A Story.......................for my grandkids!!!!!

Once upon a time in a valley far away lived a family of "kids"! The "kids" loved this valley, mountains in the distance, rivers and streams....their waters lazily cascading and tumbling over the rocks and logs.....trees standing tall and proud reaching for the clouds, their colors....green, orange, yellow and red, vibrant against the blue of the sky............flowers of every color, kind and description.......
The "kids' lived in this cozy log house. There were black "kids"...

brown "kids", white "kids".....

Mommies, Daddies and little "kids"............

They loved to play with each other, butting each other, running, jumping and climbing.......they LOVED to climb....especially on a high, narrow bridge that their owners had built just for them. The patriarch of the family...BIG BILLY THE KID..., with his air of authority and distinguished white goatee liked to spend his time at the very top of this bridge enjoying the sunshine and the view of the valley. BUT...he was also abit greedy.........

One sunny afternoon, a couple of humans came to visit, enjoying the unique farmyard, the array of pumpkins filling an old truck and spilling unto the ground........

teepees.....and.....tractors.....

Big buildings........

Little buildings........a fruit stand and flowers.....

and all the neat things that one could buy in their gift shop (which was built like a big ole' barn)

After checking out all the interesting buildings, the humans ambled over to watch the antics of the "kids" and said to each other, "How our grandkids would love this place!" There were picnic tables out in the yard, close to the log house where one could relax with a cup of coffee and watch their kids playing in the brightly colored playground.

Swans and ducks swam in the pond abit further down the path......

BIG BILLY THE KID on the bridge was getting hungry so one of the humans bought some corn, put it in a can attached to a rope which was attached to the wheel at the top. When BIG BILLY THE KID or should I say BIG BULLY THE KID heard the sound of the corn being put in the can, he quickly ran over to the wheel (butting in and pushing the other smaller "kid"out of the way and with his nose pulled that can of corn up the rope and gobbled it all up!!!!!!) The human, feeling sorry for the other "kid" on the bridge tried to feed him too BUT BIG BILLY THE BULLY was greedy and did not allow anyone else to enjoy the corn!!!!!!! The little "kid" ran off to tell his mother the whole sad story.........The humans said to each other, "That "kid" really needs to learn HOW TO SHARE!!!!!!"

The question is:

How does one teach BILLY THE BULLY a valuable lesson like that..........?????

Aren't you glad that we don't have to be like Billy........that we CAN share our time........our faith.......our love.........our homes...........our toys.........our food......so many things with others and it gives us joy in our hearts......

The humans enjoyed the time spent at this cute place in the valley before taking off for the next EXCITING DESTINATION AND ADVENTURE......

(by adventure I mean seeing a BLACK BEAR on a quiet street in a little town on the way......BUT......that is another story!!!!!!)

Party for the kids at the church.......

Heather and Siri........

Nate........

Kalle........

Jemma....

They loved the bouncy house. Siri, Nate, Sarah's niece, and Justin.

Thanks to Shirley and her crew for the great party for the kids. This is such a good alternative on Halloween night. They had so much fun.

Retreat at Canmore........

Lynda, Heather's friend asked Heather and I to come to a Women's Retreat this past Friday night and Saturday. It also happens to be Erin's (our adopted daughter) and Libby's church that was putting it on. Their pastor's wife lead the sessions, Libby led praise and worship and Erin took care of the power-point and all the computer stuff. We went out to beautiful Canmore to the Alpine Clubhouse for this retreat........The picture above is the Three Sisters taken when the sun was just coming up.....it was completely clear and gorgeous.....

We had good sessions, talking about our fears and then our faith....taking God at His word and realizing the truth of 1John 4:18. There were some excellant discussions and prayer times.

We had a pumpkin-carving contest which was messy and a whole lot of fun!!!! First prize to Libby and I with the prize being a homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream.....

Second prize goes to Erin and her team......

The pumpkin-carving teams......

Massages........ in our free time on Saturday afternoon......

And pedicures.......Heather's friend, Lynda and her friend, Darlene........

It was so fun to connect with Erin again and meet some of the girls that are in her church.

It was a good time.......

Vacation in BC and WA......

Both Jim and I had one week left of our 2007 vacation so we decided to do a road trip to Vancouver and points south into Washington where we hadn't been before, visiting a little along the way and celebrating our wedding anniversary. It was a gorgeous trip through the Rockies and Cascades with the colors so vibrant and beautiful. Of course, we love the mountains anyway and try to get out to them as often as we can. We had such good weather for the most part, a little rain which is to be expected at this time of the year especially closer to the Coast and a little snow in the Mountain Passes but the whole trip was a blessing and we are so thankful we could make the trip. I love travelling and Jim loves driving so as you can tell, we enjoyed every minute!

First stop after staying Thursday night in Golden, BC was Timmie's in Revelstoke.

Guess what we seen on the streets of Grinrod......yup, this little fellow!!! He made like he was going to charge us.....twice and then thought better of it when we stopped and took this picture.....from our car, I might add!!!!! When we first saw him on the street, he was chasing a magpie.....then boogied into the bushes when he seen us coming!! But I was so glad when he posed for us and he probably was thinking, "O those crazy tourists!!!!"

Near Grinrod and Enderby area.

Vacation in BC and Washington........continued.......

A gift shop, goats, and a fruit stand, so "kid" (no pun intended) friendly and interesting. This delightful place was in Armstrong, BC.

I love this saying on this stone.

Stopping to see Gramma's sister, Esther and her daughter Anne. What a blessing the extended family is.

So fun to stop and have coffee with them in this cozy and beautiful home in Kelowna.

Staying Friday night at Al and Diane's beautiful B n B. in Kelowna. They are such fun people to visit, so positive and the love of the Lord just shines in their lives. We have such a good time with them. Al reminds me so much of his dad, my Uncle Obert and Diane is a sweetheart. They are so musical and love to sing. They now have two grandchildren who are the apple of their eyes.

The drive from Kelowna to Agassiz on Sat. morning was absolutely gorgeous.

We stayed with Kay Sat. afternoon and Sunday. She had my cousin Twylla and her husband, Jim as well as her twin brother, Ken over for supper on Sat. night. Kay is a character, we do alot of laughing when we stay at her house!!!!

Sunday afternoon, we took a drive to Harrison Hot Springs just a few miles from Aunty Kay's.

Spending Monday and Tuesday with Ted and Florence in North Van. This is the sign that was posted on their front pillar along with a Happy Anniversary balloon.........

Having dinner with Aunty Florence, Uncle Ted and Jennifer on Lonsdale at a cute little restaurant near the water in North Van. So fun to see them.

Raining cats and dogs driving into Vancouv.........through Stanley Park......

Vacation in BC....2nd half.......

Wed. morning......Oct. 17th......driving down to Lynden, WA from North Van to meet Lloyd and Betty, Todd and Kari for lunch at this cute little Dutch restaurant. We stopped at DeeDee and Brad's on the way to see the baby. It was so fun to be able to visit with them a little bit and see where they live. What an adorable little baby boy they have.......And then we hadn't realized that Lloyd and Betty were taking their motorhome down to Todd's the same week we were in the area so that was another bonus to be able to see them.

Having supper with Lloyd and Betty at "The Nuthouse" where you eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor!!! What fun!!!! Good food too!!!

Thursday morning.....leaving Lynden after staying with Lloyd and Betty in their motorhome Wed. night. We left their place, driving towards Anacortes, drove the Chuckanut Drive right along the Coast and it was raining.......heard on the news that rainy, windy weather was coming to the area that we had planned on going.....Widbey Island and Seattle area so we headed east over the Cascade Mountains and we were glad we did.

We came to Levonworth, WA. A beautiful little Bavarian town in the Cascade Mountains.

Aren't the colors just gorgeous?

The colors, the flowers still in bloom and the Bavarian look to all the buildings was just so interesting. They celebrate Okoberfest three weekends in a row in October. We were here in the middle of the week so we didn't get the traffic. We would like to go back in the summer and explore this area and the Wenachee area which is close to this town.

A little houseboat on the lake in Invermere. The reflections on the water were beautiful.

Sunrise in Invermere........

On our way home to Calgary via Radium. Here were a mamma moose and her two babies.

As you can see in this picture, I have my best hiking boots on. We are at Numa Falls here and there had been abit of snow. It was still gorgeous though. It was a great vacation, getting some much needed "R n R"!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING......

HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!!!!!

To our families in Fergus and Okotoks. I can't believe it has already been a year since you all were sitting around our Thanksgiving table and we were enjoying a meal together and if I remember correctly, it was the following day, Eric that you started feeling so lousy. Next time you guys come for Thanksgiving, I hope it will be better. This year we had it Friday night because Heather and Duane and kids took off for Edmonton this morning or I should say Saturday morning. I just looked at the clock and it is 1:10 A.M. Sunday morning right now and I am supposed to be sleeping but putting pictures on the blog takes time and it slips away before I even know it!!!!!

We thank God every day for each of you and hope you are having a wonderful weekend. We aren't having turkey this year but barbequing pepper steaks tomorrow......yum.....and then Monday, we will take gramma out for lunch. She is looking forward to that. As you can see in the picture, we are missing Duane. He has been crazy busy at work these last few weeks so he ate later and then he took the kids home because Heather and I went to Heidi's birthday party.

We love you and God bless!!

LADIES OF THE EIGHTIES......

"THE LADIES OF THE EIGHTIES" Big hair, big shoulder pads, big tops, big jewellery and lots of lip gloss, leggings and legwarmers!!!!!! We are dressed up and ready to go to a special birthday party that Heidi threw for herself!! Her mom and Carla came up from Minnesota for it and she celebrated with her friends and family that have been a blessing in her life.

Introducing ....... dressed in glitter and gold.......the birthday girl herself!!!!! My stomach was so sore from laughing practically all evening at this crazy gal with her one-liners and stories plus some 80's fun games and music...... I think it was, without a doubt the most fun party I have been to in a long time.........

Shirley and Heather B (Heidi and these two have worked together alot with Kid's club and VBS)..........

Heather A. (she and Heidi could be sisters, they are so much alike) and cute and glowing "preggie" Carla (Heidi's younger sister).......

Libby (her and Heidi spent one year in Japan together) and my Bible School friend,Izzy (Heidi's mom)......

Janet and Rose (Janet and Diane, Heidi and Carol Forsyth have gone on several trips together down into the States to shop til they drop!!!!!! How fun!!)......in the background is Cory Mcgrath (Cory and Heidi have been friends for many years since King of Glory times) and Diane........ and then some of her neigbours were there and gals that she knows from the church she attends now..... so fun to get to know some of these ladies she has known for a long time as well as ones she has been friends with for a shorter period of time.....

Heather and Kayla (Heidi's daughter)....the judges of the fashion show..... to see who was dressed most like the 80's!! These two were hilarious as well with one-liners and quick answers......

A fun gift from her crazy brothers.......2008 swimsuit calendar of them sitting in the kiddie swimming pool!!! I love the look on your face Heidi!!!! Thank you for a great time!!