Happy New Year!!

Hi All,

Well, as you all know, I have not been a very good blogger for the last part of 2007. Sorry. As you may imagine, things are nuts in the Candline world.

Matt and I are staying with my Mom and Dad for the month of January, as we did end up purchasing the house in Didsbury, but we don't get possession until the end of the month. Barry has managed to find a place to room and board for the month, and with the lack of rental accommodations in the Calgary area, this seemed like the easiest arrangement for our one month of transition.

We had a wonderful Christmas at my parents' place, and it was so nice to have Barry come and join us for over a week. On Friday, the 28th, we made the long trek up to Mackenzie, to see some friends and to finish off a little bit of work that just didn't get done on the townhouse. It was a fast but good visit, and thankfully the roads were much better on the way home than they were on the trip north - the drive up was not pleasant at all, but our foray south on New Year's Eve was a nice winter's drive. To all of our Mackenzie friends that we didn't end up getting to see - I'm so very sorry!! We didn't get to see nearly as many people as we would have liked, the townhouse consumed much of our time, and we had some business to take care of as well. We sure do miss you all and hope that you will come to see us, and also that our next trip to Mack town can just be fun and games!!

We have kept ourselves busy here in Vernon; Matt loves the church that my parents attend and asks to go there every day. We've been shovelling snow, building snowmen, going to Kelowna to see Ashley and Jeremy, enjoying visits from my sister, and just loving our very long vacation.

Over the last month or so, Matt has been saying some pretty funny things that I thought I should share with you:

On our flight home from the house hunting trip in Didsbury, Matt was seated next to a HUGE biker looking guy. He was pushing 300lbs, had a beard down to his belly button, and was dressed in pretty much head to toe leather. Matt looked him up and down, and proceeded to inform him (loudly), "Wow!! It must be way past your bedtime!" I though for sure it would be a miracle if we got off the airplane in one piece, but, in true Matt fashion, the biker was won over by the end of the flight. As the plane made its final descent, the scary dude was coaching us in the finer details of swallowing to make your ears pop.

A few days later, Dixie was having a bit of a coughing spell. My mom picked her up and tried to calm her. Matt rushed over and petted her gently, saying, "It's okay, Dixie, you're not dead yet."

Every evening after dinner, my parents take their tea and dessert (yes, my mother makes dessert for every meal!!) into the living room, and they chat while they enjoy the Christmas decorations. In the days leading up to Christmas, Matt made a habit of coming with us and putting on a concert. He sings along to whatever music we have playing, and every now and then he will tell one of us (using a stage name that he has made up for us) that we are allowed to "take our chairs off" and dance behind him. The best backup dancer wins a prize at the end of the concert (usually a high five). The star of the evening prefers to be called Punster the Rock Star while he's performing. I have no idea where he comes up with these things, but he keeps up cracked up, that's for sure!

Anyway, I must run and get the Rock Star into bed.

Love and hugs to you all,

Laura

P.S.

I will upload some photos when I figure out more about my parent's computer.