Happy 17th Josh!

Posted on by
Reply

Living in Toronto, we have been experiencing the fear of the Coronovirus. Everyone is comparing it to SARS which hit Toronto badly in 2003 as well. I vaguely remember it, because I was off work (so luckily wasn’t reporting to my hospital job with all the scare and precautions) and totally preoccupied and in absolute love with my new little guy!

Baby Josh was his name for the first several years – or rather, Baby Dosh to big brother Zach. I remember their first meeting. Zach arrived with balloons and its wanted to kiss his brother. Josh was crying a lot so Zach kept trying to shush him. (Bad quality picture but cuteness all the same!)

Zach loved his brother so much. Except for the time he tried to kill him. I snapped this picture thinking how cute it was that he was reaching for Josh – but 2 seconds later he tried to roll him off the bed, lol.

But they spent so much time together and really loved each other.

Over the years, that has continued. This past year there were some tough good byes as Zach left for his mission. But the beautiful thing is they both have come to love and appreciate each other and share how they miss each other as brothers and best friends.

So I’ll start there with the 17 things I love about Josh:

1.He is a great brother. He is loyal and he loves his siblings as friends. He may be stubborn and have been engaged in many sibling wars over the years, but when it comes down to it, he is a fantastic brother and friend.

2. I will also upfront say, he is an awesome son. I have so appreciated how he has stepped up this year with so many transitions and been pretty tender and loving with me.

3. He gives great hugs! I don’t even have to force them on him!

4. He has a tender, emotional side. I can count on him to share some teary eyes with me in sad movies, or when we see something really touching.

5. He is a sporty guy at heart. He will play all sports and usually plays them super well! He’s pretty competitive and pushes himself hard. He also gets the strategy of games which is an asset to all the teams he is on.

6. He has a great sense of humour. He has the best laugh, appreciates when someone shares something funny and is a great storyteller.

7. He is smart. He has some natural abilities (now to really put the effort in and use those abilities even more!!) He has a great memory and a good understanding of so many anythings.

8. He is a fly who is drawn to sugar. He loves his sweets. Yes, not the best health wise , but he is appreciative of any dessert! It is part of who he is – and we love all of him:)

9. He is a thinker. I love that in many ways he is a loner. He prefers to walk so many places on his own – he never minds being alone. He enjoys his own company and enjoys the time to think.

10. He is a great traveller. He is up for adventures, knows his geography, likes to learn about where he goes, tries out the local cuisine, and enjoys sightseeing and learning. I love to travel with him!

11. He is authentic. He doesn’t pretend to be someone he is not. Josh is Josh. He walks to the beat of his own drum. I really respect that in him.

12. He is super kind. You just have to watch how he treats little kids, or even one of his friends. He is a caring and kind guy, and has compassion. He is a loyal friend, and a fun guy too.

13. He loves his doggie. Yes, I have to fight him to walk Reggie, but he is up to cuddle him and sit with him and give some love. Again, it shows his soft and tender side. But he really likes being goofy too!

14. He can really open up. Don’t bother talking to him in the morning. But he is always up for conversation later on. He’s not an open book, but he shares when he wants to, and is a good listener.

15. His Spirit is growing and growing and I love that he comes out with things that I didn’t even know he had paid attention to! He is eager to learn and looks for tender mercies and think places and moments.

16. He is an honest guy. He tells it like it is:) Sometimes can be a but too blunt lol but you know where you stand!

17. He is a leader and example to us all. He has stepped up to being the older brother this past year and excelled!

Josh is a super special guy!! I am so blessed and honoured to have him as my son. I love spending time with him, I love how he tolerates my many questions, annoying texts with extra emojis and my rattling on when I am flustered. He is a good guy all around, and makes everything more interesting and fun! I love to learn from him too.

Happy 17th Josh!!!

xoxox

Quote of the Week

Posted on by
Reply

“We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others, or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find” Dieter Uchtdorf

So much about this quote that I love!

I love that it is our choice.

I love that we can offer the understanding, fairness and forgiveness that we so desperately desire for ourselves.

And that we will find what we seek.

Wise words.

Happy Birthday Shannon!

Posted on by
Reply

It used to be that all the birthdays in our CDF family were clustered in between April and July – with Josh the outlier at the beginning of February. But now Shannon joins the CDF ranks and she is starting a new cluster with Josh!

She is also joining the “24th” cluster – my birthday is on a 24th, my sister’s is on a 24th, my sister in law’s is on a 24th and Shannon’s is on the 24th! So, I’d say she fits right in!

It has been so fun to get to know Shannon even more this past year – and what an exciting year it was!

It is hard when you live so far, and I wish we lived closer so could do more things on a more “casual” basis. But for now, we take all we can get and love getting to know this amazing woman. So here are 10 things that I love about Shannon:

  • I love that she will send random thoughtful texts, or texts just to check in! The other day, she sent a text just saying what they were up to on the weekend (visiting with friends and their friend’s parents ) and she said she wished that we lived closer so could do that on random weekends. I wish we could too (one day! ) But I love that she thought to send that text!
  • She is thoughtful – this Christmas we got a super thoughtful gift (sorry Gabe, I’m going to assume that Shannon had a lot to do with it – but even if it was both your idea – it just shows what a good pair you guys are to come up with it!) Given we have a few time zones in our family now, they gave us 3 clocks so we could have the 3 timezones up in our kitchen. I love being able to glance up and see what time it is for everyone and think about what everyone might be doing.
  • I love having discussions with her about all things “female”. She will sometimes send me a link, a quote, or a podcast, or share something that she learned in class about women’s issues, leadership, business, or motherhood etc. I love being able to discuss and share viewpoints.
  • Her intelligence! I love how she shares her perspective and opinion, and is eager to learn and share what she learns. She is a committed, hard worker too!
  • How easy going she is – when we were in Hawaii, she was ready to roll with anything! She was up for any activity, or no activity, any food, drink….anything really. She just enjoyed whatever we did!
  • She is a trooper who is determined! While in Hawaii we went on a hike and it started to rain, and then her flip flops broke and it was pretty uncomfortable and painful walking for her in bare feet on this path – but she kept going!! With a smile on her face!
  • Her appreciation of food – and her love of açai bowls, lol. I think we both would head back to Hawaii just for those! I know that she often is trying new recipes, or trying new things and I loved shopping in Trader Joe’s with her as she knew all the cool things to get!
  • Her pop culture wisdom! She is pretty social media savvy, and she also knows who to follow and is in the know of stuff going on! She stays on top of things! While I had my nose buried in old fashioned guide books on Hawaii – she knew what to do based on what she saw online on social media – and it was way more up to date!
  • I love her testimony and her insights and spirituality. Before Christmas we did “the 12 days” and each day studied an attribute of Christ. I loved her insights and thoughts and her willingness to participate and share.
  • I love how she loves Gabe! I love how she makes him want to be a better man, and I love how she is willing to partner with him in all things and support him, and allow him to support her. They make an awesome team! We love face timing them and seeing their dynamics and their love for each other.

I know I have already done my 10 things – but an extra bonus one is I love how she is happy (or at least fakes it well, lol) to be part of our CDF clan – and shares that with us! We are so happy to have her as a daughter in law and look forward to many more birthdays to come and to keep getting to know her better!

Happy Birthday Shannon! May your day and year be filled with love, adventure, wisdom and joy!

We love you!!

Quote of the week

Posted on by
Reply

When we sit down for our weekly FHE (whenever it is we do it – sometimes it is Sunday afternoons, sometimes it is Tuesday evenings after the kids’ activities) we always start with the Quote of the Week.

I usually choose it and whoever is leading our FHE will read it outloud and then we discuss the meaning. I LOVE it when I give the quote to the person to read and someone pipes in, “oh, I have a good quote”. My quote automatically gets deferred to another time and that person’s quote gets used. I love that they are thinking about meanings of great quotes and take time to capture them in the notes in their phone or take a picture.

This happened last night. Josh shared with us a quote he heard and really liked:

“Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship” Denzel Washington.

Josh reminded us that we have used some of Denzel Washington’s quotes before and he really likes them. Apparently he gives some good motivational speeches too – which I think I may have seen a few, but I’m going to make a point to go find and re-watch.

So many times we fear the hard – but I love how this quote reminds us, it is not the hard we should fear – but the easy. The immediate gratification is the greater threat to our future success.

It’s nice to have easy too – I’m not denying that. And I think sometimes what happens is if you get the hard out of the way, then the easy comes along – or at least you have a lot more easy or things feel much easier. But when you always seek easy, and never train your brain to do hard, it can get really overwhelming and you begin to fear hard. Then you may have the tendency to get stuck, or become helpless, or just spin in your same spot, or rely on someone else to always do it for you. Do more hard now, so you can enjoy some easier later and really enjoy it!

Quote of the Week

Posted on by
Reply

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine“.

Really, the best quote of the week was Josh’s reaction to that quote when I shared it last night in FHE:

“No, I don’t like it”.

Lol.

Josh is having to start more seriously prepping for writing his ACT. I had just been on him about the importance of doing a little bit every day and that would help him have greater success. This is a song I have sung to all my kids, and I *think* the older ones are slowly figuring it out.

Whether it is studying, saving money, eating healthy, getting stronger (emotionally or physically), building a business, changing a habit, reaching a goal, writing a long report or essay, having a great relationship, taking care of your house, building a testimony, or anything else you want in your future – start looking at what you are doing everyday and you will quickly know what your future is going to look like.

Quote of the Week

Posted on by
Reply

“Faith is taking the first step even when you do not see the whole staircase” Martin Luther King Jr.

It was a different Christmas this year. And truthfully, I’m not sad to see it go.

There were many amazing things about it. It was great to have Zandra home, it was fun to spend time with Josh and Sam (on our forced family events, lol), and it was good to continue with traditions and start some new ones. We ate well, went for some nice walks, spent time just lounging, stayed up too late and slept in to late, and exchanged some nice gifts. Lots of laughs, great conversation, and free flowing hugs.

But, we really missed Gabe& Shannon and Zach. We were able to Facetime/video chat with them on multiple occasions and that was great. Those are precious moments. But, we do look forward to the years when we are all together again!

It was also a difficult Christmas that also was filled with a lot of tears, heartache, worry, stress, sadness and then the only thing to cling on to: faith. It definitely felt like we were walking completely in the dark trusting that the next step was there and would guide us all up the staircase that led to a much better place.

Zach had already been struggling with homesickness as well as some other challenges on his mission when he was hit with a very bad case of Dengue fever. I think from what I’ve read from other missionary experiences, the dengue can be very mild – where people just have a fever, feel unwell, a bit headachey (and Zach said they often call everything “the dengue”), but bounce back within a couple of days. Unfortunately it hit Zach like a ton of bricks – and also affected him emotionally (which in speaking with our doctor here, as well as Doctor Google, can impact people with some bad anxiety and depression). For days there was no sunshine, no hint at a silver lining in some very very dark clouds.

We felt completely helpless. And he felt completely hopeless. Luckily, we were able to talk to him frequently and sometimes I knew that he was holding on desperately to our faith and simply surviving from call to call (which at one point were multiple per day). I know it sounds dramatic , but I have to say, these have been some of the worst weeks of our lives.

Thankfully, he has been feeling better, and as he heals physically, he is becoming stronger emotionally too. We spoke for New Years and he was feeling much better – much more hopeful and motivated – but said it is too soon to look back on the past few weeks as they were some of the darkest of his life. With every call we now have, we can see the Zach that we know resurfacing – the humour, the sarcasm, the curiosity, the motivation and the love. It is a relief to see.

We are so grateful for all the support that people have given Zach. So many emails and words of encouragement, so many prayers and messages sent to him. I am also grateful for the tremendous love and support we received – phone calls, texts, food and treats, fasts, prayers, great advice and listening ears.

We truly know that there were angels, earthly and beyond, around us and around Zach during this time.

2019 in Review

Posted on by
Reply

Gabe and Shannon get married – Fort Collins Temple April 19, 2019

Zach’s mission call to Tahiti (April) and MTC August 21, 2019

Zandra and Zach accepted into BYUH and BYU

Zach and Zandra graduate high school

Sam graduates middle school

Josh HEFY – Paraguay

Morocco March 2019

This is Us

Pho family dates

Sushi dates

Reggie gets walked

Marvellous Mrs. Maisel

YLC – Sam and Josh

Zandra starts BYU H

Oahu exploring

Gabe’s internship in Houston

Soccer, soccer, soccer

Camp counsellors

Friend advice drives

Nauvoo

Maui with Gabe and Shannon

Tuesday night youth activities

Fortnite

Netflix

Cancun timeshare

Collingwood weekend

Wasaga beach

Nightly walks

FaceTime and Google hangout calls

Fasting

Traditions

Two hour church

Seminary

ACT

Studying

Soccer tournaments

Soccer reffing

Auxing in the car

YM camp

Dairy Queen

Dolce gelato

Birthday celebrations

Lifecoach school

CTFAR

Booking travel (burnout)

Girl’s weekend Orlando

Movies

Mission shopping

Packing!

Sam moving rooms

Tiny Eye

Skype calls

Temple with Gabe/Shannon and Zach

Gran’s 80th in Montreal (with broken pelvis)

Rob business trips: Germany, NY, Vegas, BC

Skiing

Blogging

Rob’s Christmas Eve Poem 2019

Posted on by
Reply

Another year past and it’s been a blast.
It seems every year is going too fast!

But at last it’s here the time for Christmas cheer
Even though some of us aren’t so near

So don’t run or hide
It’s the CDF before Christmas eventide!

So how’d it start the end of a decade year
Well sit close and you will soon hear

Well it started with 16 it’s really true Josh
Drivers are you ready? Oh my gosh!

Also a rocky start with Gran doing an ice storm dance
80 years young so we celebrated with some hospital parlance

Then the March break was upon us the vacation clock went tock
We were heading on a whirlwind visit to Maroque

Without much effort and with Tajeen and bread servers that were sus!
It was Ali’s crazy rolling sleeping bus!

Through the hills and desert we made our way
Even though poor Leah snake charmers and shepherds didn’t pay

Well guided and planned out by the traveller guru of the fam
We hit Casablanca – “Play it again Sam!”

But truth be told we mosqued it there, photos and silliness, we were the western family with glam!!

Leaving behind bristling markets and so much busy sound
Before we knew it we were Toronto bound

We had graduations almost too many to surmount
High school and middle school and birthdays to count.

Zandra B 18 and able to vote!
So smart and beautiful we certainly had to gloat

But wait hold on we missed a few things!
Somethings that involved a calling and rings!

With a glance and moment we all held our breath for one little sweetie!
Alas he’s got called to the islands of Tahiti!

So we celebrated and cheered for an adventure to begin
Then it was off for Gabe to seal Shannon’s heart with a grin and a Colorado Inn!!

It was a wedding so fine with guest from far and wide
We all looked upon Gabe and Shannon with glowing pride

Then it was back to some birthdays to get ready for summer
Gabe, Sam and Zach all leapt another number

There was prom and the like with suits and gowns all aglow
Soon all would be off to wherever they may go

And Zu and Zach we couldn’t wait to tell you too
That each would be off to BYU!

Oh and don’t forget as these celebrations were at play
Josh was on his way to Paraguay

His dancing was pretty sick while laying some Paraguayan brick

You see it’s hard trying to keep up with this clan
But rest assured it all happens within Meski’s plan

Speaking of plans and packing galore
Poor Leah couldn’t think of packing any more!

Shampoo and vitamins and so much to squeeze in; please sit
She made the marine corp look like an amateur outfit

And so it was time to get two on a plane
To carry them away to places untame!

Zach went to the airport with Leah and friends. Nerves afray some tummies growl
Oh my there was even a cry towel!

Then it was Zandra to Hawaii to work and play
It was so nice we decided to stay and soak a bit in an oceanic bay

With Gabe and Shannon with us so nice, we had cleared the summer hurdles and swam with sea turtles

It hasn’t been easy and some would say hard
But the truth of it all is we made it through well
In fact I’d say we did pretty swell

Oh an to regain some sanity and help us go from pale to so so
Leah and I jetted of the Mexico!

So with Christmas here and down a bit on the crew
The nativity play just had to make due

So with no snow on the ground Saint Nick’s sleigh will certainly stick
But hey it’s no worry we can just help him eat til we’re a little sick

Love and joy is our blessing and present to cherish
Best of all in this year’s talk there were none to embarrass

So with love and warmth in our hearts let’s bring in the holiday cheer
And get ready to celebrate another New Year!

Christmas Eve and Day

Posted on by
Reply

It was a very different Christmas Eve and Day.

We had Gabe and Shannon on FaceTime for our Christmas Eve program, and then all talked to Zach on Christmas Eve. (Rob and I also talked to him on Christmas Day)

We had to make do and everyone had to change things up and take on multiple roles:

Rob read us his Christmas poem:

And then the kids waited to hear the little bell and head on down to open presents:

I didn’t get any pictures of us eating because Zach had called so we were on with him while we ate!

We played a game after, and then watched Mr. Krueger’s Christmas

The next morning we weren’t up too early – but the kids did their Santa gifts and stockings:

We had a nice breakfast and took some fun photos:

The kids then all left to be with their other parents.

Rob and I headed out to spend some time with his Mom.

We then made it back and had a lonnnnnggggg talk with Zach and it was the best! He has been really struggling and feeling terrible, so having the chance to just talk to us I think was really helpful. And – Christmas miracle – he got his Christmas package on Christmas morning!!! He was excited to get all the things for his stocking (I wish I had sent him more things though!) and his Santa hat which he wore for a good chunk of our call! As soon as I saw the hat – I knew he had received the package!! I was so grateful! We haven’t seen him smile like this in a while:)

It made for a great end of a different Christmas. I think the next few Christmases will be a bit of an adjustment….

Christmas traditions cont’d

Posted on by
Reply

The Tuesday after Zandra got home, we got our new jammies and headed out to deliver our cookies and tour some neighbourhoods to see the lights:

We had our yearly visit with good friends:

Adam got his yearly gingerbread guy with some funny placed candies that make him laugh every year, lol:

We then took a really nice long walk the following Sunday in the Brickworks:

Meanwhile, Gabe and Shannon were having their own fun:

Zach set up his Christmas decor in Tahiti – no Christmas package yet and the poor guy srtuggling with getting the Dengue Fever:( We need some Christmas miracles. (I’m not always putting stuff about his mission here because I’ve got a whole mission blog for him if you want to get more details and photos at zachfioretahitimission.bogspot.com)

Rob and I had our pre-Christmas date to Nathan Phillips Square and then to Ki:

I forgot to include a picture of Sam at our ward (congregation) Christmas party:

The holiday traditions getting all wrapped up….