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!!

Autumn leaves.....how fun!!!!!

Friday afternoon, Heather came over with the kids and we went out to take some pictures in the park. Here Kalle is trying to throw some leaves in the air!!!

Peekaboo!!!! It is so pretty now with the brilliant colors and the leaves on the ground.

It was quite cold out so Nate has his hands in his pockets and wanted to go back to Gramma's house. We bribed him and Kalle with teddy grahams!!!!!!!

Wedding in Camrose.......

How pretty the trees are now.

Roger busy building his house. So fun to see them all.

Joy and Orv in their new house. It is the exact same plan as the last house they lived in so it does not look too much different. They are hoping they can stay in this one. It is so cute and cozy and very open.
Kirk and Janelle.

This past weekend we went up to Camrose for Kirk's wedding. We stayed at the school because there was no rooms left in the motels there or Wetaskwin apparently because of a hockey tournament. Harold was kind to let us rent out the suite that they have there for the special speakers. Anyway, we had coffee with Harold and Joyce Sat. afternoon and then went over to Roger and Carol's new house. It is going to be beautiful with a full suite for Aunty Ruth, Roger's mom. Roger and Carol were both there working so we got to see them too.

The wedding was Saturday night at a small village outside of Camrose in the community center and Kirk's grandpa Arnold married them. Two of Kirk's aunties sang "You lift me up" by Josh Grobin. Very beautiful. And of course it was fun to see all the boys again and their wives and little Gunnar. He has grown so much. Kjell is a good daddy.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with Joy and Orv and then we went to Resurrection and in the last two months, it has doubled in size. Lots of families with little children. I guess this summer they got a lot of families as a result of the VBS program. Then too, there are alot of students from the school that attend. It was so good to see that. Anyway, it was a busy weekend.