Big Hill Spring Trail!

If you asked me what I love the most about living in Calgary it would have to be the fact we are only 20 minutes away from hiking trails and places to explore in nature. Is it cold sometimes Yes but that's what they invented hats and gloves for.
Our best friends the Browns came down for the weekend to hang out at get back to nature with us and we had a blast. Liam is the only boy in the family and so when the Brown boys are here he thinks he's died and gone to heaven. Boy heaven that is! There wasn't to mnay pictures of the boys because they were off doing there own exploring. One of the things I love about the brown boys is they never leave a man behind. They stuck together and kept watch over each other and I never had to worry about them. Big Hill Spring is in Airdrie and the best part about it is you can't get lost up there. The paths go in a big loop so you always end up in the parking lot. We know we wouldn't lose anyone.

Brinley loves to be in her backpack with her Dad. She's warm and can see everything around her. What a life huh?

We really enjoy Jamie and Tracy's company. I've know Tracy since I was 17 and best friend doesn't even begin to start covering what she means to me. No one knows me better and loves me regardless. Jaime is also a great friend and I'm so glad my hubby enjoys them as much as I do.

Here are our great warriors ridding the world of anything dangerous except themselves.

Bailey was so thrilled to be out in the snow. It's her favorite place to be. We love having our furry friend to come hiking with us. She makes the day even more enjoyable. I wish I had her energy though. She is a true golden retriever in the fact that she never gets tired.

Stefan and Kelsey have decided that being good pals is way more fun than fighting all the time. They had a great time together exploring every stick and tree they could find. It was pretty stinkin' cute!

I just love this shot of Brinley. She is the cutest baby EVER! I know you all think your babies are the cutest but really I would have to argue with ya. She takes the cake in my opinion! lol

After our adventure we were ready to climb back in the van and start back home. We were tired and little sore from slipping on the ice a few times and ready to end our day with a great meal and more good memories.

Our Beautiful Ballerina!!

We decided to put Kelsey in dance this year. She is a very expressive little girl with ALOT of energy. The class she took was called "Happy Feet" It's a combination of Tap and Ballet.
This little girl might be built to look like a ballerina but let me tell you she is not a dainty little flower that is happy to stand at the bar and practise her positions. We had a parent viewing night and it was very apparent that next year she needs something a little more up beat.

She was however very fun to watch as she made up her own dance moves and walked to the beat of her own drum. She's alot like her mom that way. I didn't last long in Ballet either. The tap was better but she needs to be able to express herself in a different way.

There really is nothing cuter than a room full of little girls in pink though. The were really fun and Kelsey has learned to take better direction from a teacher and that was really what I wanted for her this year. Her recital is comming up soon and we look forward to seeing her own the stage.

I just realized this picture is in twice but really is it a hardship to look at it again. Our little angel girl all decked out in her recital costume. I love how grown up she's getting but I wish it would slow down just a little bit. Dance like no one's watching Kelsey even though I know you prefer an audience!!

My Karate Kid!

eeeeeyyyyyaahhhhh!!!

The next best thing about being 8 around here is now Liam can take Karate with Bro. Johns at the church.

Bro. Johns has been a Karate instructor for years and now dedicates his time to teaching at the church for anyone who wants to learn. The only condition is they have to be 8 yrs old. Liam has waited 3 years for this and now he is active member of that group.
He LOVES it!! He is alot like his mom in the way that I have minimum athletic abilities. Liam enjoys more of the individual sports like Karate and skiing and so forth. He's doing very well in his class and since starting in January has now moved up a belt to Yellow! We are very proud and are so glad he found something he can do that he is excelling in.

I can sleep a little sounder with my little ninja around to protect me. Maybe!

Daddy Daughter Moments

I love to see little moments like these throught the days. Patrick decided that he would take some time and paint Kelsey's nails. She loves to have her nails done and so he decided to take a crack at it. If you've never painted a 4 yr olds fingers you should know it takes a whole lot of patience to try to get paint of those tiny little nails on a girl who NEVER sits still.
You can't really see the color but she was over the moon with her nails and especially that her daddy did them. Thanks hunny for being such a great girl dad!

Cub Scout Liam.

Well the big day finally arrived when Liam could be a Cub Scout. He has watched his Dad atended Scouts for years and has always wanted to be a part of it and now he can.

We attended the Baden Powell Banquet to watch him be sworn in and he was grinning from Ear to Ear. He was so excited to be a part of something with all boys in it. He also now attends a primary class of all boys and to Liam that is amazing. He has NEVER had a primary class with boys in it. Only girls so now he actually enjoys going to church. PHEW that only took 8 years.
Here are my men in uniform. Hey I'll take what I can get. This was a great moment for both of my boys and they look so cute in there matching duds! It's a shame Patrick got released from scouts just shortly afterwards but I have no fear he'll be back sooner than later.

His great-grandfather would've been so proud. My grandfather who I never got the chance to know was a HUGE scouter and now his legacy is being passed on.

Here's to lots of badge of work and camping with Dad to acheive them.

Liams Baptism!!!

It's hard for me to belive that my baby has turned 8 and is now old enough to start thinking about his salvation. I joined the church when I was 16 so I had a few more years to get into trouble and develop a conscience. Here is my baby boy taking his turn in the waters if Baptism. We were so proud of him this day.

I know it was also a very proud moment for Patrick as well. He joined the church when he was 17 and has waited a long time to be able to baptise his own children and now it's started.

Kelsey was sooo excited as well. She may not always show her big brother how much she loves him but she really does and looks to him for an example.

The Relief Society room was packed with friends and family from all over. We have been very blessed to know such wonderful people in our lives and were so grateful that they all took the time to show Liam how much he is loved.

Me and my girls, life doesn't get any better than this!

We were so happy to have Nana with us this weekend. She was the only family to come and she even gave the talk on Baptism. It was wonderful. The spirit was overwhelming that day and I'm so touched by the love felt by all who attended. The Bishop gave an amazing welcome to the ward for Liam and told him what a wonderful spirit he was. He talked about his interview with Liam prior to the Baptism and how afterwards he felt so close to Heaven just speaking with Liam and that that didn't happen in most interviews. He spoke of his love for him and we knew that he was sincere as we watched the tears flow from his eyes as he spoke. I truly feel the love of my Heavenly Father when I think back on this day and know that he watched overs us each and every day. I can't wait for the next milestones so we can feel that overwhelming love again.

Sleeping Beauty!

I love to take pictures of my kids sleeping and this was no different. Brinley is a pretty good sleeper and she will quite often doze on the couch after her evening bottle until I can get her into bed.

I never had the opportunity of nursing Brinley and so when I used to bottle feed her I always had a receiving blanket up along her face to catch the drips and give her something to snuggle. She still sleeps with her blanket and snuggles it even when she's awake. She's such a little doll and it makes me sad that she won't stay like this for very long.

Meet My Mr. Wonderful!!

This is my always mature soon to be 38yr old husband and father of 3!

He is what you would call a giant kid. What we love about Dad is his endless amount of silly faces.

Kelsey is alot like her father and can keep up pretty good with him but she will learn much from the master.

I'm not even sure there was a reason for this face someone just pointed the camera at him and this is what he did. Mr. Serious!
Not sure if you can tell what it is he is holding but it actually a nose hair trimmer. Every man will need one a some point in their lives and I dedciced this Christmas Patrick needed one. This is what he thought about it.
I can't help but laugh when I look at that picture. It cracks me up!

I think this was his version of what Kelsey looked like when she first opened her gift. It's pretty darn close.

I love to load him up with chocolate at the holidays and he LOVES his dairy milk. That is an actual chocolate bar he is holding it was MASSIVE! So was his expression.

If there's one thing I can say about this house is there is always laughter comming from the walls and Daddy is usually the one trying to bring it about.

We love you baby!!

Preschool Christmas Concert!

This year's preschool concert was just as wonderful as last years. They sang, they rang there jingle bells and they showed us yet again how fun it is to be 4 years old.

Kelsey as usual was dressed as festivly as possible and was (in my mind) the star of the show. Well at least everyone knew she was there. She sang the loudest (when she wanted to sing) she stood out in the crowd (when she stood up when everyone else was sitting) and she made us laugh with her charm and cuteness!
She is truly a Diva in the making! I wonder where she gets that from?

She has the most amazing personality wrapped up in such a tiny little body. She knows she's charming too that's part of her problem somedays. I can't wait to see what the years ahead hold for her and see the amazing women she will one day become.

Let's just say the june dance recital will be interesting!

Family Home Evening!

Last year we decided as a family that we would put a better effort into having regular Family Home Evenings and it's become a bit of an obsession with us. Nothing gets in the way of FHE now. It's been a year and a half and we've never missed a week. We love how it gives us time together to talk about the gospel and helps us as parents to give our kids a better understanding of why we live the way we do. We are unusal people in the eyes of the world but we love how we stand out in a world that can be often hard and difficult to live in.

Somthing we started this year was reading the Book Of Mormon reader to the kids. Kelsey is still a little young to understand the scriptures but she is not to young to hear the stories from the BOM. They enjoy listening to their Dad tell them the stories and add his knowledge to an already exciting tale. I love to listen too and learn from what Patrick knows that I don't yet. I decided to really take the time to STUDY the scriptures this year so I can add more to our story time in the future.

We may not be perfect parents yet but at least we do have our perfect FHE record thus far. I look forward to feeling the spirit each week and know that if we continue to be faithful our family will be blessed beyond measure for our diligence.

Not So Little Anymore!

I know the last time I posted pictures of Brinley she was only a coule of months old where here she is now!

As you can see she is on the move so she must have been about 6 months old. (nice mom can't even remember how old the picture is) She has been trying to be mobile since she was born and so it was a great day for her to finally be able to motor around. It's helped that she has always liked to be on her tummy.
Can you see the twinkle of trouble in her eye's. She's like that ALL THE TIME! She gets into everything all day long and it keeps us on our toes. In fact as I type this she has destroyed my file box beside me and escaped up the stairs to see what's going on up there. Welcome to my life.
It's a good thing she's the cutest baby EVER or I might have to put her on Kajiji. lol

A 4 Month Follow-up

I was wondering when the last time I posted a blog post and was not suprised that is was back in September. Alot has happened since then and you probably didn't need to hear the thoughts going on in my head.

I was diagnosed in september with Clinical Depression brought on by post-pardum. Now I have had PPD before when I had Liam 8 yrs ago but it was mostly due to lack of sleep. I didn't sleep for the first 8 months of Liams life and it took a toll on me. No biggie though I took meds for a couple of months, taught Liam to sleep through the night and I was fine. This time is nothing like last time. I started to get really angry with the people around me and it didn't seem who or what they were doing mattered it just all made me MAD! My baby (Brinley) was the least of my problems. She was the only one who didn't make me upset but the other two mastered it in no time. I was a horrible mom and I didn't know what to do. Finally I had my meltdown one wednesday during the kid's dance classes. I was so upset for no reason and I had to fight the urge to run people down in the parking lots. I'm not exagerating either. I cam home sent the kids downstairs, put the baby in the bathtub and sat on the bathroom floor and cried until I could compose myself enough to call Tracy and melt down again. Tracy has walked in my shoes and knows me better then anyone so she wasn't surprised at all, I think she'd been waiting for the call for awhile and knew it was only a matter of time.

I called my OB right away the next morning and they directed me to a mental health unti here in the city. I told them I needed help ASAP and they sent over a distress team that day to talk to me and give me a few options. I then headed to my family DR and he prescribed some anti-depressants to try and help me get control. They made the anger go away but they also made me soooo tired. The whole house fell apart. I stop cleaning, cooking and taking care of myself completly. So I went back to the DR and he gave me something else to try. They worked MUCH better. I still had bad days but they were getting less and less. I was then sent to the Foothills Hospital to see a specialist at the post pardum clinc there. She upped up my meds and now I feel much better I still have my moments but they are very few. Now the only reason I am tired is because Brinley like to teeth and keep me awake at night.

It's nice to feel more like myself but I still struggle to be the happy person I once was. She pop's her head out once and awhile but it's along process to feel like I'm me again. I feel tremendous guilt for what I have inflicted my family with but I can't change the past. Kelsey really took the brunt of it because she was home with me everyday. She also knows how to push my buttons best. It's her gift. I feel like have so much to make up to her for what we went through. Patrick was supportive but really there's not much he could do. I have to say though when I let the house go he said NOTHING! Smart man I probably would have set fire to him or the house, but it wasnt' necessary. He's glad to have his wife back but she still needs work.

I have definalty questioned my abilitys as a mom but I tell myself that I am only humand and there's a reason why I'm going through this. I haven't figured it out yet but I'm working on it. I think the biggest thing that allows me to keep moving is having an amazing support group of women who understand what I'm feeling. I just with they lived closer. There were some peole who just stayed away. They didn't know what to say or do so they were always awkward with me. I'm not sure what I would tell someone now on how to cope with a person who is struggling with PPD but I would tell them to treat them like a normal person and allow them the time to find out where the problem may lie.

Rib Mania!!

Liam loves meat!!!! and now I have the pictures to prove it.

I'm not bragging but I do make really yummy ribs and Liam loves to dig into a plate of these. This paticular night he went to town on his dinner. The kids are usually light eaters but recently Liam has really discovered the joy of eating. He's a pretty skinny kid so he can use the extra protein.

As you can tell by his plate the meal was a hit and the ribs were his favorite part. (7 or 8 in total). He got so involved while eating that when he was handling th slippery bone it popped out of his hand and somehow he managed to wear it. Thank goodness he was shirtless. If your wondering what that circle on his chest is it's a tattoo that wouldn't wear off but we managed to finally get it off with some elbow grease.

Our Princesses in the Making!! This sweet dress was given to the girls when Kelsey was just a baby and now Brinley fit's it. (thank you aunty tina ). She is sooo adorable in it and Kelsey was excited to share it and get dressed up fancy for church as well.

They were both so beautiful this paticular sunday morning that I couldn't not take a few pictures. I know I have the same picture on twice but it really was the best smile EVER!

I don't have any sisters to bond with this way so I'm a little out of my element some days with these two but so far they adore one another and I just hope most days they stay that way.

Bumbo Baby!

As you can tell we get lots of use out of our Bumbo Baby seat. Brinley loves to be sitting up, she always has.

Yes that's right she is up on the kitchen counter her favorite spot to be. She can see everyone and be apart of whatever's going on this room. If she's awake and I'm doing anything in the kitchen she's always right there with me. She quite often has a sibling up on the counter with her too. Sometimes the island is better then she can be on the top and the others are on there stools.

She really is to cute for words. At least that's her mothers opinion and I would love to hear anyone question me.