Spring Break

Daryl went to the coast to pick up Gavin and "Shifty" (shayla) for spring break a few weeks ago. We really enjoy having them here with us! This visit, we played a lot of games. We also watched movies, got firewood (at Gavin's request) and shot the rifle (at Gavin's request). Shayla and I (Karen) made a stuffed pig from the plans out of the back of a Jillian Jig's story book. We also did a lot of art projects together. One evening we had a fire in the backyard and roasted smokies. Please note the "little helper" Daryl has in the bottom corner of the first picture.

The Door

Downstairs in our games room we added another door going into the washroom. Daryl had to reroute electrical, measure and cut a big hole, frame, drywall and mud the new opening. We made a new doorway because the original layout was stupid and required anyone in the main area to walk through the utility area, through another bedroom and finally into the bathroom. the guy who layed out and "remodeled" the basement originally, was not skilled nor did he have any knowledge as to safety and building codes. Thankfully, Daryl has been able to tear most of the work out and make the place safe for us. Karen's job, during all of Daryl's hard work is to paint (insert Karen's gagging sound here, as she sooooo loves to paint.) Actually, I don't mind it. We have wood throughout the house and it is framing everything, but some of the doors in the basement were white, and have stickers and glue and sparkly stuff all over them which I (karen) was unable to scrub off. Therefore, I decided to "faux" paint the doors to cover up all the mess and to try to make them blend in with all the other wood.

New Years With the Kids

After Christmas, Daryl went to the ferry to pick up the kids, except for Justin as he did not want to visit. Though our time together was short (like Karen) it was great to see them again. We spent our time together doing various activities such as: several games nights which incuded billiards, darts (we have just finished patching the wall) foosball, wii video games and lots of board games. Our favorite quickly became Apples to Apples. We also went tobogganning, ice fishing and attended a WHL hockey game. Unfortunately, we only remembered the camera once (for the ice fishing trip) and sadly the batteries died after three pictures. At least we have our memories!

Christmas Eve Gathering

On christmas Eve, the tradition thus far has been appy's and drinks at Dan and Yvette's house (Daryl's brother and sister in law). This is our second year going and we decided to make and take sushi. Here is an action shot of us making it and in the top picture you will see what's left of two full plates. It was a big hit. We used shrimp instead of salmon (the pre-cooked frozen kind from super store). Also, we put carrot slices inside instead of watercress to add some colour and crunch. It takes very little time to make these, if you cook the sushi rice the day before. You can get all the ingredients at any store. I tried to cut and paste the recipe but this stupid program wouldn't let me. So here is the link:

www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes

p.s: this show always has really good recipes on it, the recipes were originally published in the Canadian living magazines (back in the day) and they have made it into a show. We have made many of Kerri's recipes and they all turn out well.

chillin'

Sometimes Daryl likes to hang out with the dogs on the floor. With it being -14 outside and Karen accidentally letting the woodstove go out today, Daryl claimed the only way for him to get warm was to lie around with the dogs. Logan especially likes to roll into you (so that he is on his back and his feet are in the air) if you are lying beside him. He also likes to wrap his arms around you..... a "hug" if you will.... I'm sure the dog whisperer would have something not so positive to say about this, but hey.....we don't really care.

Daryl's New Job

Daryl was hired late September to work as part of the facilities maintenance team at College of the Rockies here in Cranbrook. He gets to do everything from running the HVAC system (heating/cooling/airconditioning/boilers) to fixing toilets, replacing plumbing, mapping out the pipes etc that have been added to the college in random chunks by different companies over the last 30 years, and snow removal. He is the "all around fix it guy" too, so all the ladies working in the office love him because he helps move their furniture/builds them shelves/delivers boxes of paper and does all his "menial tasks" with a smile. haha. Like he says: "it ain't rocket surgery." He is enjoying the work so far and with all the new snow here he is getting lots of "extra hours" because of the snow removal. Here are pictures of the kubota and Hough (huff) loader which he enjoys driving around the campus.

July With The Kids

Early July, Daryl and I met the kids at the Roger's Pass Summit, halfway between Kamloops and Cranbrook after the kids spent a week there with their Grandpa and grandma. During their visit here we camped and fished as much as possible (when Karen didn't have to work....... stupid work). We spent some time at Loon Lake, Koocanusa Lake, Englishman lake and Premier Lake. Oddly enough, the smallest lake (Englishman) yielded us the largest fish. We often went camping with Dan's family (Daryl's brother) and Grandma Deb and Grandpa Mert. Here are some pictures of our trips.