Mourning to Celebrating!!

Last week began with mourning as we said goodbye to my maternal Grandfather. He passed away on December 3rd, peacefully at the nursing home. In some ways it brought relief as he was unhappy about how his life was ending, but of course with his passing came a sense of loss to those left behind. We celebrated his life last Tuesday, with much of the family able to make it from out of province. I was glad I made the effort to visit Grandpa on Remembrance Day last month, my last memories of him are good ones.

I felt like I lived out of my car for a week as I was back and forth from the city to home,and back again. By the time I made it home for good last Wednesday I was exhausted, and happy to sleep in my own bed.

By the end of the week I was in celebration mode as my friend Sheri married Tim on Saturday! It was a beautiful winter wedding! She was gorgeous and looked so happy and in love.

So now that that week is over it is on to Christmas concert preparation. Although my students are a big part of the play I am at school while some of my students are practicing, others are at school working on their list of things to do. In some ways it makes life easy, but those with big parts are well behind of those who have smaller roles... by the end of this week chaos will ensue! I look forward to Friday, when it all comes together! Friday is our last day of classes, and I am in the mood for two weeks off, in fact I am feeling like I desperately need two weeks off!

As for Walnut he (I really think it is a boy, in fact I will be completely shocked if it is a girl) is happy and moving about like crazy. I am finally feeling him with my hand, Dayna did too yesterday, but Jay has yet to get to feel him. Every time I call Jay over Walnut stops kicking, it kinda makes me laugh! I had a Dr. appt. last week (I went all by myself for the first time :)), it was all great! I love good dr. appts. We also got my ultrasound results last week, again everything looks good, normal and healthy. I know we are blessed to have a fairly uneventful pregnancy thus far, I pray that it continues to be that way!

I am growing and getting bigger by the day, I love looking pregnant! In fact I much prefer looking over feeling pregnant! I had a scary realization last night as I thought about how far along we are. I only have three months and one week of work left, I am one month away from my third trimester... the nursery isn't started yet! We haven't bought the baby many clothes (do I buy pink or blue), and I feel like we are just not ready to be parents... It scares me to think we will be responsible for all this baby wants and needs... and yet in the same moment I am longing for this baby to be here, to know if we should buy pink or blue, to see ten fingers and ten toes, to see this little person that I am already completely in love with.

A Phone Call Brings A Sister!

On Wednesday morning around 11am my father called me at school. I returned his call and discovered that my little brother was going to get married in Mesa, Arizona, this weekend! Ashley and Joel were planning a wedding for a year from now, but things were getting out-of-control and they were not planning the wedding they really wanted to have. So a quick change in plans resulted in a fairytale!

The biggest problem in all of this was the lack of passports for Jay and I. My parents, her parents, and the bride and groom were already in Mesa for their vacation. Jay and I just needed to get there. With a lot of help from great friends (Sheri, Lorna, Stephanie, and Mark) we got our passports in just over 24 hours! I didn't even know it was possible! Dad booked our flights, and we arrived here at 3:00pm on Saturday afternoon! Of course it was a little crazy on Wednesday because I couldn't get in touch with Jay (who had a surprise meeting). Dad booked our tickets without Jay even knowing about it! It all worked out, and we made it!

I quickly got ready for the wedding (I found a little brown dress in Sears on Wednesday night) and we were off to the wedding location. I could not believe the location of this event! WOW! It was a castle! AMAZINGLY beautiful. Pictures won't do it justice but here are some anyways:

The Reception

The cemony

They planned the entire thing in three days! The dress, the flowers, the rings, the entire thing! They wouldn't have had a more perfect wedding if they planned it in 3 years!

Here they are getting married! I was upgraded to Maid-of-Honor becasue Mel couldn't be here, my dad was the best man. There were 12 guests there to honor this wonderful marriage Ashley's parents, my parents, Jay and I, Ashely's sister and three kids, and my aunt and uncle)!

The food was AMAZING! I don't think have ever had a meal as good as this dinner!

Stonebridge Manor did an amazing job of pulling it all together. They even had a cake for the reception!

I have always wanted a sister! I never imagined I would get such a great one! Isn't she beautiful!

So after the tears (I didn't think I could be there at first), the excitment, and the whirlwind, it was a great wedding! I was so glad to be there and be a part of my brothers wonderful day!

The people at the condo complex that my parents live in put on a reception at the pool when we got back.

We are still in Mesa. Today we are enjoying wearing shorts and doing some shopping! It is nice to finally see the condo my parents bought last year. When they talk about it I now know why they like it here so much! My aunt and uncle have a condo in the same complex and have let us sleep in their spare room (Joel and Ash are in my parents spare room tonight). We head home tomorrow; I like being warm so I wish we were staying a little longer!

Welcome 2009, Goodbye To One of The Best Years Of My LIfe!

With 2009 now begun it might be fun to think about the year that has just past, what a year it was! My friends Dayna and Alyssa did month by month recaps on their blogs, I very much enjoyed reading them; however many of the months in 2008 would include wedding planning, wedding planning and more wedding planning (with very little other news)! While it was exciting then I just can’t write a whole month-by-month post about it! So here is my year recap, with a little different format:

It was certainly a big year in my life! The highlight, of course, was the wedding! After months of planning the day went by so quickly! All of a sudden it was over and we were married! I don’t know if you can get much more life changing than that!

Of course there were other events and milestones this year, it was a whole 12 months after all! Jay moved into what would be “our” house, and I spent less time at my apartment, and more time across the road. Of course one of my sacriest moments happened in the house when I was there alone. I will never forget the bird visiting! I slowly moved my stuff over (things I didn’t need/want at home), the big move didn’t come until the end of June, when I threw all of my stuff into the kitchen and left for my parent’s house. Of course I enjoyed setting up my house after we were married, what fun!

I spent the second week of our marriage at BCBC. It was under sad circumstances that I went, but I love camp and love what camp is about, at least it was something I could do. It was a ton of fun with some great kids!

This summer the cottage sold, so we had no weekends out there. As much as I didn’t want it to go I had so little time for it this year that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. My parents bought the condo in Mesa, one of these years we might even get to go down there.

In November my little brother asked Ashley to be his wife. My parents might have thought the wedding planning (and spending) was over, but not for long. We get to look forward to their wedding in 2010!
Now Christmas has come and gone and I look forward to another (maybe a little less life-changing year). At this time last year I knew some of the things that would happen in my life in 2008, 2009 is a big blur. The blur make life a little exciting, God has a big open door to do great things!

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!

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!