Braces are off!!!!

Calum got his braces off and do his teeth ever look good!!!! This set of braces was correcting his bite so his bottom teeth weren’t biting over top of his top teeth and boy did they ever correct that!!!!! He’s a handsome lad who desperately needs a haircut but refuses!!!! He’s finding his style and who he wants to be!!!! I love him to pieces but boy does he know how to push my buttons!!!!  Much like his father that way!!!! They truly are cut from the same cloth!!!!

Basketball 2018-2019

Emry sure enjoyed playing ball again this year, her last year with the Vulcan junior High hawks!!! She learned a lot about the game and had fun too!!! Her growth from grade seven to grade nine was phenomenal!!  She worked hard and grew more confident!!! She even won player of the game at one of her tournaments!!!! Great job Emry!!! I can’t wait to watch her play throughout high school!!!

We have been watching the NBA playoffs and the Raptors, our family’s favourite team, have been playing hard!!! They had some ups and downs throughout this last series but Kawai Leonard stepped up his game and played amazingly!!!! He scored the winning basket last night to win the semi finals!!! Now the Raptors move on to hopefully win the Eastern Conference finals!!!! Jared and I were both so into the game last night and whooped when the ball fell into the basket right at the buzzer, bouncing four times on the rim first!!!! I got teary eyed and Emry laughed at us!!!!! What a finish for an outstanding team!!!!

Christmas 2018

Since I started working at the grocery store in August Christmas really seemed to come early!!!!! The store put up Christmas displays before Halloween came, so I was seeing all kinds of Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas music much earlier than I usually do and I loved it!!!!!!  Though we didn’t decorate our house until the first week of December and we didn’t make chocolates until the second Saturday in December!!!! Life sure gets busy, fast!!!! But it’s a good busy!!!!

I had a great time making chocolates with the Puzey girls!! We missed Myrna and her stamina when it came to getting it all done in record time, but we did good, had a late night Friday but finished early on Saturday!!!!

The kids decorated gingerbread houses and sugar cookies, our usual traditions!!!! They sure had fun and by the looks of the mess did a great job!!!!!!

Our Ward Christmas party was exceptional as always!!!! Mom and Mark and Owen came and well as my Dad!!!! I always love having them come and celebrate with us!!!! I had to work during the day of the party and a little old lady and her friend had overheard me talking to a lady from our Ward about the party!! She asked when and where it was and if she could come! I told her of course she could it was open to anyone!!! Well to my surprise they did come and even stayed for the program!! She told me she loved every minute especially the kids doing the nativity!!! You never know what kind of imprint you make on others, I’m glad we made a good impression on her!!!!

Christmas Day was very casual for us!!! The kids were told not to wake us up until 8am and they obeyed!!!!! They were full of so much excitement and joy!!!! It didn’t take us long to open our few presents but everyone was happy!!! For dinner we had Mom and Mark and Owen and my dad over!!! We had a yummy roast beef dinner with all the trimmings!!! And chocolate dessert to finish it off!!! My mom brought ribs and they complimented the roast beautifully!!!! We had no snow but beautiful hoar frost making everything beautifully white!!!!  It truly was a magical Christmas!!! Sadly I had to go to work on Boxing Day but Jared was home with the kids and they had fun lounging around!!!!!

I love the Christmas season, so much peace and magic fills the air! People are friendlier with each other and more patient with each other!!!!

It’s Great to Be 8

Armin turned 8 on November 29!!! He desperately wanted to have a nerf gun war with his buddies!!! So we made it happen!!! He invited 5 friends and they each brought their own nerf guns without bullets!!! I found a case of 500 generic bullets at Walmart for a decent price!!! That way no one would lose theirs or get them mixed up! But I sorta regretting the idea of owning 500 nerf bullets, I find them everywhere!!!!! The boys had so much fun! They played hard, had hot dogs and cupcakes and played hard some more!! Calum had set up some bases which went over very well! They played their own version of the video game “Fortnight”!

Not only is 8 a special birthday any old time but in our church it is when children can choose to be baptized and truly become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!  Armin was so excited to be baptized!!! He thought hard about who he wanted to speak at his baptism and chose his Auntie Lalainia to speak about baptism and his Uncle Dave to speak about the Holy Ghost!! They both did such great jobs, I know Armin could feel the spirit as strongly as I did!! Lalainia’s talk made him teary eyed!!!! Such a tender hearted boy!!!! It was so nice having my mom and Mark and my Dad there too as well as many ward members!!! It was a beautiful service!!!! I’m so proud of the decision he made and the choices he will continue to make because of his baptism!!!

San Diego-Marine Biology

In November Jared and Emry has the opportunity to travel to San Diego with the Champion Junior High for Marine Biology!!! They started learning about the different marine life and ecosystems of the ocean about a month before the trip so they were familiar with everything! Kathy Perley taught them and put a lot of time and effort into doing so!!! Jared won the draw for the male chaperone spot which meant he had an all expense paid trip!!!!!!

They did so much in the five days they were there! Including boogie boarding on the ocean, snorkeling, a trip to Sea World and lots of classroom time learning and dissecting creatures!!! They had a bonfire on the beach one night and played games!!! Their counsellors were excellent!!! Emry said it was funny in the mornings because their counsellors would come out all bundled up in toques and jackets and the champion kids would be in shorts and t-shirts!!!! It averaged mid twenties there so the perfect temperature!!!!

Emry loved seeing the palm trees and even hugged one! I’m so glad they got to experience this trip together! They had a blast and if they could grow any closer than they already are I’m sure they did!!!

Another One Tops the Chart

Jared and I had the opportunity to go see one of our most favourite musicians in November!  Jack White came to Calgary and we just HAD to go!!! And boy are we ever glad we did!!!  He did not disappoint, he performed quite a few of his White Stripes songs and some of his newer solo album songs!!!! Sooooo good!!!! He has had quite the career, he started out his later teenage years as an upholsterer in a furniture store where he created his first band called The Upolsterers!!!! He then created a two man band with himself and a girl who was an amazing drummer, called The White Stripes!!! Then another band called The Raconters, who are making another album. And then The Dead Weather, who we also saw live and was an unreal performance as well!!!! Then his solo career, which have proved to be great albums too!!!!! He truly is an amazing artist and I’m so happy he keeps making great music!!!  These pictures were taken at the concert we saw in November and published on Jack Whites Instagram!!! 

Rejuvination

I got to go on a little getaway with my mom and sister in October! Arren went to Edmonton for a Women’s Conference through Enjo so she invited mom and me along!!! Mom and I had so much fun looking at the different booths at the women’s conference, too much fun I think!!!! We were putting our name in for draws all over, atone particular booth I started writing my name down when out of the corner of my eye I see mom laughing!!!! I asked the lady who was maning the booth what she was selling, it happened to be different “sex” toys!!!! Well mom said I turned bright red instantly!!!! I quickly moved on and hoped my name wasn’t picked for the draw!!!!!  We each had a 15 minute neck massage, got lots of goodies and had lots of laughs!!!! We left Arren there with her othe Enjo ladies and we went and  had a yummy supper at Moxie’s!!!  Later that evening we all went for a dip in the hotel pool and laughed some more!!!!

The next day Arren had a Enjo question and answer demo at the West Edmonton Mall!!! Before the demo we went to see A Star is Born, soooooooo good!!!!!!! A real tear jerker though!!!! Arren leaned over to me while at the movie and said if it ends bad she was never going to speak to me again!!!!!  Let’s just say I was silent bawling, the music in it was so good!!!!

We then went and ate at a Shwarma restaurant!!! So yummy, but the place was a real dive!!!! I felt a little unsafe eating there!!!! Windows were cracked, I was glad it was still light out when we left!!!

It was such a fun getaway!!!! Nice to be with my mom and sister!!!! I always enjoy their company, we always have some good laughs when we’re together!!!!! We will have to do it again soon!!!