I am still alive

So apparently it has been far too long since I have updated my blog. Just a few weeks ago I had my dad tell me that if I wasn't going to blog then I had no business having a blog. Really...? I live with you! Why do you need me to update my blog to know about my life. I laughed to myself on the inside. And then a few days later I had a friend inform me that I hadn't updated my blog in a LONG time. I didn't even know said friend read my blog. So here I am at 5:55am yup you read that right 5:55am updating my blog. Some of you might ask yourselves who is up at 5:55am on a Sunday morning? Well I have actually been up since 4:30am. I have been blessed with a wonderful cold that insists on waking me up at 4:30am every morning to have a coughing fit. Normally I do the regular, cough up flem, take my inhaler, suck on a candy or cough drop and I normally fall back to sleep in a half hour or so. But not today folks, I even resorted to taking Buckley's and it did not help. So it is your lucky day and here I am blogging.

Where to begin? It has been a really long time since I have written anything. I guess lets start back at the beginning of October. Well me and my best friend Kelsey are both fans of Brad Paisley, so when we heard that he was coming to Calgary we jumped on that and got tickets. Well the day finally arrived and we couldn't have been more excited! We had both seen him before and knew that it was going to be an amazing concert. So we get to Calgary, we were a little early so we went and ate, went down to the saddle dome, bought concert t-shirts, and went on our quest to find our seats. Well let me tell ya, when they show you a little tiny picture on your computer screen it looks alot different than where you actually sit. We finally found our section and Kelsey was ahead of me and started walking up the stairs, and she kept walking up the stairs and kept walking up the stairs. Mean while I'm thinking to myself, ok she is going to stop any minute now...nope we had the top row seating. Like we couldn't have been any higher up in the section. We were sitting by the spot light guy! Oh man did we have a good laugh about it. So the concert starts, we watch the opening acts which were amazing even from boonie ville seat section, and just before Darius Rucker ends this random guy comes up to me asks how many are in my party and gives us 2 AMAZING new tickets and tells me to enjoy the show from a better view! NO WAY! We were STOKED!!! Sometimes it pays off to sit in crappy seats. Well let me tell you, the seats were close enough that we could see Brad Paisley without looking at the big screens. It was so much fun and Brad did not disappoint. His performance was so good I loved every minute of it. I however did not love every minute of waking up the next morning to go to work after only getting 5 hours of sleep. But I guess I shouldn't complain because if Kelsey is reading this she only got 3 hours before she had to go to her first class of nursing clinical.

Well after the concert came Halloween. I am not a dress up yay Halloween person. I have always kinda hated thinking up a costume and trying to find stuff to make it work, blah blah always the same story every year. Well this year I wanted a good costume so whilst brainstorming at work the girl I work with said why don't you go as Hermione (I think that's how you spell it) you know the girl from Harry Potter. I have a really good friend who I told should go as Harry Potter. At first he did not like this idea but he eventually came around and he made a pretty good Harry Potter. Well the costumes came together so good. I loved them. We looked pretty legit. And thanks to my big sister Kelly who was the life saver for this costume, if it wasn't for her they would not have looked near as good. For some reason Lethbridge this year decided that black capes were over rated and did not sell any. I couldn't find a black cape anywhere. So I called my sister in a panic because she had seen a black cape at the Walmart up in Sylvan Lake and asked her if she could go see if there were some left. Well our lucky day there were 2 left. So with days until Halloween she over night mailed them and the day was saved! Thanks again Kell!!! We went to the church dance and got so many complements on our costumes. We even had random people come ask us for a picture. We were famous no big deal. I also got to help Kelsey make her costume. She was a witch and we made her a toutou skirt with black, purple, white and green tool. It turned out really cute. Took a ton of time but it was worth it in the end. Over all Halloween this year was a success. I have never put so much time and effort into a costume but it turned out so good!

Well theres October in a nut shell. On to November. Not a whole lot of exciting things have happened this month. Me and mom decorated for Christmas which is always fun. But for the most part it has been a month of learning for me. Through a series of events this month I have come to feel and know that my Saviour loves me and is aware of me. I have gone through some things that I wouldn't have been able to get through without him or my family who I thank for listening to me and being there for me through it all. Thankfully things have worked themselves out and life is back to what I can consider normal. I'm not sure I can say that I am grateful for what I went through but I can say that I'm glad its over. This past weekend was preference (the one dance a year where the girl asks the guy), I took one of my good friends and it turned out to be a really fun night. If your looking for a fun date to go on, I suggest going on a dessert tour. We went out and ate McDonalds just to put some substance in our stomachs and then went to 3 different restaurants and had desserts. It was so fun and then we went to the dance which was actually a pretty fun dance.

Hope you enjoyed the update, and hopefully I will have more to blog about soon.
-kinsey

Greats things in my life

Lately I have had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the things in my life. And with Thanksgiving quickly approaching I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about some things that I am most grateful for in my life...

1. My job. I love what I do. Some people think that I am crazy for being a dental assistant and don't understand how I can work in peoples mouths all day long but I love it. I love my boss he is the best guy to work for and the people that I work with are awesome. I really lucked out in getting into the office that I did. And lets face it without my job I would have no money which would mean I wouldn't have my car or be able to do all the fun things that I do.

2. My friends. Over the years I have had alot of friends. But in the past few years I have made some of the best friends of my life. They are such great examples to me and no matter what we are doing we always have fun. I have made quite a few friends that I consider great friends and I know I can go to any one of them for anything. I have been richly blessed with amazing friends.

They have helped shape me to the person that I am today.

3. My nephews. I have 4 nephews. Kelly is the mother of 3 of them, Zane is the oldest he is 7, then Rhett who is 4, and the youngest is Brock and 1. Alisha has Paxton who 10 months. These 4 little boys are so much fun. I always thought I wanted nieces but I was wrong. Boys are SO MUCH fun! Zane is getting to the age where he loves to do boy things. Not little boy things but actually watch a real movie, not a cartoon. Its funny to watch him because the age he is at now is the age where I remember alot of my childhood. Rhett is the most head strong child I have ever met in my life. You will be ready to ring his neck and he will look at you and say the cutest thing and your heart melts and you just can't be mad at him. Brock, oh what to say about this child. He is the most dare devil child Kelly has. She will call me with stories about that kid that I just laugh about. He gets into everything and he is just so dang cute. Love him. And Paxton. Oh man this kid is so FUNNY. He makes me laugh all the time. He gets so excited about things and is the happiest baby I have ever met. His little eyes just twinkle and light up when he sees you. My nephews are my life. I love them more than I thought possible to love. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. I love being an aunt and spoiling them. I just hope they remember the things I have done for them when I am old and need their help. There was one day I was at Kelly's house and we were joking about me not being married and I asked Zane if he would take care of me when I was old. He looked at me and kind of laughed and said No. We all busted out laughing. I guess I better pray Alisha has a girl sometime so that I will have a niece that will take care of me.


4. My sisters. I have the 2 best sisters a girl could ask for. I am the youngest of 3 girls. My oldest sister Kelly constantly was saving me when I was little. She was my second mom. When my sister Alisha was suppose to be watching me and decided that she no longer wanted to watch me and left me in a thunderstorm outside, who came to the rescue? That's right Kelly. She is such a kind hearted person. I love her with all my heart. Her and I were always close and I knew I could talk to her about anything. When I moved to Calgary to go to school her and I started getting closer. I would go up and see her on the weekends alot of the time, and I talked to her every day on the phone. Kelly and I are 5 years apart and even though we were close, that 5 years was a big difference in age. About 3 years ago her and I had the best bonding time I think we could ever have. We did a full 24 hour makeover paint job on her house. I kid you not we painted for a straight 24 hours, (well maybe 22.5, we slept for about an hour BAD IDEA) anyways for most of this 24 hour period it was just her and I around and we found out alot of about each other that neither of us knew. It is one of the best memories of my life and since then our relationship has blossomed into something beautiful. I don't know what I would do without her in my life. I talk to her for HOURS at a time. She is an amazing person and I love her to bits. My sister Alisha. Well her and I were never what you can call "close" sisters. We fought ALOT growing up. She hated me. I'm not even kidding when I say that she will fully admit, which she has to me that she hated me. Before I came along she was the baby for 3 years and she did not like that I took her spot light. While growing up Alisha and I had a crazy sort of relation ship. We would fight and yell and scream at each other, and walk away and about 5 minutes later we were laughing and having fun together. I don't know why but her and I fought like cats and dogs, but never stayed mad at each other for very long. Alisha is the sister that knows more of my secrets than any other person. Its not that I don't trust anyone else with them, but I always knew she was a safe person to tell them to. I trust her with my life. She would do anything for me and I for her. She is such a strong girl and has been a great example to me in my life. She is honestly one of the funniest people I know. When we are together as a family playing games, she is the entertainer. Without her there would be less laughing that's for sure. She usually has Kelly laughing to the point of squeaking as we call it, or not breathing at all. One of the things that I love most about her is that she always tells me she loves me. Every time I see her or talk to her on the phone, she makes sure to tell me she loves me before I leave or we say good bye on the phone. I have the best sisters in the world and I love them to bits!

5. My parents. What to say about my parents? I love them more than I can express. My mom is such a rock. I can go to her about anything and she is always willing to listen and to give me advice. Even if it isn't the advice I want to hear, and even if it is the same problem over and over. She lovingly sits and listens to me rant, or sits and lends a comforting shoulder to cry on. She is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. My dad is my dad. There isn't really any other way to describe him. He is the the biggest pest I know, but he is also the most loving, most generous person I know. If anyone needs anything my dad will be there to help. He is a great example to me in my life. He can fix anything that needs to be fixed. My dad has been there for me through thick and thin. I know he is always there for me and that I can go to him no matter what my problem is. He is also the best spider hunter/killer around. No matter the size of the spider, if there is one in my room or one in close proximity to me, my dad is to the rescue and kills it. I may get razed a little but none the less, he protects me. My dad is one of my hero's and I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without him. He taught me to be a hard worker and very much instilled the saying, if your going to be a big girl at night, your going to be a big girl in the morning and go to work. As much as I hated it when he would say this to me it taught me that I got to reap the rewards of my actions. My parents are the best around. They showed us girls how to love through their example. I know my parents have a great love for each other and for me, my sisters, my brother in laws and of course their 4 amazing grandsons.

6. My testimony. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so grateful that I was born into a family who raised me in this religion. I have a testimony of my Saviour Jesus Christ. I know he lives, I know he loves me and I know that there is nothing that I have to go through alone because he is here for me. I have felt his love for me on so many occasions in my life. His love for me is endless and I couldn't be more grateful for that. I look forward to the day when I get to see him again and get to have his loving arms around me. He died for me and he atoned for me. How ungrateful would I be if I didn't try to live my life in a way that he would be proud of me? I am so grateful to a 14 year old boy who went and prayed in a grove of tree's and asked a question, which in turn gave us the knowledge and religion I am part of today. Last year I had the opportunity to be a part of the institute choir. One of the songs that we sang was I Believe in Christ. Our chorister Sister Stacy Wilde put the testimony of Bruce R. McConkie in during a section of the song. When I heard this testimony for the first time the Spirit bore such witness to me of the truthfulness of this mans beautiful words of Christ and his Atonement. His testimony is such a powerful statement and I am so grateful for great leaders of this church that share such amazing messages with us. I attached the testimony of Bruce R. McConkie its kind of long but well worth the time to listen to it.



-kinsey

A picture is worth a thousand words

My Utah Trip. I tried to keep the pictures in order and then I realized that the first one was out. Its suppose to be while we are stuck in traffic but other than that they are pretty well in order.

This is me attempting to paint my toes in start stop traffic

We made it to Idaho! We were very excited about this


Stuck in Idaho traffic on I15 as you can see we aren't very happy


This was a pretty waterfall thing on our way to the Airplane museum. Kait forgot her camera and realized it when we came to this and wanted a picture so we had to walk back to my car to get it.

This was a replica of a bomb at the airplane museum

Air Force 1

This plane was HUGE

In front of the pretty waterfall again leaving the airplane museum

The Rook game we kicked Papa Pack and Uncle Kelly at. If you look close you can see the score

Me and Kait at This is the Place Monument

Me, Shandie (Kaits sister) and Kait

Me and Riley (Kaits brother) and her Mom (mama Pack) and Dad (papa Pack)

on the train tour at This is the Place Monument

Kait attempting stilts. It was one of those ok be ready to take the picture moments. You can see Riley is ready to catch her if she falls

Me falling trying out stilts. Notice no one is there to catch me if I fall...

Riley showing us all up on how you actually walk on stilts

Me and Kait chillin in a tee pee

Me and a tee pee

So this was the second hand cart we got a picture with. The first one had a metal handle

and about burned our hands off when we picked it up. It was like 38 degrees this day.

Once of my favorite pictures of the day. It was hard getting up into this thing I can't imagin doing it with a HUGE dress like they did.

This is the Pack family with John Pack. Their great great great Grandfather. He's the big one in the middle of the framed picture...in case you didn't get that.

First Relief Society Hall

I don't really remember what all this building acted as. But we look cute in it so it made the cut.

Temple day! Kelsey Kait and me. We are the 3 best friends that anyone can have...

Us waiting to leave to Provo in the convertible. My hat was so tight on my head I had a headache. But it didn't fly off.

And last but not least the horrible picture of me, please don't mind it and our garbage bottle from the trip. There are spit shells, candy rapers and who knows what else.

Well that was my trip in a nut shell. Thank you for taking me with you Kait. It was a fun last adventure with you!

-kinsey

Utah Bound

Way back in March me and some friends went down to Utah for conference. Lucky for us my best friend Kait was with us and we got to stay with her amazing aunt and uncle the whole time we were there. Well me being who I am was obviously loved by her aunt and got invited to go down in August for the family reunion. I was stoked and the countdown to August began.

Well August came around before we knew it and me and Kait loaded up my Jetta and off we went to Utah. Side note...if you do a lot of traveling buy a TDI Jetta. It will save your bank account. We only had to fill up once to get down there. It was AMAZING. Anyways so the night before we left Kait stayed at my house so we could head off bright and early also known as the butt crack of dawn. It was a little brutal getting up at 4:45 am to be gone by 5:30 am. Especially considering we didn't go to bed until 1:00 am. Once we were on the road it was good but man I was tired. So we started our journey and things were going good. We had good toons to listen to and it was a beautiful day nice and sunny, blue sky, couldn't ask for a better day really.

Well about the middle of the canyon in Montana I look over at Kait who had gone pretty quiet by this point and there she sat looking like someone had killed her dog. So I asked her what was wrong she looked at me and said oh nothing I just have CABIN FEVER. The reason this is capitalized is due to her yelling this at me, while rocking back and forth hanging onto the door handle. I busted out laughing at which point she did too. This becoming one of the much used lines of the week.

About Helena we decided that we should stop and get food. Driving in Helena I almost killed us twice trying to find somewhere to eat. I don't know what was wrong with me but it was bad. I turned when I wasn't suppose to which resulted in Kait yelling at me that I wasn't allowed to do that, and then turning into the McDonalds parking lot I don't know exactly what happened but we almost got hit by on coming traffic. There was a sign that told me I couldn't enter where I was trying to but if I didn't I would have got hit. Needless to say Kati razzed me for a good while about that.

Once fed and back on the road we didn't have to stop again until a little poe dunk town called Dell, we had to stop and fuel up. So I pull into the gas station which by the way is also the bank, the grocery store, a restaurant, and the post office, It was pretty sweet, and there are 2 pumps. One says clean diesel, one says off road diesel, Well I didn't know the difference so I called my cousin to find out which one to use. Once I get the information I need I pulled up to the pump Kait gets out to start filling me up and the nozzel on the pump was HUGE and wouldn't fit in my tank very well. So I pulled around to the other side of the pump. Well there was a car in front of us getting fuel so there we sat patiently waiting for them to pay and move their vehicle. I kid you not we sat there for almost 20 minutes watching the wife sit outside of the gas station with her dog, and then the husband walking around trying to find service on his phone and walking the dog before they came and moved their vehicle. All the while they both kept looking over in the direction of my car and saw that I was sitting there waiting.

They finally walk over and the husband says, "Oh are you waiting to get fuel?" and me being really annoyed at this point say "Yup" he then proceeds to say "oh are the other pumps broken?" and Im thinking to myself if I could fill up at an available pump don't you think I would have already, but I just said "well I need diesel and this is the only pump that will work." And then his wife says, Oh I thought you were just parking in the shade."

Oh man... are you kidding me!? Who parks at a gas pump for shade? Really woman really...? Me and Kait busted out laughing when they got in their car and drove away. I honestly couldn't believe that entire conversation happened. It was too funny.

The rest of the road trip consisted of boredom, songs, more cabin fever outbursts, cloud watching, and road construction. Once we hit Idaho we ran into 2 section of road construction. At which point I thought it would be a good idea to paint my toe nails. (for those of you that think like my sister, don't worry I was passenger at this point. I wasn't driving.) This turned out to be a bad idea. I don't suggest painting your toes in a car doesn't turn out well.

Well we finally made it to Utah which was a scorching like 36 degrees if I remember correctly and I was dying of heat! I never want to live in the dessert it SUCKS! Anyways I got to meet a lot of Kaits family that I didn't know. I finally got to meet her sister Shandie (I hope I spelt that right) and her brother in law Jason. They're pretty sweet. I met her favorite Uncle Kelly who is one of the funniest people I have ever met. One of my first conversations with him was about how the men in YSA (young single adults in our religion) don't know how to commit to a relationship. It was a pretty stellar conversation.

There was a lot that happened at the reunion. We got to sleep in a tent trailer that was a sauna from the hours of 6 am to 11 pm, I also learned how to play Rook which has now become one of my FAVORITE card games and Im pretty good at it if I do say so myself. In fact Kait and I beat her Uncle Kelly and her dad (Papa Pack as I refer to him) 520 to -25. It was amazing. Best game of the weekend. We also went to an airplane museum. It was pretty sweet. After the reunion was over we stayed in Utah for an extra 4 days and it was a blast.

The Monday we went to This is the Place Monument. For those of you who have no idea what this is, because I didn't, its a monument in Salt Lake City that is like a mini Navuoo. It was so cool! Kait's Great Great Great? Grandpa....I don't remember how many greats are suppose to be in there helped do something important with the settling of Salt Lake City when the saints first settled there. I don't remember everything that he did but his name is pretty well know. Some of you might know the name... John Pack. I think he did something with the first college or something, and did a lot of other amazing things (sorry Kait and family Im not doing your grandfather justice here in the explanation of his greatness haha.) Anyways this monument was one of my favorite parts of Utah. Once your in it there is so much you can do. You walk around this little community that they have built and you can see how the pioneers lived and they have actual cabins that were built when Salt Lake was first settled. There was a barber shop that you could go into and a bank and a pharmacy. There was so much to see. It was so cool. It also has the original house of Brigham Young that you could go into. We missed the tour of it but we still went and saw it. It was amazing. I loved it and would love to go back and do it all again.

Tuesday was also a fantastic day. I had the opportunity to go do baptism for the dead in the Salt Lake City Temple. It was amazing. Kait and her parents went through and did a session and me and my other best friend Kelsey went and did baptisms. It worked out great that Kelsey could come because she was down in Utah for her family reunion. It was one of the neatest experiences of my life. I look forward to the day when I can go to the temple and do a session. I love going to the temple. The feelings you get when you get there truly show you the true love of God for us. I have such a testimony of the Temple and can not wait to go through to receive the blessings that will come into my life. After the temple we went shopping at Gateway and had a blast hanging out. Minus the scorching heat. It was SO hot the entire time we were there.

Wednesday Kait, her mom and dad and myself went down to Provo to go shopping for the last bit of what Kait needed for her mission. And Thursday we went to the WORST museum that I have ever been to. If ever you are in Ogden Utah don't go the Train, Gun and Car museum. NOT worth it. Once we were done at the museum we said our good byes and headed back to Canada. The drive home seemed to take a lot less time than going down.

That was Utah. It was a blast and Im so glad I was able to go and spend the time with my bestie before she leaves on her mission.

I tried to up load pictures but it didn't work so I will try again later on a different post. But I will post them don't worry.

-kinsey

And Her Name Shall Be....

I did it. I bought a Jetta. Best car I have ever owned! Once I decided that this is what I really wanted to do my dad and I went to the dealership here in Lethbridge and with no success in selling my Jeep I decided I would trade it in and just eat what I had left owing on it because I knew the dealership wouldn't give me what I was asking for it. Anyways so I sit down with the guy to talk numbers and long and the short of it was they would give me next to NOTHING for my Jeep and wanted me to pay almost $400.00 a month for the car! My thoughts ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I mean its a nice car but $400.00 bucks is too much to pay monthly. So I politely declined and left feeling a little bumbed out.

So that night I got on line with my dad and started looking at dealerships in Calgary, Edmonton and Medicine Hat. This is where I found my baby. Medicine Hat had the exact same car, color and everything but with a few more features for $4000.00 less and less kilometers! I was sooo excited. The next day after work me and my dad drove down to Medicine Hat and met my cousin there as well to check out the car. I took her for a spin and decided that I wanted to get it. So the negotiations began again. This dealership was actually willing to dicker with me a little bit where as the one in Lethbridge wouldn't. So me and the car salesman (who by the way was a total idiot and all three of us were ready to kill him by the end of it. He was trying to be best friends with my dad and cousin and is one of those guys who has done everything you have done only better) anyways so we sat down and started talking numbers and they were willing to give me WAY more for my Jeep and my monthly payment was going to be less than what I was making on my Jeep. After about 2hours of back and forth with them as far as numbers go (by the way did all the negotiating on my own. Talk about crap your pants. My dad would talk to me and give me suggestions but as far as dealing with the guy he left it all up to me. It was a little nerve racking to say the least), we settled on an amount and then the waiting game started to see if I would be approved to get the loan to buy the car. By this point my head is pounding and I feel like I am going to throw up (stress + an empty stomach = not a good decision). After what felt like FOREVER I got approved, got my insurance company to send me the documents I needed to bring a new car home and said good bye to my Jeep that day. I Was not expecting to go down with the Jeep and come home with a Jetta.

There were definitely some mixed emotions saying good bye to my Jeep. I shed a few tears, but I am IN LOVE with my car and don't regret my decision at all. I can drive FOREVER without having to fill up and when I do its only like $40 buck apposed to $65. Best car ever! I need to take some pictures and post them. Well with a new car comes the joy of naming it...so I have named her Mollie. Me and my best friend Kait went on a road trip to Utah and we played with a couple of names for her but Mollie is the one I decided on. However she also gets called Yetta quite often, so Mollie is her true name but Yetta is her nick name. Call me crazy cuz I probably am but she is my baby so I had to name her!

Stay tuned there will be more posted about the AWESOME road trip that we took her on to Utah! Many adventures and good stories I assure you. I will post soon I promise!

-kinsey

Old Love...New Love...

This is my baby has been for almost 3 years

Pretty much the love of my life right now, or it was until I stepped out on it and cheated on it with this...




I couldn't help it. I saw it and it was love at first site. So I have decided that it is time to sell my Jeep go back to a car. I know I am going to miss my sexy black Jeep and its heated leather seats, but I immediately fell in LOVE with the Jetta. I mean who wouldn't? Its beautiful, five speed, diesel, sunroof, ipod adapter, pretty much amazing, and drives like a dream. So I have officially posted my Jeep on Kijiji and am hoping for the best!

I will most likely cry a thousand tears when it does sell, but the Jetta just fits my life style so much better right now.

-kinsey

Slacker

I was thinking today that I haven't blogged for a really long time and realized I had some catching up to do. So things that have happened in the last couple of weeks....

Well 2 Saturdays ago now me and some friends decided to get out of town and go to Waterton which is one of my FAVORITE places on earth. I was all excited about it and suggested that we climb Bears Hump (which is not like me because I HATE climbing Bears Hump but I really wanted to see the view. The hike sucks but the view is totally worth it). Anyways so a few of us jumped in the Jeep and headed out there. Once we were there we went to Bears Hump first and off we were climbing. Well I had taken about 5 steps when all the sudden breathing was becoming an issue for me, so I stopped, turned around and went back to the Jeep to grab my inhaler. A couple months ago I got diagnosed with having Asthma. I didn't know that was something that showed up later in life but apparently it is. So I got back to the Jeep grabbed my inhaler took it and started back up the mountain. Well I got back to where everyone had stopped to wait for me and took about 10 steps this time and once again could not breath. I was not impressed. I mean I know I'm out of shape but come on I'm not that out of shape. So thanks to my new friend Asthma I was unable to climb bears hump and sent my friends on without me. So I went and sat at the lake and watched people which is one of my favorite things to do anyways. Some people are honestly so funny to watch. I had the pleasure of watching some oriental lady do some cung fu moves all around the lake. It was pretty entertaining.

Once all my friends were back from climbing bears hump we went and did the classic pictures by Cameron Falls and then we went and ate at Winners of Waterton. OH MY GOODNESS I know its just a hot dog but it was soooo good. Highly recommend going, its over by the Subway. It was really good. So once everyone was nice and full we headed off to Cameron Lake and hung out there for a bit. I was a little bit sad however because Red Rock Canyon which is by far my favorite place in Waterton is getting new washrooms or something up there so you aren't able to park up there and where you can park its like a 5 mile walk I swear just to get there. But we drove up there anyways. You can't go to Waterton and not go down that road. I don't know about anyone else but I love to drive down that road going really fast it feels like your on a roller coaster. There is one hill in particular that makes the road so enjoyable. In fact we may have gone over it turned around and done it again a few times. And last but not least we had a dance party on the side of the road in Waterton. "Tonights Gunna be a Good Night" came on, there is just no getting around it, you have to dance to that song, so we did and it was a blast.

So that night we had got tickets to go see John Schmidt (he's an amazing piano player for those of you who don't know who he is. I had no clue who he was before this). The concert was amazing. I loved every minute of it.

Well that was it for that week and then this past weekend we went to Thunder in The Valley. Im beginning to wonder if it is truly worth it anymore. I mean the fire works are amazing but its such a long drive especially at 11:30 at night when you still have to make it back to Lethbridge and it seemed like there were a ton more drunk people this year than normal. Anyways it was a good time. We got there a little bit early and hung out around the town for a bit. On the way back to the car however (which was like a 20 minute walk at least) I had to pee so bad and could no longer hold it, so being the girl that I am, and not being afraid to squat pee outside I did just that. I went behind the rail road tracks, made sure no one was coming and squatted. It was kinda funny though, just as I was pulling up my pants and doing up my belt a group of people with a flash light were walking my direction. I made it just in the lick of time. Things could have gotten a little bit awkward. So once we got home at 2:00am I was getting a ride back to my Jeep with Hunter who was on a motor bike. Let me tell you 2:00am on a motor bike flying down the West side hill is really cold. I was freezing! But it was worth it.

Well it been a good couple of weeks and Im going to try harder to write on this thing more. Stay tuned.

-kinsey

Better than Christmas

I'm a girl from a small town in Southern Alberta that is either loved or hated. There really isn't much in between. If your from this town you most likely have the same pride in it that I do, however if your not you probably hate it for one reason or another and you think that you are completely valid in your hatred towards it. However in this small little town there are a few things that we are good at doing, such things as...producing good sports teams, producing good fans for the sports teams, being well hated in both these areas, but I would say that the one thing that we are amazing at is celebrating July 1st. There is no better, or bigger day in Raymond Alberta Canada than July 1st. Its not only Canada day for us it is our "heritage" days as other towns call their celebration. And in fact I actually found out this year that there are some people who hate us for this as well. They think we "take over Canada day" like what..? I didn't really understand what this kid was talking about but apparently Raymond is a Canada day hog, I don't know. However people travel from all over the globe to come home for July 1st. If you were raised in Raymond there isn't much that can keep you away on this day.

To start this day of festivities out there is the legendary parade. Now to most people this parade seems a little lame, and well they aren't wrong in their observation of this, some years it is a better parade than others but well its tradition and not going is not an option. After that parade there are various activities going on around town, there's the famous Raymond Stampede home of the 1st stampede, Calgary lies when they claim to be the first. But I think that the one thing that makes this day so special to everyone is the time that they get to spend with their families. No matter where you look on July 1st in Raymond there are family reunions everywhere.

For my family July 1st is always celebrated with the best BBQ. Its one of my favorite and most looked forward to things of the year. Like every other year since before I was born we went and reserved our spot on the street to insure our spot at the parade, we had our BBQ at mom and dads, this year I succored a few friends to come out for the celebration and took a took them to the rodeo. They are from the city and had never seen an actual live rodeo. It was pretty fun to go to. For some reason no one brought a camera with them to the rodeo so there are actually no pictures to prove that this actually happened.

To end a celebration off right Raymond does fireworks. So of course I couldn't let my friends not have the full true Raymond experience and we hung out til it was time for the fire work show. I was pretty impressed with Raymond this year. They did a pretty decent display of fireworks. So to sum it up, July 1st was yet another successful day in Raymond. Can't wait til next year to do it all again.

Here are 4 of my FAVORITE boys in the entire world. Starting on the right is Brock and then Zane, then Paxton who looks like he is trying to get unstuck, and then Rhett. (Zane, Rhett and Brock are Kelly's kids, and Paxton is Alisha's. For those of you who are not familiar with my family they are my 2 sister's kids) I am a proud auntie of 4 amazing little boys. I have decided that I don't need a man in my life with these kidos around. I have 4 boys who have no choice but to love me what more could a girl want? This is the only picture that my sisters could get of their kids with Rhett actually not pulling his shirt over his head. He is kind of a strong willed child and did NOT want to sit on the couch for pictures.

Me and Paxton chillin waiting for the parade to start. (this is probably the only picture of me on July1st and it really isn't a good one)

A few days before July 1st I was off work for holidays and headed up to Sylvan Lake to visit my sister Kelly and the kids. While I was there we did a ton of stuff. I got to watch Zane play in his last soccer tournament of the season. Me and my sister made a bet to see who could lose 10 pound first and the loser buys the winner a shirt. Since we made this bet every morning that I was there she dragged my butt out of bed and tried to kill me by making me bike up the biggest hill in Sylvan Lake (she is worse than Jillian off biggest looser). The first day she got me up to go with I literally was chanting I HATE YOU (towards her) in my head as she is yelling down the hill at me (due to the fact that she made it up first) you can do it just count 1,2,1,2. So while she is yelling 1,2, to me I'm yelling back in my head I HATE YOU! By the time I got to the top I felt like I was going to die. I wanted to puke and get off my bike and tell her to come get me in the van. However, like I said before she is worse than Jillian and she made me ride all the way back to her house. The down hill was way worth it tough. But by the time I was done my visit up there I actually biked the hill 2 times in one morning. It was a pretty big accomplishment.

I came home to Raymond with her a few days before July 1st and I had promised my 2 oldest nephews that I would take them to go see "How to Train Your Dragon" It is such a cute movie I recommend it to everyone! They had both already seen it. Zane loved it again or so he told me and Rhett, well he fell asleep again like he did the first time. Poor little guy he was asking me half way through, "Auntie when can we go home? I want to go home now." So I bribed him and told him if he was good I would buy him a toy when we were done. And the next time I looked over he was asleep. After the movie we went to Boston Pizza with a few of my guy friends and I think I may have given Rhett 1 to many glasses of chocolate milk because when we were almost done he went crazy hyper. It was so funny. He is a hoot when he is hyper. I had to take him to the bathroom and the whole time he was singing to me. I got serenaded with the ABC's and twinkle twinkle little star, along with the other women in the bathroom. I don't know if they appreciated it as much as I did though.

On the way home from Lethbridge with the boys I had probably my favorite conversation with Rhett of my life! It went like this...

Rhett: Auntie look there's a sign

Me: Your right Rhett, what does the sign have on it?

Rhett: It has an R like my name

Me: It does have an R like your name.

Rhett: Yup H, E, T, T

Me: Wow Rhett your so smart! I didn't know you could spell your name.

Zane: My name is spelled Z, A, N, E,

Me: Yup that's how you spell it

Rhett: Zane how do you spell Brock?

Zane:B, R, O, C, K,

Rhett: Auntie how do you spell your name?

Me: My real name Rhett or auntie?

Rhett: Your real name

Me: K, I, N, S, E, Y, Rhett did you know that my real name is Kinsey, not just Auntie?

Rhett: (said with the cut test voice I have ever heard) Kinsey, hmm

This conversation carried on for a little while with Zane spelling various things for me, and then my favorite part of the conversation,

Me: Zane do you know how to spell Grandma?

Zane: Oh that's easy... G, R, A, M, pause....

Rhett: Zane space bar?

Me: Laughing under my breath at how cute this kid is

Zane: um...

Rhett: Zane...space bar?

It was SO cute and Zane realized he wasn't too sure how to spell Grandma and asked for some help. Sorry if this story was boring to read but it was one of my favorite memories of Rhett and I wanted to remember it.

-kinsey

it begins...

Where to start...? Well I'm sure there are going to be minimal to no people who read this blog but that's ok. I have decided to start my own blog to express my thoughts feelings and to share good times with anyone who wants to read. I have also decided that it is a fun way to keep a journal of the happenings in my life.

I am a girl who loves to read, laugh, lounge around and do nothing but veg and get hooked on ridiculous TV shows but most of all I lOVe to spend time with my closest frIenDs and FamIly. These are the people in my life who bring me the most joy and I LOVE them all to pieces.



I am also a girl who is proud of who she is and where she comes from. I am very grateful for my parents who have raised my to be a faithful follower of The Church of Jesus Christ and for my testimony of the gospel. It defines who I am and gives my the values that I have in my life. I would never want to be without it.


This blog is going to be one filled with funny stories, moments I want to remember, spiritual thoughts, and anything I feel like writing. I hope anyone that decides to follow my blog or happens to randomly stumble upon it enjoys the things that I have to share.

-kinsey