Sisters Retreat 2016

This year for sisters retreat we decided we needed to go to Canada instead of Florida. With Dad's health on the slow mend they still can't travel so we should travel to them. We didn't tell them until everyone had their plane tickets because as is tradition now it seemed everyone wasn't going to be able to go until the last minute. I guess we are always broke!

So June 1st we were all on a plane heading north. I got in first with Beth just a bit after me. We went to grab some lunch and waited for Carolyn and then Nadine brought up the rear. We got our rental car and hit the road as quick as we could. We drove straight to Redcliff because we knew mom and dad had dinner waiting for us.

 Our first dinner was our long time favorite...fondue. We always love that. What a fantastic spread.

You always have to have the chocolate in the teeth picture. Manditory.

That night we played some cards after dinner and visited. We got settled in for the night with Nadine and I in the basement on a blowup which was super comfy and Carolyn and Beth upstairs in the guest room. Nadine and I got pretty punchy and started giggling about sleeping under a chandelier.

We woke up the next morning to a fabulous breakfast of Canada pancakes. Nice yummy thin pancakes that are practically deep fried. Yummy stuff with lots of different topings.

Yes we spent alot of time in the kitchen. lol. But then we really always did so some things never change forus. After breakfast I had a little project of my own I really wanted mom to complete. I was working on a 4 generation picture. She was the finishing touch.

I think it turned out pretty awesome. 

 

 

 

Yup our time centered around the kitchen.

 

I gotta say we know how to party. We had cabbage rolls, salads with fixins galore. There was so much food I can't even remember everything we had now. Lots of our favorites for sure. Mom and Dad threatened to cook duck for us but we prevailed on that one.

Thursday night they had a party with their FHE group so we could meet them and they could meet us. We really loved them all and are so glad they have great friends up there that look after them and take good care of them for us. It's such a concern for us being so far away so we really appreciate everyone of them.

Nadine had these amazing tshirts made for us to wear. We just loved them. 

Here we are showing them off for everyone.

 We had such fun at Mom and Dad's that it was hard to leave. The next day we took a tour of the garden and after lunch had to be on our way. We wish we had more time but we wanted one day in Calgary to go shopping and hang out with each other. I had a heck of a time checking into our room in Calgary without Mendis so we could have our preferred status but I finally prevailed. By this time Nadine was really feeling sick with a sore throat etc and Carolyn was having what we now know to be gallbladder troubles. But they were troupers and we spent our Saturday shopping in two malls.

We always love shopping together and as usual a couple of us ended up talking each other into stuff. Somehow we couldn't talk Carolyn into the $325 dress and jacket though, strange.

One of our favorite activites this year was the gift exchange. We did a Christmas swap in June and tradedaround until we got just what we wanted. The really annoying thing is I left my gift wrapped at home and remembered at the airport that I forgot to bring it so I grabbed a truck load of Godiva chocolate. Also a hit that Nadine ended up with. I ended up with her Kate Spade pink bag. Carolyn kept Beth's charm necklace and Beth got Carolyn's journal. It was fun and amazing that we all ended up with just what we wanted. Of not they hid it well! We had a great dinner that night at the Keg and wrapped up our weekend all too soon. The next morning we made the trek to the airport and within two hours of each other we were headed home. It was a super long travel day for all of us. I had a four hour layover in Vancouver but everything went well so I can't complain. At least I got home before midnight unlike others. We can't wait for our next retreat. Texas or bust!!

A Day at the Zoo

During spring break this year I snagged the three boys and took them to the movies. We went to Vegas and saw Zootopia. It was pretty cute and even though the boys had already seen it they were still pretty excited to go again. I loaded them all up with treats and in we went.

 Our selfie style.

 After the movie we went to McDonalds for some lunch. The kids played while we waited for our lunch and then they played a bunch more after.

 The scenery during lunch was awesome. We loved watching the construction equipment next door while we ate. They might have enjoyed that more than the food.

 

Maybe next time this little cutie will be old enough to go with us. 

She's kinda giving the stink eye being left behind.

Shayla's Blessing Day

March 20 was Shayla's big day. 

 

We had brunch at Ashley's house before church so visitors could get out on the road. I had made a couple of french toast casseroles and a bunch of breakfast casseroles for brunch. So I forgot to put the french toast ones even in the oven while I took all morning to get ready. So we figured we could just cook them right away. Crisis averted sorta. Then we get up there and not only have the egg casseroles spilled all over the trunk (my first clue) but after cooking 45 min they were pretty raw!! So we fired up all her ovens and started with yummy muffins and fruit. Luckily the casseroles got cooked in time for us to eat some but wow that was stressful. Christina, Ashley and I went back to take pictures of Shay and get her dressed in her special dress. I can't believe we didn't grab Megan. Just a stupid slip up on our part.

 Snapped this picture of the guests shoes by the front door. So fun to have so many family members there. Pretty much everyone made it to brunch at some point but Charlie & Alisha but they were able to attend her blessing.

Her dress all ready for her.

 

Those precious little shoes are the ones Ashley wore on her very own blessing day!

 

 Getting her bracelet on that Rachel Hickman made for her.

 And the final piece was her headband that Ashley made. Soo cute.

 She's just the most perfect little doll.

 

 

 It was such a special day. Once brunch wasn't ruined it got much better. It was wonderful to visit with family and be there for our first Grand daughter's blessing day. Such days are the joy of life.

Power Outage

March 6...the great power outage in the valley. We had quite a storm go through the valley that day and lightening struck a pole in Moapa. Unfortunately it was a critical pole for the system which brought the power down system wide. Even Lincoln County was out for awhile. Mesquite and all of Moapa Valley was down for about 12-13 hours. While cudos goes to those people who made the best of it (namely our valley) others had nothing but complaints and crying about their situation. I jumped in the truck with Mendis so I could field calls and read/answer texts while he drove. He was in communication with everyone but the Governor.The crews were hard at work in no time. In fact with it being fast Sunday we knew some of the men would be hungry from just eating a sandwich as they ran out the door so at one point we drove to Vegas to get them some burgers to hold them over as they worked through the night. Quite the excitement around here. I can't stress enough how lucky we were that this didn't happen in the heat of the summer. After the storm blew through it was cool but not cold so it could have been so much worse. Apparently the night sky that night was so starry but I confess we never got to see it. 

 The dreaded lightening strike that burned right threw the top of this pole!

 You can still see it smoldering.

 

 

 

I thought this was hilarious when I saw it on Facebook!!

Guys and Their Cars

Pretty fun day today! It was Rees's pinewood derby. Can I just say the pinewood derby had certainly come a long way since Jeff & Hayden were doing them!!

 It's all done up at the Stake Center now instead of individual wards which makes it nice. Each ward just has a designated time. Then the top 4 qualifiers from each ward compete that afternoon for top Stake honors. As you can see it's quite the setup now. JD Cornwall has personally invested in the track complete with timers and computer programs to show the winners of each heat AND a slow motion replay! Incredible.

 So first there's the weigh in.

 Time for the heat. They run each car on all four tracks and average the times.

 Rees's car got to compete at the Stake level so we came back that afternoon to cheer him on.

 

 

 Rees and his Car!!

 He took 19 in the Stake which was amazing!!

 What a team these two are. It was certainly a fun day cheering them on. I loved it.

The Big 8 Oh

So Grandpa Cooper turned eighty this year. The big eighty oh! Feb 20 was the big day. It was so nice that is was on a Saturday as well. Everyone that could headed to St George. He wanted to get together for pizza so we went to Brick Oven. We loaded him up with presents, pizza and cake.

 Not so sure he could even hear us but he enjoyed being with everyone any way.

Cooper didn't even finish all his cake. That my friends is monumental so I had to get a picture of it. He wanted the piece with a balloon of course! Ashley and Shay stayed at home and Christina couldn't make it down and of course Jeff & Rachel but everyone else was there except Sade and Shyler. It was fun getting everyone all together even if it was difficult for all of us to visit stretched out in tables.  We took up lots of space and had lots of food and fun!