Spring Break

Spring break has come and gone and wow was it full of excitement.

During the first week we went to Kelowna with friends for a picnic in the park, Alice in Wonderland in 3D and hours of fun at the Energyplex (like a fun factory on steroids for those of you in Saskatoon). Then Greta caught whatever bug was going around then passed it on to Joseph.

Greta loves to play with our old camera. Here is an image she took of herself.

The second week of Spring break was full of a blur of activities. We helped Grandpa and Grandpa pack up all their stuff for their move. Went up the mountain to Tube Town to go mini sledding....

and tubing... (Joseph stuck right with me and Edwin took off with his cousins. So I only have pictures of Joe.)
the weather was gorgeous!

Then we drove to Birch Bay to visit James and Tracy and help Mom and Dad move into their new place in Langely. It was James' 40th birthday and he was given the gift of skydiving. I decided to join him!!!

Saturday we drove to Abbotsford for our jump.

Here we are in our super dorky jumpsuits...

receiving instructions so we don't die....

free falling from 10 thousand feet for 60 seconds....

the kids looking on...

and coming in for a gentle landing.

My kids and nieces and nephews came running over to congratulate me!
It was truly AWESOME!!! I'm still in shock that I did it.

After that we jumped back into the car and drove home so I could sing in the choir at church this morning and deal with the madness that is being in the Primary presidency.

All in all it was a great break!

2 months in review working BACKWARD

The past couple of months have been jam packed with life. I have already done a post highlighting Ryan's and my trip to Hawaii. Here are some of the other things that we have been doing. Of course I uploaded them in the wrong order. You forget those kinds of things when you haven't blogged for awhile.

As I go through the pictures I notice there are tons of Greta , some of Edwin and only the occasional picture of Joseph. So here is my handsome 7 year old. (It's not that I don't love him as much. It's because he is away at school everyday. )

Edwin and Grandpa B working in the garden. We've had an incredibly mild winter. I don't think you can even call it winter. The Olympics are suffering because of it but I'm rather enjoying it. The crocus' and tulips are already poking their heads up.

I decided to forgo chocolate and candies for Valentine's Day and bought this enormous bear and two razor scooters for the boys. ( Thanks to the awesome discounts at LW) Greta was overjoyed with her gift. The scooters were received with less enthusiasm. Can we say SPOILED!

We also had a Valentine's Tea Party with 12 of our closest friends 3 and under. :) It was tons of fun.

There were two birthday's in the family (that live in Vernon) that we celebrated as well. Happy Birthday Gaby...

Oops! I don't know how this picture slid in between the birthday shots. If you want to feel worse about your weight have your 1 year old try on your bathing suit!

happy b-day Ardie.

Because of the mild weather we've enjoyed playing at the park with our friends.

Greta and I had some female bonding time. I did her nails then let her do mine. Didn't she do a great job!!

Like any girl, Greta loves having "pretties".

Edwin confided to my the other night that some of the kids at school tease him and say he looks like a girl!! I'm ready to go to his school and spank some nasty little kindergarten butts. I think they are just jealous of his good looks and good nature.

My sister Maria wrote a children's book for my parents for Christmas. It has many treasured memories from our childhood. Here we are enjoying Grandma B's reading of it. My boys quote lines from her book all the time now.

Mom and Dad Burnham completed their mission in San Diego. We welcomed them home with a red carpet and banner. We are so glad to have them back. Sad they are off again to serve at the Vancouver Temple but glad they are closer and we can visit.

I think I should send this photo in to Tim Horton's.(minus the bags of recycling in the background) If that face doesn't sell their product nothing will.
Well that's a summary of the fun we are having. Hope you are all well too.

Hawaii RE-VISITED

Ryan and I were fortunate enough to head to Hawaii again. The kids stayed home with Auntie Gaby and Uncle Kent...(THANK YOU!!!). Ryan had a dental course he attended in the mornings while I headed to the gym and the pool at the resort we stayed in.

Our second day there we took the long drive along the coast to the Volcano. Three hours later! we were enjoyed hiking and driving around the huge national park. Unfortunately, the lava flow stopped two weeks ago.

Ryan's favorite part of the trip was driving back on the 200 or Old Saddle Road through the middle of the island. That road is nuts!

Ryan checks out a rift in the earth.

The mouth of a lava tube that we went through. Yes, I have my usual demon eyes.
Ryan enjoying the warmth of the steam vents.
The volcano is still active and filling again with lava. Half of the park... the half that the noxious gases from the volcano was blowing over... was closed.

This was one of my favorite days. We drove to the end of the road up the north part of the island over looking Pololu Valley. The cliffs were impressive, the valley enchanting and the black sand beach magical.
It's hard to remember a time when we could just sit on the beach and READ!!! Loved that.

This is the view from our bedroom balcony widow at the resort we stayed at.

Ryan sipping a pina colada at Prince Hapuna Resort. One of our favorite beaches. Just off the point we saw whales playing in the water. One huge hunchback breached out of the water, splashed down and flipped his tail out. Just for us!!! I wished we had brought our good camera so we could have taken a few shots of the whales.
Our ride...

I must admit I am not a fan. After driving our Honda driving this was like playing with a toy from Dollarama rather than a toy from Toys 'r Us. JUNK in my opinion.

The west side of the island is absolutely barren! It felt more like we were in Arizona after a huge earthquake dropped California into the ocean.

They have built resorts all along the shore line by pulverizing the lava, adding nutrients of some kind and then created these lovely oasis's amidst the desert. The best part is it's always hot and sunny.

All along the highway are these signs to watch for donkeys!?! I didn't see a single donkey. Maybe because too may people didn't obey the sign? :) There are tons of wild turkeys, cats and goats running around though.

This is the first time I've been away from all my kids. EVER! And the first time I've been away from Joe and Edwin for more than a night or two. I missed them every second. But it was good for me and them. We were so lucky the kids could stay with family where they are loved and have so much fun.

The big island has quite the history with Tsunami's. Hence, most of the cities and roads are built a ways away from the ocean. Anytime you ventured toward the ocean you saw this sign. Note the little man running toward the tsunami.
Upon returning to higher ground you were greeted with this sign. The little man is quickly retreated from the dangerous wave. :)

We stopped by the beautiful Kona Temple.
Then spent some time in the city with the locals.... and eating at Bubba Gump's.

Our last morning there we took a tour into the jungle on ATV's. It was a blast.
They took us up to two different waterfalls


and we returned throughly dirty!!

All in all it was a fantastic trip. The course Ryan attended may be meeting up again in summer 2011 in GREECE. Mark it on your calendar our fellow dentists and wives.

Joseph!

He wiped it OFF!!!

It's that time again!

Let's all don our running shoes and register for the 1/2 in June. Most of you aren't pregnant this year so I hope to see you there. Think what a fun girls retreat this will be.

Register at

http://seattle.competitor.com/register/

Saska-nasty

Just before we left for toontown we had our first real snow fall. The kids enjoyed snowball fights, sledding down the hills in the yard and trying to make a snowman.

We arrived at Ryan's parents place late on the 23rd. For Christmas Eve everyone was there for dinner. There were three FULL dinner tables.

Ryan bought "me" a special gift that I had to open Christmas Eve. ...a new camera lens. Just what I always wanted. Joe doesn't seemed that impressed.

I made pj bottoms for the boys (including Ryan) and myself for Christmas Eve. Mine were floral, Ryan's had moose (mooses... meese... meeses?) on them...
And the boy matching camo bottoms.

Christmas morning was an unwrapping extravaganza!! Joe finally got the game LIFE.
Greta got a new baby with stroller, extra outfit, feeding supplies and a playpen.
Edwin got the clone gun he's been desperate to have.
Despite the cold weather it was wonderful to see grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.

Thank you for having us, Mom and Dad K!

Happy New Year

Now that we have gone private I'm sure you are all waiting for me to divulge all the dark family secrets. Too Bad!!! We have none :)

We just returned home from a week in Saskatoon with Ryan's family. I promise to give a real update soon. I just wanted to let you know that we are still here and still excited to share our adventures with our dear friends and family.

Love you all and hope your Christmas and New Year's was magical.