Good times in April!

Austin being very patient while mommy planted flowers

 The boys at the temple grounds on Sunday

We had just shown up to church, not knowing that it was stake conference. So we hit the visitors center on the way home. That way the ironing didn't feel like a complete waste of time!

 These photos were all taken from my phone, so they are pretty fuzzy.

Aussie cruises around in this like he is the energizer bunny. I never thought i'd be so grateful for all the tile in our house! This walker is a true life-saver. Thanks kid-to-kid for the steal. Austin was born to run, we can see this already!

 Waiting in the car while the boys hit balls at the range

 Logan was beaming like the sun when he was awarded student of the month. 

 Last game of the season ended with the Pumas winning 7-0. Logs scored two great goals.

 The annual baby chicks hatched! All four are doing super. 

 Little league is half-way into the season, with the White Sox making a statement. The boys are learning the tackling other fielders and chasing down runners isn't part of the game. 

 Mommy learned that Austin is highly capable of squirming his way to the flat iron in 2 seconds flat. A nasty burn helped her realize that baby is officially mobile. 

The boys eat up every second that they have with dad. Austin is sooo giddy when dad comes home.

 Excuse Austin's nudeness, but it's the only footage I have of his army crawl!

Caribbean Cruise 2011

Eastern Caribbean Cruise 2011

Well, isn’t it interesting that I find myself blogging about last year’s cruise while I’m in my room waiting for this year’s cruise to pull out of port?! I suppose that I just feel like it’s so quiet and peaceful that I may as well journal the missing spots in the last year of our life, so here it goes:

Here was the itinerary:

·      Fly to Puerto Rico, sleep at the Marriott, and board the Carnival ship.

·      St. Thomas: Spent the day at Smuggler’s Cove (same beach as in 2010)

·      Barbados: Chartered a catamaran that supplied us with a really cute group of guys that entertained us with their music and dancing, provided a great lunch, and took us to an amazing snorkeling spot with sea turtles and stingrays. That day was a total blast.

·      St. Lucia: Ziplining at it’s best!! I loved driving through the jungle and seeing the way that the local people lived. Huge reality check. Breathtaking views. The jungle was awe-inspiring to me, as I saw some of my favorite plants and flowers growing out from the sides of trees with effortless beauty. The zipline was complete with 12 lines that took us right over the canopy and canyons. Everyone loved, loved this day.

·      St. Kitts/Nevis: We finally saw all of the monkeys! Some had on diapers and would cuddle in our arms (yes, of course we had to pay someone to hold them), and some that were wild and just wanted our bananas. The day became fascinating as some of us smarter people took a tour through the historical sights of the island. We drove around the hollowed ground of the  “Circus” were the slaves were brought and sold, and then on to the fortress with it’s rich history and beauty at the highest part of the island, overlooking even the clouds with it’s cannons and eerie emptiness.

·      St. Maarten: Yeah, we didn’t stay on either the dutch or british side. We had our sights set on Anguilla, so we took a ferry over to a little-known paradise called little bay. The pictures will do all the explaining. Pristine.

With the exception of the bad service and not so good food on the ship, this was hands-down the very best trip of my entire life. Brad and I thoroughly enjoyed being together, away from the stress of everyday life. It was difficult to leave Austin at only 9 months old, but no one could have done a more magnificent job with a crying, hurting little angel than my mom and dad did. Logan was in hog heaven with his grandparents. We love the Bergeson Family. I love Brad’s dedication in making such an incredible family movie of this vacation. It is one not to be forgotten. 

Christmas Blog Part 2: Picture Time, I mean Christmas Time in Canada!

B and Logan on the plane

LOVE this pic. These two are best friends.

Caroline and Cadrien

Hockey on Christmas Day

All the kids in the bunch

Hockey!!!!Flames, Havs, we honored both

!

FACES OF THE HARKER CHRISTMAS

This holiday proved to be busy during part 1 of the holiday. Parties, school activities, decorating, church programs, all had to get done (see part 1 of the Christmas blog fest:)) But part 2 of the holiday season was quite the opposite! Peaceful, relaxing, and cozy is how I would describe part 2/ Canada. However, getting to the North Pole was an ADVENTURE! Now getting there.... that was another story. I'll try to highlight the holiday, along with the travel upset, and cram in as many pics as possible!!! Now, we know that all passengers flying/driving to CA are required to have passports. But the good law makes an exception for babies under the age of 1, and children who are entering Canada with a parent who is a Canadian citizen. So as we checked out the possibilities for little Aussie, we were feeling pretty good. Then, we called the airline the night before travel just to be safe. They said that ther was no way we would get on the plane without a passport for an infant. Next morning, vital stats for copy of birth cert, walgreens for photo, City office for application, airport. We overnighted the app to a San Fran agency just in case we weren't aloud on the plane....we weren't aloud on the plane. We even had the Canadian consulate and immigration office give the airline permission to let us fly. No go. So we all stay overnight at the.... I can't remember where we stayed. Brad returned to the airport 3 times that night in hopes to persuade the oh-so-coy Ron Burgundy-looking dude at the counter. When the manager lady got up in Brad's face, he reitred his efforts for the night. The next day being the 23rd, we needed to send Logan and Brad on up. Austin and I then moved to the Tropicanna (which we didn't know was in the middle of a remodel) for the rest of the evening. What a special memory- 2 suitcases, a stroller, a carseat, and a diaper bag with no ramps built anywhere in the hotel. Thank goodness that I met a sweet man that next morning who just so happened to own a new attraction about the history of the mafia in Vegas. He whistled for a crew in the lobby and all 4 italian men helped me get to their car. Thanks to Tony and his mafia men!

Meanwhile, the Harkers carried on in their traditional Christmas Eve party. Everyone participated in the bell-ringing, the nativity re-inacting and the soup-eating. But this time, they all looked like Jews as Val brought in many influences that she had aquired while visiting the Holy Land. The star of david flag hung in the kitchen the entire trip. We love you Val! We arrived late, late that night and were all prepped for Christmas morning. The only problem was that some goofball had mistaken my bag for his, and taken my luggage. No biggie, I was only missing all of the relatives' presents and my laptop. This part of the story ends good.... I got my luggage back unscathed. The neatest part of Christmas day was to finally be with everyone and see that the entire family was happy and healthy and together. Not only were we all healthy, but I had an awesome Christmas suprise to learn that Caroline is pregnant!!!!! What a neat suprise that was. And Orin had built the coolest skating rink ever made!! Thank the heavens that Santa made another trip to grandma's house, leaving full pads for Logan so that he and Cam could check themselves to the ground without leaving 1 scratch! All the guys worked without stopping for the entire vacation to Zamboni, water, and shovel that rink. What an amazing source of entertainment. Little Cadrien liked her make-up set and made sure that she spent all of her time making everyone look "beauful". Val spent a lot of time in the kitchen making meals. In fact, we didn't leave the house to eat once. What a nice break to stay inside that cozy house. Lucky us, poor Val! We played games, shared our annual family home evening night, and had photography lessons daily from Mikey. Toph made the most AMAZING FAMILY VIDEO to re-cap 2010. What a sweet and selfless gift he gave us. Watching it was totally priceless. Ben and Brad played a hockey game in town last night, and they both scored amazing goals. THeir sons were beamingly proud. Brad also took Logan to a Flames game one night. I found myself better-slept and more relaxed then i've been since Aussie was born. The boys gave up their rooms for my crew, so that I could enjoy sleeping in bed with Austin right by me every night. He was such a joy to have with me over the holiday. I felt so blessed to be with my boys and know that I have 3 of them. The flight home was something to remember. It was New Years Eve, and we had parked our car at the Tropicanna. The taxi driver couldn't get us to the hotel because Vegas is INSANE on New Years Eve! So by the time we had walked to the parking lot, it was 11:57 and we were just in PERFECT time to see a miraculous firework show that had the appearance of Vegas blowing up from every angle! Wow, it was a sight to behold. All in all, the best Canada trip yet. I miss it. I missed my family too. It was the first year of my life that I had not seen my fam over the holidays. But I know they all had a special holiday filled with babies and eachother. I love my families!!!

Val's influence from her trip to the Holy Land

Best Friends and Best Cousins (and just a little competitive!!)

What the other family was up to.....

Christmas Part 1: Getting ready for Christmas from home

Here are a few pics of Christmas memories at home, before we took off for the holiday. We had a little pre-Christmas Eve that was pretty special. Earlier that day, I tried to get some decent pics of the boys for the Christmas cards. Way to go Ann! That isolated experience wasn't so special. It was rather painful. That evening, Santa came to our house 3 days early to deliver our presents. Logan left cookies and egg nog, and Santa left Logan's original letter in return, with the items that he brought checked off. Way to go Santa! And here are a few pics of Bradley running off to Whistler with some friends right smack dab in the middle of the holiday bustle. Way to go Brad!

Aussie getting ready for our little Christmas Eve party at home!

Santa has kept been great about keeping a Wii away from our home for 2 years in a row! This year, we didn't get so lucky. Let's just say that Logan now has an addiction, and daily time restrictions.

Santa also brought Legos, Legos, Legos!! I think we could build a city twice over. Mom brought a lego sorter, so that the pesky little things could stay organized.

Aww, doesn't Max look sweet?! This was his last night in our home, sob.

Logan's school Christmas party. I planned and delivered the whole thing and will remember to never volunteer to do it again!

Brad and Dave Bauerle at Whistler

Tram Ride

The whole crew ready for an amazing day

Braddo shreddin' it up

Austin at 6 months

So these odd grunting noises are as common as breathing for Austin. He has done this since he was a few weeks old. Needless to say, it makes heads turn at the grocery store. I didn't know Brad was filming at first, or I would have got out of the picture!

Brad had just gotten home from the Flames game with Logan, and he didn't believe me that Austin had started to repeat the words that Brad tries so hard every day to program into the poor kid's brain. So this was my attempt at showing the new skill off to Brad.

I am beside myself that my baby is 6 months old! How did that happen? This last 6 months has been a blurry, difficult, sweet, and memorable whirlwind. Austin has definitely taken the 5th month of life by storm! So many changes and firsts have occurred with this babe. At the beginning of Dec, I began adding solids to his diet. If he were still on my milk and not soy, I would have waited for longer. But soy backs this guy up so much that a little bit of vegetables have done him a lot of good! What a pleasant relief for him that he can go potty! He drinks lots of prune juice, and eats squash, sweet potatoes, avacadoes, applesauce, peaches, peas, and carrots. During the Christmas holiday to Calgary, Austin began sitting up on his own, got his first tooth, and started babbling out, "Dadadada." Not to worry, "Mamamama" started coming out two days later, but it is clear that he prefers saying is D's! December has been a good month for us with Aussie in that he has overcome more of his discomfort and colicky behaviors, and is able to be more himself- a very funny, happy baby. He continues to get better at falling asleep. Staying asleep is another story, but we are down to 3-5 night wakings from about 6-8 in November and December. He isn't usually hungry more than once in the night, it still seems like his stomach is the culprit. I still keep him right by me in bed so that he can have a hand to hold. As long as he can squeeze your arm and play with your face, he drifts off to sleep pretty calmly! And the second that I reclaim my hand as my own, he wakes up:) He sucks that binkie like he will eat it all through his naps. I will always remember him as a baby with nervous hands. He just doesn't know what to do with his energy if he isn't squeezing on to something when awake and asleep. My funny little boy. My exhausting little boy. I know that I will look back and miss these days. I bet i'll even wish for them back. They go by so quickly, and then they are a baby no longer. But I have to admit that being in the midst of it all, I find myself looking forward often to when I can get some good sleep.