The Boys

Henry and Anderson playing in the tunnel that Henry got from Santa. It was actually pretty fun to play in. I could fit in it, but Chris couldn't!

Winter Fun

We went sledding a little while ago and it was so cold! We only made it down twice before retreating to the truck for hot chocolate!

Crafts and Decorations

These are the crafts I made this year at my ward's Super Saturday. I love them!

The stocking board - my favorite.

Getting Ready

Just one more post for today, and then I'd better save some pictures if I want to keep posting. These pictures are from when we set up our tree and put all the decorations out. I made pizza while Chris set up the tree and then we decorated while watching The Grinch (the cartoon). Also something becoming a tradition.

I'll post more pictures of the finished product later.

Gingerbread House

As per traditon, for family home evening 2 weeks ago we decorated our Gingerbread House (not real gingerbread, but graham crackers!)
I'd say it was a success. We just keep getting better in my opinion.

Woo Hoo Christmas

OK - so I realize it's been well over a month since my last post. I think this was one of my busiest semesters ever, especially the last month when I was student teaching. So that explains the lack of posting up until 2 weeks ago, and since then I have just been recouperating. But I've made a New Years resolution to post more, and I'm going to get started a littler earlier.

We spent Christmas with Chris' family in Beaumont. I think Chris had time playing with his brother (video games that is) and it was fun having kids around for opening gifts.

Here's what the tree at our place looked like after we brought all our presents home. We definitly did well - must have been good this year!

Chris showing off his new leather/suede jacket - very handsome. And of course Rock Band!

Excited about Christmas - or that its over and we can relax and play with our toys!

Watch Out!

In the spirit of the biggest loser, tonight I went to an aqua fitness class. It was quite the work out. I moved muscles I never knew I had. I'm already sore and can't even imagine what tomorrow will be like. But I do feel good. Also, Chis went to soccer tonight, so watch out competition, cause we're gonna be losers....and then winners!

Yay for the Government!

Today I received in the mail an acadamic scholorship cheque for $1,ooo. from the Alberta Government!! Since my tuition is already paid, it's pretty much play money...or saving for future play, either way, I'm gonna have some fun with it!

It's Here!

The first snow fall of the year

What We've Been Doing

We've both been pretty busy with school and work and extra-curricular stuff lately. I had my last day of classes last Thursday and my first final was the next day on Friday. I have 3 more finals left and will finish them this Thursday at 5:30. It'll be a busy week studying for them and making my lesson plans for Monday when I actually start teaching. Chris has been working as usual. He still drives about 2 hours north to his sites. They should be finishing up soon and then he'll be doing office work. It has been great experience for him. He also recently joined a Men's Soccer League which he loves! He is playing goalie now and then will probably move out of the net later on in the season. They have games once a week and sometimes practices too. So between that and playing basketball every Thrusday he's pretty tied up during the week. On Friday we went out on a date with just the two of us. We have been doing so much with friends lately that we hadn't been on a date for a long time. We went to Earls for dinner. I got calm chowder soup (mom's is better) and a cajun chedder chicken sandwhich which was ever so tasty. Chris got chicken quesidilla's that were also tasty. We went to Baskin Robins for dessert. Chris had a fruit smoothie and I got Rocky Road ice cream. We did some shopping for the wedding (I'm sure that was Chris' favorite part of the date) and then watched Transformers (that was the more 'man' part of the date). On Saturday we over to some friends for dinner and games. We had pork sandwhiches, ceaser salad, chips and salsa, and cupcakes. We played Monopoly and I won!! Yesterday we watched Star Wars 4,5, and 6. Believe it or not, but Chris had never seen them all before, so this was a necessity. I made ham and pineapple pizza and it was a nice and relaxing today. Oh, and we still have no snow!!

Take a Look

I added the blog of the lady I am taking my card stamping classes from. It's great for ideas and tips. If you click on the link she has on her blog to the website there are even more pictures and they are categorized (ie. birthdays, christmas, etc).

Everlasting Autumn

We have had just about the best fall season in a long time. We still haven't had any snow! There are rumours of some today, and I guess I can't really complain because it is already November. I have enjoyed the nice weather though. I can still run outside and it was beautiful to see all the leaves change and fall and just to be out of doors. We've had a lot of sun too, so it hasn't been that dreary. So this picture is from back in October while on a walk around the legislature building. It was another nice crisp fall day.

Crafting

Here is what I've been working on lately. It's a scrapbook calender and all of the pictures are things Chris and I did that month last year. It is a work in progress, literally! Last week I had to do November and December because the year ended in October!

For some reason I didn't take a picture of September, but it's more of the same.

Halloweening

It's a couple days late, but here is our halloweening adventures. We had a little party at our place that turned out great and was a lot of fun. We had a pumpkin carving contest, donut on a string eating contest, halloween charades and more!

Here is Chris working on his halloween costume. He went as the Tin Man. My orignal plan was to go as Dorothy, but I couldn't find a dress so I had to come up with an alternative...

And the final products...Chris as Tin Man and me as Professor Umbridge. The theme between us is that we both have no hearts.

We had a pumpkin carving contest, guys versus girls, it was pretty intense. The guys pulled out the drill to help them out, but I'm not really sure if it helped them.

The guys carved a pumpkin Tin Man and we did the Transformers logo. It was a close call but I think the ladies won.

Here are some of our friends costumes.

Captain Hook and Tinker Bell.

Two financial workers after the Wall Street crash.
Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam sandwhich.

Your favorite condiments.

Umbridge and Hermione, they must be under the imperius curse or something.

The Travel Bug

Ten places that I would like to visit (in no particular order)

1. Greece
2. Hawaii
3. The Galapagos Islands
4. Egypt
5. Sydney, Australia (and side trip to Fiji)
6. P.E.I.
7. London, England (and Platform 9 and 3/4)
8. Jerusalem
9. Thailand
10. Russia

Eating Turkey

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Home Sweet Home

I guess it is finally time to put up some pictures on our new apartment. Hope you enjoy the tour. And remember, we manage the building, so our rent is very cheap!

Here is the entry, nothing too special. The laminate floors are nice, but never stay clean.

If you turn right from the entry there is the hall to the kitchen and living room.

The kitchen. No dishwasher...which is why I have Chris!!

This is the view of the living room from the dining room.

Outside our front window. We have a balcony and inherited the BBQ from the previous tenants. We also inherited the curtains.

Finally some people that actually live in the apartment!!

Chillin' out on our couches. We had a bit of an ordeal with these. After one deal fell through (not a happy story) we found these on cragislist and got a really good deal. They are 4 years old and look brand new. At least all worked out in the end.

If you turn left from the entry is the hall to the bathroom and bedrooms.

Our bathroom....very small. You can only stand in it with the door all the way open, or all the way closed. Notice the bathroom...and it looks like we need to change the toliet paper roll!

This is our study and the guest bedroom. Here is my study corner.

And here is Chris' desk. He is currently working on a 3D puzzle of the Millennium Falcon we got a Value Village for $3.oo. I'm majorly impressed cause I could never put something like that together.

Also note the turkey pillow I sewed in grade 8 Home Ec.

And finally our bedroom. The best part, which you can't see, is that we have 'his' and 'hers' closets. It's great. No more sharing, cause Chris really took up a lot of space!!

Something fishy

This is our new fish, Penelope. She's a very pretty and quite active fish. We've actually had her for almost a month now. For those of who you don't know our fish past, two years ago I went home for Christmas and left my fish Sealena in the care of my boyfriend Chris. I came back and my fish was dead. That's all I'm going to say, those are the facts, you can make your own inferences, I know I've made mine....

Success!

Chocolate chip cookies have been the bain of my existence, but no longer is that so! I made the most delicious batch today. Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Chris himself said they were amongst the best chocolate chip cookies he has ever had (I am aware he probably is a little bias). Anyways, thank you to all who had tips and advice. I received multiple no fail recipes and this was only the first I tried, I have to say that I am hesitant to try anything else, now that I finally got it down. And I also updated some of my ingredients, thanks to Alicia for that tip.

Enjoying the Season

I feel like I have been in school closer to 2 months than the actual 1 month it has been! It's been pretty busy, but for the most part I am enjoying it. Still pretty nervous to actually start teaching, I'd better start reviewing the curriculum.

This fall, however has been wonderful. The weather has been so nice which is quite a change from previous Edmonton falls. We've had weather all week around 25 celcius and the leaves have changed making the walk home from school beautiful. Hopefully it'll keep up with nice weather through Halloween. Once November hits it's ok by me to snow.

We are enjoying a nice conference weekend. Between sessions today we had pancakes, bacon, raisin toast, and orange juice. We are pretty big fans of breakfast all day long. Last night some girls came over during priesthood and we watched the Phantom of the Opera and had delicious ice cream and chocolate pudding parfay's. The guys came after and we played some Wii, but they were much more excited when we pulled out Super Nintendo and Street Fighter 2, that was the big hit of the night.

The end.

Going to Catholic School!

School has started and has it ever been busy!! I feel like I've already been in classes and doing assignments and tests for over a month, not 3 weeks! Everything is condensed since I do some student teaching this semester and I just found out today where I've been placed. I'm going to Archbishop Jordan Catholic High School. Exciting! I didn't request a Catholic school, but I think it will be a good experience. Here in Alberta anyone can go to Catholic schools and there aren't extra charges. I have heard lots of good things about Catholic schools and the programs they offer. Now that I have my placement I am such much more nervous. I don't know yet what grade I will be teaching and exactly what subject, but mostly like health education, foods, and maybe career and life management. I'll keep you posted!

Baking Woes

I'm 24 years old and married and I can't even make chocolate chip cookies!!! Everytime I make them something goes wrong. Lately they have been very flat and seem to just melt into one large cookie. They taste fine enough, but the desired texture of a home baked cookie just isn't there. I think at one time I could make them, in between figuring out there is a difference between baking soda and baking powder and getting married. Ever since I've been married I haven't quite been able to get them down. What if I have to student teach in a foods class and we do baking?!? So anyways, any tips or sure-fire recipes (though I have tried a couple of those) would be appreciated!!

Royalty

I just finished watching the movie "The Queen" (I borrowed it from the library for free). I found it very interesting and well made. I don't recommend movies, but I'm just saying that I enjoyed it. That's all.

Aaah, technology

We have taken advantage of some new technology in one my university classes this term. Now it may just be new to us, I don't know if Caleb's high tech school already has this, it could be. Anyway, I (and all the other students) have these 'iclickers'. The teacher can ask a question in mulitiple choice, or True/False, and then on my iclicker I submit my answer, or my vote. It's pretty much like polling the audiance on "Who wants to be a millionire?" Then what everyone answers come up on a chart, showing how many answered a, or b. It's pretty cool. The prof's then know if everyone is understanding and you know where you sit in the class. So yeah, pretty cool I think!

Lots to Do

We had a pretty full weekend that in a way could be my 'Last Weekend' since school has started and things are going to get pretty busy pretty quick. Unfourtunately for all our weekend excursions I forgot my camera, so no pictures with this update.

On Friday we went to the Edmonton Eskimos football game. They were playing the Calgary Stampeders. It was part II of the labor day rival and though we won the first part, unfourtunately we lost Friday nights game. It was still fun to go. We got these general admission tickets at Sobey's/IGA where the ticket is only $17.00 and you sit in a family area where there is no alcohol, which was really nice. It was a cold night, but we were prepared and bundled up. On Saturday the Institute had part of their 'Welcome Week' activities where they rented out the waterpark, so we got to go for just $5.oo a piece. It was good, but too many people, the lines were long! Today we went over to some friends for dinner. We had carrot soup (doesn't really sound good, but very tasty) and homemade buns with brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was a nice evening. Oh, and today I got a new calling and was set apart. I used to be on the Compassionate Service Committee, and now I am the new Relief Society Secretary. I love to be in the relief society, but I already have two meetings this week!! But I'm still looking forward to it, we have a great presidency. Now its back to school...I'd better start acting like a student again!

Labour Day Camping

Over the September long weekend Chris and I went camping at Wizard Lake. As compared to our May Long Weekend camping adventure this one was fabulous. We had such a nicer and bigger site, and we didn't have any neighbours. It did get pretty cold at night, but such is the camping experience.

Chris keeping warm in his mummy sleeping bag. We mostly stayed warm, except for my feet, they froze.

Our site.

Enjoying a warm drink in the morning. I think this is the last day cause my hair is getting pretty disgusting.

Chris cooking pancakes over the campfire.

I guess the camping stove in the background kind of gives us away. We did use that for the pancakes, but I forgot a frying pan and spatula, so we used the pot and I just flipped the pancakes by throwing them up in the air. We did turn the stove off too soon on the last pancake, so this one was actually cooked over the fire.

More Adventures

I have today and tomorrow off, so it's time to catch up on some blogging.

Let's not forget the real reason we went to Minneapolis...to meet Eden. It was so fun holding and playing with her since she's such a good baby, Julie is not exaggerating! It was great to be there for her blessing, and the delicious meal to follow (I believe I told Tom I would comment on the meal, so here goes..) we had grilled chicken that Tom cooked, it was so tasty, corn on the cob, salad, fruit salad, and these really yummy butter rolls (notice I used rolls--seeing as I was in the states they weren't really buns). For dessert was a chocolate bunt cake. Everything was so good together and I definitly over ate!

Meeting Eden for the first time.

It's fun having nieces and nephews...all play and no diaper changes!

Chillin' in the stroller at Valley Fair.

The other great part of the trip was hitting up Mall of America. Mom and I spent most of the day and had a lot of fun and got a lot of goods (well mostly I got goods, but so did mom). We didn't even hit close to half of the stores, but we were both tired when we were done.

The shopping girls!

Me and all my goodies.

Mom infront of Camp Snoopie, which I think now is actually a Nickelodean park or something like that.

Chris definitly in his element at the Lego Park in Mall of America. It was too bad he didn't get to stay longer, he was in heaven!

Admiring the general splendor!