Welcome baby Owen

I am very excited to announce that I am the proud Auntie of Owen James Block. Brent & Jamie had a baby boy this morning around 3:30 am. He is 7lbs 13oz, 21 inches long and very cute!! We went to see him this afternoon, and I couldn't believe how small he was! He is almost the exact size that Ashtyn was, but I sure don't remember Ashtyn being that little. Jadyn was so excited. He was asking all day to go see him. When he got there he just ran over to Owen. He loved him before he even saw him. It was so cute. Jamie is doing pretty good, besides being extremely sore (3rd degree!! ouch!) I'm sure a few of us can sympathize with her. Anyway, There are all doing good and are very happy to being holding this little bundle in there arms finally! Here are some pictures of my new cutie nephew...

Quick Update

Well, it's been a while, but I just haven't felt like anything interesting enough has been happening in my life to blog about. Also, since Ryan has started working from home, I really never get to use the computer, so I don't really get the chance to blog anymore. So, here's a quick update... Ryan's new business has been going great. He's had full time work since he started, and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon, so that is awesome. My kids are growing like crazy. In the past month or two Ashtyn has started crawling, climbing, walking along furniture, eating table food, started weaning, and getting into absolutely everything!! He's a ton of fun, but sure keeps me on my toes! Jadyn is just getting more and more like a big kid. He is loving the warm weather and wishes he could live outside. Here's a few pictures of our day outside. Ryan and Jadyn are driving cars.
We have been doing lots of reno's on our house again. I redid our main bathroom (I will post pictures some time) and are in the process of doing our en suite. We are re-shingling and painting the outside of our house this month as well. I think once this is done, there will be nothing left in or outside our house to redo, so maybe we can relax for a while.
Other than that, we are just awaiting the arrival of our new niece or nephew. Brent and Jamie are expecting there new baby any day now. Her due date was yesterday, so she is very ready! I will try to post again when the baby comes!!

Introducing...

New Wave Design & Drafting Inc. Though it was very tempting to use "mennonite guy who draws", we came up with a name and actually got it! Right now we are in the process of getting incorporated. Ryan's last day at work was today, so starting tomorrow we are on our own! Aaahhh. It's kinda scary, but Ryan already has quite a bit of work, so as long as the work keeps coming, we should be ok. Anyway, that is about the focus of our life right now, so other than that I have nothing else to report. oh yeah, I am going to the Juno's on Sunday. More details on that to come next week...

Goodbye Security!

This has been a pretty interesting week for us. Ryan has always planned on having his own drafting business eventually, and has been doing house drawings, and other stuff on the side for years already, but last week he got an offer he couldn't refuse. My aunt is starting a business manufacturing sun rooms and she asked Ryan to be her drafting department for this business (from home). He said he would, and he has already had some work coming in. Besides the sun rooms, he has been doing other work for her and other people 2 days a week for the last year, and still has that besides the sun rooms. So the decision had to be made. On Monday Ryan gave his resignation at his job, and starting in April, he will be officially self employed. This is a little scary since there is no guaranteed income and everything he does is contract work, but the opportunity with this is really good and there is potential for him to make alot more money than at his job. Right now we are trying to get a business name, which is kinda annoying. We have to pick a name and pay $50 to apply for it, then they tell you if the name is available. If it is too similar to something else in Canada, we cant have it. So far we are on try #2 (for another $50), so we are just waiting to hear back right now about that. We have been/will be in meeting after meeting with our accountant, insurance people, banks, lawyer, etc, etc, etc. It's pretty crazy, but we're really excited! So if anyone needs a house, renovation, piping stuff, electrical, or pretty much anything needs to be drawn, give Ryan a call!!

Funny Funny

Your Pirate Name Is...

Lord Busty Bertha

What's" Your Pirate Name?

Need some advice

So I had a realtor come into my house last week to tell me what it's worth, and she said that I HAVE to paint my kitchen before I can sell my house. If you've been to my house you probably remember the bold burgundy color it used to be. I've never loved it, so I had no problem changing it. The realtor told me to paint it a tan color that would match my back splash and the flowers in my poppies picture. My Mother in law had some paint left over in the Benjamin Moore color Jackson Tan so I tryed it out. It looks really good with the back splash, my picture, and even my green living/dining room, but I'm just not sure about how it looks with the rest of my decor. My colors are oliveish green walls with lots of black picture frames and red/burgundy (not both, it's burgundy now, but I'm changing to red) accents like curtins and candles. My main and favorite picture is the tulips one which is kinda grey/taupe. I dont really have any brown or tan in my house, so I'm not sure if it works. I think for someone else it would be ok, but with my deco's I'm just not sure. so I need some advice. I already painted tan, but what my question is, should I leave it tan or paint it the green like my living room? Here are some pictures showing what the tan looks like and what the green looks like and what some of my decorations look like. The tan doesnt show quite as tanish in the pictures as it really is. It's a little darker. The picture of the whole kitchen shows the color the best. Thanks for the help!!

Happy Birthday Jadyn!!

Well, my baby turned 3! Yesterday was Jadyn's birthday and we had an awesome day. He woke up happy and knew it was his birthday. I made him pancakes in the shapes of 3's and airplanes for breakfast. Pancakes are his favorite, so he loved it. My parents came before we left for the party to give Jadyn his gift from them, a basketball net, which he loves! and is pretty good already!

We then went to the fun factory to meet his friends, Emily, Kamryn and Kaden to play play play!!! The kids had tons of fun even though there were alot of other crazy kids older than them running around. I'm pretty sure Jadyn was having the time of his life. He was actually shaking he was so excited. Here are some pictures of the kids having fun!

Even Ashtyn was getting in on the action!!

After supper we had cake and opened gifts in the balloon room. Jadyn's favorite things in the world are cars, so he had a race track cake with lightning Mcqueen racing. He loved it so much he didnt want to eat it or open his presents, he just wanted to play with the cars that were on the cake! He did eventually open his gifts and he got everything his little heart desired. Thanks to everyone for coming and making Jadyn's birthday so much fun, and for all the awesome gifts! He's been enjoying all of them already!

Flying Pigs

Well, it's happened. Pigs do fly. Ryan and Rachelle have bought a mini van. We have finally joined everyone we know in mini van land. In high school my parents had a mini van and it was the very uncool vehicle that I had to drive whenever I did anything with my friends. I clearly remember saying numerous times that I would never in my life own a mini van. Well, you get married, have a couple kids, and suddenly a mini van looks pretty darn good. Last night we went to look at it and it was exactly what we wanted. We had made a list of everything we needed it to have and everything we wanted it to have, and this one had everything we wanted it to have, and for a really good price. It's a 2003 silver Chev. Venture extended. It has it all...the usual a/t/c etc. etc. and the good stuff like power sliding door (only 1 side for some reason), DVD player!!, newish really good tires, well, basically everything you could possible need it has. So, we're pretty excited. We pick it up tonite. Now for the sad part. We have to sell our beautiful Acura EL. We're pretty attached to that car, and it has taken us through some of the biggest events in our life, but it is just too small now. Oh well, life will go on I'm sure. Anyway, once we get our new baby home I will post a picture. I have to post this picture from Grant & Cheri's going away party. It's kinda hard to see, but we were the only car there. We felt very lonely in our car. I guess we finally fit in. Don't we get some kind of party for joining the mini van club?!

A Night at the Oscars

Yesterday was a fun filled day for our family. After church we decided to go house and van shopping! We went and looked at some show homes in Stonebridge. We are planning on building our own house within the next year, so we have been looking for a lot that we can build our house without a builder. This is not easy to find right now in Saskatoon! We have looked at all the new neighborhoods, and none of them have available lots (unless we would build with a builder). We would like to move to Warman, but they also have no lots. The earliest they will have some is August, so we have decided to make that the start time to get our house going. We have designed our own house (since Ryan is a designer/drafter) and we are just in the process of getting quotes to see if we can afford our design. House prices have been jumping like crazy lately, so we want to get moving as soon as possible, but I guess we'll have to wait until August. Anyway, after the house looking, we went looking at Vans. The little Acura EL has finally been outgrown by our growing family (actually we outgrew it 6 months ago when Ashtyn was born, but have been squeezing all our stuff into it). It will be sad to let our car go, but it is really time for a van. We are thinking about a Venture, Montana or Silohette. Any advice???!! We made a quick stop at Costco for some pizza, chips and cookies, and then were off to Rod and Janelle's to watch the Oscars. We had an awesome time hanging out and the kids played really well. I cant wait to move closer to you Janelle!! Thanks for letting us come over! As for the oscar dresses, these are a few of my favorites:

Reese Witherspoon looked amazing, unfortunatly without Ryan Phillippe

(I'm still mad about them). Nicole Kidman looked like a doll, but absolutley amazing, and of course, the always cute Smith family.

Valentines Day (again)

Happy Valentines Day again! Hope you all had a romantic time with your sweetheart! Ryan & I went to the Keg for dinner, which we LOVE! We had to wait in line for 30 minutes just to sit in the lounge, but it was worth the wait! Thank-you to my Mom-in-law for taking care of Jadyn and Ashtyn! Thanks also to auntie Jen for the adorable valentines shirts for the boys. I think they suited them well! In case you cant read them, Jadyn's says "Perfect Gentleman, I really know how to treat a lady" and Ashtyn's says "Most Eligible Bachelor" SOOO CUTE! Here they are:

New Orleans

ok, this was last week, but I'm a little behind on the blogging life. So, last Sunday (Superbowl sunday) my husband got to take a nice little trip to a warm little city called New Orleans! His work sent him there for a conference, but all he had to do was go to some classes during the day and then he had the entire evenings to do what ever he wanted! In New Orleans! Yeah Right! He got all his expenses paid for except for the extra things he wanted to do in the evenings. I'm just at home in Saskatoon where its -25 degrees with 2 kids to take care of while he's out having fun in +25 degree sunshine!!! No, I'm not bitter. I'm really happy for him. Not bitter at all.

Actually, I went to my parents house for a few days and then to Ryan's parents for a day and we had a lot of fun (other than Ashtyn thinking he was a new born again and eating 3-4 times a night). Ryan did bring us home some souveniers though. Ashtyn got an outfit, Jadyn got a saints cap and I got a pink and brown zip up hoodie that says French Quarter on it, very cute! Maybe next time I'll have to go with him when he goes to a warm location with good shopping!

Happy Valentines Day to me!

So thanks to my impatient husband and son, I got my valentines day present early this year! To be honest, I'm not sure if I've ever gotten a valentines day present from my husband, but this year he made up for it all! Ryan, Jadyn and Ashtyn picked out this beautiful neclace! Ryan maybe would have waited until valentines day, but when they got home Jadyn said "We bought a neclace for you Mommy, but I cant tell you!" Ryan was ok with that since he couldn't wait either. They did an excellent job, I love it so much! Thanks boys!

car wreck (kind of)

So I finally got up the courage to dust off the old volleyball knee pads and get back on the court. I played for the first time in over 7 years last week, and was extremely sore the next day. Last night I played again, and after pulling a muscle in the first 10 minutes, I got a migraine in the second game. For any of you that have had migraines, you know that it is not a fun time! The worst part is, when I have a migraine, my vision starts to go fuzzy, blurry, flashing, and squiggly moving lines! It's really wierd, and I played the entire 2nd game like this! I found that vision is definatly a good thing to have while playing sports! Anyway, I have been loving getting back into volleyball, even though I have to remember that its been 7 years, and to have patience with myself. When I went to bed last night I still couldn't see (when I would look at my alarm clock, all I would see is red light, not numbers, and usually parts of my vision just dissappears all together), and today I feel like I was in a car wreck last night, partly from the migraine, partly from the soreness after playing volleyball! I didn't know I used half the muscles that are sore for playing volleyball! Hopefully next week goes better!

Ashtyn

This last month has been extremely busy for me. I started selling tupperware in November, and this month I have/had 8 parties booked, which even though it only takes a few hours to do a party, it is always on the weekend or evening, which is the time I am not alone with my boys and usually have time to get some stuff done or relax. I am really enjoying it, but I alsways miss my boys and feel bad leaving Ashtyn since he is a real momma's boy, and usually gives Ryan a hard time while I'm gone. This month has been super exciting for Ashtyn. At the beginning of the month we started giving him cereal every day, which he loves! Since Christmas he has started rolling over both ways, sitting by himself, and bathing in the big tub! He loved the bath tub, he just splashed and splashed! Luckily I havent missed any of his milestones. Here are some pictures of him showing off what he can do!

Blizzard

So I know the blizzard was a few days ago already, but I was out at my parents farm the other day, and they got hit quite a bit harder than we did in Saskatoon. Some of the drifts were 8 feet high, there was 6 foot drifts blocking the entire drive way, and 3 foot drifts blocking huge sections of the main roads. I have attached a few interesting pictures.














Above my Dad is trying to get thru his road way in between the cow corrals and had to move an 8 foot drift that was blocking the entire road to get thru to the bales. Below is after digging.
This is their driveway.








I guess their van isn't going anywhere this winter!




This is on the main road going out to my parents farm...
It was a pretty crazy storm, but it was kind of a neat experience.