Breakfast of Champions

Monday morning was one of those rare occasions where Dave and Nathan and I all had nothing going on so we decided to get together for some breakfast over at the Walker's. We only had about an hour or two to catch-up but it was still worth it. I have a picture here and as you can see we're all twice the men we used to be, literally. Dave and I see each other almost daily now that we work together but we're lucky to see Nathan once a year. We made some plans to get together at his parents new place in Rocky Ridge sometime to check it out and we're hoping that we can catch a hockey game sometime this season too. Thanks Walker's for hosting the show and for all that food.

Thanksgiving 2005

My all-time favorite food is Thanksgiving dinner. Mexican food is a close second and Italian food is close behind that, but nothing beats the turkey dinner. This past weekend we had two turkey dinners, the first at the Mason's on Saturday and then the second at Heather and Tyler's new house out in Cochrane. Both were excellent and good times were had by all. Out at the Willaimsons we had an origional Nintendo set-up in the basement and we spent most of the evening re-mastering our techiques on games like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, Silkworm, Contra, and the like. It was nice to have a long weekend too as life has gotten crazy busy these days. I'm still in school full-time and working every night and Saturdays at Dda. I also have Young Mens on Thursdays now too so it's getting harder and harder to budget time for family and getting stuff done around the house. It's good to be busy though, it makes rest times that much more appreciated.

Young Mens

A lot happened this past Thanksgiving weekend, too much to put in one entry so I'm breaking it up a bit. Last Sunday was our first Sunday in our newly formed Coventry Ward. There were some new faces, some old faces, and some ugly faces, but I think its all going to be fine. I was given a new calling as the First Councilor in the Young Men's Presidency. That puts me in charge of the Teachers Quorum. There are only 2 or 3 Teachers in the Quorum so I'm also the Advisor and an Assistant Venture Leader. Jodie's husband Aaron is the Second Councilor so he is over the Deacons and he's also the Scout Leader. There are 6 deacons in that Quorum and a couple of them will be moving up to Teachers early next year. I haven't been in the youth program of the Church since I was a youth so I'm excited to do it. It's going to be a bit different than when I was in Young Men's as we had some 20 or so members in our different Quorums at any given time but I guess that gives us an opportunity to try and grow. It'll be good to go camping again too, I haven't done that in ages.

175th Semi-Annual General Conference

We had another great weekend of General Conference a couple weeks ago and all the General Conference traditions were upheld. I went to the Saturday evening session with my Brother Trevor, My Dad, and Tammy's Dad, and then we hooked up with the Jones and went to Swiss Chalet for a man's dinner. Sunday morning Tammy and Emma and I watched the early session from home and then went over to my parents to watch the later session and to eat Cinnamon buns. I love Conference for the chance to hear talks from the General Authorities but I also love the traditions that our family has that go along with it.

Dda Grande Prix

Today the men of DeJong Design Associates were treated by Marvin to a lunch at Joey Tomatoes and 6 spins at the Go-Karts. The machines were a bit primitive but it was great fun. If I ever get a chance to go there again I'll have to remember to get car #66, it was the champions choice for speed. I've only been once before and it was at the same place so I'd like to try another place sometime that has better rides. It was a good way to end a pretty stressful week of school. This long-weekend is timely and the turkey dinners slated for Saturday and Monday are even more timely. Anyways, Thanks again to Marv for a great afternoon.

New Ward

This past Sunday we had one of those multi-ward-boundary-change meetings that have become so popular in Calgary lately. We found out that we now belong to the new Coventry Ward which is comprised of Coventry Hills, Country Hills, Harvest Hills, and a bit of Beddington. The other wards in the stake received some minor changes as well, but the big one was splitting up Coventry Hills and Panorama Hills. I'm just realizing that every community around us is named "something Hills", someone in the city planning department has a mad love for hills. We still go to our new building in Panorama Hills but we now meet at 1:00pm. Once the Airdrie Ward that's been meeting at our building goes back to their building we will probably be moved to 11:00am. Since it is a whole new Ward we all have been released from our callings so as of right now I'm no longer the Gospel Doctrine teacher and Tammy is no longer the Enrichment leader. We're both hoping they'll re-call us to the same callings again but you never know. Next week is General Conference so we might not find out for another week or so.

Dda Picnic in the Park

I stole some pictures off of Rhonda's website from the company picnic we had last Saturday at Bowness Park. It was a great time, I have lots of childhood memories from that park. We were there the week before for the Panorama Ward corn bust and both days the weather was great. Here's a pro looking photo of Dave and his kids that Rhonda took.

3 Months Old

Emma turned 3 months old yesterday so I thought I'd dust off my keyboard and make some entries. As an update on us, we're all happy and healthy and loving the family life. Emma is so much fun to have around, she's been laughing and smiling so much lately. I'm still at school full-time and working nights at Dejong Design Associates so I'm kept pretty busy. I do about three hours a night now and five hours on Saturday so I can make a twenty hour week. It'll be good when school is done so I can go back to a semi-normal schedule. I'm still the Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward and I'm hoping it'll stay that way as we have one of those multi-ward boundary adjustment meetings this Sunday. We'll see I guess. Tammy would like to keep her position as enrichment leader too but you never know.

Part-Time Associate

Yesterday was my last day working on a full-time basis at DeJong Design Associates since I return to school on Monday. They would still like me to work there on a part-time basis as my schedule permits so I guess I'm not officially leaving. My school schedule keeps changing drastically and still isn't fully figured out so it's hard to say how many times a week I'll be able to go in to the office. I hope it works out because I really enjoy working there. The job is great and the people are great. I'm going to try and see if I can get any credit or anything for some of my classes since I've been working in the industry for the past four months and maybe that will lighten my schedule a bit. I am excited to go back to school but its a hard trade to go from working and making money to studying and doing homework. It's my last year though so I'll be back in the workforce before I know it. Thanks be to Dave for the hook-up and thanks be to Marvin for being so accommodating with my schedule during the past four months and now during school.

Baby Shots

Emma turned 2 months old yesterday and to celebrate Tammy took her to the doctor to get some needles! She had three shots in her legs and boy did she cry. I wasn't there but Tammy said she's never seen her cry like that before. I guess there is a burning sensation that comes along with the stabbing sensation. She's more than fine now though. I think it must take a special sort of someone to poke babies with needles all day for a living. Tammy drove me to work in the morning so she could have the car and we brought Emma in to show her to everyone in the office. We took her out of her car seat and discovered she had pooed all over herself and the seat. Not a big deal but it was green slimy stuff and there was a client meeting goin on and no place to really clean her up. We ended up cleaning her off in the gym next door on one of the mats. No one will be told. It took about 45 minutes to deal with but everyone at the office is pretty understanding as almost everyone there has young children of their own. They weighed Emma at her poke session and she's still only about 10 and a half pounds. Thats unusual for Tammy's side of the family and it puts Emma in the less than 50th percentile for weight but the 90th percentile for height. I have been noticing some chubb forming on her bones lately though so hopefully she starts filling out soon.