House Plans

Here are the preliminary plans I've been working on for the house we're planning to build in Carstairs this year. I'm going to do some elevations and possibly a rendering soon, but I don't imagine it's going to look much different than any other house on the block. The important thing for us is that it is functional. The architectural controls really dictate what you can and can't do, but we managed to incorporate some key features into the floor plan that we're pretty excited about.

Test

This is a test entry. I'm just fiddling with settings, trying to see what this blogger is made of. I plan to move a lot of the content from my old logisity site to this new one in a "best of" sort of format. Once that's over with, I'll be starting up again with the fresh stuff. This isn't going to be as public a website as logisity was. I'm going to limit the viewing of this website to close family and friends only. If you're reading this now, congratulations on being one of the chosen ones.

Dance Police

It was our Wards turn to chaperone the youth dance this past Saturday night, and with me being the Young Men's President, it was my duty to take charge of the recruiting and the refreshments. We got enough people, despite several last minute cancellations, and I bought $75 worth of Timbits, which will get you 15 boxes of 40. There was nowhere near that many kids there, in fact it was quite sparse compared to the glory days of old, when the running man ruled the floors. I guess that's why they've decided to discontinue weekly youth dances as of January 2007. Instead there will now be a monthly "Multi-Stake Youth Activity" which may or may not end up being a dance. Disco Dan Glenn was the DJ that night, so Kelly came along, and we ran into my sister Sam and Tammy's sister Kimberly who are both youth dance age. I spent most of my time in the coat check room doing stand-up comedy for the kids checking their tiny coats and giant purses, but I did manage to sneak away and dance the last two slow songs with Tammy. Disco Dan dedicated the last song to us, though I can't remember what it was. It wasn't what we requested anyways, I guess he left his Slayer albums in the car.

Blackhawks Down

One of the consultants we work with has season tickets to the Flames and passed a couple along to the office a while back. Since all the other office staff were already going to the game, Paul and I got to take the tickets. Our seats were about 7 rows up from the ice, in the friends and families section, so we had a pretty decent view of the action. Flames played the Chicago Blackhawks and beat them 4-1.

Croup

Emma woke up with a couple coughs around midnight on Monday, and quickly began having serious troubles breathing. It was a little scary for all of us as she was making horrible gasping noises each time she breathed in. She was crying, which only made it worse, so we put on some "Dora" to help take her mind off it and as she calmed down, her breathing started to get a bit better. To make a long story short, after a call to "Health Link" and a trip to the Children's Hospital, she was diagnosed with the croup and given a dose of steroids to help clear it up. When they first told us it was croup, I thought "What is this, Anne of Green Gables? Who's getting croup nowadays?" But I guess it's more common than I thought. They say cold air is good for croup and if you recall it was about -40C Monday night with the wind chill, too much of a good thing for my liking. We finally got her home and settled around 4:30am, not bad for a hospital visit, but still too late for me to want to attempt going work the next day. She's been pretty good ever since, a little cranky about eating and going to bed, but generally she remains her goofy self. Today things went a bit south however, she's been throwing-up and filling diapers like there's major prizes to be won. Doctors say it's a virus (do they ever say anything else?), and it's all part of the croup. Poor little girl, it makes me nervous when she gets this sick, I hope she gets better immediately.

A Christmas Carol

Our joint activity this past weekend was spent attending Theatre Calgary's presentation of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". Tickets usually run about $50 a person, but they always do a "pay by donation" performance each year, so that's the one we hit. The kids were a bit skeptical at first about seeing a play, but the -20C weather and the 2 hour wait in line turned them down right critical. The gamble paid off though, the play was gold. Most of the praise was for the sets and the effects, which were brilliant, but I thought the actors did a great job as well. I even got a bit choked during the part where Scrooge sees the future and Tiny Tim has passed away. I think having a daughter has done that to me. Anyways, I really enjoyed it and I recommend it if you get the chance to see it. I'll probably try and go again with Tammy if we can swing it. I got the book last year for Christmas, so I'm going to read it this season and become an expert.

M.I.III

My Gramma Bourne recently departed to serve her third full-time mission for the Church. She's back down in Salt Lake City at the Family History Center for her second tour of duty there. We had a going away picnic for her down at Riley Park back in August while the weather was still nice. All Alberta-based members of her posterity were in attendance so it made for a nice reunion. It's a great spot, the kids loved the water and the weather was perfect in the shade. We all hope Gramma is doing wonderfully and look forward to chatting with her at Christmas.

Remembrance Day Camp

One of my Counselors and I took our young men out on a camping trip this past Remembrance Day weekend. For a slice of nostalgia, Clint Maucieri, who is in the Stake Young Men's Presidency, came along as well. Originally the plan was to do a two-nighter, but none of us leaders could get the Friday off of work, so we downgraded to a one-nighter. We went out to Maclean Creek out by Bragg Creek, and stayed at a campsite there. We didn't get out there until it was already dark, but camp went up quick and the fire was easily started. We had our dinner and then we had a fireside centered on Remembrance Day that the young men had organized. I spoke a little about both my Grandfathers who were Veterans, one served in the RAF during WW2, and one in the Army during the Korean War. We ended the night with some hot chocolate, one of the boys killed a mouse, and we hit the sack about midnight. It was a cold night, but we had them packed in their tents pretty tight, so nobody froze.

Next morning we had a pancake breakfast that the boys are still sore about. Despite a theme based on remembering, the syrup was forgotten, and peanut butter proved a poor substitute. After breakfast we hiked. One of the boys discovered a beaver skeleton not long after he stepped in it. He was pretty sure the beaver might still have had a bit of life left in him, so he kept the skull as a trophy to his kill. After lunch we spent the rest of the day playing various versions of "Capture the Flag", but the big hit was a game called "Camouflage". In this game, one boy turns his back to the woods and counts to 30 with his eyes closed while everyone else runs and hides. After the count is up, he turns around, and without moving from his station, he tries to spot as many hiders as he can. After he's found as many as he can, he turns around again with his back to the woods, yells "Camouflage!", and counts to 25 with his eyes closed. Everyone who's left hiding has to run up and touch him and then run back and hide again. When the count is done, he turns around and tries to pick out everyone he can again. This process repeats itself, the count getting progressively shorter and thus the hiding spots getting progressively worse, until everyone is found. The boys got really into it and some got pretty good at the hiding bit. We played until it was almost dark and time to go home.

I enjoyed my time out there, it's easy to forget sometimes how beautiful this area of the world can be and how peaceful life can seem in nature. I took a few pictures out there, nothing overly scenic, mostly just the group that went out.

Halloween 2006

Here's some pics of Emma and her cousins on Halloween this year. Emma went as a Care Bear, which proved a handy costume as it was some cold the night we went Trick or Treating. We went to my parents neighbourhood to do the old candy canvas, and on the way, Emma kept saying "Happy Halloween!", which I believe was her first time putting two words together. She was pretty fearless going door to door, not wanting much parental assistance, and not wanting to waste much time either. She went with her cousin Lucy, who went as a Lion, and they both got quite a haul for only doing one street. We didn't let her eat much candy of course, but she shared a few smarties with Gramma Bourne when we made it back to their place.

Our Ward also had a "Trunk or Treat" at the Church this year. The young men were in charge of a spook alley that we had spent a couple weeks prior putting together, so I was involved with that most of the time. We had a lot of solid ideas, but I think our imaginations were better than our skills. The younger kids got a kick out of it at least. I went as my traditional "Man blowing in the wind", a costume I recommend if you have two coat hangers, some duct tape, and only 10min to put a costume together. Emma had the most fun just walking around in her Cheer Bear costume and laughing at all the other kids dressed up in their costumes. Tammy also took Emma to the Panorama Ward's "Trunk or Treat" to see her cousins. Madison was dressed as Uniqua from the Backyardigans, Keegan was Superman, Amber was a Witch, and Kaylie was a Giraffe.

It was a fun week and I think Halloween will be Emma's favorite holiday, until we have Christmas in December.

Thanksgiving 2006

I noticed on my old site that I didn't do a post regarding Thanksgiving this year, so I'm going to back date this one and try to remember what happened. I know there was Turkey dinners and family gatherings, but outside of that, I couldn't tell you much. Sufficeth to say, the day was celebrated in the traditional fashion. As far as family updates go, Heather and Tyler are expecting a new baby boy in March, Kelly is now dating an old friend of mine, Disco Dan Glenn, and Emma is finally walking/running everywhere she goes now.

Deck and Fence

We've finally made some more progress in developing our home. This summer we've had our fence built on both sides of the back yard and a deck built on the side of the house. It's nice to have at least that much done, but there's a lot more to do. I'd like to start developing the main portion of our basement in the new year and there's a few more landscaping features I'd like to add before we move. We didn't put a fence up at the back of the house because we figured someday someone would want to put a garage back there, and that would just mean tearing the fence down again. We're hoping that these little projects will go a long way in increasing the resale value of our home as it is such a small place. I guess we'll find out next year.

Summer Fun

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful summer so far! Emma has had a great summer taking in some of what Calgary and area has to offer. On July 7th she had her first trip to Calaway Park. She and I went with Kristie and her 4 kids. Kristie had a $7 admission coupon for me to use, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to see how many rides Emma could go on. And, thanks to her Dora sandals, she was tall enough to go on 4 rides. She had such a good time! Her favourite ride was the Tot Yahts - little boats that go around and around in about 2 feet of water. Each boat seats 4 youngsters, so she was able to ride with Keegan, Amber and Kaylie. And each seat has a little steering wheel in front of it - she was so excited to steer, she kept bouncing up and down in her seat. For a while, there weren't too many people in line for that ride so the kids just kept riding it over and over again. The other rides she enjoyed were the Egg Ride, The Carousel, and a newer ride - I think it was called the Sky Rider. I was able to ride with Emma on these other rides, so I got my fill of excitement too. I gotta say, I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older or because I've been pregnant, but I don't have much of a desire to ride the "big kid" rides anymore - especially the ones that spin. Just thinking about it is enough to make me a little nauseous, and that is a feeling I do not crave. One of the highlights of our trip was that we got to watch Keegan and Amber in a stage performance with the Calaway Park Performers. They were approached before the show and were asked if they would like to participate. Keegan was Anakin Skywalker and Amber was Princess Jasmine, and they both did a fantastic job! Unfortunately, we weren't able to capture it on film because Kristie had forgotten her camera at home and my camera had ran out of battery power thanks to all the pictures and videos I had taken of Emma on the rides! Typical first-time mom, I guess!

Other things Emma and I have enjoyed this summer are the Panorama Hills splash park, Lake Chapparel, and the zoo. Emma loves the water and really enjoys playing in the sand, too, even though she sometimes tries to taste the sand. And she loves to see the animals at the zoo, but the last time we went (just last Thursday) she got a little spooked. The male lion was pacing along the edge of his cage, just a few feet from us, and he kept growling. I think Emma was surprised at how loud it was, and she started to cry a bit and clung to me pretty tight. Then after that, every time we got close to any other animal, especially the big ones like the black bear and the gorillas, she was extra cautious, but she still wanted to look at them. Unfortunately, Mike hasn't been able to enjoy these things with us because we always get invited during the week, when he is busy at work, but we are planning on going to the zoo again with Heather, Tyler, and Lucy and that trip will definitely be on the weekend. I can't even explain how much fun it is being able to stay at home with Emma. She is so much fun - she makes me laugh every day, with her "magic tricks" and her goofy faces she's always making. She is so curious about everything, I'm so lucky that I've been able to take her out to see all these things we've done this summer. I feel so blessed that we are in the position to have only one income that we can live on, so I can stay at home. And Mike is such a hard worker and a fantastic dad - he loves coming home and being able to spend time playing with Emma. Anyways, I hope to keep everyone posted more often as to what we've been up to so my entries don't take all day to read!

Reunion

I had my 10 year high school reunion this past June. I wish I could say I had a great time there, but I totally spaced and thought it was in July and therefore missed it entirely. I have however, had the chance to catch up with some long lost friends over the past couple of weeks to help make up for it. Last weekend, Sean Fraser, Emmanuel, and I went over to Kevin Buchanan's place in Arbour Lake and yuk'd it up through a few hands of cards. Kev has his own little girl now who's a bit older than Emma, Sean is driving an M3 that is probably a bit younger than Emma, and Emmanuel has been working in San Fransisco for the past long while. Today we went with Emmanuel to the airport to see Kurt who was in town breifly. We only got to see him for 10 minutes or so, but he'll be back at Christmas at which time we'll try for at least a half an hour. Getting us all together these days is about as rare as seeing Cobra Commander's face but I always have a blast when we finally make it happen. I should have taken pictures but I forgot the camera. We had one of my mission buddies over for dinner a couple weeks ago too. Wes Sallenback is his name, from southern Alberta. It was kind of timely as last week was my seven year anniversary of coming home from the mission field. He had moved back to the mission for a spell so he was able to update me on the status of a lot of the folks I knew out there. Anyways, I guess the moral of this entry is that it sure is heart-warming to see old friends again, and that if any of them came back to town and didn't make time for a quick hello, I'd be crushed.

11 000 Days Old

Tammy turned 11 000 days old today. Thanks again to Dale for reminding us all how old we are.

Drumheller

This past Monday was a holiday for us, so we took the chance to head out to Drumheller for the day. Both Tammy and I hadn't been out there since we were kids, so it was almost like a whole new experience for us. That place is pretty fantastic, I don't remember the museum having so much to it, but there was a lot to see and do. The museum led us to discover Emma's second fear though, she was pretty nervous around the dinosaurs. She would point to them and growl when we were a ways off but as soon as we got up close she clung to us like Sunday pants in a static storm. I don't blame her though, some of those dinosaurs looked like they could swallow you whole, no biting, no tenderizing, just down you go. Her favorite part was these globes that they had everywhere. They showed what the earth looked like at the time the dinosaurs you were looking at were around, and she would yell "ball!" and we'd go over and she'd just spin them around, over and over. They also had a little kids area with all these foam balls you could launch through these air tubes and she enjoyed that as well. We went to the water park in town after the museum and saw the worlds largest dinosaur, which is huge, and Emma was pretty amazed/scared. We thought for sure she would be up that night with bad dreams but she was fine. It was a great little trip that we plan to do again when the kids are a bit older and can get more out of it.

Fully Fledged

We got some good news last week. Modus decided not to wait for the traditional three month probation time to expire to hire me on as an official employee. Last week they brought me on permanent, which means we're on the benefits plan, I'm eligible for bonuses, and I got a raise. We're an excited family as this comes at a great time for us. It's really busy there as I'm currently the sole drafts person but Paul should be back soon. This may mean a speedier departure from Calgary for us as we've been looking at possibly moving to Carstairs. If we do move to Carstairs, it will mean that all of my siblings who are married, have married people from small towns and then moved to that small town. Alison to Turner Valley, Heather to Cochrane, and Me to Cartstairs. Hopefully Trevor will marry someone from Australia or Greenland or some other far off place. Beeeoooom!

Emma's First Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Emma's first birthday down at Bowness park. The weather was perfect and we managed to get a really nice, secluded spot on the far east end, despite how crazy busy it was there that day. Almost everyone on both sides of the family were in attendance so we had a pretty good sized group. We had a big picnic-style meal, games of skill, water balloons, and some folks even managed to get in some canoeing on the pond. Emma loved her first cake and raked in quite a loot from both sides of the family. Thank you to everyone who came and who brought gifts or food and thanks for helping us have such a good time.

Father's Day 2006

Last Sunday was my second Father's day in a year as Emma was born on Father's day of last year. She made me a card and we spent a lot of time playing together that weekend. I really enjoy being a Dad and owning my own child. She's a great little girl and she makes me laugh everyday. I hope this cloning thing gets going soon so we can have more just like her. Here are a couple twisted comics relating to Fathers that might hit home with some of you.

Fortress Hike

On June 17th we took the young men in our ward on a hike up Fortress ski hill. They had all spent the night before at the ward Father's and Son's camp out at Camp Gardener and we picked them up in the morning, half dead, to walk up the steepest hike I've ever done. Most of the kids had no problems with the hike but a couple of them wanted to give up on the first bunny hill. We leaders ended up carrying their stuff and sometimes them the rest of the way. We all made it to the top and the views were great, while they lasted. We were perched at the clearing on the top of the climb for no more than 10 minutes when some nasty clouds came over the mountains and hailed a mighty hail upon us. We quickly finished our lunches and headed back down the now muddy trail and arrived at the vehicles about an hour and a half ahead of schedule. The boys really impressed me with how quick they were and how much energy they had for staying up all night by the fire. We have a couple more camps and trips planned, so I'll be getting my share of the great outdoors and stinky deacons this year.

Tammy 3.0

I haven't had a chance to write much lately so I'm getting a bit behind in my current events here. The major event that I didn't want to go unblogged was Tammy's 30th birthday which occured on the 28th of May! There was definately a lot going on at that time for us, so it wasn't as grandiose a celebration as I wanted it to be, but we did get a chance to get together with both sides of the family and yuk it up. Tammy and I also went out to see a movie together for the first time in ages. My Mom Emma-sat for us while we went and saw "The DaVinci Code". We both thought it was pretty good but neither of us have read the book, which I've heard is better. So anyways, Happy 30th Birthday Tammy, and I'm glad to have been around for the past 1/6th of your life!

Exactly One

This picture of Emma was taken the exact moment she turned one year old, June 19th 2006, at 11:23am. She's doing one of her favorite things, unloading shelves of their contents.

5 Years

On the 2nd of the month, Tammy and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. The traditional gift on the 5th anniversary is something wooden and the modern gift is supposed to be silverware. I decided to combine the two and I bought tammy a $1000 gift certificate to the Wooden Spoon Outlet. She really liked it as we've both decided on the wooden spoon as the weapon of choice for disciplining our children, and your children for that matter. More seriously though, It's quite the milestone in our lives, and I'd like to pay tribute to the girl who's been mine for the past 5 years with a poem that I wrote:

My dearest, my dearest, where has the time fled?
Five years have now past since the two of us wed.
We've lost a few hairs and gained a few ounces,
And we've had our fair share of bruises and bounces.

Sometimes I think back to when life was the thrills,
Instead of pooped diapers and a mountain of bills.
But you know I wouldn't go and alter a thing,
I still love the lady and I still wear the ring.
And I still enjoy that rare quiet night,
When we sit close together and you're holding me tight.
And if it gets dark and the lights are real low,
We might look like we did, five years ago.

Ah-Spew

I've been hit with a cold this week and its been making life miserable. I have learned this week though that sometimes misery begets awesomeness. Yesterday after dinner I was lying in bed, watching some rubbish show on TV, when I started having a sneeze attack. I sneezed probably 8 times in a row and on the last one I suddenly felt my stomach regurgitate my supper and I sneezed puke across the room. We had pasta for dinner so it looked like a guts grenade had gone off. Tammy was feeding Emma a bottle beside me and She said I had a pretty startled look on my face. She also couldn't stop laughing at me and rendered no assistance, to her eternal shame. I haven't puked in like 15 years so I'm a bit disappointed about ending my streak, but I can't think of a better way to do it.

The Graduate

Yesterday was my graduation ceremony at the Jubilee Auditorium. The ceremony started at 9:00am but us graduands had to be there at 7:30am to get fitted in the robes of the false priesthood. It was good to see a lot of friends from class again and to hear what they've been up to since school ended. Tammy and Emma came, as well as both my parents and my Grandma Bourne. The ceremony was a bit long for Emma but she did really well and she was a big hit with everyone from class. Afterwards we went over to my parents house and the family gathered for a celebratory BBQ and birthday party for Tammy. Joe and Erica brought Josh over and it was great to see them as its been about 6 months since we all got together. Josh just turned 2 the day before and he's running around and talking really well. As I officially join the ranks of SAIT Alumni (with honours by the by) my brother Trevor joins the SAIT student body as he just got accepted in the Engineering Design and Drafting program to start this September. We're all excited for him and he's excited too. Maybe someday we'll have to start up our own drafting company with my Dad and Trevor Ganchar....I call President.

Modus Report

I've been working at Modus now for a few weeks and things are going well. They keep me pretty busy with the drafting side of things but it's nice that I'm not necessarily chained to my desk all day. I'm on site alot, checking things out and working with the construction supervisors, and that helps break the day up a bit. I wanted to post a picture of where I work to show how low tech it is right now. This is site 1 on the north end of Crossfield, where I work, and site 2 is on the south side of Crossfield where the actual construction takes place. If you're thinking, "Hey that looks like some kind of converted hay barn or something" you're right. My desk is right below that front window on the left. The barn area is where they paint all the doors so the fumes get bad sometimes, and there is no air conditioning so it gets pretty warm but it's still cool to draft in a barn. If you're also thinking "Hey, is that a porta-potty on the side of the building there?" you are again right. Even though it is our only facility, I never use it because there are people who work for Modus that live in that motor home behind the building there that have claimed it. I just go to the Shell station during lunch. It may sound bad but I think it's cool and I'm sure once the company gets more established there will be nicer facilities.

Young Men's President

Last sunday I was called to be the Young Men's President in our ward. I'm excited about it and it seems like a lot of the parents and their youth are excited about it too. I am a bit overwhelmed though, and a few people have told me that it's one of the busiest callings in the Church, but with my secret powers and my magic medallion, I'm sure I'll do alright. I kid. We have a great group of young men and they called me some great councilors, so despite my efforts I'm sure it will be a successful program.

Mother's Day 2006

This Mother's day was a special one as it was Tammy's first as a Mother. The plan was for me to get up with Emma that morning and let Tammy sleep in and Emma and I were going to make her breakfast and a nice card. It didn't work out that well because unless you have hearing problems you don't sleep in while Emma is awake. Tammy wasn't feeling great that morning either so she didn't feel like much of a breakfast. She did get her card though, and some gifts from Dad. We went out for dinner with the Olsen side on Saturday night for Tammy's mom and then had a BBQ at my parents on Sunday for my mom. We had a picture taken at a studio of all the grandchildren on the Bourne side for my mom and she loved it of course. We took about 20 pictures at the studio but only 2 turned out reasonably well enough to print and that's largely due to Emma. I think she takes after her Dad and doesn't want to have any normal pictures taken of her. Here is a picture of Emma making her Mother's day cards. I eventually had to put a soother in her mouth because she kept eating the crayons.

Lucy's First Birthday

Yesterday we went out to Heather and Tyler's place in Cochrane to celebrate Lucy's 1st birthday. It was a pirate theme complete with pirate names, jolly roger tattoo's, and a treasure hunt. There were a lot of people there and everyone had a good time. Tammy and I went in on a gift with the Ganchars, Trevor, and Sam. We got her a wagon that she can be pulled around in and in a couple years be filled with fliers and pulled by her. We stayed a little too late to watch "The Island" which Tammy and I hadn't seen. It was a pretty good show but man were we tired this morning. Happy Birthday Lucy!!

Easter 2006

I'm catching up on some old news here and even though the dates of these events suggest they're expired, the freshness is still guaranteed. We celebrated an Easter/Alisons birthday combo at my parents house a couple weekends ago with some turkish dinner and an egg hunt for the kids. The kids followed a series of clues, each one more lethal in its cunning than the last, until they found the last clue which read "Congratulations, your baskets of goodies are in the living room being eaten by your Uncles!", but it was just a joke, unfortunately. I had a few days off school at the time too, which was nice except everyone was sick. We actually had to cancel the Olsen Easter Feaster due to illnesses but word is that Jodie and Aaron will host it in there new house once they're settled in. I beleive General Conferance took place the weekend before and it was a good one despite most of the family Conferance traditions not taking place. My parents, My Grandma, and Sam went down to Utah for conferance this year so the family didn't really get together. I went to the Priesthood session with Tammy's Dad and we went out for blizzards with the young men from our ward afterward. Tammy and I caught the rest of the sessions at home and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at home with Emma.

Modus Structures Inc.

School officially ended yesterday, I have a day off today but I'm back to full-time work on Monday for the rest of my life. I'm starting a new job out in Crossfield which is about 15 minutes north of Airdrie. The place is called Modus Structures Inc. and they design and manufacture portable structures for schools and such. I got the job through Paul from school who's been working there part-time for the past semester. Paul lives just around the corner from us so we'll be able to carpool out there together. Tammy and I are really excited about this opportunity. We've always wanted to move to a small town someday and if things work out at Modus we could potentially find ourselves out Crossfield way. The housing costs in Calgary are insane right now, and we're going to be outgrowing our house soon, so the hope is to be able to sell it and buy something a bit bigger but for less money. Gas prices are getting crazy now too so maybe we can cut the comute down to a walking distance as well. We feel very blessed and very grateful and look forward the opportunities the future may hold for our family.

Out Forever

I wrote my final final yesterday so i'm officially done school! I have to go back today to pick up my final projects and then there's grad next month but other than that it's over. Although I'm pumped about finally being done with homework, assignments, and tests, I'll miss the people....ah the people. This is the final sentance in this entry, and I say that because I noticed I've used the word "final" at least once in every sentance in this entry. Except this one.

Car Show 2006

Went to the car show today with my brother, Joe, Tyler, Graham, and Mike Cutler. It was good but I wish more of the makers would bring out the concept cars instead of the usual suspects you can find in the dealerships. Ford did pretty good with the Cobra concept, the GT, and all the Mustangs they brought but it was pretty rare to find anything conceptual or customized from the rest of the lot. I can't afford anything I saw on the floor anyways so what's the diff? The pic is the Cobra concept which is a super cool car but I think I still like the origional better.

Ice Fishing

This morning got started early as Devon Maucieri and I took some of the young men out near Church Ranches to go ice fishing. It was pretty cold but we managed to brave the winds for long enough to catch 6 rainbow trout. We set most of them free but each of the young men got to take one home. This is a pic of our first catch of the day. From left to right is Jared Velasquez, Isaiah Emtage, Jonathan Shaw, and Devon is holding the fish. Devon is Clint Maucieri's younger brother for those who know Clint.

The Perfect Age

Yesterday I turned 28 years old. Thanks to everyone who called to wish me a happy one. 28 is an interesting age because it is a perfect number. That means it is the sum of all its divisors. 28 can be divided by 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14, and 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28. The last age I reached that was a perfect number was 6 and the next one will be 496. I don't know if perfect numbers are lucky or not but you can probably tell I received my birthday call from Dale Shoultz.

Work Week

I just finished "work week" which is a part of my course requirements. Everyone in the program drew names of architectural firms from a hat and then we got to go work for them for a week. I drew Randall R. Gibson and Associates who happen to work down the hall from Dejong Design Associates. It was good to try something new as The Gibson associates do mainly landscape architecture for community developments and parks and such. I was a bit worried my first day when the computer they sat me down at had the word "slave" rotating around on the screen as the screen saver, but I later found out that it was just the name of the computer. I spent most of the week drafting but on Thursday Jeff and I went out to Randy's place in Bragg Creek to do some measurements on the gigantic log house he's building out there. It's a ways out of town but it sure is beautiful out there. I'd move out to a place like that in a second if I could ever afford it. Anyways, I'll be back to Dejong part-time again next week and back to full-time school as well. I have to say it was definitely nice having evenings again. I'll miss certain aspects of school life but I'm really looking forward to full-time work again. My thanks to the Gibson team for a fun an educational week.

Picture Pages

I'm stealing a picture off of Kevin's site and posting it as my own. This is a group shot from that get together we had over the holidays at Luke and Jenny Smith's place. There were more people there than shown in this pic including Tammy and Emma, and Jessica and Chad Dean, but they all left before it was taken. If anyone wants to see them all you can go here:

http://www.kevinandelise.com/EntryBrowser.aspx?Home=1&EntryID=7305

Aguape

Just as a quick sidebar, tonight at the young men's activity I introduced the group to Aguape, the exhilerating game of anything goes volleyball. They loved it. Me and my friends invented that game back when we were in young men's. A few weeks back I introduced them to Fugitive and Stairway to Heaven as none of them had ever heard of those before. They were instantly sold. I just thought my old chums who frequent the sight might get a kick out of remembering those sweet games.

Christmas 2005

This year was the year where we would spend Christmas Day with Tammy's side of the family. We drove out to Olds for Church on Christmas morning and then we headed back to Tammy's parents house in Carstairs for the big breakfast and the big gift exchange. It's getting crazy having everyone on her side together in the same house these days. I think there were 18 people, one cat, and one fetus gathered around the tree that day if my math is right. We spent the rest of the day there hanging out and playing games. Aaron and I had our traditional Christmas Chess game (which I won) and everyone joined in for some Mad Gab. It was a lot of fun and of course Emma was showered with gifts from her Grandparents and her cousins. We had our Christmas dinner on Boxing Day when everyone went over to Kristie and Iain's for turkey and some figgy pudding. If the family continues to grow like it has, we may have to rent the Ranchlands Community Center for Christmas 2007. I have connections there.

After festivities with the Olsens came to a close we still had some presents left at home that Emma had yet to open. We opened one a day and by the end of the week I think she really got the hang of it and started to understand what was going on. She loves all her new toys, especially the cheapest ones, ironically. That week we also got invited over to Luke and Jenny Smith's place for a party since Derek and Rachelle were in town. It was good to see everyone and find out who looks the best and who is the most successful. On Thursday night we invited my family over for a bit and then we all went out to Boston Pizza for a warm meal and some hockey. The food went down and the Flames won so it was a good night. I had the week off of work and Tammy didn't have to watch Madison so we spent our days cleaning house. Even though it was "work" I still felt it was a very relaxing holiday compared to the mad schedules we've been keeping lately.

The day of New Years Eve was spent having Christmas with the Bourne side of the family. My parents hosted and we spent the day merrily playing cards, 8 person Star Wars on Xbox, and watching the hockey game. Our traditional gift exchange involves drawing names from a hat but this year we changed it up a bit. This year everyone bought a gift that started with the letter "C" for "Christmas" and then we took turns opening them and stealing them from each other until everyone got something they wanted. It was fun but I don't think it caught on as a continuing tradition. Tammy got a Betta fish complete with an aquarium and I got the Nonesuch Dickens Christmas Books. Come to think of it I don't know how the fish had anything to do with the letter "C", but oh well, Tammy loves it and she named it Chester so what are you going to do? Most people were pretty tired at the end of the day so the new year rang in pretty tamely. I cant remember everything we did but I do remember not getting home until 4am for some reason. After changing Emma twice and finally getting her back down to sleep we finally hit the hay around 5am. We had a full session of Church the next day but only Tammy ended up going for the last 2 hours to teach her Sunbeams class while I stayed home with Emma. After Church we went back over to my parents house and had our 2nd Christmas feast. Then we hung out the rest of the day playing more games and just chilling like the Bournes do. By and large it was a fantastic holiday.

SAIT Christmas Party 2005

The holidays were busier than I thought they would be so I'm a bit behind on the news machine. Our program at SAIT hosted another Christmas party this past December after finals. All the usuals and the unusuals were there, including most of the faculty who seemed to out-party the students. It was a swell time and I even came away with a door prize, Snoopy seat-belt covers! Goodbye caloused colarbones!