NYE- last day of 2016

The last day of 2016, no way. I was up to let Lola out at 9 and stayed awake working on my year end blogs. The prince slept longer till I made fresh coffee and eventually stumbled out to be revived. He is catching up on sleep this vacation for sure. I finished my blog post for top blog posts of 2016 only to find I put 1 wrong photo in so had to do the collage all over.

I also did a collage for my fav pieces of 2016 and again put one wrong photo in it but left as is lol

and put it in the blog alone

Britt was off to the city at noon to shop with Shaina. Sheldon spent the day watching the multitude of hockey games on but did make a brief run out to attempt to start the skidoo as the snow was softly falling with no luck. Last day at -4 they say. Our awesome egg lady delivered to our door, thanks Marissa. Perfect timing, I made homemade mini cheesecakes for the big new year feast tomorrow, so yummy!! but side note, mine took 50 min to cook not 25 as per recipe.

multitasker ;)

someone got their bone from Papa.. she took it out to hide with her stuffy pony lol

I got a call from the antique mall that two end tables may have sold, that is great news! Thank you Lord. fingers crossed

Britt was home at 4 loaded up with her treasures. She scored a new jacket to go with the picture we picked up using up her grandparent Xmas cash, some leggings using up parent Xmas and boots and other goodies to boot with uncle Travis's cash. Pretty lucky girl!

Sheldon offered to cook supper and by that it meant run to town for Chinese food ;) Britt joined us before she was off after 7 for her night out. Before 8 we jumped in the merc and ran to town to see the advertised 8:15 fireworks but when none by 8:30 we took a drive only to see one or two go off, drove back and sat till 9:15 with not one more. Dang! Back home for a hot chocolate/peppermint schnapps, re stoke the fire and watch end of Flames game. I found season 3 of The Fosters on Netflix and started it.

Fresh start

So today was another sleep in vacation day, crazy I let Lola out at 8 then fell back asleep till almost 10. I quietly perused the net while Prince finished up his 12 hour siesta ;) then he made coffee. Britt of course slept longer. We did head down to finish up the bedroom putting on bedding, moving the dressers around and finishing the vacuuming, it looks awesome!!

Sheldon then headed out to work on the hardware for barn door assembly while I rearranged the last of the main floor. He took the angel to storage and brought the tree box back and took it back to. All of Christmas decor inside the house is put away. vacuuming and cleaning made the main floor all fresh ready to celebrate 2017. Britt was off to work a 2-7 shift.

He also wrapped the bottle tree with the string of lights he picked up but the timer proved to be a challenge to keep it on once the dark hit. The day was sunny and fairly warm at -4. I headed out to work on horse feet around 3 as Sheldon pushed snow on the road and did some dirt work at the pit. Again I had Switch helping me with toque rearranging and tool snitching.

We ate the steak supper left overs and they were just as good as the first time, yum! Then with the slip tank on the trailer we headed to town before 6.Stop 1 was to enjoy a warm half hour infrared sauna with Britt as our hostess. Next fill the slip tank, grocery shop and finally grab a tea for the ride home. Britt was already home working on organizing her room, yeah!! She did not finish up till wee hours as I was shutting down candy crush around 2 am. Of course Prince and Coco have been snoring for hours ;)

back to the city

Coffee in bed for the win ;) Sheldon was then off to town for his 10 am massage. I began de-Christmasing the house. I got every thing taken down and boxed up and when he got home Sheldon carried them down to storage room. He also brought teas! I had Britt up before noon to get her soup finished up so she cut veggies and completed the soup for our lunch.

Next project was to assemble the new bed frame. I got the room all moved out and the boxes were opened. Dang it, no slats! I quick call to the store confirmed you indeed had to buy a separate package of slats and the center bar.. sheesh. Sheldon and I completed the IKEA build to these last missing steps.

Britt was off to work at 2:30 working till 8. After a celebratory beverage for our work so far, we loaded up and headed back to the city to purchase the missing items. But first we swung by Cartwrights to look for barn lights. I headed directly to where the outdoor lights were and right there was the perfect light. Up to the till to buy 2 and 2 LED light bulbs and we were out and on to the next store in short order.

The barn doors needed handles and with Lee Valley right next door we found the perfect handles.

Our luck is going well so onto IKEA. The slats were easy to find but the center post required standing in a line ;( Britt requested a photo she wanted with her Christmas money so we scooted against the flow to get to pictures, grab it and thru the checkout.

Now to eat, Sheldon wanted pho but I suggested something a bit fancier and not available in Strathmore. The Shark Club was right next door and turned out to be the perfect supper spot. We were back home by 7:30, unloaded the treasures even putting the slats and center bar in and the mattress on before Sheldon was in front of the TV for the juniors game and I wrote up the blog.

Fish & chips for the win.. hmmmm debatable

Wednesday already, just a few more days in 2016. The girls won gift certificates for a local fish and chip place for a first place polox win a few years back so since all were off today we are going out for supper tonight to use them. I was lucky and won another online paint giveaway!

The day was mostly a relaxed laid back day hovering around zero again. Sheldon did run out after lunch to put Britt's tire back on that had the flat issue before Christmas then ran trash to the dump and to Canadian tire to try and score some Xmas lights on sale.

this was the picture I meant to share of the merc pulling into the yard ;)

Candace booked to come along with us to Cabo. After 3 we wee loaded up and off to the city for the supper date. First stop was the Mustard Seed to drop a couple bags of purged jackets and toiletries, next we stopped quick at Costco for a few things then IKEA to finally pick up the bed frame then it was off to the Sea to meet Shaina for our celebration supper. The food was alright, not sure we would rush back but was ok. Shaina was off to her next celebrations while we headed home to the ranch just in time for Sheldon to catch the hockey game.

a few fun snap chat pics

pajama day!

A sleeping pill had me sleeping in late. I did let Lola out at 8 then was back asleep till 930, the Prince was asleep even longer.!!

It was a overcast but warm 0 day but a fire was nice to take the edge off. Parcels unloaded and some cleaning before I worked on the puzzle while Sheldon napped by the fire ;) He then pushed a bit of snow and was back in for another nap, pretty sure he is topped up on sleep this vacation ;) Britt spent the day watching movies but did some of her laundry. It was an overall lazy pajama day!

I completed the puzzle by the time we had a late steak supper, which was yummy BTW!! We rounded out our lazy day with catching up on Vikings.

Boxing Day

Crazy, it is boxing day already. We had coffee on the go and visiting fairly early. Jerry stopped out to pick up Barb's table and have a coffee, thanks one more piece off the list.

I wanted to get a picture of all the dogs but never all in one spot at once so snapped a few, Bruiser is guarding his nest full of treats and Coco hanging out with her new boyfriend Diesel

Others joined in on the coffee and soon the games were going again. Sticks was the game of choice last night and today. Grama P text they were having supper and gift opening so in our nomadic gypsy ways we loaded all up once again with the dogs (Lola who know jumps in the car) and were on the road at 3 this time heading for the Hat.

 crossing at the river

We landed there at 5, perfect timing for visiting,. Games (smear this time) and more food. Gift opening rounded out our visit before for the last time of the holiday season we loaded the dogs and kids and treasures back in the car and hot the road for home at 9.

Benji with his treat from Papa and Coco with hers, only 3 indoor dogs at this stop but one fluffy white one in the garage ;)

 the fellows

Sadie with her treat but she preferred any of the ones Coco had better

What was supposed to be a warmer day was nothing like it all day hovering around -20. On the route home it even hit -27 at Bassano and only a short time later at clunky it was -9. Even from there to home it went up and down but luckily was. -8 and even warmed to -4 as the chinook winds started to blow. Shaina warmed up her car, had some more alfredo then was off to the city by 11:30.

check out what the mercury rolled over to as we drove into the yard!!

What an action packed few days for us including even more adventures for miss Lola who did so well with each one thrown at her.

Christmas day

Merry Christmas everyone. We were up around 8:30 and started with a coffee in bed before rousting the girls around 9. They gabbed a coffee and we did a quick exchange before loading up to head to Oyen. The loads of snow had the mercury covered in about a foot of snow so had to be dug out, started and warmed as we loaded it up. Gifts, food and the accent table for Barb then it was time to load the girls and dogs. Lola was a bit hesitant as usual but got in with a bit of coaxing. By 10:30 we pulled out of the yard, just a bit behind our schedule.

In town, we filled with gas and ran thru Micky D's to grab a hot drink , breakfast bagel for Daddy and nuggets for the girls. Lola was amazed at the smells of this place. Then we were off east in the sunshine. The roads were ok but not great until we hit the top of Dorothy hill when we could finally pick up some speed and time. We arrived at Mom's by 1:30 as they were all just getting home form brunch at dale's. Kaylin had drove out last night after her work day so was there to greet us as well.

furry heated pillow

Food was almost cooked, all was being set out at dale's joined and Travis after he finished feeding cows. Archer made it home last night!! But was not to go far nor be around germs so the Paetz's had to stay in Strathmore. We sure missed having them all with us but so glad he was let out so all could spend time together as a family.

The evening was loaded with games,visiting and fun. Did I mention there were 7 dogs!! In the house, not usually all at once as the patio doors were continually opening and closing to let one in or out.  There was supposed to be 9 had Paetz's made it and big D. Sheldon said "I don't even think houses on the reservations have 7 dogs in them at once ;)" But for the most part the dogs all got along with only 1 brief incident. "Not many people are animal lovers like us Walkers" was Vance's quote. Oh and Mom got a new kitten, Louie who was hauled around between all these dogs by Mya and Britt.

Kaylin sent a text to say we forgot the family photo ;( so quickly snapped this one, her and Lexi are missing from it, darn!

We played card games until fairly late in between snack stops. Eventually all were tucked in and ready for a rest after such a busy day.. except I could not sleep ;(