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!

My Life Has Been Overtaken By Aliens!

Okay not really, but close! My students and I have started a new unit on Space. I figured I could teach it the old boring, read this, answer these questions, way, or I could do something neat! I chose to have some fun and we are now embarking on a trip to Mars. Okay, not really, but close!

We are part of the Marsville project. A project sponsored and put on (for free, teachers like that word) by the National Research Council. Throughout the next three months we will be learning about Space, Mars specifically, doing crazy, but interesting experiments, learning about Space Travel, talking about nutrition and fitness (astronauts need to be physically fit), and building life-support systems. Students even blog and make their own mission patches. In the end we will spend a day “on Mars” with the rest of the Manitoba participants. We build massive bubbles (I built one on Friday and it was big, trust me!) and present our projects inside of them (“on Mars”). Already it has been lots of fun, and we have only just begun.

Of course a project like this means a little more prep for me to do, but the smiles and excitement of students is worth the late evenings! In fact I am becoming very interested in Space too. It was really never my thing until now, but wow are there some interesting finds out there in our big, wide universe. God created Earth, which was awe-inspiring. But WOW!, He also created so much else, all of which are also awe-inspiring! So while Aliens have not really overtaken my life the study of Space (which does not include aliens) has me hooked!

New Hobby and COLD Days!

Over Christmas I invested my Christmas gift money in a pair of Cross Country Skis. Mom had gotten some for her birthday in November, and after a ski with her (I rented skis) I was hooked! I went out and bought a nice set and have used them a couple of times already. I have made a loop around the school yard; it was tough to plow it out the first time (and then it snowed a ton the next day), I have since made my track again. I have also been to Windsor Park a couple of times with mom. It has been fun, and a great way to get active! I do have a rule though; I won’t go out if the wind chill is below -30!

I guess that brings me to the cold day topic! I am currently on day 2 of no students. The wind chill has just been too much to have kids driving to school. When it hits -45 they get to stay home. From the phone calls I made today I gather they don’t really mind. Yesterday was extremely productive. I am participating in a very cool space program (Marsville) with my students starting this month, and I managed to get it all planned yesterday! What a great gift to have a whole day to work on it. If only I could start already (I am a tad excited about it!)!! Today I set my sights on the pile o’marking! I managed to get some of it done, plus a few random things that have been on my to-do list. These days are really blessings (except of course for the walk to and from school, which is a little cold!). Tomorrow I want students in desks here at school though. In order to start Marsville we need to finish our current unit in Science, plus three days at work without students will be very boring!! We have work to do!

When the cold comes I think about next February! I am already dreaming about warm beaches!!

Those of you going to Mesa, don’t rub it in! You will be warm, the rest of us won’t be, I already know that!

The Reason to Collect Coins!

I have bags, envelopes, and stashes of coin all over my house (I am clearly my grandfather’s grandchild). Every year my students have done a Christmas project, which has involved bringing in money for either World Vision or Gospel for Asia (this year Room 4 students raised enough to buy 2 pigs, 4 chickens, a water filter, a blanket and gospel tracks!). Kids, being kids, bring every form of money they can, they do bring in the occasional bill, but with it always comes many pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies. Neither of these two charities want to be shipped a bag full of pennies so I always pay for the gifts and take the coins, etc. Students also pay for book orders with random change. I have taken all these coins, and many others that I have found at the bottom of my purse (and often I leave some in old purses that find their way into the closet), in pockets, in the washing machine, the list is endless. The bags have grown, and when I moved, they all found their way into a drawer of my desk.

Last night Jay and I decided that this money would become the start of our Mexico trip fund. It was all just sitting there, and we have a trip to go on! At first we guessed that maybe there was $200 dollars. We sorted the coins, and then the counting began… We counted, and counted, and counted (okay it didn’t really take that long but it was a process). We passed $200 quite easily and kept on counting. In the end we had counted almost $600!! Maybe I shouldn’t have had all that money sitting in my desk!

In the end the Mexico fund has started (we even added more to it with a gift we received over Christmas!). Now I just need next February to come, bring on the warmth!

I now love coins! My new coin collection will start tomorrow!

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!

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!