All My Bag Are Packed.....

Okay, that title isn't completely true. If you want the truth, I'm peddling around on the Internet eating Halloween candy and totally avoiding packing altogether :) I'm making my absolute favourite childhood meal tonight for us and my parents as a small farewell and that needs tending to as well.

Anyways, I thought it was high-time for a post about my baby girl.

If this collage doesn't make you laugh or at least smile, then I'd like to offer you a free hug.

Denay gets more and more delightful every day and she is smart as a whip.

Her vocabulary is.....

Momma

Dadda

Anay (Denay)

Opa

Oma

Almo (Elmo the cat)

Owww (meow)

Mmm (moo)

Baaa

Uppee (up please)

Mee Mee (Grammie)

Bobob (Grampy)

Awna (Auntie Shawna)

Bice (Auntie Brice)

Hi (always with a smile and a wave)

Bub Buy (bye bye)

Nana (banana)

Beebee (baby)

buu buh (bubbles)

boh (ball)

No

Ya

Puppee

Happy

Abby (one of her friends)

I'm sure there are more but I'm drawing a blank. She doesn't need to be told more than a couple time before she picks up a simple word and she understands almost everything you say to her. I can ask her to find her water, put her diaper in the garbage, her socks in the laundry, or to go sit in her chair and she will do it. She doesn't do strings of words put together but can say things like "Hi Opa" or " No Mamma".

She loves books more and more everyday and has recently discovered coloring so this mamma has got to get some supplies for her girly next week!

Anyways, now I really really need to get going. This is farewell until next week at least.....if you think of it, I'd appreciate any prayers for safe travels and strength for my trip. This whole being away from my favourite people is really hard.

Bless you all my friends.....know that you are dear to me and I am praying for you!

:: Thanksgiving 2009 ::

As promised, here is a recap of our Thanksgiving this year. Trevor and I got back from Vancouver late Sunday night from Cranberry Creek . Trev's mom had suggested that my parents join us on the mainland with the baby for dinner with his family but my mom was working and since I was coming back over for my learning session with Jamie Delaine on Tuesday, we decided to come home. Monday was spent doing a lot of nothing.......since it was my mom's birthday that Friday, I decided that as a gift, I would kill two birds with one stone and make a turkey dinner.

Here is the table all set and ready........

Everything went off without a hitch! I made turkey with stuffing, vegetables, gravy and cranberry sauce and my dad made mashed potatoes. I also made a dutch apple pie from scratch and served warm with ice cream of course!

I stuffed myself so full I couldn't believe it.

Yay turkey dinner!

On another note, and I know all you FB fans will already know this, but I would like to invite you to check out my new blog under my new photography name. There isn't a long story as to why I switched names, just got considering the long term and felt really good about using my own name. So come check out Christy Joy Photography. Thanks again for all your support and encouragement!

I'll try and update again for before I leave tomorrow.....Happy Tuesday!

Blessed

Thanks to the ladies who sent me some love yesterday! I so needed to get to my computer this morning to see comments that need moderating.

We're laying low today......taking care of laundry and housework in prep for me trip. I'm trying to put together a Christmas/birthday list for my family as well as get some more blogging done but I wanted to share a revelation and encouragement that God gave me this morning.

Almost every morning, I read the Psalms and Proverb of the day out loud while I feed Denay breakfast. There is so much wisdom packed into those two books and I love having that read aloud in my house. The system (that I learned in youth group years ago) is to start in Psalms and read the chapter that corresponds to the days date then keep adding 30 until you can add anymore. So today I started with Psalm 26 then read Psalm 56, then 86, then 116 then 146 and then I jump over to Proverbs and read chapter 26. I would recommend it if you need more wisdom in your life, I know I do!

Anyways, even though they aren't really connected, I always find a theme between all these random chapters. This morning God made it very clear that he is gracious and compassionate. The simply divine truth of those two words has been such a blessing in the few hours I've been up and at this day.

We serve a God that is faithfully gracious and always compassionate.

Thank you Father!

{ I Can't Think Of Anything To Title This Post.....}

.......except that I am ashamed that I haven't posted anything on here for my readers since October 12th.

We're getting ready to head out to the Praise 106.5 Praise Gathering at our church tonight so I only have a minute but I wanted to throw something up here so you all don't abandon me!

I got back from Cranberry Creek and never really caught up with life. I've been working hard chipping away on a newly created to do list that I established for myself during my 1-on-1 session with Jamie Delaine a couple weeks ago. She fanned the flame of passion I have in my heart for photography and I'm really hoping to be able to invite you to my new blog with my new name before I leave with CC for Red Deer on Wednesday.

But beside that I have been ever busy raising the sweetest little thing on the planet! That girl learns a new word almost everyday (right now we are working on the names of her Uncles and Tantes) and she picks this up so fast.

On Saturday we stopped by the pumpkin patch and started, what I hope will be, a family tradition.

I love this one! Thanks to my momma for coming to the patch with us to take some family shots!

Then we headed over to my Opa and Oma's for dinner and got a ride on Opa's digger!
And we had a very special visit with Auntie Brice all the way from Manitoba.

The last few weeks have held a baby shower for my best friend, lots of church goings on with MOPS and GEMS and prayer and Trev's young men's bible study as well as lots of dance classes and practises to get ready for the Olympics.

I've planned to plan nothing in between now and Red Deer except packing and soaking up time with my baby before I leave her again.

I'm also going to try and get some Thanksgiving pictures up here before then as well.

Thanks for sticking by me through my drought :) And if you do still love me feel free to leave me a comment so I know the world hasn't imploded and you are all still here.

:: Catch Up ::

Hello Lovelies! I hope you had a wonderful and family filled Thanksgiving weekend.....I obviously survived my first show of the season with Cranberry Creek but I think it'll be a few more days before I'm fully recovered. The weekend had a particular high note when half way through my third eleven hour day (and first break in five hours) my dear husband suddenly appeared. His family had been secretly planning to have him come work the last two days of the show. We also got to have the hotel room to ourselves Saturday night as Trev's parents had gone to a birthday party. We got to my parents house (they were watching the baby) at around 9:30 Sunday night and this mamma wept tears of joy when I finally got to hold my princess again. Man, did I miss her. We had a really low key day today and just hung out together. A few errands, a little laundry and some tidying, a nap, a comfort food dinner and a walk to a friends house and lots of playing in between was just the ticket! My mom was working so I am going to *gulp* cook her a turkey dinner for her birthday on Friday night and I can't wait!

:: My mom took these shots of us at church a few weeks ago ::

Today was the only down day I've got this week......tomorrow is (weather permitting) a walk with some fabulous mommies and then off to the mainland again for a 1-on-1 session with the very prestigious Jamie Delaine of Jamie Delaine Photography on Wednesday. I am nervous and excited and am looking forward to all this very talented girl can teach me.

The rest of the week holds bible study, shopping for a turkey dinner and then cooking a turkey dinner as well as a dance class, lunch with old friends and hosting a baby shower for a very special friend and her adorable daughter on Sunday.

Things are moving so fast around here but each day I am overwhelmed with thankfulness. It's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder and being home again after being away has deepened my love for my role as wife and SAHM and has again re-shifted my priorities and focus.

I'll try to get back on this week and update my photography blog with some of the shoots I've had in the past month and please feel free to pass along any advice or pointers on how to cook a turkey :)

Have a wonderful week friends!

:: The Amazing Race - Week Two ::

So we are two weeks in to The Amazing Race 15 and Sunday's episode was good but uneventful. The teams made their way to Ho Chi Minh city where they had to find this water puppet theater and snag their clue from the mouths of one of the dragons. That clue send them to the main post office in the city where they had a detour and needed to choose between two tasks. All the teams but one chose to transport and animal statue across a local park collecting different colored balloons on their way. Almost all made it without incident but one giraffe did take a tumble.
Then they headed back into the city where one team member had to breakdown and sort an old VCR for recycling. All the teams had no trouble with this bit. Unfortunately, their choice to do the other option and spell a Vietnemese word proved to be the end for Marcy and Ron and they were sent home
They were one of our favourite teams and it was looking close for Lance and Keri to fall into last but ended up hitting the mat just before Marcy and Ron. We're hoping their last place finish will see them gone next week as they proved to be at each other's throat significantly more than the rest of teams who were getting along great. I worry for their future marriage :)
The Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time and Big Easy took first by a couple seconds thanks to their long legs that won a footrace between them and Meghan and Cheyne. Gary and Matt (father and son) finished third, Mika and Canaan (dating couple) came seventh and Zev and Justin finished eighth.
I don't know that I'm going to be able to catch next weeks episode but will glean what I can and do a recap.

Who are you favourite picks? And not-so-favourite picks?

{ Alive and Well }

I have to say that I'm really sorry my last post was a week ago and it was about a TV show. I don't really know what's been keeping me away from you all! There's been lots going on and we're preparing for a very busy week and month ahead.

Our little monkey will be 15 months on Saturday and I just can't believe it. She's learning animal sounds and can "moo" (which comes out like more of a mmmm), "baa" and I just taught her "meow" today. This is what she does when I ask her to smile for the camera..... I somehow managed to get a cancellation appointment with my hairstylist Jen today and asked her to do something really different. I'm still really feeling the itch to dye it (a medium ashy brown) and was hoping that a drastic cut would scratch that but time will tell.

This is the shortest I've ever had my hair and I love it.....pretty sure my husband loves it too ;)

I've got mom's group tomorrow and errands to run before leaving for Vancouver to work the four day craft show with my inlaws. I'd appreciate a quick one minute prayer as I am a little anxious to be away from my family for four straight days.

God is also doing a lot of amazing things in this house and I continue to be amazed at how submitting to His guidelines for my role as a wife and mother completely transforms things! He is so good.

I hope you're still praying on Thursdays at 12:30. I continue to see the enemy attacking marriages around me and we need to stand by our brothers and sisters.

I'm still waiting for pictures on the CBS website to do my Amazing Race recap but it may have to be picture-less.

Be blessed friends and I will be back!