The Festival of Lights

For the second year in a row, the Breedvelds, Lopez's and our family went to see the Festival of Lights at VanDuesen Gardens. And for the second year in a row, it rained, but we had a great time. The amount of lights is amazing, and there is lots to see. The kids were old enough this year to enjoy the lights, or at least notice the lights. Maybe next year it won't be raining?

Merry Christmas

I can hardly believe it, but there is less than a week until Christmas, and only 2 days until we leave for Alberta. Yay! As you can see, we finally have a new camera, and I am updating my blog so that everyone doesn't think we have fallen off the face of the earth. We are all finished our Christmas shopping and now can just sit back and enjoy all the Christmas activites that we can do as a family. In the back of my mind, I know that I need to start packing, we will only have 2 weeks after Christmas, so I guess that will be one of my priorities today. We hope that you are all having a great Christmas. Never forget what this is all about. Jesus came for us, and that is a great reason to celebrate!

I'm a Procrastinator

Well, it has been a while since I've updated things. Now that I am back at work, I am finding that this is not getting done. We also lost our camera, so I have no pictures to put on, and that just ruins my fun. So I guess we will be looking for a camera soon. Since I last wrote, we have been to Alberta for Thanksgiving, and my cousins wedding. We had pictures of Katie in Drumheller with the hodoo's and dinosaurs too, o well. Halloween, Katie was a skunk, and she looked really cute too, but when we get a camera I will take a picture of her anyway and put it on. On Wednesday we went with Brad and Carolyn, and Brad's siblings to the Galaxy Soccer game (the David Beckham game). It was fun, but quite a bit slower than I was expecting. The enthusiasm picked up after Beckham left the field, but I think it was because people then started to watch the game and not just him. I am really glad we got to go though. Last night we got the phone call that we have been waiting for since May. We have sold our house. After 5 offers, we are there. Talk about a long story! So we are officially moving Jan. 15th. Yay! Well that is our update. If we get a camera, or not, I will try to be more diligent.

Back at Work

Yesterday was my first day back in the office at church. It feels like I never really left, which is a good thing. Unfortunatly, my first day back was also the same day that Katie decided to get serious about walking. Not just a few steps here and there, but more like, "I am done with the crawling thing!" O well, I know there will be more things like this in the future, at least it wasn't the first steps ever. One day when we have translated our manual for the camcorder we will put some video on, but I think it may be years. We have the video finally on the computer, but it won't let us view it now! Arghh!

The Cabin

Last year, my brother Travis and his friends decided to build a cabin. (I guess they thought that they didn't have enough to do.) This cabin was really more just to see if they could than anything, so they asked my Grandpa if they could build it on some of the land that he had near Lacombe in the bushes. Well, they shocked everyone, and did a great job. This was the first chance that I had been able to go see it while visiting. We loaded Katie onto her Grandpa's back (hoping this would slow him down) and started hiking in. As you will see from the one picture that looks like there is nothing there, you really don't see the cabin until you have almost walked into it. There is no path, so we headed the general direction until we found it. They did a great job! Inside is a wood stove, and they built 2 bunkbeds. Travis and his friends still like to go out from time to time and update things, like the beds, but it is basically complete now. It seems to me like the most interest is now from those of us going out to see it. We took my parents good friend John out to see it this time as well. If it was easier to find, it would probably be a popular place to go.

Visiting Family

Well, once again Katie and I have just arrived back from visiting Alberta. It was a good trip, and of course we were able to spend lots of time with family while we were there. On Thursday we met my cousin Ali and Aunt Heather and were finally able to meet Katie's newest cousin Venice, who is now 6 weeks old. We took a picture of the two of them together, but Katie was fighting to take off and Venice was crying, so we have a photo of just Venice. The other photo is of Katie's other cousin Rebecca. This time Katie didn't seem so jealous of Rebecca, and Rebecca was curious about Katie. I wonder what the dynamics will be like down the road.

First Steps

Katie has now taken her first steps. Earlier in the week she took 3 but it took a lot of prompting. Today, she just let go of the couch and walked to me (it was only 4 steps) but it was done without me encouraging her or prompting her. Aaron was at work and missed it, but thankfully she did it even more tonight. Everyone tells me to enjoy when she isn't walking, but I am still excited. I feel that she is still too little to be doing this, and yet I know that she isn't. We will put the video clip on when we figure out how.

Holidays

We spent last week visiting family in Colorado, more specifically the Greeley area of Colorado. It was Katie's first time being introduced to her Great Grandma Oster, and all of the other family. Aaron's Aunt Claudia was able to take the week off from work and we were able to also see his Uncle Doug, Aaron's cousins and their kids. It was a great week, but it went far too quick, and was a tad too warm if you were out of the AC. On Thursday we spent the day at the Denver Zoo with most of the family. It was a chance to spend time with Samantha (our flower girl), Shayla (I apologize for spelling) and Keelen. These are Katie's cousins. Katie was a little young, but she did bond with an Orangutan, and also really noticed the Elephants. On the Saturday, we went to the Meyer family reunion, and met Aaron's Moms relatives. It was a great day, and we felt right at home. Now we are back at home. On the Thursday we were away, we got an accepted offer on our house. Subjects are to be removed on the 7th, so now we are starting the hunting process for a new place. We will keep you posted.

Canada Day Weekend

My Mom was out visiting this past week, and we had a great time shopping, shopping and I guess I should say we did yard work too, but mostly we just had fun. Dad came for the weekend, and we spent today out at Stanley Park and English Bay. Katie absolutely loves going on the swing, and going for walks. I hope everyone else had as enjoyable day as we did. Happy Canada Day!

The House

On Saturday we backed out of the new house purchase. First reason, is we are still waiting for our house to sell. (I must add it is a lot of work keeping a house in show condition while having a very active 9 month old around.) Second there were some things we were concerned about such as the house was not allowed to have a stairway from the back doorway to the backyard. This would put the house over the allowable square footage. We could have added it "illegally" after but did not want to do this. As well there were things like windows they were putting off putting in. Why? Who knows. So, here we are waiting for our house to sell, and then when that happens we will look for something then. Pray that we will be clear and wise in our decision making.

Quilting

Part of the reason for the major backlog in updates is quilting. Heidi Schunter undertook the project of putting a quilt together for Lauren's kindergarten teacher who is retiring this year. So here is a picture of the finished result, and from reports, Mrs. Jones loved it.

Alberta Bound and Back

Katie and I caught a ride with my parents to go and visit family, as well as meet my cousins new daughter and go to another cousins baby shower. My cousin Michael and his wife Carmen, had a baby girl named Rebecca Anne on May 22nd. My cousin Ali and her husband Ben are expecting any day... actually, more like several days ago, so it won't be too long until Katie has some cousins that she can play with when we are in Alberta. We had a great trip, and we also got Katie a great straw hat while we were there. Maybe she will actually keep this on.

Daddy time

I just thought I would add these, since I think they are cute. Aaron has recently started putting Katie on his shoulders and she loves it. She also likes putting anything and everything in her mouth, which in this case is Aaron's hair.

Camping

Every May long weekend, we pack up and go camping with Rick, Heidi and the kids at Deception Pass in Washington. This year was very different for us, since we had never camped with a baby, but all went well. We had a fun time, despite the weather, which was good until Sunday when it basically poured until Monday morning prior to packing up. Katie did great, and slept almost better than she does at home. Here is a picture of Katie and Aaron our first morning there.

Vancouver Marathon

On Sunday morning, we awoke way too early so I could run the Vancouver Half Marathon. I struggled with the fact that I was only running the half and not the full marathon this time. I kept reminding myself and being reminded that it was my first post pregnancy race, and I am really glad that I ran the half now! I finished in 2:23:06. Sadly this was 22 minutes slower than my previous best, but it is a place to progress from. I finished, I didn't take any extra walk breaks, and I feel great. Andrea ran the full and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Congrats! This meant that she ran 26.2 miles in 3:45:36. Need I say more! Heidi S. also did the half with me. She decided to walk the half and registered 2 days before the race. She hoped to finish in 4 hours or less. She finished in 3:40. No sweat! The weather was rather dreary, but great for those of us doing the race. I don't know if the cheering crowd enjoyed it quite so much though... thanks Aaron and Katie.

A New House

The word is officially out, that we have bought a new house, and will be moving the beginning of September. The new house is in Surrey, and is under construction. Actually, it is currently a big cement hole in the ground, but it will look like a house soon. It is very close in layout to our current place, but it will have a full finished basement, and a double car garage. I will keep you posted and will put pictures of it on as it is being built, but it is a little boring right now.

Crawling...kinda

Katie is mobile! The day after I returned home from Alberta, she decided it was time to crawl. We like to refer to it as walrussing or commando crawling though. However, no matter what we want to call it, she is mobile and quick. Yesterday I was on the phone putting clothes in her closet and she was on the floor playing. I hung up the phone, and turned around and she was gone. It took a minute of me trying to find her, before I heard her under her crib in the back corner playing with a toy we had hidden under there. I think our lives have now just entered a new uncharted territory!

Spring Outings

Well this sums up my life, these outings were several weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to updating our blog. Andrea, Isabella and Katie and I spent one afternoon walking from Science World, along the seawall and then finishing the afternoon at Starbucks. A week later, we hopped on the skytrain and rode it all the way down to the Waterfront, where we then took the seabus over to the Northshore, walked to Starbucks, again, and then walked through the Quay to buy some groceries and then returned home. It was a great day trip, and reminded me of just how many things there are that you can do for very little money. It was simply our transit fare, and coffee. For those of you in the lower mainland, I highly recommend doing this sometime.

St. Patricks Day

Every year, my (Jen's) family gets together for a Potato Pancake Bake around St. Patricks Day to celebrate some of our Irish heritage. All 3 of us were able to go this year. There were 33 people crammed into my parents place, but it was great to see all the family, and enjoy the pancakes and Irish Stew, and way too much food in general. As in true fashion Katie showed up in her green attire and also sat in a high chair for the very first time.

Sitting Up

On March 13th, we decided that Katie was finally able to announce she could sit on her own. Up until then we always had to be ready to catch her. She still tips over, but can now usually catch herself. We discovered that she loves sitting in front of the mirror with her hippo from Great Grandma Grauman and chatting with that other cute baby she sees when she looks in the mirror!

Welcome to Aaron, Jen and Katie's family blog. Here is our green house. We hope that this will be a way for our family to keep all of you up to date on what is happening in our lives, and that it will also be a way to keep in touch with loved ones.