New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

Hazel enjoying our test batch of Oliebollen on new years eve.

Jared enjoying making them and eating them 😊

New years day was crisp and clear! Jared went out into our "back 90" to get some wood for the outside fire and set up to make oilebollen out there as well for our oliebollen open house. Please notice Jared's festive "tree top tree" addition by the fire pit. 

The tractor sleigh rides were a hit with the kids. 

Those who came a bit earlier in the day got a bit more sunshine, but the event was enjoyed by many regardless of the cold. High of -12 or -15, which was "warming up" from the -25ish that night. 

This hill has been the perfect sledding hill for the younger kids.  

Jared and Nova ended up being outside all day, from 9:30ish to 5ish. By the end even fluffy Nova was cold and curled up in Jared's chair. 

A Walk to Remember

Quite often on a Sunday afternoon we will go for a walk in the back trees. Thankfully the family (regular out of town visitors) we had over for lunch brought their snow gear along, so we all made it out.

The fresh snowfall on the trees is aways beautiful, gives the walk a enchanted feel.

Thankfully my friend remembered to bring her phone along for some pictures. 

My friend and I were at the back of the line of the line with the littles, so it was quite funny going around the corner and seeing Jared up in the tree. The snow fall was light and powdery and would come "waterfalling" out of the trees if you shook them. I don't think I'll ever forget the boyish grin on Jared's face as the kids enjoyed the falling snow. The rest of the walk Jared would hit trees with a big stick and send a "waterfall" of snow on the two older kids who thought this was an absolute blast! (Video below)

So much pretty snow! Makes my heart happy. 

We were both really ready for winter this year, and have been very much enjoying it so far. 

 

Family Time and Tea Time

Though there are not any pictures to prove it we got a very nice family morning in on Saturday! With Jared's new job, schedule and energy level we are slowly find new routines. The last few Saturdays Jared spend a lot of time cleaning his work shop and organizing/setting up his tools (It has been really neat to see him have time, energy and motivation to work in his shop). 

This particular Saturday morning the house was still a mess, so Jared took Hazel outside to play for a bit while I very quickly blitzed the house.  

I happened to look out the back window just in time to see Hazel running around in the snow. This was really quite cute and funny as the snow had melted and hardened, but there was a fresh layer on top. Hazel was light enough to run on top, while Jared still was walking though snow up to the top of his boots. Jared was able to get a little video of it to share!

(Video Below)

Once I was done my quick clean, outside was calling my name too. Jared already had Hazel in the backpack carrier so we went for a tromp through our woods which looked especially beautiful with the fresh snow!

 Afterwards we had a quick drink on the deck and enjoyed the beauty of the day!

A Galentine's tea party was scheduled for the afternoon, hosted by M and J, it was so fun to get all dressed up extra fancy for an event again! I was able to make my own fascinator for the event, which was neat to try too.

Group Picture!

And some pictures of the fancy food before we ate it 😋

It was so fun to get together with all the ladies for a fun event! It was so well loved that I believe there will be another ladies dress up event in the makings soon!

Unfrozen!

After a wonderful, almost flawless Christmas program, we came home to running water and no broken pipes! An absolutely great way to end the evening! And a wonderful start to our Christmas celebrations! Basking in God's many blessings of a warm house, running water, music and church family. 

Weather update, -17, warming up and lots of snow! All good things at this point. 

Oh, and Jared's truck was happier with the warmer temperatures and fired up this morning too. Slowly but surely life it settling back to normal! 

PG Christmas

A few months ago I told Jared that I felt like we needed to stay in Prince George for Christmas. How can we really become part of this community if we keep leaving when people typically would be getting together? As hard as it was to see pictures of our family getting together on Christmas and getting stuck in the snow, we really enjoyed our church family up in PG this year. 

On Christmas Eve I organized a Christmas Program which went really well and was enjoyed by all, we even had some visitors that came from previous outreach efforts, which was really neat to see! After the program we had some appetizers and desserts potluck style. 

If anyone is interested the Christmas program was recorded. Click here if you would like to watch/listen to it. 

 On Christmas Day the majority of us went to the Sinclair's for dinner. (The Sinclair's are the newest members of the congregation who moved up from Tsawwassen). This dinner truly had a family feel to it, craziness and all, as there was about 11 kids and 3 babies! We had a much more traditional dinner, it was neat to have everyone bring one of their own Christmas favorites or traditional meals to the table.

We have also been getting a true taste of a northern winter, with the record amount of snow fall in a 24 hour period! About 35 cm! For more details click here

In addition to all the snow we have also been reaching record cold for this time for the year, around -38 to -40, for more details click here

I would say we have been pretty broken in so far... but we will see what the rest of winter brings!

Even with the crazy snow and cold weather I have been enjoying winter so far. I love finding icicles...

I like the way the snow looks on the roofs... I like being inside our small cozy house with the fire and Christmas lights on!

Overall we all had a very nice Christmas and felt very much at home, we still missed our families a lot, phone calls and video calls make up for a lot, but not everything... Looking forward to seeing our families again in March! 

 

Little Friends

I was babysitting for church last Sunday and just had to take these pictures! These three cuties are all about 3 months apart! Sophia with the black bow in the oldest, Hazel is next in the pink, and then Fern who is the car seat. It is so neat to see the different stages all at once. 

There is also a baby girl that was born in November and another baby due in December! So there should be no shortage of friends and playmates!

We went to Thomas and Rachelle's (Sophia's parents) after church, after they both had their naps  Sophia and Hazel got to play together a bit more. 

Guess who got the block most of the time! 😄

 

Line Up

This is quite the common occurrence after church services. Landen (the one holding Hazel) is often the first one to ask, and then they all line up after him. No shortage of attention here!

Nechako Ridge

We went for a hike up Nechako Ridge on Sunday evening with the Prince George church family. It was quite the steep hike, and my lungs were not use to that so it took a while to get to the top... but it was quite the view!

Hazel's Baptism

 On May 16, 2021 our little girl was baptized! So blessed that both sets of grandparents could be present for it! 

 Church was in our own back yard!!! 

I know Jared's not looking... but at lest he is smiling...

Church, Communion of the Saints and Horseback rides!

PG Church has officially moved outside! The last two Sundays Jared and I hosted the live stream outside so it was only really audio only, but this Sunday we (with the help of the men's planning group) were able to get extra chairs, the sound system and live stream all set up from our place. It was lovely to meet altogether again, by the time the service started all the chairs minus 2 or 3 were all full!

Next Sunday we should have 2 large tents set up so that the church service isn't so weather pending. Thankfully it was lovely weather on Sunday. 

The kids played all over the tires, the play house and the boat after church!

The neighbor a few doors down the next street rode by just as the last of the people were leaving. Little did we know that quickly petting the horse would lead to horse back rides! She gives lesson and offered all the kids a quick horseback ride. 

Champion (the horse) was very calm with all the kids and he got lots of attention!

Well, not just the kids...

And of course the fact that I was 3 days overdue didn't stop me for very long! Can't wait to get into the saddle and ride again!

Overall it was quite the special Sunday! Praying that meeting outside continues to go well!