Catch Up

End of January came and went.  My birthday was great.  Our car was fixed on my birthday and I needed groceries.  Dave and Blake came with me and took me out for lunch. Blake got his marks back from first semester of high school and did very well.  High 80's average. We also got the truck running better as well.  Blake is not loving all his classes of second semester.  Can't win them all.

My brother Cannon started a weekly Zoom with my parents and siblings. All the cousins have the code as well. It’s been fun to go on each Sunday evening and chat with my family. Not everyone makes it every time but it’s fun to see who ever can. The first week Blake didn’t really want to be on, but the next week he came to listen. After he kept talking about how hilarious my family is. I was like, uh yeah, I know :) Now he loves to listen in. It’s been fun for cousins that haven’t seen each other for years to see faces and talk. 

 Cora and Leah came home for Valentine's weekend.  Last minute they brought a friend with them.  It was our week for cows and it was fun for Cora to take her friend out and have him feed with her and Blake. The girls always tease us that when they bring friends home we put them to work. Sunday they were excited to be there when Blake was blessing and they finally got to see him in his suit. We had Myrna over for dinner so she could be with the girls as well. 

 Monday was Family Day, so Dave had the day off.  We had a big breakfast and were just hanging out.  Leah was job searching and Cora was applying to the next part of her program. Dave and the boys were getting Morgan ready to go.  Gassed up and fluids topped up.  While they were out they started tinkering with the Jeep and got it going.  Dave went over to the farm to get a hood so the kids could all go hooding.  It had warmed up some and was really fun. I took a few rides as well.  Leah didn't feel like it, but went out to be Dave's spotter and later drove.  She was having a blast drifting in the field and gave them a good ride. 

We had a quick grilled cheese and hot chocolate before Cora and Leah needed to get back to Edmonton. It is always great for Blake to have his sisters home.  When they drove aways he shut the door and said, "Well, it's back to just us three again."  

He has the whole week off school.  Dave took yesterday off as well for his stat holiday and we hardly did anything.  It was a much needed rest for Dave.  He has been quite sore and achy lately.  His ribs are healing, but taking a while, as it does. 

Leah will hear soon what her schedule will be for school.  She starts March 16th ish and is looking forward to that.  Things have opened up a bit more, so they have been on a lot of dates lately and activities and road trips with friends.  Cora had a group she went hiking in Banff with yesterday, Leah had to work and couldn't go. It was freaking cold the last two weeks. Minus 46 one night where Leah was.  This week is feeling much warmer and they are both looking forward to going skating again and other outdoor activities.  Leah still isn't getting a lot of hours and has been looking for a second job.  No luck yet.  We are very grateful for the summer jobs they had plus their RESP's and GIC's Dave invested for them.  It is getting them both through right now.  Cora also got her Rutherford scholarship, which was a big help.  Leah got a notice that she had earned her Rutherford but doesn't get it unless she goes to full time school.  So she can apply for it again later. They are both still having a blast together and loving YSA.  They just went back to in person church a couple weeks ago. Cora had a friend leaving on a mission and he invited her to go through the temple with him.  She was so excited to go again and felt honored he would ask her to be there.  He also asked Cora and Leah to be at his setting apart this week. 

We were hoping basketball would open for Blake, but have not heard anything yet. He just finished basketball in gym and really is missing it. 

Well that is a little catch up for now.  Not a lot happening.

Another year begins

Well really that was almost a month ago.  January 2021.  Time is flying.  Cora and Leah are still loving Edmonton.  Things opened up a little again last week and they have been taking full advantage of that.  We are so glad that they skate (and ski)  It seems that skating is THE activity this winter up there.  They go skating a couple times a week, with friends, on dates, or with each other.  They also tried snowboarding on the little Rabbit Hill last week.  Did really good for their first try.  Leah said it was surprisingly way better on her knees. And plan to hit Marmot Basin again this weekend.

Cora has started school.  It is a lot of terminology this first part and she is studying lots every night. Leah is thankful that she was able to stay on at Bath and Body Works but wishes that she was getting more hours.  Everyone is wanting more and less people are coming in cause they are ordering online.  They are all hurting, but she is getting a couple each week and feels blessed for those. Cora is still at Gap and getting ok hours, but same boat as Leah. They will start rotating in person church in February and the Institute building is open again for YSA to hang out. 

Blake was glad to get back to in person school and see his friends.  I am not missing driving at night in the cold and dark for basketball practice, but am really missing the games and tournaments.  As is Blake. He finished his first semester friday.  He had left a huge amount of school work to do and ended up on the computer for hours and hours each day, usually until at least 10 at night.  When he finally got all assignments caught up and handed in late last night he decided he didn't like doing school work like that.  Well thank goodness!  Cause I didn't like him doing it that way either. 

Dave and Blake have been skiing often. When the girls tried snowboarding they said Blake should come up and try with them.  Blake was laughing at Dave's reaction.  He said Dave looked very offended as he said, "no, I have an awesome ski buddy, you can't try until you move away.":) Blake has invited some friends to go this weekend.  Some of his friends haven't been for a few years. Blake was telling them that he doesn't even get a warm up run anymore, it is straight to the top.  But he will be nice and do few bunny runs with them this time.  Should be a fun day.  

As Blake is turning 16 this year he was ordained a priest a few weeks ago.  We were not sure what day it was going to happen, so he didn't tell anyone.  When he was sustained in church he looked around for Jared and his family, but they were not there.  He had hoped Jared could stand in the circle with him.  But he did have the other YM come in, Grandma Puzey, and Elsie and Morgan Smith. He was able to stand in the circle with the YM that was also getting ordained that day.  He said it was pretty neat.  He got to bless the next day and did a great job. And is excited for when temples open that he can now baptize.  He may have said something about dunking his sisters specifically.

We have had some car trouble this last week.  I only worked two days this month as I am just fill in, and those were the days that our car broke down.  Dave called me at 5 in the morning as he was on his way to work and I had to go tow him home.  It is going to be an expensive fix.  The next day he took the truck and Blake and I took the farm truck.  There were a lot of straps in the cab so I locked it.  Dave's truck only has one key to lock and drive it.  The entire rest of the dually is set up like his truck so I just thought the door locks were too.  And I only had one key.  Turns out it is not like his truck but like every other vehicle in the entire world.  Duh!  I had to call Jared to come rescue us.  I felt so bad, but he came right up to help us. Lesson learned. 

Work is going good for Dave.  He is doing many church callings right now.  Still executive secretary, now first councilor in the bishopric, still teaches, does the bulletin, and now is the back up for Sunday School.  But he doesn't mind and enjoys most of them. I enjoy the few hours I get of work each month, not wanting much more.  Still hoping to get to stop wearing a mask sometime soon :/  Finally learning to use Zoom as I have to start teaching RS soon.  But all in all things are ok.

I loved this picture of Dave and Blake checking the bulls water after church. I sent this picture to my family group chat and said they were checking bulls, my brother Cannon said he didn't know the FBI was that concerned about the  bulls, which I thought was hilarious.

And since I never take a picture of myself, I made sure to take one for our anniversary this year.

Oh yeah.  For Dave's birthday it was low key like we like it.  We had Myrna over for dinner the day before.  Then Monday on his birthday, Blake and I did all his farm chores for him so he could just relax when he got home that night. And made one of his favorite meals for him.  On our anniversary Dave surprised me with flowers and a new frying pan I really needed.  Blake was working on homework, we just stayed home, watched a movie and it was wonderful. 

Memory Jar from 2020

Jan 3 Dave and Leah donate blood

Jan 4 Awesome game of laser tag

Jan 5 Leah runs my Insta - Blake

Jan 10/11 Holy man is Blake amazing at rebounds. H can jump so high and was often high score at the tournament

Jan10/11 Leah loves coaching her girls and again got many thanks for her reffing

Jan 14 Cora got to preach outside the Hippodrome in Bristol where the Book of Mormon play was on

Jan 18 Two full days trying to get tractor started out in the field.  Tarps, heaters. What a hassle, but they did it

Jan 28 Blake made 22 pts tonight making him high point score.  They won 42-28 against Noble

Feb 8 Dave finished the incredibly difficult Robert Bateman owl puzzle

Feb 14 Blake and Dave ha the best ski day. Found new shoots and went to the top of the mountain

Feb 17 Awesome family ski day.  Dave and Blake got off the red chair moments before it broke down.  Other waited 2.5 hours before being rescued.  It was perfect weather and good snow.  Leah skied most of the day then kept me company in the lodge

Feb 24 Remember when I scored '53' on my social test? It was actually 83 btw:) -Leah

Feb 25 Blake got pulled up for the HS game and made a basket, he played very well

Mar 2 Cora meet the grandson of a man G Puzey baptized

Mar 9 Cora was made and STL and transferred to Swansea

Mar 12 All church meetings are postponed

Mar 15 All schools shut down because of Covid-19

Mar 20 Olivia came to help preg test :)

Mar 23 Day one of school at home was a success.  On to many more

Mar 29 We got to do sacrement at home.  It was a neat experience

April 4/5 Conference was amazing!

April 5 Leah had her own personal parade as the fire department and some of her friends drove by for her 18th birthday. Social distancing. 

April 5 Cora is still doing great in quarantine.  Has people to teach online and loves her companion.

April 14 We saw like 100s of swans in the field.  It was so cool.

April 17 Shocking Dawson came to visit us

April 17 Cora's passport has been found, Hallelujah

May 2 Cora's wifi got cut.  What an interesting time to be a missionary.  She said to teach Nephi she needs more wifi

May 4 Leah baffles Dr's once again by the popping noise in her chest.  2 nurses, 3 Dr's all amazed.  Just has chronic inflammation of the rib cage

May 17 We FaceTime Cor and had church with her online. Pretty cool

May 24 Leah gets accepted to NAIT

May 25 Cora begins her last transfer

May 26 Leah finishes 4 years of seminary. 100% attendance.  Blake is down one, 3 to go

May 30 Leah graduates!!

June 3 Leah had a great hike up Turtle with Dawson, Cole, Fraser and Asher

June 20 Leah had fun ebiking in Waterton with Levi, Darbi and Ethan

June 20 Leah finished high school for the 4th time in a week. Hahhah

June 23 Blake graduates Grade 9

June 25 Leah's awesome all-nighter party in Lethbridge

July 3 Leah and Emily road trip to Fernie

July 8 CORA RETURNS HOME!!!

July 26 Had a nice time together with Puzey side as we all gathered to hear stories of Cora's mission.

July 31 Blake learns to slalom, Cora wake boards, Leah's sunrise hike up Bear's hump with friends.

Aug 1 Hiking Junction Falls

Aug 2 Fun having Cora and Levi together for our home church talking about their missions

Aug 8 Dave and the kids hiked Table

Aug 9 Cora did an excellent parking lot fireside

Aug 15 Got the girls all moved and settle in. Gonna miss them :(

Aug 21 Cora gets a job

Aug 22 Got to be there in a special session Levi in the temple as he takes out his endowments

Sep 4 Blake starts Grade 10

Sep 8 Everyone is back in school, seminary, and institute

Sep ? Last boating of the season, water and sunset were beautiful 

Sep ?Cora and Leah win car decorating contest at YSA with Maycie and Emily

Oct 2 Leah gets a job at Bath and Body Works

Oct 8 Leah gets wisdom teeth out

Oct 12 Got to spend Cora's birthday with her

Oct 12 We had a lovely Thanksgiving with everyone

Oct 30 Blake had fun at Creepy Hollow with his friends

Nov 13 Went to Edmonton to fix Morgan.  Ate Seoul Fried Chicken and had great chats with Cora and Leah

Nov 18 Blake had drop in basketball. At least it is something.  He can grab rim.

Nov 21 Had much fun taking Christmas photos.

Dec ? Dave gets offered delicious meals at work. Means I no longer need to pack lunches Yay!

Dec 5? Cora and Leah ski Marmot Basin, Dave and Blake ski Castle

 Dec 22 Blake gets fancy new suit 

Dec 24 Cora and Leah surprise us and come home for Christmas

New Year's Eve

 For ringing in the New Year so early, we kinda missed it. We ran to town to get the part Dave needed, some groceries and to look at shoes if any were on sale.  Dave and I really need new shoes, but just keep putting it off. When we got home I put away the last of the Christmas stuff and did some laundry.  Blake and Dave feed cows and went back to the Coop to do a few things.  About 4 I started thinking, oh yeah we should probably do something for Blake to celebrate.  He loves funeral potatoes and we had ham so I whipped that up.  Didn't have corn flakes so had to improvise.  Dave got a text from our neighbors, inviting us to watch fireworks they were putting on. We ate and then went up to watch the display.  It was really good.  They did a great job of giving us a show. After we watched another movie and read until midnight.  I was so tired. But I couldn't let Blake ring in the New Year by himself, no fun in that. And thought it would be unfair to tell him to go to bed early.  So Dave and I stayed up and talked, read, did some crosswords.  Very exciting stuff. :/  Poor Blake. We toasted at midnight and all went to bed.

  2020 was a different year than we had thought for sure, but there were so many great things.  It was wonderful to see how the world could come up with new ways to do things and still stay safe.  To celebrate birthdays, weddings, graduations etc.  Made some things harder and I really hate masks, but we have seen so much joy and loved spending quiet time with our kids, no running around and barely seeing each other.  Dave feels truly blessed to have Blake with him.  He is a hard worker and is his right hand man.  We feel blessed that Cora returned safe from her mission and loved serving the Lord.  Leah has made some good friends and has aeen who her true ones are.  We feel blessed that they were both able to find jobs in this economy and that they have each other in Edmonton.  Both have decided on a future plan and are doing all they can. I hope thing open up for them to enjoy all of YSA and Institute again, but our lives are in the Lord's hand and we are thankful for all that we have been blessed with and experienced this year.  Happy New Year!!

Christmas 2020

We had a great Christmas.  Despite all the lock downs and uniqueness of this year it was nice.  I had thought about getting Blake a new suit for a long time.  He likes suits best for church and has only had dress pants the last couple of years.  But he was growing so fast I couldn't justify the money.  All his previous suits had been hand downs from his Jones cousins.  A guy in our ward told us that at Moore's  we could get a decent price at the sale racks.  I took him in to look around, thinking with alterations and finding shoes it would be a few weeks till he could wear it.  He walked out with it that day.  The store had all in stock, did alterations there and  they were having a shoe sale.  Excellent!  His first fitted suit.  He looked quite dapper Christmas Sunday. To bad salons are closed for hair cuts.

We knew Cora and Leah were working Christmas Eve and Boxing Day and would not be able to spend Christmas with us.  We delivered gifts to the families that Dave and Blake minister to. Then we had a nice dinner,  read the Luke 2, watched the message from our stake president and then watched a movie.  After the movie I checked the girls' location to make sure they had made it home safe and sound from work, only to discover they were half way to our house. They were surprising us for Christmas.  They arrived a little after midnight.  We stayed up till almost 2 talking and laughing, then decided we really should get to bed.  Dave had been up almost 24 hours. The next morning we slept in late.  So late we ate breakfast before opening presents.  It was so good to have everyone home. Cora watched a YouTube video on how to cut hair, then cut mine. :)  Did a great job too. Had a wonderful steak dinner and played Monopoly.  I have never played Monopoly before.  Blake wanted it for Christmas.  It lasted a couple hours and was humorous to me.  No one else. Cora and Leah were so frustrated, said it was to close to real life with money and stress.  There may have been panic and stress tears and some mental breakdowns.  They vowed to never play again. Very early Boxing Day morning they left to go back up.  Both girls had to work.  Dave and Blake did some work at the farm and then Blake went to work. Dave worked on a puzzle.  I cleaned and did lots of meal prep and getting ready for when the girls came back down the next day. Sunday I got a chicken in the oven before church, then anxiously waited for them to arrive back safely.  While we were waiting Dave and I went for a walked, later as we were relaxing, I looked over to the farm and saw half the herd was wandering around Myrna's house. We quickly donned boots and coats and went over to chase them back in.  Cora and Leah had arrived while we were out and came back to a dark house and no idea where were all were. That night we watched It's  A Wonderful Life and the first of The Chosen.  The girls had been watching it with friends each Sunday until lockdown and recommend it.  We are enjoying it. After we packed lunches and bags to get ready for skiing the next day.

They had so much fun all skiing again together.  Looking snazzy on the hill. They said it was a pretty good day.  Still some ice, but it had snowed.  Long lines since they have to stayed distanced, but it moved quickly.  The girls had given Dave a great thermos for Christmas.  He filled it with very hot chocolate that morning and it was still totally hot by lunch.  Even sitting in the cold car all morning.  They ate in the car and hit the slopes again till it was all closed down.  The lodge is not open anymore, so I can't go with them and sit like I usually do.  So I stayed and straightened up, went for a run, and made biscuits, bread and other things to prepare for the next day appetizer meal and to send as much food up with Cora and Leah as I could.

The 29th was relaxing in the morning. I had taped all the recipes with times that they needed to be started up around the kitchen.  We invited Grandma Puzey to come over.  For Christmas Eve we always do an appetizer dinner. We celebrated Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this day. We got food ready, Cora signed up for classes, more puzzles done and just hung out. 

It was an awesome dinner.  I love appetizer meals.  After dinner we watched A Christmas Story, and another episode of The Chosen.  We read our memory jar and then toasted in the New Year.  By this time it was about 10, someone joked that we were 2 hours early, then we started laughing cause it was the 29th, we were a bit more than two hours early. 

Wednesday morning we preg tested the cows.  It went smoothly and was fun.  Great weather, no wind this time. Big bonus.

We had leftovers for lunch and just relaxed until it was time for Cora and Leah to pack up and head back to Edmonton.  Leah was meeting Dawson in Calgary to exchange gifts and so they left a little later than they had originally planned.  In the afternoon, Dave got a call saying that the Coop was flooding.  He and Blake took off to see what was going on.  It took hours for them to get it fixed and a part off that he needed to take to town to get fixed.  They ran back quick to say goodbye to the girls and went back out in the dark and cold to finish.  I loaded Cora and Leah up with lots of food and off they went. We packed in as much as we could in just a few days, but it was lots of fun and so great to all be together. 

December so far...

The first part of December was still warm enough to play Frisbee in our T-shirts.  I don't enjoy Frisbee, but I enjoy Blake, so I go out and toss one around with him.  Much more than I would like, not near as much as he would like.  But it was a beautiful day for it. 

A few weeks ago, everyone went skiing.  Castle wasn't fully open yet.  It was just the early bird runs at the top that had received more snow.  The boys got a discount with their WOW cards and another with the early bird special.  It was a bit sketchy.  They really had to watch it, but of course had a great time.

They were not sure about Blake's boot size.  His ones from last year were just a bit to tight.  They went over to the farm to grab Grandpa Puzey's old boots but they were a bit to big.  Dave decided to take both and see how the day went.  A few runs in, Blake kept slipping out of his skies.  He was getting a little annoyed.  Dave said they would tighten bindings at lunch. As they were walking in, Blake looked down at this boot and saw that it was cracked. No wonder he was slipping out.  So he changed into Grandpa's boots and he skied great the rest of the day. He was pretty excited since Grandpa's boots were orange and black like his ski gear. And Dave was feeling inspired to have thrown the second pair in.

That same weekend Cora and Leah went to Marmot Basin in Jasper.  There were about 12 YSA kids that all went from Edmonton. They left at 3 in the morning to make it to the hill by opening time.  This was the girl's first ski not on Castle and Cora's first in two years.  She was so happy to get back on the hill.  They had a blast.  The drive up and back, the skiing, being with that group of kids.  All around fun day. They were asked to go again today, to Lake Louise this time, but both decided it just wasn't in their budget this time. 

Every year I say it's the last time I am going to send out Christmas cards.  But here we go again.  This started out as a simple, hey what about this, and grew.  Dave says, "suddenly I was building props!"  but I like how it turned out and we had fun.

I had seen a postcard style on one of the card sites I was looking at, and loved it.  No licking envelopes.  But it was much more than I was willing to pay.  I did a lot of looking around and finally found a site that would let me design my own.  Twas fun.

This year for Grandma Puzey's tree I did just one decoration for all the kids instead of individual ones.

We got to go over and set up her tree this year and see all the past ornaments from everyone.  It was so fun to look at them all and remember. 

We used to get a live tree every year.  I love the smell, and watching it fall open when it warms up. I didn't like the watering everyday, and hoping it didn't wreck our carpet, or the needles all over the floor. A few years ago when we went to Mexico, we just didn't think it was worth it as it would die as we were gone. So I stuck a small tree we had on an end table and called it good. Then we just kinda started doing that each season.  We kept saying we were going to get one on sale after Christmas, but still could not believe how much they were.  A lady in our community put up on the local buy and sell they she was giving hers away for free. So Blake and I went into town to get it and worked fast to get it all set up before Dave came home.  I wanted to see how long it took him to notice. Well long story short, Blake walked in from the garage behind Dave.  Dave was staring right at the tree and Blake said, "I see you have seen the new tree" faster than I could stop him.  Dave had not noticed.  Haha Ha seriously after we had worked so hard.  He felt bad, but in the end it was kinda funny.  Dave insisted on still lifting Blake up to put the star on...because....tradition.

House all lite up.

I have been working at the local food bank this month.  Because of restriction they couldn't have volunteers as they usually do.  So they hired me to work almost full time making Christmas hampers and getting and wrapping presents.  It was a lot of fun.  The only thing was I started just when it was announced that Blake would be staying home for online school.  It bothered me to leave him everyday.  Dave and I tried to work it out that sometimes I would come home early, sometimes Dave could.  Once he was able to work from home. I really enjoyed 'shopping' for fun food and extras sometimes for the hampers and deciding what to give those in need.  I hope to be able to go back next Christmas.

Dave is the councillor over the teachers quorum.  Blake is the only teacher in our ward. So Dave was joking about the ski activities they were going to have and winter camp.  But they did set up a YM's zoom activity.  Dave put Blake in charge of the agenda and contacting everyone. They talked about their goals and things they didn't like about COVID and one thing they secretly liked about it. :) It was a short activity, but nice for them all to interact again.  It has a very long time. I think they have only been able to have 1 or maybe two activities since March. 

Christmas is coming soon.  Our house is still Cora and Leah's permanent residence, so they are allowed to come home for Christmas.  It really has been a strange year.  I wish that they could just get out and meet lots of new people.  They have meet some and continue to meet a few, but it certainly is not what we had thought. I'm glad they have each other. And we prayer that Leah's job will continue on in the new year.  She was hired for seasonal.  They take one of the seasonals every year and hire them on permanent, but with shut downs she isn't sure they are even doing that. They both finished their first semester yesterday.  Leah started again in March and Cora should start April.  They have lots of time to work and are very willing.  Lots of prayers. Blake finished his online schooling yesterday as well and is looking forward to the break. He was part of a Secret Santa this month as well with some kids in the stake.  They drew names and then he delivered the gift.  They then did a zoom meet where they opened and guessed who their present was from.  He enjoyed it.  He is also texting friends from school regularly, so he has some interactions outside of his house.  He is looking forward to going back to school.

What we have been up to.

We have had some fun the last couple weeks.  Monday a bit back, after Dave had had a really not excellent day.  His car died, he didn't have lunch, most of the guys that work for him had not made it into work for various reasons. As he was just crawling into bed, Leah called and said their car had also died. They had stopped at Tim Hortons with friends for hot chocolate after FHE and it was done.  Nothing they were doing was getting it going again.  We made plans to go up on Friday and see what we could do.  Leah had plans to go hiking in Banff that Thursday. Fortunately she was not driving and Cora had a few bus tickets, so she would be able to get to work. (Cora was most disappointed that she had to work and was not able to also go hiking) They had a nice friend that helped tow their car back to their place, where it sat and waited for us. Leah had a blast on the hike.  They drove to a friends parent house in Calgary Wednesday night and then went to the hike Thursday morning.  She said it was cold and windy, but a beautiful and so much fun.

This picture was taken by a friend on the hike.  He takes great pictures.

 Friday we started out very early.  Dave had packed every tool and car part he could think might possibly be wrong along with insulated coveralls and other warm gear.  I packed us a lunch and chicken in sauce to feed everyone for dinner that night. We even took sleeping bags just in case the car took a long time to fix. We got there, quickly said hi, Dave and Blake got to work.  He determined it needed a new battery.  We dropped Leah off at work and picked up a battery. The boys worked at getting new battery in, changed a belt that was starting to go, tightened some pulleys, and topped up all the fluids. He was done by 5.  Not to bad.  I was about to start dinner, but Dave wanted Seoul Fried Chicken. We drove to the mall to see where the girls work.  It is kinda fun, they work across the hall from each other and said they sometimes wave at each other.  We picked up Leah, picked up chicken, ate and back home we went.  It was a long day, late night but so thankful they were able to get the car running again.

Saying goodbye at the girls' house.

Saturday was our annual ward Food Drive.  It seems faster to pick up the bags every year.  It is by far my favorite activity of the year. After lunch we took Blake to work, his bike doesn't work consistently in the cold.  Jared was pounding posts, Dave and I went out to hang more boards.  We got a great system down and got a lot done.  We had gone out with Blake a few nights earlier and it was bitter cold.  We only worked a few hours and it was not fun. Saturday the sun was shining and we were on a roll.

We signed Blake up for drop in basketball.  He has really missed playing this year.  He said it was fun and felt great to get back on the court.  Dave is going to try to go with him as much as he can.  We all had a good week.  Nothing significant.  School, work, house cleaning.  Blake didn't have school Friday.  He needed a haircut and some new shirts.  I had decided to do an advent calendar for Cora and Leah since we won't see them till after Boxing Day sometime.  Their registration was due and were coming down Saturday to pick up the pink slip and take pictures for our Christmas card. So we got up early and went to work with Dave, did our shopping and were home by noon. Dave and Blake then feed cows and made me props for the pictures. 

Saturday was beautiful.  I couldn't have asked for a better temperature to take winter pictures.  As we were getting ready, Grandma came for a visit. We then headed off for pictures.  The kids all had a lot of fun and took many pictures after my Christmas one, as Dave and I were cleaning up. We ate a late lunch, all  3 kids had homework.  Not all 3 DID homework. :) but they all had homework. We just relaxed and played some games before dinner.

Dawson was coming to hang out with Leah.  We ate late and then they played some more games and chatted downstairs as Cora and I chatted upstairs.  It was a fun day.

Sunday was church, lunch, and then Cora and Leah packed up and went back to Edmonton.  We had a youth fireside that Blake was asked to conduct. It was a really good fireside.  All the speakers did an excellent job.  The girls made it back safely and even had time to party with friends.  They took all their ski stuff and skates.  Things are very closed down at the moment, but they can do outdoor things.  I am glad they have the knowledge, ability, and equipment to do these things.  It was so great to see them again.  Blake really looks forward to being with them.  School is wrapping up for the semester. Both girls have decided what the next steps will be for their schooling.  Leah has enrolled in an optical assistant course and will start in March.  Cora is applying to her field and if all goes well will start in April. They are having a great time.  Despite the shut downs, in person church, institute and FHE are not being held right now, they are making the best of it.  Meeting in small groups, outdoors and trying their best.