Funeral- Dianne Steed

On Sunday December 25, the afternoon of Christmas Day, Sister Steed passed away. I had my last work shift with her on the morning of the 23rd.
Jeff and I attended the funeral this morning for dear Dianne Steed. The tears flowed freely for me, as Jeff and I met with the family. I said my heartfelt goodbye as I stood at her casket. We truly love those we serve. We met Linda first as we entered the Relief Society room to meet the family. Linda asked if I missed her. I answered with a reverent yes that I truly do. I will also miss the friendship of the Steed family. Linda told me that I can come over anytime. Just ring the bell and walk in like I used to do! :) I appreciated the kind words of thanks as they expressed appreciation to me for my care of their mother. It was my pleasure.
This was on the back of the funeral program. I would see it often as I walked and exercised Grannie in the Steed family room. It stood in a frame beside a picture of Charlie and Dianne in their younger days. Dianne's eyes were always drawn to it when we would do her 7-10 minute walking exercises.
It is something I'm going to strive for in my own life in this new year.
For most of the meeting I couldn't stop crying. Although Dianne (or Grannie as she was often called) didn't really communicate openly with me during our time together but I know we communicated spirit to spirit. I came to love her and care for her health and well being.

During the funeral service, Jeff and I sat with Mom Hardy and Janae. Just before it started, Mom learned over, laid her hand on my knee and commented that I am remembering Dianne differently than most of the others. Mom was correct. I felt a deep loss.
After the service, Jeff and I drove out to cemetery for the graveside service. It was short and simple in relation to the time we took at the cemetery after dad's passing.
Rob and Linda invited us back to the church to join the family for the luncheon. We sat with Michelle Jackson and Rob and Linda Steed for the meal. Michelle and I shared many of our stories of time with Dianne. Michelle also looked after Grannie. Talking together about Grannie was a good healing time for all of us.
I learned many things from working and serving Dianne among her family.
Compassion. Because Grannie needed everything done for her, I learned so much compassion in caring for someone other than my own family. I hope that I can be as easy going and accepting as Dianne. She was never rude, demanding or belligerent. She would always do what we asked her to do. I am grateful.
Patience. While working, it was not about my needs but Dianne's. She had many limitations that physically hindered her. She couldn't do anything quickly and so I learned a lot of patience as I helped and did much for her. And when she didn't want to cooperate, I learned even more as I figured how to bend her will to fit with what needed to be done.
Love. I truly learned to love Dianne Steed. I hope that she, in some small measure, loved my efforts to serve and help her.
Confidence. It has been many years since I held a job in the workforce. This time of work boosted my confidence in myself and my abilities to make a contribution outside my home. It was the best job I could ask for. It was for only an hour at a time and was rarely an inconvenience to our family schedule. That short amount of time away was barely enough time to be missed by my family. I appreciated the good pay for my efforts and it made the time away from my family worthwhile. I mourn the loss of something so good, right and perfect for me and my schedule. I don't know what is in store for me now but I hope that it will be just as good or better than what I was so richly blessed with. I pray that I can be open and ready for the next part of the Lord's plan for my life.
Spirituality. The Steed home was a quiet, joyful place to be. Many times while caring for Grannie, I had opportunities to ponder and think of the eternities and reunions awaiting in heaven once our time here on earth is finished. I felt greater peace and contentment through spending time in their home. I felt the love of their family and I'm grateful for the examples of Christlike living.
Reverence. I also felt like their was a little piece of heaven near Grannie. With her mind and body failing, I felt like heaven was very near and very close at times. I commented many times that with Grannie unable to express herself on the same level we understand, that I wondered if she was able to see spirits of loved ones on the other side of the veil. It seemed to me many times, that she was near others who loved her. I often wondered which angels were there to bear her up. The Steed family is very musical and I had the privilege of hearing and enjoying musical piano concerts (ok-piano practice to them) while working. It was a beautiful environment to work in.
Thank you to the entire Steed family for allowing me to work and serve among your family. I have memories never to be forgotten!

Temple time

Jeff and I went to the temple this evening. We haven't been in many weeks. We try to go monthly but with dad's stroke and funeral and the holiday festivities, we were unable to find the time to go until now.
I had a special experience at the temple tonight. It was a very, very small session. There were only about 10-12 women and about the the same amount of men. As I watched the Temple worker at the veil, my mind was opened and my vision enlarged. I felt the spirit witness to me that the teachings at the veil are true and that all of us receive beautiful healthy, strong and whole bodies in the resurrection.
It came my turn at the veil. I have been to the temple many times. I have stood in that same spot many times and heard the same thing but tonight I heard it with new understanding. When we go to Heavenly Father and greet him at the veil as we pass from this life to the next, he tells us what we receive when we come to him and then we repeat back to him all that he has offered us.
I was mindful of Dad and the effects of his stoke and those recently who have passed like dear Sister Dianne Steed who I recently had the privilege of caring for in her home. I thought of those near to me that struggle with afflictions of some kind. All of us have bodies frail to this life but the generous gift of the atonement of Christ and the resurrection will bring to us; our bodies clothed in perfect glory along with immortality and eternal life. Free from the pains and sufferings of this world and the trials of this earth.
The wonderful sister there helping me kept prompting when I needed no prompting; but through the tears and choked emotion, I could hardly voice the words required at the veil. Through forced whispered emotion I stumbled many times to be heard by the veil officiator. As tears poured down my cheeks, I knew that Dad Hardy and Dianne and many others who have passed away will receive their bodies in fullness. And I will too.
I am so grateful for the hope and happiness the gospel brings. I feel god's love and power. He lives and loves us.

Room for all

I've been cleaning and clearing out the basement and the toy room to make a space for the new ping pong table.

When we first moved into this house we made a toy room out of a room in the basement without a window. But it was never really played in and it was always a toy disaster room. So I decided that I'm taking over the toy room and converting it to a storage room. I want to store everything in the basement in it. I will then take some toys out of the toy room and leave them in the family room in the old change table. My goal is to clear out the family room to make room for the ping pong table.

It's taken a lot of work to get it to a semi-clean state. I have lots left to do but it's coming!! 

Sabbath Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas!!
I was up at 7:15am to prepare myself for our 9am sacrament service. I don't really remember the last time we had Christmas on Sunday but I'm pretty sure we had later meetings when we do now. The whole stake was directed to hold just sacrament meetings so today we had only a 1 hour time block.
As usual it was a staggered awaking at our house but everyone was up early enough to get to church on time today. This was our last 9am meeting for a couple of years. We rotate to 11am next week.
I got the turkey ready and in the pan before we left. I peeled potatoes and did some other meal prep yesterday.
Sacrament meeting was really lovely. The ward choir which Jeff and Cassandra sing in, sang Christmas songs followed by a narrative after each song. The Stake President Carlos Jensen, who is a member of our ward, sang a final song. Our Christmas sacrament meeting lasted 45 minutes. I think it was the shortest sacrament meeting I've ever attended! But the spirit was sweet as we focused on the birth and mission of our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for this season of greater love and compassion. As we followed the church's light the world initiative of following Jesus Christ over 25 days, I know that this time for me has brought me closer in thought and deed to being more Christlike. I wasn't always my best self and some days were definately better at participating than others, but it made me much more aware of the people in need around me. For that I am grateful. I hope I can carry that forward into the new year.
Brother Ron Fromm sitting behind us with his family. After it was over he wished us Merry Christmas. He asked me if we had opened gifts before our meetings or if we were going home to have Christmas. I told him that we opened all gifts yesterday. Today was our sabbath day. A day of rest. We were going home to prepare Christmas dinner and take it easy. He said that was the best thing he has heard ever and it was so smart. I can't take credit for the idea but it was certainly a good one. I loved that the fun of the gift opening didn't overshadow the joy of the sabbath.
We didn't hurry home after our meetings. It was nice to not be so rushed!
After we were home, I began preparations for the Christmas dinner. I turned the oven on to cook the turkey. It was a small bird so it only took a couple of hours.
Cassandra and Maren helped with the meal preparations. We had fun working together in the kitchen.
The girls also worked on setting the table really fancy.

We had a very traditional Canadian Christmas dinner. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, black olives (can't forget those; but we didn't have whole so we had to use sliced), peas, carrots, corn, and yams. We also had finger jello in personal cups and Italian soda and sparking cider in fancy goblets. Jeff and I had crystal. The kids all had plastic!
Maren wanted the turkey carved at the table.

The meal was fantastic! The company- I love.

After dinner, we organized ourselves to go out to the cemetery to place an ice lantern on dad and Lyman's graves. We started freezing water in plastic buckets a week or so ago. We made 3 ice lanterns and none turned out really great. We need to perfect it for next year. But they looked pretty cool.
2 lanterns on Lyman's grave.

Dad's ice lantern beside the plot marker.

Jeff was fascinated with dad's lantern. It had cracked when he was trying drill a hole in it to make a better spot for the candle. So it was pretty marbled. When the candle was glowing inside, Jeff thought that it looked like onyx.
Many, many years ago dad wanted to start a furniture company with Jeff. He had beautiful plans for fine bedroom furniture. It had onyx inlays with lights under it. Onyx glows and lights up beautifully. Jeff said these lanterns reminded him of dad. He enjoyed those quiet memories.
The lanterns can be seen glowing from a quite a distance away. This is the glow from the van.

It was super chilly to be out. We spent forever just trying to find dad's site. Seriously; so long in the dark, in freezing cold wind and drifted snow. The wind and snow created huge drifts and completely covered the flowers and marker at the head of his site. Jeff finally found it because he noticed the neighbouring marker of someone buried right before dad. We cleared the snow with shovels the boys brought and set the lantern in place. If this cold weather keeps up, the lantern will be there for months! If anyone wants to see the lanterns in their beauty, bring another piece of taper candle and a lighter and start it up! They look so cool.
Back at home we had hot chocolate and Christmas goodies to warm up with. It was a nice Christmas Sabbath day.

Dental

Maren had an early dental appointment today.

She finished a round of antibiotics to clear the abscess under her back tooth. Unfortunately she doesn't have permanent tooth under it. The doctor did an extraction for her. It was a difficult extraction. She had a fair bit of trauma to her gums. She didn't look so good after her tooth came out. I made her stay in the dentist chair for a bit to get back to normal. She didn't feel so great once she was up so I took her home. I let her take a nap instead of going to school. She went back to school at lunch time because she wanted to participate in her afternoon class Christmas party.
At 11am, I went to the new dentist (Dr. Jesse Harker) here in town. I had three areas to work on. My whole left side of my face was very frozen. I was there for 2 hours. It is so nice to have a couple of problem areas now taken care of.

While the work was being done, I had a very stiff jaw. It took a lot of massaging to help it not be so tight once he was finished. I am grateful for dental coverage. I expected the bill for services to be a whole lot bigger than it was. Merry Christmas to me!
Once I was done I went directly to the junior high to watch the Grade 7 drama plays. Cassandra was in the second play. Jeff had gone ahead and saved me a seat. Brandon was at home tending Rebekka and Tysyn.
The plays ended running behind schedule so I made it in time to see all of Cassandra's play. Her's started at 2pm.
As glad I was to sit and relax and watch, It was hard to sit at the school when I had so much to do for Christmas preparations at home. I missed most of the day already because of dental appointments. But Cassandra did great on her performance. She has a good stage voice. She played the part of Santa's elf.

I picked up the kids from school. They are now officially out of school for the Christmas break.

Immediately after school I dropped off Maren back at the dentist and then went home to drop off the kids. Then I headed back to the dental office. Maren received a stitch in her gums to help close over the hole. The stitch came untied in the early afternoon at school. Back at the dentist, Dr. Smith pulled the whole thing out instead of trying to fix it. It will have to heal on its own. Maren was also the winner of the Christmas prize for the under 12 age. She received a cool camera watch. She decided to wrap it and give it to herself for Christmas. Fun.  

Locked in

I have so much to do to get ready for Christmas that I would love to just lock myself in my room for two days and get it all done. But knocks on my bedroom door and secreting myself away makes it difficult for 2 things.
1: to get it done without interruptions
Why is it that I'm always needed most when nobody can see me? There are so many other people in this house that can function just as well as I can. Ask them!
2: without neglecting my responsibilities as mom and the other things I need to do.
Many times I think I've done my family a big disservice by doing so much for them. They all rely upon me too much to provide their meals and when I feel uninterested in cooking or unavailable, nobody steps up to the plate to fill in for me. I hope to make a bigger difference in 2017.
Because I've been trying to get gifts wrapped, we had a simple supper tonight. Scrambled eggs with all the whites from the 4 batches of eggnog we made recently. I think there were 24 egg whites and about 6 whole eggs. It made for some pretty pale scrambled eggs!!
Beans and leftover veggies rounded out the meal.

Kindness

I was driving home from the elementary school and saw a neighbour shovelling the sidewalk. The wind has been blowing and creating big drifts. This man, someone who I don't even know, was shovelling his neighbours too. The kids will have a clear sidewalk right as they go towards school.

I drove past him and then just because, I pulled to a stop. I backed up and got out.  I approached him and told him that I lived around the corner and I was grateful for his kindness in shovelling the walk. I appreciate his service. He was somewhat at a loss of what to say. I know our kids will appreciate it on the way home from school.

I just felt like I needed to be neighbourly and thank him. 

Birthday

Happy 5th birthday to Tysyn.

We celebrate Tysyn today. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago we welcomed Tysyn into our family. And weathered some severe health challenges with this little boy.

The kids really wanted me to make a batman cake for him but his primary teachers provided us with more than enough cake that I decided to simplify my efforts during this busy holiday season and not make one too.

Cassandra gave Tysyn a most generous birthday gift! In the summer, Cassandra purchased a huge beautiful cozy blanket from a store here in town. It cost a lot and took a huge amount of her savings. I asked Cassandra to wait and give it to Tysyn for his birthday. She showed a lot of patience and did wait. Today she finally got to give it to him. He was so excited.

He also got a batman cape from mom and dad and a few treats from his other siblings.

Evan was also so excited to give him the gift he purchased yesterday!

Cake 1- chocolate

Cake 2- vanilla

Happy Birthday Tysyn!!!

Shopping

Evan wanted to buy Tysyn a birthday present and so we went shopping at a couple of stores here in town. Evan used his new bank card for the first time. How exciting.

He was even more excited to have them wrap the gift. 

Compassion

I shovelled the neighbours driveway today. It was so cold and the whole time I was shovelling I was thinking how delightful a driveway like theirs would be. Someday....

It felt good to exert some energy and serve my neighbour. They left the church a few years ago but I hope they know that I still consider them friends despite not believing the same as we do.

The light the world initiative today is on showing compassion like the Savior did. I'm excited to try and do something for a couple of people that I know. Also we need to pass along the stocking that we received yesterday.

Our poor outdoor cats could use a warm home in this freezing weather so I hope to enlist the help of the kids this afternoon to make them a house. The little orange cat has been missing for 3 days now. We don't know where it is or how it is faring. My hope is that someone took it in as it was wandering. I'm hoping it is not frozen to death somewhere.

Tysyn's primary teacher brought him over a birthday cake today. Two actually. And a bucket of ice cream. I think they were worried one cake wouldn't be enough to to feed everyone. Tysyn was so excited. THANK YOU Stephen and Judy Lee Jensen!!

Carol Dahl also brought over little gingerbread house kits for the kids to decorate. It's become a tradition with her and the kids love it. Thank you Carol!!

I worked on Christmas projects this afternoon. It's coming way too fast. I'm not feeling prepared. 

Aaren and Brandon went off to Lethbridge to go shopping.

Devin has a basketball tournament in Magrath this weekend. Good luck JV Comets basketball team.

Mom and Joseph showed up tonight. She had rabbit food and a small onion!

We had them join us for our late supper. We loved having them with us.

After most of the people left the table, Maren, Jeff, mom and I were still sitting there. I asked Aaren to unload the dishwasher. He sorta grumbled about it and so Maren jokingly echoed me. I then told Maren she could load it once it was empty. She then said to everyone but pointedly at Aaren, "you are supposed to be compassionate today so just do it for me Aaren!" We all burst into laughter.

Maren and I finished our weekly clean at Keelers, and when we arrived home I saw the cat trying to get out of the snow. I felt sorry for the little cat who was doing its best to stay warm on the van bench outside the door. It looked so pathetic that I went inside looking for an old blanket for it. I couldn't find the one I was thinking of so I found an old sweater and came back out and laid it over its body. It snuggled right down under it. 

Christmas season

I went to the Dentist this morning. I've been having some tooth pain. At the dentist, Dr. Jesse Harker was unable to determine the exact cause of pain. I had a basic exam and X-rays. We are wondering if it might be related more to jaw tension, teeth grinding and stress. I had a basic exam and X-rays. I go back next week for some work.
I'm grateful for the health insurance Jeff recently received. It will help a lot!
Jeff opened the door at home to someone this afternoon and was handed a red envelope. He thought he knew who it was but he wasn't sure. (The person at the door was just the delivery girl.) The envelope had 2- $100.00 gift cards to Superstore. Wow!!
I picked up the kids from school again. It's been so cold that them walking home isn't really an option. Ok. It could be, but they would be really, really cold by the time they got home.
When we arrived home from school. The children saw an animal out in the field west of our house. Small enough to be a fox. Same shape and size but too far away for clarification.
All the kids bustled into the house. I took everything in that was forgotten in the van. Dropping my load, I turned around and went back outside to shovel the skiff of snow off the sidewalk. A white mini van shopped in front of the driveway and a young man I didn't recognize got out and walked towards me. He handed me a Christmas stocking. I was a little bewildered and told the guy I didn't really know him. He said "that's the point." Then he smiled and left.
I took the stocking inside. With some of the kids, we opened the stocking to find 2- 1 litre cartons of eggnog and a big package of gummy bears. How fun. It's a fun treat!

Aaren went out later after school to do animal chores and after a trip to the dirt hills, he decided that the animal we saw after school was a dog. Not a fox. Phew...
Tonight we got a yummy treat from Jason and Rachel Miller and family. They brought us some yummy glazed rolls. Thank you!
We had some milk and a carton of cream that expired a couple of days ago that were still good so I made some homemade eggnog. I've been hunting recipes for a few days and found one from the old Calgary 4th ward yellow and blue cookbook. It was a great recipe.

It was great but I think it will taste even better after a couple of days! Most of the kids liked it. The ones that didn't are the ones who don't like eggnog anyway!

Holiday Time

I took Maren and Aaren to the dentist today. Aaren had a regular scheduled appointment to which I was grateful. Yesterday Maren showed me a bubble along her bottom gum line. It looks a lot like an abscess.

So picked up both from school this afternoon and took them to the dentist they fit Maren in while Aaren got his teeth cleaned. She definitely has an abscess under one of her baby teeth. They took X-rays and found out that Maren is also missing the permanent molar under that baby tooth. Say again????

Yes. So now she is missing a top front tooth, and she is missing a back bottom tooth. Maren is being referred to an orthodontist in Lethbridge. She has an appointment for in the new year. We will be looking to see what can be done for her and if she is missing any other teeth too!!

For now she is on a round of antibiotics to clear up the infection and then next week she will have to have the tooth pulled.

Aaren had a piece chip off one of his teeth and he has a couple of other spots to be fixed. He will also be back for more work done.

When Maren and I went to fill her prescription at Snow's pharmacy, there was a man immediately behind us who left two turkeys with Todd as a Christmas gift to him. They left the store before us. As Maren and I went to leave, Todd handed me one of them. I told him that he should give the turkey to someone else but he insisted I take it. THANKYOU!!

Tonight Savanna had her Christmas concert. It was really cute. The not cute thing was the packed beyond capacity gym. There was hardly anywhere to go and so we ended up standing along the wall for part of the time. After some of the junior choir families left, we were able to snag a couple of chairs. At Savanna's turn, she spoke loud and clear with her little group. She was a delight to watch through the musical numbers. Her face is very expressive and animated. Well done Savanna!!

Tonight at 9:15pm, we received a knock on the door. Our lovely neighbour Cheri stopped by to deliver a card to our family. She said someone asked her to deliver it to us. Wow. I'm grateful for and humbled to receive such a generous Christmas gift.

Also Josiah Steed brought over a Christmas hamper from the Steed family. 3 loaves of  French bread with some homemade garlic butter, Christmas oranges and 3 bottles of Italian soda. Yummy. Thank you!

Precious Connections

We spent the morning at Good Sam's enjoying the Precious Connections time with the Elderly. Spending time with Grandma Selman is always good.

Using jingle bells in circle time. 

After snack we bundled up in our coats and boots and headed downstairs. Just as we got to the main door, Tysyn remembered that we didn't say goodbye to Grandma. (She left during circle time so I told the kids we would go to her room after we were done.) So we headed back to the elevators and went upstairs to her room. She was getting her pills and we provided a good distraction for her. We had a short, short visit, took a few pictures and then said goodbye.

I thought it so fitting that the #lighttheworld campaign throughout the church for today Dec. 9 focused on visiting the lonely. I know that our attendance this morning helped those that came today. It certainly brightened Grandma's spirit.
Tysyn and Rebekka were pleased to leave with a treat.
While waiting for the school kids after school at noon, we spent a few minutes with Mom H. She is doing well today.
She told me she found the combination to the safe. Just after dad's passing, Lowyn tried to get the safe opened and they couldn't, so Jeff had a locksmith in Coaldale work on it. He was able to get it opened. Today mom found the combo. It's too bad it was so pressing a few weeks ago. Had they been able to wait, they could have been able to open it without help. Haha. Or a cost. Ugh.
Tonight Jeff and his brothers performed in a men's chorus at the Raymond 1st ward adult Christmas party. They sang I Heard the Bells. Dad requested before his passing that it be sung at the ward party this year. Darlene Andrews put together a group of men to sing it complete with bell and piano accompaniment. It was beautiful! I know that dad was singing along and that he was there in spirit with them.

Mom came out into the hall to give everyone hugs after they performed. I captured a picture of everyone. Brenna was standing behind me.

Extreme.

So I came across this comic this morning. As we live south of Calgary and we have been experiencing extreme freezing weather over the last few days with windchill warnings, I thought this was super funny/applicable. I'm not sure who to give the credit to the cartoon too.

An extreme cold warning is in effect across southern Alberta Thursday morning warning of windchill values at or below -40.
A period of very cold wind chills is expected in southern Alberta on Thursday. Cold Arctic air has moved into southern Alberta prompting an extreme cold warning for regions that include Lethbridge, Taber, Milk River, Cardston, Magrath, Fort Macleod, Claresholm, Pincher Creek, Waterton and the Crowsnest Pass. Cold overnight low temperatures along with light westerly wind is generating windchill values of -40 or slightly lower. These windchill values are expected to abate late Thursday morning as daytime temperatures rise. While anyone who isn't dressed warmly is at risk in cold weather conditions, some are at greater risk than others for frost bite and hypothermia. Extreme cold warnings are issued when very cold temperatures or wind chill creates an elevated risk to health such as frost bite and hypothermia.- Tom Roulston with files from Environment Canada
I'm grateful for our warm home to live in that shelters us from the storms of life both physically and spiritually. I am thankful for warm clothing and blankets that protect us. I am also appreciative of our vehicles that work for us to stay warm and allow us to go to and fro safely and comfortably. I'm also thankful for food to allow us to energize and sustain our bodies. To provide fuel and sustenance in our daily activities.
In this frigid weather, I'm so thankful for many things that I know we take for granted. I feel blessed today.

7 and counting.

What is a person to do when it's negative 23 degrees outside?
Laundry, dishes, sort clothes and listen to Christmas music.
(I'd rather be reading and eating treats but this really needs to be done!!)
I've tackled the massive dirty living room yesterday and today. Once again, there is room to sit and play again.

I recently read an article that voiced my thoughts of late exactly.
"I thought motherhood was going to mean I’d get to enjoy my kids. I chose stay-at-home motherhood because I felt like this is where I was supposed to be—home with my kids. It felt right. Yet, I never spent time truly with them. I had to keep moving or the house and the day would collapse. When I did press pause and spend some time with my kids, it felt like I had to pay the price—catching up on housework; making up for the time I missed living my life. This made me lose my desire to even play with them. What was the point if I was just going to get more behind, more stressed out?"

I'm trying to get rid of the things are weighing us down. It's super hard to do but slowly each bit makes a difference.
I have so much more to do! We have SO MANY clothes at our house. So much excess. Enough to have a small thrift store!! But I have sorted so much already I'm giving myself praise for what I have done.
I bagged 7 garbage bags full and counting!! I also have a pile of STUFF to go too. It is so liberating!

Robert Keeler stopped by our house for a minute today to drop off a Christmas turkey for our family. It was a gift to the girls and I for the work we do out at the farm. Thank you to the Keeler family for the thank you. 

After school, I took Evan with me to the bank. We cashed our cheque from Keeler Feed Lot. Evan was so excited for his first work payment. We also opened a bank account for him. Now that he is a working man, he will need somewhere for all that money to go! (Cassandra has decided that she doesn't want to work there anymore so Evan is stepping up to fill her shoes.)

Cassandra went to babysit again once school was out. After he babysitting she went directly to the school for the band concert.

Brandon has had a freezing day at work the last couple of days. Outside work at -25 degree weather is crazy cold. But fortunately for him, he found a pair of boots a few days ago from the dump that fit him that are awesome. Rated to -100. Thankful!

All outdoor activities for the school kids have been cancelled. No skating at the ice rink because too many kids are unprepared to walk the distance in the extreme cold plus skate for an hour. No outdoor recesses at all. Tysyn went out to play today for a bit but wasn't out for much longer than 7-8 minutes. Rebekka wanted to play but I wouldn't let her.

Our Ward had its Christmas party tonight. We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner. To help the kids, the tables were lined with paper and crayons were set out for drawing. They had a contest to see who could make the best drawings on the table. Prizes (a yummy Yule log treat from Costco) were awarded to 3 families. The Hardy family came 1st. Mostly because we have/had the biggest ratio of drawers/colorers in the ward. The kids did wonderful pictures.

(Afterwards I was thinking that each of us should have taken a line from the 12 days of Christmas. That would have put it over the top!!! Next year!!)

Evan

Maren

Aaren

Savanna

Mom

I enjoyed hearing a couple of young men sing and play a song at the piano. Watching them use their talents always lifts me.
The rest of the young men also had a number on the program. They did a skit to Grandma got run over by a Reindeer. Devin and Aaren were fun to watch with Devin getting the most comical reaction. After their number was over, he had to go to ball practice at the school. Jeff stayed at the church while I drove him.

Cassandra was unimpressed that we didn't come to the band concert. I told her I would loved to have come but the ward party was where I wanted to be. I also told her I wasn't sacrificing a free Christmas party for the band concert was going to have to pay to come watch. She retorted that she wasn't sacrificing her grade to miss the band concert just to come to the party. So we were at an impasse. It's so difficult to deal with scheduling conflicts.