Douglas Lake Ranch

My dad, Devun, Katie and I took a quick trip to Douglas Lake to spend some time with Kendra & Nolan. It was the kids' first time ice fishing & ice skating on a lake. Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip:

First, Kendra & I took the kids skating down at the Home Ranch while Nolan took Dad for a drive to check the cows. This is a picture of Devun in the background:



Devun playing goalie in the chain link net:



Way to go Kendra!



Playing hockey:



Unlacing the skates:



We had fun! :)



Uncle Nolan pulled the first fish out of the ice at Louise Lake and Devun and Katie were blown away!



Katie ice fishing:



Our fire & lunch:



Playing hockey with Uncle Nolan:



Katie warming up by the fire:



Dad is fishing in the background, and our pile of fish are in the foreground... Nolan definately had the lucky hole of the day, but Dad pulled in the biggest and Kendra and I each pulled in a few as well :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas!!!! I was hoping to get on the blog and wish everybody a Merry Christmas on Christmas Eve (since I chose not to send Christmas cards this year), however I spent Christmas Eve in bed with the stomach flu... :( Thankfully I felt much better on Christmas Day and we had a great time with the family at Dustin & Janelle's house. Here is a picture of the crew at Christmas this year:

Devun's 5th Birthday :)

Today was Devun's 5th birthday. What a fantastic five years it has been :) We were so excited that we were able to share the day with a bunch of friends & family and go tobagganing, have lunch & cupcakes and then go for sled rides behind the quad! Devun had a great day and didn't even want to come home!!! Here are a couple pictures...

Hitting the hill:



Linden:



Ila & Jaydin:



Birthday cupcakes:



Way to go Kristen!!!! Thanks for the good driving!!!! :)



Devun, Katie, Jack, Ila, Emily & Kaitlyn:



Devun LOVES riding on the quad!



Katie, Ila & Kaitlyn (all born within a couple months of each other):

Winter Walk

The snow is falling again and... It's starting to look a lot like Christmas... :)

This morning Katie and I went outside to shovel the driveway and I was overwhelmed again by the beauty of the freshly fallen snow. After the driveway was clear it was too nice outside to go back indoors, so Katie and I invited Nate and Devun to come outside and we went for a family walk in our subdivision's beautiful backyard. Here are a couple pictures:

Walking down one of the pathways (our neighborhood is in the background)



Katie & Devun







Taking turns sliding down the ice on a hill:

Devun's Warriors Birthday Party

Yesterday we celebrated Devun's birthday with his friends & their families. After hotdogs & cake at our house, we all went to the Westside Warriors hockey game (our local Junior "A" hockey club". Here are some pictures from the evening:

All the boys playing with their hats & food :)





Katie sitting with Marlee.



Devun's homemade icecream hockey cake (cookies n' cream... yummy).



Devun taking a deep breath before blowing out his candles:



Warrior Max French meeting with the kids:

Grandpa, Grandma & the Kids

We had a great time with Grandpa & Grandma Olfert :) Thanks for coming out and visiting!!!!

Katie's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Katie's birthday. We are very excited that Grandpa & Grandma Olfert could come out for the weekend. We had a great day! After a wonderful breakfast of waffles & blueberries, Katie opened her birthday presents and then we went for a walk down at the Gelatly Nut Farm.











We came home for lunch and birthday cheesecake (with Tinkerbell on top)! :)



We even used great grandma's fancy tea cups & plates for a tea party birthday :)



In the evening we went to the living nativity in Kelowna and went for a late birthday dinner! Katie said she had a wonderful birthday!

Mall Santa

This morning Devun & Katie, and their cousins Jaydin & Linden went to see Santa at the mall. This is a trip I haven't attempted for a number of years due to their previous fear of the man in the red velvet suit. This year, however, Katie & Devun both noticed on a previous visit to the mall, that Santa hands out candy canes... so this morning, Devun & Katie were SO excited to go and get that candy!!!



While we were waiting for Santa, we made sure to prep the kids that Santa was going to ask what they wanted for Christmas. Devun was ready with "rollerblades" but poor Katie, Santa asked if she wanted a doll for Christmas and she looked at him shyly and said "scooter", and Santa understood a "Dora" doll. Let's hope the elves straighten out the mix up... ;)

Katie the gymnast!

Today was Katie's last day of the Fall session of gymnastics. Congrats Katie!!!!

Kelowna Rockets Game

Today is the first day of December, and we are looking forward to a really busy but extremely fun month for our family. To kick it off, tonight we had the priviledge of sitting in box seats at the Rocket's game. Nate and I had a fantastic time and the kids LOVED it. Here are a couple pictures:

Devun

I was always told how fast time flies once you have kids... wow, is that ever true. I am amazed that only 5 years ago I was anxiously waiting to get through the last final weeks of pregnancy and HOPING that our baby boy would be home before Christmas. Now five years later our little boy is enjoying preschool, swimming and hockey. This time of year also means he's counting down the days until his birthday party with his friends, his "real" birthday and of course Christmas... By the way, he is SUPER pumped that his birthday is only 3 days before Jesus' birthday... :)

Now, this reflection all started as I was scanning the following picture to share with you. Yes... it is Devun's FIRST hockey picture... I was never one to keep his hair from his first haircut, and I have NO desire to keep his first tooth that falls out (yuck!), but this IS definately a keeper!



Also, I'll take this opportunity to share a couple pictures of Devun with his "bestest" friends:





Yes... time is definately passing us by... so glad we are enjoying every minute of it!