! Good times!!

More memories....the entertainment for the night, well besides excellent dart playing, was this girl and her dance moves and then her "date" for the night. We love your expression Rob! Priceless!

Cheers to 2009!!

We were so blessed to celebrate New Years in Huntington again this year. We stayed with Blake's cousins, Rob and Katie, while Garrett and Ashley hosted the fun at a cabin just down the way from Rob and Katie's. It was such a joy to be together with friends. Thanks Rob and Katie for letting us stay at your wonderful and comfy cabin. It was a home away from home! We can't get enough of you two! Thanks so much for all you did! And thanks to Garrett and Ashley as well! You guys know how to throw a party. Delicious food...and plenty of it that is for sure! Wonderful friend time, lots of laughter, games, cold snow, but warm sun at the same time...it was just perfect. It was fun to come back down the mountain and pick up Aubrey at my parents house. She is definitely getting to the age that she knows who we are and gets so excited when she sees us. There is nothing like it!! We are so looking forward to this new year. Cheers to 2009!






On New Years Day some of the guys went up the mountain and skiied. We joined them for lunch and even got to watch some of the kiddos ski on the bunny hill. It was so precious! Makes us look forward to those kind of memories with Aubrey!

Sweet cousin time!

The other night we shared some sweet family time with some of our extended family (on my side) at my parents house. My cousin, Jon and his wife Andrea, bought the cutest thing for Aubrey Rose. They had matching sleepers personalized for Aubrey and their little boy Christopher Daniel, who was born 10 days before Aubrey Rose. It was so cute watching them crawl around and play together dressed in their blue and pink. So cute!!! Thank you sooooooooo much Jon and Andrea! We love our new sleeper and the memories are so precious to us. Thank you!

Wonderful holiday memories!

Festivities began on Christmas Eve EVE...that is what we call it. :-) It was our 2nd Annual Cousin party and this year Blake and I hosted it. The evening was such a blast! We did a $20 gift exchange, ate and drank till we were over full, and the highlight of the night was playing a game of left, right, center. Bradley (Blake's brother) won the pot at the end of the game. As you can tell in the picture, Blake thought he deserved it too since it was his own cash that got Brad into the game. Good thing Blake is such a nice brother. We were glad Bradley won. He deserved it! Good times and good memories!

This Christmas season was so much fun with a little girl to share it with. Blake, Aubrey Rose and I were quite busy going from home to home or party to party, but all of it was so worth it! Here are a few pictures of our memories.
Christmas Eve we celebrated with my side of the family. We had a wonderful time laughing, sharing, eating dinner, opening gifts and being completely entertained by Aubrey Rose. Oh, and we were busy trying to teach Aubrey how to walk!! I know I will probably regret that later on when she is running everywhere, but right now it is pretty fun to watch her take steps on her own.







Then, for Christmas morning we started with breakfast at my parents for a quick hour or so before we headed to Bill and Linda's to celebrate. Bradley, Blair, Blake's parents and the three of us celebrated and opened gifts and then shortly after, Linda's parents arrived along with her brother, Uncle Gary for more presents and an EXCELLENT lunch that Bill and Linda prepared perfectly. It was delicious!
Here is a picture after breakfast at my parents. We were done with breakfast and out the door to the next family time by at 9am.


And now at Bill and Linda's:










Then, we actually got to go home for two hours while Aubrey got to sleep. That worked out well and prepped her for the evening festivities. We went to Uncle Bob's by about 4:30. We had an excellent dinner of pretty much anything and everything you could think of. It was absolutely marvelous and so delicious! Thank you to Uncle Bob and everyone else who participated. We had a wonderful time catching up, meeting new additions to the family (whether they were babies or new boyfriends...we loved them all!), laughing, eating, more eating, taking pictures and making more family memories. It was a wonderful evening. In Blake's extended side of the family most of the cousins are all similar age as us, so it is always a joy to be with them and be enjoying the similar seasons in life together. After dinner we went to Aunt Carol's house with all the cousins and played games and talked some more. Thanks for another wonderful time to together!