Santa Puppet Show

It has been a lot of fun putting together another puppet show.
Here are a couple of pics from one of the shows!

The Year in review

I would love to put together a lovely, exciting slide show to highlight some of the things my family has done this year. Though I think the project may be a little too big for me at this time. I know the boys are so quick to put things together and I am always amazed with the end results so hopefully it would be a family effort!

20 YEARS!!

This summer we celebrated our 20th Anniversary. We went back to the city it all began in, Lethbridge, and visited family. We then spent some time together in Calgary, the highlight was eating at the Top of Calgary Tower. Great Food, Great view and Great company! Thanks love for fantastic memories!

 A sign in the Elevator stating some facts. 

Construction began Feb 19, 1962. 

Official opening Jun 10 1968.

It is 1228m above sea level. 

It takes 62 seconds to ride the elevator. 

The foundation is 6m deep and 

there are 762 stairs for use in emergencies only.

 

A view of the Saddledome where Drew worked for a time in his late Teens.

YUM!

54 floors so far.

Mother's Day 2010

A mother's love is needed as much as a sun bleached frayed-edged welcome mat at the back door with smears of dog poo, mud caked, full of grit and grime, is needed to keep the unwanted dirt from entering the home. If someone warned me motherhood would be this thankless, taken for granted 24 hour nurse/maid/teacher care job would I choose to do it all over again? YOU BET! Because the best moments come when you sit in church and your son publicly states that without mothers we would be lost.

THANKS TO MY MOM

Thanks to my Mom for all the snotty sleeved shirts and filthy dresses you washed and ironed. 

Thanks for the beautiful birthday cakes that were devoured in record time. 

Thanks for making sure we didn't run out of toilet paper, shampoo, soap or toothpaste.

Thanks for cupboards full of food though we thought there was 'nothing to eat'.

Thanks for all the hugs and I love yous when I felt I didn't deserve them. 

And thanks for having faith in me when I lost faith in myself.

Random happenings from the people in our home.

Hyrum is the wrestler in red.

The 3 teen boys enjoyed the wrestling tourneys. 

They travelled to Campbell River and  Duncan. 

They all did very well and brought home medals.

Hyrum went to Vancouver for Provincials.

More teen adventures.....

Camping in the winter and canoeing with Dad.

Dad and lil A went with the Cubs for a sleep over activity at Science world in Vancouver.

A cool show!

The Ultimate Wave Tahiti.

Lil A using his great strength to lift up the hippo and himself.

Yummy desserts. 

The first one is a creation from Hyrum - it is his version of strawberry shortcake 

and

the 2nd one is my lemon birthday cake made by a dear friend!

The fresh strawberries bled a bit on the icing, it was so good!

I love lemon!

More late it is time I went to bed.

Confessions of a good mom!

I came across this cute blog for moms to send in the reasons they are good moms! I thought I would share it with you and watch here for my entry! I hope you share something too! I am sending all you 'good moms' out there a big HUG! Thanks for what you do and the great example you are to me of how to keep being a 'good mom'!

It's cold season

I have joined the 2 boys who have colds. I really don't like having a raw scratchy throat. I think I will rotate the load of mount washmore that reared it ugly head over the last week because of work and have a cup of hot lemonade and go back to bed.

Mistah Bobbity has decided to start his own blog and videos. What a riot! This makes me laugh! Today I love being a Mom!

Phew!

When a family gets together after all the work is done......there are plenty of activities to enjoy. The 3 teen boys have been very busy with gymnastics and wrestling. They practiced and prepared well for the competitions and tournaments they participated in. It called for many trips down island and special thanks go to coaches who devote so much time to the practices and events. 8 out of 10 weekends someone in our household travelled down island for an activity, event, competition, meeting or tournament starting at the end of Jan. We get a 2 weekend break to be home and then it starts again with camps, a Temple open house event and then a youth conf and Temple Dedication, a youth activity, fitness and swimming re-certification courses and finishing with Grad!! Phew again. I feel very fortunate that we only have one eager soccer player this season! Life is full and never dull. Things have been so full in fact that I have missed over a month of Wed bike rides.....I do believe it is time to revisit Stephen Covey's First Things First. We all need a little course correcting from time to time, don't you think?!

Community Fun and a birthday!

 

 

5 boys and I went to Hardy for the torch relay celebration. And what a fun celebration it was. I sang in in one of the choirs and received a free scarf and toque. The children's choir got the cute red mitts. They had fun entertainment, free stuff and you could have your photo taken with the torch. It was Hyrum's 14th birthday and at the end of the evening there was a spectacular fireworks show. We all agreed it was a fun birthday celebration! The 30 minute ride home was an event in itself with singing, happy times and so much enthusiasm I thought the windows would burst. We finished off the evening with a late dinner at Hyrum's fave place to eat.....Subway.

 

Biking adventures

I LOVE WEDNESDAYS! 

The last 2 weeks we rode to the local Golf Course! 

Last week was wet and muddy. I came home with quite a bit of sand on my 

clothing, face and a bit in my mouth. I think I should get a fender.

 

TODAY!

We rode out to Hyde creek. It was a wonderful ride with 

a wonderful friend to the end of the road where the beach begins!

(maybe we should have a canoe waiting for us sometime) ;0)

Alert Bay is SO very close to paddle to and on a day like today 

a picnic in the sun would have been great!

We had time to stop and visit friends and make new friends on the way home. 

3 dogs, 3 boys, Dad and Nana were just heading out for a walk on this beautiful day!

We met Silky the Chicken, and

Emma, Anna, Marygold-Mary for short, Matilda and Bella - the goats.

We hope for a return visit  in May when the Kids are due!

Unfortunately my dear friend had a flat tire on the road home. Our Prince Charming who has been married for 40 years, a logger and a carver, pulled up on his bike and changed it for us. Since my dear prepared friend had all the right tools, a pump and a tube for such an occasion it was a painless repair!

Just in case you didn't know...

I LOVE WEDNESDAYS!

PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND WALK AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT!

I came across this phrase this morning and I must admit I laughed. I am always on the look out for humourous things to add because the life of a mother can be a constant line of nattering and nagging, reminding and requesting.... a huge one in our home is the big C.

COMPUTERS.

Computers suck so much of our time. Last Sunday a returned missionary spoke of making changes in our lives and how important it is to make a plan for making change. Without a plan we have no direction wandering in circles and feeling frustrated with our lack of progress. 1. Make a plan. 2. Share the plan. When others know about your plan they can help you. Change. What else is there? Change our way of thinking, finding substitutes for what ever it is we want to change. 3. Find enjoyable replacements. SO, Here are just a few things I can do instead of spending time on the computer... ;0) ...read, walk with a friend along the waterfront, talk with my mom on the phone, coordinate genealogy with my Auntie, garden (though it is awful muddy right now), crochet a hat for myself, make cards with the neighbour kids, write in my journal, practice the flute, play the piano, sing, dance, ride my bike, go geo-caching with my family, do an art project with the boys, clean house, bake, cook, (no laundry, mount washmore has be conquered this week), pack for a trip to Nanaimo, wash windows, practice new Mother Goose songs and rhymes, scrapbook, go back to bed and sleep, soak in the tub, make bath fizzes and salts, learn how to make cheap homemade laundry soap ;0), get a birthday package ready for the post office for a nephew, clean the van and rain x the windshield, have hot cocoa with a friend, feed the birds, hem Drew's pants and curtains for the boys room, teach a friend to crochet, and work.

Now comes the hard part,,,,,, choosing only one thing to do..........

because honestly I can only do one thing at a time.

Since I am being honest here, it isn't the amount of time on the computer I waste that I want to change.

The thing I want most is to be an early riser. 

The early bird gets the worm! And since I love bugs this is a rewarding motivating vision YET each morning I stay in bed longer than planned each night as I go to sleep. I keep telling myself, "tomorrow will be the morning I get up 'on time' ". A dear friend shared a website with me and there is a quote there that I think will help 'change my vision'. The tired old me simply wants to get up 'on time'. The new motivation will be to start my day off right by having time to take care of my body, mind and spirit that will set a precedent for the rest of the day. Doesn't that sound better.....so what will tomorrow bring? SUNSHINE, SMILES, and lots of love! Love for myself that I am a Daughter of God who is on the right track and needs to stop and tie her laces so she can keep on going without tripping. May you have an enjoyable journey today!

Happy New Year!

Well this is going to be a mishmash of things.
First from Little Man A a couple of his Favourite things!!

PIZZA

   Pizza is good and is topped with many things and   flavors and cheeses like Swiss medium and homemade and many more some have cultural cheese on top and some have cultural flavors that are eaten by many like Hawaiian and more

Rugby

Rugby is like football but with a different ball and no chest plates and helmets and leg protectors but you have a mouth guard and you throw a rugby ball differently and many know about the game and many play it now and will in the future until it is unknown 

I love bugs and birds!! Even spiders. I know I am a little strange but I am excited when I discover the exoskeleton of a spider who has left it behind to continue on living in ‘his’ own skin. (click on the exoskeleton word to go to the link and then scroll down to life cycle to see some photos of  spider leaving his old skeleton.) This past summer we had a fun time finding caterpillars that we have discovered today are called Lophocampa maculate. They grow to be Spotted Tiger Moths. The real treasure in finding the caterpillar was that we found not just one or two but 5! And we brought out the camera for some upclose fun!

Every winter there are Merganser birds living in the bay. Drew and I took a walk along the water front last week and discovered a little community of Hooded Mergansers. A couple of males and mostly females. There are a couple of flocks of geese overwintering in town. The mostly visit the track and the elementary school field. Thank goodness they haven't found our park behindo our home. First the White fronted geese arrived and a few weeks later a few Canadian Geese arrived. Here we are into Jan and they are all still here. Lastly I put more sunflower seeds in the feeders and now I am waiting to see which birds will visit our yard!

Stay tuned for more faves from our family!