Christmas in Cochrane

We really enjoyed every minute we had in Cochrane, we had lots of hang out time, baked cookies, ate way too much, played games and just enjoyed one anothers company.

Here the girls are making gingerbread men!

Concentration

My beautiful 8 year old niece... sweetest girl on the planet and we are so sad we do not live closer! Danika and Emilie are such great friends and enjoyed EVERY moment together... we barely saw them!

Beautiful best friends

All the cousins together... such special memories!

Hubby and I in front of his childhood Christmas tree before the Christmas eve service

Me and my gals

Amy and Chris

Grandparents with their grand children

Putting out enough 'Reindeer food' for eight tiny reindeer on Christmas Eve

The girls put on the Nativity story for us. Danika was Mary, Emilie was Joseph and Adessa was a sheep. It was so cute!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Before opening presents, Emilie had a present for Jesus, since it is HIS birthday. She read us all the Christmas story and shared one of her devotionals... starting the morning out right!

After opening stockings we ate a huge breakfast... quite delicious! Right before getting so spoiled!!!

The weather in Calgary was exceptionally warm. We got out for lots of walks and were able to do a day of tobogganing, even though there wasn't a ton of snow!

Auntie Amy taking Adessa down the hill.. Adessa liked it more than Danika did!

The girls sporting their presents from their 2 aunties... 2 Little monsters a unicorn, and Toby (auntie sarahs dog)

We had such a wonderful time with the Fitzpatrick side of the family and made so many wonderful, special memories. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family and we look forward to the next time we are all together!

Banff Date Night

After a long day in the car, a lovely visit/dinner with the Carruthers, a fun time at the hotel with the swimming pool to ourselves, followed by a very unpleasant night with one little 2 year old who had the flu, another long day in the vehicle, much more pleasant with 2 year old zonked out by gravol, we finally arrived at our first destination... Cochrane. Where we spent a wonderful week visiting and celebrating Christmas together.

Steve and I were very blessed with a couple of dates. The first one was a date to the mall with no children! We ended up spending a lot of time in the giant Bass Pro Shop and played a few rounds at the shooting range. Followed by my wonderful husband spoiling me by following me into every single shoe shop in the entire Balzac mall on the hunt for the perfect pair of boots! After spoiling me once, he then took me to Banff for a night away with no children... and we sure did enjoy ourselves! I have wonderful in-laws and the girls had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

Eating Fondue at the Grizzly house with my best friend

I was pretty stoked about the chocolate fondue!

My new boots! Which I LOVE!

The cool hot tub underneath the hotel, it had a huge hole leading outside

The amazing Alberta sun sets... I sure have missed the endless blue sky, sunsets and mountains!

Leaving Banff... I had lots of fun with Steve's iphone and the program instagram... takes such neat photos! ... I also had an AMAZING time with my AMAZING, WONDERFUL husband. It was so nice to get away just the 2 of us and we felt very blessed to have that opportunity!

Ugly Christmas Sweater's

This holiday season, Steve and I attended 2 ugly Christmas sweater parties. The first one was with our life group and we got together for a little gift exchange (something you no longer want) and lots of sweet treats! As you can see by the amazing cake pops a friend made! Then last night we were invited to another party and we had lots of fun. The couple is a photographer and so we had fun taking a couple of funny pictures with my awesome sweater from the thrift store!

Feliz Navidad!

Last night was Danika's Christmas dance recital. She has been in Highland dancing for a couple of months now and they have been practicing for this night. The day was a bit of a whirlwind as she also had her school Christmas recital(pictures and video to come!), and in the flurry of getting out the door for dance I grabbed Danika's dance shoes... which ended up being one of Danika's and one of Adessa's! I felt horrible about it, but thankfully they were able to switch between dances! My girl looked so beautiful, and we were so proud of her! Even if the recital cost $30 to see and she only danced for 2 minutes!!! ;)

Danika's best buddies Sydney and Lize

All the costumes of the night (there were hundreds!) were made by the amazing mom and daughter team at the dance school

My little princess

Her first dance bun... and my first time! LOTS of gel, hairspray, a hairnet and bobby pins!

They weren't quite in step with one another....

Notice Danika's tongue... apparently it "helps to keep her balance!"

The girl on the left was the oldest and has been dancing the longest and the girls kept checking her out to see what she was doing! It was pretty cute!

Good job my little dancing princess, you looked so beautiful out there and we were so proud of you!

Family Photo Shoot

We finally got out to do some family photos with a good friend of mine. She is a very talented lady and you can find her work here. We planned it extremely last minute as we wanted pictures before Christmas, but the weather had been very wet, so when it became dry we took the opportunity to get outside. I really had wanted to plan some outfits and coordinate a bit better... but for on the fly they turned out wonderfully! Unfortunately as we were leaving out the door a friend called Steve with an emergency that she needed help with, so our photographer took the girls and I out, and then we met up with Steve later. By that time however the girls were completely frozen and were no longer wanting to smile!!!

Thanks Kimmy!!! I love them all!!!

SheBella Purse Party!

I have been planning my first little home party for a couple of weeks now, and I had so much fun with it! I attended a Shebella party a few weeks ago and loved the concept of it, so signed up for one in my own home. The concept behind this party is awesome, it is basically just a great excuse to get a bunch of ladies together for a night of fun. She brings a truck load of items (jewellery, scarfs, wallets and of course purses!) and sets up a store in your home. Then people come in and shop around, buy what they want and take it home with them. There is no ordering and no pressure, and no 'spiel' about it all. I really liked it! And I was so blessed as I received a bunch of free products for hosting the party!

My home-made bouquet from my back yard (cedar branches, holly, rosemary, and then bought the carnations!)

The little version

Jewellery and the punch, which was a great hit! Thanks mom!

Blurry photo.. but more jewellery and way to much food!!

The purses overtook the couch...

I am blessed by the wonderful friends in my life and loved having them all in my home! Sure missed my own mommy and sister there though!