The great catch up of 2013 continues..

In July, Jess, Britt and mom and I (Kailey was missed) hopped on a Westjet plane and headed for Maui proving that there is no bad time to visit Hawaii.  It it always paradise.  I don't have the words to express what a fantastic trip this was.  Four girls, no kids, no work or school, no worries, set loose on a tropical island with a rented chevy impala. Like I said,  paradise.

We had so many adventures from snorkeling at Honolua Bay, to Britty mis-interpreting local information signs, to body surfing, to mom tracking down the life guard at Big Beach.  Each of those things bring back amazing and hilarious memories that I wouldn't have wanted to share with anyone else. 

Every morning was spent snorkeling, every afternoon exploring a new beach, and every evening dining out.  Heaven. Yes, I would definitely do that again.

Fall brought the Relief Society triathlon, Jared's birthday and beautiful autumn walks.  We lucked out and had summer weather September 29th when the triathlon was held.  I think it's safe to say that everyone was a little nervous at first but it always ends up being a rewarding and super fun experience.  Jared turned 29...again!  He doesn't need to lie about his age, he turned 35 and like fine wine, only seems to get better with age. 

Our house was the King headquarters for Thanksgiving this year and we were happy to have G and G King, Auntie Jessie, and Karla come to Salmon Arm for some turkey and fall delights.  We had a fabulous time hitting up the local parks, going for hikes and eating delicious food.

Is it bad that Halloween may be my favourite time of year?  OK, I guess it can't beat Christmas, but it comes pretty close at our house.  This year Jared and I dressed up as the Black Widow and Hawk Eye for a Halloween party.  Everyone thought Jared was Katniss.  It worked out OK though, because Katniss ended up winning "the funniest" costume award.

There was a Fear Factor competition at the party and I may or may not have eaten things that I am now ashamed of.  I ended up coming in third (the last one was a timed competition and I lost out to two dudes although I did finish) and won a lovely digital picture frame, making it all worth it, right?  Right?  I'll give you some hints as to the things we ate; let's just say there was lots of animal food involved, a Chinese market, a popular household pet and a possibly a science experiment that you have seen on YouTube.  Use your imagination, we probably ate it.

We had Christine Sinclair, Frankenstein, Dracula and a Ballerina at our house this year.  Lucy was going to be a Ninja up until about 3:00 pm Halloween day.  In the end, she was a pink explosion.  The lure a tutu and tights was just to much for her.  Ollie caught on quickly this year and made it around our entire neighbourhood, he and his little super friend Grayson were a complete hit.

                         

 Winter at our house means, pageants, concerts, parties and my birthday.  I turned 29. 

This year for Christmas, we strapped on our roof top carrier and headed south of the border to Camas, Wa to spend Christmas with the Floyds.  Between giant blue sacks, lovely walks by the lakes, games, treats and endless visiting, a wonderful time was had by all.

I'm happy to report that Santa nailed it Christmas morning.  Nathan spent most of Christmas day reading through a sixty five page instruction booklet and putting together his X-wing Fighter, Jordan spent most of her day belting into a microphone, Lucy spent most of her day prancing around like a fairy taking care of her crawling baby and Ollie spent most of his day playing with his new "trucks."

We made it downtown Portland one day and were able to visit the food trucks.  What a treat!

                         
Nathan's birthday celebrations began down in Portland at G6 Airpark.  Are you kidding me?  This place was amazing!!  I wish I could have this in my basement!  An entire trampoline room dedicated to dodge ball?  What?

 Can't forget a friend party for our little seven year old!

Ollie turned 2 on January 20th!  He talked about his birthday for weeks and was thrilled when the day finally arrived.  We went to Silver Star and enjoyed fun and frolic in the snow on his special day.  The primary president came into nursery on Sunday and sang to Ollie and gave him a card.  He carried that card around for two days.  The next week at church, it happened to be his nursery leader's birthday. so the presidency came in and sang again.  Ollie had the biggest scowl on his face and when it was over he pointed at himself and said 'it's MY birthday!"  Welcome to the terrific twos!

Whew!  Done and done.  Of course I'm sure there are things I've missed, for example, I just realized that I don't have one piano recital picture, or no mention of the piano festival, or work, or baskeball season, or Tough Mudder.  But hopefully you get the idea, 2012, although it had some challenges was a fantastic year!  Now onto 2013.

I am attempting to do the impossible.  It's been a year since I've blogged.  For those of you that blog, you know that a year is an impossible deficit to overcome.  It's not that I haven't wanted to blog, I have wanted to, desperately at times.  But the task became too daunting too fast.  You see, last January, we had a major change occur in our household, I went back to work.  Not just back to work, but back to work full time.  Boom.  I taught French Immersion Kindergarten from January to June and although we all survived, there were times when we were holding on by a thread to just keep up with our daily talks.  When school ended at the end of June, I was convinced that I had somehow contracted mono and Jared was thinking that maybe he had chronic fatigue syndrome.  Seriously.  It turned out that we were just really, really tired and rightfully so.  The year had been a success, but between us both working, taking care of 4 (count em') 4 kids, coaching, playing soccer and volleyball, helping with piano practice, training for Tough Mudder and fulfilling our church responsibilities we were spent.  There was simply no time to blog.  So why catch up?  Why not just start fresh?  Well, my dear, supportive, amazing and devilishly handsome husband has  promised to make this blog into books for me.  He has already made me one and I love it.  Also, 2012 was too great a year to forget.  Too many memories were made, too many adventures were had and too many pictures were taken not to share.

Starting in in January 2012 baby...

Grandma Lee turned 80!  Way to go grandma!

Mom turned 60 and we celebrated in style at Silver Star with five siblings (Jess and fam were missed).  We spent the weekend snowboarding, skiing and making complete fools of ourselves playing minute to win it games. 

 

 Lucy turned 4 and had her first friend birthday party.  Two of the four girls that were at the birthday threw up during the party.  Can you guess which girls by looking at the picture?  We like to make a game out of it.  I made her a littlest pet shop birthday cake that she pretended to like as to not hurt my feelings.  I was feeling a little stressed during her birthday and it was seriously the best I could come up with. It would have helped if she 

actually played with Littlest Pet Shop toys.  My bad.  But to be fair, she gave me nothing to work with.

 For spring break we went to visit Jared's parents in Castlegar.  Usually up North, our "spring break" consists of driving somewhere that will possibly have even more snow than we do.  We did manage to have a great time with grandma and grandpa King, Auntie Jessie and Karla and kids.  It wasn't hard to manage with skiing in knee deep powder, relaxing in a hot tub and endless card games.

 Caleb, Kailey,Lucas, Caleb, Britt, Jared and Zach all made it home for Easter.  Mom and dad had a full house and I don't think they minded one bit. 

 We love our May long weekend tradition of camping with friends at Scotch Creek.  One of our friends once suggested that "hey it doesn't have to be May long weekend, technically we could go camping any weekend, maybe even when the weather is nicer!"  I quickly shut down that idea and insisted that no,  it has to be on possibly one of the wettest weekends of the year, camping during the summer is way too easy.  I like a challenge and I'm a sucker for tradition.   Fortunately, we always have glimmers of sunshine and warm weather that keep us going back for more.   Plus I think I look really good in a rain parka.

After our last night there, we were getting a little punchy and spent probably a good two hours having the kids pose and posing ourselves for pictures.  After three nights of sleepless nights and endless activities with the kids during the day, the results were not pretty, but I love the pictures anyway.

 Jorji turned 9!  Jordan continues to be the poster child for kindness, compassion and empathy.  She is so talented and surprises me everyday with her creativity and tenacity.

Lucy had her first year of soccer last spring.  Three kids in soccer, thank goodness for the family rate.  She grasped the concept quickly and was anxious to get out there on the field each and every Saturday morning.  There was no crying or gnashing of teeth when she played, so we consider it a successful season.  She loved the medal and orange juice even more than the game itself.  Jordan and Nathan both had fantastic seasons, both being on teams that were undefeated.  Jared and I both coached the kids and loved getting out there with them, even if it meant a crazy busy Saturday morning.  Jordan went to soccer camp during the summer and had an amazing week.  Her coaches awarded her the prestigious "star of the week" award for her group.

 

 One of the bests days we had during the summer was when we hiked the Enderby cliffs as a family.  We woke up one Thursday morning and decided we needed a challenge, so we decided to take our four kids, 9 and under and go on a 14 km round trip hike.  Ya know, no biggie.  The kids were SUCH troopers and were incredibly proud of their accomplishment and we sure were too.  Lots of songs, lots of skittles and lots of "magic" gum helped us make it to the top.  We ended the day with a refreshing swim in the river that is seen below.

 Jess and her kids came out for about a week this summer for cousin madness!  The fun was endless, the talent shows were numerous and the smiles, priceless.  We love those Floyds!

 In July, we had a King family reunion at one of our favourite spots Siringue Creek.  All of Jared's four siblings, along with his parents gathered at the beautiful provincial campground for a week.  It was a great time to visit play and reconnect.

 A beautiful hike up to a water fall one morning.  We insisted on getting a cousin shot but the three babies were not impressed.

 Jess kept the kids busy with crafts and activities and hosted the family auction at the end of the reunion.  The kids loved every minute!

 One of the kids favourite activities, riding the dumdeedos!

 One night we had a talent show:
-Ollie did his downward dog
-Lucy proved that she is not ticklish by inviting family members from the audience to come up and try to tickle her.
-Nate performed a comedy routine
-Jordan performed a lip sinc to Justin Beiber's "Never Say Never"
-Jared and I did a synchronized swimming routine using a tarp as a prop for water.  We brought costumes, props, etc and had practiced our act quite a bit.  As it turned out, we were maybe a little over prepared as Jared's brother's talent was flexing his muscles. 

 Getting this family pictures was hands down, everyone's favourite part of the reunion.

 More fun with the Floyds at Enchanted Forest.

 All of my siblings came out in August to celebrate dad's 60th birthday.  Dad managed to celebrate his birthday for two months straight.  I'm not sure how he managed it but I've been meaning to ask him for instructions.  We had a fantastic time visiting, having competitions in the pool and playing more minute to win it games. We love to make fools of ourselves.

So. Much. More.To.Come.