A Whirlwind Christmas

What's better than spending Christmas with your family? How about six Christmases with six different families?? And of course a meal at almost every single one of them.

We began our whirlwind tour with a day at Granny and Papa's in Central Butte. Everyone but Uncle Mike, who had to work, was able to make it out for the day.









Travis and I snuck out that afternoon to visit Grandma Hart who was a lot more spunky than the last time we stopped by. No picture to show you, she opted not to as her hairdresser wasn't coming out until the next day. We'll snag a picture next time.

The next morning was present time with Mom Rehbein and Larald (thanks for the loot!) and then we were off again to Larald's brother's home for supper with the Shaw's.

After a lazy morning and a quick family photo op.
We ran across town to Uncle Dennis's place for the Hart Christmas. We had a chance to sit down with Dad and Linda Hart, and of course Vikki and Scott. The Christmas Poker game was squeezed in right before dinner and Travis walked away with........$4!!! (buy in was $2)

We said goodbye and shot across town again.

Tired yet? Wait, there's still more!!

This time to Tim and Liz's home where the Ulrich family was getting together. Well, a portion of the Ulrich family was getting together...

And who of all people should swing by but Rachel Driedger who I haven't seen for at least two years. So glad you called!!

Much, much later that night after a lot of singing, scrabble, dutch blitz..... we crawled into bed to rest up for the sixth and final Christmas get together.

Boxing day morning we met at Benjamin's new place for the Fehr Christmas. Even though he's in the middle of renos, Benjamin played a super host and even managed to sneak Steph out for a bit of a visit.




And that was our whirlwind Christmas. Dizzy yet? Try doing it on a continuously full stomach! For those of you we didn't make it out to see, we're sorry. We tried, really we did. I hope you had a great Christmas, and maybe we'll see you sooner then you think!

Christmas Warm-ups

It's officially time for stretchy pants, and we're still a week and a half away from Christmas!
Last Friday Travis and I attended our church's annual Christmas banquet, where for the price of $3/person and 2L of pickles, we were able to eat ham & turkey till our hearts were content and our pants pulled at their seams. It was wonderfully laid back. No fancy programs or games this year. Just a chance to eat good food with some really good friends.

Fast forward to Saturday, our apartment building had a Christmas supper. So once again, we bellied up to the table and stuffed ourselves with more turkey.

Sunday we took the day nice and slow and met up with a group of friends at the Stoker's new place in Round Hill. And of course, ate more food. Travis and I are the only couple out of the 10 of us without kids, and so naturally, they fascinate me. And surprisingly, I don't terrify them!

This is Saraphina. Her dad, Adam, was baptized the same day Travis was. Saraphina is nothing but sunshine and giggles. At one point she was topless and sitting in a box she had just emptied.

This is Avery, you've seen pictures of his older brother Darien in a previous post. Avery decided he wanted to wear Travis's sweater. And how can you refuse that face? And yes, you're seeing things correctly. The pastor's son is sucking on a cross.

This is Serri. We play volleyball with Matt and Alissa on Monday's, and after a year of living in the same town we finally got together!

So now we're spending the week digesting, going for long walks and getting ready for yet another weekend full of Christmas warm-ups. We're doing our part to get ready for Christmas, what are you doing?

November - A Long Overdue Update

Where did November go? I try to remember what we've done and where we've been, but it's all a blur of school, work, essay proofing, trying to decide what to make for supper, forgetting to make supper.... I realize it's been a long time since we last updated this page, but in all honesty, other than a few special days, not a whole lot has happened. Well, nothing anyone really wants to read about. That being said, here's what happened to us last month.....

That same weekend Cindy and Larald came out for a visit. It was great to see them again, it's been a long time. And Larald gave us the honor of taking him on his first trip to the West Edmonton Mall. And boy did we choose a terrible day to go! Wall-to-wall people, and it wasn't even December yet! Unfortunately, I forgot the camera and we have no pictures for Larald to remember his big day by. Sorry Larald. But we'll think of you every time Travis puts on his flashy new shoes.

We said goodbye early Monday morning. I went to work, Travis to school, and Cindy & Larald back to Swift. Not even an hour after we had said goodbye, a friendly Sherwood park Nissan kissed our bumper. A perfect start to a freezing cold day. And no, it's still not fixed.

Fast forward to the weekend. I had big plans that included Christmas decorations and cookies. Well, I fought the tree up just in time to shower and race off to the Ulrich Cattle Liner Christmas party. It looks kind of funny. The tree that is. All the lights are on the inside. And sadly, there are still no Christmas cookies.

That Sunday Travis and I were accepted as members at the church we've been attending for the last year. A big step, but we're glad we finally made it.

After the service we went to Sherwood park with Murray & Sharron for dinner and I was finally able to see the Petro plant that Travis worked at all summer. The very tall tower in the center is what he was painting all those months. Pretty impressive.

And that was November. Thrilling I know. We like to live life on the edge when we can.

We hope your month was a little more interesting than ours was and we can't wait to hear about it when we see you in a couple of weeks.

And finally, Cindy, I thought I'd add this just for you.....

Thanksgiving Long Weekend

Thanksgiving, the perfect holiday set right in the middle of the busy season. The break given right when I usually need it most. We'd planned to stay home for the weekend and save our gas money for Christmas time, but a wonderful couple had pity on us and sponsored our trip back to SK (thanks mom & dad).

Unfortunately Travis's professors saw fit to load him up with a whole lot of extra work. He opted to stay home and try to get a handle on things instead of putting them off and spending the next week playing catch-up. What a mature, smart man I married.

Benjamin and Timothy couldn't make it out, and with Travis back it Tofield it was just the three of us (mom, dad, and myself) for the weekend. So the weekend was nice and relaxing. Nothing fussy. Just a lot of peace, quiet, and time spent enjoying each other's company.Except for the part where Grandpa came over and we ripped up the deck.

Well, they ripped up the deck and I took the dog for a nice long walk down old country roads.

And of course, I had to be officially introduced to dad's latest 'pets'. Yes, they all have names though the only two I can remember at the moment are Grunt and Lard. Surprisingly they don't stink nearly as bad as I thought they would. Dad would tell you it's because they're free range, healthy pigs. And they're sure going to be a nice addition to the freezer come winter! Poor Grunt...

And what's a trip home without a trip to the new yard, or the 'farm' as we like to call it. Mom and Dad have a beautiful quarter of land just North West of Laird. Though I didn't make it home in time to see the leaves still on the trees which makes things looks a little bare, the area is perfect. From the top of the ravine we were able to watch a doe head for cover. And the beavers have made themselves a nice little lake out of the natural spring that runs through the bottom of the ravine. Nice and wild.

And what could make a great weekend even better? Well, after a safe trip back of course. How about news of a future wedding? That's right, sometime around 5pm that same evening while I was dodging potholes, Larald was proposing to Cindy (my very happy mother-in-law). So congratulations! By the way, that means she said yes. Now there's something to be thankful for, right Larald?

Friday vs. Monday

Good thing there is no work to go to on Monday, right?
Hope everyone has a great long weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday Night Lights

A night out on the town.... definately a nice break after playing scrooge with the $$ for the last couple of weeks. Murray & Sharron (our neighbours) had a couple extra tickets to Friday night's game and took us out for the evening.

I have to admit, I've never paid attention to football and I know next to nothing about the game except for what I learned during intermurals in elementary school (any Waldheimers out there remember that? Jaguars, Lynx etc...).

But regardless, I enjoyed myself. And it was a perfect night, not too chilly, no snow, no rain, a couple noisy drunks back and to the left.... Heck, what's a night out at a game, any game, without a couple of noisy drunks. Actually, with the help of their play-by-play commentary I was able to keep up with most of the game.


Either way, going to football games officially makes it fall in my mind. They're the ones that toughen you up by making you sit outside, so come hockey season, the rink feels like a sauna. But, I'm getting ahead of myself here. We'll take it one season at a time.

Back to School.......Again.

It's hard to believe fall is already here. I know the calendar doesn't say it's fall just yet, but the trees and the weather out here are telling a different story. I think we've enjoyed an afternoon at the lake for the last time this year.


A couple of weeks ago Travis headed back to school. The beginning of a 4 year (3 1/2 if we're lucky) haul. I think I speak for both of us when I say I'm glad we're moving forward again. He's attending King's College University in Edmonton, and so far, has no complaints. I'm sure he'd let me know if he did.

And I'm back at it in the office. Things have picked up again after the summer lull. Every farmer and all of his relatives in BC and AB has 100 head they need to get to the sale/plant yesterday. So needles to say the Ulrich trucks are already racing around the country and it will only get crazier in the coming weeks.

So, life is busy. But that's okay, that's the way we like it. Give us a call, we're currently living on scraps from the government and probably won't make it out to visit anyone anytime soon and we miss you.

A Weekend With the Harts

August 17, we drove down to Red Deer to spend the weekend with Trevor, Kelly, and Dad (who drove all the way from Riverhurst).

The boys were up before the sun, and spent all morning golfing at a local club. Meanwhile, Kelly and I took care of business, a 7km run, a trip to the farmer's market, and supper. I grew up without sisters, so to be able to have one now has been awesome.

The boys came home all golfed-out and famished and we sat down to an awesome roast that Kelly had made for supper. It was so good that the boys offered to do dishes!

We had planned to spend the night watching the Riders vs. Eskimos game, but due to a storm/power outage we ended up visiting, which was just fine. There's a lot of things to cover when you only get to see each other a couple of times a year. And apparently the Riders are good enough that they didn't need us cheering them on to beat the Eskies.

We headed out late Sunday afternoon, sorry to leave, but as always, glad we had the chance to catch up. Things are never dull when the Hart boys are together.

Happy Anniversary #3

Our first anniversary was dinner at Akropol. Our second was spent playing SLOpitch all weekend. Third time's the charm right? Right. We spent the day at a swanky hotel in downtown Edmonton. We filled the evening with an awesome one hour, full body massage at the in-house spa, a chicken/prime rib buffet, and a stroll around Edmonton. Awesome. Much better then playing hours of slopitch only to loose the final game!

This is us all relaxed after our massages. We've decided that this will be an annual ritual. Maybe even a quarterly ritual....

This is the sky scape from our room. Downtown Edmonton was a bit of a freak show during the day (thanks to the art festival), but Downtown Edmonton at night was a whole different story (in a good way).

August Long Weekend

August long weekend came way too slow and went way too fast. We drove out to Sask. for the weekend. Travis jetted down to Swift for a couple of days and then made it back up north to join us at the lake, and then win the 'Waldheim Open'. I don't want to bore you with a tone of writing so I'm just going to post the pictures. They pretty much explain it all anyways...

The boat was busted, so we dusted off the canoe

Meet Steph, voted the family's favorite.

The catch of the day. (It's in the cooler. I took my time getting down to the boat)

Men at work

Grandpa & Mom scarffin down the pancakes and bacon

The Pro-form that won the game...

Suprise Visit!

(I'm a couple of weeks behind in posting, but bare with me things have been busy. I should have this all up to date in a couple of days)

July 27 was a pretty dull day. That is, until the Ramages made a suprise visit. Flying in out of no where in their flashy new car on their way back home from the Yukon.

It had been a few months since we had last visited and we got a couple hours to catch up with them before they jetted off again, this time for Loydminster.

Before the globe trotting family could escape, we lined them up out front and snapped a couple of pictures. (Getting Ulrichs together is a rare occurence so we take pictures to prove it acutally happened)

And just as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone....

-Heat Wave-

Yesterday afternoon I walked from my office into the adjoining office and thought, "wow, it's nice and cool in here, I should park my computer in here." Then I glanced at the thermometer...... 27 degrees celsius!! Makes me wish I had a thermometer in my office so I could brag about the temperatures I had to endure all day.

If you haven't guessed it yet, our office doesn't have a working air conditioner, but (and I quote) "That's okay, it rarely gets above 30 here, and if it does it only lasts for a day or two." That was TWO WEEKS AGO! The temperature, at it's lowest during the day, has been 30. The thermometer in the picture above is sitting in the shade.

And poor Travis has had to spend the entire two weeks working outdoors wearing coveralls and a hard hat. All I have to do is think about him sweating it out under the sun and suddenly my office/sauna doesn't seem so bad.

Needless to say, I think we're going to buy a couple boxes of freezies and go find a nice cool lake to sit in for the weekend. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

Meet Me At The River

I know I'm a little late with this post, but we didn't get the pictures from mom until yesterday. One of the downsides to not owning your own digital camera I suppose. Eitherway, June 3, 2007 Travis was baptized at our church's annual picinic. Because the church is small, the only "tank" they own for baptisms is an old cattle trough. Travis and Adam (the other man baptized the same day) weren't too keen on the trough idea, and decided that the pool at camp would be much nicer.

Cindy and Larald, and my mom and dad drove out from Saskatchewan for the weekend, which made it so much more special. We kicked the weekend off with an awesome shrimp and steak BBQ, (who knew Travis was so good with a grill? Of course with some constructive advice from the Men). And we ended the day with ice cream (which if you get to know Larald, you'll learn is a cruicial part of each day!).

Sunday dawned bright, sunny, and HOT! We drove out to the camp and after really good concert by the Hunter Family, Travis and Adam told the church their stories, where they came from, where they're going, and how God has come to play such an important part in their lives. There weren't a whole lot of dry eyes in the chapel. Then it was off to the pool.....

Once there Travis and Adam got into the pool with pastor Calvin and though he couldn't be there, Chris (a close friend) had left a letter with some very encouraging words for Travis:

"...run for your life from all of this. Pursue a righteous life - a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so ferverently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses....

(1 Timothy 6:12 THE MESSAGE)

and then....

While Travis dried off we snapped a couple of pictures by the pool and then we raced back to Tofield for a big dinner.

After such a full morning it was only fitting to top it all off with... you guessed it... Ice Cream! A perfect end to a perfect morning.