2016

What a amazing year. 2016 was really good to us. It seemed fitting to have an amazing year for our 10th year anniversary. Bring it on 2017. Lets see what challenges, hurdles and joy you bring.

Edmonton 2016

Edmonton Day 01 in numbers

• 2 apples on the drive up
• 3 peppers on the drive up
• 0 stops on the drive up
• 5 tickets to Galaxyland
• 2 girls that could ride almost every ride except 2
• 1 aunt and uncle who stopped by a couple times to watch 
• 2 times on the Swing of the Century and Galaxy Orbiter
• 40 minutes was the longest wait time
• 13 times on the 35th Aero Squadron, Remy's fav ride
• car #5 was the pod Kalia and Annaliesse sat in for the Sonic Twister
• only had a crying kid 2 (twice)
• dinner for 11 at Boston Pizza
• 8.5 hours at Galaxy Land that first day
• Room 303 in the Hotel
• Bedtime by 9:00pm

Edmonton Day 02 in Numbers

• 7:45 wake up
• 11 free breakfasts for a Hotel Error
• At the pool by 10 am
• 2 large bags for a family of 6
• 1 birthday room for the day
• 3 aunts and 2 uncles
• 4 cousins to play with
• unlimited pop to drink
• 1 lost diamond
• 1 sore butt
• 3 rented tubes
• 1 kid scarred of the slides
• 2 uncles napped
• 1 cooler full of snacks
• 4 major pop spills
• 9.5 hours at the Water Park

This was our 5th year celebrating the Christmas Break in Edmonton. Such a fun thing to do with the kids... and thank heavens for AIRMILES.

HOME

We stayed HOME Wednesday. IT WAS SO NICE!!

Justin and I went on a date with some of his siblings to see Rouge 1 Star Wars.

It was really good. We both enjoyed it.

Moana

Tuesday afternoon we took the kids to see Moana with The Miguels.

SO GOOD.

Kinda wish Landmark has a return policy... Remy slept through the entire thing on my lap.

To many late nights, to many busy fun filled days.

At one point I had to apologize to the woman next to me she was snoring so loudly.

Its rather sad she missed it, she would have loved it- part of the reason I wanted to take the kids in theatre.

Oh well..

It was so good we may have got some Moana Lego to do together :)

Boxing Day

There were a few spare hours in the morning this day... the kids and Daddy put them to good use- playing LEGOs and Remy played with her Dollhouse.

After our few hours of downtime we headed down to Raymond for a Chipman get together!

It was great to see everyone, visit, play games and see Baby Brynlee!

Its so important to make time for Family. We were paid a very nice compliment from Aunt Shawna "Thanks for coming out every time we do Family things!"

Justin and I make a very conscious effort to attend all family events... BOTH families. 

Families are eternal and we show our love by being present- thanks for noticing Aunt Shawna :)

Baby Brynlee was enthralled with Justin. She choose him over her own Dad! Poor Derek... Every time Justin walked into a room, she would lean toward him and cry when he put her down. What a Babe magnet hunny! Remy loved her too. Kendra and I joked we get Brynlee's love and Derek gets Annaliesse's love.

Thank you to the Big Boys for playing a board game with our three kids! Telestrations it was called. Then we all played the Wrapped Candy game. So fun.

On our way out of Raymond that night we stopped and said Hi to Grandma Selman who was eating dinner. She was incredibly alert and was pretty lucid. Then dashed over to say Hi to Grandma and Grandpa Martin. We left and drove with Mom and Dad home... with terrible weather and roads. It was a long 3 hour drive.

Christmas Day!

The Living Room when the kids walked in Christmas Morning. This year we simplified Christmas gifts and it was SO GREAT. Each kids got 4 gifts, Something they want, Something they need, Something to wear and Something to read. Plus Santas Gift. I had told the kids this before hand :) it made Christmas so much more enjoyable.

Remy and Annaliesse got a homemade Dollhouse from Mommy and Daddy for their big gift. Daddy worked hard on it for days before Christmas, Mommy made the bedding and helped paint. They LOVE it.

A few things about Christmas Morning...

• Annaliesse after she opened her gift from Santa "This is NOT what I asked for!!" She was so NOT impressed for a while. Until Mommy reminded her she DID ask for it from Santa in her earliest Santa Letter 😐
• Remy and Annaliesse are going to have to LEARN how to share the Dollhouse
• Kalia is thrilled with her Ukulele, even more thrilled that Uncle Mark got one too!
• Barker was so excited for his Bow and Arrow Gun from Santa
•  Remy LOVED her paw patrols in her stocking
• Grandma and Grandpa made Breakfast for everyone before church- while the rest of us cleaned up and got ready for church
• I really wish I had gotten a family pic before church- but the men and Barker were all out shovelling the church walks so it didn't happen
• Annaliesse and Kalia made a blanket for Arlie for Christmas from one of their Craft kits, they were so so excited to give it to her
• Grandma and Grandpa got Kalia headphones that she has worn constantly, Annaliesse American Doll clothing, Barker a hockey stick and puck, Remy a stroller worthy of a princess!
• Daddy made Mommy a beautiful sign that I will snap a pic of when its hanging in our room
• Barker and Daddy got remote control cars to play with together
• Sacrament Meeting was amazing- Christmas on a Sunday is my new favourite thing

After Church and presents from Grandma we headed into Karla's for Christmas Dinner with the Moxleys!

A few things from Christmas Evening...

• We postivily missed the Hardy's and Jason
• Sherilyn and Jay were off to Bali the next day and we chatted about their great trip coming up
• Cullen looks so much like Barker!! He is walking and moving around lots now
• Jaydin showed Kalia a song on her new Ukulele
• Uncle James showed us a new game- Heads Up. We played for like a hour and laughed a ton
• Sherilyn gave us all a calendar with everyones pictures and birthdays!
• Grandpa Moxley came
• Elizabeth showed me this awesome book I bought a couple days later... Princesses Behaving Badly Real Stories From History- without the Fairy-Tale Endings

Merry Christmas all!! 

Christmas Eve

Started off the day with a message from a friend showing us Barkers letter to Santa in the Local Newspaper with the rest of his Kindergarden Class. So cute!!

(he got the bow and arrow gun from Santa)

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. It snowed like crazy all night and morning! Justin and Barker were out shovelling along with 2 other men and kids from our block. Everyone was merry as they shovelled a foot of snow! When we got to Mom's and Dad they measured... 8.5 inches. He measured in his loafers....

Grandma and the girls made Carmellos while we waited for Uncle Mark, Aunt Lindsay and Arlie to drive out from Calgary. Mark and Lindsay were driving out and Laura was following.. Laura ended up sliding out of control, going across on coming traffic and into the ditch. Thankfully she was fine and no one got hurt.. Mark was right behind her and turned around to help. He drove her truck right back out of the ditch and drove it home for her her. Lindsay and Laura followed in the van, Laura was to shaken to drive- so grateful for the Lords hand in things.

Because of the all the snow fall we were able to Sled for Christmas Eve!! We started sledding as a family in 2013 on Christmas Eve... it is so fun!! Grandma sat at the top this year rather then sled because of her sore feet, but it was still a blast!

Right near the end Kalia face planted in dirty snow near the top.. we laughed so hard. So because it was Sunday the next day and  Kalia was dirty we ran home for showers and baths before going back to Grandma's to celebrate.

Christmas Eve dinner of shrimp, crab legs, wings, ribs, dip, crackers and finger Jello is oh so enjoyed!

Then Christmas Eve Jammies from Grandma and Grandpa! Followed by 25 pictures trying to get all the kids looking at the Camera and Happy!

Grandpa read the Christmas Story while the kids and Daddy acted it out... baby Jesus didn't want Mary...

The night ended at our house. This year Kalia and Annaliesse decided to do something different for Santa- they put out 🎶 5 peach rings, 4 marshmallows, 3 toffee candies, 2 cookies and a Mini Mint Tree🎶  We put the kids to bed and after so many late nights and busy days the kids fell right asleep. The adults played a couple games, but we are all wimps, no one lasted past 10 pm. Everyone went home and we got set up for Christmas. As Justin was checking on the kids he found Barker sleeping like this 😍😄  He has on his kidney and chest protectors.. we think he had his elbow pads on too, but pulled them off in his sleep- they were tangled in his blankets.

Live Nativity

Barker is starting Lacrosse in the New Year! He is doing a 6 week camp with his cousins Holton, Payton and Beckett. Uncle Cyril found the camp and all the boys were registered. Luckily Hotlon had a bit of old Lacrosse gear he can use, so we took the stick home and he is LOVING it. So excited for the Camp to start January 07, 2017.

As per Moxley Family Tradition we arranged to attend the Live Nativity that night with as many of the Moxley's that could make it. Justin's sister Sherilyn got to be a Shepard this year in the nativity, so we arranged to see it on the night she was acting. Before the nativity we met at the church so the kids could play before hand!

The boy cousins bottle flipped and played Lacrosse, the girls did a dance for us and the little wandered around like lost sheep.

The Live Nativity was beautiful as always. During the show it was snowing huge fluffy flakes it added a lovely touch. The Shepard's were exceptional this year 😉

Tim Hortons after for Hot Chocolate and doughnuts, much to the annoyance of the regulars... 😁😈😛

Bowness

This  morning started off with a bit of a pickle. The plan was to take the girls out of school at noon again to join the cousins skating at Bowness. Annaliesse Ella was so upset to be missing school again- her class was going to be making something for their parents for Christmas that afternoon. Lucky for her I was able to arrange for a friend to watch her for a bit after school before we got home! So the rest of us headed into the city at lunch, Kalia was totally fine with missing school! LOL

In hindsight... maybe we should have stayed home and napped Remy and Barker. They were both over tired and grumpy for most of the skating... we only ended up staying for a couple hours, thats ok. It was fun and Christmas season means spending time with your families.

Bowness Park was renovated in the last little while and the skating area is beautiful! Such a nice place to skate- SO BIG. Quite far from High River, LOL.

We ended up getting home just before 4:00 pm... Annaliesse had only been at Lauren's for about 25 minutes, she wanted to stay and play longer. Sorry sis! That night we headed to a friends open house. It was really fun to get to know a few other couples from the ward we didn't know well. The kids came too and we laughed and talked for hours. The kids were up late again, and they ended the evening with one of their favourite Christmas Traditions... sleeping under the Christmas Tree!

Kindergarden, Sewing, and Stickers

Since Daddy has been home for the last week or so, Barker has been begging for him to come to Kindergarden and be his special helper. So Wednesday morning Justin spent time at school with him. Barker was so pleased. He loved having Daddy play with him at recess and so did the girls.

Mommy and Remy stayed home. I worked on Remy's Christmas present (she obviously had no idea) and tidied up the craft area. We found 2 decks of uno scatted everywhere so we took time to put the cards away. Remy was a big help sorting colour for Mommy.

When the kids got home from school I got out some Christmas crafts left over from years past. The littles did sicker gingerbread houses at the counter and the big girls started a foam stable nativity set.. they didn't last long... pretty soon they joined the little ones with stickers.

Justin held down the fort while I went to Young Women's. We took the Youth into the city to see the Live Nativity put on by a couple of the Calgary Stakes.