Happy Birthday Cassandra

Happy 14th birthday to Cassandra! Today we celebrate 14 years of her in our family.

Cassandra is witty, and does her best in school. She is on the honor roll and babysits regularly. She likes earning money. Cassandra is a great stylist for her own hair. She always has some great looks. Cassandra has beautiful deep dimples and a smile that lights up her face. She likes to be early over being late. She is looking forward to getting her learners driving permit in the next few days.

We had late church and I didn't have time to make a cake, so we celebrated with her using caramel popcorn grandma made. Yum. Happy birthday Cassandra!! We sure love you!

Early this morning, Devin went to mission prep then a mission farewell. Brandon was up to go with Devin to do the sacrament at Good Sam's today. I love watching them serve in the community. then Brandon had a meeting with President Palmer. Brandon was asked to serve in a stake calling.

Mom and Mckenna stayed over until today. It was fun having them here for the weekend.
In sacrament meeting today, Jeff was sustained as a primary worker. He has been called to serve alongside me, teaching Tysyn's primary class. Tysyn is pretty excited about it. Tonight at the dinner table, the kids were talking about Jeff's new calling.

Aaren said "So now you are going to be in Tysyn's class?

And Cassandra commented before Jeff could answer saying; "You should probably cut your hair so you don't scare them away!!!

Maren gave her first official youth talk in sacrament meeting today. Maren and I wrote it over the weekend and when it was done, Aunt Brenna printed it off on her printer because ours is out of ink.

Maren did a great job. Grandma and Mckenna came to our ward for sacrament meeting to hear Maren speak, but left the meeting for Calgary as soon as Maren's talk was over. We miss them already.

My name is Maren Hardy. I am the daughter of Jeff and Kim Hardy. I was asked to talk on my favourite personal progress value so I choose faith. 

In the Book of Mormon, Alma was teaching and speaking unto the people upon a hill, and there came a great multitude unto him who were poor in heart and despised among men. Alma was exceedingly happy because he knew they were prepared to hear him.

Alma told this multitude to not look for signs but, to try their faith. He said concerning faith, -faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. Alma chapter 32 verse 21.

In another book of scripture, the New Testament, Jesus was also speaking to multitudes in a similar way.

Jesus came upon a group arguing with His disciples. When the Savior inquired as to the cause of this contention, the father of an afflicted child stepped forward, saying he had approached Jesus’s disciples for a blessing for his son, but they were not able to provide it. With the boy still gnashing his teeth, foaming from the mouth, and thrashing on the ground in front of them, the father appealed to Jesus with what must have been last-resort desperation in his voice:

“If thou canst do any thing,” he said, “have compassion on us, and help us.

“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

In a talk by Elder Jeffry R Holland titled I Believe, Elder Holland says, this man’s initial conviction, by his own admission, is limited. But he has an urgent desire in behalf of his only child. We are told that is good enough for a beginning. “Even if ye can no more than desire to believe,” Alma declares, “let this desire work in you, even until ye believe.” With no other hope remaining, this father asserts what faith he has and pleads with the Savior of the world, “If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Elder Holland tells us to hold fast to what we already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.

Faith is one of god’s many gifts to us. I know that if we believe and have faith, the Savior can help us. I know that he loves us and cares for us.

Faith is required when living gospel principles. Its more than a passive belief. Faith is expressed through our actions and by the way we live. Through personal progress I can feed my faith by: doing service for others, keeping the commandments, and listening to promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

Since I'm still young, my faith is small. But I know as I grow and experience trials and hard times my faith will grow, much like a seed. The prophet Alma taught that the word of God helps strengthen faith. This is why it is so important to read and study the scriptures and the words of the prophets regularly. Comparing the word to a seed, Alma said that the “desire to believe” can lead you to “give place” for the word to be “planted in your heart.” Then you will feel that the word is good, for it will begin to enlarge your soul and enlighten your understanding. This will strengthen your faith. As you continually nurture the word in your heart, “with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.”

I want my faith to grow. I want my testimony to be strong. I want to be able to stand in righteousness.

I am excited for personal progress. I know that my faith and testimony will grow by doing it. I am grateful for the gospel and what it does for me in my life. I know that Heavenly Father does bless us and all we have to do is be open to his blessings. I know this church is true, and the living prophet is Russell M. Nelson. I know his words are true. 

                  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekend preparations

I was awake early, but not that early, this morning. I've gotta finish that poster!
Mom stayed over at our house and was up and out the door early. Mom and Karen went to Lethbridge for things for the birthday celebrations.
I worked on the poster again for 3 more hours this morning while the kids played, watched TV, had breakfast and got themselves ready for the day.

At lunchtime, I took a break from working on the poster and headed to my bathroom for a shower. Then I worked on tidying the living room and kitchenin preparation for extended family. 

Krista and Sherilyn arrived safely about 3:30pm. Within minutes of arrival, the kids were off playing. Mine were so excited to have cousins here! Sherilyn picked up Devin from the school after ball practice. Thanks. We had taco salad for supper. (We always called it haystacks growing up.) 

After a shower, Devin went off with Garrett Hasagawa to Cardston for a party with friends.

The southern Alberta wind has been blowing like crazy, and as a result, we now see huge, huge drifts everywhere. Our house sits at the end of a T intersection and there is a massive drift on the corner of the road. Brandon had nowhere to go tonight so he decided to go out to plow. But the tractor tracks wouldn't move because they were frozen. He set Jeff's heat gun blowing on the ice to help melt the ice and free the track. Our neighbours across the street got stuck in one of the huge drifts along 250 St SW and Brandon went to help them dig out and get unstuck.
Meanwhile, Mom and I made food for the party tomorrow. Mom was making a batch of caramel popcorn and she agreed to make a batch just for our family too.

Grandma Selman's Caramel popcorn

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup Rogers Golden syrup

1 cup whipping cream

Mix and heat slowly until sugars are dissolved. Bring to boil. Boil until soft ball stage.

Pop in air popper,
1 cup popping corn.

When caramel reaches a soft ball, pour evenly over popped corn. Stir until all coated.

While we were working and Brandon was working on the tracks, the Town pickup truck with snow blade, came to clear the road of the drifts. Just after they finished, Brandon was able to get the tractor to move. Brandon didn't get to clear any snow.
Jeff and Aaren arrived home from the scout camp just after midnight. I'm so glad they made it back to Raymond safely. Jeff said many of the roads were badly drifted from blowing snow, but they were able to get through them and home.
I was also thankful when Devin arrived home safely from Cardston too. Now I can rest peacefully knowing, everyone is home.

Fun with cousins and 100 yr birthday

Today was a delightful and full day.

Jeff and Aaren spent much time packing for their scout camp. It took way longer than either wanted. They fnally left about 3:00pm.

Mom Moxley arrived in town from Calgary. Cassandra and I met her over at Good Sam's at 2:00pm for a birthday party with grandma Selman and the seniors.

I feel so fortunate to see Grandma and wish her happy birthday on her special 100 birthday. I love that my children are able to know their great grandma for so many years. It's pretty awesome to see her span the generations. 

We loved watching grandma come alive as Ethel Hicken played old time songs on the piano. Both grandma and Ethel were a delight to watch. 

I've been working on a wall poster/banner for Grandma. My cousin Amanda sent me some events she wanted placed on a timeline poster. The making of the poster was up to me.  I have 16 feet of banner paper. And the time line is long. I want it to look neat, orderly, and easy to read. It has been taking a really long time. I'm way too detail oriented to just fly through this project.

After the birthday party, Cassandra and I tackled washing a mountain of dishes together. It was so enjoyable to work together with just her. I love you Cassandra. 

Sheralee had the younger kids out to her house. The loved going out to play with cousins. Twice in one week!! Sheralee messaged me saying she did Rebekka's hair. Rebekka, who looks neglected most of the time; hair undone ragged and well worn clothes, hungry, had her hair done. It was cute.

This was the sweet message Sheralee sent along with the photo.

[Kim, you are going to think there's something wrong with me; I promise that this was completely Rebekka's initiative 😊. She asked me to do her hair, so I complied. I just don't want you to think l coerced your daughter into a hairdressing session! I couldn't believe her patience. I think she really just wanted to wear the peach bow . . . 😉.]

Cleaning

Aaren was off early to Keeler's with Nathan Steed. Aaren took a lunch and was there all day. He also took our big pick axe. Aaren will use it to lift tires off frozen plastic on the silage pile and get them out from under snow. It is hard heavy work.

Today was another day of basement cleaning. ALL DAY LONG.
I took Maren to a breakfast party at 9:30am and then went to good Sam's to see aunt LuWana. She wanted to talk about the party. The break was nice, then I came home to clean clean clean clean clean. dispersed through cleaning, I did dishes and laundry. The basement has been so much work. Upstairs will have to be done too.  Hopefully I will get to that tomorrow.

I've been working on my poster project tonight. This big timeline of grandma Selman's life is stressing me out. I just need to get started and it will come together.

Jeff and Brandon went to the seacan and the garage today to get tools so Jeff can work on Evan's cub car. He wants to do a shark car this year. This is his third and final car. First- cheese wedge, Second- skittles car, Third- red shark.

Maren went off to a varsity girls basketball game then to a friends house for movie. She is a lot like Devin was at that age; always wanting to go somewhere, lots of friends, always doing lots of things. 

Devin had ball practice at 3:00 pm and then at 4:30pm Devin was going into Lethbridge with Maddie and Olivia Allred for a lifeguarding course (WSI). He needs a re-certification so that he can work and teach swimming lessons at the pool this summer.

Brandon was home last evening. He spends lots of time in his room. The car still doesn't have working wipers blades and so if the weather is bad, he can't go anywhere. 

Jeff and Aaren are preparing and packing for a scout camp tomorrow and Friday. They have been organizing and gathering equipment and supplies so they can go early and set up camp before the rest of the ward comes. Aaren can't stay the same time as the ward because of grandma's birthday party.

Too many clothes and shoes!

It's nearly 11:30pm and I'm heading to bed soon. I've been up since 7am. It's not early to some but on a day when the kids don't have school, it's early for me.

I worked this morning at the Parent Link. The toy room was rearranged sometime last week and it was different when the toy cleaning staff walked in. It looked like there was a whole lot more work to do. There wasn't, but the room configurations, made it feel so. I worked until 11:30am. Then when I came home, I jumped right into the basement clean.

Some of the children were better helpers this day than others. Evan certainly wins the prize for the best worker. He spearheaded and took the task of re-cleaning the toy room and getting it back ship shape. He worked so hard, efficiently and happily. I was so pleased with his efforts. Savanna worked with him for a time too. When Ethan Rasmussen called this afternoon to see if Evan could go swimming with them, I was happy to let him go. I wanted to send the others when Cara invited them, but their swimming skill levels are a little small.

I worked on reorganizing the clothes to go in the new totes I bought about a month ago. We have WAY TOO MANY!! I worked hard on taking clothes out to donate. I was able to get several garbage bags full.

But I think what is more ridiculous than the amount of clothes we have, is the overwhelming amount of footwear that is in our house, that isn't worn. This is only a portion.

I wonder if the YW would be able to help us sort them for a youth activity?
There are more totes in the toy room and then I noticed another stack by the basement bathroom door. AND there is a couple of boxes upstairs. Help! Help! I need help to sort and get rid of them!!

But, the day is done and tomorrow is another one.

I have lots to do tomorrow!

Aaren worked out at Keeler's today. I'm glad he has a chance to earn money. 

Family Day at the Temple

On this lovely Family Day holiday, we took the youth in our family to Cardston along with cousin Ammon and Uncle Joseph to Cardston to do temple baptisms.

This was Maren's first time for temple baptisms. Mom Hardy had both male and female names for the kids to do along with Deborah Martin. Maren ended up having 22 names for baptism. Sweet!!
Cassandra didn't do baptisms this time. She helped with the towels at the font. The names for confirmations were split between Cassandra and Maren so she participated there too.

While Maren was being baptized, Cassandra went to stand up on the balcony and watch. She told me later that she felt like Grandpa Hardy was standing close to her. She felt his presence next to her. A beautiful memory for her. 

We brought 9 male names for baptisms and the temple added a packet for each boy so they could have do more. Devin baptized Maren first. Aaren was second. Then Joseph baptized Devin. Once Devin's group of names were done, Devin baptized Joseph. Ammon was baptized by Joseph last. 

I took a turn first helping with the towels then Cassandra and I switched. It neat to be able to serve that way in the temple.

After the baptisms, we went to the Dairy Queen in Cardston. Jeff and I would have chosen the temple cafeteria had it been open. 

While eating, Cassandra's sharp wit was out in full force as the kids were talking.

Devin to the group: What is it called when you have all your letter stuff??

Cassandra: The alphabet??!!

They were talking about missions and ways of communicating. Devin was telling everyone that when he goes on a mission, he is going to send actual letters instead of emails. He was asking/telling me to send only postal mail too. 

When we arrived back home in Raymond, I dropped off the family first. Then Joseph was next. I took Ammon out to his home last so I could then pick up our kids. Thanks so so much to Sheralee for watching the children. They had an awesome time. Savanna didn't want to leave and had to be carried out of the house while crying. 

Back at home, I changed my clothes and we started on the massive basement clean. It's too bad it has to be such a major mess.  It would have be more fun to spend this week doing lots of fun things while the kids are out of school. Instead, we need to get it so w can see the floor because we have cousins/ family coming at the end of week. It's going to take us a lot of work and effort to get the basement ready.

I wish I had taken some before pictures just to know how really bad it was!

Clear skies

Devin left the house shortly before 7am to board the school bus to Edmonton. Jeff drove him to the school. The morning sky was dark but clear. This is what it looked like when I went out to pick up school kids at lunch time. It's a much better day to be travelling in the highways! Good lucK Devin and the basketball teams on your games this weekend!

A beautiful winter day.

I love Thursday mornings. I don't usually have any regular major commitments for Thursdays so that is the day of the week I can relax. It's nice.

I started packing this afternoon. We are heading away to Calgary tomorrow morning for an overnight stay. I'm pretty excited!!

Valentine's Day blizzard

This morning, the day started off quite nice. It was warm enough that the snow began to melt.

By mid morning, it started to snow and by lunch time, it was a full on snow storm!

I was NOT EXCITED to see this unfold.

At 2pm the senior varsity (boys and girls) basketball teams were heading off to Edmonton for tournaments. It was NOT good conditions to be out travelling the roads! All news and radio reports encouraged travelers to stay home!

This is what it looked like from my van window as I dropped Devin off at the school to catch the bus. 

You could barely see the seminary building and hardly anything past it.

I had only been back at home a few minutes when Devin called and said that they cancelled the trip. For today. The coaches didn't feel good about taking the teams on the road. Here is a message from the coach Todd Heggie. 

Just so that everybody knows I just made a decision to stay home tonight and not take a chance on these roads the safety of our kids is more important than any game we could play. We plan on leaving at 7 AM sharp hopefully we have better roads by then.

I am grateful for a coach who listened to the spirit/gut feeling and who made a hard decision to protect the teams. The teams paid for a hotel tonight that they were unable to use. He felt bad that we couldn't get a refund on the hotel cost. I was grateful to have Devin home safe with us. 

Happy Valentine's Day to my loves today. 

I didn't do much for this day. The school kids were pretty excited for their valentine cards from friends. Cassandra said each of the junior high kids got a can of pop from the school. "A crush". 

We had macaroni cheese and tomatoes, asparagus spears and pepper slices for supper. But I did go to a little effort and made a white cake. I served it with cherry pie filling and whipped cream mixed with mini marshmallows. 

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweetheart Jeff. 

I love you very much.

Grey Cup in Raymond

Jeff was out quite early this morning to do snow removal.

We had a lot of snow again overnight, so the kids got rides again this morning. I dropped them off, then came home and had a few minutes after getting ready to put in a load of Devin's wash that he needs for ball tonight.

If I'm not ready for the day before school drop off, I only have a few minutes after to be ready. I was grateful for the few extra minutes this morning before work. At 8:30am I was off to the Parent Link to clean toys.

This morning at 10:0am at the high school; the school hosted an assembly for the community and the school. Jimmy Ralph plays for the Toronto Argonauts football team that won the Grey Cup back in November 2017. Jimmy was able to bring the Cup back to his hometown. I would have gone and taken Rebekka had I not been working. Jeff was also working. Brandon was home with her and didn't want to go. 

Devin said they called all the football players down and they each got their pictures taken individually with Jimmy Ralph of the Toronto Argonauts and the Grey Cup. Most everyone else got group photos taken.

Jimmy told the crowd he did not actually get to play in the game. He sat on the bench the whole game but was part of the winning team. A lot can be learned from him. Devin said Jimmy came to practice a few times during the Comets early football season and gave some of the boys some pointers and tips. Devin says it was cool to have hime work with the boys.

Evan and his school class. 

Maren and her school class. 

Jeff did some snow removal for the neighbour across the street. They had a massive drift behind their car that the were trying to remove with a shovel. The guy would have been there for hours. Jeff made short work of the drift!

Also the van slid down the driveway again. I'm glad it doesn't hit anything and it doesn't go far. I wish we could afford to pave the driveway so we could shovel it properly. Then it wouldn't have the chance to slide.

The Boys Basketball teams took off to Medicine Hat. The bus left at 3pm for evening ball games. Travel safe boys! It's been melting slowly all day and the wind is ferocious. But once the temperature drops tonight, the roads have the potential to be nasty. Prayers for a safe arrival home.

Yesterday I called Heather E. Hardy to see if there was anything I could do for them. They have been challenged mentally at their house lately and I wanted to help out. At first she turned down my offer to help in any way and then asked if I could make William's birthday cake. I was delighted to do it. I got to chose how to decorate it. Will was getting a new swim suit and that prompted a shark theme cake. It turned out cute. Evan was with me when I dropped it off. 

The youth went skating tonight. Evan went to skate with L and H Hardy's family for Williams birthday activity. I stayed home with the littles. Some of which were not impressed they didn't get to go to the arena. Tysyn and Savanna worked on adding chocolate treats to their class Valentines. Then they were off to bed.

I've had a simmering headache behind my eyes, most of the day. I'm calling it an early night tonight at 8:30pm. I've got lots to do tomorrow all day and into the evening. I think I just need sleep.

Busy Monday

Up and Awake.
My morning routine of getting ready for the day, includes a shower, a little makeup (mascara) and breakfast. I have to eat breakfast. Some of the people in this family can go without it, but I can't!
The kids got rides to school today. It's another cold day.
I spent the morning cooking meals and getting Rebekka ready for the day.
this morning I picked up Alden and he came to Preschool with us so that Heather could have some recovery time.
Today was the preschool Valentine's Day activity and we forgot to bring valentines for Rebekka's classmates. Fortunately we were able to make some!! We had such a fun class with Alden!
I love being at the school and able to pick up Tysyn at the same place. I'm so grateful the Parent Link was built into the school!
At the Merc after kindergarten pickup, the littles got free cookies. Yum! Then we headed back to pick up the older school kids for lunch.
Back at home, I finished and then packaged my meals because I was running late. Devin went out to Subway to get a drink and I asked Devin to pick up Maren from school on his way back. I got back in time to take the kids back to school. We took pity on two other teenagers walking back to school and offered them rides back to the school. So cold. Brrr.
On our way back, we saw Maren coming home. Devin forgot his sister! Bah. I took Maren with us and then brought her back home for her lunch. while she was eating, I took the littles, including Alden, with me to drop off the meals. They were all delighted with a treat from the candy wreath. Then we dropped Alden off at home. I arrived back at our house with enough time to get Maren and take her back to school. And then I headed home again.
-----------Breathe. Relax.--------

With all the other meals out of the way, I was able to eat a little lunch.
Tysyn and Rebekka also had a meal and they needed to be hurried along. Brush your teeth too, littles. You're going to the Dentist!

Rebekka had her dental exam first.

Rebekka's mouth is full of cavities. It is very embarrassing that she has so many problems. It was very bad. This is my Mom Fail. I've never been good at getting the children to brush their own teeth or doing it for them. After Rebekka's exam, she went to the toy room to play while Tysyn had his exam.

His mouth is also not good. He has visible decay on many of his teeth. Sigh. Yup, my big mom Fail.
I told the receptionist, dentist and assistant that I do a lot of things well, but my kids teeth brushing--I'm not good at! I am so embarrassed- that I didn't want to bring them in for their exams! But they needed to get their teeth fixed before the teeth get so much more worse than they are now.
The appointment was scheduled long enough that Dr. Harker was able to start on the work to be done. Rebekka got to go first. So she was brought back to the chair. Rebekka did So So So good! She sat still, didn't wiggle or get restless. She had nitrous and she sat watching Wild Kratts on the TV screen on the ceiling. After about 30 minutes, she FELL ASLEEP while getting work done!!!!!

Sleeping fairly soundly.

What a kid! I think I'm going to schedule all other appointments in the afternoon!
None of the other kids have had nitrous through their dental work. So when Rebekka fell asleep, I wasn't sure what to expect. Dr. Harker would occasionally open an eyelid to help her stir, but part of me secretly wondered if he was checking her to see that she was still doing ok. When the work was done and the nitrous turned off, she was a little hard to wake up. I'm thinking it was because she really needed the nap and not the effects of the gas. Rebekka finally opened her eyes. She wasn't too impressed when she realized the side of her face was still frozen.
I took some tired littles home.
----------Breathe. Relax.----------
With the few spare minutes before I headed out again, I was able to unload and then load the dishwasher. I started a clean cycle and then went to pick up kids from school. The wind really picked up causing drifting and blowing snow. The sidewalks are terrible. It's pretty cold out but the sun is shining so it's somewhat bearable. I should have made them walk.

I dropped the kids off at home then took Maren over to Heather's to tend Alden. Heather wasn't home because she went to the medical clinic. So instead, we stopped at the public library. After our library stop, Maren and I picked up a cake mix from Heather E for William's birthday. I love that family! I was wanting to help lift some burdens and Heather allowed me to serve and help her by making a cake. I'm so excited!
Heather F caught up with us outside and asked if the girls could go with her to Lethbridge. She still needs help due to her surgery. We drove straight home. Cassandra was supposed to go into training but it was cancelled. So both of the girls went with Heather F to Lethbridge to help her with her shopping.
While I was inside working on supper, Savanna was outside on the snow pile. DANCING! It was hilarious. I'm sure the neighbours thought the show/dance was delightful. I could see her watching herself in the van window. I wish I had taken a longer video. It was quite the dance.

Another load of dishes went into the dishwasher. I think the count is at 3.
I tried to hurry while working on supper. The casserole was taking a VERY LONG. I needed it to cook faster or we would end up cleaning really late at Keeler's tonight.

Jeff is frustrated with the shooting competition this weekend. It seems to be falling apart. Sigh. I wish he wasn't as involved in the association he is. It's a gong show. 

Rotary Dinner Dance

I'm cleaning at the office again this morning. It's sure hard to get up out of bed when you don't go to sleep early enough.

This afternoon I talked with Aunt Karen about Grandma's upcoming birthday party. I'm sure looking forward to seeing my cousins!

Jeff and I had the opportunity to go to the 51st annual Rotary Dinner Dance. We sat at one of the two Hardy Nutritionals tables. Jeff sat next to mom. The dinner was delicious and we had a nice evening. Jeff had to leave through his meal to take Evan to a birthday party because our teenage drivers weren't home to do the running. He was also going to pick up Aaren but Aaren ended up walking to the church. He had a part on the program.

Aaren performed in a dance along with several other high school boys representing Fiddler on the Roof. It was pretty fantastic.

The dance went until 11pm. At 9pm, Jeff drove his mom home and picked up Evan from the birthday party. When he dropped Evan off at home, Tysyn was missing Jeff, so Jeff went in to lay beside him on the bed until he (Tysyn) fell asleep. Jeff fell asleep too. I was still at the dance listening to music and visiting with neighbours and friends. I finally had to message him to make sure he was coming back!

I really wished I was in Calgary this weekend. The Comets played for 3/4 place in the Western Canada tournament today. I was grateful for the updates from family in Calgary, who went to the games to support Devin. The Comets got 4th place.
The family watching the games were really frustrated with Devin's lack of playing time so Mckenna took matters into her own hands. He finally got some playing time! We aren't sure if it was because of the posters... but I appreciated their support!

BBall in Calgary.

The Comets had an early game this morning. I sent a message to Devin telling him I missed him, I loved him, wishing him luck and to have fun. This was his message to me after the game.

"Thanks mom. Ya I was up at like seven. Almost missed breakfast at the hotel haha. We won against crescent heights. It's was a really tough physical game and we won by ten"

It was a tough game and unfortunately Devin didn't get any playing time. That is what is tough. He had some awesome extended family be there for him though.

This afternoon, he had support again but his cheering section was a little annoyed at the coach and let him know!

Thanks Mckenna!!

These aunts, uncles and cousins are Awesome!!

Comet #4 doing his job. He worked hard during the 5 minutes playing time he had on the floor. He even sunk a 3 pointer!

Thanks to the aunts for these pictures.

Tonight Jeff and I had a date for the first time in months. We drove over to Burger Baron 10 minutes before closing. Jeff dropped me off and then went to park because the truck and trailer were rather long for the parking lot and he wasn't sure it would make the drive thru curve. It was stinking cold and they had already locked the restaurant doors. Seriously, nothing like closing before your sign says... But the drive thru was still open. So, Jeff and I stood in -30 degree weather ordering milkshakes at the drive thru. Burger Baron milkshakes aren't amazing. The flavours are just sugar syrups. But my choice of strawberry-pineapple-butterscotch was pretty good. After receiving them, we hopped back in the truck and came home. Then we brought the computer upstairs to our room and watched a movie while on our bed. It took about 3 blankets to keep me warm while drinking my milkshake!!

Brandon's wisdom teeth

Our mornings are never early. We have a house full of night owls. So it's always a struggle and a rush to be out the door on time each day.

This morning, Devin was up before me and was packed and ready to go with his suitcase, backpack, and garment bag for his jerseys by school time. I made his lunch partly last night and finished it off with sandwiches this morning. Jeff drove the kids to school. Devin left with all his things. The bus leaves Raymond for a basketball tournament in Calgary after second period. I'm a little nervous about it heading north. The road/ weather conditions are not supposed to be favourable for the next 24 hours. Praying for the Comets bus and driver.

Jeff, Joseph and Brandon went to Lethbridge this morning, in mom's truck. Justin asked Brandon to take back the power trowel tool he rented. Joseph needed passport pictures taken and Jeff had to pick up some paper shooting targets for next weekends competition in Calgary. Brandon also wanted to stop in at the Bay and look a cologne. They arrived back in town just before Brandon's dentist appointment.

Rebekka had her music class again this morning. Thank you to Aunt Heather for allowing Rebekka to participate. Maybe Rebekka will end up being our musical piano playing child.

Just after noon, Brandon and I headed to Raymond Dental. He was scheduled to get his wisdom teeth out today. We arrived at 12:15pm and Dr Harker was done at 1:22pm. H pulled two of Brandon's teeth on his bottom jaw. Really, he had to break them both all in pieces to get them out. Then when he was done, he sewed the gums closed over the holes.

Brandon with oxygen running, waiting for the freezing to take effect. 

Dr Harker did not have an easy time of removing Brandon's teeth. 

They started Brandon with nitrous, but halfway through the first tooth extraction, the gas got turned off. Once the gas is turned off the effects wear off immediately. Brandon said he was good with just freezing so Dr Harker kept it off.

When you want to see what is happening to you, you use your phone in selfie mode to watch the dentist at work. (And take a few selfies and record some of the procedure.)

Once the extractions were done, and he sat for a few minutes upright in the chair, Brandon was up and moving. He has super high pain tolerance and nothing was bothering him. We got the rundown of healing instructions and then we left. Brandon said he felt fine and would have been totally capable of driving home.   

Before going home, we stopped to get his prescriptions filled at pharmacy. The pharmacist helped in choosing some pain relief And then filled the prescriptions. It only took a few minutes and as we were walking toward the cashier, Wayne caught up to us. I was in front and he approached Brandon on his left side. Wayne asked about the TB test.

Brandon mumbled through the gauze and freezing "no, but just got wisdom teeth out...". Wayne slung his arm over Brandon's shoulders and pulled him in tight then he wrapped him around further and planted a great big kiss on his right cheek! It was so funny. .

Wayne exclaimed "oh I'm so happy", and Brandon replied, "good thing I couldn't feel that!!"

Hilarious!!!

Wayne was also so willing to give Brandon a couple of soft ice packs to help with the swelling. We will return them next week. 

Back at home, Brandon took some meds to stay on top of the pain. He is also keeping the ice packs close to his cheeks to hopefully keep the swelling down. We joked that being outside for awhile today would probably do the same thing.

Brandon so far, hours later, has had minimal affects from the extractions. He has hardly any swelling and he says it doesn't hurt too bad. Extra strength Tylenol has been holding him so far even though he got a prescription for Tylenol 3. Hopefully it will continue to heal quickly. He will be one of the lucky ones.

While at the dentist, Devin called me to tell me the Raymond team bus made it safely to Calgary. That was a major relief. Devin wasn't sure what they were doing until game time. Mom Moxley and Krista plan to go to the game.

Then just as school was getting out for the day, I got a message from Devin,  who got a message from the coach, that tonight's game in Calgary was canceled.

Seriously.

They travelled all the way there today to not get to play how. Frustrating. The girls were able to play their game though. 

When Jeff got home from Lethbridge, he left a can of pop outside, on the stove, on the deck. Brandon and I noticed it when we came back from the dentist, but left it where it was. About 10:30pm, Brandon went out to the van and when he came back, he noticed stuff all over the door. Brandon thought we got egged and called me to look. I was confused because it didn't look like egg. It looked like slurpee. Then I remembered Jeff's can of pop on the deck. Brandon reached for it, and sure enough, it had frozen, exploded and then sprayed all over the front door. Jeff gets to clean it up!!

Tidy up Tuesday

After getting the kids off to school, and then myself off to work this morning, I came home to a disaster of a kitchen. There was 4+ loads of dishes for the dishwasher. It's been going non stop all afternoon.

I did one load of wash and then cleared off the island. The kids have been complaining that it was getting messy again so I took care of the piles. The living room also needed attention.

I dislike how quickly the house can transform from tidy to chaos. And unfortunately it's the littlest ones who make it happen and then the biggest ones have no desire to help. Sigh.

So I'll tidy again and hope that it stays clean longer.

After school Aaren took the tractor over to mom's to help clear some snow around her house. Aaren loves being in the tractor and the experience he is gaining by doing "work" in it. 

He cleared snow off the grass in the circle and on the boulevard.

Evan had Cubs after school. He brought home a cub car kit. The rally is only a few short weeks. It doesn't give them much time to create a car!

Cassandra babysat Alden. She loves her 3 times weekly babysitting job. She also loves being a wage earner.

Maren loves YW. She looks forward to each Tuesday evening. Tonight she was excited to go to activity and then to attend Devin's basketball game afterward.

Evan and I attended the JV game jay after we just off the youth. Then just as the varsity started, the girls called for rides home. I left and gathered them quickly. I dropped Cassandra off at home and then Maren and I headed to the high school. Jef stayed home with the littles and was home with the rest of the family.

Devin had a great basketball game. He got a lot of playing time tonight. They took a huge lead over Chinook High so the starters took some time on the bench and the bench got to play. Yay. Devin got 7 points.  2-2 points and 1-3 pointer.

Brandon had an eventful day shovelling gravel in prep for concrete at Iris Chipman's home. They ended up with too much gravel so justin offered us the remaining couple of yards. Brandon spread it on the driveway.

I'm pretty sure the van won't be sliding down the driveway any time soon!

Justin has spent the past week renovating the basement floor. Devin and Aaren worked a day last week while they were out of school due to finals. Brandon has worked with Justin for 5 days now. I'm grateful that Brandon had a little work to keep him busy. He also got a call from David Keeler hoping Brandon wasn't busy. Brandon may work at the feedlot later this week.

The most exciting thing this week is the huge pile of snow on the front yard. The little kids have loved playing King of the Hill and sliding down the mound of snow.

Tysyn and Rebekka playing on the top of the hill while a neighbour boy from across the street plays at the bottom. 

Here comes Brandon drifting into the driveway after his workday with Justin. If it was a video, you would have seen him slide sideways right into position to drive straight up the driveway. 

Savanna is looking forward to turning 8. We have her baptism dress. Soon we will start the planning for a baptism date.