Alright, I realize that I have been extremely neglectful with our family blog. For this I apologize and must "eat some Crow" for Maddy, as I have teased her terribly about not staying up to date on her blog.
So here are the last 3 months in a short version. Dallas turned 16 at the end of October, became a Laurel and is truly one of the funniest people that I know. She also received her Patriarchal Blessing and that was truly a profound, yet not really suprising experience. I always knew that she would be fabulous at whatever she decides to do and this just confirmed it.
Mike turned 44!!!! in November. Hee Hee. We had a nice evening celebrating with friends and he got to have his favorite dinner at the Keg. It was a really nice evening. For his birthday, we were able to copy his Grampa Gilbert Smith's life history, thanks to Aunt Geneva and that was a special thing to do for him.
At the end of November, Jordanne turned 18 and boy does it feel weird to have 2 children who are legal adults!! She is getting excited for high school to be over and to go to post secondary school. She has already completed all of her Early acceptance applications for Nursing, so it is just a matter of final marks and an offical "you are in letter". She also received a calling at church and is now playing the piano for Primary. She loves this new calling.
December brought Christmas and all of the excitement that such a season entails. As a family, we spent much time together, just being together and it was wonderful. We did have a big party with a bunch of friends. The White Elephant gift exchange was fun. Maddy fought hard to keep the socks that she had purchased.
The Christmas season was a time of reflection, with the moving of good friends, acts of service to others and acts of kindness given to our family. We are so richly blessed to have the knowledge of the Gospel and the blessing of the Priesthood in our home.
Mike got a new calling in December as well, he was released from High Council and is now back in the Bishopric. I guess he didn't figure out how to do that calling yet, as he keeps getting to repeat it! Just kidding, I know that he loves his Heavenly Father first and is always willing to serve, that is why the Lord keeps him busy.
Young Womens is keeping me busy, New Beginnings is over and now we are focusing on Camp. We will probably have 25-30 Young Women, so I am trying really hard not to obsess over the preparation!! The site is booked and the date approved, so we are on our way.
Reid has grown a whole bunch. He is proud to be taller than his mother and one of his sisters, but at the rate he is going, it won't be long until he is taller than all of us except Mike and really I don't think that it will be too long before he is taller than his Dad too! He is busy with Tae Kwon Do and Scouts and working on his Duty to God. He has been taking his best friend to Young Mens with him for about 3 months and it looks like they will both attend winter camp at the end of February. His Young Mens leaders are awesome and we as parents are very appreciative of all that they are doing for him.
January brought Maddy's 20th birthday and another one of her friends becoming engaged. I think that she freaked out about the "end of teenagehood" for about 2 days, but now she is truly embracing this time in her life. She is heading off to California to visit Jenny during reading week, and she is quite excited about this trip. I however am quite jealous!!
Anyway, we love all of you, hope that you are all well and love love love to read the blogs!!!
Be Good!!
Love the Smiths
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Another holiday over!!
Oh how quickly time goes. It seems like you wait and wait for occasions, and they come and are gone so quickly. I remember my Mother telling me that the older you get, the faster time goes. I am now a firm believer!!
Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had 2 dinners. One with our family and one with some new members and friends from our ward. It was awesome. I really enjoy cooking for a big occasion. You really feel like you have accomplished something, especially when your guests eat and eat until they are stuffed. It is fun to have the kids and my sweet husband help me get everything ready. Sometimes there are little breakdowns, but most of the time is fun, as we all work together for a common goal. This time I was lucky, because Reid had 2 days off school and I had 2 days off work and so him and I worked together lots and he was a fantastic helper!! It was just fun to have 2 days just me and him!! I am thankful that at the age of 12, he still likes to snuggle up and watch a movie with his Mom.
Dallas's 16th Birthday is fast approaching. On Halloween Night, she will finally be able to concentrate on herself!! Her whole life so far, she has had to postpone her birthday because of Trick or Treating, but now that Reid has reached the cut off age of 12, we have no more Trick or Treaters and so she can finally have a celebration all her own. I cannot believe that she is going to be 16. She gave a talk on Sunday in sacrament and did such a fantastic job. I forget how mature she is sometimes. In my mind, she is still my little sidekick "Spud" and sometimes it shocks me that she is in Grade 11 and so grown up!! As she always has plans in her mind and doesn't always communicate her plans to her parents very well, maybe we should do some investigation work and find out what she has planned for her big day, in her mind???
Reid is excited for Halloween for a completely different reason, this will be the first time he gets to hand out candy. He has a special love for little kids and truly enjoys spending time with them, so he gets a real kick out of seeing our neighbours little kids come Trick or Treating. Plus he will get to dress his sidekick Gus in his Devil halloween costume so that they can answer the door together. Our next door neighbours have a little girl who comes out in the back yard and hangs onto the chain link fence yelling "Gussy, Gussy" and our little dog goes running over to the fence and she kisses him through the fence. It's pretty cute, other than the fact that he's licking her face. But she loves it and so does Gus and her Mom doesn't seem to mind, so what do you do? When she comes Trick or Treating, it is an extended Treat!!
The weather stinks! As if snow wasn't bad enough, the cold has been brutal. We just have not had time to get used to it yet. Brrr, when we leave for papers in the morning, it is just too darn cold. It is hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago it was 34 degrees above zero. No wonder we have had such a hard time with this cold snap. At least it is supposed to be beautiful on the weekend!!
Mike has had a tough couple of weeks. He has had a lot of stuff on his plate and I know that sometimes that pressure is hard to take. Yesterday he talked on the telephone to his brother in New Zealand. They haven't talked over the phone for quite a long time and it was a great visit. He sure enjoyed hearing about all of the adventures that they are having way across the ocean. We both love to hear of all the adventures that their kids are having. When your the Auntie and the Uncle, you have a completely different perspective on all of the mischief that they get into. Because we no longer have little kids we can completely enjoy all of the antics and we just love reading about them on Facebook and their Mom always words her descriptions so well. We just get the giggles!!
Thank heavens for the internet. It helps us all to keep track of one anothers lives while we are far apart. We love you all and hope that you and your families had a wonderful Thankgiving season!!
Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had 2 dinners. One with our family and one with some new members and friends from our ward. It was awesome. I really enjoy cooking for a big occasion. You really feel like you have accomplished something, especially when your guests eat and eat until they are stuffed. It is fun to have the kids and my sweet husband help me get everything ready. Sometimes there are little breakdowns, but most of the time is fun, as we all work together for a common goal. This time I was lucky, because Reid had 2 days off school and I had 2 days off work and so him and I worked together lots and he was a fantastic helper!! It was just fun to have 2 days just me and him!! I am thankful that at the age of 12, he still likes to snuggle up and watch a movie with his Mom.
Dallas's 16th Birthday is fast approaching. On Halloween Night, she will finally be able to concentrate on herself!! Her whole life so far, she has had to postpone her birthday because of Trick or Treating, but now that Reid has reached the cut off age of 12, we have no more Trick or Treaters and so she can finally have a celebration all her own. I cannot believe that she is going to be 16. She gave a talk on Sunday in sacrament and did such a fantastic job. I forget how mature she is sometimes. In my mind, she is still my little sidekick "Spud" and sometimes it shocks me that she is in Grade 11 and so grown up!! As she always has plans in her mind and doesn't always communicate her plans to her parents very well, maybe we should do some investigation work and find out what she has planned for her big day, in her mind???
Reid is excited for Halloween for a completely different reason, this will be the first time he gets to hand out candy. He has a special love for little kids and truly enjoys spending time with them, so he gets a real kick out of seeing our neighbours little kids come Trick or Treating. Plus he will get to dress his sidekick Gus in his Devil halloween costume so that they can answer the door together. Our next door neighbours have a little girl who comes out in the back yard and hangs onto the chain link fence yelling "Gussy, Gussy" and our little dog goes running over to the fence and she kisses him through the fence. It's pretty cute, other than the fact that he's licking her face. But she loves it and so does Gus and her Mom doesn't seem to mind, so what do you do? When she comes Trick or Treating, it is an extended Treat!!
The weather stinks! As if snow wasn't bad enough, the cold has been brutal. We just have not had time to get used to it yet. Brrr, when we leave for papers in the morning, it is just too darn cold. It is hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago it was 34 degrees above zero. No wonder we have had such a hard time with this cold snap. At least it is supposed to be beautiful on the weekend!!
Mike has had a tough couple of weeks. He has had a lot of stuff on his plate and I know that sometimes that pressure is hard to take. Yesterday he talked on the telephone to his brother in New Zealand. They haven't talked over the phone for quite a long time and it was a great visit. He sure enjoyed hearing about all of the adventures that they are having way across the ocean. We both love to hear of all the adventures that their kids are having. When your the Auntie and the Uncle, you have a completely different perspective on all of the mischief that they get into. Because we no longer have little kids we can completely enjoy all of the antics and we just love reading about them on Facebook and their Mom always words her descriptions so well. We just get the giggles!!
Thank heavens for the internet. It helps us all to keep track of one anothers lives while we are far apart. We love you all and hope that you and your families had a wonderful Thankgiving season!!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thanksgiving is here...almost
I don't know about you, but I love holidays where all you do to get ready is cook and clean.
There is nothing more fun than cooking a big meal for friends and family and having it all eaten in 1/2 an hour. I just think that it is one of my favorite things to do for those that I love. The only drawback is that we are far away from family and that is hard. We wish that we lived closer, didn't have such grown up kids with responsibilities, or didn't have church callings that kept us here. Holidays are about family, so any of you family who read this and want to be fed a good meal dinner is Saturday at 3:30pm.
One of the things about living far away is that you make friends who become your family. We have been blessed with the best friends ever, some who have immigrated here to Canada. We also have been blessed to have a new "Uncle" added to our family who comes from a Ukarainian background so we have discussed many different holiday traditions that these wonderful people have. Some of our best friends are from Russia and boy do they eat different food for holidays than we do. The greatest thing about all of this is that we have learned to enjoy new foods and are now getting braver in trying to make them on our own. Where does all of this lead...well...sour cabbage rolls. This is a new item on our Thanksgiving menu this year and we made them for the first time last weekend. We were able to freeze two containers full for Thanksgiving dinner. Now we just need to keep making one menu item each night and we will be good to go for Saturday. Just to entice your tastebuds here is the menu:
Ham- I know, I know, no turkey, but when you already have 2 big hams in the freezer how could you justify spending money on a turkey, besides Christmas for sure will be turkey.
Scalloped potatoes-or funeral potatoes as they are sometimes called.
Stuffing
Sour Cabbage Rolls
Orange Jello salad- can't do the signature Pistachio, as one of the guests will die if he eats nuts!! Maybe we could make both kinds???
Zucchini
Corn
Carrots
Sweet Potatoes
Fresh bread
and for dessert
Pumpkin Pie or Ice Cream, or both if you insist!!
We got Thanksgiving napkins too!!! Can't wait!!!
Again, anyone who is hungry, you are always welcome!
We are so lucky to have a Temple in our city that is literally only 5 minutes from our home. We try really hard to go each week and even though the challenges of life don't change, how we handle them sure does. Recently a dear friend of ours who was less active for 30 years, just went to have her own endowments, what a fantastic experience it was to see her so ready for the covenants and blessings that she received there. This weekend the youth in our ward get to do baptisms for the dead and it will be Reid's first time. He is very excited and well prepared as Jordanne taught an awesome lesson on it for Family Home Evening this week. It will be so fun to watch the "baby" of the family perform this sacred ordinance for the first time.
Well Jordanne is, much to her dismay, officially growing up. Though she has tried to fight this, time just keeps rolling along. Today, she applied for Nursing!! She is going to proudly follow in her Aunt Jess's footsteps and become a nurse. It is really exciting to see her go forward with this endeavour. We are proud and VERY thankful to all of her Aunties who have set such good examples!!
As usual time is short. We love you all, especially the blogs and pictures. Tara, your pictures of the farm were awesome!! Jess, we love love love watching your babies grow!!
The Smiths
There is nothing more fun than cooking a big meal for friends and family and having it all eaten in 1/2 an hour. I just think that it is one of my favorite things to do for those that I love. The only drawback is that we are far away from family and that is hard. We wish that we lived closer, didn't have such grown up kids with responsibilities, or didn't have church callings that kept us here. Holidays are about family, so any of you family who read this and want to be fed a good meal dinner is Saturday at 3:30pm.
One of the things about living far away is that you make friends who become your family. We have been blessed with the best friends ever, some who have immigrated here to Canada. We also have been blessed to have a new "Uncle" added to our family who comes from a Ukarainian background so we have discussed many different holiday traditions that these wonderful people have. Some of our best friends are from Russia and boy do they eat different food for holidays than we do. The greatest thing about all of this is that we have learned to enjoy new foods and are now getting braver in trying to make them on our own. Where does all of this lead...well...sour cabbage rolls. This is a new item on our Thanksgiving menu this year and we made them for the first time last weekend. We were able to freeze two containers full for Thanksgiving dinner. Now we just need to keep making one menu item each night and we will be good to go for Saturday. Just to entice your tastebuds here is the menu:
Ham- I know, I know, no turkey, but when you already have 2 big hams in the freezer how could you justify spending money on a turkey, besides Christmas for sure will be turkey.
Scalloped potatoes-or funeral potatoes as they are sometimes called.
Stuffing
Sour Cabbage Rolls
Orange Jello salad- can't do the signature Pistachio, as one of the guests will die if he eats nuts!! Maybe we could make both kinds???
Zucchini
Corn
Carrots
Sweet Potatoes
Fresh bread
and for dessert
Pumpkin Pie or Ice Cream, or both if you insist!!
We got Thanksgiving napkins too!!! Can't wait!!!
Again, anyone who is hungry, you are always welcome!
We are so lucky to have a Temple in our city that is literally only 5 minutes from our home. We try really hard to go each week and even though the challenges of life don't change, how we handle them sure does. Recently a dear friend of ours who was less active for 30 years, just went to have her own endowments, what a fantastic experience it was to see her so ready for the covenants and blessings that she received there. This weekend the youth in our ward get to do baptisms for the dead and it will be Reid's first time. He is very excited and well prepared as Jordanne taught an awesome lesson on it for Family Home Evening this week. It will be so fun to watch the "baby" of the family perform this sacred ordinance for the first time.
Well Jordanne is, much to her dismay, officially growing up. Though she has tried to fight this, time just keeps rolling along. Today, she applied for Nursing!! She is going to proudly follow in her Aunt Jess's footsteps and become a nurse. It is really exciting to see her go forward with this endeavour. We are proud and VERY thankful to all of her Aunties who have set such good examples!!
As usual time is short. We love you all, especially the blogs and pictures. Tara, your pictures of the farm were awesome!! Jess, we love love love watching your babies grow!!
The Smiths
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Leaves are Falling all Around
I don't know about where you live, but in Edmonton, we have had terrible cold wind for about a week. Brrr!! It feels like snow, and yes, I am aware that is a bad word!!
We are hoping that the "s word" stays away for a little longer, and yet, we are torn, because the land is so very dry here. On the radio yesterday they said that our usual rainfall for the month of September is 43 mm and this year we received only 9mm. So it is very dry and we know how desperate the farmers are for moisture. So if it snows, then we are hoping it is only -1 or -2. We certainly are not ready for -10.
There are some very beautiful things that we all love about fall though. The color of the leaves is amazing and as you drive through the river valley it kind of takes your breath away. Early in the morning, the stars are so bright this time of year and a big beautiful harvest moon is about to happen this week. These are all wonderful things about fall!!
September has been an expensive month for the Smith family. We didn't anticipate having to spend an extra $2000.00 on vehicle repairs!! All I can say to that is thank heavens we were able to complete the repairs and our testimony about tithing is constantly strengthened. We are so thankful for the many blessings that Heavenly Father has blessed us with!
The comments that we have received on our blog are so fun. It is great to hear from family members. We all love to read your blogs and see the pictures of your families, it sure makes everyone seem closer than they are. We need to post some pictures on our blog. One of our children will have to teach us how to do that.
Now that September is over, we feel like we can relax a little and spend some time together without everyone running here and there non stop. Between Youth Conference, the Relief Society broadcast, and Stake Leadership we have had every weekend booked and we need to stay home and clean our house. We were able to get the yard ready for winter though, which is always nice, as there is nothing worse than trying to clean up the yard after it has snowed and all of the perennials are mucky and wet. Much to Mike's dismay, we did get more perennials and so we spent a couple of hours last Saturday planting them. I think that sometimes it is hard for him to vision the picture of our yard that I have in my head. Maybe I don't explain my vision good enough???
Mike has had a very busy month. As part of his High Council duties, he is over Relief Society, so last weekend he spent countless hours helping the Relief Society prepare for the meeting and dinner that we had before the broadcast. He also is over a ward that has huge needs, and so he attends that ward and all of their meetings each week. This includes weekday meetings scheduled by the Elders Quorum and the High Priests. Once a week he does try to go play what we call "Old Man Basketball" and he loves it. I think it gives him the stress relief that he needs to survive another busy week.
Maddy has received a new calling in her YSA ward. She is in charge of literacy, so she gets to write the monthly newsletter, start a book club, assist anyone who is learning English and promote the usuage of the Church manuals. This calling is right up her alley and I am excited to see her "dive into" this new challenge. We are sure happy to have her home. Reid loves the fact that she will go and watch him at Tae Kwan Do. He missed her alot over the summer.
If any of you need a good laugh, watch Jordanne's video on Facebook of her "cooking adventure" it will totally brighten your day. Just for the record, we do still love her!!
Dallas is awaiting Halloween, as it is her 16th birthday. I cannot believe that my youngest girl will be 16. It just seems like yesterday that we were just hanging out together. She was the best little tag along...that is until Reid came along and "ruined her life". Whenever he makes her angry, she gladly reminds him of that fact. He of course thinks that is hilarious and tries to bother her more. Kids!!!
Well we hope all is well with you all. We love you all.
We are hoping that the "s word" stays away for a little longer, and yet, we are torn, because the land is so very dry here. On the radio yesterday they said that our usual rainfall for the month of September is 43 mm and this year we received only 9mm. So it is very dry and we know how desperate the farmers are for moisture. So if it snows, then we are hoping it is only -1 or -2. We certainly are not ready for -10.
There are some very beautiful things that we all love about fall though. The color of the leaves is amazing and as you drive through the river valley it kind of takes your breath away. Early in the morning, the stars are so bright this time of year and a big beautiful harvest moon is about to happen this week. These are all wonderful things about fall!!
September has been an expensive month for the Smith family. We didn't anticipate having to spend an extra $2000.00 on vehicle repairs!! All I can say to that is thank heavens we were able to complete the repairs and our testimony about tithing is constantly strengthened. We are so thankful for the many blessings that Heavenly Father has blessed us with!
The comments that we have received on our blog are so fun. It is great to hear from family members. We all love to read your blogs and see the pictures of your families, it sure makes everyone seem closer than they are. We need to post some pictures on our blog. One of our children will have to teach us how to do that.
Now that September is over, we feel like we can relax a little and spend some time together without everyone running here and there non stop. Between Youth Conference, the Relief Society broadcast, and Stake Leadership we have had every weekend booked and we need to stay home and clean our house. We were able to get the yard ready for winter though, which is always nice, as there is nothing worse than trying to clean up the yard after it has snowed and all of the perennials are mucky and wet. Much to Mike's dismay, we did get more perennials and so we spent a couple of hours last Saturday planting them. I think that sometimes it is hard for him to vision the picture of our yard that I have in my head. Maybe I don't explain my vision good enough???
Mike has had a very busy month. As part of his High Council duties, he is over Relief Society, so last weekend he spent countless hours helping the Relief Society prepare for the meeting and dinner that we had before the broadcast. He also is over a ward that has huge needs, and so he attends that ward and all of their meetings each week. This includes weekday meetings scheduled by the Elders Quorum and the High Priests. Once a week he does try to go play what we call "Old Man Basketball" and he loves it. I think it gives him the stress relief that he needs to survive another busy week.
Maddy has received a new calling in her YSA ward. She is in charge of literacy, so she gets to write the monthly newsletter, start a book club, assist anyone who is learning English and promote the usuage of the Church manuals. This calling is right up her alley and I am excited to see her "dive into" this new challenge. We are sure happy to have her home. Reid loves the fact that she will go and watch him at Tae Kwan Do. He missed her alot over the summer.
If any of you need a good laugh, watch Jordanne's video on Facebook of her "cooking adventure" it will totally brighten your day. Just for the record, we do still love her!!
Dallas is awaiting Halloween, as it is her 16th birthday. I cannot believe that my youngest girl will be 16. It just seems like yesterday that we were just hanging out together. She was the best little tag along...that is until Reid came along and "ruined her life". Whenever he makes her angry, she gladly reminds him of that fact. He of course thinks that is hilarious and tries to bother her more. Kids!!!
Well we hope all is well with you all. We love you all.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Clarifications and other family info
As this blog has progressed along, we realized that we may be unintentionally misleading some of you.
So now we will take a moment to make sure that all (if any) of our readers understand some of these things.
Firstly, someone asked me the other day why our blog is named Gus's Family. Well the answer is:
In the process of developing the blog, we tried to think of a "catchy" name, like some of the other family blogs that we have seen, but we realized that with the Smith last name, this can be hard, so we named the blog after our dog Gus. For those of you who may have thought that we had a secret hidden family member, we don't, this is just our effort at being clever. (you may be the judge as to how that worked out)
Secondly, I realize that the post lists Mike as the writer, this too is incorrect, in order to create the blog, you needed a compatible email address, his was compatible, hence, he gets the credits at the bottom. Now please don't get me wrong, he does contribute, either by choice or because living with him is just so fun, and he is always doing funny things that we can share.
We are now firmly entrenched in the routine of school and it is so nice to have the dinner schedule back on track. Let me explain, as our children are now getting older, and in order to help them become well rounded individuals, and because I now work full time, we created a dinner schedule. This is a huge help for me, as I now only cook 2 days a week, one of them being Sunday, and the kids each have a night in which they are responsible. I have to say that Mike and I are so impressed with the level of skill that they have developed and the diversity that they have shown us in the menu!! They even look up recipes on the internet and if we are missing ingredients, they purchase them on their own. We have enjoyed much success with this effort, except for Friday which is Mike and Reids' night, and that means that we usually have pizza or some other such thing! The girls keep bringing up the word"cheater" when we discuss this, but I think that secretly they are happy to eat the pizza!
Reverence in Church
This Sunday, our family, more correctly Jordanne, Dallas, and I got the giggles during sacrament. Now please don't misunderstand, as reverence has always been of the utmost importance to our family and it has been many years since we might have disturbed a meeting. Except for this Sunday, let me fill you in. Reid was passing the sacrament to our row, as Jordanne took the water, somehow (and I seriously do NOT know how), she managed to get the cup stuck onto her top lip. This then caused all of the water in the cup to pour directly down the entire front of her shirt. Now if that wasn't bad enough, she then began to panic, as the tray was passing her by, and she began to grab at the cup and twice was unable to dislodge her lip from the edge of the cup. Once she had reached the complete panic stage, she finally grabbed that little plastic cup and yanked it so hard that she almost pulled her lip off!! I am not exaggerating at all, and have yet to ever see anything so entirely funny in my life. Needless to say, I began to giggle, so did Jord and Dallie and each time we thought the situation was under control, someone would giggle just a little bit more. You must know also, that I am the YW President and we were sitting on the 4th row from the front right in front of the Bishopric.
We are all still repenting, and hoping that we will be forgiven.
Indian Summer
Like many of you, we are currently experiencing a fantastic heat wave. This weekend was Youth Conference and the girls and I all got sunburnt. I just have enjoyed the heat so much. We all have. Hopefully the weather will hold, and we will enjoy a beautiful fall. The sky has been clear and lots and lots of stars out in the morning when we are out delivering papers and we have really enjoyed that!
Well that is all for this week. Hope everyone is well.
Love to you all.
So now we will take a moment to make sure that all (if any) of our readers understand some of these things.
Firstly, someone asked me the other day why our blog is named Gus's Family. Well the answer is:
In the process of developing the blog, we tried to think of a "catchy" name, like some of the other family blogs that we have seen, but we realized that with the Smith last name, this can be hard, so we named the blog after our dog Gus. For those of you who may have thought that we had a secret hidden family member, we don't, this is just our effort at being clever. (you may be the judge as to how that worked out)
Secondly, I realize that the post lists Mike as the writer, this too is incorrect, in order to create the blog, you needed a compatible email address, his was compatible, hence, he gets the credits at the bottom. Now please don't get me wrong, he does contribute, either by choice or because living with him is just so fun, and he is always doing funny things that we can share.
We are now firmly entrenched in the routine of school and it is so nice to have the dinner schedule back on track. Let me explain, as our children are now getting older, and in order to help them become well rounded individuals, and because I now work full time, we created a dinner schedule. This is a huge help for me, as I now only cook 2 days a week, one of them being Sunday, and the kids each have a night in which they are responsible. I have to say that Mike and I are so impressed with the level of skill that they have developed and the diversity that they have shown us in the menu!! They even look up recipes on the internet and if we are missing ingredients, they purchase them on their own. We have enjoyed much success with this effort, except for Friday which is Mike and Reids' night, and that means that we usually have pizza or some other such thing! The girls keep bringing up the word"cheater" when we discuss this, but I think that secretly they are happy to eat the pizza!
Reverence in Church
This Sunday, our family, more correctly Jordanne, Dallas, and I got the giggles during sacrament. Now please don't misunderstand, as reverence has always been of the utmost importance to our family and it has been many years since we might have disturbed a meeting. Except for this Sunday, let me fill you in. Reid was passing the sacrament to our row, as Jordanne took the water, somehow (and I seriously do NOT know how), she managed to get the cup stuck onto her top lip. This then caused all of the water in the cup to pour directly down the entire front of her shirt. Now if that wasn't bad enough, she then began to panic, as the tray was passing her by, and she began to grab at the cup and twice was unable to dislodge her lip from the edge of the cup. Once she had reached the complete panic stage, she finally grabbed that little plastic cup and yanked it so hard that she almost pulled her lip off!! I am not exaggerating at all, and have yet to ever see anything so entirely funny in my life. Needless to say, I began to giggle, so did Jord and Dallie and each time we thought the situation was under control, someone would giggle just a little bit more. You must know also, that I am the YW President and we were sitting on the 4th row from the front right in front of the Bishopric.
We are all still repenting, and hoping that we will be forgiven.
Indian Summer
Like many of you, we are currently experiencing a fantastic heat wave. This weekend was Youth Conference and the girls and I all got sunburnt. I just have enjoyed the heat so much. We all have. Hopefully the weather will hold, and we will enjoy a beautiful fall. The sky has been clear and lots and lots of stars out in the morning when we are out delivering papers and we have really enjoyed that!
Well that is all for this week. Hope everyone is well.
Love to you all.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Back to the Routine!! By choice...or not!!
Well September long weekend is over and our girl is home. I had a wonderful time having a quick visit with my family on Sunday, as I drove down to Lethbridge so that I could pick up Maddy in Waterton on Monday after she finished her last shift. It was wonderful to see everyone and I even got to feel my nephew's foot through his mommas tummy!! What a cool experience. I was hoping that he would have been born before I got there, as he was scheduled to arrive on Sunday, but he didn't cooperate and now we probably won't see him until he's 4!!! Oh well, thank heavens for email and Facebook.
The drive down was not great, the wind was ridiculous all the way from Edmonton and I used over 1/2 a tank of gas, which I have never done before. It probably didn't help that I still had the topper on the van acting as a great big sail for the wind!!! It was even worse on Monday from Lethbridge to Waterton. I was very relieved to get to Waterton, I passed motorcycles that were driving and leaning sideways to stay upright!! As much as I love Southern Alberta, I am so glad that we don't get that crazy wind.
So everyone is back in school and we are back to some basic routine things, such as oatmeal for breakfast which the kids are not too fond of, but cereal is just way too expensive, especially when we have to feed Ried, so we only have cereal in the summer and all there has been a slight rumbling noise each morning when the kids come up to eat. Seminary is started so Jordanne, Dallas and Mike are out the door by 6:15 am, this can be a bit of a challenge depending how fast or slow we were doing papers in the morning. So far we are doing ok. I have to admit that I do like the forced routine a bit, as I do feel a little more organized.
Maddy is home and it is so great to have her back!! Hopefully it hasn't been too painful for her to adjust to home life again. I know that she has definitley enjoyed having free access to food and meals.
We had a great adventure this Monday. Jordanne decided to make a chocolate cheesecake for Maddy to welcome her home and as she was carrying it to the basement to cool in the extra fridge, she tripped and threw chocolate cheesecake all over the basement stairs and walls!! She was devastated and I couldn't even get mad at her for it. If you want a laugh, go on her facebook page and watch the video that she made of the adventure, it is hilarious. I am happy to report that the most fantastic steamcleaner in world was able to remove all of it yesterday and Jordanne no longer needs to be afraid!!
Reid was invited to be part of the Leadership Team at school, which is very exciting. He is very proud of himself and hopeful that this will help him gain entrance to the Challenge Program in Junior High. We are glad that our "late bloomer" has matured somewhat and is beginning to understand the importance of doing well in school. Yahoo!!
Mike and I are great, back into the groove of routine and busy as always.
Hope all is well with your families.
The drive down was not great, the wind was ridiculous all the way from Edmonton and I used over 1/2 a tank of gas, which I have never done before. It probably didn't help that I still had the topper on the van acting as a great big sail for the wind!!! It was even worse on Monday from Lethbridge to Waterton. I was very relieved to get to Waterton, I passed motorcycles that were driving and leaning sideways to stay upright!! As much as I love Southern Alberta, I am so glad that we don't get that crazy wind.
So everyone is back in school and we are back to some basic routine things, such as oatmeal for breakfast which the kids are not too fond of, but cereal is just way too expensive, especially when we have to feed Ried, so we only have cereal in the summer and all there has been a slight rumbling noise each morning when the kids come up to eat. Seminary is started so Jordanne, Dallas and Mike are out the door by 6:15 am, this can be a bit of a challenge depending how fast or slow we were doing papers in the morning. So far we are doing ok. I have to admit that I do like the forced routine a bit, as I do feel a little more organized.
Maddy is home and it is so great to have her back!! Hopefully it hasn't been too painful for her to adjust to home life again. I know that she has definitley enjoyed having free access to food and meals.
We had a great adventure this Monday. Jordanne decided to make a chocolate cheesecake for Maddy to welcome her home and as she was carrying it to the basement to cool in the extra fridge, she tripped and threw chocolate cheesecake all over the basement stairs and walls!! She was devastated and I couldn't even get mad at her for it. If you want a laugh, go on her facebook page and watch the video that she made of the adventure, it is hilarious. I am happy to report that the most fantastic steamcleaner in world was able to remove all of it yesterday and Jordanne no longer needs to be afraid!!
Reid was invited to be part of the Leadership Team at school, which is very exciting. He is very proud of himself and hopeful that this will help him gain entrance to the Challenge Program in Junior High. We are glad that our "late bloomer" has matured somewhat and is beginning to understand the importance of doing well in school. Yahoo!!
Mike and I are great, back into the groove of routine and busy as always.
Hope all is well with your families.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tubing, Road Trips and Getting Ready for School
Well we spent a fantastic weekend at the cabin with the Yaki-Sloans and a fantastic time was had by all. Friday and Saturday was spent in the beautiful sunshine with lots of time spent in the boat and on the tube. Wally tried hard to give everyone a great ride, and we only had 2 wipe outs. Dallas did an amazing cart wheel out of the side of the tub, much to Timothy's suprise!! No injuries were had thank heavens!! The next day Jonathan did a different version and it was also injury free and very entertaining. Sunshine during the day...and rain storms at night. There was a little bit of lightning one night and then lots of wind the next night.
We played a round of the bean bag game and Deanna and Cindy's team won!! It was an amazing comeback as we were behind a few points. The boys were sadly defeated by the girls again!!!
The most wonderful kabobs were had for supper thanks to Jonathan's talents. We sure enjoyed them.
Maddy and some friends have got a few days off work so they have gone on a roadtrip to Silverwood and Kalispell. Doing some school shopping, riding the rides at Silverwood and seeing the countryside will be a great last of summer adventure. One last adventure before she comes back home and starts school again. Only 13 more sleeps until she is home. Yahoo!!!!!
Well all the little bees are buzzing at our house getting ready for another school year. Hard to believe that Jordanne is in Grade 12 and will graduate this year. Dallas is right behind her in Grade 11 and both of them are SOOOOO excited for another year of Math!!! Reid will be King of the School with all the other Grade 6's. We are anxiously awaiting the class list on the first morning of school, hoping that he gets a certain teacher for the year. He is so excited to see his buddies. One of them, who has been away to Newfoundland for an entire month called and left Reid a message the day he got home and at the end of the message he said "Love ya Reid, call me". Cutest thing we ever heard!!
I am not ready for all the hustle and bustle that comes with the new school year. Though I love the schedule and organization it forces, it also becomes my duty as Mom to "nag, nag, nag". Seminary at 6:30am and all the "getting ready" that the mornings entail make me feel like all I say in the morning is "hurry, hurry". Thank heavens we get to say family prayer and an "I love you" as they go out the door. Time is ticking by fast and my girls will soon all be in college and doing grown up things.
Mike is busy as usual, he did have a fabulous time at the cabin and didn't even get thrown out of the tube, even though Wally gave him some VERY rough rides!! He felt kind of sick after one of them and is starting to realize that we are not as young as we used to be. So sad!!
Well, my blogging time is up, tonight is YW and we are having a joint activity and playing "Capture the Flag" at the Legislature grounds. Fun, fun, fun...
We played a round of the bean bag game and Deanna and Cindy's team won!! It was an amazing comeback as we were behind a few points. The boys were sadly defeated by the girls again!!!
The most wonderful kabobs were had for supper thanks to Jonathan's talents. We sure enjoyed them.
Maddy and some friends have got a few days off work so they have gone on a roadtrip to Silverwood and Kalispell. Doing some school shopping, riding the rides at Silverwood and seeing the countryside will be a great last of summer adventure. One last adventure before she comes back home and starts school again. Only 13 more sleeps until she is home. Yahoo!!!!!
Well all the little bees are buzzing at our house getting ready for another school year. Hard to believe that Jordanne is in Grade 12 and will graduate this year. Dallas is right behind her in Grade 11 and both of them are SOOOOO excited for another year of Math!!! Reid will be King of the School with all the other Grade 6's. We are anxiously awaiting the class list on the first morning of school, hoping that he gets a certain teacher for the year. He is so excited to see his buddies. One of them, who has been away to Newfoundland for an entire month called and left Reid a message the day he got home and at the end of the message he said "Love ya Reid, call me". Cutest thing we ever heard!!
I am not ready for all the hustle and bustle that comes with the new school year. Though I love the schedule and organization it forces, it also becomes my duty as Mom to "nag, nag, nag". Seminary at 6:30am and all the "getting ready" that the mornings entail make me feel like all I say in the morning is "hurry, hurry". Thank heavens we get to say family prayer and an "I love you" as they go out the door. Time is ticking by fast and my girls will soon all be in college and doing grown up things.
Mike is busy as usual, he did have a fabulous time at the cabin and didn't even get thrown out of the tube, even though Wally gave him some VERY rough rides!! He felt kind of sick after one of them and is starting to realize that we are not as young as we used to be. So sad!!
Well, my blogging time is up, tonight is YW and we are having a joint activity and playing "Capture the Flag" at the Legislature grounds. Fun, fun, fun...
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