I can't believe November is almost over, Christmas is really creeping up on us. In 3 weeks we should be in or close to Nauvoo, IL to visit Grandma and Grandpa Torrie. We have Christmas parties coming up, for both of our jobs, Christmas baking to do, Kali's Christmas concert and we have to make sure our car will be up for the 24 hour drive there and back..
Kali is going to be star of the week this week at school, we made her poster yesterday, she is pretty excited, I think she gets some extra privileges. Spence just got back from his winter camp with the Scouts, I'm really glad that he can do that with them. I would rather be dead than go on a winter camp, I have a hard enough time sleeping outside in the summer.

Things I've done this week:
- I just changed jobs this week, from a Montessori School to a regular preschool. I work for the Catholic school board and I requested that they relocate me, luckily I'm at the best preschool now. It makes a huge difference to be at a place with nice, happy people.
- I also got ambitious and carpeted the stairs going to the basement, they look great. They were kinda dangerous before and ugly with glue from whatever had been on them before.
- I had fun helping out a friend by watching her boys last week, I took them to their swimming lessons and couldn't get them out of the pool without getting wet. I'm taking them tomorrow, but I think I might have a better plan, swim with them before the lessons.
- I gave a talk in church today about the goals our ward is working on. We do specific goals each week, it was fun since the talk was only 5 minutes long. I hope my name is scratched off the list for another couple of years.
- Last Saturday, we went to the Temple with our ward, Spence did all my father's work. What a blessing it was and an amazing experience, I love the Temple, it was amazing to be there with our ward. I really love our ward.

Well, Christmas is that time of year of extra stress. I hope I can slow down and share some special moments with my family.

I have a family here on earth...

Kali had one of her debuts today singing in sacrament meeting. She sang "Families can be Together Forever", Spencer and I were her back up singers. We had a few practices and Kali would not hold notes long enough and she'd come in too early, finally with the patience of our wonderful Relief Society president and pianist, she got it. She was so unfocused during practices that I told that I would spank her in front of everyone if she did not behave properly. Then I told her that I would reward her with anything she wanted if she did well, I'm not sure which worked.
We were announced to sing after the high council speaker, just before he finished Kali "desperately" needed a tissue for her nose. Spencer went to retrieve her as the speaker sat down, I sat hoping they would come NOW, I was not prepared for a solo. After what felt like 5 minutes we went up to sing. Our ward had like double the people it seemed. We sang the song together until the second verse where Kali had a solo, "While I am in my early years, I'll prepare most carefully; So I can marry in God's Temple for Eternity," . Spence and I almost couldn't sing, the spirit really touched us, I would have been bawling if I'd been sitting in the congregation. One of our friends told us how proud he was of Kali even though she was not his child. We received many nice compliments, but really it was Kali who did a wonderful job, she is our star.

Primary Presentation... check

Kali had her primary presentation today, on the way to church we talked about last year and having Grandma and Grandpa Torrie there. She really misses them. The presentation is probably my favorite sacrament meeting of the year. Kali's teacher said she was so well behaved and encouraged the other kids to be reverent too, I'm glad she's a good girl. She loves to sing, I could hear her the loudest at the end of the verses, I think she likes to have a strong finish. Everyone had a part, Kali's was "Reverence and keeping the Sabbath day holy strengthens my family", we had to remind her of that today a couple of times. The Bishop read the part in 3 Nephi where Jesus took the children one by one and blessed them and where the angels surrounded them, I really felt that today. Those children who can't sit still, put their hands in their noses and mouths, sing too loud or not at all, still have bed head or the most beautiful dresses but lovingly wave at their parents are just the ones that our Savior loves so dearly. If only we could be as innocent as a child. Church was totally focused on families today, it made me feel the spirit, it was a good day.
Next week we've been asked to sing "Families can be Together Forever" as a family. We have to sing it in C so that I can do it. We practiced tonight... it may be a gong show, we'll see, I better pray real hard.
Our Super Saturday was yesterday, I taught a class making block nativities and using vinyl to decorate them, I think I will give one to Kali's teacher. I made a watch with beads and a frame with a glass insert that says "Family", Kali has already put that in her room. She begged to come to Super Saturday, she loves crafts, I had to tell her that it was a day for Mommies to get away from their kids, she didn't like that, but had fun with her Daddy anyway.

October 28, 2009

Well, Spencer just bought a 1978 Honda Mini Trail bike. He loves it. He got it last week and he's been working on it almost everyday, I went to bed at 9pm almost every night last week. Before he actually brought it home, he slept about an hour a night thinking and looking for parts for this bike. He is seriously CRAZY. He dug a hole in my garden to make a hill to do some jumps off, he rides it around in circles in the backyard, he seriously loves this thing. Kali also loves it, maybe it will be hers someday.


Last weekend our stake did a mock disaster. We had to pretend the power was out, the water was contaminated and all the stores were closed for 36 hours. We used candles and flashlights, we had lots of stored water and we had enough food, so that was good. We couldn't use our furnace though because it uses a fan to blow the heat, so we were cold. Spence has a single burner stove so we used that to cook soup and boil water, for dinner we used our BBQ. I think we would do okay if we were really in these situations. Just not for too long.

We had some friends stay with us this weekend, they have 3 kids ages 4,6,7. They had a Adoption seminar all weekend so we got to babysit, it was interesting to have 4 kids ages 4,5,6,7. Spence thought it would be fun to have kids like this in real life, I liked that they played so well together, but it is a lot of work. Kali loved it, she wanted them to stay longer, but our house just isn't big enough for 8 people long term. Our friends are renovators, they gave us some invaluable advice for our next projects, it makes me excited, I just have to save up some money first.

I'm freaked about the flu, so I think I will get the shot. I just don't want to wait for 4 hours in a line up. President Monson gave me some good advice last night: "Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rain may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us."

October... and i'm freezing.

I can't believe I used to wear shorts in 10 degree weather. I think I was so used to 30 degrees, this is like a slap in the face.
I missed writing for the past couple weeks, nothing really exciting has happened.
This weekend we went to Sparwood, BC and stayed in a Bed and Breakfast, it was neat, my first time at a B&B. http://www.bobbyhutchinson.com/
The wonderful lady who owns it is fabulous, she is a novelist turned biographist (not a word, but made it up for a lack of a better one), she used to write Harlequin Romance novels. Her home was very comfortable and clean, I suggest it to anyone, it's only about 4 hours from Medicine Hat. She put us up in a room with a King size bed, and Kali was going to stay in a room with a double bed... but she slept with us. That was fine with me, even though I would love to have a king size bed, she would go undetected when she crawled into bed with us and that's not cool. Kali loved the idea of staying with someone and not at a hotel, she chatted Bobby's, the B&B owner, ear off. That girl cracks me up at how social and curious she is. When we woke up we had breakfast. We had delicious waffles, bacon, fruit salad, o.j., and Spence had a BLT. She had a menu and we could choose whatever we wanted, the food was great, we left full, and with a signed copy of one of Bobby's Harlequin romance novels. The real reason we went was to meet a guy in Fernie to buy a truck. Spencer bought a PURPLE ford ranger with 4WD, it's a bit of a fixer upper but that's his specialty. We caught some conference in Sparwood, then in Taber and drove home late last night. I was glad to be home. I think my favorite talk from conference was Elder Bednar's, I think he's great. I'm excited for the Ensign to come out.

The Adventure Race

Spencer and 2 of his friends, Trevor and Spencer Wallace, did a 12 hour Adventure Race yesterday. They did so good! They had to canoe, bike, trek and bike again all while trying to navigate with a map and compass to find checkpoints. The company who organized the race was absolutely HORRIBLE, nothing went right, they cheaped out on everything, had messed up all the coordinates and only had 2 people working the whole event, to make it worse they charged $300 to enter the race. The best part was hanging out with Erin all day; we were the support team, we put out the bikes for the boys, got the snacks, lunches and clothing ready, we even tied on the canoe. We had to wake up at 4am and drive over an hour to the race start, we got lost a bunch, and the roads were so windy I got motion sick and threw up. The boys had 3 transition points were we had to work, but other than that, we just hung out, watched a movie and played some crib, and ate junk food, it was awesome. Spence has a sore knee, but he feels really good otherwise, we're both a bit tired but slept so good last night. I thought it might be fun to do an adventure race, maybe not one quite that long though. I'm so proud of those boys, they worked so hard.

School's In... Kali Torrie... Present.

Kali started school this past week. On Wednesday they had her come in for some testing and meet the teacher, we brought her some banana muffins to butter her up. Ms. Werner is her teacher, she said this was the first time she's had muffins from a student on the first day, we're off to a good start. Thursday was her first half day, they staggered the kids and had half come in the morning and half in the afternoon. She loved it, but said she really missed me, I like that. Friday morning was her first full day, it started with a family pancake breakfast. Kali and I ate with some friends and I left her alone at school with mixed emotions. It's quite a thing to think about, my little 5 year old girl is going to school all day now... this is what it will be like till she decides to move away. A new stage, a new responsibility for her. I have to adjust to the idea that she will be making some of her own choices and hope that I have prepared her for some of the temptations she will be faced with. When I picked her up from school she told me that a boy in her class said a swear, I asked her how she knew it was a swear, she said she just knew. Later when Spence got home she told him about it, we probed for the "swear". She said a boy whispered in her ear that another boy in the class was a "poopyhead", I tried not to laugh, but it was so cute, she was quite concerned. We had a lesson about standing up for what she thinks is right, we told her that it's okay to tell people when she doesn't like something they are saying or doing. I'm so glad that she talks to me about her concerns. Now I just have to convince her to eat most of her lunch, sandwich first.

Home from Vacation.

Kali and I decided last minute to go to Utah almost 2 weeks ago. I got a job on Monday and we left Tuesday. We visited Spencer's brother Mel and his family for a few days and Spencer's other brother Mitch for a few more days, unfortunately Spence didn't get to come. We had a good drive there, thanks to the Wakeups. I had to tell Kali not to ask "Are we almost there yet?, How much longer till we get there?", I told her that if she asked one more time, she'd have to stay in the car for 10 minutes when we got there. That seemed to work.
We had fun hanging out with family, we shopped, ate and hung out. I ate at Costa Vida 3 times, had a dipped cone at Macey's ($.79) almost everyday and had great dinners at Chass', she's an amazing cook. We ate a Zucchini cake with chocolate cream cheese icing and zucchini brownies, so good ( I can't make it at home cause I'll eat it all). We also got to see some of our friends. We visited my friend Sara, she just had a baby, he's so cute, I got to hold him lots. We went to Provo to have dinner with our friends, the Bushmans. They used to live in Edmonton near us, they have a daughter, Scout, who is Kali's age, they played together as babies, Emily is a great cook too. We went to a great park in River Heights and played with our friends Jane, Emma and Claire the day before we left.
Kali loves playing with her cousins, especially Bree, for the first few days, I really didn't ever see her. She loves kids, but doesn't really get the teasing and fighting that sometimes comes along with it. I'm teaching her how to put kids in a head-lock, today she pinched someone for the first time after he pulled her hair. She's just too nice to fight back and she doesn't have enough experience. She starts kindergarten on Thursday, I think that will help, she's at a "7 Habits for Highly Effective People" School.
I was going to tell about my drive home. I left Hyrum, UT Thursday morning to come home hoping to be home by the time Spence got home from work. Kali got to Hell's Half Acre in Idaho, peed and did the hike then went to Idaho Falls to gas up. I couldn't find my wallet so we prayed and I remembered that I left my wallet in Logan at Macey's the grocery store the previous night. I called my sister-in-law, Chass and had her pick up my wallet and meet me as far as I could get on my 16th of a tank of gas. I actually had $2.79 in U.S. cash that I used for gas and went 65 m/hr till my gas light had been on for a while and stopped in Malad, ID. We waited for a while till Chass came, gased up and left at 1pm. So I got home at midnight, and was so sick cause I forgot to eat dinner. I slept really good and was so happy to see Spencer, he wrote me a song, it's so good.
Well, I start work tomorrow again, it sure was great to have the summer off. It's easy to get used to this teaching thing.

Kali and I are watching "The Mailbox". It's an old, short LDS video probably made by BYU or something. It's foreshadowing. I think I'd love to live in a senior home someday. I can wait though.

I've had a busy week, I got ambitious on Tuesday and cut out this 40 year old Lilac bush. It's huge, I used a long-handled lopper to take off the branches and a saw to cut back some of the stumps. When Spence got home he got our chainsaw started and we had fun. The next day we put the branches in the truck and took them to the dump, I cut and scraped my arms and legs all over. The next task is to dig out the roots, I wish I could just burn them. The bush suckers like crazy maybe I should "Round-up" the whole thing.

Monday morning Spence and I played "All or Nothing" on the radio, it's a trivia game. Here were the questions: 1. What is the most written about animal in the old and new testament? 2. What type of milk is Authentic Italian Mozzarella made of? 3. What do doctors, in the US, take more than 200,000 pounds out of Americans each year? The I got number 1 and 3 correct, then I googled number 2 and told Spence to call in. He won, he got $75 for Iris (eyeglass store) and $30 in Edo Gift certificates. We love Edo, and Spence used the Iris money to buy a lifetime supply of eyeglass cleaner.

We've had cats pooping in my flower beds and I finally rented a cat trap. My friend Erin gave me some cat food to use as bait and since Friday I've caught 3 cats. I took them to the SPCA. Driving by the SPCA I saw the landscape depot, I decided to buy some rock to decorate a couple beds in front of our house. I shoveled about a yard of rock and still have a bit more to do. I've been a bit sporadic lately and want to get lots done before the end of the summer.

Yesterday I did a Super Sprint Triathlon, it was so cold. It rained all day until right before my race and then it started again when I was finished. Spence was such a good help, he is awesome.

Kali starts school in over 2 weeks, I can't believe it.

The summer's almost gone.

I sure love the summer, I like the heat and being able to go to the lake nearby. We have a manmade city lake about 5 km from our house and it's FREE. Kali and I have gone quite a few times this summer by ourselves and with friends. She likes to play at the park, in the water or building sand castles. We also have fun in our backyard too. We bought a trampoline and a swing set, Kali has learned to pump herself and she is so proud, and do a bum drop.

We have been busy working on our house too, the list of projects is getting smaller. I have taken it upon myself to put up our kitchen cabinets, they are heavy suckers. I love taking down the old ones, I get to smash stuff, and it's fun. I love working on the house when I have the time.

We went camping in July for a week to Shoal Lake, Manitoba. We went with my family and extended family, I got a glimpse of what my life would be like without the gospel. All I can say is: I'd rather be dead. Although, I was really happy that my sister came, she's great. We have lots of fun hanging out and spending time together, I sure love her. Kali had fun with her cousin Evan, they played so well, and they are surprisingly very alike, must be in the genes. There were definitely angels around Kali that week, she came away from the week without learning any bad words.... which is a miracle knowing some of my Aunts and Uncles. ... Again so happy to have the gospel. The camping could have been better if we had better weather, it rained a couple days, and we had 2 really windy days (60 km). We had the shelter of our 1975 Bonair tent trailer, and it has a furnace so we kept warm at least. We played some crib, visited and went to a parade, Kali got an ice cream bucket full of candy, we threw most of it out. I think I'm about camped out for the year now.

I've got 3 weeks till Kali starts Kindergarten, she got a letter from her teacher, she is so pumped. I'm excited for her, she's going to love it. I'm a little nervous for her to go everyday all day, I hope I've prepared her enough for some of the things she'll have to deal with. My little baby is growing up so fast. I hope we can have some fun in the next few weeks.

June, June Horray it's June!!

I am a lot more than excited that June is here and almost over. I need a break from the preschool, and I have so much I want to do this summer. We are going camping in Shoal Lake, Manitoba for a week... I'm trying to be positive about it. I have to strip, sand, stain, seal and install some cupboards in our kitchen too (Spencer's kind Aunt and Uncle gave us their old ones). I hope they look awesome when when we're done. I hope it only takes a week or so, I have a great friend in my ward who offered help me. I'm also excited to hang out with my friends who I rarely get to see because I work too much. Summer, summer here I come!!

We took Kali to Drumheller this weekend instead of having a party and presents. We left Friday afternoon and heard "Are we there yet" about 50 times. We camped, visited with some friends who live in Drumheller, visited 2 museums, fished, played at the spraypark, climbed the world's tallest Dinosaur, ate the worst Pizza ever, and illegally climbed the Hoodoos (we found out after the crime). Kali told us that it was her best birthday ever, but I think she might be a bit of a charmer, she also only has five other to compare it to.
We had a hard time keeping her hands off things, she is very curious, we definitely should have had her on a leash the whole weekend. My suggestion to anyone with busy kids is to stay away from the gift shops, and the Tyrell Museum. Go to the spraypark - it's free, Fossil World - you can touch everything, the Worlds largest Dinosaur - it should tucker them out climbing all the stairs, it did a number on me too. I'm so glad we got to go to Drumheller, I hope Kali can have some new interests other than wanting to be a teenager.

Camping weekend

We took our tent trailer out last weekend. We went to Spencer's parents farm with some friends, it was fun. Friday night there were 3 families with us. We ate lots of junk, my favorite part was the taco in a bag. The kids did pretty good, except that Kali stayed up til 11 pm, they played, fought, ate, and explored. I like camping in a trailer, it's like a little home. My favorite part is organizing and buying special stuff only for the trailer.

We slept well, were warm enough and had great food... mainly Sunday. After church we were invited to lunch at the Woodruffs where we had TURKEY and the Torries, where we had ROAST BEEF. The food was amazing. This was the best camping trip ever!!! Those families are soooo GOOD to us.

Camping is a lot of work, I don't like packing up and putting everything away when we get home. Mind you, Spencer packs excessively. For example, if we have a tent trailer we don't need 3 tents, air mattresses, foamies, pads, and every blanket in the house. We have a trip planned for a week in July in Shoal Lake Manitoba, I hope we can simplify.

It's the Merry Merry month of May.

Mother's day was perfect. Spencer and our friend Denver made lunch for Adrienne and I, plus 4 kids. We had a great visit, we missed them, they were vacationing in Mesquite for a month. The kids played really well, and we had fun. Spence and Kali bought me a new phone for my bedroom, 4 packages of Icebreakers sour mints, and a bunch of pink daisies (my favorite). Kali made me a butterfly at preschool along with one of those "I know Mom the best" questionaires, here's some of the funny things she wrote.

How old is your Mom? she used to be 7 but now she's 8.
What is her favorite food? Chips and Salsa and Guacamole.
What do you have to do to be a Mom? Work
What is your Mom's favorite thing to do? Go to the mall and see the dragon blow out fire.
Where would she like to go for a holiday? To the movie Camp Rock, where we're going camping

She cracks me up, it's funny the way her brain works. Honestly, I hate the movie Camp Rock, but we are going camping this weekend, and now that we have a trailer, it might be more like a holiday.

I went to the Hannah Montana movie last weekend, and I loved it. It feels like Miley and I are best friends now.

I can't remember if I wrote last about Kali running in the Rattler Run, she did the 3 km down the College/Kin coulee hill and back up. She's a good running partner, she actually ran the whole way. She got a little bored so I let her use my ipod, that really helped. I'm excited to run with her in the future, I'll be chasing her a lot more.

I've been going to the Y with some friends at work. I find that 5:30 am is a good time to go, I get home at 6:30 ish and go back to bed for an hour. I really need to get a program made for me though, but I feel proud that my legs are still strong, I did sets of 300 lbs on the leg press for my quads and calves.

Kali and I built some boxes to do a square foot garden, I hammered my thumb pretty hard, I handled it really well. Later Spencer asked her what I did when I hit my thumb, she said I said "Ouch". Our garden plot is actually pretty big right now but, this year we want to try something different so we are going to add some ease and organization to our attempt at gardening. Last year was pretty successful, I hope we can diversify with some herbs this year.

Well, only 33 more school days till summer, I can't wait for the break.

p.s. We were coming home from Wal-mart today and Spence said he was so hungry he could eat a horse. Kali said "That's gross Dad, it's not even made of chicken!"

Kali's first peer pressure experience

Kali has a little friend at school named Trevor, they had a play date this past week. Trevor's older sister and her friend told Trevor to kiss Kali, and he chased her around their yard. She got away, luckily.

This is her first experience like this... that I know of. What I really love is that she told me in the car right away, that means so much to me. I hope we can always have a good relationship where she trusts me. She told me a while a go that when she is a teenager she is going to be really nice to me. I'm going to hold her to that.

I hope we can teach our children that family and trust are very important, and also that it's okay not to do what other people tell us to do. I want to raise a child with a backbone who knows what is right and wrong. How scary that this September she is going to be in all day everyday kindergarten without me.

25 Random Things about Jenn Torrie

I got this challenge from some friends on facebook. I thought, since I've put so much work into this I might as well add it here too.

Here are 25 Random Things about me:

1. I kinda like doing these things where I get to write all about me!

2. I am slight obsessive compulsive. For example, when I receive one of those emails where I have to answer questions about myself and they have all the those little things like this: ">" at the beginning of each line, I take the time to erase all of those characters and fix the paragraph format before I email it. I do lots of crazy things.

3. I like to fix things and build stuff. I have a little 50 cc scooter in our shed that I have been working on, I hope to ride it this summer.

4. I have my motorcycle license.

5. I may be ruining this but I am not planning to tag 25 people in this note.

6. I like treats, I think I may be addicted. I need to join some kind of support group that meets a couple times per day.

7. I've only been able to burp for the past 12 years or so. When I was younger I tried so hard but no sound came out, just gas... now I have a hard time controlling it. It's usually a surprise when it happens, and my new goal is to try not to burp in public.

8. I am writing this note with Adrienne Wigg in mind. I know she is proofing it.

9. When I was 5 years old I had an allergic reaction to some penicillin and almost died. It was called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. My body had blisters all over and I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. I still remember so much about it, I remember when my mom had to leave and take care of our family and how lonely I was. I remember being poked and prodded and very scared.

10. I'm turning 30 next year, I want to go to Disneyland.

11. I remember when Spence and I started dating, he showed me all his mission pictures. I tried to sound interested, but it was so boring. He had taken lots of pictures, it was almost painful.

12. Spence and I started dating April 6, got engaged July 6, got married August 22, got pregnant the first month and had Kali June 23 the next year.

13. Spence and I have pictures of each other on our bedside table. Kali constantly switches them so that my picture is on my side.... I hate it when she does that.

14. We are getting fish this week, I have to make my tank ready for my Mother-in-laws fish. My in-laws are going on a mission for 18 months and she wants me to tend the fish.

15. My mother-in-law loves her fish, she's had the same ones for years. She's going to cry when I kill them.

16. I like to do housework and organize my house, I just don't have as much time anymore. I also like that Kali is getting older and can clean the bathroom.

17. I have a membership at the Y but only go twice a month. I want to go more but I can't get out of bed in the morning, my bed is too comfortable and warm.

18. I just started watching LOST, we've never had cable. I can't wait to see what happens and what the scary creature is.

19. My favorite cereals are: Lucky Charms, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Reese Peanut Butter Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

20. I need to eat more fibre.

21. I wrote and performed a song before I got married. It was inspired by an Avril Lavigne song. I sang it at both of our wedding receptions.

22. I love hot, humid weather, I'd love to live somewhere in the Caribbean. Instead I live in the dry, southern Alberta prairie desert.

23. I love working at a preschool. I really like the little toilets, learning songs, playing with play-doh and having snack time. I'm a 4 year old stuck in a 28 year old body.

24. I'm going to learn to love to wake up early so I can go to the gym, I'm getting fat and out of shape. I don't mind being fat, I just hate the idea that I won't be able to catch Kali when she 's on the run.

25. I really am a shy person, I hate the idea of being rejected. I might be the only one who sees that.