Saturday, July 29, 2006

I was going to pay my dues, but I feel like a big black cloud is hanging over my head, so lest I rain on your parade, I'll try again..soon. Come to think of it, there is a literal big black cloud hangin' over my head. Been raining nearly all day, I'm sure the grass is loving it, although I wasn't loving it this morning when I had to go get the van in order to deposit a mountain of bottles. Anyhow, nuff of that. :) Jode

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Dad would have been 51 today, wow.





Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Happy Birthday Manda, hope you have a good one! :D




















Tuesday, July 11, 2006

For all of those people who still visit this blog upon occasion, this blog post is for you. Here is a brief recap of the events over the last couple of weeks.

I guess I'll start with the arrival of our first company. :) Martin arrived on the Saturday before last, and at the time I was still prepping for the church deal; cooking, baking, shopping, you know the drill. Hmm, don't quit me now memory, I haven't even got 3 sentences in. :D The next day being the Lord's day we went to worship, visited with everyone after that, and stayed up late talking. Mark had secured almost the entire two weeks off, so we all felt at liberty to go to bed nice and late. Ahh yes a nice and relaxed curfew. The weather for the majority of the two weeks was in the 30c range, which is warmer than my comfort area.

I think on Monday Martin helped me deposit our old stove at the dump along with a couple other things, and run a few errands. Can't remember what the errands were, but maybe dropping some stuff off at the library among other things?

Tuesday or Wednesday (wait make that Tuesday) Mark, Belinda, the kids, Martin, and myself went for a drive to Barkerville. Stopped at Jack O' Clubs (was that the name, or was it Black Jack??) lake on the way, twas very beautiful. After soaking our feet and throwing ..er skipping rocks it was back into the van and back on the road. On the way we listened to some lectures on argumentation, and tried to put what we learned into practice. Still not sure if we succeeded, although Calvin was trying pretty hard. Upon arrival at Barkerville we had some lunch and then went for a tour of the Chinatown area. Learned quite a few interested facts from our tour guide about the Chinese, such as how they came, why they came, as well as the many ups and downs for them here in Canada and back home in China. After that tour we wondered around the streets, looking in windows, browsing stores, and reading info boards. The kids rounded the day off with a ride on the stagecoach and then we were on our way home. The guys continued to listen to a couple of argumentation lectures while Belinda and I tried our best rather to sleep through them. Thanks to the road that was rather impossible.

Wednesday I went shopping (yeah, I seemed to have done that a lot), went to the G's, and M&B had the M's from CA over for lunch.

Thursday Mark and Martin went to help Mike set up the G's trampoline. I did some more baking, but run out of a couple things so the kids and myself walked to the mall to get a few groceries. By the time we got back Jord, Dor, Amos, Shawn and Tam had already arrived. I guess they had left Edmonton at a bright and early 6 am, thus the 3 pm arrival. Thankfully the deer stayed in the ditches and off of the road as Jord's car bore witness to. So on with the baking, visiting, and reading of some of my dad's journals ( the girls had picked a bunch of them up the day before from my mom). We likely spent the evening talking, but I can't remember the subject matter, or the hour. :)

Friday Tam and Dor helped me do the last shopping for the church deal, which was mostly the purchasing of the perishables, and various things for child care. The guys all went over to Mike's office to work on arranging the sessions. We had the BBQ, and everything went pretty smoothly. Had activities, singing, and the thing on memorizing the chapters of the WCF (1 run, 2 zoo, 3 tree, etc. etc.). Once again I can't remember when we went to bed, but I think it's safe to assume that it wasn't early.

Saturday was a bright and early day. Tam and I had Mark drop us off at the building so we could set up breakfast, and put the coffee on. The rest of the day ran mostly according to schedule, and we all did our best to stay awake in the heat. Did some running around to get lasagnas cooked, ice cream and all that, but when all is said and done it was good. Before leaving the building after the talent show everyone (and I mean everyone, it was great!) did a clean up of the building, got food sorted out to take to the Kids R' Us building for our breakfast and lunch next day. While loading stuff up a very soft block of butter attacked Martin's truck, but nothing the upholstery couldn't handle. When we got home I proceeded to arrange things for the Lord's day, packed most of it up, had a shower, and finally went to bed.

Sleep was sweet, but somewhat short. :D After getting the rest of the stuff together (there's always more you know?) Martin drove Tam and I over to the building where we usually have our society meetings, and we once more set up for breakfast. We had worship in the morning, followed by lunch and then it was back over to the other building to have the remaining sessions, and remaining meal..dinner. When that was over and everything was cleaned up once more, everyone said their farewells, after which Martin, Chris and I went out to the Saville's to visit. We three then returned to Mark and B's, visited some more, and retired for some shuteye.

Monday Jord and Chris returned to Edmonton but Dor and Amos were able to stay as Martin had enough room in his car for them as well as Shawn and Tammy. Hm, my memory is slipping again.. I think the girls got hair cuts, Martin, the kids, and I went and got some presents for Geneva, and then we girls went clothes shopping (after having dropped Martin and the kids of of course). In the evening we went to Fort George Park to eat hamburgers with the Gs, and to kick back and relax. The weather finally cooled down, yeah that was nice.

Tuesday hm, can't remember what we did in the day time, but I believe that Shawn and Tam went to the Cheryl's for dinner, and we had a little bday party for Geneva.

Wednesday we all went for lunch at Boston Pizza, and I really can't remember what else.

Thursday Martin and I went to Cheryl's for lunch, visited, picked up a bunch of the young people, brought them back here where we ate a ton of sugar while playing President and Scum. I also think that Milly came over in the afternoon and visited with Tam, Dor and Belinda. After cards in the evening Shawn and Tam took everyone home, while Dor, Martin and I continued to play cards.

Friday Tam, Dor, Martin, and I went gift shopping, mostly for myself, as my b-day was on Thursday. After finding some loot we returned home, packed ourselves up, and headed out to the Claim for old time's sake. Had to walk part of the way in, as the road was blocked. We reminisced lots, then went to Ness Lake Park to eat lunch. Can't remember what happened in the evening, but everyone was in bed before 1:00 am as they were leaving early Saturday morning.

Early Saturday morning saw everyone packing up, and they were off. Spent the day getting things back together, and still doing some of that.

So there you have it, the two weeks come and gone, and now I'm suffering from withdrawal. :D

Cheerio. Jode

PS Sorry, didn't get a single picture in the two weeks, but I do believe Jord and Dor got some.