A Picture for Jerem and Kimball

Russ Tanner, Scott Wissler and I went to Calgary on Saturday with a few of our sons. one of the things that made the trip worth while was attending the University of Calgary Basketball game. At the end of the game Kimball and Jerem both got balls signed by Henry Bekkering. I had fun with some of the photos from the game and thought I'd do picture they could with the ball and the game ticket.




So just click, save and print guys

Wellness Wednesday

As you all know I love photography. No surprises there. I use photography as therapy (there is an actual form of therapy called Phototherapy). I use it to relax, process my thoughts/feelings and express myself. I just love to look at old images and imagine the life of the photo. Where was it taken, who took it and why was it taken.


This evening I decided to make my own "weathered" photo from one that took a while back of the large trees by Wal Mart. It was a foggy winter morning and I positioned myself so all of the trees were lined up and looked like they were one huge mass. here is the original image:




And here is my final image after a 5 minutes of working on it

Here is another version without the torn edges. which one do like better? (I kind of like the last one)

I hope that the City never cuts down these trees. It would be a real shame if they ever did.

Valentine Gnomes

My first post in a month and a half..(I can't let Rich do ALL the blogging). The kids and I had fun making these adorable edibles...I had to make up a few more because Rachel has a (very) sweet tooth. All you need is felt, chocolate kisses, googly eyes, glue, and some patience. So, if I can do it, anyone can! I guess since it's Tesitimony Tuesday, I have a Testimony that if there is something that I need to work on in my life and I want to improve it, Heavenly Father will give me many opportunities to work on it!

Memory Monday

Life goes by too quickly. Today I was reflecting on the past 29 years (research shows that people aren’t able remember/recall the first 2-3 years of their life) and I was thinking of the little things that were high lights for me. Here are few of my favourites:

- Waking up one morning when I was 3 or 4 and asking my mom where my brother and sister were and having her tell me they were at school. I then groaned and said “I want to go to school”
- Nap time
- Getting an “A’ in sandbox at preschool
- Hot dog day in grade 4
- The original Transformers
- Going sledding in BC as a kid
- Traveling down to Utah with my family. My parents would leave late at night and get there in the morning so we would sleep. For years I thought my grandparents lived on the other side of the mountain from us.
- Thinking My house was so far from my elementary school but later realizing when I returned as an adult that it was only a block away
- Going to my grandparents’ cabin at Cultus Lake in BC and thinking there were sharks in the water. I would jump off the dock and swim to the ladder as fast as I could.
- Getting Baptized and felling the hands of my father on my head as he confirmed me
- Going bowling with some of my dad’s special needs clients
- Playing basket ball with my friends 5 days a week
- Having my High School across the street from Safeway and having 1 litre of chocolate milk and 3 donuts for lunch every day.
- Being able to have 1 litter of chocolate milk and 3 donuts everyday for lunch and not gain any weight
- Serving my mission in the Canada Toronto West Mission and having all the members give me special treatment because I was a fellow Canuck.
- Giving blessings to people and seeing the hand of the Lord touch them and heal them
- The nerves of going on my first date with Des
- The Summer of 1999 in Utah with Des
- Buying my first 35mm SLR Camera
- Staying up until 2:00AM building a model car for Des for one of her class projects
- Moving Des up to Edmonton one month before our wedding date and leaving her there with out her knowing anyone or how to get around.
- Running out of fuel by myself in Des’ dads truck on the way back from moving her to Edmonton
- Getting to the temple on time on our wedding date and thinking Des had changed her mind because she was a half hour late (she had forgotten something and had to back to get it)
- Holding Ben/Rachel/Sarah for the first time
- Buying our first home
- Watching Ben get on the school bus for the first time and drive away to school
- The quiet time just after all the kids are asleep and it’s just Des and I

Top Secret Mission

I taught Sunday school the for the second week in a row today. I'm not much of a public speaker and I feel that I stumble over my words at times. However, I think I made it through aright.

I wanted to share an experience that I had this morning as I was eating my breakfast. At 6:30AM Ben woke up and and asked me if it was Sunday. normally the answer to this question results in him saying something like "Sunday? I hate Sunday. I don't want to wear my church clothes today!" but instead Ben just shrugged and went up to use the bathroom. When he returned he saw an envelop addressed to him that said TOP SECRET on it (in our Primary there is a child selected each week to be the top secret reverence child who sets the example for the other children). Ben saw this and smiled and went down to his room and started to get dressed in his Sunday clothes. Keep in mind this is at 6:30 in the morning and Ben usually doesn't like putting his church clothes on.

As Des would say, "if it ain't broke don't break it"

I guess from now on Ben will always have to be on a top secret mission so we can get him to be reverent or at least dressed on time with out a fight.

I'm glad that the Primary came up with this idea.

Super Saturday

Well today we decided to take our first "real" family photo of 2009. The weather was great and we took advantage of it.

I saw the photos that Kathy Tanner took of her family http://hereiamkathy.blogspot.com/2007/11/family-picture-2007.html and I decided to steal her location. Imitation is the best form of flattery... or something like that. Rachel and Ben kept making funny faces so I had to take one just of them.

Judging by this photo I truly can say they get there looks from me.

As with any photo of our family it was a process of me setting the timer on the camera and running into place. So as you can guess, the smiling faces that I see when I pressed the shutter are usually not the same ones I see when I review the images later. Here is a sample of my favorites:

Spiritual Promptings Sunday

I know, I know, it's not Sunday But with every thing that was going on yesterday I thought I might get away with it this one time.

Yesterday at church I blessed Sarah and I can't tell you how nice that was. it's interesting how peaceful you can feel as you give a baby blessing. it was really nice to have members of Des' and my family there to share in that moment.

After Sacrament meeting I taught the Gospel Doctrine class and the topic was preparing to receive revelation. I thinkthis topic was perfect considering the events of the meeting before hand. I could feel during the blessing that I wanted to say certain things that I wanted for Sarah and her life. I thinking about those things but the words that came from my mouth were different. It was as though my mind and mouth were detached from each other. I truly opened my mouth and the Lord filled it.