Christmas at our House

This has been quite the week. Last Friday was my Birthday and Ardell sent me sixty -- yes that is 6 0 long stem red roses to my office. My supervisor got the call that there was something at reception for my department, so she went down three floors to the other side of the building and up three floors to reception on the south bank of the building, then down carried the huge bouquet down three floors to the main atria and up the north elevators to our third floor. They were really heavy. She brought them to my pod and said if I had another delivery I had to go get it. So I unwrapped it all and it covered the whole pod - which is two -two drawer filing cabinets back to back. So the whole office knew I had received them, and I had to tell them they were from my Teddy Bear and there was 60 cause I was 60 years old that day. So then the whole office sang Happy Birthday to me. My face went very red to say the least. Then I had to call Ardell and tell him.

It was been bitterly cold this past week. Today we are -7 for a high, so that is balmy. Last night, Christmas eve, we spent at Colleen's house with her family and Brad was there too. It was so good to see him. Kara and her girls came over too. Heidi had gone to Randy's for the evening. Colleen is having them all over tomorrow for dinner. We all had a nice Chinese food supper with all the Boyers. Lucky and his daughter and husband and twin girls were there. Brianne and Alana are really cute kids. They are about 2 yrs old. Alissa and Alexis were there too.

This morning Ardell and I opened our gift from Melanie and Jules. It was a beautiful picture and a picture of Jules and one of the Vancouver Olympic symbol of the formation of rocks. I don't know what it is called.


Then we both fixed dinner this afternoon. I put the turkey in and Ardell instructed. We had a realy nice dinner just the two of us. It was quiet and we watch Cornation Street while we ate.
Now it is time for bed.

I just might tackle the Boxing Day Sales crowds tomorrow. I want to go get a few things that I didn't get for Christmas. I might even go shopping for myself too.

I talked to Marvelle and Clifford night before last. We have a book for all of you from Ardell's sister - Mary Anne Wilson Quinton. She has wrote a book of poems and published them. It is a great little book dedicated to her parents and her brothers, Ardell and Earnie. We have one each for all of my sisters. We will get them to you soon.

So I hope the whole family had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We sure had a quiet one and it was soooo good to just relax and be by ourselves. Talk to you all when we can.

Noble New #73 - Marvelle - Reporter

I just read the blogs that our family has entered. What a wonderful vehicle to let us know about the wonderful people in our family. I'll bet the person who took the kids shopping enjoyed it too. We love you all. You can bet if I'm ever home when they have the 'craft's day' I'll be there.

Uncle Gayle is a special person too. He thinks of others all the time. I love him. If he wasn't married to my sister I wouldn't even know him. Clifford takes care of me. He is so kind and loving too. Each of our mates are wonderful people. I hope each of us remembers them when they need it. Brad is a wonderful person too. How we love them. Cam is very special too. We love him. I hope each of us remembers the special people in our life and tell them how much we love them especially at this time of year.
\
When we went to Jeanne Hough Ethridge's place her husband Don ,(for Thanksgiving) he told her to sit down and visit wih her family - meanng us her kids while he did the dishes. How wonderful he is. Don Smith 'tried' to get some things for us in Mexico when he went. He is wonderful too. We love each of you. Keep up the good work.

What LA is doing is keeping a record of cute things the kids say. Kaylie's remarks need to be written up there.

love Marvelle

Cute Quote of the week.

Last night Ryan and Beth and their two beautiful little girls came to visit us. While we visited, Hailey and Ava were both very busy checking out the Christmas decorations and playing in the Grandma Room. When they were finished downstairs, they came up looking for something else to do. Hailey said she wanted to see my bedroom so I took her in there and turned on the light. I had moved the doll carriage with the doll in Taylor's blessing dress into the bedroom to make room for the Christmas tree. As soon as Hailey spotted it, she wanted to play with the doll. So I told her she could pick up the doll. (This one is not porcelain.) She carefully picked up the doll, cradled her in her arms and innocently asked, "Is she break-a-full?)

Winter Celebrations

I know we don't call them Christmas Concerts anymore.....but thought I'd let you know that Jill and Peirce just had a "what we used to call a Christmas Concert"...but now known as a Winter Celebration.... at their school last week. :0) Pictures and videos on our Ackroyd Family Blog here.

Actually, I'm sounding sarcastic, but I think they did a good job in the concert of incorporating what we believe to be the real meaning of Christmas. They talked about winter celebrations in many different countries - including a number of Christian countries. They went through the story of the Savior's birth, through Hannukah songs and dances, and also celebrations in India and Africa and a number of other places. At the end of the night all the kids came into the gym and sang a song about Peace on Earth. It was quite moving!

We have someone Very SPECIAL in our FAMILY

I don't know if the whole family knows of who this VERY SPECIAL PERSON, in our family is,

BUT....................

did you know that on November 22nd, Colleen hosted a crafts day at her house for all the ladies of the family. Heidi, Kara, & Beth & Colleen represented the Boyer's. Gaylene & Lester Ann were from the Jensen's, Paula and I from the Wilson's. We all had a very nice time visiting and doing our crafts. Thanks to Gaylene for ordering and directing us all in the painting and assembling our crafts. I made a beautiful nativity scene. It was fun making it and visiting with all the girls. Some of the little kids did crafts too. Christopher even colored some Christmas tree ornaments. Haley and Alexis and Alissa made some bead work necklaces to adorn themselves and their little sisters. Collen spent the whole day with a housefull of company and wasn't feeling well. How she got any sleep we do not know.

I marvelled at how well all the kids got along together in the family. I think they are all discovering their cousins and enjoying playing together.

HOWEVER.................

there was another person who got the big idea of taking all the little kids shopping for their mothers. This was Duane......what a WONDERFUL GUY. Off he went with Ryan and Dave in toe and took, Haley and Ava, Alexis and Alissa, Taylor, Jordan, Sydney, and Christopher and Tanner and I don't know who all else went, but he took all the kids to Market Mall and they all did their Christmas Shopping for their mothers. That was NINE kids that went to the mall with Uncle Duane and loved it.

Christopher came home with a lovely present, which he and Garry wrapped up right away, so Mommy would not find out what it was. He whispered in Grandma's ear what it was, though.
I had given Christoper some money to buy a gift, (his reward for his excellent report card), but Duane made sure that each one of the kids all had a gift for their mother's before they left the mall.

I thought, what a wonderful person to make sure that each child had a gift to take home, and he even put out money to boot for each of the kids I am sure.

Duane -- just wanted to know you are the greatest.......................& special too.


Love

Auntie
Shirley

Noble News #74 - Marvelle Reporter

Noble News - We are having a wonderful Christmas at Nickee's. Brad and his kids are coming down. Brad, Dustyn and Julia are coming for a long week-end. Brad et al (Brad, Dustyn, Julia, Jessey and Shelbi) are flying to Vegas the 26thand leaving on the 29th. Jessey and Shelbi are staying until the 2nd of Jan 2009. Brad and his kids are staying in the hotel Treasure Island. We should have a good time.

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Jean Hough Ethridge. It was wonderful. We ate lots. We even went shopping on the Friday after but it was so crowded so we went home.

We are going to Vegas on the 10th of December to tend the dogs while the Dudleys go to Hawaii for Ashley's graduation. We were invited to go too but I'm not very good lately and so we are staying home to tend the dogs. I can't see very good. But I'm okay. I think it might be the change of venues.

Nevertheless, I am glad Shirley, Colleen and LA went to the funeral they had for Aunt Verna. I wish I could have been there. It was great to hear about it though from the girls. I'm so glad I have sisters there.

See you all when we get home.

love Marvelle

Storybook Theatre

The kids and I have been volunteering at Storybook Theatre. It's really fun!

The first play we volunteered at was called Harriet's Halloween Candy. It was a musical of sorts about a girl that LOVES Halloween and doesn't want to share her candy. We were ushers for this play. We did it on a Saturday and so we ushered, watched the play, got to have lunch with the actors, and then ushered again and watched it for the second performance that day. It was fun to see it two times. We really enjoyed the story and the kids have been singing the songs since!

Last Saturday Peirce and I volunteered at their Cookie Cabaret (we would have invited Jill but she had a swim meet that day). These are plays especially for 3-5 year olds. They're about an hour long and the actors interact with the audience quite a bit. The kids get to sit on the floor right at the edge of the stage. It's quite a lot of fun (although Peirce did tell me he's too old now for some of the action songs they make the kids sing....sigh...my baby is growing up!) This day Peirce and I got to work in the concession. Peirce LOVED it. He was in charge of scooping popcorn and having it ready for people to buy, and taking the money. He loves loves loves to sort money. We also got to have lunch with the actors that day. They were a really fun group and were very friendly with Peirce. He felt like one of the crew!

We're definitely planning to continue. Jill and Peirce both really enjoy theatre and like to be in plays. I'd like to sign them up for some of their classes - but they're usually on a Saturday and I am not sure we can commit every Saturday for such an extended period of time. Far too many swim meets in our life right now! One of our next adventures will be to be in the pageant at Heritage Park. The kids and I are going to be in it and we're going to be shepherds!! Stay tuned for pictures. :0)

Christmas Craft Day at Colleen's and a Fun Weekend
By Lester Ann

We all had a great day on Saturday at Colleen's doing crafts, laughing, playing, holding babies, laughing, eating, and just generally having a good time. We should make this an annual tradition.

I have downloaded a bunch of photos for you to see. You be the judge of what picture represents which statement about the day. There were lots of babies to play with and to hold. There were lots of kids having a ball, not the least of which being the biggest kid of us all. Hailey was the official photographer. We even got a few wonderful crafts completed.



Colleen didn't feel well that day and spent a good part of the day upstairs sleeping and resting on the couch. What a terrible day to be sick, especially with a house full of noisy and messy people like us. I came home sick too but it was definitely worth it. We are not sure who started it all but a lot of us were sick over the week end. At least we kept it all in the family. (We hope)

Gayle had booked me a hotel room for Saturday night thinking I would like the quiet and privacy after a very busy and fun day but Taylor, Sydney and Hailey decided it would be fun to spend the night with me. So off we went to the hotel. We got there at about 10:30 p.m. and all were asleep by 11:00. That is all except me. I was reading a good book and it was 2:30 a.m. before I shut off the light and went to sleep.

Then on Sunday we either went to Dawn's ward or Colleen's. Those of us who went to Colleen's ward took in Ward Conference and those of us who went to Dawn's sat in on Allen being ordained a High Priest by his Dad, Jim Ackroyd. Allen has been called as a Stake High Councilman. In the afternoon we all abandoned Colleen and the others who were sick at her house and either went to Dawn and Allen's for dinner or to an Anderson Dinner at Robyn and Don Veroney's home. I think Colleen must have been happy to see us all leave.

After the weekend, I took the Nelson kids home as Gaylene had a doctor's appointment in Calgary on Monday and they took the opportunity to do some Santa Shopping. I got the kids off to school the next day and then spent the rest of the day reading and knitting. Gaylene and Duane arrived home in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning and as soon as they all went to school and work, I came home. By the time I got here I was feeling pretty rotten so I had a hot shower and went to bed. That was at about 11:00 a.m. I slept off and on all day and then right through the night. I must have needed the rest as I feel pretty good today. This poor old body can't take too many week ends like that any more. I hope that isn't an indication of what our Christmas season is going to be like. I'm not sure I could handle it but it will be fun trying.

On Friday, Nov 21 Colleen, Shirley and I went to Aunt Verna's funeral in Taber. It really was a nice funeral. The speakers were interesting and good and it was great to see so many family members there. Aunt Verna's direct descendants pretty well filled the center section in the Stake House Chapel in Taber. Aunt Norine and Uncle Ivan were there. Phillis Edwards was there and she said Aunt Lenore has a really hard time traveling these days so she wasn't there. They had a nice lunch after and it was a great time to socialize and catch up with all the cousins with what is going on in their lives. I only took one picture. It seems I didn't get at it until it was too late.

Australia HERE WE COME

Finally our Honeymoon is coming into a reality. We have purchased our tickets for Australia. We leave at 7:00 pm February 27th and fly from Calgary to San Francisco. We board the Australian airlines in San Francisco and fly all night to Sydney, Australia. We then have a few hours lay over in Sydney and board a domestic flight to Wagga Wagga, North South Wales. That is where Annette and Brian live. We will stay with them touring around for the whole month of March and return home on March 27th. We will then have two day to catch up from jet lag and then go back to work on March 20th.

The ATB Bank is given me the gears about my vacation time. They will not let me schedule my holidays until January/09. Then I told them that I had to book our trip by November 14th to get the seats and the connections that we wanted. So I booked it on the risk that another person may come into my department who MIGHT have more seniority over me for vacation time, and could bump me. I asked them if they would not ask such a person to try to book their holidays around my schedule. They said they could not verify my vacation time, as this could happen and if it did that person could bump me. So I told them then I would take that risk. Then they asked me what time I wanted. I told them I would be away from March 1 - 2yth inclusive. I knew I would only have three week and 2 days vacation time, so I asked for 3 days of leave without pay. She said she would have to check into that for me. So I left her office with knowing that risk. Then she called me at home that night and told me I could not have a leave without pay for three days as an extention of a vacation. So I left it at that, as I had already come home and booked my trip. So I put the request into human resources and was told the VP had made a managerial decision that they would not allow anybody to take a leave without pay as an extension of a holiday. I told them that the Union agreement does not state that. So now I am going to take it to the Union and see where I get with that. Human Resources says leave it until January. I may be able to buy vacation time with my variable pay or the new benefits package that is coming out in the spring, but won't be effective until April 1st until it is negotiated with the union agreement which expired March 31. The employer is really pushing to get this flex benefits pushed through. They have asked that the bargaining commence in December this year, before the agreement expires, which is very unusual. There must be something in there that they want to open negotiations. Employers don't do that thing.

So I am just going to leave it as such. They are saying that if I don't return to work on March 27th for three days then I have abandoned my job. I pleaded with them that this was my honeymoon, but it didn't matter.

So I will either have a new job before I go on vacation, or not have one when I get back. It matters not to me. They can't expect me to fly back on the 25th, and be to work the next morning. after flying some 21 hours. I could be there physically, but now awake I guess.
Anyway such is my life, always something to worry about. Ardell says we are going to come home March 27th and have the weekend to sleep. We will see what happens. I am going to grieve it with the Union.

I have made a picture memory quilt to take to Annette and Brian for them. It has 16 pictures of them as babies, teenagers, their wedding picture, our wedding picture, their grandkids and pictures of us when they came to visit us in 2005. Annette will be thrilled. L.A. helped me do two blocks with embrodery on them - one says "To Annette and Brian", and the other says
"From Ardell and Shirley". It will be a cherished quilt for sure. I have worked on it for 9 months now and I just have the binding to do on it to finish it.

Brian is building a tour bus his buddy and him bought to take us all around, so we won't have to stay in hotels. He is a carpenter so he has built melamine cupboards in the kitchen area, and installed a shower and bedrooms for us to travel in. It should be fun. It looks like one of the movie stars buses they live in. We will just share the gas for the bus. He has sent my a list of places we might like to visit, like the Great Ocean Road and the coastal area and such. We will go to Tamakan where their friends are too to visit with them. So we are looking forward to packing up and leaving February 27th. WOW I am going to Australia.

This weekend the movie Australia premiers with Nicole Kidman and I want to go see it on Saturday night.

Ok now I want to hear from the rest of the family. What have you been up to????? We are neglecting our news to the family on this blog. Let's all make a New Years resolution to write at least once a month now.

Love you all.

Auntie Shirley

noble news #72 - Marvelle Reporter

NO!!! This is for Dawn.

love Auntie Belle

Shoes

I was surfing around some blogs today and this one reminded me of my aunts. Wondering if any of you have room in your closets for some of these shoes.

:0)

Dawn

NOBLE NEWS #71 - MARVELLE REPORTER

We are now in Arizona. We went swimming today. Not like Jill but swimming. The water was so..... warm

We stayed a week in Las Vegas as Lauren was there playing soccer. She was in the Mountain West conference. We weren't going to stay if she didn't win but she won her Wed game and so we stayed. It was very exciting. Her team was ahead and then just 30 or so sec before the end of the game the other side got a score. It was then OT and the lst OT about 27 seconds into the bame her team got a score. They won that one but then on Saturday they lost l to nil. We had a barbeque for her team on Wednedsay nite. It was good. Her team was second of the Mountain West conference. Lauren is just a freshman but always plays the game.

We left Maggie at Nickee's as we don't live in a pet area here. Ncikee was going to let us have Fox but he is Jordan's favourite and so we will leave him. Nickee has two (she had 3 ) dogs that were Scott's. She has been taking care of Fox, Maggie and Lola for a long time now. Maggie is a Bischon Friese , Fox is a Pomeranian. Lola is a Brussels Grifon. If you don't know what that is just look at ET and you will know. Her hair goes everywhich way and she is the cutust thing you've ever seen.

We drove here ib Sunday ti find everything just fine. We have worked all day cleaning and then Colleen and Floyd came to see us. We went swimming this afternoon too.

Brad and his kids are coming to Vegas for Christmas at Nickee's. We are going to Nickee's on the 10th of December to tend the dogs while they go to Haiwaii as a family for Ashely's graduation. Ashley is graduaing in December. She will be an accountant then.

Well better scoot. I love your entries.

love Marvelle (scribe for the Noble family)

Jill's Swim Meet

Yesterday I drove to Calgary to attend Jill's Swim Meet. It was really exciting to see all the kids that were there and how intent they were on doing well. What impressed me about the crowd watching was how friendly everyone was and how families supported their swimmers. During a heat families would cheer on their swimmers and everyone was so excited as they watched their swimmer compete. Jill did very well. I cannot believe how well she does.

It has been a busy fall for the Boyer house. We went to Vegas in October for a week with all of Dave's brothers and sisters. We stayed with Nickee for one night and had a great visit with her, then we stayed at Barb's timeshare with the Boyer family. We did the temple work for Dave's mother and father and then all the kids were sealed to them. It was really nice. It was the first time for them all to be in the temple together. We know it was a very happy day for their mother, but we're not sure what their father thinks! We had alot of fun shopping and laying in the sun at the pool. The temp was above 80 the entire week.

We had a quiet Halloween too, as far as kids coming to the door. I had 22 kids, when I usually have 30-40. I think families are going to the malls or chosing other activities. I went to Trick or Trunk with Kara, Heidi, Beth and the kids. Ryan and Beth were here for the weekend. Ryan went to Washington DC for the weekend on business, so we got to visit with Beth and the girls. We are happy to announce they are having a boy!! She is due in March. We finally might get another boy!

We have another family expecting.....David and Gaby are having another baby....not sure the date yet.

We are going to have a Craft Day at my house on Saturday, November 22nd from 10-4 (I have my office party that night). All the girls are invited. It would be great, if kids could be home with Dads, so we don't have a totally crazy house! Gaylene is ordering some materials for crafts, if you want to talk to her, or bring your own. I will do a lunch and we can just have a fun day of relaxing, visiting or crafting...whatever fits your fancy! It should be fun.

As Christmas time approaches, I get quite nostalgic. I love the season of fun and family. It's very rewarding to be a Grandma. I love to watch the kids as they play together and enjoy each other. They are all growing so quickly.

Please come see us...our door is always open.

Love to all,
Colleen

The Wilson's Household

I keep watching this site every day for someone to write something about their family. Where are the blogs people!!!! We want to hear from you soon.

Ardell and I have been very busy trying to get the yard ready for winter time. Ardell has built a new flower bed to the east of the front steps and planted a whole bunch of fall bulbs in there for spring blooming. Ardell bought himself a leaf vaccuum, so that he could mulch up the leaves that fell off the trees and use them in the flower beds. He did that last Saturday and then watered them down into the bed good. Later he will cover the whole flower bed with plastic for the winter months -- just to keep out the squirrels we have in the neighborhood.

Paula just called me and told Grandma that Christopher lost his first tooth today. He is pretty excited because he is older than all his little friends. He must have good teeth to be 6 & 1/2 years old before the first one come out. I am sure the tooth fairy will be visiting their house tonight.

I have been very busy at work. It seems to be not letting up at all. I took this week as vacation. I really needed a good rest from the hussle and bussle of the office these days. I have worked a lot of over time, but find it doesn't really pay off. If I don't meet Ardell at the train at 4:30 pm, then he takes a taxi home from downtown and that costs too much money. He really doesn't mind, but it eats up my overtime that I get paid, so it really doesn't pay me much to work over time.

We had a good halloween. We didn't really have very many kids. I laughed at one little girl that came to the door all by herself, she must have been about three yrs. old. Ardell asked her what she was, and she said, "Paton". I am assuming that was her name. Her daddy was right behind her. I found that most of the kids were accompanied by a parent at least this year. I had a bag of candy bars and a box of chocolate bars, and we didn't go thro half of it. I am guessing at maybe 25 - 30 kids came. The doorbell only rang about five or six times. One little girl, Ardell asked her what she was and she said she was an anti-fairy. Another little girl was a dead bride. They are getting really creative with their costumes. It was nice to have the weather cooperate with the halloweening.

I am trying to finish my quilt that I am sewing for Annette and Brian. I have done a quilt top with 16 pictures of our friendship. Lester Ann embroidered two blocks for me on her new sewing machine. One says "To Annette & Brian" and the other says "From Ardell & Shirley". Annette came from a dairy farm when she was a young girl, so I am using the farm theme in the material between the pictures, with cows and chickens and horses and lambs. I hope to make it a queen size quilt. I started it some time ago and left it to the side, so this week I got it going again. I kind of lost interest in it, so thought while I am home this week I had better get it done before we go to Australia in March next year. We are going to visit Brian and Annette for our honeymoon. I wished we would have gone as soon as we got married, cause now the prices to fly are way up and now my savings are a way down.

We bought an air conditioning unit for the house for the hot summers, so that took a chunk out of the savings account.

Well with Remembrance Day coming up soon, I hope we all remember those are, and those who have been, fighting for our country to be a safe and happy land to live in. Tonight we will find out who will be the new president of United States, and hopefully the economy will rally once again. They tell us not to panick, our investments are down but will rally once again if we but wait out the storm. I hope it does, cause that is my retirement money they are playing around with.

Then we will all soon be getting ready for the Christmas season. I have decided that there is just way too much commercialism with the Christmas season, and I am not going to get all caught up in it. We will have a meager Christmas and leave it at that. We have way too much now so really don't need anything more. We are just looking forward to going to Australia for our trip and then will keep going on.

Hope this finds all the family well and remember we love you all.

Shirley & Ardell

Our Weekend

We've had another busy weekend. I'm always so glad when Monday rolls around! I say TGIM!

Jill had her first real swim meet this past weekend. I wrote about it on our Ackroyd Family blog. Hope you'll check it out!

Dawn

Our Thanksgiving - Noble News ___

We had a wonderful time at home. On Friday, Oct 10th, 2008, We had our open house. It was great. About 42 people came. Then on Monday we had our Thanksgiving dinner. We each took turns telling what we were thankful for. Family came out on top. We are all thankful for you and hope you had a special dinner. It was great to read Dawns' news. Thanks for all you do. Shirley, Ardell and Ashley came on Friday nite but left early on Sat. morning. Hope they got home okay. Brad, Helen, Gideon, Dustyn and Julia, Jessey and Shelbi came on Monday. It was ggreat.

love Marvelle

Thanksgiving in Peace River

We had a great time this past weekend too. We drove up to Peace River on Friday night. Jill really likes the Friday practise swim coach and so we decided to not leave until after swimming (plus, then we could travel when kids were sleeping!) We were a little tired the next day - but were glad we did it that way. On Saturday we went and checked out a French town not too far from Peace River. It was fun and interesting to see the French influence there. Our kids really enjoy being the communication experts in those kinds of situations as well. :0)

We went to church on Sunday and ran into a couple of friends from when we were in University. All the people seemed really friendly and it was a nice day. Later that day we had Thanksgiving Dinner at the hotel. They had set a fancy table for us in the back of the restaurant....and so the atmosphere and the food and the company was terrific!! That's really a great way to do a big dinner. Just show up and eat! We didn't even have to do dishes!!

We're thankful we were able to make the trip....and thankful for all of you! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

....now I just need a long weekend to recover!! :0)

Dawn

Thanksgiving Weekend

We are having a very good weekend. To start with we were invited to Marvelle & Clifford's Open House on Friday evening. I asked Ardell and Ashley to go with me and we all drove down right after work, well we pulled Ashley out of school just a few minutes early. I wanted to get on the highway before the rush hour traffic. We left the city by 4 pm and arrived in Cardston at 6:15 pm. We had the wonderful experience of having supper at the Mandarin Gardens on Main Street in Cardston, before going over to Marvelle's new house. The lady, Joan, in the restaurant was quite entertaining the way she would go into the kitchen and holler out what the patrons wanted for supper - hamburger steak, veal cutlets, NewYYYYork steak. It was hilarious. Ashley and I had a good laugh. Then we left there and arrived at Marvelles' where there were a houseful of people in the house. I got to visit with a lot of people I have not seen for years. Marvelle's friend, Sharon (Jensen) Caldwell was there and very surprised to see me. Art and Merle Hough, and their daughter Sharon and Rod Gibb were there too. Then Joan and Wayne Greep came with Tom and Cathy Needham. It was sure good to visit and talk with all of them.

Ardell and I and Ashley stayed with Marvelle & Clifford over night. Ashley got to sleep in her own private bedroom, the closet - it was so big she thought it was made just for her to sleep in. We rolled her up in a quilt and she went right off to sleep. She thought Marvelle's new dog was real cute. Her and Maggie got along quite well. Maggie just likes to lay on your lap and be petted. She is a sweet little dog. She was Scott's little dog and Marvelle and Clifford inherited her out the three dogs that David and Scott had at the house. David felt he needed to get rid of the dogs because he is away so much and could not devote his time to the dogs. He had a neighbour lady looking after them when he was not home, but then she couldn't do it for some reason. So Nickee got two of them and Marvelle & Clifford got Maggie.

On Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast and it was snowing in Cardston, so we headed for home early. The roads were wet till we got to Fort MacLeod, then it was quite windy around the pass area till we got to Nanton.

Today is Thanksgiving Day and I am cooking two pumpkin pies in the oven. When they are done then our Turkey is going into the oven for dinner tonight. Ardell and I are having a dinner alone. Paula and Garry are having her dad over for dinner.

Garry got home from his week of hunting with Roy, on Saturday night with three deer and a moose. Now they will have lots of meat for the winter time. They eat a lot of venison and like it. Garry loves to hunt and get his animals. They will make a lot of the meat into sausages mixed with pepperoni and salami. It is very good. A German butcher makes for him.

Ardell is very busy with his work and he gets so stressed out with having to work. My work has slowed down some but it is all day to day work at the bank. It seems we just work and come home and sleep and go to work again. Ardell gets up early at 3:30 am and I get up at 4:30 and take him to his office. Then I come home and have a little nap and get to work by 7 am. So we are usually in bed early by 8:30 or 9 o'clock in the evenings. That way the days pass quickly.

We hope all the family have a very good Thanksgiving weekend and get all rested up for the next weeks work.

Love you all.

Shirley

Peace River

I cameup to Peace River on Sept 27 after going with Colleen and Dave, Ryan and Beth, Kara, Heidi, and Colleen's friend to Terry Wasden's presentation called Awesome Journey. It gave us lots to think about. After the presentation I went to Colleen's house and stocked up on stories to listen to in the car and started my 8 hour trip to Peace River. It was a pretty drive but very long. After arriving in Peace River and look all over for Gayle, (He decided to go out to the edge of town where there is a detour and show me how to find the hotel. It was dark.) Well I made the wrong turn and got into town without being stopped by the detour. He couldn't figure out where I was and I didn't have a clue where he was. I tried calling his cell. No answer. He had left his cell in the hotel room. After much running around I finally found him and brought him home. That was about 10:00 p.m.

The next morning we went to church. They have a little branch with a beautiful new chapel. It brought back memories of Hinton when we were in Jasper. All the members are really friendly and they were all very happy that I had finally arrived. Gayle introduced me to everyone and I can't remember most of them. There was another new couple there and they sat next to us. We chatted with them and found they were connected to people we know. He is a brother to Ellis Stonehocker, our old bishop when we lived in Bonavista and she was a daughter to Gayle Johnson, the man Gayle was named after. It was really neat to meet them and we had lunch at the hotel together.

Since arriving, I have done a lot of reading, a lot of writing on the computer, a lot of knitting, and sewing (That is without my machine. I am doing as much as I can and will finish when I get home to my sewing machine. ) some home teaching with Gayle (he is doing a lot of that as it helps to pass the time when he isn't at work.), a lot of walking, photographing, and most of all a lot of sleeping. (I have a lot to catch up on after the summer. I don't go to bed very early when Gayle isn't home, gonna have to break that habit.) This past Saturday we went to Grand Prairie for the day. Boy is that a bustling town and it was a really pretty drive. The colored leaves are just about gone now. The wind blew some the other day and most of the leaves are gone now. No wonder we don't have many fall colors in Southern Alberta.

So now we are waiting for Dawn and Allen to come for Thanksgiving. That will be fun!! We have some activities planned for the kids. There is a predominately French speaking town a few miles away. We would like to take Jill and Peirce there. There is a good movie for kids at the local theatre. It is about Chihuahuas We figure they will enjoy that. We will see what else we can find
to do with them. Then I will go back to Calgary with them and try to find a ride home from
there. Gotta work on that one.

When I get home I have the Convention for Hospital Auxiliaries on Oct 20 - 22. I will be glad to have that one over with.

We hope all is well with everyone.
Love'
LA and Gayle

Sunday Dinner with the Stills

This Sunday we had our good friends over for dinner.  We always have a nice time with them and our kids all get along really well.  This dinner turned out to be a tad bit crazy near the end.  Our home teachers came over as well as the missonaries.  I really can't tell you what happened but something exploded and Kathy and I were covered in banana cream pie and chocolate pie as well as apple pie!  I must remind you that these pictures are a bit on the scary side!  

I had banana's in place that there isn't suppose to be 

All in all it was a wonderful dinner that I made....

Update from the Jensens

I guess it is time I reported on what our family has been doing. The summer has been nothing short of a zoo. I have been working for Brad as he tries to dig himself out of a mass of claims following the flash flood we had in Lethbridge on July 1st and the hail storms that pounded Southern Alberta most of the summer. I have enjoyed working with him. I have learned much about the insurance industry and have a new found respect for those who work in that industry. Gayle has been up north in Peace River. He is loving his work there. He says it is the nicest hotel and group of people he has ever worked for. The only drawback is the distance between him and I. He has been home three times since June 18th and we keep in touch on the phone at least a couple of times a day. It is hard but this too shall pass and it will put us in a much better finanaicl situation for when we retire. I am going up there this week end and will be there until Thanksgiving week end.

So summer just seems to have passed us by. We had Grandma Camp and the kids were here quite a bit. It made being alone much more tolerable. It is wonderful to have good kids and amazing grandkids who make your life that much more enjoyable. Christmas is only three months away and it seems like we just had Christmas. We hope that the next two years will go by just as quickly.

I promised to post more photos from Grandma camp and I also have photos from Dusty's wedding that I am sure everyone would like to see. He married a beautiful girl and their wedding day was beautiful and full of wonderful experiences.

NOBLE NEWS #70 - MARVELLE REPORTER

This last FridayDustyn John married Julia Valgardson from Barnwell. She is the daughter or Sherman and Glenda Valgardson. It was beautiful. We had Nickee and Dustyn & Jessey here]to stay overnight. It was wonderful. Then we got up early and went to the temple where we went to a sealing room and Dustyn was sealed to his bride.

We then went to the Cobblestone where Brad and Lani hosted the dinner. Then we went to their recption in Taber. It was at Valhalla Place. Is it ever nice. Two gardners keep the place looking like a show place. Nickee brought Maggie on the plane with her and so we now have a doggie. We got homw on Friday night at about 9:30pm and we done in.

We had been going for so early. Then on Sat. night Mrs. Kromm and Brad and Helen came for supper. it was great.

Nickee went home on mONDAY. We loved havin her. The only person who wasn't there was Adam and he is in Agentina. Only 7 months to go.

love Marvelle

Noble New # 69 - Marvelle - Reporter

On the long week-end we went to Great Falls. It is a family tradition now. We've done it three years in a row. Clifford & I didn't go until Sat morning. It was a real nice drive down there. When we got there we had lunch at Appleby's with Brad and Helen and the kids. Dustyn and Jessey didn't get there until late afternoon and we went to Jakers' for supper. It was great. Our last week-end with Dustyn being single. Of course we went shopping too. Shelbi got lots of Clothes for school. We stayed at LaQuinta - had two rooms. Brad, Helen, Gideon and Shelbi stayed in one room while Clifford, I and Jessey and Dustyn stayed in the other room. We drove leisurely back thru Del Bonita. It took l l/2 hours at the border, It was a great week-end.

love Marvelle

My holiday

I have just returned home from my wonderful restful and peaceful vacation out to Vancouver Island. I flew out to Victoria and Melanie met me at the airport. We stopped at some farms along the way back into the city and she bought vegetables. We then went to Rebar restaurant for brunch. Then we went back to her apartment and rested for a while and then drove down by the beach and watched the ships and boats in the waters. It was so peaceful there by the ocean. There was a nice little breeze coming off the water and the sun was so nice and warm. Then we drove out to Buchart Gardens. I got the brilliant idea that maybe I should rent a scooter wheelchair to scoot around the gardens, and I am sure glad I did. They brought it to the gardens from Medichair in Sidney, B.C. and had it waiting for me when we arrived. It sure saved me a whole bunch of walking on my leg. Every Saturday night at the Gardens they have a fire works display and so we didn't go out to the Gardens till around 3:30 pm so that we could walk around and see all the gorgeous flowers and then stayed for the fire works display. It was quite the show. It would put the Calgary Stampede fireworks to shame. The whole sky lit up for the whole show with spinners and some going off at the left hand side and then they would travel across the horizon to the right side and by the time they got to the right side they would start again at the left hand side. It took an hour and a half for the whole show. It was marvellous. The traffiic getting out of the park wasn't so marvelous, but we endured. I took lots of pictures of the beautiful flowers and shrubs in the gardens. I even took a picture of a bee in one flower. It was late when we arrived back to the apartment.

Then on Sunday we rested up before we took a tour in a double decker bus all around the City Tour. It wa snicely narrated and I learned lots about the city of Victoria. There is one golf course that the greens fees are $150 a game, and a dress code is strongly adhered to or you don't get to play on the greens. The greens in the course were prestinely groomed. The City of Victoria pride themselves as being call the City of Gardens, so if the home owners do not keep their yard clean and cut and just to the tee the city will come along and keep up your yards and gardens and of course send you a little bill at the end of it. So everyone, even in the ordinary neighbourhoods look after their yards or else. They took up through some of the ritzy areas of the city and the gardens were all topriary on the bushes and hedges. The driver narrated all along the way. The tour took 90 mines from start to finish, so it was well worth the trip and we learned lots about their city. Then on Monday we took another drive down to the beaches and went for lunch downtown and then Mell dropped me at the bus station and I took the Greyhound up to Nanaimo where Marilyn Smith met me and I visited with them for the next three days.

Marilyn is a busy little gal. She works so hard. She cares for mental handicapped people. She at one time had three of them living with her, but two of the men died. One had meliomytheosis, which is a lung disease from working with asbethos in the ship yards of B.C. His name was Jeff and he was an english fellow. Very nice fellow, but just needed assistance in taking his medications until he got so sick he had to be hospitalized and then he finally passed away last year. Donald had the complusive syndrome where he had to wash his hands all the time. Marilyn gave him the job of waching the chicken eggs, so her eggs were always nice and clean to sell to her egg customers. Donald just passed away two weeks ago with cancer. Now Marilyn only has Sally. She is quite the Sally. She has a kitty cat named Hilda. Hilda is the best looked after cat you ever did see. Marilyn really doesn't like cats in the house, so Sally picks up the cat and take her outside to go wee wee, and trapes her back to the bedroom and stays there and babysits her all day long. She either rests on her bed or just sits and watches TV in her room with Hilda. Then she will come out of her room to help set the table and wash up the dishes for Marilyn. She does the laundry and just little jobs around the house. I wanted to put her in my suitcase and bring Sally home with me. She is a very clean and lovely lady. She told me she was 72 years old but only looks like she should be around 50. Every morning she get up and showers and put on her make up for her cat. Once in a while she goes to a community program for these people who get together to coffee and chat. Every day she goes out for a walk and come back to the house. She is quite the Sally.

Marilyn is a busy lady looking after her people and feeding her chickens and ducks and turkeys, so she has chores to do night and morning. Then she keeps her prestine yard up too. Leo is not well any more to help outside with things. He has gained a lot of weight and so he just can't do a lot, which leaves a lot on Marilyn's shoulders to cut the grass and look after the acreage. She has a small little cabin 12 x 12 feet in the yard that she rents out. She had a old guy living there, but they finally kicked him out cause he was so cantancuous. Marilyn would always fix him a supper and one day he threw the plate back at Donald when he took it out to him, and told him to quit bringing that SH__T. He only had one leg as he lost one leg to diabetis. So he really didn't need much room to get around in. He had a single bed, a bathroom and a kitchen was all he really needed. Marilyn had the cottage fixed up real cute, but he was too hard to handle any more, so Marilyn kicked him out and sent him to a home for cantancuous old men. He surely will not get fed as good as Marilyn fed him ever in the home. If Marilyn made a peach pie she would always share a piece with him or Thankgiving turkey dinner or Christmas dinner. The old guy's kids didn't look after him at all.

Then on Thursday Marilyn, her friend Bernie and daughter Kerri drove me up to Courtney, where I met up with Jackie West. Jackie is an old friend from Southminister United Young Couples club we used to belong to. She has divorced twice and has married the third husband. So we had a lot of catching up to do. Her and Jack are very involved in senior lawn bowling. She was hosting a bowling tournament for the Canadian Blind Sports Association. You wouldn't think those people could lawn bowl but they woulld put the other sighted people to shame with their scores. They lay a string down the middle of the lanes and they can judge their distance by their sighted director telling them where the jack was laid. It was quite the thing to sit and watch for two days. The weather was perfect with no rain. Jackie was very busy keeping everyone in line for the whole week. Then they ended off with a banquet and awards presentations on Friday night.

Then on Saturday, Jackie had to go to Parksville with a novice lady bowler from their club to coach her at the Provincial championships there. So she called her daughter Tamara and asked if she would come and take me out for the day touring the signs of Courtney and Comox. She drove me up the Mt. Washington where they ski in the winter time, and the kids ride mountain bikes and quads in the summer time. We rode the ski lift up to the top of the mountain and seen the gorgeous sights from the top. You could look over the whole strait to the mainland and all the little islands in the ocean. It was goregous up there. Then I caught my flight back to Calgary at 7 pm last night.

Now tomorrow it will be back to work once again, but I have had a real restful vacation and will be ready to go back to work in the morning. Now I have to go for groceries so I better scoot.

Love you all.

Shirley

NOBLE NEWS #70 - MARVELLE REPORTER

OUR DUSTYN IS GETTING MARRIED!!

LOVE
MARVELLE

Noble NEWS #69 - MARVELLE NOBLE REPORTER

HI - we are going to the states this long week-end with the kids. Dustyn is even coming and Julia! There will also be Helen, Jessey and Shebi and Brad. We don't know yet if Gideon is coming.

I'll write after we go. Adam wants all of you to write your favourite scripture and give it to him with why, etc.

love Marvelle

A Family Weekend

This weekend I was supposed to go camping with Paula and Garry at Loon Lake, but they decided not to go, as there are fire bans in southern B.C. They decided to still go to Cranbrook but to go and stay at Jeannie and Gerd's house instead of camp. So my plans got changed at mid week. SoI decided I still had not visited Marvelle's new home in Cardston. I went down on Friday to Lethbridge, picked up Marvelle and we went out for supper at Montana's and then drove home to Cardston. We visited and talked and talked while having a very well deserved realxing time away from work and the city. On Saturday the guy from Sears came to install the blinds that Marvelle had ordered and installed them. Around noon we went down town and went through two or three shops and went for lunch at the Sub Way. Clifford had stayed in Lethbridge to work with Brad on hail claims until Saturday around noon. He arrived home around 3:30 pm. We decided to go out for supper at the CobbleStone Restaurant, but couldn't get into there, so we went to the Grotto Restaurant and had a nice hamburger delux. Then we went and bought some groceries and went home and had ice cream cones. Sunday we went to church and the Relief Society lesson and the Sunday school lesson was all about famillies. And building your family with Love, Teaching, Respect and one other one, I can't remember, oops there goes my memory. Then in Sacrament Meeting so many people bore their testimonies and expressed their love for their families. I too am very thankful for my family. Without the support of my family around me, I could have never got through my tough times in the last 4 years. I am greatful for a loving and caring husband that wants me to go and visit my family. He just says, sure go ahead and go. He did miss me while I was gone. Those who bore their testimony expressed their love of family members who has passed away, and they would not have the opportunity to see them until we do so ourselves. It made me think of all our relatives that will be waiting for us to visit once again. I am sure they are with us in spirit right here on earth too. I especially miss Mom and Dad, Grandma Day, Grandma Zelenka, Kelly, Scott and all the rest that I did not know before I was born. It shall be a glorious day when we shall all meet again.

Then after Church we drove into Lethbridge, and Brad barbequed a lovely dinner of roast beef, vegetables and salads and invited Marvelle & Clifford, Clifford's cousin - Della and her daughter Valerie and myself for dinner. It sure was good Brad. Thanks for having us. It was good to see Dustin and Shelby too. They are grown up adults now. Then Sunday night I stayed with Lester Ann & Gayle and then came home this morning. It was good to get away, but it is good to be home again to my loving husband that missed me so. He is happy to have me home.

Lots of love to you all.

Shirley

More Grandma Camp fun

On Monday morning we shopped for groceries and we decorated our bears. They ended up with everything from earrings to Bat Man costumes. After that we went to the Dollar Store. The kids just thought that was the ultimate. Then we went to Cardston where we first went to the temple grounds to wait until it was time to go to the show at the Remington Theatre. We saw Calamity Jane!!

On Tuesday we went to Henderson Lake where we met a photographer and she spent all morning with us taking hundreds of pictures (literally). She will give us a CD on Thursday. Hopefully we will get lots of good pictures.

Today we planned to go to Park Lake to swim but it has been windy and cold and we decided that wouldn't be too good an idea. So we make cookies and pigs in a blanket, painted bird houses and little wooden airplanes and updated our books.

The Stewart Family Vacation

The Stewart Family Vacation.

Just before leaving Calgary. Garry and I had a new roof put on the house. It took them three days to finish. So, we couldn't get out of town till that was done. Then we just took an extra day around the house to prepare for the trip. And then we hit the road.

Every year we go out to Shuswap Lake where Roy has his Cabin.
We left here on July 13th. We got up very early and drove all morning to get there
by noon. We stayed out for two week. We had a great relaxing time.
We went to the beach every day. We went out for dinner one night.
We went mini golfing with the kids. We had great weather the whole time
we were out there, not too hot, just warm every day. So, it was nice to have a
cool dip in the lake. We have a new puppy. She is a golden retriever named Sierra. Sierra loved the dips in the lake. We all loved taking her for walks
every day down to the switch back and home. Thats the road that is as long
as our driveway and then back to the house. It is a good walk.

We were going to head home on Saturday July 26th, but Garry's Uncle Murray and Auntie Mary just got their boat fixed and asked if we would stay and extra day so, we could get a boat ride in for the kids and us. So, we did.

On sunday we headed out from the lake back for Calgary.
On the way we stopped and said our good byes to Mary and Murray, Lori and Guy - friends of theirs.

We stopped in sicamos to play at the beach waterfront and at the park. We all jumped out
of the van and headed out for our walk. As I had the dog on her leash walking the board walk a man approached me and said, "no dogs on the beach", so I head back to the van to wait for Garry and the kids. Two hours passed and they didn't come and didn't come. I couldn't go look for them, as the dog was not allowed and I could have been fined for having a dog at the beach.
I was sitting under the bridge waiting for them to come back to the van. I finally went in to look for them and said lets get going. Garry said to me, "Where were you.??" I told him. I was waiting on him to come back to the van so, we could get on the road and I couldn't have the doggie in the park. I was so, mad. He thought I took off shopping with the dog. Now, how do you go shopping with a dog and no wallet. I had no keys to even put the dog in the van so, I could go back and get garry and the kids. So, I sat and waited and waited. We got back on the roadarriving home to Calgary very late that night till 11pm. Garry had to work the
next morning and we still had to unload the van. Man, what a day!! I am glad that drive is over.

Roy and Bernice are doing well. They plan on going to Europe in Aug for 3 weeks.
Jeanne and Gerd have moved down to Cranbrook. So, we are traveling down there
Aug. long week end to go camping with them. Jeanne just had surgery. She is doing much better and is recovering well.

Christopher starts grade one and Ashley starts grade three on Aug. the 1st. Our kids are in year round school, so it back to school on Friday. For every holiday they get an extra week off.
So, at Thanks Giving instead of only one week. They will get two weeks. I am looking forward to them going back too. They are ready, as they haven't had time to be bored to tears yet. We only had a week after they finished school in June, then we went on our holidays, and now they will be back into school next Friday.

The Stewart Family.

The Third Day

Today we did everything from shopping for groceries, to decorating teddy bears (I think the coolest one is the bat man teddy by Jordan), to waiting on the grounds of the temple for our play at the Remington Centre, Calamity Jane, to start, to getting autographs and shapshots of the cast members, to producing our own light show in the park across the street with light sticks. It was a busy day. We all got to bed late and they are not allowed to get up tomorrow morning before 8:30 a.m. We will see how we do.

To waiting on the temple grounds before it was time for our play, Calamity Jane at the Remington Theatre.

Here we are. I think we did it.

The first one is them all in their new PJs and the next one is just before we left for church.

Grandma Camp Photos

I don't know why but when I try to upload the photos all I get is a bunch of typed gobble de gook. I will try again another time.
LA

Grandma Camp Has Started

We started Grandma Camp yesterday. The kids all arrived by about 3:30 and we did some planning and then all went for Dinner at Tony Roma's. We celebrated birthdays for Taylor and Jill. The cutest comment of the night was Peirce who decided that he wouldn't have ribs because he was a vegetarian. When I asked him what he wanted instead, he said he would have a hamburger. Today after church we had lunch which took until 3:00 and then did crafts. The theme of Grandma Camp this year is President Hinckley's 6 B's. They made shrink art of the 6 Bees. They are Bee Clean, Bee Grateful, Bee Humble, Be Prayerful, Be smart, Bee True. They made necklaces and earrings and had a ball playing with the beads. Jordan wasn't too into the beading. He said that was a "girly" thing but when he saw how much fun the others were having he joined in. Tonight we watched the Pioneer Special for the 24th of July on the BYU Channel. They featured the Osmonds as they are celebrating their 50th year in the entertainment business. Jordan asked if they were older than the Beetles and when I told him they were, he couldn't believe it. I guess he thinks the Beetles are the oldest singers in the world. After the show, Taylor set the example for all the rest by cleaning the family room in order for them all to get ready for bed. She did an excellent job there and then came upstairs and did the same in the kitchen. What a great kid she is!!

Tonight I had them all get into the new PJ's I made for them and we took pictures of them all and then they went straight to bed. By 10:30 the house was quiet. How did I do that you may ask? Well I could say that Grandma's have the touch but really I bribed them. I told them that if they went to bed good tonight and I didn't have to speak to them once about making noise, we would go into the park tomorrow night after it gets dark and play light tag light sticks. They must have taken me seriously as they all went right to sleep. It is great.

So Grandma camp is going swimmingly.

I will include a couple of photos and if I have time, report again in a couple of days.

Love to you all.
LA/Mom, Aunt Nan, etc.

PS for some reason I can't get the pictures to attach so I will post this and do another one with the them.

The following is an email that I received from Ardell's son, my step-son, Jules Wilson. As some of you may or may not know, Jules has some real good goals in his life. I want you to all watch the video on You Tube. Just scroll down his email and click on the link to You Tube to watch his video. He is actually the person narrating the video and the pictures are all of him training for his tri-athelon in Victoria, Saanich BC on July 13th. This is his 4th consective year and each year he places in the top of all the athletes. The video is of him actually training for the race and all the money he raises goes towards his own personal goal and the donations are made to the Victoria Women's Sexual Assult Centre in Victoria. In the video you will see a portion of him winning Mr. Black BC 2006 contest. The two pictures of him just before the presentation of 1st place is of him modelling and reciting his self-written poetry.

Ardell and I are so proud of this young man. I am very proud to have such a step-son. Jules works as a counsellor for troubled teens and does very well at his job. He is a part time youth pastor at his church, and is a very faithful Alcoholic Annonymous Member, who on June 16th, celebrated his third year of sobriety. We were in Vancouver to support him in his feit and celebration of his Cake. Jules lives in Vancouver, B.C.

Then of course his sister is pretty precious to us as well. Melanie works for a government department in Victoria, is very athletic herself and loves to make home made greeting cards. Her greeting card company is called Ladybug cards. They feature her very own photography and designs. Whenever she sends us a greeting card, it always has such appropriate wording for the occasion. Ardell and I think the world of her also.

I hope all our family can meet Jules and Melanie soon. They are exceptional kids and we love them dearly.

Just wanted to share this video with you for now. Hope you all are not drowning in this rain and hail storms. Even the worms in Calgary are drowning, we have had so much rain, and it is still raining and just won't seem to stop. It is pretty bad when just this morning, I said to Ardell on the way to work at 5 am this morning, it is something when you have to have the heater in the van on in the middle of July to drive to work. Ardell starts work at 6 am, so I drive him downtown every morning at 5 am for work. I come home and have a little nap before I leave for work at 6:45 and rush to get to work for 7 am. But then, I am off at 2:45 pm, and Ardell is usually home by C-Train by 4:30 pm and I meet him at the train to bring him home. Consequently we are usually in bed pretty early on week days. Now it is late and I should go to bed myself. Just wanted to share this video with you. If you would like to donate next year, please let me know and I can forward any donations on to Jules for his worthy cause.

Jules Email:

Good Morning My Friend,

I wanted to take the time to thank you for your support and/or generous donation to the Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre's (VWSAC) Triathlon of Compassion. As of Sunday July 13th, the event had raised approximately $16,000. Of that total, approximately $2,500 or 13% came from your generosity. The volunteers, staff members and recipients of services at the event were all ecstatic about our efforts again this year! I have no way of truly expressing their level of thanks and well wishes for your contributions.
Over the past three years, we have been able to raise over $10,000 through your contributions alone to help VWSAC provide programs and services to women and children who have experienced sexualized violence. That is an amazing and unsurpassed fundraising total for this event. Each year, we add to our legacy of support, understanding and caring.

RACE DAY
As for the race itself it was challenging but very picturesque. This year they changed the swimming venue and the run route. The 5K run was done out along the ocean and posted a magnificent view and a welcomed ocean breeze on a hot summer's day! As per usual the participants were very supportive of each other and laughter was at an all time high. Our excitement continued to grow and no participant finished the race without being greeted by a chorus of cheers and applause for their efforts. The finished line was well populated with massage tables, an espresso bar and great music from a local radio station. A-Channel news was also on hand to interview many of the race participants.

We continued the after party by handing out awards for race times, team spirit and fundraising totals. I am very proud to say that for the 3rd year in the row we were amongst the top 3 fundraisers for the event and twice, including this year, we finished number 1!!!

THANK YOU CORPORATE SPONSORS
At this time I would like to thank my two corporate sponsors this year: Isaac Payne who trained me at Drive Fitness Gym in Richmond (www.drivefitness.ca) and DJ Hunt of www.hunt.fm Canada's new leading source for hip hop and RnB, who provided a shout out for my fundraising efforts on his weekly national podcast. Finally I can't say enough about Andrey Carey who coordinated the race again this year and the folks at VWSAC especially Tracy Lubick who have been strong supporters of our efforts over the years.

NEXT YEAR
This year we changed up our approach to fundraising with a promotional video which was posted on You Tube. No doubt others will try this tactic next year after the rave reviews it received. That said, I look forward to re-eventing the fundraising game again next year and promise to be in even better shape for the triathlon.

Feel free to share with your friends news of this event and if they haven't watched it yet, ask them to watch my You Tube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boJyvHtygBI) so that more people can be aware of the issue of sexualized violence and become aware of a great organization that is available to support them if they need it. Remember, the stats are pretty clear, 1 in 3 women at some point in their lives will experience sexualized violence. Every year that we support VWSAC through our fundraising efforts we also extend our presence of caring to the community and let victims of sexualized violence know that they are supported and they are not alone.

Until next year I wish you all the best in your adventures.

Jules

PS - There will be a tribute video posted shortly online for you to view some of the activities that went on during the Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre's Triathlon of Compassion. This video will include a special thanks from Andrea and Tracy two people instrumental in ensuring this event occurs annually and that the message of help, healing, and hope gets carried on.

Ackroyd Update

I've just updated our blog with some of our recent happenings. Do check it out. :0)

Dawn

NOBLE NEWS #68 - Marvelle Reporter

HI - EVERYONE- we went to the Day Reunion last week-end. It was very good. We took some pictures so will send them on to you all. We have had a busy couple of weeks. We went to Kim Malacko's Funeral and had lunch with all the guys there. We went to Taco Time on the West Side. Kim was our secretary for many years. We will miss her as Cathy, Kim and I still went for lunches.

Then Cathy's step-daughter came up and we went to a weiner roast on Saturday night. It was alot of fun. We went out to Beazer and had it there. It was good. We saw Wayne and Joan Greep and all of her brothers, Don, Tom and LeRoy. Poor Amanda (Cathy's stepdaughter) had a sun burn that added to the party. After our reunion we went home on Sunday and ran thru some rain but nothing to write home about. We then went over to Art and Meryl's to play cards with all our relatives. The Foggins, the Sanders and the daughter of the Foggins. I only know her first name is Stephanie and her husband and son. Wayne Greep said that Cliffy Kendal came to see him the other day but he didn't know we were in Cardston so we didn't go over and see him too.

Then one of Clifford's old friends died. Craig Watson. He had cancer of the pancreas or liver or someting. Anyway we are going to his funeral this Saturday. I went in to have lunch with Leona today. Clifford and I go early so that we can golf at the Par 3 Golf Course. Then we went to Nutters to get a few things.

Meryl Hough had an accident the other day and we have to take them in to Lethbridge so they can get a rental. We just went in today but we will go in again.

Well that is all for now.

love Marvelle

ps I just read your blog Shirley. Hope you find relief soon.

Our Canada Day Weekend

I haven't done much but sit with my leg up with an ice pack on it for the last two weekends. When I was at the family reunion my left leg, my good leg was aching and after I got home it started to swell from the top of my toes to my knee. I got quite concerned about it, thinking maybe a blood clot. I went to the doctor last Thursday, and he said it wasn't that, but he called it an infection of the cells of skin and wanted to see me on Saturday. On Saturday he wanted to referr me to the Foot & Ulcer clinic, he thinks it might be an ulcer. From the top of my toes to the knee it is very swellen and very very red, and itchy as HE double toothpick!!! I also have very dry skin in the summer time, but it is more to it than that. So I am waiting for an urgent appointment - now I have waited since Saturday - which is only four days to get a referral. I called the clinic this morning and they told me I was going through truage (is that how you spell it) and they would call me when they had an appointment. BA-HUMBUG I want to see a doctor urgently!!! So we have just rested and rested and done nothing for the whole weekend. It is felling a bit better tonight but still feels like my skin is going to burst. The doctor has me on an anti-inflammatory and a water pill, and an antibiotic and they are not helping. It is so itchy I could scream. We will get it looked after though. Dr. Ardell said so. He is so concerned. He called me today and told me I should go to the hospital with it. I told him that would take longer than waiting for the referral.

I must tell you my saga about my flat tire on the way home from the reunion. When I left Gerry and Gwen's on Sunday, June 22nd, my low tire pressure indicator came on. I had look at my front tire when I left Bashaw in the morning and thought it looked low, but the light had not come on yet so I went on to Gwen & Gerry's. When I came out of their place the light came on, so I thought I could make it to Lacombe and get air put into it. When I got to Lacombe, it was POIRING rain, so I thought ok it is only 24 kms to Red Deer. I will stop there and get it looked at. Whn I drove into the Gasline Alley and stopped at the Shell/MacDonald's it was flat as a pancake, but just on one side of the tire - he hehehehe. So I called AMA and they sent a tow truck and the guy changed the tire and threw the flat in the back of the van. I didn't really watch him cause it was pouring rain and I just sat inside MacDonald's. So he had me come out when he was done, and I looked at the spare and it was low. So I backed up to the air hose at the Shell and it was out of order. So I drove to the next Esso Station and was going to put air in it there. It cost $.50 and I had to have 2 quarters, which I could not fine one quarter to save my soul. So I asked a guy stopped there for gas with a fifth wheel trailer if he might have a compressor. He said sure he had one and gladly would pump up the tire. So he gets his compressor out of the trailer, and tried to start his generator. It would not keep running, so he put some gas in it. Finally he got it running long enough to pump up my tire and I got back on the road again to home. Got home about 5:30 pm, when I should have been home by 2 pm at the latest.

So the next Monday morning I took the flat tire to Kal Tire to get fixed and they fixed it for free. They told me to come back in 100 kms and get it torqued, so this past Monday I took it back in to get torqued and I asked them to put the spare back under the van in the carrier. The girl said she had done the job the last Monday and she couldn't get the carrier to come down to mount the tire. So she gets a guy with the power wrench to try to get it down. Then another guy gets under the van pulling it down, while the olter guy is using the power wrench on it. They couldn't get it to come down. So I said, "well what do I do now?" They said I would have to take it to Toyota and get a whole new carrier installed, it was jammed. So I called Stampede Toyota and the part costs $265.00 plus labour. So I called the AMA back and they are going to pay the bill.
And that is my story and I am sticking to it. Now I have to take it to Stampede Toyota and get the job done next Monday. So much for my stampedeing this year.

L.A. I received some pictures from Bonnie. She needs a picture of the Hyde family. She says she didn't get one - she didn't know how that happened but it did. Maybe we can share one with her. If you have some to share with me, please send them to me.

I hope the rest of you had a good Canada Day. I watched some of the celebrations in Ottawa on TV.

Shirley

Ackroyd's July 1 Fun

We had a great time in Southern Alberta this weekend. We got there and back ticket free (some others weren't quite as lucky!)

Peirce ended off the school year by being sick - and being the generous guy he is he shared his germs with us and we've all had our fill of this cold. Peirce was okay when we headed down to Raymond but Jill was still a little blurry eyed and coughing a lot. She enjoyed the parade (watching and being IN it....she jumped on a float with her cousins Zoe and Soleil when they came by) and then slept all afternoon. Peirce played with a multitude of cousins and second cousins and cousins-once-removed. When we got home he puked (too much parade candy?) and went to bed. You know when you've had enough fun when....Yuck!

We have a student staying with us for the month of July. She is 17 and from Spain and seems like a really nice girl. We're looking forward to getting to know her better.

The kids are starting swimming lessons tonight. Jill is taking synchoronized swimming so that should be interesting!

Better run....J&P are having a mother-induced-mandatory nap right now due to still being sick and my spidey senses are telling me that they'll probably wake up soon! I better get a few more things accomplished before that happens!

Have a Safe and Happy Summer!

Hi everyone!

It was a quiet weekend in my house. Dave is in Hinton for 10 days opening a new Quiznos there. So I am home getting lots of projects completed. I have really enjoyed our new deck. I sit out there alot reading and just enjoying the nice weather.

My work is picking up again and we are rebuilding after the US debacle. We have had several nice diversified companies come onstream.

David is back from Argentina again. He's here until September working. Doesn't have a job yet, however.

My girls are busy with babies and children. Heidi has a new baby, Naomi. She's a real sweetheart. She was 2 days old, when she got her. We had a birthday for Alexis. Heidi and Kara will have birthdays this weekend.

It's good to hear your house is ok in Lethbridge, LA. I saw it online last night. That must have been something....8 inches of rain in 2 hours! I hope Ryan and Beth's house is ok too. I haven't talked to them yet.

Ryan and Beth are enjoying Edmonton. They have had a really successful summer up there. Business is really good for him. The only downside is their housing this year is not what they have enjoyed in the states in the past. I guess you can't have it all!

Well, I hope everyone has a safe and happy summer! We are planning a trip in August to LA and then flying with Blackie and Debra to Buffalo, NY to do a Mormon History trip. It should be lots of fun!

Love, Colleen

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to everyone. Tell us what you did for the holiday.

Rollie and Lauretta Boisselle came to Lethbridge for the long weekend and since we can't get them a room at the El Rancho anymore and I am here alone, they stayed here with me. It has been a fun week end. We went to Raymond last night for a variety type show. I was really good. Then we went and saw the parade and had lunch with the whole Heggie family. It was a fun day.

Taylor was in Raymond and I saw her on Monday night. Dawn and Allen and kids were there today also. We drove home in one of the worst rain storms you can imagine. We got 8 inches in two hours.

When we got back to Lethbridge we realized we have been declared a disaster area because of the rain storm we had today. If you watched the news tonight you would have seen the flooding all over the city. Thank goodness our house if fine. I didn't even realize there was a problem in town until people started calling me to see if we were OK. All is well.

Dawn and Allen stopped in before they headed for home tonight and we had a nice visit.

I am managing OK with Gayle away. I am busy as can be with Moroni's Quest sewing and other projects, my house is getting all caught up and I am working for Brad for the next couple of weeks. I haven't had time to get lonely. It is a good thing I am busy. Gayle is settling in well at the hotel. He likes the hotel, his new staff, and things are falling into place for him. We talk three or more times a day on the phone.

Lets hear from everyone else. Tell us about your week end.
Love to you all
LA