Comedy of Errors also known as our trip to Montreal

We are back safe and sound from our 36 hour adventure to Montreal and back. So that I will always be able to remember the wonders of the trip here is my recap.

**Disclaimer: This may not be short but will probably leave you shaking your head and laughing out loud**

Wednesday: I get home from work and start packing. I realize that I haven't picked up my criminal record check from the RCMP station but figure I will pick it up on the way to the ferry in the morning. As I carefully went down the checklist I realize that I can't find the paperwork that my inlaws so nicely have filled out for me. I think, "Don't panic, it's here somewhere." I started casually going through my files, Nope. Hmmm, let's try the paper next to my bed. Nope. Okay maybe I left it in the glove compartment in the car. Nope. Maybe next to the phone. Nope. In my top drawer. Nope. Starting to panic now. Called to Landon who starts to help me. I grab the basket off the top of my dresser where I keep all our paperwork. As I put it on my bed Emily says, "Mommy look bugs!" I see hundreds (no exaggeration) of ants running for cover where my basket had been sitting. I pick up the basket and realize to late that they were on the bottom eating the wicker (still haven't figured out why.) So now there are another few hundred on my bedspread. Frantic I call for Landon to bring the vacuum cleaner. Next 10 minutes are spent sucking up every small ant we can find. (Have I mentioned lately that I am tired of my house which is falling apart????) Back to the task at hand. I am now frantic. In tears. I say to Landon, "The stupid thing is that we will get back and I will find it somewhere and remember I put it there to keep it safe and so I won't forget it." Landon stops, turns around and seconds later comes back with a white envelope with the paperwork. That statement triggered the memory that I had asked him to put it in his sock drawer and help me remember it. He didn't know what he put in there so that was why he hadn't gone looking in there sooner. Ahhh relief. Landon casually says, "What time is our flight tomorrow?" I say, "4:30" Landon asks me to double check. I sigh and pull out the itinerary. We fly out at 12:30. Which means that we need to catch the 8am ferry not the 12pm. And that I can't work Thursday morning and I had been planning to. I run to the computer shoot off some emails explaining the situation and go back to packing. Then it hits me. My criminal record check. The office at the station closes at 5pm. Its 6pm. They don't open till 9am. I'm gone by 8:10am. I call the RCMP station and get patched through to Comox. They can't guarantee that an officer will give it to me but encourage me to go to town and find out. Our station is locked up at 5pm so I use the phone outside the building which again patches me through to Comox. They patch me back through to Powell River. They agree to open the door and talk to me. The officer kindly listens, walks away, comes back and hands me my form and says have a good evening. Relief. I head home, finish packing the kids, myself and take everything to the front door except for the carry on for Landon and I. It's our only piece of luggage and I want to finish putting my makeup in it in the morning. I place the x-ray and the DO NOT Open envelope from my medical examination from Vancouver next to it. Off to bed.

Thursday: Wake up at 6am. Shower. Get ready. Wake up Landon. Wake up kids. Pack car. Ask Landon to grab the carry on. As I am packing the car I leave Emily and Collin outside to play in the driveway. Next thing I hear is Emily crying. I can't hear Collin. I go running. Collin is just starting to stand up. He had decided to go back down the walkway into our house, missed a step and fallen into the grass which is still got half an inch of water in it. (Have I mentioned that I basically live in a swamp???) Emily is crying because Collin fell. Collin is crying because he is soaking wet. Don't have time to change him so I give him a hug and a kiss put him back down and lean into the car to finish putting everything in. THUD. Collin Screams. He has walked right into the edge of the car door. Instant goose egg. Long thin purple bruise instantly forming. Yeah I felt like mother of the year. Landon comes out we get kids into their seats and head to my mom's house. Drop kids and their mountain of luggage off. Collin is still sad and I feel rotten that I have to run to a ferry. Ferry ride is spent reading a book. As I get into the car to depart I turn to Landon and say, "Did you pick up the x-ray and envelope when you grabbed the carry on?" Nope. Drove directly to a pay phone. Call my brother Matt. Ask him to find my mom (she was going grocery shopping at 9:30am with my kids, and by this time it is 10am) and have her see if she can put the envelope on the plane out of Powell River to Vancouver. I have enough time to take a shuttle to the second terminal and get back to the main terminal to catch our flight to Montreal. We hang out in Courtney and arrive at the airport at 11:00am. I call my mom. She had just gotten home and hadn't talked to Matt. She hangs up, bundles the kids back into the car and heads to the airport. We board a flight to Vancouver. Arrive. Call mom. Package will arrive at 2:10pm at 2nd terminal. We eat lunch, take the shuttle. Pick up package. Take taxi back to main terminal, arrive at our gate at 3:00pm. Depart for Montreal at 4:30pm. 4 and 1/2 hours later we arrive in Montreal. Its midnight. Take a taxi to Travelodge in downtown Vancouver. Lights out at 1am.

Friday: Up at 6am. Shower. Get dressed. Gross continental breakfast. Walk 10 minutes to US consulate. Wait outside for 15 minutes in cold wind. Get in front door. Wait another 20 minutes to get through security. Wait in line for another 20 min to get our "number". (Met a very nice girl from Sao Paolo Brazil in the line up to get our number. ) 9:00am, sit in the waiting room. Watch a documentary on Obama. 9:50am. Read a book on the US. Learn Landon is supposed to have been filing income tax in the US for the last seven years. Oops. 10:20 am. Move to the section for US citizen services because there is more room to sit on the floor which is more comfortable than the chairs. Jet lag kicking in. Look out the windows so we can see the cool architecture. 10:45. Meet a really nice black family which is applying for a visa to move the US. Their youngest was the same age as Collin but looked like she was 2. The boys were 10, 8, and 6. They looked like they were 12, 10, and 8. Very well behaved and very nice. The kids hung out with Landon and I. McGill University was doing a sports exhibition in the lot next to us. We watched them from the 19th floor. It was fun to listen to the commentary provided by the boys. 11:30. Our number is called. We go to the window. I had my in laws fill out the wrong form. I forgot my Xpress post envelope for them to send my passport back to me in. Pay the money needed for visa. Sent back to waiting room. 11:50. Called to the interview room. Found out we didn't have the proper stuff to prove domicile. We can mail it later. I wanted to cry. Left at 12:10 with a list of things to mail to Montreal. Walk back to hotel and pick up our carry on. Take taxi back to airport. Wait for our flight at 4:30pm. Land in Toronto and have 10 minutes to get to our gate for flight back to Vancouver. Land in Vancouver 4 1/2 later. 30 minutes to get to our gate for our flight to Comox. Arrive at 10:30pm. Pick up our car and find a hotel to stay in. Asleep by 11:30pm. Ahhhh sleep.

Saturday: Sleep in until 9am. WOW! We had a wonderful continental breakfast and headed into Nanaimo for some shopping. We picked up a new suit for Landon. He has wanted one for years! The seamstress was taking in the waist on the pants and hemming. We head to the mall for lunch and to pick me up a couple of Mother's Day gifts. We go back for the suit only to find out that the seamstress had not hemmed the pants she was waiting for Landon to come back and try them on. She was on lunch break when we got there. At 1:50pm we said we had to go so we could catch the 3:15 ferry (80 minute drive away). We left with the pants unhemmed. Landon drove like a maniac and I slept so I wouldn't freak out about how fast we were driving. We arrived at the ferry terminal just after 3pm and drove onto the ferry. I love my husband. I read more on the ferry and we picked up our kids at 4:30pm.

I don't think the kids even missed us.

And We're Off!

After a whirlwind evening of chaos I am tentatively saying that we are ready for our quick trip to Montreal. We drop the kids off at my parents at 7:30 am tomorrow morning, 8:00 ferry to the island and 12:35 flight to Vancouver, three hour layover and then off to Montreal. We will arrive just after midnight their time, run to our hotel for 5-6 hours of sleep. Then Friday morning at 8am we have to be at the US Consulate and we've been told that we will be there until about 2 pm and then back to the airport for a 6pm flight back to BC arrival in Comox around 9pm. My mom has agreed to keep the kids until 4:30 pm so we can sleep off our jet lag and get a few hours of shopping in on the island before catching the 3pm ferry home. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But if all goes well, Friday afternoon I will be the proud owner of a immigration visa which will allow us to move in July. Please keep us in your prayers.

Easy Turtle Bars

I am not a huge chocolate fan.

Certain chocolate bars I love but chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate icing, etc, were not a big part of my life until I met Landon. He is the opposite of me. I have slowly started eating more chocolate because of him. Yes I blame him. :) Now caramel and pecans on the other hand have always been an addiction to me. Mmmmm. I love going to Dairy Queen and getting their Turtle Blizzard. As long as there is not a lot of chocolate in it I am in heaven. (I know many of you are so good at eating healthy and organic and I really admire you. One day I will be just like you but right now, mmmm ice cream...) I found this recipe the other day and thought, "Something for both Landon and myself." It is heaven! I am going to share this wonderful recipe so that you chocoholics have one more dessert. :) And I will admit that what I really love is that I get to use chocolate cake mix so that its basically no fail and quick!

Easy Turtle Bars

1 package chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 jar (12 oz) caramel ice cream topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 13x9 inch baking pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Combine cake mix, butter, and milk in large bowl; stir until well blended. Press half of mixture into prepared pan.
3. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until crust begins to form. Carefully remove from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips and half of pecans over partially baked crust. Drizzle with caramel topping. Drop spoonfuls of remaining cake batter over caramel mixture; sprinkle with remaining pecans.
4. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. (Caramel center will be soft.) Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Tea Party at the Beach

When I got home from work (the day of the infamous pity party) Emily and Collin wanted to go outside and play. It was a gorgeous day so I agreed. Collin wanted to go out onto the porch but Emily wanted to go to the beach and have a tea party. I told her that since the backyard is still a swamp full of water that I figured the porch was like a beach. I agreed to bring out blankets and toys to the porch so she agreed to the compromise. (The beach is five minutes away but the thought of packing the kids up was enough to make me tired.) We had a great time. Emily and I wore our sun glasses and Collin kept throwing the toys into the watery grass. Yep he is definitely a boy. I had to make sure the toys were too big to fit through the slats of the porch because he really wanted to drop them through them. Since a family of raccoons live down there I was not a fan of having to go under there to retrieve. :) We had a wonderful time. The tea party ended with the Elders stopping by. Elder Dayton has been transferred to Kamloops and he wanted to say goodbye. We will miss him but he promises to give us a call if he ends up attending BYU-Idaho. It was a perfect ending to a day that didn't have the best start. (And yes, more often than not my children look like ragamuffins. Such cute children should have been born to a mother that would make sure they always look presentable.)

Yesterday was a pity party morning. Things have started to unravel in regards to our move and so I let the stress and disappointments over ride me yesterday while standing in the shower with hot water pouring over my head and face. I thought that it would allow me to let everything go and feel better. Not so much. Instead I spiraled into an even larger pity party. So I headed into the bedroom to vent to my wonderful spouse thinking if I said my concerns out loud they would magically disappear. Nope, just left two of us feeling overwhelmed. Has this ever happened to you? Where one annoying thing spirals into nothing is going right? It started with not having a job yet to not having enough money to move, to not having enough money to finish the process of getting a work visa to not having anywhere to move into to why does it matter if we move nobody will care. It spiraled to my struggles with losing this last 12 pounds to being a horrible house cleaner to those are the reasons that nobody wants to come and visit and so forth. Even into all the reasons I am not a good mom, wife or friend. Yep spiraled right out of control. As I drove to work I became angry that nobody cares enough to visit us that we are expected to make all the sacrifices to keep friendships going, etc. And then a quiet gentle reminder that I wasn't completely right. I have had some wonderful people in my life sacrifice to come and see me. The first example that popped into my mind was Todd & Bob Saunders and Alicia who all drove through the night to be there for me at my wedding reception in Canada. They didn't even stay for a full 48 hours. And then the names of those who have visited us came flooding into my mind. Rita and family, Becca and family, Janie, Mel and Vauna, Ashlee, Erik and Nykki (plus family), Jeremiah and Susanne (plus family), Susan and Jan, Auntie Margie, Grandma Knoll, Auntie Ruth, Uncle Lynol, Stephanie and Tye, Roberta, Belinda, Kristina, Brian and family, John and Diane (plus family), Bonnie.... the list goes on. Sure many of them were here to visit their parents or my parents but they took time out of the their schedule to see me. I realized that life goes on and everyone has struggles. It is not up to me to decide if people's priorities are correct. I need to only worry about my self. Suddenly all of my stress and disappointments felt lighter. They were still there but I knew that I wasn't alone in shouldering them. I have incredible parents who have stood next to me and offer me support without me having to ask. They help us out so much. I hope to emulate them as my children get older. I am grateful to all of my family and friends who have shown us love and support. I am sorry that I may forget about it momentarily during my pity parties but I want to thank-you. Now I need to take that step into the unknown and remember that this is what we are to do.

New favourite song....

This is so my life!
(I know its cropped off so this is the website if you want to see the whole screen)

Deep Breath

When Emily gets upset it is hard for her to calm herself. Part of our routine is to wrap her in her blanket then she and I do deep breathing for the count of 10. She doesn't usually join me until the last few but she know that we keep going until there are no more tears and she has started breathing as well. A few weeks ago I was really upset. The kids were destroying the house while yelling at each other as loud as they could. They weren't mad at each other. Just yelling. I thought I was going to go insane. Very loudly I yelled, "Be quiet or go to your room!" Emily stopped yelling, walked over to me and said, "Mommy deep breaths." She then started to take big breaths and count to five. I started to giggle and joined the breathing. By the time she got to five we were both laughing and I gave her a big hug and thanked her for helping me remember to breathe. It was so cute! Then a few minutes ago Collin was crying. I picked him up and Emily came walking over to us. She said, "Coyin, deep breaths." And she started deep breathing. Collin stopped crying and grinned at her. I joined in the breathing but was corrected because I was doing it wrong. I guess the right way sounds an awful lot like Lamaze. I promise Emily was not in the delivery room. :)

I love my daughter.

The Wonderful, Awesome Tyson

I have the best nephew ever. His name is Tyson.

Yesterday Emily was looking at the pictures we took at the temple last weekend and she decided that we should go back. Like right then. No excuses. It was very cute because she kept telling me why we should go. Since its six hours and two ferry rides away I said that we would drive by and see it another day. Then she noticed a picture of Cassie, my niece. So she decided that if she couldn't go to the temple she needed to go play at Cassie's house. Right then. No excuses. Well since Cassie lives in Idaho we live in BC I said no. I talked about how we would see Cassie this summer. Emily asked to call Cassie on the phone. So I called but Cassie was busy so she really wasn't participating in the telephone conversation. Emily kept saying, "Hi Cassie. (pause) I can't do it. I can't talk to Cassie." (Because she wasn't getting a response.) I told Emily we would call back another time. She was very sad and asked if she could talk to Tyson. So I called Idaho again. Tyson was gracious and said that he would talk to her. For a good couple of minutes Emily walked around the house babbling away to her cousin. Sometimes she would stop and listen and then start talking again. She told him about how she wanted to go to the temple but mom had said no. And about wanting to play with Cassie. And other stuff that I couldn't understand. She finally said goodbye and I chatted for a little while with Tyson. Emily was on cloud nine for the rest of the night. Thanks Tyson for making her night.

No you can't have him, he's my nephew. Rita and Nic you are doing a great job in raising a wonderful little man.

A word about Bears

I came home last night after being gone for two days to find that the bear had pushed open the door into my mud room, taken the garbage bag and spread it across my lawn and into the marsh next door.

I do not like bears.

PS My door does not shut now since the hinges are pulled out a little. Grrr!

"Mommy I want go to the temple."

During sacrament meeting (while in time out) Emily spotted a picture of the Vancouver temple. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, there's the temple." She looked at it for a minute and then said, "Mommy, I want go to the temple." I told her that it was a long car ride away. She said, "I like the car. Lets go in car to the temple. I love the temple."

The long hours in the car, the cost of the hotel room and ferry trip disappeared from my mind. My daughter loves the temple.