2010

2010

Merry belated Christmas and New Year greetings!

2011 has pounced on me and I'm attempting to get out from under it and establish a memoir from 2010.  After all it was an important year with many milestones to celebrate and interesting tidbits to remember and savor even as life flies by at an alarming pace.

In January we returned from our Christmas visiting with some exciting news. This news made me a little sick at first, and caused me to gain weight rapidly, but it was good news indeed.  We were happy to announce the impending arrival of our third child some time in August.  Other than that stupendous news life pretty much carried on as usual. At the start of 2010 I returned to substitute teaching.   Mike continued to work on our house and look for interesting business ideas that he could jump into.  In April he found a great opportunity in the form of  two water stores.  Mike joined forces with a good friend and they established themselves as business partners and owners of  The Water Warehouse stores in Sherwood Park. Mike is responsible for all the water treatment sales and service, so if you have yucky water or a system that isn't working to it's full potential, you know who to contact (mike@watermechanic.com).  Since Mike was quite busy with setting up the stores I stopped subbing and was able to stay home full time.  I was thankful for this because I felt much worse for much longer during this third pregnancy. Being able to choose my own agenda each day was sure nice for me when I needed to take it slow sometimes. 

Even though Mike had his hands full with the water stores, he still felt that we should try to do a few key spots with our ice cream concession. We started with a weekend fair in Wainwright with the Ponoka Stampede right on it's heels.  Soon the water stores had some reliable staff, and Mike was able to fit some of his service calls in between our ice cream locations, so we decided to take on a few more fairs. Eventually one thing led to another and we spent all of July and August selling ice cream.  It was probably the most strenuous summer we have had yet, since we were pulled in so many different directions and I was quite heavy with child.  Through it all the Lord blessed us with fine and honest staff and a successful summer of work.

My top 10 list from the summer is a little different this year because it includes some things that weren't necessarily good, but reminded us of God's goodness through everything...
 10. Safety!  Our travel trailer came unhitched from our truck while driving 100km/h down the highway in the middle of the night, but angels must of held on to it because it didn't roll, or cause an accident or pull Mike and the concession into the ditch.  It simply skidded to a stop in a shallow ditch and Mike was able to hitch it back up with no help in the pitch dark! We drive a lot and it is no small miracle that we have enjoyed safe journeys everywhere we have gone.
9. Good health.  I enjoyed a healthy and uneventful pregnancy. Matia got a touch of the flu for a couple days this summer, but that was all. For the most part we all enjoyed good health.
8. Good help.  We seemed to be able to find reliable and competent staff to help us everywhere we went. Sometimes we were able to hire people we knew, other times I was phoning through the phone book asking churches if they knew anyone who would like to make a little bit of extra cash at the fair on the weekend.  Either way we felt comfortable handing over our concession to the people who worked for us.  This was a huge answer to prayer for me because I simply did not have the energy to work as much as I usually do.  We also did some bigger fairs that required a little extra man power. Our good friends, Glenn & Naomi, even stepped in and ran a separate concession at a different event  for us while we were still in Saskatoon.  Now that was definitely above and beyond and an incredible encouragement and blessing to us!
7. Fun times with the family.  Throughout the summer we look for ways to make travel and work fun for the kids and ourselves.  We always stake out the swimming pools in each town and the parks of course.  In addition to our usual haunts we also were able to spend some time at the beach in Slave Lake, and we took the kids to a 3D movie on one of the rainy nights in Lloydminster. These small pleasures make for great memories.  The kids also enjoyed visits to both of the grandparents houses and got to do things like go to the museum to see dinosaurs, ride a camel at a petting zoo, run around in the sprinkler, and ride bikes around the block.  How great it is for our kids to get to spend time with their grandparents!  They loved their adventures and we appreciated the break it gave us from our parenting responsibilities in the midst of a busy summer.
6. Making new friends.  A student from our church who drove hither and yon to work for us, our friend's new bride who won the hearts of our kids in a very big way, and new carni friends who showed care and concern as they watched me drag my swollen body from town to town are all people who have a special place in our hearts since this summer. We're blessed to know them.
5. Saying good bye.  My Grandpa Jimmy passed away on this, his 95th summer.  I was thankful to be close enough to attend his funeral, to see all of the cousins and aunts and uncles, to hear the stories I love about the wonderful man Grandpa was. 
4. Saying hello.  Our new nephew Axsen Lee was born in July, in the very town we were doing a fair in.  How nice of him to arrive when we were nearby to welcome him!
3. Raining Blessings.  The weather through most of our province was not exactly ice cream weather for the most part.  In spite of that we saw the sun often enough to make the summer of work and travel worth our while.  No matter what the weather, blessings abound and God takes care of us.
2. Visitors.  We had many visits from friends and family this summer.  When you are traveling away from home you don't  usually get to have much company.   Some of you found us and went out of your way to come hang out with us and we sure enjoyed that. 
And the #1 most memorable event of our summer was....
The birth of Kayla Susann McKenzie in August, while on the road doing "just one more spot". Yes, it is possible to have a baby while traveling.  It worked out very well indeed for us.  Kayla is an easy baby and adjusted to carni life very quickly, with no compunction what so ever.  Dade and Matia stayed with Mike's parents for the 3 weeks remaining in our ice cream season, so while Mike worked Kayla and I had a very nice "baby moon" all cozy and comfy in our travel trailer, getting lots of sleep and snuggles.

Our fall was spent celebrating.  We celebrated Kayla's arrival, Dade's 5th birthday, my birthday, and Thanksgiving in what seemed like a blink of an eye.  In between all the parties we managed to renovate our bathroom and partially renovate our kitchen. We still have a few things to work on.  Mike actually has an endless list of projects.  In addition to our home projects one of the water stores changed locations so there was plumbing, electrical, dry wall, painting and moving to do there as well.  We are so blessed to have such a talented and capable daddy taking care of things at home and at work. 

I keep busy at home.  I am homeschooling the kids and Dade is doing Kindergarten and Matia is doing Pre-K.  I enjoy the challenge, but have to keep from getting to distracted by the mega amount of resources to choose from.  It is quite different from class room teaching.  I think the kids will keep me on my toes this year and every year to come! It should be lots of fun.

Dade is 5 now.  He has grown so tall and has exchanged his baby cheeks for a mischievous grin and strong muscles that he would be delighted to show anyone who asks.  He wants to grow his hair long so that he can spike it into a "mowhog".  He likes to solve puzzles, work on dot to dots and complete mazes, but hates coloring or cutting and pasting.  He is loves sports, watching and playing.  He is taking swimming lessons right now and seems to have become part fish!  He is in Sparks in AWANA and has a knack for remembering his verses.  He very badly wants to learn to carve wood with a real knife, so hopefully when he works on his birch wood race car with his daddy he'll get to try his hand at it.  He is protective of his little sisters and is a peace maker.  He is always doing little things to make others happy (sharing his treats, bringing me items that I need, entertaining Kayla with a toy or story). He says he wants to be an inventor or a hunting guide when he grows up. I hope he puts off the growing up plans for just a few more years.

Matia has grown into a lovely little dancing drama queen!  She loves wearing her ballerina costume everywhere.  She has given up her "Elphie" (her stuffed elephant) to Kayla and seems to have stopped sucking her thumb.  She loves playing with her dolls and dressing up in a variety of different outfits.  If given the choice Matia will always choose to wear a dress, and rarely leaves the house without her purse containing jewelry and lip balm. She loves perfume and make up, having her fingers and toes decorated with nail polish.  She is all girl!  She is also very determined that she should always be in charge, which doesn't always make for the most peaceful times.  However she loves to be helpful and adores her new little sister.  Matia is in the same swimming lessons as Dade and has recently learned how to swim under the water.  She is in Cubbies at AWANA and learns a new memory verse each week. She adores her leaders and quickly and easily makes friends whereever she goes.  Matia is growing in to a lovely young girl and I so badly want to stop the clock and just keep her the way she is for a bit longer.

Kayla has grown very quickly out of that dreamy new born state and is now hitting developmental milestone as if she is working her way through a check list.  She now coos and smiles and blows raspberries and giggles.  She has found her toes and rolls over and is learning how to keep her balance while sitting up.  She loves jumping in her jolly jumper and chewing on her toys.  She is still an excellent traveler, which is good because taking the kids to swimming and AWANA requires quite a bit of driving.  She is also a good sleeper and has been an amazing blessing to us all. 

 Mike and I celebrated a milestone of our own this year.  10 years of marriage and we're still going strong.  I can't believe that so much time can go by so fast.  We have been richly blessed through the years and we look forward to the changes and opportunities that we will encounter in the next decade together.

We look forward to the rest of 2011 and all the surprises it will bring. We pray that you, our friends and family, will have a safe and happy year, and will enjoy achieving your own milestones as time continues to go by.

Love the McKenzie Clan

Chistmas 2009

Merry Christmas!

It's that time of year when I look back and reflect on our activities. I like to rejoice over the good times and draw attention to God's grace in the difficult times.

In January we returned from our Christmas travels and I jumped into a temporary teaching position. I had the privileged of teaching grade 6 for twelve weeks while I covered another teacher's medical leave. Those kids challenged me, joked with me, confided in me and pushed my buttons like nothing I've ever experienced before. The things they taught me will stay with me for the rest of my life. They taught me: prayer works but usually not how you'd expect, everyone can use the benefit of the doubt from time to time, learning is easier when you feel successful, respect is something you give before you get, high expectations yield better results, there is humor in almost everything, coffee & cup-a-soup keep you from feeling hungry and help you lose weight!

My stint as a full time teacher came to an end just in time. In May we set out for another summer of ice cream peddling. This past summer was challenging, as usual, but it seemed a bit less stressful than in the past. We seem to have a better idea of what we are doing and how to do it. The main challenge we needed to over come was a broken down truck, that when patched up only liked to drive at night time when it was cool. Mike has fixed our truck so many times that he knows every knock, squeal and grind. He is able to keep it running when others would have thrown up their hands in despair. He is almost afraid to begin looking at other trucks because he will not be as intimately acquainted with them and may not be able to adjust to their particular quirks as easily. I'm sure anyone who handles trucks or large machinery can relate. Another challenge we met was a road side inspection by the Department of Transportation. Not what you want to see when you are having truck problems. This was quite stressful for Mike and it cost us a bit of money too, but the up side is that now we are fully inspected and able to travel to other provinces if we choose to next year.

Aside from the usual truck troubles our summer was fairly successful and even enjoyable.
Here is my top 10 list from Summer 2009...

10. Except for in Rocky and "Rainwight", the weather was fairly cooperative and helped sales along nicely.
9. We had super staff this year. Interesting people who didn't mind working hard, that we enjoyed spending time with. What a blessing from God!
8. Hanging out with Darrel & Christine in Grande Prairie (Matia got to enjoy a Gel Bath because Christine just has cool stuff like that)
7. Throwing a bridal shower for my little sister in Sylvan Lake (what an honor to get to be there in the midst of all of summer's business).
6. Going boating and "lakeboarding" as the kids call it, with Jamie & Steven at Buffalo Lake to decompress after the stressful D.O.T. inspection.
5. Visiting the splash park in Beaumont with Olga & Sarah & Amy. Very refreshing, fun and free!
4. Gopher hunting with Daddy in Wainright (Dade & Matia were right into the thrill of the hunt, Mommy opted to scoop ice cream).
3. Attending my sister's wedding and enjoying seeing all of our family and friends. What a beautiful & fun weekend it was.
2. Hanging out at the state of the art park in Lethbridge. The kids would have stayed there forever! I even got to hang out with Rhonda, my long lost school buddy and our kids had a blast. Again fun & free!

And the #1 best thing of the entire summer, as it always is, was the love and support of our family and friends as we lived out our carny life for another summer. We would never succeed in this endeavor with out the phone calls, baby sitting, helping hands and listening ears of all our loved ones. You all truly do love us unconditionally and we are forever grateful.

This fall and winter our we are spending our time close to home working on various projects on our house and property. Mike is building an outdoor wood boiler to heat our home. We have put in laminate flooring with an in floor radiant heating system that will be heated by our wood boiler when it is complete. There are many projects to face up to and we are working on them as we are able. One of the fun things Mike is working on is a giant snow fort for the kids. Every time it snows he uses the back hoe to pile up the snow and the kids have a blast climbing on it and sliding down it. When it is all packed down and hard Mike plans to tunnel into it and make a snow cave. There are unique advantages to living in the country.

Dade and Matia have grown up so much over the past year. I no longer have babies, but very independent and interesting kids. Dade loves to be active. He likes any sport you can name, even sports he's never played like football. He just likes the idea of running and doing something with a ball. He is very coordinated and I think he will prove to be quite athletic as he gets older. He likes to think up games (paddle ball: hitting a large kick ball across the house with 2 ice cream lids) act out shows and play pretend a lot. He has a gentle spirit and is very helpful to me and keeps his little sister in line. He's a guys guy though and is dying to go coyote hunting with Mike this winter. He wants to use his marshmallow bow! He also really enjoys watching Myth Busters (Miss Busters he calls it) and Top Gear with Daddy. We have been doing a little bit of preschool activities here and there, but mostly enjoying time just being a kid. We will start more structured activities next fall when he is 5.

Matia is our princess. She is a girl through and through. She loves to dress up, to play cook & clean, though getting her to clean up her toys in reality is a bit of a challenge. She likes make up and when the house is quiet and I can't see her anywhere near me I know I should go see if she is getting into my make up or some other trouble!!! She does like to get into mischief, like playing with water from the water cooler and pouring it into half a dozen little containers while she spills the rest on the floor, or coloring the couch with red marker, or dumping out all her socks and underwear and scattering them hither and yon throughout the house, to name a few. In just one short month she will be 3, does that mean that these 2 year old tendencies will fade or just increase? Yikes! For all that she is sweet and kind and loves to mother her babies, cuddle the kittens, read stories in my lap for as long as possible and she still has her beloved elephant...for now.

And so our lives have not changed much over the last year. We are thankful for what we have while we try to decide what it is we should work toward next. We enjoy a lot of time together as a family and try not to take that for granted. We are really enjoying living near the city. We visit family and friends weekly. Settlers of Catan is a favorite game of ours and we have convinced quite a few friends to become just as hooked as we are. We enjoy attending Grace Point Church of God in the city; it is worth the drive for us to have the sense of community we get from our familiar home church.

Some things you can pray for us in the up coming year are:

• Wisdom to know how to best spend our time, resources and talents.
• Health & Safety
  
• Reliable vehicles
• Abundant opportunities to try and learn new things.
• Patience and constancy in bringing up our children.
  
• Opportunities to share God's love with others.
• Obedience to act on those opportunities.

We look forward to the new year and all the surprises it will bring. We pray that you, our friends and family, will have a safe and happy Christmas, and will experience abundant blessings in 2010.

Love
EM

Looking Back - 2008

Would someone please hit the pause button! This life seems to be stuck on 2xffwd! Our family has been on the go all year, it seems. We've been trying to make our living, connect with friends and family, make and keep memories and adapt to change. It might be easier to list the things that haven't changed in our lives, but here is a summary of the biggest changes and events in 2008.

Last Year at Christmas time we were in the midst of moving a 1979 mobile home. It was not an easy task. Mike, some loyal friends and some kind strangers were finally able to move it onto a field for storage, then later onto our very own piece of property. Mike found a nice piece of land near a small town close to our capital city. In the spring we packed all of our things and put them in storage for the summer while we caravaned around the province selling ice cream. Our mobile sat in a patch of weeds forlornly waiting for us to return and develop the property. My family sadly watched us go knowing it we would now be 1.5 hours away instead of a convenient 15 minutes. I am glad we haven't moved farther away, and I'm also happy that we do have many friends & family in the city only 30 minutes away. Moving to a new area is challenging, but we choose to look on the bright side and be thankful for every blessing. I think traveling throughout the summer makes the transition easier. We are used to being away from our loved ones for most of the summer. We spend a lot of time in unfamiliar towns, so it was less difficult to adjust to living in one permanently. The people in our town are quite friendly. There is a bakery that has very yummy doughnuts and they always give the kids free treats when we go there. The kids and I have joined a Mom's & Tots group and we meet weekly to have coffee, play and make a craft or two. We live near a valley and there is a quad trail that is quite nice to go for walks on. We have also decided to travel to the city every Sunday in order to attend the church we used to attend years ago. It is wonderful to reconnect with this church family and it helps us to feel at home on a weekly basis.

Getting back to our summer. It was busy as usual and also good. We had very few mechanical difficulties because Mike and a good friend of ours (who is a heavy duty mechanic) worked on our Freightliner for weeks installing a new-to-us engine and who-knows-what-else (I'm very technical, I know!). It was great to be able to depend on our Freightliner that tows our travel trailer and carries our concession. We did have one vehicle leave us in the lurch! It was our VW Golf which took us by surprise. Out of all our vehicles it had been the most dependable. I guess it just had enough and it went kaput on a big hill just outside the city hosting our first fair of the season. If you want details about this interesting trip go here. The Golf had been a reliable trailer hauler, hunting vehicle, long distance driver and home-to-town commuter; that car owed us nothing! I do miss it's great mileage, but for now we'll let it rest in peace. It's replacement is a 91 Ford Windstar. That's right a mini van! I think I look pretty good in the drivers seat, and I love all the space for kids, groceries and other stuff. We may not have the best fuel economy, but now we have comfort and room to grow.

Another thing that got roomier was our travel trailer. Mike was able to upgrade us from a 27' trailer to a 34' for an awesome deal. All he had to do was fly out east, buy a vehicle with a capacity to tow a large RV, then drive to the States and tow our new summer home home! Plans always sound simpler than they turn out to be. This was no exception, but Mike accomplished the task and landed us an awesome home away from home. This leads me to our 2008 top 10 summer highlights:

10. I got to go on some fair rides this year. I roped a carny friend into riding some crazy, twirly, upside down rides. It was fun and exhilarating. I can't wait until my kids are tall enough to ride with me!
9. I joined the Blog world and had fun meeting interesting people and having an outlet for my words.
8. Mike got Guitar Hero for his birthday and rocked out in the camper in spare moments.
7. We worked at my home town Air Show. It was a very busy event. Mike and I took a 4 minute helicopter ride, we got to watch the Snowbirds perform, and Mike & Dade were thrilled by the F18 demonstration. We worked with some really great staff who blew us away with their awesome work ethic and stamina. Thanks Brittany, Janine, Laura & Glenn!
6. We spent our 8th anniversary with my old pal Luwanna and got to know her family a bit. With 4 adults, 6 kids under 5, meat on the BBQ and delicious white chocolate brownies for desert, how could we not have a great time?! I am looking forward to more times like this in the future.
5. We moved to our new property and found "our" cool quad trail to explore. It leads to Strawberry Creek (how cute is that?), and the kids love to take walks in the cool shade of the beautiful poplars & elms.
4. We lived in a big roomy travel trailer with a slide out, a working fridge, a microwave, a roomy bathroom with shower, and we had air conditioning all summer!
3. The kids got to visit Grandma & Grandpa for 2 weeks and got to do fun things like: visit the lake, play in the sandbox & paddling pool, and go to the water slides.
2. Mike & I got 2 weeks of sleeping in after working late, eating at restaurants and NOT ordering fries, remembering how boring and unfulfilled our lives were before we had kids (we missed them terribly, which was a good thing)!
And the #1 top highlight was...
being blessed by our family & friends. There were so many instances when we needed support (moving day, when the VW died, being short staffed at our busiest fair). Once again people came to our aid by hefting furniture and very heavy equipment, watching our kids, lending us their vehicles, and even scooping ice cream. At times I find it hard to accept help. For some reason I feel like we should be self sufficient, but praise the Lord that we aren't. We would miss out on so many blessings and memories. Thank you everyone ( you know who you are) for your care & support & friendship. We hope someday we can bless you as much as you have blessed us.

After the hard work comes... more hard work, interspersed with some fun now and then. We returned home to start developing our property in the fall. Mike bought a back hoe and did all the trenching and installing of power lines, gas lines, and septic field. I began sifting through our storage rubble and removed the yucky carpet and an ugly cabinet from the mobile. To break up some of the work we went to some birthday parties. We started with Dade's 3rd birthday. We met some friends and whooped it up at Chuck E. Cheese on the date of his birth. Then we reconnected with our home town buddies at a local gymnastics club (we had about 15 kids come for some tumbling action and trampoline bouncing). We topped it off at Grandma Heather's & Grandpa Tom's for cake and ice cream. Dade was also lucky to have Grandpa Gary & Grandma Marion visit us around the same time too.

Next we set off to Saskatchewan for a weekend in September to celebrate our Nana's 100th birthday. The party was well attended (over 250 people) and Nana says she's still receiving cards and good wishes. We are so happy to have such a Grand lady in our lives, who we are still learning from and making memories with.

Last but not least, we we managed to surprise my Dad by holding a party for him to celebrate his 50th birthday. The key to surprising someone is to post pone his celebration exactly one month! It worked like a charm. He never suspected a thing. 50 looks good on my Dad. He's healthy and successful and looking forward to each new day. A good example for me to follow.

Aside from parties, moving and working, there is still the day to day wonder of watching our two little ones grow. Matia turned one last January; she began to walk about two weeks later. It seems like she started talking about the same time and hasn't slowed down since! Her vocabulary seems enormous to me, and is something even strangers comment on. I guess she is related to me; she's got the gift of gab. Matia plays well with her brother, but she's no push over. She can hold her own, and when she feels like she's not in control she still has an ear piercing scream that is most effective. Some of Matia's favorite things are: singing Jesus Loves Me, eating...anything, babies (real or dolls), playing with her "willo" (little) people, giving raspberries to herself on her arm, cleaning up messes with a wet wipe (which is good because she's a very messy eater), coloring...on herself, getting into things she's not supposed to, "huggling", dressing up and her top favorite toy that we pray we'll never lose is her plush "Effant" (elephant) that she can't live with out. Her dislikes include: bed time, listening to instructions, using a utensil to eat, getting sand on her feet or hands. Our latest goal is to become potty trained. How nice it will be to be done with diapers! Matia is a delight. We would like to freeze time, but watching her grow and achieve is sweet just the same.

Dade is a big boy now. He's no baby anymore. His days are filled with race cars, heavy machinery, hunting, fixing, towing, investigating and challenging. He is growing taller and taller and he seems a little top heavy as he is constantly banging his head on things. So far we've only made one trip to the ER for a big cut on the forehead. He had been balancing on the handle of his wagon and slipped, his forehead connected with the metal steps of our travel trailer. I could see skull! We prepared Dade with the information that he might have to get stitches. We explained how the doctor would do this. Dade was very disappointed when a nurse just put glue and a bandage on the cut. He told her gravely, "I sink I need a needo". Aside from that we've all experienced good health and safety throughout the year. Dade's main interests right now are: Cars, Lightening McQueen, hunting, shooting (pretend), swimming, bowling, playing in the park, going to Sunday school, visiting friends & family, watching shows, "doing school" (sticker book), listening to stories. Some of Dade's dislikes are: bed time, sleeping in, butter on bread, going home from family & friend's houses, being told no, practicing his memory verses (though he likes the sucker he gets on Sundays when he says his verse correctly). Dade is goodhearted and kind. He looks out for Matia and helps her when he thinks she needs it. He is very social and love interacting with children and adults alike.

There are so many things I could say about the kids. They give us so much joy and love and I am motivated to be a better person when I am with them. If you want to have a short conversation with me don't ask about the kids (actually I don't really do short conversations, so you'll just have to avoid me altogether).

Well that sums up our year. Mike & I & the kids have enjoyed a great Christmas traveling from family to family between Christmas & New Years. It is great to spend time with our family, I wish it would never end. When we get home I will go back to substitute teaching, and Mike will be finishing up some plans for a new business venture he has been thinking of. I'll keep you posted, keep checking the blog. We will also continue to renovate the mobile and take each day as it comes.

I look forward to hearing from all our friends and family as you are able. Look for an email with our new address & phone number. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!