Hooked on Phoenix

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I would love to live in a city with a mountain in the middle!
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Yesterday Keith took us to hike Camelback Mountain. I don't know exactly when I got so outdoors-y (the last 10 years , I guess), but I think this will be the highlight of the trip for me!

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It was a gorgeous hike. The day was nice and cool, perfect for working so hard hiking to the summit.

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Here is most of the hiking crew. Keith and I will remember we were there to.

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Close to the trail head we found a 'cave'. We found several more along the trail, but much to Chloe's dismay we didn't stop and take a picture in each of them.
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We had some disparity in our hiking abilities. The whole thing (up, over, down the other side) took us 4 hours as a group. Steven would have liked to have done it twice as fast. Jaclyn could have done it at Steven's pace, but was happier about staying back and helping the smaller hikers.
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We had no idea that the hike would be so challenging. There was lots of scrambling, very little trail. It was tough. And Chloe did it in Crocs because we didn't bring her runners. Her footwear choices for the hike were snow boots or Crocs. We felt a little judged by other hikers on the trail (Ken overheard comments) but Chloe didn't suffer. In fact she sang and danced all the way down from the summit.

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This fence was probably to keep houses below safe from falling rock - and the rail was to help you up and down (that's Jaclyn in the green scaling right up the middle with no aid from the rail). While we scaled this part of the mountain, I figured it was probably the hardest part of the hike, but the bouldering near the top was actually more difficult.
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Here are the Summiteers (Ken and I will remember we were there.) From the top, the kids and I hiked down the other side while Ken turned around to return to the car so that he could pick us up from the other trail head.

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(Eventually.)

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(Since it turned out that I had the car keys with me in my pack.)

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(Oops.)

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Christmas (American Style)

Steven and Ken dragged Keith out on Christmas Eve Day to try something new. Not a traditional Christmas event for Keith, but probably an impossible Canadian Christmas Event:



They just walked into a gun club and asked to try out a machine gun and a handgun. The 'machine gun guy' was busy so the girl at the counter handed them a handgun and ammo (and no further instructions) until the MP5 guy was available.



Thanks to Keith's i-phone we have documentation of this festive event. It was some good male-bonding fun complete with people-shaped targets on zip lines out to the distance you choose and then back again to see where the holes are. For some crazy reason I didn't think these things exist outside of the movies. (American movies) (kidding, not criticizing)



When evening came we settled into some more familiar Christmas territory: Sleepy Soup with Christmas Crackers (thus the crowns) to add some Canadian Flavour.


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Christmas crackers pop like a cap gun and are a little scary for the first time.

Dads are brave enough to pop them all by themselves!

After dinner we went to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights.

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Emerson & Chloe

All the kids.

The earliest Christmas wake-up time was decided to be 7am (Keith had opened the bidding with 6am) but the kids slept till around 7:30 - hooray!

I'm so happy to have finally captured an image of the yessss fist.

The rest of the day we lazed around and did whatever we wanted.

Including continuing the spirit of the previous day by playing Modern Warfare 2 on PS3.

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Kelly planned probably the prettiest Christmas dinner I've ever seen with a Christmas salad (those are pomegranates), mashed potatoes, oatmeal pan bread, asparagus wrapped in marscapone and prosciutto, glazed ham, and mustard sauce. The flavors blended together perfectly and we all needed a rest from eating before we could eat both the almond-citrus tart and the pear-dark chocolate cake.

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I may never leave.

Merry Christmas!

Greetings from Arizona

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(I'm not even kidding.)
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Ken gave in and bought a new winter coat as he has been the front line for jobs like brushing snow off the car in the morning.
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But let me back up. We left Calgary on the 18th and spent the night in Lethbridge. After a breakfast of pancakes we headed to Idaho and enjoyed dry roads all the way to Idaho Falls. We crashed at the Thomsons and had a fun evening with 3rd cousins - Jaclyn and Steven finally got to watch Strange Brew. Ken and I had thus far failed them in immersing them in Canadian culture, we're glad our American relatives corrected us. (Eh.)
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Monday morning we woke up in Provo. We'd booked a tour of BYU for Jaclyn which Ken wanted to be the parent for, so I stayed back at the hotel. All I asked is that Ken get a picture of Jaclyn on the tour. (I may have begged.) This is what I got:
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But I'm over it. Totally.
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Monday afternoon we headed east to Moab. Ken has done a lot of slick rock biking in Moab with his friends and the rest of us were excited to see the area. The forecast was for colder temperatures so we left our bikes at home and planned to do some hiking in Arches National Park.
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When we pulled into town our first stop was Poison Spider Bicycles. In a conversation with the guy behind the counter Ken found out that snow was in the forecast for the next day. It was already late in the afternoon and we didn't have much sunlight left, but we immediately turned around and drove up to Arches.
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It was gorgeous. And when the snowstorm blew in and kept us indoors the next day we were so glad that we seized the day and explored what we could while we could.
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We had planned on spending 2 nights in Moab (if the weather had only been slightly better) but with a blizzard we traded in our 2 nights x 3 beds for 1 night x 2 rooms with 3 beds each. Everyone had their own beds, even Ken and I. Ken shared with Jaclyn and Steven who stay up late while I shared with Carmen and Chloe. My room got 12 full hours of sleep! Now this was starting to feel like a holiday.
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We continued to pull the snow south with us to Holbrook and spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express. There is such a comfort in national chains when you are on the road. Hampton, Holiday Inn, McDonalds. And I don't eat at McDonalds at home! But I sure like their breakfast parfaits when I'm on the road. Oh, the Bowen Motel in Moab wasn't a chain. I forgot to mention what a good sport I am staying in the cheap motel the biking brothers use when they aren't camping in Moab. I'm a real champ.
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Our snow tires were well used far past Holbrook. The kids could probably tell you where - they were constantly passing the atlas around and studying our progress. I took video of our drive, but I can't load it onto Ken's work laptop but I have video of 10 seconds of the worst roads we saw in 1800 miles, just north of the Arizona border.
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Now, Ken loves a road trip and Salt River Canyon was exactly the kind of of experience that makes us glad to drive rather than fly. It was breathtaking. Carmen says it reminds her of Peru (at least pictures of Peru) and Steven says that it looks just like the Mediterranean race in some sort of car-racing X-Box game he owns (I know, I'm so in touch with Steven's gaming.)
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I'm sorry to all my friends in the Phoenix area that I failed to bring them a white Christmas. We tried so hard and came so close. The cacti welcomed us in, and now we are enjoying the sun we hoped for from this holiday. I went for a run this morning! Why oh why do I have to wait for retirement before I can be a snowbird?

Silk & Organza Necklaces

I have a couple of friends who celebrate birthdays tomorrow, and this year I knew just what I wanted to give them: Fabric covered necklaces as seen on You Can Make This.



For Christy: red silk with an organza flower.

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For Tania: larger beads covered in champagne silk.

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And a bonus for me: small grey velvet beads covered in sheer navy organza.

I loved how they turned out and made copies of the *Christy* and the *Tania* for myself, but somehow I'm going to have to suppress an urge to apologize for them when the gifts are opened. It has been a long time since I gave a hand-made gift, and I had forgotten about the insecurities that sometimes are coupled with giving something I've created.

As for the tutorial, just a couple of notes:

• Haven't the fabric world and the fashion world always gone hand in hand?
• I think Kim, the expert in the video, looks like Marie Osmond. But you won't now that I've mentioned it.
• I don't think any fabric will do, I think you have to use fancy fabric.
• She says to use a fabric width of 45" but she really means 60". Trust me, 45" won't be long enough.
• Place your first bead in the very center, not to the side of the pin which is in the center. Still use a pin to secure one side of the first bead, but not until after you've placed the bead.
• I knotted the unfinished ends at the edge of the selvage - I liked that look better than sewing the ends closed.
• I gathered the wired ribbon from both ends and then wired the organza ribbon flower on to the necklace with the raw wire pulled outside the flower so that it is fastened well, but can be removed.
• A totally worthwhile project!

Practise is Serious Stuff

Carmen and Chloe sang When Joseph Went to Bethlehem in Sacrament Meeting today. We can't bring recording devices in to church, but here is a practise from earlier this morning. The real performance was improved by sincere smiles throughout the piece (and a little giggle from Chloe) as they stood before the congregation, thanks to a cute 2-year-old who called and waved to them from where he was sitting with his parents. (Thanks, Peyton!)

Then, when they went to their children's meetings, Chloe presented Sharing Time to the rest of the Junior Primary children. She asked to do it for about a month until the Primary President agreed to help Chloe teach the rest of the children as a Faith in God goal. (I fear the initials CEO have made a deeper impression on our baby than we ever intended!)

Growing Pains

I have an advent calendar that I fill every year with daily family Christmas activities. I started the tradition for fun, but found that it was more than fun - it brought us together to enjoy the season. Or at least it used to.

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On Saturday the advent activity was to make and decorate sugar cookies. Steven opted out and went to a friend's house to play video games; Jaclyn wasn't in the mood to do something messy.

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I didn't mind - the big kids are generally really good about doing family things and little kid things - they could skip the cookies. The little girls and I went ahead with the baking and I thought we were having a good time until Chloe expressed that it is more fun with everyone. Darn.

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A few days later at breakfast time it was Steven's day to open the calendar but he wasn't downstairs yet and Chloe was impatiently waiting to see what fun we would do that day. Wanting to open the calendar herself, she told me that she didn't think Jaclyn and Steven should get turns to open the calendar anymore if they weren't going to do the activities.

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She had an alterior motive as well as a good point, but I argued that they have participated in some of the activities.

Her response: Still! (a favorite expression these days)
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Yesterday the activity was to go sledding. Jaclyn wasn't home from high school yet when we left for the hill, and Steven had his shoveling job to do, so once again it was just Carmen and Chloe (plus a friend).

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And this time no one missed the big kids at all.

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How I saved Christmas

(a true story)

I've been participating in an aerobics class at the church on Tuesday and Thursday mornings this fall. The instructor is one of the best in the city, but she does it for free as a service to anyone who wants to participate. It's whipped me into the best shape I've been in a long time.

Anyhow. Quite often the gym is too warm for me to work out comfortably, and I recently realized that the problem is that our ward chorister arrives at the building ahead of us and turns on the heat in the chapel while he practises the organ, which in turn also warms up the gym.

So this Thursday I walked into the chapel before aerobics started and turned the temperature to cold. I warned Darwin I was freezing him out, but he said he was finished anyways. Then, as I turned away to return to the gym he asked me if Jaclyn was ready for Sunday. (He was referring to her turn to play the organ in sacrament meeting.) I told him that Jaclyn never practises till Saturday, but then I added that maybe this week she should practise more so that she can play other Christmas hymns for prelude. He said, "Oh, I didn't assign her Christmas hymns. It's Fast and Testimony Sunday: I chose hymns centered on the Savior."

What? Despite the up-tempo music calling me back to the gym, I couldn't hold back. I told him that actually Christmas hymns are very centered on the Savior and that I thought he should change the program. I then back-pedalled and told him I wasn't trying to do his calling for him (even though clearly I was) and that I would mind my own business (even though clearly I wasn't). Well, he called me later that day with new hymns for Jaclyn to play - With Wondering Awe and O Little Town of Bethlehem. I apologized (insincerely) for meddling, and told him (with enthusiasm) how much I am looking forward to singing Christmas hymns this week.

Here's a new Christmas hymn the Young Women are singing in Sacrament meeting on the 20th:
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If I could save only one thing about Christmas it would be the music - nothing makes me feel the Spirit of Christmas more.

Last week

Starting on Monday (the 23rd):
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(or maybe a couple of days before that)
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When I went to Lethbridge on the weekend of the 20th to dip chocolates with my mom and Marie there was too much fondant and not enough time, so I brought 3 batches home to do myself. Monday morning I drove Jaclyn to seminary at 6:30am, came home and made lunches for the other kids, and by 7am I was rolling fondant. Carmen volunteered to stay home with me and help, which I totally took her up on. Carmen takes an interest and holds talent in all homemaking areas and I was glad all day to have her help me. We got all the chocolates finished by the time I had to pick up Steven and Chloe from school - I never could have done it by myself.
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One thing now missing from our Mondays is horse riding lessons. I've been feeling sick/run-down for a month and I decided it was linked to my being maxed-out so we dropped riding and indoor soccer. Carmen is fine with it and I am grateful grateful that we have our Monday afternoons back. (Chloe is of course ecstatic to be out of indoor soccer.)
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Tuesday:
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Tuesday afternoon Steven made the senior boys basketball team. Two other eighth-graders made the team, but his best friends will be playing one more year of junior ball. The senior team means more travel and tournaments but no games on Thursdays so no conflicts with Carmen and Chloe's choir: Woo-hoo!
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Tuesday night Jaclyn had a special opportunity to go with the Social Justice Club (I only found out she is in this club last week - she tells me Ken knew) from school to sort out Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes headed to 3rd world countries. She and the other students removed contraband items from boxes and she has some helpful hints about how to do a better Christmas box, which maybe she'll share in the comments?
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Wednesday:
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Jaclyn participated in the Grade 9 Open House at the high school. She spoke to the students interested in entering the AP Science and Math programs about the benefits she herself has experienced. I would have liked to have been there (Jaclyn wanting me there - not so much) but I went instead to parent-teacher interviews where I determined that the new "descriptive" report cards the school division wants to switch to are really the worst idea to ever hit report cards. Report cards with no grades. Come on! Steven's science teacher forgot to record a percentage grade on the current "hybrid" report card and I can tell you that the report card meant nothing until the teacher filled in that blank.
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Thursday:
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Carmen is directly below the suit of armor
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Ken stayed home in the morning, trying to burn up some holiday time. (He did it again this morning but there is no way he is going to get all his holidays used by the end of the year - I know, rough problem to have, but the extra vacation time came with the high price of pay cuts, how envious are you now?) Anyhow, he didn't stay home long enough to come to the 5th Grade Medevil Feast and Reader's Theatre, but I had a highly enjoyable time. Carmen has a confidence and dramatic flair that made 'Reader #5' a pivotal role.
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Thursday night I went to the worst continuing education class ever. The speaker informed us at the beginning that she was no expert, and then went on to prove it. What waste of 3 hours and $50.
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Friday:
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Friday started out with the zipper on Jaclyn's winter boots breaking leaving her trapped in a boot that wasn't done up, but also wouldn't come off. I freed her and told her that her next boots are going to be zipper free, because this is 2 years in a row she has needed new boots due to zipper breakage.
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Friday night was dubbed *Fabulous Friday* by the Relief Society (think: Super Saturday). The laurels were invited so Jaclyn brought her knitting and came with me. I was prepared to make all my Christmas cards, but when I opened the prints I'd ordered online through Walmart they were TERRIBLE! For a moment I considered using them anyways, but the color was so off I just couldn't. I left Jaclyn at the church, went home to put the photo on a CD, took the terrible prints back to Walmart where I got excellent customer service and my money back, but not better prints. I then took my photo CD to London Drugs, where I should have gone in the first place, and returned to the church. I enjoyed the dinner and program, but I was still mildly frustrated by my lack of productivity darn it. Jaclyn played a Christmas medley piece on the piano during the program, but with no project to work on we didn't stay any longer, so we went boot shopping. And then to see New Moon which was, um, entertaining. For both of us. At least the couple sitting next to us were also laughing and we didn't make anyone mad.
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Saturday:
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I made the cards. Jaclyn went on her first date (it's been a big week for her, yes?). Steven played hockey. Carmen, Chloe, and I ran the indoor track at the YMCA with a little friend and her mom. Chloe ran 4km with no walking, but Carmen needs new shoes. Maybe I'll get around to that today. After all, we don't have riding lessons.

Coolest Neighbour Ever

(Recent Developments)
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This is our neighbour, Phil. He lives directly next to us. He's friendly and pleasant (and quiet) and a good neighbor. Until recently the only distinguishing thing I could have told you about him is that he needs longer shorts for the gym. I'm embarrassed to write that now, after his kind offer we took him up on yesterday.
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Phil owns his own plane. I know! Trust me, he's my only neighbor in this bracket. Anyhow, he invited us to come to Springbank airport to go for a spin through an official program called Young Eagles where pilots take kids up and give them a taste for flying.
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Phil's plane seats 4 people, so Ken went up with Carmen and Chloe.
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Carmen took the first turn as co-pilot and got to control the plane once Phil got it off the ground. She helped fly to High River where Phil landed the plane and Carmen and Chloe switched seats.
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(Poor Ken didn't get a turn at the controls.)
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I guess when Phil gave the controls over to Chloe she didn't have the arm strength to maneuver the plane (it's a one-handed control for both altitude and direction). Phil suggested she try two hands, and when she reached across her body with the second hand and grabbed on to the stick the plane banked heavily to the left which provided some real excitement until Phil quickly corrected Chloe's turn. (By the time I heard the story it was funny.)
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When the first threesome returned to Springbank Steven and I went up.

(Jaclyn stayed home - too much homework)
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Steven helped pilot the trip south. We were interested and asked questions but Phil told us he was getting a lot fewer "Cool!"(s) and "This is awesome!"(s) from Steven and I than he got from Carmen and Chloe.

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I tried to be more expressive and conversational when I got my turn at the controls, but I still failed to match Carmen's enthusiasm I'm sure. I was nervous to take the controls - not that I was worried I'd crash the plane, but just that I wouldn't do well. I'm glad I didn't let that get in the way of trying because it was fun and interesting.

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Steven was a little bored in the back seat and I can't say I'm sorry because he took some pictures out the windows. Here are the mountains covered in clouds in the late afternoon.

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We flew past Steven, Carmen, and Chloe's school and right over the house of Steven's friend Sean, which we didn't get a picture of.

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Steven's view of the city from the west.

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Steven has been on a commercial flight before, but he way preferred this small plane. As he told Phil, flying commercial is like riding a bus. This was Carmen and Chloe's first time in the air and they loved the bird's eye view of things as well as the feeling of flying. Ken has gone on business trips in a small plane before, but just to exciting places like Saskatchewan. Phil has flown himself and his wife as far as the Caribbean!

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I know Steven has already posted about this on facebook, and Carmen and Chloe can't wait to tell their friends tomorrow. We'll remember this chance we had to fly a plane for a long time.

Have to look at my pictures to see where I've been

I remember my dad laughing about a friend who went on vacation and spent the whole trip behind his camera. He told my dad that he had to come home and watch his own slide show to see where he'd been.

I've had someone home (sick) with me all but one day in the past two weeks and I thought to myself tonight that maybe I'd see if I had any pictures on the camera to see what else has been going on:



A few years ago Steven went trick-or-treating with his friends and at the end of Halloweening they sorted through their candy and decided that since they weren't going to eat the Coffee Crisps they'd use them as weapons instead. Thus began the Halloween Coffee Crisp War. Carmen went out trick-0r-treating with the next generation of essentially the same group this year (younger brothers of Steven's friends) as well as Steven's friends who still trick-or-treat (Steven does not - he wants the candy but is way too old to go out in a costume begging for it). Coffee Crisp Warfare now includes the making of forts before the battle begins (maybe it always did), dividing into teams, and then the mini chocolate bars are hurled back and forth. Carmen was a casualty this year, taking a hit to her eye. When she came home Steven was very interested to know who had done the damage (his friend Triton) and I thought I saw a glimmer of older brother protectiveness, but I'm happy to report Triton didn't get punched in the eye himself at recess over the incident.



By Tuesday Carmen's eye was still a little red, but much better. Better enough to learn how to knit with the laurels. She came wandering into our room where we were working and asked if we would show her how. Jaclyn had just learned that night and muttered something about watch Carmen learn faster than she did. Carmen heard her and predicted she'd learn 20% faster. Which she did.

Carmen is now knitting a pot-holder for a senior sister in our ward.

Steven is lined up in the bottom right hand corner.

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Football came to an end on Saturday. The boys lost in the city championship, which means they won't be moving on to provincials. Bummer. However, later on Saturday night Steven's hockey team won their game with him scoring two of the goals, which certainly put the football loss into perspective.

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On a related subject Chloe just had a conversation with Ken this week about baseball being over, but professional football is still going strong, which overlaps with hockey and then baseball begins again. She wasn't too happy to discover that TV sports are a never ending thing. Poor girl - I know how she feels.

Dreams can come true, it can happen to you

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Last Sunday night I had a dream that Chloe and Carmen were singing a duet, accompanied by Jaclyn. It wasn't difficult to figure out where the dream came from: earlier that day we'd had our Primary Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation and Carmen and Chloe each sang a solo part in the music. In my dream Jaclyn accompanied because she's Jaclyn and I don't know why else.
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At breakfast I shared my dream with the little girls (Jaclyn was already gone to school) and Chloe's response was, "But it wasn't a true dream."
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Later that morning I opened my email and found a request from our Ward Music Chairperson asking if Carmen and Chloe would sing a Christmas duet in December. I guess we had the same dream, probably for the same reasons. Well, Carmen and Chloe couldn't believe it, but they turned immediately to making dream requests that we 'live in the country' and 'have a horse' and 'have an amusement park in our backyard'. I haven't been able to dream any of those things (let alone dream them into life).
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Thinking of Jaclyn accompanying, I haven't blogged about something she did in seminary a couple of weeks ago. She usually plays the piano for the opening song, and right before she played that morning the seminary teacher bemoaned how high and difficult he finds the hymns to sing. So she transposed the hymn. On the spot. On the fly. As she played. (This should blow your mind right about now.) It is really something else. It doesn't just mean playing all the notes lower, it means changing the key which means changing the sharps or flats. I can do it if I have a piece of staff-lined paper and a pencil and half an hour, but I can't do it by ear - by ear and while looking at the wrong/higher notes! Jaclyn seems to think I'm overly impressed because according to her, it was a hymn she knows really well.