I'm so proud of us!

Tonight was an extremely cold, clear night. One where you would want to curl up on your couch in front of the fireplace with a hot chocolate in hand and maybe even a hot water bottle on your feet. But where was I? Outside working out! I know, it's amazing. Last week I joined Cardio Core Boot Camp (www.corebootcamp.com) and 3 nights a week I'm running, working my "core" (not just my abs) and pretty much wanting to die every night. Luckily I have my friend Brenda going with me to keep me motivated. Thanks Bren! But seriously, I was really proud of us for being out there tonight. The only thing that would've made it worse was if it was raining. Thank you, Lord, for holding off the rain. Anyways, this is just the start of week 2, so we're not even halfway there yet, but I really hope this helps somewhat. Can't be all flabby on the beach in Hawaii when I meet Bono, can I? :P Also, if any of you want to join us, we're aloud to bring a guest one time so they see that it's "not so bad." HaHa. I mean, come, it'll be fun!

3 Puppies!!!

In case you didn't know, 3 is my favorite number. I'm actually a little "weird" about it ... or so I'm told. Anything in 3's brings a smile to my face. So you can imagine my excitement when 3 of my friends got new puppies. I just had to blog about them.

Meet Sushi,

Sophie,

and Aggie.

Hello Hello! I'm at a place called Vertigo!

If you don't know what that refers to, then shame on you. Just kidding ... kind of. It's a lyric from a song by my favorite band ... U2. Who else? I do admit that I'm a new super fan, but a super fan none the less. So much so that Bren and I just bought tickets to go see them in Hawaii on their last concert of their tour. How excited am I? I want the next 7 weeks to FLY BY!!! I can't wait.

Summer Update - AUGUST - Better Late Than Never

I originally started my blog to keep people updated on my travels around the world, but since that's not happening right now, I decided to just update my blog with things happening around here. I kind of put off updating in the summer, thinking I was going away, so I missed a chunk of "happenings" this summer. This is my summer update. I know it's a little backwards, starting with August and going down to June, but I started it wrong and it takes too long to fix it. Sorry.

I already blogged about my birthday, so I'll skip that.

I took a week off in August and went and visited my sister and her family. We had a lot of fun riding the quads through the trails, jumping on the trampoline, playing with the animals, going to a movie (Step Up), watching the kids on the climbing wall and just chillin' out and catching up. Thanks for having me you guys. Love y'all.

We had a cool thunderstorm like only the prairies can have, and I actually managed to catch some lightning.

This was my favorite picture of the trip because my little niece was so small on this big quad, but she had no problem handling it through the trails. So cute!

One hot summer day I went and asked Dillon and Aidan if they wanted to run through the spinklers with me. We had a blast and then afterwards, we layed out and suntanned. Ok, I layed out and the boys copied me for about a minute.

At the end of August I reconnected with an old friend from elementary/high school days. It was great to see her and her new little daughter, Macy and of course to meet Clay as well. Thanks for contacting me, Lee and for making the effort to reconnect. It was very fun to see you and to catch up and for it to feel like no time had passed at all. Looking forward to keeping in contact.

Summer Update - JULY - Better Late Than Never

For Canada Day a bunch of us went downtown and had supper on the beach. We had great fellowship and watched a beautiful sunset.

There was a picture of Steve and Bren at the restaurant here, but she asked me to take it out and I obliged ... even though it was a good picture!!! What a good friend I am.

Next, Bren, Steve and I took a Sunday drive (even though its wasn't Sunday) over the border and just happened upon the Krispy Kreme store. Darn!! How many dozens did you buy, Steve? I don't blame you. They are goooooooood.

Beautiful baby Hannah was born to James and Karen. Congratulations!

At the end of July we ventured downtown for a couple of the Celebration of Lights ceremonies. They were really good this year. First we went to the Taste of the City which was pretty cool too.

Summer Update - JUNE - Better Late Than Never

In June, Jennie, Bren, Natasha and I went to Seattle to ... what else ... SHOP!!! We've done this a few times now and it's been a great "getaway" every time. I love that I'm so comfortable with all my friends. Can't ask for anything better than that. Our usual circuit is The Seattle Premium Outlet Mall, The Alderwood Mall and downtown Seattle. All GREAT shopping.

The special treat of the weekend (other than See's candies) was going to see Nacho Libre. HILARIOUS!!! Can't get much funnier than this.

Also in June was my wonderful friend Jennie's birthday. Jennie and I have just become friends over the last couple of years. She is an inspiration to me, an encourager, someone to be silly with, someone who is honest with me, someone to cry with and someone to spur me on. I LOVE Jennie and am SO happy that we are friends. I look forward to making MANY more memories together. She's one of those friends that I know will be a friend for life and for that I am extremely grateful to God for bringing her into my life.
My friends Mark and Rachel have these 3 adorable little boys (Dillon, Aidan and Jake). We took the boat out one beautiful summer night and the boys LOVED it. I think we've got some future pro-wake boarders here!

Dancing With God

I'm currently reading my 3rd Donald Miller book and am yet again loving it. This one is the story of him and his friend, Paul, who took a 1971 VW Van on a road trip from Houston to Oregon. At this point they are at the Grand Canyon and they're about to hike down. As they wait for their turn to start their hike, he's imagining the Easter tradition of watching the sunrise over the canyon, and this is what he writes:

Imagining the service reminds me again that life is more than clothes and cars and a new flavor of toothpaste, that it is community and creation and beauty and humanity ... I am getting used to not having any music or television and not pulling over and buying something as a way of feeling some kind of change. There is a serenity in life, after all, and once a withdrawal is felt at having left the lies behind, a soul begins to feel at home in its own skin ... I was raised to believe that the quality of a man's life would greatly increase, not with the gain of status or success, not by his heart's knowing romance or by prosperity in industry or academia, but by his nearness to God. It confuses me that Christian living is not simpler. The gospel, the very good news, is simple, but this is the gate, the trailhead. Ironing out faithless creases is toilsome labor. God bestows three blessings on man: to feed him like birds, dress him like flowers, and befriend him as a confidant. Too many take the first two and neglect the last. Sooner or later you figure out life is constructed specifically and brilliantly to squeeze a man into association with the Owner of heaven. It is a struggle, with labor pains and thorny landscape, bloody hands and a sweaty brow, head in hands, moments of severe loneliness and questioning, moments of ache and desire. All this leads to God, I think. Perhaps this is what is on the other side of the commercials, on the other side of the curtain behind which the Wizard of Oz pulls his levers. Matter and thought are a canvas on which God paints, a painting with tragedy and delivery, with sin and redemption. Life is a dance toward God. And the dance is not so graceful as we might want. While we glide and swing our practiced sway, God crowds our feet, bumps our toes, and scuffs our shoes. So we learn to dance with the One who made us. And it is a difficult dance to learn, because its steps are foreign.

I think that's what I was hoping to find on my trip around the world. A "soul feeling at home in its own skin." For those who know me, I like to watch TV. Ok, I really like to watch TV. I know I could live without it, but when it's right there in front of me, why should I? It makes daily life more fun. But I was looking forward to not really having the choice of watching TV on my travels, but rather forcing me to depend on God and get closer to Him. But why do I have to wait until I'm forced to do it? Why do I find it so hard to do now? Is it wrong to watch TV? These questions swirl around in my head, but I'm sorry, I don't have an answer to them. Others may, and that's great, but right now, that's part of my dance with God. Why do I try to lead sometimes? Is it because I have a lack of faith? Like Donald Miller says, "Ironing out faithless creases is toilsome labor." Sometimes it feels like we're doing a crazy Hip Hop routine beside each other and laughing our heads off, and other times He takes me by the hand and slows me down with a waltz, but either way, I love to dance and I'm having a blast. Yes, my toes get stepped on and sometimes I'd rather "sit this one out," but He's always there waiting for me .. and for that, I'm incredibly grateful for His patience.

Discovering BC's Wine Country

So, this weekend Bren, Karen and I decided to go to Osoyoos for the weekend and get away. Bren's friend and his family own a condo up there and it was great. When we weren't relaxing in the house watching a movie, we sat by the pool, walked down to the lake and sat in the hot tub in the dark and looked at all the amazing stars.

Not too shabby, hey?

On Saturday we ventured out to a few vineyards and I tried my first taste of wine ... EVER! Yes, I'm 34 and had never tasted wine before. I must say, it was mighty good. Bren and Karen said that for my first taste I got a really good one ... Ice Wine. The first place we went was called The Blasted Church and they have really neat art on their wine bottles. The next one we went to was called Hawthorne Mountain Vineyards.

So, although it was short but sweet, it was great to get away. Thanks for some good times and fun memories girls!

Cousins are Great

My cousin Taraleigh came down from Kamloops for the weekend to take a course in Vancouver, but she called me up to see if we could hook up sometime over the weekend. To be honest, Taraleigh and I didn't know each other too well growing up. She's 7 years younger than me, and when you're under 20 years old, 7 years can be a lot. Plus, we have probably over 50 cousins (including the spouses), so it's hard to get to know them all. But last summer we had a family reunion and Taraleigh and I connected on the "adult" level and it's been great to get to know her a little better. We headed downtown and went to Milestone's at English Bay because of the amazing view. After supper we headed over to the beach to get some shots of the sunset.

Do you see why I was reminded that we live in a beautiful city?

After the sunset we headed to the Imax to see Wild Safari in 3D. The film was amazing and I already wanted to go to Africa, so yet again, saddness that I'm not leaving in December, but that's ok.

The glasses were lovely as well.

We tried to take a picture of ourselves with the sails in the background, but I just couldn't seem to get it aimed right. Oh well, we howled trying to figure it out and I'm sure the people walking by thought we were drunk, but we hadn't had a drop! Honest! Thanks for the fun night, Taraleigh. It was great to hang out with you.

Oh, and today's my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad! Love you VERY much.

What a Boring Life I Lead ... NOT!!!

So, I'm coming down from my high of the So You Think You Can Dance episode (see previous blogs) and I'm going through excitement withdrawal. Without that "high" feeling I start thinking that my life's really boring, but then I remembered that last week I won tickets to see Barenaked Ladies in concert in Feb , so that's kind of fun. Then, last night my cousin came into town (which I'll blog about later when my pics are downloaded) and we went downtown Vancouver and had a great time. I'm so lucky to live so close to such a beautiful city. And today Bren and Natasha went with me to buy my new backpack for any new adventures/trips I'll go on. I can't wait to use it! Seeing that backpack on my back made me have a moment where I was sad that I'm not leaving in December like originally planned, but I know I'll be using that backpack sometime soon, even if it's just a short trip. So after all these thoughts, I'm over my "boring" episode and I realize again how great my life is. I'm actually glad that we have highs and lows because what would really be boring would be to be in the same mood all the time. Even if the lows are hard, they make the highs that much sweeter.

So You Think You Can Dance - Installment 1

Warning: I'm going to be acting like a teenager throughout this entire blog … so deal with it! :)

So, when Rachel and I didn't get tickets to go see So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD, from now on) in Seattle, I was quite disappointed. But we decided to drive down anyway and see if we could somehow get tickets and if we didn't, then, oh darn, we'd have to go shopping. :) Well, long story short, we got tickets (legally). As the guy behind the counter said, "I've got some sweet seats for you." And he wasn't lying. We were Row 11 right on the aisle. Amazing. The people behind us told us that they bought their tickets online from a scalper and they paid $500 for their two tickets. Crazy! At first Rachel and I were a little embarrassed to say we were going to see SYTYCD, but when we got there, there were people of ALL ages there. I think I saw someone as young as 6 all the way up to in the 90s. Very cool. I took a bizillion pictures, but I'll only download a few here.


We were so shocked to get tickets that I had to take a picture of them.


This is us inside the Paramount Theatre waiting for the show to begin. They all did solo dances and emcee'd the night, so that was cool.

This is Travis doing his solo (he's my favorite as you'll be able to tell if you continue looking through my pics).







This is everyone doing a Hip Hop routine.

Keep looking down for more pics (I couldn't fit them all in on one blog).

So You Think You Can Dance - Installment 2

More pictures

GO TRANJI!













The Bench dance!!! So beautiful!













Ivan and Alison doing the softer side of Hip Hop ...

and their "sexy" Contemporary dance

Final call ... say it isn't so!!!