Hardwood Floors

When we bought our house about 2 1/2 years ago there had been no updating in all it's 10 years. Now that it's going onto it's 13th year we thought it was time to make some much needed changes. We have already done some painting on the inside as well as painting the deck and the trim on the outside of the house. We also put in shower doors in the main bathrooms. Now on to the floors. We have replaced the carpet in the LR and DR with Hickory hardwood. Because we have oak trim through out the house and we didn't want to go to all the trouble of changing it we had to find some wood that would work with it and we did! It looks even better than we imagined it would. Our next project will be tiling the rest of the main floor. Chris will be starting that soon.

Now on to some pictures...

                         Rolling up the tired carpet in the LR.

We hung plastic in the entrances to the rooms so we could keep most of the saw dust in one place. This is the DR.  See the curve at the top of the flooring? That was the original shape of the carpet. We took that out and now just have a straight line. Much better.

Chris is finishing up. At this point we weren't sure we had enough boards left. It would have been a very long drive back down to Montana for 2 extra boards!

                I am nailing the very last nail into the very last board!

                                            LR before

                                        LR after
                    (see the tile in the bottom right? That is the tile we will be putting down shortly)

            

This is the DR. We don't use it as a proper DR though. We call it our reading/music room. The second guitar needs to be hung and the bookshelves need to be put back in. But you get the idea!



We are so happy with the results. In the future we may add an area rug or two but for now we love it just the way it is!

Caleb

On Good Friday Caleb drove off to a new experience. He will be living in Winnipeg, Manitoba for the next 4 months installing alarm systems with Vivint formerly known as Apex.

Packing up his car.....

Ready to go.....

And..... he's gone.



We know that this will be a great experience for him and know that he will learn alot. This is the first time living away from home with all the descions his own. He will be living in an exectutive suite (with 2 other guys) which includes a cleaning service once a week, free food upon arrival, a TV in every room and a free gym membership to a place down the road.  Umm...can I come too? Work hard Caleb and we will see you when you get home!

Our Anniversary By The Numbers

28 years ago Chris and I met in Drayton Valley, Alberta.

26 years ago today we were married in Laie, Hawaii.

23 years ago Sean was born in Westville, Nova Scotia.

21 years ago Kelly was also born in Westville, Nova Scotia.

19 years ago Caleb was born in Regina, Saskatchewan.

16 years ago Seth was also born in Regina, Saskatchewan.

  7 is the number of towns/cities we have lived in.

  3 is the number of Provinces we have lived in.

  1 is the number of States we have lived in.

                             One very happy couple indeed!

                                                                    

Kelly and BYU-I

We drove Kelly down to Rexburg, Idaho last Friday to attend BYU-I for a semester. She is on the Winter track (Jan-July) but missed the first semester so this will be a short short "year" for her. She was so happy to be returning after 2 1/2 years and was talking a mile a minute as we drove down main street and around the campus to her apt. remembering everything from the last time she was there. Apparently alot has changed with lots of improvements.

If you look real hard or click on the picture you can see a large "R" on the face of the mountain. The last time she was at BYU-I she hiked that mountain and had her lunch at the top of the "R".

Kelly is living off campus. As a freshman you had to live in the dorms on campus so she is very excited this time to have her own room and share a large bathroom with only one other person. Here she is after a long day of driving and shopping. Although she is very tired she is VERY happy!

Have a great time at school Kelly!!!

Caleb's Day!

Caleb is 19 years old today and looking back I didn't think this day would ever come. He was 16 days over due!
Here is a little snap shot of who he is in my mind.
Happy Birthday Caleb!!

As a very little boy you would see Caleb off on his own thinking, and being "quiet". Even as a baby sitting on my lap not even able to crawl yet he would just be "quiet". When he was about 3 years old we went berry picking in the big open praires and he had wondered off.  There was Caleb sitting down all by himself being "quiet". What I would give to know what he was thinking when he was a baby, when he was 3 years old, and here in this picture 4 years ago.


Here are some more pictures of Caleb and what I love about him.

He is very exact. I think he needs to come gopher hunting with me!

                             He loves to get close to animals. There is something about Caleb when he gets close to an animal. He gets "quiet".

                          Circa 2007. Loves to play the guitar!

                              Circa 2008. Still loves to play the guitar!

                    Circa 2009. And STILL loves to play the guitar!
He also sings alot in his bedroom while playing the guitar which I really enjoy listening to when I am in my bedroom. One night while going to bed I fell asleep listening to him play the guitar and sing. I loved it.

                      He looks super looks great in a suit and tie!!

                                And he loves to Snowboard!


    I hope this year is a good one for you Caleb! There is alot out there to think about. Be "quiet" and listen.
                                                                    We love you!

My Fun day!

I went out to my sister's house for an adventure and had a great day! I always have a great time there but this little trip was especially fun. Springtime brings different things to do so thanks to our friend Dixie, I was able to do something I have never ever done before. Aren't days great when you get to do something that you have never ever done before? As you read thru this post I will let you know the new and exciting thing I was able to do for the first time! Ready to hear about my fun day? Here we go!


                      
This is me taking a "PW" shot. One way that you can goher hunt in the great outdoors is to first turn to a  great counrty music station, you then roll the window down, wait for a gopher then you shoot! You want to be careful shooting gophers this way though because if you are caught shooting this way the fine is hundreds of dollars!

                        
     Lee-Lee, Dixie and I taking a lunch break. Nothing like eating your lunch in the great outdoors!

                                            Here I am pouring feed out of a bucket for the Bulls.

                                                                    Here they come!

                               Swinging on rope in a barn? That's right. Pretty cool eh? (see the cats?)

Here I am feeling very proud. I have JUST tagged this new little calfs ear. This is the thing I have never ever done before. It's just like piercing a human ear but with a larger gun of course. Instead of wrting the usual number on the tag Dixie said I could write anything I wanted so I drew a flower!

 

 This little calf was checking the gun out before I punched the tag in her little ear. Apparently they don't feel it. 

 

                                              Drawing the flower on the tag. I felt very official.

       This momma cow was sure checking out her little calf. Some of these momma cows can get very upset!

 I was talking to this momma cow very firmly. I was telling her to just stay back and let us do our job.   Some momma's listen and some don't!

                    Here is Lee lee trying with all her might to keep these momma`s away so Dixie could do her thing. They listened to her.

Look at Dixie roping that little calf. Sometimes you can just walk up to them and do what you need to do and other times you need to rope em`.

                                                         What a great day I had!!
(excuse my pictures and words being off center. This posting is still a little tricky for me)

Another Montana Trip

We took another trip down south to pick up our flooring that we had ordered 2 weeks before and decided once again to take advantage of the ski season which is closing in a couple of weeks. Our drive down this time was great but we hit a storm coming back up. It was a little interesting (we had the back of the 4runner tied 1/2 way down with some rope so needless to say we had the heat on the entire time. It got a little cool at times) and took us a couple of extra hours but when you are saving about two thousand dollars it doesn't seem so bad!
So this trip Lee lee, her youngest son Neal and our mutual friend Dixie joined us for a day of skiing. It was alot of fun!

See anything interesting about this Pickup truck? Look closer. It's a little hard to see but if you look up towards the top left and right side of the roof you will see Antlers. Yes. They were securely attached to the truck! Now THAT is Montana!! Can you say, "random" ?




This is in the front lobby of the Hotel. A little interesting and a little random. But cute non the less.





This is the building right next door to the Hotel. I am sure there is a story behind the horse and wagon that is on the roof.  Again.  Random.  But then again very quaint.




Breakfast time.




More breakfast time.




Eyes closed.




Eyes open.




Lee Lee, Dixie and Neal getting ready to rent thier gear. Don't they look serious?




I saw this as I was skiing and just had to take a picture of it. That is quite a "hat" on top of that tiny shed. There was just so much snow around!




That Neal! He had a lot of fun trying to smash our faces together but we managed a non smashing picture. Well, wait a minute. Maybe this is a "smashing " picture. Lol!




Just relaxing mid afternoon while Chris and Neal are skiing the black diamonds!



I am pretty sure we would stay here again. See you again Kalispell Grand Hotel!  

And Lee lee? Next time we won't load your car up with 7 hundred pounds of tile. Promise. Thank you again for helping us out. Really.

Big Mountain in Whitefish, Montana

Chris and I drove down to Montana last week to look for some hardwood and tile for the main level of our home and to also go skiing. We were lucky and found what we were looking for at the first place we looked (Thank you Mark and Lee Lee for the suggestion)! We had a great time away and the skiing was great. And I mean great! Above zero temperatures + sunny and clear = perfect skiing! Chris had skied here quite a bit back in High School with his buddies and this was my first trip.

We took the road that people normally don't travel on in the winter but we didn't know until we were on it. The road had been closed the week before due to snow and high winds. Look at that 15 foot drift!

The drive was pretty scary at times with the winds blowing all the snow around so seeing this snow blower doing it's thing was a welcome sight.

As we were driving along on a different road but with equally bad weather a little Ford Focus passed us and we both thought that was a little crazy because of the very icy roads. Not more than 1 minute later that little Ford Focus slid and ended up needing some help to get straightened away. This is Chris and the guy that was behind us pushing that little Ford Focus out of the ditch.

We followed this Hummer up to Big Mountain. See the ski runs in the background? That is where we are headed!

We're on our way! Take the next right. See the Flag? No wind. Skiing is gonna be great!

We took a break for a few minutes at the Hellroaring Saloon and Eatery which was the original ski lodge at the resort and built in 1947.

Here is Chris about 1/2 way up the mountain with the mogul run down to the left.

Here I am at the same place. But I don't do moguls.

This is right at the top of the mountain. It's called Summit House. It was quite spectacular as you can see from the picture and seeing the two flags there side by side was pretty cool.

This picture and the one below are on the back (North) side of the mountain. I look mighty happy but I had just fallen. Twice. It was a little too steep for me but luckily it was only a short little steep run. I fell so many times this trip but that's okay because now I am an expert at getting up. But NOT an expert at putting my skis back on after a fall going downhill! See the trees covered in all that snow? They are called Snow Ghosts. One of the coolest things I have ever seen!!