So Far Behind....

wow wow wow.  WOW.  How did I get so far behind on this?  I have no idea.  I can't even come up with an excuse!  Since its been son long since i've written, I don't remember anything that has happened specifically since we've been back.  So I'm just going to put up a bunch of pictures with captions and maybe throw in a comment or two here and there!  I'm lazy like that...  Oh and the pictures are all out of order, and the stupid blog won't let me change them around!  Sorry...

We got Charlie i bag of mega blocks off of gumtree, so of course we had to wash them thoroughly!!

Baked goods for Elder Low!

Dallin is serving close by, so we crashed their zone p-day and took him some treats!

On a walk

Puppet show at Riverlink - Charlie wasn't sure what to think of it all!  But he got a cool free slinky!

This kid is trouble!  Getting in the still wet shower in his clothes and then dragging the towel in too...!

Our stake had a Polynesian Ball, so we got to go on a little date!

Steam train!  Right by the craft market - we couldn't go on it because we had to make it to the craft fair before it closed, but maybe someday?  It looked really neat!

Roti at the markets - not quite as good as in Thailand, but still pretty good.

Andrew's authentic British fish 'n chips at the market

We went with the Stewarts to Southbank - where Charlie discovered sand!  He loved it.  (The Stewarts are living in New Zealand right now, but are from Canada.  They were coming over to Australia and paid us a little visit! I'm going to do another blog post of all the things we did once I get the pictures from Stephane... she was so good at taking lots of pictures that I hardly took any! oops)

11 months old, I can't believe we're this close to one year!

He is such a funny kid!

Snuggles with dad

Charlie and Kooper - Kooper was pretending to be asleep when he realized his parents weren't in the van anymore!  Funny kid.

 Charlie and Kooper at the mall - this was Charlie's first ride!

 After 8 months of HARD and ANNOYING work Andrew finally got his Australian citizenship!  Yay for him!

Charlie is turning into a climbing monkey!  He climbed up me, onto the chair and then down onto his table!  This kid needs a lot of supervision...!

 We went with Charlie and his friend Jakob to the wind tubes at the local art gallery.  They have all this craft stuff for you to make your own flying machine and then you can test them out in the different wind tubes!  It was actually really neat, I wish Charlie was a little bit older so he could have appreciated it more!

 Ping pong balls are Charlies choice of snack!

 He quite liked the blowing ribbons

Standing on a wind tube!

Look at that long flowing hair!

Coconut curry soup - I love winter for the soups!

So quite obviously I like food - tangled Thai salad

we bought charlie a little play table - $5 - thanks gumtree!  He loves it.

10 months old!  Where has the time gone?

Charlies pooping face!

He's not a fan of the pooping

Andrews cup of bacon at the Brisbane Farmers Market

He looks so cute all bundled up in his sweater!

Well there you have it!  The last (almost) two months in a nutshell of pictures!  There are lots of fun things to come - like my sister Amy coming here in 2 weeks!  woo hoo so exciting!

Catching Up - Wedding Aftermath and Back to Australia

After the wedding I thought we'd have time to relax.... but NO!  There were so many things that I wanted to do/get done while we were at home that it actually ended up being quite busy and somewhat stressful - although not wedding stressful!  Shan and Alex stopped by the day after the wedding on their way out of town to say bye, since we were going to be back in Australia by the time they got home from their honeymoon.  It was weird to spend so much time with Shan before getting everything ready and then just having her disappear!  But obviously it was for a good reason!  

It was our 10 year mark since graduating from high school, so we tried to put together a little reunion (we tried before hand on Facebook but it did not work!  So those of us who were at Shannon's wedding reception planned it last minute and it actually turned out ok!)  We had it at Andrew Gibbs parents house (where we had our after grad party - fitting right?) and got to swim in the pool and hot tub, and have a delicious BBQ along with leftovers from Shannon's wedding which I "stole".

Not many of us could make it...

Looking back on this picture even though its only been a month - Charlie looks so little!  Compared to now...

We were also around for Canada Day, which was exciting because I thought I wouldn't be in Canada for Canada Day for at least 4 years (since Andrew's breaks are in Canada's winters)  We decided to go down to the Ledge to swim in the fountains and let me tell you, we will never do it again!  Parking was a nightmare and it was ridiculously packed, you could barely move!  We were lucky enough to find a spot in the shade as a family was leaving, and splashed in the pools for a bit, but with that many people around we were seriously wondering if we were swimming in straight pee?  Hahaha.  We also got to go to the fireworks over at Millwoods and they were really good!  My favourites are the ones that are silver and really sparkle.

In our last few days there were a ton of errands to be run (we were bringing back a suitcase full of "Canadian" stuff - like salad dressing - the salad dressing in Australia takes super sweet and is very nasty...) We also had a day where we went tubing down the Pembina River, which was SUPER fun.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we weren't going to because we thought we had too much to do, but then as we were walking outside to go run more errands, Amy and I looked at each other and said "lets just go!" So we did spur of the moment and it was great.  I'm glad we made time for a fun activity!  I am sad that I couldn't find my waterproof camera to take pictures with on the way though...!

Also Andrew and I were supposed to go on a date while we were home because we would have someone to babysit.... well that was surprisingly hard to squeeze in (when it should have been a priority - sorry babe!) Andrew and I were able to go to a movie (although right now I'm blanking on what it was we saw...) then headed out to Sherwood Park to meet up with his family for dinner at Famoso - I LOVE FAMOSO!  We couldn't stick around long though because that was our last night and we had to get packing! 

I used to love flying back in the day, but now I hate it!  Having a baby complicates things so much and just makes travelling harder.  On the way back it wasn't as bad as on the way over because I had Andrew with me!  But flying to Australia via Minneapolis (which is way out of the way) and via Los Angeles (with a 9 hour layover no less!) was brutal.  For coming back at Christmas I am totally going to book the legs separately (BNE-LAX then LAX-YEG) rather than just booking the whole trip together, because then you are stuck with the airlines partners (which is why we ended up having to go though MNE)  Although then we'll have to pay for our bags for the north american part... oh well I think it will be worth it!  Do any of you remember when you never had to pay for your bags?  Those were the good old days...

Bye Grandma!

Charlie thought the air tasted good?

He liked Andrews feet too!

It was July 4 when we left so we got to watch several fireworks shows from the airport!

Maybe one of these days I'll get fully caught up?

Catching Up - The Wedding

Starting on the Thursday before the wedding we were busy decorating!  It took longer than I was expecting to get everything done.... which is usually the case for me!  I felt bad abandoning Charlie for those couple of days, and for the most part he was a little monster!  Apparently he was just a little terror until Andrew or I came around, I guess Charlie was just showing his displeasure about getting left behind... sorry little buddy!

Head table

Antique farmhouse window with the seating plan

My favourite were the windows with the burlap wreaths 

This picture of the ceiling would have been much more impressive had the lights in the lanterns been turned on!

This picture is no noteworthy at all except I really like the other frame and wreath!!!

Close-up of the backdrop to the popcorn bar!

Italian soda bar

Guest book table

Popcorn/candy bar

My picture taking skills are not impressive!  But in my defence I was rushing to take pictures before the ring ceremony!

But we need to back up to the night before!  And the day of!  (which I unfortunately have little to no pictures of)  Like I mentioned, the night before we were busy decorating and we also made a Costco run to get flowers because we were putting together the bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres for the important people!  It was a late night...!  

As Andrew and I had not yet finalized the program for the family dinner with Shan (we were the MCs), I popped over to her house the morning of and just ran everything by her while she was getting ready.  That was fun to watch for a bit and they even made me breakfast!  I also had a little book that I had made with wedding advice/nice things about Shan that I had had people write in the days before which I took over - bad idea - she almost cried and wrecked her makeup!!  Then I had to rush home and get myself and Charlie ready.  I was so busy the day and night before that I didn't have time to shower and thus looked horrible in all the wedding day pictures - sorry Shan for ruining your pictures - but really, who cares that I looked bad?  It only mattered that Shan looked good!

We headed over to the temple at 10:30 to be there for the ceremony at 11am.  Daniel was nice enough to look after Charlie while the ceremony happened and apparently Charlie was a good boy which was lucky for him!  And then they were married....  I probably cried the most out of anyone in the sealing room and added ruined makeup to the unwashed hair... oh dear...  I got to go into the brides room with Shans mom and sister to help her get ready to go outside (I really didn't do anything to help) but I did go out and announce she was coming!  

Shanon and Alex Schacher were then presented to the people waiting outside and it was so exciting!  Seriously all that day and even on a fairly regular basis now I say to myself "I can't believe they're finally(or sometimes I say actually) married!"  hahaha

We took a bunch of pictures and then while we were doing so it started raining!

This is one of the only pictures I have of the day and we had an ulterior motive in getting it!  We needed to iron it onto the quilt we made them in-between pictures and the ring ceremony - it was a hectic day!  (Shannon's mom made her dress - didn't she do an amazing job?)

Luckily Shannon's mom had booked a place to take pictures indoors since it was forecast to rain, so off we went to some building (I forget which one) to take more pictures.  It was a neat building with a little indoor forest and stream.  We also managed to take a few pictures in-between rain bursts outside as well.  Then we (the bridesmaids and groomsmen) were free to go while Shannon and Alex had more pictures taken of just the two of them.

So off we rushed to go home and finish off the quilt - it was a team effort - I printed off the picture, Andrew ironed it on and my mom sewed the bottom onto the quilt!  LaNae also had to put together a playlist for the reception and all of us bridesmaids had to practise the song "June Bride" (from Seven Brides of Seven Brothers) for the first and last times, which we were singing at the family dinner.  Oh my we were busy in the hour we had!  Then we had to take a few more things over for the decorations and put up signs (which we didn't have up fast enough and people were coming in the wrong entrance!!)  Then it was on to the ring ceremony!

The ring ceremony was down by the lake and Alex had made a giant wooden pergola and a bunch of wooden benches for the guests to sit on, it was very picturesque.  I never thought I'd walk into a wedding (kinda like they do in movies and non-mormon weddings) but I got to here with the rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, and I even had to hold Shans bouquet while the ring ceremony was going on.  Their bishop did a little speech, Shan and Alex said their vows to one another, then Shans little nephews brought the rings and it was just so romantic.  

There were a bunch of little things to do while people visited by the lake after the ceremony and before the family dinner.  We had to fill up the popcorn and candy containers, make labels, get things organized up front for the ceremony, bring in a piano, bring in the pergola to go above the cake (that one was tricky - the thing is huge!  Luckily there were lots of strong men there to help!)

In my opinion Andrew and I were the worst Mcs in the world!  They made us do it to get revenge - we had Shannon and Alex for our Mcs at our wedding (because we wanted them to have to spend time together so they could fall in love.... it happened, but many years later.... but that's where it all started.... so really, they shouldn't have been trying to get revenge but should have been showering us with gifts and money and promises of their firstborn!  hahaha)  I wish I had the program here so I could add a bit of what was in it, but I'll try and do it from memory.  

To start off, Ben introduced the members of the wedding party as we entered in the gym.  Then we had questions (about Shannon and Alex) that people had to answer in order to be able to go get their dinner from the buffet.  (In no particulate order...)  There were musical numbers by Shans sister Lindsey, by the bridesmaids, as well as by Ann.  There were speeches from the groomsmen and the bridesmaids.  The shoe game was played, cake was cut, Andrew and I did our maid of honour/best man speeches and presented them with the photo quilt we (mostly I) made, and there was a tribute to the bride by Shans brother Dave.  Shans family and Alex's family both did welcomes and then Shan and Alex did their little speeches and that was about it!  Its quite possible I'm forgetting some things but oh well.

Our oh-so-impressive photo quilt!  So tired at this point...

Then it was over.  On to the reception!  There was little shuffling to be done, like setting up the popcorn bar and travel photo booth.  There was a steady stream of people the whole night - Shannon and Alex are super popular people!  I manned the photo booth and the popcorn bar for a little bit, then had to run home to get the going away kit I put together for them.  Everyone I have talked to agrees that when it's your reception you don't have time to eat and then you get to the hotel and you're starving!  So I just put together some little snacks, treats and sparkling juice for them.  (Which they didn't end up needing that night because they were smart and got a bunch of the reception food to take with them!  But I have it on good authority that they ate it the next day on their drive to Fairmont for their honeymoon)  

There was a little dance at the end of the reception with their first dance and then it was over around 9pm and they were off!  It's amazing how much less time it takes to clean up as opposed to setting up!  Even so we were there until 11pm and Shans parents and sister and brother-in-law were still there when we left!  

All-in-all in was a really good day.  Andrew and I had worked for so long to try and get those two together and sometimes we got in the way, but eventually it worked out in the end.  (Of course most of the effort was on their part... obviously....but I like to think we put a lot of effort in too!  hahahaha)  And I'm really glad we got to be there for it.

Catching Up - getting ready for the WEDDING and family pictures

After the shower was over, it was time to move onto bigger and better things - getting things ready for the wedding!  I had all these ideas of things I wanted to make for decorations, and silly me!  I don't have pictures of most of the things I made!  Oh well. 

Of course it wasn't all about the wedding - we did manage to squeeze in some other fun stuff!  

Not long after Charlie and I got there Andrews parents got home from their mission to Africa, so we got to go and visit and be there for their homecoming - Andrew missed it by a week!

Ready to go to the Cahoons homecoming talk!  Also this was on Fathers Day (so we sent this picture to Andrew for his present!)

I also got my ears pierced!  I was a little bit nervous as you can see in the picture on the left...!

My mom, Amy, Charlie and I went to "What the Truck" in Edmonton, where a bunch of food trucks all set up in the same vicinity and you go around and get food from them!  It was pretty delicious with a fun atmosphere!

My mom took us to the Olive Garden - Amy ordered food and then couldn't  eat more than two bites after drinking a glass of lemonaid - typical!!!  But it was funny...!

Charlie loved all the attention he got while we were home!  He also loved pulling Gids fur (which Gid didn't like - no surprise there!)

We gave Charlie a little mowhawk after a bath - it looked so cute but he turned into a little monster while he had it!  Amy thought it was because he had a little punk hairstyle that he was acting like a punk.
 

Andrew arrived 6 days before the wedding, and after he was over his jet-lag we went to get some pictures taken by Cristin!  It's nice having a photographer in the family (who is AWESOME), although we do feel a bit bad about using her....  Maybe when we're done school and out of debt we can pay her!  It was a bit of a gong show because it was raining when we were supposed to go at first, so we cancelled, then it got a bit nicer out so we rushed over, but it was raining a little bit on the way so I was all stressing that we wouldn't be able to get them done.... needless to say it all worked out and the pictures are great!

These were also taken on Charlie's 9 month birthday!  And in all the hectic-ness we didn't manage to take a picture with his little circle saying "9 months" so these will have to do!

The weather was so nice while we were home it was hard to leave!  My parents got a little kiddie pool for the children and they made good use of it!

That brings us to the wedding - on the next catch-up!

Catching Up - Bridal Shower

I can't believe I didn't post anything at all in June!!!!  So bad.  But I did have a fairly good excuse - I flew back home to help plan and then execute a wedding!  Andrew and I's best friends were getting married to each other and we HAD to be there.  They postponed it until Andrews semester break in June (instead of in May like they were originally thinking) so we could be there.  I flew home with Charlie a few weeks before Andrew so that I could be more involved with the wedding and also so Andrew could have some time alone to study for his finals!

This was at the beginning of the first flight - before Charlie turned into a little monster!

Hanging out in his bassinet

Play break in Minneapolis

The first few days home I was frantically working getting things done for Shannon's bridal shower.  She didn't know I was going to be there so it was extra exciting!  Amy's boyfriend got a giant box, cut a back flap in it, a foot hole in it and cut a hole in the front.  Then he drew a huge picture of me to tape on the box (covering the front hole) so that I could "be there" without being there. 

So these are a little bit out of order, but the top right is Shannon posing with the box me in front of the stairs, LaNae had her leave the room while the guests played the game "what was the bride wearing?" (where they had to remember what Shan was wearing).  While they were doing that Shan was listening to a recording Alex did for her in the bathroom, I came down the stairs and into the box through the back flap, and then LaNae and my mom moved the box (with me shuffling along inside) from in front of the stairs into the room where everyone was.  They brought Shan out and LaNae told Shan she had to go and get the gift bag that was attached to the box for the game.  It was attached pretty well, so as soon as I heard her trying to get it off I broke through the paper and yelled "SURPRISE!"  IT WAS SO EXCITING!!!  This is going to sound funny, but I was really nervous before I ripped through the paper!  And Shannon's face was priceless!  She kept saying "are you for real?" with a shocked look on her face.  It was probably the best surprise I've ever/will ever be involved in!  It was hard to keep it a secret for the months beforehand so I was excited the cat was out of the bag!

Popcorn bar!  Too bad the picture sucks...!

This is probably my favourite!

I'm so happy I got to be there for the shower!  It was really funny, while I was hiding upstairs and before Shan got there I received a text from her saying:  "On my way to my shower that you're throwing me from Australia!  You're the best Jewls!  Only thing better would be you here in person!" I was secretly really laughing inside.