We went to a graduation and a birthday celebration for our family friend’s daughter Avery’s 18 th birthday and her graduation party as she graduated in May and her birthday was beginning of July! We took a quick picture and had a quick gab. It was going to be a thunderstorm!

My best friend Teresa sent me birthday flowers and a happy birthday balloon in the middle of June and then she sent my brother Joel to pick up my birthday present from her house in the second week of July. I got a new blanket, PJs, diamond art, jewelry, highlighters and a button down colourful shirt. You name it, I got it.

I made a latch hook pillow of a Christmas puppy and made it into a little bed for Coco’s big sisters present! Do you think she going to love it?!

On Friday evening we tye dyed white t-shirts with our friends from Rose Club . The step to step directions are:
Step: 1. Pick a design and wet the shirt with water.
Step: 2. Use rubber bands to space out different colours, then use different colours. Step : 3. I would hold the shirt in place while someone else puts the rubber bands in the right spaces, so it doesn’t get mixed up with the other colours.
Step : 4. Put different colours on the shirt with the spray bottles and then left the shirt in the plastic bag for eight hours before putting it in the wash in hot water.
It was a fun craft to do in the sunshine.

On Saturday afternoon I got cowboy hats nails for Big Valley Jamboree weekend. On Sunday afternoon we celebrated mom’s birthday and Luke’s birthday together as mom’s birthday was July third and Luke’s birthday was July eleventh ! Sandy and grandpa got Luke body wash, hand soap, dish soap, some fragrance beads for the laundry, a bag of chocolate covered peanuts and some money in the card and they got mom money and flowers. We don’t do siblings or parents presents so I just coloured him a birthday card and coloured mom a birthday card! It was a good family birthday celebration for them!

On Friday evening, which was the start of the Big Valley Jamboree weekend. We saw Old Dominion, Chase Rice ,Billy Dean and Collin Raye. On Saturday evening, we saw Gavin Adcock, The Dead South and Riley Green. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and the evening was cancelled. We didn’t see anyone special on Sunday afternoon we only saw Josh Stumpf; which was good! Any county music festival weekend never disappoints us until the weather changes for the worse! On Monday afternoon mom and I made apple pies and did some diamond art paintings of rainbows, clouds and stars .

On Sunday afternoon I was in charge of the supervising my parents as they continued building the Arbour in their backyard by Monday evening it was finished. It’s beautiful, next year mom will hang flowers pots from it.

I went for nails, Do you like them?

Come back for more exciting moments! I can’t believe how fast the summer has gone by!

Q: Where do you currently work?
A. I am currently working at the Camrose Association for Community Living as a Disability Support Worker and I love it.

Q. What do you do for your job?
A. I support individuals with different abilities in their day to day lives. I also do the presentations to grade 5 students with Kelsey and that is how we met. I really enjoy working with Kelsey and I look forward to the spring when we start the presentations.

Q: What are your hours ?
A: I work one week on and one week off. Monday to Friday I work 8am-4pm and every second Saturday I do a sleepover shift at the house I work at. Best schedule ever! I love having that week off all the time.

Q. What other jobs have you had?
A: My very first job as a teenager was working in a video store owned by my parents where I watched a lot of movies. I have waitressed, bartended and worked at the front desk at a tourist resort. I then worked as a pharmacy technician for almost 20 years before changing careers in my 40’s.

Q: What was your childhood like?
A: I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s in a really small town so I had a lot of freedom as a child. I rode bikes around town and explored the forests, built forts with my friends. Played soccer and hacky sack when we could get enough players. I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid. I was lucky enough to travel a bit with my parents and grandparents.

Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in a small mining community in BC called Logan Lake. The main boast for Logan Lake is it is home to the largest open pit copper mine in Canada. We were a half hour away from Kamloops and 2 hours from the Okanagan. Logan Lake had approximately 2500 residents so everyone knew everyone.

Q Where all have you lived?
A. I was born in Fernie, BC, lived in Elkford, BC as a small child and moved to Logan Lake when I was 3 or 4 years old. Moved to Kamloops when I went to Caribou College and moved to Camrose in 1998 to follow my husband who grew up here.

Q: Tell us about your family!
A: My folks live in the Okanagan and are still happily married. I had a brother who was shot and killed at a house party in Osoyoos when he was 17 years old ( I was 12) so I have been an only chld most of my life.
I met my husband in 1996 while working at the front desk at Lac Le Jeune Resort, a small wilderness resort that catered to international visitors that came on a bus tour. It is about half way between Logan Lake and Kamloops. I worked at the hotel desk and my husband worked in the kitchen. I followed him to Alberta in 1998 and we have been married 24 years. We have 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy. Our oldest daughter just graduated from the University of Alberta and our middle daughter is taking Social work at Grant Macewan in Edmonton so they are both still close to home. Our son is 14 years old and keeps us busy playing Soccer. We also have a Schnoodle (half mini Schnauzer half toy Poodle) named Mya and she is very spoiled!

My friend Teresa sent me a picture of her birthday flowers that she finally received after her birthday! I made her a diamond art bookmark and coloured her a birthday / miss you card.

We celebrated Maryann’s grandson Dylan and his childhood friend Lexi’s graduation on Saturday afternoon at the Greek centre by our ski hill. There was music, food and a photo booth that was a blast. Congratulations to you both, couldn’t be more proud and happy for you both! It was decorated fabulous! I had a blast celebrating! We mostly visited with Theresa and Maryann’s friend Karen !

We celebrated grandpa’s 75th birthday on Sunday evening, with some chicken Shepard pie and tuxedo chocolate cake. He got tickets for a concert, homemade apple butter and birthday cards.

On Saturday we went to Jaywalkers and I got a hummingbird tattoo. We celebrated my 31st birthday with friends and a beautiful cake from Safeway, then Sunday we went to play bocce ball and had a birthday dinner with BBQ chicken and baked potatoes and tons of salads. We had delicious raspberry white chocolate cheesecake! For my birthday, I got cool pillow cases and clothes. Coconut shower gel, hair ties, butterfly stickers, a stepping stone art piece, bubble bath and bath bombs, Walmart gift card and Winners gift card! It was a good weekend with family and friends.

On Friday evening we celebrated June birthdays withRoseclubs 80’s themed music and dancing! I shared leftover birthday lemon cake with everyone! We danced together to grease lighting!

On Saturday afternoon Maryann and I went to the car show downtown Camrose. Very fancy cars. In the evening on Saturday , mom and I went to watch our neighbour granddaughter’s dance recital at the Peter& Jeanne Lougheed Art Centre.

On Sunday afternoon we tried on my birthday clothes and ran errands . In the evening on Sunday we celebrated an early Father’s Day dinner at Joel and Ashley’s house . Some people were away or had company on actual Father’s Day . I got an auntie book and a ultrasound picture in a picture frame for a late birthday present ! It’s official my brother Joel and his wife Ashley are expecting a baby girl in the fall of 2026! We went together and got dad a ladder ball game and Joel and Ashley got him a grandpa book for Father’s Day and our dad got grandpa a light. After dinner they had to try the new baby girl’s rocking chair downstairs while dad and I were visiting with grandpa and Sandy! We had a great evening that we lost track of time!

On Tuesday morning we had our last two school presentations at Jack Stuart School . It was really good, it’s going to be great to have a break and enjoy summer break like the students, EAs principals and teachers.

On Friday afternoon I coloured my dad’s Father’s Day card and got running around errands done. I got dad a Tim Horton gift card, bought batteries for my remote control for my bed, for my clock and hair detergent spray. We put another butterfly sticker on my wall from Nellie from my birthday present.

On actual Father’s Day , I gave my dad his homemade coloured Father’s Day card and a gift card for Tim’s Horton so he could get two lattes for himself and mom. It was a rainy day so dad and I coloured some pictures,awhile mom was casing pictures for pottery. We had homemade BBQ chicken pizza and leftover cheesecake. We could actually watch the good doctor.

Louis is my neighbour who lives with Rebecca. I thought since I interviewed Rebecca about her job, I should share the same experience with Louis and interview him. His job was very interesting to learn about and experiences from his childhood

Q: Where do you currently work?
A. Louis’ Fix It Auto Repair

Q. What do you do for your job?
A. I am a journeyman mechanic

Q: What are your hours ?
A: 9-5

Q. What other jobs have you had?
A: I have been a mechanic for over 35 years! I also owned a DJ company when I was younger in Cold Lake.

Q: What was your childhood like?
A: I grew up with my grandparents. They were strict but we always had fun

Q: Where did you grow up?
A: St.Paul, Alberta

Q: Where all have you lived?
A: I have lived many places! Saint Paul, Edmonton, Cold Lake, Lloydminster, Red Deer, Camrose

Q: Tell us about your family!
A: I have 2 brothers , 2 Sisters, I am the middle child. I played a lot of hockey. I always loved cars and music.
My favorite time of year is Halloween and I do a big display. They call me Mr. Halloween.

For Easter weekend we had dinner with grandpa and Sandy and she brought us some Easter diamond art that took us a couple of weeks to finish them. We had fried chicken with cranberries, sweet potato casserole and salad.

We went to a school presentation in Tofield and we also went to Leduc to the Father Leduc Catholic School. We also went to OLMP school which has four classes of grade five students .

On Sunday afternoon, my auntie Gail came and we went to The Devil Wears Prada 2 movie. I think that the first movie was really good, but I was really disappointed with this one. The movie was really boring if I’m being honest!

On Thursday morning we went to Kingman to Cornerstone Christian Academy for a presentation!

On Friday evening we went to birthday bash to celebrate the May birthdays and I danced to Luke Bryan songs as it was a country themed birthday bash. I had lemon cheesecake that was delicious. It was a fun evening with our friends from Rose Club.

On Saturday afternoon I brought my senior Sharon flowers and chocolate, then dropped off her gift at her apartment and visited for a little bit. Then went to Walmart for toothbrush heads, tried to get a Subway gift card for Craig but it was too much money at Walmart so we walked to Subway. Getting ready for Mother’s Day weekend, getting ready for Craig’s birthday party, and getting everything in between .

On Mother’s Day we changed out my winter clothes to my summer clothes, did face masks, had ice cappuccinos, and we ordered some Boston pizza for supper with Joel and Ashley. They brought us some lime ice cream for dessert. For Mother’s Day gifts my mom got a Ping Pong paddle, popcorn popper, oil dispenser and a book. It was a great day to celebrate mom!

On Thursdays, Bocce ball has started for the spring season with special Olympics! I have been enjoying this spring’s special Olympics season of bocce ball! Only wish it was longer than two months!

On Friday evening we went neon bowling with Rose Club and had a blast! Then Saturday afternoon we went bowling to celebrate Craig ‘s birthday with friends and chocolate cheesecake. I gave him a subway gift card and a cute birthday card with a puppy and a golf ball .

On Tuesday afternoon we had a another presentation in Gwynne at the Gwynne Valley Rural Academy and it was really good .
I can’t believe this year’s school presentations season is coming to an end.

Come back for summer tours and adventures!!!

Kelsey: Where do you currently work?
Rebecca: Canada Post

Kelsey: What do you do for your job?
Rebecca: I sort my mail into my case at the depot. Then I pull it and load into my vehicle and deliver the mail and parcels on my rural route. My route goes from Camrose to Miquelon Lake then over to Round Hill, and all the way back to Camrose, I drive 240 km a day. I started with Canada post 7 years ago. And I love it!

Kelsey: What are your hours of work ?
Rebecca: 7am-3pm

Kelsey: What other jobs did you have?
Rebecca: When the kids were little I ran a day home so I could stay home and work. I had 3 other kids. I had a uniform shop. Then I catered , and made wedding cakes. I then had my own shop Called Malories. I stopped doing that in 2014 after a fire in the building.

Kelsey: What was your childhood like?
Rebecca: I was born in England and I came to Canada when I was 3. I grew up in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. I enjoyed doing stuff with my family like camping and bike riding. I was in brownies and girl guides. I have 1 brother named Gary who is 3 years older than me. He still lives in Saskatchewan. I got married and moved to England when I was 22 then came back to Camrose when I was 27 and stayed here.

Kelsey: Where did you grow up?
Rebecca: I grew up in Saskatoon Sask.

Kelsey: Where all have you lived?
Rebecca: I have lived in England, Canada, and Germany

Kelsey: Tell us about your family!
Rebecca: I have 4 kids- John is 36 and is in construction, Aiden is 31 he works in computers. Emily is 25 and she is a daycare teacher, Matthew is 24 and he is training to be a manager at Safeway in the deli. I also have a 17 year old grandson that graduates this year. We like to spend time together during holidays and play games.
Louis is a journeyman mechanic and has his own business and we have been together for 10 years.

On Valentine’s Day we celebrated the afternoon with musical of Legally Blonde! Which was fantastic show, costumes and performance.

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated Family ‘s Day with my grandpa, Sandy, my auntie Gail and my uncle Wayne. We had a great special meal together with shrimp pasta, garlic bread and salads and for dessert we had berry crisp. Then we played Banana Grams together for our Family’s Day activity!

On Monday, which was Family Day, my mom and I made diamond art bookmarks for Maryann and Theresa for their birthdays with some body wash berry blossom from Bath and body works! Theresa got the pink bookmark and Maryann got the blue bookmark. Their birthdays were in the same month in February! February 1st was Maryann’s birthday and then February 15th was Theresa ‘s birthday! After I got home my friend Karlina sent me a picture of her twin daughters Anna – Marie and Beryllia in their matching Minnie Mouse shirts and pants that I brought them for their birthday present! They even had some cute red bows in their hair!

We celebrated Valentine’s Day almost a week later with birthday bash on Friday afternoon with dancing, and I handed out valentines cards to every team in the association and it was my first time ever trying to remember each person in each group home! It was sure a test of my knowledge of remembering names and what teams they were at! I had a strawberry cheesecake and ice tea! I did do some dancing as well!

On Saturday afternoon Maryann and I went to celebrate Theresa’s birthday and Maryann’s birthday! , I found some colourful flowers and a balloon with a butterfly on it for Theresa from Safeway ! They both liked their homemade bookmarks and the body wash for their birthday present! Maryann actually did put her bookmark on her car mirror for decoration!

On Tuesday afternoon we started school presentations at OLMP!

On Friday evening we decorated wooden boxes with paint, squares of different colours of scrapbook papers to decorate them with at Rose Club! My box, I painted red and then I painted with Mod Podge to make the pieces of paper stick!

On Monday afternoon I had a school presentation at Sifton school in Camrose!

On Saturday afternoon I got some St. Patrick day nails! Then in the evening we went to a meeting where we discussed and voted events for the April calendar for Rose club and then played a couple rounds of Bingo.

On Friday afternoon was the 29 th annual Bowl- a – Thon for Centra Cam! Everyone got a T- shirt, this year it said “believing in magic for 29 years!” and had bowling ball, bowling pins and said strike with little stars around it on the T- shirt! We played two games of bowling in the afternoon and we raised$ 30,000! The money is going toward transportation expenses! It was a great afternoon!

On Saturday evening we celebrated Sandy, Joel and Ashley birthdays together as their birthdays were all in March. Sandy’s birthday was the second, Joel’s birthday was the nineteenth and Ashley’s birthday was the twenty eighth. Unfortunately, I was just getting over being sick, so I wasn’t able to eat, but they had Teresa’s recipe which was Thai chicken on coconut rice with Thai salad and peanut sauce! For birthday cakes there was mini egg cheesecake and peppermint chocolate mousse cake! After supper and desserts, we played around of Play Nine, and opened birthday cards and birthday present! I brought Sandy a watercolour colouring book and I coloured each one of them a birthday card! Mom also made chocolate cupcakes from the leftover cake batter so everyone went home with some chocolate cupcakes!

On Sunday afternoon we coloured and mom did some zentangle and had leftovers!

On St. Patrick’s day, I wore a green sweater and a green t-shirt and I had green finger nails so I didn’t get pinched! We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day some more on Friday afternoon with some irish and country songs and dancing at birthday bash . I wore a green vest/ sweater so I didn’t have a chance to get pinched again. I found a blueberry cheesecake that was delicious from Safeway.

I had two school presentations in the last week of march that went really well. We went to OLMP on Tuesday morning and then we went to Sifton school on Wednesday morning!

On Friday evening we dyed boiled eggs with food colouring, vinegar water and paper towels and clothes pins with our friends from Rose Club . You wrapped the egg in the paper towels with the clothes pin and then put the food colouring over top which was in a spray bottle with water vinegar. Gloves were optional. I had a great time and It made me think of my childhood because almost every Easter we used to dye eggs.

On Saturday morning was the Special Olympics bowling tournament and year end wind up for the season. My bowling scores were 102, 108, and 111, which I got a second place ribbon for my first game, a third place ribbon for my second game and then I got a participation ribbon for my third game. We went to the Mirror Lake centre for dinner which was lasagna, salad and garlic bread, for dessert they had lemon or chocolate squares. We had the lemon squares which were delicious. I got a medal for participating. Jon Fernhout gave each of the athletes their medals for participating and then Brian Dumont was the DJ for the dance! It was a wonderful day to end off another wonderful season!
Come back for more spring experiences hopefully!

1. Where do you currently work?
I currently work at Ulmer Chev Lloydminster

2. What do you do for your job?
My position is a Service Advisor, I help customers when they bring their vehicle in for service or repairs.

3. What are your hours ? I work from 7:45 to 5:30 Monday to Friday

4. What other jobs did you have?
I worked as a senior surface Landman for 35 years prior to this job and before that a survey assistant for 5 years all in the oil field

5. What was your childhood like?
My childhood was busy, I did lots of sports from football, hockey, fastball, curling and we spent lots of time at Silver lake when I was younger over the summer with swimming lessons and lots of golf. I also grew up on a farm so we always had lots of chores to do.

6. Where did you grow up?
I grew up on a farm south of Lloydminster on the Saskatchewan side . I have 2 sisters; Georgina, who is older and Sandra who is younger. We lived on the farm south of Lloydminster and when I was 18 I moved into Lloyd and started to work.
My dad and mom were grain farmers until I was 13 and then dad started to work in the oilfield as an operator and than a Landman. Mom was a nurse and than stayed home to raise us as kids. We had cattle and pigs and hundreds of chickens. Many dogs and cats growing up. I had a couple horses too that I rode. Once dad was done farming that’s when we played lots of sports. My biggest sport was fastball and I travelled all over Canada and the USA playing fastball till I was 18 and when I was 35 the team I played with when I was 18 was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame for fastball, as we had won 4 championships in a row for that team.

7. Where all have you lived?
I have lived in and around Lloydminster and in Bonnyville for 13 years.

8. Tell us about your family
I’m married to your Aunt Gail and we have 2 boys, Eric and Ian who both live in Edmonton and work for the University of Alberta. They keep very busy with work and fun.

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On New Year’s Eve we celebrated with my auntie Gail and uncle Wayne, we ordered Chinese food from Skyway. I brought auntie Gail a book of zentangle and some pens. Auntie Gail brought me a craft with yarn, earrings, winners gift card, and bath bombs. After dinner and exchanging Christmas presents we drew zentangle Christmas ornaments to teach auntie Gail how it’s done! We finished off the evening with face masks and leftovers Christmas treats!

On New Year’s Day we spent the afternoon and evening at grandpa Ray and Sandy’s house and had a turkey and ham lunch, which was delicious. We did some more diamond art stickers and some wooden vehicles for dad and uncle Patrick ! It was the perfect way to kick off the new year and say goodbye to 2025!

On Saturday afternoon we went into Safeway, and the balloon had lost its air so they gave us a new one! Then, Maryann forgot the turn to go to Tim’s. then we went to our friends house to find out our friend Theresa and our friend Carolyn were not home as they were at the SkyWay restaurant celebrating Carolyn ‘s 45 th birthday; her birthday was on Wednesday! As soon as we drove up to the SkyWay restaurant they were on their way back so we went back to team seven, what a lack of communication and what a adventure we had to be on.

We made date squares On Sunday afternoon

My friend Emily and her husband Tyrell had a another baby boy named Eli Dean in the middle of January. So, I made them a congratulations card to wish them good luck with a new born baby and two toddlers at home, a girl named Brielle and a boy named Thomas .

When your parents are in Mexico, you go to the movies and see Zootopia two! It was a really cute movie! I would recommend you watch it!

On Friday night we went to the Camrose Retro and we did some karaoke, I sang Dolly Parton’s song “Working Nine to Five”. It was a fantastic evening of dancing and singing!

Where do you currently work? I work for a non-profit organization called SPARK Foundation of Lloydminster. We have about 55 employees and we have a few different departments. One is a domestic violence shelter, a transitional housing facility, a used clothing/housewares store, a youth centre and a community outreach division.

What do you do for your job? I work in administration and I am the Accounting & Payroll Administrator. Essentially I pay all the bills and record all the incoming revenue. I also process payroll for all employees. I also produce financial statements and do the budgeting. Essentially all of the accounting for the organization.

What are your hours? I work 8 – 4 Monday to Friday.

What other jobs have you had? I have had a few other jobs but they are all basically the same, bookkeeping or accounting. I started working at a credit union when I was done college and I worked in administration doing the accounting. Then I did work in the oilfield industry for a while but also doing accounting. And now I am working in the non-profit industry.

What was your childhood like? I have 2 brothers, one older and one younger. My parents divorced when I was young and we lived mostly with our mom.

Where did you grow up? I was born in Unity SK. We lived in Marshal SK when I was in Kindergarten and grade 1. Then we moved to Lloydminster for a bit and then we moved to Cold Lake for grade 2 and grade 3. Then we moved back to Lloydminster when I was in Grade 4. I went to high school in Lloyd and I also went to Lakeland College in Lloydminster.

Where have you lived? I have lived the majority of my life in Lloydminster but we moved to Bonnyville AB when my children were small and we lived there until 2013. My husband, Wayne wanted to move back to Lloydminster so he could be closer to his family, so he got a job and we moved back to Lloyd and have been here ever since.

Tell us about your family. I have been married for over 30 years and we have 2 boys. Eric and Ian. Our boys live in Edmonton together. They both work for the University of Alberta. Eric works in events and he coordinates all the events that happen on campus. Ian works in the recreation department at the Claire Drake Arena. He drives a Zamboni.