Test

This is a test entry. I'm just fiddling with settings, trying to see what this blogger is made of. I plan to move a lot of the content from my old logisity site to this new one in a "best of" sort of format. Once that's over with, I'll be starting up again with the fresh stuff. This isn't going to be as public a website as logisity was. I'm going to limit the viewing of this website to close family and friends only. If you're reading this now, congratulations on being one of the chosen ones.

Dance Police

It was our Wards turn to chaperone the youth dance this past Saturday night, and with me being the Young Men's President, it was my duty to take charge of the recruiting and the refreshments. We got enough people, despite several last minute cancellations, and I bought $75 worth of Timbits, which will get you 15 boxes of 40. There was nowhere near that many kids there, in fact it was quite sparse compared to the glory days of old, when the running man ruled the floors. I guess that's why they've decided to discontinue weekly youth dances as of January 2007. Instead there will now be a monthly "Multi-Stake Youth Activity" which may or may not end up being a dance. Disco Dan Glenn was the DJ that night, so Kelly came along, and we ran into my sister Sam and Tammy's sister Kimberly who are both youth dance age. I spent most of my time in the coat check room doing stand-up comedy for the kids checking their tiny coats and giant purses, but I did manage to sneak away and dance the last two slow songs with Tammy. Disco Dan dedicated the last song to us, though I can't remember what it was. It wasn't what we requested anyways, I guess he left his Slayer albums in the car.

Blackhawks Down

One of the consultants we work with has season tickets to the Flames and passed a couple along to the office a while back. Since all the other office staff were already going to the game, Paul and I got to take the tickets. Our seats were about 7 rows up from the ice, in the friends and families section, so we had a pretty decent view of the action. Flames played the Chicago Blackhawks and beat them 4-1.

Croup

Emma woke up with a couple coughs around midnight on Monday, and quickly began having serious troubles breathing. It was a little scary for all of us as she was making horrible gasping noises each time she breathed in. She was crying, which only made it worse, so we put on some "Dora" to help take her mind off it and as she calmed down, her breathing started to get a bit better. To make a long story short, after a call to "Health Link" and a trip to the Children's Hospital, she was diagnosed with the croup and given a dose of steroids to help clear it up. When they first told us it was croup, I thought "What is this, Anne of Green Gables? Who's getting croup nowadays?" But I guess it's more common than I thought. They say cold air is good for croup and if you recall it was about -40C Monday night with the wind chill, too much of a good thing for my liking. We finally got her home and settled around 4:30am, not bad for a hospital visit, but still too late for me to want to attempt going work the next day. She's been pretty good ever since, a little cranky about eating and going to bed, but generally she remains her goofy self. Today things went a bit south however, she's been throwing-up and filling diapers like there's major prizes to be won. Doctors say it's a virus (do they ever say anything else?), and it's all part of the croup. Poor little girl, it makes me nervous when she gets this sick, I hope she gets better immediately.

A Christmas Carol

Our joint activity this past weekend was spent attending Theatre Calgary's presentation of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". Tickets usually run about $50 a person, but they always do a "pay by donation" performance each year, so that's the one we hit. The kids were a bit skeptical at first about seeing a play, but the -20C weather and the 2 hour wait in line turned them down right critical. The gamble paid off though, the play was gold. Most of the praise was for the sets and the effects, which were brilliant, but I thought the actors did a great job as well. I even got a bit choked during the part where Scrooge sees the future and Tiny Tim has passed away. I think having a daughter has done that to me. Anyways, I really enjoyed it and I recommend it if you get the chance to see it. I'll probably try and go again with Tammy if we can swing it. I got the book last year for Christmas, so I'm going to read it this season and become an expert.

M.I.III

My Gramma Bourne recently departed to serve her third full-time mission for the Church. She's back down in Salt Lake City at the Family History Center for her second tour of duty there. We had a going away picnic for her down at Riley Park back in August while the weather was still nice. All Alberta-based members of her posterity were in attendance so it made for a nice reunion. It's a great spot, the kids loved the water and the weather was perfect in the shade. We all hope Gramma is doing wonderfully and look forward to chatting with her at Christmas.

Remembrance Day Camp

One of my Counselors and I took our young men out on a camping trip this past Remembrance Day weekend. For a slice of nostalgia, Clint Maucieri, who is in the Stake Young Men's Presidency, came along as well. Originally the plan was to do a two-nighter, but none of us leaders could get the Friday off of work, so we downgraded to a one-nighter. We went out to Maclean Creek out by Bragg Creek, and stayed at a campsite there. We didn't get out there until it was already dark, but camp went up quick and the fire was easily started. We had our dinner and then we had a fireside centered on Remembrance Day that the young men had organized. I spoke a little about both my Grandfathers who were Veterans, one served in the RAF during WW2, and one in the Army during the Korean War. We ended the night with some hot chocolate, one of the boys killed a mouse, and we hit the sack about midnight. It was a cold night, but we had them packed in their tents pretty tight, so nobody froze.

Next morning we had a pancake breakfast that the boys are still sore about. Despite a theme based on remembering, the syrup was forgotten, and peanut butter proved a poor substitute. After breakfast we hiked. One of the boys discovered a beaver skeleton not long after he stepped in it. He was pretty sure the beaver might still have had a bit of life left in him, so he kept the skull as a trophy to his kill. After lunch we spent the rest of the day playing various versions of "Capture the Flag", but the big hit was a game called "Camouflage". In this game, one boy turns his back to the woods and counts to 30 with his eyes closed while everyone else runs and hides. After the count is up, he turns around, and without moving from his station, he tries to spot as many hiders as he can. After he's found as many as he can, he turns around again with his back to the woods, yells "Camouflage!", and counts to 25 with his eyes closed. Everyone who's left hiding has to run up and touch him and then run back and hide again. When the count is done, he turns around and tries to pick out everyone he can again. This process repeats itself, the count getting progressively shorter and thus the hiding spots getting progressively worse, until everyone is found. The boys got really into it and some got pretty good at the hiding bit. We played until it was almost dark and time to go home.

I enjoyed my time out there, it's easy to forget sometimes how beautiful this area of the world can be and how peaceful life can seem in nature. I took a few pictures out there, nothing overly scenic, mostly just the group that went out.

Halloween 2006

Here's some pics of Emma and her cousins on Halloween this year. Emma went as a Care Bear, which proved a handy costume as it was some cold the night we went Trick or Treating. We went to my parents neighbourhood to do the old candy canvas, and on the way, Emma kept saying "Happy Halloween!", which I believe was her first time putting two words together. She was pretty fearless going door to door, not wanting much parental assistance, and not wanting to waste much time either. She went with her cousin Lucy, who went as a Lion, and they both got quite a haul for only doing one street. We didn't let her eat much candy of course, but she shared a few smarties with Gramma Bourne when we made it back to their place.

Our Ward also had a "Trunk or Treat" at the Church this year. The young men were in charge of a spook alley that we had spent a couple weeks prior putting together, so I was involved with that most of the time. We had a lot of solid ideas, but I think our imaginations were better than our skills. The younger kids got a kick out of it at least. I went as my traditional "Man blowing in the wind", a costume I recommend if you have two coat hangers, some duct tape, and only 10min to put a costume together. Emma had the most fun just walking around in her Cheer Bear costume and laughing at all the other kids dressed up in their costumes. Tammy also took Emma to the Panorama Ward's "Trunk or Treat" to see her cousins. Madison was dressed as Uniqua from the Backyardigans, Keegan was Superman, Amber was a Witch, and Kaylie was a Giraffe.

It was a fun week and I think Halloween will be Emma's favorite holiday, until we have Christmas in December.

Thanksgiving 2006

I noticed on my old site that I didn't do a post regarding Thanksgiving this year, so I'm going to back date this one and try to remember what happened. I know there was Turkey dinners and family gatherings, but outside of that, I couldn't tell you much. Sufficeth to say, the day was celebrated in the traditional fashion. As far as family updates go, Heather and Tyler are expecting a new baby boy in March, Kelly is now dating an old friend of mine, Disco Dan Glenn, and Emma is finally walking/running everywhere she goes now.

Deck and Fence

We've finally made some more progress in developing our home. This summer we've had our fence built on both sides of the back yard and a deck built on the side of the house. It's nice to have at least that much done, but there's a lot more to do. I'd like to start developing the main portion of our basement in the new year and there's a few more landscaping features I'd like to add before we move. We didn't put a fence up at the back of the house because we figured someday someone would want to put a garage back there, and that would just mean tearing the fence down again. We're hoping that these little projects will go a long way in increasing the resale value of our home as it is such a small place. I guess we'll find out next year.