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?

-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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!