Thursday, January 31, 2013

Log Roll


Road Trip!
We jumped in the car on got on the road early this morning, 
to head up to Grand Prairie for interviews.
We pass these trucks loaded with lumber all the time on the road 
to Grand Prairie, going both ways.  I know of at least one lumber mill
on the way, with as many trucks as we pass, there must be more.
I took these really good pictures out the window, from our car.
It's pretty amazing how many trees they cut down, and you 
wonder what it is all being used for.  Houses, furniture, paper?

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

-25 Degrees


This morning we drove to Red Deer, for interviews.  The temperature
read -25 degrees celsius in the car, but with the wind chill, 
we hit a record low, (at least for us) of -38 to -40 degrees. 
Whoo hoo, that's even colder than on Christmas morning at -32 degrees.
I wanted to experience that record cold at least once, "mission" accomplished.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Utah Snow


And this is back home in Utah.   This is what the kids
are having to deal with this winter.
Brad came out of church to find his car covered, and only
after a couple of hours.  The flakes are huge.
Heather took pictures one morning of our house, 
they really got slammed last night.  I know it's devastating
to them, but I find it breathtaking.  She said, "aren't you
glad you not in Utah", between you and me, oh yes
I wish I were there, to take in the magnificence.
There's nothing like the peaceful silence after a snowfall.
The snow is getting hard for them to shovel and throw
up on the heap.  This shows how deep it is getting just
from the regular snowfall.
This is Heather's car at their apartment.  This is from one storm.
That's a lot of snow.  Where to put it all.
She might clear it off her car, but she won't be able to pull 
out of her parking space.  It will be too deep.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Canada Snow


So this is a little glimpse of what kind of snow fall 
we are getting in Canada this winter.
I meant to take pictures earlier but I didn't get around to
it and so things have melted quite a bit.  This is our 
back porch, we haven't shoveled it at all this year.
Only weeks ago, this chair had at least two feet of snow,
now it's all melted down to just this little pile.  It really
was amazingly high, but I didn't catch it in time.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Dinner At LaRonde

We had a very nice surprise this week.  The Woodruff's called on
Wednesday and invited us to dinner at LeRonde this weekend,
that's the revolving restaurant downtown.  It is just what I need,
at just the right time.  They are such a blessing to me.
We met them at the office and they drove us downtown.  The night 
was gorgeous, complete with a full moon. It's such a wonderful sight
to see the city passing slowly by as the restaurant quietly revolves.
The food was delicious, the conversation intriguing, the view
breathtaking and the company, well the company was the best of all.
Thanks for your friendship, when friendship was desperately needed.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Interviews


Time for interviews again.  We do interviews in January,
because we have our big Christmas conference in December
and there is not a lot of time to interview everyone while 
they're in town for the conference.
These are our Bonnie Doon Zone Leaders, sleeping on the job.
(actually, just waiting for us to finish up the last interview so they
can lock up the building and get back to work)
I did the infamous banana training.  Waited two years to do it again
because it went over so well the first time and had to wait until all the 
previous missionaries had gone home, so as not to repeat.
But surprisingly enough, my reputation preceded me, some of the elders
had seen the paper, shared with them by trainers or taped to the fridge.
Not bad, even if I do say so myself.
So, I share with each of them the "wonders" of a banana, then
they get to take a one to eat, because of all the healthy things 
that a banana has to offer.
Today I brought some chocolate chip banana bread, something
yummy to make when the bananas get too ripe.
I also brought along a plethora of goodies from my pantry,
got to get rid of it if I'm going to trim down.  Have to trim the pantry
down first.
This was posted on one of the bulletin boards in the building that we meet in, 
more wonderful works of service that our missionaries are involved with.
I liked this idea.   Missionaries serving from the ward,
with their address on the right, stapled to the board in bulk,
you just have to tear off an address, smart thinking!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Janelle


So we have a wonderful gal that is coming in to help me with the house,
she is actually the mother of one of Courtney's very dear friends up here.
She thinks she's so funny, we came home one afternoon after she'd
been there, only to find this-
I had made the blocks to say something about the new year,
and she had rearranged them to read like this.  Why "no smokin"?
I'm not sure,
but she even had to turn a Z (zed) on it's side to make an "N", for
smokin.  Like I said, she's quite a character.  Made me laugh.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Courtney Times Two


Courtney and Courtney started playing with their camera one night,
and this is what we got, via email.
star struck,
and looney toones!  Silly girls.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Zone Leader Council


 I like to put out messages on my blocks.

The elders told me that these cameras are all the same kind,
they called them the son, father and grandfather cameras.

And this, well this is the mess that I'm left with after lunch.  This

and this,
and all together now.  Takes me two days to finish all the clean up
including washing the dishes and putting them away.

ZLC "Soup"er Bowl


"Soup"er bowl 101, all the basics of a great souper bowl lunch.
First you have to make a sheet cake look like a football field.
After it's frosted with a chocolate glaze you draw on the lines with
frosting, then mark the 50 yard line.
Then you put on the M & M's, representing football players, in a 
perfect offensive and defensive line up. 
Then add Cadbury eggs as the footballs in the corners.
field, footballs and players


add stripes to the balls to look like laces,
and a little grass and there you have it, a football field cake.
I made cold strawberry soup as a starter, put on crackers
and assorted colored napkins to represent football teams.
I wore my cupcake apron, so bright and perky.
I served milk along with water, milk goes well with hot soup.
And of course the soups, I made my favorite southwestern chili,
with tortilla chips, sour cream and cilantro dressing,
creamy chicken noodle and Patti's stew, yummy!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Incoming, More Chaos


Today started out as a normal day to welcome new missionaries,
but soon turn into a crazy day of chaos.  We arrived at the airport right
at 11:00 only to find out that the flight had been delayed by 1 hour.
So in the meantime, we walked around the airport, checked out this
cool new convenience store, just look at the choice of fine beverages.
So shiny!
After we welcome the 8 new elders from Salt Lake, we are supposed
to meet a new sister arriving from Quebec, she's coming straight from
home, missing the whole wonderful MTC experience.  But her
flight has been delayed too, by 30 minutes.

The elders finally arrived, a little late but in good spirits.  We welcomed
them all individually, then waited for the assistants to pull up with the 
van and trailer.  
 Our assistants, opening up the trailer.

We loaded them into the van and sent them off to the office, while we
waited for our little sister.
Because she's coming from Canada, we had to wait 
at a different gate, so we settled in my the Booster Juice
and the Christmas decorations.  We saw these last year 
when our kids arrived for the holidays. 
Now they are just waiting to pack up the deer and 
Christmas tree,
but not until I take a picture of President by it.

It was interesting waiting for our new sister, we really didn't
know what to expect and she didn't have a name tag yet, so
that didn't help.  We just looked for a sister, with a lost look.
And we found her, all 4 foot nothing of her.

What a morning, we made it through, but just barely.
Well, anyway, Welcome to Canada.