Just for Leslie!

For those of you who don't know, my best friend Leslie is in Toronto for a week and I am under strict instructions to blog several times in order to catch her up! So if the rest of you don't want to read these entries for the next week I will understand. To make it easier I'm going to type just like I would talk to Leslie - by the way you've only been gone for 3 days and already I am going into phone withdrawl!



I know you've been waiting to see me all dudded up and girly girly so I'll post the pics first and then tell you all the details of the awards night last night. (so fun!)

My hair was sooooo curly! I told Melissa that she had to make sure it wouldn't move (It was a little windy) and she
pulled out a can of hair
spray called helmet head! It definitely did it's job! Rhett didn't recognize me for a minute when he woke up from his nap - poor kid is so miserable with these teethe. I got dressed, did makeup and headed to Trail to pick up Cliff. A couple of sales guys were sitting there when I walked in and I got "wows" from them so that made me feel pretty good. Cliff was just finishing up with a customer but was very impressed when he was done. So I was feeling very gorgeous and that was nice! (Still going to join weight watchers when we get home though) So we left Trail and headed for the Lodge. We met Chris and his girl friend Carrie at the little pub restaurant there and Janice and Alan got there at the same time as us. So we hung out there for a while and it was a little interesting for me because I've never really hung out with Chris or Carrie. But the longer we sat there the more I forgot how much younger I am and just really enjoyed it. Then we moved to "poolside". This is where they were having cocktails and h'deuvers and checking everyone in. It was torture!!!! It was crowded, noisy and the floor was all uneven which made walking in my fab shoes not the best thing I've ever done. Thankfully we were only out there for 10 or 15 mins before we got to head into the ball room. We found our table which was right up front and we were thinking that this was great until they turned the speakers on. Oh my gosh I don't think my hearing will ever be the same again. The MC was the guy who does the Rebel games - goes out on ice with a jersy over his suite and explains the halfgame show etc. Can't remember his name - sorry. As he started going throught he program I was trying so hard not to giggle because you could totally tell that he was a hockey guy just by the infulction and emphasis of his voice. But after a while I got used to it. But there were a lot of other weird things - they started off with O Canada - no biggie except that NO ONE sang. I was really surprised. Then they called the mayor to say a prayer - and called him His Worship. Too weird for me. So the mayor steps up to pray and unrolls a piece of paper and starts reading his prayer. Immediately the thought came to me that this was just like Rameumpton in the Book of Mormon - especially when he got to the end and it rhymed! Cliff didn't get to experience this because he was in line to get us some drinks. So they started off with the 1st half of the awards and there was one company who I swear only hire employees if they are ex-cheerleeders. Every time they were nominated and then if they won their tables would errupt into screams and shouts and clapping - which is great to show company pride and all but I thought it was a little tacky for an awards night. But no one asked me. They serverd supper after the first half were awarded - it was pretty good. Fruit salad on lettuce, sorbet that apparently had champagne in it but no one bothered to tell us until we had eaten a good portion - then main course of beef with salsa on it and yummy roasted veggies. Dessert (I can never remember if this has 2 s's or 1....sigh) was a row of strawberries, then whip creme, then chocolate that looked like a cookie but was really soft with a truffle next to it. Very rich - Cliff ended up with his and the leftovers of a couple others and was buzzing pretty good for awhile. After supper they started the rest of the awards. Trail was up for supplier of the year but didn't get it- maybe next year. After the awards people just mingled as they blasted music out. Some people were very very very tipsy - there were a couple of younger girls whom I'm assuming came as dates. One girl actually tripped and fell and just about bashed her head into the stage! She lost her shoe in the process and after 3 attempts of putting it back on her friend stepped in to help her. Meanwhile their dates were standing back taking pictures. Again...I'm so grateful for my husband! So it was a different night then we usually spend but it was a lot of fun too.

Time Warp

I feel like I have been the victim of a time warp - the last post I had was 2 weeks ago but it seems like it was more like 2 months. We've jammed a lot of things into the past couple of weeks!

Cliff and I were able to go to Calgary and apply for our passports. We went up Wednesday night and stayed with his aunt & uncle, while Zane had his first sleep over at a friends house! He did fabulously! I was really worried that he would be ok when we dropped him off but have a really hard time when it was time for bed and stuff but I couldn't have been more wrong! My very grown up 4 year old informed me that it was only a sleepover and I had to beg for a hug and kiss good bye. Happily we only had to be in line for about 45 minutes in the morning and ended up being #16. 20 minutes after they opened we were processed and on our way to breakfast! We should be receiving our passports by the end of the month, or first week of May.

We were also blessed to be able to go home for Easter and had a lot of fun with both families. Zane and Rhett had a lot of fun finding eggs - Zane finding the eggs that were hidden and Rhett finding the eggs that were in Zane's basket! Lots of treats and spoilage for all. The Easter bunny also made sure to bring some nice new church books for the kids - to try and emphasize the real meaning of Easter. We went to church in Barnwell and were really blessed to see lots of old friends. It's always like going home when we go to the Barnwell ward.

I am so thankful for all the things that the Easter season brings: spring, egg hunts, flowers, birds etc. But most important I am so thankful for my Saviour and for his sacrifice for me. Because of the Atonement I can depend on Him for the remission of my sins, as well as the comfort and knowledge of eternal families and burdens that are lightened. There is nothing that He hasn't experienced or suffered and I know that He will help me through all things in my life as long as I ask him.

Cliff has good news for him that translates to good news for our family! Trail has been working for awhile to get a particular builder here in Red Deer to use them as their supplier for appliances. For those who don't know how this works, here's a quick summary: The home owner buys the house from the builder and the appliances are already included in the price. When a builder has a contract with Trail, their account is assigned to a sales person who makes sure the proper appliances are delivered on time etc and helps the home owner pick out different appliances if they want. Then that sales person gets commission on the product put into that home. This particular builder does a massive amount of homes per year and has agreed to award 60 homes to Trail at the moment. If they like the way things go they will award the whole contract of 500-600 houses PER YEAR to Trail. So, how is this good news for Cliff you ask? Well he is the sales person that is in charge of this account! So, potentially if things go well he will be making commission on all those houses per year! The rest of the news is that he is soon going to be the Assistant Manager of Trail here in Red Deer. I am so proud of my hubby! He has worked really hard to get to this spot and is being rewarded for the last 2 years of hard work! Congrats hon! (Of course this means that my golf widowship has just been signed and sealed. Sigh.)

Here's some cute pics of my kids! Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend and congrats again to Suz and Keith for their beautiful baby boy Cameron born on Easter Sunday and Tisha and James for their beautiful baby boy TJ born on the 13th! All the best to you and your new babes!

Red Tape and New Steps

If you have ever applied for a passport you will understand what I mean by red tape. As most of you know Cliff and I are going to California in May and we are just finishing up on everything for our passports. We have to have references and someone from a big list of professionals that have know us for at least 2 years verify our identity. As we have lived here just under 2 years that has caused a little extra work for us. Thank goodness Cliff's Aunt Bev is a lawyer and happy to help us. Thanks again Auntie Bev! Oh, and I hope I never have to show my passport picture to anyone but the person behind the counter. Because you can't smile I look so sad in my picture. Really I'm just sleep deprived but you don't really notice how much a smile does for you until you have a picture where you can't smile. Anyways, hopefully we will get everything together in time for a quick trip to the consolate in Calgary this week before heading home for Easter.

Rhett is walking more and more each day. It's funny because sometimes he'll start walking and just keep going and then other times he starts off and then changes his mind and crawls - I don't know if it's because he can get there faster by crawling or if he gets distracted by something in front of him. Either way he thinks he's quite the kid now - he likes to walk around with a bottle in his hand and stop and take a swig every now and then. He's also discoverd his voice! Everything he says these days is done in a shriek. I don't know if my ears will ever be the same. Still I wouldn't trade him in!

Zane has the cold that has had me down for most of the week but I think he'll rebound quickly. He slept a lot today and hopefully he'll sleep some more tomorrow and be good to go by mid week. He is his usual busy self and although he loves his little brother he is definitely getting frustrated with him wanting everything that Zane has. We are also working on learning how to ride a bike! He never learned how to ride a trike so he has to learn how to pedal....it's going pretty good. If the weather would cooperate it would go a lot faster. But he seems to be enjoying it.

This is a short post....we are just hoping that we will all be healthy by the weekend so we can enjoy our time with everyone at Easter and me and the boys can stay for a week!