No such thing as Relaxation

So the boys and I are here in Raymond having lots of fun with Grammie and Grandpa. Both of them have decided to throw out their old morning schedule and we have been getting up at 6:30 in the morning....sigh. I'm really not a morning person and this has been a little rough on me. I'm afraid that the first couple of mornings I was less than gracious for the first 10 or 15 minutes of sunlight meeting my eyes. However, seeing as we're all up anyways and Grammie and myself are both working on losing some unwanted pounds, we've been throwing the boys into the stroller and going for a fabulous 1 hour walk every morning this week. It's been a lot of fun - for us girls - the boys have been a little bored and a couple of mornings it was pretty chilly but they're troopers! Who would have ever guessed that I would have to put a toque on my kids in June! Oh yeah - anyone who's ever lived in southern Alberta and experienced wind!

Of course we don't just sit around for the rest of the day either. Every day we've had quite the extensive list of things to get done and so far we've accomplished all of them. We've played at the park with cousins (Colton, Daxon, Tyson and Bryson), gone to the library, gone to Taber, surprised Grandma Johnson, gone to Lethbridge twice, hit a park every day, had a picnic, read books, watered flowers, played soccer....and believe me the list goes on. It's been so much fun. I think I will always remember the night that Grammie and Grandpa turned their living room into a soccer field for Zane and Grandpa to have a soccer match (the wind was very cold)! Grammie, Rhett and I sat on one of the couches and cheered and laughed and had a good time.

So basically we're having a lot of fun and have lots more planned...hopefully we'll be able to get it all in! Sorry I have no new pics on this one - I can't upload them here! You'll have to wait for the next couple of posts!

Date Night!

It's official: Cliff and I have been out on a date two weekends in a row! Yep, I know. This kind of thing just doesn't happen in our world very often. It's not that we don't spend time together...it's just that we generally do all of our "going out" stuff with the kids and our "dates" consist of watching a movie or our favorite TV shows together with the kids tucked in bed. (And I kinda like it that way!) So what may you ask prompted two dates on two consecutive Fridays? Movies of course! Last week we went to Pirates 3 with Dave and Leslie and had soooo much fun. The movie theater itself was a little scary, ok a lot scary, but the company and movie and laughs we had made it all worth it. And tonight we saw Ocean's 13. If you're an Ocean's fan you'll like it. If you're not, you probably won't watch it anyways so it doesn't matter. And of course we have to give a huge thank you to Auntie Kizzy for coming to babysit our boys (and Auntie Jenna for being willing if we could ever get our schedules to collide!) We love and appreciate both of you so much!



A few posts ago I mentioned that we were counting sleeps until we went to Raymond....we still are but they have gotten considerably shorter. The new plan is for me and the boys to go home this Sunday (yep, 2 sleeps) and Cliff will follow on Friday. My dad is going to meet us in Calgary and we'll swap vehicles so Cliff isn't walking to work every day. (In case you're wondering it's a 15 minute drive up and down hills so walking would take a lot longer.) We're looking forward to being in Raymond and enjoying the sunshine - at least that's what the weather network is forecasting today.



Rhett has slept through the night almost every day this week....I say this as I'm knocking on wood. I know that there are lots of you moms who are blessed with children who start sleeping through the night as mere babes...my kids are not of that batch. You know when you look at parenting books or those info sheets that you get at the health unit and they give you the kids age and then say that at this age they should be sleeping blank amount of hours? And it's always a range, say from 12 to 16 hours a day. My kids have always been on the low end of that scale, if not under. Apparently they are afraid that they will miss something. However, Rhett seems to have mastered the one nap a day thing and is sleeping much better at night. Please, for my sanity, pray that it will continue! He has also finally cut one of his molars! My poor child has the roughest time with cutting teeth. Zane was hardly ever bothered by them so it's been kind of a sucker punch with Rhett and teething. We have also given up the soother. I say we because we both liked it. I should probably say it was hard and that we had a big strategy in place and all of that....but really I think he just out grew it. I'd noticed for a couple of weeks that he really didn't look for it but would suck on it if I offered it. Then he just started chucking it wherever he wanted and really didn't want it. So, I gathered them all up - yes there were multiples - and I threw them away. And that was that. I got a break on something!



Zane continues to love everything pirate. We went to the farmer's market in Innisfail with Leslie, the kids, and her mom, and I bought him some Usborne books about pirates. He loves them. One of them is kinda a "Where's Waldo" type thing where you have to find a pirate on every page and then there's all these different things for you to find as well. Supposedly there's 1001 things to find in all...and I think we're just over half way there. He's also decided that he likes being artistic again. For awhile he's shown no interest in all of his art stuff (and we have a lot!) but this week we made flowers out of egg cartons, a caterpillar out of egg cartons and he painted some great masterpieces. We've also been preparing for his first talk in primary. I asked the primary president what they wanted out of the Sunbeams and she said if all he wanted to do was get up there and say " I love Jesus" that was good with them. Basically it's just for the experience. So, I came up with the plan to read a story with him. It's this great board book that we got at the Cardston Book Store called "No Dinosaurs at Church" and is a story about a little boy with an active imagination and wrestling with being reverent in church. It's really quite cute and Zane's really familiar with it so it's been going great - so far. I'm hoping that having me involved in the story will take some of the pressure off of him when we get up there and he won't be as nervous. We'll see. And if I end up reading the whole story while he stands there with me....well that's ok to. I remember crying through my first talk sitting on my teacher's knee while mom read it at the pulpit.



I've been a real slacker at taking pictures lately - I keep meaning to bring my camera to the park with us...and then I forget. Rhett loves the swing and hates to get out and half the time I only know where Zane is because I can find his red hat!



Did I forget to mention that Grandpa Dooley got to visit us this week? We had lots of fun playing with Grandpa....and I've got the pics to prove it. Enjoy!

Father's Day

Today is a special day because it is the day that we get to say Thanks to all the father's in our lives. I'm very lucky to have several in mine....

First of all my hubby, Cliff:

He is an awesome daddy! He loves his boys so much and does everything he can to make our lives great. I love to watch him play with Zane and Rhett and see how their relationships are developing. What more can a girl ask for than a wonderful husband who loves her and their kids and puts them first?

Of course we both think the world of our dad as well....we had good teachers! We appreciate everything that they did, and of course continue to do.

My brain is churning with lots to say....but nothing that is coming to a good point when I type it. So, I guess what I'll say is HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dad's out there and thank them for the awesome job that they do!

Lots of Little Thoughts

So this past week was hard but good. I worked really hard on changing my eating habits and incorporating more activity into my day...and it paid off! I lost 6.2 lbs in a week! When the lady told me this morning I just about started to cry from happiness. There were a few times during the week that I thought it couldn't possibly be worth it and it would be better just to stay where I am...but now that I know the changes are actually making a difference it will make those moments eaiser to get through. Plus I have felt a lot better physically. I haven't had a headache in over a week - and that's really good for me, my energy level is a lot better, and my clothes fit a bit better!

Apparently here in Red Deer we have entered Monsoon season! It seems like it is raining every other day, if not every day. I'm itching to get out with the kids and my stroller today but I have to wait for the rain to stop. It's been thundering and lightning for over an hour now! Crazy weather. I might have to settle for dancing crazily to some fun music with the kids. Rhett is so funny - as soon as I head for the CD player his whole face just lights up and he poses there ready and waiting for the music to start. If it has a good beat he just starts bopping and popping his little body along. It's so cute. Really I need to plan it so that I have my video camera close on hand so I can get it on tape.

Last night I actually got to sleep through the night - something that hasn't happened in awhile. I couldn't believe that the clock said 6:53 when Zane came in and not some insane time like 2:34. It seems like the boys have been taking turns waking up in the night and of course that means I'm up too. Hopefully this will be the start of a long stretch of sleeping through the night. Is it too much to ask for?

We are currently counting sleeps until we go to Grammie and Grandpa Dooley's house for the July 1 weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing all our family and friends and Rhonda Steed is going to take pictures of our little family and our big family. I'm really excited. It's long past due as we don't have a picture on our wall with all four of us in it. Sad really, I know. I LOVE Rhonda's work so I know that they will look fabulous!

We are also enjoying Cliff's Father's day gift - Zane begs me every day to play Cars with him. We're actually both starting to get a lot better. It's fun to just spend time with him doing something that he likes to do. I couldn't ask for better kids then I have. Here's some pictures of the boys and Cliff hanging out together!

Timely Answers and Bling

One of my worst nightmares came true today - no I didn't lose a child - a little less drastic, but nonetheless it still really shook me. A random glance at my hand earlier today revealed to me a big hole in my wedding ring where my diamond usually resides. Yep - no diamond. It was an awful feeling! I immediately prayed and asked for help finding it, then got up and went back to where I had been a few minutes earlier - the garbage, throwing little crumbs and rocks away. After a quick glance I knew I'd never find anything in there and sat down on my entry way carpet to have a good cry. (Rhett was sitting in his chair having a snack and found this hilarious) I finally pulled myself together and put my hand on the floor to brace my ascent, and noticed that right next to my hand was my diamond! I profusely thanked my Heavenly Father for His help and quickly put both the ring and the diamond into a ziploc bag. We'll be sending it to our jewler in Lethbridge in the next couple of days to get fixed, and in the meantime we bought me a $10 replacement at Walmart. I'm going to put a picture up here because it's a lot of bling for me! I keep staring at my finger even though I know it's not real!

The rest of the day passed just fine. I got a softball glove that's pink and black (mostly black) and is apparently for a child but I like how it fits and handles and it's not like i"m going pro anyways. Cliff got his Father's day gift early - a new XBOX 360 and a couple of games. And we took the kids out for supper at AppleBees. Not bad - Rhett was a crank and didn't want much but his bottle. I can't figure out if he has a cold and is cutting molars or if it's just the molars - but he sure doesn't want much but a cold bottle in his mouth! Zane bought his first toy gun today with some of his money - a new stage that we've entered? It came with a sheriff's badge and a black mask for the bad guy and he's just dying to try it out. Cliff promised to play with him tomorrow after work but i"m sure my day is going to be filled with cops and robbers. Sigh - the things our second children get exposed to when they have older siblings. Zane wasn't even allowed to have a sword until this past halloween, let alone a gun.

Oh, and I have done really well today with my program - we went to a park that's about 30 mins away and I jogged almost half of it - couple mins walking and then 1 minute jogging. I'm quite surprised by how much I like jogging with the stroller. And eating went well - need to sit down and do some planning so prep doesn't take so long, but all in all a good day!

Nothing Tastes Better than Thin Feels!

For those of you who know me well you either know or can guess that I have not been successful in the battle of weight loss thus far. I LOVE food, and of course it's not the really good food for you that I usually reach for. That said, I took my first step forward today and renewed my battle - and yes, I do believe that it is a battle. I joined Weight Watchers today and I'm really glad that I did. I really feel that having the accountability and the knowledge they provide will help me to be successful this time.
Today included my first weigh in - scary but not as scary as I thought it was going to be, setting my first weight loss goal, and hearing my new favorite saying - Nothing tastes better than being thin! I chanted that to myself as I passed all my favorites with a hungry tummy at the grocery store and I did great!
I also have to pat myslef on the back tonight because I have exercised 4 times this week - very good for me!
Another first this week - I played softball last night - something that I haven't done since highschool! I really enjoyed it and now the team is short a girl so I'm going to play for the last couple of games and then continue on .
No pics today - I'll post some of me along the way as I lose my weight!

I'm a Mom!

This line was a little funny to me a couple of weeks ago when I was reading a blog from a parenting site. The woman's point was that with her first baby she always had the guilty thought of 'playing' the part of mommy but not actually fitting the concept and position. Now, almost a year after her second child she described a night that a lot of us have had - wrenched from a dead sleep by the sound of a child puking. What once would have thrown the whole night turned into what she describes as 'clean pajamas, sheets and pillows flowing from her arms and a kiss and reasurrance allowing her daughter to go right back to sleep. She started the laundry on the way back to bed and slept the rest of the night instead of staying awake listening for awful gagging noises.' She said it was at this time that she realized that she had actually acheived 'mom' status. And yes, I do have a point. Although I don't think I've ever felt like I was faking it, this story quickly came to mind in the middle of last night when we discovered that Rhett had a fairly high temperature. Instead of rushing to the hospital which would have been my first reaction a few years ago, I called Cliff, he gave Rhett a blessing, we gave him some tylenol, and after some cuddles I tucked him back in bed. I definitely felt like a seasoned mom as I crawled into bed and went back to sleep. His fever seems to have broken now and we're pretty sure he's just cutting molars.

I've had a lot of thoughts running through my head today - how quickly my kids are growing, how blessed we are to be where we are, and how much I miss being close to our families. Mostly though, I'm just happy to be with my family and to have my precious boys and husband. Some new pics of my boys - Zane was a little miffed that I didn't have any of just him so I made sure to take some today. What a kid!

Troublemaker!

Have you all met my troublmaker? He's just under 3 feet normally....but he somehow reaches things that are 4 feet high....and he has discovered how to open drawers without handles! Yes, I am talking about Rhett. He's latest delights are to open the drawer under the stove and pull out my pots and pans and lids. He was into throwing the lids until one landed on his toes yesterday - now it's much better to pull the pots out and line them up in front of the stove. Then, while mom is distracted putting those away he takes off to the living room and goes after the keyboard and mouse on the computer desk. Nevermind that mom has put them up on top of the desk - he has learned which cord to pull so they come tumbling down onto the floor.

He also fell asleep today eating his lunch...and of course I took pictures. You just gotta love them!

A little of this and That!

It's been a busy week for us Johnsons! We spent Wednesday, Thursday, and some of Friday in Edmonton for Cliff's Lasik eye surgery. All went well and he can now see much better and no longer needs his glasses! Yeah for him! We also got to do some fun things with the kids - we spent and afternoon in West Ed and Cliff and Zane did some mini-golf. We watched the sea lion show from inside the arena- lots of laughs! and of course did some swimming at the hotel. So lots of fun, and a few challenges (2 kids in one hotel room...you do the math)

We also moved Rhett into a big boy bed! We originally built a bunk on the bottom of Zane's loft bed, but after one night we discovered that it was much too short - he couldn't sit up without bonking his head. Not ideal. So, yesterday the boys and I went bed shopping and got a great deal at JYSK. We got it all set up last night and we're off and running with no more crib and hopefully better sleep to come!

I am also moving forward with my decorating plans for the kids room. I'm going with a beach theme (did I mention that I loved California!) I got new curtains made and love them. Im' going to take some of the surfing pics that we took and blow them up and frame them. I hope to get the dressers and book shelf painted too and then I'll be able to say that I actually decorated one room by planning it instead of with what I had in the house.

So, here's some pics of the old bed, new bed, and the curtains!

So much to tell!

We had a wonderful time in California! It was nice weather - not to hot and not too cold. A little smokey because of brush fires around but that kept me from getting too burnt! We did tons of touristy things - took over 200 pictures! We edited them down a bit...but still have lots to show our good memories! We also discovered that if I am going to fly I have to have anti-nausea medicine. I'll spare you the details (those of you I have told I know are still laughing!) And that I love baby palm trees. Also - never ever ever go anywhere without your temple recommend! I keep mine with my clothes and we ended up with the opportunity to go to the LA temple - something we didn't think we were going to be able to do - but since my recommend was in Red Deer we had to settle for walking around the grounds. Their visitor center was closed for renos. All in all it was a fabulous 2nd honeymoon and I would highly recommend a trip of that length to anyone who has been married 5+ years! (Thanks again mom and dad for wathing the boys!)

Oh - most favorite thing we did - was the Medival Times dinner and show! So cool! They do real jousting, sword fighting, ride horses, costumes, great food, wonderful horse ballet show! We can't say enough good things about it. There is one in Canada - Toronto - and the rest are in the states. If you are ever in an area to see one - do it! You won't regret it. (Thanks Leslie for the tip!)

We're kinda back to reality - we leave tomorrow morning for Edmonton - Cliff is getting a pre-op consult for Lasik eye surgery and if it goes well he will be getting done on Thursday. So, we're in Edmonton until Friday sometime - most likely!

This and That

I'm supposed to be packing right now....but I'm stressing and need to de-stress a little. Let me back up - we are leaving in 2 more sleeps - that means leaving my children and getting on an airplane and leaving - most of me is excited, some is sad to leave. The control freak in me is having a hard time right now because I was informed by my boss today that we have to get about 4 hours of yard work done tomorrow and that just does not fit well with my schedule. Grrr. Oh well...I will get done what I can get done.

Rhett had his 1 yr checkup yesterday....he is 25 lbs, 10.5 ounces and 32 inches tall! What a bruiser this kid is! I was curious to see how much bigger he is than Zane was and on Zane's birthday he was 25 lbs and 31 inches. So not as big of a difference as I thought. Maybe it's just because he's been mobile for a while now and Zane didn't start walking on his own until 13 months.

I had lots to say until I started to type....I know that we are going to have a fabulous vacation and I'm so glad my wonderful husband decided that we needed this!

Birthday #1!!

Rhett's birthday #1 has come and gone...and it was a lot of fun! Here are some of my favorite pictures....

Grandma & Grandpa J, Auntie Kristie, & Uncle Jamie were able to be her ethis weekend with us. (We'll do cake next weekend with my family). Rhett LOVED his cupcake - I wasn't surprised since he devoured the one at Zane's party. He was very enchanted by the fire and quite mystified when Zane blew it out for him. As for presents....he really could have cared less about the wrapping paper....until it was off the presents.... but was enthralled by the new trucks that he recieved. Zane had a tough time understanding that Rhett got to see, touch and play with first, but he did pretty good. All in all it was a fun weekend and we're looking forward to the next year!

Happy Birthday Rhett

Today is Rhett's 1st birthday - and yes, I am awed at how fast the year has gone by. One minute we had this tiny little baby who smelled good and stayed put, and then we blinked and he was replaced with a toddler who never stands still, loves to chase his brother and brings life and joy into our house. What did we ever do without him in our family?

Of course I have been remembering all week the details of last year on this day - and I am so thankful for modern medicine, talented and caring nurses and doctors, and technology. Without the list above neither Rhett nor I would have made it here. It's a very sobering thought - one that I have tried not dwell on. Moving on from the morbid: Although today is his actual "birthday" he doesn't seem changed from yesterday or the day before. I was thinking that we all change just a little in small ways every day and then when we look back we can see just how far we have come.

We haven't had the party yet - Cliff's family is coming in sometime tomorrow and we will do the cupcakes and presents then. We did let him open the gift from Zane - and Zane had a hard time with the fact that it was Rhett's and that Rhett should get to check it out first. Sigh, the trials of being the first child. I did take some pics today (which will follow shortly) and had the idea that I would be able to to post a picture from last year in the SCN and follow it with one from today. However, my computer is having issues today and not wanting to read the pics that I burned onto my CD from last year. (I had over 1000 pics so they could not all sit on my harddrive!) I can see the images with their numbers but not open for some reason. Beyond frustration right now but my list of things to do is still quite long so I will worry about it another day. Instead, I will post some pics from today!

He was such a happy little boy today, even though he got short-shifted on his naps! We went for lunch and ran a ton of errands in the yucky, sleety rain, and he smiled the whole time. What a trooper!

We love our little boy Rhett and hope that all of his birthdays will be marked with so many smiles and so many changes in the year before!

Conversations

I am constantly amazed at the conversation topics Zane comes up with. The following is a conversation we had in the van on the way to the toy store. I had noticed that he was just staring out the window and was looking very serious:
me: Zane, what's wrong?
Zane: Nothing - I'm just thinking
me: What are you thinking about
Zane: i'm thinking about what I want to be when I grow up
me: Oh, well that's good. What do you think you want to be?
Zane: A doctor
me: Well a doctor is a good thing. Why do you want to be a doctor
Zane: Because they help people.
me: Yes, they do help people. We have a good doctor who helps us. You could be like him.
Zane: Yeah, or maybe a fire man.
me: Yes fire men help people too
Zane: Yeah, and they get to shoot water! (much enthusiasm at this part)
me: (trying not to giggle now) Yes, they do get to shoot water too
Zane: But I don't know how to shoot water - sigh
me: That's ok - they teach you how to shoot water in Fireman school. You could go after your mission.
Zane: Yeah, after my mission I can learn how to shoot the water.
This was the end of his profound speech but I have been floored by it all day. Who knew that my 4 year old was thinking about different professions in the world and wondering which ones he would like already. Sigh - he's growing up way too fast.

Once we got to the toy store the mission was to buy a present for Rhett and one for our friend Kobee - both from Zane. So we started through the toys looking for Rhett and Zane would gravitate towards everything that HE wanted - any time I pointed out something that I thought Rhett would like he would say no. Finally we agreed on a toy and found something for Kobee. As an aside - shopping for little girls when you only have boys - even though I am a girl myself - is a hard undertaking! We went with princess dress up stuff so hopefully that will be a hit.

Rhett still hasn't cut his 8th tooth yet - sigh. I'm really hoping that he does it before we get to Grandma's.

I think that's the most profound I can be tonight!

Motrin - my new best friend!

Today was a day that I needed Leslie here! (Don't get me wrong - I am thrilled for you to be in Toronto and hope that you are having the time of your life!)
It's just that last night was Hell. We stayed up until midnight with the missionaires watching the documentary on PBS all about Mormons. (they got special permission from their Area leader). I was really disappointed because they basically made us seem like kooks. But I won't get started on that because my mom and I already hashed about it for about an hour and it just makes me frustrated and sad. We hadn't even made it to bed yet when Rhett woke up. I went to get him some pain meds - he finally cut the right bottom tooth he's been working on but now is on to the left - and realized that we were out of Motrin. Not good. So I gave him some Tylenol Cold (he was pretty stuffy) and that just didn't even touch it! I tried everything that I could think of to get him to doze off again. Bottles, rocking, humming, no humming, little chair, big chair, couch. You name it and I tried it. He would get drowsy and his breathing would go all deep and even and I'd think - finally - and look down to see these gorgeous blue eyes just looking up at me in misery - and me being the horrible mom that I can be sometimes - actually had the audacity to yell at him a few times when he was screaming like a banshee. He has develped a new scream and I think it is about 50x worse than his old loudest scream. Finally around 2 I put him down and he started wondering around the house. He'd pick up a toy and bring it to me and I would tell him that I wasn't playing and that I wanted to sleep. He'd just look at me like - why would you want to sleep now mom? He even went to the window and pulled the curtain back so he could look outside - it was really cute but I was not in the mood to laugh at him. He finally conked out around 3:30 and I stumbled to bed praying that he would sleep until 8:00. (I know, I know, but I can dream right!) Yeah, 5:30 rolls around and he's up screaming again. Thankfully he took a bottle and was asleep by 6:00 so off to bed I went again. Both boys were up at 7:00 and Cliff got up with them but I was up 10 mintues later because Rhett was crying and screaming and beating at my door. I got him some breakfast and headed back to bed but he just screamed and cried. Definitely didn't want me out of his sight. Even with a full belly when I headed off to the shower he stood in the hall and cried and screamed the entire time. Poor Cliff. Rhett wants nothing to do with him when he gets into this mood. I had given him more tylenol at some point but obviously it wasn't working. We took Cliff to work and drove straight to WalMart where I bought more Motrin and some of those teething soothers which apparently he doesn't like. Sigh. We got home and I finally got him to sleep around 10 - he only slept for 45 mins so I only got a half hour nap. Can we say Zombie!!!! I was determined that he get some sleep so I worked for another 45 mins and finally got him back to sleep for an hour and a half - and he stayed up for the rest of the day. Ahhhhhh!!!!! He was fairly decent though once he woke up - I just have to keep him drugged for the next couple of days until this silly tooth finally cuts.

Whew - I feel better. When I tell you these things I know that you know exactly how I feel and will just let me vent without thinking that I am such a whiner. At least, that's what I tell myself and if you think differently I don't want to know! Hee Hee Hee.

I hope that you guys are having a fabulous time (if you are reading this in Toronto) and if you are already home I missed you tons!

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.