SPARK!

The new Science Center has opened in Calgary and we have partaken of the goodness.  We've been there multiple times and we've had a blast.  They have a Children's Museum section where the kids learn things and play with things and climb walls and act in a theater.  They make water slides, water falls, water paintings, block towers, magnetic bridges, rings spin and SO much more.  That's just in the Children's Museum part.  They have a section on the Human Body, on Weather, on Electricity, on Oil, on Sound.... the Works!  We have absolutely LOVED our passes and we'll be attending many, many more times!

Saryn has all her ducks in a row!

Jaymeson has played with these waterfalls for hours in total.  It's the first place that he runs.

Oh, and did I mention that we got to play hovercraft hockey??  WAY too much fun!

Not always a bed of roses.

 Saryn can be a fireball.  Saryn can be the sweetest thing on earth, as well, but she can definitely be a fireball  Violin seems to bring both of these sentiments out the strongest.  Music can be good for that.  Or in this case, bad for that.  About 2 months ago, we were practicing a song for Christmas and she had HAD it.  I jotted down a few of her comments that made me laugh (in my head - wanting to burst out so bad).

Saryn: "I don't want to practice today, can I do two practices tomorrow instead?"
 Mom:  "Why not now?"
Saryn:  "There's just something lost inside me and I'm waiting for it to come."

During the middle of the session that then started, I asked her why she was getting so frustrated and screaming.  Her answer as simple, "I don't know, all I know is this:  (pause, the screaming...) "I'M SO TIRED!!"

I'm pretty sure that we ended soon after.  I just wanted to jot this down so that I can remember these times and laugh.

Sweet Little Benson

 

You can see why Kienna has a hard time practicing Cello when Benson is awake.

 

Watching "Baby Noah"

 After watching Baby Noah for about 5 minutes, I heard him whine a little and I came down to see him like this.

Tonight while we watched "Megamind".

And one of Jay - just because it's too cute too.

The Trip to Arizona - by Kienna Cahoon

with a few added notes by Mom.

 

My family (except for my dad), my aunt and cousin and I slept at my Gran’s house on August 16^th, 2011 and got ready to leave at five o’clock in the morning to start our trip down to Arizona.  We picked up Aunty Beryl and Aunty Brookie on the way down on the first day.  We were in the cars for 15 hours that day and then stopped at a hotel in Utah.  I was excited to be in Utah, because that is where I was born.  My sisters, Kaia and Saryn, slept at my Aunty Brittany’s house, but I got to sleep at the hotel.

We decided to travel another 5 hours the next day and went to St. George, Utah.  We went to a restaurant that had yummy, yummy tacos named Café Rio.  I remember that we were in a desert, there were a lot of desert kind of trees and it was burning hot.  We went to Brigham Young’s Winter House and saw really cool, old stuff in it.  We also learned a lot about silk making, how they lived in the desert back in the day before electricity etc.  It was a REALLY fascinating tour.

We went to our hotel, and went swimming.  I almost swam across the pool for the first time.

After swimming, we got ready to go to The Little Mermaid at the theatre.  It was an awesome play!  They had little glowing waves and the eels were so cool.  I got the see the Orchestra and they even had a cello.  I thought Sebastian was really funny.  After the play, we got to meet them and take pictures with them.  The Tuacahn Theatre is amazing.  I couldn't believe the ability to flood the stage and make it feel like you were actually under water and then  bring you up onto the land again.  They had really neat special effects, the songs were amazing with phenomenal harmonies.  They also had free babysitting for kids 2 and under.  Seriously AWESOME!

 

After St. George, we went through Zions National Park, and then went to the Grand Canyon!  Jaymeson almost got lost there.  I felt very scared because he might have fallen down into the canyon.  We got to climb lots of trees there and pretend that the grass was lava.  We got to see a lot of old stones that looked shiny and beautiful.  Some of them were over a thousand million years old.  We saw some California Condors and they were humongous.  I also got a Junior Ranger badge.  We had a lot of fun at the Grand Canyon.

Just wanted to add a little about the whole "Jaymeson almost got lost there" thing.  This was possibly the most terrifying moment of my life.  It's fun to see how Kienna can skim over it, but it was still a big enough ordeal that she remembered it almost 6 months later.  I can promise you that losing a child ANYWHERE is scary, but on the rim of the Grand Canyon is about as terrifying as it comes.  He had been strapped into a stroller the whole time, but we took him out to take a family picture and he wandered off pretty quickly.  We were in a large group, thought he was in the other half of the group, and wandered up to the shuttle where we all met up and realized he was gone.  My Mom and I got off immediately, but the shuttle bus driver had to shut the doors immediately (she was SO rude and unsympathetic I could have punched her), so our group was separated.  I had to leave the rest of my kids with everyone else, and all of them not knowing what happened or if he was okay.  My Mom and I took off, sounded the alarm to all these wonderful French people that Kaia had been chatting with, we all took off in a hurry and found him within a minute.  Luckily, we found him playing with some rocks, completely clueless as to the fact that he had made everyone have heart attacks.  A lady had seen him and was watching him closely to make sure he was okay until his parents came.  I burst into tears when I saw him and was so incredibly grateful that there are amazing people out there still.  We hear about all the creeps, but I felt like I owed the world to those people who helped us that day.  We reunited about an hour and a half later with the other group who had to stay on the shuttle bus and had a good cry/sigh of relief.  

We had a super fun trip down to Arizona and did lots of fun things.  It was also kinda boring in the car all the time, but I promised when I was sworn in as a Junior Ranger, I will never, never ask, “Are we there yet?”, so I didn’t.

 I had to include this picture because it shows more what Kienna was doing when she was being "sworn in".  She was picking at a bun and eating little bits through the whole thing.  I wish I had this on video, it was seriously hysterical.

To My Valentine

I may have gotten a wee bit bored while helping my kids do their Valentine's Cards.  The good news is that Jarett got a really heart felt card because of it.  Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart!  May none of your Valentine's days be as disappointing as this one!

Since I can't figure out how to turn it, I'll write it out for you (you can thank me later):

"To my 'True Love' aka my husband.
'Lets Kiss'! 'Why not'?  Thanks for that 'One Kiss'!  Looking for more?  'Why Not'?  U R 'Very Fine' 'Mon Chou'. 
'I'm YRS'  'Love'  Ashley
PS - 'What Next'?

I'm so excited to see what he has in store for me tomorrow.  I doubt he can beat my extremely fantastic card! ;)

Yesterday...

This past weekend, my Grandpa passed away.  My mind has been swimming through so many memories, it's been a very tender experience.  I went to Lethbridge on Monday and joined the rest of my extended family in preparing for the funeral, having family togetherness and remembering Grandpa.  I loved every minute of it.  There really is nothing like being surrounded by family!

Yesterday was Grandpa's funeral.  What a great man.  I somehow escaped without a program, without taking one picture and without the obituary, so I hope to add those at a later date.  I loved the speakers, having my family surround me, having a good cry, singing with my cousins, hearing Jarett sing with my cousins and having the tender moment as Jarett sang "Always" by Irving Berlin and my Gran led the family out with my Grandpa.  "Always" was sung impromptu at their wedding reception over 63 years ago.  It has been sung at my moms wedding, and at mine and my sisters as well.  I made the mistake of looking at my Gran as Jarett started to sing.  She had kept her cool up until then, but then the tears flooded and we all remembered their love story.  It was such a neat experience.

I had to miss the dedication of the grave due to a few complications.  But it's in a great spot and I'm excited to be able to visit it in the upcoming years.

Yesterday, was also exciting because Benson stood up on his own for the first time - AND then proceeded to take a few steps.  He is absolutely determined and could very likely be walking in just a few days.

The one thing  I would change about yesterday is - well, most likely my most embarrassing moment.  After singing with my cousins, we were returning to our seats when I missed a step, but my heel snagged it and I sprained my ankle (not to mention fell to the floor in front of the entire congregation).  That was NOT a favorite moment.  Everything else was absolutely perfect.  *Applicable quote, however,

"Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused!"

What a beautiful day, what a beautiful legacy for a beautiful man!  I love you Grandpa!  We'll see you on the other side!

With Kienna

(I'll add more pictures when I find them)

Copied from Alanna's blog:  (Me = Alanna)

Henry Melvin Jubber
March 7, 1923 - Feb 3, 2012

On his Wedding Day July 31st, 1948 looking so handsome!

A few years ago, while looking at an old picture of my Gran (maybe this one), a sister of mine remarked, "Wow, Gran was so beautiful."  Grandpa was sitting close by and just said, "She still is!"

With my mom, Aunty Beryl and me as a baby

With Gran and Ashley in his Canoe on Echo Lake

 I remember him often going out in the canoe at the Lake in the mornings

With my dad and me 

A couple years later, Grandpa confirmed me a member of the church after my dad baptized me

Gran & Grandpa's 40th Wedding Anniversary

 One of my earliest real memories of Grandpa... or anything really

Being the donkey with socks on his ears

 Like he was every Christmas Eve

Telling us stories

Grandpa was so funny.  I distinctly remember him telling this long joke about some large animal being in a bathtub and punch line was "I know.  I know.  I know."  I (and everyone else there) laughed until our sides ached.  But then I went to school and told the same joke and didn't even get so much as a chuckle.  He just had a great way of telling a story.

Playing the Piano. Grandpa played the hymns beautifully and distinctly... improvising ascending chords in the lower hand.  He also played the violin.

One Christmas, he sang new lyrics he'd written to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"--
I heard Louise on Christmas Day... Her old familiar udders sway (Louise was the milk cow)
It ended with "No peace on earth for Melvin."

With all his grandchildren on his 50th Wedding Anniversary

He called his grandkids his "Kid's Kids"--which made the pun "Kids is Kids"

 He said "Kid's Kids" often when we were around

Ashley adding:  It also became a "Kids will be kids" type expression after a few years.

Looking at the family scrapbook Ashley & I made for the 50th Anniversary occasion

Just a few years ago after Christmas, I was collecting everyone's fancy Christmas tags for scrapbooking purposes and was touched by the simple message of love I found on this one:

Grandpa loved Gran, but didn't love shopping as much as Gran did.

Once my sister Hayley joined him on a bench at the mall where he was once again... waiting.  She asked, "Grandpa, how much of your life have you spent sitting at the mall?"

He replied, "None of it.  When I sit here, I'm not living!"

Helping Gran to decorate my wedding cake

Listening at my wedding

We had Irving Berlin's "Always" sung... just as it was at his wedding

With Jarom at 2 weeks

and at his blessing.

 At a family reunion celebrating his 80th Birthday

We went to Waterton where he hiked to the top of Bear's hump--a demanding hike for an 80 year old.

Then we went to Echo Lake where he went tubing behind the boat.

Grandpa would always give a salute to greet you.
And when you said "Grandpa", he would say "nnn-yyyyeeeess" or "um-hmmmmm" with this upwards inflection at the end.

Grandpa was a very positive man.  When his house burnt to the ground in 1994, rumor has it he was heard saying, "Well, I'll have the fastest growing grass around."

With some of his great grandchildren or his kid's kid's kids at the Alberta Temple

He served faithfully at the temple often doing several sessions in a row.

My cousin Paul joked that when Grandpa asked him to go to the temple with him, he had a hard time explaining, "I'm just a one session kind of guy."

 With Jarom

And with Travis

Posterity was a big deal to him.  He loved seeing his family grow.

60th Wedding Anniversary

After the grand kids sang a song about our memories,

Grandpa stood and said "Today I'm the richest man in the world!"

A moment I'll never forget.
I realized what the rewards are for selfless service to your family.

Holding Carson the day before his blessing

He stood in that circle on one of his last trips to Calgary.

With my boys on a trip to Lethbridge in February 2010

With Carson in Spring 2010