Snow, snow and more snow!

Man, did we get another dumping of snow! It started early yesterday and went all night and most of today as well. Not sure the exact measurements.....but it is alot. I don't mind it though.....I miss the huge snowfalls from back home in Sask. I especially love the way it makes the Christmas lights look....all soft and they have a warmer glow. I took some pics of the neighbors lights this morning and I am hoping to take a drive tomorrow night and get some more pics. It did get windy and blew around some today but not too bad. I think the snow will be around for quite a while this time around...we still have some from the last dumping before Christmas :)

Merry Christmas!

Man, did we get spoiled this year! Especially me :) My absolute favorite gift this year was my family ring....YES! It is gorgeous! The stones are (from left to right) Randi-Sapphire; Courtney-Aquamarine; Eric-Tanzanite(blue topaz); and Patrick-Sapphire.




I also got some awesome scrapbooking goodies and some clothes (sweater, jeans, pj's). Kip also gave me a pink and white John Deere t-shirt and a pink John Deere hoodie (he hid my ring in the pouch of the hoodie! ) He gave me a portable stereo for my scraproom too so now I have tunes in there ;) Of course there was the usual stocking stuffer items and some angel tree ornaments.

I bought Kip the electronic football game that he has been talking about for the last 14 years! We were looking through the Sears Wish Book and he saw it and got all excited. The funny part is that I have seen the game in the Wish Book a few times and I didn't know that was THE GAME....LOL. Man is it noisy! It vibrates and is made of tin so you can figure it out from there.

They also got the usual video games and accessories and DVD's. Kip also bought them a huge John Deere remote control tractor. Unfortunately we have had too much snow for them to take it outside and it is too big to use in the house. The boys also got a road hockey net and equipment so they were outside for about an hour playing on Christmas Day while I had a nap (nasty migrane hit just after lunch...ouch).

Santa also left some presents in Courtney's stocking so I will have to send them off to her...maybe he thought we were bringing her home for Christmas....I wish :( That would have been the ultimate gift for us. Oh well....she will be here next year!!

I will upload pics when I get my film developed...I didn't take any digital pics this year.

"Our" new car

My van is in desperate need of some TLC from a mechanic and Kip decided that it was time to get a different vehicle b/c he says the van is too big for us now anyway. So, we went out looking on Dec.16th before I went to work. We took a few vehicles for a test drive. I tried a couple of Montana's and even though they were vans, they didn't have much cargo space so they were ruled out rather quickly...and Kip doesn't want another van. We also tried a 2003 Sunfire and a 2000 Alero. Although I liked the look and handling of the Sunfire...it won't seat 5 passengers comfortably for a 14hr ride home to Saskatchewan. We took the Alero home for a couple of days and drove it out to Winfield to see how it handled on the highway. Kip decided that was the car we were getting although it wasn't my first choice. I think my biggest problem was going from a van to a small car....lol. Anyway, he drove the Alero for a few days and then decided that he wanted to drive his little "purple rocket" again (2000 Cirrus). So, now I have the "new" car and I am getting used to driving it. I handles really good in the snow so that is a bonus. It takes longer than I would like to adjust the power seating (I only have to adjust back and forth when I am using it but if Kip drives it then I have to adjust the height as well). I will miss my 6-disc changer but it has a single CD player so at least I still have my tunes. This is a pic although it really needs a wash....I call her "Rusty" but Kip doesn't like that....lol.

Eric's birthday

I'm a little behind with pics and updates but here we go!

Eric's birthday was Dec. 15th but we had his cake and family party on the 14th (I had to work the evening of the 15th). He got some cool presents and he loved his cake! He will have his big party with friends in Jan once the holidays are over and things have settled down with us and his friends. He will have his party at Planet Laser like Patrick did. Here are some pics from the 14th:

Let it SNOW, let it SNOW, let it SNOW!!!

Can you tell I am totally stoked about the snow? Yes, I know I am in Kelowna, BC and everyone here is hating it right now...but I'm a prairie girl at heart and I love it! It's begining to look a lot like Christmas :)

I started snowing today around noon and it hasn't stopped. I took some pics just before 9pm and then the boys decided to go outside and play in it. I got some awesome shots and can't wait to scrapbook them :) The boys have plans to be outside playing in the snow all day tomorrow so I hope it is nice out for them. More pics.....whooohooo!

What happened to the riders?

Well, it is quite evident that the Riders left their game at home...or somewhere...hey, has anyone seen the Riders' mojo? Oh well, guess there is always next year. GO RIDERS!!!!

Go Riders!

The Riders are playing the BC Lions today for the Western Final (CFL). The Riders are the underdogs but they were last week against Calgary and won so here's crossing your fingers for another win :) Go, Riders, Go!

Football

The boys (Kelowna Sharks) played an amazing semi-final game against the Kelowna Vipers yesterday to win 36-6...our first and only win of the season! They played the final this morning against the Vernon Blue Bombers and we lost 26-12. It was a difficult loss for the kids b/c they knew a lot of the problems were from poor calls by the refs (a problem for both of the Kelowna teams playing against Vernon this season). It was also disappointing that the field wasn't set up properly especially since it was a final game (no lines, etc) and there was no one there from the Board of Directors to talk to the kids and congratulate the winning team. They don't even know where the championship trophy is from last year....not very organized but par for the course this year. Kip will be talking to the President of the league about having it run better next year...which will probably mean more work for him like with flag football....lol.

I will post pics when they are developed :)

Trick or Treat

We carved pumpkins a few days before Halloween and the boys each had a pumpkin from school as well. They cleaned out the pumpkins and drew out their designs and I did the actual carving. Patrick had a dead pumpkin that had been shot between the eyes and Eric's pumpkin was more of a funny one with flaming eyes.



The boys had a great time trick or treating this year and they came home with a huge haul of candy. Eric had a blast and hit every house with a porch light on...lol. They even ventured into the "Haunted House" down the street. Eric was dressed as Jason Vorheese from Friday the 13th and Patrick was an Orc from The Lord of the Rings. Patrick's friend Victor came with us and he was dressed as Jester off the Socom video game. We had a lot of kids come to our house which was a nice change from past years when we lived in more remote neighborhoods.


I also had a chance to decorate the front yard a bit more b/c of the good neighborhood as well. This year we buried Mr. Bones under some leaves to make it look like a graveyard.

Mini Photoshoot

I didn't like the last pics that I took of myself so I got Kip to take some of me and a couple of me with the boys. The turned out pretty good this time. They are both getting so tall! As always Eric is either not smiling at all or trying to hard and making a silly face...lol. Oh well, that is his character ;)

Foggy Football Day

The boys had a game in Vernon at 9am so we were up at 6:30 and on the road at 7am. They need to be at the games an hour early for warm ups. It was chilly this morning but pretty clear in Kelowna. It was a bit foggy just outside of the city limits and was very bad in Vernon. Wood Lake was looked gorgeous! It was like a sheet of glass mirroring the view of the banks with the fog steaming off of the lake. Kip wouldn't stop so I could take a picture though. I tried to take a few out of the van window with my Rebel SLR and then switched to my Fuji digital camera for the rest of the shots (this way I know what I am getting right away). There were a few clouds just outside of Kelowna that were beautiful and wispy....reminded me of angel wings but I didn't get a pic of them. The pics here are of Kal Lake and Polson Park football fields.

You could hardly even see the boys on the field when they were warming up. The fog finally burned off at the end of the third quarter. The boys played a very good game but lost 12-6. Maybe next time!

Another year older...

...does that make me wiser too? Hmmm....doesn't feel too much liek it...lol. Today was a pretty good day. Work went really smoothly...that doesn't happen often. The girl I usually go for coffee with surprised me by buying my coffee today and a treat and she had it all in the staff room when I came back for my break. A few minutes later, another co-worker and the store manager came in with coffee and a treat for me too! WOW....lots of coffee and sugar! LOL I saved the second treat to have on my coffee break tomorrow ;)

When I was leaving the house for work this morning, Patrick was just coming downstairs to say Happy Birthday. He had wanted to make me breakfast in bed but I am up too early for work so he will do it for me this weekend....too sweet! We had stir-fry for supper and the kids helped Grannie decorate a double chocolate brownie cake for me....mmmmmm.....good :) Kip gave me a present on Thanksgiving weekend (the new PINK cd) so I wasn't expecting anything else. The boys gave me a magnetic bracelet with the help of Grannie (very nice design) and she gave me some scrapbooking stuff (bag and Prima Crown Jewels embellishments). Patrick said he still has one more thing for me but I have to wait until DH takes him to the store on Friday to get it. I already know what it is b/c I was with Patrick when he saw it the other day but he still wants me to pretend I don't know...lol.

Now I am just waiting for Courtney to phone. I don't know if she is working or not but I hope she calls tonight. She was upset the other day when we talked so I hope she is better now. Courtney, if you read this and haven't called me yet, pick up the phone! LOL

Have to go now...Happy Birthday to me!! :)

Journaling Challenge

So, you may have noticed in my last post that the word "leaf" is bold. Well, there is a reason of course ;) I am participating in a challenge on Scrapbooking Swede where there is a word posted by Angelique every week and we have to journal about that word in our blogs, diaries, etc. and use it as the starting point for the journaling on a layout. You just start writing about the word for five minutes and see what you get. It may be your whole block of journaling for that layout or just the inspiration. I don't really journal a lot on my layouts so this is a great challenge for me to do. So, if it seems like I have a case of verbal diarhea...bear with me...there is a reasonable explanation ;)

Fall Fun

Our street is absolutely beautiful! The trees are losing their leaves and the entire street is lined with yellow, red and green leaves. Gorgeous! We haven't lived in any place with trees in the yard since we moved from Brandon...well, trees that loose their leaves anyway...lol. Quite the change since every house we were in in SK and MB had tons of leaves to clean up in the fall. Did you know that it is very hard to fill pumpkin and ghost bags when you have no leaves? You have to ask the neighbors to "borrow" their leaves. And who knew that I would miss raking leaves? Amazing what you miss when you don't have it...lol.

Well, our house now has trees and lots of leaves! I picked up some Halloween decorated leaf bags today and when I got home I convinced the boys (Kip too!) to come outside and help me fill the bags. I accomplished two tasks...cleaning up the yard, and getting some great shots to scrapbook ;) I have to wait until I can develop my pics but will post them later.

The other day, Patrick and I were listening to music on Yahoo music and we listened to a couple of new songs by Pink. I told Patrick that I wanted a CD for my birthday (which is on the 18th) and Pink was one of my choices. So, today when we were outside filling the leaf bags, Kip turned the stereo on in the car. The first song playing was Stupid Girls by Pink...cool! The radio was playing one of the good songs. The next song came on and it was Who Knew by Pink....my favorite song off her new CD. Hmmmm....wait a minute....the radio never plays the same artist back to back. AHA!!!!! That had to be a CD! I asked Kip if that was a CD because it couldn't be the radio. Well, he got that dumb little look on his face (the one he gets when he is "caught"). He just smiled and said "Oh yeah, Happy Birthday". He bought the CD yesterday and has been listening to it in his car!!! Listening to MY birthday present in HIS car.....a week and a half before my birthday! He can never wait until the actual day...he always blows it before then...lol. He thought that a few songs would play before I figured it out...um...NOT! You think the guy would know me after 13+ years ;) So, guess what I am listening to right now? Yup...Pink! Songs that I recommend from the CD I'm Not Dead by Pink are: Track 1: Stupid Girls...You HAVE to see this video...hilarious...and sooo true! Track 2: Who Knew...lost loves and lost friendships...memories. Track 5: Dear Mr. President (featuring Indigo Girls)...OMG...way to stick it to GWB!!! You Go Girl! This applies to Canada as well...not just USA. Free speech is alive and well :)

Courtney's Dress

I finally managed to get the pics on my computer so I can add them here. Courtney's grad dress is gorgeous and she looks absolutely stunning in it! When she walked out of the dressing room I almost cried....my baby is all grown up and is becoming an amazing young woman. I hope she realizes that the world is a blank canvas and she has ton of choices and a million adventures just waiting for her. I am so proud of her that my heart could burst :) Anyway, the pics!

Scrapbooking Swede DT Survivor Update

I made it through three rounds and was eliminated in the fourth round :( Oh well, I had fun while it lasted and completed some layouts that I would have never thought of before....always good to get out of the comfort of my scrap box ;) Now I am part of the jury and it is getting very difficult to choose who to eliminate. I was still eligible to compete in the QK challenge (to win a QK tool and alphabet) so that was fun too. I doubt my layout will win (very good competition)and it is being judged by a rep from QK! Talk about pressure to put out...lol. I guess I will have to leave the QK on my Santa's wish list ;)

You can check out the Survivor contest here SS DT Survivor Contest

Football update

Well, the boys lost their game last weekend :( They learned some things about how the other team plays, how to adjust their playing to make up the differences, and they had fun...which is the main thing.

In other football related news....they have 3 games this weekend! They are playing Saturday at 9am (I will miss this game b/c I have to work...sucks!), Sunday at 11am.....and....the big news is.....(insert drum roll here)......they have been invited to play for the half time break at the Okanagan Sun game Sunday afternoon! They are totally excited! Eric even gets a chance to carry the ball (the game doesn't count for the season...lol). It is so cute to see the little guys play at the "big league" games. I will have to make sure I have lots of film in my camera and lots of space on my digital camera. I hope to get some good shots of the boys and hopefully some with the Sun players :)

I still haven't developed my film from the first football game but I will soon and then will get some pics up :)

First day of school 2006/2007

Well, today is the first day of school.....yipee! LOL Patrick was totally excited to go to school today but Eric wasn't :( He looked so sad! He didn't even talk to his friends....just kind of stood away from everyone....he had a shy attack I guess. Kip even found him trying to sneak of the playground to go home! Sniff. I'm sure he will be fine when he gets home. It is only a half day today (picking them up in 15 minutes) so it shouldn't be too bad. They go to their old classrooms from last year and then they are assigned to their new classes today or tomorrow (depending on how many students have moved away or moved here and not registered). Patrick is in Grade 4 and Eric is in Grade 2....wow, they can't be that big already....they are growing so fast!

Courtney started school last week in Estevan. She is in Grade 12....now that makes me feel old! My baby is graduating! I can't wait to see her at the ceremonies and then she will be moving back to BC with us.....YES!!!

NOTE:There was a CHBC camera at the school this morning and we watched the news at noon to see if the kids were on. Patrick and Kip both made it in the clip! Too cool ;) Eric's friends were in the clip as well....a Mom and her little girl and the two boys after the Dad talking. Just had to add that to my post...lol. My two tv stars ;)

Randi

I got an email last week from my Step daughter, Randi saying that she would be in town with a friend and she would like to visit. Yay! She was here for a few hours on Saturday night and it was soooo great to see her again :) We haven't seen her since we moved to BC almost 4 years ago. She is living in Calgary but we just don't seem to be able to connect for visits. Hopefully, she will have more time once she graduates in June :)

I took lots of pics with my camera but have to wait until they are developed to post them here. MIL took some pics with her digital so those are the ones here. It was sad when she left, but we will definitely see her this summer when we are passing through Calgary on the way back home to SK for a visit. Maybe she will be able to come out for a few days when we get back.

She is a lot taller, almost as tall as her Dad! Patrick looks a lot like her (has to be those Kyle genes...lol) and Eric has the same mischevious look in his eyes and same laugh as Randi. We always tell him that he laughs just like his big sister and now he knows what we mean. Courtney will be sorry she wasn't here to visit with Randi as well but maybe next time.

Randi and Patrick have the same birthdate which is Sept. 25th (1989 and 1997) and we have always had a little party for them in the summer when Randi was visiting. Of course, we had the cake and everything again this year but Patrick has to wait until the 25th for his presents. Randi had quite the haul of cash b/c we weren't sure just what she would want. Besides, what 17 yr old doesn't want money? LOL

We are the champions!!

This was the third year for Kip as a coach and Patrick as a player for flag football. For the last two years running, the Kelowna Falcons have made it all the way to the playoff game and then lost in overtime :( This year was going to be different! There were a couple of kids on the team that would be up in division 2 next year so they really wanted to end this season with the championship trophies. It was also Eric's first year playing so he must have been their good luck charm because they won!




















This is my baby Eric running the football this spring. He took a hand-off and ran the ball about 5 yards. He was tackled just after his cut back move. He got his first touchdown later that game.






This picture is Patrick heading to the end zone in the championship game. The player from the other team pulled his flag 1 yard away. He almost had his touchdown!

Scrapbooking Swede DT Survivor Contest

So, I was lucky enough to be a member of the first Scrapbooking Swede Design Team and then I was asked to be on the storefront's Creative Team...yay for me! Both of those commitments are finished and I thought I would give myself a break for a while and just concentrate on scrapbooking stuff to catch up. Yah, right! When the SS DT Survivor Contest came along I tried to ignore it but of course I caved in. I made it through the first round of eliminations and today will be the vote for the second round of eliminations. I thought it wouldn't matter to me much if I was voted out b/c I still get to make the odd layout for the store and always get to play with the goodies (pays to know the owner...lol), but I am really hoping that I can go a little further in the competition. The other contestants are awesome so it will really be a challenge. Here's hoping. You can see my layouts if you go the Scrapbooking Swede link to the right of the post. You can search the gallery for my layouts under "scrappywmk". Check them out and let me know what you think! Be gentle ;)

Update on my world

We have had quite the busy summer...well, I have anyway. This working full-time really cuts into the family and social life (scrapbooking!). I love my job but somedays I wish I were still part-time...lol. I haven't gone to the beach much since our company left but the kids and Kip have gone a few times. I have been taking pics of random things this summer so that I can get used to my new camera (Canon RebelG SLR) but I still really want another digital. Film and developing for the SLR can get pretty expensive even with my work discount...lol.

I developed the pics of Courtney's grad dress and they are amazing....can't believe that I actually took them...lol. She looks so beautiful! All grown up...where did my baby go? :( It will be a long year without her visiting...they boys are already asking when she will be home again. I have started to scrapbook the dress pics as well. I am making a small album (8x8) for myself right now and will eventually have an album done for myself, Courtney, Mom & Dad, and Rhonda. I also have the supplies I need to make a small brag book style album for Mom & Dad and I will be using a lot of pics from when they were here this summer. I managed to get pics of them with the kids (except Jason's girls of course) so that was nice. Mom will have to add a pic of the girls to a page that will be ready.

I am still working on moving my scrap space around. We changed the rooms again so it seems like a never-ending project for me. That is probably why my scrapping mojo is gone....too much clutter and disorganization to be creative...lol. For the last little while I have only been srapping out at Angelique's store but that gives me a chance to get away from work and the house and just relax with friends. Julie and I managed to get away for coffee and dessert one evening so that was great too. I miss the 'girls night out' with Angelique and Julie....going to have to get back into that soon I hope. Julie might start having crops at her place again too so it will be nice to have another place to crop with friends as well as the store.

Kip signed the boys up for tackle football this fall. I was totally against it...you know...the whole "my babies might get hurt" thing. They have their equipment and have started practicing in the backyard and seem to really enjoy it. I don't know if I can watch them in a real game but I will try....I am the official photographer...lol. I will post some pics of the backyard practices as soon as I figure out how.

Catch you later :)

I'm Back

So, I used to have my blog on blogspot.com but I changed it to MSNspaces an now I am back. Yes, I do have issues making up my mind...lol.

Anyway, it has been a very busy summer thus far. We had a housefull of company at the begining of July so I decided to treat myself to a week off work. Can you believe that!? I had to make sure that my backup at work was fully up-to-speed on what needed to be done while I was away and she did a great job (along with the other two supervisors working). No big dramas or things to take care of when I got back. Such a relief after the hectic time I have had since starting the Cash Manager position in March. Things are falling into place nicely ;)

So, my company! Courtney got herself a job a couple of months ago and was only able to get 3 weeks off to come out here this summer. She is usually her for the whole summer so that was very disappointing for all of us. But, you have to make due with the time you have right? My Mom and Dad haven't been out for a visit since the summer of 2003 and we haven't been back home since July 2005. They decided that they would drive her out here and stay for a few days to visit as well. YAY!! My Mom managed to talk my sister and her two boys into coming out as well. My sister hates the drive through the mountains so that is really big for her...lol. My two nephews, Derek (12) and Mathew (8), had a great time playing with Patrick (8) and Eric (6).

Everyone arrived here on July 6th and were supposed to leave on the 12th or 13th but ended up staying until the 17th. It was quite the housefull but we had a great visit. Kip took Courtney and Derek to Wakefest the first weekend and Derek really enjoyed it. He usually doesn't get to do stuff like that. They all loved the Sam Roberts concert ;) Of course, the first thing my Dad did was clean up my yard of weeds, etc. What else is new? LOL It was very hot while they were here so we didn't do as much 'touristy' things as we had hoped to. It was close to the second weekend when we finally managed to get down to the beach (Gyro Beach of course!). The kids loved it! Derek and Mathew like that you could walk out so far and only be at your chest. We also rented an aqua bike and paddle boat for a half hour. Patrick didn't want anything to do with that so he stayed on the beach with Mom and Dad. We had a great day :) Lots of food...great food...finally got the bbq up and running so Dad made Drunken Chicken....mmmmm....very good....Patrick loved it. He also made ribs on the bbq and they were awesome. We are going to have to put the ribs on the menu more often :)

Just before they left, I had to take them up to Knox Mountain for a picnic and one of the best views Kelowna has to offer. We stopped at the first lookout and they thought that was as high as we were going....nope! After we took a few pics there, we piled in the car and headed up to the little park for a picnic. The kids had fun playing around on the monkey bars and stuff. Courtney scared the pants off of Rhonda (not hard to do but hillarious!) WATCH OUT FOR THE BEARS!!! Hahahahaha! You had to be there ;) After we were done eating, we headed up to the top lookout. It is a nice little hike to the top and the sun was setting so we got some amazing pics of the west side of the lake looking towards the north. I managed to get a couple of shots of Mom and Dad with the kids and Rhonda took my camera to get shots of Kip and I with the kids (we don't have enough of those). All in all, a great day and a great family visit :) I will post some pics later :)

Chow!