Lance & Sara

Hello All,

Just checked the site and read Helena’s new post, and realized how long it had been since I posted …. whoops,

So I thought I would, not too much is going on with us

I have just started babysitting one little girl usually about 3 days a week - she is a year older than Aviendha but they get along so great.  And it actually is less work having the three, Aviendha has a play-mate so she and Heidi entertain eachother and I can just strap Qhaden on in the snuggly or set him up with some toys where the girls are and I can get some stuff done ….. well I can get a few things done ….. like maybe 15 minutes … but every second counts : )

We have been settleing into our new house over the past few months and renovation plans are being pushed farther and farther back … both from lack of money and the actual effort.  Actually doing stuff makes such a mess before it gets any better, we are now realizing that fact … hmm who knew.  But the little things are happening … slowly but surely - like we got Aviendha’s room painted.  I think the summer and warmer weather will bring in some more motivation.

Hmmm Lance is loving his job, he has full time work but things slowed down for a few months and are now picking back up for all the Christmas parties.

Aviendha impresses us everyday she catches onto things so quickly and is a real little helper … and a bit of a bossy one too She is really into being a princess right now and loves dressing up in any kind of dress.  Which is really fitting because Lance’s mom is taking Avi and I and a few of her cousins to “Disney’s Princesses on Ice” it happens on the 24th and we are soooo excited I know Avi will love it!

Qhaden is growing leaps and bounds he is now 6 months and we went to the doctor for his check-up yesterday and he weighed 19lbs 1oz - he’s a big boy to pack around.  He had 5 teeth and is cutting two more.  He can basically sit up on his own and rolls and inch-worms all over now, the lower shelves are no longer safe.

I think that’s about it for now - and I can never figure out how to do pictures on this thing but I know most of you are on facebook so you can see them there

A big day in the Jarvis household, Aviendha turned two today!  We got her a little bistro/BBQ for outside and set it up in the livingroom (since it was raining last night & this morning, yuck)  She was super excited and has been playing with it all day long.  She also got a Dora doll from her Papa Ron yesterday so I have been enjoying sitting on the living room floor talking in my best Dora voice and being fed hamburgers and hotdogs and the odd bottle of mustard   I can’t believe she’s two already, time fly’s! 
We are probably going to have a little either backyard or beach party for her when Jill gets home and if the weather ever turns a little nicer!!  I know she’ll love that because outside is her favorite place to be! Well I should run, I am being beckoned - now Mrs. Potato head is going to join the picnic and I have to be her and Dora, anyone know how to talk in a Potato head voice???

I posted some pics of Qhaden on my Xanga site to check them out go to

www.xanga.com/sara_striker

So we got a great anniversary present for those of you who don’t know - Lance and I had a baby boy

Qhaden William Jarvis

May 3rd @ 9:01pm,

9 lbs 15 oz,

57 cm

We just got out of the hospital and haven’t downloaded any pics as of yet but hopefully in the A.M. we’ll have some more energy to do so,

Talk to ya soon I gotta go to bed before I fall asleep typingggggggggggggggggggg

Hi everyone. In case you haven’t heard, I’m going to Europe and hopefully going to visit some of our relatives there. I talked to Uncle Jan and he said I could come visit him and his wife Rieno. I am leaving here on April 24 and I will be on a tour till may 22 it ends in Holland and I will be in Europe till June 20. I want to visit for a bit then go travelling for the rest of the month and I fly out of London.

So This is and open invitation to any of my cousins from here if they would like to come join me and travel and visit for a couple of weeks or the month. Maybe Kristen or Thomas? email me if you are interested at all. If anyone from Holland sees this and would like me to come for a visit my email is jillveen@hotmail.com 

Well as many of you might have heard the majority of my family got baptized this past Easter Sunday (My dad, Jill, Jack, Aviendha and Myself).  It was pretty exciting & things went pretty well - in retrospect we should have asked our pastor just to do Aviendha first and then let her go to the nursery because she was not too happy to be forced up there.  Well it was quite a bit to ask a 1 yr old to be still, wait and not talk (she’s a chatterbox!!) while he went through the questions, testimonies and then to top things off sprinkle her with cold water! My poor mom chased her down the aisle and around the church a few times (sorry mom) so sadly I have no pictures to post.  I think that maybe my grandma and grandpa (Jack & Adele) took some I will have to check that out.

But all in all I think our families baptism went well, my dad got the most emotional and did a awesome little speech/testimony. I think that along with the discussion leading up to the baptism really brought us closer.  As a family we talk about a lot of stuff but not very often do you actually sit down and have a good, open chat about religion and what your personal beliefs and experiences are it was really neat! 

But if we were to do it all over again I would have waited a few more weeks that way we could have had the new baby baptised, maybe Mark could have flown down to watch or participate, and we could have invited more people (like Uncle Heine & Aunt Bonnie) - ah well live & learn.

So on with the new news;

We had a good Easter and had the family dinner on Friday night so Lance could come too.

Jill and I are both counting down days; right now there are 14 days ’till my due date and 12 days until she leaves for Europe.  I think we are both finally getting our acts together and are basically ready.  Jill has bought almost all her supplies (super small sleeping bag, good shoes, electrical converter etc) and I have washed and set up all the baby stuff (refer to my blog for how long it has taken to get the crib painted

Oh and last but not least on the new news front; Lance has got a new job!!! He has been unhappy at the Harrison Hotel for a while now - after they promoted a guy below him and didn’t even tell Lance that there was a advancement position opening or give him the chance to apply …. well that’s making a long story short but all in all he was not satisfied with his job.  But anyways he has been looking for the past little while with no success.  But all of the sudden on a chance meeting up at the Falls Golf course he met the chef up there and got a interview.  In a matter of days he was interviewed and hired (without them even seeing a resume or getting a reference just on sole trust and good judgement) My husband is now the “Head Chef” of The Falls Golf Course which is pretty exciting for us!! He gave his notice at the hotel on Sunday and starts in two weeks at the Golf Course.  Lance and I are so excited, it’s his dream job - control of his own kitchen, freedom to explore and create new food and dishes, responsibility of all the stocking, ordering and just a chance to try out his skills! It’s pretty awesome, we also get medical & dental and with tips from the Falls and not paying Union dues at the Hotel it’s about the same wage as what he is making now.  Our only concern is that the new baby is due in the midst of all this job changing stuff so hopefully he can get at least a few days off (preferably paid) and that our medical coverage will transfer smoothly!

Well that’s all I can think of for now, I will post soon & definatly when the new little one gets here

Well I got one picture to work this is us as a family at the Aquarium

Hello All,

Just thought it was time for a little update for those of you who don’t read my Xanga Blog,

Not too much is new though - I only have 3 more weeks of work left ….. Yahoo!!! Then I will have to bite my nails as I apply for mat. leave. I am pretty sure I have JUST enough hours to qualify I hope that all my paperwork will go through smoothly but only time will tell.  Lance and I are crossing our fingers because that extra $$ will go a long way in our soon to be family of 4 (family of four now that sounds crazy!)

But anyways on to some interesting news, we took Aviendha to the Vancouver Aquarium a few Fridays ago and she Loved It! What an amazing time, she was a little nervous at first and kept clinging on to Lance saying “daddy up” but after a bit she got used to things and ended up loving it! One of our highlights was watching the Beluga Whale show where we ended up getting soaked! Avi got a huge splash of cold salt water right in the face which she didn’t enjoy at the time but has been talking about ever since.  She is so cute when she say’s “luuga slash funny” which means (Beluga-splash-funny) I swear she say’s it and remembers at least once at day for the past two weeks.  That was defiantly money well spent!

In other Striker Family news, Jill is still doing good - getting nervous about her trip only two months away now.  Mark is still in Edmonton and still hasn’t got a job - hopefully Thomas, Karen & those out that way are starting to kick his butt in the right direction (off his computer chair) because the once so convincing nagging of mom & dad just doesn’t seem to be working Jack is bored ….. his injured hockey ankle is still not healed he has a little limp and can’t do any of his normal boy activities like hockey, basketball, motorbiking etc I think he is going stir crazy on the weekends and driving mom & dad nuts too.  Hmm, I think last time I mentioned mom getting new/used furniture for upstairs well it arrived and now the family consensus is that it is ugly … worse than the orange floral stuff.  So on a spur of the moment whim she bought brand new stuff (but at a great price from Liquidation World she would never pay full normal price!) It is very nice and now there is talk of new paint and carpet too, how exciting! Dad is still pretty busy with work but always manages to get in his hockey and snowboarding time. 

Lance and I are on the baby count down, I am now at 31 weeks.  Everything is good and I am feeling well but getting antsy - can’t wait to see it’s cute little face!

But I think that’s it for now still working on attempting to get some pics posted … we’ll see how much patience I have

Well hello all,

I just thought I should write a little family update because no one else in the Striker Family seems to be doing so.  My mom reads the site but hasn’t started posting or commenting so everyone bug her about that,

Hmmm so I guess we have a little bit of new news

Jill - Has finally booked her trip to Europe she is leaving at the end of April just a couple days before I’m due so here’s hoping for a early baby arrival. She will be gone for two months and has booked a 27 day Contiki tour which is a under 35yrs bus trip.  She is super excited and will be visiting tons of different places.  For the second month she has no set in stone plans so if anyone has some suggestions you should e-mail her.  We are all so happy that she has finally committed to doing this since she has been talking about it for a looong time! Other than that she is just working, and saving up and having a good time with her friends.

Mark - Has moved to Edmonton (for those of you who didn’t know) He left with Thomas at the end of December and moved into Thomas’s house with a bunch of guys.  As far as we know he had no job yet …. we actually don’t even know if he has been handing out resumes.  He has so much money saved up my parents are a little bit worried that he could spend a year out there sitting in his room at his computer …. hehehe that totally sounds like Mark.  But I have faith that he will get bored and have to get out of the house and find a job, eventually It’s his birthday on the 31st so it will be kind of sad to not celebrate with him but we all think him getting out of Agassiz and spreading his wings is awesome!!!

Jack - Is doing well, if you can ever get him to talk.  We all are amazed that he has such good friends in high school because he doesn’t talk to us (Not even to his sisters!!) The friends he has must learn how to have pretty good one-sided conversations.  But he is dong good and still playing lots of hockey and basketball - my parents & Jack are travelling so much for his games Seattle one weekend Whistler the next its lots of driving but they seems to enjoy it

Mom & Dad - Are doing very well Dad has lots of work but always has time for hockey.  He just got a new Saug (sp) hunting knife for Christmas and is showing everyone who will look.  He is super excited about it and it is pretty cool.  Mom also got new/used couches for upstairs (for free of couse) and then they gave their 50++ year old bright orange retro couches to the thrift store.  Just for curiosities sake mom went in to check out the price they were asking.  We were all shock and laughed super hard went she told us the Agassiz Thrift store was asking $100.00 for our orange couches (the most expensive thing in there) I think she is still getting a kick out of that.

The Jarvis’s - I think we are the least interesting of the bunch just working lots, Lance has been trying to get out snowboarding at least once a week to recover from his ski hill withdrawl.  For at least the last 10 years he has been working on one hill or another and was able to go all the time.  I am getting pretty big and have 3 months left to go!!! Avi is also changing daily and I think she is understanding more about the new baby now.  We got to babysit my friends 4 month old last week and Avi was in Heaven, bringing him toys, dancing for him, and giving him lots of big suffocating hugs! I think she will be a great big sister!

But I should probably go Aviendha is begging for my attention and to go play outside with her new slide!

I don’t know how to downsize my pictures, everytime I try it tells me they are still too big.  As you can tell I am not the most computer savy person and I get frustrated easily, I am giving up or at least shouting out a cry for help or advice.  So if any of you smart computer people have some advice to pass my way I am open to try