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.

German Chocolates

I picked up an advent countdown calendar for Courtney, for Christmas.

It was a calendar from Germany with European chocolate.

And when she finally opened it and started eating them, we found 

out that they were filled with a creamy white center.

The shapes were so fun and detailed.  There were old cars,

trumpets and sleighs,

firetrucks,

and many, many more.  She only ate a few, and left the rest.

Ahhh, Santa and his bag of toys,

an old roadster,

a bear, a decorated Christmas tree,

a violin,

and a choo, choo train.  So cute and also, so yummy.

Walking Man

In Alberta, there is a company called Flaman,

I think it's an exercise equipment place.  There

are several warehouse type places around the city.  There is 

one out by the airport, one in Red Deer (two hours South) 

and I think one up in Grande Prairie (five hours North).

So, they have a treadmill stationed on the outside of each 

building, with a "dummy" walking, 24/7, 365 days a year,

and the best part, they dress him up.  Here are just a few of the

ones I've captured on film.

Personal favorite,

Spiderman, with no hands,

Of course, Santa is out at Christmas time, just look at that stride,

and snow on his hat.

What?  Where did he go?  Where is his treadmill?  And it's even nice weather.

Whew!  He's back,

in his road construction worker get up,

and still no shoes, but he does have one glove on.

Must be Michael Jackson, walking man.

And yet another, dressed for the wet and cold.

Poor man, he looks like he's been attacked by wild dogs.  His

left pant leg is practically in shreds.

Chaos At The Airport

We had a crazy morning at the airport this morning.  The assistants

dropped the elders and their luggage off and we met them inside,

only to find this. . . . 

The computers were down, not necessarily a power outage, because as 

you can see all the lights were on, but even the parking ticket machines

weren't working this morning when we drove in.

You can see that none of the screens were working above the check-

in desks, and it was utter chaos.  They had airport and airline workers

trying to keep things in control.  They were checking with everyone

to see what airlines they were with, and then they were directing them

to the appropriate lines.

This was one of the lines, thankfully not the airlines we were with.

It went down the hall, almost to the luggage drop, curved and 

was coming back up the right side of the hall.

As you can see, the elders didn't care, they are going home!

They were supposed to be getting on the plane at around 6:00 AM,

they were just getting checked in about that time.  But we got them

through the line and on their way.  I think they all made it to their final destination, 

none of them came back.  (they even wavered the luggage fee, sweet!)

Early Departure

A brand new year, barely, and part of our transfer group is going

home, to get into school.  They fly home tomorrow, so we brought

them in on New Year's Day for interviews and farewell follies.

The temple was closed because of the holiday, so we had to forgo the

temple trip, we just stuck with visiting, eating and playing.

I had the missionaries that were going home fill out all their paper 

work while President did interviews.  Then we all fixed dinner.  It

was fun to be in the kitchen all together.  I'm working on making 

things easier, so a few months ago I made the decision to have a

pancake supper for the outgoing dinner, every time.  It's so hard

to prepare and get things ready to eat, as soon as we get back from

the temple.  So this way we throw some batter together, cook some

bacon, put out milk and orange juice and voila, you have supper.

Because we didn't have the temple, I threw in this breakfast

hash, with eggs, potatoes and peppers.  It was tasty, but I

wouldn't have it again.  Elder Albright took over the hash

for me and did a terrific job.  He's hired!

So to make it a little more special and interesting, I change up the

flavors and toppings.  For the November transfer I added pumpkin 

to half the batter and made pumpkin pancakes.  This time I had

flavored syrups, blueberry and raspberry, peanut butter and Nutella,

strawberries and whipped cream.  And of course, heated maple syrup.

Elders in the back, just waiting for the blessing.

While we were cooking in the kitchen, I had two of the elders 

put out some place mats, because the tablecloth was a little short.

This is what I got, at least they were creative.  I just meant to

put out one or two for people to sit at. 

And when all is said and done, and they're on their way home to

their families, I'm left with THIS!

Wild Kingdom

Went to Cabela's tonight to look for Chris a good, warm,

winter coat.  President Mendenhall wants to take him ice fishing.

I've never been in a Cabela's before.  Fascinating!

There were more stuffed animals in there, than

there were on my bed as a child growing up.

Polar bears, black bears and

moose.   Great big, huge, moose.

Quite the sight to see and behold.

Candy Cane Lane

We took one last stroll (car ride) down "candy cane lane"

We'll have to start one of our own back home, if we are ever

going to see something like this again.  

The lights were fun, 

some had themes,

others did not.

There were religious ones, wintery ones and Santa ones.

Some houses sang and the lights danced to the music.

This house came complete with a giant stocking and gifts.

Even though we went after Christmas was over, it was still a thrill.