Anniv-ather's Day

Two major events have happened over the past few weeks.  One of them being Father's Day and the other being that Joe and I have made it to eleven years of marriage.  I was about to add "successfully" but the honest side of me can't truly say that.  I think we just kind of hung on and went through this year as best we could.  Haha!  But I guess if we made it to eleven years, then we are a success in a way, right?  In many ways this year (because it has been such a struggle) has really brought Joe and I closer together, even though we are constantly physically apart.  All.  The.  Time.  We joke about his other family in Calgary, or his girlfriend because that is how often he is away.  Maybe I shouldn't joke about that, but.... I do.  Only because I know how impossible that would be.  Joe is too good of a man---not to mention too busy---and although all men have their weaknesses, other women with periods and feelings and complaining isn't one of them.  He's got enough of that from me.  I mean, it's because I am so desirable, that there is no threat.  (I am on day three of no showering.  Lucky man).  So, on our anniversary, I drove down with the kids to meet up with him in Calgary and go on a date.  We went out to eat at Joey's (our first date---same location too), and then went to drive/walk around Okotoks in various neighbourhoods we would like to live.  We walked along Sheep River and sat on a log and talked.  It was such a special feeling.  Maybe because we haven't talked like that in a long time.  It just reiterated to me that I have the cream of the crop as my companion.  And not just because he makes me laugh on a daily basis or because he's an amazing chef and he makes me delicious food all the time, but because he is just a really, really great guy with a good head on his shoulders, and we have the same vision for our marriage and family and our faith is in the same direction.  My faith has been crap this year.  Not my proudest confession.  Way too many disappointing things happening and it's really hard to turn to God sometimes.  But I've noticed little by little God answering prayers as I put my faith in him a little more here and there and as I try to do the things that I know are right in my life.  I am honestly doing the day to day things like daily personal and family scripture study, personal and family prayers, Family Home Evening, family dinner, etc.  I've never stopped.  And every once in a while on those really hard days I wonder what it's all for, and then I have these amazing experiences that teach me that my kids are listening and learning and applying, and also that I can apply these things too.  And that I need to.  The gospel is crazy amazing!  I crave church.  I need it.  I can feel the difference between the weeks when I go and the weeks that I can't go because of sick kids or whatever.  Sometimes I want a break from church and volunteer myself to stay home with a sick kid instead of Joe, but I always feel that void.  And I'm glad I do, because it reminds me that I NEED God.  I NEED the hope that only He can give me.  And boy do I need hope.  Well.  That got really deep fast.  All I wanted to talk about really is that we are finally moving away!  Finally!  I know I mentioned it briefly in my last excerpt, but I wanted to go further into detail.  A couple weeks ago, I drove right on back to Okotoks to meet up with Joe and yes, again, I "got" to bring the kids.  We went to look at a house that we have had our eyes on for months and that hadn't sold yet.  We got to walk through and I got to envision ourselves in this house and neighbourhood.  And then the realtor warned us that there might be water damage because it was wood-base built.  Um.  Break my heart.  It was a definite fixer-upper, but it hadn't crossed my mind that we would have to be dealing with that possibly.  So alas, we made a decision that very day to rent another property instead.  A property I didn't get a chance to walk through.  But Joe did.  Which means nothing.  All he said was that it's very small and it won't fit my piano (my behind it won't!), but the price is right and the neighbourhood is right.  And the selling point for me was that we are in a Lake Community, something I have always wanted, so we have access to the beach!  I couldn't be more excited.  And now looking back on my experience in that first house and feeling so excited about moving on to the next step in our lives, now I see that it's better this way.  Now we have time to figure out which neighbourhood we like best in Okotoks before we buy.  We have time to be picky and look around.  And that makes me really, really, really excited.  We will be visiting our ward for the first time this Sunday.  And it feels a little weird to know that I will have my own kitchen and home and am in charge of making new friends and how I spend my time.  It's all very exciting.  Mostly, I am excited that I get to kick Joe's Calgary girlfriend to the curb and he can sleep with me every night again.  But as I have been packing this week, it's hit me a little bit that I might actually MISS living here.  SHOCK!  I know.  Maybe it's more that I will miss the experiences we've had here.  The times when the cousins come over and Granny reads to them, or we take Charlie's bright idea and have lemonade stands on the curb with FREE lemonade so no one has to worry about splitting the money, freezer-burnt popsicles with the cousins, beach fun at Gull Lake with the fam, having dinner outside on a nice patio set in a massive backyard, holding Christie's new furry child,"Ruff-Ruff/Brutus," and long walks with Grandpa.  I will cherish those memories.  And the nice thing is, we can continue to enjoy those memories together again when we come to visit because thankfully it's really not that far of a drive away.  Colette jokes with me that it will be years before we come back because we will never want to come back.  I told her only seven years.  No biggie.  Ha!  Love this family.  I will miss my talks with Colette.  Looking forward to our new journey with our own little pack.

Besties in Banff

This girls trip was an Edmonton best-friend reunion.  Sometimes I don't realize how lucky I am to have had such a great girlfriend-group in Edmonton.  I have had a hard time finding anything the same since.  Yes, I have made friends as I have moved around, but it's not the same as these group of girls, nor will it ever be.  Some may say we are an exclusive group.  And they'd be right.  We have spent YEARS developing our relationships and pouring out our souls to one another and laughing our heads off with one another and have spent way too many nights watching "The Bachelor" together.  That show really brings a group together.  I know I will be friends with these girls forever.  One of the ways that makes it possible for our group to continue to thrive is meeting up together and doing these trips!  They don't happen often (at least not often enough for me), but when they do they are a treat and a treasure.  I miss these girls so much and sometimes it's almost harder the more we see each other because then we have to say goodbye all over again!

Not everyone was able to come on this trip (sad), but for the ones who did we had a blast.  We spent our first night at Alysha's and didn't waste any time letting the fun begin!  Although we are all in our late-twenties and well into our thirties, making music videos in kind of our thing.  Another thing that doesn't happen often enough, but we all have so much fun putting ourselves out there and coming up with random ideas.  It's a good laugh, and a good work out, too!  Thanks to Alysha for editing this one this time.  I caught a break because I am in the process of moving (YAY!  On a side note, we found a place in Okotoks and get to move... in a week.  It's crazy and exciting and I can't wait!).  Alysha has a water-distiller so we tried different types of home-made pop in shot glasses 'cause we're crazy like that.  They were grodes.  Haha!  And since it was Barb's birthday weekend Alysha went out of her way (well, her husband did) to get her some French pastries.  YUMSIES!  I wish we stayed up later, but I think we all wanted to get a good night in so we'd have energy to spend the next day in Banff.  We spent most of the next morning/afternoon on a beautiful hike, but honestly, it was a little too commercial for me.  I think I would have preferred more nature and wider trails so we could actually walk together and visit, instead of single file.  After our hike was lunch, then main street, then hot tubbing!  It was more like warm-tubbing though because the heat didn't start to properly work until about five minutes before it closed.   This is where I should insert that WE were the ones that made it hot! Erm I right ladies, or erm I right?  And then... lots of sugar and caffeine and laughing and venting.  I think lights finally went off at around 3am.  Not bad for old Moms like us.  but honestly, I kind of wish we all took a five hour energy drink so we could keep going!  I hate knowing that I have to sleep when all I want to do is stay up and keep going.  After church the next day, Alysha, Tarilyn and Amelia had to head out, so that's why there's a bunch of pics without them.  I mean, we purposely ditched them and had fun on our own because we're so mean like that.  Haw-hee-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw!!!!  We ended up going on a nice little walk by a waterfall and lake.  It was so pretty.  We sat there and talked for over two hours while some foreign boys across the Lake waved at us and mooned us.  Oh my heck.  I think if they had gotten a closer look at us they might have realized we were twice their age and not spent such an effort trying to get our attention.  Okay, maybe not twice, but I'm sure we had at least ten years on them.  Haha!  Made me feel young for two whole seconds, until I saw their bums and then I felt violated.  Yuck.  Put those things away!  We DID, however, managed to come across a tree-bum, and that was fun.  Never seen one of those before.  So obviously, we needed to get a pic of us with me doing what I do best, pinching bums.  It's how I show love.

I promise I brought my camera, but since everyone else seemed to have theirs out, I kind of forgot to take pictures!  What's wrong with me?  So all of these pictures are from everyone else's cameras (mostly Alysha's and Barb's).   I always leave these trips together feeling closer to this stellar group of ladies.  Looking through all these pictures again just makes me want to go back.  And this time with everyone!  Love you girls!

Dance Mom

People.  I don't know how Dance Moms do it.  This was my first year putting the three oldest into dance (Kinder-Ballet and Junior Boys Hip-Hop) and at first it was awesome, but then it just got to be really, really, REALLY tiring.  They all have class on the same day, which I thought was great luck!  ...Except for the fact that there is a 45 minute class in between theirs.  Not enough time to go home for dinner, but an eternity with all my kids packed into the studio trying to kill time while waiting for the next class the end.  Warmer months are not so bad because there is a trampoline outside of the studio (the studio is in the owner's back yard), but oh man, the long winter months KILLED me.  There was a small room with a small tv and a microwave right underneath so you couldn't hear anything when the other dancers would use it to heat their dinners.  Anywho, let's just say it got old fast.  THAT being said though (selfish, whiney Maren), I loved being able to watch the kids progress throughout the year and shine on stage.  I couldn't be more proud and watching those kids dance makes me die inside from all the cuteness!  I also got to team-teach a Musical Theatre class for 9-15 year olds with Arlene Cuff (the owner) when her partner had to drop out suddenly mid-semester. I.  LOVED.  IT.  I would almost lose my voice at the end of our hour long class just from telling the kids to shush!  But I fell in love with those kids.  My only wish is that I could teach it earlier in the day instead of in the evening when I am at my most tired state.  But they always managed to find a way to wake me up!  This was also during my musical rehearsals for Cursed By a Woman, so life got a little more hectic for me with this class, but it was three months of a lot of fun and learning.  It makes me want to open up workshops of my own for various ages.  How fun would that be?!!  Or tiring?  I guess if I made them 6 or 8-week sessions, that's not so bad right?  I love kids.  I love teaching.  I love musical theatre.  It's the best combination.

Here are some snaps of the kids right before going into the theatre for their final show!  What cuties!  They did such an awesome job and I am so proud of them!  Jackson is already asking to take tap next.  I told him he'd probably be the only boy in the class (and he's not Asian.  Was that too racist?) and that didn't dissuade him so he must really want to learn tap!  I then gave him the choice between basketball and tap and he chose basketball (so Joe can take a breath).  I hope one day we can give him both.  We got lucky enough to only have to pay for costumes this year because I have a Mother in Law who is amazing and Arlene owed her a great debt, ....so teaching my kids this year was her pay back.  I'll take it!  Thank you Arlene and Colette!  I feel spoiled (and the only reason why I whined earlier is because I am in the middle of PMS-ing.  I shouldn't write when that's happening I guess.  Or talk to people.  Or be around my children).  It was a blast!