Whitehorse

Last night we took Emry to see Whitehorse, a folk rock duo that Jared and I fell in love with when we saw them live at the University Theater a couple of years ago.  Now that they are a little more well known they travel with a full band.  When Jared and I saw them it was just the two of them (a husband and wife).  It was so cool to see them that way, when they performed they would put all their sounds on a loop machine so as to sound like they had a full band with them.  First he would do a beat on the drum, then a riff on the guitar.  She would sing back up vocals, loop it and then the two of them would pick up their guitars and away they'd go!  It was quite the thing to see.  This time however, they had an organist, a drummer and a bass guitarist with them.  Still amazing! They would harmonize with each other and the sound they made was beautiful! 

The concert was held in the South Minster United Church, we sat on the second level at the very top!  We had a great view of the stage and the sound was awesome!  Emry thoroughly enjoyed herself!  She fell in love with the albums we bought the first time we saw them and they have been a staple in the car on long trips!!  They did not disappoint for her!  It was a great time had by all!!

Thanksgiving

We had a rather quiet Thanksgiving this year!!  We only had one dinner to go to and it was at my Mom's, and it was only our family, Arren's family and Avi there to celebrate!  But it was a great time with lots of laughs, great visiting and of course food!!!

I really enjoy spending time with family and having cousins play together!!  Mark had found a bicycle just Armin's size so he had to go out and give it a try!  The day started out kind of snowy but turned into a beautiful fall day, with only a little wind!!

Mom had found hair extensions the exact same color as Calum and Lily’s hair!  The boys had a great time pretending they were girls!!! Armin put them on and then wore a hat on top, he came into the living room and asked in his girliest voice if anyone wanted to play!!! Calum too put them on but wasn’t as into it as Armin was, but still he liked to pretend, they thought they were hilarious!!!

Everyone out did themselves with the food!! Mom made a turkey and a ham.  Arren brought mashed potatoes and a fruit salad.  I did roasted sweet potatoes with pumpkin pie spices dredged all over, and a delightful Raspberry Fluff salad!!! We had pies galore, pumpkin, pecan and rhubarb! There definitely was not a shortage of food!

Thanksgiving is one the few times a year we take time to acknowledge our blessings! I truly am grateful for who I am, for where I live and with who I get to share all these wonderful experiences with!! Life couldn’t be better, I’m thankful each and everyday for all I am blessed with!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends!!

Moving Cows

We moved our cows home the last Saturday in September.  It was a gorgeous morning, we started at 8am and the sun coming up was beautiful!!!  Emry invited her friend Cale to come along and help and he sure had a great time!

I had the job of driving the tractor again this year since my foot is still a little tender and walking 3 miles on it really would not do it any good!!  I got to the field last with the tractor and by the time I  did get there everyone else was getting the cows all gathered so I made my way through the open gate and then noticed all the cows running toward me.  I began to panic, thinking Jared was changing the way we usually move them so I quickly turned the tractor around and headed back out of the open gate.  Little did I know he was NOT changing the way we moved them and I proceeded to mess everything up!  Despite the couple of hiccups they did move home rather well and we even made it home in time to watch the first session of General Conference!!  Moving cows, watching conference and just being home as a family was exactly what I needed after an exhausting week in Edmonton!!!

I love having the cows home and hearing them moo, it makes living on the farm feel complete!!

Calum is 9

I have been thinking Calum already turned 9, long before he actually did!! Oops!!  He's a big, solid boy who looks older than he is!!  To celebrate his big day we had Grandpa Glen, Grandma Puzey, Buck, Arren Gilbert and Lily over!  We had the typical chili cheese dogs, so yummy, and a fancy cake!!  He is so into Legends of Zelda right now I decided to make him Link's shield!!!  Much harder than I thought it would be!!  I tried to use fondant to decorate it and that didn't go well, so back to plain old buttercream frosting!!  It turned out not too bad, but definitely not my best work!!

He was given great gifts, mostly money!!! YAY!!! And some Legends of Zelda action figures he has had his eye on for quite some time!!  He was pretty happy!

Sunday for his actual birthday we had Grandma Debbie and Owen and Grandma Puzey over for a real quick dinner as I had to leave for the Symposium in Edmonton that afternoon!  Calum was pretty bummed out that I had to leave on his birthday but Jared made up for it by watching a funny movie with them! 

Friday when I got home from the Symposium Jared and I took Calum out for his one on one date night with us!  I convinced him to get a hair cut but the payoff was eating at McDonald's for his birthday meal!!!  We also took him shopping where he spent some of his money he got from his birthday on Pokemon cards and a video game!  We then went to see the Lego Ninjago Movie, it was good, maybe not as good as the original Lego Movie, but still good!  He loved it!!  Coming home that night he rested his head on the centre console and entwined his stubby little fingers in my hair!  He fell asleep this way, I loved it! 

He is such a kind, tender hearted little boy.  He is loud and full of spirit, but I love him to pieces!!  He worries about what is happening in the world and gets saddened by all the violence out there!  He cares for his brother and sister and shows us little glimpses of his kindness from time to time!  I love doing these one on one dates with our kids, it gives them a chance to talk without competition and they open up more than they would with their siblings around!!

Happy Birthday to a very special 9 year old!!! We love you so much!!!

Literacy and Learning Symposium

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the annual Literacy and Learning Symposium.  It was a full week worth of training, meetings and food!!!  It was a lot of fun!

To start our trek, Trudy (the Adult Literacy Coordinator) and I drove together to Edmonton!!  We only got off course once when we missed our turn onto Deerfoot from the ring road, we were so into our conversation that we totally missed our exit!! We made it to Shagganapi where there was an exit to go back east, so we really didn't add on too much time!!  We stopped in Red Deer for gas and supper and then continued on our way!  We made it to the hotel with no trouble at around 9pm.  We unpacked and got settled in for the night, a busy week was ahead of us!

The next two days we spent in the Introduction to Adult Foundational Learning training class.  I thought it wouldn't benefit me much since I am in Family Literacy, but I gained so much knowledge not only for my program but as well as learning more about the Community Adult Learning Program (CALP), who we are funded by!!  Everything just sort of came together!

The first night I met up with Cora and her roommate and we went out for supper.  We went to Earls and had such yummy food, and the best raspberry lemonade ever!!  We talked and talked about all the girls are doing and it sounds like they are having a lot of fun!!

We ordered in pizza to our room the second night and the three of us, Trudy, Barbara and I, sat around and talked and talked while we ate!! The pizza was yummy and I even tried jalapeno poppers, mmmmm...so yummy!

Day three was a little less formal, we learned what it meant to belong to the CALP staff and where we can go for support.  The afternoon was all about designing evaluation forms.  Very informative!!

Trudy and I went out for supper to the Cheesecake Cafe, so yummy, we even took a slice of cheesecake back with us to the hotel!!  A delicious midnight snack!!

Day four was more meetings and a guest speaker, he was funny and it took my mind off all we were learning for a couple of hours!!  That night was a banquet that evening so Trudy and I dressed up, put some make up on and headed over to the banquet!  It was so delicious, I was glad we decided to go, even if we did sneak out before the awards ceremony!! 

Friday was the closing speakers, and lunch!  And off we headed home!  It was a great symposium!  I learned so much and met people who are more knowledgeable in their position than I am, it was great passing emails and contact information back and forth!  I am already looking forward to next year and all we will learn!!