Plaskett, Paintall and Parties

As we like to say out here, the party never stops in Alberta. The party started last Thursday. We went to the McDougall United Church to see Joel Plaskett and friends, in concert. It was a little more mellow than I was expecting, but a great concert. The McDougall church is a great venue, the acoustics are fantastic, and we were right up front. Plaskett's father joined him on stage, as well as two great accompanying singers. We bought the vinyl and got all of their autographs on it, now we just need a record player:)





I love having a deck with a BBQ on it. We had the Klassen clan out for dinner and some Catan. We are not often able to have them over, as it's usually easier for us to go to them, as they have three children. Settlers took a little longer, as Dana slowly dismantled our offensive attacks against him. He was able to destroy our attempts at victory and snatched it for himself.


Saturday my cousin Patrick turned 13. This momentous occasion was celebrated by taking in some paintball. During the fun someone had the audacity to shoot Mike in the rear, while he was walking off the field. After we were done showing the kids who was boss, the party moved to the Froese farm. The food their is always good, plentiful, and usually local. Darryl and I accidentally broke a chair while wresting, so Ryan took a chainsaw to the legs. It's a little lower to the ground, but it's that much closer to the fire. On the ride home Brad inexplicably ran out of gas, luckily my slow driving insured we were behind him and Rhonda.

The long weekend was rounded out with yet another game of Settlers. Brad and Rhonda joined us and I had victory yet again snatched away. This time the Lord of all Catan was Brad.

Construction and mothers day.

It's been a good start to May. I think Niki and I have an addiction, fortunately our friends enable us. We just can't stop playing Settlers of Catan. I've been playing since I was introduced to it around 1999. At the moment it seems like we have a queen of Catan. Shelly has won twice in a row, and her reign of terror is, well, terrifying.
Her thirst for power is overwhelming, I think Poland should probably alert their military. I must rally our forces to dethrone this dark queen.
On Saturday I was awoken bright and early, around 9:30, with dad at our deck door. The crawler was unloaded, drill at the ready, and dad was just waiting for me. We spent the next ten hours getting some fence posts in the ground. We ripped out the bushes on the side of the house, the hedges along our front walk. It was kind of fun to be out in the sun, trying to improve the house. Pouring concrete by hand is not actually that bad. It's a lot cheaper than ordering it. Always make sure you have a wheelbarrow though. If you're dad is helping you, it's good to have coffee and doughnuts around too. Fresh doughnuts form your neighbourhood bakery is best. We were able to get all seven posts in, and now just need to figure what to put between them. It's sure is great having the BBQ sitting on the deck now, I was able to whip off some chicken breasts for dinner.
Mothers day was a lot of fun, big family shin dig out at my parents place. There was good food, lots of people, tractor driving, quad riding, and I even got a little game of catch in. It was a lot of fun, looking forward to getting out there some more this summer.
I put some grass seed down on all the dirt yesterday, so I am hoping it rains today. Seeding the lawn by hand is fun, the fact you can throw down these little seeds and then something grows is so cool! I will try to take a picture every day, I'll post them once the grass is up. It should look pretty neat. Well, that's the major highlights from the last week. This ones looking pretty busy too. Summer in Edmonton, no time to stop, you never know when it's going to snow again.
Cheers

Killers, Babies, Killer Babies

I sort of took April off from the blogging world, but I'm back for May. April was a month full of activities and milestones. My lovely wife turned 25. We had a nice little party for her at the Klassen household, which included yummy chocolate cake. My present to her was tickets for us to see The Killers at Rexall Place. It was an awesome concert, the closest I have ever been to main stage at a major rock concert before. Oh so thankful for earplugs! We were joined by our cousin Angela and her kids Madeline and Patrick. We were so close it felt like our own private concert and they really put on a great show. My only negative word would be directed at the crowd. Canadians really need to learn how to get their funk on. The band still worked hard, did a good show, and tried their best to get everyone their moneys worth.
My cousin Steve also had a birthday, he turned 37. There were wicked cool fireworks at his farm, a fire and sitting around said fire. My family seems to really love sitting around a fire visiting, we seem to do it every chance we get.
On a sadder note, Niki's great Aunt Kay lost her husband Bob at the beginning of the month. He was a graduate of the UofA in electrical engineering, very well spoken and surprising in tune with popular culture and the issues of the day. He was a neat man, I was glad I was able to get to know him before he passed.
It being spring, it is very fitting that our friends Ryan and Pam are celebrating the birth of their first child. He looks like a wise and intelligent baby, and I have only seen a couple of pictures on Facebook. He decided to show up right after we had all met for some German food. The rumour is he took inspiration from the Germans, decided to be efficient, and arrived early. Niki and I are looking forward to meeting the little bundle and are very happy for them.
We rounded off the end of the month with a nice visit from Steve, Kimasia and their daughter Sydney. They arrived Friday and stayed until Sunday. The sun was out for the whole weekend, and we took full advantage of that. The Farmers market in Strathcona was raging on Saturday, so we walked down there. Sydney, who is not even two, did quit a bit a walking herself. At the market we picked up some fresh carrots, homemade jam, and even some vegan cinnamon buns. After that we went for a swim at Millennium place. There were lots of walks and Sydney is a walking entertainment machine. We even busted out the BBQ for the first time this year. We did not get to see as much of Kimasia, as she was involved in a fitness convention at The Mall. It was the reason they were in town, so we can't really complain. We are also getting to do a road trip at the end of the month with them:)
Sunday night we had Aaron and Shelley over for some Settlers of Catan:Cities and Knights. Shelley pulled a fast one and became Lord of All Catan, all hail Lord Shelbert.
The weather in Edmonton has definitely turned for the better, and we are looking forward to getting some outside work done. I want to get the fence up and the backyard lawn planted.
That was the Neufeld rundown of April. Oh, Niki took off to Victoria and the bathroom got renovations got started.
Cheers,
Scott