Simply Amazing!

This past December my friend Kara was in town from Faro on a little trip by herself to get things for Christmas. Her and I decided that we would get together for an evening of dinner, a craft fair and some good old shoppin.

So the first place we went was to was the "12 Days of Christmas Craft Fair". This fair is at our old community fire hall on first ave. here in Whitehorse. The neatest little building. This building is open for many events, and is one of the most utilized building here in town for different events.

When Kara and I got in there, we were amazed with the amount of beautiful items that were being sold. There was jewelery, knitting, fur mitts, hats, and mukluks (Kara's Favorite). There was baking, and preserves, and the list of amazing, beautiful hand made items went on and on. I wish I would have come there with more money to be able to purchase more things as there was so much I would have loved to get!

One of the items that I purchased was this jar of Raspberry Lemon Jam. I thought well I hope this is good...it sounded amazing. It had been sitting in my fridge for a while. My son Micheal came to me one day asking what it was and I told him that it was Raspberry Jam, his most favorite jam of all. He asked for a piece of toast with this new jam on it. So I too decided that toast and jam would make a good snack at that time. Well from that moment on, I feel in love. This jam is simply AMAZING! The taste is to die for with the sweet taste of the raspberry and zingy taste of the lemon zest that is all throughout this amazing Jam. It has gotten to the point now that I can not wait to get outta bed to have some toast with this jam! I know...addicted to Jam. But like I said before it has the most amazing flavor and how fresh it tastes just keeps you coming back for more. I only have a medium sized jar...and it is starting to run out! eeeek!

So This morn I was looking on the jar and noticed that the jar had a website on it. So I have just recently looked at this web site and was amazed with the amount of product they sell. From amazing jam, jelly's, sauces, and honey, Cashmere goats, Cashmere, soap. To free range, chickens, to beef cows, goat meat, and fresh veggies. I was so excited looking at this website. For the past year I have been buying local items from veggies, and meat and lots of perseveres. So I think my new goal for this year is to start buying more within my community as there is so much to offer and the product that the local people produce here is simply amazing. If you would like to visit their web site it is:

www.auroramountain.yukonfood.com

I hope this will inspire more people to buy more local product and help support your local community!

What to do when it is -45?

Life up north has been great, but for the past few weeks the weather up here has been super cold. Not only here in Whitehorse, but all over the Territory. My husband Steve has been up in Dawson since last Tuesday for his work and has not seen the temp rise from -46. He is really getting sick of it and is jealous that it is finally warming up for us down here in the southern Yukon.

With two little kids and the weather being so cold makes it hard for us to get outdoors and do some play time. My husband build this wicked awesome sled hill for the boys in the front yard that is about 4 and half feet high. It looks like something off a cartoon that penguins would slide down. The kids just love.....but lately all they can do is just look out the window at it, as it has been sooooo cold out. For the past few weeks the weather had not warmed up from -35. And then there is a wind chill on top of that, that pushes the temp down to -40 to -46. The kids would not last 2 min in that...and it was hard enough for me to just take the trash out without needing to make a coffee to just warm up from being out for 1 minute....brr...brr...brr!!!!!

Last winter was not this cold at all. People got to thinking that "what happened to the true blue northern winter", what happened to the -50 for 3 weeks. Where is all the snow that we used to get.................well we got it this year. Cold and snow, and a lot of it!

Living in the Yukon, in the winter is hard enough as it. Dealing with the lack of Vitamin D, the lack of sunlight, and the lack of being able to enjoy being outside with two little munchkins. So what to do when it is -45 here in the Yukon? I have come up with some fun things that...well me and my kids love to do when going out into the cold is a no go!!!

1. building a fort with the chairs in the living room and having a camp out.
2. making cookies and sitting at the table eating them with a glass of milk.
3. playing lots of board games.
4. making lots and lots of playdough and making snow men outta them...cause making one outside is just to cold...and the snow this year has been super dry.
5. making pretend animals and hiding them around the house and going on safaris to find them.
6. letting the kids help me with the house work..mike loves to wash the windows and the floors...boring I know...but the kids looove it!
7. having races with the many cars and trucks that the kids have.
8. Building new train tracks on Mikes new train table from Nana and Papa.
9. playing hid and go seek...Liams favorite game of all.
10. Watching movies with hot chocolate and marshmallows under a blanket on the couch.

These 10 things are just some of the things that myself and the boys like to do during the day when the weather is just to cold. But when cabin fever has hit an all time high, one of the kids most favorite things to do it jump in the car and go for a drive to the fish ladder and watch all the water come outta the dam... and seeing all the beautiful blue ice. First we hit Tim Hortons, grab something to drink, and of course we can not miss out on getting some tim bits...the powdered covered ones with the strawberry filling. THE BEST!!! Then we head to the fish ladder for some gazing at the all the beautiful ice and water the Mr. Frost has created over the winter! Another thing that we like to do is go to the Canada Games Center and go into the Play Area. There is foam building blocks, slides, ride on cars, and equipment the kids are able to go nuts on. It is an amazing place. A lot of people here in Whitehorse count on the games center for when days are just way to cold do anything, but need to get outta the house before the kids start to climb the walls. Just remember that when cabin fever hits....you just need to be creative....before you go crazy!

The Pumpkin Hunt!

Our hunt for the perfect pumpkin all started on Wednesday night after my husband got home from work. Steve told Mike that he was going to take him to town to go and find his "perfect pumpkin" that he has been talking about for about a week. So of we all went on Wednesday night to go and find some pumpkins, and to our disappointment, NOT ONE GROCERY STORE, NOTTA ONE, had any pumpkins that you couldn't put your finger through. Oh my gosh, I felt so bad for Mike. He cried the whole way home not understanding why his perfect pumpkin was not sitting in the seat next to him waiting to be carved at home. So we had to explain to him that we were going to on Thursday night and see if any stores had brought in more pumpkins. So off we went once again from one end of town to the other looking for a $2.49 Pumpkin. So finally we went to Super Store and they had brought in 6 huge crates of pumpkins. I was not very impressed with the fact that most of them were either half frozen or split in half or squishy....but I spent 30 min going through those pumpkins in the wind and the cold to find Mikes pumpkin. Holy crap I was cold...and in the car I could see both kids peering out the window waiting for me. So I found 2 pumpkins that were in perfect shape...THANK GOODNESS. I think in the 2 nights of us hunting for these pumpkins we went through a quarter tank of gas...3 bottles to keep Liam satisfied while we drove from here to kingdom come, and a bunch of toys. But in the the end the 5 dollars I spent on those pumpkins and the huge smile I saw on Mikes face was more then worth in the end. Thank you Super Store for having pumpkins, cause if ya didn't you might have had to deal with a very angry little boy...haha!