Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ryker's 3rd Birthday

This year we did 2 different birthday parties, the saturday before his birthday and the saturday after. both were superhero parties, which ryker loved! he's all into superheros of any kind...spiderman, superman, batman, x-men...
The night before his birthday (which was the 6th) we were watching the jr.world hockey tournament. it made me remember the night he was born... we were watching the canadian team play sweden when my water broke. i wasn't having any contractions, so we decided that we would wait until the game was over (there was probably 30 min left). we watched canada win, then went to the hospital. i figured the doctors would be watching the game anyway, so no big deal! we had plenty of time. ryker was born around 330am... this year canada won against sweden, again!





Christmas

Here's a few pictures of Christmas...the first is my favorite.
This is Kayla after she got Ryker's Santa chocolate!



Sunday, January 4, 2009

A Year in Review

I know I haven't posted anything Christmas yet, but all the pictures are still on my camera, waiting. some day I'll find enough time to download them and get them posted for the world to see. until that day comes I thought I'd reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the year to come.

2008 was a great year for the Zuidhof family...

January- Ryker turned 2. many people just don't believe that he's only 2, he's a big boy for his age, but he's growing up super fast!

February/March- We started renovations on our kitchen...We more than doubled counter and cupboard space, making tons of room for all my kitchen gadgets. too bad we had to leave it behind (only to get a teeny tiny kitchen in return)

April- april fool's day was more than jokes for us this year, Kayla Michel Zuidhof was born that afternoon. She was welcomed with open arms and her big brother loved her from the moment he met her! Unfortunately, that night Chris and Ryker were heading home and hit a cow on the highway. Both were uninjured (after being assessed by the emerg docs) and sent home. The van, however, did not survive. That led to us looking for a new van just days later. It all worked out in the end. I also turned 30 later that month, that's all we'll say about that.

May- Kayla was blessed, we kept it small and invited family over on a Saturday night to keep it special for our little family. I hope that we can continue this tradition with the next child too.

June- weather was warming up and we were getting ready for summer with the first horseback ride of the season. Ryker even got up on Cosmo this year (they're just breaking him and no one could stay on him).

July- Chris and I participated in our first triathlon! We did the Magrath triathlon as a team, with a good friend, Barb. I swam the dam (st. mary's reservoir), Chris biked into Magrath, and Barb did the run for us. It was a great day, and a great way to get into a triathlon without the stress of doing it alone. We also attended the Michel family reunion and had a blast! The family is getting so big and we rarely see all the cousins. It was a great opportunity to spend time with family we don't see very often (we missed the ones that couldn't make it).

August- This month I did a full triathlon by myself. I did the "supersprint" distance in Fort Macleod (and I must say they it was very well done, though a very hot day). I did much better than expected and it made me realize that I could do the sprint distance on my own. I signed up for and completed the triathlon in Lacombe (again, very well done, especially considering it was their first), and managed to meet my personal time goal.

October- Chris transfered to Taber. He's still working for Epcor water services (a company that has treated us very well since he started with them three years ago). The move to Taber has been a good one. He's now lead hand over distribution and collection (which means...he's in charge of water lines after it leaves the water plant and sewer lines before they get to the treatment plant), sometime in the new year he'll help with starting up the new sewer plant.

November- Busy trying to pack the house with two little kids running around, I woke one Sunday morning and Chris noticed something wrong with my face...it turned out to be Bell's Palsy! (at least it wasn't a stroke) it slowed me down a bit, but I still managed to get things packed up. We also got to be at Cassidy and Jeff's wedding at the end of the month! It was great to be a part of the day with them.

December- on the 1st we took possesion of our new home! after just over a week of being "homeless" we finally got to move into the "pumpkin house" (ryker's name for the house). It gave us time to settle a bit, then enjoy Christmas with family. We had Chris' family over on Christmas eve, and my family over on Christmas day. (it was nice not having to load up the kids to go all over).

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Potty time

Ryker has refused to use the potty. I'm not sure why, but he is more than happy to wear a wet, dirty diaper all day long and sees no need to use the toilet (I think it takes away from his play time). Since we've moved we are right across the street from an elementary school. Ryker likes to watch the kids going to school and wants to go to school too. I've told him that he can't go to school if he doesn't use the potty, occassionally, when I tell him that he will immediately go to the bathroom and sit on the potty (but never actually pee). The other day he was sitting on the potty when he saw his dad's book...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

8 things

Rules:Post rules on your blog. Answer the six "8" items.

8 things I did yesterday:
*attempted to organize the basement (it may take several saturdays)
*made an updated price list for my Photography business
*went out in the freezing cold
*ate way too much for dinner
*played canasta
*avoided cleaning the living room
*slept in (thank you chris)
*went to bed late

8 things I look forward to:
*Christmas
*spending time with Chris
*naptime (for me and the kids)
*finding a new book to love
*baby #3
*having the house unpacked and organized
*summer
*chocolate

8 restaurants I like:
*East Side Mario's
*Swiss Chalet
*Panago
*Montana's
*KFC
*Ric's grill
*Eddie's (in Picture Butte)
*Boston Pizza

8 things on my wishlist
*Photography studio
*a new camera
*more cricut cartridges
*a new nativity set (or 2 or 3)
*a trip to the Philippines
*a nice long vacation with my family
*healthy babies
*new furniture

8 Favorite TV shows:
*Criminal Minds
*ER
*NCIS
*Grey's Anatomy
*The Biggest Loser
*Survivor
*the Amazing Race
*Private Practice

8 People I tag: (you're it!)
*any 8 people that would like to do it :)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

I'm a believer

For anyone considering acupuncture for anything...go for it! I can't say how impressed I am with it. As you may recall from my previous post about bell's palsy, I have had a rough few weeks. On Monday I went for my first acupuncture treatment (ever) and the results were amazing! All weekend I was in pain almost constantly only relieved by Tylenol 3's (which I didn't take during the day because they knock me out). After monday I have only taken 2 and haven't used any in the last 3 days. I've also got back most of my muscle control to my face. which means, I can smile, my eye doesn't bother me and I hardly notice that I don't have full control. I've got another treatment on Friday, which I'm hoping will fix it all and take away the mild ache that I still occassionally feel.
Thank you all for your prayers and concern for me, I really needed it. Now I just have to finnish packing and get all the stupid paperwork done to finalize all the buying and selling.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Freedom to vote

I am not from California, but I can't help but comment on what is happening there recently...
In the recent vote California also voted on "proposition 8" regarding marriage...proposition that amended the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. 52% of voters said yes, making same-sex marriage illigal in the state of California.

Here is my personal belief. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As such, I believe that marriage is a sacred union of a man and a woman. I don't agree with same-sex unions, but I don't hate those that choose to live that way.

After the vote, it should be done. However, it is not. There have been protests and even acts of vandalism, most of which have been targeted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Most recently the Los Angeles temple was targeted and subsequently closed for most of Thursday.
The Church has released a statement regarding recent events. Also of interest to me was the statements released by Catholic bishops in Sacramento and Salt Lake. I particularly liked the following statement

“I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words — and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8.” Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.

I do not wish to offend others with this post, however, I do wish all of you to know my belief on this issue. We need to stand up for what we believe when called upon to do so, then when the time has passed accept the consequences gracefully.