Quick Christmas thought

I've been really busy this week - trying to get in 5 hours at my computer before everyone really gets moving and wants to do something fun every day. Unfortunately, everyone stays up so late playing wii and watching movies, that I almost can do 5 hours before they get up!

Anyways, for those who stayed in Edmonton, here's a new poem:

Twas the night after Christmas,
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring
EXCEPT for a mouse.

The Polar Express

On Saturday, we had a ward temple trip. We met at the church at 7 am, with the plan being that we take the bus, the youth do baptisms at 10, and the adults go to a session at 10:30, and I stay behind at a church, and watch the kids.

However, when we got to the church, a bus company supervisor was there, without a bus! He said that he didn't want to send out his buses, because it was too cold. Or, at least, he wanted to meet with people first. After 1/2 hour or so, a bus came. We loaded into the bus, but it was SUPER cold. Luckily, my father in law mentioned the night before that sometimes it's a bit chilly on buses in the winter, so I had a blanket along for each of us. We drove down to Ogden, where the bus company had another bus waiting for us, one with heat. After 15 minutes in a bus where you could see your breath, we were excited to change buses!

However, by about the Okotoks turnoff, our new bus was no longer that warm. By Nanton, it was freezing! There was ice on the inside of the windows, you could see your breath again. (It was -25 outside, with a wind chill putting it well into the -30s). Anyways, needless to say, not the most comfortable ride on a bus we've ever had. But, since a couple of families had blankets, and most of us had mittens, hats, and boots, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And, it made us appreciate more what the pioneers went through. Here we are complaining about a bit of cold, think of what others had to do!

We finally got to Cardston after 11. Dropped the youth off, unloaded at the church, and the adults went back. That left Jordan and I in charge of 9 kids. I had brought some basketballs and beach balls, cars, little animals, and coloring stuff. They pretty much just entertained themselves.

In a few hours, everyone came back, and we had "lunch". (It was about 3 by this time.) We had 6-foot subway sandwiches and soups. A week ago when they were planning the trip, Mike kept saying that we needed soup. Everyone thought, "well, if the Bishop REALLY wants it, then let's try to find a way to have soup." However, after freezing on the trip, and not really warming up at the temple/church, we were all excited to have soup!

But, the best news of all - a different bus company, with buses with heaters, for the ride home! What a different trip that was! Mike put on the Polar Express (which one of the men joked about - we don't want to watch that, we've already lived it!), and we all fell asleep, nice and warm.

I have become my mother...

Or at least inherited her driving skills!

So, it has been REALLY cold here. Cold enough that our garage door won't open on it's own, and you need to push it to get it to go up.

On Saturday night, I was coming home from Jordan's gymnastics competition. I was really tired, and got to the house, and of course the door wouldn't open. So, I pulled up to the garage door, got out, pushed the button, and started to push the door up. All of a sudden, I can hear Jordan yelling. I turn around, to see the van inching towards me! Guess it wasn't in park! And, I'm on the wrong side of the van, so I can't just jump in and shift into park.

So, instead I turn around and push the door faster, because the van's only inches away, and not stopping. I got it up (mostly), and then with my usual great reaction in times of stress, I decide that I need to stop the van. So, I get in front, trying to stop it from crashing in to the front of the garage, and I think at the same time trying to get to the driver's side to get inside, and yelling to Jordan to try and put it in park (I didn't want to tell him to put on the brake, in case he got the gas instead.) With all the commotion, Mike heard us, and came out, just as the van came to a stop, with me between it and the wall, and without hitting anything else, except an old card table that's been out there forever, and isn't a big loss!

Jordan told me later that I reminded him of "Mr Incredible", stopping the van.

Anyways, I guess running into garage doors must be inherited. And, it's always nice to do something totally embarrassing in front of the family!

On top of that, my mixmaster and my cell phone died this weekend too, it's freezing cold, there's tons of snow, I'm not done my Christmas shopping, and Jordan had the stomach flu yesterday.

On the positive side, we've done some fun things this weekend. We had our ward Christmas dinner and family dance on Friday, we had the Bishopric and Relief Society president and families for dinner yesterday, and had a big food hamper/Christmas carolling/ eating treats Family Home Evening with about 40 people tonight.

Dinner Philosophy

Next week, my team at work is going out for lunch. I thought I'd check the website, and saw that they have a philosophy statement:

So, I decided that my kitchen needs a philosophy too:

Nice timing!

Last week, I decided that I really needed to clean the carpets. It took me almost all week...

Monday: just thought about clean carpets
Tuesday: cleaned up toys, moved stuff off carpet
Wednesday: ready to clean! Thought I'd clean while Troy slept, but he fell asleep in the middle of the living room, and I didn't want to wake him
Thursday: went in to work
Friday: finally did first pass - with Troy following me around. It's difficult to vacuum even, because he's fascinated by the big noisy machines
Saturday: pass # 2


Sunday: Troy gets stomach flu
Monday: Now Katie has it too

What are the chances that my carpets will stay clean as this goes through the family???

Plumbing

There is nothing that makes me feel like an incompetent home owner more than plumbing problems. (Think of the plumber stereotype - shouldn't I be able to solve problems I would call a plumber for?)

Anyways, yesterday, between taking care of sick Troy, putting up the tree, and shoveling out of a month's worth of snow, I noticed that the dishwasher was backflowing into the sink. We've been having problems off and on for a while, with a smell in the basement when the dishwasher runs, but I guess it's getting worse.

So, today I've tried Liquid Plumber, Drano, and snaking the sink myself. No change. But, one side note, Troy grabbed the end of the snake and was ready to lick it, before I caught him. YUCK!

I've given up, and called a friend who's a plumber, so hopefully we can get it fixed.

Busy Weekend

This weekend, I've had a bunch of moments where I thought "I need to put that on my blog", but it's been so busy, I didn't get a chance. Now I'll probably forget some of them...

Friday, Luke & Katie had basketball. I usually don't like going to watch basketball, but this year has been pretty fun. I think that's a combination of having friends playing on the same team, so I have parents to talk to, Luke is pretty good this year, so I can cheer for someone scoring baskets, Katie is new to basketball, and seems so small out there so is funny to watch, and Troy loves being in the gym, bouncing basketballs on the sidelines. Katie was really funny this week. She was really distracted by the other kids practicing. Her coaches would give an explanation of a drill they were going to do, and you could tell by watching her that she wasn't listening at all. Then, when it was her turn, they'd have to call her a couple of times, because she'd be looking around the gym.

The worst part about basketball this year - there's a kid named Jeremiah on the team, so I go home singing "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" each week.

After basketball, I stopped by the University to pick up Jordan, and then we headed out to Janine's for her Christmas party. I made sure not to eat dinner, so I could eat all her good treats! I chatted with some people, and tried to keep Troy out of trouble. He really liked the fact that he could reach food on the table (although I don't think he could see it, he could just reach up and get whatever was on the edge.)

Saturday was a crazy day. Brent was competing in his first track meet and last wrestling meet of the season. Luckily, they were both in the Jack Simpson gym at the university. Luke also had gymnastics right next door, so got to hang out with us the rest of the day. I was worried that Brent might have to run and wrestle at the same time, but it all worked out ok. Luckily, both meets were really well organized. Track meets are amazing. They tell you what time you will be running your races, and run really close to the schedule. The only conflict was at the medal handouts for wrestling. Brent was running his last race, so Luke went to get his medal (silver). He got to stand on the podium!

On Saturday night, I finally went to buy a Christmas tree, to buy the fake one that died on us last year. It was time for that one to go, it had been knocked over one too many times, and was really crooked as a result. No one was too upset when it finally fell apart when we took it apart last year. I found a tree that I really liked at Rona. I almost bought it the other day, but couldn't find anyone to help me load it in a cart, and was carrying Troy at the time, so couldn't do it myself. But, while I was waiting at Customer Service forever, I noticed a pamphlet about customer appreciation on Saturday, where they were giving out $10 gift cards, for every $100 spent. So, lucky I had bad customer service, so I could save $$$ on my tree.

Sunday morning started out good, at about 10:30 everyone was almost ready for church, just needed the last minute things like shoes and ties. Then, I realized that it was really snowing out, which means that Brent was supposed to be at the church - NOW - to shovel snow. So, I tried hurrying everyone up, then got out to the van and found out that the roads were slippery (of course), and traffic was slow, so we didn't get there until 5 or 10 minutes before church. On the way, I told the kids - in my ideal world, the young men's leader would think "Look, it's snowing, and Sis. Bester's at home getting 5 kids ready for church, I bet she can't suddenly get everyone ready 1/2 hour early, I'll give her a call and pick up Brent to come do the sidewalks." Didn't happen, but I can always hope!

Things went well until the end of my primary class. I had a bunch of visitors, so had about 6 or 7 kids in my class. They were all great kids, listening, answering questions. I had just set them up to play a game, when Troy made a funny noise, and started puking! Not just little baby spit up, but big time stomach flu hurling! I didn't want to have to clean carpets for the next hour, so I sacrificed his blanket, to catch what he didn't get all over his clothes. I got the kids to open the windows, and move to back of the room, then noticed that we only had five minutes left, so sent them back early to the primary room. Then, I used wipes to clean Troy, and the floor, and stripped him down to his diaper! Then, I went to the primary room, where most of the junior primary was in the hallway, and caused a big scene while the kids all yelled "He's naked!", and wrapped him in Luke's jacket. Thanks Luke!

Of course, this would be the only week that I didn't bring a backup outfit to church. Also, we made the kids clean out the van, so no extra blankets or clothes in there. Luckily, they didn't do the best job ever, so they missed Katie's T-shirt. So, Troy had something to wear for the rest of Church. (Nothing but your T-shirt on... sorry if you know this song, now it can be in your head, better than Jeremiah). Anyways, by this time, with the weather, I decided there wasn't enough time to go home with Troy, so I went to the last part of our Visiting Teaching Conference. The cool part was Mike was there to give a message from the Bishop, so I got to sit with him.

After church, we set up the new tree, and then decorated it. It looks great.

Christmas Lights

There's usually one nice weekend at the start of December, when everyone puts up their Christmas lights - except us. Usually, we have something going on, so miss out, and end up out there in the freezing cold trying to put up lights.

BUT, this year, I managed to put the lights up on the nice weekend! Most of the kids didn't have school today, so Jordan and I put the lights up this afternoon. It was so nice out, that I actually had shorts on! And, the best news is that it's supposed to snow tonight, so it was perfect timing.

The only drawback is that when I do the lights, they don't look as good as when other people (Mike, Dad, my neighbors...) do them.