I just downloaded some more pictures from my camera and thought I would share...As Christmas gift to each other (with the Martin side) we decided to do another winter getaway. This year we decided Big White. We found a huge condo that would fit all of us. We picked a weekend far enough before the baby would be born that we wouldn't be putting Kim or the baby at risk - after all it was only an hour out of town. But as life would be God had a different plan. Little Sydney came way earlier than expected and Steph and Kim were not able to come as Sydney was still in hospital. We got up to Big White on Friday night and it was soooooo....cold! We went for a short walk around the village and then back to the condo for the start of what would be the longest game of "Life" that has ever been played. The next morning Grandpa Martin strapped on his boots and went skiing. In the afternoon the girls, Darren and Grandma took to the ice and impressed me with their skating skills! Again it was cold but they were troopers! That night we went for dinner at the Swiss Bear - which was very good!! Overall we did lots of relaxing, lots of eating, some more relaxing with some skating, game playing and movie watching. I felt so rested when I got home! It was a great weekend. I think for me the funnest part was seeing my mom on skates - she did awesome!

In other exciting news at the Withers household...Mickala turned 10 on January 21st. That night we had a nice dinner here with friends and family and then on Saturday we pulled a Marathon day of Birthday party (Laser Tag) and then a friends wedding an hour and a half latter. A little crazy but that's our style.

Pictures to come.

I'm here! I'm here! We have been having some computer issues and it hasn't been letting me do much of anything on the Blog...well enough complaining.

One of the cool new things in my life is that I have a new niece. Sydney Claire Martin!!! She is beautiful...now I might be a little biased but I'll post a few pics so you can decide for yourself. She came very early and was only 3.5 lbs when born in Kamloops (back in KGH now!) But I have only seen her once...I can't wait till she's home...never thought I would love someone so much that I have only met once! Here's also a few pics of the proud Mom and Dad (Kim and Steph).

Grandpa Martin in Makenna's poncho...maybe we should call him "Big Green Giant".
And Grandma Martin and Makenna making sure the table cloth does not catch fire!

I think I can say now the holiday season is over! The tree is down and put away, the food is eaten and Darren goes back to work tommorrow. The girls and I still have another week off but it's is full of things like dentist appointments...we are hoping to go up to Big White and have a day of skating and fun...also maybe one more day of snowmobiling before the kids go back to school!

Christmas is usually more stressful than I like (as you can tell from my previous posts) but once Christmas arrived it was very good to us. Here's the highlights...Christmas eve. over to Darren's sister Jen's for a little celebrating and gift giving. Then over to Steph and Kims for some visiting and eating. The girls fit in some games and a hot tub and it was very nice to see Kim's family. Christmas morning Roberta (aka. Ma Bear) came over to open gifts with us and share some breakfast - we felt very spoiled to have her with us! She made the girls camp ponchos that they love! Christmas dinner was here at our house with my parents joining us. It wouldn't be Christmas dinner without "La Buche de Noel" however there were no table cloth fires this year...next year we'll need to plan some entertainment being that the "Buche fires" now seem to be resolved. Boxing day started early with Mickala Makenna and myself heading of to Orchard Park to beat the crowds...we made it in to the mall and out in 45 minutes - it was good when we got there but there was a huge line up to leave the mall when we left at 10 am. Darren and the girls went snowmobiling one day without me as I went to a friends mom's funeral...Friday nt Al, Tracy and the kids came into Kelowna shared some Martini's with us and helped us laugh over a fondue that kept comming up with challenging situations...it was the first time I had fondued with our kids...next time I think I would get them to eat first then the adults...but it was a fun night! Saturday we were off to McCoulloch for more sleding 6 sleds and 16 of Darren's family. My highlights of that day were how much fun Mickala and Makenna had snowmobiling and playing with their cousins, Aunts, Uncles and of course Grandma. Grandma even got towed on the Gt Racer behind the snowmobile...I hope her bruises heal quickly :)

The hard part of the holidays was having my sister in law, Kim be admitted to the hospital...she is expecting in the middle of Feb but is having preclampsia...she thought she might get out New Years Eve for a night at home but the doctors changed their minds and decided they wanted to continue to monitor her...She is doing well considering how much it sucks to be in the hospital...

New Years Eve we went for a walk with the girls...caught a movie...out for dinner...popped by the hospital so Kim could kick Mickala and my butt at Harry Potter Scene It then over to Jen and Jim's for some more food and some "Wii" (way to much fun!)...we were home by 11pm - let the girls stay up till midnight then all fell asleep quickly!

So that's all folks...hope you all stayed awake for the play by play! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well! Happy New Year to you all!

I'll post some Christmas pictures
(Picture comments: Top to bottom - Cody in the powder
- "Ma Bear" and one of her grandkids wiping out on the GT racer
- "Ma Bear" recovering after the wipe out
-Darren and "Ma Bear" Christmas morning
- Girls with Blankets I made them - Christmas morning
- Girls with gifts they gave each other
- Mickala as "Little Red Riding HOOD" that Ma Bear made her...I'll need to post a few more seperatly...