VACATION 2012!

Our family was very blessed to take a fabulous, massive road trip this summer! The youth of our ward were planning a weekend trip in August to Nauvoo. I've always wanted to visit Nauvoo (apparently I was there with my family as a 2 year old, but I still maintain that doesn't count!) so when they said the trip was open up to anyone in the ward I told Phil we simple MUST go! As Abrianna is in Young Women's she'd be going anyway so we thought it would be fun to go too. After taking a look at the map, we realized once we get to Nauvoo we're halfway to Utah. I've been dying to go to Utah to visit my family and for Phil to visit and meet friends and family he hasn't been able to yet. So after a bit of pleading to my dear husband (it didn't take too much...he's so good to me!) we decided to add Utah to our itinerary. And so...our massive 2012 Road Trip began! First stop: Grand Rapids, MI Phil's friend Angie lives in Michigan so after driving through the night (and trying to sleep in the car at a rest stop for a few hours) we met Angie for breakfast!

Next it was onto Nauvoo, IL

We got to see the final performance for the year of the Nauvoo Pageant, which was amazing!

My favorite part of Nauvoo though was visiting the temple! Phil and I were able to do a session one morning which was fantastic and it was also fun to do pictures outside the temple with the girls. Chloe declared on the steps that she wants to get married in the temple...got a long way to go till then but it sure made us happy to hear her enthusiasm for the idea! It was fun seeing her learn about temples on this trip and be so excited about them.

My other favorite stop was Carthage Jail...really amazing and humbling to be in the place where Joseph Smith was martyred.

After Carthage we were on the road again:

That night we were able to stop in Missouri and see my friend Heidi and her husband Ty who have just moved there. It was so fun to see her and her new home and to finally meet Ty!

After a lovely stay at Hotel Heidi we were off for Utah. It was a VERY long day of driving through Nebraska and Wyoming but we saw a few fun things along the way! Of course, I slept through part of the excitement when we drove past the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile and Phil didn't wake me up! (I know! I was mad!) But we also saw the Tree Rock and Abe Lincoln Monument in Wyoming. I was determined to visit a few silly tourist stops! These were 2 on the list haha

We finally made it to Utah at around 3 am!

We only had a few days in Utah unfortunately but we tried to make the most of it. We met my mom in Salt Lake for lunch then visited Temple Square, the Conference Center, the Jospeph Smith Memorial Building and the Beehive House.

The girls got to spend some quality time with my mom and Jay which was really nice for me. I hate being so far away from my family because they're not able to really get to know Phil and the girls. It was nice that we all got some time together. The girls loves my mom's dog, Sadie too!

Phil was also able to meet my Aunt Nette...

My cousins...

My Grandma Willis...

And a few of my friends...

We joined my friend Karli for an afternoon at the pool:

After fun in Utah it was time for lots more driving back to Toronto! But along the way we opted for one more site seeing opportunity....Mount Rushmore! Living so close to it most of my life I'm surprised I've never gone to see it before (once again...being 2 doesn't count! haha) and Phil was really excited at the idea of seeing it so we made sure our route took us that direction. We had a really fun morning there!

It was a very fun vacation! So glad we got to go! Hopefully we can make the trek out to Utah again sometime when we have more time to spend! Thanks to all the family and friends that made time to see us and room to house us! Love you all!

Birthday Girls!!!

So, as is typical of me, I haven't kept up with this blog at all! But I wanted to give a shout out to our beautiful girls! Abrianna turned 13 in June!

Alishea turned 18 a few weeks ago

And in a couple months, our little Chloe will be 7!

Can't believe how big they're all getting! I know it must be just crazy insane for Phil and Nicole to see them so grown up! Especially Alishea, can't believe we have an 18 year old! You girls are all so beautiful! We love you so much! XOXOXOXOX Happy Birthday to all three of you!

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