Valentine's Day in Quebec

I have never, in my life, been so cold. Why did we pick the coldest weekend to visit Quebec for the first time? Because of the popular Winter Carnival that's why!

Thank goodness for our great friends Lauren and Josh Drean. They gave us a ride and dealt with our crazy butts for a whole weekend. It does help that Josh speaks French and served a mission near the area so he knew what he was doing.

Upon arrival we did some exploring and this happened.

Nick was trying to be cool and he split his pants while he slid. It was hilarious!

After we bought Nick new pants we stopped for some delicious Poutine for dinner. Who knew that french fries topped with cheese curds, meat, and brown sauce (gravy?) could be so delicious.

This ended our first day in Quebec and before we new it we were up and getting ready to freeze again. Nothing like a selfie before breakfast to get the day started. 

Lauren and Lauren ate a real breakfast, crepes with eggs, ham, and fruit.

The boys ate ice cream in a crepe for breakfast. They were living on the wild side of life!

After breakfast we did some shopping as we headed toward the carnival. The carnival mascot is a weird looking snowman. He was everywhere we went... we even had to wear him on our jackets to show that we paid to enter the carnival.

 

The carnival was very interesting. First up was Maple syrup taffy, aka maple syrup poured on the snow then rolled up with a stick. YUM! Oh and I think it was about here where my feet went from painfully frozen to numb frozen. 

We had to stop for about an hour so that my feet could defrost. Nick was the sweetest ever because he took such great care of me. He took my boots off and put my feet on his tummy. As the feeling came back, I was wishing they were still numb because it hurt so bad. After my feet regained some semblance of warmth, and changing my socks, we headed out of the carnival to explore more of the city. We had to have a beaver tail which is their version of funnel cakes, but it's much better because it has toppings.

After we explored we went back to the hotel to warm up a bit and then we met up with Sher and Ben. We went for dinner. Bet you can't guess what we ate.....

POUTINE!!!

Next up was the parade. We thought it started at 7, but when we got there we found out that it didn't start till 9. That meant that we were going to be outside FREEZING for a couple of hours, so logically we decided to join the outdoor dance club. Our dance skills is the only music you need :)

Oh you want to see pictures of the parade? SORRY, my hands were too frozen and so were my eye lashes and scarf.
PROOF!

The next day... ya another one.. we packed up and headed home, but not before visiting a waterfall!
The cold weather and snow had the trail closed off and an "enter at your own risk" sign, so naturally we ignored it and proceeded.

We had such a great trip and made so many memories. Traveling with good friends is definitely the way to go.

You should check out Josh's Youtube video he made during our visit. You Got Served!

Alabama for Christmas 2015

Because my family is so large, Christmas is kinda.... well there isn't a kinda to it.. it's just plain ole complicated. Thus writing about it makes for a complicated blog post... that's why I have been avoiding it like the flu.

For Christmas with my siblings we had a huge pajama party where we exchanged gifts. It was pretty awesome, who wouldn't want breakfast for dinner?

Before our trip, Nick and I set a goal to spend time with our nieces and nephews. We forgot to take pictures of all of the activities but we did get a few of  making cupcakes with Evelyn and Grace. Colby and Joe showed up at the end to help decorate some them.

I felt very blessed this year to spend some time with my dad. Usually life is so busy for each of us that we hardly get to see each other. We were super excited when Dad asked us to stay with him over the holiday. Some evenings we had visitors, I made sure to capture these moments because it seems like they don't happen enough.

Jake, Angela and the kids came over. Dad gave them each a present and they all loved them! We played hide and seek with Colby's new walkie talkies for an hour!

Leigh, Anthony and Grayson ate dinner with us another night. Dad loves Grayson.. He got him out of the high chair and took him for a walk, or should we say Grayson took Dad for a walk. When they came back Grayson had a HUGE lolly-pop in his mouth.. STICKY EVERYWHERE!!!

We went to see Star Wars with Judy, Dad, and Dad's brothers and sisters. It was a lot of fun even though I'm not a big Star Wars fan. Aunt Becca got everyone a T-shirt!! 

Ana, Catherine and Crockett in their themed pajamas. Our family tradition is wrapping presents on Christmas Eve then waking up super early to open them :) The twins are now 16, and Catherine will graduate with her Master's this year... My oh my... time is flying. 

Tree hunting with the Stevens' this year was eventful. Of course it had to be raining. Of course the tree had to be sappy. Eventually, we figured out a tactic called teamwork and kicked the tree in the trunk. 

Balancing between families during the holidays may be complicated, but I wouldn't have it any other way.