I have been blessed with a pretty incredible job, and not a day goes by that I don't realize and appreciate it!
Job: Auntie
Description:
- Love
- Hug
- Jump on the trampoline
I've loved watching Samantha in her new role as Big Sister!
- Make and play with playdough
- Play soccer
- Make a fool of myself to make them laugh
Nothing but smiles when I get to play with one of my nieces or nephews!
- Throw them in the air over and over until my back is screaming at me...and then do it all over again when the next adorable faces asks me to
- Share my love of Celtic Thunder :)
- Giggle
I got to spend 4 days with Kyra and Jayce over the May long weekend and we all had a blast!
- Have a serious conversation about the bad dream that a Barbie doll had
- Kiss their owies better
- Help remind them that Nana's toys need to be shared
Just a taste of what the summer will bring - fun in the backyard!
- Sneak them bites of dessert when I think their parents aren't looking
- Be excited about every truck, tractor, and airplane we see
- Give fishy kisses and eskimo kisses
Travis, 8 weeks old. I got to spend all afternoon and evening with him last week!
I have loved every minute of being an auntie, and I can't imagine my life without these amazing kids!I realized that I haven't posted this yet! I was so excited to meet Jared and Lisa's baby boy last month - he's so perfect!
Such a cutie!
I got to spend a night in Whisler this weekend, and I had an awesome time!
I've been put in charge of planning our annual Sales Conference at work, which is a lot of work. I have to book the venue, organize all the meals, events, speakers, and activities. It'll keep me pretty busy over the next few months, but it ended up also coming with a nice perk!
We had a few location options that we were looking into, and finally chose Whistler. I'd been working with the Conference Sales Manager from Tourism Whistler and she said the best way for me to choose a hotel would be to come up to Whistler and see them for myself. I mentioned it to my boss and he said I should go! So on Friday my co-worker Elyse and I hopped in my car and drove on up!
We had to do site inspections at 4 different hotels, 3 on Friday and 1 on Saturday. When we did our first one, we were both kind of nervous and didn't ask a ton of questions, but as we got used to the process we became more vocal and weren't afraid to express our opinions and ask quesions. We realized that they want our business and will do just about anything to get it :) We had a few laughs as we realized that we're both fairly young looking and don't even have business cards or anything, so they really had no way of knowing if we were actually legit or just scamming them! The people we met with at each hotel treated us like VIPs, which was a lot of fun. We stayed at the Crystal Lodge, right in Whistler Village, and enjoyed having our own King Deluxe suites with fun gifts and goodies :)
We didn't realize how exhausting the whole process would be - each inspecion took pretty close to an hour and we had 3 back to back, so that was 3 hours of walking through hotels looking at an endless number of guestrooms and meeting rooms. We were pretty tired when we finished for the day!
Part of the week long Conference is a fun activity evening, so while we were there we got to test out 2 activities that we thought the group might like - Ziptrek and an ATV tour! I'm pretty scared of heights so the ziplining had me nervous, but it ended up being SO much fun! I screamed every time, which the rest of the group seemed to enjoy :)
After the first line we were both so pumped! Such a rush!
The course had us flying back and forth over the Fitzsimmons Creek, which seperates Whistler and Blackcomb mountains
This was before the longest line - 1100 feet! We started from this platform and ended up at the platform that you might be able to see behind Elyse.
After ziplining we had about 2 hours before our ATV tour started. I didn't think anything could top the adrenaline rush of the morning, but I was wrong!
Geared up and ready to go! The ATVs we drove are brand new - only 2 weeks old!
This was one of the best parts - driving through the huge splash puddle
We stopped to take pictures of the black bear that was wandering through the bobsled course
We both had an amazing time, and we thoroughly enjoyed being treated like VIPs the whole time - we didn't have to pay for a single thing the entire trip! Even though we have a lot of work to do now to organize all our notes and present them to our senior management team, we had a blast and it was so worth it!
I can't wait to go back and enjoy the conference in September!
And I'm SO excited to have a new nephew in the next couple weeks!!
(There you go Vanessa and Lisa, are you happy now?? :) )
In November I turned 25! I've heard a lot of people say that 25 is a big scary year, but I don't think it's that big a deal! I don't feel too old yet :)
My cousins Kim and Steph came from Saskatchewan for 5 days over my birthday which was so awesome! I had so much fun with them and I'm so glad they came!
While we were eating breakfast on their second morning here, we were trying to think of something fun to do for the day but couldn't come up with anything. Then we were talking about the Olympics and how they had never been to Whistler, and I hadn't been since I was 10...and spontaneously decided to just go!! So we jumped in my car and made the 2 hour drive up. We had to be back for a family dinner at 5 so we only got a few hours in Whistler, but it was so fun to wander around the village and be able to say we went :)
While we were eating breakfast on their second morning here, we were trying to think of something fun to do for the day but couldn't come up with anything. Then we were talking about the Olympics and how they had never been to Whistler, and I hadn't been since I was 10...and spontaneously decided to just go!! So we jumped in my car and made the 2 hour drive up. We had to be back for a family dinner at 5 so we only got a few hours in Whistler, but it was so fun to wander around the village and be able to say we went :)
We stopped a couple times on the drive for pictures
We had a Murder Mystery one evening, alway so much fun! This one took place at a hospital called Killem Hall (Kill 'em all) so we were all hospital staff. Tash had a male role, and she never backs down from a costume challenge. It was pretty funny!
On my actual birthday Kim and I went to White Rock. I love the beach and would love nothing more than to spend every birthday on the beach, but unfortunately it's in November so it's not really possible. But we decided to seize the moment and head on out! It was an insanely windy day so I think we only lasted about 15 minutes - long enough to walk the pier and take some pictures :)
A game of Ticket to Ride before dinner
The next day we drove down to Seattle with Yvonne, Tash and Kaeli. My sisters and I had bought tickets earlier in the year for a concert in Seattle, and when I found out that Kim and Steph were coming we invited them along! We had a fun drive down, with a stop at the outlet stores for some shopping. I love Seattle and never hesitate to drive down for a show or concert if there's one I want to see there. 
The concert we went to was Celtic Thunder - definitely one of my favourite groups!! We had seen them in concert in Vancouver in May, but their fall tour was US only, so we got to take a little road trip!
The concert was great, so much fun! When I was in line for merchandise I saw a sign that said whoever bought the solo Christmas CD that one of the group members had made, we could get it signed by him after the show. I couldn't pass that up!! I was so excited :)
Me and Paul. He's my 2nd favourite member of the group
When we were looking for parking before concert we saw their tour buses parked behind the building, so after the show I convinced my sisters to go wait for them to come out :) It actually didn't really take that much convincing because they're all really big fans too! I wanted to see Ryan, my favourite, and my sisters wanted to see Keith and Damian, their favourites. I would've been happy to get a picture of him as he walked to the bus, but he actually stopped to take pictures and give autographs! When I went up to get a picture with him Yvonne told him it was my birthday so he gave me a hug :) I was pretty much floating on air the rest of the night :) 
We spent the next day exploring Seattle, checking out Pike Place Market and going to the top of the Space Needle. It was a fantastic birthday weekend, full of lots of fun and the people I love :)
Yes, I know it's been an insanely long time since I've blogged, but I'm hoping we can put that behind us and move on :)
Here's a snapshot of what's been happening around here since I last posted:
May:
-my sisters and I went to see Celtic Thunder in Vancouver! We were all SO excited for it. I first heard of them in December when the receptionist in my office told me about them and lent me the DVD of their first show. I love the music (and the cute Irish men :)) and it didn't take long for my sisters to get to love the music too. It was a lot of fun to have a sisters night. I realized as we were driving there that it was the first time the 4 of us had gone out for an evening together since we saw The Phantom of the Opera right before Tasha went to Australia and Yvonne was still pregnant with Kyra! It was long overdue and we had a great time together. We're going to their concert again when they come to Seattle in November - they day after my birthday! I asked for a couple days off work so I will hopefully have a 5 day weekend for my birthday. It should be a pretty great 25th bday!!
-Vanessa are definitely on track to see 1 musical a month for this year. So far we've seen 13, and it's only August!! In May I finally got to see Les Miserables for the first time! I've wanted to see it since I was at CBC. It was my roommate's favourite musical and I loved the music. It was being done in Vancouver and I was so excited to go. The entire cast was phenomenal! They absolutely blew us away! We loved it so much that we went back in July :)
-Also in May, Yvonne, Tasha, Kaeli, Vanessa and I drove down to Seattle to see Grease. It was a really fun day - including a rousing game of Catch Phrase on the drive down. That always makes for good times :) The show was also great, although I could have done without Taylor Hicks reprising his role as Teen Angel. He came back out and did a little concert after the show and we thought it was completely ridiculous so we left. Being some of the probably very few Canadians in the audience, we were less than thrilled with their former American Idol. We heard some people's comment as we left, and they didn't seem to appreciate the fact that we would walk out :)
June:
-my sisters and I went to see Celtic Thunder in Vancouver! We were all SO excited for it. I first heard of them in December when the receptionist in my office told me about them and lent me the DVD of their first show. I love the music (and the cute Irish men :)) and it didn't take long for my sisters to get to love the music too. It was a lot of fun to have a sisters night. I realized as we were driving there that it was the first time the 4 of us had gone out for an evening together since we saw The Phantom of the Opera right before Tasha went to Australia and Yvonne was still pregnant with Kyra! It was long overdue and we had a great time together. We're going to their concert again when they come to Seattle in November - they day after my birthday! I asked for a couple days off work so I will hopefully have a 5 day weekend for my birthday. It should be a pretty great 25th bday!!
-Vanessa are definitely on track to see 1 musical a month for this year. So far we've seen 13, and it's only August!! In May I finally got to see Les Miserables for the first time! I've wanted to see it since I was at CBC. It was my roommate's favourite musical and I loved the music. It was being done in Vancouver and I was so excited to go. The entire cast was phenomenal! They absolutely blew us away! We loved it so much that we went back in July :)-Also in May, Yvonne, Tasha, Kaeli, Vanessa and I drove down to Seattle to see Grease. It was a really fun day - including a rousing game of Catch Phrase on the drive down. That always makes for good times :) The show was also great, although I could have done without Taylor Hicks reprising his role as Teen Angel. He came back out and did a little concert after the show and we thought it was completely ridiculous so we left. Being some of the probably very few Canadians in the audience, we were less than thrilled with their former American Idol. We heard some people's comment as we left, and they didn't seem to appreciate the fact that we would walk out :)
June:
-Kaeli graduated! I can't believe my baby sister is already finished high school. Sure makes me feel old!
-Rent
I was unbelievably excited to see Rent in Seattle! Broadway Across America was touring, and Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp joined the cast in the roles they originated on Broadway in 1996 - Roger and Mark. I LOVE Adam Pascal as Roger, and Anthony Rapp is great as Mark, so seeing them live was awesome. That was also the day that we packed a whole lot of stuff into. We drove down to Seattle, went for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, did a bit of shopping at Macys, saw Rent, drove home, stopped by Vanessa's brother's house where I met her nephew for the first time, went to a meeting at church, went to a different church gathering, and then ended the day with a movie :)
-Rent
I was unbelievably excited to see Rent in Seattle! Broadway Across America was touring, and Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp joined the cast in the roles they originated on Broadway in 1996 - Roger and Mark. I LOVE Adam Pascal as Roger, and Anthony Rapp is great as Mark, so seeing them live was awesome. That was also the day that we packed a whole lot of stuff into. We drove down to Seattle, went for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, did a bit of shopping at Macys, saw Rent, drove home, stopped by Vanessa's brother's house where I met her nephew for the first time, went to a meeting at church, went to a different church gathering, and then ended the day with a movie :)
-We had a company Family Fun Day ! We all went to Castle Fun Park and then to a near-by park for a pizza lunch. Vanessa was our official photographer for the day and took a lot of pictures, many of which were blown up and now hang on the walls of our office. We were allowed to bring kids, and since I don't have any of my own I borrowed one of Yvonne's :) Kyra came along and had fun making friends with another little girl around her age.
July:
-I went to Theatre Under The Stars for the first time! They do 2 musicals every summer, and we went to Thoroughly Modern Millie. I'd heard of a few different companies doing it this year but didn't know what the show was about, so it was great to finally see it
-At the beginning of July Vanessa and I took a weekend trip to Issaquah which is just outside Seattle. We went to see Show Boat, which is a musical that Vanessa saw many years ago and had really wanted to see again. I loved it, even though something Vanessa had said earlier in the day made me giggle through an entire song :)
-We saw Les Mis again, but I think I already mentioned that :)
-...and I saw Rent again! A company in Vancouver is putting on the first Canadian production of the show and one of Vanessa's friends is in it so a bunch of us went. Vanessa was actually on vacation when we went, so I'll be going again with her on Saturday. It was excellent for a small theatre company! I was quite impressed!
-At the end of July Vanessa and I took another weekend trip to Vancouver Island. I'd never been there before, and now I definitely want to go back! It was a lot of fun. We spent a day in Victoria, went to Miniature World, had a picnic on the lawn of the Empress Hotel, went to a couple wineries and saw Oklahoma! There is a theatre festival in Chemainus every year so that's what we went for. I really loved the cast of Oklahoma! It's a great musical.
-In probably the biggest news of my summer, I moved out this month! Vanessa has a townhouse in Langley and her roommates had moved out so she asked me to move in! It was a lot of work to pack up my 24 years worth of stuff to get it all moved, but it was good to go through and purge stuff :) It's been great to be out on my own - completely on my own for a couple weeks. Vanessa's been on holidays for a few weeks so I've been living by myself. Coming from a family of 7 people, being alone for 2 weeks has felt very strange, but it's also been a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the fun and crazy times we'll have now that Vanessa's home :)
Upcoming fun:
-In 12 days I get to see Wicked again! It's my 3rd favourite musical and it's coming to Seattle, so I'm making yet another trip down. This time Tasha's coming along which she is so excited about. Vanessa's friend Bethany is also coming to visit from Saskatchewan and is coming too. Should be good times!
-At the beginning of July Vanessa and I took a weekend trip to Issaquah which is just outside Seattle. We went to see Show Boat, which is a musical that Vanessa saw many years ago and had really wanted to see again. I loved it, even though something Vanessa had said earlier in the day made me giggle through an entire song :)
-We saw Les Mis again, but I think I already mentioned that :)
-...and I saw Rent again! A company in Vancouver is putting on the first Canadian production of the show and one of Vanessa's friends is in it so a bunch of us went. Vanessa was actually on vacation when we went, so I'll be going again with her on Saturday. It was excellent for a small theatre company! I was quite impressed!
-At the end of July Vanessa and I took another weekend trip to Vancouver Island. I'd never been there before, and now I definitely want to go back! It was a lot of fun. We spent a day in Victoria, went to Miniature World, had a picnic on the lawn of the Empress Hotel, went to a couple wineries and saw Oklahoma! There is a theatre festival in Chemainus every year so that's what we went for. I really loved the cast of Oklahoma! It's a great musical.
-In probably the biggest news of my summer, I moved out this month! Vanessa has a townhouse in Langley and her roommates had moved out so she asked me to move in! It was a lot of work to pack up my 24 years worth of stuff to get it all moved, but it was good to go through and purge stuff :) It's been great to be out on my own - completely on my own for a couple weeks. Vanessa's been on holidays for a few weeks so I've been living by myself. Coming from a family of 7 people, being alone for 2 weeks has felt very strange, but it's also been a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the fun and crazy times we'll have now that Vanessa's home :)
Upcoming fun:
-In 12 days I get to see Wicked again! It's my 3rd favourite musical and it's coming to Seattle, so I'm making yet another trip down. This time Tasha's coming along which she is so excited about. Vanessa's friend Bethany is also coming to visit from Saskatchewan and is coming too. Should be good times!
Stay tuned for Extreme Makeover: Hot Tub Edition!
See the story below before watching the video :)
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
Take that Ty Pennington!
My parents decided a couple weeks ago that the old storage shed next to our house needed to come down. I think it's been there since the farm was first built, but I could be wrong. They started the process last week by taking the aluminum roof off in pieces.
Typical men, standing aound on the job :)
They took a chainsaw to the back walls. There was a lot of discussion about the best way to bring this thing down.
I guess they decided the best way was just to push it over! (That's Eric's brother Peter helping Jared while my dad watched)
Victory!
Now I think they're cutting it into pieces and taking it back to burn. Bonfire anyone?
Winter has finally started to fade away here! We've had a crazy amount of snow this winter, and I'm so ready for it to all be over. We actually had a little bit of snow on April 1, but today is a beautiful, sunny, 12 degree day!! So exciting!
With the end of winter comes the beginning of our production season at work. There are still appointments to be booked for the sales reps, so I have a feeling things are about to get a lot busier. Today was pretty stressful because my supervisor's been getting a lot of pressure from the Regional Managers and General Manager to get more orders in, which means we have to book as many appointments as possible to get the orders taken care of. The problem with that is that by this point, I'm down to about 50 schools left to book for each of the reps I support, and those 50 schools have been called and emailed a lot since we started booking in October. When people don't take my calls, return my voicemail, or reply to email, it gets pretty hard to get an appointment booked!! It's kind of crazy, but at least we know the end is in sight and pretty soon we'll be able to leave this part of the year behind us for the next 4-5 months.
One of my co-workers used this as a candy dish last summer (the head is a bowl), but it broke at the end of summer and he just stowed it in a drawer. Today when he was packing up his stuff to move to where he'll be sitting for the summer he found it again. I volunteered to take it home and hot glue gun it. Hopefully it'll work. Actually, a lot of people in the office might thank me if I 'accidentally' lose it or something... Someone told me I should glue the base onto the top of the head and say "I glued the hat back on for you!"
I had a lot of fun at work on April Fools Day. I've never played pranks before, but this year I had a really good one. My supervisor is almost completely helpless when it comes to computers. She can do what's required for her job, and that's it, so she was the perfect person for it. I told the people in my department what I was planning in case I needed help distracting her or something. When it looked like I would have a few minutes alone, I walked around to her computer and took a screenshot of her background. Then I saved it as the background and closed down all the programs. Finally, I hid the icons from the desktop so it looked like they were there, but it was actually just a picture. When she came back, she had to re-open her programs, but when she double-clicked on the 'icons' nothing happened! Anyone who knows me well knows that I can't keep a straight face if my life depends on it, so I had to make sure she didn't see me. I started giggling before she even sat back down! She sits at the desk across from me, but there's a short wall between us so I ducked down so she couldn't see me. I thought she would ask for help right away because that's what she always does, but then I heard her computer shut down. I guess she thought restarting would fix it! Then she did it again...and again. After the 3rd time I was laughing so hard, trying not to let her hear me. She finally asked one of my co-workers to help her. He was in on it, so kept telling her to click different 'icons' and playing dumb. When she went to talk to another co-worker, I ran over, fixed it, and sat back down. When she came back she passed one of the tech guys and asked him to come look at her computer. She sat down and said "Look, when I click on these nothing happens!" Then she clicked on one, and since I had just fixed it, it worked! He looked at her like she was completely crazy and just laughed. I was going to tell her then, but everyone told me to wait. When she went for her coffee break, I hid the icons again. What does she do when she get back and nothing works? Restarts her computer! After a couple times, I wandered over and volunteered to help. She kept saying she had no idea how something like this could happen. Chad finally casually mentioned "Maybe it only happens on April 1..." When she realized it was a prank she laughed so hard! By the time we told her, most of the office knew what I'd done and had a good laugh. It was so funny!
Then, when the guy who sits next to me went for a break, I flipped the orientation of his screen so he had to tilt his head to the left to see everything, and made his mouse left-handed so when he tried to left click, it actually right-clicked. He knew right away that I had done it and made me fix it, but it was still pretty funny.
I was pretty worried when I went for my lunch break because I though for sure someone would get me back, but they didn't do anything. Time to start thinking of next year's prank!!
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