Happy New Year!

It's been a busy but good Christmas vacation for us. We were able to go to my parents again for Christmas. We left the 22nd and made the 13 hr drive. The roads were good but we did hit a snow storm across the border and had to drive pretty slow because of the heavy ground drifting and the darkness. The 23rd we made it to my dad's family for a gathering surprising many of them. The 24th we did the presents with my family. When we were little, we would do the gifts the 25th but because my sister had to be on call and had to go back to work, we did it the 24th so she could be there. The 25th we went to my Grandparents and spent the day with them. We got to meet my cousin stephanie's husband Russ. They got married the 15th of December. We weren't able to make the wedding and decided instead to go up for Christmas. What's funny is Russ and I went to high school together.
The 26th we made the trip to Winnipeg with my parents and braved the malls for the boxing day sales. The rest of the days we went to Winkler and shopped or saw family and friends.
A highlight for me was something I had wanted to do but wasn't sure how I was going to do it. I had really wanted to go snowmobiling and to my surprise and delight, my girlfriend Connie's parents had just bought one. So Sunday she drove to my parents and picked me up.
Together we hit the trail that runs right past my parents place. We probably went about 15 miles and turned around. It was pretty cold but it was so much fun, a great calm day to do it. We even got Jason out of the chair and outside to enjoy a little fun in the snow.




Our dog Tucker sure enjoyed running along the sled. I sure do miss the snow considering it's January and we have NO snow.
















We left the 31st to go to Brandon to see my aunt Susan who was suddenly hospitalized on Christmas. So we visited and stayed the night and kept Uncle Pete company. We left the 1st to head home and it's sure good to be home again.

One More Week!

I don't know who else needs a break, but I need one! One more week of school and it's finals week so it's alot of review and then 2 days of finals. In other words, pretty easy for me.
I can't believe that Christmas is here already. It really doesn't look like it a whole lot other than the decorations that people have put out. I would love a big snow storm to dump a lot of snow since we don't have anything but a dusting of it.

This weekend was great! We did absolutely nothing but hang out together. Saturday we went to the local coffee shop, went to see Alvin and The Chipmunks ( Which by the way is a great kids movie and some laughs for the adults, the chipmunks were so cute and funny) and just vegged in front of the tube the rest of the time. It was just fun to be together and laugh at and with each other.

To all the Canadians, we're not able to make it this weekend but we'll plan on coming for Christmas now. I have a whole week off and we'll have more time to spend than if we came quickly for the weekend. See you then.

December Already?

I can't believe that the Christmas season is upon us already and we're having 50 degree weather! (10C for the Canadians) There is no snow on the ground because it's all melted, at least in town, the mountains have some. However, my wreath with frosted snow on it is happily hanging from my door. The annual Christmas tree hunt has not happened yet, even though I've been in the mood for a tree. Hopefully this Saturday we'll make a go at it with a bunch of friends and the dogs and just make a day of it. No fake trees for us (even though they're so much easier to take up and down and they're fuller) We're making memories.

Jason had a day off yesterday and to my surprise went to work mudding our laundry room and tried out a new texture. It looked really good and he was so surprised that I was happy with it. There was some beige wallpaper with small designs of burgandy, blue and green on it. It was livable and not loud at all but we wanted something different. So he put mud on the wallpaper. Much less work than removing paper. Now I have to pick a paint color.

We're are planning to go to Canada for my cousin's wedding next weekend. That will be our Christmas with my family this year. What is everyone getting their significant other? Jason wants a PS3 but we'll have to wait and see what "santa" is going to bring.

Back to the grind

Thanksgiving week is now over and it's back to work Monday morning. Somehow, even with 4 1/2 days off, they still seem to fly by. The days were almost a blur of activity, plus it didn't help that I've had a head cold all weekend either.

Thursday was spent getting ready and heading to Billings for the evening with Jason's family. It turned out to be only his family and grandparents. His other relatives can't make it due to distance. Friday morning we got up and hit the sales at 8am. Billings was quite congested with people. I hit Michaels and bought some Christmas decorations and a door wreath. Jason bought an ear piece for his phone so he can drive with both hands now and do business. He's a gadget geek. We hit a couple of other stores for some business supplies and we left to get back to Cody to take advantage of a Carhartt sale. Again, Jason needed a new work coat and pullover. We then met with some friends at their house in Meeteetse for the evening. Sorry I didn't stay Faith.
Jason went hunting with another friend Saturday in Shell Wy. He was going for birds. He fell through the ice a couple of times and got wet along with his gun. He didn't get anything but had a few laughs at the older guys trying to hunt. Sunday was the usual day of church and vegging at home.

So now it's Monday morning and I'm hoping I can stay awake. It's only 21 school days till Christmas. Wow!

Winter is here!

For how long we don't know but we got our first substantial amount of snow last night. Driving 25 miles this morning was a little nerve racking not knowing how the roads were going to be but I did survive. My many years of Manitoba driving has been an asset. I could have skated to Cody at about the half way point on. Luckily no accidents that I saw. People need that first good snow fall to remember how to drive and not to be in a hurry. I pulled up the same time as a guy I work with and we were saying how driving on a sheet of ice should be an olympic sport with our top speeds at 40 m/h.

Well, this is the US thanksgiving week, so as a result I get 4 1/2 days off. School's out tomorrow at 11:45 am and we don't come back till Monday. A break is much needed by all. We'll be going to Billings on Thursday to be with Jason's family. Friday is the dreaded Black Friday shopping day where some stores open at 4am for shoppers to get some serious sales if you don't mind the rush or potential bodily harm and parking nightmare. We don't have this in Canada. I wanted to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and get some ideas and prices for a bathroom redo. Nothing too major but it will cost some money. We sold some furniture to get some extra cash for the remodel. I'm still waiting for my laundry room to get textured and painted so we can bring our freezer over from our friend's house.

Deer, Deer, and More Deer

We got our new furniture delivered and we love it. The table is the new bar style. It's something to get used to but it's kind of fun too.


Well it is that time of year again. The deer hunters are out and my deer hunter got a buck 2 weekends ago. He went with a bunch of guy friends for the weekend. They put in a lot of miles on horse back and some on foot. He met up with another friend, Jon, who Jason helped get him his first buck. He was so excited.



This was Jason' deer this year. On the right side of the deer(your left) one of the tips of the tines kind of blew up and had about 4 or 5 points, so that made it a non-typical.


Yesterday, we both went out with our friends Bob and Kim Moulten. We were going to just drive around and see what deer were out. Well, we came on this huge deer and Kim got out and shot it in one shot. Not to be outdone, her husband also found a huge deer.

We drove around all day after they both got their deer, looking for a big one for me. We didn't see very many others so we went home. I came home skunked. So this morning after some coaxing from Jason, we got up and left at 5:30am, drove an hour away started the hunt. We passed up one buck and thought maybe there was a bigger one. We came upon another buck which was smaller, but I was so frustrated already and didn't want to spend our sunday hunting, so I shot it. A very little 2 point. I'm improving on the rack size. Last year I only got a single point spike. So there is some more meat for the freezer. We got home, cleaned it, cleaned ourselves and even made it on time for church. Not bad for a busy weekend.

Here's the view from one of the top mountain roads we went on. Lots of snow and drifts in the hill but not in town, yet.