Tagged

What is your husband's name: Chad.

How long have you been married: 7 years.

How long did you date before you got married: 7 months.

Who eats more: Usually Chad! I try my best to keep up though!

Who said I love you first: Chad.

Who is taller: Chad--by a foot.

Who sings better: Chad.

Who is smarter: I think it depends on the situation. Most things--Chad.

Whose temper is worse: Unfortunately, mine is much worse.

Who does the laundry: Me.

Who does the dishes: Me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: Chad.

Who pays the bills: Me.

Who cooks dinner: Me.

Who drives when you are together: Chad.

Who is more stubborn: I think we are pretty equally stubborn.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong: I love Tanis' answer, but I think I have to say Chad.

Whose parents do you see the most: Mine.

Who kissed who first: Chad kissed me. It was on the first date too, but just a little peck on the cheek. The real one came later and it was by Chad too!

Who asked who out first: Chad asked me out. We were at some YSA activity or FHE or something and I was telling him how to get somewhere on a bus! I was quite the expert back then! It was a pretty tricky way to get to talk to him!

Who proposed: Chad.

Who is more sensitive: I think we both are, but if you would have asked who is the most cheesy, it would definitely have to be Chad.

Who has more friends: Chad.

Who wears the pants in the family: Chad says it's me.

Where did you meet your husband: At a Christmas Contata in Edmonton.

What was the first thing you said to your husband: This seat isn't taken?

Where was your first date: We went to see the King and I at some theatre and then we went to Bua Thai for dinner.

Where was your first kiss: At the house I was living in.

Where did you get engaged: In a school parking lot across from the apartment I lived in when we first started dating.

Where were you married: Cardston Temple

Where was the Honeymoon: Samui, Thailand

- H

It's been a while

Tonight we put up our Christmas tree, so I guess Halloween is over and I should add another post. I was up in Edmonton for the past two weeks at a training conference for work. It was interesting stuff but I really missed Heather and the kids. And even worse than being away, was coming home and seeing just how well everyone was doing without me! I'm sure that they missed me though.

We had some computer problems yesterday and I was really frustrated with the whole thing. It turns out that Shaw was just acting up, but for a while I was worried that we had a virus. The incident caused Heather and I to examine just how much we 'need' the Internet at home. Besides emailing family (and this awesome blog), there isn't really anything productive that we do with it. We have been debating whether or not we should cancel our Internet service, for a while at least. I think it might force us to write letters - on paper - and send them to our loved ones through the mail. It sounds kind of old fashioned but it might be fun.
It is late and I should sign off; I just spent the last hour playing video games online with my home teacher and one of my buddies growing up.
But I don't know if that is an argument for, or against, having the Internet : )

- C

The scariest squash you've ever seen...

Because we put things off until the last minute, there were no pumpkins left at any of the stores. I was so desperate, I had a honey dew melon in my hand until I came across this fellow. They say that an artist can see the masterpiece on the blank canvas even before he starts. I think that is how it was with me, because I could see a face on this butternut squash as it sat leaning against a sweet potato. It took a long time to carve because I couldn't fit my hand inside it (Heather did the scooping). Ella and Mason seemed excited but Tyson was actually afraid of it. When it was in the house, Tyson would cover his eyes and back away. Until I set it on the front step, he would peek around corners at it and whisper, "scared", and even cried when I first lit the candle.



After supper the kids got into their costumes and we headed out. I took them up and down half of our street and then Heather took them the rest of the way. I was proud of Ella and Mason for always saying 'thank you' after receiving their candy.





As you can imagine, it was not a good night to be out if you have a serious pumpkin phobia, and Tyson had me hold his hand at any house with a jack o'lantern too near the front door. Aside from that, the kids all had fun and are still eating their candy.

Update: The truth about T-rex

Just to prove to Jewel that I didn't digitally add the dinosaur victim, here is the original picture. (I would have liked to have been in the Park Decoration Committee Meeting when they decided on this one!)

- C

Like the Zoo... only Scarier!

This weekend we went to Boo at the Zoo with John and Tanis and Jeremy and Crystal. I think you should expect a certain amount of tension in any park full of dangerous, caged animals, but adding Halloween to the mix only increased the excitement... I'm just glad that we didn't go after dark. Here are the characters we were with:




A witch guy (Warlock?), Bob the Builder, Jack O' Lantern, Monkey, Pirate, and an Elephant (not pictured because he was crying). Of course it is a matter of opinion, but I don't think that Ella looks very much like a pirate without her eye-patch... she could have also passed as "Aunt Jemima", "a hippy", or "Aunt Crystal as an Envorinmental Conservation student".

When we tried the hand-me-down elephant costume on Tyson at home, he threw a fit, and I was worried we would have a repeat performance when we got to the zoo; however, he really enjoyed wearing it! I think it's partly due to the fact that the other kids were wearing costumes, and partly due to the fact that as soon as we got there, he fell into a half-frozen puddle of water and soaked his other clothes. Here is a shot of him at the elephant pen, probably his favorite part of the zoo.





Interestingly, the elephant seemed to be just as impressed with Tyson as Tyson was with him. Now Tyson also drew a lot of attention at the tiger cage, but when the tiger stared at him, I got the impression that its interest wasn't motivated by a sense of kinship like the elephant's was...

It is always heartwarming to see the cousins together and my prayer is that they will always be close.





I only lamented the lack of Ella's eye-patch once, when we first got to the zoo, but Abby must have heard it because she came up to me near the end of the day and assured me that Ella really was a good pirate. She explained "uncle Chad, some pirate's don't have ipods". Well, if that's true, it sounds like a hard life indeed...

So after being in a menagerie of some of the world's most beautiful and interesting animals, how about a wildlife picture? Well, I guess I was more focused on the kids because this duck shot is the best I managed:






And this is my best dude shot of the day:





I've always felt that Halloween is a gay holiday. I mean, I have to give away my hard-earned candy to a bunch of other peoples' kids because I'm scared of getting 'tricked' if I don't. And at the same time, I'm teaching my kids to not only accept candy from strangers, but to go right up onto their front steps to do it! Christmas is my idea of a holiday, it celebrates an important event, it brings out the best in people. I mean what would be better, having the Christmas spirit in your heart all year long, or the Halloween spirit? On one hand we have the Nativity and shepherds, and angels, and tagging along, is Santa and reindeers and little elves who want to be dentists. And on the other hand what do we have? Vampires, zombies, witches, skeletons - a pretty sketchy crowd.

However, after spending some time with the cousins, I have softened a little and understand that maybe the Halloween spirit isn't only about mischief to property under the anonymity of disguise, or about pagan/satanic traditions; maybe, to this younger, daytime crowd, it's about having fun. Now, I'm actually looking forward to taking my kids up and down our street this year. All I can say is we will have to do another zoo trip at Christmas.

Until then...




don't wake the animals.


- C

So Much for a Relaxing Weekend!

The kids have all had a bit of a cold this weekend so we thought we would just relax and do nothing so they could get better faster. However, Saturday afternoon we thought that we needed to do something for just a bit to get out and get some fresh air. The verdict was to roast hotdogs. We didn't even have any in the house so I guess that should have told us that this wasn't a good idea, but I thought, oh well, I'll just run out and get some. So, Ella and I ran out, got all the stuff we needed, got home and Chad was ready to get the fire started. As he was doing that I was upstairs getting stuff ready to eat and all of a sudden Tyson was crying. It's not like he never cries, but I just knew something was really wrong. There is a grate on our fire pit that Chad had moved aside. He apparently told the kids not to touch it, but maybe Tyson only heard the touch it part because that's what he did. Poor guy. He is so tough. I guess Chad didn't even know anything happened until he saw Tyson walk in the house clutching his hand. I took him to the clinic here where finally he was bandaged up. It is so sad, but so cute too. They gave him some medicine to take away the pain and a popsicle and he is back to his normal self. In fact, he denies that he even burned his hand. No one but Tyson could do such a thing! Got to love him though!

- H

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Always at the top of our list is our wonderful family. Above is our annual family photo. This year I got a remote for the camera so I didn't have to keep running back and forth setting the timer. Because there was less work involved, I could take more attempts to get a photo in which most (never all) of us were looking at the camera. I have often suspected that Heather's eyelids were somehow connected to the camera's shutter because they seem to always close just when the picture is being taken...

It was great to see the Hardys and the Paynes and it was so nice of the Paynes to host the supper at their house. Aside from preparing a wonderful meal, Heather pointed out that Jeremy and Crystal also sacrificed their only (and hard-fought) bottle of million-dollar relish. It seemed painfully obvious that dad was missing from the dinner... everything else seemed just like it was the previous year; except Jessica was new, and the cousins were all a lot more sassy to their uncle Chad. Even though no one really said it (except Crystal might have cried a bit when she said the prayer), dad is the reason why we were there, and the reason why we are all still so close.






Kendall and Jewel came back to our house for the night and John and Tanis stayed at Jeremy and Crystal's place. John said it was because Jeremy has a Nintendo Wii and Tanis said it's because she loves everything about "everything and everyone" in the Sundance area. She even made a trip to Walmart the way that we would make a trip to the Temple if we were down visiting them. Despite the fact that Jewel kicked us out of our bed for the night, it was really nice to spend some more time with them. Tyson particularly enjoyed his time with uncle Kendall:



We are also headed down South to visit the rest of our family (my inlaws). Apparently, there is a situation there that has the whole town without any water. Added to that, there will be no million-dollar-relish, and no video games either. Sounds like it's shaping up to be a really fun trip. Just kidding, Heather is going to kill me when she reads that. I am thankful for my inlaws too... they really are the best people and it is easy to see where Heather gets her great qualities from. Aside from my own parents, I probably owe more to Garth and Barbara than any one else. I am looking forward to seeing them and there will still be pumpkin pie, a cool uncle, and lippy little cousins... not so different after all.




- C

Weekend at Hardys'

I had a few extra days off this weekend so we made a trip to Southern Alberta. On our way down, we stopped in Nanton at Canada's largest garden railway. From the description: "7000 sq. ft. garden , 22 trains running in two distinct layouts, European and North American . Big Sky Garden RR has many unique features including a mountain with 5 cog wheels, a river, a lake and towns and many bridges. Many seating areas available to view the garden and scenes."





It was a lot of fun for the kids, and Heather and I enjoyed searching for little details on the scavenger hunt. Things like, "what is the thief stealing?", and "what time is the couple getting married?" Before leaving we stopped and got some ice cream from the shop next door.








We spent Friday evening and Saturday with Heather's grandma and her parents. Heather got together with her sister and mom and canned a bunch of jars of apple pie filling... so there's apple crisp in my future.

On Saturday evening we went and visited the Hardys for a hot dog roast at John and Tanis' house. Aside from a great relaxed dinner we also got to try our first (and second, and third) Tim Tam Slam!



The kids had so much fun running around their massive yard and I really enjoyed the small town pace. We happened to be travelling with "The House of the Cliff", book number two of the Hardy boys mystery series - I managed to get a complete set off of Ebay a while ago. My dad read them to me when I was a kid and I thought it might be a nice memory for my children some day; besides, I think 'sleuthing' is an important part of any child's education.

Aside from catching bad guys, I like the series because it gives a glimpse into a much simpler time. Frank and Joe were polite and respected their parents. They went on picnics with their chums and had sandwiches wrapped in wax paper,and chocolate cake washed down with lemonade. Visiting outside in the evening air with our Hardys, made me feel like I was in a modern day Bayport.

The next day we went to Church with John and Tanis then stopped at the Temple grounds before heading home. It was a great trip and it made me feel, even more, like we need to move down there.



Fun facts:

The photo at the top of this post has nothing to do with our weekend, but Mason is freaking awesome.

Before leaving Jewel and Kendall's house I took all of her ginger snap cookies and hid them in the cupboard in another container. I don't know if she has found them or not but she hasn't called to question me about it. Either she feels too awkward to bring it up or she is so mad that I ate/stole them all, she doesn't want to talk to me.

The thief is in the European section and is stealing a goose.


- C

Two Years Old

We celebrated Tyson's second birthday last Wednesday. Here are a few shots...









It seems like I'm saying this every time I post, but I can't believe he is so old already! He is the funniest and cutest little guy! Thanks everyone for making it such a special day for him.

- H

The Kissing Hand

I got this great idea from my mom! She did it last year with the kids in kindergarten. I'm sure most of you have heard of the story "The Kissing Hand"--it's about a little raccoon who is scared to go to school so his mom gives him a kiss in his hand and tells him whenever he touches his cheek with his hand that he will always remember that she loves him. Anyways, I made these the other night and gave the book to Ella. I thought it was a cute way to start off the year, especially since this is her first time to be away for a full day. I can't believe it has come so soon and that she is so grown up!





- H

Odds 'n ends

Here are a couple more photos from our trip that I thought people might like to see. Heather did the last post... and it's a lucky thing too because I have not felt very motivated lately.


"The Barbecue"



"Sunshine"



"Chickenbone"



"A Hard Man"

I also wanted to share this site: Phone Spell.
It figures out the different words that the letters of your phone number spell, presumably to make it easier to remember. It doesn't really work for the Paynes or us because we have 'ones' and 'zeros' in our phone numbers and there are no corresponding letters for those keys. For Tanis and John's phone number, the top suggestion was "OK-dingy", which is cool because anyone who has seen the Sea Hawk in action will attest that they have an impressive dingy, and the 'Ok' part appropriately embodies John's 'can-do' attitude as a dingy captain. Unfortunately the top suggestion for Jewel and Kendall's number has no similarity or reference to them at all. And more unfortunately, their top suggestion is... well... hilarious.
Sorry guys.

Well that's about it. I've quelled that guilty, haven't-blogged, feeling. Now all I need to do is get my home teaching done.


- C

Long Weekend

We had such a great long weekend in Kalispell. It was so nice to spend the time with everyone as we don't live so close anymore. The kids had such fun running around with their cousins and playing. We did lots of shopping, went to the waterslides and had so much fun. It was great! We are so lucky to have such a great family. Thanks everyone for making such a great and memorable time together.

Dragonflies and Zebras

At the start of last week we went down to visit the Hardy families. Jewel and Kendall were really great and let us stay at their place for a couple of days. I feel like we have been imposing during what must be a really busy time for them. Tanis and John took us to Walley Beach one afternoon and we had so much fun playing in the sand and water. It is a beautiful spot, thanks for sharing guys.



When we got back home we had one day to get ready then headed up to Crimson Lake for our annual camping trip with the guys that I grew up with and their families. It was really nice to see Flexhaugs, Mulhollands, Rices, and Lauders. It was a perfect trip. The weather was hot but not too hot and there were hardly any mosquitoes. We played at the beach and spent a lot of time visiting around the fire. The kids love camping and did a great job. It was really funny to see Tyson with his little blue batman t-shirt. It is second hand from a clothing exchange and Tyson doesn't even know who Batman is but for some reason it became his favorite and he would cry anytime we tried to take it off. He would point to his chest and say "man... man". We had to put it over top of long sleeve shirts in the evenings and the only time he would take it off is when he was going swimming.

On Saturday we took the kids to a nearby petting zoo. Along with the usual goats and rabbits, this one also had some unexpected residents. In one of the enclosures was a baby zebra; there can't be too many of them in the Rocky Mountain House area. They also had these little miniature bovines that had humps on their backs like Brahma bulls (forget their name). It was neat to see a peacock amongst the turkeys, but the real highlight was the zebra-pony cross.

Mason and Zony


Tyson, his 'man shirt, and Pinocchio


Cute x2



During the last little while I have been seeing so many dragonflies - from Cardston to Rocky Mountain House. I remember when a dragonfly seemed rare and exotic and I have never seen them in these numbers. I tried searching around the internet to see if anyone else has noticed this but I couldn't really find anything. I don't know what factors would make them so numerous this year but since an adult dragonfly's main food source is the mosquito, I welcome them and hope they stick around for a long long time.

Well, back to work tomorrow. I am not looking forward to the 6:30am start time but I feel like we made the most of the past month and I don't have that regretful, "wasted time" feeling that I sometimes get at the end of my days off.




- C

What a week

On the 9th was John and Tanis' move. We managed to get them loaded up but I didn't make the trip down, so unfortunately I haven't seen their house yet (I think a housewarming barbecue would be a good idea). Kendall and Jewel's move was the next day and it was almost as easy because they had everything boxed up and ready to go. I rode down with Kendall and Ava and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a whole crew of people waiting to unload.

I think Kendall and Jewel made a great choice when they picked their house but I am not looking forward to the day when Heather sees it. She's seen pictures of The Manor on MLS but it is even more beautiful in person. I got a chance to watch the Hardy cousins playing together and it made me feel a little sad for my kids, it would be so nice for them to grow up in the same town too...

Anyways, after the move Kendall and I came back up to Calgary to return the moving van and on the way we busted a guy selling stolen (probably) home theaters out of the back of his car : )

Kendall stayed overnight at our place and painted our upstairs the next day. When Heather got back from visiting her parents she found a new paint job and new appliances. She was impressed with what an awesome job Kendall had done, not just putting on a new coat of paint, but also fixing some of the problems caused by previous painters (and me). We are both really touched that he took the time to help us out before he had even unpacked from his move.

I'm not sure what we are going to do now that half our family has moved away, but I am really happy for the both Hardy families.

- C

Our return to the Land of Dinosaurs

We actually managed to cram a lot of adventure into our two day trip to Drumheller. We camped at Kokopelli Kampground in nearby Rosedale. The website made it look pretty good and I really liked their 'no music allowed' policy; however, in person, the campground was a disappointment. Our spot was nothing more than a tiny gap in the bushes, just wide enough for the doors to open on either side of the car. There was just barely enough room for the car, our tent, and a picnic bench - not even enough room to start a fire without risking burning down the tent. The worst part about it was the mosquitoes. I don't know if it was because of the bushes, or being on the bank of the Red Deer River, but we were in a cloud of mosquitoes the entire time. I even breathed one in by accident. We were pretty liberal with the bug spray, but we still ended up with bites all over us. The weather was hot and muggy and felt a little bit like Thailand.

After setting up the camp, we headed over to the Royal Tyrell Museum. We played at the playground for a while, toured the museum, then took a hike along the interpretive trail.




Tyson added the word 'dinosaur' to his vocabulary, along with a menacing growl.


Before going to bed the first night we did some exploring and came across this suspension bridge. It was so crazy! It swayed back and forth like the bridge at the zoo, and it was at least as high off the water - the difference is that the sides were nothing more than chain link, and you could see right through the deck to the water below! It felt like you were walking across the air.




Heather looks a little apprehensive.

When I was setting up the tent, I gave Heather a hard time about insisting on camping. I wanted to get a hotel instead and I was sure that this crummy little thicket of bugs had finally proven me right. As it turns out, Heather was right again. That night was actually the highlight of the trip for me and one of the most exciting thunderstorms I've ever experienced. I woke up at a little past 1:00AM and Heather was already awake. The rain was pelting down, and the sides of our tent would light up each time the lightning flashed. The most amazing part was the thunder, it felt and sounded like it was just over our heads. Each peal would start on one side of us and roll across the whole sky. Some would last as long as 6 seconds (counted 1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000, etc). You could feel it in your bones and it was echoing off the hills around us.

I took a quick inventory and was glad to remember that our tent poles were not made of metal and the trees near our site were not the tallest in the campground. Heather wondered if we should move everyone to the car, but I felt the best course of action would be to just lay there as close to the ground as possible - as if standing up would make us a better candidate for a lighting strike : ) Surprisingly, the kids slept through the whole thing. I have always been disappointed that here in Alberta we don't get good thunderstorms like I experienced in Thailand; this however, was probably the best ever. It might have been a combination of being so close, and having so little shelter.

The next day we got up and packed up camp and headed to the outdoor water park. There was a paved square with a bunch of sprinklers that the kids could run through. It took about 2 minutes for them to get completely soaked.



Across the grass was a huge fountain surrounded by a shallow wading pool. This was more Tyson's speed. It might be because he had control over when and how he got wet, but he splashed around in the pool like a little duck. Ella and Mason invented "croc races", a game in which they threw their shoes in the pool then splashed them. It must have been fun because soon other peoples' kids were flinging crocs too.



It sure would be nice to have a park and fountain like this back home.



Our time in the water was overseen by an enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex that had an observation deck in its mouth. I was a little doubtful about how affordable a trip to the top of it would be, especially after seeing the tourist prices of some of the local goods. Luckily though, I checked and found that it would only be $9 for the whole family. I reasoned that if the guy at the hot dog stand could charge $6 after what it cost him to make the hot dog, the dinosaur admission was an absolute bargain, considering what it must have cost them to make a 90 foot tall dinosaur : )





Poor Mason, it looks like he is imagining himself in the mouth of a real Tyrannosaurus Rex (probably for the 100th time this trip).

We went for a walk for ice cream and dried off in the warm sun. Just when we were all ready to go, the kids went for one more round in the fountain. They rode home wet but it didn't seem to matter to them because they slept the whole way. It was a super quick camping trip but everyone had fun. It's strange but it doesn't seem to matter where we are; it could be a buzzing corner of Kokopelli, or right here in our own back yard.

It's just good to be together...





- C