Saturday, October 29, 2016

Birthdays and More!

After the wedding the next big event was Elly and Charlie's joint birthday party!  Elly turned one on September 2 and we celebrated Charlie's birthday early (his is on September 25).  We also tried to do a bunch of fun things we had wanted to before the wedding, but found no time for and tried to spend lots of time with friends and family before we headed back to Australia!
Cristin brought her camera to the party and took some really great shots!  We love being home with family and friends.
Happy Birthday to the cutest boy ever!  

First birthday cake smash with this adorable chunk! 


Finally got into it with her feet! 

I made this piƱata in Spanish class in high school and it had been sitting in my closet for 12 years!  My mom was glad to finally get it out of the house! Too bad he lost an eye before he even got smacked... 

I had to add this picture for Daniel and Andrew in the background! 

I'm sad we took the group picture after half the people had left!


Amy roped us into going to the garden
Charlie and Aunt Amy in the garden
One of my favourite things to do is go for walks in the ravine by my parents house.  Charlie was always asking to go to "the forest"  Up top there was a field of baled hay - perfect for pictures! 

Spent a few hours at the Legislature with their cousins, and for some reason this is the only picture I have!  It is impressive Elly got in there! But of course she needed help out...

We took the tram across the river to the Leg - Charlie was in heaven!
We roped Shano and Grayden and Amy into going with us too
Around the Leg at lunchtime there were a bunch of food trucks so we had a little picnic
On the tram - it had such neat lightbulbs!
Every time we found money this summer we put it in Charlie's piggy bank!  Then a few weeks before we headed home  I took Charlie to Toys r Us and he got to spend it!  Luckily the Thomas Trains we on half off this week!
Under 3's get free rides for them and a chaperone at Galaxyland so we had to go one last time while Charlie was still free!
I LOVE THESE CUTE TEETH!
Elly found herself a little cave in Simons!

Cahoon family canoeing at Islet Lake
 A few shots from my camera from the birthday party:
It's impressive I know...



It was my sisters YSA ward party after Elly and Charlie's party at the same place!  They rented these cool zorb balls to run around and bash into each other with - so we obviously took advantage!
Aunt Shano put pigtails in Elly's hair!  It worked for a minute before she pulled them out!
Grayden making a move already!
We're going to miss all the attention Grandma and Grandpa give us!
Dang this girl is cute!! 12 months old, how the time had flown. Walking everywhere and getting into all sorts of trouble!  She loves dancing and playing with her brother and opening every drawer!
Goodbye Canada!

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Introducing Mary and Brian Gorner!

After we got home from BC there was a ton to do! Andrew was still in southern Alberta finishing up his rotation, so trying to keep the kids entertained while we were productive was a challenge!  The most time-taking thing was probably the paper rosette backdrop!  Luckily my friend Shannon was more than willing to help and we got a lot done (but not quite finished) in one day!

We pulled out the nursery toys for the kids to play with while we set up!
(These next few are from my crappy phone the night we finished decorating!) Head table





Brian built this super cute lemonade stand for the reception!
The paper rosette backdrop! The desk got switched over to a candy buffet for the reception.  It looks kind of small but it wasn't!

The newly-enlarged Burtenshaw family
Sisters!
Can I just add that I did all the flowers?  At midnight the night before... With the help of my slave Shannon of course! She was actually curling my hair while I arranged them.  Good thing the flowers turned out better than my hair!



Front entry-way to the reception
I love this picture of Grayden!
And THIS SMILE!
For their wedding slideshow?
Family dinner song - A TOTAL FAIL!  We were singing along, when a piece of the ceiling fell down!  We managed to keep it together pretty well after that until Shan squeaked like a mouse in the wrong spot!  Well there was no holding it together after that!  Luckily we got a re-do that night at the reception and didn't ruin it! 


The salsa bar 
Awesome cake made by Andrews niece Jenna
The candy buffet
The dessert bar
Cahoon Family
Me and my slave!

Everything came together really well and looked (in my opinion) AMAZING!  If only Pinterest was around when I had gotten married...  As much fun as it all was, I was glad when it was over!  We had 2 weeks or so left to relax and play before we flew back to Australia - on to the next post!

It's (ALMOST) Wedding Time!

It took me forever to figure out how to put the pictures from the wedding onto the computer, but it's done so now I can continue the blog! Yay! (Cause that's the only reason I hadn't posted before now....)
So a few days after camping in Waterton the kids and I headed up to Calgary to meet my parents and Amy, then drive over to Salmon Arm, BC for Mary's wedding early reception.  I had been volunteered to take the pictures there, so I had to go!  The night before we were supposed to leave Andrew and I packed up everything in the van.  Go to leave the next morning?  The battery was dead!  I was so mad at myself because I had turned the light on in the van as we were finished up packing the night before to check something and had left it on!!  Our lovely next door neighbours tried to hook up this battery charger thing, but it was taking too long! Monique (the wife) even gave the kids yogurt and helped to entertain them while we tried to figure things out.  My mom and dad were already on their way to Calgary (and didn't want to wait for too long there for us to arrive) and so they insisted I call to get a boost, but I didn't want to pay. Well they called the guy and he came and gave me a boost and didn't make me pay, because my mom is an AMA member and technically it's hear van... so yay! But also kinda annoying I didn't just do it earlier!

Once we got to Calgary Amy came in the van with us and took over driving while I entertained the kids. They did SUPER well and it was a gorgeous drive all through the mountains.  We stayed in Sicamous which it close to Salmon Arm, checked into our hotel then headed to the lake. My cousins son Matthew lives there so he gave us a bit of a tour and showed us this really cool waterfall!  Like one of the coolest I've ever seen - and I've seen a lot of waterfalls in my time! 

The next day we had an early breakfast (it was amazing and included!) before Mary and I headed into Salmon Arm to take some "first look pictures" and do a little pre-wedding photoshoot. It was a really cool spot, near this huge long pier, with lots of foliage and flowers.  It was kinda stressful though, I don't think I ever want to do photography for a job... After the shoot we headed back to Sicamous where everyone had been at the beach!  Mary stayed at the hotel to re-get-ready and my mom brought Elly back for a nap and so she could get ready too!  I went down to the beach and hung out with Charlie and Amy and dad, but before long we were on the road again to Blind Bay (where Brians parents live) for a lunch. After the lunch we went to a beach near their house and cooled off a bit, before heading to the reception in Salmon Arm.  It was at Brians moms friends house and it was gorgeous!  It was held outside and their house is up on a hill overlooking the lake. There was a delicious S'more bar and other yummy food, a little program with a first dance (Charlie really tried to join in when Brian and Mary split off to dance with their parents!)  It was just a really nice atmosphere to have it outside, relaxing and the weather was perfect too!

Sunday we had waffled back and forth about whether to drive back after church or not, and we decided to stay.  We went over to Brian's parents for lunch after church and the weather was so horrible, with it expected to be bad the next day, so we decided to drive home right then and there!  I can't remember how long of a drive it was, only that we got home at 2am.... not a fun time with 2 little kids!  Amy was a machine and drove the whole way!  We stopped a few times on the way home, first at Dutchmans Dairy where we got ice cream and chocolate milk, McDonalds later, and to get gas which took forever because no gas stations were open!  It was quite the adventure.  

Once we got home there was less than a week before the actual wedding - which meant there was tons to do for the reception!  But we'll let the wedding be a post for another day...
I made Charlie a little "snack kit" for the long drive - he loved it!

Such a gorgeous lake

Charlie loves to get buried in the sand

First dance

Adorable S'More bar

Charlie trying to join in on the daddy-daughter dance

Best chocolate milk!

We got to see some of the cows who produce the milk

Seeing this picture makes me sad - Elly had a new bow in her hair and wore it for the first time this day, and it was lost somewhere at the dairy :(

Farmer Charlie
 The next few are some of the pictures I took in Salmon Arm before the reception!  I'm pretty much a professional... jokes!


First look!






Grandma and Elly at the reception

The cute couple making s'mores