Team Torrie

Chicago trip

2012-02-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Spence had an engineering conference in Chicago and I was able to tag along. We flew out of Great Falls, which was nice cause it's such a small airport. In Chicago we stayed at a hotel down town called The Silversmith, it was a nice enough place. We didn't rent a car but were able to walk everywhere, which kinda freaked me out at times, I was always looking over my back to see if anyone was following me or planning to rob me. We must have looked like tourists too just gawking at the tall buildings and taking pictures. Luckily we came out okay and safe... there was a lot praying going on.
Kali stayed in Medicine Hat with my friend Erin and her family, so she had 4 siblings for a week. We almost had to fight to bring her home when we got back, they love her and she loves them. Good thing she was so excited to see the gifts we bought her.
Here are some pictures we took in Chicago:

Spencer and I went to a good Mexican type restaurant called Chipotle, we had burritos and these good salty lime chips with guac.

That is a good burrito.

This was us with the Chicago theater in the background, there are lots of fancy theaters down town.

These pigeons were everywhere, they kinda freaked me out. They would let you get quite close to them which is why Spence seems to think that there should be no real hunger with the transients down town.

I set this picture up at the Planetarium with the sky line behind me. This was alteast 2 miles from my hotel so I got a nice walk in everyday.

This picture was taken in front of this huge shiny silvery bean in Millennium Park. We were facing the bean and this was the reflection, Spence had the camera on my shoulder and took this picture.

This is a picture of me under the bean, the reflection of the flash was crazy awesome.

On Sunday Spencer's wonderful cousin Heather, who lives in Chicago, picked us up for church and fed us dinner at her place. She made a killer soup! On our way to the church building we passed this man who was carrying like a hundred bags of cotton candy on this huge stick, it looked like a rainbow stick and stuck up like 15 feet up in the air behind him. Too bad it was Sunday, I'm a sucker for cotton candy.

Monday night we went out to Oak Park on the Subway. No one pushed me on to the track or robbed us which to our friend Jesse, was a miracle. Jesse is doing a Facial Surgery residency and we went out there to have dinner with him and hang out, thankfully he drove us home after.

These are the gates to the subway.

Spencer on a creepy bridge with a reverse flowing river behind him.

It was quite beautiful.

We went on a date to the John Hancock Observatory, this is the view. The tallest building you can see is the Sears tower. On our way we walked through the Magnificent mile, there are some major shopping stores on this street. Spencer is so lucky that those kind of things don't really matter to me.

This is me at the Sears tower on the Ledge. It's a glass ledge that sticks out of the building a couple feet. It's 103 floors above the ground, and the elevator ride is super fast which popped my ears pretty good.

This is some Chicago stuffed crust deep dish pizza, too cheesy for my taste. I prefer Panago.

This was at the Shedd Aquarium, yet another 2 mile walk from my hotel. It was okay, I wish they had more sharks. I did get to see some dolphins and beluga whales tricks though, I was able to watch a 4-D movie where I got wet, so it was a pretty good day.

We went out looking for a good hotdog place and only found this one nearby our hotel. I think it tasted like a hot dog I can make at home.

This was my City Pass, it was such a good deal, I recommend for anyone going to a big city to get one.

This was at the Field Museum of Natural History. 2 miles from my hotel. I meant to go to the museum, aquarium and planetarium all on the same day since they are all in the the same area, but one day I ran out of time, one day only the planetarium of them was open and the last day I had to go to the aquarium and the Sears tower. It felt so good to walk so much but my feet were pretty sore.

This is the most complete dinosaur in the world, it's a T-rex named Sue.

Okay, I went on a Chocolate tour one day... didn't love it. It was a great idea but for $50 bucks and google search I could have made a way better chocolate tour for myself. I found this cupcake shop a couple blocks down from my hotel, definitely worth the walk. Their cupcakes were nice and dense, not from a mix and the icing was pretty okay ( not as good as my own). They had lots of flavors to choose from and the shop was very cute.

All in all, it was a fun trip, fun to be away from home, fun to go somewhere, fun to be with Spence alone, fun to have someone else clean up after me and make my bed everyday. But being in a big city and staying downtown kinda freaked out this small city girl.

Barbie houses made by ME!

2011-12-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

I am finally done my projects for other people. Erin and I built a Barbie house for her 3 year old, we built it in my basement, luckily I have just the tools I needed. She just painted it and is working on getting some flooring for it. It should be a sturdy sucker.

This one I built out of 3/4" Birch, the wood was already finished but I was changing the color so I had to sand it down to the wood. I stained it Venetian Oak and lacquered it. It is a Barbie house for now and when Rylee gets older it can be a book shelf. It was a fun project. I also built a Barbie bunk bed, a lovers bed and a table. I forgot to take pics of those, but I'm building some for Kali too.

I'm glad to get those projects out of my house so I can focus on other things. Next, I need to finish Kali's Barbie furniture and Barbie tent.

2011-12-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Christmas is coming... am I ready? Well, no, but yeah. I keep getting nice things delivered or handed to me in these nice Christmas bags, it makes me think that I have to reciprocate. I think we plan on making "ginger soft cookies" tomorrow night for Family Home Evening and delivering them, I hope that's good enough. I hate shopping, the crowds, trying to find the perfect gift or something that my recipients won't hate or have to throw away.

I have been asked to make 2 Barbie houses this year for some friends, when I'm finished I can post some pics. That does add a bit of stress to my life but hey, I love to do it. Kali is getting a home made Barbie tent, I will also have to finish it this week. I'm taking it one day at a time. We leave on Friday for Edmonton to spend the weekend with my family, but I am most excited to spend time with my little family, I love these two.

Spence and I are going to Chicago in January for an ASHRAE conference, I'm pretty excited to go. He bought me a ticket for the Chicago Chocolate tour, which I am super excited about, they have a video. It's a good thing it's a walking tour. I am quite excited, this will be a great day.

Merry Christmas, my friends.

2011-11-08T10:43:00.001-07:00

I saw my Kali show some great character last night, I was so proud of her.
She was doing her homework here in Fairmont right before we went swimming and had to rush to finish. She left all her stuff on the table and and off we went. Later that night, while we were watching a movie, Suzanna, a two year who is here with us got ahold of a marker and drew all over Kali's special star of the week title page. When Kali saw this she was completely devastated and came and cried in my lap, Suzanna cried too she must have known she did something wrong. It took the girls a few minutes to calm down. Suzanna wouldn't be near me without crying either. About a half an hour later Kali came up to Suzanna and asked her if she would like to color a picture for her. She took Suzanna to the table and got paper and crayons where they drew pictures of cats. Suzanna was so happy and so was Kali. I was a proud mama.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Crown 5

2011-11-05T23:31:00.001-06:00

Kali and I are in Fairmont with my MIL, and we just finished playing "Crown 5". My mother in law has been calling me her meanest names on account of me scoring a perfect game. Good thing I was across the table or I would have been kicked or hit.

She said she's never seen a perfect game before, I had to laugh at every zero I would get. Any Torrie would know how much trouble I would be in for beating her by 118 points.

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Primary conducting

2011-10-30T10:59:00.001-06:00

I conducted primary today, I'm pretty light hearted and like to help out where I can. Our primary chorister was away so I offered to lead the music... I've never done this before, but figured it didn't matter, the kids don't care. We sang "If the Savior stood beside me" verse 2. Apparently, I didn't realize that I don't know that song and neither did anyone else. I started out the first line then we hummed and La-La the rest. The I don't think the teachers knew either cause they hummed right along with me.

I laughed and laughed.

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I LOVE my little Family

2011-10-03T23:17:00.000-06:00

We had some family time this weekend during and in between General Conference. We went on a hike in the forest by the river and took some family Pics.

This is the South Saskatchewan River, not too far from our house.

We were in the middle of the forest here, up and down roller coaster hills and through tall grass. Not really a white sweater event.

Kali and I.

Sometimes I hate to go on these adventures, but I usually find that I enjoy it once I'm out there. I like to climb the hills with Spence and Kali as long as I'm not the last person, which seems to happen all the time. Those two are freaking mountain goats.

Summer Strawberries

2011-09-12T23:48:00.001-06:00

We picked strawberries with our friends the Wallaces tonight. They know a sweet spot and have been keeping it from me for four years, I guess we're that good of friends now. I wish I had a camera while we were picking because there were so many strawberries, little Scotia (2.5) found a frog but refused to kiss it, the kids ate their weight in berries, while I was in something like heaven.

We got home late and had to get the strawberries ready to freeze. I washed 'em, picked off the green parts, chopped 'em with my new Pampered Chef chopper (I love that thing), and bagged them all while watching a movie. I can't wait to eats 'em, I think crepes with Nutella and strawberries are on the menu tomorrow morning, if only I can find someone to make 'em.

I Love SUMMER!!

Summer with friends

2011-08-21T18:26:00.000-06:00

We have had a great summer hanging out with our friends. Here are some pictures of what we've been doing.

We went to the field near our house and played soccer with the neighbors grandkids. That was a bug net on my head, the sandflies were really bad. We played soccer the day before and Kali improved so much.

Kali played with these wonderful girls when we were in Edmonton.

This is our camper van, Tessa and I took the kids to Elkwater provincial park for the day.

And we got ice cream.

Here are the kids LOVING the van, they had so much fun.

My friend Eliza came to visit Medicine Hat, I loved it. Her son is so cute. This is at the park by the leisure centre.

This is my friend Scotia, just downing Spencer's Rootbeer.

Cousin Teagan after his mother gave him a makeover. It was at our family reunion in Magrath.

I Love Summer.

I love that school starts in 9 days too (but who's counting?).

Spur of the moment

2011-08-06T22:23:00.000-06:00

Last night, after dinner, Spence and I were trying to figure out what to do... "Let's go to Havre, and stay over night." What a great idea, I can't remember whose idea it was, but I'll take credit. In 10 minutes we packed the car with a sleeping bag, 2 pillows, our passports and some clothes and got on the road; the border crossing closed at 9pm, so we had to hurry.

Havre, MT is about 2 hours away, they don't really have much there except a bunch of bars and casinos, but they have a Super Wal-mart. We bought a bunch of junk food, all the neat stuff we don't have here. I loved the drive, it was 2 hours of time with Spence. I loved shopping with him, he pretended to be interested in the things I like, I tried to do the same. We are really cheap, so we found a parking lot and slept in our car, it was just as romantic, I loved it. We walked around the town a bit and shopped at O'Reilly's and BIG R, Spence got the second to last camping accessory he has ever wanted... a small stainless steel camping teapot (the last thing he wants is a MEC double hammock... it's in the mail). On our drive home we stopped at Elkwater provincial park and got ice cream cones at the old gas station, I completely recommend it. For $2.50 we got HUGE cones, I was actually FULL after eating it.

Tomorrow we go out to pick up Kali, I miss her so much. Having 4 brothers and sisters for a week is probably doing her a lot of good though.

I love the Farm!

2011-08-04T23:07:00.001-06:00

We've spent a couple weekends at Spencer's parents farm lately, I love going there. When you're there, nothing is pressing, there's little stress and we watch movies and play outside. Spencer helped with dinner one Sunday and wore his mothers apron, I had to snap a pic.

This weekend we rode bikes in the prairie trying to avoid cactus, it was a blast. We fertilized and watered Moms trees, rode the 4-wheeler and Kali rode grandpas horse "apple sauce".

Kali is at Spencers brothers house this week playing with her cousins and we are alone. Kali hasn't even called us yet, I think she's having too much fun. Spence and I have had fun together, but we sent this picture to Kali letting her know we are missing her.

The caption we sent her was: "Hi Kali, we miss you lots. Just eating boring sandwiches for dinner."

Can't wait to see her on Sunday.

Side note: I missed Kalis first week of swimming lessons, dang it! I did this last year too.

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Wearing the bangs

2011-07-16T23:35:00.000-06:00

I found some pics on my camera from a couple weeks ago. Spencer's bro and his wife came home from China where they had been living for almost a year; they brought home a headband with bangs attached, we all had fun with it. It goes like this:

this one was just for fun. Dad and I dancing to the car.

Busy but FUN!!

2011-06-26T21:51:00.000-06:00

We have had a busy last couple weeks.

I have worked at Wood Visions for a little over a year and have finally learned how to build cabinet boxes, it is so fun. One day I hope to build some things for our home.

Kali's birthday was this past week and I threw a party for her. A small party that turned into 10 kids was chaos, but a complete blast. We played some minute to win it games tailored to 7 year olds, jumped on the trampoline with a bunch of soap on it, the kids threw water balloons and shot eachother with water guns. There were a few who cried when their parents came because they were having so much fun. I love parties!!

We went camping this weekend with our friends, the Delgados in Cardston at the Lee Creek campground, I recommend it to anyone. We drove our "new to us Camper Van", and it rocked. It makes camping so much more fun, and the drive is a lot more fun. We went to the temple and Spencer's Mom was serving in our session, it was really special to be there with her. I love the Temple.

Life is great, I can't wait for the summer holiday to start for Kali. I look forward to going to the beach at least every week, doing some geocaching, and playing with friends. I LOVE SUMMER!!

I love Las Vegas

2011-05-15T21:55:00.001-06:00

The Torries went to Las Vegas for spring break and we didn't go to he77. It was a super fun trip, we drove and stopped in Logan, UT and Cedar City, UT to visit family. We really needed a break from the long winter, and found super hot weather and some sun in Vegas. Spencer served his mission there and got to see some of his old friends, it was awesome, I love Vegas.

We stopped in Salt Lake and had fun checking stuff out at Temple Square. Kali was super crazy-hyper, it made it a bit difficult to completely enjoy everything.

Kali found a large statue of Sponge bob, it totally looked like he was looking at her. She was very excited.

We went to M&M's world and Kali was yet again SUPER excited, she wanted to buy everything. We actually gave her an allowance of $5 per day so she could make all her own decisions with her own money. Her first purchase at the Disney store brought on major buyers remorse, but she got over it by the time we got to the M&M's store.

On our first full day, we went hiking in Blue Diamond, we saw wild Burros and made an inukshuk on the trail. We hiked up and down and up and down along a nice trail, it was pretty hot and Spence and I got sunburned a little. We all loved being outside though.

On our next day, we went biking at Cottonwood, it was Kali's first time on her mountain bike and using hand brakes. She did great on the asphalt but struggled on the rocky terrain, it made for some great scars though. Spence biked from there to Blue Diamond while Kali and I geocached and pet a wild Burro.

When Spence was a missionary he loved biking Red Rock Canyon, this was a hike we did and the Red Rock mountains behind us.

We met up with Spencer's first companion and his family on our last night in Vegas. It was one of the funnest times, they are the Falks, Jesse is from Airdrie and he just graduated from Dentistry and Lindsey is the greatest girl, I wish we lived closer to them. They took us to the best restaurant called Robertos taco shop, I just can't get enough of Mexican food.

After dinner, the Falks took us to the Bellagio fountains and Kali made some new friends. They were giving out free hugs, she loved it, and they let her join them.

At the end of the night we went out for "Luv it frozen custard", it was right near a strip club and a really scary convenience store with the guy behind the bullet proof glass. The custard was great, the company was fabulous but the ambiance.... was not.

We had so much fun in Vegas, I wish we could have stayed longer.

My Birthday

2011-02-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Kali decorated my birthday cake for me, it says: "Mom Happe Brthday", I had to bake it for my own birthday, can you believe it? I'm sure it's better than what Spence could have made. He made some bread last week and missed the yeast... it was a brick. He invited my friends over for a party but made me buy all the food, prepare it and buy my present.I really liked the party, it was so fun to hang out with some friends. We ate lots of great food, played some games and found out about some of Trevor's celebrity crushes. I also loved when Erin came over during the day with a cupcake tree full of chocolate cupcakes infused with buttercream icing. We played Super Mario Brothers Wii and she helped me pass some levels in the 8th world that I couldn't have done without her, she ROCKS at games.

Yesterday, still in my birthday week, we went to the farm had a roast beef dinner, watched MegaMind and played cards. I really appreciate Mom Torrie, she is so kind to me, I really love that woman. Ryan & Tonya came over to with the kids, they made me cards and bought me a huge Lindor chocolate bar.

I love my birthday, it's my favorite day ever.

p.s. I got a new calling today at church: Second Counselor in the Primary. I was a little surprised and overwhelmed, we'll see , there are some super great girls that I get to work with.

Cupcakes

2011-01-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

I love my chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing. I made a batch the other day and gave some away to a couple friends. I have enjoyed them and have tried to savor them. There were 4 left this morning, I had 2, Kali had one and I saved one for after my nap. When I got up Spence had eaten the last one!! He said it looked like no one wanted it?! What??!! I would never say that about a cupcake. My dear sweet cupcake has been wasted on someone who I don't think appreciated it. Good bye cupcake, I love you and can't wait to enjoy you again.

Jenn

Sacrifice

2011-01-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

We had a lesson today on sacrifice in R.S. and all I could think about was King Julien in Madagascar 2.

I also realized that I suck at sacrifice and I'm a little selfish. During the lesson, I remembered that there were two pieces of chocolate cake at home and I thought about how I could eat both of them. Some mothers would give to their husbands and children and go without... not this lady. My friend Suzanne called me to repentance, so I guess I should try harder.

Down To Earth Recycling

2010-11-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

I bought a curbside recycling pickup business a couple weeks ago, and am really excited about it. I bought it from a friend who is moving to BC, she started it over a year ago. I have 53 clients, a cargo trailer, a bunch of bins, and a lot of enthusiasm. It's a sweet job, I make money, get some exercise, only work one day a week, and I'm my own boss. I got all my invoicing worked out by using intuit billing manager, it's so easy and best of all it's free. I also think it's pretty great to be helping the environment, no worries, I'm not a crazy, hippie, recycle Nazi.

We've had our truck for a year and it has been a work in progress, Spence put in a new starter and we flushed our tranny, it just hit 300,000km this week and I hope it lasts a lot longer. As a side note, Spencer is so great at fixing things, we were having some idling issues and took the truck into Ford, they wanted us to replace a sensor. Spencer took the sensor off and found that it was all gummed up with dirt and oil, he cleaned it with electronic cleaner and saved us the $500 that Ford was going to charge to replace it. He rocks my socks off!!

Thanksgiving weekend

2010-10-16T20:24:00.000-06:00

We went to Edmonton this year for thanksgiving but on the way we went to the Calgary Zoo. It's a great Zoo, we had so much fun, Kali and I spent over half the time waiting for Spence to read every info board, but we made the best of it. My favorite animals were the Gorillas for sure, I also liked the spider monkeys, the wolves, and I kinda liked the tiger, I would have liked her more if she didn't try to spray me.

Kali chasing the peacock, which she did a lot.

A family picture outside the Zoo gates.

Another family picture at the Zoo.

Family Picture in front of the Edmonton Temple.

The reason we went to Edmonton was to visit my famliy, but I always love to have a visit with my good friends. I got to hang out with my dear Sarah, and it was so good to see her. We went to a really cool park, talked, watched the girls play, and had a picnic, and the weather was perfect too.

Last of all, we dug up our carrots last week and found a couple funny looking ones. I'm thankful for gardens.

I love Kali Torrie

2010-10-05T21:35:00.000-06:00

Kali and I have had 2 great days. I think general conference was a good wake up call for me, and I have felt that the most important thing for me to do right now is be a good Mom to Kali. I am trying to have more patience, and we are talking about our feelings, and how they affect our lives and especially our spirits.

We had the best talk tonight right before bed. She has a friend at school who bullies her, but she doesn't want to tell on her because she doesn't want her to get into trouble. She's also scared of her and frankly, I am too. I worry about the future especially since this girl is only in grade one. I feel sad that I have to send my baby into this world where I can't be there to "save" her. I love my little girl and am totally behind her.

3rd Ward BBQ

2010-09-15T21:20:00.000-06:00

We just got home from our ward BBQ, and it was AWESOME!! The salads were mediocre, I wish there were something with cookies or chocolate bars. Can you tell that I love treats? I guess cookies and chocolate bars are not the first thing I should think of when I think of salad. The rest of the night definitely redeemed the salads. I had a great burger, it was really juicy and delicious, cooked to perfection. Then for dessert we had cotton candy and snow cones. I got a huge apple flavored cotton candy on a stick, the only down side was that I had to eat it fast cause little black flies were getting stuck in it. I loved visiting with our friends, our ward is so great, I love it. I think the other highlight was playing ultimate Frisbee, it's not my best sport but I did okay, and it made me feel young again. I played opposite teams from Spence and really had a fun time hassling him and taking him down.
We didn't see Kali at all, she was all over the place. When we took her home at 8:00 she begged to stay longer but it was already dark out. I asked her about her night, she loved it, she played at the park, climbed the hills, ran around with her friends and ate treats. "How many snow cones did you have Kali?" Two fingers go up, Mom's jaw drops (maybe in jealousy). "How many cotton candy's did you have Kali?" one finger goes up, then oh, no, two fingers come up. Mom's jaw drops further. Well, this only happens once a year. She was tired enough to go to bed when we got home.
What a great night, life is so good.

2010-08-29T21:57:00.000-06:00

School starts tomorrow, I am pretty excited. We've had a few bumps in the mother/ daughter road for the past couple weeks. Kali loves school and is looking forward to her new teacher and making new friends, it'll be awesome to have some structure in our lives again.

I spoke in church last week, it went well. I'm surprised at how comfortable I am up there. I love telling personal experiences and I think people love to hear them. My bishop told me "That was exactly what I wanted to hear from you." I love that guy.

We have an addition to our family. A cute little tabby kitten named Caramel, it matches Kali favorite stuffy. She sure loves this kitten, and I am surprised at how much we all do, he's such a cute little thing and loves to sleep with us when he can sneak in. Kali mauls him practically to death, I think it's cause she loves him so much. I think he fills in some kind of void we had in our family, we're all so excited to see him and play with him. I can't believe I have a cat though, last summer I caught like 5 in 3 days and took them to the SPCA for pooping in my garden.

Spencer's baby sis got married on Friday, so happy for her and her husband, he is a great guy and if Kali were older there may have been some competition there. It was a beautiful day, lots of fun pictures, good food and too much candy. With almost 20 grand kids running around hyper on pure sugar, it was chaotic.

Here's a pic with the happy couple surrounded by most of their nieces and nephews.

Spence and I kissing at the temple.

My dear friend Eliza and her little man Karsten.

The "Cool Table". (I love my cousins!!)

Our family picture by a corn field near Taber.

Bikes and Cakes

2010-08-08T21:53:00.000-06:00

She finally did it. It took a lot of patience, tears, and scrapes. My Kali can ride a two wheeler. She is pretty excited and learned over two days. Last Saturday, we took her to the local toboggan hill with 3 different bikes, a coaster, a small bike with 12 inch tires, and a bigger one featured below. We had her coast down the hill using her legs as skis, but keeping her weight on her seat. She did good on the coaster, but the bikes with the pedals caused some serious adversity. After 3 hours and bribes galore we had to give up short of her riding on her own. Then on Monday we took her to a park really close to our house with a really small hill, she was happy and picked it up really fast and rode a while on the grass by herself. Then later that afternoon Spence had her riding in the back alley, she still has to master the steering but it will come in time. We are so excited that she can ride a two wheeler, it opens the door to so many adventures for our family.

I've been wanting to do this for a while, I finally covered my pine, scratched, stained, kitchen table with countertop laminate. It looks awesome. I love how sturdy it is. I love how I did it all by myself. I remind Spencer often how awesome I am and how great the table looks, he's so good at agreeing enthusiastically. I'll kill two birds with one stone here, the picture below is of Kali, our friend Jen and I destroying the leftovers of a Safeway cake, which was so liberating. It also shows the table and in the background you can see how my kitchen has no wall behind me, the one that Spencer took out a few weeks ago.

Our kitchen is on hold till we get our electrical permit, I hope we can get it soon, it's Spencer's department.

Camping in Waterton

2010-07-26T16:41:00.001-06:00

We finally made it to Waterton Tuesday afternoon. But I have to say that we had lots of fun Monday just hanging out as a family, Spence took us to Five Guys Burger and Fries.... and I LOVED it. We spent the evening with the Wallaces at the library playing Jungle Jeopardy and had some DQ. Fun times.
Waterton was beautiful, I love the mountains, but the idea of camping in the townsite was a drawback at first. I did feel safer with so many camper around, and the showers were nice and clean. We were really close to my sister's campsite which made it easier for our kids to run back and forth between the trailers. I think I have a few highlights of the week:
1. Kayaking for the first time in Cameron Lake, I attempted to cross the lake, made it about 7/8 of the way then turned back. I felt bad for using up so much time on the kayak. My abs were pretty sore the next day, but it was worth it.

2. Spencer pulled Kali and my nephew down from Cameron Lake on the bike trailer, 16 km (almost 10 miles) I drove behind them with my hazards on. They loved it, the trailer has them facing out the back so I could watch them the whole way, they snacked, sang, talked and laughed.
3. Wieners of Waterton a great place for a good wiener, smokie, and sweet potato fries. I had a smokie with the special sauce, cheese sauce, crushed chips and a pickle, it was awesome, although I think I enjoyed the fries the best with the southwest dipping sauce.
4. Hanging out with my sister and her husband. We had fun staying up and talking, they have some pretty crazy stories.

This is Spencer Kayaking down the Cameron falls creek. People were lining the creek to watch him, it did look kinda crazy to see him put the kayak over the fence and into the water.

Friday morning was our planned departure, but I've now noticed a trend in our departures. Spencer noticed a slow leak, then found a wire sticking in or out, not sure, of one of the wheels in the tent trailer. He decided to change it to the spare, which actually didn't look much better. After an hour, at least, we got on our way, saw a mother bear and her cubs and made it to Raymond, AB for the next hiccup in our trip. Things happen in threes?? You betcha. We were driving through some construction and over and bump in the road when our "good" tire fell off. It could have been worse I suppose. Throughout all my complaining Spencer found a parts store, bought new nuts and dust cap, and fixed the problem and had us on our way. I won't mention that he had an impression a couple hours before to check that tire. We were actually on our way to Elkwater for our ward campout, it's about 50 minutes SE of Medicine Hat. We had fun at the ward camp, we visited with friends, got to know some people better, ate more hotdogs, hiked, geocached, it was great!! I hope it can happen every year.

I'm so glad to be home in my own bed. I love summer and having lazy days. I'm looking forward to some sweet times with Kali before she starts grade one.

Camping departure

2010-07-19T15:43:00.000-06:00

I shouldn't be telling a story about our camping departure, I should be departed and on my way. We're supposed to be in Waterton National Park camping with my sister and her family. Although being home writing about it is better than being out on the road stranded somewhere.
I woke up in the 6th hour this morning getting everything ready for camping, we planned to leave around 11 AM. We cleaned, and organized and hauled everything out to the tent trailer, put our bikes in the truck and canoe on the tent trailer. Spencer had me help check the lights just before we got in the truck to leave. Left signal... good, right signal... good, brakes... ppppfffff. The brake line to the passenger side tire blew up. Let that sink in...
Now, I could have been upset, but all I feel is gratitude. Could this have happened in a better place? No. Better here than out on the highway. We were so thankful that someone is looking out for our family, Kali told us that she said a prayer, she is so faithful. The brake line should be in tomorrow morning, Spence should be able to fix it. Life is good.

I Love Summer Vacations

2010-07-11T20:58:00.000-06:00

Kali and I went to Utah this past week to visit family. I drove my sister in laws old van to her sister in Logan, we caravaned, and I went back with her and her 4 kids. We had lots of fun visiting with family and friends. I took Kali and her cousin to Lagoon, we went swimming at the aquatic center, hung out with the Turpins and Garbinatis and did a little shopping. Kali loved Lagoon and the rides, I think it was the highlight of the trip, I can't wait till she gets a little taller so we can go on the huge rides. It was a little tricky for her to patiently wait in line, she climbed the little rails, whined, sat, laid on the ground and talked to people around her. Kali liked the bumper cars, I remember putting her on them a few years ago and she hated them; I couldn't believe how great of a bumper car driver she is now. Bumper cars are not the easiest thing to drive, and I was so impressed, she could drive straight and back up when she got stuck, I was completely amazed and proud. A weird experience, I took the girls to the bathroom, we walked past an open stall and this very large girl was using the facilities, Kali just stood there and started at her, I had to pull her away. I figure the girl was so fat that she couldn't close the door, and it was a marvel to Kali, she is such a "funny" little girl. I'm not sure if the girl was embarrassed, she must have been, but she kinda rushed out and didn't even wash her hands, GROSS!! Sorry to have to scare you but here are some good pictures of our day.

Kali's favorite ride, Jumping Dragon, she went on it 4 times.

This is the Dinosaur Drop, it bobbed, dropped and slowly rotated. They went on this one 3 times.

This was a huge granite ball that spun on this rock, it has water flowing around it. Each time the girls walked by it they wanted to try and stop the ball from spinning.

The end of the day, we were all tired, but the girls had lots of fun.

We got to do some of our favorite things, like go to Lagoon, Costa Vida, Target, and Maceys, it sure is a nice place to visit and sometimes I think, I'd want to live there. Then I remember that I love Canada, I love the mentality, not having to pay for heath insurance like some of my friends who pay over $600 per month and only get 80/20 coverage, plus the heat is a little more than I can handle. I've learned that I am content with where I'm at in life, and that we are very blessed to have what we do. We have the best friends and family, and we're happy, I couldn't ask for anything else (I just need to remind myself of that).

Oh, and the wall that I needed to remove in the kitchen was done for me while I was gone. I was not looking forward to it, as it's super messy and hard to do, but not for my superman husband. He rocks, I can't wait to go ahead with the rest of the kitchen now, I've kinda been at a stand still since we haven't had a weekend where we were free in many weeks. We have some electrical changes and additions, and plumbing to do before we drywall and install cabinets, I'm looking forward to all of it now.

Had to add Kali's last day of kindergarten. She had a great teacher, we just loved her.

Home again

2010-06-28T12:06:00.000-06:00

I got home last night after volunteering as a support person in an adventure race, it was 36 hours long and started at midnight on Friday. It was a beautiful place, throughout West Castle, I didn't realize how close we are to the mountains, I think my family would love to camp there. While I wasn't trekking, biking, kayaking or climbing like my team was, there was enough stress to completely wear me out. Erin and I were the support team, we had to set up and move camp 4 times, feed our team, disassemble and assemble bikes, drive for hours and get lost on dusty, bumpy, narrow, sometimes wet dirt roads, and it all happened at random times during the night or day. We did have a great experience when we were lost, it involved some prayer and some random people who knew the area really well, I was pretty grateful for that experience.
The drive home was especially difficult, I had the hardest time staying awake while driving. It was all worth it to see my family, they were so happy, I think Kali was the most excited to eat the rest of my treats.
We have lots of summer left, and enough to keep us busy. I hope to go visit some family and take Kali to Lagoon, in UT next week. We have a camping trip planned with my sister and her family in Waterton and we may go to Montana to visit with some friends for a few days. Kali and I are going to plan some fun things that we can to do together, if anyone has any ideas, comment, I'd love to hear it.

Kali's birthday

2010-06-24T10:43:00.000-06:00

Kali turned 6 yesterday, and I just love her. She is such a great little girl and fun to be around. We made some cupcakes for her class and she was so happy to share them, she loved the whole day being about her. She was excited to get a birthday ribbon from the office, help with the calendar, snack and choose 3 things from the treasure box. After school she went to Erin's, I had to work till 5, poor Kali said a boy in her class was so mean to her all day and she was sad and crying. Erin is like another mother to Kali, I'm glad she can talk to her. We had a weenie roast in the backyard, due to the flooding in the parks, with the Wallaces; we had cake and presents then we went to Toy Story 3. What a great day!! Kali loved it.

I made this cake for Kali. It's a Hello Kitty cake made into her stuffy cat, Caramel. She loved it.

This is our friend Scotia, she had super static hair on the trampoline.

Kali opening her Barbie SeaWorld set from the Wallaces, she loves it too. She really is so easy to please, she loves everything.

Kali and her kitty cake, she loved it... so did I. We love chocolate cake around here.

This is my 6 year old, just before school.

What a wonderful little girl I have. She is the perfect child for me, I just love her so much.

Ode to my Little Girl

2010-06-20T22:12:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago Kali had a sports day at school, it was great to see how good she was at some of the events. She's never shown much interest in anything athletic, but she did very well at the events I saw. She's quite competitive but doesn't like sports which I have had a hard time with. I shouldn't rule out her becoming an athlete, I can always dream, right?

Kindergarten is almost over, so we went to the end of year celebration this week; it was in the evening so it was a family event. The kids had 3 different half hour sessions: music time in the cafeteria with cookies and juice, K-graduation in the Library and play time in the gym. The K-grad was my favorite part, the children sang the cutest song (see video below). Kali sang so well, she just got right into it, one parent came up to me and complimented her so well. She said she joins them in their music class and loves to listen to Kali sing. After the song, their teacher, who is amazing, gave a tribute to each child about their strengths and they received their certificates. She said how big of a heart Kali has and how she likes to make people happy, and talked about her artistic abilities, and her love for music. I was so proud of her.

I have had a great year getting to know some of the other parents at the school. I was the room rep and was also in the parent council. I love the school community, so many parents are involved and the school staff is so friendly, it's really the greatest school.

Weekend in Edmonton

2010-06-14T09:29:00.000-06:00

We're driving back from Edmonton so I thought I would pass time writing in my blog. We had a nice weekend, Spencer had a conference in Edmonton. APEGGA, the engineering association put us up in a fancy hotel downtown and fed us way too much good food, we actually ate Salmon 3 times this weekend. All the fanciness is almost wasted on me but I think many of the other people at the conference just expect that type of treatment, I'm not sure I'll ever fit in and I hope I never do. I spent my time eating, shopping by myself, which I love, and hanging out with my sister. When I went to the mall I shopped for what I wanted, I didn't have to tell anyone to stay close to me, or wait for anyone to try anything on, I loved it. I noticed that Emily Osment was going to be doing an autograph session at the mall so I stuck around for it and talked to another nice mother from Quebec. Emily Osment acted in Hannah Montana as Lily and is a recording artist now.

We were able to visit with family while we were in Edmonton, we had such a good time. I went to my sister's house for a couple hours and played with my nephews and we played Beatles RockBand, it was sweet. Kali stayed at Spencer's brothers house all weekend... Thank you Stan and Sh'Nell, you rock; we got to stay there and hang out on Saturday and Sunday. I realized how much I miss being close to Sh'Nell, we get a long so well, I hope we can live closer someday.

Saturday evening we had a fun party at Butler's new house, it was good times. I'm so glad that some of my greatest friends who I missed so much could be there, we can all just pick up where we left off, it's great. We ate lots of great food and had fun visiting, Barb lives a block from the beach so us and all the kids loved hanging out there.

I sure love reminiscing and seeing all my old friends, and I'm also very happy to live in Medicine Hat and to have the friends I do.

Renovations in the kitchen

2010-05-30T21:23:00.000-06:00

I've been crazy this week doing kitchen renos. On Tuesday I decided to change the color of the cabinets that I had already stained to a darker color, I sanded everything down to the bare wood, AGAIN. It took all day, I had really sore thumbs, and I was almost finished. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it rained so I thought of something else I could do... I started hammering down the plaster off the kitchen walls. It is super messy work, I tried to tape and plastic the kitchen off so I didn't have dust everywhere, it's working so far.

This is my kitchen before I started hammering, it was actually fun to take out the upper cabinets.  But I can see a lot of work for me in the immediate future since I hope to have the kitchen finished before the end of June.

This was taken on Wednesday morning after I tore down the upper cabinets, I've been trying to clean as I go so that my house doesn't feel so much like a construction zone.   

This was taken Thursday morning.  All the plaster is gone, and underneath was this 1/2 inch thick paper, it was almost as hard to remove as the plaster. I have fun doing this type of work, Spencer was completely surprised that I was this ambitious.  But when I get an idea in my head, I can't help myself. 

So currently, the paper is all off that wall, and just the lath is still on.  I'm a little nervous about taking it off because there are wood shavings as insulation underneath.  My next tasks are to take off the lath, clean up the wood shavings, add another electrical plug-in, insulate with itchy pink batting, vapor barrier, totally remove the wall to the left, remove lower cabinets, add a sanitary vent, remove the cast iron pipe running up the ceiling, and drywall.  Then I get to install the cabinets and add a dishwasher, which I am very excited about.  I am also excited to have my back porch empty again, right now it's full of almost re-finished cabinets.  I have a side project too, I am painting my basement floor, but I have to do it in phases cause we have to much junk down there.  I have one phase done and it looks really good, it's clean and much brighter, I think it looks bigger too.  Well, I have a few busy weeks ahead of me, with lots of renovating and something to do every weekend.

We attended stake conference today, it was a Canada wide broadcast. It was really good, I like what Pres. Uchtdorf said, "is everything I want to do what the Lord wants me to do?" I took some good things from this conference, I hope I can evaluate my life and make a lot of corrections.

2010-05-16T21:50:00.001-06:00

I made a cake for my friend Jinnie she turned 50 today. I copied the idea from a friend who made me a cake like this on my birthday. We had Jinnie and her husband, the Bishop, over for dinner on Friday night, it was so fun. The cake was amazingly delicious. I now love homemade cake over a store bought cake, I know, sounds crazy, but it's true. It has to be a nice thick, rich chocolate cake, and I do have a great recipe. I have to put in a plug for Erin, she does makes the best chocolate cake.

These are some pictures I took last week or the week before, from Grassy Lake. I realized I haven't put pictures up in a while.

Kali riding a pony, she loved it and was kind of a pony hog. I think this would fit in our backyard...

My niece, Brooklyn, on a tree swing, with her twin brother Colby in the tree. She looks so cute in this picture.

Kali and Colby posing for a picture in a tree, can you tell they are cousins? Little cuties.

We're looking forward to going camping this weekend, I hope the weather co-operates. We're going to the farm to camp near the river in our secret family camping spot, we have a few friends coming, should be really fun.

My Blog Chair

2010-05-10T21:48:00.000-06:00

I love sitting in my blog chair. It is also my reading chair. I don't think its even my chair, but I love to sit in it and put my feet up. It was a gift from Spencer's Grandma, I just love her, she is such an example to me. She's written a few family history books in our personal library, she has lived and is continuing to live such an amazing life. So this chair that I sit in was Grandpa's, I believe, it's a green recliner, in great shape. I think there is a story behind the purchase of this chair but I don't know if I have all the facts in order to tell it. Maybe someone can comment and tell the story. The point of my post isn't about the chair, but as I sat in it getting ready to write, I felt grateful for this wonderful chair.

Had a great Mother's Day, Spence made breakfast and dinner. We had bacon, english muffins and omelettes for breakfast, with Turkey, funeral potatoes, grilled pineapple, salad and Chocolate cake for dinner. He did a wonderful job, I am so happy that I have the best husband in the world. I bought myself some Gold Canyon candles for Mother's day, the best one is the Birthday Cake one, it really smells like birthday cake, it rocks!! Back to the chocolate cake, I made it on Friday, it was chocolate zucchini with a ganache frosting, I decorated it with melted chocolate pieces that said "MOM ROCKS", I really do. And I think I like cake too much.
So Spence wrote me a poem and he's lining up a massage and a haircut for me. Kali gave me a little craft she made at school with a card that you fold up, it says "My Love for you grows... and grows... and grows" (into a really tall flower). She was so excited to give it to me in bed. In primary she made another craft and was "supposed" to give me some Hershey Kisses... I never received them.

We've been having fun working on the yard and the house, we have lots of projects to finish, and I keep starting more. I sure love being at home and being able to renovate my house, I'm becoming pretty handy.

2010-05-02T22:02:00.000-06:00

Well, this week Kali's school was hosting Sean Covey and trying to display the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I was able to help out and take a few of the visitors around the school. I talked to another Mom, we were chatting about catholic schools, I told her that I went through the Catholic system as a kid. I told her that I am LDS and she asked how I would ever change religions, it was nice to bear my testimony to her. She subs at the school a lot and knows that a lot of the staff and students are LDS too, she seems impressed by the community we have and how nice everyone is. What a miracle it was to have a gospel conversation, actually that was our ward goal for the week, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I wasn't even expecting it to happen since I didn't think I talked to non-church goers very often.
So, I had a very embarrassing moment today at church. I was asked to say the closing prayer in Sunday School, I did so and maybe I wasn't loud enough. I had said something like being thankful for the Savior, Jesus Christ, someone in the front row said "Amen" right after that... I was so thrown off that I just said "Amen" too and sat down. My face was so red, I'm sure. I wanted to run away and never come back. Spencer was sympathetic but said he'd never heard anything like that before, and one guy thought it was so funny that he was going to start a journal and write about it. Great, I wish I were never born, jk.

All Moms go to Heaven.

2010-04-27T11:03:00.000-06:00

I'm reading this book called "All Moms Go to Heaven" by Dean Hughes. I actually met him and his wife at Christmas time and visited with them both on a couple of occasions, they gave me a Red Brick store Rootbeer. Anyways, I liked them, they are real people and very nice. So in this book he talks about how great is wife is, but he also shares some of her weaknesses... I'm glad Spence isn't a writer. I found my favorite idea in the book and thought I would share it.

"...it's always good to take a peek at your children when they're asleep at night. They really are angels even if they've acted like little devils all day."

I'm reading another book "Being the Mom" by Emily Watts. Here's my favorite part so far:

"I have loved being the Mom - and at moments I have hated it. I have laughed myself silly and cried myself to sleep, burst with pride and withered with embarrassment, felt so much love for my children I thought I might float away and been so frustrated with them I feared I might wrench their little heads clean off their little necks."

I think I can relate. I have a very easy with Kali most times, she is such a perfect child for me. That being said, there are rare times when we don't see eye to eye. But I love checking in on her at night, and I hate to see her walk into the school on her own when I drop her off at school. I love her so much and realize how blessed Spence and I are that she was born into our little family. If we didn't have her I'd have to work.... yuck.

I have no words of wisdom, just thought I would share some funny quotes, Have a great day!!

Rattler Run and the Mud hole

2010-04-25T20:58:00.001-06:00

We had some really nice weather this week, in the mid twenties (Celsius). I had to use my air conditioning in the car, and I loved it. Kali and I both wore shorts everyday. I love this time of year, Kali can wear capris and shorts and I don't have to worry about her out growing them. I had a real problem this year with her pants becoming too short, I bought her a few size 7's in January hoping that she may be able to wear them next year too. We'll see, she seems to be growing a few inches every year.

I had a busy week, I prepared for the Rattler Run and did it with a couple friends, we practiced it on Wednesday, which made me super sore for Friday and Saturday. Saturday came, I took a few ibuprofens, had a good breakfast, and a Mars bar... it still wasn't good enough. I ran alone trying to get my iPod to motivate me, I was tired and my feet fell asleep right before the hill. It was weird, my feet were numb and tingling, I've never had that happen before. I didn't do as well as I thought I would, I think 30 must be taking it's toll on me; I remember when I could run a race without training and still do pretty good.

Our stake had a Women's Conference yesterday, I had fun. We ate sweet pork Costa Vida salads and there was chocolate everywhere, I brought "*** in a pan" and pounded it with some friends at my table. The classes were good, I learned how to make my own laundry soap, I may try that someday. One of my favorite parts was driving the scoot, I love it, I feel so free.

The highlight of my week was Thursday, it was definitely memorable. My friend Erin called and invited us to come play in this mud hole with our gum boots. It's actually a place where the city dumps snow in the winter and in the spring it melts into this muddy lake. I was a little surprised to see Erin's kids in their swimsuits... well sort of. They were swimming and loving it, Kali was a little freaked. Trevor drove through the mud hole a couple times, splashed up a lot of water and after the 4th time, his car wouldn't run. So, we drove them home in our truck. Erin and I sat in the front, the four kids in the ext. cab, and Spence and Trevor laid under the kiddie pool in the bed of the truck. We laughed a lot.

Good times, Great memories made!!

April half over??

2010-04-18T21:01:00.001-06:00

I looked at my calendar today and couldn't believe it's April 18, I thought it was still March. I think time flies the older I get, I need to figure out a way to slow it down. Meanwhile, I am enjoying the present and wouldn't want to go back to the past, but the future is turning into the past way too fast.

We went to Cardston yesterday, missed the last session, but still ended up serving. We went to visit a family we knew from Edmonton, saw how grown up their kids are becoming and had a great time. We went for dinner to the Grotto and had an Indian Taco, it wasn't love at first bite (or the last), it was kind of bland. I can't complain, we had great company.

Spencer's sister had a missionary "friend" come home. We were able to hang out with them last night, it made me think about when Spence and I started dating and how much fun we had. Spence and I started dating on conference weekend 7 years ago I remember how we made strict rules like going home at 10:00pm, we had to give ourselves hugging and kissing time. We had decided when we were engaged that we weren't going to kiss on the lips till we were over the alter getting married, and we really did it. I love Spence, he is my perfect match, and the man of my dreams.

We spent last night hanging out with Ryan & Tonya, Dave & Tami, Whitney & Blake and Grandma, it was a lot of laughs. It's great to be around family. I had to drive home and luckily we made it home at 1:30 in the morning, I haven't stayed out that late in years. Thank goodness for 7-11 and Slurpees.

Kali's shining moment

2010-04-11T21:53:00.048-06:00

Kali had a great moment at church today, I was so proud of her. We arrived late at church this morning, we drove home from Taber in order to attend our ward, and had to sit in the overflow at the back. Our friends were sitting next to us, their girls and Kali were having fun coloring and cutting. Their Dad made a really cool rose out of pink paper and gave it to his daughter, she loved it and kept smelling it and kept it close to her face. Kali admired it too. He made a tiny one for Kali out of a pink gum wrapper, it even smelled like gum. As he handed it to Kali, his daughter, who loved the previous rose went berserk, she had a major tantrum, I was quite surprised. After a physical struggle with his daughter, Kali received the rose, smelled it and asked me if she could give the rose to her friend, who was still crying rather loudly in the back of the chapel. Kali felt so happy that she could make her friend happy, I could see it in her eyes, and I know she saw it in my eyes.

What joy I felt in seeing my daughter serve in the capacity that she knows how, I can only imagine the joy our Heavenly Father feels, even in a world of turmoil, when we go the extra mile to serve another. I really love my sweet daughter, she truly is a gem.

April already???

2010-04-04T20:00:00.000-06:00

We came home from Utah this week. My nephew died last week at 16, he just got his license and went on his first date in February, I'm sure going to miss him. He was my Lagoon buddy, and just started hugging me without pushing me away. He was such a great young man, I've seen him change and grow in the past year or so. I have a testimony of the plan of salvation and know that he is loving his new realm, I'm almost jealous. I have seen my brother and sister (Spencer's side) bear testimony and show the strength they have received through the Lord and prayer, they are an amazing example to me.

We were invited to stay with our friends, the Turpins, in their beautiful home, Kali loved playing with their two girls. We spent most of our time with family, Spence's parents came from Nauvoo and it was the first time in almost 7 years that everyone has been together. It was a big bunch of Torries all in one place, about 45 of us. We were able to go to Costa Vida twice, I had a burrito and a shredded chicken salad, YUMMM!! Spence loved going to Smith and Edwards, a army surplus store and so much more, he spent 2 hours shopping, I couldn't believe it.

This weekend we went to Grassy lake, we got to visit with the Woodruffs and help them with some renos, I have the blisters to prove it. And tonight we had Ryan and Tonya for dinner, it was fun, although I think I am starting to get the flu. I haven't felt like this in a long time. We'll I sure love my family, and I hope I can be a better wife, mother and friend. Thank goodness for general conference and the outpouring of the spirit, I want to be better because of it, I think that's the plan.

It's motorbike season.

2010-03-21T22:00:00.000-06:00

I think we have run 3 of our 4 bikes this year, one may never roar to life again, it's a 1967 Honda Cub, I think it will be more of a hobby bike for Spence. We took the Honda CT70 trail bike out for a ride yesterday, it was so fun, and we didn't even really get hurt. We went out to a friends acreage, rode around on the trail bikes, Kali played in the sand with her friends, and we had a sweet weenie roast. We had s'mores but instead of using graham crackers and chocolate, we used Peak Freans with chocolate on one side, it was good and saved a lot of hassle. I love weenie roasts and BBQing, especially with friends, it's one of my favorite parts about summer.

We went for a walk today and looked for a geocache, it had been removed, I was kinda sad. I found the spot where it was supposed to be, but it was taken or moved. It was exciting anyway, I mean we saw a porcupine and our friend Christian found 2 ticks on himself. I'm freaked about ticks, we had to come home and thoroughly search each other. Before that we had dinner with the O's, Boeuf de bourgeois or something like that, it was good with lemon merange pie for dessert, fun times.

Kali has two field trips this week, one to see chicks and bunnies and one to the greenhouse. I love field trips.

2010-03-14T21:39:00.000-06:00

I had a great week, a couple of my friends invited me to go swimming with them even though I had no kids to bring. I was able to help them with their kids, which I love, so that's probably why they invited me.
On Friday, Erin set up and shot off the bottle rocket her husband made, it was so awesome!! It flew over the house and into the neighbors back yard; the second attempt was a little more scary, luckily the kids were in the back yard. I yanked the rope but it ended up tipping the rocket over towards us... we ran and it blew off into the side of a nearby truck. It could have been pretty bad. I should have been scared but that just got me really excited, so Spencer and I made Torrie Rocket Launcher 1.0. Yesterday we went out to Erin's Mom-in-law's and had a "Bottle Rocket Festival", it was totally awesome. Erin and Trevor's 4.0 version was very successful, our worked too but needs some tweaking, the next version will definitely require a rubber stopper instead of a cork. We can't wait to do it again, I think we'll make sweet rockets with fins next time.
Another highlight of our week was Kali's report card. She is very smart and has mastered almost all of her kindergarten objectives. Her teacher thinks she is so great and we are so proud of her, I just think she's the greatest kid. She's learning the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", and has been using them well at school; Sean Covey is actually going to visit her school at the end of April so that's really exciting.
We've been Geocaching too lately, I love it. It's a great family activity and Kali loves finding the treasure. We can't wait to go again and again.
I'm off to bed, I'm going to learn how to make bread in the morning... trying to be more domestic.

12 years and counting.

2010-03-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

On this day, twelve years ago I was baptized. It's fun to recall the events that lead up to that day. I had some friends who were members of the church in jr. high, we played soccer together, and I really liked them. There was some curious draw to them, but I never fully took that advantage of that, mainly because I had a different group of friends. Later in life, I had a second chance with another friend, it was good timing, and of course the Lord knew that. I went to many church activities before I met with the missionaries, I made lots of friends, and was socially converted. When I met with the missionaries everything felt right, I had a baptism date set for Feb. 21, but my Mother interjected. I waited till after my 18th birthday. I was taught by the perfect missionaries for me, Elders Bettilyon, Anderson and Peterson. Elder Bettilyon baptized me in St. Albert; I remember coming out of the water and the feeling of the spirit rush into my heart, it was so warm and comforting, it's still my favorite feeling.

Since then I think of the possibilities my life choices could have taken me. I'm scared to think of where I'd be without the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, I certainly was a wild thing. But really, back then I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that my life could be this good. Life is perfect. I have an amazing husband, he is phenomenal, he is so good to me, sometimes better than I think I deserve and I love him like crazy. Kali is such a blessing, we have become so close, and she just has so much love. These two are my best friends.

I can't not mention all the amazingly, wonderful friends I have met in the past 12 years. Everyone I've met has touched me in some sort of way. I have had friends that have been fun, great to talk to, shared interests, felt a spiritual connection, been in the same ward or all of the above. If you are my friend and you are reading this.... I'm talking about you. So, thanks.

I'm grateful for all those who have taken me under their wing and treated me like a daughter. Especially Mom and Dad Torrie, they have always made me feel like a daughter, I love them and miss them so much. Shout outs to the Gibbs, Ords, Olsens, and Hamiltons for sharing your families with me. I have learned so much from so many GREAT people.

I'll finish up here. I was able to bear my testimony today at church, I loved seeing the faces of my friends and family in my ward. Kali smiled the biggest smile at me, and many friends also showed me the love, I just have so much support, and I hope I can be a support to others. I love this church!

The big 3-0!

2010-02-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

I turned 30 this week. I never thought I would get this old. I've definitely noticed a couple mature changes over the past little while. Like, I'll eat onions, and I even ate a salad with tomatoes this week. I'm sure there are more to come. Kali has been wishing me a happy birthday for a solid week, I love it, she seriously ROCKS. She wrapped up some of my stuff in a towel and hid it in her room till Thursday morning, she was so excited to give it to me, another reason I love her. She is so excited about many simple things, and she loves me more than anyone.

I also had a SWEET cake delivered at about 5:30am on my birthday, I woke up to Grandma's musical phone call and found a chocolate cake on the table, it made my day, and I just finished eating the last piece this morning for breakfast. I sure like cake. Spence surprised me by coming home from work at his regular time, he thought he would have to stay and finish a project. We had steak, wings and a berry/peach salad, I wish I could live on meat alone. Another couple friends dropped off a Pavlova after dinner, it was so good, I was pretty spoiled. Last night, I went out with some friends for dessert to celebrate another friends birthday, it was so fun to visit. They even paid for our dessert.

So now that I'm 30, I have thought of some goals for life, one includes becoming better at doing service. I love helping people, I think I honestly do it for others and not for myself. I love making things easier for my friends especially, but maybe I should branch out a bit more. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

2010-02-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

Kali had all week off school, she starts again tomorrow. I asked her if she's excited to go back to school... she said no. I asked her who she missed the most from school and she said Ms. Werner, she really has a wonderful teacher. We tried to have fun each day, we had a couple different friends over a couple of days, we went skating, played games, and baked cookies. I like hanging out with Kali, she's a great girl, I hope she likes hanging out with me too.

Friday, we went to pick our truck from the shop, it was supposed to be finally finished and ready to go. When I went to start it, it wouldn't start. The fuel pump is dead. Nice. Well at least it's parked where they can fix it and we don't have to tow it to the garage (count your many blessings name them one by one). Maybe next week we'll have it back. I'm not sure how I feel about this truck, I have mixed feelings. We bought it in B.C. so it has to have an out of province inspection, which is a pain, and we have to fix a lot of things on it. Although at least when ALL those things are done we know that we shouldn't have to fix those things again. I hope Spence really likes this truck cause he's going to have it for a long time.

Friday was also the BEST day because Kali got to go to the Cinderella Ballet... with her other Mother, Erin. I personally hate ballet and never care to see one, but Kali loves that sort of thing, I am indebted to her now. Kali loved the ballet and came home dancing, but apparently thought the men in tights were gross, I can't blame her. The other awesome part was that I got to watch some great basketball. My cousins were in town from Barnwell for two tournaments and they ROCK!! Brianne plays for the Rebels in Taber, and Brandon plays for Barnwell, they are both awesome, and kicked some major trash. I love watching sports, so this was a great day for me.

Saturday, we went to Taber to visit Spencer's family, we visited and ate wings (my favorite). Kali loved playing with her cousins, I didn't see her the whole time. We went to Ryan and Tonya's new house, it's almost done, and WOW, it's amazing. I told Spence he better not take me there anymore, I get too jealous, jk.

I'm Re-Energized.

2010-02-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

I got home from Las Vegas early Friday morning, I went with my bestest friend (besides Spencer), Erin. We left last Sunday and flew out of Great Falls. We stayed at South Point Hotel, it's a mile or so south of the strip, it was a nice place. I really liked that it was far from the craziness of the strip, I'd recommend it and we got Bath and Bodyworks in our room. I would say that we saw more than we wanted to in some regards, Las Vegas means different things depending on your purpose. I found the hotels very fancy and physically clean, but morally filthy. We spent some of our afternoon at the Shark Reef Aquarium, it was cool, we touched Stingrays and saw lots of cool animals. We checked out M&M world, the Lion Habitat at MGM Grand, and a couple hotels. Our goal was to see a show, and we had a few to choose from, I was glad that we got to go to "The Lion King" at Mandalay Bay. It was amazing, the puppets are so interesting, Erin and I wondered how some of them worked and had our own theories... We ate at the Bellagio... I was disappointed, I thought it would be better, but I have simple tastes so I can't not recommend it. We ate great breakfasts and found a Cafe Rio, and I actually didn't gain a pound, must have been from all the walking and eliminating.
We only spent a day and a half in Vegas, then we drove to California. Our other purpose for the trip was to go to Disneyland, it was fun but different going without children or even being one. I dragged Erin on some fast rides, we shopped, we ate some great parmesan, garlic fries, we laughed a lot and just had fun, it was so good. That night we went to Cold Stone, pounded some great ice cream (cake batter with Reese's PB cups), and went to Huntington Beach. We walked the pier, talked, took pictures, found sea shells, and played in the water, this might have been a highlight for me.

I'm glad our husbands let us go together and managed the kiddies, they are so amazing. The biggest highlight of the trip was hanging out with Erin, we had so much fun. We had lots of driving time to talk, and laugh and get to know each other better. Thank you Erin, that trip Rok(ed) my socks off, I'll never forget it.

2010-01-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a great week! I have decided that I love being a stay at home Mom. Although I am thinking about opening a preschool at my house for September, but there are lots of things to do. I love this idea and have felt REALLY good about it. We'll see what happens I guess.

I have been working on my kitchen cabinets, Spencer's Uncle and Aunt gave us their old light Oak cabinets and they have been sitting in my back porch for a year. I am sanding them all down to the bare wood and staining them a natural color. I've been using a disk sander, which has saved a lot of time, but the grooves are killing my hands, if anyone has any tips, I'd really appreciate it. And my back room is really dusty, I might just start doing it outside in the back yard to save my lungs and the mess. My plan is to do a couple doors per week and have them finished by April or May. I have huge plans for my kitchen, involving taking out a wall, buying a corner lazy Susan from a used cabinet shop and making a eating counter.

Spence and Kali have been sick this week, Kali stayed home most of the week and Spence stayed home Thursday and Friday. I'm sure I'll get it next week.

My great friend, Erin Wallace, and I are flying to Las Vegas next Sunday. I am SOO excited!! We are going without kids, totally unsupervised, it going to be sweet! We are planning on spending a day in Vegas and we're renting a car to drive to Las Angeles to hit some beaches and DISNEYLAND! We booked our trip a couple weeks ago and got some great deals, we organized our kids and husbands, and we've been planning all the fun stuff we are going to do. Only one more week!!

I LOVE MY LIFE!

Soddom and Gommorah in Haiti?

2010-01-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

I may receive some interesting comments about this post, and that's okay. It's my blog, I can write whatever I want to. I'm kinda sick of hearing about Haiti, I AM sorry that there are children going without food and water in Haiti. But really, Haiti is a very dangerous place, I read some articles about Haiti about a year ago stating that it was a very dangerous place to visit/vacation. I remember reading that Canadians were being robbed, kidnapped, killed... I never had any desire to go there. I am not super surprised that they were shook by a quake that killed hundreds of thousands. I found another article posted by the U.S. government:

There are no "safe” areas in Haiti. There is a persistent danger of violent crime, which can be subject to periodic surges sometimes not obviously explained by other events or conditions. Haiti is among the four most important countries for drug transit to the United States. Law and order in Haiti has steadily deteriorated as a result. Kidnapping, death threats, murders, drug-related shootouts, armed robberies, home break-ins and car-jacking are common in Haiti. Generally, these crimes are committed by Haitians against other Haitians, although several foreigners and U.S. citizens have been victimized. The incidence of kidnapping in Haiti has diminished from its peak in 2006 when 60 U.S, citizens were reported kidnapped. In 2008, there were 27 reported kidnappings of U.S. citizens, and as of September 2009, one U.S. citizen had been reported kidnapped. Many U.S. citizens who were kidnapped reported being beaten and/or raped by their hostage takers. Kidnapping remains the most critical security concern. Kidnappers have frequently targeted children.
U.S. citizens who travel to Haiti should exercise a high degree of caution throughout the country. Travelers should keep valuables well hidden, ensure possessions are not left in parked vehicles, use private transportation, alternate their travel routes, and keep doors and windows in homes and vehicles closed and locked. U.S. citizens should avoid all night-time travel due to poor road conditions and increased criminal activity after dark. They should be alert for suspicious onlookers when entering and exiting banks, as criminals often watch and subsequently attack bank customers. Withdrawals of large amounts of cash should be avoided.
Criminal perpetrators often operate in groups of two to four individuals, and may occasionally be confrontational and gratuitously violent. Criminals sometimes will seriously injure or kill those who resist their attempts to commit crime. In robberies or home invasions, it is not uncommon for the assailants to beat or shoot the victim in order to limit the victim's ability to resist. If an armed individual demands the surrender of a vehicle or other valuables, the U.S. Embassy recommends compliance without resistance. This recommendation also applies in the event of a kidnapping. Visitors to Haiti should exercise caution at all times and review basic personal security procedures frequently.
U.S. citizens in Haiti must be particularly alert when arriving from overseas at the Port-au-Prince airport, as criminals have often targeted arriving passengers for later assaults and robberies. The use of public transportation, including "tap-taps" (private transportation used for commercial purposes) should be avoided. Visitors to Haiti should arrange for someone known to them to meet them at the airport.
Taken from http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1134.html

My opinion is pretty clear, Heavenly Father is taking care of his people. If some children have to die... what a blessing for them rather than to grow up in Haiti. And I'm thinking those people need a little more than food and water.

The start of a new decade

2010-01-09T19:48:00.002-07:00

We've been home for a week now, I think we're settled in. It sure was amazing to have a two week holiday. I've noticed it has taken some people all week to get back to normal routine, one of the ladies at work has been calling people by the wrong name. She called Miss Neufeld, Seinfeld, and Mrs Lewry, Flurry, it made me laugh and want ice cream at the same time. Luckily, I didn't have a hard time getting back into the swing of things, Monday came without much notice.
Kali is happy to be back at school and I'm glad she's there, although, I did miss her. She's learning about space this month, the stuff she is learning now is so up to date, my knowledge is foggy and from 20some years ago. She told me this week that she knows more about everything than I do, so I had to prove her wrong... 5+5? 10+10? She sat quietly in the back seat, HA, I do know a little more than you. Funny thing, I thought I knew more than my Mom, and I still think I do.
Spence is working hard on some Energy Audits and a couple re-designs, he actually had to stay late Wednesday night. A friend called for him while he was at work, his friend told me that I should have a hot dinner ready for him when he got home. I said "if he's not here when we eat, too bad", I was chastised to show a little compassion, and that was my plan.... until I fell asleep putting Kali to bed. Spence is a good man, he re-heated his dinner and washed all the dishes.
My highlight of my week was Volleyball night, Tuesday. Our stake does women's volleyball from 8:30-10:30pm. It was REALLY fun, it took me a few minutes to get my game on and my serve. Luckily no one is too competitive, we have all ranges of talent (and patience).
I dragged Spence and Kali to the Arena last night to watch some Ringette, we watched 7 year old, and 12 year old girls. I loved it!!! I had to tell Spence the rules as it went, and Kali was making friends, running around not even watching the game. I really wish she was more interested in sports, that's almost reason enough to want more children.
Well I'm looking forward to using the new manual tomorrow at church, and for our new 11am time slot.

The Greatest Vacation EVER!

2010-01-03T17:43:00.006-07:00

We got home from Nauvoo last night, it sure was nice to be out of the car and to sleep in my own bed. We went to visit Mom and Dad Torrie on their mission. I loved the one on one time we could have with them, we had a blast. Mom and I played some games, not near enough though, she hasn't played in a while and when I beat her it was just like old times. I loved seeing Mom and Dad as church history missionaries, Mom loves history, she knows so much. When we would meet other missionaries they would say one of two things about Mom, either that she is such a hard worker or runs around like a crazy lady ( I think they were jealous of all her energy and zest for life). What a great example she is to us and our Kali.

Dad is having lots of fun in Nauvoo too, he is a teamster who takes care of the horses, he gives site tours and just like Mom they perform in a great musical called "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" Dad and Mom are so talented. We went to their show 3 times while we were there and recorded most of it on our camera. I loved the songs and the stories.

I loved Christmas in Nauvoo, really I think it was the best time for us to go. I hate the crowds and the busyness of big family Christmases, and I loved having Mom and Dad all to ourselves. We saw all the sites, my favorties were: Carthage Jail, the Blacksmith shop, Lucy Mack Smith home, John Taylor home, Brigham Young home, the mansion house that belonged to Joseph Smith and the Family Living Center. All the sites were really great, although having so many things that Kali couldn't touch was almost too much for her (and us). There is a special spirit in Nauvoo, especially at the Temple and the LDS sites. We went on a community of Christ tour, I sure wished our church owned those sites too, it would have been amazing. My testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith has increased and my appreciation for the Saints at that time increased too. I've been to many places and this is my favorite so far. Thanks to Mom and Dad for serving the visitors to Nauvoo and the Lord. Here are a couple of pictures of Mom and Dad, I love how you can see the name tags.

Elder Torrie after a long day.

Sister Torrie after a long day

2009-11-29T15:38:00.004-07:00

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...

2009-11-15T19:41:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-08T21:05:00.002-07:00

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

2009-10-28T20:30:00.004-06:00

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.

2009-10-04T21:16:00.003-06:00

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

2009-09-13T21:10:00.003-06:00

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.

2009-09-06T22:17:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-08-30T21:18:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-08-16T15:27:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-08-11T07:56:00.005-06:00

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!!

2009-06-21T14:01:00.004-06:00

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

2009-05-19T11:44:00.000-06:00

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.

2009-05-11T20:36:00.000-06:00

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

2009-03-20T17:01:00.000-06:00

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

2009-02-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

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.

It's Almost Christmas.

2008-12-03T20:40:00.001-07:00

Wow, I should have updated earlier. Not that I'm going to backtrack that would take too long. December is quite a busy month for me, I have a couple Christmas concerts to go to, both for Busy Bees, & 4 Christmas Parties. Working at Busy Bees has kept me pretty busy, but it's a good busy. I love playing with the kids and having adult interaction with some really cool girls. I don't have much Christmas shopping to do, so that's good.

Kali is doing good, she loves school, she loves singing and memorizing the rhymes we do. She says the "3 little kittens who lost their mittens ", she has a great memory. I've gotten to know her better by being at school too. She is quite the perfectionist, maybe a little OCD, and she eats snack like me, eats everything in order and saves the best for last. She also has a hard time saying sorry and she's very sensitive.

Spence is still at Sunwise Engineering, he's keeping busy which is good. The Economic crisis worries me a little, but all we can do is be prepared. Too bad we wasted so much money on the cruise.

September is a time for change.

2008-09-09T20:19:00.000-06:00

Well, Kali started school this month, it's actually her second year in preschool. She loves it, she's so good at making friends, she loves to have routine and learning too. She finally figured out how to write a "K" on her own today I've been trying to teach her different ways for the past year, I am so proud of her. Her teachers are awesome and the school is great, I am biased though because I just started working there. Kali's teachers liked me so much last year that they hired me this summer. It's a great job, I play with kids the whole time and they pay me pretty well for not having any real experience besides sunbeams teacher. It'll be a great experience.

The girls at the preschool invited me to their Yoga class and the first class was tonight, it was so relaxing, I had lots of fun.

Kali and I went to Logan UT to help our sister-in-law organize her move. We had lots of fun with family and we got to eat at my favorite restaurants, Costa Vida and the Golden Coral. I got to go to my favorite store, Deseret Industries, I only spent $30 and bought a pair of shorts, 2 skirts, 2 shirts and a jean jacket, I love that store. We drove, it took 11 hours to get down and 13 hours to get home, I did okay staying awake, we arrived home safely even though it rained the whole way home. I love Utah and the mountians, if Logan were in Canada, I'd move there in a second.

We are also planning on going on a cruise in November. It's a Royal Caribbean cruise from Puerto Rico stopping in some exotic island and down to Barbados, it's a 7 dayer. It'll be hard to be away from Kali for that long, although she'll be with my Mom here so that should reassure me. All the Torries and their spouses will be going too, so in total there will be 21 people, wish me luck.

My little brother, Clinton, is getting married this weekend in Leduc, we are driving up for the weekend and we get to MC his reception. I'm going to start on it tonight, I hope. I've never done this before so I hope it goes okay, we bought a wedding joke book, it should be fun.

Life is good, knock on wood, I'm looking forward to life with my little family, it's neat to see how our circumstances change and how we adjust to it. The Lord is definately watching over us, I'm so grateful for that.

Torrie Vacation 2008

2008-08-05T21:12:00.000-06:00

We just got back last night from our family vacation thanks to the Wallaces. We went down to Ashley Lake, MT and camped at their cabin. We left at 7 pm Thursday night and got there at 2 AM, it probably would have been a better drive it we had done it during the day. The route we took had lots of cows on the road, it was a little freaky... man, cows are STUPID. We met the rest of the Wallace clan, it was really fun, they are such a great family. I did a little triathlon on Saturday, 200M swim, 10K bike and 3K run, it was hard swimming in subzero temperatures and running and biking on the gravel roads, I'm definately not used to that. It was fun and I felt good, that's all that matters, right?
Spence took me shopping and we bought some essentials, including a BB/ pellet gun (to take care of our bunny eating my garden problem).

Saturday was also the day I met up with my awesome friends Barb and Sarah and their little girls in Kalispell. We had lots of fun hanging out just like old times, we went for dinner at Bajios, shopping at Borders and out for ice cream at DQ. We all bought "Breaking Dawn" since it was the release date, we were so excited! I just had so much fun!

We got to go to the Gibb's cabin after church on Sunday, I was SUPER excited to see Ronn and Wendy Gibb, they're like parents to me. We had a nice relaxing day just hanging out.
Then on Monday we got ready to come home, packed up the tent and all our other junk. Ken took us and Trev and Erin out for a wakeboard before we left, it was amazing. Trevor is really amazing to watch wakeboard. Spence and I went too, we had lots of fun, and we are feeling it today (especially in our backs, uh-oh, I sound old). Thanks to the Ken for the patience driving the boat and the Wallace clan for putting up with us.

I'll post a few pics of my favorite memories of this weekend.

Erin and Trevor Wallace

Taylor Strong, Kali Torrie & Whitney Butler

Who likes ice cream more, Nixon or Erin?

My seemingly busy life

2008-06-25T19:13:00.000-06:00

I'm so glad that Kali's birthday has come and gone, I like to stress out about stuff like that. We just had a BBQ at a local lake with five other families, it was fun. I was quite amazed with myself for not forgetting anything, it ran really smooth. Although what's a party without someone crying? We played a game where you tie balloons to the kids ankles and they try to pop each others, one of the final two, she's 3, cried when the other girl came close. We had two winners in that game. The pinata was fun, I hoped none of the kids could brake so I could smash it... my wish came true. And I actually made the pinata out of paper mache, it was a cat, the kids loved it. Now what's a BBQ without those friendly SEAGULLS, we had some brave ones. They actually drive me crazy, I have a fear of being pooped on. Therefore I grabbed a handful of rocks and actually hit two, they all left for about half an hour, I was quite impressed with myself. Kali got spoiled by her friends parents, I hate trying to find places to put all the new toys, she loved it though. One of her favorite parts was the Kung Fu Panda cake, I wish I could say that I made it myself, but alas, it was from Safeway. I've never had a Safeway cake that I didn't like, you just can't go wrong with the butter cream icing. It was a great day, Kali also had her last day of school that day, so we were busy.

Our car died on Sunday too, that's exciting... not really. The block heater plug broke so the car leaked anti-freeze and over heated, hopefully when we fix it this weekend, that's the only problem. Oh, and we bought our first house this week, that's kinda exciting too.This picture was actually taken last year, we've been renting it for a year from Spencer's brother, Ryan. It was a great deal we couldn't pass it up. We've done some renos, we've been happy that Ryan paid for them.
My scooter is getting closer to being ready to drive, I'm excited about that, it's been put on the back burner for a while; next week I hope to register and insure it. We actually have to totally rebuild it and do some body work and paint, I might be jumping the gun a little for next week, but for sure this summer. I am so lucky to have a husband who is so mechanically inclined, he really is amazing, he can fix anything. He's great in so many ways.

2008-05-25T17:18:00.000-06:00

Olivia, Kali and Rafael at the circus.

Me, reading to Kali and Rafael ( My future son-in-law)
Mom and Dad's cat, China, after she was shaved.

Circus Adventures

2008-05-25T16:56:00.000-06:00

I took Kali to the Circus a couple weeks ago with some friends. Ahhh, the circus... do I like the circus? The answer is NO. Depending on where you sit all you can smell is animal urine or feces, how do you like that when you're eating your stick of cotton candy? The performers are all dressed like skanky harlots, (Kali came home and told her daddy that the girls where just wearing their panties), and the weird things they do, where the heck do you learn that? There must be some freak University where you learn to hang in the air by a rope around your neck, or run and do tricks on a huge exercise ball. My question is why I care if people can do these things? I will never go to the circus again. I remember as a kid going to the circus, my mom paid our babysitters to take my brother and I to the circus. The only thing I remember is when we were leaving I wanted a snowcone, and Liz wouldn't buy me one. Okay, I know what that sounds like, but my mom gave her money to buy us treats and we got nothing, she just pocketed the money, now do you feel sorry for me? This was a traumatic experience for a 4 year old.

W also went to the farm last weekend and brought our friends the Velardes with us. Kali loves their kids especially Rafael, he's about a year older and they are such good friends. Before the kids went to bed Kali and Rafa decided they wanted to sleep in the same bed. Isn't it so fun to be innocent?

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

Well, I had a great Mother's day, this is the first one where Kali was actually excited. At school she made me a flower sprayed with perfume and a candle holder with a tea light. At Mother's group she made me a beaded necklace, I had to wear it to church, I was surprised more mothers weren't wearing theirs. I woke up to Kali bringing my paper bag of gifts, she was so excited she tried to open the bag before I could. Spence and Kal made me a wonderful breakfast, we had waffles with ice cream, strawberries, peaches, and whipped cream, we also had bacon, sausage, eggs and o.j. It was great, I love breakfast food, especially bacon.

I always reflect on Mother's day about my life and I feel a little inadequate, then my husband tells me how wonderful I am, he thinks pretty highly of me. He really makes me feel like a wonderful woman and not only on Mother's day.

We went to the farm for dinner, which Ryan , Spencer's brother, made, it was great. We had lasagna, salad, garlic bread, hot wings, and wine gums. It was nice to visit with my in-laws, although lately we've been trying to plan a girls trip to get away from our kids... probably not the best to talk about on Mother's day.

Thinking about Mother's day made me think about Father's day, it's next month. I don't know how it is around other families, but I think everyday is Father's day at our house, and Spencer actually admitted that I was right. So next month it won't be any different than any other day, he might get a little present from Kali. Ahhh....my feminist self from a few years ago would be kicking my ace right now. Not that I claim to be a decent wife, and let me tell you, I'm not the best, but my husband has it pretty cushy. I think I am going to stop now.

Anyways, it's been rainy the past few days, and it snowed a couple weeks ago, I am just so excited that I don't have to water my lawn and how green it is. Life is good.

This is March!

2008-03-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hello all from sunny Medicine Hat,

I recently got called to be the Venturer Leader here in the Medicine Hat 3rd ward. I went to woodbadge one and I'm excited to have some good old fashion fun out in the tulies. Our first camp was Feb 15-16. We rolled a round straw bale down the cutbank into the grove by the river at Wayne and Judy's. Then we lashed a 7 foot square cube out of poplar deadfall. Then we propped more poplar branches all around it to make it like a tipi. then we filled it in with lots of willow. then we put straw on top of that to keep the wind and snow out. Then we put loads of straw inside to sleep on. It worked like a charm. So next time you go camping and happen upon a big round bale of straw you can try that out. The river was frozen really well after a few weeks of bitter cold so we were able to hike into the grove on the ice with sleds and toboggans. It was really nice to be able to pull in loads of stuff on a slick surface without needing to carry it on our backs. Some of the Young Men used ice skates too.

Work is going well, I'm following in Uncle Kevin's foot steps with a similar field in building systems engineering. I do mostly mechanical design, but some lighting and electrical and controls. all in all its a nice mix. I'm saving the planet one plumbing fixture at a time!!

My virtual mountain bike contraption is in it's second edition now. I'm using linear actuators from old tread mills and gas shocks from an old hatch back for the platform this time. I have the thing built, now i'm working on controls. it should be better for the next reunion. Thanks for all your constructive feedback from the last rendition.

Jenn is the Sunbeam teacher. She just got a new batch of kids that don't know how to sit and not hit their neighbor, so she's tearing some hair out (mostly her own). Her magnetic personality is bringing our family out of obscurity here and we have quite a social life keeping up with all our new friends here. She is also our chief home renovator. She always has the best ideas of what to do with this house we're working on. We're actually renting it from Ryan and Tonya, and we're saving up to buy it, if that's still in the cards when we have enough. When we moved in it was somewhat of a dive, but thanks to Jenn's genius and hard work things are looking great.

The weather here has been so awesome! I love southern Alberta! Edmonton seemed so dismal and gray all winter, but here it gets interrupted by the blessed Chinook. Our camp was actually during a Chinook, so our main concern was staying dry; warmth was no problem.

Kali is just finished swimming lessons, so now she just has preschool a couple times a week. Jenn is signing her up for soccer in the spring, so that should be fun too. Kali loves to dance and sing everywhere we go, she really makes life so much more bright and meaningful. Yesterday we were at home hardware and it was time go and Kali wasn't having it so she gave me a little whack. I didn't think much of it, but there happened to be a wonderful elderly woman standing by that saw the interchange. She sternly, but lovingly told Kali that she was a grandma and that Kali shouldn't hit her Dad, because he loved her more than anything. Kali was speechless and embarrassed, but i sure was glad that there are great people like that lady walking around in our neighborhood.