School Christmas Concert

Both Laura & Andrew were involved in the Christmas concert at school. Grades 1 thru 6 were involved in a play called "The Chronicles of Bethlehem". Laura's class were shepherds & townspeople and Andrew's class were the "kings of swing".

Laura's grade 5 band also played and this picture is when the grade 4, 5 & 6 bands played together as one big group.

Saskatchewan Proud

What do you get when the temperature goes just above freezing, then it starts to rain, then it gets cold at night?

You get ice everywhere. We don't want any cranky people falling in front of our house so I went outside and started chipping away. Soon Andrew wanted to try the chipper thing, then Laura came out and they argued over who could use it. Hey, I wasn't going to stand in their way. I came inside, got the camera, took a video and am putting it online for your viewing pleasure. Don't tell me THAT isn't work!!

Laura on the flute

More Christmas program from last night, here's a bit of Laura on the flute.

Laura's singing style

Here's Laura singing at Cornerstone's Christmas Pagaent tonight!!

Andrew's Christmas Singing

Here's Andrew's big production at Cornerstone Christian School's Christmas Pageant tonight. We apologize in advance that he's behind another girl, but you couldn't move a foot without getting in the way of another parents camera!

Our church Christmas Program

Here's a short video of our church's Christmas program. It's the second time today we did it, this time at a local nursing home.

Our trip

Laura's Visit with Rebecca

This is Laura's friend Barbie...uh, Rebecca here for the weekend from Edmonton.

Jessica & Aysia also joined in for the reunion.

Laura and Rebecca

Laura's good friend from Edmonton is in Moose Jaw this weekend for a visit. She's over here as we speak and a few other girls are coming too! So watch this video, turn your head sideways, and enjoy the Mexican Barbie routine!!

Daddy and Laura decided to go watch and participate in the twice yearly catching of the chickens on the Thoroughgood farm.

There were over 175 of them. Laura was scared at first and wouldn't go in. Then she'd take a chicken already caught, then she got brave and actually grabbed one on her own. She would get one each time, Daddy would get two, and Paul the farmer would nab 3 without even blinking. It was fun, I wish I'd taken more than this picture, but at least I got this one shot of Laura.

Within 12 hours these chickens were in for the "whacked and sacked" treatment, according to Paul. If you look closely you can see the crates behind Laura, where 6 chickens each went in to await their fate. The place they go to is actually just across the highway where Briercrest College and Seminary is, appropriately named "Cluck 'n Pluck". I won't describe the process here, it made my stomach turn the first time I heard it.

Andrew's 7th Birthday Party

Lorna was kind enough to invite us to her place for Andrew's Birthday party. This is also the place where Laura tried the waterskiing.

At the Blue Jays game

The pictures not the best but this is the kids running the bases after a convincing win versus David Wells and the Red Sox in April 2005.

A tour of our house

Laura takes us on a tour of our house. She's wearing her Cornerstone Christian School t-shirt. After putting some video's on our blog she wanted to be in one a little more than she had been!! A budding star.

Ashley shooting a gun

Although I did have some success, none came on this shot, oh well!! This is out on a farm in September.

Andrew skating - Winter 2005

Laura's First Attempt at Waterskiing

Andrew's first time on the ramp

My kid driving

Family Bowling Night

We did a family bowling night as a church event last weekend and had a really fun time. This is our friend Paul. Ashley caught him at the perfect moment for this shot.

These are a few of the people that were there. The gentleman sitting in the background on the bench is Merv, my bowling buddy. He and I pretty much stayed side by side in scores the whole night as you'll see in the picture below of the scoreboard. Notice our final scores.

Aysia, Jessica, Laura, Stephanie & Rayna (not shown) made up the "girlpower" team.

Final scoreboard for my team. Broden's score is pretty good considering he's only 5!

Yup, That's My Son!

It seems to me that I've posted in the past pictures of Andrew and referred to them as "a face only a mother could love". It seems to be a reoccuring theme in our house!

Minot, North Dakota

We took a couple of days to get away this Thanksgiving weekend and headed to Minot, North Dakota. It was the first time we had crossed the border since all the new rules & regulations were implemented and this is how part of Ashley's conversation with the Border Guard went...

BG: "Sir, what do you do for a living"
Ashley: "I'm a pastor"
BG: "Where are headed today?"
Ashley: "Minot, North Dakota"
BG: "What's the reason for your visit?"
Ashley: "Just to get away for a couple of days - tourism"
BG: "Terrorism?"
Ashley: "Huh? Terrorism? No....TOURISM!!!"
BG: "Oh, I thought terrorism was a strange answer for a pastor!"

Thank goodness he had a good sense of humour!

We stayed at the Sleep Inn which is attached to a mall - all we had to do was walk through the hotel lobby and into the mall! How convenient! Also in this hotel is this awesome waterpark! We spent hours and hours here and it was definitely worth the trip. These waterslides kept Ashley and the kids entertained for hours - I only went down 4 times! The purple slide in the middle goes through to the outside of the building before coming back in.

This is the "kiddie" pool which was a lot of fun even for the big kids in our family! Over to the right of this pool is a huge clover leafed shaped hot tub which seats about 48 people.

This is the "regular" swimming pool.

We were on the 4th floor so there was always a big discussion as to who was going to press all the buttons!

For those of you who know Ashley well, you'll understand these pictures. If you don't understand...don't ask!

Corner Gas

If you're a fan of Corner Gas then you'll recognize these next couple of pictures. We knew that the tv show was filmed somewhere near us, and we passed it on our way to North Dakota this weekend. The set is closed for the winter and all the signage is down and the windows boarded up, but this will give you a glimpse of what the set looks like.

I wasn't a big fan of this show until we moved out here. Having lived here for a few months, now when I watch this show I say "Oh, now I get it!".

The town where the show is filmed is Rouleau, but the sign on the grain elevator has been changed to reflect the name of the town they use in the show - Dog River.

Volleyball!

Laura has entered the world of school sports for the first time and she's starting with volleyball. Tonight was her first game and she did really good for the first time!

Mini Trip to Saskatoon

After a busy couple of hours playing in the pool and the waterslide, the kids are sacked out for the night in the hotel.

This is our outing to the Western Development Museum. Part of the museum is a street called Boomtown which shows what it would have looked like it 1905. We spent a lot of time going in and out of these buildings.

This is Laura & Andrew in the cloakroom of an old schoolhouse. Doesn't Andrew look impressed with his attire?

This is just one of the many cars that were on display.

Of course Ashley was very interested with the Fire Hall & all it's equipment.

This is the police station where we decided to give the kids a taste of what life would be like if they don't tow the line!

Laura's Trip to the Cottage

A few pictures from Laura's time at the cottage with her cousins Jayden & Kaley. Apparently she tried water skiing a few times, but preferred tubing instead. Thanks to Uncle Chris & Auntie Karen for having Laura with them!

Andrew used some of his birthday money to buy a skateboard ramp to go with the skateboard that we gave him. It was either this or a grinding rail but I decided that it would be better for him to start with accessories that are still on the ground. I wonder how long it will be before the ramp becomes boring & passe and he wants to move onto other things to try!

More fun in the water on the farm!

The newest babies on the farm. There are actually 2 kittens in the watering can - there's a black one that's hard to see. They get in and out of there themselves - so cute!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY ANDREW!

Today we celebrated Andrew's 7th birthday at the farm where we lived in January and February. Our friends Lorna & Bill were kind enough to host his party. Their farm is quite unusual as it has a "pond" a mile long. Bill put his boat in the water and the kids swam & waterskied.

Andrew with his birthday present from mom & dad. He's already trying to figure out how to do tricks and asking if he can go to the local skateboard park...ummm maybe not right away!

Laura getting ready to waterski. She had 3 tries and did really well on her second try getting up for a few seconds.