Sewing Again

Wow, I've let a month go by without writing! I just have to stop worrying about it so much and just write. I was kind of annoyed by a letter written by the editor of our Daily News today........he was writing about bloggers, came across that he feels most of us are pretty lame, the only real writers have taken some kind of journalism courses or are real writers! It was kind of condescending if you ask me.......
Writing is about what you want to put down into words about what you know and want to share with others. I admire anyone who takes the time to just write, doesn't mean it's always interesting to everyone but even if it's read by a few, even if its just family then it has served its purpose!

Here I have a picture of the dress I made for a girl I know who just had her first baby girl. Haven't sewed for awhile and had lots of fun with this dress, learned something new every time I do one.........it made me go back and look at some of the others I've done...... I'm so much happier with the ones I do now, can see how much I've learned but have so much more to go. It also brought back all those happy memories I have of sewing matching Daisy Kingdom dresses for my 3 cute little girls! I miss those days and really miss them when I pull out their Easter dresses, their cherry dresses with the matching hats and their swirly wedding dresses......... can't believe how many dresses I have made over the years, so happy to have had all my girls to sew for!

I'm excited to sew more, but this week I have been really trying to work on our business books again, another tough thing I have to tackle. Cute little baby dresses are way more fun...... looking forward to heading to Vancouver next weekend with Don for his CE courses, I am going to the fabric store Dressew and happily browse through all their lace and ribbon!!

Some Books Should Not End

There are some books that you just wish wouldn't end...... and today I closed with sadness Shannon Hale's fifth book called "Book of a Thousand Days" not because it was sad but I just wanted to keep reading about Khan Tegus and the lady's maid Dashti! I just loved this book, almost more than her others! Well it's so hard to decide, have to admit though Tegus was such a wonderful man..... and Dashti so humble, heroic and fun. Shannon Hale shines in her witty, romantic dialogue.........how can you write about years being held captive in a tower and keep it interesting and gripping but she does!!! Just can't wait until all my girls read it and we can talk about it, Vanessa shoddied it (reserved it!!!) as soon as she saw it in my excited hands bringing it home from the library.
I have been trying to find time to read it amongst a surprise birthday party we held for one of Vanessa's friends (22 teenagers here last night) and then I was asked to teach a Relief Society class today so couldn't read it until that was done. So supper was pretty simple tonight while I tried to cook and read at the same time, it was a little late!! I started it yesterday in the afternoon and finished it with a pang at 9:30 tonight.......
So now I am buying them all!!!! I usually look for books in the library first and then if I like them I buy them....... and since all my girls love these books they'll be keepers. In fact I might have to check their suitcases when they leave home, lol.....

The Ugly Peach Carpeted Stairs Are Gone!

You are looking at the ugliest carpet there ever was and it has been sitting on my stairs for the 7 years we have lived here!! This week Don and I spent hours ripping it all off and it looks so much better I think!!! We did not know what we were getting into.........those stairs had at least a MILLION STAPLES and we tried to pull them all out. What is it with carpet layers.....do they really think if they miss one square inch it might come off!!! We also have holes in our plaster walls and one stair has an ugly big hole from the central vac that I never use because it is such a pain!! So we're not done.........but oh what a difference!!!
Even got Sandra over for her opinion......I am hoping to grab her and get her to teach me how to finish them so they look fabulous, right now they still have paint spatters and are looking a little rough. So goal by July.....have stairs completely done!
I am also responding to a challenge in an email from my cousin Isabelle, its a 365 photo-a-day goal for 2008. Just take a picture every day of what is going on in your life, obviously I'm a little behind since its January 11 but want to at least try to get as many as I can! Its supposed to help you be a better photographer and help you see your life in a whole new way!

So today I'm still admiring my stairs!

New Year 2008

For New Year's Eve we headed over to the Fraziers......we were down to 2 kids again! Melodie was in Kelowna with a big party that going on at the Edis house and Vanessa went to a party held at Laura Cleasby's so we had just our little ones.
As you can see everyone had lots of fun...... lots of eating and talking. The kids lasted better than we did as usual, they were wide awake and running around at midnight. In fact they were quite happy to run out into the road with pots and pans yelling "Happy New Year" with the Dads following. We have done this before, kind of glad we were doing it on the Fraziers street though, lol.
A new year ahead always makes me wonder what it has in store for us. Where will we go, what will we learn?

Will Tim and Danielle be okay? Where will they move to when their apartment contract comes up in June? Will Tim find a work focus he is happy with? Willl Danielle still be working for Justin by the end of the year? Will we be able to see them for a little while this summer?

What will happen to Melodie when she heads to Vancouver for 6 months to complete her practicum for respiratory therapy? How will she manage when Kevin heads out on his mission? Will she be able to work for a few months when she is done or will she head out on her mission right away?

Will Vanessa be able to pass her N so we can have another driver? Will she be able to pass her piano exams? She'll be starting Grade 12 this year and will need to start thinking about where she wants to go next year. Will she be able to make her Grad dress like she wants to?

Rebecca will be going into her last year of elementary! Will she continue in piano or will we be able to start her in voice lessons like I want to? I know she will be so happy to enter the Young Women program in June when she turns 12! Mitchell will be starting Grade 4 this fall, how will he do in soccer and swimming? He will be in Primary by himself for the first time when Rebecca moves up. Will he be willing to continue in piano?

Are we going to be able to do any renovations on the house? Will we be able to at least put in a shower and redo the bathtub? Will we be able to plan even one get away? Will Don still be serving as Bishop by the end of the year? Will there be any changes in the ward or its boundaries? Don wants to be able to buy a truck and can we pay off his business loan by the end of the year?

Will I be able to find a part time job that I like? Will I be able to keep writing as consistently as I can? Will I still be serving as Stake YW Secretary for the rest of the year? Will I be able to try and fit at least one learning class this year? Will I start scrapbooking again, get some sewing projects done?

Lots of things to think about and do in 2008! Looking forward to what will happen in this new year!!

My Girls

Thought I would write at the start of a new year how grateful I am for my girls. I love being the mother of 4 daughters and as they get older they are now becoming my best friends! It still amazes me some days to think that I am the mother of 5 children, where did the time go! How can I have a daughter that is turning 21 tomorrow? Wasn't I 21 just yesterday?.....and how did I get so lucky getting the girls I did! They are the best part of my life! I am so often amazed at what they can accomplish and do. They are so much more confident then I ever was at that age.......

I miss my Danielle and know she misses us. I realized the real sisterly bond again this last week when Melodie went to Calgary for the weekend. She spent most of the weekend in the hospital with Danielle, who after gallbladder surgery had to go back in again because of a blood clot and then had to stay for 4 days! I was so proud of Mel who could have been out partying and shopping in Calgary but instead chose to stick with her sister and keep her company! I know it made such a difference for Danielle. She was pretty bored and lonesome since it was her first real time in the hospital and she was so happy to have Melodie with her. I hope and pray they will all stay close and realize how special that sisterly bond can be! I love you Danielle, Melodie, Vanessa and Rebecca!

Christmas Reading

If there is one thing I desperately want to give my children it is the love of reading! Loving reading means you will never be lonely, bored or have nothing to do..........there will always be stories, cartoons, adventures and countries to visit in your imagination! During the holidays we have been trying to get in lots of reading time. Mitchell and Rebecca's favourite place to read is on our bed.....they think it is the comfiest in the house (probably is, but we are not spring chickens anymore, lol)We have been getting into Beverly Clearly's Ramona books... which I still love to read. My big girls take over for me sometimes! We actually saw a Klickatat street when we lived in Oregon! We have also started "Wanted-Mud Blossom" by Betsy Byars which is another fun book! We heard it on tape while driving and I just love the "Blossom" books........I also love to have them keep journals, we're not always as good as we should be so I'm grateful they write them in school as well. One thing we have tried to be faithful in doing is writing to our four missionaries (Andrew Lamb in Wales, Keenan Kicia in California, Lauren Razeau and Cory Jensen in San Salvador/West Belize mission) at least every month! Mitchell has drawn them some pretty cool pictures that we hear end up on their walls or refrigerators! It is such a fun family activity if we can all get together........I know our boys are so happy to get them!!We have discovered the most wonderful books during these holidays..........we have been reading all the books by Shannon Hale. I found a reference to the Goose Girl on one of the blogs I've been reading so decided to try it and absolutely loved it........in the meantime before I could finish it Vanessa snagged it and finished it before I did! She raved about it to Melodie, who read it in about 3 days during her finals, she was reading it in one of her labs when a friend saw her and borrowed it to read it. So then Melodie checked the library and signed out 3 more, Enna Burning, River Secrets and The Princess Academy! We didn't see those two girls for about a week...........they read all of them, I had to fight to get my hands on one..........

You now know why my family had to help me cook New Year's Eve, I was READING "The Princess Academy" and hated to put it down........I understand this is a Granger family trait, which is why I really try to find skinny books.

Just hoping Danielle is not reading this because we bought her one of the books for Christmas (when she comes out middle of January).....I know she is going to go out and buy all the others! Just waiting to get our hands on the new one "Book of a Thousand Days"........

Christmas Thoughts

Rebecca and her new glasses! (her old ones broke at school and she taped them together on the side and coloured the tape black.....when I saw them I asked her to please not tell anyone her Dad is an optometrist!!!) Thank goodness she already had an appointment at the office because when Don heard of it, voila new funky glasses! She is pretty happy with them. She also got her cast off today after we went to the hospital and our Dr. Desai took a look at the xrays, she still needs to be careful though.
Our REAL tree this year that Don and Melodie went HUNTING for in the grasslands up in the hills! We had to cut at least a foot off to get it to fit, and as you can see some of the branches are perpendicular to the tree...........but Melodie seems to think it is our best one yet!!!
Danielle and Tim weren't able to make it home this year and I thought I was okay with it until I pulled out her stocking!! Had a good cry, this was our first Christmas without her! I was also sad because I know how much she misses us....... luckily she was thinking and planning because about a week before her and Tim sent us a webcam! We set it up(I use we loosely since Don was in the study for hours.......) and it was a surprise Christmas morning! So fun to use and although it wasn't quite the same, it really was so much better than a phone call. So happy with the technology we have..........

Christmas Writing Challenge #4: December Activities

December Activities that help you remember that Christmas is coming? I can think more of what I do now as a Mom than I can really remember as a kid. Most of my growing up years that I can really recall were spent in Northwestern Ontario in a little town called Finland, next to Emo about an hour from Fort Frances (in the Lake of the Woods area). We lived on this farm (where we built our house) for about 5 years before we moved out to New Brunswick.
This part of Ontario has very, very cold long winters and I know -25 below was the normal temperature. We had a wood stove and we always felt like roast turkeys because all of us kids slept in the top of the house.......Dad would build up the fire at night so it would last until the morning, but we would swelter til it died down. I know much of December was spent gathering firewood!
Christmas for us was always going to bed really early Christmas Eve because my Mom and Dad kept the midnight tradition........they would wake us up at midnight when we would open all our gifts and then we would have a midnight buffet, eat for a while and then go back to bed to sleep in until late. It was always exciting and we never protested going to bed. We would desperately try to stay awake but it never failed that Mom and Dad would have to come in to wake us up because we had fallen asleep..... then we would run down the stairs where the tree would be bursting with presents. I'm not sure if they were ever wrapped, Dad never believed in wrapping paper, he would always say that he could buy another present for the cost of wrapping paper!
But me, I love wrapping paper and since I buy it in January it never costs much........so wrapping paper or bags is a must for me.
My parents would always invite friends or single people over so often we had our neighbours over for this midnight feast. I think it stemmed from the Roman Catholic faith they grew up in where they went to midnight mass.
Although I would like to have kept this tradition, when Don and I tried it a few times, our kids were so tired and didn't want to get up......and I was so insistent about their bed times because I like to sleep, so it didn't really work for us. We just put our kids to bed and wake them up in the morning. Besides until a few years ago, I was usually up for hours wrapping presents. I discovered that I love wrapping when I have lots of time, so I try to do it every couple of days or whenever I get enough presents around to do it, or no one around to see me doing it........what an amazing difference, Christmas Eve is so much more fun now and not so stressful!

Christmas Writing Challenge #3: Me + The Big Guy in a Red Suit

I am responding to Amy Sorenson's third writing challenge about what did we know of Santa and how did we find out about the real Santa!

I've struggled with this a little, I don't really remember any moment that I found out "the truth", in fact even today I like to keep his spirit alive in our home! One of my earliest memories though is when we were on Cortez Island and we were all together as families (my Mom, her parents and some of her sisters), so lots of cousins. We were all excited because we had been told that Santa was actually going to pay us a visit ( I think I was only 7 or 8) and we waited all night, then in came Santa big tummy and all with his great big HO, HO, HO and of course we all started to giggle and whisper to each other......"that's not Santa, that's Grandpa!" But we loved it anyway and anxiously waited to see what he would pull out of his big red sack! I'm pretty sure we were all at my Aunt Marie-Line's house, I seem to remember wooden log walls and the pungent smell of wood smoke.

Fast forward to a few years ago and in our house there are always presents under the tree from Santa and of course the stockings....... well this particular year I decided to be totally organized and had all of our presents bought and wrapped and put them under the tree a day early, that way Christmas Eve would be so stress free! Forgetting the intelligence of little ones..... you can imagine my dismay Christmas morning when Mitchell who was only 3 or 4 I think, said to me "Didn't Santa come Mommy? and I said: "Yes, of course!" to which he responded, "Well he didn't leave any new presents under the tree, because I counted and there are the same number!" I don't remember what I told him, but I do remember backpedaling fast and that was the last time presents came out early!!!

I am a lunch time supervisor at my children's school here in Kamloops, Parkcrest School and just the other day I overheard a conversation that made me smile from ear to ear. Two little girls came up to the other supervisor Mrs. Canning (her grandson is in the school) and one asked with great earnestness, " Mrs. Canning, do you believe in Santa Claus from the bottom of your heart?" to which Velma answered with great firmness: " You bet I do!!" Wasn't that cute and it just made my day!!

I love the magic of Santa and his spirit of generosity and kindness. Reality comes soon enough to most children, if we can help them to believe from the bottom of their hearts, Santa will continue to bring them joy for years to come!

Christmas Writing Challenge #2: Most Vivid Memory

White Christmas!

I am writing about a couple of Christmas memories that I have from my childhood and luckily I actually have pictures of them.

I can't even remember where this was taken but I do know that I had been asked to be in a Christmas play at school (I think I was in Grade 1) and my Mom was asked to work on my costume. She spent several hours making this dress out of tissue paper and I thought it was so pretty! I loved the garland on the bottom.....unfortunately as soon as I put in on I wanted to take it right off because it was "picky"!!! My poor Mom would not budge, I was wearing that costume no matter what....... according to my Mom I complained about it all night but apparently I looked beautiful on stage!

Here we are Josee, Eddie and I (Kasandra) posing for a Christmas picture! I do know this picture was taken in our house on Cortez Island in British Columbia. We lived here for several years, where we were close to my Mom's family. Funny what pictures will bring to your memory..... I remember getting this barn as one of our Christmas presents and we were so excited, I don't remember who it was for. What I really remember is the curtains in the background (Mom must have found the material on sale, lol) because Mom sewed them and then would pack them up and put them up in whatever house we were in. I'm glad we look so happy, I have lots of happy memories of Cortez Island but some real sad ones as well...... thank goodness my parents tried to instill happy Christmas memories in us!

So Christmas resolve: take pictures of special presents this year and realize that it only takes one really good one to have Christmas be memorable!!

Christmas Writing Challenge #1: Wished-for Photo

I have been thinking of a challenge that Amy Sorenson with her The English Geek blog gave us....... to write about a Christmas picture that we wish we still had! I am already behind on her writing challenges (story of my life) but wanted to write this one.

My family and I lived in a school bus that we converted to a trailer that was painted turquoise (they got a great deal on the paint, go figure it was turquoise!!!) for almost two years. My Dad was a cook and so we would camp our trailer where ever he was cooking and live in it. We finally moved to Northwestern Ontario where we parked our trailer and started building a house on a quarter section of land that we bought. I remember going to look at the land with my family and walking through knee high snow with our every breath showing in front of us, it was so cold. The land must have been dirt cheap!

We started building our house that spring, I don't know how much my Dad really knew about building but I do know there's no way an insurance company would have insured our house......we had sawdust in the walls for insulation and I remember laying newspaper down on the floor beneath the floorboards ( I remember this because my Dad kept stopping to read the paper and we were getting annoyed with him because he promised to take us to the fair when we were finished!) We worked on it all summer and by the time school started we were so anxious to have it finished, it was going to be so much bigger than our trailer. You have to understand, we were a family of 7 living in that bus....but at least we could let the two dogs and cat out once we had our own property!

We finally moved in on Thanksgiving Day and talk about being thankful! That Christmas we finally spent in a house and what I really wish is that I had a picture of our first Christmas tree! Dad went out the week before Christmas and brought back a tree for us to decorate.....the 5 of us, my older sister Josee and 3 younger brothers Ed, Bill and Ted and I were stunned! It was worse than Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, I swear it had about 7 branches total. We all looked at each other in disbelief, a whole forest to pick from and this is the tree Dad brought home..... we fired him that day! From then on every summer we would tromp through the woods, find a perfect tree, tie a big ribbon on it and go back in December and cut down that one. I wonder if my siblings still remember that tree........ I would love a picture of it....... then I could show my kids when we set up our tree how lucky we are!!!

So note to self to make sure I take pictures every year of our lovely full tree.....artificial or real!

Habits

Our Stake Activity and here's my Rebecca helping me out by colouring all my Habit signs we made for the doors! We were working with Stephen Covey's son Sean's book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. We asked 7 different people and couples to come up with a 15 min. presentation and it was so fun to sit in on them and see all their different ideas. We had Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win/Win, Seek First to Understand then to be Understood, Synergize, and Sharpen Your Saw.

A big thank you to all our presenters..... I think they all felt their last presentation was much better than their first but that's what happens when you give the same speech 7 times!!! They really tried to make it fun for the kids, with games, props and keeping them involved. We just hope they had fun and learned lots.....

Vanessa's friend Sophie came along!The only one missing was Theresa who had to work because Melissa was here too......


Just loved Melodie and Mikael Lamb who presented theirs on a survivor theme! ( I had a little trouble grasping it since I never watch Survivor!) They started with this crazy game, assigned everyone a tribe and then they had to work as a team to get everyone through these ropes as many times as possible without touching the ropes..... the kids loved it and it was neat to see them working together!

Don loves being with the youth so here he is with his bunch, he went along with every presentation as well, it gives you a real feel for what's going on. I think this is what I admire about him the most....his total involvement......when I am off chatting with the adults Don is out there with the kids talking, playing, listening and teaching, he just really loves them and wants to be with them. I don't think he realizes how special he is to them.....

My partner in crime......I just love Nadine Edis, sometimes you just find someone that you just click so well with! Nadine is one of my "kindred spirits" as Anne would say. How lucky is that and we even get to work together......I am so happy to be secretary to her President (she is the Vernon Stake Young Women President right now!)

Clutter is really not conducive to creativity.....

I thought you might like to see where I work sometimes, this is my craft, scrapbooking, sewing and creating spot. It is more often messy than not, I like to work in order but find it counterproductive to put everything away when I haven't finished a project yet! The problem is I take too long to finish projects.....this is the little music dress I have been making for a couple of weeks for Vanessa's piano teacher's new baby ( Mitchell took the picture for me, which is why it's down going up!...lol).

This area is found in our downstairs family room, the theory being I could be creating while my family was watching TV....which would work if I would get to it more, instead of being lured by a good book to my bed!! My little shelf which you can't see reads,"Creative Clutter is Better than Idle Neatness!"....which I believe somewhat but I'm finding that I really don't work as well in clutter or disorganization! As well, I really need to take a picture of me at the computer, because frankly I spend more time there!!

Have to admit, I'm always surprised by people who say they are bored at home...I always have so many projects, books, chores and things to do! I am so grateful that I have been able to be a stay at home Mom and that Don has been so supportive of me!

Have a great day, I'm off to organize my Stake YW Secretary Binder which really needs it because we have a huge youth activity in Vernon today, we are having workshops on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.......

Young Women in Excellence

Melodie is our Young Women Secretary right now and she and the presidency put together our Young Women in Excellence program last night. They did a wonderful job! They asked each parent to compare our daughter to a flower and list some of her attributes, have to admit it wasn't easy and had to really think about it. We came up with "SUNFLOWER" for Vanessa because she is so bright, cheerful and fun. ( I say WE very loosely because Don took one look at the sheet I was supposed to fill out and said: "You women are wacked........no way would we ever put ourselves through that!!......to which I wanted to reply, that's why you marry us, because we actually brighten your dull, dreary life, but I restrained myself!!) I was amazed at how many flowers were out there, there were only a couple duplicated and when you think we have about over 20 girls........

Kind of funny because I took one look at this display and thought to myself, this would have looked much nicer with flowers!!......then they proceeded to put flowers in the flowerpots while they were giving the talks on the 7 values!! The presidency went to a lot of work, they had to try and find all these flowers. When asked if they wanted to put on a program for the boys, Don said yeah.......only we're comparing them to ROCKS!!! lol..........

Here's our cute little Vanessa holding her sunflower! She had to run over from school because she just finished basketball practice, she is trying to make the senior team now that she is in Grade 11.

My two beautiful flowers!!

Rebecca will be here next year.........sure miss Danielle!!

Creamy or Crunchy?

Decided to add a light hearted post... thinking of what we do every day and this caught my eye!! We love peanut butter in our house...... funny but lately I have had a craving for peanut butter and molasses! We used to mix these together when I was a kid and spread it on toast (not sure why, were we out of jam Mom?) and I haven't had it in years when all of a sudden I tried it again and now am having it every day. It has a wierd taste I guess, none of my kids really like it, they just laugh at me (never mind that they eat jam and cheese whiz, shudder, shudder) but it brings back memories.... maybe I am missing something nutrionally that I don't know about!

My family has been not been happy with me....... they all love crunchy peanut butter and we have 3 big 2kg. jars of creamy on our shelf (Costco had them on sale, what can I say..... like I'll miss that kind of deal just because it was creamy!!!) so I listen to a lot of grumbling every time they break out the peanut butter!

My To Do List

When I opened up my blogger the other day they were talking about a to-do-list blog and I went and took a look at it, it was such a hoot! What was funny was that many of the items on her survey I actually do with my own lists, like write it in pen even though I'm a computeraholic, and writing things down that I've already done so I can cross them off triumphantly! I don't write in code on my daily to do lists but I do on my grocery lists and I definitely feel better if I have written a list and actually accomplished some of the things on it. I didn't always keep lists, it's just been in the last few years that I've been more regular......flylady has made a big difference. So I guess I've evolved into a listmaker and like it about myself. Don't keep one everyday but I would say 4-5 days out of 7 I do. I'm especially grateful for them on days that I have a lot to do, they really help me stay focused and to remember things I would forget otherwise.
So here is a sample list of my daily life:

• Newspapers (I deliver papers every morning)
• Scriptures
• Lunches (getting everyone out the door with a lunch)
• Dishes (cleaning up kitchen)
• Exercise (just putting it down every day makes it look like I'm trying!!)
• Laundry (starting a load of laundry)
• Shower
• Blog (as you can see by its scarcity this is another one that I write down to remind me that some day maybe I'll do it, it happens in fits and starts kind of like my exercising!!)
• Supper (at least looking at the calendar to see if I can start it)
• Email
• Don's Business Books (this gets shuffled a lot!)
• Sew dress (I am working on a little baby dress for Vanessa's piano teacher, found the cutest black material with treble clefs all over it!)
• Phone calls
• Mail letters
• Vacuum main floor
• Clean bathroom
• Lunch duty (which I do every other week at Parkcrest)
• Bank balance
• Stake meeting (once a month in Vernon, since I'm the Stake YW Secretary that means doing whatever I have put off and preparing agendas)
• ETC

That's looks totally crazy......... like I said this is my ideal list, I am just happy to cross some of them off!! My first ones are ones I do every morning, the second half is the one that changes depending on the day. Also this is basically what I try to take care of while everybody is gone to work or school, I will add to my list if I have specific things at night like a PAC Mtg, piano lesson, or dance class but big things that I know I'll remember (like dinner out with Don!!) I don't always write down.

So there you have it, a day in my life........Wonder what this will look like when I'm 80!!

Puzzling Together

We just finished a puzzle that Tim and Danielle sent home with us. It is a "Wasgij" puzzle, in other words the picture isn't on the front of the box, the puzzle is what the people on the box are looking at! It was crazy and we spent about 3 days on it.... I just needed to get it done because I was hooked every time I sat down! So when the kids came home from school everybody worked on it and we finished it!

I was pretty impressed with Mitchell and Brayden (Mitchell's friend) who for 2 little 8 year old boys were pretty amazing because they sat and worked on this for about 2 hours! Brayden does puzzles at home obviously! They had such fun and really did find lots of pieces.

I love puzzles because it brings back wonderful memories of my Mom and I working on puzzles together! It is such nice family time and I can remember spending hours with Mom just talking while we did puzzles...... she heard all about Don and then some when I was home for the summer engaged to him but oh so far away! So puzzle time is family bonding time.......

Mitchell's Sick Day last week!

Well here is Mitchell home from school last week! He woke up with a stomach ache and said he didn't feell well and wanted to stay home. So I had to include the pictures of what he did that day, sick at home! I let him watch some TV in the morning but then they have to nap after lunch, I really don't want home more fun than school. Anyway I think he got a little bored because he roped me into a game of Jumping Monkeys.......he won of course, seems to me the rules kept changing!

Here he is hiding in his box house. He ended up playing with our cat, Ginny and then decided this would make a great cat house. So he trucked it upstairs and put her basket in the house. Now I have this big box in my kitchen, arghhhh that is going to be hard to get rid of!!!! Let's not count the huge box in his room as well.......

So why do we buy them expensive toys?

Last of all he ended up in the tub.......and was in there for a good long while. When he came out he was prune man so we took pictures of his wrinkled hands! Not sure he actually used any soap, sigh, oh well at least he's cleaner even if he doesn't smell squeaky clean!

I sent him to school the next day, that's it, no temperature then you're off!!!

Calgary Weekend

Don and I just returned from a quick weekend in Calgary. We really wanted to visit with Danielle and Tim because we hadn't seen them in a while so we decided to leave Friday right after work and then come back Monday. It was tons of driving because we also picked up Danielle and drove down to Cardston for a visit to the temple on Saturday. I wasn't thinking though because I hardly took any pictures and of course thought of it just as we were leaving! Since Danielle and Tim had just got up they really didn't want any pictures taken of them, surprise, surprise but I did get some of Don and I!

Here we are in Canmore where we stopped Friday night. The mountains are soooo beautiful (not our car!!) but driving in the dark we didn't get to see much.

Behind me are the mountains called the Three Sisters, we have a beautiful picture of our older three girls in front of it when we stayed with the LeMays who used to live in Canmore! (I need to scan it and put it on my computer!)


This is Monday morning at Tim and Danielle's apartment before we left. Danielle has beautiful framed pictures all over! She gave me a great 5 ingredient recipe for chili, easy.... just the kind I like. We also learned how to play the Settlers of Zarahemla while we were there. They are great game gurus!!!

On the way home Don and I hit terrible wind storms and then snow storms. These pictures were taken at Rogers Pass on Monday..... there was very little snow when we went through on Friday so they must have had lots over the weekend. So glad Don was driving!!!

We were so grateful to have Terry, Mary and Kevin Smith (in Salmon Arm) take our kids for the weekend. Mary had her two little grandsons over so Mitchell was just tickled to be an older brother for a few days. Apparently Kevin, his dad Terry, and Terry's Dad all went goose hunting and they took Melodie with them.......she didn't really want to shoot so she ended up being the retriever and had to go get the geese after they had been shot. Then she and Vanessa spent several hours helping by plucking the feathers and down off of them. Quite the experience for two town girls!! Now they know why as a country kid growing up and plucking chickens on the farm I am happy to go and buy them from the store!! When we drove in Monday afternoon, Kevin happily suggested rides on Charlie his horse, even in the rain. They too had a really fun weekend.

Babysitter Extraordinaire

I know Vanessa is looking pretty calm and relaxed here but she had some crazy happenings last week and all while she was babysitting! The first one took place a week ago Wednesday when she was babysitting for the Noble family. Their son Kent (who is 9) has diabetes and she noticed that the site for his pump had come off, he told her that happens sometimes but he couldn't put it back on himself. She phoned his parents on their cell phone but couldn't get through so then tried a few friends she knew with diabetes and they both said it was probably okay as long it wasn't too long. Kent's blood sugars are supposed to run around 5-7 and they sometimes go higher his mom told Vanessa.......absolutely call us if they get up to 18. So Vanessa played with the three kids (2boys and a girl) and then got them ready for bed. While putting Kent to bed she told him that maybe they should test his blood sugar levels........ they were 31.5... so she was definitely worried and when she asked Kent he said YES, that was bad!! She kept trying to reach his parents and couldn't..... so she called 911 and they said they would send an ambulance (she asked them to send it quietly, lol) right away. Then she called us and I drove over...... to be with the kids or to go with Kent. The paramedics were wonderful, they can't give insulin but they took Kent's vitals and talked to him and decided to wait for his parents..... Vanessa was doing fine when I got there, calm but worried how the Nobles would feel! They rushed home when they got the message and Diane gave Vanessa a great big hug and told her she did the exact right thing!!! My only regret is that I didn't get a picture....... isn't it awful, it was the first thing I thought of but then didn't because I thought it might be tacky. Next time I'll just do it.....

Sooooo........ two days later Vanessa is babysitting for us when we went to Seattle for a temple trip. She had her friend Theresa come over and was waiting for her friend Sophie while Mitchelll and his friend Brayden were playing downstairs. When the doorbell rang she answered it thinking it was Sophie....... in walks this little old drunk lady in her pajamas and bare feet, she hands Vanessa her purse, lays down on the couch and goes to sleep! So you guessed it....... Vanessa has to call 911 again!! The police came, took the old lady into their car, asked Vanessa if she wanted to press charges and she said No........ 5 minutes later (whoever is in the area responds) an ambulance shows up and the paramedics come to the door! Yes, one of them was the same one who had been at the Nobles...... Vanessa laughed when she saw her and said, "Yes, I'm having a bad week!"

We couldn't believe it when we came home........in all my years of babysitting I have never had to call 911, I told Vanessa and here she had to twice in one week!!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful day.......well I cooked all day and the kids ate it all up in about 15 minutes! We also had Vanessa's friend's Theresa and Sophie over and our missionaries Elder Magnusson and Elder Seitz. The sister missionaries came over a little later and so did the Lamb family. We played soccer and had lots of pie!

The Big Arm Wrestling Championship!
Mitchell loves having older boys around to wrestle with, his sister just aren't as interested....here he is with Steven.