i've been so behind, and i'm determined to finally catch up. so here's the short version of what our january consisted of.
the first half of january, we were in alberta, canada with granpa and gramma crowfoot. just after new years, sam planned a ski trip for the two of us to lake louise. i had never gone skiing, ever. so i was nervous, but excited. we left super early. grandma and granpa crowfoot watched the kids for us (thank you!). it was fun, just the two of us. we got our equipment and headed up towards the canadian rockies. when we got to the resort, sam told me to put my skiis on, and immediately i knew...this just multiplied my already clumsy self by 10. he started off for the ski lift...and i timidly suggested the bunny hill. he laughed and shook his head, "no, that's for babies. we'll go to the top and you'll learn on the way down. it's easy." somehow i made it into the chair lift and we were off. then we had to actually hop off when we got midhill...yikes! needless to say, i basically tumbled down the hill. i crashed every ten feet. and i'd look up and see these 3 year olds passing by - how LAME am i?! agh!!! anyway, i was determined to get the hang of it, and just as i thought i was, i crashed...hard...and heard my knee pop. uh-oh. well, i kinda scooted my way down until we were in a good spot for the ski patrol to save me. and he did. and it was actually really fun to be rescued by the ski patrol guy. haha, seriously. it was an adventure, and i love adventures. sam felt bad, but i ended up okay. it took a couple months to completely heal my sprained knee - and i'm glad that's all it was. whew! unfortunately, we don't have any pictures...we were just too busy to take any. but sam did catch a quick video clip of the ski patrol people carrying me into the medic place.
we also tried to cram in as many visits with sam's friends from grade school. we had a lovely dinner with his friend john and john's fiance. we drove up to edmonton and visited with great grandpa cecil, and uncle deb and the family. finished up our dental visits.
still in edmonton, we hung out with joelle and her family along with melanie and her kids. we had so much fun with everyone, it was so hard to finally leave.
after all these years, they are still great friends!
and i can see why! you guys rock!
the kids got along as well. :) dance parties and fairy princesses... we all had a blast!
a new person for makayah to attach herself to. ;)
but towards the end of our holiday trip, the kids began asking us when we were going back home to madison. isaiah was worried about missing preschool and missed playing with his friends. i was actually really glad to hear him call madison "home."
we left canada on jan. 15th in a frantic rush to the airport, cramming all our christmas goodies in as few bags as we could, which ended up to be 5. i'm just surprised we managed to get it all home. it really wasn't so bad lugging it all with us, seeing as we just rolled and stacked and packed them onto the shuttle. however, when we got back to our car...the battery was dead. luckily there was a couple who got off with us who jumped our car for us. hmm, now how to fit all our luggage in? that was tricky, but we found a way. on our drive home, i got a call from my mom telling me that my grandpa john had passed away that day. he was very old. but i was a little sad - happy that he lived so long - but sad, because he was the only grandfather i ever knew. both my real grandfathers were alcoholic men who beat their wives. they were never really a part of our lives at all. my uncle john is actually my maternal grandmother's brother. they were very close. and i was just happy knowing that we took the time to visit him while we lived in arizona last year. i remember he would always come to visit my siblings and i. he'd give us a big hug and slip us a quarter - all the money he had on him. he was so loving, funny, tough, hardworking, and kind. he died on friday, and by monday morning i had decided i was going to cut my hair. in the navajo culture, it's taboo to cut your hair, unless someone has died. i figured, he was a special man, to want to take us in, along with his own grandchildren...to give us something we didn't have. the very least i could do was cut my hair, and donate it...passing on some small kindness to someone who needs it far more than i do. i'm happy for the knowledge of the gospel. to know that he is in a better place...waiting for all of his family, to be together once again.
my grandma, lorraine nelson with her brother, john help.
isaiah with great grandpa john in tohatchi, nm july 2009.
and that was about the only thing that put my pukyness in the back of my head. but ALL the rest of the time, i watched the kids color, or read short books, and mostly had more movie days.
the first part of the month, sam and i went to the black-eyed peas concert in milwaukee. i slept extra long the nights before to save up some energy. our good friends, farina and brian, watched our kids for us while we went on our "valentines date." it was fun getting dressed up and talking on the trip over. it was really nice actually, the talking and the laughing. we danced and cheered and sang along, losing our voices every now and then. and i even got into a shoving match with some scrawny little girl....even more to laugh and talk about on the way home! ;)
anyway, thankfully, my kids are old enough to pretty much do the important things, which helped A TON. and although, i really couldn't participate in all the activities they wanted, they became pretty creative on their own.
isaiah drew a treasure map all on his own and went on treasure hunts with makayah. they loved it, and i was happy they could play and develop their imaginations while i was stuck in bed feeling pukey.
speaking of feeling pukey...towards the end of march marked the end of my first trimester. i went in for my 12 week checkup and sam and makayah came along to hear the heartbeat. isaiah had an easter activity at preschool that he just didn't want to miss...but he'll have another chance to hear it. makayah was awestruck as she heard the baby's heartbeat, thump, thump, thumping so fast. all in all, things were going well, however, i did finally cave and took a prescription for the anti-nausea stuff.
here's my tummy at 12 weeks...my hands are in the way, and i'm sitting down, so, not the best angle, but, it's there. ;)
