Daigen and His Shadow

Shadow Talking

Daigen had a great time on his walk to get the mail ... he was fascinated by his shadow and had quite the conversation with it ... Kendall and I couldn't resist taking these photos ...

Daigen tried so hard to slide down this hill ... but there was too much snow to move ... he preferred pushing the snow with his hands and watching the little snowballs roll down ...

It was a beautiful sunny day for a walk ... happy to have spent a few days here visiting ...

Back from our walk, Daigen was bound and determined to go for a toboggan ride ... he did manage to pull the toboggan down on top of him ... and because he was successful in his task ... I did end up taking him for a ride ... both of us laughing the whole time ...

what fun !!!!

Mayook Morning ...

View of Mountains

Fisher Peak

Snow capped hills

Early this morning the sun came out just long enough to take these pictures... then it disappeared ... we were left in the clouds all day ...

Frosty Morning ...

Frost on the Trees

The morning softly glistened with the heavy frost ...

Christa fishing

, originally uploaded by az.desertdagmar.

I wanted to share this beautiful photo of Christa fishing with me this past summer in Bull River. We had always talked about fly fishing together and last summer we did..it will become a summer event!

Sunset in Okotoks ...

Evening Skies

What a beautiful sight last night ... after many overcast, snowy days ...
woke up this morning to fresh snow falling ...

a blanket of white
again !

Remembering my sister Susie's Birthday - Born Jan 18, 1956

Always in my thoughts ...!!!

So Cold here ...

Chilly here in Okotoks

It was too cold to venture outdoors ... -32 windchill ... will have to wait ... until the sun warms things up ...

Was the perfect day to bake and stay warm this morning ...

"White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies "

mmmmmmmmmmm

Walking in the Forest ...

Follow me into the woods ...

Couldn't have asked for a nicer day than yesterday ... today it is overcast and raining ...!

Capturing nature's reflections in the sun ... amongst the shadows of the trees ...

Balmy Mayook ...

Amazing Sunny Day !

What a beautiful day here ... 6 degrees ... almost short-sleeve weather compared to -24 in AB !

Mike was busy clearing snow in the sunshine ... afraid that it would turn colder now and all turn to ice ... the forecast is for more snow and rain ... not good ...! Snow yes but not rain ...!

It was too nice for me to work ...

headed out for a lovely walk in the woods ... !

Jake's Surprise Visit ...

Jan. 6, 2011

We would have had Christmas in Mayook with the Roberts family ... but this year was different as we were waiting for the birth of Brynn & Carys ...

Cindy planned to have a turkey dinner gathering with friends and family at Teresa's on Jan 6

What a surprise for everyone when they arrived at Teresa's ...

Jake decided to fly to Cranbrook from Vancouver for a quick visit with Arden to see his family ... leaving Maren and the twins in good hands with her family ...

(It's my thought that Jake figured we were having way too much fun without him ... it didn't help that his brother was taunting him with the special treatment he was receiving ... !)

We had a wonderful time ... laughter and tears ... as Jake would have to return the next day ... !

Jake & Arden spent the night in Mayook ...

It was a late night for all of us ... needed to get in all the visiting we could ...

The whole Roberts clan would be leaving the next day ... !!

Roberts Family blessed with Twins ...

Brynn & Carys Roberts were born on Dec. 31, 2010

Congratulations Jake, Maren, big sister Arden ...

Grandparents Rob & Cindy...

Uncle Dan, cousin Avery, Caylin and Aunt Teresa

The New Year ... 2011

Our gifts from 2010 ...

Mike and I had a quiet New Year's Eve ...

as we were going to have company arriving on the Jan. 2.

Jan. 1, 2011

We celebrated New Year's day down at the neighbours, gathering with friends around a open fire down by the lake ...Mike decided to try out his new skates ... so we ventured out to the large skating rink that the Charelton's had worked on for days for this festivity ... put on the blades and headed out gliding around the rink amongst the hockey players and then headed out across the lake ... the surface was a little rougher out there ... as well as being a very cold day we didn't last too long ... needed the warmth of the fire and special refreshments that were provided to warm us up ... !! Later we went inside for a potluck dinner ... visited, told stories, had some good laughs ...

Jan. 2, 2011

The Roberts family have arrived ... Dan helping himself to turkey dinner after a long trip ... ! We had a lovely evening visiting with Rob, Cindy, Dan and Rochelle ... catching up on what has been happening in every ones lives. Dan had been stationed in Spain with the US Navy and is now residing back in the US awaiting his next deployment. Dan wanted to come back to spend time with his family ... especially his sister Teresa who lives in Cranbrook ...

Happy New Year ... !!!!

Boxing Day ...

Dec. 26, 2010
Families gather for a play day ...


Nathan is the anchor behind the GT's to slow the kids down as the driveway is quite steep ... didn't want them to get ahead of Ian on the snowmobile ... AND AWAY THEY GO ... !!!!


















James is peeking out of the snow bridge ... the boys spent hours building ... so cute ...!

Another wonderful day playing ... the wind has picked up and we are chilled to the bone ... heading indoors for some refreshments to warm up ... !!! This was our last day visiting with our boys and their families ... leaving for Mayook in the morning to spend the rest of our holidays there ... in the solitude ... until the Robert's family arrive on Jan. 2, 2011 ... !!!

Christmas Day in Carvel, AB

Dec. 25, 2010

Christmas with Nathan, Katie, Craig, James & Ella

We arrived at the Knight household in Carvel after having Christmas morning and breakfast in Millet. The kids were so excited to see us as we were just as excited to see them. It was a crazy time looking at all the gifts the grandchildren received from Santa and everyone else. The boys had their new Nintendo DS's with a camera feature ... oh dear there were some pretty interesting photos being taken ... they also had Lego sets, mechano sets, bakugans, etc. The boys were busy building with dad and grandpa (I think the 2 bigger kids were more involved than they needed to be) and then there was Miss Ella ...


How excited was she at 3 yrs old to get Barbie make-up ...!!! She was busy playing dress-up and applying make-up to whom ever would stand still ... our little Princess ... ! Katie had been busy in the kitchen getting turkey dinner together. Was time now to go out and play in the snow ...!!!

After a few hours of sliding, crashing, wipe outs, lost out in the weeds ... we headed indoors for some hot chocolate and goodies ... Katie was busy with the final preparations for our dinner ... it felt strange not cooking for a large group this year ... a nice change ... spent this time playing games with the grandchildren .

Christmas dinner was absolutely delicious ... we were are all stuffed ... while we were busy on kitchen duty ... the kids decided that Grandpa needed a workout ... their favorite passtime is to be dragged around the house ... the carpeting in the hallway proposed a problem with Craig keeping his pants on ... the kitchen floor allowed them to slide easily and it definitely saved the muscle tension on grandpa's legs ... the laughter was infectious ... what fun they were having ...!!!

Christmas in Millet, AB ...

Dec. 24, 2010
Our Christmas with Ian, Kendall & Daigen

Spending the afternoon outside playing on the snowmobile, sledding on the hills, snowballs, and making snow angels... later preparing our dinner for the Xmas Eve festivities with Kendall's family

What a pleasant surprise that Nathan and the grandchildren came for dinner ... (missing Katie as she was called to work). This was the first time that we were celebrating Xmas Eve here ... normally we would have been in Mayook at Oma's house having a traditional meal (she was on Vancouver Island with Kurt and his family). Ian insisted that we continue with this tradition ... consisting of European wieners, warmed potatoe salad, sauerkraut and fresh bread ... Little did Kendall's family know what they were in for ... it turned out great ... no complaints after they were guided in the traditional way of eating this meal ... that the wieners were not cut but taken whole and dipped in German mustard swirled with Horseradish ... was delicious ... !!

The kitchen was buzzing with the sounds of another tradition of making the "Knight Family Fudge" ... this recipe has been passed down for generations to the MEN ... no women allowed !!! Except, it seems when it's time to clean up the mess and the guys boast about how good it turned out ..!

A night of visiting, singing, playing games, drinking, eating and lots of laughter .... the children now sleepy and families leaving to go home and finish with the last minute preparation for Christmas morning ... making sure that the milk, cookies and carrots were set out for Santa Claus and his Reindeer ... with all the work completed it was our time to sit back and relax ... another tradition before heading off to bed, was to watch "A Christmas Carol"

Dec. 25, 2010

Christmas morning ... Daigen was up bright and early today ... no sleeping in ... Kendall kept him in his room until we were ready with the cameras to capture the surprise in his eyes as he saw the treasures around the tree ... overwhelmed by it all he turned around and went back into his room ... after some coaxing he was excited to venture back and start opening some gifts... planes, trains, automobiles, firetruck and station, GT Racer, games, books, oh my !!!!

A special gift from my mom ... a collection of photos of her life ... from Austria to Canada ... I was given an album of my dads life last year for Christmas ... I will treasure them dearly ...!!

Mike's Gift

created by Christa

I was excited for Mike to receive this gift. In memory of his Uncle Coo ...

Flying Officer Wilfred Lesley Knight

who was killed in action in WWII in a plane crash
He was a Belly Gunner in a Bomber Crew.

Mike never knew his Uncle, and this picture of his grave meant alot to him as his middle name is "Wilfred"

Thank you to Dagmar and her family, for taking the time go to the Cemetery to take this photo while they were vacationing in Sri Lanka

A gift for Christa....

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

I made this header for Christa some time ago to celebrate her wonderful winter photos...
however
I have been unable upload this header for her..but I wanted to share with you,

her exceptional pictures and the love she has for her and Mike's home in

Mayook.
xox
Dagmar

Country Christmas ...

Christmas in Mayook

Dec. 19, 2010

"Christmas in Mayook" held at the community School House ...
a time for neighbours, family and friends to gather ...
celebrating this wonderful festive season ...
visiting, singing, indulging in a variety of goodies, refreshments and good cheer ...

Santa arrives bearing gifts for the little children ... and yes for the "Big Kids" too ...!!!

A joyous night of singing Christmas Carols ...
lots of laughter, hugs & kisses ...
now quieting the room ... as we end singing
"Silent Night"


COMMENT

Dagmar said...
How well you are doing on this blog...I am so proud of you and the beauty of your photos and how you put them together. Bravo! It looks like you had a really good time..did they know you were the Marquesa of Mayook? The old schoolhouse looks wonderful..you did a great job!
December 21, 2010 8:46 AM

Christmas in Mayook ...

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Traditional Tree

Since 1986 when we moved into our log house ...
we have gone out and found the perfect Xmas tree for the living room.
We would venture out all bundled up ... trudge thru the snow ...
find the tree ... cut it down
and then stop for a well deserved break of hot chocolate and cookies
to gather our strength to drag it back to the house.
Today, as the boys are on their own with their families,
Mike and I do this task ourselves ... notice the truck is doing the hauling now, we have enough strength to pack it out of the bush ... and that's all...!!
Getting it into the house and in the stand is enough work for us ... where are the kids when you need them ... ??
It takes us one day to find and bring the tree in and then another whole day to decorate ...

Beginning stages of decorating ...

Almost finished as night draws near ...

Pleased with the end result ... Sitting back enjoying the lights ...
watching the "White Christmas" movie ...

Stockings were hung ....

Monday, December 13, 2010

Stockings were hung by the staircase with care ... this year I only put up 10 stockings ... normally we have up to 20 ...!! It's going to be a quiet Christmas in Mayook ... we are heading to Alberta to spend the holidays with the kids ... will be strange not cooking for a mob !!!

I was invited to an open house at the Log Cabin Studios in Bull River on Saturday ... spent a couple hours visiting with Caroline and these are some of the treasures I took home ... beautiful display of art, crafts and goodies ...


A couple of cookie plates done up for our neighbours in Okotoks ... spent the morning baking "No Sugar Added" cookies for the Diabetics ... so one plate with sugar and one without ... also added my homemade Anitpasto as well ... Hope they will like them ...!!!


2 comments:

Log Cabin Studio said...
Thanks for the lovely visit and the great cookies..Merry ChristmasLove Caroline
December 13, 2010 11:27 PM

Dagmar said...
Love the stockings..I am sure your daughter in laws will love looking after you for a change.XoxDagmar
December 15, 2010 3:25 PM