Christmas Eve was spent at Wayne's parents' home. Again, great food and fun was had. We participated in the traditional Christmas march through the house and a Family Home Evening program. I was very touched by Brian's poem and musical slide presentation put to Wayne's song, "In His Hands". The kids have had fun with their Utah cousins too.
Christmas morning was a bit different this year. As we are in the process of moving (soon...we hope,) we chose not to dig out the Christmas decorations and set up a tree. Instead, we simply hung 5 stockings up for the kids. Santa came and left some goodies for the kids and then it was off to HOC (House of Chan) for more Christmas fun. We were joined by Byron, Nancy, Hannah and Maddie and we all had lots of great gifts to open. We enjoyed a scandalous turkey dinner with ALL of the trimmings, games, fun and much laughter.
We were home by about 9am. Now where do we store all of these things? Our garage is full of the new appliances for the new house and our basement is quickly filling up with boxes that are packed for the move. We just need to get into our new house! 
Jade and Mike arrived safely after a LONG 15 hour drive from Utah. On Saturday, we got to do Christmas all over again with them. Lots of fun. They are here for a week and the boys couldn't be happier to be able to spend time with cute little Rhome.
It has been a great week.
Boxing Day is sort of a blur. I've never stood in line in the early morning, hoping to get in on a deal. However, this year I did. Wayne convinced me to go with him to get some "goodies" for the new house. We picked up Maddie and Deb at 5:30am and headed to Future Shop. We stood out in the cold for a short while, then when the doors opened, made our way to our assigned departments. Within about 30 minutes, we had purchased a 30" LG LCD tv, a 50" LG Plasma tv, a 22" computer monitor and a new washer and dryer! But that wasn't the end. Next we dropped Wayne off at Visions and he stood in line to get some wall mounts for the new tvs. Maddie, Deb and I headed off to Sears where I picked up yet another tv...a 40" Sony LCD tv.
We were home by about 9am. Now where do we store all of these things? Our garage is full of the new appliances for the new house and our basement is quickly filling up with boxes that are packed for the move. We just need to get into our new house! Jade and Mike arrived safely after a LONG 15 hour drive from Utah. On Saturday, we got to do Christmas all over again with them. Lots of fun. They are here for a week and the boys couldn't be happier to be able to spend time with cute little Rhome.
It has been a great week.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Winter is HERE!
Winter has finally arrived in Southern Alberta! No, we do not live in igloos, eat seal blubber or have winter year round. Yes, we do get all 4 seasons, have daylight until almost 11pm in the summer and yes, we have to plug our cars in during the winter if it gets too cold. Today, we had to plug our cars in.
We had a winter storm warning yesterday and at about 5pm, the snow started to fall and the winds picked up. Before too long, we were in white-out conditions...a blizzard. The temperatures started falling and by 4pm today, it was -27 Celsius. That is DANG cold! With the wind chill, it is about -35 Celsius...that's about -31 Fahrenheit!! And we had to dig ourselves out from under about 15-20 cm of snow.
So for some winter fun, I thought I would post this. This was sent to me in my email, but I thought it would be fun to blog my answers. Here is a list of 99 things...the bold ones are thing that I HAVE done...
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child - I adopted 2 Cabbage Patch Kids!?
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Yes, from school
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community - I saw a lot of Amish in Pennsylvania, but not their actual community.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied...thanks Sugar Daddy!
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance - rode with Parker when he was 6 weeks old
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - only a small tip of it
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake-waded in it, does that count?
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wishful Thinking
December is supposed to be a month of wishes. My wish is that we will be in our new house before Christmas, however, it seems like everyday there is a new set back. We are into month 14 of the build! Most builders could've built 2 or 3 houses in this amount of time! Our builder, Dominic, keeps saying that he is trying to have us in by Christmas yet does very little work to get progress made on our house. The tile guy didn't do anything because no one brought him the tile. He does not pick it up, he just installs. The carpet guy didn't order our other flooring because he said he was waiting to get the go-ahead from us!? He knew what point our house was at and said they would order the rest of the stuff last month; now he said is was waiting for us. Dom's old painting crew quit, yet he knew nothing of it until we mentioned it to him. Luckily, he found a new crew and they seem pretty gung-ho. I don't think this wish will be coming true this Christmas!
I just can't stress about the house anymore. It's not doing anyone any good. I've come to terms with the idea of moving in January. The sad thing is that I don't even want to get out all of our Christmas stuff since we are already trying to pack some things up. So this year, we will just hang our stockings and use my parent's tree and house for Christmas.
In other news...we just returned from another trip south. We left Emmy and Azia with my parents so they could still attend school. We shipped Parker and Cardiff out to Fort Macleod to stay with Wayne's parents. All the kids did well and had a good time. The girls got put to work at Subway, doing prep on a couple of afternoons. They were more than happy to "go to work" since they got paid pretty well by Grammy! Parker worked on his Bird Dance and Patty-cake Polka out at Grandma's. Cardiff did well playing with Parker and was well behaved all week. We took Sawyer with us and he travelled so well.
Wayne was the featured musical guest performer for the Festival of Trees "Lights On" Ceremony following the auction of all the items. He performed 2 songs during the ceremony then had about 30 minutes of stage time afterwards. What an honour to be able to do that.
I had fun meeting up with some friends from our days in University housing. Can you believe it has been 4 1/2 years since we moved home? Time truly is flying by! I tried to do some shopping, but the exchange on the Canadian dollar is not as good, so I was a bit choosy on what to purchase. 
On our way home, we stopped in Great Falls and picked up all 5 of our kitchen appliances to bring back. I had purchased them in August during a super sale and our dollar was close to par. It was a great deal! We loaded them into a Uhaul truck and brought them back. They now sit in our garage until the house is ready for them.
So with that, I'll leave my Christmas wish for all of you...we wish you all the best in 2009. We wish you happiness, health and many joyous memories. We are so incredibly blessed and even though my wish this year probably won't come true, so many of my other wishes have! I am blessed!