The Stewart Family

Garry the kids and I just got a new puppy.
She is a yellow lab. Her name is Sierra Stewart.

Yeah, Summer Vacation

The Stewart Family



Ashley just finished grade 2 and will be heading to grade 3. She will start piano in the fall.

I had the kids registered at Sir Winston Churchhill pool for lessons. And it had a fire in it.

So, maybe we will try again this fall.



Christopher had his Kindergarden Grad on Thursday. They sang for all us parents.

And we all cried. My baby is going to be in School full time next year.

And will join his big sister in all day school. They are loving that they can see

each other at recess and lunch hour. And Now what will I do with all this new time

on my hands.



Christopher is a darling younge man. He makes me laugh.

Ashley loves to sing with me on the Rock Band wii. She loves to read books to me at night.



Garry started working for a small company called canex and then they were bought out

buy a big company called veritas. He worked for canex for 3-4 years. And then started with

veritas DGC. And they were globle. Now he's working for Divestco. INC. In the north East.

He has been working since April of 1994.

So, I can go have lunch with mom at deerfoot and 64th. At the ATB. or join Garry

at deerfoot and 32nd. for lunch. And he is much closer to home.



We have a new addition to Our family. Garry and I talked for years about having a dog.

So, Tuesday night after work We stop at a pet store. We were looking for a fish tank.

And I saw this little yellow lab in the window. So, I went to tell Garry. He said lets take it

in the back room and talk to them about her. I thought Garry would have said no, No dogs.

But, to my surprise he said Yes. And That night she came home with us. She is only 6 weeks old. And her name is Sierra Stewart. So, looks like I am puppy training for the summer. She was really good last night. She slept the till morning. She will grow up fast.

And will be a big lab. My mom thinks I am crazy.



We are heading for the lake July 12 till July 27th. And we might hit Cranbrook.

For a few days. Jeanne is going for day surgery. So, We want to be there for when

she gets out. And her recovery too.



Have a great and safe summer.

The Stewart Family.

Grandma is PROUD

Our darling Ashley will be playing piano on Sunday, June 22nd at 1:30 at the Salvation Army Hall on Sandringham Drive NW. She has been practising all year to play in front of other people. This is her first recital. Her Grandma Wilson is going to be there. Her Grandma Bernice and Grandpa Roy will be there too.

If any of the family would care to join us and listen to her recital, I am sure you will be pleased with her piano skills. She is becoming quite a little pianist. This year Paula changed teachers, because her first teacher had to move to Edmonton to care for her mother. Her new teacher has individual lessons and then once in a while she has a group lesson. I think that is a perfect idea to get the students prepared for playing in front of other people besides Mom and Dad and their siblings. Ashley really enjoys her lessons and has done so well with them.

Their piano was given to the family by Garry's grandmother Sophie Stewart who played herself. She has passed away some time ago and she really wanted Garry's family to take the piano from her, because she knew that Garry would see to it that the piano was respected and his children could then take lessons. I am sure that Grandma Sophie with be with us at Ashley's recital on Sunday and she would be very proud of her great-granddaughter for her music she plays. Ashley is very studious and faithful with her practising.

When I am at the house she loves to play little pieces for me. I think she will take after her Oma Jeannie Koenig and learn to play by ear. Whenever the family gathers together, we love to listen to Jeannie play the piano. I am sure Ashley will take after her in her musical ability.

So if you are bored on Sunday afternoon and would like to join us at the recital, please do so. I know for sure I will be there with a tickle in my heart, just because I love Ashley oHHH soooo much. She is my special granddaugher and I love her.

Grandma Shirley

NOBLE NEW #68 - Marvelle Reporter

Hi everyone. We are in our house in Cardston now. We had Brad, Helen and Shelbi down for dinner one night. Aunt Meryl and Uncle Art came too. We played cards after dinner and had a real nice time.

Then we had Lester Ann and Gayle for supper last night as Gayle is going to go to work up at Peace River for a year at least. We had a real scare yesterday. Brad had to go in for a procedure at the hospital. I always worry so about him. He was fine though and came through with flying colours.

We went into Brad and Helens for supper for "Father's Day". I thought it was very nice. Shelbi and Gideon were there too. All is well with them.

We have been busy getting our house in order. Next is the blinds for our windows which should be done right away.

Our Kim Malacko died and we went to her funeral the other day. Last Thursday I think. Then we all, Cathy, Ken, Brad Clifford and I went out for lunch at Taco Time as it was there. It was a lovely funeral. Just right.

Well we live a pretty boring life but we love it. Leona came up for lunch the other day. It was so nice for her to do that. Well better go,

love Marvelle & family.

Our trip to Vancouver

We are HOME. It always feels good to get home after a trip. We went out to Vancouver on Sunday. The flight was a good one and Melanie was in Vancouver to meet us at the plane. She took us to the Park Inn on Broadway where we had reservations and we have stayed there before a couple of times. It was a good relaxing time. We both needed some good R & R and we did just that.

Last night Jules had a barbecue for all of us and he cooked salmon steaks for us. It was very good. Different friends brought salads to share. The whole family were there to support Jules in this 3rd year cake at his AA meeting. We are so very proud of him for keeping his committments to his dreams. I gave him the cutest card that had music in it and it played the tune, "Don't worry--Be Happy!!"

Jules and Mel gave Ardell a lovely painting of wolves howling at the moon. It is very nice. Now we will get a frame for it and get it hung up somewhere. Mel came yesterday morning and took me shopping to a jean store that was supposed to have jeans up to size 60, but when we got there all she had was up to size 26. So I didn't buy anything and went back to the hotel to read my book and rest and rest we did. Then this morning we got up and waited for Mel to come and take us to the airport. She came about 1 pm and took us to the airport. We had lots of time as our flight wasn't until 5 pm, but we did some shopping in the airport. Ardell bought some salmon and I bought Rogers' Chocolates. Then we went through security and had lunch on the other side while we waited for the flight.

It was a good time but we are glad to be home. Now I am looking forward to the family reunion next weekend.

Love
Shirley

Just another week in the lives of the Jensens

I have already told everyone about the events as they unfolded at the El Rancho in the past couple of weeks. We really believe that they were supposed to happen and that there has been a plan in place for us to make this move. We certainly didn't anticipate it but it has all unfolded to our advantage. Gayle has accepted the offer from Sawridge Hotels. They have made it very apparent they want him and they offered a most lucrative opportunity. We are thankful for their appearance in our lives and for the bright future they have afforded us.

The beginning of the week went as had been planned for several months. I went to Regina with three other ladies for a Convention for the CAHA (Canadian Association of Hospital Auxiliaries)
I drove and Janice Hall, President of the Cardston Hospital Auxiliary, Lois Hoult, Vice President of the CAO (Chinook Auxiliary Organization) and Diana Carlson and member of the Auxiliary to Extendicare rode with me. We had a good time and the convention was very informative and fun. Saskatchewan was a good host. I roomed with Janice Hall and she proved to be a great roommate.

When I got home on Wednesday, that is when things started to happen faster than we could imagine. Gayle had resigned at the El Rancho and the new company, Sawridge Hotels, had gone into high gear as they made it very clear they wanted Gayle and flew us up to Peace River to see the property, show us the town, and give Gayle the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with the old GM. He is leaving because he has had a heart attack and it frightened him and his wife enough to convince them to retire. All the staff members were a happy group who seemed to love their jobs. A girl named Barbara was assigned to drive me around aquaint me with the town. It is a pretty area with a population of about 6000. Right now it is sooooooo green. They all played down the thought of how cold the winter months are. They said it can get to minus 40º. It can get that cold here too, but we wonder how long it stays that cold. I guess we will find out.

We took lots of pictures but when we showed them to Gaylene and Duane they could not believe that we didn't take any of the hotel. They kept us so busy when we were there that it just didn't happen. The company is just finishing up spending $5M on renovations and it really looks good. Gayle couldn't get over the modern, big beautiful kitchen. There is a couple of restaurants, meeting rooms, lounges, casino, etc., and it is a pretty busy place. Gayle can't wait to get his hands on it all.

He will start work there on June 23rd., Neil's birthday. For right now I will stay here and get a few things finished like the Day Family Reunion, jobs I need to finish up and getting the house settled around. We are not going to sell it. We figure we will be there for a couple of years and we don't want to be trying to buy a house in the market two years down the road. I will be able to commute and Gayle might even be able to come home now and then as they will fly us back and forth. We are excited as this opportunity will make our retirement just that much more comfortable.

You can see the Lethbridge terminal as we taxi out.

The plane will seat five people plus the jump seat beside the pilot.

I asked Barbara to show me where the church was. We had already discovered via the internet that there is a branch there, part of the Grand Prairie Stake. They are in the process of building a brand new building so there must be a bigger branch than we had anticipated.

We couldn't get over how flat the land was just before we saw the Peace River Valley. That area is on either side of the Peace River and it is very hilly and right now, beautifully green.

I took this shot from a hill overlooking the river and part of the town. The town is built of either bank both banks of the river and there is a uge bridge connecting the two sides. Walmart opened there the day before we arrived so we can shop.

This is the plane and the pilot, Barry.

I had almost forgotten what fun it is to fly among the clouds. It was a pretty overcast day but the plane flew at about 22,000 feet so we were above it except for when we were flying up to cruising altitude or coming back down to land.

While in Regina we thought we might as well visit the legislature as it was just down the street from the hotel where our convention was. With me is Janice Hall (L) and Lois Hoult.

The day we came home, we went to see the new Regina Temple. Neither Janice or I had our recommends with us and we were not dressed for temple attendance so we just went into the visitors centre and saw some people from Cardston. Sharon Quinton was working there. She and her husband bought the ten acres on the west side of Mom and Dad's acreage in Cardston.

Watch your EMAILS for a fraudulent message!!!

Ardell received an email this morning from Telus, asking him to verify his email address and password and his address and where he was born - country or territory.

Please do not reply to such a message if you receive one. It is a fraud and could be a hacker just trying to get into your emails. Once they get into your emails they can get into your email address book and obtain all your addresses and then it mushrooms to their emails and their emails.

I called Telus this morning and the fellow had me forward the email to him and he confirmed my findings. Telus would never ask you for your email address and password. They already have that information on their files, so why would they ask you in the first place.

It even have the last line that says - trademarked by Telus.com. The message looks just very plain and Telus told me if they would send such a message, they would have their seal of the companu or something advvertising the company on it. Not look so plain Jane as this email looked. I was suspicious right away and called Telus. He had me email the message to him and he confirmed that it WAS NOT from Telus. They will send it to their security department for verification.

Please be safe on the net and watch what your children play on the net and chatting on the net. There are so many preditors out there just waiting for your children to contact them. Just by what they chat about, a preditor can find out where a child (Under 18 years of age) goes when they are not with their parents or guardians. It could be the ball diamond, the swimming pool, the school to meet with friends or just the neighbourhood Mac's or 7-eleven store. Please keep your children street wise and safe.

Shirley Wilson

Jill's Latest Accomplishment

Last night Jill called us with exciting news. We are so proud of her. I will let your read it in her words. She posted this on her blog last night and I think it should also be on the family blog so we all know what a great swimmer she is.

****CONGRATULATIONS JILL****

From one Proud Grandma!!

(Today was the last day of swim club for the year. I achieved my goal to get to stage 4. We did 4 length of choice for warm up. I did breast stroke. Then we did a set of 40 50 m free. Then we played penguin. Then we played sharks and minnows. I did considerably well in that game. Then we had free time. I went off the board then I played with a pool noodle. After that my coach (Heather) gave me the good news. I was definitely more excited than the other girls. See, they didn't care much. Unlike me, who was hugging the coaches, dancing in the locker room, things like that.Now I will be called an actual competitive swimmer. I will swim 3 times a week instead of 2. I will go to so many more races. I remember Heather saying I was so focused and that I just kept my eyes on the prize. )

Another Life Changing Adventure

Well hold on to your hats everyone!! We have earth shattering news

Gayle and I are off on another life changing adventure.
It all started on May 1 when a group from Calgary bought the Hotel. We knew for months this was going to happen and were somewhat concerned that his j0b would just evaporate into thin air, but when he addressed his concerns with the new owners they said, "Don't worry. We are investors, not hotel managers. We still need you." So they took over May 1 and things were progressing well. But there still was one nagging problem. A family group of six East Indian people kept coming around the hotel and asking questions, wanting to be shown things, etc. Gayle thought maybe they were part owners who had invested with the new owners.

Then on June 1, the other shoe dropped. The group of six moved in as new owners. The group from Calgary had flipped it. We are sure they made a nice profit in the process. The new owners are a family group and they plan on running the hotel themselves. They offered Gayle less than half his salary to stay. You don't need to use your imagination for long to know what his answer was. So they offered him a bit more. That told us they did want him to stay but their offer was laughable.

Coincedentally, the very same day they took over, we got a phone call from a Head Hunter. Two men who had left Royal Host, the original owners of the hotel, had recommended Gayle as the manager of another hotel. The offer sounded very interesting and was so well timed that Gayle listened intently. The offer is VERY GOOD! It is more money than we have ever made and has an incentive bonus that will bring his salary up to more than we dreamed. If we take it we will be able to retire sooner and in way better shape than we planned. We really don't think it is all coincedence. We know that when Heavenly Father shuts a door, he also opens a window. And in this case the window is way better than the door was. So off to Edmonton he went on Tuesday of this week. He met with the Vice President in charge of personell and he sold him on it.

We only had one big concern. The job is in PEACE RIVER. We don't want to sell our house. In today's market we worry about how we would replace it a couple of years down the road. When he addressed this concern with the VP he said, "We have a company plane. We will fly you and your wife back and forth as needed."

So we started looking into the community of Peace River. First we checked to see if the church is there. There is a branch. It is part of the Grand Prairie Stake. It is a small community but it looks like a thriving community, lots of businesses, lots of services, and looks like a worthwhile adventure.

Gayle starts work there on June 23 (Neil's Birthday). On Monday he will tell the people here, "Thanks, but NO THANKS." and we will be knee deep in another voyage into parts unknown and experiences new and exciting. We will keep you all posted on our progress and our adventures.

Do you all think we are CRAZY??!! or need I even ask???
Love
LA