Early Season Snow Day

No school. IT’S A SNOW DAY!

YUP. That early winter blizzard brought so much heavy, wet snow that it was just safer to stay indoors and stay put. So nearly everything was cancelled.

Stores and businesses here in town, Schools including the college and University in Lethbridge. The bank in town opened hours later than usual and even highways in Southern Alberta were closed. It was a doozy. 

Jeff was up early this morning to do snow removal with the tractor. His first job was Aunt Karen so she could get to work. She ended up getting a ride and he worked around her car.

While Jeff was at Karen's, a young girl across the street was shovelling her sidewalk. She summoned him over and asked if he could her shovel her sidewalk. He obliged and she got out of the way. When Jeff finished she handed him some money. She told him it was all the money from her piggy bank. Later, when Jeff was telling me the story, he handed over $1.55. She said it was all the money in her piggy bank. So sweet!

Throughout the morning I had a lot of people calling to ask for his services. He came home about 10:30am not feeling well so he laid down. Aaren ended up doing some of the rest of the jobs for Jeff so people could get unstuck.

The kids had fun sledding in the dirt hills and playing outside in the snow. By the afternoon, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to be outside. The snow was even melting.

Look at the big snow overhang on the back side of the house. The left side is especially huge. That will be nasty to be under once it melts.

The overhang right over the deck is providing some good icicles though. The kids have been enjoying them.

Aunt Heather still had piano lessons so Cassandra still had babysitting.

Because our driveway was hard to get out of and the neighbourhood was a mess for travel, I didn’t deliver meals until near suppertime.

In the late afternoon Jeff braved travelling to Lethbridge with his truck and trailer to get some supplies for Hardy Feeds and the shop they are trying to set up on Dallin’s property. The highways are getting better but the side streets are still a mess. 

Devin called tonight about 10 o’clock. It was so fun to be able to talk with him and see him through FaceTime. The little kids will be sad that they missed him. Brandon wasn’t with Devin so we only visited with one of the boys. 

Devin and Brandon are doing good up in Vanderhoof BC. It’s been good for them to be away from home and family. That always stretches and makes one appreciate what they have. Back at home, Maren is doing her best to keep Devin’s fish alive. He has 1 Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta) named Santiago and 5 tetras. I think they may have names too..

We’ve enjoyed this snow day. It’s been nice to just stay in. 

Snowy Sunday

Snow snow snow.

It’s been snowing literally all day. We have shovelled several times.

Evan did most of the sidewalk before church. I helped him a little. It is heavy, wet snow!

In our second hour of meetings we watched the presentation for the new program coming for Children and Youth in the new year. Big changes are coming! The program will be fully explained in November. Because of this meeting, I didn’t teach Primary and all children 8 and older attended. I quickly went up to the Primary room and the presidency had the tiniest group. 

This afternoon we let the kids go outside and play in the snowy weather. When you have church until 11am and then have the whole rest of the day to stay home, letting the kids out in the snow is a good way to burn off restless energy. It’s the first major snow storm of the season and it’s a doozy. I’m glad we didn’t have to travel anywhere this weekend!

After Evan shovelled the sidewalk for the second time today, he built a snow cave with Rebekka. It was so cute to see them lying down in it and talking. I could see them from the kitchen window. 

They were out for a long time. 


Making the hole bigger. 

Cassandra wore this dress to church today. I love that you could not even tell it was 27 years old. 

What do you make on a snowy fall day when you have more apples than you know what to do with? You make apple crisp!

Yummy!

Stay Safe and Warm

The weather man predicted a winter storm and it arrived. I don’t want to do much but hunker down and stay warm.

Maren and I were up early though. The volleyball teams are off to Vulcan for a tournament. Maren and a friend needed a ride to the school. I hope the road conditions are favourable for travelling!

Travel safe red and white bus holding precious cargo!

The coach sent this photo to the parents athis afternoon. What a cute bunch of girls. 

Because Maren had volleyball, Cassandra has and will be cleaning at the office until the season is over. We spent a couple hours today doing our work. We are grateful for heat and a dry place to work. 
Rebekka and Tysyn found enough snow in the front yard to make a snowman. Adorable. They did a good job. Maybe the next one they make will be white. 

Aaren went to Lethbridge and after coming out of Superstore, realized he left his keys in the ignition. The doors were locked. Fortunately he knows how to get the doors open. He learned how to break in often when the doors were super hard to open. Jeff and I were grateful we didn’t have to drive in to take in the spare key. 

The grade 8 girls won their tournament in Vulcan. Congrats girls. 

Back Row: Kate Kindt- head coach, Delaney Gibb, Jayden Yancie, Tessa Harding, Keely Jordan, Eliza Smith, Sofia Sugi- assistant coach

Front Row: Livvy Hasegawa, Kizza Jensen, Summer Long, Tessa Anderson, Maren Hardy, Destinee GVB

Because Maren got back so late, we didn’t go cleaning at Keelers. I also wasn’t really wanting to drive out there in case I got stuck. We will need to go out Monday evening. 

PD day, early storms and kids in activities

Today is the first teacher PD day of the year. The kids are all home for the day.

I still cooked my two Friday meals and delivered at noon. This afternoon I juiced 2 loads of apples and Evan and Tysyn worked together to fill the dehydrator with apples for drying.

The junior high Volleyball teams left at 11am for a tournament in Vulcan. Maren is hoping she gets some good playing time.

Even though there is no school today, Cassandra and Aaren still have Show Choir. I love hearing them sing around the house. Cassandra and Aaren both got vocal solos for the Christmas show. It’s going to be great!

There is an early winter storm coming this weekend and we’ve been getting ready. The little kids and I picked the last of the tomatoes out of the garden and I picked my zucchini. I brought in two hanging planters and put them downstairs in the shower. I wish I had room to bring in all my flower pots this year. I’m sad that the other plants will die in the cold.

Evan cleared all the things off the front lawn. He was excited to play soccer with Tysyn out front. The kids are hoping it snows a lot so they can play in the snow. I laid out some of the stacked side walk blocks that have been in a pile near the sidewalk for part of the summer and threw out the broken pieces.

Jeff went to Jared’s to get the big mower. He mowed the front lawn and some of the garden. But it got too dark so the rest will have to wait. He mowed the weed plants in the garden so the tarps will stay down. 

In the garden, Jeff made sure the potatoes and carrots were covered and that the shovels are near the doors.

The volleyball teams got home about 6:15pm. Maren had about 15 minutes to be eat and be ready to catch her ride into Lethbridge to the Raymond vs LCI football game. Aaren also went to the game with friends. Then he was going to the stake dance in Lethbridge. Cassandra went in later to the dance with her friends. A bunch of Evan’s friends, mostly girls, showed up at our house tonight to see if Evan wanted to go with them. He left and was gone for several hours. Maren got back from the ball game and prepared herself for the day tomorrow. The volleyball teams head back to Vulcan tomorrow for the second day of their tournament. Maren told me when I picked her up this evening that she played a lot and was even a front row starter for their second game!

Woot woot!

Child’s play and harvest

I worked this morning at the Parent Link. At 11:30am I pick Rebekka up from kindergarten. She gets to hang out with me and have the whole toy room to herself for 30 or so minutes while she waits for me to finish work. This was the project she made while waiting.

And then this afternoon I took Rebekka and Aleya and Alden to Creative Connections. We had such fun. I loved playing in the mud with the farm animals. Cornstarch, water and cocoa. I could have played in it for hours. Rebekka liked it too. 

I had a great afternoon with those littles and Rebekka loved being with cousins.

Another project with the magnet toys.

Mud that smells so good!

Waiting for snack.

After Preschool, we watched the elementary kids run the Terry Fox Run. It was fun to give high 5’s to Rebekka’s siblings and friends. 

Hopefully Aunt Heather and Liesel will be able to come next week.

After I dropped the cousins off and got home, I worked with Jeff, Evan, Rebekka and Tysyn in the garden. Today Jeff picked all the remaining apples off the tree. Evan picked all his squash and then helped me pick tomatoes. Rebekka also helped with the tomatoes. We didn’t finish before the rain and a small amount of hail moved in, drenching everything. Savanna, Cassandra and the neighbour girl across the street pulled in all the tomatoes off the front porch.
We will have to cover to protect potatoes, carrots and the remaining tomatoes still in the garden. I’m ready to be done the garden season.

Evan picking squash from the patch. 

The squash Evan grew this season. 

Styled and beautiful

Since June, I’ve had the privilege of going to Good Sam’s Wednesday mornings and curling Grandma’s hair. Sometimes I have be a contortionist to get the curls.

Grandma spends a lot of time in her wheelchair. Since she doesn’t exercise, her neck isn’t strong anymore to hold her head up for long lengths of time. And when she falls asleep, her head hangs forward. So it can be pretty hard to curl her hair. Today I literally had to turn myself upside down to try and curl her hair. I work around her.

When I was done, I had grandma tell me what she thought. She said, “Not too bad. It could be worse.”

So funny. You are right Grandma, It could be worse!

The last few times I’ve gone, I curled my own hair after I finished Grandma’s.

I sure love this sweet cheerful lady. I hope I’m like her when I’m old. 


(Anyone know how to take a sunglasses selfie without showing your hands? Haha.)

Volunteering and Spectating.

As I was getting ready this morning before leaving the house, I got a message from FCSS asking if I could work. Sadly I had to tell them no. 

I volunteered this morning at the Elementary School. It’s picture day today and tomorrow. My schedule was open so I offered to help. I haven’t officially volunteered in years! With Rebekka in school, I have a little more time on my hands. It’s going to be an interesting year. It was fun to be in the school!

Rebekka waiting in line. 

Rebekka

Savanna

Sadly I forgot to try and get one of Evan. Tysyn has picture day tomorrow.

As helper, I walked each of the classes from the gym to the front doors to meet the photographer who would take class pictures outside. I don’t wear a step counter and I didn’t keep track of how many times I walked that long hall. My legs will feel it tomorrow though.

After lunch, Rebekka and I went out to Perrett Park to watch the junior high cross country/ Terry Fox runs. Rebekka had fun playing on the playground and being with Maren and her friends before the race.

Maren did really well. She came 9th out of all the girls in her grade. She was told they take the top 8 runners to divisionals. She wasn’t really sad about her placement. She said it wouldn’t upset her if she doesn’t go to divisionals. Being the 9th, she does have the option to go if one of the other girls can’t.

Instructions for the girls

Waiting to be organized 

The wind was so strong today. And a little chilly. 

Ready!

Go!

Hand slaps from her little sister. 

At the finish.

Slaps from a cousin.

I stayed long enough to watch Seth (nephew) run. He and a friend were the first runners near the finish line. Just before they were on the home stretch, they veered off the road and ran up over the hill, stripping off their shirts as they went, and jumped in the lake. The third runner, a ways behind them, crossed the finish line. The teachers declared him first. Seth and his friend came out of the water and jogged to the end. Seth, running in bare feet over gravel, finished third. Silly boy. He told Maren before he started that he was going in the lake and asked if she wanted to do it too. She declined the invitation. Smart girl. I took a picture for his mom.

The youth tonight dropped of bags for target hunger. Next week they collect them as a stake. It’s good for the kids to help and serve in the community. 

Mercy and blessings

Today has been a day. A day where I’ve never been more grateful for tender mercies and where I can look and see the Lord’s guidance over my life. 

The kids got off to school well. Mornings are always a rush. Some of the kids are much faster at getting ready to go than others.

After they left, I tidied the kitchen from the morning chaos, then got a shower and prepared myself for the day. Then I worked on the morning meals. I was able to have them ready in plenty of time and then headed to get Rebekka from school.

It’s so fun to get her from class. The teacher has the children sitting under their coat hooks waiting for their parents. Rebekka is often eating her snack when I come. We got her bike and headed home. I left her with daddy and Aaren and went to drop of the meals of the day. When I was done, I stopped to get the mail. When I take Rebekka with me to get the mail, she ALWAYS wants a sucker from the ladies at the post office so sometimes I tell her she can’t come with me and I go get the mail by myself. 

A notice from the town came in the mail for Jeff and Kim Hardy today. It was a letter from the town. We get 3 types of letters from the town, monthly bills, yearly property tax bills and property issue letters. And I can recognize good letters from the town verses letters I just want to tear up instead of opening. I got one of the latter letters today. It was a bill for interest (12% on the balance) payments for both houses due to failing to provide payment on time. I was ticked. It was a huge bill. I knew I had made the payments. So I went to my records and saw my bank statement. I showed Jeff and he encouraged me to go to the town to get more info. I went to the town offices just before lunch. The secretary at the front desk couldn’t help but one of the staff could. I met with the administration secretary and she noticed that the payment was due one day earlier than what I thought was the due date. I felt chagrined. I was late with the payment. She was kind enough to make a onetime concession and retract the bill. Oh how grateful I am for her willingness to help us. That was a tender mercy. 

I was doing some online banking after the kids had gone back to school after lunch. I had about 12 bills to pay and was all set to press submit for the payments to be withdrawn from my accounts- when the computer page shut down. The system must have timed out. So there I sat, unsure if the payments were submitted. So I signed in again and then checked my online banking records but nothing seemed to indicate payments. So I called the online customer care through the bank to get help. I wasn’t going to redo the process before confirmation that the payments hadn’t happened. That’s a heck of an amount to spend-two months worth in one. The guy on the line checked and said he couldn’t see anything. He gave me the go ahead and assured me that it wouldn’t come out twice. Phew! I redid all my banking and this time everything was submitted correctly. Now I know why I like to go see the girls at my branch. (At least if they mess up, it can be fixed on their dime.) I’m grateful for processes that work correctly. 

After lunch, I went to the insurance office to pay our vehicle insurance and see if we could get it set up into monthly payments instead of yearly. While I was talking to the secretary, I noticed this sign.

So while waiting I thought I should just check and see when my license expires.

I pulled out my license and saw the date.

OH MY HECK!!

My license has been expired since January 10, 2019.  That is over 9 months!! I’ve been driving around unknowingly, without proper licensing. Oh my heck!

In order to get another license, I had to show either a birth certificate or passport. And guess where they were? At home!!

So I had to knowingly, illegally, drive home then back to the registry to provide proof of identification. Sheesh.

It didn’t take long to get a new interm license. I hope my new picture looks ok.

I’m so very grateful that in the past 9 months I’ve never been stopped by the police or had an accident. Definitely a tender mercy for me today. I was also grateful to change the payment plan. Now I don’t have to pay the whole amount at once.

We attended the RES family BBQ and Meet the Teacher night tonight. The BBQ was $5 per family. The meal was pulled pork buns, coleslaw, bag of chips and package of Dad’s chocolate chip cookies. I told the older kids they were invited. I wasn’t cooking supper. It wasn’t going to be a big meal but they could come. A, C and M all decided to come. So who got the better deal at the BBQ. Definitely our family. Supper for 9 for $5.00? Can’t beat that! I also made a donation to the snack fridge and entered the draw.

The meal was yummy and it was fun to visit briefly with the teachers. The kids should each do well. I’m pleased with who they have as teachers. We had fun at the school. After the littles were in bed, I got a call from one of the parent council members telling me I won a box of assorted of garden veggies. Woot. Woot. I can pick it up tomorrow. What a blessing. I’m excited!

Cat Rescue and Old Dresses

So it’s been too long since a blog entry. Which means that I’ve let weeks and months of life go by without journaling. And at this point I won’t remember much. It’s really time to give myself a mental talking to and get back at it.

This morning I was grateful to be at church. I love the peaceful happy feelings I get when I am at my meetings. I still teach primary with Jeff. I was teaching primary before stake boundary changes several years ago. I am still teaching junior Primary. We have a fun little class. Today we had name twins instead of sibling twins. Two Max’s instead of the Gibb girls.

After meetings while I was working in the kitchen around noon, two neighbor pit bulls were loose and sent one of our little kittens up the power pole on the east side of the driveway. I was totally afraid it was going to be electrocuted (not sure which wires are which) but fortunately that didn’t happen.

The cat was able to get up but sure didn’t know how to get down. The little kids thought that if they held up a blanket at the bottom of the pole and called for the cat, it would jump to them. They even tried to bribe it with food.

That didn’t work. They so andencorage and called for a long time. So finally Aaren got the tractor off the trailer, switched the forks for the bucket and then drove the tractor up beside the pole. Then Evan got in the bucket and Aaren lifted it up as high as the arms could go. I passed a ladder up to Evan in the bucket. Evan was too scared to do anything so high up so Aaren climbed up onto the back of the tractor and into the bucket. Aaren was able to lift the ladder up to the pole to reach the cat but the cat didn’t want to come down. The ladder was was too slippery. So I threw up a blanket and Aaren wrapped the blanket over the ladder so the cat could dig its claws into it to come down. It worked. Aaren was able to get the cat from high up on the pole.

See the cat high up on the wire? It didn’t know how to get down. The kids are holding out an old quilt and are encouraging the cat to jump. I kept telling them cats don’t like to fly so it likely wouldn’t jump. But it might fall!

Getting bored waiting for it to jump. 

A different way to get the cat down from the pole. The cat didn’t want to get on the slippery ladder so Aaren draped a quilt over the ladder and then the cat would crawl onto it. 

After the cat was finally down, our family worked to clean the living room. It took 9 of us to take care of it. Seriously. Our ministering brethren were coming and it was a disaster. It’s so much better now. (I plan to continue tomorrow when the kids are gone to school.)

I am so thankful for Brother Jim Ackroyd. He has shown our family time and time again that he truly cares. Just a few weeks ago, he and his wife had us over for dinner and they went to so much work to feed our big crew. He has encouraged Devin to save for his mission, fixed up Rebekka’s training wheels and just today asked each of the kids what excites them for this upcoming school year. And he recorded their answers on his note pad. 

While cleaning the living room, Cassandra found one of my old dresses. I told her I had a few more so the one she found could join the others. Soon she had the whole box upstairs and wanted to have a fashion show. Some she could get on easily and others she had to suck in a lot.

This was my grade 9 grad dress. My mom made it for me. I loved so many things about it. The color is my absolute favourite color. Such an awesome shade. The puffy sleeves were amazing and I loved the wrap around skirt that was longer in the back than the front. It had a huge bow with a big material flower sewn on. I remember mom sewing then picking out seams to resew to get just right. The material is taffeta. I loved the wood grain look. 

This dress mom made too. I’m not sure what for but I loved the striking red color with the contrasting shiny gold buttons. I wore this dress with great big gold earrings and a match big bulky necklace. The curved edging around the buttons was so different. I also loved the pleats and fitted skirt. 

Because I loved the red dress so much, I had mom make me another of the same dress using this gorgeous lilac print. I got this material along with the material for following dress in Richland, Washington while visiting the Beck family. I loved the white buttons with gold trim. 

This dress was my high school graduation dress. Mom made it for me. I didn’t want a fancy dress. I wanted a simple dress that I could wear to church and later to institute activities. Again, the puffy sleeves were something I loved. The print is beautiful. I wove the navy ribbon through the lace and mom sewed it on. The dress was very fitted to me. I wore this to the dinner and dance at the Palliser Hotel. Of all my dresses, this fit Cassandra the best. 

This was a dress I bought in Idaho Falls for a Preference dance while I was away at school (Ricks College) in Rexburg Idaho. I attended the dance with my roommates and our dates. These sleeves are quite tight on Cassandra and she had a hard time getting it on. She says the shoulder pads are massive! I really liked wearing this dress! I loved the simplicity of this dress and its 6 contrasting buttons. So pretty. 

It’s kind of hard to believe that I wore all those dresses around the same age as my daughter. I wish I could still wear them. I still love these dresses!

This evening was Stake General Priesthood meeting. Jared was asked to organize a musical number and had some of the Hardy family sing. Jeff and Aaren both participated along with Jared and three of his boys, Joseph and Lowyn. Dallin was supposed to sing also but came home sick from a conference in Pennsylvania, so Uncle Blair Proctor filled his spot.

I went to the church halfway through the meeting and stood at the very back of the social hall to hear them sing. I love listening to the Hardy boys sing!

Maren fell asleep on the couch. Haha.