Fully Fledged

We got some good news last week. Modus decided not to wait for the traditional three month probation time to expire to hire me on as an official employee. Last week they brought me on permanent, which means we're on the benefits plan, I'm eligible for bonuses, and I got a raise. We're an excited family as this comes at a great time for us. It's really busy there as I'm currently the sole drafts person but Paul should be back soon. This may mean a speedier departure from Calgary for us as we've been looking at possibly moving to Carstairs. If we do move to Carstairs, it will mean that all of my siblings who are married, have married people from small towns and then moved to that small town. Alison to Turner Valley, Heather to Cochrane, and Me to Cartstairs. Hopefully Trevor will marry someone from Australia or Greenland or some other far off place. Beeeoooom!

Emma's First Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Emma's first birthday down at Bowness park. The weather was perfect and we managed to get a really nice, secluded spot on the far east end, despite how crazy busy it was there that day. Almost everyone on both sides of the family were in attendance so we had a pretty good sized group. We had a big picnic-style meal, games of skill, water balloons, and some folks even managed to get in some canoeing on the pond. Emma loved her first cake and raked in quite a loot from both sides of the family. Thank you to everyone who came and who brought gifts or food and thanks for helping us have such a good time.

Father's Day 2006

Last Sunday was my second Father's day in a year as Emma was born on Father's day of last year. She made me a card and we spent a lot of time playing together that weekend. I really enjoy being a Dad and owning my own child. She's a great little girl and she makes me laugh everyday. I hope this cloning thing gets going soon so we can have more just like her. Here are a couple twisted comics relating to Fathers that might hit home with some of you.

Fortress Hike

On June 17th we took the young men in our ward on a hike up Fortress ski hill. They had all spent the night before at the ward Father's and Son's camp out at Camp Gardener and we picked them up in the morning, half dead, to walk up the steepest hike I've ever done. Most of the kids had no problems with the hike but a couple of them wanted to give up on the first bunny hill. We leaders ended up carrying their stuff and sometimes them the rest of the way. We all made it to the top and the views were great, while they lasted. We were perched at the clearing on the top of the climb for no more than 10 minutes when some nasty clouds came over the mountains and hailed a mighty hail upon us. We quickly finished our lunches and headed back down the now muddy trail and arrived at the vehicles about an hour and a half ahead of schedule. The boys really impressed me with how quick they were and how much energy they had for staying up all night by the fire. We have a couple more camps and trips planned, so I'll be getting my share of the great outdoors and stinky deacons this year.

Tammy 3.0

I haven't had a chance to write much lately so I'm getting a bit behind in my current events here. The major event that I didn't want to go unblogged was Tammy's 30th birthday which occured on the 28th of May! There was definately a lot going on at that time for us, so it wasn't as grandiose a celebration as I wanted it to be, but we did get a chance to get together with both sides of the family and yuk it up. Tammy and I also went out to see a movie together for the first time in ages. My Mom Emma-sat for us while we went and saw "The DaVinci Code". We both thought it was pretty good but neither of us have read the book, which I've heard is better. So anyways, Happy 30th Birthday Tammy, and I'm glad to have been around for the past 1/6th of your life!

Exactly One

This picture of Emma was taken the exact moment she turned one year old, June 19th 2006, at 11:23am. She's doing one of her favorite things, unloading shelves of their contents.

5 Years

On the 2nd of the month, Tammy and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. The traditional gift on the 5th anniversary is something wooden and the modern gift is supposed to be silverware. I decided to combine the two and I bought tammy a $1000 gift certificate to the Wooden Spoon Outlet. She really liked it as we've both decided on the wooden spoon as the weapon of choice for disciplining our children, and your children for that matter. More seriously though, It's quite the milestone in our lives, and I'd like to pay tribute to the girl who's been mine for the past 5 years with a poem that I wrote:

My dearest, my dearest, where has the time fled?
Five years have now past since the two of us wed.
We've lost a few hairs and gained a few ounces,
And we've had our fair share of bruises and bounces.

Sometimes I think back to when life was the thrills,
Instead of pooped diapers and a mountain of bills.
But you know I wouldn't go and alter a thing,
I still love the lady and I still wear the ring.
And I still enjoy that rare quiet night,
When we sit close together and you're holding me tight.
And if it gets dark and the lights are real low,
We might look like we did, five years ago.

Ah-Spew

I've been hit with a cold this week and its been making life miserable. I have learned this week though that sometimes misery begets awesomeness. Yesterday after dinner I was lying in bed, watching some rubbish show on TV, when I started having a sneeze attack. I sneezed probably 8 times in a row and on the last one I suddenly felt my stomach regurgitate my supper and I sneezed puke across the room. We had pasta for dinner so it looked like a guts grenade had gone off. Tammy was feeding Emma a bottle beside me and She said I had a pretty startled look on my face. She also couldn't stop laughing at me and rendered no assistance, to her eternal shame. I haven't puked in like 15 years so I'm a bit disappointed about ending my streak, but I can't think of a better way to do it.

The Graduate

Yesterday was my graduation ceremony at the Jubilee Auditorium. The ceremony started at 9:00am but us graduands had to be there at 7:30am to get fitted in the robes of the false priesthood. It was good to see a lot of friends from class again and to hear what they've been up to since school ended. Tammy and Emma came, as well as both my parents and my Grandma Bourne. The ceremony was a bit long for Emma but she did really well and she was a big hit with everyone from class. Afterwards we went over to my parents house and the family gathered for a celebratory BBQ and birthday party for Tammy. Joe and Erica brought Josh over and it was great to see them as its been about 6 months since we all got together. Josh just turned 2 the day before and he's running around and talking really well. As I officially join the ranks of SAIT Alumni (with honours by the by) my brother Trevor joins the SAIT student body as he just got accepted in the Engineering Design and Drafting program to start this September. We're all excited for him and he's excited too. Maybe someday we'll have to start up our own drafting company with my Dad and Trevor Ganchar....I call President.

Modus Report

I've been working at Modus now for a few weeks and things are going well. They keep me pretty busy with the drafting side of things but it's nice that I'm not necessarily chained to my desk all day. I'm on site alot, checking things out and working with the construction supervisors, and that helps break the day up a bit. I wanted to post a picture of where I work to show how low tech it is right now. This is site 1 on the north end of Crossfield, where I work, and site 2 is on the south side of Crossfield where the actual construction takes place. If you're thinking, "Hey that looks like some kind of converted hay barn or something" you're right. My desk is right below that front window on the left. The barn area is where they paint all the doors so the fumes get bad sometimes, and there is no air conditioning so it gets pretty warm but it's still cool to draft in a barn. If you're also thinking "Hey, is that a porta-potty on the side of the building there?" you are again right. Even though it is our only facility, I never use it because there are people who work for Modus that live in that motor home behind the building there that have claimed it. I just go to the Shell station during lunch. It may sound bad but I think it's cool and I'm sure once the company gets more established there will be nicer facilities.