Memories are rare jewels which time polishes into perfection.

Monday, December 31, 2007

Christmas with the Letniaks

Since we went our seperate ways on Christmas Day this year from the Letniak family we got together yesterday to exchange christmas gifts with the kids. Each year it is becoming more and more fun to watch the excitement as the kids are better understanding what Christmas time is about. We only had to re-wrap Jonathan's gift 2 1/2 times because Jaren was so excited about giving Jonathan a new BIG truck for his gift - he just wanted to look at it Mommy!! :)

Yeah, more presents!!
4 generations - Kevin, Great Grandpa Letniak, Grandpa Ron & Jaren
Patiently watching Kaitlyn open up her gifts.


More Christmas Memories

Jaren & Grandpa
Randi's decorating skills
Sisters
Family
Kaylay & Keesha even got in on the Christmas festivities
Our little JD man
Last minute preparations for Christmas dinner


Saturday, December 29, 2007

Here & Gone!

Here Christmas has come and gone for another year and I just don't know where the time flew by!!! I thought that I would re-cap a couple of the days that we spent with our families up in Grande Prairie/Dawson Creek area. I know that my dad has a lot more pictures so when I get them I may have to post some of those as well!
Connie, Jaren and I headed up on the 20th and thankfully it was a very uneventful drive. Then on the 23rd Ron and Kevin joined us as well. On the night of the 23rd we had a big family gathering with the Huether bunch and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and games with them that evening.

Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve was a very relaxing night spent at Randi and Trent's place. Even Santa Claus stopped by Auntie Randi's house to make sure that Jaren was going to be there and that he had the right place to drop off his Christmas gifts for our good little boy! We had one surprised and happy little guy to see Santa again. As soon as Santa walked in the front door Jaren ran up to him and said "Nice boots Santa!".

Who's here???

One shocked little boy to see Santa coming through the front door!

Christmas Day
This year Santa left us some really BIG stockings filled with lovely gifts and such!!! (Thanks mom and dad - you NEVER follow the rules!)

After opening up our gifts, the boys made a very lovely BIG breakfast that hit the spot and held us over until the turkey dinner that evening.

Randi set a fabulous looking table to eat at - but where's the food to go??? :) Thank goodness for buffet!

Even Grandma Hovland joined us for Christmas dinner.


Relaxing before the meal is ready

Jaren and Grandma Sparks


Boxing Day
On Boxing Day we got up and had brunch with the Huether clan again and then after that Kevin, myself and Jaren headed to Dawson Creek to have supper with Kevin's family. It was great to see family that Kevin hasn't seen in maybe 10-15 years and also for me to meet family that I have never met before.

Jaren and Daddy

Grandma Letniak and Great Grandma Scobie

Finally Back at Home

Now we are back at home trying to get things put away and organized and enjoying some of the new toys that we have to play with. Like I said, it is soo hard to believe that 2007 is coming so quickly to a close and we will be doing this again before we know it in 2008!

Jaren sporting his new JD hat that he put on all by himself and playing with his newest addtion to his Thomas & Friends train set.



Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Merry Christmas to All!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, we have had one nasty bug(s) go through our house this past week so all three of us have been under the weather. Kevin has the sore throat, Jaren the cough and me the head cold!! What a trio! I just hope that we are on the upward mend so that we can enjoy Christmas.

We are northward bound to Grande Prairie early tomorrow morning to spend Christmas with my family and then we will be in Dawson Creek to spend Boxing Day with Kevin's family. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone and hopefully relaxing a little. I know the week will fly by like it always does. We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas where ever you may be spending it. We will update you upon arriving back home once again.

Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year!!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Christmas Fair



Today we went to the Coronation Christmas Fair with our little buddy Callan & family where we got to once again see Santa Claus. Jaren wants to know where Santa's house is since he seems to be following us around everywhere that we go lately!! At the fair they were having horse-drawn sleigh rides so we jumped aboard to go on a 4-horse open sleigh with about 60 other kids. Thankfully it was a little warmer with the sun being out (-15 degrees Celsius) and there was no wind so we could enjoy the ride to the fullest!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Hemaruka Christmas Supper

Last night we were at our annual Hemaruka Hall Christmas supper. It was a nice evening filled with good food, fellowship, singing Christmas carols, discing & even a visit from Santa!!

Singing carols

Elaine Sankey and I leading out the caroling

My brave little boy who was the first to run up and see Santa

(Thank you to Elaine and Murray for the pictures - in the rush of getting home from work and getting to the supper in time I forgot my camera! Appreciate you taking some that evening!)

Monday, December 3, 2007

Ho Ho Ho

Jaren & I spent the last 2 days getting some things done in Red Deer. Of course we had to do our annual visit with Santa Claus when we saw him at the mall - we needed to tell him everything that we wanted for Christmas. Thankfully our talk with Santa went very well and Jaren kept a smile on his face the entire time! Hope everyone else is enjoying the hustle-bustle that this season brings.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Me = 21 Weeks Pregnant

For the most important question that people seem to ask when you are pregnant......How big are you????

Well, for those curious ones here's a picture of me at 21 weeks taken today. Hopefully this will satisfy some of the curiosities!! I know that I am starting to feel a little bigger but I don't think that so far I am much different than what I was with Jaren at the 5 month mark, maybe showing just a little more. Only time will tell cause I still have 4 more months to go!!!!!

Christmas Lights Parade

Tonight we ventured out into the -20 degrees Celsius temperatures to admire the annual Christmas Lights Parade in Consort. Jaren wasn't too sure what a parade was, all he was concerned with was that the parade had wheels. So when he saw all the trucks pulling their lit up floats he was quite excited. On the way home I asked him what he liked the best and he told me it was the chocolate!!! They were throwing candy from some of the floats so he was extra excited to be able to have some chocolate tonight! What a deprived child we must have!! :)