For Mothers Day Chuck took our family to the mountains to celebrate. I wanted a traditional Banff day. Our family tradition is to go to the mountains, take a drive somewhere especially scenic, take a small hike, eat at Melissa’s Steakhouse and then go to the candy store so I can get a bunch of saltwater taffy. Doesn’t that sound perfect?

It was made even more special because we saw more species of animals in that one trip then we ever have before. We saw Elk, Moose, Big Horn Sheep and Deer. It would have been especially cool if we had actually seen another bear but that didn’t happen. Maybe next year!

Every time we see Big Horn Sheep there’s always one sheep that is watching. Close enough to e helpful but far enough away to oversee everything. He’s like the bouncer of the group, I’m thinking. This particular bouncer chose to be up on a ledge that hung over where the other sheep were eating and licking the salt off the highway.

Below is a picture of a young Elk. I didn’t get a picture of the deer because we see them all the time and I missed the Moose because we were driving past him on the highway.

It has been so hot here that we wanted to take advantage of the weather and take Daisy somewhere with water. Unfortunately she loves getting wet and then wants to get right close to me which makes it very hard to take a picture of her so this was the best I could do. Silly dog.

I’m not quite sure where David got the idea that what his face is doing is considered a smile. I’ve tried getting him to relax and be natural but as soon as I pull out my camera he gives me one of these weird smile-like faces. It’s strange.

Proof that I was actually there when we were celebrating Mothers Day.

Laurelyn enjoys food so much that she really gets into it. She gets her face into it, her hair into it, her hands into it. She’s really dedicated to enjoying her food.

I love being a mom and I felt loved, appreciated and spoiled on my Mothers Day. Thanks family!

I took a very long hiatus from blogging while I was busy with other things but two years ago I wrote a blog post just for Jocelyn for her birthday. It starts out with Jocelyn’s birth story because when I was growing up my mom started the tradition of telling us our birth story on our birthdays. I’ve tried to keep that same tradition with my kids and they love it. If you want to read my birthday blog post, and I highly recommend it, it’s linked to here. 

Jocelyn inspires me to be a better person because she is so thoughtful and loving. She helps remind me that being a great friend is one of our greatest responsibilities. I am lucky to be her mother and I hope to be worthy of the position.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

I know that it’s Christmas Eve and we’re just barely getting to making our candy trains but the kids were just thrilled to see the bags of candy come out!

After all the candy consumption was over the kids were feeling a little nauseous and a little sleepy.

Once the collective nap time was over we were rested enough to open our Christmas eve gifts. The kids were SHOCKED to find pajamas in each of their wrapped presents. Who would haev thought that they would get pajamas on Christmas eve. Weird.

Today we decided to sing some songs and decorate our tree. The kids helped me lay the lights and garland on and then hang the decorations. It was super fun and I am so happy with how the tree turned out.

What is it about Christmas trees that make perfect back drops for pictures?

There is a traditional treat that Canadians can enjoy every year because it gets so cold here. Chuck has been wanting to do this with the kids for a very long time. I don’t know who was more excited, the kids to eat it or Chuck to do this for them.

If you boil pure syrup and then ladle it onto fresh snow, it will turn into a candy. You can press a popsicle stick onto the syrup and roll it up and then suck on it. Super delicious!