Happy Birthday!

Happy 9th Birthday! I can't believe it's been 9 years. 

The time has gone by so quickly!

Here are 9 things we love about you...

1 Your sense of humor.

You still giggle about throwing

Buffalo Chips at Tiger and

the stinky pool at Yellowstone!

2 You love to travel.

You've been to MANY places

and been on hundreds

of airplane rides.

You love seeing new places.

3 You are a wonderful

big brother!

Your younger brothers

adore you!

You are a wonderful example

for them!

4 You are my #1 helper!

You make life

so much easier!

5 You are always so

happy and cheerful!

You are so much

fun to be around!

6 You are a great friend

to everyone!

7 You are extremely smart

and a very hard worker.

Right now you say

you're going to be

a dentist or a surgeon

when you grow up.

8 You are a great athlete.

You love FOOTBALL, basketball,

riding your bike and scooter, 

and swimming.

9 You make everyone

around you smile!

We love you E!  Happy Birthday!!!

Edmonton is in Canada Eh!

Did you know Canooks like Cheese and Gravy on their fries and call it Poutine? Neither did I, and after the girl said, "Your not from around here are you?" she politely explained what it was. I guess I'm not used to the idea of putting ketchup on my macaroni and cheese (Kraft Dinner for you Canooks), nor am I expecting to be asked if I want ketchup, mayo or poutine for my fries. Don't get me wrong, I love Canada I even have a dark Canadian secret....I'm 1/32 Canadian! Yes, it was a dark day in my life when I found out (last year in fact), but I have come to embrace my heritage and these are the things I love about Canada:

1. Fudgee-O's - Double Stuff please. Why aren't these things in America?
2. Tim Horton's - Now only if it could reach past boarder states and make it Utah, I would a happy, happy man, 50 Kilos heavier but happy.
3. Popcorn Salt - I love all the flavors.
4. Wunderbars - For that matter any Canadian Candy, why can't Hershey understand I DON'T LIKE WAX in my Chocolate!!!
5. Funny coloured Money - I love being able to tell how much money you have by looking in your wallet, now only if the US would clue into this one.
6. Unnecessarily adding the letter u to words like labour or colour and for that matter pronouncing process PROcess or sorry SOOREE or calling the letter Z ZED.
7. Canadian Movie ratings - Each province has its own movie ratings and they usually let me see movies I can't see down here due to the dreaded "R" rating. Thank you Canada for your "14" rating.
8. I used to love Canada for shopping, even with the GST you could get some deals, but with the weak US dollar stuff in Canda is WAY expensive. I mean honestly, who is going to pay $40 CAD ($41 US) for a DVD.
9. NEW FAVOURITE TREAT - Joe Louis or to be more precise a SUPER Joe Louis. Imagine a giant Hostess Ho-Ho but not rolled up and more like a Ding Dong. Thank you Jason, why didn't you tell me sooner about these things?!?!?!

In any case I enjoyed my visit to Canada this last week, but I'm glad to be home. Here are some photos of the West Edmonton Mall since I was stuck in Edmonton all day Friday. I didn't really buy anything as I couldn't afford it on my measly US salary. But just remember this is a MALL that has the following:
- Indoor water park
- Mini golf
- Ice Skating
- Submarines (no longer working)
- Sea Lion Show
- A petting Zoo.
- An Amusement Park with two roller coasters, one with a triple loop.
- A Casino
- Bungee jumping, indoors mind you.
- Ferarri's for sale
- And at least 3 Adult Sex shops, no I did not go in. :)












BTW, the Poutine was yummy but made the fries soggie after a while, so eat fast!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Drew!

He had a great day today! Look how much he's grown....

1 week old

Stylin 1 year old

Who can forget the shopping

cart fall resulting in

a fractured skull to

celebrate his 2nd birthday.

A trip to Hawaii 2 months

before his 3rd birthday for

Neana and Ric's wedding.

He loved the black sand beaches,

seeing sea turtles, and

a catamaran ride where

he snorkled with Dad and

saw whales and dolphins.

Happy 3rd birthday

and the tradition of the

"pizza" cake begins.

Drew hates all sweets

and wanted a 

candle in his pizza.

D slipped and fell

breaking his hand.  Poor

guy.  Another trip to the

ER.  He's still smiling though.

I love this little guy!!

Happy 4th!

An uneventful, but

very happy 5th birthday

to a wonderful boy!

We love you!!!

Happy 7th Birthday!

Alex celebrated his 7th birthday this past week!

  These past 7 years have sure gone by fast!  Alex had a great day.  Thanks to everyone for the calls and gifts.  What a sweetheart he is!  

A few hours old.  Look at all that hair!

A happy 1 year old!

At 2 years old hockey was his passion..

It was virtually impossible

to get him out of his hockey gear!

The cute 3 year old!

Learning to skate at 4.

Alex and E flew by themselves

to Billings to visit Tiger

and Grandma

when he was 5.

The strong 6 year old!

Happy 7th Birthday to a 

brilliant boy!!

Chef E

As we were driving home E said, "What's

for dinner?"  I asked him what he wanted to have.

He replied, "I'll cook!"

Okay, great!

He got home and with the help of his Sous Chef Peyton

whipped up delicious scrambled eggs,

Canadian bacon, and toast.

It was absolutely delicious!

Even D and P who don't usually

eat scrambled eggs ate them!

I love the age E is right now.  He loves to help and 

is a wonderful helper to me!!

Aaron Travels a LOT!

I travel every week, well, almost every week. I do love airplanes and I love to fly. I really enjoy telling my boys about the different airplanes I flew on that week. www.jetphotos.net We go here weekly to look at the planes dad might be flying on. So, I have been trying to take pictures of the planes I have been flying on. See if you guess what type they are.





Let me also say, I do love flying 1st Class. Nothing like the comfort of a fat wide seat and leg room. Steerage is to be avoided at all costs.

Fort Rucker Alabama, home of Army Aviation

So, I am currently in Alabama. It is very nice and warm compared to last week. 79 and sunny is much better than -40 and snowy. Anyway, I'm working at an Army base that trains helicopter pilots. They have an awesome museum here and I stopped by yesterday after work. The museum had just closed but they let me look around a few minutes anyway. Here are some pics! Enjoy.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

We have had so much snow this winter!  Yesterday it took Aaron over an hour to shovel about 12 inches off half of our drive way.  In fact, we were literally snowed in.   (I am so grateful Aaron was home to shovel!)  There was no way we could have made it out of the driveway without getting stuck. Luckily our great neighbors came by with their four wheelers and finished the driveway and moved all the snow the snow plow placed right in front of our driveway.  They cancelled church after Sacrament Meeting because the snow was coming down so fast and they were worried about people getting stuck in the parking lot.  Let's just say it was one of the greatest Sundays of Drew's life!

This picture was taken a couple of  weeks ago 

and at the time I thought this was a lot of snow.  

The snow is now almost half way up the fence!!

With all this beautiful snow comes some very anxious children.  D has had a fever of 102.8 for the past 24 hours and P has been trying to get rid of a cough for the past 2 weeks, so outdoor activities are out.  Break out the......

Moon Sand!

Messy stuff, but worth the afternoon of fun!

Candy Land!

D and P played so well together!

We must have played 5 games!

As soon as E and Al got home

P tricked them into playing a few more 

games with him!