Happy Canada Day!!!!

I've been a little homesick today thinking about my Home and Native land. I've been a 'Dual Citizen' for over 5 years now and I've lived in the U.S. for over 8 years total in my life, but my heart will always be Canadian. I love my American husband and (soon to be) 2 American daughters. There are so many wonderful things I love about the U.S. but since it is Canada's big day, I'm going to express a few things I love and miss about Canada.

1. The Metric System....it's way easier for me to figure out how long it will take to go 158 km, than it is in miles. I know how warm 28 degrees Celsius is, and how long 49 cm is. Not that 'Standard' measurements are hard, metric is just how my brain is wired.
2. Ketchup Chips, oh how I miss them.
3. Loonies and Toonies, nothing better than thinking you just have a bunch of change, then realizing you actually have $20. 'the Queen with a bear behind'....it never gets old.
4. Canadian sarcasm....we really are a bunch of smart 'A's.
5. Socialized Medicine. Not to get too political, but man do I think the American Medical System is messed up, insurance companies are of the Devil. Back in my working days, one day a week was spent on the phone arguing with insurance companies, trying to get them to fulfill their contracts. I gotta say, I'm routing for Obama. Let's be honest, the people that would abuse a public health care system are on medicaid, abusing the system already. I can't tell you how many times I heard on my mission 'I just need to gain 20 more pounds to get on disability, then all my diabetes meds will be paid for.' ps. I, myself, am very grateful for medicaid, otherwise we would have had to wait until Dave was done school to start our family and let's face it, we're not getting any younger.
6. Wonderbars, Smarties, Mr. Bigs, Kinder surprizes, Caramilk, Aeros, need I say more.....
7. Alchololic Gripe Water (when you have a fussy baby, you need the hard stuff)
8. Hockey Fans....they are a group all to themselves and I sure miss them.
9. O Canada. I really miss hearing it, I think it is such a beautiful song.
10. Canadians in General....I miss the diversity of Canadians. I realize that I am in a 'Utah Bubble', therefore I don't see a whole lot of diversity that I'm positive exist outside of Utah, but from my standpoint, Canada just seems more diverse. I miss the Hutterites, the First Nations, the East Indians, the Polish, the French, the Ukraines (mmmm perogies and cabbage rolls), and especially I miss my Canadian Family.

It's hard to know how to celebrate Canada Day here in Provo, Utah. With no Raymond parade, BBQ's or fireworks at Henderson to attend, I was left to figure it out on my own. I tried to think of something 'Canadian' to fix for dinner tonight and the only thing I could think of was Poutine. For those of you that have no idea what Poutine is, allow me to enlighten you...Poutine is a delicious French Canadian dish comprised of french fries, gravy and cheese....totally healthy :). For dessert I made a yummy no-bake cherry cheese cake and I am now sufficiently sick to my stomach, as one should be at the end of Canada Day.

Poutine (Heart Attack in a bowl)

I'm actually pretty proud of my creation, cherry pie filling is not the easiest to work with.

And of course..... the Maple Tattoo on the cheek. I was making faces at her, trying to get her to smile, and she was copying what I was doing.

It really brings out her cheek bones, don't cha think?