FAMILY NEWSLETTER

Hello friends and family,

I figure it is time for an update.  Life has been crazy busy here as usual, my biggest wish right now would be about 5 days at home with no requirements to be anywhere.  Wouldn’t that be awesome!  Maybe sometime in January I will get my wish because I know I am fully booked for November and December.  I am so looking forward to Stephanie and Warren and the kids coming out for a visit in December.  It has been 2 years since Wes and the kids have seen them.  Way too long between visits for sure.

So what has been happening around here…

1.  Jordan has gone horse crazy!  He spent many days this summer at a neighbours spending time with horses, learning about horses, and riding horses.  And now he wants his own horse so we have been doing some shopping around.  He is very eager to have his own horse soon.  We are going on Monday to look at a local one. 

2.  Deanna is still animal crazy too.  But this past month her first potbelly pig Charlie Brown died.  We think he had a stroke.  He was fine the day before and then the next day he was not able to move, his right side all gimped up, he was very cold, and his eyes were shaky… not pretty.  Anyway, he didn’t make the day.  Poor Deanna was very upset.  Then later that same week she acquired a new pet, a rabbit.  His name is Sherlock Holmes.  He is very cute.

        

So her animal collection includes 2 dogs, 1 pig, 1 rabbit, and waayyyyy too many cats.  We have managed to reduce our cat herd this past month, but we still have too many on the back deck.  I think I am totally over cats, but as long as they keep the mice away, I guess they earn their keep.  Deanna still wants more furry pets, her plan is to one day open her own petting zoo.  ( The puppy in the first picture is not Deanna’s. )

       

Did I tell you that poor Licorice was sprayed by a skunk in September?  About an hour before we headed out for camping… not pleasant at all.  Hopefully she learned her lesson to leave those black and white “kitties” alone.

3.  Speaking of furry creatures, we have had some unusual ones around.  In October Wes saw a grizzly bear down by the grain bins.  Yikes… a little too close to home.  And then a couple of weeks later we found out from a neighbour that there was a racoon in our driveway!  We haven’t seen any signs of him and I hope we don’t.

4.  Deanna is crazy about the 80’s.  She loves the clothes, the music, and more.  So she went to Value Village to try and put together an 80’s outfit.  At first she was doing it in preparation of her 14th birthday party but instead she dressed up to take Samantha out trick or treating.  She even dyed her hair pink!

  

5.  Jordan has taken an interest in music.  He has bought himself an electric guitar and has been diligently teaching himself.  He practices everyday all of his own accord.  It will be fun when him and Wes can jam together.  :o)  (I don’y have a picture of him playing, I must remember to get one.)

6.  We helped Trevor move into his new place.  It is awesome.  It is in town but right at the west edge.  So he can see the mountains from his  back deck, a small herd of deer to watch the the neighbouring field.   It is such an awesome location.  The other night we popped in to surprise him and wish him a belated happy birthday. 

(from Brittany’s Bday) Trevor and Carrie this summer.

7.  Our fall was taken up with harvesting.  This felt like the longest harvesting season ever.  The weather just wouldn’t cooperate.  But now it is done and the cows are back home and we are almost ready for winter to arrive.  I did up a photo journal of a “day in the life of a farming family” on my blog a while back.  You can find it here if you would like to take a look - http://onanygivendayinpamelasmind.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-in-life-of-farm-family.html. 

8.  When I quit Facebook, Cheryl asked me how I was going to share pictures now.  Well I found a website that I really like for photos (it will store videos too) called Fotki.  I am trying to convince Stephanie to get an account and post pictures there too.  I picked this photo website because they will store the digital photos in their original size so that those who want a digital copy can grab it AND you can order prints from there too.  So if you want to take a peek at what photos I have there you can check it out at this link - http://public.fotki.com/Pamela-Infojunkie/.

9.  Hmmm, what else?  The kids did a writing class taught by Sigmund Brouwer.  It was awesome.  He is a published author of numerous books.  He spilts his time between Red Deer and somewhere in the US. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Brouwer or http://www.sigmundbrouwer.com/ to learn more about him.

10.  On October 27 it has been one year since mom quit smoking!  Isn’t that amazing and wonderful!  I meant to have a celebration in honor of such a great achievement but with my busy schedule I didn’t get it done.  Congratulations Mom!

11.  I think I have run out of things to say… I need to do this update on a more regular basis so I remember what has happened in our life.

I hope this letter finds everyone doing well in their part of the world.  This year sure has gone by fast.  Wes and I had plans to do “this and that” but we just weren’t able to find the time.  I am hoping 2011 will give us a little more freedom of time, to not be so busy.

Talk to you again soon.

Pam (Wes, Jordan and Deanna)  :o)