Vegas Baby!

Kent and I went to Las Vegas Friday, Nov 20-24...we had a great time...and of course it went by WAY too quickly! The weather was perfect...not too hot and not cold at all...atleast not to us.

Kent's sister Sheri offered us her time share to use since they were unable to use it. Even though it was only for 4 days it was much needed. Kent and I needed so badly to reconnect and have time away together. It was PERFECT and I am SO glad we did it =)

We arrived in Vegas at our Condo around 1:30am...we were exhausted. There was a lay over in San Fransisco for about 2 hours on the way down. We did manage to see the Golden Gate Bridge from the airplane window as it was all lit up...it was pretty.

We stayed at Tahiti Village in Las Vegas. It is a beautiful place!

Our room was gorgeous and had SO much room. We really didn't spend much time in our room as there was so much to see and do and we only had 4 days to do it all in.

Kent surprised me with putting flower pedals all over the room with a gift on the bed for me...it was SO pretty!

Ok so funny story to go along with the gift Kent brought...I was in the shower when Kent was rushing around the room sprinkling pedals everywhere and putting the gift out. I got out of the shower and he got in and of course he said nothing as it was a surprise for me. As I opened the bathroom door that led to our bedroom all I saw was a mess everywhere...it startled me and I screamed and shut the door as it looked like our room had been ransacked by someone while we had been in the bathroom. I stood there holding the door shut looking at Kent saying someone had been in our room and he was just shaking his head and said "oh Barbara, open the door." He was giving me this look of disappointment so that is when I clued in that I missed something here. I opened the door and looked around and realized there were flower pedals everywhere and a gift. We had a good laugh about that...good grief, can you say...LACK OF SLEEP!

Once we got ready we went for breakfast and then headed to the famous Las Vegas strip to do some sight seeing and of course some shopping. We were out ALL DAY and our feet and legs were ohhhhhhh soooo tired at the end of the day. We ate at some yummy buffets and saw lot's of neat things. People are sure friendly and it is fun to just watch ALL the people go by whenever we were finally sitting down.

The Donny and Marie Show...Yes, Kent and I went to the Donny and Marie Show. And much to our surprise it was GREAT!! They were so fun and interacted with the audience a lot. My whole life I have heard about The Osmond's as my Mom has always been such a huge fan. The energy those two have is amazing. So glad we went =)

This is the picture they have up on the front of the Flamingo Hotel (where Donny and Marie put on their show). It is massive!



Le Reve (Cirque du Soleil show)

We were told while in Vegas we must see one of the many Cirque du Soleil shows. So we picked this one as it looked different. And different it was...but VERY neat! It was a combination of water acrobatics with a stage present as well...AMAZING!!! We didn't understand the whole story behind it ha ha but they were sure neat to watch in this round theatre we sat in.

Kent and I before the show.

You aren't aloud to take pics during any of the shows. The theatre is literally round all the seating is around the water and the stage.

This was a pretty walkway in one of the hotels...can't remember which one. They had these lights all over the trees and these big balls of flowers hanging from the trees.

The Hoover Dam...Monday, November 23 we went on an all day bus tour to the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. It LITERALLY was ALL day...15 hours on the bus 3 hours off the bus seeing the sights. Needless to say if we had known it was going to be like that we wouldn't have gone. BUT glad we went as it was all neat to see.

This is all we got to see of the Hoover Dam as they don't allow buses to stop on the Dam itself anymore to look down it because of all the bomb scares they get. It was kindof disappointing, but oh well.

This couple was sitting directly across from us with their adorable 4 month old baby girl. It was killing me as I wanted to hold her so badly.

The Grand Canyon

It is the most breath taking place to look at. It almost seems like a back drop as it is so huge and so far in the distance. The wind was really cold which we weren't expecting so we hadn't dressed properly for it. So we got a few pictures a walked the path way a little ways and then headed in doors.

Kent being "Vanna White" showing off the Grand Canyon ha ha! He kept freaking me out going to close to the edge. I thought for sure someone was going to fall. There were moutain goats walking right in front of us. They head butted each other and then turned and looked at us I grabbed Kent and pulled him in front of me as I thought they were going to come at us ha ha ha....Kent wasn't impressed with me hiding behind him.

More Grand Canyon shots. It was very peaceful to look at. Glad we went! We didn't get back to Vegas until late in the evening.

Tuesday our last day there we went across the street from where we were staying and there was a great Outlet Mall right there. So we did a little shopping before we had to take a cab to the airport. We flew back home with a stop over in San Fransisco again and got home around midnight Tuesday night. It was hard coming back home to the cold dang it =)

We ended up doing ALOT more than we had planned while we were there, but so glad we did. We definitely didn't rest...we were on the go the whole time. BUT it was fun to just be able to get away and have time together like we needed.

Thanks AGAIN to my Mom for coming and taking care of the kids. The kids love having her around and they sure don't miss us when she is around as they have a great time. Debbie was here as well and helped out.

A bit behind

So A LOT has been happening around here...where to begin???

Carbon Monoxide Alarm going off...
Let's start with us being waken up at 1:15am on Monday, Nov 16 by our carbon monoxide alarm going off very LOUDLY!! It was the scariest thing as it is a woman's robotic voice saying "carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide" and then this loud alarm sound goes off...over and over! We of course were all asleep so being waken up to that sound was startling to say the least. I sat up and was trying to focus on what was going on as I was so disorientated...I woke up Kent and asked him what that sound was. He was totally out of it and I was VERY confused as too what was going on...I thought it was Kent's cell phone making sounds ha ha. I got up and went out in the hallway and right outside our door on the ceiling is the smoke detector/carbon monoxide alarm...it was LOUD!! I was in shock once I realized it was the carbon monoxide alarm and I ran back into our room and told Kent to get up that we needed to go get the kids and get out of the house that there was carbon monoxide in the house. The poor guy was just standing there so confused! He ran downstairs to get the boys and I was terrified as that is where both the boys sleep which is right where the carbon monoxide would be coming from and who knows how much they have taken in.

To back up a little... we had been having furnace problems. The furnace kept going out in the past week and it had finally died on us the day before (Sunday). Kent had called a friend who is a plumber/furnace guy and he told Kent what to do to get it to kick in to give us heat for a little bit and then to turn it off (purely to just warm us up). So Kent did just that as it was cold and we couldn't get the parts we needed cause the store was closed as it was Sunday. So we got a fire going as well and that helped a little bit (the fireplace is downstairs as well). Kent got the furnace to kick in right before we were all going to bed and he had it on for about half an hour and then shut if off...and the gas. He put the fire out in the fireplace and came to bed. This was all around 10 pm.

back to the alarm going off....Kent got the boys up and they all came upstairs. My heart was pounding and I was shaking...once I saw that the boys were ok I called 911 (I had checked Brynley and she was Ok as well). She told us to get out of the house and get away from the house as it is a gas and it is very dangerous. So we all got in the van and pulled across the street from our house. Thank goodness for DVD players as Bryn was wide awake and ready to play LOL. The fire department was there within about 8 minutes. The carbon monoxide levels were very high in the house and these detectors saved our lives. The highest readings were coming from our fireplace and downstairs...but it of course was all over the house as well. Come to find out when Kent had put the fire out he had closed the fl00 on the fireplace as it lets in a lot of cold air and with us having no furnace to keep us warm he shut it to keep the cold air out. The fire dept said this is a common mistake people make.

As we sat in the van watching the firemen go into our home with all their masks and protective gear on all I could think of was how thankful I was. It was all so surreal! Ever since we bought this house 3 years ago I kept thinking "we need to get carbon monoxide detectors". Over and over it would enter my mind (now realizing it was the spirit prompting me) "get the carbon monoxide detectors". It kept getting put off as they are really expensive. I would tell Kent that I kept getting this awful feeling and that we needed to get these detectors installed ASAP. Anyways, literally about 2 months ago Kent's brother Jeff came over and helped us install some that we had got. One at the base of the stairs in the basement and one upstairs. Once they were installed I breathed a sigh of relief. NOW that this is all happening I am just in awe of how all of this has come together. So, so thankful we got them put in. Because I KNOW if we didn't have them we all wouldn't be here today!

Carbon monoxide is what they call a "silent killer" as you can't smell it and it kills families every year. 8 years ago this month we had a house fire and lost everything...so when these detectors went off it was chilling to have to be going through something like this. You know what scares me even more is that the alarm didn't wake up any of the kids. They were ALL sound asleep. How it didn't wake them up I don't know as it was SOOOOO very loud! But the fire dept says that this is very common as well...not good!



Tyson sick-

Look at his eyes...poor little guy was so so sick!

Tyson had the H1N1 (we think, as he wasn't actually tested for it) and he was a VERY sick little boy for 7 days. He had a fever of 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit and we had to take him to the hospital as he was kind of delusional and he was worrying us. He came home and under Dr's orders he was to be quaranitned for 7 days and to go NOWHERE and do NOTHING!! He had to wear hospital masks whenever someone was around us and he spent most of his time in the basement away from the rest of us. We made him very comfortable down there...he was quite happy LOL. He recovered quickly thankgoodness and he is just fine.

Honor Roll (Nov 25/09)
Our Cole came home very proud last week with a letter from his Middle School in hand. We were a little concerened before we opened it and we asked him what he had done. LOL Much to our surprise we opened and were SO happy to read that he had made the Honor Roll...YEAH!!! He was one happy kid and he got lot's of praise for doing so well. We aren't too sure where he got his smarts from as Kent nor I ever made the Honor Roll (Deb says Kent did ha ha...but Kent says he didn't)

Happy 34th Birthday to ME!!

I woke up this morning at 6:30 am a little confused as to what was going on as there was only Kent and I in our bed. I then realized Brynley was NOT in our bed with us and so therefore she had slept through the night in her own bed HALLELUJAH...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!!! ha ha It was a GREAT beginning to my Birthday =)

Little Miss sound asleep...awwwww!!! Mind you, this picture isn't her asleep in her own bed ha ha...it was taken just the other day and I thought she looked so cute the way she fell asleep like this.

Then the phone rang around 8am and it was my sister Emily calling from Utah. My parents are down there visiting them and they were all calling on the speaker phone to sing Happy Birthday to me (Emily 's husband and there 5 kids did as well). It was AWESOME!!! After they were done singing my Dad said, "do ya feel the love Barb?" I most definitely felt the love =) It helped make my day that much greater!

My Birthday dinner...

My sister in law Sheri called me yesterday (Thursday, November 10th) to inform me that we were going out for my bday dinner in Olds (as that is half way between where she lives and here we live) and we would be eating at Boston Pizza for dinner and she had made me a cake as well! I thought that was great as we hadn't planned on doing anything.

Sheri and Mike, Bryn, Kent and I at our table at Boston Pizza

Jeff and his family came, Debbie came and then of course our 2 boys (Cole and Tyson) and Sheri's 2 boys (Taylor and Josh). We were all sat kind of all over the place as that was the only way they could fit all of us in there LOL. SO, the 4 boys sat way on the other side of the restaurant at there own table (which they thought was GREAT). And then Jeff and his family along with Deb sat a booth away from us. It was too bad it was like that as then we couldn't all visit, but there was nothing we could do about it.

Here is my Kori (Jeff and Melanie's 2 year old) peeking over there booth saying, "Hi Byeb" (that is how she says Barb...soooo cute!) She is so dang funny and cute! I love her!!

This is the cake Sheri made me...it was YUMMY!! The cake dish she brought it on was my gift as well. It is a beautiful cake platter/punch bowl that she etched an S onto the front of the glass lid and then under the cake on the glass she also etched Stanford...SO creative and such an amazingly thoughtful gift I have to say!

They all sang Happy Birthday to me as well...loved it!! The cake was SO good...it was chocolate with pudding and carmel inside...ya that is right, wipe the drool off your face LOL! When we were done we were FULL! Thanks to Sheri for making my Bday dinner happen, for the wonderful cake and the GREAT Birthday gift!

How funny is this picture ha ha!? Here is Brynley after she had had some cake...hmmm, do you think she liked it LOL


Today really was a good day from beginning to end...I am so truly blessed to have the family and friends that I have. THANK YOU for loving me!!

I am REALLY having a hard time believing I am 34 years old...UGH!? I don't FEEL like I am 34 years old (whatever that should feel like ha ha)...I still feel like I am a young thing! =) I guess that is ALL that matters then really LOL

Remembrance Day...

When I was growing up I didn't always like having my birthday on Remembrance Day. I never felt like it was "my own day"...I also felt like it was such a sad day as well for those around me. BUT, as I have grown up I truly can say how much I appreciate sharing this special day with the soldiers we have lost and those who are serving us now and those who have served us. I am SO thankful to them for my freedom! And now I can say I feel very blessed to have Remembrance Day as my Birthday!

Today just before it was 11 am we were in Winners shopping and a lady began speaking over the intercom in the store. So we all paused when she began to speak as it was of course about the soldiers. We stood there in silence for a full minute. It was amazing how quite the store became...how still everyone and everything was. I was very thankful that the Winners staff did this as it was SO important.

Thanks to everyone for all the Birthday calls, emails and messages! It meant alot and it helped make my day a good one =)

HALLOWEEN!!!

So I am not one who likes to gut pumpkins. It is A LOT of work and nasty feeling...too slimy for me! Soooo this year I decided I would buy fake pumpkins and have the kids decorate them. They had a lot of fun doing it. When they were done they put their names on the bottom and the year. Then we can bring them out every year and add to them each year by making new ones.

I made Bryn's for her and Cole and Ty did their own all by themselves. They did a great job!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This is Little Miss with her cute little Love Bug costume on. We were on our way out the door Saturday afternoon to Tyson's hockey game in Crossfield. I thought it would be fun to take her to the arena in her costume...and it was =) Everyone thought she looked so cute.

Brynley enjoying the game watching Tyson from the bleachers. She would even clap when we all clapped and cheered. She thinks it is so great there!

TRICK OR TREAT

Cole was a glow in the dark skeleton, Tyson was some sort of scary dude (ha) and Brynley was a Love Bug

Boys are funny as they always have to be something scary or gruesome...at least mine like to be anyways! They were happy so that is all that matters.

The kids went trick or treating with their cousins Jade (princess), Logan (Bumblebee Transformer), Kori (Uniqua) and Avery (bunny) in Crossfield.

They had a good time and at least the weather was somewhat OK. That darn wind was what made it chilly! Kent was waiting for the boys over at his brothers place and when they were done that is where they went. Kent siad that Ty went and sat at the kitchen table to look at all of his candy. A few minutes went by and Kent looked up at Ty and he had fallen asleep at the table...poor guy was so tired! Too funny =)

Rascall Flatts concert

My wonderful husband surprised me with tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert for last Tuesday evening in Calgary. It was AWESOME!!!

Kent is NOT a country music fan, but he was willing to go to it because he knew how much I liked this group and how THRILLED I was going to be. Their music is so good and has so much meaning to their songs.

Kent and I on our way out the door. I was SO excited I was bursting (ha)!

Our sister in law Melanie babysat for us so we could go...THANKS AGAIN MELANIE you are the BEST!!!

We met up with Sheri and Mike, Angie and Gord for dinner in Airdrie and then we all headed to the concert.

Darius Rucker opened the show for Rascal Flatts and he was GREAT!! He has such a nice voice and was even cracking jokes and making us laugh.

Right after the opening singer was done and while we were waiting for Rascal Flatts to come out I headed out to go use the washroom. The line up to the bathrooms was INSANE so I decided I would hold it. As we went back to go to our seats the usher asked us, "are you sitting up high there" and I said "yes". He turned around and pointed to the seats behind him (which was the first tier balcony seats right close to the stage) and asked us "would you like to sit there instead"? I looked at Kent and smiled at the usher and I said, "are you serious" and he smiled and said "yes"! I told them there was another couple with us and he said no problem tell them to come on down. I couldn't believe our luck...AWESOME!!!!!

We only had our camera phone so the pics aren't that great, but at least we got some.

OK so every time one of them would go up on one of the platforms that came up by us I would wave like an idiot of course LOL. One time Jay (one of the guitar players, the better looking one) went up on the platform and I was waving away at him and he waved and nodded to me. Kent and I laughed as we were kind of shocked. When we looked back at him he was looking at us again smiling and shook his head and finger at us...it was GREAT!!

This is one of my favorite music groups for sure. Their song My Wish is one of my favorites...it is something I would like my kids to listen to if I was no longer hear...morbid I know ha ha, but true!

Sheri and I at the concert...happy, happy, happy to be there!

For the closing song they had Darius Rucker come back out on stage (which I thought was awesome as that usually never happens) and sing with them. He even sang the lead part to one of the Rascal Flatts songs called Life is a Highway. Soooooo dang good!!!

My ears were literally ringing all the way home as it was so loud in there. Even when I woke up the next morning I felt like I could hardly hear (ha)! It was all good though and we had such a great time!

THANK YOU Kent you are such a thoughtful husband...I love you!!!

Russ and Neil

Where do I begin...

It has only been 3 months since Russ passed away...who would have thought one of his closest friends would be joining him so soon. Niel Quinton (who is Sheri's father in law) and Russ were such close friends...Niel's death has come as quite the blow to all of us. Niel passed away 1 week ago (Wednesday, October 7 2009)...only 10 days after finding out he had cancer. The whole time he was in the hospital we are told Niel kept saying he was ready to go and to just let him go as Russ was waiting for him...that there was lot's of "work" that needed to be done and he needed to go help. It was AMAZING to hear what Niel had to say.

Niel's funeral was on Monday (Thanksgiving Day). It was a really nice funeral and it was neat to learn more about this very selfless man. Russ was mentioned a lot and the tears were steady as this is all just too fresh...and SO similar to what we just went through with Russ. It was hard to be there, but we wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Our love goes out to Sheri and her family. Sheri just lost her Dad and now her father in law whom she was close with...plus her boys have now lost 2 grandpa's within 3 months of each other. So hard, but they are doing OK!

Southern Alberta trip this past June...

Niel and his wife Donna were generous enough to offer to take Russ and Deb down to southern Alberta this past June in their motor home so Russ could accomplish his "wish list." Here are some photos from that trip...

Niel and Russ in Waterton enjoying ice cream. Love this picture as they are both so happy...they were both diabetics so them having ice cream was a HUGE no no! LOL

Niel, Donna, Deb and Russ

Niel pushing Russ in his wheel chair around Waterton. Love the view of the mountains in the background...

What an AWESOME photo isn't it?! So fitting, such great men!

We are So thankful to Niel and Donna for taking Russ and doing this special trip for him and giving him the peace that he needed to get his "wish list" done...it wouldn't have happened without them.

Niel will be sadly missed! We are SO thankful that he didn't have to suffer long. We can just imagine Russ and Niel together "gettin'er done!"

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY Tyson!!

Tyson Jeffrey Stanford

October 9, 2000

9 pounds 2 oz. 21 inches long

When Tyson was born he was born on Thanksgiving Day. Isn't that neat! To be honest at the time I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving Day until after he was born and the nurse brought me a small Thanksgiving dinner...it even had a pumpkin pie tart on the tray.

Cole and Tyson are 2 years and 9 months apart. When Tyson was born Cole was the happiest older brother around. When I was in the hospital and Kent brought Cole up to meet Ty for the first time it is a moment I will never forget. I could hear Cole's little feet running down the hospital hallway towards my room and he was saying, "my brader, my brader!" He literally came busting into my room (thank goodness I had my own room) and the door banged open really loudly.

I was in tears already as my heart was just SO over joyed at that moment. I had 2 boys (all I could have ever asked for at the time). When Cole came over and saw Tyson he was so in love with his new baby brother. We loved how he loved him...ohhhhh how he loved him!

Random pics of Ty over the years

School Birthday celebration...

Bryn was one angry girl that morning. In the bottom right picture you can see she finally fell asleep once we left the school. She had a frown on her face and tears down her cheeks and red blotches all over her face from crying so much...but she was FINALLY asleep!

I took a cluster of helium Birthday balloons and cupcakes to Tyson's classroom at the elementary school Thursday (Oct 8) for Tyson's Birthday. His birthday wasn't until (Friday, Oct 9) but they didn't have school that day so I figured I would do it Thursday instead.

He was SO thrilled when I walked in holding all those balloons and cupcakes (and a crying Brynley LOL). He took the cupcakes from me and started handing them out. Today was his buddy Paden's Birthday and he is in Ty's class...I didn't want him to feel left out so I told Paden this was all for him as well. I took half of the balloons I brought for Ty and tied them to Paden's desk so he would feel special too. Paden had the biggest grin on his face...it was AWESOME! I tied the rest of the balloons to Tyson's desk and everyone was happy and loading up on cupcakes. Nothing feels better than making people feel good =)

Birthdays are ALWAYS a big deal in our family. I love making them feel so special and loved!

9th Birthday party at Chuckee Cheese...

Tyson wanted his bday party this year to be at Chuckee Cheese. Every other year we let the kids have "friend" bday parties and the off year is just a family bday party. Chuckee Cheese is a VERY expensive place so we let him invite 1 friend (Paden) and then he wanted to have his brother and 4 of his cousins (Taylor, Josh, Jade and Logan) that live close by us.

All the kids playing at the games. We ended up buying more tokens as they just don't get that many with the bday package. They all did very well and won lot's of tickets and then got to go pick out whatever prize they could with the amount of tickets they had won.

Tyson got sang to and hugged and danced with Chuckee Cheese himself. Ty was VERY embarrassed by this as EVERYONE there was watching. There were 2 other bday kids getting it done to them at the same time as well.

Tyson wanted a Harry Potter cake, so that is what he got. When he blew out his candles there were 4 that he missed. He got a lot of teasing from his cousins and friend. Ty had a big grin on his face as having 4 candles left meant he had "4 girlfriends."

Ty opening some of his gifts. Part of his gift from his Aunt Melanie was a massive box of mini chocolate bars LOL I couldn't believe it...Tyson thought it was the best gift ever.

Kent surprised Ty with a Jerome Iginla Calgary Flames hockey jersey. He made Tyson one happy little boy!

A special thanks to Niki for coming and helping with everything. I couldn't have done it without her help =)

Here is Tyson on the way home from his party (ha ha) do you think he is tired?! Poor Paden didn't know what to do or think when he realised Ty had fallen asleep on his shoulder LOL!

Had to put this picture in as I thought it was hilarious! Here is Brynley on the way home...she is ready to party. She has Ty's bday hat on and her hands in the Chuckee Cheese tokens cups and couldn't be happier =)

We love this boy very much! We can't get over how big he is getting...time seems to be flyin' by! He will always be our baby boy =) He is our tender hearted little boy and I love that he is still at that innocent naive age.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr. T!!!