Learning

Over these past couple months, I feel like my faith has been put to a test. It's like Heavenly Father has been screaming at me "DON'T YOU REMEMBER THAT I'M HERE AND THAT I WANT TO HELP YOU?!?!?!" So maybe I've been a tad bit prideful lately thinking that I can fix my own problems because there's still something I can do and maybe I just need to try harder. What's the common theme??

...   I     ...       I    ...     I   ...

Well the time finally came and I got smacked with the humble stick. The question was posed... What if the reason the trials keep on pouring down on me is because Heavenly Father is trying to give me a hint? Thanks to a lovingly stern Uncle, things became clearer.

I decided to change things. Not just read my scriptures, STUDY them every. single. day. Pen and paper in hand. Pray every. single. day. Not just pray, but TALK to Him. Report to Him. Be accountable to Him. Make promises to Him. Most importantly... Ask Him for help.

After talking it over with Ray, we made a deal to do this together, both individually and as a couple. Not gonna lie. Every day didn't exactly turn out the way I wished it would and some days I did better than others, but within a week Ray and I started noticing solutions were coming and prayers were being answered. Life was just a little bit better.


*insert choir of angels here*


We weren't being perfect, but we were doing our best to keep our end of the deal and we were being blessed for it. My gratitude for Christ and His Atonement was renewed. We were trying to climb and Christ reached down to help us up.

So I want to say that I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are aware of each and every one of us. Heavenly Father promises to shower us with blessings when we do our part to be there for him. Ray and I started realizing as things started to come together that solutions had already been put in motion long before we even realized trouble was brewing. Heavenly Father was planning for us to be at that point and began setting us up in certain situations and with certain people that became the answers we were looking for. He allowed us to go through those trials to remind us that He is still there.

Aside from the great relief I have in knowing that all is well and the storms are calming, I have a great deal more peace. I have a better ability to handle the curveballs life throws. I have a more loving relationship with my husband, and I even notice I'm doing a lot more things for my son to teach him and give him new experiences. I'm happier! This didn't just happen. This is a direct result of my desire to strengthen my relationship with God. I am so thankful that because of Jesus Christ, I can be forgiven for being weak and I have the ability to continue to try to improve so that I can be closer with Heavenly Father.

My faith gives me hope and purpose.

 mormon.org 

*If you have questions about what I believe, I will love to answer them.*

New Skills

If there was one thing that Warren learned in Canada, it was that being mobile means more than just crawling.

Exhibit A: While visiting Grandma Dyer, Warren discovered the staircase. Nice and soft carpet stairs. We don't even know how he learned to climb up and down stairs. He just did it one day! He was so happy that we gave him the freedom to go up and down as he pleased.

Exhibit B: After cutting my best friend's hair, she told me that she was gonna pay me by teaching Warren how to walk. She sat down and this is what happened.

Warren has definitely become more confident on his feet, but he still just doesn't want to walk on his own. I'm sure one day that will change. Right now I'm just trying to soak up all the crawling before he starts... running...

All in all, I think Canada was a success for Warren. My kid is a stud.

My Happy Places

Ray and I set a specific budget for food we wanted to eat while up in Canada. Believe me. This deserves it's own post. We talked in great detail about the places we wanted to hit up for a meal while there, and believe you me. We ate at them all.

- Second Cup. Like Starbucks but better. I may have gotten Ray addicted to hot chocolate when we were still living there. And we may have visited the place more than once...

- Poutine - Fries. Gravy. Cheese. Nuff said.

- Dream Tea House - Bubble Tea. Not actually tea. It's more like a milkshake with these tapioca balls in it and you drink it with an extra wide straw. Don't knock it till you try it. This was another place that could have possibly been visited more than once...

- Barb & Ernies's. Known for their eggs benedict. Ray will vouch for that. Look at how happy he is to have that eggs benedict in his mouth!

- Oodle Noodle. America just doesn't understand... Their Chinese food is gross. If you want to know how Chinese/Asian food is actually supposed to be like, you have to venture North.

- Panago Pizza. Don't judge us Canadians... Ray has a slight obsession with their Chicken Club Pizza. And I'm a huge fan of their cheese dipping sauce. Mmmm...

- Remedy. Now I think this place was more because of the environment, less because of the food. It became kind of a hang out/meeting point for us. It's just got a lot of good memories. The food is decent, but not so much our thing. Nonetheless, we had a butter chicken wrap.

- Peter's. Calgary's only saving grace. I've heard a lot of people smack talk it and claim that another place nearby is better, but this place is more nostalgic for me so I don't think I could ever renounce the awesomeness that is Peter's. Seriously. Who wouldn't want a hamburger smothered in BBQ sauce?

Collectively I'm pretty sTure all of those things amounted to at least a 10 lb gain on my part. Woops...

There are actually things in Edmonton that have always brought me a great deal of amusement. I made sure to document those things, along with a few new things.

The Church building on Whyte Ave where a great deal of my single adult life was spent.

The random car dealership on Whyte Ave with the sales people's desk directly against the window so you can awkwardly look on it at them... hahaha...

This one was new. A solar powered waste compactor. That's right. It's on the corner of a street.

Of course. West Edmonton Mall. We stopped to watch the Sea Lion show.

And who can forget the world's largest cowboy boot?? haha!

This is just a glimpse of the city I love. Man it was good to be back...

O Canada

There have been countless times these past few months when I thought "I should blog about that"... Clearly it hasn't happened. I have a special talent for finding something seemingly more important to do. So today I woke up, went to the gym, came home, cancelled out my workout with a bowl of Lucky Charms, looked around our home that is in great need of a cleaning, justified not cleaning it because we have to move in three weeks, so here I am. Baby's napping. I have no excuse.

The biggest adventure as of lately is that A) My little brother got home from his mission and B) We went back to Canada to visit him.

BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER!!!

We were able to plan it around my mission reunion, so we embarked on our giant roadtrip. First destination: Park City, UT. The following picture perfectly describes the whole drive that day. hahaha.

The reunion was kind of strange. I didn't know anyone really... There were some girls there that had gotten their mission call after I was home. haha. There were a couple people there that I was able to catch up with and I was really glad that Ray and Warren got to meet President Drewes. I didn't take any pictures there though. Woops...

We stayed the night with a friend in Provo. We got up bright and early the next day with the intention of making it all the way to Edmonton that day. Ambitious, yes. But we did it. When we got on the road from Provo, we noticed a lot of people in their cars wearing their Sunday best and we didn't know why because it was a Saturday. Then after a few minutes, Ray declared "IT'S GENERAL CONFERENCE TODAY!!!" haha. Sure enough, as soon as we passed SLC there were no more nicely dressed people in their cars. haha.

This is my attempt at taking pictures of downtown SLC with the hope of getting the temple in one of them. Didn't happen...

12ish hours later, we made it to the Canadian Border!!! YAAAAAY!!!!!!!!! I was so happy. And just so you know, Warren was a champ. He's such an amazing kid.

Finally at around 2:00am we made it home. I was fully expecting a dark house with Mom and Ian asleep. Nope! Ian was right there infront of the computer, and as soon as we pulled into the driveway, he bolted out to greet us and Mom shortly followed. Pretty much the best greeting ever.

Ian and Warren became instant friends.

We conveniently arrived in Canada the day before Canadian Thanksgiving. Oh. My. Gosh. I think that's up there on the list of best holiday's ever, but just because of the food. This is the 26 lb turkey my mom made.

Of course, the family being all together is another great perk of Thanksgiving. Warren and Lily finally realized they can play together instead of just laying there on the ground next to each other wondering how another little person like them can possibly exist.

Lily got a lot bigger from when I saw her last. haha. The two of them were amazing together. They were totally content to share and figure things out together... and make giant messes.

Warren also got some quality time in with his Great Grandpa McLennan.

I think this was the moment that Ian became Warren's best friend. They shared a slice of Apple Pie.

I also got to go to Superstore. I realized they spelled yogurt weird. But I also found a sweet winter hat for Warren there!

We went for a visit with Great Grandma Dyer. She showed us this rocking chair that was made by my great great great great grandpa. A lot of little butts have sat in that chair in our family. Apparently mine was one of them at one point.

Grandma couldn't have been happier.

Ray and Ian have done a lot of bonding over longboarding. Ray made sure that Warren didn't feel left out.

We got to have a steak dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's. Again Warren and Lily played wonderfully together.

She's pretty cute.

Warren supervised while Grandma Olive washed dishes.

Ray found some red pants at a thrift store. From then on it became a thing between him and Ian. This is how he would display them. " RED PANTS!"

 This kid's hair was a mess...

We got a four generation picture!

Mom took Warren out for some sun while she did some gardening. Apparently Warren wanted in on the gardening too.

Warren's hair was terribly unruly... So I fixed it. haha. Poor photo credits go to Ian.

How handsome! He did pretty well though. I was proud of him.

We stopped at what we call "Edmonton's Balls". We just wanted to say we touched them. Art is weird these days...

We went swimming with Lily and Cecilia and Monie. I love swimming. Thankfully so do the kids.

Also I have the coolest friends ever.

After two weeks, we had to go back to CO. Saying goodbye never ceases to suck, but I know the time we had there was well used. I did more haircuts than I would have if I had been at school so that was pretty awesome. I did 4 women's cuts, and 4 men's cuts and one baby. haha. I definitely didn't miss out on my education. That was another thing that I should have been better at taking pictures of. My mom's hair turned out awesome and I'm bummed I didn't think to take a picture. Oh well.

On the drive back, we hadn't even made it to Calgary and Warren threw up... like... emptied the entire contents of his stomach threw up... We stopped at a mall in Calgary that was stupid busy and I spent an hour trying to clean him and the stuff he threw up all over while Ray tried to clean up the carseat... What a mess... And an awful smelling one at that.. We cleaned as best as we could, got some baby Gravol to drug the kid with and got across the border with no problem for the first time in almost 3 years. We made it to Great Falls, MT that night and made it safely the rest of the way home the next day.

It was so good to see my family and friends. After getting back to CO, I felt so rejuvenated. I was able to catch up at school fairly easily and I'm looking forward to what's to come.

As I said... BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER.