General Conference

This weekend is General Conference for the church I belong to (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).  Cole had to work all day long so I was at home along with my 2 year old and 4 month old.  I wasn't convinced that I was going to be able to hear or concentrate on any of the talks with the two of them around but I was pleasantly surprised.  They played quietly on the floor and took turns cuddling with me in the rocking chair as I listened to the apostles and prophets speak.  This felt like a small miracle.

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (President Eyring, President Uchtdorf, President Monson-*prophet*)

The ever present social media has changed how anti-Mormon literature is distributed and written/presented.  It has become more subtle and pernicious and harder than ever to avoid.  Lately I have felt like I've been bombarded by it on my news feed on Facebook and passed around sometimes by other members, which makes it all the more confusing.  Before the internet, one had to seek out literature that could break down one's testimony.  Now it can pop up on your computer screen looking innocent and intentionally, or not, promoted by another member of the church.  It is hard to recognize except for the feelings it generates.  You will know them by their fruits.  If something I have read makes me feel confused, upset, outraged or dark I know it is at least not quite right and is not of the Spirit.  When something is right within the gospel, the feelings associated with it are quite the opposite. 

Conference is an example of this.  The messages are full of simplicity, clarity and light.  I do not feel overwhelmed by the call to action- I feel uplifted and motivated and supported.  I feel a calmness and quietness enter my soul and an extra measure of the Spirit enter my home when I take the time to listen to Conference.  We can have doubts and fears and questions but the place to look for answers is not in a place of discord.  If one wants to learn to read they do not turn to the illiterate or if one seeks to fix their car they do not send it to someone who is not trained and skilled in mechanics.  Our questions can be answered and our testimonies can be bolstered by those who are trained and skilled in the gospel of Jesus Christ- the ancient prophets and leaders found in the scriptures and the current prophets and leaders called to lead this dispensation. 

I am grateful for the church providing a concentrated event for us to refocus and refuel twice a year.  I believe the speakers at Conference to be called of God and stand as a testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ and His atoning power. 

If you have questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference talks are a great place to receive real information about what our church stands for.

2nd Birthday

With a baby being born this summer, K's birthday was no big extravaganza.  I didn't plan a little kids party- the thought was too overwhelming.  She got a small family dinner on the 1st when my parents were visiting and that's where she got her presents.  Then the week after on her actual birthday we had a small bbq with some friends and their kids.  We made pulled pork and a giant layered birthday cake.  It was all delicious and I will post recipes later.  Unfortunately the pulled pork ended up a tad spicier than I meant it to and most of the kids didn't want to eat it.  Thankfully I had a giant cake with which to make it up to them.

New ladybug rainboots from grandma and grandpa...she loves any kind of new shoes.

New art desk from grandma and grandpa.  Finally a good place to keep all her colouring supplies.

Red velvet cupcake to celebrate.  No candles so we improvised with matches.

The birthday cake I was up all night making.  Totally forgot the next day to take a picture of the inside.  It had 3 raspberry filled layers- 2 creamy and 1 just straight raspberry.  Enjoyed by all.

Remembered the candles this time around.

She managed to blow out one candle and I blew out the other.

New bike from mom and dad.  One of those pedal-less easy ride bikes.

Still a tad too short.

Turned 3 months old while K turned 2 years old.

Both kids are growing too fast- it doesn't feel like a year has passed since I was sitting here writing about K's first birthday party.  The time seems to just slip away- although some days still seem like they can't end soon enough.  I am enjoying watching K turn into a real little person, full of personality and her own ideas.  She loved all the attention around her birthday and won't ever remember there was no traditional party.  Oh, also, K went poop in the potty for the first time the day before her birthday.  She still doesn't seem super into potty training yet but at least now she understands the concept.  I don't want to push it if she's not read to commit yet- she just turned 2 and I have a newborn to take care of.  We will keep coming back to it to see if she's interested.  But after Christmas I will probably start making a real effort to potty train her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Victoria/Vancouver

The past two weekends our little family travelled to Victoria and Vancouver.  Thankfully the rain held off and we were able to enjoy our time together.

Victoria

After work on Friday, we drove down to Victoria.  We always forget about K's car sickness until it's too late.  Poor girl threw up minutes away from our hotel.  Fortunately, because of all the other times, we had stopped putting the fabric part of the carseat back on, so it was easy clean up. 

We got dinner at Noodle Box and ate at one of the duck ponds at Beacon Hill and waited for the movie to start.  Every August Victoria does free movies in the park and Cole and I have really missed them since moving to Nanaimo.  Cole did a test run with K last month at a movie in the park in Nanaimo and it went really well so we decided to see one in Victoria.  They were playing the Iron Giant and we had some of Cole's family in Victoria join us.  We brought our super comfy zero gravity chairs and K snuggled with Cole and B snuggled with me and we ate snacks and watched the movie.  K was quiet but not completely still the whole time.  She ended up rolling around on the blanket after a while. I managed to keep B quiet through the entire movie.  All in all, a successful outting.

We got a room with 2 queen sized beds, and because B is still so young, I slept with her in one bed and K slept with Cole in the other.  Next year B will be old enough we can put both kids in the same bed.  Graciously, both kids didn't wake up till sometime after 7.  We had a lazy morning in the hotel room, eating breakfast and watching tv. 

We then headed back to Beacon Hill Park for the petting zoo and more ducks.  K said all the animals were "cows".  She loved petting and brushing the goats.  Cole taught her to "hunt" ducks and we managed to keep her from falling into the pond.  We ended our morning with icecream at the drive in.

While K napped in the car, we found the new Tacofino truck downtown.  It's bare bones compared to the one in Tofino but it still sells their delicious burritos.  Then we were off to Oak Bay Marina where K got to feed the harbour seals.  So much fun watching her reactions.  We also watched another group feed the seals, and lose their sunglasses to the ocean.

Our afternoon was spent at the beach in Oak Bay.  This was probably my favourite part of the trip.  K got to play at the playground and run around the beach.  Cole and I (and B) lounged in our beach chairs and tried not to fall asleep. 






Then we moved to the big green space and put out a blanket for the kids and Cole and I threw the football around killing time before dinner.We went to Red Robins with Cole's dad and 2 of his brothers and 1 of his sisters and his grandma.  B had a giant poop explosion in Grandpa's armsand the kids slept all the way home. Will definitely do it again next year.




Vancouver

Our one and only trip to the mainland this summer.  We managed to get on the ferry on both sides without reservations.  It was also B's first time on the ferry and she did great.  After she was fed, she played happily on her blanket while K ran around the play room.  On the ferry to Vancouver the good play room with the slide was closed so all the parents and children on a very full 7:30pm ferry were stuck in the lame play room that had the dumb boat.  Everyone was tired and antsy.  Both our girls did really well condsidering.

Saturday was spent at the zoo.  Apparently K is still not old enough to really care.  She thought a couple animals were cool and she enjoyed watching the lions being fed but really, the best part of her day was dancing in the air conditioned car with grandpa while I nursed B in the parking lot. 

Cole and I were able to go out on a date that night.  We saw The Butler and had dinner at Earls.  Cole's steak had to be sent back for being overdone so he got his meal free.  Kind of love it when that happens.  Also got a free dessert.  The server asked us if we had any big plans that night (it was only 8:30pm) but we said we were going home to our kids.  It felt super late to us and we were exhausted.  Funny how your night ends at 8:30 when you have kids when our night had barely started at the time when we were single. 

On Sunday we had a family dinner at my grandparents' house.  My grandpa's brother and sister and their spouces were up visiting from the states.  It was nice to see everyone and show off our new baby.  Thankfully we made the 7:30pm ferry- we thought we'd be on the 9:30.  K loves visiting her grandparents and aunts. 

Beneath the Terrible Twos

So much of my life right now revolves around my newest daughter but the first born is making sure I don't forget her existence.  Dealing with a newborn the second time around feels like a piece of cake, so K has made sure I feel sufficiently challenged all day long.  Seriously, this terrible twos thing is no joke and I feel completely out of my element.  So I am going to take a minute and record the wonderful things about her.  This is the last month of her life as a one year old and she is a seriously cool kid and I love watching her personality develop.
 

One of the weird quirks K has that makes me laugh every time is her whispering.  Whenever she's mad, or sometimes just at random moments, K looks super serious, stares me straight in the eye and whispers the most negative phrases she knows: "shush", "butt", "no show" (show refers to TV), etc.  It just kills me.  It's the worst when I'm being serious with her, or she's in trouble and whispers all creepy at me.

I love it when she gets bored (usually when I'm dealing with the baby) and she just lays out on the floor and gets very still.  It's a quiet action, but a seriously dramatic one for K.  She generally never stops moving but every so often now she just lays splayed out on the floor like she just can't handle life anymore. 

She loves to help with the grown up chores- unloading the dishwasher is her favourite.  I'm always amazed at how much information these little people can hold.  She knows where everything goes.  There are these little plastic bowls that Cole often puts with the tupperware when I like it put with K's other dishes.  The other day, K was unloading the dishwasher with me and she almost put the bowl in the tupperware drawer like her dad but then stopped herself and gave it to me to put up in the cupboard where it was supposed to go.  I was impressed she caught her mistake when her fully grown father didn't.

K loves to pretend to talk on the phone and she always fake laughs while doing it.  Whoever she's talking to is always funny I guess. 

She is learning the actions to a few different songs like "Popcorn Popping", "Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and has gotten really good at them.  She asks to sing them every night before bed and remember where all the actions go in the songs. 

She loves to smell things, like her strawberry shampoo.  She smells it every time we use it and she goes "mmmmm".  She also smells weirder things, like her bathing suit the day after we've been to the pool and it still smells like chlorine.

Whenever we say bedtime prayers, she always makes us fold the arms of all the animals she keeps on her bed.  At the end of prayer, instead of saying "amen" she says "pray". 

I love her little sentences that aren't proper yet.  Whenever she finds out we are going somewhere she gets very excited and says, "I go, I shoes!"  Shoes are her life.  Not looking forward to that when she gets older.  She did not get that from me. 

It's the little things that get me through her bad attitude, rebellion, disobedience, whining, screaming and jealousy of her little sister.  She really is a great kid. 

Blessing Day

B had her baby blessing at church on Sunday.  We had family from Victoria and Vancouver travel for it- it was really nice.  My mom, dad and one of my sisters came on Friday night and my other two sister and my brother-in-law joined us on Saturday.  So we had a full house (and bathroom) this weekend.  I made lunch for everyone for Sunday so I was prepping all day Saturday with my mom.  Usually I enjoy even a whole day of food prep but it was tainted a bit for me this time just because there was so much extra noise, it was hard to relax. But we all survived and that's pretty good.

End of a long day of prepping on Sat

Grandpa and B on Sat

Cole and I experimented with doing pulled pork the proper way- on the charcoal grill.  It turned out fabulously.  I took some direction from an Emerille Lagasee recipe and I would do it again.  I used a nice spice rub on the pork and Cole let it go low and slow all afternoon, occasionally basting with a mopping sauce.  We noticed the pork reached its temperature a little too quickly (6 hrs instead of the 12 we were aiming for).  So next time we do it, he will wrap it up sooner- like at 145 degrees so it can keep cooking longer.  It should be around 195 to pull easily.  But it is a great group, do ahead meal because Saturday we pulled the pork, put it in bbq sauce and on Sunday morning I just threw it in the crockpot to warm up.  The smokiness from the bbq and the kick from the spice rub were amazing.  I also did a bunch of cold make ahead salads: a potato salad (with a vinaigrette instead of a mayo based dressing), a chicken casear pasta salad, a thai cashew quinoa salad, and a Mediterranean rice salad.  I also made some salsa to serve along some chips.  My mom and grandma brought a selection of squares and fruit for dessert.  It was all delicious and only fed us with leftovers for one day so we judged the amount pretty decently and I don't have a whole lot of experience making food for 18 people so I was pretty happy how it worked out..  For future reference, 9 lbs of pork shoulder fed 18 people the first day, 4 people the second day and 1 person the next. 

K loved all the commotion during the weekend and playing with all her family.  B wasn't used to all the extra stimulation and would have preferred to just hang out with me alone.  She is way more cut out to be the first born than second born.  K was never bothered by noise or crowds.  Funny how that works out sometimes.

K with 2 of her aunts

But all in all, it was a nice weekend.  Cole gave a beautiful blessing, B looked sweet in her little white dress and we really appreciated everyone who travelled to be with us.

Sweet smiles of B in her blessing dress

my lovely first born

Family picture before church on Sunday

lunch- my dad, my grandparents, my aunt

lunch-my uncles, my aunt

Grandma JR

Murray and Elaine

my mom and dad (my mom was a huuge help this weekend
being my sous chef and dishwasher)

[also attended but not in the pictures I have on my camera: Jacqueline and Justin Greenwood, Grandpa Wight and Raechelle. Honourable mention to Claudia who missed the ferry by 2 mins.  And a kick in the butt to Carter who was left sleeping on the floor in Victoria.]