Happy Canda Day (July 1) and Independance Day!!

Happy Canada day a few days late and Happy 4th of July.

In honor on Canada day I thought I would post a few things about Ben the Canadian!!

He was born in Kelowna B.C and he grew up in Victoria B.C and Northern B.C.

The town he spent most of his growing up years was in a little place called Vanderhoof. On this map it is about 1 hour and 10 minutes west, of the town of Prince George.Vanderhoof has 2 wards and the Stake there is about the size of Utah.

Ben is still a Canadian citizen and has no desire to become an American citizen. He did consider it once when he found out you had to be an American citizen to try out for the show Survivor;)

We love traveling to Canada, luckily we have only drove there a few times, when we were dating, and it takes about 24hours to get from our house to his parents house.

And of course Ben loves hockey, he even subscribes to the hockey package through our Dish, that is why our license plate on our car says 'Canucks' for the Canadian Hockey team the Vancouver Canucks.

It can get very cold in Canada, it does live up to its reputation. I have on 3 occasions felt what -36 degrees c. feels like, and yes it is cold. I don't like driving there in the winter time, it is not like Utah where you salt the roads and they are somewhat clear in Canada they sand the roads, they pretty much put a layer of sand on ice, and I try not to freak out when we have to drive a ways.

Ben still very much considers himself Canadian and wont even put his hand over his heart when he hears the Star Spangled banner:) ( he usually does that to bug me;)

If you ever get a chance to visit Canada, he are a few tips.

The one dollar coin is called a "Loonie"

The two dollar coin is called a "toonie"

You will have to try the Crush red cream soda, it is nothing like the old crush cream soda from here.

Also the candy bar, 'Wunderbar" and the "Aero bar"

Also very famous the "Old Dutch" potato chips, salt and vinegar (if you don't mind your tongue being numb for a while after eating them)

The all dressed potato chips, there is also, pickle and ketchup, just to name a few.

We celebrate most of the same Holidays, except for obviously Canada Day, Thanksgiving is in October and Boxing day, the day after Christmas.

There are so many neat things that we love about Canada, most of Ben's family still lives there, so we like to visit often.

Happy Canada Day and Happy fourth of July, I consider myself lucky to be able to call both places home!!!

I forget to post this photo

I think this photo deserves it own post, there was this couple on the beach that I thought was so cute. I secretly took their picture. I tried to make it look like I was just messing with my camera.

The wife was so cute she fell over because of a wave, and her husband was doing all he could to help her back up. I was just about to jump up and go help her, she made it up and I think she decided she had enough.

I took this photo as they were walking back up, I am not sure if they are local or just visiting like the rest of us.

I wonder if we all we have photos and opportunities like this when we are their age:) I hope so....

Aloha Oe.....

Home~sweet~home

Sorry to all you Canadians out there that our family vacation didn't consist of Northern or Southern B.C. Thanks for the invites;)
So this crazy family vacation we tried Kauai, Hawaii.

Loads looked good getting there and we found a really great deal for a hotel. Let me tell you that was a highlight for me, it was so nice, the hotel had an awesome kitchen and a washer and dryer the dumb stuff right?

Getting there, was quite the challenge and flying free is one thing, but flying stand by with a party of 6 is CRAZY!!!

So we made our first flight to LAX. The next one, to Kauai was another story. We were the first stand by's to be called, but they wanted us to split up. Basically Ben or myself sit up in first and the kids sit in the back by themselves. (someday, I will sit up in first class and let the kids sit in the back:) not yet, I don't know if people would appreciate that;)

So we went over to United and caught their flight to Kauai.

That is the great thing about working for SkyWest since we fly for both United and Delta we have benefits for both.

So here is a couple of pics of the way over.

Once we got there, Alivia was in her swimsuit in about 3.2 seconds from getting to the hotel and they were out searching for sea creatures.

This side of the Island is very rough surf, most beaches are blocked off by big lava rock so you can swim in calm conditions.

The other side of the island is more calm and has some really pretty scenery.

It didn't take Alivia long to find all the pretty flowers. Lots of good times playing in the sand and just playing in the warm water. Alivia has turned out to be a really good little snorkeler. She swam in this little cove all the way around with Ben, she could float by herself and did a great job.

The flight home is pretty hard, it is an overnight flight and so you don't get much sleep. Then when I finally fell asleep, there was a page overhead, if there was a medical Dr.

on board....ahhh...a passenger 2 rows on front of me was having convulsions, how scary. We were still about 1.5 hours out over the ocean. Luckily there was a nurse and they gave him oxygen and he was okay the rest of the flight.

It is so nice to be back, We definitely love Hawaii, it is such a great place to go and play. It is very kid friendly, I think some people looked at us like we were from outer space, bringing all the kids and then carrying little Kessler around. He did do very well, he dictated our schedule a few times, cutting some things short, but he would sleep so good I think the sound of the waves would put him right to sleep. The hotel had a lazy river and a water slide, the kids loved. We were right across the street from a grocery store. I loved Kauai for the scenery and the beaches. It is so green and beautiful.

S-U- double M- E- R...whooo hoooh

WE LOVE SUMMER AROUND HERE!!

This is the fire hydrant across the street, our nice neighbors got permission from the city to turn it on for a little while and lets the kids play, it was so fun.....

Other than Fun in the Sun, I have been under the weather. I got whatever my kids got. And it was brutal. Headache, like no other I have ever had in my life. A low grade fever and just not just feeling so great. It still kind of lingers especially if I have been working hard all day long.

So family vacation starts tomorrow, yeah I really just think it is moving craziness from our house to somewhere else. I will post pics when we get back.

Today was really cool though, we were outside watering plants and YES I do have ripe strawberries on the vine. Since we live so close to Camp Williams you will often see big helicopters fly over. Well today we saw a big Apache helicopter flying our direction and so Cooper, Bauer and myself we were waving at the helicopter and then he turned around and flew 2 big circles right over our house. He was flying so low, Cooper was freaking out, it was so COOL. I wish I had my camera with me.....

Life

Here is a little video of Kessler, his first little giggles.

This week, Bauer felt a little under the weather on Monday, Cooper felt under the weather on Wednesday and Alivia hasn't felt well, Friday and the beginning of today.

It has been great weather and so we have been able to play outside a few days this week. We are thinking about planning a camping trip somewhere, we don't know where. Ben has a few days off again. He really only has a short window to go places because pretty much beginning of Fall into Thanksgiving and Christmas he can't take vacation

I flew to Casper on Thursday night and sadly a SkyWest pilot was killed there on Wednesday, she was running around a park that had a baseball diamond. They are not sure if she was standing by the scorekeepers shed or was walking/running by it and a big micro burst, wind gust blew the shed on top of her. She had worked for SkyWest for 8 years. I personally didn't know her, but that could have been anyone. I think this is the first person (as long as I have worked there) at SkyWest that has died while on an overnight.....how sad the crew we rode in the van with was taking her body back to Denver in the morning. Life is so fragile.

Also this video link was on a friend of mine's blog, it is such a neat video, I actually saw the Dateline special on this Dad and his son.

Warning you might need a tissue.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8cf08faca5dd9ea45513

I dare you.....tag

A big thank you to my friend Jen, for coming up with the I dare you tag.

So here ya go, I was dared to put up some of my most embarrassing pictures mostly form high school:)

So please play along, it was hard to narrow the pictures down.

The first two the red cowboy hat (um yeah) and the black hat is a senior high school picture, kind of a knock off glamour shot.

The red feather boa, yes the real thing a real glamour shot I did with my sisters for my moms birthday. It took them FOREVER to curl all my hair like that

And these pictures , sadly are taken during that awkward stage in middle school, when you are trying to be cool but sadly your teeth are not cooperating and the blue eyeliner what a good touch at the time.

And the bangs, (8th grade or grade 8 for you Canadians out there, the green bear shirt)I think they are classified as the "waterfall" series.....ha ha

The no bangs, (4th grade) unfortunately, I didn't have anyone to tell me that if you slick you hair back in a picture, it will look really crazy.

SO PLEASE TAKE PART IN THE "I DARE YOU TAG" I would love to see your photos!!

do...do...do.do.do....do.do.do...do

So I was flying on Friday the 13th to Pasco, WA. I don't mind flying on weird days like that but passengers always make weird comments. But I couldn't help getting a little weirded out. So we were flying on aircraft number 813 and our departure time was 9:13pm. And no joke my hotel room number 1313.....ahhhhhh:)



Also little Cooper gave his first talk in church on Sunday, his topic was Temples. As much as I wanted to take my camera and video tape it. I refrained.

I thought I would post the talk for a enlightening moment for all and for Whidden history. Since I pretty much use this as a journal.


Temples
Temples are a special place.
There are many blessings we get from the temple
Temples are the house of the Lord.
We can feel the spirit in the Temple
We can get answers to prayers
In the Temple we make covenants with Heavenly Father
We can be baptized for those that have died
Families can be sealed together for eternity in the temple
We can get married in the Temple
My Parents were married in the Jordan River temple
I am preparing to go to the temple some day by being obedient
Then I can go and have the blessings of the Temple


He did a pretty good job, he didn't get too embarrassed like I thought he would and actually spoke into the microphone. Way to go Cooper!!