Trip to Canada with just us 3

Tending to a greater cause:

This year is the first year we will not be spending Christmas with my family. It's a pure bummer. Earlier this year were thinking that Josh had to work this Christmas, so we told mom and dad we wouldn't be coming up , so they planned a trip to see my sister Stacy's in Virgina, since she hasn't been able to come for Christmas in a while. I am really pretty sad that I can't be with my whole family, because we are so close and just have a blast during the Christmas season together. But to make the best out of the whole situation, I am also kind of excited about the fact that we get to have Christmas just with our little family for the first time. I am especially excited to see James' expressions and reactions to all that Christmas brings. So, I went to Canada for most of November so I could get a dose of my family. I ended up staying with my youngest sister, Amber.

Poor girl, she had just had little Channing about a month ago and she was experiencing Gull Stone Attacks, so we dropped everything at moms house and drove up to Calgary to be with her. To make a long story short, she had to wait in the hospital for 4 days until she finally got her gull bladder removed. So I was basically with my babies at her house just hanging out by myself. It had snowed a ton , stormed and the roads were awful so they thought it best if I just stay at Amber's house.

Meeting Cousin, Channing:

Rachel loved meeting his favorite boy cousin, Channing Michael. They even held hands the first time they laid by each other. They are so dang cute. He is 2 months younger than Rachel, but he is a growing boy and has always been so long. They are pretty much the same size, it s crazy. I am excited that Amby had a little one so that they can grow to be best cousins. I am so proud of Amber for being such a good mommy. She cares so much for her little guy and has seemed to take on all of these challenges getting pregnant and then having even worst pain with the gull stones than labor. She is one tough cookie. She never complained once, but I could just tell she was in pain. I honestly had a pleasure taking care of her and Channing when she came home from the hospital. I was able to clean, do their laundry, make meals and take care of my kids and help with Channing. I am glad it worked out this way, so that she had someone their to help her out. I really feel like I got a lot closer to her husband Brad too. I just love that Holt family so much.

Craft Sales:

While I was in Canada I was also able to do 2 craft shows. It was so much fun. I just love crafting so much and creating. And Canada doesn't have a lot of the baby things Utah does right now, so the week before I left Canada, I spent endless hours sewing all these things. I had a blast doing it, but I was sleep deprived. Yet the end products were awesome.

I had my little model all decked out in everything I made. I ended up keeping her with me the whole time, because it was so much more convenient and she is just a good baby.I actually ended up selling a lot of the things she was wearing because she looked so dang cute. She was my greatest advertisement and everyone gaga and gooed over her.

I was kind of disappointed at the turn out of people. There were barely any people who came to either craft shows. I don't know if it was because of the cold weather, the lack of advertisements, the area or the fact that there were other craft sales going on at the same time. For the amount of people who showed up, I did pretty good, but most of my buyers where other vendors. I also had a few items made from some friends, so we had a ton of variety to sell. I know I had good stuff because so many people ranted and raved about it and I was even asked to go to some other craft sales to be a vendor.

I know I will do one again, it was way to fun not to. I loved the reactions from different people and I just enjoyed how many people you meet and when you sell something it is like a great feeling of accomplishment.

James Celebrates a second time:

Grandma was so awesome to throw James another birthday party for him, so my side of the family could celebrate. James love his grandma so much, he spent tons of time with her on the weekends. Grandma is so entertaining and fun and she totally spoiled him with toys to keep him busy while he was there. James got a yummy cars ice-cream cake and he let you know he liked it by tasting a bunch of the icing before everyone else got a slice. Then he ate his piece with his jungle animals. Grandma and Grandpa got him a good looking winter coat, a beanie and gloves. Amber got him Chuck the truck that talks and does tricks. Brad got him his favorite book, it has Buzz and a lot of other Disney characters he loves. That was something we read many times a day while staying in doors so much. Thanks everyone for another magical night for James' second birthday. And mom, I loved the decorations and cake- you rock! Thanks for making James feel so loved and special! It was super cold there, but the first day it rained, James was so excited. He wanted to walk out in his bare feet. We were all sick with a runny nose and sore throat so I brought the snow to him in warm surroundings. I piled a few buckets full of snow and filled bags with it, then he played with the snow in the tub. I then filled the tub with warm water and brought in some more, he played for probably an hour with it. I made lots of trips back and forth, but it was so worth.

Daddy we miss you:

It got to the point where we really needed our daddy. We were without him for almost 3 weeks, because he had to go to school. He finally joined us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He sacrificed driving in terrible weather at about 10 miles per hour just to see is sooner. Poor guy, they closed off I15 because of the severe storm and he had to wait another night. But he made it 16 hours later all in one piece. We made his arrival kind of a big deal.

When daddy joined us, we even had a better time. Daddy always makes it more fun. We love our daddy and we hate not being with him everyday. Daddy missed his little munchkins so much and man, did he ever miss me.