Hohoho and Merry Christmas

Welcome back to my website! Happy Holidays! I hope all of you that are checking out this new post are drinking eggnog (with something fun in it) sitting by the fire and listening to Christmas music. It’s the best time of the year!! Here is why it’s the best.... 

First my brothers are home! A year is too long to wait. Dylan my brother and his husband Jayden are in Edmonton for Christmas this year. Last year we were in Australia (where they live) this year we swapped white sand beaches for snow. It is so good to see them and have them home. I counted down to the last minute until I got to see them again. We are going to do all the bro stuff while they are in town. Hot tubs every night, workout at the gym (working on those big buff guns), go out for dinner at the Keg (eat lots of alberta steaks), play games, watch movies and all the other good stuff. Mostly I am excited to just have good chats about all the things that happened since we last were together.  

Then we got all the usual fun Christmas stuff. Still so exciting every year even though not much is different from last. Like decorating the tree, singing loudly (off key) to Christmas music, and doing advent calendars. Anyone buy/make cool or strange advent calendars or just the typical chocolate? I wonder if they have a ketchup advent calendar... different brands of ketchup every day.  

One of my favourite things to do with my family is go sledding. Nothing better then getting all the warm clothing you own on your body and sitting on some plastic/wood and going down a hill. I could do without the having to walk back up to the top of the hill part. Just sled back up the hill in reverse would be nice.  

Christmas is the best time mostly because the people. Doing all the fun activities like making ginger bread houses wouldn’t be nearly as fun without family and friends. Everyone is excited to do fun activities together and make time to see people. I love watching Christmas movies all together as a family then running right into the hot tub. Very chill evening. My forever favourite Christmas movie is Elf. It cracks me up every time. Never gets old. I cant wait for Christmas morning when we open stockings and gifts. Everyone is half asleep and no one talks until coffee is in their hand. Everyone gathered around the tree loving each other and loving coffee. The best.  

Some of my favourite things to do with family are...  

1. Help my mom make her world famous chocolate turtles. Nothing is quite like her home made turtles. I love giving them to people and seeing their reaction to eating them. Everyone who has had them before also knows what's coming at Christmas time and they are excited when I bring the tins. They know how addicting they are 

1. Game nights with my family. That is if we don’t fight and I still have a family at the end of game night. Just kidding. We do get competitive though. Some of my favourite games are dominos, play nine, Sequence, sorry, Pass the A’s, monopoly and spoons 

1. Love it when everyone is cooking together for the big Christmas feast. Well mostly my mom cooking and the rest of us getting in the way or eating bits of the food.  

Every good holiday has to have lots of hockey. Forget family and friends what you really need during Christmas time is Connor McDavid scoring goals and bring home the win for the oilers every game. I want a clean sweep all the way to play offs for Christmas. Santa can bring me that on Christmas morning and every single game.  

Bye, Bye Summer

Hey cool people. Ryan here with another blog post! It is officially the end of summer. Summer has felt like its been over for a month now but now its officially official. So I thought I would start my summer reminiscing now. This blog is all about summer 2018 and what I got up to. 

Summer is a time for sports, activities, and getting your body moving. When its sunny everyone is more willing to get outside and get active (if you are working on your beach bod you are even more willing). 

This summer I played outdoor Pickle Ball. Very underrated sport. I had so much fun playing. My team mates and I would always make a game within the game and tell jokes/poke fun at each other. I played pickle ball back in University at MacEwan but completely forgot about it until this past summer. 

Something pretty awesome things happened this summer. Awesome thing number one is….We got a puppy! If you haven’t seen my many photos on my instagram or facebook I will post lots below so you don’t feel like you are missing out (you’re welcome). Its been so nice to have dog around the house again. I love everything about her. Her little nose and her smile. I can’t get enough of her cuteness. She has grown so much already. She is still a pup though and loves to do what puppies do best….Chew. Thankfully she is in love with mom’s bath robe and hasn’t taken a liking to any of my things to chew on. 

Awesome thing number two is trips! I went on a couple of different adventures. Adventure number one was heading to Calgary for a few days of quality time with my girl friend. We went to the stampede, out for dinner, to the zoo, to the movies and all that jazz. But the best part of that trip was just spending time with Sarah (my girlfriend) talking. 
Another adventure spot was Seattle, Washington. We did all the mandatory touristy things like pikes place, a walk on edge water, a visit to the needle but what we were really there for was Baseball. We watched four back to back games. 

Summer wouldn’t be summer without a little camping. Nothing says summer like sleeping outside under the stairs and making your own food on a fire. I went camping a few times to Slave Lake. I brought my girlfriend to Slave Lake camping with my family one of the weekends and showed her around the town I was born. Eating smores by the fire is nice but it was even better to show Sarah my old stomping ground. Next summer I want to camp even more and check out Banff’s camping spots. 

Lastly here is a quick list of my favourite summer songs that I am still going to play and keep on playing them into the winter. 

1. Luke Bryan - Sunrise Sunburn Sunset 

2. Brantley Gilbert- One Hell of an Amen 

3. Flordia Georgia Line - Simple

4. Keith Urban - Parallel Line 

5. Luke Combs - She got the best of me 

6. Kenny Chesney - Get Along

Well thats it thanks for checking out this weeks blog post! Another summer in the bag. I hope everyones fall is rocking and school/work treat ya well. Who else can’t wait for next summer? 

My Christmas Favourites

Hello, Ryan here! Tis the season of Christmas. Listed below are some of my favourite things to do during Christmas time. I would love to hear what some of your top holiday actives or memories are, so share them with me in the comments below. Hope you enjoy this blog post and happy holidays!! 

Spending time with family and friends

When I was little I remember going sledding during the holidays with my older brother and parents. Another memory I have was a little incident with a slimy creature. One Christmas eve my family and I were going into the hot tub at our old house in Slave Lake. As we were getting into the hot tub my mom accidentally stepped on a frog and may have squished it flat. We laughed and laughed. I still laugh when I think about it now.

Christmas dinner with the family

My Christmas dinner must haves are ham, turkey, chocolate turtles, ice cream and candy canes. Protein followed by desserts. Nothing beats that on Christmas day.

Un wrapping gifts

The big question is are you a careful unwrapper and take your time or tare up the paper and go quickly? I open my gifts slowly to make it last longer. The best Christmas gift I received was last year when I opened up a new Edmonton Oilers Connor Mcdavid jersey.

Eating chocolate turtles and coffee

The season of yummy food pairings. Like mash potatoes and gravy also bring you the best morning combination (who am I kidding it also is the best afternoon and evening combo) TURTLES AND COFFEE.

Playing games

My two favourite games are Cards Against Humanity, Golf (the card game), Sushi Go, Crazy Eights, Trouble, and the Game of Life. I enjoy playing these games with my family during the holidays. Like most families we get very competitive and there is some flighting, followed by laughter fits.

Ice fishing & trapping

When we lived in Slave lake the Christmas season would also include a couple of days of getting on the quads/snowmobiles and head out to ice fish or trapping. These days with my dad mean alot to me. Getting all dressed up for the cold and taking time out in nature with him was a great way to spend time together.

Watching movies

One plus of the weather being so cold during the holidays is getting to stay home with a hot drink, blankets, and a movie. My favourite Christmas movies are Home Alone (all of them), and The Santa Clause.