The "Closest" Greatest Place on Earth!!

This past weekend all the Puzey's headed up to the great white north to celebrate a milestone birthday for Myrna.  This is the third time we have done this on this particular weekend in November!  And as always it was so much fun!

Ready to go!! This is how we left the farm!

The trip started Thursday morning, we loaded up the van, picked up Grandma and made our first stop in Champion to pick up Emry's Science review, and then onto Vulcan to get a lightbulb for our burnt out signal light.  Finally on our way for real, Calum had to pee!!  So we pulled over on the side of the road!  We made one more stop in High River for lunch and then off again!  The drive up was typical with three kids, quiet spurts between screams of fighting!  But we made it alive and still excited!  We first went to the hotel to unload the van and change into nicer clothes for dinner out at The Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate Myrna's birthday!  All 19 of us were there, it was loud and fun!

Having fun at The Old Spaghetti Factory!

Thankfully the kids were tired out enough from the ride up that they fell fast asleep in no time!  In the morning we got up and had a nice continental breakfast and then on our way to the Water park!  We got there when it opened and left when it closed!  9 hours of super exhilarating fun!!  The boys couldn't go on many slides but they didn't seem to mind!  We hung out at the kids park, it had three slides, lots of things that shot water and things to climb!  The boys loved it!  There was also a smaller pool with mini slides, the water was shallow but warm enough to just sit in and watch the boys have fun!  Calum and Liam played Batman and Robin quite a bit, the water was poison!  Armin had fun going down these little slides with Jonas!  I hardly saw Emry since she was either riding slides with Leah and Cora or playing in the waves with them!  We finally convinced her to do the zip line with us, it went right over the entire length of the wave pool and past the beach area!  Calum was heavy enough to do it too!  I had to be brave since we were going with our kids, but holey moley....it was scary!  Once I was strapped onto the cable I started to really panic, my heart was beating fast and hard, but as soon as Emry looked at me I changed my face to a look of calm!  Totally not feeling that on the inside!  The guide let each of us go and off we went, it was so much fun! I'm so glad we did it!  The kids really liked it too and were all smiles when we came to a stop!  A new extreme slide had a loop in it, Jared finally was convinced to go on it and after he said it should be illegal, though he did go on it again!  The thrill was exciting!  You had to stand in a canister and then the count down...3,  2, 1...WHOOSH!  The door below opens and down you go!  No thanks!!

Zip Line!

Jason, Ashton and Bowen on the Zip line! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X8AYCL9hdxY

For a cute video that Jared Hague put together click on this link!

That night we ate at the mall food court and then back to the hotel, with very tired kids!  Another easy night of getting everyone to bed!

Totally tuckered out!

The next morning started the same as the one before!  This time we planned on going to Galaxy Land!  Friday, when we walked past Galaxy Land, Armin saw the Merry-go-Round and put both arms in the air and said "that's totally awesome!"  Emry wanted to try out this new thing at the mall called "Ropes Quest", you were harnessed in and attached to a rope that was locked into a track.  There were three levels of different types of bridges.  Jared and Emry did it together and had lots of fun, although she was a little afraid of going higher than the first level she still had a great time!  After they were finished we all headed to Galaxy Land, where our super solid, tough guy was terrified!!  We had to force him on every ride, and the only ones we forced him on were ones that toddlers could ride all by themselves!!  Armin on the other hand loved the rides and wanted to go on every single one!!  One more extreme ride that he was able to go one was the Ocean Motion Ship!  Jared wouldn't even go on it with him, so Grandma took him!  Well, Armin hated it!! When the ship would go up and we could see his face it was a look of sheer panic!!  But he still came off with a huge smile on his face!  Emry did the Space Shot twice!!!  Just seeing her on it the first time made my heart beat hard and fast!  It shoots you up 130 feet super fast and then free falls back down!  She loved it!  Jared did the Mind Bender Roller Coaster with Dave, Rachel and Jared H.  Again we closed out the place!  We decided to eat at Boston Pizza in the mall which was a bit of a wait, but worth it for the yummy food!  One downfall, our coats were taken when someone decided that the cart we rented was left abandoned and not just parked outside the restaurant because we were eating there!!  I'm sure they took it because they needed it, not realizing all our winter coats were inside the basket!  Luckily when they returned the cart they also took our coats to Lost and Found, which we went to the next morning on our way home!

This is how Calum felt about Galaxy Land!

This is how Armin felt about Galaxy Land!! 

That night also brought Armin to his ultimate demise!! Another bump to his head!  While we were waiting for Jared to come back from looking at all the exits for our coats Armin was running back and forth in front of the seats we were sitting on!  As usual he wasn't looking and he ran smack into a metal garbage canister.  The hit flattened him and when I picked him up he had a huge goose egg on his forehead!  Poor guy!

 After breakfast we packed up and headed home!  We made a stop at The Bass Pro Shop to stretch our legs and let the kids look at all the wildlife!  It seems we only get there on our way home from up north since it is totally on the wrong side of Calgary for us!!  Santa was there and it happened to be the day for free photos with him!  Armin was excited until he got closer, and Calum wouldn't go at all!  So Emry sat on Santa's knee, I sat on a stool in front of him with Armin on my lap and Jared stood beside Santa with Calum in his arms!!  It actually turned out to be a cute family photo!!  One more stop for something to eat, Five Guys Burgers and Fries!!  A nice end to a great birthday celebration for a wonderful woman!!

Trick or Treat

It was a fun Halloween this year!  Calum hadn't fully decided what he wanted to be and Emry changed her mind back and forth between two different costumes.  The day before Halloween I took Calum to Arren's to pick a costume out of Gilbert's dress up box.  He picked Batman!  That night we carved our pumpkins, and as tradition would have it Armin was terrified!  While Jared was scooping out the guts of the pumpkin he pretended his hand was stuck, Armin screamed and was really concerned!  Like the horrible parents we are we would keep scaring him!  The pumpkins turned out really cute, the kids picked out what they wanted carved and Emry and Armin even helped scoop out the inside while Jared did the carving.

After being absolutely terrified, Armin finally decided to give it a try!

Halloween day the kids had a carnival at school so Armin and I went in to take part!  I took Calum around to all the stations while Emry let Armin tag along with her and her friends!  Armin was so scared of Lily, she was dressed up as a Vampire, he wouldn't even go near her.  And he was very leery of Gilbert, who was dressed up as The Joker.  Emry decided to be a bat again since her best friend wasn't able to see her in it last year.  Grandma Debbie had given her a beautiful witch costume (can a witch costume be beautiful?!), but she decided she would be a witch next year, that makes it much easier for us!  Once Jared came home we had a quick supper and got ready to go trick or treating!  The kids were beyond excited, they hadn't even had any candy yet and they were already bouncing off the walls!  Armin was such a trooper going door to door with Emry and Calum.  At each door he would say "Happy Hoween!"  All three kids were so polite and said thank you with very little prompting, and they took turns at each house ringing the doorbell!

 They came home with so much candy, Jared and I decided to keep their candy in our room and lock the door so the only way they can get some is if they ask!  Hopefully we can prevent some tummy aches and extreme sugar highs!  It was lots of fun and the weather wasn't too bad either, nippy but not snow pant weather!

This morning Jared needed my help to get the rest of the bales off the field where the cows are now.  They have started to get into the bales and Jared wasn't wanting to start feeding them quite yet.  It was taking him so long by himself, he would have to drive the tractor and trailer out to a section in the field, park it, unhook the tractor from the trailer to load 15 bales onto the trailer, hook back up to the trailer, drive the trailer home, park it in the field, unhook the trailer from the tractor, unload the 15 bales, hook back up to the trailer, drive back to the sand to load 15 more bales and start again!  This process took him about 2 hours, so in a good day he could really only make 4 round trips, which would make approximately 60 bales out of around 320 bales home in one day!  I think Jared estimated it would take about 10 full days to do this by himself!  10 days he didn't really have!  So today I didn't have to work so I helped him!  To save some time Jared hooked up the John Deere tractor to the trailer, which I drove around the field.  We would go to a section and he would use the other tractor with the bale forks to load up the bales.  Once loaded I would drive to the edge of the field where Jared would stack the bales on the other side of the fence until the ground freezes good and hard so he can bring them home without the fear of getting stuck in the mud.  Helping him finish up today only took us 4 hours instead of several days!  Jared was really feeling quite stressed, and maybe still is with all that still has to be done before winter really sets in!  He has to get the water here at home winter ready so when we bring the bulls home they will have water to drink.  He has to fix the fence around the main hub in the sand so he can bring home the metal panels he uses in the corrals.  He needs to bring the bulls home and set up moveable fences to be able to bale graze the cows once they too come home!  I was hoping to get our decks done if we had a few days of warm fall weather but I think Jared's time will be devoted to getting the farm winter ready for the cows!  Maybe in the spring?!!  While I was out helping Jared we left Emry in charge of the boys, we had no other choice and she really does do well when this responsibility is placed on her!  I only got one phone call from her telling me that the library called and what could they eat!  When I came in the house I noticed something was different, looking closer I noticed there were no toys upstairs, the dishes had been put away, the entry room was tidy and investigating further, even through the tears in my eyes I could see very clearly that the basement was spotless, all the toys were put away and all three kids were sitting huddled together on the couch watching Puss in Boots!!  No one was injured or missing!  I was so proud of my girl!  She is truly a blessing in our home, her brothers adore her and look up to her!  She is an example to me and I love her so much!  Even though her and I can fight like teenage girls, I still admire her strength, her diverse personality, her tender heart and her helpful spirit!

Happy Birthday Jared

Tuesday was Jared's 37th Birthday!  It was not a great day for us to celebrate it with all the other things we had going on!  Jared and I both worked and then I had Yoga and he and Emry had a practice for the skit they are in on Friday night for our Stake Cultural Night!  So with his actual birthday being totally booked we celebrated the night before!  I had made his favourite, chicken cordon bleu (a huge thanks to Myrna for putting it in the oven for me!) and root beer float cupcakes!  We invited Myrna over and Dave was able to come too since he was out working on his house!  The kids and I gave Jared a new pair of work boots and when he tried them on Armin said, "those are awesome!!"

It was a fun evening, and my cupcakes were super yummy too, I'm sure there is a recipe out there for the way I did them but instead of looking I attempted my own version, and they were spectacular!  I decided last minute to fill the chocolate cupcake (with a hint of root beer flavouring) with whipped cream.  I thought it would really taste like a root beer float if I added root beer extract to the whipped cream too!  And then I iced the cupcakes with simple vanilla icing!  It really did taste like a root beer float to me!

About 2 months ago Jared emailed me a link for a concert that was coming to Calgary!  A huge hint I think!!  So I looked into it and saw that this particular concert was scheduled for October 26th, a perfect birthday present!  So I got tickets!  The concert was soooooooooooo good!  It was Chris Cornell, with only his guitar!  He was the lead singer for Soundgarden and Audioslave, both great bands!  But seeing him solo was really good too!  The concert was at the Jubilee so great seats and amazing sound!  He ended up playing some of his Soundgarden hits as well as a Beatles song, a John Lennon song and a Led Zeppelin song!  It was so fun!  I asked Jared if he would like to out for dinner before the concert, and since it was for his birthday he could pick wherever he wanted!  He picked Five Guys Burgers and Fries!  It was yummy, never a disappointment!  All the way to and from Calgary we listened to the new 24 hour comedy station on the radio and both of us were in tears from laughing so hard!  One comedian came on and said how he would have loved to be in on the pitch meeting for one of the songs in Dora the Explorer.  It went something like this, "So what do you have for the song so far?"  "Well, not much, we are still working on it."  "Sing a little bit for us."  "Now? Well, okay....'I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, Iiiii'mmmmmm the MAP!"  "Wow!  I really like how it changes a bit at the end!"  After we recovered from laughing so hard we both did wonder how that song made it into the show!

It was a fun birthday, hopefully Jared had as much as I did celebrating another year!  I sure love him and even though I know he doesn't always feel like he is at the top of my priority list I love him truly more than anything in this entire world!  Yes, I love my children more than anything too, but my love for Jared is different, he is my very best friend!  I love laughing with him, crying with him, fighting (yes, we fight sometimes!!), cuddling with him (or as he puts it, leaning on him!!), kissing him, hugging him and just being with him!  He is a wonderful father to our children, he plays with them, teases them and just plain loves them!  He is hard working, life loving and handsome!  He teaches me so much and loves me more than I deserve!  I am thankful for another year with him and look forward to many, many more!

Uummmmmm?

I have not had anything really exciting happen to journal about in the last couple of weeks!! But as I sit here and reflect on all that has happened memories come back to me!!!

At the end of August my mom and Mark had my sister and I and our families over for supper! It was an end of summer sort of celebration! They had a long sheet of plastic set up down a small hill with the sprinkler on it to make a slip and slide! The kids loved this, the "big" kid too!!! Jared saw how much fun the kids were having so he got his suit on and joined the fun! Everyone was covered in grass so they all jumped in the pool to clean off!! Jared, Emry and Gilbert played water basketball, while Calum floated on a blow up chair!! The water was way too cold for him! Lily and Armin jumped on the trampoline and later Arren and I joined them! We had hot dogs and super yummy ribs that Mark made, salads and s'mores!  It was a great kick off for back to school and a wonderful end to a beautiful summer!

I have been working at the Pharmacy more than I am supposed to be scheduled for! So I haven't had a lot of one on one time with Armin. I did go into Okotoks with him yesterday morning before I went into work. My dad stayed at McDonalds with him while I was at my appointment and they had fun together! When dad first got there he asked a lady who was in the play area with her daughter if she could keep an eye on Armin while dad got their breakfast. When dad went back in with their food the lady said Armin was singing a song, she recognized it but just couldn't seem to put the words to it! Dad said, "we built this city on rock and roll"? She laughed and said yes that was it!! Armin is constantly singing this song!! When it was just "ampa" and Armin left in the play place, my dad went up to the top with Armin! Armin thought it was hilarious, especially when ampa pretended he was stuck and Armin would have to push him down!!

After my appointment Armin and I went to Costco! He wore his Scottish cap Buck and Arren brought back for him. I seriously lost count at how many elderly men stopped to tell us they loved his hat!! One was even wearing a hat similar to Armin's!

It was a great day!! So, even though not much has happened these past two weeks, many great memories have still been made!  So Dad, I hope this appeases your blog withdrawal!!!!

Thanksgiving

Yesterday we were able to spend Thanksgiving with all of the Puzey's plus two friends from church, Denis (our Home Teacher) and Bonita (who I also happen to work with at the Pharmacy!)  It was a gorgeous day, a typical crisp autumn day!  Though the morning started out a little rough, Jared got called into work at 8am!  He had lots he wanted to do before everyone arrived at noon :( Without Jared around that morning I started doing things that weren't totally necessary to do before our company arrived!  So our dinner ended up being served an hour late, but thankfully it was because Jared made it home in time to eat with us!

Doing the things that weren't totally necessary for our Thanksgiving feast!  I added these wooden bird decals above our front door.  My dad had given them to me!  Below them I want to put vinyl lettering that says "Spread Your Wings"

I love our kitchen, a very country feel! 

I don't have a fireplace mantle so I use this sofa table!  I love Autumn decorations!

Everyone pitched in and brought something to contribute to the feast!  I offered our house with the stipulation that someone else bring the turkey!  With my total disgust of meat on bones and the thought of sticking my hand in a turkey's butt I just dont think cooking a turkey is for me!  Thankfully Myrna offered to cook the turkey and I'm glad she did, it was delicious!  I did mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and peas and corn!  Char brought a salad, and coconut cream pie, and a cheese ball and crackers for snacks later!  Lalainia brought buns (super yummy) and pumpkin pies (also super yummy!).  Rachel brought lemon pies and a green bean casserole (again yummy!).  There was enough food to feed a small army, and in honour of David I made way, way to many potatoes (though we all agreed that it still wasn't the amount David would have made!)  We had lots of laughs, lots of visiting and lots of treats!  I also made White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles (my new favorite cooke!) and a fall type of nuts and bolts? It had chex cereal coated in melted chocolate, peanut butter and icing sugar!  And mixed with that I put pretzels, peanut butter m&m's and candy corn!  It was really good!A definite keeper!  I think I can even adapt it to fit the holiday!

The kids had fun playing together, as always!  There were spy games going on, train track building, wii games, quad riding, trampoline jumping, girl talking and ball throwing!  It was great hearing the noises of laughing and occasional squealing coming up from the basement!  Char brought paper plates and plastic cups and utensils so there were very minimal dishes to do!

Jonas 

Girls being girls!

Armin...Some kind of spy!!

I love Thanksgiving!  I love being with family and reflecting on all I have been blessed with!  I am thankful for my "sisters", I am thankful for their examples to me.  I am thankful for their love and support!  I am thankful we share in each others good news, as well as each others trials.  I am excited for Char to move here, I am excited to have her close as a friend and sister.  I hope our relationship will grow stronger, there is a lot I can learn from her!  I am thankful Rachel and Lalainia live as close as they do too, I just need to make an effort to stop in and visit with them more often!

I am thankful for a husband who truly is my best friend!  He works hard for us to keep us safe and comfortable!  He involves our kids in everything he does even when it actually slows him down!  He is kind and compassionate, he keeps things real and reminds me to do the same!  He is loyal and devoted and he is the biggest example to me of being truly accepting of others, faults and all!

I am thankful for my children!  They all have unique personalities and teach me something new each day!  They are healthy, they are kind, they are caring and accepting of others!  They are polite and they  try hard to do what is right!  I know I am hard on them, especially Emry, but she really is a sweet girl and she helps me out so much!  I told her I really needed her help with the cleaning, and though she didn't really clean, I did overhear her say to Calum while they were playing that they needed to clean up what they were playing with before the moved onto something else, or they would have a huge mess to clean up later!  So, in actuality she did help me that day!

I am thankful for our children's love of music!  Emry is always singing something, even if its something she made up!  Calum is always dancing and Armin too!  Whenever Jared plays his guitar those boys run into his music room, rip off their shirts and dance and sing!  I'm not sure what to think of that, but for now I think its really cute!

I am thankful for our home, for the free country we live in, for my job at the Pharmacy, for my calling at Church teaching the Youth Sunday School class! And for my Stake calling with Myrna in the Primary Presidency!  I learn new things every week just being with the youth and also working with Myrna, Jan and Christi and all the Primary kids in our Stake!  And I am so thankful for my membership in such a fulfilling Church!  I feel content and at peace in my life.  I am not afraid of what is to come, because I know that as I continue to prepare myself through studying the scriptures and prayer I will be able to attain the ultimate goal of returning to live with my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ!  I am not perfect, nor will I ever be, but at least I know I am on the right track and as long as I live and act in a way Our Savior would I am doing my best!  Life is hard, but I know I will make it because I have the love and support from family, friends and my Savior.  I have a heart full of thanks!

Life

This past couple of weeks have been just two typical weeks in the Puzey home!  Last Friday night Jared, Myrna and I drove up to Calgary to see Valdy play at the Calgary Folk Club!! It was totally a last minute decision!! Jared had heard Monday on CKUA radio that Valdy would be in Calgary! Tuesday he asked me if I could get tickets so I looked into it and was totally able to! While I was on their site getting the tickets I noticed the opening act was going to be Michael Jerome Brown!!!!!! We have seen him a couple of times before and actually got Emry's name from one of his songs!!!  It was a great concert, the atmosphere was not quite the same as at the Lethbridge Folk Club, there were about 10 times the people in Calgary!!!

Saturday I had to work and while I was helping a lady find a hand brace I feel something hit me in the back. At first I thought it was the lady I was helping because she was standing slightly behind me! I turned to see and noticed a Chapstick package on the floor and wondered about why it was there when I heard a familiar giggle!! My mom was hiding behind the Chapstick rack!  I was quite excited because she had been in Mexico for the week, and my sister left for Scotland at the same time so I was feeling pretty lonely without them!! It happened to be lunch time when my mom stopped in so I was able to go have lunch with her and Mark! It was fun hearing about their week on the beach!!

Monday was the last day of work for the Pharmacy Manager where I work. This was sad because she was quite close with a lot of the customers and did go above and beyond to help them out. The Pharmacist and I did have a little going away do for her, we ordered in lunch, I brought her favorite cream cheese brownies and we gave her a card with words of thanks written inside!! It was a pretty good day despite the sadness attached to someone leaving. 

Thursday Emry had her annual Cross Country Run in Arrowwod! She did well, I wasn't able to go see her but she told me all about it when she got home! 

Friday I found out I won a $20 gift card for a home decor store in Lethbridge!  I had actually never heard of it before but saw the contest advertised on my Facebook page so I decided to enter! All I had to do was pick a number between 8 and 1888! So in the comments I wrote our box number!  The next morning I noticed I had a notification saying my number was picked through an automated draw!! So I asked Jared if he would like to go have a nice dinner with me in Lethbridge! Myrna agreed to babysit and off we went! I told Jared where to go to get to the store where my newly acquired gift card awaited me! Jared was sure this place didn't exist, it was located behind Canadian Tire in a sort of dark alley! But we found it, parked and sat there for a minute watching the building! Then the door opened and a respectable lady walked out looking fairly pleasant! I decided to go in and see for myself!! It was amazing, the exact type of decor I love!! And not expensive at all!! I claimed my gift card and told the cashier I couldn't wait to come back when I'm all by myself and thoroughly look around!! 

Jared and I then headed to Moxies for a kid free supper!! It was lots of fun! I love going out with Jared, we always have fun teasing each other, laughing, reminiscing, talking about the antics of our three adorable kids and just being together!! He truly is my best friend, I love him so much and really needed that night with him! I feel renewed and ready to face the challenges that are sure to come!

Overall it was an uneventful couple of weeks but fun nonetheless!  New memories were made and that is always something to treasure!