Louise

Louise / Mom

Hello... & Merry Christmas!

In January, Ted and I went to Mexico for two weeks :-) Lots of sun - lots of shade - a surprise birthday cake - and good friends! I'm looking forward to our next trip!

February was a time to enjoy Laura's success with her "Final Project" in Rosebud. Laura was Producer / Playwright / actor... for her Play entitled "Someplace". She was pleased to have her friend / Advisor, Nathan, act with her in this production. "Someplace" was soooooo good!

At the beginning of March, Ted and I slipped away to visit mom & dad is Arizona. We landed in Phoenix, then toured down to Yuma on a motorbike that Ted had rented. As we left Phoenix, we saw many, many Saguaro cactus in the desert/foothills. Pretty cool! It felt so good to be outside and warm - as we had left behind snow at home. It was a fun get-away. We had a great visit with mom & dad; and enjoyed visiting with Ray & Ina (Ted's relatives), and mom's cousin Raymond and his wife Marie-Claire. What a whirl-wind visit we had -- can't believe how many things we did!

Mom and I in Yuma

Anita and I - CinqueTerre, Italy

Our weather continued to be lousy during April - as Anita and I tried to organize/prepare for our upcoming trip. We had signed up for a walking tour in Italy... organized by my good friend, Kathy. We were thwarted several times - as we tried to get to the speciality shops in Edmonton to pick up hiking boots, backpacks etc. What started out as fun (trying to coordinate a shopping trip when we were both free, and there wasn't a storm happening) - became desperate measures..... divide and conquer .....

Go when you can & get what you need. (Yikes, no stress there.)

On May 1st, with a skiff of snow & ice on the road, Anita & I headed off to the airport - then on to Italy! It was pretty unbelievable! We were gone for two weeks - - to Florence, then an 8-day walking tour of the Cinque Terre, then on to Venice! OMgosh - it was great! Ted posted some of my favourite photos onto his Flickr site. Click here if you want to check them out.	Italy
Louise at Kicking Horse	Once we had returned home, it was time to focus on other things. Things were getting down-to-the-wire at the school... and both of our kids had returned home for the summer. It had been several years since Laura had lived at home with us - it was sure nice to have both kids with us for the summer... and we enjoyed spending more time with Tara too. She's a great sport - enjoying the lake with us. (Although I'm not sure we'll have any luck getting her to return during "May Fly" season...)
We started off the summer with a trip to 'Kicking Horse Mountain Resort' for our niece's wedding. Wow - what a beautiful place for Amy & Kyle to get married! It was a special weekend - being able to spend it with family in such a great location. Spencer headed back to UofC in September - for his final year of Kinesiology. He's been working hard... continuing to do well in his classes - as well as enjoying the Ski Club activities! At the end of September we had another special weekend - as we celebrated Laura's graduation, with her in Rosebud! Pretty proud of both of our kids!	Louise and Laura - getting ready for graduation!
Enjoying the snow...	We headed into October by hosting a couple of gentlemen from Japan - who were visiting Wetaskiwin as part of an Exchange group. It was so nice that they spoke English - so we were able to enjoy evening visits at our home - learning things about each other's cultures. What started out as a beautiful Fall - has turned nasty. I've lost track of how many storms and weather warnings we've had already. Although we enjoy the snow ... I sure hate icy roads!
Paulette and I at Amy's wedding	Visiting Drumheller