Seasons in Photos

So one of my goals at the moment is to get back to blogging. Getting settled in Canada this past year and actually being with Phil have both kept me busy and off the internet most of the time but its something I'd really like to start keeping up on again. Ironically, now that I'm here there's a ton to blog about and no time to do it! But I am going to try. My last blog post was back in May...so to start, let's have a recap of Summer, Fall and the start of Winter 2011...in PHOTOS! Cause that's more fun! :)

SUMMER 2011

We celebrated both Abrianna and my birthdays in June:





I had my first Canada Day and then forced Phil to acknowledge the 4th of July by making the always popular flag cake...it was delicious:



We spent time up at the trailer and had lots of fun swimming in the lake:



FALL 2011

In the fall came Alishea and Chloe's birthday's. This was the cake I made for Chloe:


I took the girls to a local farm to pick out pumpkins for the whole family then we all got to carve them...here's how they turned out:





(Abrianna's, Chloe's, Alishea's, Phil's, Amanda's)

Oddly enough in Canada Thanksgiving comes before Halloween...this was my very first turkey and it turned out great:



We had a Halloween party at our house this year and had a lot of fun. Phil and I dressed up as vampires:



We headed down to James and Martha's in New York for US Thanksgiving (Phil and I even braved Black Friday shopping!) Martha made a delicious dinner:



James was sick with the flu (that I unfortunately passed onto their family a few weeks earlier when they came to see us...so sorry guys!) so Phil got the honor of carving:



The big feast:



WINTER 2011 (thus far...)

The holiday season started with The Bowmanville Santa Clause Parade. The parade goes right past our house. I wasn't in Canada for this last year so I was really happy to be there for it this year:






For my gift this year, my mom sent me 3 big boxes full of tree ornaments so I could make our tree gorgeous! My mom is very picky, particular and has impecable taste when it comes to decor and Christmas is no exception. Growing up, our Christmas tree was always breath taking and I really wanted that feel in our home this year. Its hard being away from family and friends back in the states during the holidays, but I'm so happy to have the whole holiday season with Phil and the girls:







MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Hope you're all having a very happy holiday season!
XOXOXOXOXOX

Long Time No Blog

So its been a long time since I've blogged! Its been a busy couple of months for the MacDonald crew. All three girls are living with us until the end of the school year so we have a very full house, but we're loving the chance to spend so much extra time with them.

Things with my nanny job are going really well. I love the family I work for, they are such great people! I'm so blessed to have found them!



Lately we've become very obsessed with finances. Our favorite pasttime these days is watching Till Debt Do Us Part (Such an awesome show! I think its a Canada only thing, but peeps in the states should check it out online, think they have full episodes on the website. It is fantastic and really makes you want to be smart with your money!).



Our other favorite money related activities are playing Cash Flow and using Calendar Budget (an awesome program designed by some friends in our church used to track your spending and budget). Phil's gotten totally into it!

http://calendarbudget.com/home/

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately. My big thing has been baking. I've really been working hard and learning to bake bread. I've always been terrible at it and thus stopped trying a long time ago, but I decided to be brave a few weeks ago and give it another go....and guess what? I was actually successful! I've made bread dough several times since and each time its come out pretty well. I'm quite proud of myself! Also, I finally learned to make pie crust from scratch. My first attempt was dreadful but my second time around was a lot better....anyone have any good recipes or tips for pie crusts! I'm sure I have a lot I could improve on!

Anyway, that's basically our life in a nutshell...thanks to keeping on track with our budget we don't have much $ to mess around with Hahaha so we're a stay home sort of bunch but I like it that way. When I'm home with my Phil I'm a very happy camper!

This coming weekend is Queen Victoria Day so the kids (and hopefully us at some point too) will be heading up to Phil's mom's trailer for the long weekend. I'm excited for some camping after the long dreary winter...bring on the Summer baby! The trailer is where we got engaged so it always brings back happy memories :) Just hope the mosquitos keep their distance! I'm not ready for THAT part of Summer!

Love to all!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

A week of trials and blessings

Its been a very eventful, stressful, emotional week of trials and blessings for the MacDonald family.

On Tuesday, a fire started in the basement of Phil's ex-wife, Nicole's apartment. All three of the girls were there at the time. Alishea acted quickly and safely got all three of them out. Due to the smoke damage they've basically lost everything.

We're all so incredibly grateful that our 3 beautiful girls are safe and sound. As Phil says, everything else can be replaced but his girls can't.

As hard a trial as it must be to face losing everything this way, I've been so impressed by Nicole and the positive attitude she's had. I can't imagine facing this sort of trial. So many friends and family have come together to help though. The help and donations they've received have been so generous and we're all very grateful for all of it. Again, our family is being watched over and blessed.

A month or so ago, our truck was damaged and it was determined that it wasn't going to be repaired. Today we were finally able to pick up our new van. Its so good to have and we're very grateful that we were able to find a good vehicle from a good dealer for a good price we could afford.




Due to the fire, we've been busy rearranging things around the house and putting things we don't need into storage to make room for the girls and Nicole so they have the option to stay here as needed. Its been a lot of work but its also a blessing to be getting it all done. While its a terrible reason to have to get things done, it is good to finally be doing it. In the end, I hope our home will have much more order and be a much more relaxing and enjoyable place for all of us.

The next few weeks are a bit of a mystery as we're figuring out logistics and plans for what all happens next. But I know the blessings of our loving Heavenly Father have been pouring out on us through these trials and I know that He will continue to bless us and help us get through it all.

As we've been busy organizing things we've been listening to General Conference and the church programs that have aired between sessions. I've been overcome by the Spirit today as I've listened to the messages and the words of the church leaders. Surrounded by boxes and dust, sorting through chaos, I keep hearing messages that touch my soul and leave me with tears streaming down my face. Messages of hope, messages of truth, messages of love from our Heavenly Father. Messages telling me to hold on, as life feels overwhelming, as our house feels too small, as our life feels unstructured and uncertain and as fears of trials to come swirl through my mind seemingly never-ending....at those moments when I have no idea how we'll handle it all, my loving Father sends His spirit of love and support and comfort to me. I've felt it so strongly today and as I've prayed for help, help has come.

I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father's support and love. I'm so grateful for my husband's love and patience and support of me. I'm so grateful for the girls who bring such joy to our lives. I'm so grateful for my family and friends here and my family and friends far away. We are so blessed. I am so blessed.

TOGETHER!

Its been a very long time since I've updated our blog. Things have been crazy for us the last couple months and don't seem like they're going to settle down anytime soon.

The great and wonderful news though is that I'm now officially living in Canada! I left my job in Connecticut back in February and had planned to move to my brother's house for about 6 months while the permanent residency papers were being processed. He lives in upstate NY and only about 4 hours away from Phil so that would be much better for us to travel back and forth for visits. We also planned that I'd spend a few weeks with Phil in Canada before heading back to NY and job hunting.

But luckily for us those few weeks turned into a permanent stay because I was able to get a job in Canada and the work permit process was much shorter! I know legally live and work here in Canada! Such a wonderful blessing for us. After being apart for so long, being together is that much sweeter and now I can't even figure out how we managed the long distance for so long! I can't even stand being away from him while he goes to Priesthood and I go to Relief Society! (Haha yeah...we're still newlyweds folks!)

Anyway, things are much happier now we're in the same country! I started my new job and I'm loving it. I take care of 2 really sweet little girls and my employers are wonderful.

I'm slowly settling into all the Canada vs. US differences and I'm loving things like Tim Horton's, Bulk Barn, Swiss Chalet and Pizza Pizza (all food of course! LOL)

Hopeful now that I'm feeling more settled I'll be able to keep this updated a lot more. For now, I'm just so thankful to be with my sweetheart!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PHIL!!!

Its been so long since I've done an update and there is much to tell, but today is not the day for such a lengthy post...today is a happy celebration! 37 years ago today the love of my life was born!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL, LOVING, KIND, GORGEOUS HUSBAND!!!

Phil, I hope this birthday is wonderful for you! You are my one true love and I'm so lucky to be your wife!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Christmas, Boxing Day & New Years!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our wonderful friends and family! I just got back this week from a nice long trip up to Canada and it was so nice to see everyone there! Phil and I had a wonderful first Christmas together. Right after I flew into Ontario, Phil picked me up and took me driving around to see all the beautiful Christmas lights. We spent Christmas Eve alone at home, sharing gifts and watching the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Broadcast. Phil gave me some very thoughtful gifts, the best of which was the YELLOW Kitchenaide I've wanted for years! You are the best baby! Love you soooo much! Christmas Day we headed over to Nicole's to spend Christmas with the girls. They got a lot of fun stuff...must have been very good this year! I got some great stuff from them too....LOVE the Lego Harry Potter game! I've had my eye on that for awhile! Boxing Day we attended church then headed off to the family Boxing Day party! I've been looking at pictures of the annual "stairs" photos on Phil's Facebook for a year now and it was nice to be a part of it this time around! (nice and squishy that is haha) The dinner was so yummy and Phil and I had a good time playing Settlers with Serena and Ron while the girls rocked out in the living room with karaoke! Monday Phil and I had a day to ourselves and we worked on getting more of the house clean and in order, mostly working on the kitchen so I could spend the evening breaking in the Kitchenaide with a batch of coconut chocolate cookie sticks! Tuesday it was off to pick up the girls and we took them to the science center. They had a pretty cool exhibit about mythical creatures that I loved. We had a lot of fun, but boy was it a freezing day! The rest of the week was lost in the wonderful bliss of laziness that I so desperately needed! Work, especially in December, had been so crazy and stressful, having a few days to just veg in jamies with my family was so much fun. We had MarioKart battles and played Guitar Hero, watched movies and slept in every day....Heaven I tell you! Haha On Friday we headed off to Watertown with Chloe and Abrianna to spend New Years weekend with my brother James and his family. We rang in the New Year with banging pots and pans and fancy glasses of gingerale. Other highlights of the weekend were playing Settlers, James teaching Phil to toss pizza like a pro, a wonderful church meeting on Sunday and getting to spend time with my sweet niece and nephews. The kids all get along great and that makes me so happy!



Sunday was the sad, dreaded and emotional goodbye. I know everyone around me was probably sick to death of me bursting into tears. I get so sad and low when I know the departure time is upon us. I just hate so much being apart from everyone and coming back to CT where I feel so very alone...and of course, being away from Phil is especially difficult. But I know its only temporary so since my return I've tried to be really positive. I have a couple job leads in Ontario and if those don't pan out, James and Martha have generously offered to have me camp out at their home for a few months until immigration is finished so that Phil and I can be a lot closer to each other. After a lot of contemplation of this offer I've decided it will be best for us so I'll be headed that way in just a couple months if the Canada job prospects don't turn out. Say some prayers for us! We really really can not wait for this long distance stuff to be over! Thanks to all the friends and family that made this such a fun holiday season and a very big and special thanks with all my love to my wonderful Phil who made our first Christmas together so perfect. XOXOXOXOXOXOX