Vacation

Part of Jeff's contract when moving up here to Calgary is that his company would pay for us to fly home once. Well we have someone living in our home and so we decided it would be better to just go and visit family. We went over the 4th. Jeff stayed for 5 days and I stayed for 2 weeks. We were able to see some family and friends. Overall it was a really good trip. Here are some pics of the 4th.

Well actually the one in the left top corner is of the 2nd when we watched the stadium of fire fireworks with Shanna and Ron. Then we went up the canyon on the 4th with the Flints and Walkers. We also shot off fireworks with Rachel and her family. The fireworks were very exciting this year as ones that were illegal before were now legal. It made for good times with the kids. Here are some of the other people we saw while we were there.

We were able to see Camille and James our friends from Denver as they were in Utah too. I am so glad we got to see them. Well I guess that only I got to see them. I can't believe how big Jacob has gotten. I love that he was holding this string thing in his mouth for such a long time.
One of the main reasons that I went to Utah was for this little one.

My good friend Misty had a baby and I went to help her out for a while. Although I didn't feel like much help I got to hold the baby a lot and that was really fun. Jane was mostly kind of patting her hard but she had her moments with the baby. Like in these pics she was being so cute. It is hard to believe that Jane used to be that little too. Oh those were the days.
Although we had lots of fun we are glad to be back in our familiar surroundings. Thanks to everyone who put us up and put up with us.

The Other Day

The weather has been getting nicer here, which only means more than one day in a row of 70 or over. But we took advantage of the sun one day. I just happened to have my phone and so these are all shot with that.

She figured out how to pull out the grass and of course she wanted to eat it. Here is a video of her pulling it out. so exciting

Not lovin the stroller.

She was eating the leaves too. She got so upset when I took these from her.

Our apartment complex. Our building isn't in this pic because it is around the corner but they all look the same.

She loves standing but still can't stand on her own. She is doing the army crawl now though.

We are hoping that the good weather continues even though there are still some rainy cold days.

Visitors

We finally had some people come and visit us just over a week ago. Jeff and I were getting kind of lonely without any friends and kind of sick of just talking to each other :) I kid, but it was so good to have people here. It was also nice because that weekend was my brothers wedding and all the family was together. My very good friend Megan and her parents came. It was great because Megan lives in San Antonio so I don't get to see her much. She was visiting her parents in Boise and they made the long drive up here. Luckily, they have a Prius so gas wasn't too expensive. I love being around Megan and her family. They are so fun and we laugh a lot. I have always loved that Megan parents will do the things that the kids are doing. They will play the games, get in the dirt or ride a roller coaster right along with the kids and grandkids. It always makes being around them interesting. 

We explored the city some, ate, did some shopping, ate some more, went to Banff N.P. (specifically lake louise, which is in the park), ate and played games. Did I mention we ate? It really is one of the things Meg and I love to do together. It is funny because I really didn't become interested in cooking until Meg and I lived together. Ok so here is the photo extravaganza of the trip.

I love how Jane is looking at Meg in this pic.

She was lovin the Moby that day. She held on to that tag for a while. She loves having stuff in her hands.

Isn't it so pretty. This is at Lake Louise.

The water there is a pretty blue green color. It is from the glacier run off.

Meg's parents.

Benji had to stick her feet in the water. Ya it's cold.

The hotel at Lake Louise. Jeff thought this was the hotel from the Shinning. Not true. That one is in Este Park, Co. FYI

They had a Cows ice cream in the town of Banff. What is the significance of that you ask? Well it was started on PEI were Meg and I served our mission. We used to get it there. Good stuff.

Jane really wanted that ice cream. She was eyeing it the whole time I was eating it. 

She is so excited to be out and about. That excitement wore her out and this was like this at the end of the day (for those who haven't seen them already).

Jeff thought that most exciting thing was the Strawberry pie.

It was Benji's birthday while they were here. To celebrate Jeff made his mom's famous Strawberry pie. He totally nailed it. Really just as good as the time I had it when Beverly made it. He has become quite the baker. It is a good thing because i don't really bake, just cook. 

So we had so much fun with Meg and her parents. We hope lots of other people come and see us. I know Jeff's parents are planning a visit and anyone else is welcome. 

loopy

This is what Jane is like in the evening when: 1 she slept horribly the night before and 2 only had two half hour naps during the day.

I love love love the end of this video. It makes me laugh every time when she says 'dah' really quiet.

Rainy Days

It has been raining most days here for the last week or so. It is kind of a bummer. I was sick of being in the house though. So I insisted we do something on Saturday. Well what is there to do on a rainy Calgary afternoon. I happened upon some blog that talks about events happening and found that there was a Ukrainian festival happening. Well we don't really know about Ukraine or honestly have must interest in it generally, but we decided to go. You know I am all about food and trying new foods.
Here are some photos from the festival.

I have never seen an instrument like this before. It was really cool and this woman was rockin it.

This guy was rockin this accordian too. He was playing with a band that was a upright bass, drum and guitar. They were fun.

A traditional outfit. There were lots of people walking around in clothes like this.

Another interesting instrument. The woman told Jeff that it actually plays like a piano with different strings being the black and white keys.

And of course, the food. Kavbasa (sausage), Holubtsi (cabbage rolls filled with rice, the yellow things) and the other are pyrohy or perogies. All were pretty delicious. We also got a dessert which ended up being a poppy seed cake. Boring. I thought it would be something unique and cool but whatever.

Me and Jane. There is a stage behind us and there were people doing a whole bunch of different traditional dances with costumes and such. It was pretty neat. Interestingly, there is a pretty large Ukrainian population here in Calgary and Alberta as a whole.
We also ended up going to dinner at one of Jeff's bosses house. It was in the far south part of town. They had an incredible view of a valley that has the river running through it. They are actually from the states too and have been here for 4 years. You know the one thing that keep hearing people from the states say that they miss is Amazon.com. It is funny because there is an Amazon.ca but I guess that it doesn't have very much stuff. Amazon.com doesn't ship up here. I guess that I didn't do that much online shopping but it is really convenient and things are often cheaper there. Anyway, just thought that was interesting. I have realized, being up here, that you don't realize what you have till you don't have it anymore. I need to be more grateful.

Black Knight

My family lived in South Jordan, Ut when I was In 6th grade. We only lived there for a year, as my mom remarried and we moved. We lived about a 10 min walk from this little restaurant called Black Knight. I don't remember what the served, except for their fries. They were spicy and delicious. I would often walk up there just to get the fries. I had never had anything like them and have searched all of these years to find an equivalent. It took me over 20 and lots of lots of fries but the search is over.

Some of you may recognize these. They are the cajun fries from Five Guys. Five Guys is all over the states but I never tried them until I came to Calgary. Good job Five Guys, your burgers are average but your fries are the greatest. Thank you for taking me back to a good time. A time of going to school with my favorite cousin (you know who you are), of swimming in irrigation water in the school yard (with the boy I liked, no less), of going out to lunch with Ms. Koch in her iroc Z (which was so super cool but would never happen today. I mean going in a teachers car to lunch, crazy), sleeping on the trampoline with the temple to light the night and the bringing of 2 families together. I have to say it was a pretty good year. Isn't it interesting that you could get all that from some fries. That is why I love food.

1st attempt=failure

I posted before about how I was going to try and make cupcakes myself. Well we did just that this last weekend. It didn't go so well.

I have realized that looks can be quite deceiving with cupcakes. They may look good but taste bad. This one doesn't look that great either as I am not very good at the frosting thing yet. So first problem is that the cupcake was supposed to be red velvet but it was brown. Then the tops got kind of crusty and the frosting was not nearly sweet enough. Lastly, they didn't really taste like red velvet. Oh well. I am not giving up. If I have learned anything about cooking/baking it is all about finding the right recipe.
On a happier note: don't you love it when you hear a song that you haven't in a while and forget how much you like it. That happened to me this weekend when Jeff and I were driving and he picked Jenny Lewis to listen to.

There is a little cameo in there by Sarah Silverman. Interestingly, Jenny Lewis started out in acting. Some of you may have seen this movie.

Yup, Troop Beverly Hills. That is Jenny behind Shelly Long. I remember watching this movie. Good times.