Red Deer

So our family has moved to Red Deer. Nathan is running in the next provincial election for the Wildrose Party. The move has gone quite smoothly, the kids are loving their school, they are getting involved in skating and school activities. The twins and Kate and I are all hanging out and finding things to do in Red Deer. I haven't really had much time to meet new friends as I am with the kids all the time, so for me its been lonely. A good friend from Okotoks wrote me to say she missed having our family there and I had to cry (just for a bit). Change is hard but it can be a good thing too.

Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas at our home in Okotoks. It was great, although it seemed to come and go so fast as we were packing and moving before and after Christmas. All in all everything went well. William woke up about 5:30, then the rest followed at about 6. Way too early! Their collective noise then woke up Kate at 6:30 and that was it. Christmas morning began. After much present opening and gleeful surprised faces, my living room looked like it exploded and the kids were busy playing. I liked going to church later in the morning as it made Christmas day feel more special. It was our last day in our ward in Okotoks, we will all miss it there. I am grateful for the blessings of the gospel, and grateful for my knowledge and testimony of the Savior's life and atoning sacrifice. Merry Christmas to all....

Our Christmas Eve nativity with the kids

more building fun

So Nathan became the candidate for the Wildrose Party in the next provincial election...a candidate for Red Deer that is! So that meant we were going to be relocating. After looking for rentals in Red Deer we decided to buy instead. The house we found is great but is a little smaller in the dining area and so Nathan and I figured we needed to use a bench for one side of our table to provide seating without using up as much space as the chairs (and it seats more kids). So I spent an afternoon building this bench for my table, and a couple nights to paint and stain. Did I mention I love building.

Halloween

This year was a fun trick or treat night and the kids were of course very excited too. After carving their pumpkins (which we grew in our garden) we were ready for a night of non stop candy collection! I love how the twins and eventually Kate too think halloween is so great because most days when you ask for candy, you don't get it. But this night you walk up to almost any adult, ask for candy, and they give it to you! How completely exciting. I remember one year when William was little, put his costume on again a week after halloween and tried to go out asking for more candy, too young to understand this is a once a year gig.

Trouble with toddlers

Our favorite little toddler has become our resident wall artist...daily! It is such a treat to walk around my house and see her artistic creations all over my walls, chairs, couches, cupboards, doors...just about any old surface you can think of. All I have to say is thank goodness for steam cleaners and magic erasers!

Apples...apples...apples

We did the annual apple juicing day again this October. This year Nathan and Adam went to Creston B.C. and picked up about 8700 pounds of apples, then hauled them to Edmonton. We brought the kids for the first time, and they made themselves 'useful'.

Over all it was another great year with friends making the best liquid gold around.

Conversations with William

Today Nathan and I were finishing some odd jobs outside and William was playing with his army men and tanks, when he asked Nathan if he had ever fought in a war. Nathan and I just looked at each other and smiled, then Nathan said to Will, "Yes I did Will, I shot down fighter planes. They gave me an Ironman suit so I could fly." To which William responded, "Really...did you survive?" Nathan and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh. Nathan told William that he did survive, and Will was glad for that. Nathan then asked Will how he knew that Nathan had survived, and Will said, "because they gave you an Ironman suit!". Later William was talking about soldiers that fought in the war and survived, he said they were called vegetarians, and they were heroes. Emma later called them veterinarians. We did correct them on the veterans word, although I whispered to Emma that they won because they only ate vegetables.