a new chapter

Michael has a new job. I can't go into huge details about it, but I can tell you that he's driving truck for the first 3-6 months as preparation for a job that I think he was made for and is going to enjoy so much.

It's exciting and strange all at the same time. Neither of us ever thought we would do this again when we sold our equipment back in 2006. Hauling a tanker is a new experience too.

We're making the most of it and getting in some travelling to places that we want to go (either to visit people we know, or places we've never been).

We did a few loads to Regina, where Michael just dropped me off in Austin to visit with his mom and sister. Which was really nice. I got to enjoy some cuddles with my nephew.

I think I could've sat there like this all day.

Little Schultzie is on the way!

Here's a pic of me the day before we discovered I was pregnant:

I was so excited to tell my family, but we held onto our news for another 6 & 10 weeks, so we could have some fun making the announcement in our family's Christmas presents.

I made these:

Here's what's on them:

This year each member of our immediate family got a little present from us. Inside was one of these little bibs with the appropriate title for that family member. Michael's Dad got a special one.

  

It took Michael's family a while to catch on, since my sister in law was due to have her baby the week after we celebrated Christmas with them. But as you can see, when the lights went on they were excited.

In BC, we repeated this same procedure, though I don't have any pictures of it. The great grand parents got little onsies.

So much fun! We're looking forward to meeting 'little Schultzie' this summer!

Manning Park

We rounded up some friends and went cross country skiing for the day. It was tons of fun and hard work.

Did I mention it was also stunningly beautiful?

Happy New Year!

BC Christmas

Friesen Gathering

Christmas with my siblings

The Loewen Gathering

our christmas

It's a crappy picture, but it shows off our new 'when we go home for Christmas' Christmas tree (I don't bother setting up all our decorations the year we head to BC).

Our new stockings:

I made these, and I was so eager to get them done that I completely overlooked sewing any kind of loop on them so we could hang them. That's why they're sandwiched under a book. haha.

I wish we had more pics (and ones where my hair didn't look so awful), but we don't. Michael's gifts to me this year left me speechless. That box is a personal cutter thing that can do many cool things! The shelves are ones that I've wanted since visiting my cousin Debbie back in 2010 over Easter. In November Michael and I were at Ikea in Minneapolis and I wanted to get them, and he said we couldn't. It was almost a really terrible fight, but I finally accepted the fact that I wasn't getting them this time around either. Meanwhile, he'd been sneaky and had our friends buy them for us (do you know how bummed I was when they bought the exact shelves that I had been wanting?), and then he wrapped them up and gave them to me for Christmas. Well done, Michael, well done!

Welcome to Kasey John Enns!

Schultz Christmas

Caribou Lake

This year was a little different than a traditional Thanksgiving, in that Henry and Shirley were not able to join us, but we still went.

Instead we had other special guests! Karl & Bea and Dan & Jenn!

We had Thanskgiving dinner, Supper Central style.

Beautiful table! Delicious food.

We also did a fair bit of lounging around.

Some fishing and swimming.

And quadding, but I can't find pics of that.

Harvest 2011

My entire post just got deleted. It was a long one. Sorry, but the second one is going to have a lot less writing.

We had a very hot and dry summer, which means that some things in my garden thrived, and other things didn't. The part that didn't was the tomatoes, corn, lettuce and carrots.

Clearly, the part that did was the peppers.

Lots and lots of hot peppers, which, as you can see Michael is very excited about.

Oh, should talk about the carrots. Remember Mr Carrot Pants from last year?

Well, apparently, he grew up over the winter. Haha. He also found a wife with pretty sexy legs.

Apparently they had a busy winter and produced a whole family! Mom, Dad, baby and kiddo!

We had some other freakish carrots too.

The twist.

Chicken foot?

Oh, back to the peppers. Since Michael has been slowly but thoroughly enjoying his pickled peppers from last year, we decided to can them again.

Step 1: face the daunting task of slicing. all. those. peppers.

Step 2: mixing them in my sink because I had not other vessel large enough.

Step 3: Michael made a thing for the bottom of my pot out of coat hangers to keep the jars from bouncing.

Step 4: Realize we clearly do not have enough jars and make a mad dash before Canadian Tire closes in 30 minutes.

Step 5: Admire the finished product. Wonder how long it will take to eat this many jars, since it took a year to eat the 12 from last season.

If you like really hot pickled peppers, let me know...we're sharing!