December Fun

I love all the activities and festivals and things there are to do at this time of year. 



Our Christmas celebration started off on November 17 when we took the kids to the tree light up downtown again.  The weather was pretty nice out that night and it was packed.  There was face painting, singers, food trucks, fires, stilt walkers and of course the tree light up. 

Here is the tree in all its glory.

 

Here are the kids and Spencer "skating" on the outdoor rink in front of city hall. 

 

Here are a couply of stilt walkers entertaining the crowd. 

 

We went a little too early since I seemed to remember more entertainment last year.  So by the time it was done my snack supply was exhausted and the line up for any other treat was way too long.  So we headed to the downtown mall and stopped and ate at Ricky's Grill.  The kids thought it was so fancy and fun.  Going to an actual resturant is still a bit of a challenge because you have to actually wait for your food and sit at the table and not fool around too much as to distract the other customers.    Evan was almost going to eat one of us he was so hungry but he was happy that he waited (and so are we)  and devoured his food. It turned into a kinda late night by the time we did all of this. 

 

Our next activity in December was to go visit the Festival of Trees.  This goes to support the Stollery Children's hospital in the city.  Kids activities, on stage entertainment, gift shops, a hospital visit, gingerbread house display, and of course all the beautifully decorated trees. 

 

 Here is the picture with Santa. 

 Decorating their mini christmas trees. 

 The final product.  Notice how the boys picked pink and purple balls for their tree (apparently Evan's new favorite color thanks to Kirby) and Megan picked the turoquoise and gold balls.  They both look lovely in thier bedrooms.  It really adds a festive flare.   

 

Here is one of the displays...a Charlie Brown Christmas.  You can see the Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the back.  The bare one with the red ornament on it. 

 

 Here is a sampling of the "hospital" visit.  You first get a wristband with your name on it. 

 Here they are getting thier heart beat and oxygen levels tested.

 Listening to his heart beat.  They also had some x-rays to look at, you get a little strip of cast material put on your finger, can touch an NICU inubator, see an IV, do some stitching on a bear and various puzzles and get a free fun bandaid as you leave. 

Here we are minus Aaron who fell asleep in the stroller and Spencer who is taking the picture. 

A Dallas getaway!

Spencer had some work training in Dallas of all places for a few days and it eventually worked out so I could go with him.  He served his mission there 15 years ago so really how could we not both go and check out the area again and turn his work training into a mini reunion, getaway and some fun!

When we left Edmonton we left this:

I can't say that I was sorry to leave this for the beautiful temperatures in Dallas and we did have nice weather around 25 degrees.  Nothing but sun and brownish grass.  

Then we flew in DFW airport.  I was so nervous about having to separate from Spencer for 3 days and having to drive on the roads down there and staying with people that I didn't know.  Thank goodness that it all worked out and we both got to enjoy ourselves.

This are the Wangs (pronounced Wong).

 

It took a little while for my ride to show up and then Spencer went his way and I went mine.  We stayed with some Chinese friends that Spencer knew on his mission.  So the wife (Sister Wang) can with me to pick up our rental car and drive back to her place with me.  It was dark and thankfully not too busy on the road.  We also had the help of a GPS unit to guide us. 

This is the house where we stayed.  All the houses in the sub-burbs are like this....no basements so everything is above ground.  Everything truly is bigger in Texas. 

Here is our rental car.

These are the roads that I was driving on.  The drivers were all really good and polite;  You drive way FASTER than I'm used to.  But in the end I felt pretty confident in getting around (with the help of the GPS of course).  Atleast I didn't have to contend with snowy roads, too!

Here is our rental car.  It was pretty nice, leather heated seats.  I still can't figure that one out...not in Texas anyways.  I would love that option in Edmonton though. 

It was nice to be able and sleep in and not have any responsibilities or worrys that accompany parenthood.  Grandma and Grandpa Ord were able to watch our children and from the report that I still keep receiving from my children they had a wonderful time and did some fun things.  I hope that the kids will always be able to remember the special one on one time that they were able to have with their grandparents.

 

Apparently Texas has the most shopping per capita in the United States.  I think I just might have discovered that for myself.  I visited a lot of stores; outlet malls, strip malls, costco, regular malls, quaint little "town" type shopping areas, fancy malls.  After you've seen one you've seen them all.  The stores start to repeat themselves and I wasn't finding things for that great US price.  So I didn't purchase hardly anything. 

 

I was able to meet up with Spencer on Tuesday night at Southlake Town Square, which has and looks like a quaint little town but is it all shopping.  We had dinner together and got caught up.  Then he went back to Deloitte University and I went back to where I was staying.  I arrived early at this shopping area and tried to call Spencer but my old cell phone didn't work in the US so I had no way of contacting him to find out when he would be arriving.  I tried to look through the stores but was getting worried and frustrated.  I waited and waited and was almost ready to give up and drive back when I saw two large tour buses pull up and I knew that he was on one of those.  So I went to where everyone was getting dropped off and as soon as I saw him come off the bus got teary eyed.  I was so relieved to see him!  We had a nice night together. 

This is a portion of what southlake town looks like at Christmas time. 

 This is where we ate at.  The food always more than filled us up and we usually had enough for leftovers the next day.

 We went on a short carriage ride together. 

Here is an artified long horn steer that Texas is famous for. 

On Wednesday morning I went to the temple for a session. I can add that to my list of temples I've attended; which is now at an impressive 7.  I had an episode of thinking that I had brought my expired recommend and couldn't go but as everyone knows the recommend expires 2 years from the date that it was issued.  So it turns out that I was ok. 

 This day was super nice.  Here is an outside picture. 

 Some fountains and flowers.

Some side details of the temple. 

Here is the bark of a tree on the temple grounds.  Smooth...but hiding on it was a gecko.  Neato!

 How do you know that it is Christmas in a land where they very seldom get snow?  You see randomly decorated trees at shopping areas and on the side of busy roads. 

Here is a house in the same neighbourhood that decorated thier bushes out front...see the pointsetta flowers and the holly?  I think I have to say that I love the four seasons that we get in Canada.  The cold winter one could be a little shorter and maybe not so cold. 

 

On Thursday Nov. 22 we went into downtown Dallas and visited the JFK Museum.  This is the building where the shooter (Lee Harvey Oswald) shot JFK from. He was shot from the 6th floor of this building so on the sixth floor they turned it into a museum.  It was very good.  An audio tour of the the life and history of JFK and his rise to President of the United States.  Details of his death, the investigation, funeral, conspiracy theories, legacy.  If you can see if from the above picture there are two white X's on the road those are the points at which he was shot at. 

 

 

This is a replica of the building that was used in a movie and then donated to the museum.  6th floor on the right side was the window.  That same day on the grassy knoll there was a bit of a memorial going on and people talking about different conspiracy theories.  Of course we checked out what all the excitement was about. 

 

After all the JFK excitement.  We went on what I think our highlight of the trip.  A chance to go back and visit Spencer's mission area.  This is the one of the apartments that Spencer lived in.  He was so excited to see it again.  All the streets came back to him and we drove around.  A lot has changed in the 15 years since his mission days.  But he said this particular apartment building hadn't. 

This is the door to the apartment.  I can attest that it smelled chinese.  It actually reminded me of Taiwan a litlle bit. 

 

 Here is the courtyard of the complex.
 In one area there was an incredibly big church that the missionaries called the death star, we drove to find it and it has since been turned into a rather large school with a new addition. 

 Okay so another highlight was the chance to meet up with our good friends the Joneses.  We met while going to school at Purdue in Indiana.  They are living in the Dallas area.  Who would fly over 2000 miles and not get together....not me!  We had a nice breakfast together and then they guided us back to the airport to catch our plane.  My only complaint was that of course it wasn't a long enough visit.  Maybe in another 7 years we can meet up in Canada or better yet have a Purdue Reunion. 

Finally here is Spencer on the plane ride home.  Poor guy he gave me the window seats on the way down and then going home he got stuck in the middle seat.  What a great guy.  We had a wonderful time and missed our children.  It is nice to be able to get away but I think it is always nice to go back home again too. 

 

He Did IT!

WaHoo!  Today at 8am we found out that Spencer passed his CA exam!  We are so excited.  After days, weeks, months of studying, assignmnents, and exams it is all finished.  He will eventually be getting the title of Chartered Accountant.  Way to GO Spen!

Halloween

Here is some of the fun we had this year for Halloween.

This is a craft that I used to keep the kids busy one Sunday morning.  I call them my ghoulish crew.

Our pumpkin carving night for FHE.  Everyone carves a pumpkin except for me I get to carve two or at least help out in a big way for the boys.  I didn't find the pumpkins at my local store very good this year but I picked out the best ones I could.  The one Spencer was left to carve didn't even stand up.  Oh, well he made do. 

Last year Evan would at least help clean out the pumpkin "guts" but this year I was on my own.  He is still hesitant when it comes to getting his hands slimy, messy, sticky, gluey....etc.   We didn't use patterns and did easier carvings so it didn't take us all night and there was less frustration on every ones part.

 

Here is the after.  Left to Right we have Spencer's sideways face, Evan's skull, Aaron's spider and Megan's Pokemon creature.  Not a bad crew.  The kids loved having them lit up and I loved the smell that comes from a candle burning in the pumpkin. 

We didn't do a lot of extra decorating.  We have the usual window clings that I've saved for a few years now, I bought this year those jelly window clings that I put up in our 1/2 bath along with a couple of black fancied up hand towels and a Halloween hand soap cover all that along with the usual scary smells had the bathroom covered!  The kids also painted a few Halloween themed clay pots to add to our collection that I had done years back along with some store bought ceramic tea lights that I had going for the week. 

It got cold kinda quickly and we had a few days of freezing rain and snow so I didn't get my spiderweb up on the bush outside out front door.  But with my porch light on and those 4 pumpkins lit up people still came to our house.  The brave souls.....67 of them according to my tally.  I was quite generous with the candy hand out as I didn't want any leftovers. 

This year I was seriously contemplating taking the kids to a local mall for some safe, warm indoor fun; but then thought better of it since I also like to hand out candy at our house.  So bundling up was their option for  trick-or-treating this year.  Also I would be doing the mall thing by myself and that was just too much extra work for me. 

I gave the kids hand warmers in their mitts and that did the trick for them being able to stay out a little longer.  Their faces may have been a little chilly but their hands were warm. They got enough candy to last for a while anyways. 

We're going to the dentist so we'll see what damage has been done!

They had some fun school parties along with the costume parade that Aaron and I went to.  I sent the kids with Halloween pencils and erasers to give to each class mate along with a "healthy" treat to share with their class in the afternoon. 

 Megan shared this 7 layer dip with blue and yellow chips served in a black cauldron.  OOhhhh!  I helped Evan make a dry snack mix with goldfish, chocolate cheerios, raisins, craisins, white yogurt covered pretzel pieces and a few candy corns. 

 My boys dressed up a superhero.  I made their costumes.  They are always wearing their capes and wristbands and masks. 

Megan dressed up as my "artsy girl".  This is her take on being a Jackson Pollock painting.  She had fun creating this( she would have had more fun if I let her drizzle more paint herself).  As always a unique costume. 

 Here they are warming up and looking and eating their candy.  Ignore me as I help Aaron learn the proper candy sorting technique.  Thanks for all your hard work kids; your dad and I will try not to eat all the candy after your in bed!  Happy Haunting!

Ord Stamp of approval

Last year for Christmas I asked Spencer to get me a subscription to Canadian Living Magazine.  So I've been enjoying the magazine all year.  They have awesome recipes and I've tried a lot of them.

Here are some that I've tried:


1.  Pad Thai for the recipe click here.

 



2.  Smoked Brine Turkey click here.

3.  Eggs Benedict click here.  I really enjoy the smoked salmon variation.  This is an extremely rich recipe and when I make it for just 2 I cut the recipe in 1/2, even then I can only eat one. 

4.  Maritime Seafood Chowder click here.
 

 
I remember by Dad making clam chowder and I loved it.  This recipe reminded me of that but with a fresh twist.  Using a few small packages of fresh fish makes a big difference. 
 

 5. Angel Food Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Cream click here.

 

Mascarpone is a soft cheese like ricotta and you can find it in the same section of your grocery store if they carry it.  I just use ricotta because I couldn't find it; then wouldn't you know they started carrying it!

I also read the Vegetarian Times Magazine and follow a few food blogs in order to keep me interested in making dinner and baking I love to try new recipes.  Spencer and I love to try out my new recipes my kids on the other hand....still have to eat it to at least try it.  That's our house rule. Enjoy!

October Thanksgiving weekend

Well another year, another day older, a little bit wiser....it sure was a busy birthday weekend.  It fell on the Thanksgiving/General Conference weekend. 

We did enjoy watching all the General Conference sessions and we really didn't do a thanksgiving dinner which I rather enjoyed;no stress and not a lot of time in the kitchen cooking on that weekend.  It was busy enough with General Conference and my birthday celebration.

We started out Saturday trying to finish up the last of our Saturday chores and I was making our semi-annual "Feast on the Word" breakfast.  It is sure easier to do a fun breakfast at home then trying to drag everyone out to a breakfast restaurant early in the morning. 

Notice that we broke out the Halloween plates that the kids love using. 

The menu:

• Scrambled Eggs
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Seasonal Fruit
• Yogurt
• Hot Chocolate
• Orange Juice
• Cinnamon Buns (missing from picture)

It was so yummy and enough to fill some tummies so we could enjoy General Conference.  To keep the kids busy I pulled out our General Conference Bingo Cards and had dollar store prizes for those who got a bingo.  The kids were listening and quickly used up by bingo prizes.  I also had a few treats like suckers, m&m's, mini kit-kat bars etc. with the names of some general authorities on them.  When that particular general authority spoke we got to enjoy that treat.  Most of my activities were generally well received.  Next year I'll have to come up with 4 different activities; one for each session that helps to keep the kids occupied and interested. 

Sunday we always like to get dressed up and go to a stake building to enjoy the morning session. 

On Monday we decided to celebrate my birthday.  Spencer and the kids worked hard to make a video for my birthday.  It was really well done.  They had fun and I enjoyed watching it.  We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner that I didn't have to make so they tasted extra yummy.  Then I got my presents: The video, some products from Rocky Mountain Soap Company, and a new "fancy" watch.  I also received a lot of nice cards from various family and friends.  So thank you to everyone who made my day extra special. 

 Here we are opening presents.  This is the watch that I got.  Can you tell that Megan is super excited for me? 

 

Here is the cake that Spencer bought for me.  I told him that I wanted a Costco cake this year and boy did I get one! ( I actually wanted those fancier bar cakes that they sell but apparently was specific enough on the type of cake.) We only ate one piece each; which was a row by the sun and we cut the flowers off and passed it along to another lady that we know who has the same birthday as me and the last portion of it is still in my freezer awaiting a time when we have the missionaries over for dinner to help us eat it. 

 

I had an enjoyable birthday spent with people that I love.  Happy Birthday to Me!

 

 



Evan's First Talk

Here is Evan's first talk that he gave in primary.  He was confident, read most of the talk by himself and enjoyed his time in the spotlight so to speak. 

"Choosing the rifht means making good choices.  We can choose the right by listening to our parents, reading the scriptures, saying our prayers and following the prophet.  We know that we have made a good choice when we have a warm feeling in our hearts.  I am trying to choose the right everyday and I know that if I pray for help Heavenly Father will answer me by helping me to choose the right. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."