Kool-Aid is gross without sugar.

I have a nasty cold and Kali claimed to feel sick too, so we stayed home from church today.  I woke up from a nice 2 hour nap and found her watching a movie drinking hot chocolate, eating chocolate, marshmallows and Doritos.  After a light chastisement I found these two Kool-Aid packets on the counter... but no Kool-Aid.  She came up to me immediately and confessed that she tried to make Kool-Aid but it was gross, apparently she tried twice with the same result.  I had to laugh. I showed her the directions and the part about the sugar.  This girl is really learning to cook in the kitchen, and I hope that she can really take over when her little brother comes... with a gentle reminder to read the directions and instructions.

Torrie Christmas Card

We started the year with a little business/pleasure trip to Chicago, IL, it was just Spencer and I. And in October and November we also enjoyed a family vacation to California with a few Utah stops in between.  It sure is nice to get away and see something different.

On June 23^rd, Kali turned 8 and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints by her Dad. She is a great little girl, I've seen her develop into a very compassionate and loving person. She is definitely a better person than I am. She started grade 3 this fall and had a bit of a challenge at first not having many friends in her class, but it didn't take long for her to make new ones. Her first report card was almost straight A's, she loves school and her teacher, she makes us so proud. She's also been busy with extra curricular activities like piano, hip hop dance and achievement days.

Our big surprising news is that we are expecting a baby boy in April. We've prayed for a baby for years, and with some medical intervention it worked. We are pretty excited about the whole thing, it really is a miracle.

So, Spencer still enjoys his job and the variety of things he works on, he has a lot more responsibility and is the senior Mechanical Engineer. He's the vice chairman for the Medicine Hat branch of APEGA, the Alberta Professional Engineer and Geologist Association, and will be the chairman in February. I think it just means going to meetings in Edmonton and reporting back to the executive committee here.

He's been released as Scout master after 5 years and they put him in the Elders Quorum presidency, but I think he's been subbing in Primary for over a month straight. He still really enjoys the outdoors and looks forward to ice fishing, archery, camping and starting fires.

I'm still in the Primary Presidency, and I love it, the kids are pretty awesome and I love the spirit I feel when teaching, I think it's helping me grow. I'm still running my recycling business and I think I can still do it with a baby since it's only one morning a week. My morning sickness is lingering like it did when I was carrying Kali, but now I have 2 people to rub my back and get me water, I really have been blessed. Other than that I try to keep myself busy helping out at school and hanging out with my friends during the day. Life is good.

We hope with letter finds you well, and that you are thinking about our Savior this Christmas season. We are trying our best to give gifts to Jesus, and not focus too much on materialism. We'll be home this year for Christmas and look forward to being together where we can take time to reflect on the season. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Love, Spencer, Jenn and Kali Torrie

Had another Ultrasound today...

I had another ultrasound today, but this time I remembered to invite Spencer.  Ultrasounds are pretty fun, if you can watch what's going on a get it all interpreted by the tech.  It's a good distraction from my full bladder anyway.

So she shows us all the parts, and it looks like a pretty healthy baby so far.  Except that our little "girl" has a penis.  

At my last ultrasound the tech told us she was certain it was a girl, she even showed me.  

This changes everything.

People think I'm old

I've had a couple experiences in the past weeks that have devastated me.  Both happened at church.

There was a lady who is less active sitting in front of us in sacrament meeting, and I've known her since Kali was in Kindergarten.  She's a grandmother of a boy who was in Kal's class.  I was talking to her about the primary presentation that was coming up the following week and chatting about this and that. She turned around and saw Spencer sitting with us and asked: "Is this your son?"  I almost died of embarrassment and laughter at the same time, while trying not to cry my eyes out.  I said, "No, Spencer is my husband."  She replied that he looked like he was eighteen.  Okay, he does have a baby face, and we've heard that before, but really??

The next episode happened on Saturday.  We had some friends who were cleaning the church with their 5 kids and we offered to help them so we could share babysitting for the Elders Quorum party that night.  We were able to finish pretty fast, with just the garbages to be taken out.  I was sitting on one of the chairs in the foyer, and all the kids were playing.  Then this old man came in looking for his boots, he talked to my friend's husband for a couple minutes, took a look at all the kids and came to me to ask if I was the grandmother of all these kids.  Was that some kind of pick up line? I was pretty mad, and Kali was too, she wanted to go up to him and tell him off.  Maybe he's retarded.

So, in light of these events, I realize I must have something to change.