New Years Eve

Ever since Josh and I dated we have spent New Years Eve out at the Harker's. It's been a fun tradition we have done each year. There's always lots of visiting with family and friends, and lots of food. This year we did oil fondue, racket, mini woks and chocolate fondue.  Nana & Papa Yamamoto also joined in on the fun. We really enjoyed the evening.

All the men taking part in the oil fondue.

Lincoln loved the chocolate fondue with all the fruit.

Enjoying some raclette.

Lacey loved the raclette and being able to cook her own food. 

Lincoln loves playing with he's cousin Abigail and trying to make her giggle and squeal.  Abigail seems to usually be more of a serious baby, so when you can get her to smile and laugh it's very cute. Lincoln has figured her out, she loves playing peek-a-boo and chasing her around the house. It's funny because Lincoln used to be the only one that knew how to make Lacey laugh at that same age.

 Here's Lincoln, Josh and Abigail playing the chasing game that Abigail was squealing about.

Harker Christmas Curling

The extended Harker family weren't able to get together before Christmas, but we were able t after Christmas. We met up for a fun few house at the Magrath Curling centre. When we first arrived Lincoln just wanted to watch (too many family member to meet all at once was a bit overwhelming) but by the end he was truly enjoying himself and didn't want to leave. Aunt Heather also made warm home chicken noodle soup with beef buns, that were delicious. We all had a great time spending time with our extended Harker family.

My curling boys.

Lincoln playing with dad.

Lacey even got in with the fun, thanks Uncle Scott for helping her.

The granddaughters with Nana & Papa

The spectators.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning the kids slept till 7:45am. They were so excited for Christmas, other then when Lacey thought Santa was still in the house which resulted in a melt down (if you remember her picture with santa you will understand). We soon reassured her that Santa was already back at the North Pole. The rest of the morning was spent opening presents. Everyone got spoiled.

Lincoln's main gift was Transformer Rescue Bots and Lacey's was a Elsa & Anna dolls. Cousin Abigail was just happy playing with wrapping paper this year.

The excitement for Christmas with little ones, makes Christmas. 

Josh got new noise cancelling headphones (or child canceling headphones as he calls them...haha) and I got a new iPhone, Yep, I was spoiled too.  It's nice being able to take pictures with my phone again and have a home button that works! Yay!

 We enjoyed being with family this Christmas in a snowy wonderland.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year! and the best part was that it actually felt like winter this year!

Lincoln and Lacey's gifts from Nana & Papa Harker were brand new bikes. They even had to try them out in the freezing cold weather. Lincoln got his first pedal bike which he got a little flustered with. But given that his last bike was a strider it will definitely take some getting used to.

The cold didn't seem to bother them too much. Lacey's was a hot pink strider. She was sad to have to go back inside again, and even there she was taking laps around the house with it.

One of the special moments of the day was getting a call from Sara who's serving in the North Colorado Mission. It was good to hear from her and it's so nice to be able to do a Skype call so we were able to see here too. She sounds like she is doing well, she seems very happy and way more talkative then the Sara we all know. We miss her lots!

Aunty Sara was very thoughtful and sent each one of her nieces and nephew a gift. Lacey got a princess crown and an Olaf Pina Colada Tea set. Lincoln got a spider man car and another transformer to add to his collection. We miss Aunty Sara but are grateful for her great example to be serving the Lord at this time. One more year to go, till we get to see her again! 

Along with the gifts she sent, we also got hand written letters for everyone. Inside each letter was a picture of someone she was able to get to know and get baptized or activated. This letters were a nice surprise. Even thought she wasn't able to be here in person this Christmas, we know she's where she's suppose to be right now. Loni was definitely testing the waterworks as we passed these around.

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas we went out to the Harker's. Nana & Papa Yamamoto also came as Uncle Logan was working on the rigs in Northern Alberta over Christmas and Nana & Papa Thomas went to Calgary. It was so much fun to have two sets of grandparents to share Christmas with, since we have been away from family for so long. It was so nice to be home for the Christmas.

One of the Harker's traditions is opening matching Christmas pyjama's. Lincoln and Lacey loved having warm comfy pyjama's that matched everyone. Lacey kept saying " me match, same." Thanks to Uncle Scott for making Lincoln and Lacey's. Also thanks to Josh for being able to locate the same Pyjama's for Nana & Papa Yamamoto. Even Aunty Sara who's serving a mission right now got matching pyjama's ( Nana Harker sent her some in the mail).

Along with opening matching pyjama's tradition, the Harker's have a tradition of opening new games each year. Lincoln and Lacey loved their games they got. We were having so much playing their games that we never got a chance to play the adult games. 

Check out Lincoln in the bottom left pic after opening all the gifts Lacey and him placed all the bows on him, then he played on the floor and said " open me, nana." We also spend Christmas Eve in the hot tub. It was so fun being all together and seeing the kids excitement and love for Christmas. 

2014 Christmas Card

He lived, He died and He lives again. Because of him, these 3 can be mine forever! This Christmas I am most grateful for them and undeniably my savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. Merry Christmas!

Vacuums

It's funny you don't realize how great you have it till you don't. From our Caribbean adventure we gave up a lot of material items, as thats how you live on a island, it's the island life-simple life. Really you don't need these items we are just spoiled from living in Canada.

 A Dryer, oh how nice it is to have a dryer again and actually know your laundry will be dry in 30 minutes without wondering if it's going to down pour on your laundry on the line outside. Plus your laundry is actually DRY rather then you think it's dry, as it feels dry on the line till you take it inside the house. Then realize that its still a bit wet from the humidity.

A vacuum, oh it's wonderful to actually have a vacuum to clean up all that dirt on the floor. We didn't have carpet in the Caribbean but the floors still got a lot of dirt on them. Lincoln is amazed with what a vacuum does. He thinks vacuums are the coolest thing. So he's been assign the vacuuming responsibility and love it. Lacey not he other hand is not a fan of the vacuum. She will run to Nana's living room and shut the french doors to the room when we are vacuuming. She is quite scared of that thing, but I don't blame her as they are loud. This is really Lacey's first time seeing one in her life other then when she was under 6 months.

Christmas Activities

We are enjoying being home and taking part in the Christmas Activites with family.  Lacey and Nana Yamamoto baked cookies for Santa. Lacey always loves to help in the kitchen.

We loved watching the live nativity with Nana&Papa Harker and Nana & Papa Yamamoto that's put on each year by our church, its a great family Christmas tradition and also a great way to be remember the real reason for Christmas. It was nice that the weather cooperated so we didn't freeze. After the nativity we drove around and looked at all the Christmas lights. I also included Lincoln and Lacey all dressed up for Church, on the Sunday before Christmas. It's weird not just putting Lincoln in shorts and a white collared shirt with a tie for church any more. I love seeing him in a suit.

Stewart Christmas

In the morning we got together with Nana and Papa Stewart before they were headed off to Kelowna to spend it with Dana daughter and her family for Christmas. We had fun exchanging gifts and visiting. Then in the afternoon we headed out to Cardston to visit with Sara and Tim William (a child hood friend of mine) before we went to the Cabin for the Stewart Christmas Party. I love going to the Cabin each Christmas and being with family. This is a tradition that I remember doing when I was a little girl. There's always tones of food and family to visit with, Santa visits, a nativity (Lincoln was a shepherd and Lacey was a angel) and we have a gift exchange. The kids also got to go quading. Lincoln loved it even though it was chilly out.

Snow

It was fun to have snow when we arrived in Canada, sure made it feel more like Christmas time. Plus we got to play in the snow which is something we haven't down for a long time. Lincoln loves the snow. He had the biggest grin on his face the whole time we were outside playing and he kept saying this is so much fun. He also loves touching the snow and stepping on it. It's fun seeing Lincoln enjoying the winter even though its so much colder here then what we have been use to. Lacey was napping so she missed out on making the snowman, next time she can help.

  Lincoln and Lacey both love being around other kids. Lincoln also didn't want to leave his island friends so it's been nice having all of Nana Yamamoto Day Home kids to play with.

Santa Pictures

We meet up with Lincoln and Lacey's cousin Abigail to get our Santa pictures. Lincoln was pretty excited to see Santa and tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He sat on his lap with a big grin.  Lacey on the other hand wasn't a big fan of Santa this year. As soon as she saw him from a distance she was in tears, but we still had to get a picture with her. Abigail was very curious and just stared  at Santa.

Christmas CountDowns / Ginger Bread Houses

Our first week in Canada has been busy. From trying to unpack and get settled, visiting with family and trying to get all our Christmas shopping done. Let's just say it's been busy. Christmas has kinda creeped up on us this year as we have been so occupied with the big moved back to Canada we haven't really had time to focus on Christmas. So I figured I better getgoing and do a few Christmas activities with the kids. We made Christmas count down chains.

One of the Christmas traditions I remember from my childhood was making cardboard ginger bread house. It fun being able to carry on this tradition with my kids. Lincoln and Lacey had a great time icing the houses and decoration it with candy. Lacey's favourite thing to do, was eat all the candies. She sure has a sweet tooth.

Slurpees

We moved to the Caribbean when Lacey was 7 months old so she never got to experience a Slurpee. Even though it's winter and we are still adjusting to this cold we went and got slurpees. Lacey loved it! As you can tell from her happy smile. Why couldn't they have slurpees in the Caribbean. They would be perfect with the heat.

A Real Bath

One thing we missed while living in the Caribbean was a real bath. When we lived on St Eustatius and St Maarten we have a little red tub that bearly fit Lincoln and Lacey at the same time, while they were sitting up. Lincoln and Lacey were so cute to watch for their first real bath since being back. They were like fish out of water. The first thing they both did was tried to lay out and relax as there was so much room.

*Check out Lacey's awesome tan lines

Life As A Medical Student Family

Our little family moved to the Caribbean end of April 2013. Josh started medicals one week later. I never pictured living in the Caribbean or having a husband attending a medical University. When Josh and I got married in 2008, his plan was to go the school to be Optometrist. Plans change after being married 4 years. Josh did some job shadowing and realized he would way rather be a doctor, so med. school it was. The Caribbean life had been an adventure. 

Getting a chance to live in the Caribbean for 20 months doesn't happened every day and I can say I'm glad we got the opportunity. Some days went fast and some went slow. It all depended on my attitude on life. We learned to keep busy to help the time pass. We fought everyday to juggle school and family. We sacrificed family time. And we made it!!! It wasn't pretty, graceful, or easy... but it was worth it. I am so glad we had no clue how hard it would be.  Probably a good thing we didn't know how hard it was going to be or we might of not done it. It's been an amazing adventure, we have learned and grown so much from it . 

The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever. 

(Eternal summer April 2013- December 2014)

Uncle Scott's Visit/ Our Last Week

Our last visitor who visited us on St Maarten is Uncle Scott. 

Tuesday December 9th - Waiting for Uncle Scott to come visit was like waiting for Christmas. We made a count down chain and took a ring of each night before bed. The kids were buzzing with excitement counting down the hours till we could head to the airport to pick Uncle Scott up. Since Josh writes his NBME exit exam on Wednesday we picked Josh up on the way to the airport for his study break. We haven’t seen Uncle Scott in 20 months, so we were excited to finally get to see him again. Lacey was only 6 months old when we left so she actually wouldn’t remember him but since we FaceTime weekly she knew who he was. After we picked Uncle Scott up we headed to Jimbo’s restraunt for a bit to eat. We had a quick dinner then had to drop Josh back off at school so he can get his final hours of studying in. Once we got home the kids wanted to go swimming with Uncle. We had a swim in the dark and finished our night of with watching Christmas movies. Scott says 

St. Maarten reminds him a lot of Mexico where he served his mission.

Wednesday December 10th- Today was the day Josh wrote his exam, so we kept busy for the morning with Uncle Scott by going to Fort Luois and Marigot Market. It's weird to think this will be our last time visiting these places on the island.

As soon as Josh was done writing his exam at noon. Scott and Lincoln went to pick him up from the University. I stayed home as Lacey was having a nap before we headed to the beach. We ate lunch then headed to Mullet bay. The wave were huge. We have only seen them this big two other times.  It was fun playing the waves and watching the surfers.

After an afternoon in the sun we went to Josh’s grad ceremony. It was fun seeing all the students one let time before we say good-bye. After the ceremony a lot of the student went to the restaurant SPN to visit. Lincoln and Lacey were tired at this point so mom headed home with them to put them to bed so they'd be well rested for the next day.

Thursday December 11th- We started our day off with showing Uncle Scott our local bakery Carl N Sons. We are sure going to miss their dealious baked treats. After we hit up a few little island shops... One thing we were looking for was a St Maarten flag for Lincoln. Funny how hard it was to find one, but we got one. Lincoln was one happy boy. Lincoln has always shown a interest in flags as there are all the country flags that were hang up around the airport road.

Little Divi Bay was no disappointment once again. We had a great time riding the waves, snorkelling and making sand castles.

Friday December 12th -We had a great time at Pinel Island. It’s such a fun play to go for a day trip The kids love the 5 min boat trip through the waves. 

 The hit of the day was feeding the iguanas the lettuce we bring for them. Way better then the pet stores back home. Lacey calls them dragons.

Saturday December 13th-  We went to go see David's Arch Way then off to explore La Bella Creole Ruins one last time. It's amazing to see what a view the old resort ruins have.

Following the morning of exploring we met up with some island friends for lunch and The Edward's family for dinner. We are sure going to miss our island friends. They were just like family. Then home to pack and clean the house.

Sunday December 14th - The day finally came, moving day back to Canada. We made sure we were mostly packed the night before so all we had to do was put a few thing in our suit cases.  We started taking our suitcases to the airport around 10:30am, it took two trips to get all our belonging there. That's 8 suitcases, 3 carry ones, 4 personal items, a stroller and a carseat.We were finally all checked in at noon, just enough time to grab some lunch at the airport before going through security. Our flight was suppost to depart at 2:30pm but for some reason the plane was delayed getting to St Maarten so we didn't take off till 3:30pm. Lincoln and Lacey did amazing on the 6 hour flight. We kept them busy with iPad games, movies and a felt book from Nana Yamamoto. We had a connecting flight to Chicago with a 1 hr 53 mins lay over then off to Calgary. We were pretty much sure we were going to miss our contacting flight as we had to go through customs, check in all our suitcases again and go through security. But some how our pilot was able to make up the hour time the plane was delayed so we had 1 hr and 30 mins by the time we got off the plane to. We rushed as fast as we could and we were able to get  through with 10 mins to spare. Good thing I pack subs for supper as we had no time for supper at the airport. We departed Chicago at 8:30pm for a 3 hour flight to Calgary. By the time we got on our second flight the kids were exhausted as they were trying to fall asleep at the last 20 mins on our first flight. They fell asleep pretty soon after take off. Lincoln slept the whole flight and lacey sure tried to but she has a hard time sleeping if she not stretched out, luckily we found a extra chair and did some shuffling so she could sleep a bit better. 

We arrived in Calgary at 11:18pm. We had to wake the kids up to get off the plane. We collected our 8 suitcases but couldn't find our stroller and carseat. We went to the airline desk and they confirmed  that the stroller and carseat were still in Chicago. Our airline were very helpful and made arrangements for our stuff to be deliver to our place in Lethbridge. They also had a replacement car seat  we could use till we got our. Since We originally plained to find a hotel and crash for the night then drive back the next day. Uncle Scott had slept the whole second flight he we ready to drive back to lethbridge.  So we opted for that as we could safe that hotel costs. I stayed up with Scott to help him stay awake. We arrived in Lethbridge at 2:30 am ( which is 5:30am in St Maarten which is the time our bodies were still use to). Feels so good to be home!