Christmas & New Years 2011

This year we had our first brown Christmas in a while. Jon and Crystal were in Iowa for Christmas so the holidays were a bit different this year.

We headed to the Groenveld Christmas Eve party and had a surprise visit from Santa. The next stop was at our Groeneveld Grandparents at High River. We had lots of fun in the morning, and our Uncle Dean's dog Axel had fun opening a few presents too.

On December 30th Crystal and Jon joined us for New Years and to celebrate Christmas with them. It was great to see them one last time before the big wedding in April and to spend New Years Eve together. The last time that happened was back when Crystal was in college. Dan also joined us and the 4 of us spend the night at Dan's cabin with a few other friends.

 The next time we will see Jon is the wedding in April, and I will get to see Crystal in March for one last trip out with the girls!

Top 10 of 2011

This past year was pretty awesome. I know it is the cliche thing to do, but time really did fly, and I have to say it was one of the best years yet! Here are the Top 10 things according to me.

10. Home Reno- My living room was the last room that needed to be redone. Thanks to a work bonus I can officially say it is completed! And yes I still love my white couch.

9. Year of Concerts- Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson the Immortal Tour and Keith Urban made this year pretty awesome. What great performances these all were.

8. Canmore/Banff- "The Eng" decided to plan a trip to Canmore/Banff for the weekend. If was awesome to get away and spend some time together. Golfing Silver Tip was pretty cool too.

7. Work Achievements- I had a killer year at Delta Hotels and Resorts. I made top 25 in the company for Quarters 1 & 2 and 4. Along with some bonus's along the ways it feels pretty good to be on top of my game.

6. Vegas- I love Vegas so it was great to go back with Brett this year. Garth Brooks was amazing and it was pretty awesome to meet "The Eng" and his friend Kevin down there too.

5. New York- New York is another soft spot of mine. Only a few months into dating a boy we jumped on a plane together for 5 days in the Big Apple. A Yankee's game, amazing food, a kick ass hotel and some great company made this a pretty awesome time.

4. Cattle Time- I had an amazing year with my cattle. In March I sold 2 bulls at the Red Deer Bulls sale for $5000 and $5500. Top that off with Elle embryo's selling in Louisville and being able to show Southern Elle all fall and I am ready to see what 2012 brings!

3. Rival- As a family we had a pretty fun ride with RJY Rival 13Y. He was Jr Champion Bull and National Res. Champion Bull at Farmfair and then went onto be Jr. Champion Bull at Agribition a few weeks later. A big thanks to Kopp Farms and the Rival Syndicate for purchasing this herd sire at Checkers for $40,000!

2. Rings and Weddings- In May we got a awesome piece of news when Jon finally proposed to Crystal. We are really excited to travel to Iowa this spring for their wedding, and it has been great getting to know Jon and his family this year.

1. "The Eng"- While in Vegas I met a pretty awesome guy myself. We have spent the last 10 months travelling, showing cattle, hanging out at the lake, and becoming best friends. Stay tuned for 2012 as some exciting things are coming!

Star Lake Cattle Ranch

This weekend Jon posted this video on his blog about his parents farm Star Lark Cattle Ranch. They are gearing up for their annual fall sale happening this Sunday at the ranch in Oklahoma.

I really wish we had a program like this in Canada that featured the best of our countries cattlemen and farms. Check out the video and for more info on the upcoming sale, check out www.starlakeherefords.com

Time For A Party

Everyone loves a good party. And there is no better reason to get people together than to celebrate an upcoming marriage and welcoming someone new into the family.

When Crystal and Jon got engaged the 2 questions that I got asked the most were: 1) how did he propose, and 2) what is he like?

With Jon and Crystal both living so far away, not many of our family members have actually been able to meet him before. With the exception of a few cousins that were at Agribition this past year when Jon came up to meet us, our extended family has just heard stories and seen a few pictures.

When the 2 of them got engaged we knew it was the perfect time to through a party and let everyone see what Crystal knew a long time ago... what a great guy Jon is!

Now every family likes to through parties. You may celebrate Christmas, a birthday, Mother's Day, the standard holidays. Being a Groeneveld, we don't just through parties, we have the best, more outrageous, extravagant, over the top parties. I am not sure of to many other families who will completely turn a calving barn into a Halloween wonderland, or that will have 75 people over for Christmas Eve, just so that we can all get together. Let's just say that things are never simple or boring.

The best ones at planning the family parties are definitely Heather and Kim. These ladies have so much creativity and style sense that whatever they work on turns out great. That is why I was not shocked at all when this little package showed up in the mail for Crystal and Jon's party!

I can only imagine what the rest will look like. Regardless, it's going to be a great time with family, friends, and a few cocktails!