10th Anniversary

It is hard to believe that I am old enough to say this, but Lance and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary.  He told me a while back to not open our credit card bill for a while, so I had a feeling he had something planned or had bought a gift of some sort, I just didn't know what it was.  The night of our anniversary, we went out to our favorite restaurant, Chops, and had a wonderful evening.  He carried a box in with him and had me open it in the restaurant.  He has a such a creative side to him, and came up with a fun way to tell me about our gift.   Inside the box was a booklet that he put together telling me that we were going to Banff, Canada...in less than 5 days! 

I have to be honest and say that I really didn't know much about Canada, so this was a big geography lesson for me.  He even arranged for my parents to come stay with the kids.  We took a million pictures and had a fantastic time, so I will try to keep this brief.
The night before we left, just before my parents pulled in our driveway, we found out that the airline cancelled our flight the next morning.  Lance immediately got on the phone and internet and was able to still get us out that same day.  They tried to make us go a day later, but thankfully he was savvy and calm enough to figure it out.  He had a few more surprises for me and I think he was mostly freaked out about having to reschedule everything that he had planned. 
To say that Canada is beautiful is a complete understatement.  There are truly no words to describe the scenery in Banff.  Lance was told by a few people that it was one of the most beautiful places in the world and I would have to agree.
We arrived and headed straight to our hotel.  It was really more like a condo and had an awesome view of the mountains.

After getting settled, we headed to a nearby restaurant.  I still can't get over the views -

We had amazing weather the entire week, with highs in the upper 60's/low 70's and lows in the 40's.  I was thinking that it would start to get cold around dinner time but since the sun didn't set until around 10:30 pm everyday, it stayed warm until late in the evening. 
The next morning, Lance surprised me with the best massage of my life at the Fairmont hotel.  The hotel itself was absolutely incredible and looked like a castle in the middle of the mountains.  It was built around 1880 and has a lot of history surrounding it.

There were two Fairmont hotels in the area and they did a great job of placing the hotels to where guests could just walk outside to an amazing view instead of having to hike to see it.

That afternoon we took a cruise on Lake Minnewanka, which Lance called Lake Willy Wonka...it really did sound like that was what they were calling it.  It was a great tour but unfortunately, the true colors of the water didn't really show up in my pictures.

This was our only real wildlife encounter, where we saw big horn sheep.  They came really close to us in the parking lot and they were hilarious b/c they would stand in the middle of the road, I think, just to annoy the cars trying to get by.

 

The next day we went to Lake Louise.  I got really sick the night before so I was nervous about the day, but thankfully I woke up feeling great.  I thought we might just walk around, but since I felt better, we ended up doing a 4.5 hour hike from Lake Louise to this tea house up in the mountains.  It was probably my favorite place on the trip.

The most amazing waterfall...the sound was incredible, you could see steam coming off the water that was coming down from the glacier and I just wanted to pause time and either lay down or do yoga.  

About half way to the tea house

 After a while we were beginning to think the tea house was a hoax.  At a certain point, we kept expecting it to pop up around the next corner, but it never did.  We finally made it!  We had a cup of tea and some fresh biscuits and then we had to head back for my final surprise.

There were a few spots with really steep drop-offs...yikes!

I was sad to have to leave the tea house so quickly, but once I found out what we were doing next, it put an extra pep in my step!

I thought I would be nervous, but it was so much fun!  What amazed me most was how vast the mountains are.  You can see them all around you when you drive around Banff, but from the ground, you just can't grasp how far the mountains go.

We got  to see a glacier and some amazing lakes.  The picture below shows how thick the ice was on the glacier and it had a blue hue to it.  Gorgeous.

We went and hiked through a canyon one day which was pretty but it was all paved, so not a true hike and far too many people!

On our final day, we went out to hike around Lake Morraine.  I had been hearing about how amazing this lake was throughout the trip, with its deep turquoise waters and again, there are no words to describe it.  I really had never seen anything like it.  

I was pretty nervous about this hike because it is illegal to go out in groups of less than four hikers because of the grizzly bears.  They track most of the bears in the area so they know where they are at all times and apparently there are more than 5 that call this place home.  We bought bear spray, but I was still pretty scared.  

Yikes!

 When we got to the trail, they had a person there making sure everyone was heading up with at least 4 people in their group.  I was nervous we would be with annoying people all day, but thankfully we lucked out.  We had a guy from Canada who hikes all the time and a family from Belgium who is used to hiking in the Alps, so we felt like at least they would know what to do!  This was our longest hike of the week. 

And this was about where my hiking stopped for the day.  Lance went to the top of Sentinnel Pass, which is the middle part on top of the mountain that is behind us in the picture above.  You have to cross over a narrow pass of ice and then it is switch backs across the face until you get to the top.  I got about half way over the pass with ice and had a panic attack since I didn't have my hiking boots on.  I told Lance to go to the top since we had made it that far, so I sat in a rocky area where I felt like bears wouldn't be  a threat and prayed the whole time that Lance wouldn't fall off the side of the cliff.

The end of my journey:

He made it!  You can see the lake we were sitting by behind Lance

The way back down - the lake looks a little more true to color here:

After the hike, we sat in a scenic viewing area and had a glass of wine.  We packed it with us that morning to have on top of the mountain, but since we had some serious hikers with us, we didn't want to break it out on the trip.  It was so nice to not have a time agenda all week and to just enjoy the days in whatever way we wanted.

 I can't believe how quickly 10 years have gone, 15, if you count our five years of dating.  Life sure has changed quite a bit from the beginning, but I'm so glad that I have such an amazing husband to go on this journey in life with.  I think I had expected a quick little trip to the beach as his surprise, but this was the perfect trip for us.  We used to hike a lot when we dated and first got married and it was fun to get to enjoy the things that started off our relationship.  I love you Lance and appreciate all that you do for me and our family!  Happy anniversary!!

Tuscaloosa and Davis' Birthday

Yet again, the weeks have flown by.  We made a trip to Tuscaloosa right before Davis' birthday, mostly so that I could borrow a few of my dad's tools to reupholster a chair, but of course, to visit with everyone and enjoy the scenery.  We had a great trip and the boys had fun doing what they do best...playing with cousins

Fishing with granddaddy and grandmommy (I think Harrison's favorite part is playing with the crickets)

 and swimming at Indian Hills

They updated the pool this year and added a new zero entry with sprinklers and a water slide that wasn't setup when we were there.  Davis loved the sprinklers and being able to run into the pool and fall into the water, however, their favorite part was definitely the diving board.  I was so surprised, first, that the life guards let Davis go off the diving board with his puddle jumper on, and second that he actually wanted to go off the board!!

 We also had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Depalmas

We left early on the last day so that we could meet Lance for the IT family picnic.  They added quite a bit from last year and it was nice to have something to let the boys get their wiggles out after a long car ride.  They loved the swings

and they had a bunch of caricature artists out, so we had to get one of the family

Next up was getting the boys hair cut.  Davis has always been timid about getting his hair cut so I have always cut it, but over the past few months, every time we pass the place where Harrison gets his cut, he points it out and tells me he wants to go there.  Soooo, this was his first official hair cut!
He did so great and was so serious the whole time

Davis shares his birthday with the nations birthday, so anyone who lives in the Southeast knows that our celebration was cut a little short.  We had plans to celebrate on the 3rd by grilling out and then walking to our little city's fireworks.  The grilling part happened but the fireworks were cancelled.  Thankfully, a bunch of lollipops and balloons are enough to keep a three year old excited!

We sang happy birthday and he blew out his candles.  I think this may have been the first year that he actually blew out all of the candles!  It took him a few tries, but he did it!

There is a new movie coming out called 'Planes' that is going to be similar to 'Cars'.  The boys love to watch the trailer for this movie on Lance's iPad so we had all the grandparents pick out a few of the new planes characters to give to Davis...they just got them in the Disney store in the last few weeks, so it was perfect timing.  To say they were a hit would be an understatement!

A few of the planes are now missing a few pieces because they play with these things all day long.  Apparently they are not meant to be dropped from 5 feet.  Either way, the boys love them.  They play with them, eat with them, and sleep with them.  They tried to take them in the bath, but I decided they should watch from the counter instead. 
It was a fun birthday week and we have been trying to find new ways to either play inside or play in the rain, because it doesn't look like it is going anywhere!

May 2013

May started out with the end of school and also a visit from my little sister and her sweet little girl, Isabela.  My parents had been up in Cincinnati, so they drove her down to stay with me for a week.  We had such a fun time getting to catch up and watching the kids play together.  Harrison was just fascinated with her and was so helpful.  Davis had so much fun with her as well,  but is in that space where he can't decide if its better to be the baby or be a big boy.

Granddaddy and Grandmommy stayed for a few days too so the boys were very excited to see them as well.  I have gotten my parents hooked on a few of my favorite things from Costco, so we always make a trip while they are here.

Harrison was so sweet all week and was always trying to find things for Isabela to play with.  I have always loved morning time with the kids because of how happy (most of the time) and sweet they are.  We were up extra early this morning, but they were all smiles...

Look who also wanted to play!

Our neighborhood pool always opens on May 1st, so one morning, we decided to take a walk up to the pool just to see what the water temperature was like.  It has been such a cold spring so I knew it would be freezing and therefore didn't even bother to put the kids in their swimsuits (or bring towels).  I was right, it was FREEZING, but the boys saw the novelty in it and decided to jump in anyway!

It was pretty funny b/c their little jaws were chattering the whole time but they didn't want to leave.  I finally had to make them get out because they were shaking. 
We also made it to the zoo while Liz was here.  The kids liked it almost as much as Aunt Liz...

Isabela had a little too much fun to make it to the petting zoo.

I don't know why we don't just start our zoo trips off at the playground.  I feel like we are always rushing through the animals so the boys can get to the playground, it is always the hit of the trip for some reason...

I loved this picture...Liz went out to dinner with a few of her girlfriends from college and Isabela fell asleep on the way home.  I just thought this was a sweet picture with her sleeping with her arms around Liz's neck.

Lance had a little buddy all night while Liz was out. 

I was supposed to take Liz to Tuscaloosa after a few days of visiting in Atlanta, but it was tricky time b/c Harrison was finishing up T-ball, and they were doing so well that they made it to the final playoff game.  Thankfully Lance's dad was heading to Birmingham one day, so he took them over and we met them after baseball was over.
I was so proud of Harrison, he had so much fun on his first baseball team.  His coach, Charlie, was amazing and made it such a fun experience for all of the kids. 
They made it to the final game, but lost against the Braves.

(Harrison is the one in the shades)
Smile!...please??

 

This was such a nice group of boys and families, I hope we are as lucky next year!

The Coaches treated the boys to icecream after a well played season!

Next up was the team party.  They had a really cute cake with each of the boys' numbers on it.

Very excited for his trophy

Even granddaddy got an award for helping out so much with the team

We had a few days in between when Liz left and our last game, so I took the boys to Stone Mountain one last time before our membership expired.  They have had so much fun going this past year and they get so excited every time.  They always love the putt putt but I think their favorite part now is the ropes course.

I couldn't believe how much Davis' coordination has improved since our last visit!

After baseball was over, we headed to Tuscaloosa for a short visit.  Liz's husband Ben came down for a few days too before driving his girls back home, and the boys always get excited to see him.

My Cousin Emily and Uncle Kim also came down and I was so glad to get to see them.  Emily has had a rough year and I was so happy to get to give her a big hug and get to talk to her.  We are so proud of her and what a fighter she is!  I can't believe I didn't get a group picture of us!!  Here are Liz and Emily taking the kayak out for a spin.  It was our mothers day/fathers day present to our parents this year.

We had fun paddling around all weekend in the kayak, sitting on the dock and the porch, and the boys had fun fishing.

It really feels like such a retreat, I'm so glad my parents are so much closer and have such a beautiful view to wake up to everyday!
One last random picture from the month of Davis on the train..

Its been a busy summer so far, but we have been enjoying every minute of it!