Merry Christmas!

Here is our Christmas Letter. I have yet to mail it out, but thought while I was thinking about it I should put it up here. It might get to some people after the official holiday. If you want one in the mail, message me your address & I'll gladly send one to you!

Our family’s had a year of big events.

Sleepless, and packing was how lots of it was spent.

New baby, a move and lots of family time,

And I’ll tell you about, if it can work in a rhyme.

On March 7th, we had our girl Eden Lily.

Making that 3 girls for us – bring on the frilly! 

She’s now at the stage where she’s eats, crawls & stands.

Grabbing everything she can with her little hands.

She’s a happy little girl, full of jibberish & squeals,

Learning how to protect herself from what her big sister deals.

Addison keeps us still on our toes,

At 2 years old, she still has her woes.

She is talking much more, and is learning so fast.

Trying new things, as much as her attention span will last.

We love her giggles, dance moves and expressions.

This year has been fun, full of learning & lessons.

Mya is so excited to have turned 5 at last.

Her world now exists of playschool & crafts.

She loves to go biking, and helping me out.

A great big sister without a doubt!!

She’s making new friends, and is a caring little girl,

That loves wearing skirts so that she can twirl.

We made a big move so John can go to school,

Which has been a nice break from swinging his tools.

He’s in the Architectural Technology Program at NAIT,

Where he’s been able to learn & create.

He’s done really well, getting really good grades.

Even got a surprise from when he was in the trades 

(HE GOT A $500 SCHOLARSHIP FROM HIS CARPENTRY 

APPRENTICESHIP – JOURNEYMAN STATUS NOW!)

John had an eye injury while on the job site,

(YA, HE WASN’T WEARING SAFTEY GLASSES)

Rushing up to Calgary, where he spent the night.

3 pieces of metal = 2 surgeries in a row,

Meant 2 months off work & movie watching was a go.

We’re feeling blessed for how his recovery went.

His vision is great & time relaxing with family was spent.

I’ve enjoyed doing all of my usual crafts,

Add in girls nights out to share in some laughs.

Some of my projects got done, yet scaled down.

Between a baby, a move – doing too much makes me frown.

I did work and complete a recipe book,

It has photos of food; sometimes I just flip through to look.

We’re having fun, with our busy paced days

With the kids this age, some days are a haze.

We are loving life – and are doing well,

Merry Christmas to you – we hope you are swell!

committment

I've committed to something that is going to take a LOT of work & dedication. My friend Patricia has done some pretty amazing things in the last few years. I won't say them all, but I will say that she has become an advocate for fitness & presenting an healthy alternative compared to what our kids face at school and within our communities. Cardston has the Cardston Kids Marathon because of her. I still get shivers and almost teary eyed when I recall the kids all lined up to run their last mile. Mya was so proud of herself & her accomplishment (so was I) and I was part of her 'Run like a Mother' group (How fun is that!!!) Anyways... she is challenging me (and whoever else wants to be part of it) to run 1200 miles in 2012. Yup - 1200 MILES!! And I said YES!

I usually dedicate each of my races to someone. It gives each of my daily runs more meaning to me. So I think because it's one BIG long race year round, I will dedicate each month to someone. Now to be inspired.

maile's baby blessing weekend

My niece had her baby blessing and my inlaws were up for that. My girls have missed having them now be so far away. They literally squealed & wouldn't go to anyone else but 'papa'. 

 This is my niece - she's pretty cute!

 Liz & Ron with Maile

 The kids ended up playing in Halloween clothes and dress ups for the remainder of the day. We also saw lions, pumpkins and sharks. It was great entertainment for the kids.

 Here are the Alberta 2011 born babies on the Barnes side. Maile, Genesis & Eden

family photos

thanks to Sarah we got some family photos done. i love them. i still have some more editing to do on them, but for now here they are. i love my little family. mya's 5, addison's 2 1/2 and eden's 8 months.

trick or treating

We had a lot of fun on Halloween night. My brother had his place all decked out: scary music, smoke machine, to the nines with decorations and then his partner came around the corner with this scary costume on holding a chain saw... Addison FREAKED out, Mya was scared & Eden wasn't fazed at all!! We then met up with Maren, Sarah and their families and went trick or treating with them. (thanks for letting us tag along ;) The night ended with fireworks & kids falling asleep before we even got home. Good times.

Crazy boots

And I only twisted my ankle once ;)

kid's halloween party

We had a kids halloween party and it was fun! My girls loved having the chance to get dressed in their costumes, even if Addison pulled hers off minutes after getting there. 

carving pumpkins

We've had fun carving pumpkins this year. Some of the highlights include Mya having to be bribed to put her hand in the pumpkin, Addison picking out all the seeds as my little helper & then lighting them up and sitting in the dark looking at the pumpkins. 

Blessed

I just also wanted to post that I'm feeling SO blessed in my life right now. I was quite nervous to be leaving my good friends and all the change that comes with moving, but I'm so grateful for my friends up here that have opened up their circle of friends to include me. My ward has put me right to work, getting called into the YW's my first week up here (laurel advisor). It's great.  It's been so nice having family nearby and being able to do quick visits see them often. My girls are loving all the restaurants in Edmonton. ha ha ha. They literally are clapping and squealing when we tell them we're going out to eat. Fun times eating at Costco or Ikea ;) Anyways, life is great. I'm feeling really blessed and know we are where we're supposed to be.

need motivation

I need motivation to get off my butt and start to exercise again. I've found in the past I just need to sign up for a running race, and voila - I have no major issues with the motivation to get on the treadmill and just start. That's the part I have the hardest with... starting. Once I'm in a good routine, it becomes my habit and much easier to do. So, I need ideas. I don't think I'm up for a half marathon, but who knows... if I slowly train up to it, then I think I could. Anyways, what are your favorite races and why?! Anything from 10 kms to halfs. Help!!! Thanks. Oh, and I will travel. In fact, I would much rather do a race in a nicer climate than here in the cold white north. 

Recipe book

Here is the link to the recipe book I compiled. I took recipes from family, friends and my go to recipes. Some are more labor intensive ones (the kind you usually use only when it's Thanksgiving or special events) but others are the ones I use ALL the time. It's pretty fun to see it all together. I plan on adding to it and fixing all the errors, which will hopefully happen within this next year, but for now it's so fun to see it all together. Check it out, or not. Either way I find myself taking moments out of my day to just look through and get hungry looking at all the different recipes.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2466788

My pantry is full.

September for me means many things, but most of all it's canning season.

I was able to get 60 lbs. of peaches, so with that I ended up with 13 Quarts (1L.) of peaches in a light syrup, 3 batches of peach jam (30 half pint jars) and lots of pureed baby food in my freezer. I had almost 55 lbs. of pears and with that I got 10 Quarts (1L.) of pears in light syrup, LOTS of pear puree for baby food, and about 5 1/2 Quarts of pear syrup. I made 1 batch of jalapeno crabapple jelly too!! It's quite rewarding to see my pantry all full.

Peaches in Light Syrup. 

Pears in Light Syrup

Pear Syrup. 

Made from putting the cores & peels in my steam juicer and then taking that juice and combining it with sugar to make this yummy syrup! Makes me feel like all the effort to peel those pears was worth it. Can't wait to try it on some waffles!

Peach Jam. 

I just followed the Liquid Certo Recipe and it hasn't failed me yet. I put my peaches through the blender before making this recipe, as I like my jam all smooth.

Jalapeno Crabapple Jelly

I juiced the crabapples in my steam juicer and then combined that with sugar and pureed jalapenos to make this jalapeno crabapple jelly. It's really yummy with cream cheese and crackers, or a dollop on some ham. Either way, it's worth making!!

Oh, and my saving grace for all the late late nights trying to can while my kids are in bed. I found it REALLY difficult to can and so I chose to forgo sleep to get this all done!

Now to just enjoy the break for a few days until I pick up all the apples to make applesauce. I bought a Sauce Maker/Food Mill thing, so it makes for a quick process. 

Edmonton!

So, we made it! We had so much help getting our stuff moved it - thank you everyone. We felt right at home as we had friends bring over slurpees for us the night we moved in ;) Thank you Sarah & Joe! We moved in & then 4 days later our good friends Con & Lisa stayed with us a few days, as they were up here for a work conference. They put up with our place still in boxes, etc. and it sure was nice to hang out & spend time together. I was able to go on some park play dates with some friends - and even amidst the chaos it was nice to catch up.

 I've been back and forth between Cardston and Edmonton a few times dealing with some loose ends with our house (which is now being rented!) and for Addison ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist) appointment. I chose to go all the way back down to Cardston for that, instead of trying to find a specialist up here and then waiting for her to actually see her. The final verdict is that Addison will be getting her adenoids taken out within the next 2-3 months!! It's been so scary. When she has a cold or sinus infection, allergies, etc. her adenoids get more swollen (they're already big) and it blocks her airway!! Yup, she stops breathing, GASPS for air and when she wakes up so scared! I'm holding her, so we're both scared together. It's meant many a night with her sleeping in my arms (she has to be sitting upright), as it's the only way she can get air.

My ward didn't wait long and I got a new calling before I even attended our ward. I'm the new Laurel Advisor ;) I'm excited and nervous, but mostly excited! Our first activity was a 'Running Scared'/ Fugitive type event. It brought me back to many a night playing Fugitive in Parkland to the Big Rock!

I've also been canning. Yes. For me, my excitement for canning goes like this. I'm SO excited when I'm ordering the fruit or planning on picking the berries, etc. The first few batches I'm still pretty excited. Then it hits how much WORK it is & how many late nights it's going to take to accomplish it. Then by the time I'm almost done it's like pulling teeth. Once it's all done and sitting on my counters, I'm exhausted & so glad I didn't throw in the towel a few days earlier. So... which stage am I at now? Just call me Dr. Barnes, DDS. Just a few more days, right?! ;) But it will be nice to have jalapeno crabapple jelly, peaches, peach jam, pears, pear syrup & applesauce!!

I plan on putting up photos and the recipes I used, but that will be a few more days from now.

The most exciting thing that's happened this week is that my cookbook came!! I've been working on this cookbook for about 3-4 months now. I had ordered it through blurb.com and because I had used a groupon with it, it gave me a deadling of Sept. 8th. Nothing like moving and trying to do this cookbook. Good thing with blurb I can continue to work on it, find all my mistakes, and add the recipes I just didn't have time to put in. It has been pretty fun to look through, okay, it's been REALLY fun.

Ok, next post will have lots of photos. But for now, I'm going to bed - hoping that the pear syrup jars  (over 5 litres worth) will be popping as I drift off to sleep!

Check this website out... I'm hoping to win something fun ;) Love Amy Butler fabrics & since I never win things, I'll just put this out there.

http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/