The Windy City

Well, we made it to Chicago!

 

 

It took three of us, four days, through two provinces and four states, along 1529 miles to get here...but we made it, and it was wonderful!

 

 

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about how Max was going to handle all of that time strapped into his carseat.  As it turns out....it was me that we had to worry about!

 

hahahaha

 

We laugh now, but Kris wasn't laughing so hard during the long hours in the car with his impatient, pregnant wife(who either needed to eat, drink, pee or stretch) riding shotgun.

 

 

 Only my sister could really appreciate what Kris went through, being that she is the only other person who has had the pleasure of travelling long distances with me:)

 

(During our backpacking trip through Europe, it didn't take Kaitlyn long to figure out that when I started getting cranky...she needed to feed me fast!  I believe there's a term for that now.....'HANGRY';)

 

 

Anyways, here's some photos of our stops along the way.  We tried to make it as much like a vacation as possible!

.......scratch that,  I have been struggling to upload photos for weeks now, so I am posting this hoping I can attach them after:(

Tis the Season

Well, its been over a year since I've been on here and I figured there is no time like the present to catch everyone up on what we've been up to.  Here it goes...

 

In April we had several milestones. 

 

Kris turned 30!  So, we had a celebration on the beach!

 

 

 

 

Max turned one!  So, we had another party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Under the Sea theme:) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cake Smash! 

 

 

Then Kris finished his portion of his degree on the island.....sob:(....but we had another party anyways!

 

 

 

 

 

After that we moved back to Canada where we planned to spend the summer at my parents, while Kris studied for his board exam.

 

 

 

 

 

The summer turned into fall....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now fall has turned into winter.

 

 

 

And we are still here:)

 

We have realised along the way that nothing turns out to be as simple as you would think or like it to be.  It's not a bad thing, you just have to be flexible.   We understand that better now, and now we know that our expectations to be in the US by now....were a little high.

 

It has been more of a process than we thought; to apply for Kris to write his exam, to get his marks, to write a research paper(and have it approved and graded), to get medical insurance, to make doctors appointments, to gather documents etc, etc and so on, and so forth....just to start his clinical portion of his degree!(sorry for the rant;)  But again, we are just being patient and flexible while we wait for the school. 

 

At the moment, Kris is writing his research paper and we wont be going anywhere till the new year.  I am at home with Max, waiting patiently for the end(when I get my husband back).  And in the mean time, we will be in Canada and hopefully get to spend some quality time with some quality people in December while we're still here!

 

Thanks to all who have shown/expressed their love and support! 

 

I will make sure to keep you up to date with what we are up to.

 

xoxo

Wedding Bells!

I don't know how to describe Kaitlyn and Jordan's wedding day, other than MAGICAL!

 

 Sunne said it best when she exclaimed that no one in Germany will believe that there were butterflies flying in the air and foals frolicking in the field!

 

 

Kaitlyn was the most beautiful bride, along with the two most beautiful flowergirls!

(Julianna and Leighton)

 

 

My Mom was enjoying her last wedding with all her girls!

 

 

The amazing wedding cake was made by Aunty Sylvia!

 

 

All of our DIY projects came together perfectly!

 

 

Just enough of Mom's gladiolus lasted long enough to make it to the tables!

 

 

And to replace party favors we put together a candy table, inspired entirely by Kaitlyn's

sweet tooth!

 

 

 

 Congratulations Kaitlyn and Jordan!

 I hope you live happily ever after and that your fairy tale continues for the rest of your lives!

Love you both!

 

 

 

 

Last Fling Before the Ring!

My sister's wedding was coming up quick, we had just one week left till her walk down the isle and we decided to celebrate it with all of Kaitlyn's friends and family. 

 

To start the festivities we drove west of Spruce Grove to the Pembina River, where we would blow up our tubes/air mattresses and float down the river.....

 

 

 

 

 

Max was the only guy allowed!

(p.s. he didn't actually go down the river with us)

 

 

After a few hours and several spills into the river later, we made it to shore and started our way back to Kaitlyn's.  Here the party got started with some food, drinks, games and colorful attire!

 

 

 

 

 

Here we have(from left to right) 'Miss Fire'(Vanessa Fundytus), 'Miss Behavin'(Vanessa Warawa), 'Future Missus'(Kaitlyn Hoffman), 'Miss Chieveous'(Erin Hoffman), Miss Demeanor'(Myself), and 'Miss Conduct'(Sunne Bull)!

 

 

 

 

It was a great day and the night was even better!  All the girls had an amazing time, including Kaitlyn!  I should know; I was the designated driver and got to make 3 trips back and forth to the house to bring all the girls home!!!  Oh what a night ;)!

 

 

Family Fun

After our last camping trip we had a couple weeks to go before the wedding so we spent all the time we could with our friends and family. 

 

There was time for DIY wedding projects with Casey and Leighton, Uncle John, Kelly, Carter and Abby...

 

 

Slip and Slide with Jace and Jaxon...

 

 

We made a trip to Red Deer, where we visited our friends Liz and Kyle and met their daughter Jade....

 

 

Bonnie Bauer and her daughter Megan even made a trip to the farm to see us.  We got to introduce Max to baby Crosby, who was born on the same day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Canada....Camping trip #2

I obviously had so much fun camping the first time with Max that I decided to go again!

 

My sister, Kaitlyn, was getting married on August 18th and her very good friend....actually her 'little sister'(Sunne), was coming from Germany to be here for the occasion(Just to offer a little more explanation for those of you who don't know; my sister lived in Germany for one year when she was 18 years old on a Rotary Exchange and she lived there with Sunne's family).  Sunne has been to Canada to visit us once before but it was during the winter.  This time we wanted to show her around and introduce her to some of the summer activities that we do here. 

 

As Kaitlyn and I started brainstorming, a plan came together.  I had been in contact with a friend of mine(Jolene) that lives in Vancouver and she was going to be outside of Prince George at a music festival.  Jasper is almost a half-way point from Mannville so we decided to bring Sunne and meet Jolene in Jasper where we could camp for a few days and see the sights!

 

Just like that we packed up the car and hit the road.  I was a little anxious thinking about how Max would handle another long trip in a confined space, nevermind sleeping in a tent?!?

 

My worry about the car ride was soon laid to rest.  Max handled the 4 hour car ride like a champ and was happy to sleep in his carseat or talk and play with me while Kaitlyn was driving.

 

 

The tent was a different story.  We only spent two nights in Jasper but that was enough because Max woke up screaming at 5am both mornings we were there!  Apparently he was ok sleeping in Mom and Dad's trailer but he's not a fan of the tent:/

 

 

The overall trip was amazing, I am so blessed to have such amazing family and friends!

I think that Jolene, Sunne, Kaitlyn and Max enjoyed themselves too!

And just when we thought the trip couldn't get any better, we saw a Grizzly Bear, a Bull Elk, lots of Mountain Sheep and a Mountian Goat before we left Jasper.