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2009 McDonald and Forsman Family Holiday News It’s been a really busy year. Too busy for my liking, but I took on a job this year that I couldn’t renege on once I said yes. So I’m going to see it though until the end which will be in March. More on that later. Kids are growing, Cody is still great, in 2010 we are not planning to go back to Canada for an extended vacation as we did in 2009. I’ll take the boys up to camp but that will probably be it. Ashley turns 16 in ’10 and we promised to take her anywhere she wanted to go in the US. It’ll be like the Grizwold’s Vacation I’m sure. Olyn turned 4 in January of 2009 but pretty soon here he’ll be 5. He’s an amazing child, but rambunctious. He spent about a week making a book for his preschool teacher full of drawings, pictures he had colored and homework sheets he had done. A couple weeks before that, he mortified us, when he scratched a school mates face. The poor kid looked like he had been mauled by a wild cat. What do you say to the parents? On New Years Eve last year Chad and I went to support the pet fundraiser Fur Ball. Here I was mortified again when I was crowned the Fur Ball queen. You’ll have to see the picture of me with my dog bone encrusted cape. We did a Dave Ramsey financial planning course that we highly recommend, but getting rid of debt is the number one thing he recommends – so we are going to work on that for 2010. February was a difficult month, my mother had received news from her doctor that she did not have much more time left, the cancer was winning. We packed the kids up at the end of the month and headed up north. The plan was for me to stay as long as needed and everyone else would head back after a week. For those that knew my mother, she hated causing anyone any trouble, so the night before everyone was to leave, she passed away. If you have ever had anyone really close pass away from illness you know it is an unexpected expected feeling you have. I’m sorry if I never knew how difficult this was for anyone of you who have lost someone close, so please accept my sympathies now and I promise to do better in the future. Our family and friends were a huge comfort. Thank you. March was really a month of endings. A week after we got back from Edmonton, The Body Shop sent pink slips to all 10,000 home consultants. This had been one of the longest jobs I had held, the most fun and I made the most money at. I had over 50 people on my team so this was a shock. Luckily, I had many great contacts within the company’s leadership and I was soon invited to help launch a brand new company in the US. So from then until we officially launched in September I spent some of my time getting NYR Organic off the ground. I have been shocked to learn how many bad ingredients are in the things we use daily on our bodies. This company is run with deep integrity – the owner Organic farms with Prince Charles! Chad’s company also had some big changes, they ended their partnership and officially became self sufficient with 10 remaining employees all taking an ownership in the “new” Iron Creek. The new company continues to be a valuable consulting company, but becoming an Oil company has become the goal and we see great things for them in the future. Easter came and went. Simeon turned 6 in May and finished up kindergarten. Simeon continues to be the more serious and emotional of the 2 boys. He is turning into a fabulous reader. Ashley graduated from Middle school and began working on her lifeguard training. She decided to stay home instead of joining us in Canada this year. She made more money than me this summer!!! Also in May, I decided that my Mother’s cancer would not be mine so I had an elective hysterectomy. It has been difficult as the immediate loss of hormones is no picnic. It seems to be finally under control and my migraines are no longer an issue for me because of it. Those on Facebook with me have followed my venture into eating chocolate after 20 years (a previous migraine trigger). York Peppermint Patties and Almond Roca are favorites! Chad and I went to Vegas in April for a good friends 30th birthday. If that wasn’t fun enough shmoozing with the likes of Kevin from The Office, Luke Perry and Jay Z, we auditioned for Wheel of Fortune. We were at the audition for 4 hours with 1000 other people, Chad got up on stage to audition, and I didn’t. BUT I got a call back letter!!! So in June we took the whole family to Vegas for my audition. It’s about a 13 hour drive from here. It was great fun; we went hiking, shopped, and saw all the kids stuff. My audition went well but was nerve-wracking. You have to spin the wheel, clap, pick good letters, converse, smile, clap and smile some more AND solve the puzzle. I made it into the 2nd cut of 40 people left. I still have not heard from them, but they said they keep us on file for a year. I’ll get on someday; my mom would have been so excited!!! In between our trips to Vegas we had a fabulous vacation to Cancun – Body Shop’s parting gift I guess. We went with some Body Shop (NYR) friends and stayed half the time at an amazing all inclusive resort, then switched when our free time ran out there to a not so all-inclusive, not so amazing “resort” across town. The Swine flu scared many people off so we had both places pretty much to ourselves and came back healthy, happy, and tanned. The boys and I went up to Canada at the end of June. We took our time and did Calgary and Drumheller. I hadn’t been to see the dinosaurs in years. It was fabulous; we even saw them almost burn their hill down with Canada Day fireworks! I don’t know whether it was alcohol induced insanity or I had just lost my mind the year previous when I suggested to Taras and Larisa Podilsky that I watch their kids while they went on tour to Europe. So I arrived at the Podilsky household in July to watch 5 children. Luckily the kids were great, my 2 and the Podilsky 3 got along great, but man, how did Mama Walton do it – constant feeding and cleaning. I went to bed exhausted every night. THEN I figured that was not enough punishment, why not go to summer camp for a week and help parent 60 kids! The beach never looked so good and the beer never tasted so good at Pigeon Lake. We came home sometime at the beginning of August. Poor Chad had spent his summer keeping my giant garden alive while Ashley lifeguarded. Then the ‘stuff hits the fan’ as they say. So we have a Junior A hockey team here in Cody, the only one in Wyoming for that matter. It’s a pretty big deal. They needed a Publicity person and I volunteered. It is a paid position, kind of, I figure if I were getting paid by the hour I’d be making less than 25¢ an hour. It’s a fun job, I’m really good at it, but it’s a whack load of work. I have relabeled myself the Publicity, Promotions, and Prize Patrol for the Yellowstone Quake. Starting in August, when the players start practicing and going until the season ends in March, I’m organizing their Public events, radio and print advertising, collections of donations for prizes, organizing sponsor game nites, running around and I mean running at every game throwing out prizes to the fans, organizing on ice games and activities during 1st and 2nd intermissions, setting up a Booster Club, soliciting prizes for raffles, it goes on and on. I’m too old to be hoofing it up and down the aisle throwing stuff out to people!!! On these nights I fall into bed exhausted, but I said I’d do it and I don’t do things half way so here I am. To top that all off Chad decided to be the game announcer for the Quake. He chooses music, announces goals and penalties, and keeps the fans up to date on game sponsors and walkie-talkies with me so that we are on the ball. The Quake husband and wife team have been getting rave reviews. In addition to all that, my korovai (Ukrainian wedding bread) business has tripled from last year. I made 10 korovayi this year – I shipped to both coasts, Colorado, Texas and even back to Alberta! My bellydance classes are also booming; there are usually 25-30 people that sign up for each new bellydance session. The performance troupe just did a show at the museum for their Annual Holiday event – it was very well attended and Big Horn BellyDance got rave revues. If you do ever get to Cody, the Buffalo Bill Museum is exceptional – world class. Fall also brought back school and a multitude of activities. Ashley, now being in 9th grade in high school, joined the Swim team – she did well but has encountered some back issues which have caused her some grief. The boys have been very busy in extra curriculars this year with Simi in tee ball, and Simi and Olyn in soccer, hockey, and dance. A few weeks into September, hockey also started for everyone except me. One day Chad was supposed to be coaching Simeon hockey and Olyn soccer at the same time while the boys danced Nutcracker, Ashley swam then life-guarded and I taught Bellydance! Swimming ended for Ashley and she decided to become Freshman Boys Basketball manager. I guess it keeps her out of trouble. Chad’s brother, Michael, also came to live with us for a short while as he sorted out the next phase of his life. For my birthday this year in October, Chad took me to Denver to see WICKED on Friday and then we did an Avalanche game on Saturday. My dad came to watch the kids and let us have an awesome weekend. We had great food everywhere we went, including witnessing the Man Vs. Food 7 lb Breakfast Burrito at Jack N’ Grills, made it to the Ukrainian church for Sunday mass and picked up a puppy on the way home. Koda is a Bichon - Toy Poodle. He weighs about 3 lbs right now and is adored by the household (except when he projectile poops on the carpet!). Winter has finally arrived in Cody; we spent Thanksgiving here as the Quake had 2 games that weekend. Location for Christmas is up in the air, although the Black Friday shopping got me almost all done for gifts. A friend of ours, Agata, took the great family pictures for us this year. Check out the updated website gallery at www.nazdorovya.com. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. You are in our thoughts and wishes over the holiday season. And as always the door in Cody is always open and a warm bed waits all who want to visit and stay a while. |
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