Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder!

Well it definitely has been way too long since my last post...I will give you no excuses, rather it is was it is and that is how life goes some times. I have been super busy and it only seems to be getting busier! So bear with me as I give an update as to the Bartel happenings over the last little while.

I am going to start from most recent to the oldest.

My girlfriend Kimberlee and I decided to do Relay for Life this year. She has actually done it in the past, so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. We named our team the Hula Hunnies and we decided we wanted to have as much fun as we could and make a big impression. We both ditched out of another commitment one night to go to the Relay for Life kick off party at the mall. We were so glad we did as they were drawing an early bird prize for a VIP tent and all sorts of goodies for the day of relay and low and behold, our team won. I am sure the whole mall heard us scream and you would have thought we won some huge amount of money as we were so excited! We will get a tent all set up for us, reserved parking, catered food, prizes through out the day, prime location and media coverage. On Tuesday April 21, Kimberlee and I will be going on B100's radio morning show and talking about our big fundraiser coming up May 2, 2009 called : "Shop For The Cure" at Aberdeen Mall. We are planning to bring the radio hosts virgin tropical drinks in a pineapple and we will be all dressed up and handing out lies to the staff. Our shop for the cure is going to be a number of home based businesses selling their goods and donating 100% of all their profits to the Canadian Cancer Foundation. We are also going to have a "fishing pond" filled with awesome gift certificates and for $5.00 people can fish for a gift certificate. We are really excited about this and so far out team has raised $1180.00, our goal is $3000.00. I have personally raised $350.00( Thank you kindly to all that have donated). If you too would like to donate you can link to here. I have a number of people that I am doing this in honour or in memory for:



1. In loving memory of Gail Whitney, she is my Sister in law, Angie's mom and my dear Friend Beth Brown's mom. She passed away in March of this year after a 4 year battle with ovarian cancer.



2. In honour of Kennedy Duval, she is my cousin's little girl and is a survivor of Leukemia.



3. In honour of Brian Andersen, my wonderful uncle who is battling Leukemia



4. In honour of Colleen Newton, my Step Grandmother who is battling Breast Cancer

I know that there are so many more people I know and have known that have been affected by cancer and I will be thinking of them as well!

I am so excited and I am grateful for the opportunity to do something to help, even if it is not much.

So next on our list of happenings....Kal lost his job.

He was laid off at the end of March, we were completely blind sided and the only reason he was told was that it was a....business decision......

So basically, they had to cut money from the budget and he was the last major hire...and you get the picture. So after a day of complete shock we are moving onward and upward and waiting to hear about a job he interviewed for. It is looking very good, I will keep you posted as to the results.

EASTER!!!!!

It really is my favourite time of year. I am sure it is because I have so many fond memories of our family Easter egg hunts. We decided to stay up here in Kamloops this year and so Kals parents came up here to be with us. It was very low key and very fun. The Easter bunny comes to our house on Saturday so that we can leave Sunday to remember our Saviour and celebrate the true meaning of Easter. We went to Church on Sunday and then had a lovely Ham dinner, complete with company potatoes, broccoli salad, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. And we had homemade cheese cake for dessert. We then watched the Resurrection, living scriptures cartoon with the boys, which they watched intently and asked lots of questions. It was wonderful to talk about our Saviour in such simple terms and see the boys truly feel the spirit.

We decorated Easter Eggs




The boys had a fantastic time!

Lila is my super pooper!

I have to change Lila almost EVERY night at about 3am because she has had a big old poop!

Here I am giving her a bath in the morning due to a poop she had and I did not catch right away...it was every where, hence the bath in the sink!

Not sure why I put this picture in here.. a little out of order!

Did you know the Easter bunny has a hole in his sack? He actually has a had a hole in his sack since I was a little girl...hmmm, does he not think to fix it?

Here is Jackson finding eggs that fell out of the hole in his sack.

Walker eating his candies from his Easter loot.

Jackson and Walker finding their Easter treats in their hats.

GUESS WHO IS 31?????

ME!!!!

I did indeed turned the big 31 and had a great time doing it!

Some one heart attacked my front door during the night...shoot I just realized that I did not take a picture of it!!!

My dear friend Meaghan took the kids and I out for a picnic lunch and also gave me a gift certificate to go to dinner with Kal at Ric's grill here in town, it was way yummy!

I had a couple of fun drop offs at my door and I got to go to Jackson's first soccer meeting.

(More to come later on soccer)

Lots of birthday wishes and phone calls and then birthday cheese cake with my most favourite people in the whole world!

NOW FOR SOME AWESOME NEWS!!!!

The Bartel Family is going to

DISNEYLAND!!!!

in.........

2013

We decided it was time to start thinking about going to Disneyland. We really wanted to go with all the kids and since Lila is only 8 months and Walker is only 2, that sounded more like a nightmare vacation rather than a dream one, plus we have no money(refer to loss of job above). We also wanted to teach our kids about long term goals and about saving for something they really wanted, so this accomplishes all 3.

The plan is to go when Jackson is 10, Walker is 6 and Lila is 4. We are saving up all our change and every time the jar gets filled we cash it in and put our money into our vacation account. We have already filled it once and cashed it in for a total of $105.50. Not too darn shabby!

We do not put in our toonies and loonies, as Kal and I are saving those for a Mom and Dad only vacation!

The kids have really enjoyed this so far and we know that 4 years is a long way away for the kids, but it will be so worth it in the end.

The first day we started, Jackson added all his saved up money in his piggy banks(his choice)

Lila is just along for the ride!

Oh and she now pulls her self all over the place!

For Spring Break I took the kids on a bit of a road trip. We went to White Rock to see Kals Mom and Dad, then to Seattle to see my Family and then we traveled to Oregon to a little town called Estacada.

Why?, Where?, What? you say?

To go and visit a cousin on Kals, moms side of the family. Before this time I had never met this cousin, only communicated through email. Then we talked on the phone for 8 hours...yup that is right 8 hours straight, from 8:30pm to 4:30am. No breaks, no lulls in the conversation. The only reason we did get off the phone is her husband was getting up for work and she had to study and I needed to sleep, but really we did not want to get off the phone.

Her name is Melenie.....I feel I have known her for far longer that I have been around on this earth. When we met it was like finding my long lost sister.

I have posted a picture of us together, now keep in mind I did not want to post it because it is terrible...but it documents on how two people look when they have not gone to bed before 3 am every morning for 3 days!

SCARY I KNOW!

BUT SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Melenie with Lila and her daughter Kennedy

Walker in mid blink....

I try not to drug him too often!

Jackson and Kennedy Chillaxin!

Kennedy,

Melenie has a wonderful son named Austin and a great husband named Keith, but for whatever reason I have no pictures...opps

Walker playing on the farm in his jammies and boots

They have chickens!

Jackson and Walker loved to help collect eggs, feed and clean out their hen house!

We can hardly wait to go back and visit and also have them come up here and visit!





LOOK OUT FOR THE TOOTHLESS BOY WONDER!!!!

It happened...

FINALLY...as Jackson put it!

LILA...my sweet little girl

My 3 boys...

Jackson and Walker love their Dad!

WOW..now that you are a month older I am finally done with my update!