The Falks

Christmas Break Shananigans

2012-01-11T20:50:00.004-08:00

We have definitely got back into the swing of things after our break and it very busy but our break was a pretty good one. Before our break we enjoyed a night of games with our girls/guys night people. Trevor and Rebekah introduced us to a very simple yet entertaining game where a team hides a ring in one person's hand and the other team has to guess whose hand it's in. The Friday our break started we headed up to Whistler with Ryan and Cheryl for a three night stay on the hillside for some snowboarding and cross-country skiing. Although the weather was very warm and snow was melting at ground level, we still had a good time. The boys snowboarded for two days while us girls ended up going to the tube park one day and just wandered the village the other. We planned on going cross-country skiing but it was too melty for it to be worth it. The rest of the time we all spent relaxing in the hot tub, watching movies, playing games and strolling around the village.

Winter Fun
Chris and I had almost a week before Christmas and heading to Herbert so we just took it easy for most of the days. Christmas Eve we had our little present opening time with just the two of us and Molly. Then my brother and mom came over in the evening and we had a turkey supper and opened a few presents. The next day we flew to Regina and were in Herbert by supper time. That night we opened some presents, tried the impossible puzzle and just enjoyed each other's company. The next couple of days we spent with everyone at the farm, we tried tubing one day but the snow was not satisfactory so Ryan tried rolling down the hill which worked but didn't make his head feel very well after. We also had lots of fun playing with our nephew Cole and got to see him start crawling. It did end up snowing one of the days and so we headed out on the old school cross-country skis and starting skiing around the farm. There were only a few spots that actually worked well so we made a track in a field and started a game of tag. We also had the chance of visiting our friends Mark and Erynn for a little while and got to meet their brand new baby boy Toby. New Years Eve we went to Chris' aunt and uncles where we had supper and then rang in the new year with me kicking all the boys butts in poker. The last two days we were up in Saskatoon. We spent the 1st with all the Braun's and played some intense bowling and then enjoyed an evening of games, puzzles and catching up. The last day we spent with Ryan and Randi, starting off the day with eating at Kelly's Kafe which was rated very good under breakfast restaurants. When we got there Randi and Chris were ready to turn around and go somewhere else because it was located at this old factory-like building but we sucked it up and went in. It was a very eccentric place with very random decorations but the food ended up being pretty good and we didn't get food poisoning so it's all good. In the afternoon we were all pretty tired so we watched Tangled (the boys even voted for this one) and then we very briefly met up with the Willms' (who just got back from Hawaii) at Tim Hortons before we headed to the airport. It was a great trip and we were back to work the next day (I didn't end up getting called so that was kind of nice to have that day to recuperate).

Christmas Break
These first two weeks back have been very busy and I think it will continue this way until Spring Break. The next big event in our lives, my 30th Birthday! Saying 30 feels old but I guess it's good that I don't feel that old. Looking forward to having fun with our friends and eating some cake.

Catch Up Time

2011-11-19T10:18:00.001-08:00

Once again I have denied my blog and have a lot of catching up to do. It has been very busy around here these days. I've been working pretty much full time, Chris finished volleyball and is now coaching basketball and some weeks it seems like we have no breaks to just relax. But it has been good. We even got our first official snow fall that stuck yesterday so that means winter is upon us! Which means there's only 4 weeks until Christmas break. Now that's something to look forward to.

In October we had my cousin from Denmark come visit us for a couple days. She was on vacation seeing Seattle, then us and then onto New York. We were able to show her Vancouver one day and walked for hours on end all over the city making sure she saw all that was worth seeing. We got lucky with some good weather that day. The next day I took her to see some local views where she could see the mountains of BC. We did that in the rain but it made it a true BC experience. It was a good to see her again even though it was so quick.

Cindie Visits

In the middle of October Chris' parents came to visit us. They came for Chris' birthday where he got spoiled with a Canucks Jersey, Fantuz' name and number on his Roughriders jersey and a Tassimo coffee maker. Oh and I can't forget the various princess gear that Ryan and Cheryl showed up with for him when we had cake that night. Chris' parents spent the week while we were working seeing the Williamson's and shopping down in the States. Then they came back Thursday and Chris and his dad went to a Canucks game while his mom and I stayed home and ate pizza and watched Grey's Anatomy. We decided to drive up to Whistler on the Sunday before they left because they had never seen it before. We walked around the village and even checked out the bobsled run, even though no bobsleds were practicing it was kind of neat to see. The rest of our time we spent just relaxing.

Chris' Parents Visit

In between working I found time to take some more pictures of Josiah for Josh and Cassie. She wanted some of him with a naked bum so we went for it, he peed a few times, spraying the wall and the floor but I think we got some good shots. I also took some family pictures for Mike and Sarah for Carter's one year photos. He wasn't too sure of me taking pictures but we still got some cute ones. What parents do to make their kids laugh, that's all I'll say about that...

Josiah

Carter - One Year Old

Last weekend Chris found a new activity that he likes to do, snowshoeing. He went hiking with some guys he knows from his school and they had to snowshoe for most of it. He had a blast and now this has made him want to buy expensive gear to do it more (which I'm not such a big fan of). We also headed down to Seattle last weekend to see the Seahawks actually win a game against the Baltimore Ravens. After about an hour of looking for free parking we finally found some and just made it to the game after kickoff. We had pretty good seats and were lucky it didn't rain because we weren't under the covered area. The game was pretty good too so it was worth the trip. We stayed the night just north of Seattle in Lynnwood, had some delicious Red Robin for supper and then shopped for some school clothes at the outlet malls before we headed home on Monday.

Needle Peak

Seahawks Game

Now with only a month until Christmas break I'm sure it will fly by and we will be enjoying our break soon enough. Can't wait!

Back into the Swing of Things

2011-09-28T08:04:00.004-07:00

Things have started to get busy around here, school is in full swing. I didn't work much the first week but I've been pretty much working everyday since then so it's been good. Before work started up we took advantage of the great weather and spent some time with our friends. We had an end of the summer bbq at our place where we got to snuggle with two babies, play some games and just enjoy each others company. On the long weekend us and Ryan and Cheryl drove up to Squamish and hiked the Stawamus Chief which is a very well known mountain for rock climbing because one of its sides is pretty much a sheer cliff. We hiked to all three peaks and got to see some amazing views. It was a really fun hike where we had to climb up ladders and between grooves in the rocks at some points. We made it down in time to have a dip in the hot tub at our hotel and then go for supper. The rest of the night we spent relaxing and went to bed early. It was a fun little getaway and a great place to go that wasn't too far away.

One of the days I didn't work in the first week of school I spent taking some newborn photos of Josh and Cassie's new little guy Josiah. He took a while to be content but eventually fell asleep and we got some good ones of him in his cute little blue diaper.

Besides working we have started up our care group and girls/guys night again. It's good to get back into a routine. Last week we got to visit with Rebekah and Zach for a bit as they were out visiting from Calgary. We also celebrated Carter's (Mike and Sarah's son) 1st birthday a little while ago. This coming weekend my cousin Cindie is coming for a few days from Denmark. We are one of her stops in her vacation besides Seattle and New York. We'll be touring Vancouver and some other spots while she is out here so hopefully the weather will be good and I can think of some good places to take her. We haven't seen her since we were in Denmark two summers ago so it'll be good to catch up again.

Lovin' Summer

2011-08-28T10:14:00.005-07:00

Only a little over a week until school starts up again. We're ready to get back into a routine but this summer sure did fly by. We've been enjoying this crazy hot weather and laying low some days when it's just too hot to do anything outside. After a week of being home from Herbert Chris had the chance to fly back and help farm for a week. He really enjoyed being able to be a part of the work out there since we never seem to be there when it's time for harvest. While he was off working 15 hour days I was relaxing at home for the most part. Caught up on reading the Hunger Games trilogy, went for a hike, walked the dog lots. I also finished editing Jay and Sam's wedding pics so now they are ready for your viewing pleasure. I think they were happy with them and I'm quite happy with how they turned out too.

Sam and Jaylin's Wedding

The weekend before Chris went to the farm we headed down to the Glen and enjoyed hanging out by the fire, relaxing in the sunshine and of course cuddling baby Danica. While Chris was gone we had a shower for Carmen and Danica and let's just say that girl is stocked up as far as clothing goes for the next year or so. She got lots of cute little clothes and it was a good evening being able to spoil them a bit. This past weekend we went with Ryan and Cheryl for a hike up Sumas Mountain. Our trail was only supposed to be 13km total but was actually 16km so we were pretty pooped by the time we got back to our car. It was a great hike though, with a lake to enjoy lunch at (and the boys skinny dipped in) and then less than an hour to the top overlooking Chilliwack and the Cheam mountain range in the background. Once we got back home we had some Triple-O's and vegged out and watched a movie. While we were hiking we got the news that Ryan's brother Josh and his wife Cassie had their baby boy, Josiah William! He took a little extra time deciding to come into this world but he's finally here. We can't wait to see this cutie. Now time to enjoy some more sunshine!

Some Summer Fun

Time flies when you're having Fun

2011-08-10T20:15:00.005-07:00

It's hard to believe that our trip to Saskatchewan has come and gone. We were galavanting all over the province that time just flew by. We had a great time doing all the different things we did this time around. Let's start from the beginning....

Our first stop was in Calgary at Dustin and Rebekah's. We got to meet their newest family member Zach and of course got well fed and had some good conversations. Our stay was brief but it was nice to split up the trip and feel well rested when we got to Herbert. One of the first things we did was met our nephew Cole for the first time. He was there to greet us with his "I Love my Auntie" shirt that I bought him when he was born. We stayed the night at Kevin and Alysha's and then checked out Sask Landing Park the next day. The boys played around in the water for a bit while Alysha, Cole and I hung out under a tree by the water. Then we played some intense bocce balle while Cole napped, got some ice cream and headed back to the farm for supper.

Friday we headed up early to Saskatoon for Jaylin's wedding. We stayed with Ryan and Randi for a night, the boys played Super Nintendo and tennis and us girls were very domestic and made two delicious Saskatoon berry pies after going to the farmer's market. Saturday we headed out to Blackstrap Lake with the Willms' and had a great time riding around on the boat and having a weenie roast. We spent the next couple nights at Andrew and Janette's and it was great to catch up with them again. Jaylin's wedding was on the Sunday, which I took pictures for. It ended up being a great day, it wasn't too hot and I think we got some good shots (which you'll have to wait a little while to see).

The next big event was going to Cypress Hills for three days with the whole fam. We've never had a trip with all of us like that before so it was definitely a highlight to get away with everyone. We mostly relaxed at our cabins, walked by the lake and ate a lot of good food. The boys got to go golfing twice, the girls got to relax and read, Molly was entertained by squirrels and Cole got to dress up like a turtle in his towel so all in all I'd say everyone had a good trip. Chris and I even saw a moose and it's babe from about 30 feet away (it was my first moose sighting).

When we got back to Herbert it was the big stampede weekend so of course we had to check out the ever amazing 7 minute parade. We mingled a bit in the park after with people and then went to G and G Braun's for delicious cake and a quick catch up. That night Randi and I braved it out and went to the Riders game with 8 Falk/Braun boys. It was a beautiful evening to watch the game, I don't think I put on a jacket until the last 15 minutes. The Riders lost but it was still a great atmosphere and fun to be at the game with everyone.

The next morning we went for lunch at G and G Falk's assisted living home and then went to a park in Swift Current to update our family photo. It was such a hot day that we couldn't pass up going to the lake. So we went and paddled around on the Unger's boat, took a dip in the lake and relaxed for a bit at the Unger's trailer. Molly even went in the lake a couple times, once with a life jacket, once without. She's not the biggest fan of either.

The next day the boys did lots of farm work, cutting branches, moving cattle, putting a weather vane on the very top of the barn. The also gave Molly a bath because she got covered in bacon grease that dad threw into the corral, which she of course probably ran and rolled in as much as she could. She was definitely becoming a farm dog by the end of our trip, she would stand right in the middle of a mud puddle and start drinking, she chased any cat she saw up a tree and ran around the farm sniffing everything she could. We were really happy that we could let her loose knowing she would actually come back.

Monday night we went to Clint and Nikki's and Chris had a 10 year high school reunion. Now Herbert is small but there were more than these 8 people in his class. Lot's of people couldn't come and it was planned not very far in advance. It was good to meet his childhood friend Charles who I've heard many stories about and he had a good time catching up with him and the others too. The next day was our last so Chris of course did some more farm work to get his fix for a while. Then we went to Swift to stay at Kevin and Alysha's and had supper with them and the 'rents at BP's. When we got home we found Molly had somehow got out of their backyard into the ally behind their house. We were surprised that she had not sniffed her way down the alley but were glad she knew where to wait for us. We had a quick breakfast the next day, got a few Cole cuddles and left for Kananaskis.

We had reserved a spot at a campground that Rebekah had recommended and planned on just shopping for snacks for lunch and buying our breakfasts and suppers when we needed them since we didn't have any cooking supplies or a big cooler. Little did we know once we got to our campground and set up that the village of Kanasaskis had no restaurants within our budget so we had to drive 45 minutes farther west to Canmore just to get supper and drive back to our campsite for the night. Even though it was beautiful, Kananaskis did not make a very good impression on me, maybe next time.

Then we went to Banff, saw some sheep on the road to our great site at Two Jack Lake and were very happy to know that there was food close by. We walked around Banff, walked along the river, hiked up Tunnel Mountain and then went back to our site for the night. We spent the evening walking by the lake and enjoying a fire with endless wood. The next morning Chris took a dip in the lake a few steps from our site and cleaned everything up while I went to take a shower. Then we were off for home, but only after meeting a few more sheep along the way.

Now summer feels like it's winding down even though we still have a good month left. Chris is starting to plan for school and I'm editing pictures. We still have a few adventures coming up and are looking forward to them so I won't say it's over until it's over.

Saskatchewan Trip

Riding the Waves

2011-07-11T17:27:00.005-07:00

Summer is in full swing and we are enjoying it! Our first full week out of school we spent relaxing, seeing friends, decking (pun intended) out our deck with patio lights, jumping in the lake, reading good books...summer life is good.

This past weekend we had an adventure on the Thompson River with Ryan and Cheryl. We camped in Lytton and went white water rafting. The sun was out and the water was high and the wetsuits were keeping us warm in the freezing cold water. We got to go on a longer trip than normal but that was to compensate for us having to us the motor rafts through the rough rapids instead of the paddle rafts, which we had signed up for. So we did get to paddle for the first bit and hit one really good rapid. Then we had lunch and switched to the motor rafts. I guess the water was just too dangerous in some parts to only be using paddles. We hit some pretty sweet waves, the best being a double 10 foot wave that we were right in the front to experience. My fear of falling off did not happen so I was happy about that. We were a little numb by the end of the trip but it was well worth it. We had a good little campsite at Skihist Provincial Park and spent the evening roasting hot dogs and making fudgeeo smores (highly recommended). The next day we took it easy, made some delicious waffles and then stopped by the picnic area for some frisbee before heading home.

Rafting Trip

On our way home we got a brief glimpse of cell reception and received a text from Eric that Carmen had had her baby on Saturday morning. A baby girl, Danica Grace, weighing 8 pounds exactly. We were too excited to not see her right away so we stopped by the hospital Sunday evening after we got home and I got a few snuggles in with her, she is definitely a cutie!

Now we have one more week at home before heading to Calgary and Herbert. We plan on seeing some friends and hopefully Eric and Carmen again before we head out for two weeks. We're definitely looking forward to meeting this little guy....

...and of course seeing the rest of our family.

One more cute photo to end it off, Molly waiting to pounce on a fly.

Basement Renos, Hiking and Fondue Party

2011-06-18T19:26:00.004-07:00

Another post in less than two weeks, I'm impressed with myself. Well, I had the chance to get some of my pictures enlarged, framed and hung in the basement so I thought I'd share our very long process of getting the basement renovated. This room took us longer than we thought, we didn't really stick at it, taking a break in the winter for quite a while but it got done and we love it! It's not exactly how we plan to have it, we'll eventually get different furniture and maybe some sort of games table but it's good for now. We've even had many guests stay down there so it's been perfect.

Basement Renos, Hiking and Fondue Party
Last weekend we hiked up Elk with Ryan and Cheryl. It was a little cloudy but we could still see the Valley once we got to the top and it make for perfect hiking weather. There were a few spots near the top that we had to hike through snow but that made for extra intenseness. Molly is really in her element going on hikes, just sniffing the whole way up, it's probably one of her favorite things to do.
Last night I had a girly night with my girls night group. We were planning on doing pedicures and painting nails but once we got to watching our movie none of us really felt like it, except Carmen who got her toes painted by Rebekah. It was a great relaxing night with some great chocolate fondue and just as good company.
Only one more day for me teaching French and Library. I have to get all their marks in by the end of Monday so hopefully all of them have handed everything in by then because there's no looking back after that. It's been a really great opportunity but I'm definitely ready for school to wrap up and summer to begin. Chris is done school on Tuesday with the kids and then just has school for teachers to plan for next year until next Thursday the 30th, when I'll be done too because that's when elementary schools end. We already have one adventure planned at the beginning of July, to go white water rafting with Ryan and Cheryl on the Thompson River near Lytton. Then before we know it we'll be coming through Calgary to see Dustin and Rebekah and their boys and onto Herbert to let the good times begin. We can't wait. Now if only the sun would come out so it feels like summer...

Spring has Sprung (finally)

2011-06-08T18:39:00.007-07:00

Wow, has it really been more than two months since my last post? Well, it has been a busy couple of months. Let's see...where to begin. We've finally finished renovating our basement but I still have to hang pictures up so photos of that will come later. At the same time we were ripping out the garden so we have more grass area in our backyard. We transplanted a few of the bushes and trees and have made our yard a lot more clean and simple. Now we're just waiting for the grass to grow, which it is, but hopefully it will fill in because right now it's looking pretty patchy.

May was quite busy. At the beginning of the month we had family out visiting for Colin and Amanda's wedding. Our first official guests in our finished basement was Rob and Lisa and their kids. The kids loved running around with Molly and getting sniffed by her and we played trivial pursuit pretty much every night they were here. It was good to have some extended family come and make use of our space. Ryan and Randi came as the Braun's were leaving and they stayed with us for a week. We didn't get to see or do much with them because we were working during the day but we had some fun evenings together. While they were out we got the announcement that our first nephew Cole Kevin was born on May 5th. Randi and I were pretty excited so we went on a little mini shopping trip to get him some cute new duds. Colin and Amanda's wedding was on May 7th and I did their pictures. It poured in the morning and we had no back up plan for pictures but God answered our prayers and the rain pretty much stopped as soon as we went out to take pictures. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and I think they are too. After Ryan and Randi left, my friends from Capernwray, Kevin and April, came with their kids for the night on their way home from Calgary to the island. It was great to see them since the last time was two years ago. The boys had fun giving Molly sticks to chew on and hiding in her secret corner of the bush. At the end of May Chris ran in the Run for Water with Eric and Ryan, it turned out to be a nice day and the boys did pretty good, getting 9th and 10th (Eric and Chris) in their age category for the 10k. Cheryl also ran but she did the half-marathon, she's a tough cookie.

Spring Happenings

Colin and Amanda

On June 4th was our 5th anniversary so we went for a little getaway to a town called Mukilteo, which is in Washington on the coast, just North of Seattle. The weather was some of the best we've had so far this year so it was great for those many hours of shopping at the outdoor malls. We also checked out the Boeing factory where they make all the big 747's, 777's and 787's, it was pretty cool to see how they assemble those gigantic planes. Supposedly the building they make them in is big enough to fit the whole park of Disneyland. Crazy. After that we shopped for a bit at a mall nearby so Chris could get some more Apple toys to satisfy his computer geekiness. Then we had a bit of time before supper so we found a random beach and had a nap there while enjoying the sunshine and the view of the mountains. We had some delicious Red Robin's for our anniversary meal and then went back to the hotel to watch the end of the Canucks game. On our way home on Sunday we spent the day at the Seattle outlet mall having a little shopping spree since we both hadn't got new clothes in quite a while. It was a good little trip that went too quickly but summer is almost here so we'll be having lots more fun trips I'm sure.
Starting last week and until June 20th I have been working at a middle/high school for a teacher that had wrist surgery and is gone the rest of the year. It's teaching one block of French and the rest of the day is working in the library. It's been really good, especially working in the library. There is an assistant in there that was basically responsible for making the teacher organize everything for me, she told me if she hadn't made this teacher get organized I would've come into a pile of papers not knowing where anything was (doesn't sound like a typical organized librarian to me). So I'm grateful that this lady is there to help me out and make my job easier trying to figure what I'm supposed to do. We get along really well and it's been good to just have a relaxing few weeks, even if it means doing inventory and scanning thousands of books, I've been enjoying it.
As far as pregnancy news goes, I went into to see my OB/GYN last week and asked if there was something we could do to speed up the process so we don't have to wait another year and a half to conceive. We discussed a few options and I decided to get another HSG done which is where they inject dye into your uterus and fallopian tubes to see if there is anything blocked. The reason I did this is because the last time I had this done I got pregnant very shortly after. There is a higher chance of getting pregnant because the dye sort of flushes out the area. So I took the day off today and went to get that done, hopefully that will all that has to happen and it won't be too much longer for us to get pregnant and to have that baby we have been longing for.
We're both really ready and looking forward to summer. We hope to go camping lots and are looking forward to our trip out to Saskatchewan at the end of July. Only a few more weeks of school, I'm sure they will fly by and then bring on the sunshine and summer adventures!

Aloha!

2011-03-26T21:16:00.003-07:00

We are back to the real world after an amazing getaway to Kauai. If anyone's every thinking of getting away to a sunny, low key place, I definitely recommend Kauai. There was so much to see and so many great beaches to relax on without tonnes of people. Most beaches we went to had only about 20 other people on them, some only had two other people, it really felt like our own little island at times. Here's a recap on some stuff we did.

The first couple days we checked out the North since that was where we stayed (at Princeville). Our first day we checked out some beaches like Hideaways (where there were only 3 other people) and Tunnels where we got to try out our snorkeling skills. We also checked out Hanalei village and got some shave ice which is the island's big thing to get. It's basically like a Slurpee, I didn't mind it, Chris like his ice cream better.

Our second day we hiked the Napali Coast as far as we could go without having to go camping and get a permit. We hiked for about an hour to a beach that had random stray cats on it (I don't know how they got there) and then hiked back to spend some time snorkeling and relaxing at Ke'e Beach which was right at the trail entrance.

The next two days we went down south. The first day we went to this place called Maha'lepu Beach which was basically a trail in a meadow on top of these lithified cliffs. It was one of my favorite spots, we got caught in a 5 minute down pour and then dried off in about the same amount of time. Then we headed to Poipu beach, which was by far the busiest beach we went to but it was still a great little spot. Before heading for supper we checked out a blowhole that was just down the road and then got some burgers at Bubba's, which is the island's burger joint that uses only Kauai beef. When we got home, the sun was just setting so we walked down the road a few minutes to a lookout and watched it set with Bali Hai (a popular shot in movies) as the backdrop.

The next day we headed to the arid West side and drove up and up and up until we got to the top of the Waimea Canyon. It was pretty crazy to think this canyon was on the same island, it felt like we were in Arizona. At the very top we could see the Kalalau Valley which is where the whole Napali Coast hike ends, it was pretty cool to look down as we were basically in the clouds. We decided to do some more snorkeling at Poipu and there just happened to be a sea turtle and a monk seal (which there are only 500 of left) suntanning on the beach. I specifically said that day that I needed to see a turtle so I was excited. I've always wanted to see a sea turtle while I was in Hawaii and I got to do it, it made my day. The snorkeling at Poipu that day was probably the best we'd done all trip so it was definitely a good day.

Then the last couple days we spent back up on the North side. We went to Queen's bath which is a place that has these pools in the rocks you can swim in when the tide is low. The tide was definitely not low when we were there but it was a cool place to watch the waves break. Just next to this spot was Secret's Beach which was a nice beach but quite wavy so we didn't spend too long there. We decided to go back to Ke'e beach (the farthest beach on the north before the Napali Coast) because we really liked it and stayed there until sunset. It was definitely worth the wait to see those beautiful colors over the ocean.

The second last day we were there we hiked down to a secluded beach near our place that only had two other people on it. We had a good suntanning session and I talked to a hippy about what he was looking for in the sand. I found out he was collecting these tiny spiral shells you can only find in Hawaii that he makes necklaces out of. Looked like a lot of work. After grabbing some lunch at our place we then went to a beach more locals go to and rode the waves there. Who needs a surfboard. I got a swimsuit full of sand but it was a lot of fun. Right up the road from this beach was a very hidden but very cool spot where there are lava pools. If the tides were down more there were all these pools you could swim in but instead we watched the waves come crashing in and fill them up, didn't look too safe to go in but it was cool to see.

And our last day we walked down the hill from our place to a beach called Pu'u Poa which was across from Hanalei Bay. We could've actually walk to Hanalei if we crossed the river but we didn't want to risk it with the tide coming in. We walked around that beach and watched the more experienced surfers do their thing out in the bay. Then to end our trip we went to the first beach we went to, Hideaways, and enjoyed some last suntanning and dips in the water. I'd say this trip is exactly what we needed. It was so relaxing and had such amazing views and places to see. We will definitely going back one day.

Since we've been back we've got right to work. I finished painting the basement bedroom and have finished cutting in the main room, so only a few more days of being able to paint and it should be finished and ready for some new floors. Chris trimmed the hedge too so a bit of our yard work has got started. We got to see a bunch of our friends last night at Denis and Andrea's new house so that was fun to play games and see everyone before the craziness of school begins again. Tomorrow I am going to make perogies for my first time with Cheryl while Ryan and Chris do who knows what. Then Monday it's back to work. I don't know if I'll get work right away but if it's anything like I had before Spring Break, I won't be getting much time to paint.

Bring on the Sunshine

2011-03-11T08:03:00.002-08:00

Spring break starts in approximately 6 hours. I'm pretty sure I'm not working today so I thought I'd write a post before we take off for Kauai. It's been a busy couple of weeks. I got hired by Chilliwack as a TOC on March 1st and have been working everyday since then. Today is my first day off (I think). It's been good making that transition, having an extra half hour to sleep in, using less gas and building some relationships with staff here so they can "unofficially" request me to work for them. I think we're both definitely ready for a break though. This year we get two weeks for spring break but it will be our only one because next year we go back to one week. I think we're going to make the most of it.

Last weekend we had a lot of fun with a group of our friends up at Whistler. We headed up there Friday night which took 5 hours instead of 3 because we hit a blanket of snow just outside of Squamish. It was slow going but we made it to our cozy cabin. The next day the girls went cross-country skiing and the boys hit the hills for some snowboarding. Andrea and Denis stayed and relaxed in the cabin because Andrea got a bad cold or strep throat the night before. At least they had some time to relax away from their 4 kids. Us girls had a great time skiing around Lost Lake. Cheryl was a little more pro than Carmen and I because she is a skier so she knew how to handle the bigger hills, Carmen and I liked to handle them by walking down them. The time I did try to go down a bigger hill, I face planted into a snow bank (which you'll see a picture of).With a few wipe outs and laughing at ourselves as we kept slipping to get uphill, it was a fun experience. The conditions we perfect, we were actually warm, the sun was out for a bit and we even got some snowflakes. The guys also had a great time in at least a foot of fresh powder that had fallen the night before. Once we had all made it back to the cabin Denis and Andrea had cooked us a delicious supper and dessert which was perfect to come back to from a day out in the snow. We spent the rest of the evening playing lots of games, roasting marshmallows by the fire and having some good conversations. The next morning we took it easy, Chris and I made some brunch and we played a few games, then slowly packed up. We headed to the village for a bit to walk around and then headed home. It was a great fun-filled weekend that we'll definitely try to do again.

And now we look forward to our Spring Break. Going to Kauai for a week is what we're most looking forward to of course but we have some other things to get done when we come home. Chris will be trimming our massive hedge and hopefully I will finish painting the basement. We also wanted to remove the garden in our backyard but that may have to wait. Well, I've got lots of stuff to do before we take off so you'll hear from us again after our trip!

On the Upswing

2011-02-27T15:56:00.008-08:00

Life has finally got back into the swing of things around here and it's been so busy. As many of you know, we found out that we lost our baby when we were 13 weeks (about a month and a half ago) but it had died at 9 weeks. This was a shock to us and those around us and took a while to sink in. I had a D & C the day before my birthday which went well and I was able to get my mind off of things for a while with all our friends that came over to celebrate my 29th with me. It was great to have friends over and to discuss with another couple late into the night how it felt after losing this baby since they just went through the same thing. This winter has definitely been one of the hardest we have had to go through but having that support is definitely what has got us through it, so thanks to everybody who was there with food, flowers, an ear to listen and time to distract us and get our minds off of things.

There have been some good times in the last month or so also. We've had a few good snow falls, including one that just happened. Even though it doesn't stick around for long it's been fun to be out playing around in it and to just see the nice white blanket it leaves. Last month we had a really good snow dump and we started making some snowmen. I decided to make two, one for my dad and one for our baby. It was kind of a silly way of commemorating them but at the time it felt very real. As time goes by it gets easier but they are always in the back of my mind.

Since I've gotten my energy back I've also started doing things I wouldn't be doing if I was pregnant. I went snowboarding and still remember how, I've started painting the basement again and have got all the ceilings done and almost one room, I've also started swimming again trying to start up a regular routine to get back in shape. I've also been very very busy with teaching this month. The flu has hit hard and I'm lucky I have not got it and have been able to work for all those sick teachers. Chris has been busy finishing up the basketball season, where they won their district but lost in their second Fraser Valley tournament game.

There are many things we are looking forward too these days. Tomorrow I finally have an interview to become a Teacher on Call for Chilliwack. It has been a long time waiting (almost two years) and I am hopeful that I will get hired and be able to get my foot in the door in this district. The only thing that comes with that is giving up my job in Abbotsford so I am always available to work in Chilliwack. This I'm kind of sad about because I've built up a good amount of relationships with teachers in good classrooms that have started requesting me quite often. But in the end I want to get a job in Chilliwack and this is the only way it will be able to happen. Next weekend we are heading up to Whistler for the weekend with 4 other couples. We have a cabin we went to a few years ago that we will all be staying in and the boys are going snowboarding while the girls are going cross-country skiing on the Saturday. I'm sure it will be a weekend filled with very little sleep but a lot of fun. Then comes Spring Break which is what we're looking forward to the most. From March 15-22 we are heading to the island of Kauai (an island of Hawaii). We've booked our flights and a condo which is right across from the beach and can't wait to soak up the sun, go for some hikes and adventures and find some great relaxing beaches. We decided that this was the year to go since we are baby-free, it's our 5 year anniversary in June and with everything we've been through we just want to get away. We really don't know much about Kauai except that it is beautiful, has some of the best beaches in the world and there are lots of little adventures to do since about 90% of the island is not accessible by vehicle. Can't wait!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

2011-01-09T11:05:00.002-08:00

We are back to the grind after having a few weeks of relaxing and seeing family and friends. It snowed yesterday though so it seems like it should still be Christmas. We had a good break and got spoiled once again. Before we headed out to Herbert Chris and I had our Christmas together one morning with Molly. That evening we went over to have supper and open gifts with my mom and brother. It was definitely a somber Christmas not having my dad there. I know he would've laughed so hard seeing my brother's dog Keyla with her new soother toy that she kept sucking on. And seeing Chris try on the Snugli that my mom got us to carry the baby around in. Those are the things that made me a little sad, knowing he wasn't able to be there for that. I think those moments will always happen but I just hope that he is seeing them from where his spirit is right now.

We went to Herbert for about a week and it was good to just get away and be in a different setting surrounded by family having fun. Randi and I set up the tree with a little help from the boys. We were able to check out Kevin and Alysha's new house a few times and had a fondue supper for our first time there. We also got to see other relatives throughout our time while we were there. We tried out tubing one day, it was good on the yard but once we went to a hill on a different farm it was not so much fun anymore. It was so cold and windy so Randi and I went into the truck to wait for the boys. We killed the truck by not turning it on fully and so Chris' dad had to come rescue us and give us a jump. We spent a lot of time on puzzles (well Randi and I did), playing games, eating snacks and of course watching the new 46" TV. I cuddled a lot with the kitty, or at least tried to when she was not trying to escape. The boys even rearranged the living room and hung pictures. It was a good break, we had a lot of fun and can't wait for everyone to come out here in May for Colin's wedding.

When we got home we celebrated New Years Eve with Josh, Cassie and Ryan and Cheryl at Ryan and Cheryl's place. We played some games and rung in the New Year with Champagne and sparkling apple juice. It was a low key New Years but that's just fine with me.

Chris was able to go snowboarding at Baker the day before school started with Ryan and Eric. They lucked out on a beautiful sunny day and they seemed to have a good day. I spent the day with my mom browsing baby items but not buying anything quite yet.

Now we're back to work and it's going to be a busy couple of months. Chris has basketball many times a week until the end of February. I've worked two days since we started up and it was definitely tough adjusting, I think I went to bed at 8pm on Thursday night because I was so tired. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things better this coming week. This Thursday we have our early ultrasound to get an official due date. I'm just hoping everything is healthy and going smoothly in there. I'm also turning the big 2-9 on Saturday and we're having a bunch of friends over for games. The weather says it's supposed to snow a lot though but hopefully the roads will be good enough for them to come out.

On my calendar I made for this year, I called it the "year of changes". It was when I knew I was pregnant but before my dad had died. It will definitely be a year of adjusting to having a new life and an old one not being here anymore. We are excited for this new adventure and hope that it will bring us the joy that we lost a little bit of exactly 4 weeks ago.

My Strong Dad

2010-12-19T13:34:00.006-08:00

One week ago my dad passed away from heart failure. I will never forget running into the emergency room hearing my mom crying out for my dad and knowing right when I saw him that he was gone. He had been having chest pains a few days before and went into the ER early that morning with more. The doctor said they were mini heart attacks. Our doctor wanted to meet with my mom and dad to discuss with them that there were no other interventions they could do for him because of his weakened heart and his recent bleeding he had a few weeks ago into his stomach from taking blood thinners. It was if he knew there was no other hope and as they were talking his lungs started filling with fluid and he was gone. My doctor told me later that my dad had said he didn't think he was leaving the hospital this time unlike the many times he had recovered when we didn't think he would. None of us thought he would go that quickly or that this was it. Chris and I got there within minutes of him dying. It's hard to think that he is actually gone. Every time I walk into my parents place I think I'm going to see him get out of his reclining chair and come to the door to see us. It'll take a while for it to really sink in but I never want to forget him. I chose to write the eulogy for his funeral, as a way of being able to grieve and to remember all the great things he did for us and got to experience himself. It was hard but I really wanted to honor him and let him know that I loved him. I also made a slide show capturing the full life he had which is another keepsake I will cherish. For those of you who didn't know him that well I hope it will give a glimpse into a man that I take after and who I love and will miss so very much.

My Dad

One definition of strong is “having strength or power greater than average or expected”. My dad was strong. His strength started as a boy in Denmark being the youngest of six, living in a time when the Second World War was going on all around him and resources were limited. I remember him telling me stories of him as a boy making fun of the German soldiers and them chasing him and his friends down the streets. When my dad was a teenager he lived with his sisters as his mother had already died and his father was working in Poland. He learned independence pretty quickly as he had to work from a young age to support himself and his siblings. He went into the Air Force when he was 18, a mandatory service for boys of his age, where he learned to become even stronger. In his mid twenties he went on many adventures like traveling all around Europe on a motorcycle together with his good friend Michael. He met my mom at a friend’s party in Denmark, when she was 19 and he was 29, and he kissed her right there and then (even though she was already taken at the time). His love for her never died and he pursued her until she was only his. In 1966 he moved to Canada because his older brother Jan was here and he wanted a better life with more opportunities. He convinced my mom to come over the next year in 1967 and they got married Dec 9^th of that year.

As they learned English together and adjusted to life in a new land, my parents dreams of having a family of their own started coming true when they adopted my brother Kevin in 1974. They moved up to Ryder Lake into a house that my dad built with his own hands and that was when his legacy started of being an amazing provider, a goal he accomplished as a father and a husband. He started working as a floor installer at Fraser Carpets and did this work with passion and pride until he was 72 years old, again another display of his strength. I came along in 1982 as a surprise to both my dad and my mom but also a joy, which I can see in his face in every picture of him with me as a child. From the start I was a daddy’s girl, as he made sure that the initials of my name matched his own. Growing up I can remember a dad that was hardworking, had a great laugh, wanted to give us everything that he didn’t when he was young and that loved his family. My brother inherited my dad’s skills of craftsmanship, being able to build and fix anything, this started as a young boy when my dad gave him his first toy chain saw and continued as he watched my dad build new pieces of furniture for the house, put in new floors and always had a new project on the go. What I got from my dad was not only his stubbornness but also his creativity and his love for photography. He loved discussing with me the new cameras coming out and looking at all the photos I had taken. Even Chris, my husband, had a strong bond with my dad and his passion for the newest and biggest toys in technology. My dad was one to always get the biggest and the best and he loved being able to talk to Chris about all the new gadgets and what they could do. He was a man of many skills and passions that no one can replace.

My dad grew up with only one brother Jan who he looked up to his whole life and from who he learned what it was to be a great father and husband. They were so much alike that I cannot go without mentioning my uncle because he had a great impact on who my dad was. They both loved gardens, building model ships (building anything for that matter), smoking pipes, watching the Canucks and being with their families. They both had a quiet demeanor and a strength that went deep. They both died of heart failure and now both of their lives have been celebrated in this very room. They loved being together and I am so thankful that my dad was able to share his life and family with his big brother in Canada. My dad also had many friends over the years, Canadian and Danish, that made my dad feel at home in Canada, gave him so much joy and camaraderie, and created so many good memories for him and us to keep. Many of my dad’s family and friends have gone before him and I can just imagine them all having a party up there in heaven like they used to in the good old days.

As my dad got older his health started getting worse. He had over 10 major surgeries in the last 15 years but he always bounced back stronger than ever. Even after having open-heart surgery he went back to work a couple of weeks later. Lately our family had been on a roller coaster not knowing if the next time he went into the hospital would be his last and the doctor had told him he was running on borrowed time these last few years. He was a stubborn man, it’s where I got it from, and he would not go until he knew there was no other hope. This last year and a half his strength was renewed, even after having a few mini-strokes and getting a pacemaker, he found joy and excitement in helping us move into my childhood home and being able to move into a new condo with my mom. He was excited to see all the renovations we were doing on the place and helped update all the furniture he had made to look more modern. I am so grateful that I can keep his handiwork and know that it was an integral piece of who my dad was. He has truly shown us over the years what it is to be strong, to endure and to fight against all odds. He used to say he was like a cat with nine lives because he kept coming back from what we thought was the end. He had told us that when he was to die he wanted it to be quick; he did not want us to have to bear the weight of taking care of him when there was no more left that he could give. His wish was granted on December 12 as he died by my mom’s side within half an hour of her getting to the hospital. There’s a sort of peace knowing that he did not have to suffer long and that he was able to say that he loved us one last time.

Some great memories with my dad were building a pool in our backyard and swimming with him on hot summer days. I became a fish because of him and love remembering him going for a dive into the pool after a long day at work. We also had a hot tub and I can remember on one winter night him and I rolling in the snow and then jumping back into the hot water. One of my earliest memories is going up to Christina Lake to visit my aunt and uncle and digging in the sand and swimming in the water that had scary seaweed in it. I can still remember holding his hand as we walked that beach one day when I was 2 years old. When my brother was little, him and my dad spent many days building kites and rockets that they would send into flight out in the field behind our house. They also built a huge train set that almost took up our whole basement and spent endless hours playing with that together. I remember my dad trying to cook rice for us one night when my mom was working but he burned it all to the bottom of the pot. He wasn’t one for cooking but he was good at so many other things that I think it made up for that. I remember the parties my parents had with their friends when I was a kid and my dad dancing with my mom and singing along to his favorite songs. Those nights were hard to get to sleep with all that noise downstairs but it is a great memory of the friendship that he had. I can remember traveling to Denmark and him being so proud to show me where he hung out as a kid and it was great to be able to see him interact with his family at home. Lately I remember giving him free haircuts and him always saying after that his pile of hair on the floor looked like our old dog Willy’s fur because of it’s mix of grey and white. He loved dogs and he had so much fun wrestling with and spoiling my brother’s dog Keyla and our dog Molly. He could not get enough of those dogs; they were like his own grandchildren.

The memories I have of my dad that stand out the most though are the little things; the slippers or Danish wooden clogs that he always wore everywhere he went, him sitting out on the porch on a hot day with his beer and his pipe, the little pats on the bum he would give me as his way of showing me he loved me, him lounging in his reclining chair watching the history channel or being engulfed in one of his many books, the smell of his clothes after he came home from work or being in the shop, the way he would pull out his little comb from his pocket and slick back his hair, his contagious laugh when watching stupid shows like Candid Camera. My dad was a simple man, if he could have potatoes and gravy and rye bread and liver paste everyday, he would’ve been happy. These little things that made him who he was; those are the things that I will remember.

I am so glad that my dad was able to experience so many good things in the 78 years of his life. Starting a new life and adventure in Canada almost 45 years ago, being married to the love of his life for 43 years, being a father for 36 years, having a job that he loved for almost 30 years, being able to travel the world and see new places, provide things for his family that he only dreamed of as a boy, seeing Kevin and I grow up into successful and honorable people just like him, being able to walk me down the aisle and get to know my husband who he was so happy to see me marry, and experiencing tremendous joy when he found out that he was going to be a Grandpa next July. These are all things I am grateful that he was able to have while he was here on earth. He had a good life indeed, one that we will cherish forever.

My dad always told my mom that she was lucky to have him as a husband. She joked back that she should’ve married someone younger and richer. He assured her that there was no one better for her than him and I agree. I can’t imagine a life with any other dad but my own. I am truly his daughter and sometimes that got in the way of us showing each other how much we loved one another with our stubbornness and quiet personalities. But I know that he loved me because I could see it in his eyes and that is all I really need. It’s hard to believe that he is gone now. It feels like he is just sitting at the hospital waiting for us to come pick him up. But I know that is not true because his spirit was not with him the last time I saw him face to face. He is no longer on earth but I have the hope that we will all see him again one day and I can only be comforted knowing that he is now watching over us. We want to thank all of you for coming and showing us so much care and sympathy over the last week. Please do not forget us as we adjust to life with one less in our small pack. Thank you so much for the joy you gave to my dad and thank you for acknowledging his life and honoring it with us today.

The day after my dad died, there was a heavy fog in the air, which was an image to me of the sadness we all felt in our hearts. That fog will slowly start to lift, as I know he would not want us to be sad for long but to be happy and remember him as we carry him in our hearts. My dad was very strong and he would want us to be too. Dad, we will miss you so much, thank you for being such a great husband and dad to us, we will love you forever and always.

(and yes, we are pregnant (10 weeks), I thought I would let it out early so my mom could have some joy at this time telling all her friends).We had the funeral yesterday and it went really well, better than I thought. I didn't know if we would make it through but we all felt very encouraged by how many people came out to honor my dad's life (over 80 people) and were able to get some closure to a hard week. Thank you for all of those who have been praying for us, sent us cards, flowers and food, and who came to acknowledge my dad's life yesterday. We really appreciate it, it's so great to know that he impacted so many people that can carry on stories about him and the time he had with us.

We love you Dad!

Keeping Busy

2010-11-20T15:41:00.005-08:00

It's definitely time for an update. We've been super busy this last month and a bit. I got a two week TOC assignment at an elementary school teaching PE most days and Grade 4/5 for a day and a half. A lot was thrown at me and sort of left up to me to figure out so it was a bit stressful at times but I think it went well and I had a good time at the school. This past week I was at the same school, this time a middle school, for two different teachers. So I've definitely got a lot of work for the month of November and it's not even over yet!

On Halloween we headed to Vancouver for the Roughriders vs. Lions game. It was fun to be in an outdoor stadium, made the atmosphere a lot better. The game wasn't that great and the Roughriders ended up losing but it was a fun to be there. After the game we went with Eric and Cheryl (both of their spouses did not come to the game) to Red Robins for supper which was delicious. By the time we got home trick-or-treating was over so we got to keep all our candy for ourselves.

The weekend after that we went to the Passion Concert at Rogers Arena. Almost 11,000 people gathered to worship God and it was amazing to see. We got there minutes before the music started and ended up getting seats in the very last row, the nose bleeds, but it was cool because you could see all of the people in the stadium and that made the concert even more powerful. Chris Tomlin started off the night and then Matt Redman sang a song. Louie Giglio was the speaker who talked about finding and living out the passions of our lives. Then to close things up the David Crowder Band came out. The music was great, it was an awesome night. After it ended we got some delicious pizza at a secret spot of Denis' and then cruised home in their mini-van.

This month is "Movember" which is where guys have the excuse to look nasty and grow out mustaches for the month to raise money and awareness for prostrate cancer. Only 11 more days of grossness and it'll be over but Chris has actually raised $30 so if you want to add to the donation you can at this link... http://ca.movember.com/mospace/792954/

Last week Chris' parents came out for a visit and we were able to go down to Washington for the night over the Remembrance Day long weekend. The first day we checked out Deception Pass and did some shopping at the outlet malls. Then we headed to Seattle and enjoyed the great weather while we walked around the Market and waterfront. The rest of the time we spent relaxing at home, checking out our new gigantic Walmart and we went to Costco. Can't want to see everyone in Herbert at Christmas!

We've had our first snow fall here a few days ago but it's gone already. The cold is still sticking around though so there might be more to come. It kind of makes me want to decorate for Christmas but we'll wait until it's December. The basement is still a work in progress, I haven't done anything to it for the last month with all this work I've been getting and when I do have a day free it's the last thing I feel like doing. Hopefully I'll get a little more done on it before the year is over. Only 4 more weeks until Christmas break and we can't wait. Chris has a big basketball tournament that his school is hosting in two weeks so I think he'll be able to relax a little more once that is over. That seems to sum up the events of our lives lately. We've been busy but it's been good.

Cute as a Button

2010-10-09T15:06:00.006-07:00

Where did that saying come from anyways? Cute as a button. Why are buttons so cute? Anyways, we're definitely back into the swing of things here. We've both had our back to school colds (I'm still getting over mine) and have been working quite a bit. I've got at least two days a week for the last couple of weeks so it should stay that way or get better until Christmas. Chris is busy coaching volleyball and soon the basketball season will take over his life. I've started painting in the basement which has been slow going with me working here and there but hopefully it'll be done by the end of the year. Our guest room is finished but we still need to hang pictures and such so there will be no pictures of that today. There is however some cute pictures of our pup. We've gotten soft and let her come up on the couches now, we figured since they're leather it's easy to clean up her hair. Her new favorite spot I discovered one day when I came downstairs was on the top of the couch like a little cat. She always goes up there now, especially when there's a blanket. She's also found some interesting cuddle spots like right on top of me when I'm reading a book or draped over Chris' arms during a movie. Some of them we haven't caught on camera but here are the few we have.

Last weekend we went over to Mike and Sarah's to watch the Rider game and while we were there I took some pictures of their new baby boy Carter. I have to say he was quite a good sport, having to lie around half naked and being put in funny clothes like Calgary Flames gear. He was a little over two weeks in these photos but to me he already looks months old in some of them. I really like how they turned out, they just make me want to smoosh him.

Other things that have been happening are we've started up our girls/guys night and our small group again and look forward to spending time with those people and sharing what's going on in our lives. Today Chris and my brother chopped down our old rotting apple tree from our backyard. It only took a few hours and there's so much more room now! We might plant a new type of tree there next spring when we overhaul our whole backyard but for now it will be a mound of dirt.

Tough guy with a chainsaw

Chris watching intently as my brother gets the tree out of the ground

There's not much else to say so I'll leave you with a funny statement one of the students said on their thanksgiving sheet in a classroom I was in. What are you MOST thankful for? "I'm most thankful for stop, drop and roll". Happy Thanksgiving!

Adventures in the Sun

2010-09-09T12:29:00.002-07:00

We're back into the swing of things with school starting and enjoyed the last couple of nice days before this week began. A few weekends ago we headed out to Vancouver to exchange Chris' hiking boots and then headed to the Sea Wall to walk around. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the view of the city. We saw some totem poles, float planes, squirrels, and lots of other people walking around. Molly enjoyed being the daredevil that she is by walking along the edge of the Sea Wall. On our way out of the city we stopped by the lookout of the Lions Gate bridge and even saw a whale blowing water out in the open ocean.

Last week we enjoyed one last really hot day and hiked up to Lindeman Lake. It was our first hike in both of our hiking boots and I'd say they stood the test. Especially mine since I fell in the lake trying to hop on a rock to get to a log. We had a good time at the beach climbing on logs and getting Molly in the water. Then we hiked to the far side of the lake (in my soggy boots) and climbed over big rocks which Molly got a little bit scared of but did really well on the way back. We enjoyed the sun on a rock, took some pictures and then headed back home.

School has officially been in session for three days now. I haven't got called to TOC yet but I didn't really expect to in the first week. I'm spending my time sanding the walls in our guest bedroom so I can finally paint it after taking a good 8 month break from renos. We're also going to paint the basement so then our whole house will be done the way we want it. Better get back to work so that actually happens.

Saying Goodbye to Summer

2010-08-30T11:17:00.004-07:00

The end of summer is coming soon but we have one more week to enjoy doing whatever we want. A few weeks ago we went camping for four days down in Washington at Fort Ebey State Park. It was a great little place right on the shoreline of Whidbey Island. We spent our days walking along the bluff, climbing down sandy cliffs to the beach, reading on a little spot with a view just a few feet from the cliffside and relaxing by the fire at our campsite. We also went to a drive-in movie theater for the first time and saw two not so great movies but had a fun experience watching from our car. One afternoon we also checked out a little town close to our campsite called Coupeville. We got some delicious ice cream and walked around checking out the views of Penn Cove. We'll definitely come back to this park again, it was a great place to relax and have some little adventures.

Now that summer is almost over we're trying to get things out of the way before school starts like renewing car insurance, returning hiking boots in Vancouver (which is what we're doing today) and starting to paint the last couple rooms that we didn't touch the first time around (guest room and basement). We've had a great summer with lots of little trips and things to do. I'm not sure if I'm ready for it to end but I guess it's got to one of these days.

Summer So Far

2010-08-16T11:06:00.004-07:00

There's been a lot going on so I thought it was time for an update before even more happens. Right before we headed to Saskatchewan we made a new purchase, a 2010 Chevy Equinox. They had some good deals going like employee pricing and I could get a student discount so we went for it. It was such a nice ride to take on a 15+ hour drive to Herbert, we actually had cruise control this time. We spent almost two weeks in Saskatchewan, mostly on the farm but one weekend we spent in Saskatoon to go to Chris' cousin Ty's wedding. I took photos for the wedding and I was really happy with how they turned out. We also had lots of fun seeing cousins, playing rock band and going for a joy ride in their boat. Even Molly loved the boat and going for a swim in the lake. The rest of the time I spent relaxing at the farm while Chris helped his dad hay and bail. We also visited Kevin and Alysha in Swift Current a few times and checked out their new apartment. It was a great time but it already feels like a long time ago.

Ty and Lindsay - July 24

The next Saturday after we got back I had another wedding to shoot. This time it was a Persian wedding. It was interesting to see their sofreh which is a cloth that lies in front of them with all these things on it to represent different things for their marriage. I thought it would be a really formal wedding but it was quite casual, people were told to talk and walk around during the ceremony, which I guess is typical of a Persian wedding. I just finished editing their pictures too so now I'm done with weddings for now.

Ali and Emily - July 31

The following Monday we had people over at our place for a barbecue because Dustin and Rebekah were out from Calgary. Molly got a little excited around Kai and knocked him over but hopefully next time he'll be strong enough to handle her. We had a good time chatting and catching up with them (and finding out baby #2 is on the way).

Just this last weekend we were out at the Glen for a very hot couple days. We spent most of our full day down in the river and the pool and playing in the shade. We had lots of good food, relaxed a lot and got to have campfires unlike here in BC with the fire ban.

Tomorrow we leave again to go camping down in Washington at a park called Fort Ebey. Our neighbor who goes RVing all the time recommended it so we're looking forward to it. Molly's coming along so hopefully she's good being at the campsite and all the little adventures we go on. That will most likely be our last big outing of the summer and then Chris needs to start getting ready for school and I need to start getting my mind ready for getting called into classrooms that possibly don't have teachers to leave me any material the first couple weeks. That could be a little scary. Well, this room is already getting hot so that's all for now.

Summer Photos

Surfin' in the USA

2010-07-15T11:35:00.002-07:00

We're back from our camping trip and are now packing again to leave for Herbert tomorrow. It was a good trip down the coast, a little cooler and cloudier right on the coast than 10 minutes inland but overall a good time. We headed down Thursday morning and made it to our site in the late afternoon. We decided to set up all our tents on one site instead of two and canceled our other site since we all could fit in one. First thing we did was checked out the foggy beach and some of the boys skimboarded for a bit. Then we headed back for a wiener roast and had a relaxing night by the fire. The next morning we took our time eating and then headed a little south to a surfing beach called Cape Kiwanda. It was pretty foggy until the afternoon when the sun finally started shining and all the surfers got nice burnt faces. I hung out on the beach and walked to the other end where other surfers were. After hauling all our gear back to the rental shop everyone was pretty exhausted. We came back to our site and cooked up some spaghetti and garlic bread and then enjoyed a sunset at the beach and hung out by the fire. The next morning we had a big brunch and then packed up and headed to a state park near Tacoma where we camped for the night. This site was a double joined site and was a lot more private and shaded than our last. The beach definitely wasn't as good or as close but it was a good spot to camp. That night us girls hiked from the beach to the campsite while the boys rode around in Jason's truck getting fire wood. The rest of the night was spent enjoying a never ending fire while we burned all the wood we had left. Sunday we went our separate ways with us and Ryan and Cheryl going to the Mariners game against the Yankees and the other four stopping by the outlet malls on the way home. The baseball game was a blow-out so it wasn't too exciting but it was a perfect afternoon for watching a game.

Now we have our semi-final baseball game tonight and then we head to Herbert tomorrow morning for almost two weeks at the farm. We're hoping Molly will be able to drive in a car for that long and that she'll do good at the farm. We're looking forward to seeing everyone and having some good times out in SK.

Good Golly Miss Molly

2010-07-06T13:21:00.005-07:00

Summer has finally arrived and it's actually getting hot! We've had some good times with friends already and look forward to more adventures like our camping/surfing trip to Oregon in a few days and heading out to SK in about a week. Our biggest news lately is that we got a dog. Her name is Molly and she is an almost 2 year old Puggle (pug/beagle). Her previous owner didn't have enough time for her and so that's how we got her. We've almost had her for a week now and she's been adjusting really well. It was nice that she already came house trained and knows how to obey pretty well. She just needs to work on coming when we call her but other than that she's a good little pup. She's pretty cute and we're enjoying having her around.

Some other things that have been going on is we had a bbq a few weeks ago to hang out with the people that we have girls and guys night with. Each week either the guys or the girls meet to discuss and pray together and we've all had a really good time doing this and forming deeper relationships. We played some baseball and frisbee in the field behind our house before hanging out on the deck with lots of good food. A few weeks before that we went with Ryan and Cheryl to start the hiking season by hiking up Bear Mountain near Harrison Lake. It was a 20 km hike that took us about 5.5 hours, so not the easiest first hike of the season but we survived and there was a great view at the top. We'll hopefully be doing more hikes throughout the summer, especially since I got new boots to do it!

That's all for this update, time to go enjoy the sun.

The mustache is coming back in style

2010-06-10T19:43:00.006-07:00

Hi blog readers (if there are any of you still out there),

I've been on a bit of a hiatus but now I'm back. These past couple months that I've been gone have been pretty busy as far as work goes. I've worked some full weeks and baseball is also in full swing (although it keeps raining and most have been canceled). We've only got a few more weeks left of school and then summer break begins! We have some fun stuff planned like a camping trip to Oregon, visiting Herbert, going to the Glen and whatever other stuff might come up.

The latest big news around here is that Chris got his dream job for next year at his school in a permanent position. He'll be teaching mostly Grade 9 Science and PE with a math class and a PE 8 class in there too. He was pretty excited and glad to know that they want him back at that school. My plans are to just keep TOCing and hopefully to get on the list in the Chilliwack district when they actually start hiring again (which isn't looking to good these days).

Some exciting things that have happened recently is our mustache party at Jen's place in Vancouver. Jen just moved back from Edmonton a little while ago and now she's moved into the city to work casual at the Vancouver Hospital as a physiotherapist. She had a bunch of us over to her cozy place and we had fun eating chili, playing games and of course wearing mustaches (and hiding them all over her house later on). We were supposed to play bocce in a park nearby but it rained pretty good so we found ways to entertain ourselves inside all day. Here's some proof of what a fun night it was...

Chris and I also just celebrated our 4th anniversary last Friday and decided to make a weekend of it by heading up to Whistler for two nights. We had a relaxing getaway strolling around the village, eating good food and going for a hike nearby. We tried to see some Olympic things like the bobsled run and the ski jump but it was all closed off and we weren't able to get a view of it. There was still snow on the tops of the mountains so we didn't take any lifts up since it might have been a little too early in the summer to hike up there. Other than someone pounding on our door at 2am on our second night it was a great relaxing trip.

Hopefully now that summer is starting and we'll be doing more fun things I'll keep this updated more often. Thanks to you who still check it faithfully, if only I knew who you were...

Spring Break Shananigans

2010-03-15T17:07:00.006-07:00

Spring break has come and gone and now it's back to work. We had a great trip down to Long Beach Washington for most of our Spring Break. On our drive down we drove through every kind of weather, sunny, then rainy, then snowy, then back to sunny, it was pretty crazy. We stayed for three nights at a little 9 room bed and breakfast that was literally ten feet from the beach. It had a jacuzzi tub, fireplace, patio and delicious scones, yogurt, fruit and juice for breakfast. I would highly recommend it if anyone wants a nice getaway but maybe just in low season, it's a little pricey during summer. Anyways, we took our time getting there, stopping by the outlet malls on the way so we got there in the evening. We explored the beach for a bit and then went to a pizza place that looked like an old tavern and when we asked for our left-over's to be boxed up they gave us a piece of tin foil. You know you're in a small town when they give you tin foil to wrap up your left-over's. The next day it was rainy and windy so we decided to just relax in our room for most the day. We did get out and got some salt water taffy from the Marsh's free museum where we also saw this creepy "Jake the Alligator man" which is supposedly half man, half alligator. They had many other weird things in this museum like a two-headed calf and strange old coin machines. We had lunch at a little family restaurant where I had the best clam chowder I've ever had. The rest of the day we read, napped, watched dvd's and just relaxed. The last full day we had some sunshine so we headed south and checked out the State Parks along the way that had some trails and lighthouses and beaches to see. We found a cool little cove where the waves would crash against the rocks and have a little entrance into the cove and would fill it up if they came in at the right spot. That was probably one of our favorite spots that we found. After eating lunch beside a beach called Waikiki beach we drove to Astoria, Oregon. We walked around the town for a little bit, had some drinks in a cool coffee shop and then tried to find the house where the Goonies was filmed but we couldn't find it. When we were coming back to our place we drove along the beach to get there. This was another highlight, there were a whole bunch of entrances where you could just go out on the beach with your car and drive down the beach for quite a while. That night we had some great pasta dishes at a restaurant right beside our place. The day we left we stopped by more shopping places and got some baseball gear and stuff for the house. It was a very relaxing trip and definitely worth the 6 hour drive to get there.

On Saturday we went snowboarding up at Manning with Paul and Jamie. It was a beautiful day and there was lots of fresh snow, so it was perfect. We got in about ten runs before heading home and then got to relax in Jamie's parents hot tub before we went to our place to bbq some burgers and play games. Jen came over to join us for games as she's now officially a BC resident and we'll hopefully be seeing a lot more of her now.

So that was our Spring Break, I'd say it was a great one. Now just three more weeks and we get to have another adventure to Herbert for Easter. And then after that only two more months until summer!

Olympic Fever!

2010-03-03T11:22:00.002-08:00

We are sad that the Olympics have come to an end. We really got into them this time around, seeing as how they were happening within hours of us. Although we didn't get tickets to any events (which we regret), we were able to join in the festivities down in Vancouver two weekends ago. We went with my brother and his girlfriend Marie and Eric and Carmen and probably picked one of the nicest and busiest days to go but that made us really have a feel for all the hype that the Olympics brought. The sun was shining and we spent hours walking around just taking in all the different displays, crowds and pavilions that were set up. We only made it into two pavilions, the Saskatchewan house (which only took about 20 minutes to get into) and the Sochi house (which is where the Olympics are in 2014, this took about 2 1/2 hours to get into). The pavilions we went into though were not that great so we wished we would've picked better ones like the Canadian Mint Pavilion where you could see Olympic medals from various Olympics or the BC house which was supposed to be good too. But that's okay, we really just wanted to be downtown and experience the craziness that the Olympics brought with streets filled of people, performers juggling on uni-cycles and we even briefly saw the "snow leopard" (who was the only athlete from Ghana). So all in all it was a good time but we wish we could've seen/done more.

Not much else has been going on with us but we did have something very strange happen to us the other night. We were walking home in the evening from my parents place after having supper and were going through the school field behind our house when we saw all these people scattered out on the field with red headlamps and flashlights. They were all on their knees and to us it looked like they were doing some sort of worship dance to the earth because they kept moving their lights around. We looked out our bedroom window when we got home and they were still there even when we went to bed. The next day Chris brought it up at school and one of his co-workers said he had seen the same thing a few years ago and actually asked one of the people what they were doing. Turns out they were digging for worms. Still kind of strange but a little less unnerving than what we originally thought was happening. I don't think I have ever seen something so strange in my life.

Next week Chris has spring break so we're looking forward to a little getaway that we planned down on the Washington coast in a town called Long Beach. We booked a room at a nice Bed and Breakfast for 3 nights that is right on the beach and has its own patio and jacuzzi tub. Should be pretty relaxing. We're hoping for sunshine but if not it still looks like a great place to stay with lots to explore.

Beautiful B.C.

2010-02-17T11:10:00.006-08:00

Work is slow this week so I thought I'd catch up on the happenings around here. A few weekends ago we took advantage of the spring-like weather we've been having. We went for a hike up to Mt. Slesse with our friends Ryan and Cheryl. The hike took us about 5 hours in total (but that included walking up and down a logging road for two hours) and we had an amazing view at the base of Mt. Slesse. We hit snow pretty soon in our hike but it was nice and packed down so besides having to be careful with your footing the snow didn't slow us down too much. Supposedly there was a plane crash at the mountain about 50 years ago where everyone on board died. There was a memorial but it was covered in about 5 feet of snow so we didn't get to see much of that. It was a great hike and really refreshing to get outside in some great weather.

Taking a quick breather

Intense river crossing

Mountain range along the way

Getting close to Mt.Slesse

Mt.Slesse

All of us at the base of Mt.Slesse

The boys being goofs

Chris and I

Y-M-C....(I was the A)

Chris had his last basketball game of the season last night. His team won the Fraser Valley East and last night was the beginning of all the Fraser Valley's to get into Provincials. His team didn't seem to be on their best game last night and ended up losing and getting eliminated from any hopes of getting farther. Although it will be nice to have more free time I think Chris is going to miss coaching those boys.

Not much else has been going on around here. The Olympics have started and we're starting to regret not getting tickets to an event. I had a friend who was at the freestyle skiing where Canada won its first gold and I was pretty jealous. We're planning on heading into Vancouver this weekend though to share in some of the Olympic spirit downtown and see all the different displays they have there.

January Flyby

2010-02-03T10:34:00.005-08:00

It's feeling more and more like Spring around here especially since January just flew by. I worked 9 days in January which is almost as much as I worked in all of October-December. Things are starting to pick up I guess. Last week I worked 4 of those 9 days so that might have been a extreme week because this week I haven't worked any yet. We'll see, people say February is supposed to be busier. Other than working the only major things that happened to us in January was my birthday and going to Kelowna for a basketball tournament.

I turned 28 this year. For some reason that number seems old to me. I know, I know it's not that old but this year, the number 28, just made me sound old. To celebrate my oldness Chris and I went to see Avatar in 3D and even though we had to sit in the 4th row, it was still very good. We also went for supper at White Spot, one of my favorites. The next day we had the gang over for some cake and games and it was a good time had by all. The thing is, even though my age feels old, I don't, and I guess that's all that matters.

Only having two candles to light made it a little easier than 28

Officially 28

Eating some cake
The next weekend we headed to Kelowna for a basketball tournament Chris had got his team into. He was a little nervous this being the first time he had brought a team on an overnight event but it went great. There were tonnes of parents there to help out and the guys on his team are really good kids so there really was no need to worry. Friday night they won their first game and on Saturday they lost their second and won their last. So overall they came in third which I think they were pretty happy about. It was good for them to have tougher competition because they only have one other team that they regularly play out here that they don't beat by at least 30 points every game. This week they're getting ready for Fraser Valleys and then hopefully Provincials, we'll see how far they can go.

Chris giving them a pep talk

They started getting better at not swatting for the ball

Intense defense

Warm-up's

Jump Ball

The team with their third place plaque

More Renos and Christmas at our Place

2010-01-14T10:30:00.008-08:00

I know I've been on another hiatus from blogging but I'll try better from now on. We've finally finished most of our renovations, just one more room that we'd like to paint (or that I'd like to paint) but we don't know when we'll get to it. We were painting and hanging pictures and cleaning up until December 23rd, just in time for all our company. But it got done and we are happy with the results. The family room was done a while ago but I put up Christmas decorations before taking pictures of what it looked like. All we did to this room was re-painted over some spots in the same color and put up a new fan and lights and my dad added new wainscoting to the back of the room where their massive TV used to be. We didn't want it to be one long room anymore so we split it up to make it a little cozier.

What it looked like the day we moved in

The completed room with our new couches

The little reading nook

One more angle
The hallway and stairway were the bane of my existence for about two weeks. What we thought would take a couple days to paint literally took almost two weeks. No matter how I painted the paint seemed to leave these shadows of where the sections overlapped and looking the other way it almost looked white in these spots. It didn't make sense since we had used this paint throughout our house and didn't have any problems until the hallway. Trying different paint and using an extension pole helped eventually and it's as good as it's going to get because I'm not going to paint it for a long time again.

The nice pinkish tone that was in most of the house before

Painting a stairwell is very tricky

The finished result with new bench, mirror, coat hooks and light

The last room we did before everyone got here was our living/dining room. Thankfully we didn't have paint issues so it was a matter of moving around all the junk that was piled in that room to get to the ceilings, trim and walls. I think that the color we chose for this room is one of my favorites in the whole house. We need a few more "home decor" pieces in this room but it's pretty much complete and how we want it. We kept my parents old massive coffee tables but my dad just re-stained them a darker color to match our furniture. They help fill the room and will be great for playing games on with a big group of people.

The pink room the day we moved in

The piles of stuff we had to maneuver around

The finished living room

The finished dining room (minus a tablecloth and picture on the far wall)

Turning yellow into white

Last day of painting

After all our cleaning and fixing things up we were ready for the Christmas festivities to begin. On Christmas Eve my parents and brother and his girlfriend came over for some gift openings. My mom spoiled us like crazy once again but I was surprised how she held back on getting clothes, this year it was all about Wii games. The next day Chris and I had our own Christmas in the morning and made sure all the beds and air mattresses were ready to go for the family when they got here. We went and picked up all the Falks at the airport in the afternoon and came home to a turkey feast at our place. We fit 12 people around our table, probably the most we'll ever have but it worked and it was delicious. The next day we were crazy enough to go into Vancouver for the day. Why I say we were crazy is because it was Boxing Day and we went to Metrotown, one of the biggest malls near Vancouver, and let's just say it was nuts. I did find some snowboarding boots (which I got refunded $40 more just a week ago) so it wasn't all for nothing, except that they were cheaper last week than on Boxing Day. Anyways, we wanted to go to Stanley Park and see the horizon of Vancouver from across the bay but it was way to foggy to see anything across the water so we headed to Metrotown earlier than expected. We all went out for supper to Red Robin and then the boys left us and went to the Canucks game as us girl drove home and watched a movie. The next morning we went to Cultus Lake and did some family pictures in the sunshine. The whole time everyone was here it was beautiful and sunny so now they can never say it always rains in B.C. That afternoon we had a mini Braun gathering at our place as the Williamson's and Colin and his girlfriend Amanda all came over. We ate food, played games and had a good time. The last day everyone was here we just relaxed at home. We stopped by Chris' school for everyone to see and of course the guys had to play some basketball. We ended the night by playing a murder mystery and Kevin ended up being the murderer, of all people it had to be Kevin. The next morning we were already driving them to the airport and that was that. It was a quick visit but a good one and we were really happy for them all to see our new place and fill up all the extra space we have.

Our Christmas and New Year

Once the family had left we had one day of doing laundry and relaxing before we headed down to The Glen for New Years with Eric, Carmen, Mike and Sarah. The first day was filled with games, movies and relaxing and the second day we headed to Baker and snowboarded in some nice fresh powder. My new boots worked great and I remembered how to snowboard really quickly. Carmen and I spent most of the day together so the boys could go off and do their fast between trees and whatnot stuff they do. When we all got back we were welcomed by Sarah who had made us some good but very very very spicy chili. It was pretty funny because we were all sitting there with red faces, blowing our noses and taking off layers of clothes as Sarah kept apologizing for how hot it was. It definitely gave us a memory to remember. After the spice cooled off we headed down to the hot tub for a little bit and then came back and played some games as we waited for the New Year to roll in. We celebrated the New Year with Christmas cracker explosions and sparkling apple juice and at about 12:20 we were all in bed.

Christmas and New Years flew by and now it's already the second week of school. I've only worked three days so far but am expecting much more in the next couple weeks as people start getting sick again. The days that I don't work I spend making my 2009 yearbook and a book for our Europe trip so that keeps me busy. I'll be happy once I get more work though. Chris is back at school, coaching basketball and really enjoying the group of guys he has to coach. We're heading to Kelowna next weekend with his team for a tournament so that should be fun. I turn 28 tomorrow, when did that happen? 28 sounds old to me. Hopefully this year will bring new adventures and not too many trials, we're looking forward to it.

Home Makeover

2009-11-29T20:50:00.010-08:00

We've been moved in for about a month now and things are slowly coming together the way we want them to be. We've sort of decided in our month of reno's that I stick to the details like painting and Chris sticks to the handy man stuff like installing and that has worked out well. We've finished two bedrooms upstairs and the bathroom downstairs, fixed up a corner in the family room and repainted, I painted many doors and trim and Chris put new handles and knobs on doors, new light fixtures on the ceilings and new closet organizers in two closets. I think we're on a good pace for getting it all done by Christmas but we shall see. Things have been pretty busy doing stuff with the house but we've also had some time to enjoy it with having friends over to watch Riders games and to just hang out. Having a ping pong table and the Wii definitely draws people to our house too but that's alright with us. I haven't been getting too much work these days, I guess people aren't getting very sick anymore but I've been using my time to fix the house up so that's working out okay. Although I would like to have some more work just to keep me on my toes with teaching. Chris is busy these days coaching the Grade 9 boys basketball team but is really enjoying the group of guys that he has to work with. He also put up our first set of Christmas lights the other day, let's just say they're Rider green, gotta bring a little bit of SK to BC. Not much else is new around here, pretty much our house consumes our life at this point but hopefully by Christmas we'll be able to relax a little more and just enjoy all the hard work we put into it. Now for some pictures, the first is the last wedding I did this year, it was on Chris' birthday but I didn't have to do the reception so we were still able to have a party in the evening. They turned out well and the fall colours definitely made some of the pictures even better. Then what you've all be waiting for... the before and after shots of some of our finished rooms. You'll have to wait and see for more to come.

William and Jessica: October 17, 2009

Our stuff all packed up and ready to move

The first thing Chris was concerned with, setting up the TV

THE BEDROOM
The bedroom before, a nice pinkish tone

The painting is finished

New queen bed is set up

So much more room to sleep!

Another view

Facing the bathroom and closet

Closet before, this nice yellow tinge was the original colour of all the walls in the house

Setting up the new organizer

The finished product, this colour will be the colour of our hallway too

THE OFFICE
Before: Mint green and white walls, with a lovely floral wallpaper border on the top (which I ripped down before the picture)

Handyman at work putting in new door handles

Dad putting up the new chair rail, which used to be in our bedroom

Room is ready to be moved into

Our new desk and drawers

Bookshelf and new closet

Another look

THE BATHROOM
Before: Nice blue tiles and pink paint over flowered wallpaper

Tiles are ripped off, time to mud the walls

Plumbing time

Freshly painted walls, the same colour our living/dining room will be

New light fixture and tap

Refinished cupboard doors with new handles

So there you have it, all the work we've done so far. Well, we've also finished our family room but I'm waiting for some prints to come in so I can hang them up so pictures will have to wait on that room. But we're pretty happy with the results of what we've done so far, now just three more parts of the house to go!

Working Woman

2009-10-06T20:31:00.008-07:00

I think fall has finally arrived. It's getting darker and cooler at night and a little more nippy outside. That's okay though because that means we're getting closer to moving! Things are coming together for moving, my mom seems to be almost all packed up and we'll start packing maybe next week. I went over there last weekend and even started ripping wallpaper and moulding down from rooms that we want to paint. Another exciting thing that has happened lately is I have been working! I've worked the past four school days at two different Christian schools, one in Chilliwack and one in Abbotsford. Not being on the public district TOC list doesn't seem to be a problem so far. It's been really great to actually get back into a class and do what I got an education to do. I've even had one kid tell me that I was a great substitute teacher so that's a good sign.

A few weeks ago we went out to Cultus to see my brother and his new dog Keila. She is part border collie and part lab and very full of energy. We may help take care of her once we have a house that she can come to when my brother is at work. We also took some family pictures while we were at his house seeing as how the last one was at our wedding.

Last weekend a bunch of us headed to Vancouver for the Riders vs. Lions football game. It was fun being there with everyone but not such an exciting game to watch. The last two minutes were great but other than that, not worth paying money to see.

Another thing that I have been working on is my website. I wanted to update it for a while and since I had a whole bunch of time before I started working that's just what I did. There may be a few kinks to work out still, like some pictures that show up blurry, but it's pretty much how I want it to be. Go check it out, you may even be on it somewhere!

Square One Photography

Weddings Galore

2009-09-18T10:30:00.004-07:00

I only have one more wedding shoot this year and have finished editing until then. Coming back from Europe I started editing Ryan and Randi's pictures so they would be done before my next wedding. I got them edited and mailed off the day before my next wedding. I wanted to make sure that they got to see them first before putting them up here but now that they've seen them the rest of you can too. I was really happy with how they turned out and I think they were too.

Ryan and Randi - July 25, 2009

My last wedding I did was on the brink of rain all day but it held off and we were able to get some great photos. I spent the whole day with this couple from the morning into the night at the reception. They also turned out good which is great both for me and them.

Justin and Janice - September 5, 2009

Other than weddings I have been trying to get my foot in the door at schools to TOC. Since the public school districts are taking their sweet time to interview and hire I went out to some Christian schools and got on their TOC lists. I've gotten on Unity Christian in Chilliwack and MEI in Abbotsford but I can't officially TOC there until my certificate comes in which is also taking longer than I hoped. So basically I'm waiting around hoping to put my education to use. Pretty frustrating to not be able to work when I'm done everything and ready to teach. Hopefully they'll be more progress next week and I'll be getting some work.

As for moving news, my mom has started to pack up her house, listed things for sale and bought new things for their condo. Trying to get rid of 28 years worth of stuff can be a bit tricky. As for us, we haven't been too busy with thinking about that yet since we don't have as much stuff to move or get rid of. We're pretty excited though to move into the house and fix it up to make it our own.

Back to Reality

2009-09-09T10:51:00.008-07:00

We've been home for over a week now and we're officially back into the groove of things. Chris' first full day of school was today and I've already had one wedding this past weekend. So we're both very busy again. We had a great time in Europe but were ready to be back home after a month of being away. We came home to find that my parents had found a condo that they liked and were wanting to sell us their house. After finding a mortgage broker and seeing if we would be approved, we were and made it official yesterday. So as of the end of October we will be home-owner's! Yeah it was a little fast right after coming home but it seems now is the time to buy and who knows if my parents would ever find another place they liked like the place they found. Things will be a little busy around these parts for the next couple of months but we are excited.

Getting back to Europe....I'll do a brief synopsis of what we did in each country to give you a little idea of the adventures we had. Get ready for some reading...

We started off in Italy. We flew into Rome at around 9am and had the whole day ahead of us with no sleep. We did pretty good seeing major sights like the Colosseum, Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum. We were pretty exhausted by the end of that day. The next day we headed to the Vatican where we paid for our only tour of our trip because we didn't want to walk around mindlessly not knowing what anything was. There we saw some pretty amazing things like the Sistine Chapel and St.Peter's Basilica. That church was so huge it was crazy. After taking a break in St.Peter's square we walked to the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Spanish Steps. We had our first Italian pizza right behind the Pantheon but I have to admit, it's not as good as pizza at home. So that was our two day packed adventure in Rome. We also had two old ladies yell at us in Rome on each day for slighting bumping them when we walked past them, that was quite a scene...Onto Florence.

We spent one day in Florence. First thing we did was climbed the Duomo where we could see all of Florence. It was so hot climbing to the top and you're in this tiny little stairway going straight up but it was nice when we got to the top because there was a breeze. After the Duomo we walked down to the main square and went into the Uffizi Gallery where there are original paintings by people like Michaelangelo and all those artist guys. We're not too artsy so that was about as artsy as we got on our trip. In the evening we headed to Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge that has a bunch of shops that sell gold. We hung out there for quite a while watching the sunset and listening to a pretty good Italian singer who set up shop in the middle of the bridge. To end our night in Florence we of course bought some Fanta to refresh ourselves. That is one thing that will always remind me of Europe, Orange Fanta. I don't think we have it here in Canada.

The next three days in Italy we spent in Monterosso which is part of the Cinque Terre along the west coast of Italy. This was probably one of our favorite stops of our whole trip. On our way up there we stopped in Pisa for about an hour to quickly go see the leaning tower. Monterosso is a small little town with not much else to do but hike and relax at the beach. We were ready for some of that after days of running around trying to see so many things. The room we got was a patio room overlooking the whole town and beach which was pretty amazing. We would spend our nights on the patio playing cards and just relaxing eating our trail mix that we brought along. Our first full day in Monterosso we did the Cinque Terre trail which is about a 5 hour hike between the 5 towns of Cinque Terre along the coast. It was a great hike but very hot and harder than we thought it would be. Let's just say we were ready for our beach day the next day after that hike, we got very burnt and very sweaty. So as I said the next day we spent on the beach, we rented two umbrella chairs and dipped in the water and relaxed all day, with of course a stop for some gelato. Everyday we were in Italy we had gelato, maybe even twice a day. That stuff is delicious.

Our last stop in Italy was Venice. Our first night there we wandered the alleys and got caught in a downpour and thunderstorm but I got the best picture of our trip of lightning crossing over the grand canal. I was pretty excited about that. We phoned home that night and surprised everyone. Our next day in Venice we went to the Doge's Palace, which is where their king lived. We also took a trip on a Vaparetto which is the water taxi that people who live there take to get around in Venice. We didn't want to pay 100 Euros for a gondola so we took the taxi which was worth it because we got front row seats. The next day we walked around to the less touristy parts of Venice to where the parks are out on the edge of the island. We had a pasta supper that night and some more gelato. Although Venice was great to see I think that three nights was too much, we probably only needed two.

Italy: August 4 - 13

Our next stop was Innsbruck, Austria. We actually stayed in a little town called Absam which was about a 10 minute bus ride from Innsbruck. This was probably the nicest room we had on our trip. We had a long train ride through the Alps that day so by the time we got to our bed and breakfast all we had time for was a little stroll through Hall in Tirol which was a town next to Absam. The next day we saw lots. We got the Innsbruck card which covered all public transportation and entrance into all the major sights so we went to as many of them as we could. First we headed up to the ski jump that was used for the Olympics in 1964 and 1976. Then we went to the Schloss Ambras which was Ferdinand the II's castle. There were lots of stuffed animals and armory in there because I guess he liked hunting and weapons. Our next stop was the best stop in Innsbruck. We took three gondolas up the Alps and climbed the peak to get to the very top of the Alps. If we had spent more time in Innsbruck we definitely would have done some hiking around there. The view was amazing from up there, you could see all of Innsbruck and its surrounding towns and tonnes of other mountain peaks. The last thing we saw was the Alpine zoo which was built onto the mountain side and was basically a vertical zoo that you climbed paths to get to the next exhibit.

The other place in Austria that we went to was Salzburg. Salzburg is all about Mozart. There were bands on the streets playing Mozart and souvenirs with Mozart and lots of operas and musicals you could go to. We stuck to seeing the sights like the Dom (which is their big church), Mozart's house and where he was born, walked along the Salzach River and even saw a brothel. In the evening we headed up the hill to Hohensalzburg Castle which was a fortress that was never used because it was so big that enemies didn't attack it. From there we had a really good view of Salzburg. The next day in Salzburg we took a train out to a little town called Werfen. Then we took a bus up a mountain to the trail leading to the largest ice caves in the world, Eisriesenwelt. These caves have humongous ice formations and supposedly there's 40km of them but the tour only takes you on the first 1 km. A guide gives you lanterns to light up the cave and takes you up 300 steps which goes beside huge ice formations and then he lights up magnesium strips to light up the ice. It was so crazy to see these huge pieces of ice, a once in a lifetime experience for sure. On that trip we met a couple from Saskatoon, small world. Once we got back to Salzburg there was just enough time to get a Bosna (hotdog with curry and onions) and Kasekrainer (hotdog with cheese inside) to eat by the riverside.

Austria: August 13-17

After Austria we went up the Eastern side of Germany with our first stop in Munich. The main thing about Munich is beer halls. There were quite a few in Munich and there would be hundreds of people at them drinking 1 liter beers. While we were there we had to stop at the most famous beer hall Hofbrauhaus to share a litre of beer. It was so loud in there with hundreds of people and the oompa music going in the background. It's definitely a different culture, beer is everywhere and you're allowed to drink it at age 16. We also went to the first concentration camp in Germany called Dachau. This was a very somber morning as we walked around and saw the barracks, bunker house, crematorium and pistol range. This camp was the only one to last for Hitler's full reign over Germany and over 35,000 people died here and over 200,000 were imprisoned. It was good to see but not something I ever need to see again. While in Munich we also rented bikes and tried to be like the locals. We stuck to park trails for the most part, not trusting ourselves on busy sidewalks. We went up to English Garden which is a huge park and biked around there for a bit before going to the beer hall. Munich was also one of our favorite places on our trip because although it is a big city it felt like a nice friendly town.

Going north, our next step was a medieval town called Rothenburg. If you've ever seen those little Christmas villages people have as decorations, this is what this town looked like. It is famous for its Christmas ornaments and their pie dough balls called schneballein. Our first night we had a tour with the "night watchman" who gave us some history of the town and showed us around. The next day we just relaxed, walked around the city wall, had some schneballein and bought some Christmas ornaments. It was a nice little town but not one that we needed to see for two days.

Next was Dresden on the far east side of Germany that was once communist and you could see the remains of communism in the block buildings around the city. This city was almost completely destroyed in WWII so much of it was rebuilt. They tried copying many of the buildings that used to be there but there were also many new buildings built too. Our first day there was kind of cloudy and rainy but nothing we couldn't walk around in. We went and saw the Zwinger Palace, parade of princes mural (which was one of the only things not destroyed in the war because it was made of porcelain), the Church of our Lady (the only Lutheran church we saw our whole trip) and we ate some bratwursts by the Elbe River. The next day we rode our first double decker train out to Saxony Switzerland National Park which is a park with huge sandstone outcroppings that come hundreds of feet straight up from the ground. If we were rock climbers we would have been in heaven. We spent the day there hiking way down and way back up hundreds of steps.

Last stop in Germany was Berlin. Berlin was a great city to see, so much history and change has happened there. We stayed with my old roommate from Capernwray and her husband in a little town called Hermsdorf just outside of Berlin. Our first day there we went to Potsdam where all the Prussian kings had built their palaces and gardens. Our second day we spent touring the city of Berlin. We went on a free tour that lasted three hours and we got so much history out of it, it was definitely worth our 6 Euro tip. After our tour we went back to all the places we had briefly seen and took pictures and read more about them. We saw things like the Berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, Brandenburg gate, the Reichstag, the memorial to the murdered Jews and even the hotel where Micheal Jackson hung his baby out the window. It was crazy to see how thin the Berlin wall actually was and to hear stories about people trying to escape to West Germany. We ended our time in Berlin by going to the Reichstag which is like their parliament building. It had this huge mirror inside a glass dome that you could climb up and go to the outside to see all of Berlin. That was pretty cool. Berlin was another of our favorite stops.

Germany: August 17-25

Getting to Denmark was quite the process. We took a ferry from Germany to Denmark and expected the train on the other side to wait for the ferry to cross but when we got to the train station one had just left. So we were stuck in the middle of nowhere for two hours waiting for the next train. Then when we were waiting for the next train the station people came out and told us the train was canceled. How can a train be canceled? We were given a taxi to get to the stop we were supposed to connect in but our driver took us to a different town. So then to get to where we needed from that place we were delayed even longer. We finally made it to Koge to see my family after 11 hours of traveling when it should have only taken half that time. We told them all our story and they just said "yeah that sounds like Denmark". I guess trains aren't as reliable in Denmark as everywhere else we had been. That was our only trouble with trains on our whole trip so I guess that is pretty good.

Our first two days in Denmark were spent with my dad's side of the family and my many cousins and their kids. We arrived to one of my cousins house on the beach and saw Danish and Canadian flags surrounding their yard. We felt pretty welcomed. One of my cousins kids is a chef and made all the food for that night which was delicious. We were also given a huge cake that said welcome to Denmark on it. We spent the evening catching up and talking. The next day we went with my cousin Cindie to tour the city of Koge. We met up with her mom and one of my other cousins and went to see a mini-town that these retired people had built of Koge in a 1:10 ratio using real bricks and building materials. It had taken them 20 years to build what they had and would take another 20 to finish. Then we all had lunch in the square and Chris and I headed off on our last train ever to my other cousin Jan on my mom's side.

Jan was there to pick us up at the train station with his little boy Marius but Marius was not too pleased to see us and cried the whole way home. He warmed up to us pretty quick and by that evening was showing us his new lunchbox and his tractors. We spent the next day in Copenhagen going to places like Nyhavn and Tivoli, which is an amusement park that I loved when I visited as a kid. We took Marius on a few rides that were my favorite but he was pretty scared, he liked the slower plane ride though. We had some huge ice cream cones while we were there and then Jan and Chris decided to go on the fastest new ride there that went so fast it made 5 G's. After Tivoli Jan took us to his running store called Kaiser Sport. He gave us the tour and even got us on the treadmill where he video taped our feet and analyzed our run to tell us what kind of shoes we needed to improve. It was a pretty cool store, nothing like I've seen anywhere else. Jan even gave me a pair of Birkenstock sandals and gave Chris two pairs of running shoes out of the 100 that he had at his house after testing them a few times. The next day at Jan's we meet our other cousin for the first time and her family. One of our Uncle's just died and she was in the will along with my mom and Jan but we had never met her before because her dad, my mom's brother, wasn't in her life very much. So we spent the afternoon listening to a lot of Danish and having Jan translate for us every now and then but it was good to meet her. That evening we went for a Danish supper where Chris tried a fried eel from Jan's plate and I ate a huge flounder. Then we came home and played some Settlers. We found out that a lot of the things we do in Canada, they do in Denmark so we had a really easy time having fun and doing things we all liked. We had such a great time with Jan and Rie and can't wait for them to come to Canada with the boys so we can show them everything here. The next day we left for the airport after I made some Kraft Dinner for the boys which I had carried with me the whole trip. It was worth it though because they had never had it before and they loved it. Our plane ride home was uneventful, we got home at night so it was perfect because we could just go home and go to bed instead of having a full day of trying to stay awake like we did when we got to Rome. The trip was great, a once in a lifetime thing and we're so glad that we did it.

Denmark: August 25-30

After a week of being home we have adjusted to regular life. We've ordered a new bed for our new house and will slowly start preparing for the big move. It won't be such a big move for us but more for my parents because they have so much stuff and not as much room to put it all in in their new place. I'm waiting for phone call's for interviews to be a teacher on call so hopefully in this next week I'll be getting some jobs lined up. But while I wait for that I'll be editing more wedding pictures. So that was our summer, tonnes of fun and full of memories.

Before we travel the world...

2009-07-15T21:55:00.005-07:00

I thought I'd post for probably my last time this summer. We're heading off to Herbert this Sunday and we'll be back for two days and then we fly to Europe for the month of August. I can't believe it's already here but I'm so ready for it! I just have three more assignments to get done and then I'm officially no longer a student and hopefully officially a teacher. I've been working hard at editing pictures before we vacation and I have finished my last wedding of the summer, besides Ryan and Randi's. I was very pleased with these pictures, we had some good variety for backgrounds and had some fun with them. It also helps that the couple was very photogenic. I'm glad to be done editing for a while though, that was one busy streak I had. I'm sure I'll be back at it once I have all our pictures from Europe.

Chris and Bryanna - July 4, 2009

It hasn't been all work around here though, we did have a chance to get out in the sun last weekend. We went to White Rock and enjoyed the beach, had supper and of course some ice cream. It made me feel like we were in Hawaii or some other tropical location, it's a good little spot to go on a sunny day.

White Rock

We've also played our last baseball game without even knowing it was our last. We were supposed to play one last time tomorrow, where I was going to take some pictures of the team, but it got canceled for some reason. So I guess I'll just have to remember my last good hit I had to make me want to play again next year. While I've been editing and doing school work Chris has been filling his time with watching many many episodes of Star Trek. His new favorite spot is on the bed in the dark with his laptop. Yes, he is a geek. I think he's ready for vacation too.

See you in September!

And the busyness continues...

2009-07-06T21:50:00.007-07:00

I'm taking a breather from my crazy editing busy life. I have one more wedding to edit and then I can relax for a bit until we get back from Europe. Besides editing I still have two online classes I've been doing papers and online discussions for so I've been spending a lot of time at the computer. That's not all that's happened lately though. We had a chance two weekends ago to go backpacking in the Stein Valley with Eric and Carmen. Although it's known to be bear country we did not see one although Chris says he saw a bear's bum. We hiked for about 16km the first day because after getting to the end of the trail we decided to hike back a bit to a spot we liked better for camping at. Altogether we hiked about 26km, that's a lot. It was tonnes of fun even though we got attacked by mosquitoes and I got two nasty blisters on my heel. During that week we also helped Carmen and Eric move into their new house. They are now officially homeowners, time to make some babies. We've also been having some good times playing baseball and just enjoying the nice weather we've been having. These next couple weeks before we leave for Herbert and eventually Europe we're trying to see friends for one last visit and getting everything organized that we need to take care of before we leave. It doesn't really feel real yet that we're going to Europe because we've been so busy. It probably won't until we're at the airport but I'm really looking forward to it. Here's some pictures from the last few weeks...enjoy.

Stein Valley Hike

Brent and Allison - June 6, 2009

Stahl Family

Two down, one more to go...

2009-06-25T09:40:00.002-07:00

Here's the two weddings that I took on the last weekend of May. I still have a lot of work to do so enjoy!

Tracey and Jamie - May 30, 2009

Danny and Rachel - May 31, 2009

Vancouver Weekends

2009-06-21T20:05:00.013-07:00

We've had some pretty fun-filled weekends the past couple of weeks which means I have new pictures which means I have a reason to blog. Last weekend we celebrated our third anniversary one week late. The day of our actual anniversary I had 3 major assignments due, had school until 6:30pm and had baseball that night. Not much time for celebration. Then I had a wedding to shoot on the weekend so we went with the next for our celebration date. We had a two for one coupon to the aquarium so we headed down to Vancouver and stopped by MEC to get Chris some new hiking boots and a waterproof jacket on the way. I hadn't been to the aquarium in a long time and Chris had never been. Plus there was a brand new baby beluga that was all the hype around there so we had to see it. We saw some interesting creatures but the beluga had to be the best. The dolphins were pretty cool too. After the aquarium we walked around Stanley Park for a bit and then went to Hell's Kitchen for some pizza which was delicious. On our way home we stopped by Birchwood Dairy and had some really good ice cream. All in all it was a good trip and a lovely late anniversary date.

This weekend we were quite busy. Friday we had a staff party with Chris' staff. Saturday we went to see Ben and Christina at a little post-wedding get together. It was good to see those guys again, although Christina was in one of my classes this past month and a half we hadn't seen Ben for a few years. Our big event of the day though was the Coldplay concert. We got there nice and early, got our seats and enjoyed the opening acts of Howling Bells and Snow Patrol. I cannot even explain how great Coldplay performed, it was the best concert I've ever been to, a once in a lifetime event. They pulled out all the stops like big yellow balloons, confetti shaped like butterflies, coming out to the very back of the stadium into the cheap seats and performing in the middle of the crowd. They heard rumors that Vancouver had the loudest fans so they decided to film their video that night, so maybe if you look real close in the upper deck you might see us. Yeah it was an amazing night and something I won't forget. I'll try and upload some video clips of the concert (just remember it sounded a lot better than the video) but if those don't work I have plenty of pictures in the slide show too. Then after getting home at 12:45am we got up this morning and had to run the games at our church's father's day picnic. It wasn't the best weather and it started raining halfway through but I think everyone had fun with it. Let's just say I'm a bit tired.

Our next big event is going camping next weekend with Eric and Carmen, then I have a wedding the weekend after that and then we're heading to the Glen with the gang the next weekend and then to Saskatchewan the next. Right now I am in the middle of editing three weddings and am trying to get them done before this next one in a few weeks so then I can finish that one before heading out to SK. Plus doing homework in between, although I need to pick up my socks in that area a bit. So it doesn't look like things will get any less busy around here until we're on the plane to Europe. Then I can finally relax, actually that will probably be a really busy time too but a different kind of busy. Check back for some new wedding photos soon. Hopefully I'll be done two after this week. Oh and don't be afraid to comment, I know you're out there...

Crazy Days

2009-05-24T20:54:00.007-07:00

The Canucks are out, so the beard is gone. Lately we've been watching a lot of hockey but now that the Canucks are out there has been a lot less of that. Chris grew out a beard since the beginning of the playoffs and let it grow until the Canucks lost. It was about time in my opinion but it would have been good to see the Canucks go further.

Things are once again very busy for us these days. Hence the no blogging. School is in full force but I only have to drive to SFU 6 more times for two of my classes and then I only have two online classes left until the end of July. Before that happens though I have many assignments to do. Classes have been going good though. PE has been the most fun, we've done some hip hop dancing, some jump roping, games, gymnastics and there's a lot more to come. It definitely makes a four hour class go by quick when you're playing for most of the time. The online classes aren't as bad as I thought they would be so that is good too.

Last weekend we had some fun which started off with a wedding for an old friend of mine, Kevin. He's the bro of Jen, who was one of my bridesmaids and is one of my close friends. It was a good time had by all except for when the staff at the reception were rude to everyone. That part wasn't so great but the rest was. One of my friends Lauren spent 20 hours making the wedding cake which was pretty impressive. We got to see some people we hadn't seen in a while like Jen and her new boyfriend from Saskatoon and Jon and Bonnie with their almost ready to be born baby.

The next day we headed down to Seattle, stopped by the outlet malls and watched the Mariners play the Red Sox. We sat out in the bleachers of left field and got very burnt after sitting in the sun for four hours. It was a really good game and Seattle ended up winning it in the last inning. We took our time getting back stopping by a mall and eating at Red Robin's. Then we sat in line for an hour and a half at the border with all the long weekend traffic coming back a day early, silly people. All in all it was a great little day trip.

I had a wedding a few weekends ago and I finally finished editing them so there's a little sampling below of them. Next weekend is when the picture taking will get crazy. I have a wedding on Saturday, Sunday and then the next Saturday. Let's just say I'll be at my computer for the next month. That plus all the assignments I have coming up will make for one very busy time but once these two shorter classes are done it shouldn't be too bad. We're just really looking forward to the middle of July when we can head out to Herbert and then head to Europe for August. That will be the prize for all this work that I have now. Can't wait.

What to do with all this time...

2009-04-16T12:53:00.006-07:00

School is done and I don't know what to do with all this free time. I've been finished for a week and a half and still have over that much time to go until I have an interview for TOCing in Abbotsford. So I'll keep myself busy with some blogging for now. Lots of exciting things have happened around these parts lately. Besides being done school and having a nice chunk of time off before I have to start my courses we've taken a trip to the Island, booked our flights to Europe and gotten lots of sunshine!

On the Easter Weekend we took a trip to the Island and visited Kevin and April, my friends that I went to Capernwray with that are now on staff there. We spent Thursday night to Saturday Afternoon with them and their boys, exploring the ocean, attempting to make easter eggs, playing games and having an easter egg hunt. It was great to see them again and to finally meet their boys who are great little guys. On Saturday we went out for lunch in Duncan with just Kevin and April and then headed to Victoria. We lucked out on having one sunny day in Victoria so we spent most of that day walking around the harbor and enjoying the sunshine. The next day it was rainy and windy so we just relaxed in Chapters, read some books, had Starbucks and also chilled in our hotel room watching the Masters. That evening we used up my Earls card that I got from my practicum teacher and I had some clam chowder for the first time, it was pretty good. Chris was disgusted. Monday we didn't rush getting home, we went and looked around in the MEC just down the road one more time and had breakfast at a really good local restaurant called John's Place and then we took the scenic view on the way to the ferry. It was a great little get-away for us and made us refreshed and ready for the next busy period coming up with school finishing for both of us.

Other big news is our trip to Europe from August 3-30th. We decided this might be our last chance to go before we start making babies and buying a house and all that grown up stuff that happens. So with our big tax return we decided to take a trip across Europe. We'll be starting off in Rome, going up through Florence, Cinque Terre and Venice and then up to Austria and Germany and finally end up in Denmark where we'll see all my relatives that Chris has never met and I saw 7 years ago. I've been spending a lot of my time planning out where to go, what to see and what to do so that has kept me pretty busy. Anyone who has an tips for us, send them our way.

On Saturday we're going to check out a baseball team that a guy in our care group said we could join. I'm a little scared because it's actually baseball, none of this slo pitch stuff so it might be a little too intense for me. We'll see. Then on Sunday Chris is going with Eric and Carmen to do the Sun Run in Vancouver. 10 kilometers in downtown Vancouver with a ton of people crowding around you and doing my least favorite thing, running. Doesn't sound fun to me.

Well, that's all I have for now. I may be back since I'm not consumed by school right now. Enjoy the sunshine (those in BC).

Falling into Place

2009-03-21T12:24:00.012-07:00

Chris and I are on our last couple days of Spring Break. Although, I didn't quite get a break because I had to observe in a Middle School and meet with my PDP module. But it has felt like a break because I haven't had to be so busy planning, marking and doing other school stuff. This monday I go back to my Grade 5 class to finish off some teaching and to do my final with the two people who observe my teaching. It'll be a pretty easy week because all afternoon everyday the class is going swimming. So I basically just have to teach until lunch. The week after I'm done at the school we have some PDP stuff to do and then I'm done! It has gone by fast and it was a really great experience. I've registered for my classes in summer and I was able to get two classes that end in the middle of June and two that are online until the end of July. That way we can go out to the farm for Ryan's wedding and I don't have to worry about missing school. I'm planning on applying to TOC in Abbotsford and Chilliwack soon and that could start as early as April. It'll be nice to be making some money after all this work.

A few weeks ago in February I had a wedding and it turned out to be a nice sunny day so we lucked out. It took me a while to edit them all with me being so busy with my practicum but I got them done and my next wedding isn't until May so now I have a little break. But once May comes I'll be very busy again, one wedding on May 2, May 30, May 31 and June 6. That'll be nuts.

Last weekend a bunch of us headed down to Carmen's family cabin near Mt. Baker and had a weekend full of shopping and snowboarding. There were amazing conditions with one and a half feet of new snow. It was the most fun I've ever had snowboarding, except for driving down the hill at the end of the day. The Glen had a hot tub so we spent a few nights there and enjoyed just relaxing. Of course we had to have some entertainment so Chris and Eric broke out in song one night from a song they learned in elementary school.

In other news, we've got tickets to Coldplay on June 20th which we're pretty excited about. Also, we're heading to the island over Easter break to visit my friends Kevin and April who are working at Capernwray on Thetis Island and then we're heading to Victoria for a few days. That'll be my reward for finishing this practicum. Can't wait to have it done. I can see the end of the tunnel and there's lots to look forward to so once I'm done with all this craziness you'll be hearing from me more.

From the Eye of the Storm

2009-02-08T19:43:00.007-08:00

Here's a brief update on our crazy busy lives over the last month....

Chris had the chance of going snowboarding in Whistler for free as a chaperone with his school so he took that opportunity up. He got to ride the new peak-to-peak gondola as a little lunch break. I think it was a good start to the snowboarding season for him.

Chris and Mike on the Gondola
Gondola going the other way
View from the peak-to-peak
Gondolas
A bunch of us headed down to Mt. Baker a few weekends ago. I borrowed Bonnie's snowboard and it worked like a charm and even made me want to go again some day. The trails and the weather probably had something to do with it too. Instead of cold wind and pelting snow like I usually experience, it was a beautiful sunny day. It could've been a little less icy on the hill but other than that it was perfect snowboarding day. This first picture is what I get when I ask Chris to take a picture of me snowboarding....

Does anyone see a snowboard in this picture? Didn't think so...
Eric
Josh and Cassie
Chris
All of us at the top
Besides the odd snowboarding fun I have definitely hit the busiest time of my practicum. I've been the full-time teacher for two weeks now and I have four more weeks to go. This last week I had to take two sicks days because of a nasty cold so that sort of put a wrench in some plans. I'll have to play a little bit of catch up this week. Teaching has been going quite good so far, it feels natural to be the teacher already so it should be smooth sailing from here. There is one challenge that I face everyday in one student but she actually did really well last week so hopefully that will be a trend for her. Let's just say she can have some pretty big outbursts over any little thing and you never know when she might blow. She's in the middle of getting psych testing done so we'll see if they can determine what sets her off because there doesn't seem to be a way to calm her down once she's in her "hissy-fit" stage as she likes to call it. In one way it's good that I don't have this magically perfect class for my internship because if I get a handle on dealing with challenging kids now I'll be better prepared for my classes in the future. But I'm also pretty good off because other than this one student, the class is a very good group of kids that make it easy on me.

Chris is also very busy these days, report cards just went out and basketball is almost winding up. He has his first playoff game tomorrow which they should win because they are #2 playing #7 but now I probably just jinxed it. Oh well, it's about time basketball is over. Someone needs to make supper. And that's not going to be me in the next 4 weeks. Just kidding...sort of.

What else...not much. Or lives have pretty much been consumed by school these days. I'm already starting to feel a little more relaxed with it though, there's not as much to prepare for now that I have an idea of everything I need to teach and have worksheets and whatnot made up and ready to go. Just lots of marking from now on.

So to end things off I leave you with a picture of what happens when you're so busy that you lose your brain (my husband's of course). For some reason he thought it was a good idea to put oven mitts in the microwave after taking food out of it. This was the second time he did it so I had to get proof to show how he acts when he has too many things on his mind.

The Great Flood

2009-01-10T17:17:00.003-08:00

Things are getting back into to the swing again for us. Monday I start my long practicum. I have two weeks to ease my way in to being the "full-time" teacher for 6 weeks. Kind of scary. I'm just to the point where I want to get into the class and get to know the kids and then I think it'll be fine. I've had to long to think about what I could do with them that I need to actually start doing some of those things. We had an interesting week this week. Monday and Tuesday there was no school for me because of the snow that piled up to at least a foot. Chris had school on Tuesday but I didn't. Wednesday Chris stayed home from school because he had some sort of stomach flu or food poisoning. Whatever it was, it did not make for a pretty sight the night before. So we both lazed around on that day and watched a movie in the middle of the day. Thursday we were both back at school, I was at module learning things like what to do with bratty kids who talk back to you and stuff like that. Yesterday we went over to Jon and Bonnie's for the first time in a long time. The first time since they've been pregnant and that's been 16 weeks so it had been quite a while. We had a good time eating some pizza and playing games. Hopefully we can see them more than we have been. I've met with two new couples this week to book weddings also, so it's been quite busy. So far I have 9 weddings for this year. Looks like this little business of mine is taking off. I finished editing the photos that I took in the freezing cold in December so here's a little slideshow of some of those.

Since we got over a foot a snow at the beginning of the week and today most of it is already gone, there has been a ton of flooding around the farm areas here. Not only the snow that melted but the 100+mm of rain that fell in a few days didn't help the problem. We know some people who have a foot of water in their living room and some people have even been evacuated. That would not be fun. So hopefully the water will start to soak into the ground or do whatever it needs to do so people can get back in their homes. What a mess. Well, I guess I don't have much else to say. I will be entering the busiest time of my life in exactly one and a half days so we'll see how much I update this during that time. Enjoy the new year everyone!

Adventures at Christmas Time

2009-01-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

We made it back safe and sound from our trip out to Saskatchewan. Let's start from the beginning. Chris ended school on the 19th, then on the 20th I had a wedding shoot in probably one of the lowest temperatures we've had all winter. But I got on the front page of the local newspaper because of it so that was pretty cool. On the 21st we went to my parents and had Christmas with them and my brother. Chris got a new camera which he was very pleased with and I got a bunch of new teacher clothes. On the 22nd my brother drove us into Vancouver for our flight. It had snowed the night before and we saw about 10 cars in the ditch on the way there. The airport was nuts, we stood in a mile long line to get our bags checked and had to wait 6 hours before our plane actually left. We were lucky that our flight didn't get cancelled because probably every other flight did. Some people had already been waiting in the airport for two days. Once we got to Edmonton we were stranded. We had missed our connection to Regina and there wasn't another flight until 5:30pm the next day which we might have had a chance of getting on with stand-by but it looked doubtful. We decided to rent a car and drive to Calgary and stay the night with our friends Dustin and Rebekah. Then we drove to Medicine Hat the next day where Chris' dad picked us up and drove us home. So we made it home one day late but we got there a lot earlier than we would've if we had stayed at the airport. We had a good time at the farm, playing lots of Wii, cross-country skiing, me doing puzzles and Chris branding cows. We had the Braun gathering on the 27th and 28th which involved hours of basketball for the guys and lots of games and food for the rest of us. It was great to see everybody again. We even got to see Colin and Andrew even though they were in Hawaii. They texted Ryan and told us to look up this website that showed a webcam in Hawaii and we got to watch them on the streets of Honolulu, it was pretty funny. Our trip home was much smoother; no delays, no connections and no snow. Since we've been home we cleaned up all our Christmas stuff, bought a new 40" Samsung TV, had a new year's party at Mike and Sarah's and used one of our movie passes to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We both start school this monday and then it's back to the grind. It's going to be a very busy next couple months with Chris still coaching and with me doing my long practicum. I don't know if I'm quite ready for it but I guess I'll find out pretty soon.

On the front page of the Chilliwack Times

Christmas Happenings

Colin and Andrew in Hawaii

Wii Boxing

Extreme Cross-Country

Chris' new baby

New Year's Party

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-18T21:02:00.007-08:00

Well, it's officially winter over in these parts. The temperatures have hit -15 at least and we have snow on the ground that actually didn't melt within a day. Very strange for BC. I finished editing the wedding pictures from a few weekends ago and I have another wedding this saturday. Hopefully it's not too cold out, I don't know how the bride will get through pictures outside but that's what they wanted so I'll be nice and bundled up.

In other news, we had a little shindig at our place last sunday with the gang. We played some party games, drank some good punch and ate way too much food. It was a good time.

Eric, Carmen and Chris

Sarah and Mike

Ready to eat lots of food

Tomorrow is Chris' last day of school and then the festivities will begin. After my wedding photo shoot on Saturday we're having our own Christmas together. The next day we're heading to my parents for Christmas with them and my bro. Then Monday we fly to Herbert, it's supposed to snow on Sunday so hopefully we won't have any travel problems and we'll make it there when we're supposed to. We're really looking forward to going out there and seeing everyone again. Since this is probably my last post before Christmas I'll sign off with a little Christmas greeting from us. Hope you all have a great Christmas wherever you are and whoever you're with!

Star Struck

2008-12-12T21:08:00.005-08:00

I'm officially on winter break now and Chris only has one more week to go. Last Thursday was my last day of PDP which consisted of moving all the stuff from our classroom to another part of the school that we have our module in and then having a Christmas party at one of my FA's (faculty associate) house. Some of the boys in our module decided it was halloween instead of Christmas and showed up in some interesting outfits to say the least. We had lots of food to eat and a secret santa gift exchange. My carpool and girls I was with in my first practicum also had a little photo shoot before we all went our separate ways for the year. By the time the party was wrapping up I could feel a head cold coming and it definitely hit me hard. I'm still a bit stuffed up but not half as bad as I was a few days ago. Not fun.

Getting our Presents
Marko, Mariclare and Gemma
Alison, Gemma and Wendy
Chris, Ashok and Brandt playing Rock Band
My Carpool: Wendy, Me, Alison, Jenn and Joy
My group from my first practicum: Me, Alison, Nikki and Joy
Chris helping my ice cookies
Our Beautiful artwork
Last Sunday, just as my cold was at its peak we headed down to Seattle to watch the Patriots play the Seahawks. I wasn't going to miss it over a cold, the Patriots only come one in every 8 years so I couldn't miss it. Besides feeling horrible it was a good time. We got free parking because it was a sunday and got to the stadium a couple hours early to watch warm-up's. Our closest brush with fam was getting two feet away from Randy Moss as he signed some kids jerseys right next to us. He wouldn't sign Chris' Tom Brady jersey for some odd reason though. We also got to see other players close up like Tedy Bruschi and Matt Cassell and Junior Seau. We went to one end zone just as the whole team was getting ready to warm up and stretch so we had first row action of all that. Once they were done their little routines we headed up to our seats way up in the upper deck to get ready for the game. The Patriots ended up winning in the end but it was a much closer one than we thought it would be. On our way home we stopped at the Outlet Shops and I got Chris his christmas present and we stopped for some food. By that time I was completely out of it and ready for bed. The next couple days are a blur because I was so sick.

On Wednesday I went in to meet my new teacher for my longer practicum from Jan-March. I'll be teaching in a grade 5 class at an Elementary school in Abbotsford. It'll be definitely different than my last experience. All the kids except one are East Indian in my class. They know english pretty well by the time they get to grade 5 because most of them have gone to that school since kindergarten so I don't think I'll have to worry too much about their english, I'll just have to make sure they're understanding quite frequently. There will be a few challenges such as a girl who doesn't know what is appropriate and will have fits in the middle of class for no reason and put her hands down her pants or up her shirt. They're trying to get her tested because she definitely has some sort of psychological problem. There's also a quadriplegic boy who just came back to school a month ago after being out of school since the car accident he was in. I can't believe what he's going through and all the kids have known him since kindergarten which makes it crazy to think about how they knew him as a normal kid and now all of sudden he can do nothing. Besides being a bit nervous about how to teach those two the rest of the class looks like angels and the teacher said it's his best group he's had in 11 years of teaching. The way that this teacher teaches is much different than my last teacher I was with too. He interacts with the kids a lot more instead of just instructing them and having them get to work at their desks. I'll like that a lot more, less strict and traditional. The school in general seemed a lot more welcoming and friendly than the last school so I'm looking forward to it but I've got a lot of planning to do before that.

Chris has been busy coaching the grade 9 basketball team at his school and they are currently 3-0. He's really enjoying working with that group of guys but I think he's looking forward to the break so he can have some time to just do nothing. This weekend we have two Christmas parties, one with Chris' staff and one at our house with the gang. Next weekend I have my last wedding of the year, here's hoping the snow that is supposed to come that day holds off. It actually snowed for the first time today but it was mixed with rain so it didn't stick. I'm pretty impressed with us this year too, we are done all of our Christmas shopping. I remember some years going out to the malls days before Christmas and how hectic it was, I won't miss that one bit. Well, I think that's all for now from this end. Next up will be wedding photos from a few weekends ago.

The Life of a Teacher

2008-11-28T12:49:00.008-08:00

Yes, I know, it's been a while. This last month has been a very busy one for us. Chris has been at school into the evening pretty much every night for the past couple of weeks now that basketball has started and report cards were happening. I have been busy driving to Mission everyday to teach at Windebank. My last day of teaching my grade 6/7 class was yesterday. It was sad to leave those guys, I had a great class. We ended off my time there playing a lot of fun games and eating cupcakes that I made so I think they liked that. Now I just have to go back to PDP next week and I'll officially be on Christmas break. I'm looking forward to that. I definitely need to catch up on relaxing before it gets even more busy next semester. My highlights of teaching were definitely the kids I had in my class. They were a really good group, I'm dreading finding out where I'm going in January, I'm hoping that I get a group as good as the one I just had. I got attached to quite a few of them and I'll miss them. But I still want to see another school, another teacher and another class so we'll see what the future brings...

My grade 6/7 class

It was twin day on my last day, can you tell?

More kids

Some of my favorites (I mean, I had no favorites)

The girls had no idea he was behind them
Other than being crazy busy with school we've been going to a weekly Bible study with two other couples from our church on Monday nights. It's been good to have that time with them and get to know them better but we're done for this year with that. Chris has also been having a men's night every two weeks on Thursdays with some of his friends where they've been going through a book called God Built. The most exciting thing for my lately is I got a new camera! It's a Canon Rebel Xsi, which is the upgraded version of the one I had. I got it for a sweet deal off of Ebay and I get to try it out for the first time tomorrow at a wedding I'm shooting up at Camp Squeah. Let's hope it's not raining too hard.

November was called Movember month where guys grow mustaches to show awareness for Prostate cancer (or it's an excuse to not shave for a month) so of course Chris grew out a beard. I only had to deal with looking at him for a couple days with a nasty mustache so I guess it was okay.

We have quite a few things to look forward to in the next couple weeks. Tonight we're going to a Chilliwack Bruins game because Chris won tickets at his school and we're putting up our tree and getting into the Christmas spirit this weekend too. Next weekend we're going to see the Patriots play the Seahawks in Seattle so that should be a lot of fun. Then I have another wedding to shoot on December 20th, Christmas with my family on the 21st and flying to Saskatchewan on the 22nd. Let the good times begin!

PDP, Parties and Pumpkins

2008-10-29T18:41:00.010-07:00

This is the first night in a while where I have the time to just relax, not go anywhere or do anything, not plan any lessons and where I can do whatever I want. Since I haven't updated in quite a while I'll give you the down low of what's been going on around here. Last week we had a party at Carmen and Eric's because it was Carmen's Birthday and Dustin and Rebekah were out here visiting. We had lots of good treats and played a big round of Catch Phrase. You can't really tell from the pictures because she's wearing black and it's very slimming but Rebekah is 5 months pregnant. And I even think I know what's it's going to be but that's a secret...

Party People
Rebekah, Josh and Cassie Laughing at someone or something
Phil, Mackenzie, Dustin and Rebekah
Four on a Couch
The next series is what happens when I let my husband take pictures...

Some other things we've been up to is joining a small group in our church. We've started meeting with two other couples (who have 2 and 4 kids under the age of 5) and are going through the book of John. It's been really great to get together with them and to connect. Also, we're getting to know them better which is great because they're fun people. One of the guys actually graduated with me so that's kinda strange how that worked out.

Last sunday afternoon we headed to Mike and Sarah's for a pumpkin carving party. We also had to give their new Nintendo Wii a whirl, it's pretty tricky I must admit, especially baseball, I don't think I hit one pitch. We had a good time making some creative carvings, Chris decided to stick to his roots and make a Saskatchewan Roughriders logo, while I on the other hand had my work cut out for me with my spooky tree idea. I decided to scrape my pumpkin instead of carve pieces out of it. The end result would be a glow through the skin that I scraped away, leaving a sunset effect. It ended up working out but it took much longer than anyone else to carve their pumpkin. Maybe I won't try that again.

Let the carving begin
Sarah making her Calgary Flames logo
Taking out the guts
Intense carving time
...and I'm still scraping
The finished products
Boxing time
Our pumpkins
This week has been my busiest week of PDP by far. On monday I taught my first lesson, it was in spelling. That wasn't too bad. Yesterday I did some math on converting decimals to fractions, that was a little bit tougher. And today I did a lesson on a story that the students had to recreate using their own ideas. Today I got observed by my Faculty Associate, who is basically my professor for PDP. He said that the lesson was excellent and there were many good things that he had to say about it so I was happy with that. Besides teaching, I've been arranging when my next observations will be, thinking of an idea and time to do a mini-unit and writing my mid term which is on friday where I meet with my teacher and FA to talk about how I've been doing. So there's a lot to think about all at once but I think I've got it under control for now, which is why I can write this blog without stressing out.

So that's what we've been up to, busy but doing well and having fun, until the next time I have some free time...

Thankful for a fixed car

2008-10-13T13:49:00.009-07:00

Time for a new look, how do you like it? Things have been busy around these parts and will probably start to get busier. Last weekend we headed over to Megan and Laurie's for a big potluck/karaoke bash and there ended up being about 30 people there, it was crazy. We also played a rousing game of Catch Phrase with about 20 people, it made for one very loud game. It was a good time, thanks guys!

Jamie and Lauren getting really into it
Looking for new songs to sing
Chris singing with Nathan, the only other person who liked country songs
This past week I got sick and even skipped a day of school because of it so it hasn't been a regular week. We went curling on tuesday night because we were going to join a league with eric, carmen, mike and sarah but after we got our lesson and found out that it was triple the amount of money that we had been told to join we decided not to do it. That was sort of a let down but we had fun trying it out. On friday Chris' parents brought our car back home! Yes, we have finally got our car back after almost 2 months of torture waiting and waiting and waiting. They came on the perfect weekend, the sun was shining the whole time. On friday we went out for supper and watched IronMan. On saturday we went for a long walk by the river and watched the billions of fishermen/women that were out. That day Chris also got his early birthday present from his parents, a snowboarding helmet and a 158 piece ratchet set that was on sale for $150 off. We also got our alarm and horn fixed up because they weren't working on our car but now it's all good to go. That night we spent a good couple hours watching a baseball game only to have it cut off at 10pm for sportscentre and we didn't get to see who won. Chris and his dad were pretty upset, Chris even emailed them to complain. He hasn't got an email back. Sunday we had church and watched a lot of football and then went to my parents for a huge thanksgiving meal. Today the 'rents left for a road trip through the States that we mapped out for them. Hopefully they don't hit any deer.

Tonnes of people fishing along the Vedder River
Walking by the river
Chris recruited dad to mark his math tests
This week I'm in my first placement school. It's called Windebank Elementary and I'm in a Grade 6/7 class. It'll sort of be a weird week because we only go for two days to our placement school and observe and then I'm going to a kindergarten class in a different school on thursday and a high school on friday. Then the next week we're back with PDP for three days and then to our placement school for the end of that week. So we won't really get into much for another few weeks, these next few are just a mish-mash of things. I'm looking forward to actually getting in a class though. I hope it'll be a good experience. Well, I've got to watch more football so enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Deers are Dumb

2008-09-27T22:14:00.006-07:00

One more week of PDP is over. This week was more bearable than the first because my body is getting used to waking up at 6:30 every morning and sitting in class all day. The week seemed to go by much quicker too. I visited Abby Traditional on wednesday and got to see how they do things over there. It was cool to see how well behaved the kids there are. They have a code of conduct that everyone follows so it's pretty easy for teachers to get their kids to listen and all the classes we visited seemed to have no need for classroom management. That was what I liked about the school, teachers could just focus on teaching instead of getting kids to listen. Unfortunately all the classes I observed, the teachers weren't really teaching because classes were working on projects or looking up things in their textbooks. But all in all it was a good visit and I wouldn't mind working in a school like that.

Last weekend I took some engagement pictures for a couple who I'm taking wedding pictures for on Dec 20th. Yes, that date is correct. I'm really happy with how they turned out and we had a good time, it wasn't hard to get good pictures of these two, they just naturally looked good.

A frustrating update on our car, which we still haven't got back and our accident happened on...when...August 23rd. Yeah, that's over a month ago. We just got called from the shop today saying they hadn't been given the go ahead from ICBC to fix our car so nothing has happened to it yet. This whole week we were assuming they had already started working on it because on Sept 17th we got an email from the ICBC lady saying that the car was repairable and that the shop had been notified by the adjuster. Turns out the dumb ICBC adjuster guy called the shop and told them to go ahead but then called back saying that he still wasn't ready to confirm for our car to be fixed and he hasn't called them back to say they can start. So let's just say we're sick of ICBC and we feel like they are ripping us off. The guy at the shop and the adjuster in SK both agreed that it wasn't even necessary to look further for hidden damages, which is what the BC adjuster wanted them to do a few weeks ago because he thought it was close to being totaled. But after they did that the cost of damages was actually decreased not increased. Getting that second inspection is what slowed down this whole process by taking two extra weeks to get it done. And now another two weeks is added on because of the adjuster being slow and not telling anyone what's happening. Advice for everyone, don't get in an accident outside of BC unless you want to go car-less for a month and a half.

Anyways, there's my little rant for the day. I'll get over it one of these days.

See you in a year...

2008-09-20T13:16:00.004-07:00

Well, I have experienced one full week of PDP and let's just say my blog will be finding little time on my to-do list. Not that's it's been incredibly busy yet but I can see it coming and coming very soon. This week was all about "what makes a good teacher" and "how to reflect". We were showed little teacher techniques along the way and had lots of group discussions. When you're discussing all day it makes for one tiring week. There was a lot to absorb too which added to the tiredness. Yeah so the program has been pretty mentally exhausting but I think that has to do with it being the first full week so we'll see how next week goes. I'm enjoying the people in our group and the Faculty Associates who are teaching us. They seem to really want to teach us well and to help us out a lot which is good compared to what I've heard about other FA's. This past friday we had a "retreat" at Minnekhada park in Port Coquitlam. The car I was in started the day off by encountering two cubs and their mom on the road to the park, I didn't get my camera in time but it was pretty exciting to be that close to black bears. The rest of the day we spent on a nature walk with a trail guide, sharing presentations of our lives and what brought us to PDP and then some group bonding games. It was nice to have more of a relaxed day to end the week and it helped us get to know each other better too. Besides school not much else has been going on. It's somewhat all-consuming, this becoming a teacher business.

My PDP Group
Last weekend we went to the Rider game in Vancouver, they lost but it was an alright game. It was boring at the beginning but the end got exciting and they came close but couldn't quite pull it off. I don't if any of you remember the last time we went to a game but I told about this guy who started a fight with some BC fans and we saw him again so I took a stalker picture of him. There were also these guys who had too much beer sitting in front of us who somehow thought it was cool to wear promotional towels they got on their heads. I had to take a picture just to prove how dumb they looked. We're going to Mike and Sarah's tonight to see the re-match of BC vs. SK so hopefully it's a better game.

Eric and Carmen
Mike and Sarah
Us
The SK fan who fought last time, we call him Taylor Hicks
Dumb towel guys
SK punting
Hut, hut
SK trying to win
This upcoming week I have some engagement photos for a couple I am doing wedding pictures for and am meeting with another person that wants to book me. If people keep contacting as much as they are I am going to have no time except for school and photography. But that's a good thing, it shows me that people like my work and it'll be a good exercise in "time management". On wednesday we get to visit a alternate school, so by that they mean a private school, technical school, art school, etc. I'm going to Abbotsford Traditional where they have to wear uniforms but I don't know much else about it so it'll be interesting to see if it's that much different from a public school. That's all I got for now so don't get mad if I don't update this as frequently because I'm going to be pretty busy in the next year...

One more thing, just a little shout out to our little bro Ryan, it's his 20th birthday today, Happy Birthday Ryan!

The Adventures of Chris and Vicky

2008-09-10T16:45:00.007-07:00

Today is my last day not being a student so I better get this posted before I have no time. As many of you know, Chris and I went on a road trip down through Oregon, across Oregon and then up through Montana to Saskatchewan. And if you did not know this, well now you do. We spent a week driving through Oregon and Montana before we got to Herbert where we spent another week with Chris' family on the farm. Our first two days we spent on the Oregon Coast at a place called Cape Lookout. We had been there before with a whole bunch of camp people on a staff break a few years ago and we knew we liked it so we went back. Our first day we got to the campsite at around 4 so we went to the beach to check it out and cooked up some supper. There was a good lightning storm happening over the ocean so we went to watch that in the evening. That night it rained pretty hard and almost all the next day it was drizzling or misty. Since our campsite was in the open the first night we decided to get a different one that was farther from the beach but more sheltered. That second day we spent driving around seeing some sites. We went to a lighthouse which also had the Octopus Tree nearby and the Big Spruce tree too. We also went to Seaside which is a town down the road from the park. Chris did some skim-boarding at that beach but I wasn't up for freezing my butt off so I took pictures of him instead. We were able to have a campfire that night which was nice because that's what camping is all about.

The next morning we headed for Wallowa State Park on the far east side of Oregon. If anyone has read "The Shack", this is the park where the girl gets abducted, which isn't the reason we went but instead because he had described it as a beautiful place. This park was very different than the coast. It seemed a lot more commercialized, sort of like Cultus Lake or Cypress Hills for you Saskatchewanians. The campsites were very open and it didn't feel very private compared to what we were used to but we made the best of it. We had a good time checking out the beach and having a campfire. The second day there we drove out to Hells Canyon Recreational Area which was about an hour away. Supposedly this canyon is the deepest gorge in the world, it filled my need of wanting to see the Grand Canyon for now but I still want to see it someday. We had lunch up there and then made our way back to the campsite. This was one of the nicest days for us on our trip so we took advantage of it by exploring the beach and trying to go on a hike to a waterfall but instead we ended up on a hillside with no distinct trails so we gave up on that. We were able to get supper in before it started pouring and there was no hope for a campfire. Instead of a campfire went to a little store down the road and ate an ice cream sandwich by candle light because their power was out. We also had our showers by lamplight because the park had lost their power too.

The next two days we spent in Glacier National Park, Montana at a campsite called Avalanche Creek. This was our favorite spot of the trip because the campsite was more rugged and a lot more private. We didn't get there until around 7pm that night because we had supper in Kalispell and had looked for a hotel there because it looked like it was going to rain. But we couldn't find a decent hotel so we sucked it up and drove to the campsite and found a great spot and went to bed early so we could make the most of our full day in the park. We spent the next day exploring the park, first we went on a nature trail right next to our campsite and then we took a free shuttle up to the top of the mountains at a place called Logan Pass. This was the highlight of the trip for me. First you spend a good 40 minutes driving up a very narrow mountainous road with awesome views of huge waterfalls and then when you get there you are in the middle of the Rockies, it was pretty amazing. Once we got there we took a hike to a place called Hidden Lake, which is what it is, a hidden lake. I had very many good photo-op's on that hike which you will see in the slideshow. Once we got back down to the valley where our campsite was we had a scrumptious steak supper and played some rook and had a nice long campfire.

The last day, on our way to Herbert, we had planned on stopping in Lethbridge to have lunch with some of my old Capernwray friends but a deer put a kink in those plans. Just as we got outside of Glacier Park after stopping for some showers at another campsite, we were going up a road beside a hill that went down to a lake. Running up that hill at full speed was a deer that pounced over the guardrail and we hit straight on with no time to do anything else. I was pretty shocked initially because I was the one driving and we were still in the States and I had no idea how things were going to work out. After a good two hours of many people stopping to see if we were okay and the cops coming to take an accident report, we were towed across the border. We got our car dropped off at the duty-free shop which was basically the only thing at the crossing and the people who owned it were kind enough to let us relax in their RV and watch tv and they also gave us lunch. It would have made the day much more boring and longer if they hadn't been so nice. We waited for a good 5 hours there while Chris' dad and Ryan came from Herbert with a u-haul dolly to tow our car back to Herbert. We got back to Herbert around midnight and that was the end of our road trip.

We spent the following week in Herbert with Chris trying to help harvest but getting little done because of the rain and break-down's. I was able to help out a bit using the ride-on lawn mower to cut some weeds near the grain bins and washing the car since it is now our car until further notice. We also visited with the grandparents on both sides, celebrated dad's 51st birthday and tried to shoot gophers but they didn't exist. It was a nice relaxing way to end our summer. At the end of the week we drove the 'rents car home, stopping in Calgary for the night to see Dustin and Rebekah. They gave us a tour of their neighbrhood and we had some starbucks, played some rook and watched a dumb movie called Drillbit Taylor. Then we drove straight home the next day but that was after driving through snow for an hour just outside of Calgary. We were scared it would be like that through the mountains but it actually stopped snowing once we got in the mountains. It was definitely something I had never seen before, snow in August. So, all in all it was a great trip, we had a good time and we have some stories to tell about it.

Tomorrow I head back to school. I have to drive all the way to Burnaby for the first day which will be brutal but then I just drive to Maple Ridge after that. I'm hoping to get into a carpool though so I can save on gas somehow and then Chris can have the car. I'm not sure what to expect but I'm hoping to find out more of what I'm getting into after this week and next. Chris is busy teaching, he got 4 more classes added to the four that he had in his contract, which means he has no block for prep time which teachers usually get. He might be able to get it worked out for another teacher to take one of his classes so he can have a prep but that won't be until those additional classes are officially his because right now they're another teacher's who can take them back if she wants. So we both will see what our situations turn into in the next couple weeks but it seems to be working out so far. I think this post is long enough so enjoy the long slideshow of our trip...

Josh and Cassie say I do

2008-09-07T21:41:00.004-07:00

I'm slowly but surely getting photos edited over here. I've finished Josh and Cassie's wedding and now I just have our trip pictures to finish. Here's a very long slideshow of some of the pictures from the wedding, I was very happy with how they turned out.

I still have 4 days until school starts so I'm going to soak up that time for all it's worth because I know it's going to get busy very soon. We had a nice relaxing weekend doing some back to school shopping and seeing Eric and Carmen's new place and we also went to church for the first time in about a month so it was good to be back and see everyone and their growing babies. We have a lot of babies in our church. Well, there's not much to say so enjoy the pics.

Taste Tester

2008-09-02T21:25:00.005-07:00

For all of those who can't survive another day without reading something new on here, this is for you. I thought since I have so many new pictures to update with, I would go back a few weeks and show you what we were up to then. Chris was up at camp for the last week as a counselor. He was a little nervous going back into a cabin, thinking he would be too old and mature and teacher-like but he ended up having a really great week. I went up there for one night to visit, it was during the counselor hunt so when I was found I told the girl who caught me that she could put whippy in Chris' face instead. So he got a double helping of that stuff. It was also the teen surprise where they randomly have a party late a night so I stayed a bit for that and ate some of the goodies that were set up everywhere. During that week while he was at camp, I went to a little bbq party at the lake with some friends. It was a good time had by all even though Bonnie and I, and everyone else for that matter, lost big time in bocce ball to the blue team. Once camp was done Andrew and Andrea came to our place for the night and then we went to Mark and Amber's out on the farm the next day. The boys got an idea of shooting guns so we got a box and drew a target on it and went down to the field and shot a gun and a bow and arrow. I have to admit I had one of the best shots, getting my arrow right above the eye. Yeah, I'm pro. We also had a rousing game of catch phrase and an intermission of Amber dousing Mark with water. Then the next day we left for Oregon and our trip to Saskatchewan started but that will have to wait till the next post.

While Chris was at camp, it was my last week of work. It went quick and it seems like a long time ago that I was there. I don't think I'll miss it too much. I just got a call from one of my teaching supervisors for PDP so things are starting to get into gear for that, although I still have a good week to relax before things get crazy. I'm looking forward to switching things up and getting back into school, it should be a nice change. And just to add a little tid-bit of recent news that will be coming in later posts from our two week trip to Saskatchewan I will leave you with these pictures of our newly configured car...

Yup, we had a little run-in with a deer. It happened on our last day of our trip through the States, only 15 minutes from the border. You can see in the first picture the guardrail that the deer jumped at full speed as it was running up a hill below and decided to pounce right in front of our car. We weren't hurt and it didn't hit our windshield which was a miracle. We were also blessed with very nice people who owned the duty free shop at the border crossing in the middle of nowhere that let us spend the day in their RV while we waited for Chris' dad and brother to come pick us up and tow our car to Herbert. We are still waiting to find out if it is totaled so our car is sitting in the auto body shop in Swift Current while we drive Chris' parents car around until it's fixed. Other than that incident it was a very good trip but that's all you get for now, so hopefully this will do for now.

Roy Hobbes the Visitor

2008-08-02T17:44:00.003-07:00

I think I've recovered from getting home at 1:30am last night from the Seattle Mariners game so hopefully I'll make sense in this post. Ryan was out here for a week visiting us, well mostly Chris since I had to work during the days. They had a good time together, playing playstation, hiking, golfing, playing basketball and tennis and just being random crazy brothers together. I find it a bit stressful everytime I go to Seattle because it always seems that we never get there quite early enough or we end up rushing around so we can get to a game by the time we want. Other than that part of the trip it was a lot of fun, the game was a blowout until the very last inning when the Mariners brought the score up to 10-5. But their momentum came a little late and they lost. While we were in Seattle we also got to see inside the football stadium Qwest Field because their outdoor gates were open for some reason. We'll be heading their hopefully on December 7th with Chris' parents to see Seattle play the Patriots so it was cool to see the stadium knowing we'll get to go there soon. So since I wasn't there half the time with the boys the only pictures we have are of their hike up Elk and our day trip to Seattle. Here they are...

I've also finished the engagement shoot I did a few weeks ago for a couple who may be booking me for next May. It was fun taking their pictures, they were up for whatever and I liked the downtown backgrounds I had to work with so I'm pretty happy with them.

Right now Chris is on a camping trip for Josh's Stag, his wedding is next weekend in Harrison, so Chris will be gone until Sunday night partying it up with the boys. That means I get to party it up with the girls, we're taking a trip to Harrison tomorrow and right after I'm done this post I'm going to see Jamie and Lauren. Boys aren't the only ones allowed to have fun.

Backpacking Experts

2008-07-27T21:07:00.004-07:00

Well, the fun doesn't stop around these parts, except for going to work tomorrow, that's not so fun. I've finished editing the pictures of the couple I did a wedding for a few weeks ago. I think they turned out pretty good and they were happy with them so it all worked out. I also did an engagement photo shoot a while ago but I haven't finished those pics quite yet. Other than photo stuff I've been working, which has been tolerable but I'm looking forward to these three weeks being finished. I finally gave notice so now it's official that I'm done work on August 15th. We've already booked our campgrounds in Oregon for our trip up to Herbert so that makes it even more finalized that work will be done. This past weekend we headed up to Manning Park to do some backpack camping with Eric and Carmen. We decided to take a relatively flat trail because it was our first time hiking with big packs and I think that was a good decision. Overall we did about 16km of hiking in two days so I'd say that was pretty good for our first trip. Once we got to our camp we didn't pick the typical spot in the forest but decided to go with the little creekside rocky beach. Besides not sleeping because I heard a mouse all night and another animal that we suspect was a beaver, it was a pretty good spot. The boys set up a nice little table and chairs with some massive logs that were lying around all over the campsite behind us that we used to play games and eat our breakfast at. We hiked to 4 different lakes in total, getting to the last one took a little bit of bush whacking but we got there eventually just to realize it wasn't the nicest lake for the boys to swim in and that we were much more tired than we had thought. We spent the rest of the day playing games, eating, watching stars and talking and there wasn't anyone else around us for miles which was sweet. We headed back pretty early in the morning because we were all awake and it was starting to drizzle but it was a great 24 hour getaway and now I think we're ready for something a little bit more intense. Not too soon though, my body needs to recuperate from this hike first. Here's some pictures from our hike, there were many beautiful spots along the way...

This week Chris' brother Ryan is here so it'll be a fun-filled week and Chris will have a playmate so he won't be bored out of his mind all day while I'm working. Hopefully we'll do some fun things and it'll make the week go by fast so then I will only have two more weeks of work!

Summer Festivities

2008-07-15T08:42:00.005-07:00

Summer seems to have officially arrived over in these parts and we've been taking advantage of it. A few weeks ago we spent the evening at Cultus Lake with Amber and Mark, the newlyweds. We spent some time snorkeling for treasures and then played "telepaths" which is basically a "how well do you think alike" game. We ended off the evening watching the boys chase geese and getting scolded by bird lovers. All in all it was a good time had by all.

Chris sending his thoughts to me so we could win
Mark trying to think like Amber
Amber and Chris
Mark getting a hold of a goose with its head in a chip bag
Chris thought flippers might help
I had a wedding shoot two weekends ago for an older couple. It rained all day so we took them inside a greenhouse which ended up being alright. I couldn't be extra creative though and so they're not quite as fun to edit for hours and hours as other pictures I've done. I'll get some up here once I'm done. I have an engagement photo shoot tonight for a couple that if they like these photos they will book me for their wedding next year. Also, on Thursday I'm meeting with a couple to book their wedding for next February. So it seems that business is happening for next year already, it seems like a lot of people are engaged for a long time before they actually get married. I didn't expect to get so many calls about next year already. But this is a good thing.

This past weekend we headed down to The Glen with Carmen, Eric, Sarah and Mike. The trailer was fixed up even more than the last time we were there in March. New curtains were up, new carpet laid and the additional room was all finished. Looking good Knowlsons, I know you read this because Carmen tells me that's the only way you can see what she's been up to. We enjoyed it very much. There was great weather so we spent as much time as we could outside playing volleyball, swimming, playing bocce ball, going to the river and making fires. The only thing that was bad was that it wasn't long enough.

Well time to go to work soon, only 4 1/2 more weeks and I'm done. It's more enjoyable now that I have my co-worker back that is actually not crazy but I'm looking forward to it being done. I'm sure it will fly by what with all the events coming up like going camping this weekend, Ryan coming in a little over a week and Josh and Cassie's wedding. Those things will make it better. Farewell friends, until the next time something exciting happens...

Keeping up with the Times

2008-06-30T18:23:00.005-07:00

We took the plunge this weekend and bought a cell phone. I had been avoiding getting one because it's just another thing to pay for and up until now there were only a few situations where it would've been nice to have one. But since I'll be driving to Maple Ridge everyday for school starting in September we thought we'd get one, plus Chris has been bugging me to get one for quite a while. So now he is happy that he has a new toy.

Yup so that's our phone, nothing too fancy but we like it. Other than buying a phone it has be HOT in these parts the last couple days. Just sitting in this room without a fan is quite uncomfortable. We've basically trapped ourselves in the apartment when it's hottest with windows and blinds shut, it only gets to a nice temperature past 9pm or before 9am. It's supposed to be like this all week. I just hope by Saturday it will cool off a bit for the wedding shoot I have.
Today I got off work early because there were just too few kids to keep two of us working so I gladly left at lunch time. I just wish the parents had told us for sure if their kids were going to be there so then I might have been able to get the whole day off and actually have a real long weekend and we could've gone and done something. Oh well, such is life.
This past weekend I went up to camp with Carmen to see Rebekah who was out from Calgary to be the camp nurse. It was during Single Mom's Camp and it was their pampering night. I'm not one for pampering so I basically hung out with this little girl at the pool party while that happened and then went back to the nurses station to see Rebekah. It feels weird to be up at camp as a visitor with nothing to do. So many staff are new and it's crazy to think that only a few summers ago that was a place that we were such a big part of and now we're not. While I was up there Chris was helping Josh and Cassie move their stuff to the condo they bought in Mission. Then him and Eric came back to our place to watch Saskatchewan win their first game of the football season. On sunday we were invited over to a couple's house for lunch where Chris and the guys took a dip in their big blow up pool with the kids. Now Chris is off galavanting with Eric, actually playing golf, so I'm stuck in this hot apartment with nothing to do. Tomorrow we're hoping to take advantage of the day off but I have a feeling all the places we would want to go will be crazy busy. We shall see, enjoy your Canada Day everybody.

The Story of the Floating Frisbee

2008-06-22T20:43:00.008-07:00

There once a brand new frisbee...

It was having a fun time getting thrown around by two boys beside a lake. They made quick moves and graceful catches...

Then there was a drastic throw by a boy that we shall call Niloc that sent the frisbee to its death in the harsh and wild waters of Cultus Lake. The boys at first did not know what to do but stare at the poor frisbee...

Then the boys had the brilliant idea of rolling up their shorts and seeing how close they could get with a really long stick to poke it with...

This feat proved to be useless as all it did was send Niloc into a raging fit of laughter at the other boy's, who will shall call Sirhc, short shorts...

So instead the boys decided to throw rocks at the frisbee hoping that the ripples would push it closer to shore...

However, this technique also proved hopeless so there was only one last option that would save the frisbee, a swim rescue by Niloc in his underpants. Or an unnamed woman's swimsuit bottoms, we will never know...

The only thing that matters is that this brand new frisbee was saved and it can look forward to many more days of being tossed by boys who do not know how to throw straight. The End.

That is my story from this night's festivities of our time at the lake with some of our relatives. We had a good time while the frisbee throwing happened but for some reason it never continued after it was rescued. Instead we played safe games that did not involved throwing or sat on chairs far away from the water. We also barbecued some hamburgers and played a little catchphrase.

It was good to see some of the fam and spend our first time at the lake this summer. This weekend was quite a relaxing one, those were our only plans all weekend so we just took it easy. We also went to a staff party for Chris' school on friday night where we played some bocce and talked for a bit but we left early so that was all we got to experience. This week Chris has his last week of school but no kids will be there so it's basically a week where the teachers clean up stuff and play games like Rock Band in their classrooms. Tough job. I will be finding out what my summer schedule is going to look like because starting on Thursday we will have the kids all day, not just after school. It may be a bit of a transition but I think I'm looking forward to the change and hopefully I'll be working the early shift so I get off early too and have a good chunk in the evening to do some fun summer stuff. Let the summer fun begin!

Take a Hike

2008-06-15T20:10:00.007-07:00

We finally got some hot weather around these parts so we took advantage of it this weekend and went for a hike up to Lindeman Lake. I hadn't been there in about ten years and everyone else had never been there so it was new and fresh for everyone. The day was perfect for hiking, not too hot and a nice breeze to cool us off. Once we got to the lake Chris and Eric decided it was a good idea to go out on a floating log and Chris had an even better idea of laying on the log which resulted in him rolling off the log and then he ended up taking a little dip in the freezing cold water. It was quite entertaining. We got a good little workout hiking up and a nice time relaxing at the lake once we got there. Hopefully we'll go again someday and camp up there.

We came back to our place after for some beef dip and played some catch phrase and then after Josh left, Carmen and Eric and us rented the Great Debaters because we didn't have much energy to do much more than watch a movie. All in all it was a great day and we look forward to many more hikes and days like that again.

Today we had our church picnic in the field behind the school where our church services are. Chris and I were in charge of running the kids games and it went pretty well, especially once water got involved. There was face painting, helium balloons, hamburgers and hot dogs, and a guy named Andrew Smith who did a little concert. It was really great weather once again, so great that we got burnt really bad and both look like tomatoes but it was worth it. Now we're enjoying, or for Chris, stressing out while watching the Lakers vs. the Celtics after we were at my parents for Chinese food. It's been a good weekend, just wish it hadn't have gone so fast.

Get-Away for Two

2008-06-09T20:00:00.011-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated our 2nd anniversary with a little get-away to Anacortes, Washington. Chris planned it all and he didn't even give it away like he tends to do with other secrets. We started off the trip with a little shopping at Bellis Fair Mall. I got 5 t-shirts because I was in desperate need of some new ones and Chris, although he didn't plan on getting anything, got Vans shoes, flip-flips and a pair of shorts. They were all for good deals, especially his shorts, only $11 at Old Navy because it was 40% off all guys stuff for Father's Day. After we had enough of shopping we headed to Anacortes and checked into our hotel and then went to check out the park that was nearby and the sights from a trail that goes around the park. Then we went to the "old town" of Anacortes for supper at the Rock Fish Grill and we found a random mural of a guy in a doorway who Chris became friends with. We made a little stop at Safeway for some goodies, including Seasame Street bubble bath because our room had a sweet Jacuzzi tub! And robes! Although the water Chris ran for my bath basically gave me first degree burns I got to relax for a bit and enjoyed the jets for as long as I could before my body felt like it was on fire. We topped the night off with some Hershey's chocolate, which tastes gross in the States, and some licorice as we watched the Pursuit of Happiness. The next day we had some yummy continental breakfast and then headed to this spot called Deception Pass where there's a really high bridge and a cool coastline. We hung out there for a bit, hiked around and then headed back to the homeland. The weather held up for us so that was good and it was a really enjoyable get-away. What a good husband I have.

Right after we got back from the States, Andrew and Megan came over to hang out. Andrew was out from Ontario for Mark and Amber's wedding on Saturday and we wanted to see him before he left sunday night. So we played some games, ate some pizza, watched a movie and randomly sang a camp song before Chris drove him to the airport. We also took a cheesy family photo where Megan and Andrew were our kids. It was a good time had by all and it was good to see those two again.

Andrew and Megan ready for some pizza
Andrew trying to explain a Catch Phrase word
Megan explaining "tickle"
What a happy family
Singing time
Megan hit hear head on our counter when she tied her shoes
Now we're back to work and it's raining hard but it's supposed to get nicer. Chris has an assured job at his school next year, it's a half-time Science position and the other days he can sub so in the end he would make more money than a full-time job because the school also pays him for his prep time. He also applied for a full-time Science/P.E. position that he should find out about soon. He will take that one if they offer it to him but it's good to know that he's going back to that school either way. I think that's all the news around these parts for now. I'm getting pretty good at updating regularly now, we'll see how long this lasts...

Meant to Be

2008-06-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

How is it that a small town farmer boy from Saskatchewan...

marries a BC girl?

Who would've thought that it would end up like this...

Definitely not me. Although I got what I prayed for in a man that knew how to shoot a basketball I never thought he'd come from a farm in Herbert. Looking back the only thing that could have brought us together is God. The reason we met is solely because of Him. You see, in the summer of 2003 we met at camp where the purpose for us was to go and serve God by loving kids and being their counselors. I had no plans or intentions of meeting a guy at camp and Chris wasn't planning on getting a girl either. But I guess things happen when you least expect it. I knew from the first couple weeks of knowing Chris that he was someone that I could easily get to know better and wouldn't mind doing so. Unlike him, I had never dated anyone before and so all previous boys were what you called "crushes". I was hoping that this would not end up as one of those heartbreaking experiences. As the weeks went by we built a strong friendship based on having fun. He tells me that after the middle of summer he knew that I was something special. By the end of summer he had told me that "I think you're pretty cool" and after a random trip out visiting him on the farm we made it official. We dated long distance for a year and a half, seeing each other on major breaks from school. After that I knew we would be able to endure anything. I moved out to Saskatoon in January 2005. Spending time with each other in real life situations we only grew stronger and in November 2005 we were engaged on a very cold winter day. Although the wedding didn't go as expected, being inside instead of outside, it was everything I could've wanted because I got to marry the man of my dreams. Now two years later we are still enjoying the up's and down's of being together but mostly the up's. We've come to know each other so well and there is no one else I would want to be my best friend for life. Looking forward to what the next year of marital bliss brings. Love you Chris!

Waskesiu wedding fun

2008-05-26T21:05:00.009-07:00

Okay, so I'm not getting any better at updating more frequently, I know. But you can expect it to happen at least once or twice a month so that's something I guess. The big event that happened recently was our trip out to Saskatchewan for our cousin Curtis' wedding. We had an early morning the day we left but had a quick connection which made it worth it. Kevin and Alysha took us up to Waskesiu which was where the wedding was and I took pictures during the rehearsal while they went back to our place that we had for the weekend. The wedding was supposed to be outside on the driving range but got switched to inside because it was really windy. The wedding/reception were at Elk Ridge Resort but we headed to Waskesiu for pictures so we could get more variety than just trees and grass. All in all I think the pictures turned out pretty good. There were some squinters from the bright sun but we got enough good ones where most people look normal. Here's a little sample of the many that were taken...

Besides taking pictures we did lots of other stuff up there. We took a walk on the beach, played some intense lawn bowling, ate some ice cream and hung out with the fam. It was really great to see everyone again but it was much too short of time. At the end of August we plan on driving out to the farm so we'll get a good week in of visiting when we go then.

View of Mt. Baker from the plane
Falk boys in the sun
Falk couple on a bench
Ice cream time
Lawn bowling pros
We actually did play, we didn't just stand there
The fam watching some b-ball
Some b-ball
Little Joshie (actually a much bigger Joshie than last time I saw him)
Gotta love Alysha's determined face
Other than going to Saskatchewan we've been busy working and enjoying the hot weather. We busted out the rollerblades today which officially makes it summer in my mind. That and the fact that we have the fan running in our place because its so hot. One night we went for a walk and it felt like we were in Hawaii because it was so hot and humid. We'll see if it decides to stick around. A few weeks ago I found out that I have for sure made it into the PDP program at SFU. I don't know much information besides that I got accepted but it's good to not have to worry about that anymore. Chris has applied for 3 jobs at the school he is working at now and one at the high school close by so he's hoping to get one of those and to find out soon about it. It would be good to know so he can have the summer to plan all his classes instead of going in on Saturdays like he has done all of this school year. As for my job, I got a raise and get another one in July! The girl who was hired a month ago ended up getting a job as a TOC but she'll be back in July and August so that'll be good because I really liked working with her. I also got another wedding booked for the beginning of July. It should be interesting, I'm meeting with the lady tomorrow, all I know is she is a grandmother of three and this is her second marriage. It'll definitely be a change from taking pictures of people I know and from taking pictures of younger couples. So we'll see how that goes. Anyways, that's all I got for now, until next time...

A little of this, a little of that

2008-05-10T18:50:00.010-07:00

Don't worry, we're still alive, for those of you who still read this here little blog. Things have been a tad busy these days but we finally have a saturday night at home with nothing to do so I can catch up on what's been going on. Two weeks ago I did my first official wedding shoot for Bonnie's sister Vivienne and her now husband Richard. It turned out to be a really nice day so that helped out a lot. It was fun to do and I'm happy with the results. I tried a new editing program called Lightroom to see if I liked it and I think I do. I'll have to try it out a little more before I buy it. Here's a little slideshow of some of my favs from the big day...

Because I'm getting more into this photo gig and I got accepted to PDP for September, we decided to go ahead and buy an iMac. It's supposed to get here on Tuesday and then it's play time for us! Technically it's supposed to be mine but we'll see who spends the most time on it.

Another thing we splurged on this month is plants for our patio. It was looking a bit bare with just out little table and chairs but now it's looks like a home and once it gets nicer out it'll be a good place to spend time.

Besides spending too much money, time has been flying by for me because I've been working 8.5 hours everyday and basically only have a few hours in the evening before going to bed. But things will be getting better because a new girl was hired this week for the other group of out of school kids and we'll be rotating shifts every week so one does the 7-8:30/2-6 shift and the other does 11-6. Thankfully I have the 11-6 shift next week so I can sleep a little more than I have been the last couple weeks. Other than long days, work has been going good. After some doubtful and hard days it's been getting better, I've been enjoying the kids more and getting more comfortable with finding things to do with them. The new girl that was hired is really great too and we get along really well so I think it'll be a good summer working there with her. She's planning on leaving at the end of August too because she's a teacher so we're in the same boat with no long-term plans on staying there. Today we had to spend almost 8 hours in a first aid course that is required for working at the child care centre. It's a great thing to have but the thing we didn't know is that we had to pay for it ourselves. This doesn't make any sense, since the reason we went was because our work sent us. So that sort of cheesed us off a bit but I guess it doesn't matter since it lasts for 3 years and if I save a life because of it then I guess it's worth it. But still, they should've paid for it if they want us to have it. That kind of thing, the communication part of the job is very lacking, there are still many things I don't know about and what to do in certain situations but I guess that will come eventually. As far as Chris' job goes, someone with more seniority got his position for next year but he's hoping to get a different position at the same school once the postings come out. And if not he'll look for other jobs and if all else fails he'll have lots of calls as a TOC come September.

In exactly 6 days we are flying to good ol' Saskatchewan for our cousin's wedding which I'm the photographer for. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone even if it's only for a few days. I'll have to stock up on sleep this week because I don't think I'll be getting much over that weekend. There will be many games to play and people to see. Can't wait to see you guys!

The opposite of what I was two weeks ago...

2008-04-16T20:38:00.009-07:00

The answer is BUSY. I am now one busy girl. I have successfully turned down and accepted another job within the same week and have almost finished my second full week of work. Two fridays ago I had an interview at a campground to be their recreation leader for the summer, also on that day I was basically offered to work at a daycare on the spot when I showed up to check it out. The campground called back while I was at the daycare and offered me the job so I had some deciding to do. I decided on the daycare because it was better wages, closer to home, didn't involve working on weekends and is more applicable to teaching. So there it is. I'm in charge of a group of kindergarten and grade one's after school but I also work with 4-5 year olds during lunch time getting all their lunches out and cleaning up after they make a mess. My first week was pretty tiresome because I was working from 7-8:30 and then from 11-6 almost everyday, plus I had a really bad cold which added to the tiresomeness. But I pulled through it and this week has been much better with not as many long days and more energy. The kids are still adjusting to me and I am starting to figure them out. Turns out the manager of out-of-school care is leaving at the end of this month which was not the case a week ago so we'll see what happens. I'm hoping the responsibility will not be carried over to me because I'm not quite ready for that and did not originally intend on being the top leader. I'm not too sure what will happen there but hopefully it will be better and not worse.

Besides getting a job we have been up to some fun stuff. Two weekends ago we headed out to Science World for Josh's birthday. It was a good time but not something I would pay to do again for at least a couple years. After we spent a good couple hours there we went back to Carmen and Eric's for some ribs and cornflake potatoes and was it ever good. I'd say we did a good job.

Learning how to get the sperm to the egg
The Static Ball
Rolling a ball on a spinning wheel
Jump to 300
Jump to 270
The only picture with me in it, my huge jump of 240
Squeeze face
More squeeze face
Eric not quite in the box
Josh mostly in the box
Chris "too husky" to fit in the box
Intense wheelchair racing
Now onto last weekend...we had the privilege of going down to Washington near Mt. Baker to Carmen's family's trailer at a place called The Glen. At this place people have to technically have movable trailers and then basically all of them build decks on them to make them not look like trailers at all. It was quite interesting, most lots have special names like one had a knight at the driveway and it was called "a knight away from home" and this other guy had his whole driveway decked out with race cars flags and his place was called "the finish line" or something. Our trailer though was just a nice little trailer, no crazy theme or weird decorations. The boys went snowboarding on Saturday but us girls stayed home because I was still feeling sick. We had a good time walking down to the river, scrap booking and getting some much needed junk food which the boys assumed we would forget and got some too before they came back home. Saturday was over 20 degrees so we got our fill of being outdoors by playing some baseball and sitting around the fire roasting wieners and making smores. The boys also got their fill of burned faces from forgetting to put sunscreen on. Let's just say that right now Chris's face is peeling pretty good. He also put his arm over the steam of a boiling kettle the next day, just to add more burns to his body. It was a great relaxing get-away filled with lots of good times. Thanks Eric and Carmen! We hope to do it again some day soon.

Learning how to wax a snowboard
The "burn victim" as his students call him
I'm surprised Chris didn't burn himself doing this too
Upcoming events include my first wedding shoot on the 26th so hopefully it's nice enough outside to get lots of great pictures and that they all turn out. This weekend I'm leaving Chris for a night out in Vancouver with some of my girlfriends from Chilliwack. One of our friends is planning everything that's happening so it's all gonna be a surprise of what we're doing. It should be a good time, probably won't get much sleep but it'll be worth it!

Up close and personal with Steve Nash

2008-03-21T18:19:00.026-07:00

Spring break is upon us at the Falk household so we have been having some fun times with our spare time together. Last weekend we headed up to Whistler to hang out for a day and snowboard for the other. The day we got to Whistler we walked around checking out the sites, pretending we were Olympic athletes and whatnot. There's not too much to do up there unless you're willing to buy lots of stuff in stores or go to bars so we only stayed for a bit. Chris got a deal on a cabin about ten minutes from Whistler from a guy he works with so we were able to hang out there for the first night, had some supper, played some games, sat by the fire, it was really nice. We'll definitely be using that cabin again, maybe even for the Olympics. It was nice to have a place with a kitchen and a common room that we could all spend time together in compared to a hotel which would be harder to hang out in. On sunday morning we woke up nice and early and headed to the hill. It took us a good couple hours to get way to the back of Whistler mountain, that place is huge. Trying to find your way around on the mountain is quite a task. It was a really nice day for boarding and we all had a really good time I reckon. Cassie hurt her shoulder so she and Josh headed to the lodge by walking to a new chair lift and then taking it to the lodge but I guess it took them a lot longer than they thought because they only got there once I arrived at the lodge which was at least an hour later. I got a really bad cramp/sprain/bruise on my left ankle and was in quite a bit of pain so I got a really fast and almost scary ride on a snowmobile up the lodge. I had a good time while the boarding lasted though, I've definitely got the hang of carving, it's just those flat sections that mess me up cause I'm too scared to just go straight on them without slowing down. One day I'll get it. Carmen and I let our men have some time alone so they could go faster and be more adventurous but we had fun doing our run a few times. By lunch time Cassie and I were definitely done so we just lounged in the lodge and then headed down to wait for the rest of them. Another great thing about the cabin was that we could drive back there after snowboarding and shower and get changed. Yup so that pretty much sums up our trip, it was a good one and something we'll most likely do every year if possible. Instead of making huge blogs with pictures I've put them into slideshows for your easy viewing pleasure. *If the slideshow stops working or won't restart just try refreshing your page.

Another fun thing we've done recently was I surprised Chris with a night in Seattle and tickets to the Sonics vs. Suns game. He sort of ruined the surprise by saying he would fill out his NCAA bracket when we got home that night and since I knew the deadline was the next morning and he might not be able to fill it out I had to tell him before we left. The plan originally was to just start driving to Seattle after we were done shopping and then tell him. But it was still good, we got some great deals on some new clothes but then we were a little rushed getting to the hotel and the game. That is one thing I would've changed, less time shopping, more time getting there. We made it to the game in time though so it all worked out. The game wasn't the greatest just because Seattle isn't the greatest of teams so it seemed like Phoenix wasn't playing as good as they could've. During half time we went right down to floor level and I got some candid shots of Shaq and Nash. Then we found some empty seats in around row 15 and watched the rest of the game from there, which was a much closer view than we originally had. After the game there was a special Q & A time with Steve Nash for all those Canadians that travelled down to see him so that was one of the highlights. We pretty much met him. With about a thousand other people... Our hotel was only a few blocks away from the stadium and from the space needle so we walked back after the game. Then we had a nice relaxing time in the hot tub and had a good sleep in our humungous king bed. We had a nice breakfast the next morning and started heading back home. Half way back we realized we forgot our bathing suits in the bathroom so we're having them mailed to us. That sort of sucked. But all in all it was a good little trip and our last time to see a NBA game so close to home since the team is moving after this year. Here's some of my stalker photos of the players and the game...

Other than taking fun trips and doing fun things, not much else has been going on. Chris has his break until Wednesday so there's still lots of break to go. I still haven't found a job but this sort of feels like my week break from looking. I'm still waiting for responses from people, if only they would tell me something. That would be good. Something exciting that's happened is I got my first "booking" for a wedding from a stranger who found my website. It's good to know that my website is reaching more people, not just those connected to me somehow. Well, that's about all I got for now, talk to y'all later.

The Good Old Hockey Game.

2008-03-10T18:50:00.008-07:00

Hey Ya'll. Chris here with the update. We had fun this past weekend with a bit of bowling with friends and then our first Canucks game since moving out here. Friday we went bowling in Abbotsford with Eric and Carmen, Mike and Sarah, and Josh and Cassie. It was a fun time, capped off with some Tim Hortons. I was a bit disappointed with the Tim's because I didn't realize that you don't get a roll up the rim cup with a small coffee. I love rolling up the rim. Oh well.

On Saturday we were able to go to the Canucks vs. Blues game. It was my first Canucks game and I really enjoyed it. The playoff race is tight so every game is important and the Canucks came out with a big game in hand win. GM Place is a really nice place to watch a game too. I was pretty impressed. We won these tickets at a marriage class we are taking through our church. All in all I'd say it was a pretty great free date. Vicky took lots of good pictures with her new lens so here is some of the action. I"d say her lens works pretty good because we were on the second last row from the top.

They have 4 huge screens on their score clock. Apparently the largest in the NHL

The Twins

I'm focused on the game.

Naslund with the wide open net. Too bad he didn't score.

Louuuuuuu! Thats what the fans yell after every save.

This proves it was a date. Vicky always takes the pictures and never gets to be in them.

Vicky wanted to get a goal action shot but that was hard because on the goals everyone stands and the camera is blocked. This looks like another good chance though.

Canucks win.

That was it. We had a lot of fun. Next week is spring break so I'm stoked. We go to Whistler this Saturday so stay tuned for that. Catch you all later.

Up and Running

2008-02-26T12:00:00.007-08:00

After many hours of designing and uploading and figuring out a name I have finally made a photography website. With the help of my lovely computer genius husband we were able to get it working last night. It's nothing fancy but it's a nice place to keep some of my photos and it's an easy place for people to go if they want to check them out. I decided on using the name Square One Photography. It just came to me one day and I like the sound of it. Plus it means "starting point" or "fresh start" which I feel is where am at in this "photography business" so it works for me. Sorry Eric, for not using Scookum Photos, it just wasn't quite what I was looking for. Haha. Anyways, I would love if you guys check out the site and let me know what you think. Just click on the link of my logo below and leave a comment here or email me at my new photography email. I don't know where this website will take me but it's definitely a start from square one. Yeah, I know, that was kind of lame. Okay, enjoy the website!

Photo Overload

2008-02-20T12:17:00.009-08:00

Be prepared for many pictures because I couldn't just narrow it down to a few. This past weekend I had a engagement photo shoot with Josh and Cassie at Harrison Lake where they plan on getting married. It was a perfect cloudy day and the rain held off so we got some great shots. I'm very happy with how they turned out, let's just hope the wedding pictures are even better!

I have been thinking of starting just a simple website with my wedding/engagement photos so if people want to look at them they are in one spot but I'm having trouble coming up with a photography name. If you guys have an suggestions let me know. Something original but not too weird would be good. Chris suggested Falkland Photos, to go along with the farm name in Herbert but I'm not too sure about that one. I'm not sure if I even want my name in the title, maybe just something random. Anyways, bring on the suggestions.

Other things that are happening around here... Chris is done basketball for the year, his team lost in their first playoff game. I think he's glad to be done for now because it was pretty busy. I didn't get the Sears job which I'm not too disappointed about because it was a weird situation to begin with. The manager in Abbotsford was the one who interviewed me but it was the Chilliwack manager who would decide to hire me. So I don't really know what she based her decision on if she didn't even meet me. They didn't get back to me when they said they would and so I had to email them myself to find out what their decision was. I guess God has other plans for me. I'm hoping to hear back from Cultus Lake next week where I would really like to work because it works well with school starting in September with their camping season ending around then. So here's hoping... Chris has the privilege of going to Whistler for free this Sunday with the ski club at his school, he is a "teacher sponsor". Pretty sweet deal I'd say. We also bought some lift tickets through Josh who got a deal with work so we're heading up to Whistler again all as a group next month to a cabin that Chris got connected to through a teacher at his school. That is also a pretty sweet deal. Alright, well that's all I got for now, so for those of you who never comment, this is your chance to leave a comment and suggest what my photography name should be. I know you're out there! Reveal yourself...

Sports and Stuff

2008-02-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

A week ago we went to a Chilliwack Bruins game for the first time. Chris got a deal on tickets from one of his students who was selling them so we took up the offer. It was a pretty good game, Chilliwack was up half way through but it ended up being tied by the end of the game. It went into overtime and then into a very long shootout that Chilliwack lost. They should have won but it was fun to watch. Here's some action shots...

The Bruins Bench
Faceoff
He Shoots, He Scores!
Another fun thing we did this week was went snowboarding at Hemlock. We headed up there Saturday afternoon with Josh, Cassy, Eric and Carmen. It was pretty much sprinkling rain the whole time we were there and it was not very fun being at the top with lot of fog and little bits of ice pelting your face from the wind but once we got down the hill halfway it was good. Cassy and I only lasted until we ate lunch and then we hung out in the lodge while the others got soaked to the bone. I should have taken a picture of them when they were finished because they looked like a bunch of wet rats. All in all it was a good day but I would like to go when it's nicer weather that's for sure. I think I got the hang of snowboarding though so at least I know I can still do it for when we go again. And Chris is definitely sure that he made the right decision on buying a board so that is also good.

The Boys
The Girls
In other news, I finally had a job interview. It's for being a Sears Portrait Photographer. I'm supposed to find out by the end of the week what they have decided. I'm not too sure yet if I'll be taking it or not but we'll see once I hear back from them. What I'm really excited about is that I have possibly three weddings this summer that I'm photographing. Chris and I just booked our flights out to Saskatoon on May long weekend for his cousin's wedding which I'll be doing so that'll be fun. I'll also be taking Josh and Cassy's pictures in August. We have their engagement session this weekend if it doesn't rain. This means I have an excuse to buy a new toy for my camera, a flash. It's kind of necessary for those indoor shots to make them look good so I'm gonna have some fun testing it out and seeing what I can do with it. Yeah so I'm excited to be able to take these pictures and hopefully make them great for these couples. Well, that's all I got for now, look back for engagement photos of Josh and Cassy.

Super Bowl Sadness and Snowboard Gladness

2008-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a sad few days around here as the reality of the Patriots losing has sunk in. We had Eric, Carmen and Jeff over for the Super Bowl on Sunday which ended in a shocked and silenced Chris sitting at the end of the couch. He looked somewhat like this guy...

Very dejected. But he's gotten over it and life has moved on. There's always next year as they say. In brighter news he finally got his new pride and joy, his K2 Fuse snowboard, which has yet to be given a name. Perhaps Gertrude or Beatrice, those are my suggestions. We're planning on going out this Saturday so he can try it out and so I can give snowboarding another chance to see if I want to get one myself. Here's the new board in all it's glory...

In other news, no job yet, still patiently waiting. Chris has many basketball games this week but then the season is done and there's just playoffs, which he is looking forward to. My dad is back in the hospital and had a surgery yesterday on his left leg, which is not the one he just had surgery on but had a shunt put in it about a month ago. I guess the shunt didn't work because he got a blood clot and there was absolutely no blood going to his foot so they had to cut him open once again and take a vein from his foot to replace another one in his leg which will hopefully let the blood flow better now. I'm not all sure what they did but hopefully this is the last time he has to go in and he can finally just enjoy being at home and not worrying about going in for more surgeries. Tonight Chris and I are going on a date to a Chilliwack Bruins game. We haven't been to one all year and Chris got cheap tickets from one of his students who was selling them for a fundraiser so it'll be a fun night I reckon. That's all for now, toodles.

Belatedness

2008-01-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, I am a blogging slacker. But since it looks like this outside...

and I have nowhere to go I am motivated to sit down and write a little something.

Let's start on January 19th. We were going over to my parents house for supper and lo and behold a whole bunch of our friends were there to give me a belated surprise birthday party. I didn't even see it coming which is pretty impressive for Chris because he usually slips on those sorts of things or I figure them out before they happen. So we had a splendid evening of pigging out on pizza and ice cream cake and playing all sorts of games, which of course the girls won most of. Thanks for coming guys, it was a great surprise!

Jamie and I
Carmen and Eric playing Apples to Apples (which I won both rounds of)
A re-creation of the surprise I had walking into the kitchen
It's hard to see but we sported some lovely fingernail stickers courtesy of the card Josh and Cassy gave me

So let's see, what else have we been up to. These past couple weeks have been a long waiting game for me once again as I have applied to many places for work but have not heard back from any yet. I keep thinking they lost my resume in the shuffle or something but I guess I'll just have to keep waiting and applying for more jobs that come up. Chris has been told by the teacher whose job he is filling this year that she doesn't want it back next year so we'll see if he gets it for next year too which we are hoping will happen. I've sent off all my paperwork for the PDP program and now I get to wait until the end of April to hear back if I made it in. About two weeks ago my dad went in for another major surgery like he had last year on his left leg but this time it was on his right. He got to come home after only 2 and half days in the hospital and has been doing really good recovering, some of his white hair has even turned back to gray, whatever that means. Now hopefully he'll be able to be up and about more without any pain and he won't need any more surgeries. In other news, Chris and I have been using our gym passes at the Rec center about 3 times a week. I've been swimming, trying to swim 1km each time and Chris has been running and doing weight training stuff. It has been really good, we're enjoying feeling like we're getting back in shape and also having something better to do than watch t.v. We also just finished up a series on Wednesdays nights with our church called Vineyard Vision. It was for three weeks and the pastor led a group of us explaining about what the vineyard church is about and where they're coming from, it was really good to get that information so we can base our decision on staying on more than just the services. So I think we have decided to stick around there, it's a really welcoming church, their goal is to have half of the church come from non-churched backgrounds so there is definitely a mix of people there. We have already been invited for supper to one of the middle aged couples house this weekend and have been randomly prayed for a few times by some of the adults in the church. We definitely feel welcomed there and are excited to see what God has in store for us at that church. That's all I can think of about what's been going on around here. Back to watching the snow fall...