Applause for Theresa!

Woo!

We now have ONE follower to our blog! I'm super pumped!

It is no less than the fabulous Theresa! She's so awesome!

And just to send some extra love her way, I encourage anyone who reads this to got check out her lovely, lovely, lovely photography site!

You will find it at:

http://freshlightimages.com/index/

(this is her professional website)

Or, to see what projects she's up to lately, I insist on checking out her fantastic blog!

http://www.freshlightimages.com/blog/

I love looking through photography websites! I love how a good photographer can capture moments and light and emotions. It's quite a skill. But if you're short on time and just want to see the best that Theresa has to offer, I think you may be interested in this specific link:

http://www.freshlightimages.com/blog/?p=664

I think you may recognize a couple faces in this one! ;)

We had so much fun doing our engagement pictures with her! And, for all you Sask people, she visits family out your way quite often and will sometimes squeeze in some sessions if you ask really nicely! If you did take a little time to browse her site, you probably noticed a lot of Rider Pride being shown off in family sessions, baby sessions, wedding pictures, you name it! Roughrider fans are very loyal! I've been learning this since I met Daniel.

And I am now part of this tradition. Daniel's brother Matt gave us Rider jerseys as a wedding gift. Of course, we had to try them on, right away!

I started thinking about all the ways the Riders have been a part of our dating, engagement and wedding moments. I think it's enough I may have to show more in a separate post!

But I will share with you some more of the pictures from Theresa's photo shoot that didn't make it up on her blog! She gave us a lovely CD full of pictures! I'm so thankful we were able to squeeze in a little bit of time to get them done, they are full of wonderful memories!

For example Theresa, Dan and I went to a movie last night and in it they played 'Gangsta's Paradise'. And it reminded me of our engagement photo session with you! So fun!

Well, here are some more of my favourites!

Isn't her photography just amazing? I love her eye! I love her crisp, clean images!

Applause for Theresa!

Thankful

Today I am thankful for:

The sky not being pitch black at 6pm.

Short and Sweet

We went skiing/snowboarding today.

I'm excited for bedtime.

The end.

Applause for Daniel

I was so proud of Daniel today!

He is so good to me! I was so tired and grumpy when I went to bed last night, I instantly fell dead asleep. I didn't even notice Dan come to bed later until I woke up from an unmoving sleep in the morning.

I'm always a little frazzled in the mornings trying to make sure everything is good to go for Layla for the day. Daniel just hops into flipping pancakes for me (without me even asking him to!), or making a sandwich for Layla's lunch when I'm annoyed with making sandwiches. And he always goes out early to start the car and brush the snow off of it, so it's warm and ready to go by the time I finish getting Layla and myself geared up to go.

This afternoon, Daniel had an interview up in Edmonton, so he needed his car. This is no big deal, other than the fact that we've been using solely his car for sometime now. I forgot to plug my car in over a week ago with plunging temperatures and it hasn't started since.

So as I was lazing around feeling a little under the weather and sleepy this morning, Daniel had a shower, gave Lewis a shower, washed dishes, then went outside. I thought he was shoveling snow or something, because I was already sawing logs on the couch.

Little did I know, while he was outside, he went and bought extra booster cables to reach my car and was trying to get it going so that I would be able to pick Layla up from school in my own car while he was up in Edmonton.

I was blown away by his thoughtfulness and support of our family. It may not seem like a big thing to some people, but it meant ALOT to me. I've always been very independent and has always just had to find a way to get things done on my own. But he did all this without my even thinking about it.

So here's a round of applause for Daniel!

And because he was such a super champ, I've voluntarily posted a picture that he took of me today while I was dead to the world. (yes, he likes to wrap Lewis up in blankets)

You're sure it's Wednesday?

I kept thinking today was Thursday. ALL DAY. Days like this always throw me off.

Quick sum up of the day:

-Pancakes for breakfast again. Awesome.

-Missed public skating this afternoon with Dan. Had the times wrong. Lame.

-Went to By-the-Lake Park, skating trails weren't cleared off enough. Lame.

-While we were driving aimlessly around, I showed Dan where the dog park was.

-Went home and got Lewis. Took him to dog park! Awesome!

-Chased after Lewis in snow up to my hip. Fun, yet insane.

-Dan shoveled our roof! (yes, there's THAT much snow!) Awesome!

-Tried Zumba with the Young Women tonight. Awesome!

-Now tired and going to bed. Awesome!

A Great Family Tuesday

As many of my Mondays seem to be filled with client appointments, it seems that Tuesdays have become more of our Family Night. We had pancakes today, for the third day in a row! Daniel and I first had them on Sunday at my Aunt and Uncle's house (Dwayne and Amber's) after Church on Sunday. Then we've made them for breakfast both yesterday and today!

Yum!

Here's Layla enjoying her breakfast!

Then after school, Layla invented a game were we all ask each other questions. They had to be 'Mormon Questions'. It was actually a lot of fun! So we continued with the family theme for the evening and used a coupon we had to go bowling! Layla's scores were right up there with Dan's and mine! Luckily (for me as well!) the bumpers were up! Otherwise I'm not sure I would have broke 100!

After our evening out, Lewis needed some attention. So we used one of his favorite toys, which is a foam sword from Dollarama, and had him jump...

and jump...

and jump...

and jump!

It's a great way to tire him out!

Sleepy Household

I'm not sure if a bug has been trying to take over our house. We've been a very sleepy bunch lately.

One of the highlights of the weekend was:

STAYING HOME ON SATURDAY!!!

I'm not sure if anyone has seen reports about our area, but we're breaking record snowfall measures that haven't been broken in decades! It's nice to stay in and stay warm and comfortable in our home. And avoid getting stuck in ditches!

But we did go up to Edmonton Friday night anyway, Daniel and I did our 'typical date' of going to a Chapters store and wandering around looking and reading things. It's not the most interactive date, but we both enjoy it!

Afterward though, we were looking for somewhere to eat, and we passed a Swiss Chalet. Daniel has never been! So we had a delicious dinner there!

We're looking forward to the temperature rising later this week! It's been awhile since we've seen the sun!

Daytime Date

As we're not living in a traditional newlywed situation, we try to take advantage of our time together during the day when Layla is at school for some one on one time. We had a lunch date at Tim Hortons, then strolled through the Farmer's Market in town today. After getting home though, Lewis needed his walk! It's cold and snowing, again! It's pretty when it's fresh and white!

The below picture is an action shot of Lewis mid-run. To try to wear him out as much as we can in a short amount of time, we sometimes stand far apart and have him run back and forth between us. This is him running at me! It's funny how his ears and lips defy gravity!

This is Lewis running so fast that he couldn't stop and ran right into me!

I thought this was funny too! Lewis shaking the snow off of himself.

And a regal pose by Lewis, distracted by something.

His cute paw prints in the fresh snow!

Stay warm everyone!

C-C-C-Cold T-T-T-Tuesday

I'm so happy we were able to do a nice little FHE today after Layla got home from school. It started with an impromptu fondue! I received a nice little fondue pot from a client for a Christmas gift, so Layla and I started to take it out today and play with it. So when Dan came in, we surprised him with apples and bananas in white chocolate! Yum!

I'm usually better at taking pictures from arms reach, but not with three people! In the first one, I'm blocking Dan, but in the second one, Layla is cut off! And I never managed to get a glimpse of the pot in the picture! I'll need to practice the three person shot!

So here is the little pot, all by itself! It's surprising how much heat a little tea light can give off! I took this picture while Daniel was cutting up more banana! So delicious!

After the fondue, we did an FHE activity that I've been thinking about for a while. We each made little individual posters with our names, a hand drawn picture of our own likeness, and some goals for the new year. Even Daniel participated and pretended to enjoy being creative! Poor guy is sometimes out of place in our girly home!

The temperature is very cold, and is expected to drop more throughout the week. I'm not pleased. I forgot to plug my car in this morning. Of course, it did not start. Luckily (not for Layla) Daniel's car did, so 'TED' whisked Layla away to school this morning! [TED is Dan's car]

Today was also a momentous occasion! We finally finished putting away all the Christmas decorations and put the boxes back in our crawlspace! It's sad to see Christmas go, but it is refreshing to have a little more wiggle room in our little house!

Lewis has been getting restless lately. It's so cold we can only take him for little walks every other day or so. He has so much fun, but his haunches just shiver!

Snow Day

The buses were cancelled for Wetaskiwin today, so Layla got to stay home all day!

I was a little sad though, because I had a really busy day with clients, so I felt like I didn't even get to spend any time with her. But it is a blessing to work, so I'll take it!

While I was busy though, it seemed that Layla and Daniel were able to enjoy a relaxing Monday at home! Other than Daniel braving the snow and cold for some grocery necessities, we were all able to stay inside where it is nice and toasty!

Poor Lewis, could you imagine always having to step outside in the snow in your barefeet just to go to the bathroom??? Misery! But it's better than him going in the house!

I hope you had a great Monday! And it's true, we weren't able to do Family Home Evening tonight, on account of my appointments, but we're going out for dinner with my mom tomorrow, so maybe that will count!

Weekend Update

It was a very, very snowy week-end, up here in Wetaskiwin. Other than driving to Edmonton Friday night (we got to do a Temple session, which was lovely!) when it was just in the beginning stages, we were able to stay home and not drive anywhere until Church this morning.

We only got stuck once and were able to receive a helpful push from our new neighbour! Once we got to Church though, we found out that all the lessons were cancelled and that everyone was supposed to just go home after sacrament. Which was a bit sad, since Daniel and I both had prepared lessons for our classes!

However, even hip deep snow doesn't stop Lewis from wanting to go for a walk!

This picture was from Saturday afternoon, and believe me, it got a lot worse! We did go for a bit of a walk again today, but it was so cold and windy that I didn't bother taking the camera out! But some of the drifts out there are impressive!

For such a skinny little guy, he sure loves winter! (Lewis, that is)

new

With all of the new changes that have happened lately, I thought it would be nice to start fresh with a new blog, which is appropriately named: Life As a Clayton!

Since we got married, and all...