Our listing inventory has been quite consistent through the year and looks to stay that way moving into the new year.  As we get close to our wrap up of 2019 we are seeing the highest sales volume to date and we will be providing an in-depth look into the year over year statistics in January, please let us know if you would like to receive this email update if you are not already. 
 
We want to thank everyone who helped out and donated to our 28th annual Royal LePage Food Bank drive earlier this month, it was another great success with over $3600 and 7000 pounds of food collected.  If you still wish to donate, please let us know. 
 
Have a fantastic holiday season and thank you for all you support!

Hawker Family Update for 2019

2019 was a year with a great number of exceptional moments and firsts but was certainly overshadowed by Dad passing away on Feb 8th 2019. Dad passed just a short of his Valentine’s day birthday, it would have been his 93rd. Dad was still working hard up to the end to crack a joke, see the next smile from Mom each day and ask with interest about his grandchildren, his children and the Lake and if there were any jokes or updates from Glen Magee who traveled a great distance to speak at Dad’s memorial. Dad has a great view of the mountain from his site here in Canmore, it is 1 minute off the highway with easy access, please ask me for directions if you want to stop in any time to visit him. Dad is sorely missed. xo

By the time you receive this Lauren will have finished her last class at St FX in Nova Scotia and have earned a BA in psychology with a pair in Spanish and French, amazing! Last year Lauren also started studying German and now tutors in German and Spanish and has been teaching Spanish labs for several years. Lauren has been working part time this Fall while at the University where her work had taken her to Washington and New York. Lauren has been organizing and supporting meetings at the United Nations this Fall and has attended the General Assembly where she met many dignitaries and had a great introduction to what that part of the working world can offer. Lauren will continue to work for this company while looking for full time work in Ottawa when she moves there in the new year. Please let me know if you have any leads on an apartment to rent in Ottawa for March 2020. A one or 2 bedroom will work. I am thankful Lauren will be just a couple of hours from the Lake and I hope to see plenty of her this Summer when she is not working.

Cal worked this Summer for Cutco selling their quality products, this was part time while he worked full time for Student Painting.

Cal did well in both and I was impressed with his salesmanship and detailed knowledge of his Cutco products. Yes, Joanna and I were among his happy clients. Cal is finishing his 3rd semester in Commerce at Dalhousie and will be taking a break from the University to get some work experience. I am looking forward to skiing with the family this holiday season and Joanna and I will be hosting Christmas dinner for both of our extended families in Calgary.

Joanna and I have had several adventures this past year, though most of every day is an adventure with Joanna 😉. We had a beautiful trip to Italy in late May June with 4 friends and it was amazing! We loved Italy. It had been too long since I was there. We did not rent a car, we took trains, cabs and walked and walked which my body and especially my knee loved. Rome and all the sites, Verona, Venice, a cooking class in Bolonga where with Giuseppe’s guidance we made tortellini, a rocket salad, a local Ragu sauce and tiramisu. We loved the people, the cheese, the wine / prosecco, the warm weather, Pompie, the beaches of the Amalfi coast, Sorrento and Positano but for me what I loved most was all the amazingly fresh produce and exceptional food and cheese we were able to enjoy. I do understand why everyone raves about those culinary experiences even the very simple ones, we felt very blessed!

My health continues to hold up, thank you universe! I bought a Lake Louise ski pass for the 1st year since before children and by the end of the Dec. I hope to have skied 10 days, the snow has been fabulous with being able to hit several powder days already and my knee if feeling pretty good. Still trying to keep moving with yoga, biking and the gym.

Joanna is finishing over a decade of being on either the Calgary Real Estate Board of directors or years before on many committees, Jo is a doer and is always busy with many irons in the fire and always thinking of what is next. Fortunately, she keeps me as a constant and I am so very blessed to have such a caring, energetic, thoughtful loving partner!! Jo is ending her Calgary Real Estate Board commitments this month and has just been accepted to help the Calgary Stampede, she has already had events start up last month for that. Jo’s Real Estate business is still very strong with her past and referral clients which she is very thankful for!

Drew and I have had a great year with our Bow Valley Real Estate business and very thankful to our friends, families and our special clients who make it all so fun and possible!  We are constantly striving to exceed expectations and 2020 is not any different as we will be rolling our some innovative marketing that we are excited to share in Q2/Q3. Our office has a fabulous energy again this year and I am excited with the cooperative spirit this group has as well as the amazing support Drew and I have from our Admin team this year of Debbie, Cindy, Rochelle and newly added Kelly. 

They are a big part of our Team’s success, regretfully Debbie is retiring after 30 years with the office. Debbie will be missed in so many ways, but we wish Debbie well in retirement and thank her so very much for her 30 years of amazing support and dedication.

We just finished our 28th Annual Royal LePage food drive on Dec 5th where we went door to door with over 250 volunteers collecting food + $$ for the food bank. The 1st year of the Food Drive was 7 of us, now we cover the entire town of Canmore going door to door, we are very thankful for the support of the entire community for this event.

I hope you have had a great 2019 and we wish you health, happiness and prosperity for 2020. With gratitude, Brad

2019 Betts Update

2019 was another fun and busy year. Cheryl and I continue to be very busy with 3 very active kids. We were able to get away a couple of times this year, once to New York City with a cruise to Bermuda and another to a camp in Thunder Bay to celebrate Cheryl’s Dads birthday. The trip to New York was eye opening for the kids but with the time in Bermuda it was a spectacular time. It was fun for me to get a glimpse of what summer was like for Cheryl growing up, it was a lot of fun!

Asher is now in grade seven and enjoys school and has one more year at Lawrence Grassi Middle School before moving onto High School. Early in the new year he will become a teenager… fun times ahead. He absolutely fell more in love with soccer and played with 3 different teams this past summer. He decided to no longer play hockey and now is deep into the indoor season of soccer playing with a great team in Springbank. It is great to have 3 other local Canmore boys on the team so going into Calgary 4+ times a week is a lot easier.

Hannah continues to love and excel in competitive all star cheerleading. She lives for competing with her teams (and often winning) at competitions throughout Alberta and last year the team went to Las Vegas and in 2020 they are headed to Nashville! She was just up in Edmonton and her teams took home the first place banner. Hannah is doing really well in school and next year she moves into High School.

Brendan is in his final year of High School and is working hard to get into University. He loves both engineering and sports medicine so his plate is full with the amount of school work that entails. Amazing to see his work ethic as he is working so much harder than I ever did in high school! Brendan is still reffing hockey along with working at Sport Chek!

Cheryl is still enjoying her work as an Ultrasound technician and runs Hannah to her practices many nights of the week. I have also spent some time this past year continuing my support of the Royal LePage Women’s Shelter and most recently enjoyed helping with the Royal LePage Food Drive (in its 28th year!)

Thanks to everyone for all your support. I wish you all a healthy, fun and prosperous 2019!