Merry Christmas!

With a little surprise...

Love, The Drew's

Pens

Max has always loved pens! Recently I've started to trust him enough to actually let him use them on paper. He loves it. He turns the pages and makes a mark on every page. What's really impressive is the way he holds his pen. 

Can you see that?! It's perfect! Well maybe not perfect but pretty darn close. I think that's pretty good for a 15 month old. Maybe he'll be a writer or an artist!

Halloween

Our shriveled pumpkins a few days after we carved them.

 Max's best smiles always come after a sneeze.

 

 During the day we got to go to a Halloween party at the church. Max loved being able to run around the gym with lots of other kids. He also made a pretty cute doctor/nurse/baby in scrubs!

That night we went to a party so Max switched costumes so we could coordinate as a family.

 I wasn't very good at getting pictures that night but this is the back of Max's costume.

Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Lucy

Happiness

Lately I have been exceptionally grateful that I belong to 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

It's created so many wonderful opportunities for me and given me so many blessings! 

On Saturday we had a Stake Relief Society conference before we watched the broadcast and the whole evening/night was an uplifting experience for me! I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows our needs so personally and has created such a wonderful and perfect plan to help us be happy. 

I'm so grateful for my Savior who atoned for me not only so I can repent of my sins and short comings but so that I can become better! I'm so grateful that his sacrifice is extended to all! That everyone that I love and care about can use his power to heal and help them! It's such a wonderful thing to understand how to access that blessing and I don't think I would understand it as clearly as I do if I was not a member of this great church. The only church that has the fullness of truth! 

I'm so grateful that as a Latter-day Saint I am given the opportunity to make covenants with my Heavenly Father. I didn't understand on my baptism day what a blessing it would be to get baptized. I knew it was important and I knew it was something I wanted but I didn't understand to what extent. These days I see the influence of that decision in everything I do. It helps me to be happy! I'm so glad that I've been blessed to make covenants in the temple! I have a testimony that these covenants are necessary not only to achieve exaltation in the next life but to reach our full potential in this life. 

I'm so excited to hear from our leaders this weekend! I'm so glad that I understand the importance of Prophets and Apostles! God is a God of order and I see that in the way that he has established his church. I'm grateful that they are called to help us know the will of God! As I hear about these feminist movements that are happening all over the church I can't help but feel sorry for these women. If they only understood what the gospel was all about. If they only understood their Fathers plan for them and the rest of his children. If they only softened their hearts enough to have the spirit witness to them that this is Christ's church and it has been restored in it's fullness! If they only understood how important their roles are the way God intended, they would 

be so much happier!

If you would like to watch General Conference with me this weekend just head over to LDS.org. I promise that if you come in with an open heart it will bless your life just like it has mine! :)

Throwback Thursday

So I'm about a month late with my nostalgic, "where has my baby gone!" moment but, where has my baby gone?! 

Looking at these pictures of when Max was just an adorable (and scary) newborn makes me realize just how much he's grown up!

 It's crazy to me how awake and alert he was!

 Always wide eyed!

I remember how little he was and how immobile he was and I could sit and cuddle with him all day! It was a fun time. One that I will never experience again. Sure they'll be more babies but I'll never be able to give them as much time as I was able to give Max. 

That being said, 

I LOVE having a one year old!

It's so fun for me to watch as he explores the world around him and learns that he can open drawers and cupboards. I love that he's starting to recognize people! I love that he can find Mark in pretty much any crowd and that he wants Grandma and Grandad to pick him up while we're Skyping. I love that he'll run up to me and give me a hug or a kiss. I love that he will cuddle with me when he's tired. I love how silly he is and how independent he wants to be. 

I love getting to know him better! 

I loved him a year (and a month) ago because he was my baby but now I love him because of the person he is and the person he's becoming!

Blackstrap

This last week after Mark wrote the MCAT we decided that we needed to do something fun to get his mind off the test and to enjoy summer while it was still here. We decided to go camping Thursday, Friday and come home Saturday morning. We've done enough traveling this summer so we looked for something close and found Blackstrap Provincial Park. It's about 40min from home and it was awesome! Lots of trees in the campsite, great beach, great lake and not crowded!

Once we got there the first thing on the agenda was to eat dirt... and lots of it. 

There was a lot of diapers full of sand this trip.

 After dinner we headed to the beach! It was beautiful!

 Max loved playing in the sand and water.

 and of course eating more sand.

 After Max finally fell asleep we got to star gaze a bit. It was beautiful! The best night sky we've seen in Saskatchewan!

 The next day we made breakfast, took a nap and then headed back to the lake.

 Enjoyed some ice cream.

 Played at the playground.

Got a couple bruises and a couple scratches.

 And relaxed/played in the tent.

That night we went to bed without the fly so we could enjoy the amazing stars as we fell asleep. We realized that was a mistake at about 1:30 am. I remember Max starting cry before I actually felt rain on my face but it didn't take much time at all to realize we were going to get wet. I grabbed Max who was not happy that he was awake and Mark grabbed the fly, trying to put it on before we all got drenched. It came fast and it didn't slow down! Once we were all in the tent we listened as it poured! It wasn't long before we were feeling water on our faces again. We grabbed the flash light and saw that water was getting in the tent in more than just one place. We quickly realized we wouldn't be spending the night there. I sent Mark to the car with Max and started gathering our stuff together. I took our bag and blankets and threw them in the back seat and rolled up our foamy so it could sit nicely in the middle of the tent without touching any of the sides. I then got in the car and we left. We got home around 3 and by then Max was too wired to fall asleep so we hung up all the blankets and clothing that got wet and we all took a shower/bath and then finally went to bed at 4:15. As soon as Mark woke up that morning he headed back to Blackstrap to grab our tent and chairs that we had left. He mentioned that he was impressed with how I handled the whole situation. I reminded him I've had a lot of practice* :) 

I was just glad we didn't have to take down a tent in that rain!

Our first camping trip as a family was exciting, but I think that our first camping trip being rained out as a family was even more exciting! :)

*For those of you who don't know, growing up and even as an adult whenever my family would go camping we would get rained on. Every. Time.

Summer Days

For most of the month of August we've been back in Alberta enjoying summer with our families.

Here are some of the fun things we got to do!

I was able to go on a hike with my mom in Glacier. She's in a lot better shape than me but I was glad she slowed down for me and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery together.

 Tennis in Waterton.

 Soccer in the back yard.

 Reading with Hub.

 Playing with water in the backyard.

 Helping Grandma in the kitchen.

 Welcoming Braden home.

 Hanging out with cousins

 Turning 1!

 Hanging out with my cousins.

 Playing in Waterton.

 Camping by the river.

 I love Brix's face in this picture! Cousins are the best!

 Celebrating Max's Birthday!

 And Natalie's Birthday.