Vermilion, Alberta

A lot of this post may bore many of you. But I wanted to post this for our memories, and so those who lived here can see the photos. Michael did most of his growing up in Vermilion, Alberta(2 hours east of Edmonton). He moved there in grade 4 and his family moved down to Lethbridge when he was 26. For the past 6 years I have heard many memories and stories that took place in this town and always wished I could go, but since no family lived there anymore, we really didn't have a reason to go. This weekend we were up visiting friends and family in Edmonton, and we were planning to head home Sunday afternoon, and while in church Michael brought up the idea of taking a trip to Vermilion-one last time. This trip would add an extra 3 hours onto our already 5 hours back home, but since he is off work right now, we decided to just go ahead and make the trip! It was awesome to finally know what Vermilion is like. Michael really enjoyed being able to drive around and take some photos.

 Here we are halfway in Vegreville, seeing the worlds largest Pysanka!

 Lakeland College where Michael's Dad worked

 The soccer fields they had practices on.

 Vermilion LDS church

 Your one stop shop for Mother's Day gifts.

 Michaels friends parents owned this and they lived in it.

 The Mendenhalls old home. There used to be a tree, but it fell over once.

 J.R. Robson High School

 Michaels elementary school

 Elementary School park.

The home they first lived when they first moved to Vermilion. 

sushi and mystery ice cream

Tonight we went for all-you-can-eat sushi with Nikki, Jake, and Jessica. We always try to go with a group of people so we can have a little of everything so I had been waiting since January to go... and let me tell you, it was worth the wait. We ate a lot and we weren't sure on what to have for dessert so the guy that runs the place said he could bring us a scoop of each flavor of ice cream they have. We had vanilla, coconut(my favorite), strawberry, red bean(actually pretty good, as long as you don't get a whole bean*insert jake and nikki shuddering*), mango, green tea, two mystery flavors, and lastly- SESAME. That's right. It was terrible. We weren't sure what all the flavors were when we got them so we all dug in. The reactions from everyone were pretty funny. For the sesame ice cream(that top blue one) I thought seaweed salad flavor and Michael guessed dirt. I think we will all be passing next time we are offered sesame ice cream.

expired film

Michael has had a hobby in film photography for a couple years now and is always wanting to take photos. Last week we had a beautiful day out, and decided to go take a few shots with some old expired film (like film his grandma owned but never used) and an expired roll my dad gave to him,  proabably purchased at Walmart. So here are a couple shots we got. A lot of them didn't turn out because of the low quality of film but here were a few that did. Also remember, I am NOT a model at all. I don't know what I am doing. In fact I usually feel I look SO awkward when I see myself in any type of "pose".

Ty is still doing awesome with sleeping through the night. Also, since my last post he has started singing. If we have the radio on in the car he sings... sometimes when he plays the piano he sings along with it... and if we are ever singing, he joins in. It's the sweetest sound ever... so angelic.. his little "ahhh". We aren't up to much around here. Mostly housebound with Michael not able to go very far. We found out today he won't be getting surgery but will be off work for at least another month. If he goes back in 4 weeks, that will have been nearly 7 weeks off work due to this injury! I think he is going a bit crazy with boredom, so we are trying to think of something to do for the next 4 weeks... any ideas?

 Ty being so cute at home in his diaper.

Ty this morning at the hospital waiting to see the surgeon. We left really early so he was still in his PJ's.



Remember our New Years Resolution? Well we reached our goal for February, but got soo busy after that, that we totally forgot about it. Oops!

progress

This week Ty has made some great progress. For the past week he has been sleeping 10-12 hours at a time each night. It's been so wonderful to not get up after all these months of waiting patiently... 9 1/2 months to be exact!! He also learned to clap and does it all the time now. He will even clap when we tell him to. I put my keyboard on the floor and Ty loves to clap after he plays something. It's so cute!!!!! Check out the video. He is clapping at the very beginning. Also, you will see him dancing during the song on the keyboard. Ty has also learned this week to wave bye bye. He only does it with his left and it's so cute!! One more thing Ty learned to do this week is bounce when we say "jump". This past week has been a really fun one for Michael and I.

Update: Michael most likely won't be getting surgery but the surgeon said he will probably cast Michaels leg.

an injury

First off, I'll leave you with a couple photos Michael took with one of his film cameras.

 This one is of Ty and I one Saturday morning just after we woke up.

Look at those juicy lips on my little boy!! This was taken at my niece Madisons 1st birthday party.

We just found out Becky and Brent are expecting their second child, due October 31. I'm LOVING all these babies in my life.

 Heres our family just hanging out at home. Ty busy playing with some books, me reading/relaxing, and Michael probably looking at something to do with photography.

Michael went to play church Basketball Tuesday night, and has been going once a week for probably over two months now, but after about 10 minutes into his game, he walked in the front door limping. He made a shot on the court and was going to go for the rebound but someone else got it, and he planted his foot and turned off to go, and he heard and felt a POP in his ankle/leg! He could put no weight on it, and headed home. Shortly after getting home he was in SO much pain. It was 11pm and we decided to take him to emergency so we called my Mom to come watch Ty, and headed. The wait in emergency was about 6 hours and nothing was moving along, and the pain had started to subside if he wasn't using his leg, so we came home. The next day we went to the doctors and he said Michael should get an ultrasound. We called and they wouldn't be able to get us in until April 26, so we went on a waiting list. Friday they called and said they could squeeze him in that morning. He had the ultrasound and they said it was a severe partial tear of the achilles and would need to see a surgeon as soon as possible. So we went to the doctor to get a referral and he said Michael won't be able to go to work for at least 2 weeks and he prescribed an aircast. So hopefully we will see the surgeon early this coming week to see if Michael will need surgery at all, and if not, hopefully we can get a better idea of how long this healing process will be. Michael is kind of sad about not being able to play on a soccer team this summer that he had planned to. We are just praying that he will be able to heal well enough to play sports again. So at least the next two weeks will consist of lots of time with my two favorite guys. I'm definitely looking forward to the time together with our little family.

I'm sure there will be lots more photos like this to come.

Friends that became Family

Michael and I are SO lucky to have such good friends!! Our late night bachelor fixes, game nights, dinners, Family Home Evening, group chats with videos. Discussions of marriage, babies, school, bachelor, friends, church, family and bachelor. I am always laughing with these people! These girls and I were best friends in high school and it's so nice to still continue that friendship and all the additions (the men) have just made the friendships even better!

I LOVE these girls! 

Me and my man! I love this guy so freaking much!

9 months

I haven't blogged in quite a while. I feel like I am just so busy these days. I can't even believe how busy Ty keeps me. He is learning so quickly. To give you an idea, Ty started crawling at 6 1/2 months and by 7 months he was already pulling himself to standing along furniture. He is now walking along furniture and loves to climb the stairs (since 7 months old). And he is getting good at both. Here are some photos of another one of Ty's favorite things:

As long as he doesn't have a sleeper on and his feet are free, he climbs up the couch and looks out the window. We were at a friends earlier this week and their leather couch was shaped different than ours and Ty climbed the couch, and was STANDING on it, with his hands on the window.

Tomorrow he will be 9 months... Last night Michael and I went to go look at Ty before we went to bed and he didn't have his blanket on him and he looked like a huge kid! Not at all like a baby anymore. I couldn't believe how huge he looked. It made me a bit sad that these past 9 months have gone by so quickly, but I really feel I have enjoyed Ty as much as I wanted to. I miss baby Ty, but I took lots of photos and video, and tried to really soak up my baby. He has been so much fun lately. I love this age he is at.

 Lately Ty:

- loves to be roughed around. It's the funniest thing. I can't imagine what that will be like in a few years... 

-LOVES peas, carrots, sweet potatos, banana, green beans, corn, and any baby food with meat in it. I make all of his baby food besides the meat ones.

-is really good at eating finger snacks... cheerios, flavored puffs??, dried apples.

-loves to be around other babies and kids. He gets really excited to have other kids around and he just wants to touch their faces and crawl on them like he does me.

-just got his top left tooth(march 13), and the week previous was a stressful and tough week with him. And today March 15th I noticed his top right toothe came through. He is getting his bottom right one, but I think the painful part is over... for now. So that makes 4 teeth until this bottom one comes through.

-Ty loves to sit in the grocery carts. It's probably because it was something new for him.

-he is FINALLY sitting. Okay it's been a few weeks, but man, it's great to finally have him sitting.
-still gets up 2-3 times a night. He regressed and I think it was because of his teething.
-loves to look out the window... especially when the garbage truck comes

Las Vegas 2012

We had an AMAZING trip! It was so great to just be able to spend time with one another. We sure missed Ty but I realized afterwards, our conversation wasn't all about Ty, like it sometimes is at home. Instead we talked about so many things, and had so much fun together. After we got home last night we couldn't stop talking about what a fun time we had! We will definitely be going on another trip someday!! So we took a million photos, and I honestly picked out the best ones and still was left with a ton.. I'll try to go through our trip with the photos.

I have had such a hard time with the captions with the photos so please excuse the spacing and sizing... All the captions are under the photo they go with!

Our first morning.. we ate breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe. I especially loved the fish tanks!! So tropical.

A lot of our photos are of just us with something in the background. 

We went to a 3-D movie at M&M world.. not that great.

Shopping for sunglasses because it was SO sunny out.

Our new shades!

Pretty curtain things.

We were recommended this Indian restaurant OFF the strip and off the strip it was.. 45 minutes of walking on our already aching feet. By the time we got there we could go no further. Luckily we were able to take a bus back. We go to the restaurant with 10 minutes left of the buffet and how could we not eat it when we had walked so far? So we filled up our plates... plates being plural for each of us... Next time we will check how far our destination actually is.

I REALLY wanted to go on the roller coaster on the stratosphere... It was kind of what I asked for for my birthday. We wanted to go see the flamingos at the Flamingo hotel and got there and were looking everywhere for them, and somehow ended up on the top floor of the hotel(which is only about 15 floors high), and the window was from the floor to the roof, and I was almost crawling on the floor when I got close to the window. I was kind of freaking out... then Michael asked me if I still wanted to go on the roller coaster and I said no. AS IF I thought I would have been able to do it. I was probably only half as high as the roller coaster would have been.

Pretty falls near the flamingos. 

Waiting for the Treasure Island outdoor show to start. 

A Statue of Liberty made of Jelly Bellys. The Mendenhalls always have lots for Christmas so I thought they might enjoy this!!

At the Shark Exhibit. Here is Michael amazed by the Jelly Fish. They were soo cool to watch move around.

Jelly Fish!!

Some brave guys swimming with sharks. I would neverrrr!

Yuck those windows are dirrrrty.

The best photo of us with the sharks behind. We loved the whole exhibit. Definitely glad we went.

It's crazy how close you actually are. Look at those creepy eyes!! 

On the bus on our way to Fremont Street to walk around the last night.

The 45 cents we won! We gambled $5 and won 45 cents.. That doesn't really make you want to keep gambling.. 

My precious 45 cents I won.

The New York New York rollercoaster we went on!!

In front of the lion at our hotel the MGM before we are about to head back to the airport.

We were able to go see Viva Elvis Circ Du Soleil and it was AMAZING! I don't even listen to Elvis, and this show wasn't our first choice but we both LOVED it!! I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see it. We also shopped a lot. There were just too many great deals to pass on.

My favorite things we did while in Vegas was:
1. The Bellagio fountains (I have seen them before about 6 years ago, and we only watched the during the day while we were there, but they are amazing.. I couldn't stop raving afterwards)
2. Circ Du Soleil
3. The rollercoaster

I was super surprised by how many people take their kids to Vegas. Babies everywhere!! And even out at 12 and 1am!! Can't you believe it...? Yes, there are family friendly things to do, but I would never take my children there! You pretty much walk through a Casino to get anywhere that is indoors, and people are drinking and smoking everywhere... We loved our trip, but saw and did pretty much everything we wanted to see and do so we probably won't ever go back unless it is with a group of people. Next time... Mexico... or really anywhere.

So if you are headed to Vegas and want any tips... let me know! We are experts now!!

My 24th

Yesterday was my 24th birthday. Nothing amazing happend, but I thoroughly enjoyed the day. My Dad came over for lunch and brought me pizza! We visited together, which is something we don't get to do often enough!! Then I had to go pick up my car from the dealership. We have been having troubles with my car just shutting off while driving, so hopefully thats not a problem anymore... especially since we are driving down to Kalispell on Friday. So Ty and I went and did that, and did another car related errand. After getting home, I made dinner, and then Michael came home. He brought me a sweet card with a picture of the rollercoaster on the skyscraper in Vegas because that what I wanted my birthday present to be!! SO excited! He also brought home an M&M meats Too Tall cake! Now if you have never had their Too Tall cakes, you are missing out!! They have four different kinds but this time he brought home chocolate because we have tried most of the others, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!! After dinner we all snuggled on the couch and Ty was being so cute and giggly. Best birthday present ever. Just being happy with my family all snuggled up! Then we went to the pet store. Ty loved the fish and we loved the birds. They have a sloth there but it was sleeping and super boring to look at... then I accidentally saw a tarantula which I was doing everything I could to avoid (i HATE spiders). Then we went home and Michael's parents came over and wished me a happy birthday with a card and a future date night- babysitting and a movie with snacks.. pretty awesome. Then Cassandra and my cousin Shikari came over and babysat Ty while Michael and I went to our friends Dusty and Kortney Orr with Jessica and Jake Robinson and Nikki Byam (one of my favorite crowds to hang out with ever)!!! Had a bachelor party with popcorn and rice pudding, and visiting, and my favorite reality TV show. I even got some cute little gifts from the girls! It was just such a nice day!! The only thing that could have made it better was seeing my mom-but she's in Arizona still. Anyways, most of you probably don't even care about how my day was, but it was just a good day for me and I really wanted to document it!

Ty boy practicing his skills. Thats right... already scored 2 points.

My two favorite people in the world!!

So cute.

Me and my boy.. We didn't really make an effort with presentation on looks today okay!

Next blog post will probably be about our trip to VEGAS!!

VACATION!!

Michael and I just booked our trip to VEGAS!!! I have been trying to convince Michael to go on a trip since I can remember. He would rather use our money to buy something like a camera, or a new motorcycle... plus we are on the fast track to paying off student loans, but I just can't help but want to travel somewhere! Not because everyone else is (okay maybe a little bit of that but it's hard not to when you see peoples photos of beaches) but also because it would be nice to see somewhere else other than flat old Southern Alberta.

Since Michael doesn't really have any paid holidays off this year (only 2 days... but next year THREE WEEKS. I can wait for that). So we decided Vegas because we could make a quick trip of it on the long weekend, and it was probably the most affordable trip for us to take. We aren't taking Ty, and we will miss him insane amounts. He will stay at my Mom's. It will be good for us to have a couple days away just us two! So our trip is Feb 17-20 (only a week and a half away)!!!!!! You have no idea how excited I am. Pretty pathetic for some of you who have travelled all over. We are staying at MGM Grand and seeing a Circ Du Soleil show(a first for us both). Any advice or tips on places to eat or see?

this and that

I've known for a very long time that Ty is not that snuggly baby I hoped for (he must take after his Dad). I always wanted a baby I could cuddle with, and couldn't wait until Ty came so I could spend afternoons on the couch with him. But after he left the newborn stage I quickly realized my hopes and dreams of cuddles were not going to be filled-at least with this child. If I ever try to lay Ty down next to me and wrap my arms around him, he acts like I am trying to squeeze the life out of him, and does everything possible to get away. This kid won't even fall asleep in his mothers arms. Nope. He just wants down to crawl, or wants to be turned around to look at what's going on around him. SO recently I realized I can trick him to cuddle with me. I give him his favorite teething toy, get all snuggled up, and let him enjoy being in his own little world while I enjoy pretending that my baby likes to cuddle up to his Mom. Win Win right??

Ty is so busy lately. A little update:
-he is constantly pulling himself to standing on any surface he can reach the top of and he LOVES it.
-he is working on sitting when he comes down from a stand, so hopefully we can minimize the number of head bonks each day to zero... those are definitely not fun at all.
-says "Dada". We don't know if he knows what it means but it sure makes for a proud Daddy.
-is still slow moving with his eating- still only on purees, but we knew he was behind in the eating category... he always has been.
-LOVES his grandparents. Oh this little boy is sooooo loved and spoiled by his grandparents. Lucky kid.
-doesn't seem like a baby anymore... So sad... I honestly feel like he is a toddler now with his crawling, and standing.
-Ty got another tooth. That makes 3.
-growing a nice BLONDE head of hair. Not white blonde like I was but still blonde. You have no idea how happy I am to have a little blonde boy.

Our February goals are to only have pop 2 times, chips 2 times, and to eat at least 4 homecooked meals a week. I can do that right?? I'm pretty sure we eat at home most nights, but we're just going to make February super easy alright?