Digging This Snow

This is what every Sunday morning in March looked like. I would wake up for early morning Bishopric meetings to find that a foot or so of the white stuff had dropped on us during the night. I was often late and sweaty for that meeting.

Wrong Date Night

Our mechanical consultant at work came to me back on the 23rd of February with a story about how he couldn’t make the Flames / Red Wings game that night, and he wondered if I wanted to use his tickets in his stead. I said “sure” and “hooray” and gladly accepted them. He’s a season ticket holder and he usually passes them on to me a couple times a year. Most times it’s because he can’t make the game, the rest of the time it’s just out of pity. They’re pretty good seats too, in the players friends and family section, right in front of Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla’s families.

Since most of our romantic life revolves around free stuff, Tammy and I decided to leave the kids with Gramma and Grampa and make a date night out of it. Date Nigheeet! With jerseys on we hopped on the train and headed down to the Saddledome. No one else on the train was wearing their jerseys, so we stood out a bit, but if any couple can pull off matching outfits, it’s us. After a half hour on the train we got off at the Saddledome with the rest of the fans, a lively group which consisted of a young man on a cell phone and an older Asian couple. We grew suspicious, but it wasn’t until we tried opening the locked doors of the darkened Saddledome that we knew something was awry. We checked the tickets and they were for Monday the 23rd, and today was definitely Monday the 23rd, so what’s the big idea? Had we stumbled into an alternate reality? Was this the Bizarro world? I mean come on, what gives?

Lightning struck as we read the tickets again and we came to the terrible realization of our horrific folly. We had arrived at the game a month early. Today was Monday the 23rd of February, and the tickets were for Monday the 23rd of March. YAAAAARG!! Our disappointment was almost as overwhelming as our embarrassment. We must have looked like such fools! Taking off our jerseys and quickly stuffing them into Tammy’s purse was the first order of business. Tammy was worried about the frigid temperature, but I thought it better to brave the cold night air rather than continue to brandish our gross miscalculation, and risk further humiliation. It was only a couple of seconds before a train came by heading back to our end of the city anyways.

We wondered as we rode, how so many people that we had shown the tickets to could have missed the bold MAR in the date line. We also wondered if the fellow who gave me the tickets in the first place was going to want them back now. After a half hour of consoling ourselves, we were back at our car. An hour on the LRT doesn’t make for much of a date night, but I did have to work in the morning, so we made a quick stop at Tim Horton’s for some Timbits and hot chocolate, and then went home.

The good news is that we got to keep the tickets (thanks pity!) and we did attend that game together. The Flames won 5 – 3, which was an added bonus, and the kids survived being babysat by my younger siblings, which was also an added bonus. It was a month in the making, but we got our date night and a story to tell that may help others who suffer from "month confusion". Date Nigheeet!

Badlanders

We're slowly moving our way through the events of last year. Here are some pictures from our trip to Drumheller back on the first day of Spring.

This was Emma's second visit to the badlands of Alberta and Ashley's first. Emma was no less afraid of of the bones this time as she was last time. Ashley wasn't all that bothered.

Again the globes turned out to be one of the only things that Emma wanted to get within biting distance of.

The reason we made the trip was because the first day of spring also happened to be cousin Max's 2nd birthday. We met up with the Williamsons in the museum and let the kids explore for a while. Emma was a little braver with her cousins about. If you're going to get attacked by a giant skeleton, it's probably good to have some back up you can rely on.

We made a quick stop at the worlds largest dinosaur statue on our way out of town and then headed straight out to the outs of Cochrane for a some cake and partying for young Max.

I don't recall how long we ended up staying out there that night, but I'm sure it turned out to be a pretty full day for the little ones. Despite how tired she was, I think Emma had a hard time sleeping that night. I blame this guy, the "Lurkasaurus".

31 Flavours

I turned 31 this day. The girls were very excited for me and made me some special birthday cupcakes. They also gave me Disney's Pinocchio on DVD. It's November when I'm writing this, so I don't remember much else about the day sadly, but I'm sure I was feeling pretty special.

This video has nothing to do with anything except it's one of my favourite dance sequences ever, and they mention the number 31 in the song. The phone is ringing in the video, so don't get up, unless you gotta dance!

It's Birthday Time For You!

We threw a party for Ashley's first birthday over at the Panorama chapel back on the 21st of February. Most of the extended family from both sides were there, which is the reason we have these things at the church. The plan was to take all the kids tobogganing afterwards, but everyone seemed pretty burnt out, so we played around in the gym instead. Aunty Kelly had the best camera there, so most of these pictures were poached from her blog.

Ashley diving into her first taste of chocolate yumcake.

She was polite enough to read every card before she let her sister and her cousins open her presents. Books and clothes were the main ticket items as we're already fully stocked with little girl toys.

Trying on a great new shirt!

Here's a shot of all the cousins that could make it. Ashley gets a real kick out of having the kids around. We're all glad they could be there to party with us, and we're thankful for all the wonderful presents they brought. Even the Wet Willy from baby Brooke.

The Family That Sleighs Together...

Here's Emma flying solo down the tobogganing hill here in Citadel on Family Day. Her Mom had a hard time letting her go because that sled has a history of being unkind to children (again, we're sorry Braysen).



Ashley was feeling the need for speed, so we took her down a few times too. This was the trial run however, so we're taking it slow.



These two videos are the only evidence we have of our huge day on the slopes because our camera's battery died. It seems to be doing that a lot these days, and at the most inopportune times. I shake my head when I think of all the action we could have captured that day. Battery Aziz!

Valentines Day 2009

Again it's hard to remember what we did all the way back in February, but we're not a spontaneous bunch, so I'm going to make some educated guesses.

I know the girls spent a lot of time with Mom making some neat Valentines for each other and for all the cousins and Grandparents that we have. They consisted of a piece of paper and a piece of transparency, both cut into the shape of a heart, coiled together with some yarn, filled with candy, and then topped off with a special note on the back. I can't remember where Tammy got the idea from, but it was no small amount of work considering the number of people we know who deserve a Valentine.

There were also some cookies made, and Tammy managed to snap a quick picture of them before our resident cookie monsters finished them off.

Now I'm going to venture into educated guess territory by saying that I'm sure I took Tammy out for a nice dinner and bought her flowers and such, but as there is no photographic evidence to back me up, I may not get any achievement points for it. At least I got cookies.

SunBEAMS!

We celebrated Emma's first graduation at the beginning of the year. She's moved from Nursery into Sunbeams, and she loves it! Mindy Mayfield and Melinda Palmer take turns teaching the class which consists of Emma, Emily Mayfield, Dan Bee Kim, Gabby Halowski, and Nixon Ward. Emma came home with a crown and a CTR ring on her first day, and she's learning new songs in singing time that we practice during Family Home Evening each week.

Being in primary now also means she gets asked to say prayers or read scriptures during sharing time. She was supposed to say the prayer last week, but she had a fever all weekend and had to miss it. So sad. I'm sure when she gets the chance again, she'll do a great job. She offers the blessing on the food at every meal whether she's asked to or not, and she never misses a chance to hold the microphone and bear her testimony on Fast Sundays (which sometimes starts out a lot like the blessing on the food).

We're very proud of the little lady she's growing up to be, even though she still has moments that people automatically associate with my genetic contributions to her personality - "Hey Dad! Come smell this before I flush it!" What a sweet little sunbeam.

Guess Who's One Today!

Ashley turned one today at 8:17am, just as this picture was taken!

Happy Birthday you little goblin!

Christmas Times

Is it too late to make a post about Christmas? I haven't been in the mood for writing much lately, but it's been a month today since Christmas, so come on!

I guess my first taste of the holidays was the third annual Modus Christmas party. I've been to all of them so far. It was in Crossfield again, and I came away with a belly full of turkey dinner, a basket of goodies, and a digital picture frame. Not bad.

We also had the somethingth annual Bourne Christmas party at the East Stake Center again. Malauney did the organizing and everyone enjoyed a healthy dose of food, folks and fun. Let's keep Pam away from the pinata from now on though.


Emma loves decorating Gramma's house for whatever season that's upon us. She was a big help with the tree and made a bunch of delicious cookies and a beautiful gingerbread house with her Mom. I taught her how to make paper snowflakes.

The rest of the family came over on Christmas Eve for a Christmas feast and gift exchange. The kids put on a Nativity play, we played some games, and then everyone left for home to be in bed before Santa arrived.

Christmas morning came at a decent time, about 8:30. Emma didn't bother coming in to our room to get us up, she just headed strait for the tree and yelled us awake from there. We were happy to hear that Emma got "what she always wanted" after every gift she opened, and Ashley hugged everything she was handed. So fun. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing, assembling toys, and playing games.

Boxing Day was the Olsen Christmas fandango over at the Mason's, where we celebrated Christmas all over again, only with 4 times as many people. It was nice to see that the kids were just as excited about giving each other presents as they were about getting them. "Excited" should actually read "berserk". If there was any more energy in that room, we would have split atoms.

The girls got some new sleds for Christmas, so in the days leading up to New Years, we made a couple of trips to the slopes to try them out. Ashley's little red sled is her own piece of heaven, but Emma's turned out to be a little hard to control (sorry Braysen). I think we'll spring for a GT Snowracer next year.

We also made a trip to the Zoo lights with the Williamsons on the coldest night we could imagine. It was still a lot of fun, and the kids didn't reach their freezing point until they started closing the gates, so it worked out well.

It's Chinese New Year tomorrow, so it's still not too late to talk about that either, right? My parents hosted a bit of a New Years bash at the house, though most of the guests left before midnight. Alison and Joe and Erica stuck around for some late night Stock Ticker (Stock Witch!), but once we reached 12 bells, not even the lightning rounds could keep us fogeys energized.

I've heard a lot of people on the news predicting sad things for 2009, but we're hoping it will be a good year for our family. We saw some struggles in 2008, but we also gained a truly essential edition to the family. We still feel like we're living in limbo a bit, but we're starting to see the future take some kind of shape again. We're hopeful and happy, and grateful for the families we have. Despite the doomsayers, we hope everyone on the Internet has a great year of the ox!