Winter and Waterton III

Bonnie's phrase of the day?

"This is a non-judgement day right? We're not gonna be judging my outfit right?"

Or

"If you see something that you think is my bum, I promise you it is not"

Oh Bonnie.

Then she promptly harshly judged me and my winter outfit.

The Leishman Cabin is not winterized. But the fire was a roaring.

Trent does good work.

Cathy hates pink. But loves her snow pants.

I like them too.

Amy. I like your layers.

We all snuggled into the car to drive to Red Rock Road (or whatever its called).
Cathy, Me, Clark Cahoon and Bon Tron.









We put Trent in the back of the burb. Poor dear. When we were done for the day we accidentally forgot him in there. And never came back for him.

Winter and Waterton II

I'll say it right now. I love my friends. And they are the reason that Waterton is great for me. If we were somewhere else, I would love it there too. I'm not picky. Being with them makes me happy. They're hilarious. ALL THE TIME. And ya just can beat that. And amazing in a hundred other ways.

For instance, during this Christmas season I havent been doing a ton of driving. I technically dont really have a car of my own. So they come and pick me up. For pretty much everything we do. And drive me home. They're seriously amazing.

Plus how cute are Bon Tron and I?
I just like us.

Another example you say? We're driving in the Leishman Suburb on our way to Waterton.

It is a tight fit.

Cathy, Bonnie, Me, Trent.

And then Scott and Jon Leishman and Amy in the front.

Tight fit.

But my friends kinda like me.

And let me lay across them in the back.

Good people I tell you.

Will She Wont She

Take a gander at this little ditty.

Yup. That envelope contains the fate of my life.

It tells me whether or not I suck at life.

It holds within it a little bit of my hopes and dreams.

It is my dental board results.

Was I terrified to open them?

Yes.

Did I contemplate not opening it?

Yes.

Guess what happened?

Yup. That is relief people. Washing over me.

I PASSED!!!!

Winter and Waterton I

Please Be In Love With Me.

Alberta is AMAZING.

Dec. 26 - Anti Christmas Dinner

Ok.. I'll admit. I made it sound like my mom cancelled Christmas. But lets be real for a moment. She would if she could. She's already streamlined us to the point where if she tries to cut out anything else she will have a mutiny on her hands. And that would end badly for her. We dont need much, but our traditions matter. Not to her. But to us.

But we deep fried a turkey. And it was amazing. Dave was totally quality control. He does a good job. Thats why we like him.









Katie came post-nap. And kinda reverted to the little girl of the summer. The one that makes grown adults cry cause she's ruthless in holding out her love. She's not a "just woke up" kinda person.

I cant really blame her tho. Grumpy pants run in the family on occasion. Or at least we share them.


Ben and my Dad played with Ryder's toys. It was precious.

Dinner was amazing.

















It always is.

Anti-Christmas Christmas

This year my mother vetoed Christmas Dinner. On Christmas anyways. She figured the big waffle breakfast we have and the left over Chinese food would be enough. She wanted a break. She needed to get to enjoy the day instead of slaving away making dinner. And truth be told - I bluster that is was a big deal to me. But really it wasnt. I didnt even miss Christmas Dinner. And its not like I havent missed it before (the year they refused to wake me up for dinner). So woman - we bluster at your need to change tradition, but all in all I really didnt mind.

So this is how the day went.

We ate breakfast. Mm.... waffles are SO filling. And = LOVE.
Then we sat down to open presents. The phone rang - anyone who knows us knows that we all contemplated ignoring the phone.
Good thing we didnt. It was Missionary Matt. Calling for Christmas.

Say Hello Elder Lowry










I miss Matt.

He had a half hour  to talk to us. But we thought he had an hour. All I wanted to do was just talk to him on my own. So when we finally started doing individual seshes I was excited. My turn came. I asked him about his companion. If he was cute... he stopped and ask his companion if he was cute. Matt relayed that the answer was yes. And then asked if I wanted to talk to him. NO! I wanted to be talking to Matt. If his companion thinks I'm cute and is cute himself thats just a bonus right?

In my opinion missionary phone calls are always freaking awkward. I love my brothers but when they become the name tag... Man, phone calls are awkward. But hearing Matt's voice. That was good. I cant wait for him to come home. Sure its another like 10 months. But I'm already prepping myself.

The children said hello to Matt.
That last a whole ten seconds.
Then they were bored.
And wanted to open presents.
And Katie proceeded to go and stand on every single present.
Precious.











These two are cute.
And kinda my favorite.
Its fun like that.

PRESENT TIME!

So Ryder was asked to open a present for the new baby Stryker (P.S. the babies real name isnt stryker we just call her that cause seriously thats a ballin name)

Please notice his face. I caught it from the side but its still epic.

Poor child looks SO disappointed.

Katie on the other hand LOVED it. The baby is gonna have to fight her for it.

My father received house keys.

That have been sitting on the microwave since the installation of the new doors.

My parents think they're funny.

I got a new camera. That I already love.

Many pictures have already been taken with it.

FYI Cathy and I have matching cameras now.

Awesome.

The children got real gifts too.

Ryder needed to be told that his sweater was cool tho before he was happy with it.

Ryder unwrapped a printer.

In which was hidden a Batman xbox game.

He was pumped.

Dave unwrapped his present. There was a lot of newspaper.

But the iPod touch was totes worth it.

This is really proof that Lindsay and Ben got gifts.

Our Christmas was pretty low key.

But I actually kinda liked that.

My mother vetoed Christmas dinner.

But it really wasnt a big deal.

I like that our family is low key.

Makes me happy.

Run Run

My dad raps softly on my door this morning and peeks his head in.

"Run Run?"

My eyes flutter open. It takes a moment to let my mind begin to boot up.

I'm still tired. Again, I went to bed late and am woken up early.

"Run Run? Its noon your time."

... ... ...

"Ten am this time. You coming?"

Yes I am coming.

I love the Saturday morning runs with my Dad.

First I am exercising - something I should be doing everyday.

Second - Runs allow us to chat. Its our time together. Just him and me.

I think often about the runs we've taken together, especially when I'm far and away and unable to be part of them.

I'm a sucky runner. But he lets me control the pace.

Doesnt matter if the pace is running him into the ground or ridiculously slow.

I love our runs.

We talk.

It is awesome.

And I never doubt that I am important to him.

There are other people that I may not always feel important to.

But my dad is not one of them.

Our run was a suckfest. Guess thats what I get for not having done cardio since October.

But we got home and cleared all the ice off the driveway.

The whole driveway was ice FYI and not small.

Then we went and washed his truck and my mom's car.

They we went and got bandaid's and hair products.

And then dropped the recycling off and bought pickles.
And he told me that its not fair when I wear makeup... cause it enhances and makes me even more beautiful.
I rolled my eyes at that.

But I love my Dad.

The End.

P.S.

My mother said there was a huge bug in the garage. And needed my Dad to come kill it.

This is what he brings back in the house...

Can you tell what it is?

Its a huge mother bug - on a tooth pick.

Who does that?

Good thing Dad was there.

My hero.

Red Lips

How do we feel about my first attempt into red lips?


Good, Bad, Hideous? I kinda like it.


Now I know why Bonnie loves it.