The Fab Four.

I have some pretty great cousins, some pretty crappy cousins, some cousins I never see.  I have older cousins with kids of their own, and cousins much younger than me. I have a cousin who is the funniest guy I have ever met, and I may have a cousin or two that I wish I could forget. I have cousins that stand by me no matter which direction I'm hurled. Yes, I have the best two cousins in the whole entire world.

(Don't judge me. I wrote that in like 2 minutes.)

Introducing.... The FAB FOUR!

These 3 girls in this picture are my best friends. We have grown up together since we were babies (well obviously Jessica, I meant Jocy and Erica as well). We worked as slave labourers together in Grandma's basement as we helped prepare for her craft shows. (I wonder how many bridles we actually  made?) We were princesses and princes that were captured by an evil witch (grandma). We stayed up endless nights at grandma's house, listening to her stories, telling stories of our own and sometimes just giggling for no reason hours on end because we were way too overtired.

I love these girls and here are a couple reasons why:

I love that we have been by each others side since Day One. 

I love that we spent our childhoods together, using our imaginations and dreaming up wonderful realities. We never stopped playing and we were never bored.

I loved going over to Grandma's house for family dinners together and then spending most of our time coming up with elaborate plans on how to convince our mom's to let us have a sleepover.

I love how we can tell each other things we normally wouldn't tell many people and know that we won't be judged.

I love that everybody KNOWS how much we love each other and they always say things like "I wish I  had cousins like that."

I love that they can make a boring holiday FUN!

I love how they made t-shirts and weren't too embarrassed to dress up like twihards with me on opening night. (Seriously, I don't know anybody else who would be willing to do stuff like that with me).

I love how most of the time we spend together is spent laughing our heads off. About what? I can't remember, but who cares.

I love that we spent so much of our time together creating things. Whether it be forced (crafts) or our own ideas.

I love how we can watch a movie, and spend the next couple of months quoting and singing songs from that movie and never get sick of it, because we all loved it THAT MUCH. (Don't go breaking my, don't go breaking my....)

I love how when I think about the most fun weekend I ever had, I think about them.

I love how finding some nerf guns in a closet at 3 in the morning turns into an all out epic battle. Seriously, I was so terrified.

I love how they can EVEN make a YSA dance fun

I love how we can get together again after months of being apart and just pick up where we left off.

I love how we acted out the Phantom of the Opera together when we were young. We forced everybody into the living room to watch us with our paper masks, costumes and I am sure less than perfect opera voices. (This is us re-creating a picture from when we were younger)

I love coming back to Calgary to spend time with friends, and end up spending all my time with them. 

I love that we can stay strong together through all the Christmas Eve drama that seems to happen EVERY year haha.

I love that one Saturday night we randomly decide to dress up and make a Ke$ha video... and then spent hours watching it and laughing at ourselves.

I love how perfectly our group balances. Jessica Erica and I were the crazy ones who always wanted to break the rules, stay up later than we were supposed to and have fun all the time. Jocelyn has always been the mama bear of our group, always making sure we didn't go too overboard. Or at least make us clean up our messes.Don't get me wrong though, Jocelyn can get pretty crazy too ;) We love that about her.

I love that they support me in every way possible. Especially with my music, and that means so much to me!

I love how loving and friendly they are to everyone. When I got married, they not only kept hanging out with an old married woman, they completely embraced the Forsyth family and we can all hangout together and have a blast.

I love that they will dance with me in a fountain in front of a bunch of strangers. And then film it and put it on youtube for a bunch of other strangers to see.

I love spending summer days/nights with them.

I love that they will come with me on a spontaneous road trip to Great Falls to drop Garth off, just so I don't have to drive back pregnant and alone (well..still pregnant, just not alone.. you know what I meant.)

I love how weird we all are in our own ways. Jocelyn with her "nerd lisp" (It's just me guys, it's just me! or " And then we can have a schleepover *slurp*) Jessica with her hilarious embarrassing videos she takes of herself on my computer, Erica with her over the top laugh and hilarious stories. And me, well, I'm sure they have some things to say about my weirdness.

I love how excited we are for each other during the exciting times in our lives (graduation, music, sports, making a baby...hey, thats an accomplishment right?)

I love the walks to the park together.

I love how beautiful and talented they are.

I love the long nights of dressing up, picture taking, music, card games, and cheating at Settlers because that game just takes too fetching long.

I love that "this" happens. More frequently than you'd think.

I love how much they love my baby. Enough said.

So I think it's safe to say that I am the luckiest. I have have amazing family (obviously). Sometimes I feel like I have 5 sisters haha. (Mikayla not pictured). 

"LAST ONE THERE IS A ROTTEN PICTURE FRAME!"

PS- Happy birthday Erica!

-A

Soundtrack Of My Life

I tend to remember life events based on what albums I had bought at that time, what lyrics I kept running through my head and what songs were playing at that exact moment. I love buying new music for specific events, because whenever I listen to those albums or songs later on, I will always remember detailed moments from the exciting times in my life.

This was definitely true the moment I met Garth. It's funny how being in love heightens everything. I can't seem to remember where I put my keys or to call someone back, but I remember vivid details of an event that happened years ago just by listening to a song that was playing at that exact moment.

Music is kind of magical that way isn't it?

The Soundtrack of my Life (Well, at least since I met Garth!) :

February 2011

He is We - Happily Ever After: Our first date was to the Sweetheart's Dance (February 11), this was the first "slow"song that came on while we were there and I got super excited because I had been listening to this band for years. We grabbed each others hands and ran to the dance floor. I will never forget that night, I felt happy and comfortable around this boy that I barely knew. I felt a sense of excitement that I had seriously been missing for years.

He is We- All About Us: When I first heard this song, I knew I had to find a boy to sing it with. Garth was in my institute class and when I found out he could sing, I pretty much forced him to come over to my house and sing this song with me. We spent hours in my basement practising and singing this song together.

Peter Katz- More Nights: On our "I Hate Valentines Day" party, we spent the night with my roommates heart attacking people's houses. He then asked me if I wanted to go for a walk and gave me this album. On our walk, he made up some ridiculously complicated story that tricked me into holding his hand(ya right, I knew what he was up to) and later that night (after midnight) he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Guster- Dear Valentine: Reminds me of a very special night on the couch, he just held me and sang to me for hours. I remember feeling so content with life and knew that I had never been happier than I was at that moment.

DeathCab- Transatlanticism: Driving back from Calgary after meeting my parents for the first time, I started crying the moment we drove away because I already missed them. He held my hand and sang this song as it came on. That was the moment I started falling in love with him.

Dan Black- UN: This album was on repeat during the two months that we were dating. It reminds me of rainy sidewalks, downtown lethbridge, Garth's profile while he drives (dang sexy), feelings of confusion, letting go and resolution. Falling in love is magical.

Alkaline Trio- This Addiction: Driving in the car, windows down, music blasting, singing at the top of our lungs.

April 2011

DeathCab- Passenger Seat: We made a habit of going to my practice room at the University of Lethbridge to play piano together. I had no idea, but apparently after we met, Garth decided to learn this song on Piano and sing it to me. I of course melted into a pile of mush. He told me it was my turn to play so I sat down, turned around and Garth was on one knee.

Summer 2011

Hayden- Middle of July: This song is one of my favourites. The lyrics are so simple and sweet that it's brilliant. I love listening to Garth sing it the most, it was kind of perfect for our summer romance. It reminds me of sunsets, mosquitoes, the smell of grass, lying on top of the car looking up at the stars, camping... everything about our summer.

Owl City- All Things Bright and Beautiful: The best thing that can happen is have your favourite artist release an album where every single song makes you forget about reality completely. I will never forget the summer of 2011 when Adam Young made me happier then he ever has before. (Especially because his next album completely blew haha)

Meghan Smith- Cricket Orchestra: This album reminds me of sitting in Garth's basement on his laptop planning our honeymoon together. We seriously had the best honeymoon and I loved how Garth took the reigns in planning it.

Our Wedding

Owl City- Honey and the Bee: We thought it was the perfect song for our wedding slide show because we listened to it all summer that it eventually became one of "our songs". It is such a cute duet.

He is We- All About Us: As mentioned before, we spent hours singing this song together. It made perfect sense that we dance to it at our wedding. I have a lot of memories related to this song but one of my favourites was when we went to a dance instructors house and she choreographed our first dance. We had so much fun dancing together all the time, practicing for our much anticipated wedding day! Our first dance went perfectly and I will never forget that experience.

Honeymoon

Ellie Goulding- Lights

The Civil Wars- Barton Hallow

Kings of Convenience- Declaration of Dependence

These albums remind me of beautiful Kelowna in the summer time. Whether we were driving through downtown Kelowna at night or by the beautiful vineyards and water, or watching the sunsets from our balcony, we were always listening to one of these three albums. 

Fall 2011- Spring 2012

When I think of the fall, I think of Garth and I in our first little home together. I think of Jack's Mannequin, Fountains of Wayne, Stars (of course), Nathan and Patrick Park. Garth would constantly sing songs off these albums to me.When I think of John Mayer, I think of those morning drives to work at Huckvale. When I would come home after long days of work at the law office, Garth would sing the song "Hey Julie" by Fountains of Wayne. Even though I hated working there and felt so sick all of the time, whenever I heard that song, I knew everything was going to be okay.

Peter Katz - Still Mind Still: This album reminds me of my very first show opening up for Canadian Singer-songwriter, Peter Katz. Not only did I get to play my music for people (for the very fist time!), I got to hear some of these wonderful songs of this album for the first time. It was such an amazing experience and really helped me realize that this is what I want to do. I want to sing and play songs for people. I want my music to make people happy. Although I have taken a bit of a hiatus, releasing and playing music is my ultimate goal that I am excited to work on in the upcoming months and years!

Summer 2012

Taylor Swift Speak Now: Every morning on the way to work. Taylor swift. Every. single. morning. The guys just love her haha. ( I mean, who wouldn't? She's adorable.)

The Maine - Pioneer: Soundtrack of my summer. Mikayla, Erica and I went to see the Maine live on their Pioneer tour! I had only seen the Maine live once before this when they released their first album and this time they were obviously WAY BETTER! Seriously my favorite band.

Summer 2013

Hayden- Us Alone

Brighten- Peace & Quiet

Mumford and Sons- Babel

Of Monsters and Men- My Head is an Animal

Lana Del Rey- Born to Die

Stars- The North

Because both Garth and I relate to life through music, we knew that once our baby was born we were going to want to buy some albums that we didn't have, that we could listen to during the first months of his life.  When I listen to these albums, I will remember bringing Grant home from the hospital, leisurely walks with him in his stroller, his adorable smiles and coos, and the faces he makes when he sleeps. I will probably remember lots of crying, laughing and the way he looks at me like he somehow knows he is safe with me. Whatever I remember, I know I will remember it vividly.

-A

Birth Announcement

Not only do I have the most awesome best friend in the whole world, she also came from an incredibly kind and talented family! When Grant was born, Jaymee's sister Lauren offered to do his birth announcement. We absolutely love it and want to share it with everyone! The line on the top "It's very nice to meet you today" is the hook line in the song I wrote for Grant when I was pregnant with him. I wanted to add something a little more personal to it, and Lauren had the great idea of the line being in my actual writing.

We are so excited about our baby boy and want to share this excitement with everyone. Whoever would like a printed out birth announcement, let me know and we would love to mail you one!

Peter Katz

On April 26th, we drove to Fort Macleod with Jace and Vicky to see Peter Katz!

On the road to see Peter Katz!

Garth has been going to see Peter for years now and on the night we started dating he gave me a Peter Katz cd. After we were married, I had the exciting opportunity to sit down and visit with Peter and ask him anything I wanted about being a musician. I also opened for his show here in Lethbridge at The Slice. Ever since then, we have been dying to get to another Peter Katz show and the timing was always wrong. This time we made it to his show before we had to leave for the summer and it definitely didn't disappoint!

Not only did we get to hear a new Peter Katz original, Peter got to meet Grant. During the show Peter Katz dedicated a song to Grant called "Little One." Pretty cool to get a shout out at your very first concert!

Singing/Playing his song "Little One"

Grant was so well behaved and really enjoyed the music (for the most part). He even decided he was going to sing along for the last couple of songs, and by the end he was completely spent, a little too hot and ready to go home. We had such a fun night at Grant's first concert!

Six Weeks Already?!

My baby is six weeks old today. That flew by way too fast!

I remember when Grant was a week old, I was contemplating my life and how much it had already changed, how much time I spent everyday just taking care of his basic needs. I knew it would be work, but I didn't realize how time consuming it would actually be! Grant decided early on that he was only going to be happy if he was in someone arms, which meant all I did everyday all day was cuddle him in mine. I thought about how one day, he wasn't going to be a "little" newborn anymore and he wasn't going to want to be held, I started to panic realizing how little time I had with him at this stage and decided that I was going to soak up every minute of it! So that is what I did. Looking back on the first 6 weeks of his life, I don't regret anything. Even though I was sleep deprived, still wearing maternity clothes(only now covered in spit up stains) and was stuck on the couch feeding him every minute of everyday, I look back and feel like those 6 weeks have been the happiest of my life to date. I love my little man more than anything and I feel like I have learned so much about him and so much about myself.

Things I have learned about Grant:

• Grant's height and weight are in like the 95th - 97th percentile. At his one month check up, he weighed 11 lbs 13 oz, measured 23 inches and his head circumference was 40cm or 15 inches.

• At six weeks old he is growing out of most of his 0-3 month clothes, wearing mostly 3-6 month clothing.

• He looks exactly like Garth did when he was little. The Forsyth genes kicked all of mine in the face because there is not a trace of me in him anywhere. At least not that I can see haha.

  

  Garth- Grant

• Grant is our little boxer. He has decked me in the face countless times, he even swiped my glasses right off my face a couple of times. He also makes those "uh uh uh" noises which makes it sound like he is trying to punch you.

• Most of the time he hates his soother, he usually spits it out after 10 seconds.

• After every single sneeze, he coos really loudly. He has definitely been cooing more and more over the past 2 weeks.

• Grant has the funniest dreams. I love watching him sleep because he is constantly smiling and laughing in his sleep.

• Grant can recognize mommy's and daddy's faces and voices. At one month old he started smiling at us.

• Sometimes he will just be sitting there, looking around, and he will blow out some air with his lips, it sounds like a sigh.
  

• I find him sleeping in the funniest positions all the time.

• The first time Grant smiled at me, he was sitting on my lap while I sang the song "Hey Julie" by Fountains of Wayne to him.

• Grant hates tummy time. He lies there helplessly and whimpers, refusing to even try lifting his head, unless he is on top of his daddy. That is when he chooses to be a rockstar and lift his head up and look at dad. It seems like he has been able to lift his head up since birth. 

• Every time Grant wakes up from his naps, just like clockwork, he does the same stretch with the same face and it kills me every single time.
  
  
  
• Speaking of faces, they are the best. He makes a great "stink face" like his dad, and he also makes this scowly face that seems to say, "Who do you think you are?" that could either make you feel really insecure about yourself or just make you laugh at loud.
  
  
  
• He doesn't like being strapped into his carseat, so whenever you put him in, he puffs out his chest as big as he can, which makes it really hard to strap him in haha.

• When you go to give him a kiss, he will turn his open mouth to where you are, it is the cutest :)

• He hates being naked, and used to scream whenever you started changing him. He is starting to like bath time a little better, but still isn't such a fan of getting out of the bath.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• He loves being outside! Anytime he is screaming, you can take him outside and he will calm down almost immediately.

• His favourite place to sleep is against my chest. I don't get anything done, but I don't care!

Things I have learned about myself:

• I don't need as much sleep as I thought I did. Getting through the day on a minimum amount of sleep was impossible before he came along.
• I need to learn how to be a multi-tasker. I am the type of person who sets a goal and focuses all my energy on that one thing before moving onto the next. I suck at doing a million things at once and I am quickly learning that is a mom requirement. (And I only have 1 baby!)
• I have separation anxiety that I need to get over pronto. Whenever he is not with me, I miss him too much. I am working on relaxing a little bit.
• I am the master of avoiding being peed on, I just know when it's coming. Apparently it's a gift of mine.
• I can do hard things. Being a mom is not easy, but it is the best job in the world.

The Happiness Advantage

I feel like sometimes in life we take for granted the things that make us happy. Not just the things that make us the most happy, like our families, but the little things as well. I am definitely guilty of being sad about things that just don't matter and taking for granted the things that make my life enjoyable. For instance, the fact that we have a bakery right down the street from our house that makes the most delicious cinnamon buns and I have a husband that loves to spoil me even though I can no longer blame my pregnancy cravings anymore. Or the beautiful walk I went on the other day or the time I had to talk on the phone with my mom for over an hour.


A couple weeks ago, Garth and I were watching T.V. and came across a program called the Happiness Advantage. It was based on a book that Shawn Achor wrote called, you guessed it, The Happiness Advantage. We had heard about this book before and so we decide to watch the program. He talked about how we are all waiting to be happy. How we think that once we get our dream job or we lose all that weight we want to lose, then we will be happy. He shares different studies that prove that not only are happier people more successful in the world, but that they tend to live longer, and have significantly better health throughout their lives. He gives us seven principles that will help us think more positively, better our success in business and ultimately better our success in life.

After watching this program, I was so impressed with everything he said and I wanted to start doing everything he suggested right away so I could train myself to be happier, because who doesn't want to be happier?! Garth and I decided that we would pick one of his suggestions and work on that for a couple of months and see the changes it makes in our lives. And then continue on, adding more of his suggestions, so we can form those habits.

The first goal that we have set for ourselves is that every night before we go to bed, we grab our journal and we each share 3 things that we were grateful for that day and why. They have to be specific things that happened that day, not just cliche answers you give at the thanksgiving day table like "I am grateful for my family" but if you are grateful for your family, why? What happened that day that made you grateful for them? We have been doing this now for over a month and it has already made such an impact in my life. It had forced me to look for the positive things in my everyday life as little or as insignificant as they may seem. I know that as we continue to do this, we will both see improvements in our moods, our productivity and our lives will ultimately be happier!

Here is a link to the preview of his book/program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBRy3QrRGFI

C'mon let's all get happy!