Christmas and other Things

Hello, hello....... finally, I am here to post. I have had some serious camera problems lately, BUT, I got a new camera for Christmas -- and I LOVE IT! So now there will be plenty of pics and things to post. So long as I can keep up with myself

I can't even remember what I haven't missed......there has been so much going on. We have had 2 weeks solid of Christmas parties, it's hard to be so popular ;)

I guess I'll just start posting pictures, with some commentary on the way.

Time is limited because our Airdrie Hockey tourney is on this weekend. I don't even have time to put everything in order. But I do want to get this all up and posted, so here is the best I can do for the time I have.

I haven't even told you all about the fantastic mostly indoor rink Brian built for himself, I mean the boys. It's been awesome, really really awesome. They spend hours playing, pretty much everyday. What great Daddy bonding time. What super lucky kids. We had a Boxing Day party, and I snapped some pics of it and the bonfire we had.

Christmas at Wayne and Sandy's. Made the kids stop to pose for a pic with Great Grandma Olive......we even got her to smile, sort of.

I was on a mission to take christmas couples pictures this year. I missed a few, like us, but here is the great pic I got of Wayne and Sandy.
Wayne cleared off one of the 6 ponds up at the farm in Olds for some Christmas skating. That was really fun. Here's Kolt...


And Reagan...... And Jake......

A couple's pic of Julie and Reg. Totally out of order - they weren't at Wayne and Sandy's at all, but at our house for Christmas morning when I took this.

Awww, here was Papa giving little Drew a ride on the chair cuz she didn't bring her skates.


Julie with the boys on Christmas morning

Couple's picture of Mom and Dad


The boys with their favorite gifts this year. Their new replica jersey's. Kolt's is Phaneuf, Jake's is Crosby. Thanks to Auntie Julie for being the gift giving hero!

Drew on her rocking horse. That kid is horse crazy right now!

Drew with "Pinkie Pie" and her new baby.

Brian got 2 lumps of "coal" in his stocking. That Santa cracks me up!

Just what I thought was a really cute picture of Drew I wanted to share.

Alright, off I go to watch my 7th hockey game in 3 days. My boys have played like Super Stars. I'm again, so very proud. See you soon. Hope you all had a great Christmas!!

Love

Jodi

Return of the Lost Camera

Brian has picked up my camera and is en-route with it. Today or maybe tommorrow, I will be posting a plethora of pictures. Stay Tuned.......

Camera Problems

Well Hello! Long time no post!

I'd love to say that I haven't posted because we haven't done anything other than chill and relax at home all day, all is well, and I have had nothing to say. But I would be lying, and who wants to read a bunch of B.S. anyway?

The bad news is, that I left my camera at Wayne and Sandy's the other night, so I can't post any new pictures today........but I thought an update is necessary, before I start forgetting what's happened. Besides, the last pictures were of Hallowe'en, so clearly I have been slacking even though I promised I wasn't gonna do that anymore :(

Let's see........for starters, Kolt's team finally started their games - they've had 4. They are playing 1/2 ice for now. He has been keeping track of all of his goals, and so far has scored 19! Holy smokes! He is doing fantastic - and loves to play.

Jake had his first tournament of the year in Crossfield in November, he scored a couple of goals, but most importantly, he got the tournament M.V.P. for our team. That was pretty cool as he is playing mostly with kids a year older. He LIVES for hockey, and when he plays like he lives for it (which is becoming more and more regular), he is incredible to watch (from a strictly prejudice point of view). They have had him playing center, and he loves the face offs........the last game they switched him to defense and were impressed with him there too. I could go on and on......but I'll save it for after another game or 2.

Brian's Granny passed away last week. This is a picture of her with the kids from when we visited her in September. Thank goodness we went to see her then. She passed peacefully in her sleep at 89 years. She had a fantastic life and was loved by so many. I think final count was 5 children, 17 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, and 4(?) great great grandchildren. Needless to say, the funeral was huge, and mostly family. It was nice to see everyone, as there are too many of us to get together very often.

Sometime in November, we went to the Leukemia and Lymphona celebrity waiters luncheon. They have a silent and live auction, and as a table you dress up in a 'theme'. We went as cowboys and indians. I was a cowboy. Anyway, they have a game that you pay $20 to play. It's called heads or tails. So everyone stands up and they flip a coin, and if you guessed the flip on the coin properly (by putting your hands on your head or your tail) you stay standing and everyone who's wrong sits. My guess is there was 2 or 300 people playing. I made it to the final four where you have to go up in front of everyone and finish the game. So for the final flip, I picked tails and the other 3 picked heads, and I won!! I won a hot air balloon ride! I probably won't do it until summer, but I'm so excited!! I've never been on one before.

http://www.pictage.com/xml/photodisplay/photo.xml?scan=148&code=DTY6LXBYIGSJ2NLMUUPH&event=390859&registration_required=yes&version=zoom Click on this link to see the proffessional picture from the event where we are all standing there with our guess as to heads or tails.

At Jake's tournament in Crossfield I also won the 50/50 draw, and a pair of Flames tickets to see the Flames/Anaheim game on Dec 29. (They are lower bowl......$ 150 tickets.) So I'm NOT going with the "things come in 3's" thinking, and I'm going to declare that I am on a lucky winning streak -- so watch out -- I'll be posting my winnings as they come in ;-)

Monday of this week, Wayne and Sandy had a small gathering of people, and who made a guest appearance you ask? None other than Mr. Claus himself! The kids were so excited, I will post the pics when I get my camera back.

Also, we had a suprise Birthday party for Julie on Monday night. FINALLY, we surprised her. Mom was taking pictures that night (because I had just forgotten my camera), so I'll get some off of her, and put them up.

I think that fills in some of the gap. We have a plethora of Christmas parties to go to this week and next. It's hard to be so popular :)

Check in with some pics when I remember to get my camera back. Until then, I hope everyone is safe, healthy and happy! Lot's of love to you all! Leave me some Christmas Cheer in the comment section if you like.....

Love,

Jodi

Hallowe'en

The Hallowe'en pictures have finally arrived. I didn't get many great ones. The boys had hockey until 6:30, so after getting back home and having supper, we never even went out until 7:30. Makes for a pretty fast picture and trick or treat session.

All went well. It took about 3 houses for Drew to catch on. She politely stood at the door, until she got her candy, then bailed. She ran as fast away from the houses as she did to them. Have I mentioned how darn cute she is?

Drew was a leopard, Kolt a sinster devil, and Jake was a ninja.

A quick update on Dex. He is not all better yet. He's not really sick or in pain, he's just not better. He's had a couple more bouts of colic, a horseshoe nail in the foot, and some swelling on his belly and legs. He is certainly not out of the woods. We are at least having more good days than bad days, and no new ailments have popped up lately. A holistic animal vet is coming to see him on Sunday. He has studied acupuncture on animals for 14 years - hopefully he will come up with something profound! Here is a picture of Drew and Dex, he loves the kids. They have had much time to bond these last few weeks, as we have been out to see him once or twice almost every day.

Alright, that's it for now. Jake has a game at 2:00 at the Plainsmen this Saturday for any of you who would like to come and watch. He scored 2 goals last Sunday at his game. The coach told him they are gonna have to watch out for him next year....he thought that was pretty cool. And at the end of his game on Sunday when the coach asked all of the kids what the best part of the game was, Jake replied that they put lot's of heart into it. What a cool answer. He's such a cool kid

Kolt starts games the end of the month. He told me he's gonna be a superstar. Now I'm gonna have 2 Superstars and a Rockstar. Whatever will we do with all of this stardom?

Hope all is well wherever you are. As always, I'd love for you to leave some comments to let me know you were here.

Love,
Jodi

Hawaii Scrapbook

Here are some of my favorite pics from Hawaii. This picture was from brunch the first morning. The view was amazing. It was a beautiful morning. Uncharacteristically beautiful, we heard. Apparently, mornings can be a little rainy and cool (yeah, cuz they know the meaning of 'cool' in Hawaii, haha). This morning, and actually most mornings, were beautiful.

We stayed at "The Cliff's at Princeville", this next picture was just a hop, skip and a jump away from our room. We are overlooking the ocean (yes, that is the large body of water you see in the distance), off of the cliff's just out our back door. This is Corina and I (we went with Shane and Corina, friends we made off Jake's hockey team last year).

Brian and Shane (well, mostly Brian) couldn't WAIT to go surfing. So they rented surf boards for the week. Hunted down some waves that met their approval. Posed for a picture (below), and swam off into the distance. The far off distance.

They swam, and swam, and swam to get to the waves. Apparently, it is quite easy to under estimate the distance when looking into a large body of water.

Now, you have to understand, that neither of our knights, actually knew how to surf. So you can imagine them, and how tired they were when they actually met their destination. They battled the waves, and Brian battled the coral. Shortly after they finally got out there, all of the other surfers started swimming in. Brian and Shane still had some staying power, so they battled a little longer. When they finally had enough, they battled the rip tide all the way back in. (The rip tide is the current that moves water back to the ocean. Apparently, you have to swim about 30 feet parallel to shore to get out of it. Of course, neither of them knew that, so they had to swim against the current all the way back in.) This is a picture of Brian, after fighting, and winning his battle with the ocean.

And this is the picture of Brian's foot, after the battle with the coral. The coral went unscathed.


That wasn't the end of the surfing. That was just the beginning. I don't think I have laughed that hard or long at someone......ever. Not that Brian and Shane weren't laughing too, once they got their barings they could see the humor. I saw the best crashes, flailing ragdolls, unintended flips, and general ass kicking handed out to our guys, by the ocean. One wave actually stripped Shane's shirt right off! I laugh just thinking of it. I can't believe I didn't get my video camera out, but sadly, I don't have one crash on video.

These are just some pictures of Brian and Shane, still planning and discussing the waves a few days later. Brian had just come in from some surfing. Shane was beginning to be played out by this time I think, notice how relaxed he is here on the beach, and still totally dry.

I did catch a clip of Brian surfing at his lesson, this is it.









We rented this car for a few days. It was awesome. Loved being able to tan while driving around :)

This was one of many roads that were enclosed by trees. I took this picture while we were driving.

This was at dinner the night before we left.

This was Shane and Corina at dinner the night before we left.

And that's all. Hope you enjoyed.....Hallowe'en pictures are still forthcoming. Stay tuned

Love,

Jodi

ALOHA!!

Hi Everyone!

We are back. We loved it. As a matter of fact, I think that I am going to become a Hawaiian, whether it be in this lifetime or another, I guarantee you it will happen. Although I haven't travelled around the world, and quite frankly couldn't take the flight if I did, I can tell you, Hawaii is my favorite. As a matter of fact, I will probably never choose to go to Mexico again. Don't get me wrong, I love tropical places, and if Mexico was all there was to offer, I'd be first in line. But to compare the two, Hawaii wins hands down.

We went to Kauai, and only to Kauai. I would like to see the rest of Hawaii, but probably I won't. It would be interesting to see if the other islands are as striking, but I loved Kauai so much, that if I went back, I would probably spend my time there. It is not super touristy, there aren't any of the big shopping malls, and chain restaurants, and box stores. It is touristy enough that there are plenty of places to stay, and some local markets (oh and don't forget Starbucks).

What I loved most about Kauai was the feel. It has incredible energy. When you are there, you feel so safe. You feel silly for even having an unsafe or suspicious thought. The Hawaiian's are amazing. When you meet them, you want to get to know them better. They live in America, and yet have such a simple life. It is incredible.

To top it all off, it is, as many tropical places are, beautiful. I love the weather, I love the ocean, I love the beach, I love the people, and I love the scenery. I do not love the flight to get there, so, I think I'm going to live there......one day. If not that, then at least go back regularly.

It sounds like the kids did great while we were gone. Drew and Kolt are sick now, but everybody managed to get through the week, and I think that they all bonded. Dad and Drew have reconciled their differences (she spent lot's of time teasing him before). Mom said that it got pretty quiet around the house when they left, and she missed them. So I think that all in all they had a great week.

Dex did not fair so well while I was gone. For those of you who don't know Dex, he is my horse, that I showed for years and years when I was younger. He is 23 now. He colicked quite badly and when I got home, Mom told me I needed to come and see him, as he may not make it. To make a long story short, he was in bad shape - looked like death actually, we took him to a vet in Okotoks where he stayed over night, and he got to come home the next day. He is still not totally back to himself, but his body is functioning properly now - what goes in is coming out. He is too thin, and lacking in energy. So now we will wait to see what happens in the next few days. But at least he is alive and we are sooo grateful to be able to bring him back home.

Today is Hallowe'en, I'll try and post trick or treat pictures tomorrow. I've missed blogging, so I will try and get back to doing it more. Thanks for being patient with me and checking in. I'll leave you with some Hawaii pictures.

Love,
Jodi

Delinquent Blogging

OK, I admit it. I'm a delinquent blogger as of late. Clearly, I can't keep up with my own schedule. So please, bear with me, when Jodi gets her groove back, there will be many more postings. For now, it will be long posts to catch up on all that we have missed.

We had thanksgiving at Brians parents on Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. They were still in the field, so we had Thanksgiving dinner in shifts. The men rotated and took turns spelling each other off in the grain trucks and combines. It was still nice, I love family get togethers, and although it was a little unorthodox, the food still tasted great and we all got to see each other. Drew spent a minute with Brian's grandma Olive on the couch and I was able to snap a picture.


The next night we had turkey dinner with my family at Julie's house. I cooked the turkey. It was beautiful and tasty! That was only my second attempt ever (the first time doesn't count, because it was the first time, and the gravy was burnt). After that, we were all turkied out....or at least until Christmas!

Lately, I have been giving riding lessons to Janine. This is her picture from when she won Miss Rodeo Airdrie Princess last year.

She is running for Miss Rodeo Canada and just wanted some brush up lessons. I have really enjoyed them. She is a great rider. I really enjoy teaching the advanced stuff. To be honest, I really just enjoy teaching riding lessons. When I am away from the horses, I always forget how much I miss having them in my life. When I am around them again, I always appreciate them so much. It's definitely true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Janine will do well in the Miss Rodeo Canada contest. As a matter of fact, I will be awfully surprised if she does not win it. She has such an open heart, and such clear energy about her. She is the type of person you automatically like when you meet. She is also a fantastic rider. She used to show horses so she looks like a real cowgirl who knows her stuff when she gets on a horse. She has rode probably at least 10 different horses during our lessons, and she gets along well with each and every one. It has definitely been a pleasure to teach her, she is a fast learner. Good Luck Janine!

Hockey is going really well. Jake has his first game of the season on Friday night at the Plainmen Arena from 6:00pm-7:30pm. Any of you who would like to come are more than welcome. I haven't gotten many great clips from his practices like I'd promised, but I did snap a couple. This one is of Jake on the ice at a practice


And this is of Kolt (flames jersey). Kolt is doing so great.


I wasn't sure if he would really take to hockey or not. Lord knows he's spent his fair share of time at the rink before now, and he was never really all that into it. Man, I'll tell ya, that kid works his butt off out there! He has surprised me for sure. He loves it to pieces. Coach Jason calls him Phaneuf (because of Dion Phaneuf #3 off of the Flames) and even gave him number 3 for the season. Kolt thought that was the best. He still loves coach Jason, and asks me all the time when are we gonna have Jason over to our house? It's so cute.


Our dog, Meeka, ran away from our house in town this past Saturday.

At first, I just thought she would come home. Then as the weekend progressed, I started to worry more and more. I couldn't figure out why she would run away, and why she didn't come back. On Sunday afternoon, I called the municipal enforcement guy to see if he had picked her up. He hadn't, but said he would call us if he found her. By Monday morning, I still hadn't heard anything. I phoned all of the vets in town, and none of them had heard anything either. I was so devastated. She is such a nice dog, that I figured it was pretty easy for someone to fall in love with her over the weekend. I just hoped that if someone had stole her that they would really love her a lot.

I went to pick Kolt up from Kindergarten, and I got a call on my cell phone. It was the municipal enforcement guy, and he thought he had found my dog. He gave me a number to phone, to get in touch with a lady, who had found a dog over the weekend. I called her and sure enough, her grand daughter had found Meeka, and Meeka had followed her home. I went to pick her up from their house and to my shock and surprise, it was Marlyn's house! Marlyn is the lady who my Grandma (my mom's mom) lived with for the last few years of her life. She is an amazing lady, as she took my Grandma (who had dimmensia) into her home, and looked after her and was so amazing to her and to our family. Now she had also found my dog and kept her over the weekend. What a small world we live in. Marlyn is a true angel.

This Saturday, we leave for Hawaii. I can't wait. I love holidays, beaches, hot weather, the ocean, and sleep. I plan on soaking in all of these things for the week while we are gone. I also plan on coming home a new, and rested person. Hopefully the new me will do more blogging again.

Until then, I think I have caught up on and mentioned everything I wanted to. I am adding some random pictures from the last little while. I'm sure I'll have lot's of pictures from Hawaii. I'm so excited :)

Love,
Jodi