Christmas Eve at the White House

OK so this first picture isn't Christmas Eve but they did deliver my first Christmas gift and first Christmas decoration! I love visitors. This day was such a crazy day. It was the same day that Dad's house came, so I wish we could have visited longer. I love this picture! I just love my island, it is so fun to have everyone sitting around while I am cooking things up!

I miss my primary kids so much (I miss Randa and Lisa too but their kids gave way more hugs!) This is an invite to all you fellow bloggers out there....come and visit! I know you come to Medicine Hat fairly often....drop the kids off and go shopping, or come for lunch so I can demo my awesome kitchen....whatever just please come!



Now this is Christmas Eve. I took a little trip to an awesome dollar store here in town and bought a whole bunch of silly goodies! We then did the steal or keep game and what ever you got you had to wear for the rest of the evening and during skit in the bag. It was so fun! This is two of Sean's brothers, Randy and Mac. There was lots of trading going on!

His is my Nephew Diedrich. The poor kid got three items stolen from him. I love the expression in this one. He loved these socks and luckily got to keep them. He even wore them Christmas day.

Another of his hot items

And yet another.... It is nice now that they are all a little older. A few years ago this game wouldn't be fun, it would be full of crying!

Here is Ben...the hat thief! He is my oldest nephew. We were able to go to the boys' Christmas concert this year and it was amazing! They did this bell ringing that was unforgettable. It really brought in the spirit of Christmas for me.

Mac sporting his bow tie very nicely!

Hannah the princess who needed her two front teeth for Christmas. She is such a darling girl and a real little chatter. Life is never boring when she is around.

Sean the stud muffin..... What a little cutie. He wouldn't give up his hat! He hates skit in a bag but he was a real good sport! I didn't take pictures which really makes me mad. My favorite two characters were Randy, who was the "muh nuh muh nuh" guy using sleeping smoke to put everyone to sleep (with my golden liahona and Sean's hair trimmer), very funny, you had to be there! and Deid who was Sad Sadie the BO lady! He was wearing quite the dress. Dad named him from an old TV add.

Here the lone wolf is sporting this hat quite well, but not for long

Here is our little Rudolf....hiding her cute nose. Did you ever notice she has a perfect heart on the end of her nose...so cute!

Dad's hat got stolen so now he is sporting red balls. Also my sister-in-law Susanne got my favorite, the Christmas lights. (which I stole from Randy)

London had to leave the party early to guide Santa's sleigh! hee hee

All in all, it was such a fun night full of food...(that lasted forever, I made way too much!) and family, which made our Christmas Eve fun and memorable. I love them and I am so glad some could come for Christmas Eve.

Move Day!

I am so far behind on my blog, I am going to be doing a lot of catching up this month. Dad has been here for a month now and we are loving it! It is so nice to be closer to him. He is keeping himself busy despite the yucky weather we have had lately!

This is the first look we had of his new home. He bought it sight unseen and it was made specifically for him.


I was worried that they were going to have to take out our wagon wheel fence as it is a tight turn but they made it! Grandpa Jack came to help oversee everything as Sean had to work.

When we got to the trees, they wanted to cut a bunch more down. We had already cut a bunch and I didn't want any more so I made everyone stand in the really deep snow and push them to the side. I don't think the delivery guys were impressed but I love my trees and my privacy!

There 's Dad in the red cap getting a good close look at the house!

Here it is getting placed on the pad. They did a good job getting it in.

Then they just tip it up and have it slide off. There were a few mishaps. The backhoe pulled off some of the siding in the back but it has already been fixed. It will settle some and they will come back and re-level it in the spring. The ground all around is all messed up as the septic field was all put in. This spring it will be a mucky mess. We will get grass down soon enough.

Now, I am just dreaming of spring when I get to get baby chicks and Dad will teach me how to be a real farm girl!

Get out of the WAY!

This is the closest picture I could find to announce London got her learners licence yesterday! I am sure it will be a hair raising experience. She didn't make it her first try and was very discouraged. She was on the last question and got it wrong! Shucks so close. She cried on the way home.

We are so excited for her. She got to drive home from the licence Bureau so it was a great day yesterday! This is your warning....move over if you see us coming!

PS: My goal was 40 posts this is #51!!! I made it. Thanks for all your comments through the year they make my day! xxxx~Kimara

Dancing Queen!

OK, So this year London turns 14! Man, where did the time go! Anyway, 14 means dances in our Church. She is soooo excited to be able to get her groove on. We had a family dance a few weeks ago and I noticed all the youth doing these special dances and London didn't know them so she just stumbled along. We haven't had a party yet this year with her friends but I thought it would be a fun surprise to bring a couple young women from Church (also her friends) to show her these crazy dances so she will be comfortable on New Years Eve. Click on this picture above to see it big. It is so funny. Kenzie's hair is right up!





Everyone getting into the action. This is the Hyde family and my cousin Lane. Lane and Stacey came and stayed with us for a few days with their little boys. We had so much fun.

I went to second hand stores to get some records to spiff up the joint a bit for the dance. Sean didn't want to put them into the ceiling because it would damage it! Pheeeef....it was a little pin hole. Don't they look great? See my wreath in the background...that was my first bit of Christmas cheer brought by Lisa and Randa who also came for a quick visit! I love it!

Man....London is thinking, "too much information". She is a very fast learner so I am sure she will be jiving out at the dance. Speaking of jiving, her Grandpa got up and cut a rug with me (sadly not a great partner) It was so fun dancing with him! The older crowd didn't like the song selections or dance styles as much. It is strange now. They dance in groups instead of one on one until the slow numbers. London chose taco salad and pies again this year for the birthday meal. She insists that is what she will have at her wedding as well.... taco in a bag.... that just doesn't sound weddingish to me? Maybe she will grow out of it.

Look at this cutie! I am sure the boys will be lining up for miles for a dance. There is the tree up sans decorations but at least it is up right? Dela, the girls and I got it out. That was the best part of London's birthday to have Teesha come for a visit with her mom. The girls really miss each other still. It was so nice of them to come visit on her birthday weekend and hang out. I miss all my old Brooks friends.

The peanut gallery. I just love being so close to family! We wanted to have everyone over, but it was about the dancing and it was crazy already! We had the biggest tower of dishes you have ever seen. I had to bake 3 different types of tarts and make supper then run to London's basketball game which she won!!! So I left them out so I could enjoy the game thinking I would run home and do them before more company came over. Pulled the plug in the sink ( left some to soak) and the water wouldn't go down. So we had piles of dishes before the party started and it grew after. Sean and Lane had to spend most of the evening snaking it out and finding lots of gross stuff!

Welcome to Country life

This has been a really crazy week. We got carpet in the basement...Monday. They brought the wrong amount so they finished on Tuesday. We moved in all our stuff on Wednesday. Thanks for all the help from our friends in our ward and Trevor and Vance ( I bet they wished they weren't here!). Then we moved Dad on Saturday (throw in some Christmas parties, concerts and home teaching visits plus all the regular life!) It was a crazy week! Oh yeah, I did my Christmas ornaments on Thursday and the party was that night! That story to follow. We then had company, my cousins Stacey and Lane and kidlets. It was so fun! They came on Sunday and left this morning. Yesterday was London's 14th birthday, so we had to celebrate (bake 3 types of pie, decorate, plan a surprise dance, feed the hordes) Again, I survived this.

Now this morning we had a major gas leak and so we haven't had gas all day. Luckily Sean was able to shut everything down. So we are freezing and recovering and trying to catch up. Oh yeah, I forgot that yesterday when I was getting ready for the party ( I had no presents until 2 that afternoon) baking and cooking for that and company...I used every dish in the house and then...the sink plugged. So we had company with dishes everywhere around the sink and had tons of fun anyway! I will share photos later. It has been amazing and somehow I survived!...Dad....well


We all had a long winters nap today. Poor Dad. I came out and this was him. Sleeping with coat and gloves on. Brrrrrr...it has been a cold day. I hear the furnace finally cut in! Sigh.
PS: I still don't have my tree up, no Christmas presents, no baking and I am so stressed I don't know when it can get done. Anyone that knows me knows I go way out on Christmas decorations and in November everything is done. Christmas might not come to the White house this year.

Especially Chatty Church Member.

Last Saturday London and I went to participate in making over a 1000 pies for the food bank from our church. It was really fun and exciting to participate. Everything was organized amazingly well and so it went really quick.

While there President George came up to me and asked if I would work with the Mayor of Medicine Hat. I was thrilled he was one of the nicest guys, very easy to talk to and we had a great time together. He has been very successful in real estate, Worked for the Prime minister as a RCMP is from Quebec and has 14 brothers and sisters. We chatted and had a great time. He talked as much as me and occasionally people around us joined in. Well the Press showed up for a photo-op of course and they interviewed him and then asked to interview me for a minute. So I said my two bits and below are the results.

Start at the "Of Course." My question is should I be insulted? They called me an especially Chatty Church member!? I was really shocked at first. Don't you think that is an odd thing to say? I haven't made up my mind but I definitely am embarrassed. As my close blog friends I need you to give your HONEST feedback. Should I hunt the journalist down or laugh and embrace my embarrassment.

London keeps calling me to CHAT! Sean was asked to MC the Christmas Party here and stated at the beginning that he was surprised to be asked he thought they would ask and especially chatty church member! I don 't know if I will live it down!

Am I Especially Chatty...would you want that witten in the paper about you with your full name?

Progress Report #1

Jason, our drywaller, had to patch a bunch of spots in our kitchen where the old lights used to be. I thought these pictures looked like something from ET. Little tents everywhere to contain the mess.

Cool picture I love the action shot.



I thought this was a cool picture.


We had to build a light switch into the wall. I love the way the edge looks. It is all painted now and looks great. I will post a picture next time.

Yucky stairs going to be covered with carpet.

This is our new furnace that will be installed near the end of December. I am excited to get rid of the old beast downstairs. We didn't have to replace it yet but I said it is better to do it now while everything is open. It is high efficiency.

Drywall all ready to go! It is finally to the stage we can paint and carpet. It has taken a while to get here. I think we kind of got tired out for a while.

Nope, not mud for my face, for my tile.

Everything had to be taped off as it has lots of details in that part of the tile.

Sean balancing on the tub edge. It is hard on his feet. What a great guy to always help.

We have no idea how to grout...how hard can it be right? Well, it is really messy, I can tell you that much and not as easy as I thought. We are half way through right now. I will let you know how it went. Sean did the high stuff and I took care of the lower tiles.

Doors! Yup, I already said we have doors but now here is the proof! Aren't they bootyful!

Our walk in closet doors. It took quite a while for them to install and more money than we thought but they did an amazing job!

Sean replaced all the mismatched lights for beautiful pot lights.

Our new ceiling fan to replace the old yucky one!

Our cabinet doors are finally on as well. We are still having problems with some of the warranty work, but I hope it will be fixed soon. There has been quite a few quality problems but they are going to fix them. It has been a bit frustrating waiting. The guy that installed them really took some short cuts as well. I left a list of things to fix and he only did half and rushed back to Lethbridge before I could check on them. Grrrrr....

Here is the carpet. It is just lying there right now. They were really late getting here today. Then when they unloaded everything they realized they didn't have enough carpet or lino pieces to do the work! So they did as much as they could and are coming back tomorrow to finish it all up. We were supposed to move in our stuff tonight so that we could return the sea-can that everything is stored in but we are going to be delayed a couple of days. We had some people come to help move and we had to turn them away. I felt so bad. They are so nice to have come.

I was hoping and praying it would all come so that my house could start becoming a home as I put up my pictures and knick-nacks and Christmas tree...etc. It is hard not to be bummed out when you have nothing in your house to make it your own.

The dark spots are just my shadow. I am getting excited to get it all done and sit on my big red couch watching my big TV!