Tis' the season

Life is full... no other words to describe it. As I sit here, on a very pretty wintery Sunday morning, I can hear Ben in the tub singing at the top of his lungs "It's the most wonderful time of the year....." and I'm thinking "If we could only bottle that enthusiasm, or even channel it!" I, on the other hand am coming off of another 14 1/2 hour day at work . Yesterday I worked from 4am (making sure everyone had their cake, pastry, sugar fix for the day ) till 6:30 when we delivered turkey dinner for 200 people to the MB church. After that it was home for an incredibly fast superhero type change of clothes and then on to the Firehall Christmas banquet.. to atempt to be polite about eating a turkey dinner, and trays of pastries that I'm sure were fabulous. Nevertheless, I have spent the last two weeks feeling like I've been hit by a mac truck, and now these feelings have manifested themselves in a mystery illness. I know whiny bloggers blabbing on about their health... it's just that... I'm sure I have tuberculosis... well, o.k, fine maybe it's just a really bad flu/cold, but for 3 or for days now I have been sick, my family enjoys the silence of my vocal cords on strike, but I'm pretty sure I just coughed up a lung. Even my coffee and muffin are not cheering me to the prospect of a guilt fueled trip to church today to get everyone to their christmas program practises and act like all is fine and dandy in the land of the "slowly colapsing as a result of christmas chaos" . Fact is I'm just bagged and need some time to re-fuel. I am probably more ahead of schedule than most years, I think I need to take care of presents for just a few more people, and there are a couple other things I'd like to bake, of course, a few decorations left to set out, and 10 thousand more dinners to cater... argh! If I see another Turkey, I think I'll cry. O.K, my tirade is over. I know, stop whining, make a list and get those kids out the door and put your smile on for cryin' out loud! O.k, here I go off to wash Ben's hair for the second time! Of all times for the four year old to go OCD on me! Wow, did I mention that my muffin is cranberry orange (one of my favorites)?... I think I need more coffee, and an attitude adjustment... maybe church will help.... I really do have an exciting post for the next time. I can't believe I haven't even mentioned it yet... hopefully this afternoon or tomorrow, I'll tell you the really great news!... oops, gotta go... disinfect/degerm my keyboard/monitor, and other stuff :-)

What happens in Vegas.... :-)

So, now that I am fully recovered from my whirlwind trip to Vegas I want to write about it so that I remember every detail!!!
Saturday night upon our arrival from a perfectly uneventful flight... I didn't even get strip searched... Geez, what does a girl have to do to have a little fun at the border??? (teehee - just joking!!!) Anyhow, once we arrived at the airport we took a shuttle to the hotel, it was a little bit of a tour, but we were pretty excited. We settled into the most beautiful hotel room ever with SOFT beds and a million pillows, a HUGE flat screen TV and a really deep tub! We stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton this is a tour of an almost exact room (except we had two beds :-) It was amazing. So, Saturday night we toured our Motel and got our bearings, we had a drink in one of the many lounges (I got carded....I LOVE VEGAS!!!!), and some reeeeaaaly yummy nachos and then headed to bed.

Sunday morning we headed to the bakery Expo... It was FANTASTIC!!! These are some of the great things we saw, and tasted!!!!!


By the time we left, we were FUUUULLLL, and loaded with lots of COOL swag, baguette pens, canvas bags, information, and more! Then it was time to hit the town to see the show we were waiting for!!! We got glitzed up and headed to the Bellagio....

At the Bellagio we found the theatre, then headed out to find some dinner... NOT at the Bellagio, the prices in the motel were absolutely outragous!!! So, we hoofed it over to Caesar's Palace and found a more affordable place to eat. After dinner it was time for O. The most amazing, fantastic, stupendous show EVER!!! I can't even begin to describe it. The usher even let me talk into his walkie talkie thing!!!! After the show we walked around with our mouths open for a while, checked out the water show, headed back to the room to change our shoes and headed back out. We saw New York, New York, drank "slurpee like" beverages, walked a bit of the strip, and then called it a night, I went to bed still digesting all that I had seen.. too much to take in all at once!

The next day we hit the Expo for a while met our boss Joe and his crew (wife, daughter, and son-in-law) and hooked up with them for the remainder of the day. We spent some fantastic quality time sipping Pina Coladas by the hotel pool and then went for a fabulous dinner at a Brazilian BBQ place, it had a fancy little doodad on the table with one green end and one red end, when you wanted them to bring you meat on a sword, you left it on green, when you wanted them to stop, you turned it to red.... simple...delicious. Along with a bunch of different kinds of BBQ, they brought salad, breads, beans and all kinds of sides including plantains . After dinner we hit the town, we galavanted and caroused, If anyone says that they saw me acting unrully, they are a liar! At 3:30am I finally hit the hay, although sleep did not come easy after a few too many Red Bull's (oops). At 5:30 am we were up and off to the Grand Canyon. Although I was mighty tired I didn't regret a moment.

The Grand Canyon was all that and more. From our motel we were bussed to the airport, where we flew over Hoover Dam to the Grand Canyon. Once we were at the Grand Canyon we boarded a helicopter that flew us into the Canyon....I KNOW RIGHT!~!!!!

It was amazing. To go from blazing lights and tall buildings to the beauty of God's creation... right in the middle of it.. was freaking awesome!!! After we landed in the bowl of the Canyon, we boarded a boat for a little tour down the Columbia River. It was beautiful! I was very surprized by the color of the water, kind of like a slate milkshake, ...interesting! Then we headed to Guano Point which literally translates to "bat poo". There they served us a traditional native lunch (that had nothing to do with poo)... beef on a bun, corn on the cobb, coleslaw, and a sweet cornbread... it was fabulous, and the view was stunning! Then back to the strip for an hour or two of shopping and finally a bit of shut eye by the pool. From the pool it was straight to our plane and back home. We boarded our plane at 8:30pm, arrived in Calgary at about 1:00am and were at work by 3am. Needless to say by the end of those few days I was a bit of a narcileptic. I was hallucinating and could barely see straight, but every second of it was absolutely worth it.

*So, if you want to see all the pics they are on my space site...I know I'm a bit of a nut, but they are there if you are interested, if not, I have them recorded for posterity sake !

We're Back!!!!

A wonderful trip was had by all... too many things to note at 10pm, the main thought I brought home from my trip was a reminder of who I want to be.... I will leave you with that scintilating thought, and the question, who do you want to be? If you were to be judged right here, right now, based on what you do, what you look like, how you react, how would you measure up to what you want to be?????

Memories, and Madness!

Well, I must say, a good time was had by all, and since a picture is worth a thousand words I think I'll just let them talk for themselves.

Fairmont and Fort Steele will never be the same! We came, we saw, we puked, left some nose skin behind, we giggled, we played twister, minigolf, real golf, we swam, we shopped, we ATE, and we spent time with some of our favorite people in the world!

We reaquainted ourselves with cousins we hadn't seen in a while, we snuggled with people we see all the time and in general, we had a blast. Now, it's back to real life for a few weeks, but soon.... look out high prarie! You never know who might be sneaking up on you.....!

Holidays

So, Today begins the wonderful world of family holidays!! 10 of us crammed into a tiny little condo in beautiful Fairmont BC. Don't get me wrong, we're having a blast! Swimming, movies, hikes, it has been a fantastic day so far, but only one more computer min. left... got to run!!! xoxoxo from B.C. lol