Too much fun

Just as we left for Cuba, I started coughing. No stuffy nose or anything, just a sore throat and cough. The whole time we were there, I would cough at night, but be fine in the morning. (Thank goodness for NyQuil!!!) Once we got home though, the cough got worse and worse until I felt wiped right out every time I coughed. The sore throat was still there too and I could hardly talk. After 3 weeks, I decided to go to the doctor. I had kept telling myself that it was just a virus and to suck it up. Well, it turns out I have pneumonia. No wonder I didn't get better by myself. I have been at home for 3.5 days doing nothing but sleep, read books and watch movies in bed. I'm finally starting to get some energy back and not coughing quite so much. I felt like I wasn't healing as fast as I should, so I finally asked for a Priesthood blessing. I should have done that much sooner! I started feeling better much quicker after that. Thank goodness for the Priesthood and Heavenly Father just waiting for us to ask so he can bless us! Hopefully I'm up to working again tomorrow!

I love breakfast!

About a month ago, Devin and I went to Cora's for breakfast. They sucked us in with one of those "Get a beverage for free" coupons in the mail. Well, it was fantastic! Everything comes with a mountain of fruit and it was totally delicious. Best breakfast I've had in awhile.

Realizations

As we drove from the airport to the hotel and back, and saw the poverty, it made me realize how blessed we are to have all that we do. The buildings are from 1500 and on and do not get maintained...they are just repainted bright colors. The cars that drive around are 1930-50s and those are the lucky people. Most people hitchhike or drive horse buggy things. The cows are skin and bone. But the people are so happy and friendly. It made me realize just how good we have it. And still sometimes we think we have it so rough. I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life as well as to live in a free country and have all the technology that we do. The internet was non-existent and there was no cell service (which was actually fantastic! It was sad to come back to instant messaging, facebook etc).

And the propaganda! There were signs and messages from Fidel all over the place!

Dolphinarium and Snorkelling

One day we went on a Catamaran ride out in the ocean and then we went snorkeling. The water was perfect that day. We had fun swimming around looking at fish and the reef. We saw lots of fish and even an eel.

After snorkelling we went to a secluded little sand bar/beach and explored. We found some really cool shells there. Devin tried to dig up clams, but they evaded him.

The other super awesome thing about the day was swimming with the dolphins! We got to go down into their aquarium (which was right in the ocean) and they would swim back and forth and we could touch them. They jumped and sang and kissed our cheeks. It was so fun! Devin even picked the dolphin up!

Cuba!

For Easter break this year, Devin and I decided to hightail it out of Canada and off to somewhere warm. After much research and deal hunting, Devin found us the perfect vacation. We ended up going to Hotel Gaviota on Cayo Santa Maria. It is a little key off of the mainland and connected by a 48 km causeway through the ocean.

When we arrived, we were exhausted since we flew overnight. Devin was surprised at how small the airport was. It was definitely no Toronto International! We were greeted with a fantastic blast of HOT and humid air as we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac. It was awesome!

When we got to the hotel, there was no information package about the hotel or anything like that. We felt really lost. We eventually found our room and figured out how to get the AC and lights working...and then we had to wander around to try and find the buffet. Once we found the food and the pool and the beach, we were set!

Our days were mostly composed of getting up in time for the buffet breakfast (having omelettes, my friend) and then sitting by the pool reading, suntanning and jumping in the pool. We had a fantastic time. We were so relaxed and recuperated by the time the week was over.

The beach was amazing! The sand was like icing sugar it was so soft and fine. The water was really warm and we had a great time floating around in the ocean. The one day there were big waves and Devin really liked that, but I didn't like it so much. I liked the calm, bathtub like ocean. It was just so beautiful, it was hard to believe that it was real!

The joy of sticky notes

This past summer I went out to BC for a wedding with my family. Devin had to stay home to work. I was sad that I was leaving Devin behind, so I wanted to leave him with notes to find to let him know I loved him and was missing him. Amber was with me and together we came up with this!

Kitchen Table

This Saturday we decided to go look at a store for a bedroom set. We've looked all over and found one that we like, but we are waiting on getting a deal (hopefully!) in February on it, so we haven't bought it yet. There was a store we hadn't tried yet and we heard there were great deals, so we went there and surprise! We found a new kitchen table instead! I love it! It's so sleek and best of all...the chairs don't squeak!!!


The sad thing is that the chairs are very hard to put together. We have to use an allen key to do one spot because it's so tight and you can only do about a 1/4 turn each time. I did that on 4 chairs and by the end by back was so tight that I couldn't move. It has been sore for the rest of the week. I'm still trying to get back to normal 4 days later. And, we still have 4 more chairs to set up. Drat! No pain, no gain I guess.

Hockey

I have a confession to make...until this past Saturday, I had never played hockey before. I know! So Devin and I went out and got me a hockey stick and we played with Dad and Amber. It was really fun. I'm still unsure of whether I am righty or lefty. I can shoot a tad bit more accurately and harder lefty, but I can get the puck where I want it better playing righty... not that I can play well at all!


We played three little kids, and it was, to quote Dad "like playing a power play 3 on 2 the whole time" because I didn't count as a person! I just hung out around the net and swiped at the puck when it came near me. Maybe next time I'll be able to play a little more.

Oh yeah, and Amber couldn't put her skates on by herself, Dad helped her! It was awesome. I'll admit, I would have liked Dad to do my skates up for me too. Lol.

53 Reasons I love Devin

My favorite gift I gave to Devin was a compilation of the reasons I love him. The easy part was coming up with the reasons. The hardest part was putting it together. I put a reason on each card of a deck of cards. I found some team Canada hockey cards and used that. I think he liked that it was hockey themed! Lol. I feel so lucky to have Devin as my husband. He is such a wonderful man and these are just a few of the reasons I love him. 

53 Reasons I love you

1.     You love the Lord

2.     You are my best friend

3.     You are a gift from Heavenly Father to me.

4.     You are sooo cute!

5.     I get to fall asleep in your arms every night

6.     You will be a wonderful father.

7.     You respect yourself and others.

8.     You share the gospel with everyone.

9.     You are a great listener.

10. You love me without make up.

11. You are very forgiving.

12. I can be myself with you.

13. You never give up on me.

14. You have a great sense of humor.

15. I feel safe in your arms.

16. You are my better half.

17. You are a wonderful teacher.

18. You are so affectionate.

19. You are goal oriented.

20. Your super cute smile.

21. Your cute pouty face.

22. You call me “little girl.”

23.  You take care of me when I’m sick.

24. You forgive me over and over.

25. You love our families.

26. You are ‘safety driver.’

27. You are a great cook.

28. You love me even when I’m grumpy.

29. You know how to comfort me when I’m sad.

30. You snuggle me and give me tickles.

31. You watch movies I want to watch.

32. You give the best hugs.

33. You’re a little kid inside.

34. My family thinks you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread.

35. You ARE the greatest thing since sliced bread.

36.  You love learning.

37. You are smart.

38. You are a good provider.

39. You are a hard worker.

40.  You are a handy man.

41. You make me feel special.

42. You teach me to be kinder.

43. You are mischievous.

44. You are honest.

45. You smell soo good.

46. You are a faithful priesthood holder.

47. You warm my feet every night.

48. You have a strong testimony.

49. You are not afraid to try new things.

50. You love ice cream!

51. You love going to Waterton with me.

52.  You do ‘chickens’ as you fall asleep. So cute!

53.  I love you for who you are.

New Years Resolutions

While we were down in Taber, Devin and I took the time to make some new years resolutions. We are going to work on making sure we read our scriptures together more often. I am reading my personal scriptures daily and it is going so much better since I have them with me wherever I go, on my phone. It's awesome! I can read them at lunch at work, or anywhere that I have to wait for a while.
I am also wanting to work on having us eat more healthy. I was at the store the other night, and I bought some quinoa and I'm going to try that out and see how that goes. If I find a great recipe, I'll share.

Christmas Break

We had a fantastic Christmas! It was lots of fun with family and friends. I worked Christmas Eve until 6pm, so we had our Christmas dinner after that at Mom and Dad's house. It was delicious!!! Mom outdid herself. We had turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, squash (my favorite!) veggies, pickles, fruit salad, buns etc and then we had trifle for dessert. We had our annual nativity pagent afterwards, which ended up being rather irreverent, but very fun.

Mom, of course, told us we had no jammies this year, but we did! Dad and Devin had nice matching ones...they love matching! Lol. And us girls all had cutes jammies.

Christmas morning I woke everyone up at 7am. Devin and I went and jumped on Amber and then we all ran into Mom and Dad's room. It's always that hardest to get Dad out of bed. Mom is always waiting for us to come in, because she is so excited.

We opened stockings, had breakfast, got ready for church and made it on time for 9am. I was amazed! I'm always in such a rush for church and Christmas morning, I was early! Weird. Church was nice, lots of music. Then we came home and opened presents. 

We don't do fast present opening. We take our time. Everyone watches what everyone else gets and sometimes we take things out and try them out for a minute or two before we move on.

Some of my favorite gifts were ones I made. I made Mom painted light bulbs, Amber a make up board and necklace holder, Dad got some awesome homemade coupons. Devin's was my favorite though. I made him a compilation of 53 things I love about him. More on that on another post.

Dad has been painting for a few years and he painted me a picture for my wall! I was so excited!!! And, I got the iPhone I'd been hoping and wishing for, for about 2 years! I've been loving playing with it.

We spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing.

I worked on the 26th but had the 27th to the 29th off, so we played and shopped during that time. We stayed over at Mom and Dad's house that whole time which was fun. I think Devin was happy when we finally moved back to our house. Lol.

After New Years, we drove down to Taber and visited with the Bennetts for a few days. We had fun playing games and watching football.