Christmas Traditions

Christmas mornings are some of my favorite childhood memories. When we were little Joel and I would be so excited about Chritmas morning, we certianly woke our parents up and crazy hours to open presents and to see if Santa ate the cookies we left him. My parents would join us at the tree as early as we could make them get up, in all reality they would get up fairly early, we were good at pestering. It was usually just the four of us because the rest of our extend family lived provinces away. We would open our stocking and then dad would make eggs benedict, then we could open the rest of our presents. All day we would play and enjoy some family time. The turkey had to cook all day and the smells would waft through the house.

I loved those traditions and in many ways they continue even today. Okay thing are a little different these days. It is now dad who is the first up. In fact, as I slept on the couch last year I was woken up really early as dad made coffee (this year I get the luxury of a bed, being married has it's perks). The four of us have now become 6, which is even better than 4! Dad still makes breakfast, and we still enjoy some morning family time. At the same times things have changed, we are closer to extend family, and now I have added more family to the need to see list.

All this being said I am currently struggling with how Jay and I start and keep our own family traditions. You see I loved those traditions so much that I want them for our children (when we have them, many years from now). Actullaly, I kind of want them for myself even now. This Christmas is seems we are on "go mode". We are already in the city, we came in Sunday night to take our parents (both sets) out to Celebrations. Tomorrow is the Putnam gathering, then on Christmas day we go to Jay's family gathering, and then on Boxing day the Hayward gathering. After that we will head to McGregor and spend some time with the Boaz's before heading back home. I like to see all the family and enjoy some good visits, but will this crazyness make good memories? I want to wake up on Christmas day in our own bed and spend some time together as a family (even if that means just Jay and I).

Maybe this is a common stuggle for the newly married!

Happy 10th Birthday Dad!

My dad turns 10 today! It was 10 years ago today that dad sat in his hospital bed and recieved his stems cells. Sometimes it feels like it wasn't nearly that long ago, other times it feels like it was a very long time ago. 10 years ago we didn't know what the stem cell transplant would mean; would it give him a year, or less, or more? The doctors were only somewhat hopeful that this would really work. From what I remember it wasn't much fun for dad, the chemo was pretty harsh, and he even hallucinated for a couple of days. It might have sucked but I was so glad he did it! The angles he collected and hung from his IV pole still adorn our Christmas tree. The prayers that were said that year did not go unanswered.

Happy 10th Birthday dad! May there be many more!

Here is the family (Dad on the end), on one of the most important days for a father and daughter!

Good For a Few Laughs!

AHHHH!! My day has been interesting, and looking back good for a few laughs. I wanted to drive to work today (I was going into town right after work to get stuff for a class party), so I got in my car, and promptly got stuck (the heavy wind last night blew all the snow across the driveway)! I abandoned ship and walked to work, I figured I would deal with it later. I warned my students that a party might not happen becasue there was a chance I wouldn't be able to get to town. This was not good for them, so the shoveled my car out (reminds me that my kids are really great people)! Party saved!

I got to town and did my shopping. As I was in teh checkout line at Co-op I picked up the bottle of dish soap I was buying. the lid fell off, and soap dumped all over the til. Oppps! I still smell like soap! When I got back to school (I have a meeting tonight) I realized I forgot the chocolate milk I was buying for the party (I even had a list) . GRRRR!! I am hoping that hot chocolate will make up for the lack of milk becasue I am NOT driving back to town!

All I can do is laugh, and be so thankful I have people around me to dig my car out of the snow, and maybe even forgive my forgetfullness!

A Very Good Day!

I enjoyed a good, even wonderful day today! After Church this afternoon Jay and I decorated our Christmas tree. He usually doesn't let me put it up until December 1st, but he is gone for most of the week and I am gone next weekend so he agreed to do it today! We listened to Christmas music and ate chocolate fondue and put up the tree! It is officially Christmas time!

After decorating and eating was done I enjoyed a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap. Really I think God created Sunday's for just such a thing. I love napping, but I love it even more on Sunday's, maybe because I have no guilt about relaxing on the day of rest!

Not long after I woke up my sister (in-law, to be) called me. She asked me to be her bridesmaid! So much fun to FINALLY have a sister, and I am blessed to be part of her and Joel's wedding. Bonus: there will be no seafoam green, puffed sleeved bridesmaid dresses!

So it has been a good day! Actually a great weekend! On Saturday I enjoyed lunch with Sheri, I went to see a student play hockey (and was glad to see his team win, and he scored 1 goal and got an assist!), baked sugar cookies... it was a full but good Saturday!

Now onto a week of busyness with no Jay around. This week will end with a girls weekend, of course involving shopping! YEAH!

Christmas is Coming the Goose is Getting Fat!!

Okay, maybe it is still a little early for some, but I want CHRISTMAS!! I love this season, the decorations, the music, the atmosphere, the friends, the family... it is by far my favorite time of year (I have even got two Christmas cards already!)! It helps that we celebrate the most wonderful event in all of history!

The very first year I bought a tree and decorated it Jay and I had just started dating, he came up and helped me put it up, and I want that to continue as a tradition (although I think he doesn't really care). Jay would like to set the tree up as late as possible (Maybe even Dec. 24), I want it up now! We compromise and set it up sometime after the first of December.

This year we actually had to set a date (which sounds bad becasue we now live together) becasue life is a little crazy right now. Jay was in the city last night and curls tonight, I am in the city Thursday night. Next week is so much worse! Jay is gone Monday and Tuesday nights, and I think has a meeting another night and I am gone Friday and Saturday for a girls shopping trip :) ! I guess we will set the tree up on the third (I hope!). Christmas music, candles, and baking (which is the best part in Jay's mind), here we come!

So when do you set up your tree? I have a poll on the side bar, answer away!!

Life As I Know it is ITCHY!

Yup! I am still covered in hives. From the top of my feet to the tip of my head, I am itchy! I am taking Reactine every morning so that I can concentrate on other things while I am at work (it takes the itchy-ness down but it never is gone). By the time I am in bed it is all I can do to stop scratching and fall asleep (I can only take one reactine ever 24 hours). As I researched it can take up to a week for this allergic reaction to go away. It is getting a little better (there are now individual hives and not one massive one). I wonder if allergy tests are in my future?! :(

Rough Week!

It has not been a fun week! It all started last Monday at my parents house, I came down with an awful flu! It was pretty bad. I even missed the meeting with our financial planner (Jay went on his own), we cancelled plans with friends... it was not a good day! It was taking awhile to feel better, on Friday I came home early (it was an admin. day) and slept from 3pm until 4am on the couch! My stomach was still upset, I didn't feel like eating... Of couse it was report card week so I spent as much time as I could working on them (but sitting wasn't fun).
On Saturday things only got worse! I still wasn't feeling well and then broke out in a hot, red rash! It started on my face but by 10pm it was starting to spread, so off to the hospital we went. The nice nurse gave me benadryl and an IV shot of steroids to calm the rash down. By 2pm we were home (I slept all the way, benadryl does that!). They think it is an allergc reaction, I have no idea to what but the rash is still here. This morning it is looking better though! I only hope it goes away soon! As for the flu it has dissappeared! Hopefully in 2 or 3 more days all is well!
So here's hoping life gets back to normal!
~S

Who's Next?!

My little brother!
To do what you might ask!? To get MARRIED!
On Saturday my brother asked Ashley to marry him! I am so excited for them; I love Ashley and she is so good for Joel. Okay, I might be a little happy becasue I get a sister out of the deal too!
Although they haven't set a date, I hear I might get to be warm in the middle of winter, but not this winter!




This picture was take and Our wedding in July!

Sunday Evening Radio!

When Jay and I first started dating he lived in Winnipeg, and I was in Mennville. This lead to many drives back and forth for both of us. I drove into the city many weekends and stayed with my parents. Every Sunday evening I would make the drive back to Mennville, and I would try to listen to the radio. Although I have a CD player in my car I tend to listen to the radio to get the variety, and a little bit of news at the same time. I must say that Sunday evening radio is terrible (Jay eventually gave me a CD of songs that reminded him of us, so I usually listened to that on the way home)!
I was reminded of this sad and frustrating issue again last Sunday. I was in the city by myself for the weekend. It was my mom's birthday and Jay was at volleyball all weekend so I went in to celebrate with my family. On Sunday night I drove home alone. I listen to country most of the time, but 104 had "retro country" on, so I switched to the Christian station, only to find a talk show about the gift of singleness, I went to Clear and found "Hollywood Confidential" on... all three were not helping me stay awake on my boring drive home! In the end I listened to CJOB (all my CD's are in my house)!! Why is there nothing good on the radio on Sunday evening!?

For this reason, and many, many others I am so glad not to have a long distance relationship anymore!

Life As a Teacher!

How many times have I heard that as a teacher I have it so easy, I only work 9-3:30, I have Christmas, Spring, and Summer break off, and never have to work weekends?? I have heard it lots, and then I laugh! For example, it is now 5pm and I am sitting at the computer (still at work) and working on planning a novel study unit. Behind me is a pile of science planning I need to do, I have a file of marking thicker then the novel I am reading sitting on my desk in my classroom, I will take that home and work on it tonight. I am not complaining, I enjoy planning (and sometimes even marking), I am just pointing out that I am not at home and it is well after 3:30.

Sure I get those wonderful vacations, I do like having some time off (as most people do). However, last Spring break I spent days writing report cards, over Christmas Break I spend time planning, and marking, even some of Summer break is spent thinking about and planning for the upcoming year. Yes, I do take time to relax on those breaks too, but most people have at least some vacation time in their jobs. Oh, and for the record those Fridays off for kids are not Fridays off for teachers. We are at school working, or at a confrence learning how to be better teachers. On the flip side of the argument that teachers get so much time off is the fact that we can't take time off during any other part of the year. My family (parents, brother, Ashely, and Ashely's parents) are going to Arizona in Feb. Clearly we will not be joing them, I will be working.

As for weekends, yeah right I don't work! Last weekend I was sick with the flu and still marked most of my students biographies. Work has a way of following me home, and that just comes with the territory. Marking, planning, and thinking are weekend projects. Plus I am always thinking about my students, "how can I help so and so with this problem?", "What could I do to help this concept make more sense?", So and so is having trouble with his/her peers, what can I do?"... Work will never end when the students go home, or even when we go home.

In many ways I love my job, I love seeing kids succeed, I love watching their faces light up as they learn something new, I love watching students mature, and become role-modles (that is a bonus of a multi-age class), I love interacting with students... The list of what I enjoy is longer than the list of struggles and trials! What drives me CRAZY is the opinion that teachers have slack jobs, and how our holidays tend to be the envy of all other professions.

I am not complaing about my job, it is great! I knew what I was signing off on when I chose this job, but before you make a comment about how great we have it think about what it might take to have 17 (or more) kids infront of you all day. It takes some thought, planning and preparing... that all takes time.

Okay, rant done! Procrastination over! Back to work :)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend always makes me smile! Okay, partly because it is a long weekend, but also because it is a great time to spend with family, and friends. Plus it reminds me of how lucky and blessed I am!
Today I was at a PD event in the city, which was actually pretty good. It is nice when they inspire you, sometimes it is hit or miss! :)
I came to the city last night with a co-worker/friend. Mom and I then went... SHOPPING!! I actually walked in the door and my dad made a comment about how mom and I always go shopping when I come in! It is a girl thing! I bought teal, brown and beige fabric for a rag quilt. I need to make a new one to go with our living room decor! Then I clothes shopped, and enjoyed evey minute and penny of it!
This weekend will be a busy one, holidays often are! Tonight Jay will come into the city, and I will try to get some errands done. Tomorrow will be more errands, they never really end! Then we get to see my littlest brother (in-law) play hockey. My parents are coming (or at least me mom) and then the Boazs' will come to my parents for dinner. We will head out to MacGregor after that, and spend some time with my in-laws (we don't see them very often). On Monday we will head back home. Lindsey has invited us over, and I look forward to spending time with friends on Monday afternoon/evening. Should be a good, busy weekend!
As I mentioned earlier Thanksgiving gives me a chance to reflect on blessings in my life, here is a short and incomplete list of the great things in my life:

1. I have a husband who loves me, helpes around the house, and cares about how I am doing/feeling
2. I have a great family, who I get to see often.
3. I have been blessed with great in-laws
4. I have a job, a roof over my head, and good food on my table (when I put effort into making it)
5. I live in a country where I can speak freely, and have the freedom to worship when I want, where I want, and whom I want (I am also blessed to be able to live that out in my job).

That last blessing reminds me: VOTE on Tuesday! I have been talking/reading so much on this election in class, and now I can't wait to vote!

I changed my template, any thoughts/feedback?

An Update!

It's October, and September flew by! The beginning of a new school year tends to do that. There's seems to be so much to get done, and there is never enough time to do it! September brought with it routine and order to my life, and I really enjoy that. It seems I can be much more productive in routine than out of it. My mom often comments that I function in a "feast or famine" way. I am either really busy, with many commitments, and many hours at work (September-June) or I am very lazy (July and August). Even though I do planning and such over the summer I can structure my time in any way and often I am less productive around the house. So when September some I am ready for all the "stuff" that needs my attention.

This year things are a little differnt because life has changed (marriage apparently does that). I have realized that spending time with Jay only happens when both schedules work out. With our jobs we don't work 9-5, it will just never happen. I will have meetings, planning, or marking (LOTS OF MARKING), he coaches highschool volleyball, and has LOTS of meeting. It is not often that we are both home at dinner time! In fact his birthday is coming up and he has volleyball that day, we might be celebrating on a different day! Dinner together is rare, but longed for! We are both doing what we love, so we are learning to make our schedules work.

I haven't posted about school at all! It was a joy to have new students added to my room this year, and sad to see others move on. I guess I should get used to it, but for two years we were the same group. I still have 17 students in Grades 5-8 but the Grade 5's are new! Although I am tried after some days in all reality I have a great bunch of kids, with good hearts and great personalities. The joy of a small school is that I see siblings in action, cousins as best friends, and students who live life, not just school, with one another. It really is a different perspective.

Okay, I really should get to that marking!!

Date Night

This weekend I was planning on writing a post about settling into routine, getting back to work, etc. Instead I get to write about date night!!

Yesterday at 3:30 Jay walked into the school (it was an admin. day and no students were there) with a bouquet of flowers (even pink gerberas!). He then told me that we had dinner reservations at Hecla for 6.

We have never “dated” much at all in our relationship. We had some interesting dates at the beginning, which involved Jay taking me to a restaurant and me not eating! Apparently he made me sick :); really he just made me so nervous that I couldn’t eat!

So last night we got dressed up and headed to Hecla to eat in their “fine dining” restaurant. While the food and such was nothing to write home about it was nice to have an evening out with my wonderful husband! Plus I didn’t have to cook and he didn’t have to do dishes! My mom would have LOVED my dessert: chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate (oh, I loved it too)! Only by coincidence we have been married exactly two months as of yesterday!

Thanks for the date dear!

In other news I chopped my hair! I call it my “post-wedding hair” and I am loving it! Seeing as my mom hasn’t even seen it yet I thought I would post a picture:
I thought it would be hard to deal with every morning but it really isn’t, which is great! There sure was a lot of hair on the floor!

I love being married! Although we have only had one “normal” weekend since we have been married it has been a fairly easy adjustment. I guess the real test will come when I am really back to work. The only problem with being married is having to share a bed. Jay and I sleep better when I am at camp! I hog covers, toss and turn, and apparently kick! Ahhh one day we will figure it out! Until then we will just be tired!

Fall is upon us, and with that comes me back at work. I always feel like September is my "New Year". I have been in my classroom all week and have gotten myself almost organized. I look forward to next week when I have students in the desks. Even more exciting will be having new students. Last year I didn’t get a new grade so it was mostly the same students, which was great, but I am happy to have some new faces this year. Change is good.

With September comes herbal tea in the evenings, crisp leaves under my feet on my walk to school, bearable temperatures, and routine. BRING IT ON!! I usually say spring is my favorite season, but really it is autumn, I LOVE IT!

Well back to work…

Real Pictures!

We got our professional pictures this weekend so I thought I would share some better, bigger pictures!

The Best Day (Part 5)

After the reception we went to the Boaz side after party. We hadn’t met some of Jay’s relatives so we spent some time up there visiting.

Some of the Boaz side at the after party!




We then headed for Jay’s grandparents house. They were not able to be at the wedding so we headed there and made sure we had a picture with them (thanks to Brett and Blake).

Then it was off to my parents place for their after party. I had some time to visit with my family as Jay packed the car up so we could leave (sort of). We took more pictures here, had a bite to eat and then were on the road again. This time to my grandparents, although they were at the wedding we didn’t get a picture with them, it was important to me so we drove to them.







By this time we realized that we would definitely be late getting to out honeymoon destination…. But we had a couple more stops to make. We stopped at Mark and Jobina’s so that Jay could give them his tux to return (but left his tie in the car, opps). Then we stopped by the cemetery were Grandpa was buried (he died exactly a year ago) and put flowers from the wedding at their (Grandma was buried there a long time ago) grave.

We finally left the city at about 7:30pm and head for West Hawk Lake. We weren't that late, and were happy we spent time with loved ones after all the scheduled events were over.

Really it was a great day, but it went by way too fast. I am sure things went wrong, but I didn't hear about them, and don't want to now. The day was perfect because I married my best friend, not because all the details were perfect.

The Best Day (Part 4)

We went straight to the Radisson after the ceremony. We didn’t want the reception to start late so we left quickly so that everyone else would do the same. The reception was a blurr... weddings just go by so fast! I know we didn’t get to talk with everyone, although we tried! If we missed you we are so sorry.

I didn't even eat at the reception, I just wasn't hungry.


Head Table and punch fountian





Table centerpieces



During the speeches I got teased, but only in good taste. My mother even brought props… who knew she really meant it when she said she would save the ripped up, shredded sweatshirt from 5th grade! Dayna sent a video from Germany, which started the tears, it was so good to see her and hear her voice! Our friends Paul and Ashely who now live in Austrialia sent a speech via Blake and Glenn. It was nice to feel like all three of these far away people shared our day, even just a little bit. I sure didn’t make it through speeches without crying, but they were happy tears! By the end of speeches even the dads had tears in their eyes!


Jay and I at our table


We had people hula-hoop to get us to kiss!

The Best Day (Part 3)

We arrived at the church at 9:45. People were still milling about but we went right to the basement. Jobina, Riker, and Trinity met us there so we could get some pictures with them. Then up the stairs we went!

Right at 10 o’clock Blake and Brett (my bronther-in-laws) started the processional. Everything went smoothly, Jim and June got to their seats, Joel and Mom to theirs. The music changed, which was supposed to be the cue for Jay, Mark and Terry to come out… apparently they didn’t listen well enough the night before because it took Eloa running to get them before they came up to the stage. I was starting to wonder if Jay was getting cold feet :), okay not really but it took them awhile!



I loved having my dad walk me down the aisle. He managed not to step on my dress and everything! I managed not to cry, although I thought I might. Jay stumbled down the steps to meet us, providing a chuckle.



The ceremony went so quickly that I can barley remember it. I do know it was short, exactly the plan! Apparently Mark almost fainted, but I wasn’t paying any attention to him so I missed that.
Us getting married!!



Our first kiss as husband and wife!



Walking back up the aisle. MARRIED!!




Sorry about the tiny pictures, I am on dial-up so they need to be small or this will never work!

Best Day (Part 2)

The guys showed up on time (which was how the entire day went thanks to my lists and everyone else’s fear of me!). We piled into the car, and I do mean piled, there was definitely a whole lot of wedding dress to be squished into the front seat. We went to pick up Glenn and then we headed for the Basilica for pictures.


Ashley (Joel's Girlfriend) was even smiling at 8am!

Apparently Joel needs help getting dressed!

Remarkably everyone was early for pictures; both families were already there when we arrived.



Megan, Sheri, and I arriving for pictures.




I was completely relaxed during pictures; I hauled my dress around with the help of Megan and Sheri and smiled (I hope!).

Here are the girls hauling my train around, I couldn't have doen it without them!





The guys waiting around!




The main photographer was great and made this part of the day easy. I realized that although Jay saw me before I walked down the aisle having pictures beforehand made me so relaxed. The day had begun and the ceremony was just the next thing to do. It was definitely a good decision to do pictures early; it helped the stress case that I am relax!

The Best Day of My Life (Part 1)

I want to recount the events of July 19th.so I could read it and re-live it. It was such a great day, and although it can’t happen again I can at least save some of the memories. I know it was a couple of weeks ago but being away on our honeymoon and then at camp meant that I couldn't post it until now. Now I have pictures, so it will be more interesting. I wrote it all out and realized how long it was so I am breaking it up.

The day started early, my alarm rang at 3:21! It wasn’t difficult to wake up but I was thankful that I fell asleep quickly and soundly the night before. I took 20 minutes to relax in the bath. At 3:45 my wonderful hairdresser was at the house, I can’t believe that she was so willing to be there so early!


Here is Krista doing Megan's hair.


Note the big bunch of balloons :) !


On the dinning room table there were a bunch of heart-shaped balloons, one that said “I Love You”. I later found out that Jay and Mark had ninja-ed (complete with masks) into the house the night before and put the there, how sweet!

As Krista worked on my hair Megan and Sheri got up. Dad had the coffee on so they drank some caffeine to wake them up. It sure was an early morning! Thanks girls for your willingness to wake up at a crazy hour of the day. I actually managed to eat some breakfast at about 5:30, which was about all I ate all day!
By 7am (half an hour before Jay and Mark picked us up) I was in my dress and feeling very nervous/anxious/excited. I just wanted the day to start!


Here I am in THE DRESS!! Both these pictures were taken at my parents house in the morning!

Update

I was hoping to post today with a recap of the wedding but it doesn't seem appropriate given the circumstances so instead I will post that at a later date.

Please pray for the Friesen family, their daughter (18 years old) was killed in a car accident on Thursday night. I teach her little brother. This is a very difficult week here in Mennville as so many people have been touched by this beautiful, intelligent, and caring young woman.

I am heading to camp (BCBC) on Sunday to be staff for the week, they are very short staffed and I can go so I am. Pray for us out there this week. For many it won't be an easy week!

~S

The Dress

She is home! After a long period of waiting, some tears (okay many) and some alterations my dress has come home! Sheri and I went today to get her and I had so much showing my dad (who called me three times today about it, and was almost as excited as I was about getting her home) and figuring out jewlery tonight! I LOVE HER!

I know it is just a dress, I know that I will only wear it for one day but it is my wedding day after all! Maybe I am more attached to it because the dress was a battle right from the beginning. I haven't told the story here so if you haven't heard it all then here it goes (just for the record Dahlen and Chantal are now married so I am not spoiling anything here!):
Dahlen and Chantal got engaged the same weekend we did (hmmmm... the boys must have talked), and then happened to go dress shopping the same weekend as well. She went on Fiday, I on Saturday. At church on Sunday we were both excited to announce that we had found and purchased our dresses. That afternoon at the guys place we started telling each other about them; we started generally, "mine is strapless", "mine has a pick-up skirt", mine gathers over here", "mine has beading across the top", "mine is lace-up"... as the list went on we discovered that our dresses were extremley similar, to the point of being the EXACT SAME DRESS! Yup at two different stores, on two different days we bought the same dress... same colour (ivory), same size! At first we laughed, the boys teased us and made some wise cracks and off Dahlen and Chantal went. They shut the door, I started to cry. Now I can't explain the exact cry, but I can tell you that it was more like a sob, and maybe a touch too dramatic. I don't think Jay knew what to do or say. I quickley called my parents. Through sobs I told mom the problem, who then got my dad on the phone and they both didn't know what to say. It was already late-ish on Sunday so we couldn't do anything about it. I think I spent the rest of the evening on the phone crying with various people (Megan, Mom, Chantal, who called to see how I was doing, etc.). If you are a guy reading this post you won't understand, it is just a dress after all... but the biggest deal for me was that Jay would see Chantal in my dress before he would see me in it... I wanted there to be an element of surprise on the day! I decided to just get another dress, my dress shop was AMAZING and let me exchange the dress (they had already ordered it). The next weekend, with a fresh pair of eyes (thanks Sheri), I bought MY dress! I loved her even more than the first one and was happy with my decision to get another dress rather than stick with the "shared" dress. So the dress has been the bigest problem all through the planning process; I have even had nightmears about dress issues (not having her onJuly 19th and doing pictures and the ceremony in jeans). I am very happy to have her home now, hanging in the sewing room for another week.... maybe I will visit her a couple of times a day just to look! Having her home makes me so happy that I choose another dress!

So that was the excitment for the day... maybe even the week. One week from today I hope to be sleeping by now (I get to wake up at 3:30 am on my wedding day), but I wonder if I might just be a little too excited at this point to sleep.

Just for the record I am excited to wear my dress (what bride isn't), but I am more excited to get married to Jay. I love him a ton and for some reason he puts up with my stress related freak outs (yes mom and dad he now bares the brunt), my demands, and my craziness. Who knew that the set-up would turn into a marriage!

The list is shrinking!

I spent a wonderful two days and one night (thanks Lindsey and Eric) up in Mennville this weekend. I left in such a whirlwind that I forgot stuff and had stuff I needed to do with Jay. So off I went. Jay and I had time to work on programs, talk about what we both needed to do, finished our last day at bootcamp, and I felt a little less stressed when I went home. I came home with most of what I needed so it was time well spent.
I crossed some more stuff off the list with mom today.
I think I am ready to just get this done! Time seems to be dragging just a bit and I really just want to be married! AHHHH only 13 days to go (and really today is almost over so that makes it almost 12!).

Moving, planning, stressing

So I am officialy living in winnipeg now, my parents home is now my "home". It will only be for 18 days (17 more). It really is handy living in the city, I can shop, plan, create all in the comfort of air conditioning and without driving for 2 hours! My stuff got packed and thrown into Jay's (our) house. I am looking forward to organizing the place when I get back after the wedding. I moved so quickley that things are everywhere... unpacking should be interesting!

The wedding planning is coming along. There is stuff to do but not too much. It is a little difficult when Jay and I are living so far apart. I know it isn't crazy far but the whole planning process has been a team effort with LOTS of discussion so it is a little hard to adjust. I had my first dress fitting today. I hadn't seen her (that would be the dress) since Feb., I love her, I am so excited to have her home!

Stress... I know I just wrote that there is not a ton of stuff to do but at times it feels like I have a million things! It is worse at night, we start talking and I quickley become overwhelmed... by morning it doesn't look so bad. I think maybe I just need to stop thinking about the wedding after 8pm... that might help! Really I just need to make a game plan and figure it out! Ahhh it will all be over in 17 days!
~S

Yes I am Alive!

So my blog is falling by the wayside and I update it less and less as time goes on. I think maybe that is a good thing; I am living life, and spending less and less time on the computer. But here is an update, just to keep you in the loop!

School is wrapping up; I can’t believe we have only 2 weeks left! I really do like my job but I am looking forward to summer (maybe even some summer weather). So work is busy as I wrap units up, go on field trips, and of course do report cards. An endless amount of marking is heading my way tomorrow! But the end is in sight and I hope to finish these two weeks strong.

Lindsey, Jay and I joined a fitness boot camp and that started this week. I really don’t have time for the three nights a week plus homework, but I am motivated to look as good as I can in the dress so I am making it happen. Plus I get to hang out with Jay! Really I am enjoying it, and looking forward to the next couple of weeks!

Really the biggest (and most important) thing on my mind is JULY 19th! I can’t believe I will be married in only 36 days! Time is flying by! I continue to be thankful for a fiancée that does so much wedding planning. I will never be able to say that Jay “just showed up” the day of the wedding. Other than the dress Jay has been a part of every decision and has made a million phone calls and emails to get things planned. He even wrote some thank you notes for shower gifts that we received last weekend.

I am so looking forward to that day, but more importantly the days after that day. I can’t wait until “home” (aka Jay’s house) is my actual home, or until I can watch a movie (and fall asleep) and not have to get up and walk across the road, or until I can wake up in the morning, eat breakfast and have a conversation with Jay all in my pyjamas, or until… you get the picture. Basically I can’t wait to actually live all of life with Jay.

And I Thought Life Was Boring!

HELP!!
I am sitting at home right now, and by home I mean the house, which is really Jay’s house for another 88 days. I was working on the computer when I hear a noise out front in the living room/kitchen/dinning room. Lo and behold a bird is in the house. Now I am not afraid of birds when they are flying around outside (sorry Sheri this story will freak you out) but in my house, YIKES!! So what have I done, I have shut the door to my office and am sitting at my computer. Jay is still at work, if I had a phone in here I would call him (although it would do no good because he is at a meeting) to come home and do something about this. When we talked about division of labour we didn’t figure out whose job it would be to get rid of birds, I have now decided that that is solely Jay’s job.
Hmmm… It is quiet out there now…I wonder if the bird is now dead, or something. YUCK!!! Oh there was a noise. I am NOT GOING OUT THERE!!
So am I a helpless girl or totally justified in my locking myself in the room?

Another Way to Waste Some Time!

Hey! Just thought I would let my readers know that Jay has started his very own blog! Yup after months of pressure to do so he FINALLY gave in! If you want to check it out here is the address: http://jayboaz.blogspot.com/.

The Joys of Spring!

The snow is ALMOST gone here! The sun is out in full force today (it is rather sad that I am stuck inside working on a paper), the fields look a little like lakes, and I am seeing grass in our backyard! It is a wonderful day!

The other day at lunch, when I was on duty I got to witness spring’s impact on kids. It’s funny, for most of the winter my students walk around, and HATE going outside, recess is almost a punishment when the wind is blowing and the snow is falling (even if the temperature isn’t that cold). Well, on Thursday my students started playing a game of cat and mouse. Now the first shock was that someone asked if the could play this game (it is a variation of tag), when does that happen? Of course they could play! As the game got underway it was great to see my students including EVERYONE (it doesn’t always work like this), not only were the majority of my students playing but eventually there were students from all classrooms and all grades playing. It was wonderful to see Christ in each of my students! Then I hear, “hey attach to this person because so and so hasn’t had a turn in awhile”. Including everyone, and making sure there is fairness in the game, now that is music to my ears! I bet it is even more wonderful for Jesus to hear it! It was a great day!

Spring is here and I love it!

Space, Breaks, and Things To Do!

It is funny how time just slips away when the to-do lists are long, and life is busy. That being said I love that time is flying by, I am enjoying life now but am looking forward to the events of the next couple of months.

SPACE
I crave space, physical space. My apartment is TINY! Really it is a box, and when Jay and I are both there it is a little tight for space. As of last Saturday Jay moved into OUR place. So I got to create some space in my apartment; no need for the freezer, an extra desk, and a bulky chair to live with me when Jay has a whole house. So my apartment is less crowded, Yipee! Plus now we can spend time at the house instead of my apartment. I am so excited to begin setting up the place. The kitchen is mostly done, and the living room is done for now. I tried to convince Jay that he should move into my apartment so I could move into the house, no dice though. I guess it is my turn to leave in the evening and walk home.

BREAKS
Ahhh the rythm of school is wonderful. This week I am enjoying Spring Break. Although my time is packed full of things to do I am enjoying a little time to myself. I must also add that the lack of an early morning alarm clock is a wonderful thing! I am currently at my parents house and enjoying the luxuries that come with staying here (and there are many!). I also got to visit my brother last night. He was in for a couple of days (he is living in Victoria right now) to help his girlfriend move into their place. It was nice to se him. He seems to have gown-up latley, he played the part of host remarkably well! Tonight I visited with Sheri as we worked on wedding invitations and looked at her pictures form Germany. I was so glad to see her and hear her stories. I was also grateful for her help!

THINGS TO DO!
Oh the list is endless! It seems that once I cross one thing off another gets put in its place! This week (becasue I am not at work) the list seems endless. Report cards, wedding invatations, essays for my courses, a really good house cleaning, are all on the list. Really the chance of everything happening is pretty small, but hey I have to give it a shot right! Ahhh the most important will get done, the house still may be a mess!

Enjoy Spring Break!
~S

Premarital Counselling

So Jay wrote a blog post on another blog but rather than me writing my own blog I will post his! Here it id:

Good day, gentle blogger. As you may recall, after Mark wrote a post about pre-marital counseling, I offered to write about my experiences in pre-marital counseling since I was about to undergo the program. He also told me that when I was ready to post about it, I was to log in and post away. So if you want to take the day off to keep healing from your recent sickness Mark, I've got you covered!Last night was actually the second time Sarah (my fiance, naturally) and I had met with our counselor. I didn't write an article about the first meeting as it was pretty uneventful; in truth, it was more of a fact-finding mission for the therapist, which makes sense since she needs to know what to talk about!
So yesterday evening we drove into the city and, after a stop-off to see Sarah's recently-returned-from-Phoenix parents, we went to our session. We waited a few minutes for our therapist to come and get us, which is normal. When she came out front she looked at us with a rather confused look; it seems that when she called me to book the appointment, she didn't write it down, or erased it somehow. Considering we had just driven over an hour and a half on a work night to come in, we weren't pleased. Our options were to reschedule, or wait until 9:15 and finish around 10:45 (remember the hour and a half drive home). We decided we were already there so we may as well just do the session late.
So after killing some time at McDonald's, we went back to find the exterior doors locked. No big, the therapist said she'd come get us if we got locked out. While we were waiting some people were leaving the building, so we thought "Great, we can get in". The woman exiting the building would not let us in and it took some convincing to make her stand aside (I had a fleeting thought that if I really wanted to get in she really couldn't stop me, but that would be a much bigger can of worms!). Once we were inside we discovered she had alerted security to our presence, so he came in to check with the therapist that we actually had an appointment. I know he was just doing his job, but I was getting a little annoyed at everyone looking at me like I was a criminal!
Anyway, we finally got our session started at 9:30. Our therapist, I'm not going to give out her real name but let's call her Aretha, cause I like that name, brought out copies of our Prepare exam results. For those unaware, the Prepare exam is a multiple choice quiz we had to do before our second counseling session; we had to do the quiz separately. The point is for the couple to answer honestly separately from each other, and then discuss the results in the session.Anyway, Aretha pulls out our results, and she gets a very surprised looked on her face, and makes several surpised noises as she quickly flips through. Naturally, our first reaction was "Uh-oh, that's not good!" It turned out that Aretha was shocked at how postive our results were; on a graph charting different marriage types and the percentage of typical answers, we were literally off the chart in one or two aspects.Now, you at home may be thinking that we cheated, that's why our answers matched up so well. I can't really blame you for thinking that, because we had almost considered answering together, but we decided that no, if we were going to do pre-marital counseling, we may as well do it right.So we went through the survey results, painfully slow at some points. Aretha went over every answer very thoroughly, seeing how we matched up. We kind of felt that she could have spent a little less time telling us how old we were and that we were both caucasion, but whatever. We went through 10 different areas of a marriage (things like communication, conflict resolution, marriage expectations, etc) and picked a few to discuss. We also picked some to discuss next time. The process is pretty logical.What did we get out of it? Honestly, not very much. Why? Because we've already talked about all of the issues that were in the Prepare, most of them before we even took the test. Sarah and I are both pretty logical people, and we know things aren't always going to be rainbows and skittles. I knew within 2 months of dating Sarah that I wanted to marry her, but I made myself wait to propose because I wanted a stronger relationship first, and I'm glad I did.For those who haven't discussed things ahead of time, I think the Prepare system is pretty good, and the counseling would be very beneficial. We have one more session to go yet, so we'll see what we take home from that. I really hope I'm in bed before 1:30 next time though.
Keep your stick on the ice!
-- Jay Boaz

Ahhh so now I am paying for the late night and needing sleep badly. Maybe it was a test in our relationships flexibility! :)
~S

I know, I know, I know it has been over a MONTH since I wrote on my blog. In all fairness there is not all that much to write about. I have been busy, with work, school, wedding, etc. but there is little to report that would actually be interesting for all those in cyberspace.

However, now I do have news. We have been thinking about where we will be living post July 19th, there isn’t that may places to rent around here so we started last month to look around. Well it looks like we now have a house! We are going to be living in the Mennville Church house. We went to look around tonight, to see the inside. The basement is unfinished but will be great for storage and such. The upstairs has three bedrooms (or office spaces!). I am so excited that we will have space! Right now we spend a lot of time at my apartment. My apartment is TINY, and I have too much stuff as it is, so we certainly won’t be living here. The house is also great because Jay can move-in in April (his roommate is getting married in May). I tried to upload pictures but it didn't work (silly dial-up) but if you are on face book you can check them out there!

There is a quick update for you!
~S

How-To

In class right now I am having my students write a “How-To” essay. Many of them have gotten right into it and are shocked at how many words it takes to describe how to build a snowman, how to make a sandwich or how to set a table. I must say I look forward to reading these essays!
So here is my how-to: How To Plan a Wedding

I planned on having a long engagement, although at times I think I was a little crazy. So I thought, long engagement, less stress (makes sense right!?). Well I don’t work like that and really I create stress in my life in order to get things done. So right now I am in “let’s get this done” mode. I must say this week has been very productive on the wedding front. Here are instructions for how to get a wedding planned (of course the trick is find a great guy (sorry Jay is taken), on who can plan, and has access to a phone!):

Every night you should go to your favourite wedding forum (I love Canadian Bride). Find a post that interests you, discover you are not doing something that you should be doing and then freak out. If you are really lucky you loving, wonderful fiancée will be in the room and will witness freak out. Try not to freak out at him, this won’t help your problem, just let him see the stress level build (right now work is REALLY stressful so the stress level is well beyond normal so it doesn’t take much). I like the line, “aahhh we need to start thinking about ___________”. Hopefully this will start a conversation about that topic. Together create a plan. Then have the wonderful, loving, fiancée put plan into action. Yes, that is right I am so thankful that Jay is part of this wedding planning process because he has:
· Booked the church
· Booked the reception, figured out a good menu, talks to the hotel all the time, etc.
· Found, met with and booked the photographer
· Come up with decoration plans
· Come up with a good idea for rehearsal dinner location
· Booked premarital counselling
· Figured out musicians for the ceremony
· Booked engagement pictures
· And who knows what else I am forgetting
·
You ask what have I done… well I have bought a dress! Remember that that took two attempts. I also went “shopping” for the bridesmaid dress. I like to think I am the one that lights the fire and pushes to get things done, and Jay is the “doer” Which makes me one lucky girl to have Jay help so much with this (thanks Jay!). So I guess the real trick to planning a wedding is not to have an absent groom; a marriage is a two-person job, and so to is the wedding planning process.

Here is a public thank you to Jay, who has done so much wedding planning!
Love you!

~S

Time to get back into routine!

Christmas has come and gone, and I am so looking forward to getting back into routine!
Christmas was spent with family, family and more family. Jay and I managed to squeeze both sides of my family and his family gathering into our time in Winnipeg (which was 5 days). The gatherings were a little spread out so we spent some lazy days at my parents place. Maybe because I never had extended family around for Christmas when I was growing up the family at Christmas now is so important to me. I love Christmas eve with my mom's family, usually it is pretty casual, mom makes food, we eat, drink, and talk REALLY loud. Grandpa usually reminds us to quiet down every so often. With so many women in the room there is lots of talking, and whoever talks the loudest gets heard! Okay so I usually win. After the Putnams leave there are usually many hours of talking with just the four of us. This year we expanded to six and mom and dad were the first in bed, but there was still talking.

In the afternoon of Christmas day Jay and I headed over to his aunts place for their family gathering. I hadn't met all the extended family so it was a good chance to meet everyone.

Later in the week we had our Hayward gathering. This gathering was a little different as this was the first Christmas without grandpa. Almost everyone was there (one cousin and her family live in edmonton), which rarely happens. There is always less talking but more shouting at this gathering as it seems that deafness is as Hayward trait. We seem to have expanded in number each year at this gathering, after many years of fitting around one table we were forced to two!

We spent some lazy days in Mennville before New Years. We brought in 2008 with friends at a smallish gathering in Mennville.
2008 promises to be an exciting year. I love the possibilities of a new year, and this one is full of them. Of course getting married is the biggest excitment for me this year, but there will also be a move, and who knows what else in the next 12 months!

Enjoy 2008!
~S