weekend recap - Canada Day Weekend

Yay for long weekends! I don't know why, but even though last week was just a 4-day week it just seemed so long and tiring. I needed this weekend! Stephan was gone up North, still working so I was by myself for the weekend.

This weekend was full of practices for church, as we have a HUGE service at the end of July that involves the opening of our new church building, and the head our church coming from Germany to hold the service (which is being transmitted to over 300 of our congregations across North America). That being said, I started off the weekend by sleeping in a bit (yay for sleep! anything past 5am is sleeping in for me), and had a lazy morning until it was time to go to church for an ensemble practice. After the practice ended, around dinner time I headed over to my cousins', who had invited me over for a bbq along with some other friends from church. We filled ourselves with delicious food (mmm corn on the cob), played bocce ball all evening and had a bonfire.

playing bocce ball

I also got to spend time with this little guy, Henry (my cousins John and Rachel's little baby). I actually was able to get him to give me one tiny little giggle, which was the most adorable thing to hear. And there was lots of smiles from him, which are simply infectious.


Saturday was another day with a bit of sleeping in, and then a long choir practice. This is actually our last one before the dress rehearsal. I have to say, it went pretty well and things are pulling together. I spent the evening by myself, made myself a simple dinner and enjoyed the evening with a glass of wine and a few chick flicks (hey, I never get to watch them...Stephan refuses). Oh, and I was woken up at night again by the howling, wild pack of coyotes. After that, I couldn't ever fully get back to sleep because I had dreams that the coyotes were chasing me and I was unable to even leave the front door of my house.

Sunday was a low-key day. I had church in the morning, and fellowship after. I went to a store following church and bought a mattress set for the guest bedroom, considering my parents arrive in a week. Stephan will have to help me pick it up when he gets home.a I spent some time after church doing some cleaning (since I had been lazy on it the last 2 days), and had a nap, since I was exhausted from my lack of sleep the night before. I made another low-key dinner, and watched more chick flicks (hey, I wanted to cram them in while I had the chance!).

Monday morning was early, ugh. I hate getting up on Mondays. But, on the plus side Stephan comes home from tomorrow, I haven't seen him in a week! And, on the other plus side my parents come to visit in 1 week exactly!

Please, send prayers for my little 17 year old brother, who leaves for Germany today with his friend (they are going there to visit his friend's older brother, who stayed when the family moved to Canada). Pray that he arrives safely, enjoys his trip, no harm happens and that he stays out of trouble. Yes, I'm a little worried. But I'm his older sister, and I can't help it. That being said, I hope he has the trip of a life-time, and I know it will be a great experience for him.

Weekend recap

This weekend was awesome.

Friday I was off of work for both Subway and my teaching job. YAY! The reason you ask? Well, I think I mentioned it on Thursday but if not...Stephan's cousin, Stephanie, arrived from Germany on Thursday night. She lives in the north of Germany now, and since they were on opposite ends of the country they hadn't seen each other in 4 years. Stephanie works for the airline company Lufthansa, and she had been trying to get a flight out to Calgary for sometime. And she finally managed it :) She flew in Thursday night and was staying until Sunday morning. And yes, she speaks fluent English so there would be no problem communicating.

Since she was a little jet-lagged she did some catching up on sleep. Stephan was stuck working overtime in Canmore, and the plan was that me and Stephanie would meet up and do some sight-seeing around Calgary, then head to Canmore for dinner with Stephan and stay at the motel with him, so he could at least see his cousin for a bit. On Saturday me and Stephanie would go sight-seeing around Banff.

I called and made arrangements for what time to meet her at her hotel. I was actually quite nervous. I haven't, sadly, had the chance to meet any of Stephan's family yet. I met up with her at noon, and she just wanted to get a good view of Calgary. So I drove her around to some spots with a good view, and done to the south end so she could get an idea of how big Calgary is. I also took her to the Edelweiss, a German store in Calgary. While we were doing this we got a text message from Stephan, saying that they were further ahead than planned and that the boss was sending everyone home for the weekend. YAY!

Me and Stephanie decided at this point to head to the grocery store and the liquor store. We grabbed some groceries for dinner (Maultaschen - a German soup), and she grabbed some Canadian goodies, and then we grabbed some wine for us, and some beer for Stephan. We headed home and had some wine while chatting, and I got dinner ready. Stephan returned home at 7pm, and we had a wonderful dinner. It was so nice to see Stephan smiling, happy to be with family again. You could tell he was thrilled to have family here. Then we took Stephanie along with us to the German club, after which we stayed up late chatting. We finally called it quits and headed to bed.

We got up early in the morning and had some breakfast, and headed off to Banff by 9:30pm. We just did some driving around, and visited Lake Louise. Sadly, the road to Moraine Lake was still closed. We also stopped in the town of Banff, and walked along the main street looking at the stores. We headed into Canmore for an early dinner at the Grizzly Paw. I tried their home brew honey wheat beer, and it was delicious! After dinner we headed home, said goodbye to Stephanie and dropped her off at the hotel. Her flight was leaving early Sunday morning.


I have to say meeting her was great, she was really nice and friendly and very easy to get a long with. We had a lot in common. She is hoping to get flights out here several times a year now, and hopefully plans to come do some skiing next winter with her husband. I'm really looking forward to the next time she is out here! What made me the most happy was watching Stephan spend time with family. He was so happy, and it made me smile. :)

Saturday night we watched a movie and relaxed after the busy day. Sunday was a lazy day with a nap after church and left-over Maultaschen and more tv and movies.

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

Last night, Stephan's cousin Stephanie flew in from Germany. She's a stewardess, and lives in the north of Germany (while Stephan lives in the south). He hasn't seen her in 4 years. She managed to get a flight out here, and is here only until Sunday. We were both supposed to have the day off of work, but sadly Stephan is stuck in Canmore working overtime this weekend.

I am going to meet up with his cousin around lunch today, and do some sightseeing with her. Probably we will drive up to Canmore and stay the night with Stephan, have dinner with him so he can see his cousin, and than do some sight-seeing in Banff on Saturday.

I'm really excited, and a little nervous! This will actually be the first of Stephan's family I have met. I'm looking forward to spending some time with her in the next 2 days!

spoiled

A week ago Sunday was Allison's birthday party. She turned 4! Needless to say, she was spoiled. My mom made her cake. My dad made her a cradle for her baby doll. Take a look. I think you'll agree that my parents completely spoil this child.

My baby brother is 17 today!

Today is my brother's birthday!

Ian turned 17 today! My little brother is not so little anymore, in fact he's taller than me. And he'll most likely be taller than Stephan! HOLY!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BROTHER!

And a happy late birthday to my dad, one month ago on Jan. 8th. I was gonna do a happy birthday for him to on my blog, but I got side tracked with something (how HORRIBLE am I?!), just for the blog, not his birthday! Dad turned 51!

At Mom's 50th birthday, 2 1/2 years ago

GREAT NEWS!!

I've been waiting to tell this, until it was ok for me tell!

Last Sunday my sister, Meaghan, got engaged to her boyfriend Russ! CONGRATS TO BOTH OF THEM! I'm so very very happy for them! They also just got possession of their first house last weekend, so it was a very big important week for them. I know they will have a wonderful Christmas as a newly engaged couple in their beautiful new house!

New Years 2008/2009

The Engagement Ring

Sorry its not the clearest picture, but its the best I have!

So, congrats to my beautiful little sister on her engagement! I'm so happy that you found such a wonderful guy, and I know that the two of you will be truly happy. CONGRATULATIONS MEAGHAN AND RUSS!

The Fake Scrooge

My dad denies liking Christmas. He says he's a scrooge and walks around going "bah-humbug" to anything Christmas related. He complains when there are Christmas songs on.
Each year, he puts up the lights outside earlier and earlier. He says its because he wants to get it done before the snow.

I don't believe a word of it. I think he's a bigger Christmas freak than even me and my mom, he just doesn't want to admit it.

But now finally I have proof!! Last year at Christmas time my Dad was studying my Mom's HUGE Christmas village, and decided it wasn't realistic. "How can there be a church up on the hill with no steps or way to get to it?!" he said.

Well this year he decided that he was going to fix this problem and build a stone wall and steps for my Mom's Christmas village. For the past week and a half, he spent several hours each day building the wall , individual stone by stone (steps are still to come!!!)!

This is the result so far, minus the steps.



Well Dad, I think you blew your cover. Its official, you are a fake-scrooge. The game is over! You LOVE Christmas. This Christmas village is now official proof!

Jenna's wedding

As I mentioned on the weekend, Sunday was Jenna's wedding (a close family friend, she's like a cousin to us). I wasn't there, because I live in far-away-Calgary (boo!!). This is the first time I've been away for a wedding, so I'm pouting :P I know I won't be able to make it back as often anymore (heck, I'm missing cousin Ricky's wedding next weekend too!), but this is the first time so its a little hard. Plus, Jenna is moving to the states after the wedding so its not like when I DO go home I will see her. :(

But my dad sent me some pictures of the wedding he knew I would enjoy, and which would make me smile. And because I wasn't there for Jenna's day, I want to pay a little tribute to her wedding day here on my blog.

So, congratulations Jenna and Rich! You are both wonderful people, and I wish you a life-time of happiness together! I miss you, and I really wish I had been there! Richard, don't kill my cousin with your crazy New York driving, I know first hand how you drive!!

Jenna and Richard

Mom's cake

My sister Meaghan, one of the bridesmaids

Meaghan and her boyfriend, Russ

Meaghan, Ally, and Russ. Ally also adores Russ.

a conversation with Allison

I have mentioned Allison before, she's 3 1/2 and the daughter of my parents' bestfriends. This was my phone conversation with her today:

Me: Hi Ally, I miss you!

Ally: I miss you too!!

Me: How you doing Ally?

Ally: I have a cold twoodaayy

Me: If you are sick shouldn't you be in bed?

Ally: Umm......what?!

Me: Shouldn't you go to bed if you are sick?

Ally: No, I'm all bwetter now?!! Not sick anymowe.

Me: Hey Ally, I heard you were dancing with a BOY at Jenna's wedding?

Ally: yeah, I danced with a boy.

Me: What's his name?

Ally: I don't remember his name.

Me: Is this your new boyfriend?

Ally: NO!! He's JUST a boy!!

Me: But you danced with him and held his hand. Are you sure he's not your boyfriend.?

Ally: Umm....no...he's someone else's boyfwiend.

HAHAHAHA! This kid is too cute!!!

Mom and Ally

Saturday happenings

Today I got to pick up my car, it was in the shop for the last 4 days getting all the dents from the hail storm taken out. YAY, my car is pretty again, no hail dents!

The shop was downtown, but I had to drop off the rental first. And then they drove me over to get my pretty car. So blue and pretty. haha. And then I tried, tried being the keyword, to drive through downtown and get home. As I mentioned before, I was starting to feel comfortable driving downtown.

Well, I spoke too soon. There was one-way streets, and construction. And detours. And traffic. And missing of the detours. And my GPS constantly loosing its satellite signal and "re-calculating". Eventually, I got so lost I didn't even know how to get out of downtown. I nearly had a panic attack, I hate downtown driving. This is my worst nightmare. After I pulled over and calmed down, I managed to get my GPS going again and get out of downtown with a very different route I have never seen before.

On the way home, I found this lovely little park and rock garden. Guess the getting lost was a good a thing. I took note of where it was, and plan to go back with my camera because it was just beautiful.

Oh, did I mention I left my garage door opener in the rental car, and the place was closed until Monday by the time I realized it?! Super smart move. I called and left them a message.

I tried a new recipe tonight: Minestrone soup. Turned out pretty good. I'll have to try it again and adjust it more to my taste. I just love soup.

And tonight, my dad e-mailed some pictures. My mom did some more cakes...one back in April for her friend's surprise party (It's of a cheeba, or cheeva bus from Columbia, where her friend comes from), and one she just finished tonight for a close family friend's wedding, my cousin Jenna.
I will be adding them to the section on my blog "Mom's Cakes", so go check it out! But here's a sneak preview:

homesick, again

Today, I'm feeling a little homesick.

I realized the last time I was home was in April. That was a long time ago.

It all started today at work, when I was thinking about going out to the mountains this weekend to take some pictures of the fall colours, I thought it would be pretty.

Until my manager said: "Colours? What colours?!! All we get here is a few yellow leaves and then bare trees in 2 weeks." She then went on to inform that fall here is not like Ontario, with the long beautiful fall weather and the brilliant colours. Here, the leaves turn a yellow-green, and then fall off and leave you with bare trees in a matter of weeks. They don't get the oranges, or the reds, or the purples. None of the brilliance of Ontario.

And it made me miss Northern Ontario, who's fall colours are even more brilliant than southern Ontario. And then I started thinking about family and friends.

This weekend and next weekend I have two weddings in the family. Cousin Jenna, and her fiance Rich get married this Sunday. And my cousin Ricky and his fiance Becky get married the following Saturday. I am unable to attend both as a.) I don't have the money and b.) I didn't know what my work situation would be (as in if I was teaching, I wouldn't be able to take the Monday off). So, this will be the first time in my life I have ever missed a family wedding (since I have been old enough to be invited). And it bugs me.

I know its life, and that being this far away its expected and I won't be able to make it home all the time. But still, this is the first time so its hard and it sucks. I'll definitely miss being able to celebrate the day with Jenna this weekend, it would have been an awesome party. And my mom is doing the cake!

Here are some pictures of what fall looks like in Northern Ontario:

one of the lakes in my city

This is off a small falls on the outskirts of my little city, obviously I did not take this photo


Just a random photo I found as an example of our pretty colours

\

A phone conversation with Dad....

Before I share this conversation there are two things you need to know:
1.) Stephan has never, not once bought me flowers. He does tonnes of other cute little things, which I love him for. But never flowers. Its been a quest, and I drop blunt hints all the time.
2.) My dad is a smart ass (pardon my language), Stephan is a smart ass. They get along great. Both always have a comment ready to throw back during conversation. This is KEY!

Me, in a super excited voice: Dad, I bought Stephan flowers, and then went on and on about them and how nice they look in the apartment. And then Stephan said that since my birthday is on the 7th, I can buy flowers on the 7th of every month!!!!

Dad: .....Why doesn't Stephan buy you flowers on the 7th of every month?

Me, turning to Stephan: Dad says why don't YOU buy me flowers every month?

Stephan: ..................................................................................................................................

**at this point, I'm dying of laughter inside because for the first time EVER, Stephan has no smart ass response**

Stephan, finally: ...........because I'd rather spend the money on pretzels.

Me, turning back to Dad: He said he'd rather spend it on pretzels.

Dad: Don't worry, he'll figure it out eventually.

changes in the wind...

So, over the next week or so I'm going to be making some changes on my blog! As you can already see, I've changed the layout and background.

I will be adding a section on pens. My dad turns pens, and does a wonderful job. I'm waiting for some photos from him and then I'm going to create a section devoted to that, so I can show off my dad's handiwork.

And I'm making one on Mom's cake, she's awesome at them!

And since summer is nearing an end, its time to get ready for hockey!! Another section will be made devoted to my Habs. Junior camps are already underway, and after that is the Habs training camp. So time to get the whip cracking!
..It's also a way for me to try and get excited about my team, since there have been so many changes in the last year that I am still not comfortable or happy with. I know people reading this site are mostly girls, and do not care about my Habs. But hey, its my blog. It's about me. And I'm all about the Habs!!! (this section could end up becoming quite extensive!!).

Parents & Ian's trip out: Part 3: Banff Day 3, and the last few days

Ok, so I'm gonna finish off my family vacation/visit in this post!

Banff - Day 3
Sunday, we decided to just do some driving around this day, not in Banff though. We took a gravel highway up behind Canmore that my parents found on their first trip here, they said it was really nice. It was the same road a pamphlet had recommended, and it led into another highways. It was all gravel, and it was apparently the highest road in the mountains (or gravel one anyways). Eventually, this road connected to Highway 40 through Kannanaskis country (and a BUNCH of provincial parks). All in all, it took us about 4 hours to get home to Calgary. But that's because we spent a lot of time driving down random side roads to do some exploring, and to stop for some good photo opps. And man, was there a lot to take pictures of!

We saw 4 moose, 4! Including a cow and her calf, who walked out from the bush and passed right in front of our car. They then stopped on the road to stare down a coyote that had wandered onto the same road, until momma decided it was safe and led her baby back into the bush. We also saw a young bull, and an older bull (although he wasn't huge, he still had bigger antlers then the little bull we saw). Here is the coyote...its very small, on the road near the top. This was as far as I could zoom in

Staring down the coyote

young bull

older bull

And, miracle of miracles, WE SAW A GRIZZLY BEAR. And the most amazing part was he was on top of a hill, on one side of a small bushy area that joined up with a parking lot on the other side. 100 meters on the other side of this little forest area were people in a parking lot, with kids and dogs, totally unaware of how close they were to a grizzly. And he just sat on top of the hill (I decided it was a boy), eating berries off of bushes. And we just sat and watched him in the safety of our van for about 20 minutes, taking tonnes of pictures. It was unbelievable. And relieving, because Stephan was fully prepared to drag me through the bush for the next 2, 3, 4 years until he found his bear. So thankfully he saw his bear without getting either of us killed. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever.wandering into danger (really, they never went past this spot! Its a joke on Stephan's dad)

Then it was back home for the night, where we stopped for dinner on the way. At home, we watched a movie all together before heading to bed. Oh, and did laundry. Fun.

On Monday, we went to the Olympic Park. We bought tickets to go up the ski jump, where there was a little museum of Olympic memorabilia, it was quite informative. We also got to observe people zip-lining down the ski-jump. We also took a look at the bobsled/luge/skeleton course, and then played a game of mini-golf. It sucked. It was an extremely difficult course (I didn't know this, although I've been wanting to do this course for awhile). It was beyond difficult, it was ridiculous. It wasn't much fun, and I quit on the 15th hole. I've never quit a game of mini-golf before, but I was just to frustrated and starting to get angry. Stephan, who is quite good at mini-golf, even had difficulty. My dad too.

Then we hit the road again, to go down to Fort MacLeod. Stephan had to go back to work. But first we planned to visit Heads Smashed In Buffalo Jump. Sadly, none of us were smart enough to check the hours of the museum online before we left, and it was closed by the time we got there. So we just went for dinner in Fort MacLeod, we found a nice little place called Johnny's. And then we spent sometime wandering around their little downtown, they have very old buildings there. Including a theater from 1912, with original seats and everything! I want to see a movie there sometime...

After we dropped Stephan off, we headed back home so my parents could finishing packing. It was back to work for me the next day, and my parents left Tuesday morning.

It was a wonderful time with my parents and brother, we did and saw a lot and made many wonderful memories. I'm really glad that they were out here and we got to spend some time with them. And I'm really glad that my Mom had such an awesome birthday...I know its one she will remember for a long time.

Parents & Ian's trip out: Part 2: Banff, Day 1 and 2

So I need to break Banff up. We spent three days there. I'll cover day 1 and 2 in this post.

Day 1
We decided on day 1 (Friday) to start off with a trip to the Columbia Icefields. Google said it was 2.5 hours from Calgary...turns out it was 2.5 hours from Banff. On the way, we saw the first of our wildlife:
The Icefields itself was really cool. They took you out on an ice explorer, down the steepest drive-able hill (only by these machines) in the world and onto the toe of the glacier. The area we were on made up only 2% of the entire icefield, which you couldn't seen beyond the top ridges. The part of the glacier we stood on was the deepest, and it was as deep as the Eiffel Tower is tall! They were also very concerned with the glacier, the tires were really soft rubber so it wouldn't damage the glacier, and they plowed a road out there through the snow. Every few years they moved the road so it wasn't in the same spot, so it wouldn't weaken the glacier. They also said the glacier receding was a natural process, and that it has been receding gradually forever. We also got to try the glacier water. All in all, it was a great experience. Oh, and we saw big-horned sheep on the way to the glacier (females and their babies).


On the way home from the icefields, we stopped to look at Peyto lake. Yet another pretty glacier lake in the mountains.


We checked into our hotel in Canmore, which was brand new and actually was a condominium with a fully equipped kitchen. It was so awesome, we immediately booked for a 2nd night. It looked like this:
It also happened to be Mom's birthday (she turned 52), so we gave her her presents, and then took her out for dinner in Canmore. We came back to the hotel for a swim, and then went out to buy dinner to bbq for the 2nd night.

Day 2
We drove out to Lake Minnewanka (spelling?) on the way to see Lake Louise. By the lake, we saw another big horned sheep and did some exploring on a trail down the hill overlooking the lake. It was very pretty. Then we headed out to the Lake Louise Gondola, hoping to see some grizzly bears since it was a hotspot for them. We didn't see one, but there was one in the area and as a result we weren't even allowed to walk down the road to the interpretation centre, the gondola people drove us down. After the gondola, we took Ian to see Lake Louise. Sadly, it started raining so we didn't get many photo opps, nor did we get to explore with Ian around Lake Louise. So we headed off to Lake Moraine, my parents really wanted to see it and the rain let up for it! Mom and Dad liked it better than Lake Moraine, Ian too since he could climb up rocks with Stephan and do manly guy tough stuff.


We also saw another black bear, but he ran across the road too quickly to get a picture of.

We also made a stop in Banff to show Mom and Dad the Cascade Gardens. Since me and Stephan found it the first time I've been wanting to show them, I knew its something they would really love. And they did! Dad has quite a few pictures from the garden that he would like to turn into puzzles.
Then we headed back to our lodgings for the night and had a wonderful BBQ overlooking the mountains, and a swim in the pool. We finished the night off with a few drinks and a movie.

Parents & Ian's trip out: Part 1.

So I guess I'll start with the vacation recap at the beginning.

My parents and brother arrived on Monday. Stephan had the day off because it was a holiday Monday. Mom and Dad surprised me by bringing out all my remaining boxes of books, so now most of my stuff is here :) We had a nice dinner, and then Moms took us grocery shopping and bought us food (yay for Moms!!). I also gave my dad his belated Father's day present. Tuesday Stephan had to go back down south to work. I dropped him off in the morning, and I also had to work Tuesday and Wednesday. While I was working, my parents went to see the Calgary tower and did some shopping. On Thursday, it was time to pick Stephan up (since he had the day off, and the rest of the crew was still working). We made a day out of it.

We traveled to Okotoks to see the Big Rock, which is made out of the same rock as the mountains. It traveled here on top of a glacier, and then got left behind when the glacier receded. It was kinda neat. But apparently we weren't supposed to climb on it, someone got mad at us...I figured we did less damage then the teens who obviously party there by evidence of the broken bottles all around the rock.
Then we drove west towards Crowsnest Pass, through the foothills at the base of the mountains. We went to see Frank Slide, which is the site of Canada's most deadly landslide. An avalanche buried part of a town and killed about 70 people in the early 1900's. Turns out the mountain was unstable, and the Indians had tried to warn them that the mountain moves or "walks". They obviously didn't listen. You can't even see the houses anymore, they are buried under huge boulders and it stretches pretty far. It happened at 4 am, and in about 90 seconds so they didn't stand a chance.
Oh, and since we were close we drove over the B.C boarder. Just to say we were in B.C.

Then we picked up Stephan. Mom and Dad gave him his belated birthday present (which was in June): a coffee maker and coffee!! Instead of a coffee pot, it stores 6 cups INSIDE and keeps the coffee pretty hot. Stephan was pretty impressed and happy with the gift.
And that's the end of Part 1!