GARNETTE'S RAMBLES

South africa off to the game presurve

2008-12-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

I was really sad that all of the diving was over. Gerri and I had rented a car the day before diving and was suppose to be out of our room at breakerview. The owners where really nice and said that we could still use the room to shower and get all the salt off of us. At that point we didn't know where we where staying so we where just going to wing it. We talked to one of the guys that we where diving with named Allen and he had invited us to stay with him with his girl friend. We had lots of drinks and had a good time. We where still really pumped from the baited dive.

We left early that morning for imfolusi/hluhluie national part and where going to stay in the tents there. On the drive there we parked after getting gas, when a van just packed full of kids pulled in beside us. Gerri was inside, but one of the little girls looked at the food in the back seat and almost started crying saying she was hungry. I passed over some buns and things to the kids and it was like a feeding frenzy for them to get some. The kids grabbed at the bags and shoved food in there mouths as fast as they could. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen, I thought of my girls and how lucky they are. One little town we stopped at was really creepy. The death glares where insane. It seemed like everyone was trying to stare us down, Gerri and I just portended not to notice. After we left there was a big sigh of relief, then we got lost trying to get out of the town. We turned the corner of this beautiful little street to monkeys all over the road and in the trees with little wee babies. On the way to the game park we got to one entrance and we told we had to go the other way around. Along the way the radio played loosing my religion by REM and we sang it on the top of our lungs as loud as we could laughing our asses off. Gerri and I kept looking around wholly shit we are in Africa, wow! It was the most amazing feeling ever. When we finally got the the right entrance, there was a big of trouble with rooms booked but we where in the tents. We got in and right away there was animals all over the place. We where of course Japanese tourists, stapping photos left right and center, he he. It got dark fast though and soon we saw hiena's crossing the road. We got the camp site and as we turned to go to the tent there was 2 hiena's crossing in front of us literally feet away from our tent. We laughed very nervously. When we got in the tent soon after, the crickets started going nuts, and I could hear snarls coming from outside...aka lions. Yes Gerri I herd lions starling. We later found out that the bugs do that as a warning sign when predators are around...more nervous laughter.

Baited Dive

2008-12-09T11:05:00.001-08:00

We did a dive first thing in the morning to test the waters first. As soon as we got in the water all you could hear was wales and the clicking noises Dolphins made. This was the dive that Gerri almost lost her weight belt. Gerri and I stayed on top of one of the other caves holding on to conserve air (which made a massive difference). I saw a few sea slugs on the reef which was awesome. Gerri was fighting the current, turned and the belt started to come off. We where at under 30 Meters so that if she would have dropped her weight belt Gerri would have shot up to the surface with a ton of different problems all resulting in allot of pain and misery.

Everyone was so excited for the baited dive, weather was getting rougher by the minute but the visibility was still good. Mark set the bait and put the bait barrel into the water, which including fish heads and things, fish oils and other really not so pleasant smelling things. We waited about 20 minutes and Mark snorkeled down to see what kind of shark activity we had. He came up one happy man making the sign of the Tiger shark, exactly what I had come to see. When we first got into the water it was one giant gong show, with everyone everywhere. Shortly after we got into the water the Tiger shark disappeared. Mind you there was 12 bull sharks (Zambezi's) there instead....woooooow! a couple of times I had them swimming right around me and under my feet, it was amazing. Thankfully the Tiger came back and started checking us out. That was when the Tiger came quite close to me, Mark came swimming to try and scare the shark away if need. I wasn't interested in the bull sharks anymore just the Tiger Shark. Ever since I was really young all I wanted to do was swim with a Tiger shark and now was my moment. I stared into the Tigers eye as it swam by me, absolutely amazed. Adrenaline was pumping but not with any kind of fear, more amazement of this beautiful creature. Ya I know that at any moment this animal can take a good bite into me, but the reality is they aren't the blood thirsty creatures everyone makes them out to be. Unfortunately my air was done and I had to go back into the boat. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. Wow, I just did what? When everyone got back on the boat Roland our skipper and the launch owner asked how it went....I just started hooting and hollering....I think that says it all!

Protea Banks Dives

2008-11-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

The next day we where able to dive. It was cold out and our wet suites where wet...yuck. The night of the election was 2 days prior, and everyone in Africa was celebrating. You could hear go Obama in the streets. Who did we happen to dive with... 2 Republicans, who where very sour about Obama getting into office. Allen a guy we where diving with just kept yelling go Obama,lol, it was really funny. We dove at Protea banks north pinnacles. There where caves and overhangs that we went through, found lots of sharks teeth. There where allot of dangerous fish in there like the lion fish and scorpion fish. This one guy we eventually started calling Blondy went in close for photos, not very smart considering the lion fish can kill you. I went through my air really quickly but at the same time I wanted to see how deep I could go. I went 37 meters...wowza. South Africa is one of the only places in the world that will let you go that deep. The second dive that day was good not as exciting it was in the south pinnacles of protea banks. It was nice diving of course but probably one of my least favorite dives. Gerri and I went to Karen's place for a Braai (barbecue) and we had Grissel which is really thick bacon strips barbecued, and traditional South African sausages, wow was it good.

South Africa 2

2008-11-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

I am home now but thought I would update, seeing as I didn't do that much before. The day after the last post, the diving was still delayed. We ended up geting moved from our orriginal room in Breakerview to a bigger one without a beach view. We decided to Hire (rent) a car and we ended up going to a place called Oribi Gorge. One the way there we got lost a few times, almost going to Durban during the first scenic ruite. Oribi Gorge ended up being a beautiful drive up the mountain. Little huts where everywhere. It was crazy to see the people dressed so nice, boys with the backwards hats just like you would see walking the streets of canada, except you would see them crawl out of the clay huts. Homes where either made of clay or brick, mostly brick. On the hills if alot of the homes made of Brick didn't have roofs. When we got to Oribi Gorge we first got something to eat. The inviroment was amzing. We sat on big fluffy couches outside overlooking the forest. After food we drove around and made our way to the big 5 site. There I decided to do the swing jump. The swing there is the largest in the world and is at the top of a water fall 100 meters high. You have to walk down this metal cage ladder then get straped to safety cables. Gerri pushed me forward so I would go first, the brat. When I looked down I though, what the heck am I doing? The man there was very nice, I told him he might have to push me. The count down started then what do you know I felt 2 hands pushing me right off the cliff. There was an outline of a body at the bottom to make matters worse. Wow though it was a crazy feeling falling then being slowly pulled back up. If we had no though of money we would do it again. After we walked around to the table over hang. You can see where we jumped and baboon castle really well. We started walking around when I heard rustling in the bushes, scared me until a deer jumped out and ran away. We got back to the main hut and got a few things from the gift shop.

2008-11-05T23:13:00.000-08:00

Ok so our trip here was very very long. The london airport is a bit of a nightmare, and our plane was delayed so we had to run like hell when we got to johansberg. When we got to Durban it was like being on the beach. We caught a shuttle bus to Shelly Beach and the next day started our diving lessons.Karen is our instructor and an amazing person. She's dived all over the world. The first three days where in the pool doing drills. We got into the ocean the boat ride out is very exciting with boat going in all directions. We went to Raggies Cave off of Alawal Shoal, and as soon as we got down there there where tones of sharks everywhere. They are sand tiger sharks and very doppy animals. I was a little nervious but it didn't take long to realize they are as harmless as a fish. We also saw a green turtle which was great. The next dive we had some divers that hadn't dived in a really long time. Hugh was a older man and he got sick on the way out and almost pucked on me, lost a fin and paniced on the way up. all not so nice. The next day we did a deep 30 meter wreck dive. you can get something called narcosis (a.k.a. drunk-osis) which makes you feel like your are drunk underwater. I went down to fast and had some problems with my regulator so I had to come up and then I was ok. The wreck was amazing it was at a place called pruduce which was a ship that went down 100's of years ago. There where these large brittle bass fish that where about twice the size of us. You can't tell from the pictures though. The next dive was my fav. where you don't attatch the bouy line and drift with the current. It was amazing to see all the fish. We saw more sharks, 2 turtles and a hammer head shark.

Today we can't dive because of the weather. It was supose to be at protea banks. Protea is one of the top 5 diving sites in the world. Then as soon as we can we will do the baited dive in search of the tiger sharks.

Africa is such a beautiful place. There are monkeys everywhere on the side of the road. Can't wait to do the safari's.

Luke/Girls/South Africa

2008-10-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened it this past while. The girls are great, growing bigger all the time. Sienna talks ALOT, a little chatter box that one. Sanora is doing great in school, top reader of the class I must proudly say. Ya Ya I know it's grade one but I'm still just so proud of her.

Bryan went to Vancouver and Vegas and is recently still in Vancouver. I have missed him alot while he was gone. Bryan and I have if anything grown stronger as time goes on. I'm a very lucky woman to have such a patient man by my side. I'm glad he had fun but I think he could have had even more fun in Vegas if he let himself. Bryan is so dedicated to his family. Bryan has a really hard time being away from his family, and I seem to be his sidekick of some sort.

Unfortunately on the 5th of This month my cousin Luke was hit by a train. Luke and his friend where riding their bikes on the tracks before getting going on foot to explore. The train came and they ran to get their bikes and Luke wasn't so lucky. The service was this past weekend, and from what I hear my family was admiringly strong through the process. His sister Mandy was very close to Luke and I give my heart out to her as I can't imagine what it would be like to loose a sibling. While Gerri-Anne was in Afghanistan I thought about what might happen, but that never even touch on the real thing.

On that note I am very happy that Gerri-Anne is back in Canada. My heart was immediately put at ease of course. Gerri and I leave for South Africa on the 27th of October and I get back on the 15th of November. When I was in grade 3 or 4 I had to do a report on famous landmarks, so I picked Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I found the people and culture so fascinating I have always wanted to go since.

ciaotic life

2008-09-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

Well lots is always happening in our life of chaos. Bryan is officially working on his own now. Bryan is quickly learning that there is no shortage of work for him here. I threw Bryan a welcome to self employment/anniversary suprise party. I only have 4 hours between shifts at the cafe so I spread my preperations out quite a bit, hidding things in the garage. On the night of the party I was working so I Texted Bryan instructions making him go all over the yard and house and finally the garage and told him to look for a black bag. His reply was "the one with all the alcohol in it?" in which I replied "yup, part starts at 7:00" I also brought home all kinds of things from the cafe home.

So the count down is beginning first for Bryan to go to Vagas, then for Gerri to get back to Canada, then for our Africa trip. I'm so excited, and a little nervous. I've never been to a third world country before but as we speek I am doing my research on travel precotions.

Work is going really well. It makes me laugh because on of the owners Tony makes me think of how Dad might run a cafe. It's hard to explain but if you where to meet him you would know why! Everyone in the office went to Italy,so I worked every day so that that the cafe is being taken care of. They really trust me there and I have to say I do a pretty good job at it. I'm can always do better, but the staff listen to me, things get done, and there has been a vase improvment in the structure of the cafe sinse I have got there. I don't know if customers see it, but my bosses do. I have actually gotten lots of comments in the comment jar in refrence to me specifically. Tony (me boss) teases that I paid someone to put them in there...ha what a punk!

Work and the girls

2008-08-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

Ok we're finally getting summer here, for this week anyway. I've been working alot so I'm never on the computer much. On the weekends I work 16 hour days, working until 4am most of the time, other nights 8am. I have been doing this for 3 weeks now and I am very quickly wearing thin. I'm going to talk to my boss in the morning about only working at the college once a week. At Baked cafe things are great. They are paying me a great wage, full health benefits, and are going to even pay my phone bill for the ability to have constant contact with me. I'm basically turning into there assistant is probably the best way to think of it. I do most of the admin things and is meeting with the boss tomorrow to take over all the ordering. I'm handling allot of the promotions work as there is going to be live music and art shows being done at the cafe. We have a promotions manager that I will be working with and together we set up the shows and handle any of the extra work. Bryan is quiting Terra Firma at the end of august, and he is very excited about that. I'm excited to as I will be able to relax more when I am work knowing that they are with there daddy.

Sanora and Sienna are getting big fast. Both are having a hard time adjusting to me working so much. Sienna cries allot with me and follows me around everywhere. I try and play with her as much as possible, and I take the girls out alot. I very quickly jumped on the fast track of life, and if I thought my life was busy before it sped up by 10 times. I like it though, I enjoy being busy and I find I am way more on top of things where I am maintaining this kind of life style. I miss my girls tremendously when I am gone but when I am with them I am so much more product with them. Sienna is so talkative know, she says please, thank you, hat, kitty, doggy, mom, dad, more, what's that, and a few more that I can't think right now. I am so in love with my family I tell you. I have the most amazing husband, even if he doesn't think so. My girls are amazing and full of personality. They make me the happiest person alive.

ciao the beginning

2008-07-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month so far. We have a tenant/roommate now and she has 2 little ones, Nastasia is 5 and Nevaeh is 2 months younger than Sienna. It works out great because we parent the same way and we have a good system going. Sanora had a hard time adjusting to people being in the house so much but now that Nastasia has her own bed things have been allot better for her. There has been allot of change on how Sanora interacts with other kids, she's way better about how she communicates and deals with not getting her own way when playing. We also do the kid swap thing while Jody is working and while I am at work.

Speaking of work....
I'm working crazy hours on the weekends. I do 36 hour weekends and have more relaxed days during the week. So far things are good. I work at a cafe called baked cafe, it's an all organic cafe where everything from the cups to cutlery are made from corn. They really care about there staff and I will be doing an overhaul of the book keeping system as it has never been kept up in the past. Soooo I have some catch-up to do,lol. I really like my employers and I think it will be a great transition into the new system for Bryan to quite his job. I'll be working both and I'll see how it goes when everything changes.

I love you all so very much, and I know that I am not the greatest of communicators. I think often of how I tend to push people away from me. I think about my family on a daily basis, and I've very proud to belong to the family that I do. I miss everyone so much. I hope that when I go to Africa that I can see Gena on the lay over and the three of us can cause some trouble, he he.

big life changes

2008-07-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

So one thing that I missed the last time I wrote is that Sanora and I went to this open mic/spoken word event at a cafe down town. Sanora started getting bored so I said, "do you want to tell one of your stories", Sanora got really excited and jumped at the chance. Sanora stood up in front of a group between 30 - 50 people (most people where standing it was that packed) and Sanora got up and told 3 stories. I felt I was about to explode with pride, I thought it was amazing that a little girl got up in front of everyone. Sanora practically had a standing ovation and then later one of the performers asked everyone to give her a round of applause for the courage to get up and how proudly she presented herself. I was beaming, as you can guess. I am also very gratefully for Whitehorse as to give Sanora the opportunity to feed her determination and passion for expression.

So some big changes in our life. I am only working Security 2 days aweek as everyone has taken there vacation. So job hunting time again, fly by the seat of my pants I applied at the cafe that had the spoken word event for the store front manager. I exchanged e-mails back and forth with the owner and he wanted me in for an interview the next day. When I went I got the job on the spot, 40 hours a week and flexible hours. Wages are amazing and made so people want to stay. Soooooo I told Bryan, Bryan talked to his boss and long story short... drum role please....... Bryan is going to quit his job and do only contract work. Bryan already has a munch of regular clients and that is without even advertising. I'm gonna work both jobs up until I got to Africa and then I will quit the security job. yaaaa I'm so excited!

my beautiful girls

2008-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

wow it's been a long time since I wrote in my blog. Lots has been happening lately. Siena is walking up a storm and man is she a funny girl, full of personality that one. Sanora is in a reading/craft program at the library and is loving that. Sanora reads everything. Sanora can read level 2 books now no problem and has problems with level 3. I'm always amazed at how well she does. I can't get away with spelling things out anymore,lol. Sanora shows the qualities of a great leader, some of those qualities are soo frustrating for us parents but I know they will be what makes her succeed in the future.

With me working the weekends and Bryan working so much we have yet to go camping this year, which sucks. We got out alot in the "spring" but not much yet in the "summer"! I actually picked up a second job at the local camp ground starting tomorrow, I'm excited about it.

Sienna walking/school/RIP John

2008-06-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ok so I was having problems with my account again, a listening problem on my end I think. So it's been a big week and this is the scoop. On the 4rth of June Sienna (had already taken a few steps but didn't seem interested beyond that) was holding onto my pants then suddenly let go and walked to Sanora and through herself around Sanora in a hug. It was so cute. Bryan and I of course had Sienna do it over and over again and Sanora video taped it with my camera. 3 days later Sienna was walking across the room and 5 days later she can practically walk around the house and was trying to do a bit of a run...Yikes! So proud of my little sweet heart.

I went Kayaking last weekend, it was great. They where offering free lessons at Schwanga Lake, so I tried out this really fancy boat that I would never have,lol. There where dogs there so Sanora was going nuts throwing rocks and such. Oh yes I didn't mention that when we woke up Sunday morning it was duh duh duh...SNOWING!so it was a head trip to be on the middle of a beautiful lake in the middle of June, while it was snowing. I also applied for classes for the fall. I'll be taking general studies for the first year, then Renewable resources the year after. With the general studies courses I will be upgrading my English and science as well as taking some theater classes and hopefully some language classes as well. The upside with that is that it will be paid for by EI as I just came off of Maternity leave. I want to take advantage of that as much as I can.

On a sad note officer John Snyder son of Mr. Snyder who use to by my teacher passed away. Mr. Snyder was my English teacher in grade 11 and a hard one of that. John was 1 of four I believe, 3 or 4 boys I can't remember, and Graded with Gerri and I. I didn't know him that well except that he was on the Ruby team and I was on the girls team as we often practiced at the same time. It is a great loss to the place I still call home, RIP John.

Bryan's Vacation

2008-06-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's been a while, sorry about that. Well Bryan took off to Vancouver and had amazing time with friends and family, concerts and shopping. I however took the opertunity to take my kids out and really have some quality time with them. We did lots of walking saw beaver dams, walked around town, Sanora got baby sat while I went to work. Oh yes and on Sunday I ran the water so we could run in the sprinklers and of course had to hang out outside for an hour afterwards. Low and behond when we finally went back inside there was a good 2 inches of water in the basement. a pipe had burst and been going everywhere for the whole time we where outside. So I called the insuarace company right away, then called Bryan, then came the towels and clean up. It was a good thing it was I and not Bryan, because he would have flipped,lol. Tis is life I say, the funny thing is Sanora ran and got her rubber boots to splash in the water. So monday morning everyone came, there has been dehumidifiers and fans everywhere, at one point I counted 11 fans. So far we have to replace the cieling and flooring in the storage, the carpet in the whole basement, the TV stand because it was particle board....mmmmm I think that's it for now hopefully. Ahh what can you do? Bryan had a really good time which is good, I am so happy to have him back!

updates

2008-05-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm loosing my touch in the blogging world. Bryan is in Gibson's as we speak (not literally), spending some quality time with his brother Bill, and being escorted by a friend Chris. 2 hours after his plan landed he texted me with "I'm drunk", so that should tell you how it's going so far. Bryan's already been to the Breeders show and was raving about it all day today. While Bryan has been gone I have been in town allot. I took Sienna down town and decided to go shopping for plants and got a Hydrangea, a Lilac and a pine tree. How did I get them home you ask, he he I loaded them up in the stroller and took them on the bus while holding Sienna. It was interesting to say the least. Today I went garage saling with the girls and we only made it to one, but that was all we needed because we walked away with a big shelving unit for $5, and Bench that opens up to be storage inside for the girls winter gear for $15. I of course walked away the a bunch more stuff like pots, candles, and these 2 beautiful solid wood boxes. Sanora was happy, she got a ton of things from the free boxes. So this week I will be digging up our front yard and planting. Bryan is a little scared about this plan, requesting that I sent photos showing what I want to do...shape act. Ya right, I told Bryan he has to wait in fear and see when he gets home, Bwaa ha ha ha.

On another note I got to see an old friend the other week, a guy I went to college with. Ali was in town doing some art for a guy Bryan knows, so I called him up and harassed him out for a coffee. This is a guy that will always be in my heart, he's a pretty cool guy.

Ohhhhh one more note, he he. I have officially not been smoking for 2 weeks, and Bryan 5 weeks...woooo hoooo!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

I got to sleep in...HOORAY I got to sleep in. Sanora was under strict instructions to let me sleep till 9:30. Then Tara and Donovan came over for Brunch which Bryan made smoked salmon egg's Benny with asparagus, and there was all kinds of fruit as well as Pastry's. I work that night, but in all I had an amazing Mothers Day, thanks to my amazing husband. I am one lucky woman I tell ya!

Sanora's Dance shows

2008-05-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Dance class for Sanora is sadly over. Sanora has had rehersals for the past 2 months, it's been crazy. This past week Sanora had to be at the art centre every night this past week for rehearsals and performances. There was 3 performances, I missed the one on Thursday but for the other ones and dress rehearsals I was helping out in the back. I guess the first show was pretty funny to watch. One of the girls got a little ahead of herself and pushed Sanora off the stage and then the crew off stage pushed them back on. After they where done Sanora being at the very front ended up just standing there waving her arms. So cute, That was the night I was at work so I didn't actually see it. When I came on Friday, they hit everything right on cue, I almost cried it was so heart breakingly cute. On Saturday it was a premier so I was able to be there for that and we weren't suppose to, but I figured I am buying the DVD anyway and video taped the performance from back stage. It's really hard to see but the look on Sanora's face when she ran off stage was priceless, I love it.

Sanora's dance shows

2008-05-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Well things have been busy here. Sanora's dance school had their first show tonight. Yesterday and the next 2 shows I am working back stage with the little ones, they are sooooo cute. I can't believe the chaos that goes on behind the curtain, I never would have thought. There are 2 of the young ones (4 years old) that like to disapear, so keeping track of 9 kids is a little harder than I thought. Sanora is doesn't seem to have any stage fright so far. Well Tomorrow is a big day with another dance performance, my birthday and Bryan getting the big snip snip. We're going to be hosting a party to celebrate.

another proud mommy moment

2008-04-12T21:24:00.001-07:00

I had a proud mommy moment this week with Sanora. I went Wednesday to Sanora's school to help out around the class and what not. It was Library day so I went with them to the library, Sienna and I got to sit with Sanora while the teacher read them a story. When it was time for them to pick a book and line up, right away Sanora read the title of her book "The bookstore dog" and she told her friends the title, they didn't believe her right away, so I confirmed that it was the title. All the kids around her then excitedly asked her to read the titles of their books, and would then look at me to confirm. I would just node my head and the kids would all go "WOW". After Library was a school concert which I also attended with Sanora, While we where sitting waiting for the school band to start her teacher told me that at reading time the kids all sit down with sanora and she reads all of the other kids stories. My chest probably inflated about 10 times (ya right eh ;)) with pride. That evening I pulled out the Hooked on Phonics and she was able to go through a few pages of level 4 with little problems. I love how she's so excited by reading.

Sienna's Birthday

2008-04-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

Already my little girls has turned one. Where has the time gone? We had a few people over for a dinner, and Bryan made amazing salmon. I originally thought I would be making the dinner and was a little nervous as I have never cooked for a group before. I did most of the prep, then Bryan came home and took over as usual. I warned Sanora ahead of time that Sienna will be getting allot of attention, but in the end Sanora was having to much fun playing with the other kids to even care. I'm so glad that she had fun. I was so anxious of people coming over and dinner that Sienna hadn't really napped. Poor Sienna was so tired and cranky before we even got to the cake and presents. When I put her to bed she was out before I even left the room. Sienna got so many nice things from everyone, it was so sweet. Lots of beautiful clothes which was great, and it was Bryan and I that got the toys. Tara and Donovan also got Sienna a cabbage patch doll. Sienna loves it and carries it around with her all the time hugging it and giving it kisses. My little girl is so affectionate, always giving hugs and kisses to Sanora and her mom and dad. Last night I got a text from Bryan that Sienna bit Sanora's nose. I guess Sanora started to cry, then Bryan started laughing so hard Sanora started laughing to. Thank you to everyone that made Sienna's birthday special, and thank you to those you made Sienna's first year special.

Gerri update

2008-03-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

I talked to Gerri-Anne the other night and she seems to be doing well and in good spirits. Working out lots apparently. I guess work hasn't gotten into full swing for her yet is the idea that I got from her. Gerri has booked sky diving with extreme sports.com and is trying to get me to go swimming with sharks with her. That has always been my number one on my bucket list, so I am pretty excited about the thought. If anyone gets to chat with Gena can you please ask her to contact Gerri Via e-mail about what her plans are regards hooking up with Gerri on her leave. I can fill Gena in on somethings but Gerri was rambling like a maniac so as you can guess I only got about half the info. Anyway, it was so nice to hear her voice, I text her little notes all the time and when she can she will text me back, sometimes she'll text and it wont go through, so if you are using that type of communication with her and she doesn't answer chances are that it just didn't go through on her end.

Sanora's Imaginary friends

2008-03-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many know how many know about Sanora's imaginary friends. There has been recent events that have made me want to write the stories we come up with down.

Over a year ago Sanora and I where walking into town (2 1/2 hours) Sanora was quite distrait about having to walk. So we decided to come up with something to help.

We where walking through the forest when out of no where a magically woman named Riverdale came flying down from the sky. Riverdale saw us from above and decided that she wanted to meet my dear Sanora. Upon meeting Sanora, Riverdale decided she wanted to take us to her magical garden where she Riverdale had her plants. Riverdale had plants of many kinds, some that where big reaching way above our heads, some that where really small, all of which had some form of magic power or element to them. Riverdale had never shown her garden to anyone, but there was something about Sanora that made her need to show this to the young girl. Riverdale had a friend named Carlos that also accompanied us to the garden. Carlos also loved to fly and showed us many tricks that he could do, circling and flipping around in the sky. When we got to the Garden, it was the most amazing thing we had ever seen, flowers and plants of bright colors, shapes and sizes. Riverdales's garden was very big and had a shield that went over and around it. The Shield made it so that the average person couldn't see what was there. Sanora and couldn't touch any of the plants for they where very delicate, so we walked through and went on our way with the promise to return. Riverdale and Sanora had become good friends, in which Riverdale and Carlos came to visit us very often. Sometimes we would be driving in truck or walking down the street and Sanora would see them flying in the sky. When we would see them Sanora would wave and shout hello, they would then take a break from flying and come down to say hello. Sanora would have Riverdale over for tea, or a picnic as well. A year had passed (quite literally) and Sanora would talk about Riverdale and Carlos, both where very nice people that where kind to her. This winter Sanora got some tragic news from Carlos after Bryan had dropped me off at work. Carlos and Riverdale where flying through the forest when a polar bear came out of no where. Riverdale was closest the polar bear and he was very fast. Carlos was able to fly away and when he got into the sky and looked down he realized that Riverdale had been eaten by the polar bear. Carlos was very upset, and cried allot when he told Sanora. When Sanora and I where walking to dance class this weekend Carlos introduced us to his new friend Tallulah. Tallulah had 5 cats, 3 dogs, 6 rabbits, a squirrel, a chipmunk and a hamster. Tallulah loves animals and feeds those that don't have a home. All of the animals came with us to dance class, with most of them being well behaved. Baddy the chipmunk often gets in trouble for not listening, and was a little bit of a pest. Tallulah has long blond hair like barbie and wears all kinds of nice dresses, with hearts, squares and diamonds on them.

Well that is my interpretation of the people we concocted together. Some would say "Is it really good for her to have imaginary friends?" My thoughts are that they are imaginary and she knows that, plus imagination and creativity should not be limited by coloring, or some kind of other physical means. I am often hard of Sanora and often worry that I limit her creative spontaneous self, but I love who she is and expect her to respect and be the best she can be. I write this all with pride because although Sanora and I always do it together it comes entirely from her imagination. She's such a great kid, and I love who she is.

My beautiful girls

2008-03-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sienna has had her mollers coming in lately, which means a little more tempermental child. Both kids are great, both done with the flus and the bugs it seems. I am always impressed with Sanora and her reading. Sanora got her book order yesterday and books that she has lever laid eyes on she just picked up and almost read word for word. Sienna has a firey little personality, I love it. You always know when Sienna wants something, her saying please has been a major help in decifering what she wants and what Sienna is crying about. Last night I had belly dancing class and Bryan wasn't home yet to watch the girls. We improvised so I had the girls down stairs with me, and Sanora fed Sienna yogert and then played with Sienna in the play room. I was able to pritty much do the full hour lesson, the girls where so good about it.

I am in love with belly dancing. The culture and expression of the dance I find is very facinating. My teacher has a show coming up in June and has already concidered me to join the group of girls to dance with her. It depends on my progress of course, which I have been fully warned. That just means I have a goal and a time line,which means practice, practice, practice.

Photos

2008-03-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Gerri update

2008-03-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

Gerri has been texting me tonight and she just popped me a not to tell everyone that she sends her love. Gerri told me that she has been able to work out 2 times a week, as they have a gym at the main base now. It was nice to talk to her, even if it was quick.

Spring break / goals

2008-03-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

So it's spring break, woo hoo. Well I had planned to do all these fun things with Sanora and the first to days went well. Monday we did all kinds of crafts and then went to the park for about 3 hours, pretty much until boo bear had enough. On Tuesday even more crafts and went sledding right behind our house. Just as I was pulling out the crazy carpet it sling shotted and bounced back hitting Sienna in the face. Poor kid had a black eye and a face full of scratches. Thankfully by the time Bryan saw it which was the next day the black eye was gone and the scratches where already healing up. By Wednesday of course we got hit with the flu again, both Sienna and I of course. So there went the swimming, play dates and more sledding that I had planned to do with her. Sanora is the most amazing little girl, she took care of Sienna and I while Bryan was at work. Sanora got things for Sienna, got a bucket for us, entertained Sienna if I had to make a run for it. Something else that Sanora did was fully take care of herself, made her own sandwiches and got everything herself, never even asked for help. I have to say that Sanora wowed me this week. Sienna and I seemed to be fine today so I hope that tomorrow I can take the girls to the pool, mind you the buses aren't working so we'll have to see. Bryan has been working on alot of things lately so on the weekends it's more work for him.

There is so much funding in the Yukon in the arts department, that's what we are going to push for in the next 5 years. Our goals right now is to get funding so Bryan can write his book, then set up Tenacious mouse and when that is completed then we would love to open an art store. Whitehorse is screaming for it, tones of people are coming into Terra Firma all the time looking for art supplies. It would of course also be a bit of a gallery and Tenacious mouse run out of it. My major goal is to just go back to school, there is so much I would love to educate myself on. Writing skills being an major one. I've gotten really into herbology lately, plants are so interesting here. I found out that you can infact plant apple trees here. I'm pritty excited about that.

Gerri-Anne in the Sandpit

2008-03-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

Gerri-Anne has been in Afghanistan for almost a week now. For those who haven't heard she went back on February 28Th. Everyone keeps asking how I feel about that and it's always hard to explain. Yes I worry about her and pray nothing happens to her, she's my twin. I guess the the best way to explain it I don't really feel anything. I kinda got worked up before she left but now that she's there that's the best way to describe it. I know Gerri can take care of herself, and if something happens it happens, everyone has there time whether it be in Afghanistan or in Canada. I love you Gerri, I can't wait to see you when you get back!

Oh and Sienna is much much better now, for the moment no one is sick. I celibrated this last night by cleaning out the storage room last night. I'm adventurous aren't I?

ugly bugs and promotion

2008-03-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

Ya post 200,lol! Well Sienna has been sick now for over a month between cough and cold, 24h fever, another weird bug that lasted a month on her but 2 weeks for the rest of us. Unfortunately we had to miss Tara's baby shower today, what a cute baby though, soo tiny. The only thing right now though is that Sanora having gone through the stomach flu and the rest of us just going through it now is, she is talking 50 million words per minute and the monkey is driving me bonkers. Work is a day off right now, lol. Ahh she's a good kid but right now quiet is nice.

The sun is so beautiful here, especially over the snow. I can't wait for summer. I keep thinking about all the camping and Kayaking that we can do and I get giddy. Oh and with my job I have been offered a term position where I will be receiving the same benefits as full time, health, higher wages, sick days, vacation act. With the health care if one of the girls get sick what Bryan's plan doesn't cover mine will cover the rest. I'm not sure if that includes myself but ahh well I'll take what I can get.

Sanora's neighbourhood distrabution

2008-02-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

Thursday we got Sanora's report card. She is doing so well in school, with only a few things that she is working on but could still use some improvement. I guess Sanora tends to overwhelm some of the other students with her enthusiasm (no surprise there) and apparently her representation of clear visual images could use a brush up as well as writing her letters smaller and straight. I am so proud of Sanora, she is so smart and learns so quickly. Bryan took Sanora out to celebrate with a treat and a gift as I had to work that night.

This past Friday being our Yukon holiday Discovery Day, Sanora had off from school. Sanora and I went around the neighbourhood distributing some of sanora's drawings. All reactions where inthusiastic and Sanora loved it. At first Sanora would say "do you want a picture" hand it to them and then walk away. I would then just tell the neighbour that Sanora drew pictures and wanted to give them to everyone in the neighbour hood. I loved it, so cute to watch. I Hope I always do these things with my kids because I would never want Sanora to think she shouldn't or she can't proudly show this beautiful part of who she is.

Last night was an interesting night. Everyone around the college seems to have gone nuts. I'm becoming fast aquantances with the RCMP in town, and often under unusual cercomstances. Like I say to Bryan, if a job doesn't challange me I get bored, and I don't believe it's likely to happen in this job.

eclips sanora my grandma

2008-02-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Last night at 1900 was the moon eclipse. We got out on the deck at exactly 1900, The moon is so big here, it was beautiful. This was the first time I have ever seen an eclipse before, Sanora came out and was so excited she was jumping up and down.

Sanora has amazed us again. She came home from school and drew a dog, a bunch of them actually. When Bryan came home he sat down with her to draw one with her. Being Bryan he playfully made his dog into a bunny. What did Sanora do, draw him a step by step guide to drawing a guide, on a grid. Then Sanora drew a bunch of dogs wanting to hand them out to all of the neighbours, which we will do today.

On a sadder note, my grandmother came back from christmas vacation only to have cordinarty heart failure. She`s been in and out of the hospital since. My grandmother during vacation had a blast, not just keeping up with but out passing some that are younger than her. Which is just the way my grandmother has always been. Grandma davidson is now going to be transferred to a rebilitation center because of problems with her leg, then to a full care facility. It is sad for all of us but most of all for my grandmother. If she had her way she would never enter the door of one of those facilities. I love my grandma dearly and I hope she can find some happiness in her new situation.

frostbite, Sienna, new famiy Dias member

2008-02-20T08:17:00.001-08:00

February is the coldest month of the year for the Yukon. No one knows this better than those who came in last night finishing of the legendary dog sled race called Yukon Quest. When sledders had started in Fairbanks Alaska it was close to -70 with wind chill, forcing a record amount of participants to fall out of the race. For those of you who don't know about Frostbite, it's a big festival that happens in February. One of the big events just happened to be held at the college where I work security. It was interesting for me seeing as I was all by myself for college staff and there so few frostbit staff that where watching the door ways. One staff member backed me up on one occurrence but that was the extent of it. I'm thankful that most of the students in the dorms where away for the weekend, other wise I really would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So now that Frostbite and Yukon Quest has come to a close we now have the Rendezvous festival to look forward to. Rendezvous is part of the Yukon`s character just like the other 2, and with contests like chain saw throwing, flour packing, and of course the Rendezvous queens one can't help but find the humour in what us Yukoners do for fun, especially when it's -40 like it was last year.

Sienna now has 6 teeth, the top 2 are growing in now. Sienna started off getting incredibly excited about a sucker. Out of fun I said say please first, and low and behold the little monkey made a fierce attempt at saying it. We only have her do it for now when she has anything that would constitute as a treat, and when we do we would get a little eeez!

Our friends Tara and Donovan`s baby Asher Thomas Dias has blessed the world on Monday February 18th. At a healthy 7 lbs 4 oz Asher is such a little cutie, we have yet to see him except in pictures on facebook. We where going to see them on the evening Asher was born, but later thought it might be a little too invasive. We`ll just wait till they get home with little Asher to harass the family. When Bryan told me he was born I was almost in tears, thinking back to when I had Sanora and Sienna. Bringing a new life into the world is an amazing thing, and the smile on Tara`s face says it all.

weather / belly dance classes

2008-02-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

The cold snap has ended and I am going back to my walks, I am very happy about that. thats the one thing about having small children, if we have a hard time breathing in the weather, it's going to be even worse for the wee little ones. There has also been a sickness that has been going around that lasts 3 weeks. It only hit me and Sanora for about a week with a cauph that lasted another week. It hit Sienna for about a month, she even still has a tinny bit of a caugh. It went from -60 including windchill to -4 in 3 days (normal for whitehorse) and the odd thing is that every radio and tempeture reading said -60 and the weather on the weather network said -30. I went for a nice walk through the trails yesterday, it was so beautiful. Tofino is getting so much better around people too. When we saw runners on the trails I called him and made him sit beside me, and he did. The other night was yet another beautiful display of Arora Borialis, it usually comes out about 02:00 am, though.We get a nice view in our back yard.

Last night was belly dancing, I love it. I was suprised at how much Yoga nad strength training is involved. We only do a few moves per class but we practice them for a long time, and even some the simplest moves take alot of strength in you legs or arms. Man am I feeling it today!

Feedback from work

2008-02-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

When i got off of shift on sunday I got really good feedback from one of the full timers. I told her that I was interested in the term position which is 30 hours a week and she told me they where all ready wanting me for the position. I am told that the boss is extremely happy with how I am doing, and is impressed with how quickly I transitioned into the flow of things. Part of it is how I am writing my reports and how I conduct my rounds through out the building. I am very happy about this, and going into that position means that I will get a substantial raise and possibly full benefits. It's a government job which is nice, looks like it may be a big opportunity for me in the long run.

Oh tonight is the start of tribal belly dancing, woooo hoooo! I loved it, there was something about the whole experience that was so gratifying.

Sanora's Birthday Party

2008-02-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

It was a bit of a rough night for me, I got off of work at 04:00 and was able to get a few hours of sleep before plunging myself into the party proccess. Poor Bryan had to go to the store yet again, and partly because we where still getting RSVP's 20 minutes before the party started so we had to make sure that we had enough loot bags, and we had the right amount which was great. In all there where 17 or 18 kids, and when they all first got there they where running around like mad people. It's at times like this that I really apreciate the play room down stairs. Everything was going great, all of the kids where really polite and sweet. We ended up ordering pizza and when the guy came he only had 1 medium pizza, well we ended up getting our whole order for free and only paid for the 1 medium, which of course was awsome. The ironic thing was that none of the kids wanted Pizza, they only wanted chicken nuggets, too funny, then they didn't really want cake.....where did we get these kids from? We got a piniata and some how attatched it to a pool que and our friend David held it up with Bryan. All the kids waited patiently for their turn, but man was it funny. I think every parent had the look of fear written all over their face, and it didn't go away till well after. At one point Kelab who is 11 was trying to finish the horse off because it just wouldn't break. It was then that little nathan was walking up behind him and barelly got missed before Bryan pulled him away. The kids scrambled like no other, trying to get at the candy and toys. Pritty much right after everyone left, my friend wisked me to work. Sanora got alot of things, and the Bratt memrabilia could not be escaped for there where quite a few Bratt toys included in her massive pile.

I am on my break at work right now and unfortunantly I have missed one of those magic moments of being a parent. Sienna said 2 new words tonight, and 1 being her first sentence. The sentence was all run together making it sound like one word. Sienna had said Banana and I love you, she said both to me when I was on speaker phone. I'm glad that Bryan got to be there for that.

Sanora's b-day / work

2008-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last entry, sorry about that. My computer is having problems loading pictures for some reason, they will be up as soon as I can get them up.

Unfortunantly both girls where sick leading up to the weekend aka Sanora's birthday. I felt bad for her and we tried to make it fun for her. We took her down to the Nakui fastival down town, it was a childrens festival with the first act being an outragously silly musicion, with the name Washboard Bob, Bryan and I like him. The second act was duplex, the band with Vida Hille and her husband, Bryan was in the high hevens when they played. For those of you we have made listen to "pooing and peeing at the same time!" that would be them! There was face painting, clowns, and tons of free goodies, so Sanora loosened up a bit, The band even sang happy birthday to Sanora to which was great, in fact the whole room did. It was so cute watching Bryan dance to silly songs with Sanora, Sienna LOVES to dance so she was laughing the whole time. We went for a late lunch after but poor Sanora couldn't eat anything. When we got home she pritty much was cometose on the couch all night, she couldn't even talk to grandpa on the phone. She didn't remember later when I told her anyway so she must have been pritty out of it. This sunday will be Sanora's party, we're having it at the house and Sanora has invited her whole class, golp! I have to work right after so Bryan gets to deal with the after math, he he!

As you know i work security at the college now. I really like the job, I have actually gotten calls for interview since but is quite content where i am. The security job challenges me (more like the students) and I like the hours. I did 2 grave yard shifts in a row and I was fine as long as I got a couple hours sleep before going on shift. Monday night was a bit of a nightmare, because with Sienna sick I didn't get her to bed till 10, then I chopped wood (Bryan's back is out) so I ended up with 15 minutes of sleep, it had the domino effect for the rest of the night. In the morning I ended up missing the bus by less than a minute so I waited for the next one in -45 for 45 minutes in very unappropriate clothing.....so when I pulled off my boots I lad a layer of ice around my socks and frost bite on each of my big toes. I'm laughing about it now, but I tell ya I sure wasn't at the time.

New Job/The Girls

2008-01-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

Bryan and I have decided that I would start looking for work before mat leave was over because I needed to find something that would work for our family. It had to be nights, which is harder to find because everything closes so early, and over 10 dollars an hour. I couldn't stay at Reitmans because of all of those reasons and lets face it, it was the most undesirable job I have ever worked. I found 2 that where suiting, 1 being a security job at the college and the second being at an all organic bakery down town. The college is close by and has walking trails across the street from us that leads right down to the college. I just got word the other day that I got the job doing security at the college, with the hours being midnight to 8 in the morning which is perfect because then Sienna doesn't have to be in daycare even for a few hours. We might see after a while about her going in 1 day a week when she gets a little older though. I will probably be doing 1 to 2 days a week and then the rest on-call, with it paying allot more than what I was getting at Reitmans. I'm really excited about the job, partly for some silly reasons, but hey it gets me out of the house.

Sienna is growing so fast, she's learning new things all the time. She plays peek-a-boo by herself with what ever is in her hand, and it doesn't seem to matter if you can see her either. She waves at us all the time and is trying to stand on her own now. Sienna is such a character, she makes me laugh all day. If she can make you laugh doing something, she will do it over and over, seeming very entertained by our amusement. She started throwing herself on the ground, almost like playing dead, then will start laughing. Sanora is amazing with Sienna, and loves playing with her. The other night Sanora had a glass of water on the coffee table, and Sienna had gotten a hold of it dropping the cup to the ground. Sanora started laughing so Sienna picked it up doing it over and over again. I almost had to run to the bathroom I was laughing so hard, especially when the girls just stared at each other laughing for almost 5 minutes. As Sienna gets older and more able to get into Sanora's things, I'm sure things will start to change a little bit. Like Tara and Donovan said, she doesn't know what she's in for.

Happy new years everyone

2008-01-04T20:56:00.000-08:00

First of all I want to thank everyone for there gifts and phone calls. We are very fortunate to have such a big loving family. We have had such a crazy Christmas that our cards got sent out late, and we all greatly apologize for that.

On Christmas day the girls where amazing. Sanora looked like a windup doll on full speed. She looked like she was going to jump out of her skin. We had to keep calming Sanora down and toke a few breaks both to elongate the process as well as to give Sanora time to take everything in so she wasn't to overwhelmed. In the excitement she even started unwrapping some of our gifts. Sienna was such a cutey pie, and loved all the paper and colors swirling around her. It was amazing to watch them both.

For new years we went to a friends house and slept over. They had borrowed a Karaoke machine and everyone went nuts with it. They had some kids CD's so all the kids piled around singing twinkle twinkle little star and songs like that. Sanora had a blast, especially because there where other girls there. Everyone stumbled on there way about 2 in the morning in which Sienna woke up. I couldn't put her to bed by 5 in the morning because she woke up as hyper as could be, little stinker.

I have started applying to different places around town to start work again. I applied at the college for a security position and it looks like I might get it. I had an interview yesterday and it went quite well, both of the interviewers where really easy going which made it easier. It will be nights so that Bryan can still keep his hours and I can still stay home with the girls during the day. We're going to do it how ever we can so that Sienna doesn't have to go into day care. The job pays well, enough in fact that I can work allot less than I did before and still have the same amount coming in.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T20:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's been quite a Christmas for us. As Bryan said, the party was the trade off. It's been a bit of a stressful Christmas, and very chaotic but here we are in our own home on Christmas eve. It was amazing out today, only -14 but the most amazing blue skies. Down town was crazy, it seemed the whole town was there. Sanora and I made cookies tonight so that Santa has fresh cookies to eat tonight, and Bryan took a well deserved nap. Sanora fell tonight in the kitchen (doing the same thing I am ragging on her not to do every day) and she started to cry a little because she hurt her shoulder. Then Sanora said "oh no I forgot,I better not cry or Santa wont come." I thought it was so cute. Right now Sanora is putting out the cookies and carrots, as well as adding a little note for the big guy. Have a merry Christmas everyone.

Sienna update

2007-12-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

Well the little monkey doesn't go into the dog food much anymore, even after we took the baby gate off. It's taken alot of patients I tell ya, but we're getting there. Sienna loves the presents and but is pritty good.
Sienna has 4 teeth now and can say (trys really hard to say) 5 words; ma ma, da da, ello, itty, d....og (and oggy for doggy), oooh and she dances when you say Sienna dance.I have been trying very hard to get them all on video but the monkey is determined to make a lier out of me. I gave her a bath today and she kept saying dog over and over again and laughing. I get her out and turn the camera on and sure enough, just ga ga goo goo.

Today is Sanora's first day of vacation which is awsome. It's been nice the have her around more, I miss her when she is at school. I'm gonna try and take her skating today, we'll see what happens.

Christmas Party

2007-12-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas party was a big success. Bryan cooked for days leading up to the big night, he marinated 2 roasts for 3 days, fruit for the Sangria for 3 days etc. Bryan had done up so much meet so we thought we would put a call out for appitizers. We didn't really expect anything but everyone brought something, it was amazing how much food we had stuff onto 2 tables. Our friend Reanna came and helped us prep and got her food ready here. Reanna's dog Reo come and the dogs ran around playing tug-awar with one of Bryan's socks (don't ask). Only half the people came that was invited and there was still between 20-30 people. I did a rough count before writing this and it's somewhere in that caliber. People started coming around 8 and when the tap starts running it flows, everyone seemed to come at once. There where quite a few kids that came, Sanora was very happy to see friends she hasn't seen in a while. Sienna went down at 9 ish but Sanora was quite a bit latter but both where amazing, man I love my kids. There where so many different types of people which was great, from so all age groups. I almost felt like I was back at my wedding trying to bounce around and mingle with everyone. My friend Jordon came who I went to high school together and even lived with for a bit in Vancouver when I first moved there. People left allot earlier than we thought, but then again we're use to our parties in Vancouver that would last till 6am. Our friends David and Reanna stayed slept over so we where hanging out quite a while after everyone left. Now to think of it, it was probably Bryan's toxic Sangria that did everyone in. David and I decided to play a unique game of darts. We would run at the board from across the room trying to hit the board,lol. It was quite the ending to a very humorous night. No animals, or humans where hurt during the duration of the game, supervised by Bmar and Reanna limited and company. No, of course we didn't go over board, just being silly is all ;)!

Oh and I only took maybe 5 pictures before my batteries went dead, I was so mad. So needless to say I don't really have that many to show for the night.

Photos

2007-12-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

The view from fish lake road

After we killed 2 trees and barely got the big one on the roof of the truck

Sanora after I chopped her tree down, she was so proud to pick out her own

The tree measured over 10 feet, and this picture is after we had to cut it down 4 times.....and it still wasn't enough. 2 more times after this photo!

Only the cutest little elf in the world.

She reminds me of Jazzy in this photo

Sanora in the government building (Elijah Smith building) where the Santa parade ended.

Elijah smith Building

Grandpa's visit / tree hunt

2007-12-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful visit as always with Bryan's dad John. John cooked a great steak dinner Friday, after John took me for lunch at a local cafe. We talked with Bryan's boss for a bit about the local kook being Tagish Elvis. Tafino I have to say is missing John very much, they where like long lost friends. On Saturday, we all went to see Sanora got to Dance class, she was so cute. She loves the class and so so excited to dance for her grandpa. After Dance class we rushed down to the Santa Parade. We got there just as it was going so I rushed Sanora out of the truck to stand on the sidewalk, and without realizing it I guess I closed the door on Grandpa...sorry again. Sanora had 2 of her class mates to share the fun with and we later went in the government building to warm up before meeting up with Bryan and John. They had bonfire pits and big blocks of snow where they would roll out maple syrup on a stick called maple toffee. Sanora got to sit on Santa's knee after with Sienna, Sanora asked for a big fluffy dog and a princess barbie. We where very impressed that Sienna didn't scream or seem to be fazed at all by the overwelming amount of people of by Santa. Sanora stayed up really late to hang out with Grandpa, and in the morning when John left Bryan Thought it would be a good idea to let her sleep. Sanora was very upset by this and out came the tears when she realized he was gone. Sanora and I just cuddled on the couch until she calmed down, it was so sweet.

Sunday we went on a mission to kill trees. We went up by our house and with the ax and saw at hand. We stopped a few places to look and for Sanora to sled down the hills a bit. Then we saw it, the sun hit the tree just the way....well ok it wasn't exactly a national lampoons moment but it kinda seemed that way for Bryan. It was quite the tree, barely made it on the truck it was so heavy. Sanora got to pick out her own tree as well and she was very happy with that. We got the tree in the house and measured it, it was well over 11 feet..ooops. So we kept cutting for one end then the next trying to make it fit. The pictures of Bryan holding the tree up was after 4 cuts of the tree, then came 2 more,lol! The trees are up and now decorated, it was soooo much fun. Our tree is not the typical looking tree, more like a man eating, caricature tree with loads of personality. I'm going to try and upload photos tomorrow.

Saterday is our house warming/Christmas party. We are sooo lucking forward to it. Bryan is making all kinds of food, and a very large batch of Sangria. There will probably be lots of pictures the week to follow.

Sanora and Sienna pics

2007-12-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

Queen Sanora and little naked Sienna, right before bath time.

One night in the middle of a pool game we decided to put Sienna on the pool table. The worlds youngest champion player everyone.

Sienna during Sanora's Dance class captivated by her image in the mirror

Sanora at Dance Class

Sienna/ Gerri

2007-12-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Sienna is such a busy girl I am usually only able to get on the computer at 5 minutes at a time. The lil stinker is just too fast. I've been painting the rest of the upstairs with just one wall left and of course we run out of paint again. Everything has still been chaotic with the painting and reorganizing that it's just finally getting in order. That being said I'm going to try and get more pictures up in these next few days, I have so many of them, I'm always going camera happy. We didn't have a digital when Sanora was born so I have gone a little crazy with the girls this time around.

My sister Gerri-Anne is in Germany right now training. She just posted pictures on Facebook of her with tanks and local pics. I'm dreading this coming year when she goes back to Afghanistan. She'll have to keep her blog up when she does though....right Gerri!

Sienna first tooth/Bryan work overload

2007-11-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

Finally at 7 1/2 months Sienna's first tooth is coming in. It's the top right tooth. Sienna bites even without teeth so I'm a little scared of what she's gonna be like with teeth. I might be nursing her off sooner than I would like to. I have to tell you though that Sienna is quite the character, VERY persistent and wants to see and experience everything all the time. I find that Sienna is like me in the way that she requires change in order to be settled, if that makes any sense, it does to me. Sienna is also pulling herself on everything, she has my head spinning trying to keep up with her. John, Bryan's dad is coming up on the 6th of December, so we are looking forward to that. Gives us a chance to set up the guest room, Some organization of Sanora's toys maybe.

Bryan has allot on his plate right now. He's working crazy hours at Terra Firma, getting to work early and sometimes not leaving till 9pm, depending on what needs to be done for the next day. On top of that Bryan is working on a project that seems like it has come out of Bryan's dreams. Right now it's a 3 person project and Bryan will be taking care of book illustration, animation, 3 web sites, press kits the works. To add to Bryan's exploding schedule Bryan just bid on a Design contract for the government. What happens is the company puts out there and companies bid on the job in order to get it. Bryan was one of those people. Oh and one more thing, Bryan is also doing a web site/press kits for someone else. That my friends would be why I never leave the house,lol. I need to get out of the house more, so instead of spending money I'm going to make money to achieve that. I'll be applying down town, for something just 2 nights a week. Right know it looks like Earls or a family pub called Road House, we'll see. If I don't leave the house on a regular basis I'm gonna go crazy, and Sienna needs time away from me. Sounds funny but true, She's only going to get overwhelmingly attached if I am at her side every second, So daddy gets to fill in and create a bond with her for himself. Well I think I have rambled enough, Merry Christmas everyone your cards should be arriving soon.

the girls

2007-11-14T17:53:00.000-08:00

The girls always amaze me. Sanora is getting so smart, so eager to read. Sienna is growing like a weed, she can pull herself up on everything now. Sienna makes these hilarious squeals, and will copy you when you make similar sounds. The 2 weeks I couldn't take my walks I was going crazy. Sienna sleeps through the night guaranteed when we go, and has a more mellow temperament. I can say the same for myself about the more mellow temperament. I'm attempting to start doing sit-ups after the walks, but we'll have to see how frequent then ends up being. Sanora and I also have started putting up Christmas decorations, only some because we want to do it as a family. Hopefully Bryan will have time this weekend.

my mom and the girls

2007-11-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

with Sienna we have come to a point of no return, we have come to a point where frustration will only become a more frequent occurrence.......Sienna does not like hats and pulls them of...dun dun dun. Ahh my little monkey, so the hats and gloves will have to be on tighter to avoid her ripping them off while outside.

Tonight I sat down with Sanora and talked to her about my mom. I told her how it was a mere 25 sleeps before Sanora's birth that my mom passed. I guess she sensed that I was getting sad because Sanora than told me about a dream she had. Sanora went on to tell be about how my mom met Turner and Tofino, she took the girls shopping, then cuddled with Sanora in bed, and finally gave Sanora a hug before my mom died. I asked sanora if it was an actual dream and she said "I want to cheer you up mommy and that is a nice dream." The she said it was a dream. To tell the truth I can't tell but either way it was sweet, and nice to hear. Sanora is a good kid, so thoughtful and giving with every part of her being good intentions.

On the 3rd of November was my mom's birthday. On the day of I was thinking alot about her and thought that she would want my to call her dad, so I did. It was nice to hear my grandpa's voice, kinda like old times. It's been 7 years since I have seen him and I hope so much that I wont be adding many more year to that before I see him again.

range practice / Halloween

2007-11-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Because i had missed to much of Flamenco classes we decided that I would wait till next year. Then to top it all off There was a death in the family of the woman doing the drum classes so she canceled those as well till after Christmas. So instead I am going to get a membership at the local range and go to target practice when ever I can. I am also signed up to take a free hunting ethics course and they take your name and give you a call for the next course. I was told that it would either be January or April depending on how many people are on the list before me. I'm taking it I may get my hunting licence this next year.

Halloween was such a beautiful day. Clear blue skies and no wind, we loved it. At night time It walked around in just a t-shirt and cape and I was warm. Sanora was a horse, or cow girl depending on who asked her, Sienna was a star, I was a spider witch and Bryan a mosquito. We hit maybe 20 houses at the most and she half filled her pillowcase. When we got back Sanora took on the duty of handing out the candy herself. She loved it, except when one group took almost the whole tray (teenagers) and Sanora came back into the room upset and grumbling about them being greedy.

There's the family right after we got home from trick or treating.

us girls, daddy was camera shy

Our little star, so cute

Our pumpkins. Of course Sanoras had to be heart eyes, diamond nose and big lips. The other pumpkin is in the middle of production.

This is Sienna in her new snow jacket. Its a little big but we want to be able to put sweaters under and its a big bonus that it just might last the winter.

Oh and Sienna is trying to pull herself up onto things now. Tonight she pulled herself up onto a book I was reading and was able to hold herself up by just holding onto the book. She's growing up so fast.

Masquerade party

2007-10-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

The wings are made out of clear tape, wire and cellophane. The abdomen is fabric attached to a make shift vest and painted. The thorax is foam that was cut out, stitched around the sides and painted about 3 times. It was then attached to cloth that drapes and holds the wings. masquerade

You can see the red abdomen being the blood sack and the legs which are attached to Bryan's arms with fishing wire.

Bryan took mini strainers, cut off the handles and attached them to large clown glasses with black tape. The mask is 2 safety masks painted with a hose running through one of them. Bryan then took red ribbon and stuffed it up the end of the hose. Again you can see the funny little legs.

Reanna was Cleopatra...you foxy woman you.

Tonight Bryan went to a mascara party down town with our friend Reanna. Yesterday he called me from working telling me that he wanted to be a mosquito so between me,Bryan, and some of the shoppies at work we came up with a costume. We stayed up till 4am in the morning last night sewing and putting together the mosquito costume. We got home from Sanora's dance class/roaming around town and worked on it till Reanna came at 6 pm.

going out

2007-10-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

I got 2 nights out recently, since we moved here I have gone out on my own a total of 2 times before. I went to the movies over the weekend and watches 30 days of night. Creepy movie that's for sure, one of the best vampire movies I've seen though. It was nice to get out, but poor Bryan. I guess she screamed the whole time I was gone until about 2 minutes before I opened the door.

With Sanora I was back at school when she was 2 weeks old, and with Sienna she's always with mommy. We kind of figure that there is such a drastic difference between Sanora and Sienna, their environments, surroundings, lifestyle etc... So the only way for her to get use to me being gone, is for me to be gone. I'm in Flamenco classes and now in drumming classes, so 2 days a weeks will help especially for me. Last night I went and played pool at the local pool hall and had a few drinks. It was nice and Sienna had dramatically improved since watching the movie on the weekend.

self injury and parent teacher interview

2007-10-19T23:07:00.001-07:00

Well I have done it again, and injured myself. Today Tofino got ahold one of the really nice moccasins that my friend Lara got for Sienna. I was so mad I stomped my foot down hard and was surprised by pain. I haven't gone to doctor yet but I am willing to bet that it is a rupture of the Achilles tendon or it's a fracture....neither good. I looked it up on line and that's what it is leaning towards. So now I have the trouble of hobbling around on one foot after a 6 1/2 month old....hmmm well I have to say it's been interesting. Bryan is at a show tonight that a friend is staring in at the theater down the street. It's the same place that Sanora and I have our dance classes.

I haven't mentioned yet how the parent teacher interview went. Well I that Sanora is intelligent,and I wasn't worried about that. They do standard testing and got 95/100 and 42/50 on the other test. The only thing that she has to work on is her directions like centre and side of. The only bad thing she said about Sanora is her tendencies with "excuse me....excuse me.....excuse me...." and start rambling on, which we are very well aware of and was laughing with the teacher about it. I am very proud of Sanora, and how she has handled the bulling. They are very aware of the other girl and not surprised by her actions. Sanora has been great about handling it. I just decided to let it ride out, and just coach her and keep telling Sanora to ignore the girl and she's been doing great.

more random pics

2007-10-19T22:44:00.001-07:00

If I would have thought about it more they would be in order.

I just like this photo even though it is blurry

Stinky Lake/trail photos

2007-10-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

The 4rth photo down is of what Sanora loves to do....play with the black goo that is in the lake. The lake is about 30-45 min in from the trail starting actross the street. It's a nice walk but I prefer the other trail at the end of the street because it's a bit longer and I like the scenery.

When I was unloading the photos from my camera to my computer, the batteries died in the camera. Unfortunately I was only able to get about 50 of the another 300 photos I have on my camera. Some of those are ones that haven't been erased yet though. They will be up soon.

Random pics

2007-10-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving pics

2007-10-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

The first 3 pictures was on the friday of thanksgiving weekend, after a visit and walk with Sanora's friend/bully,lol. It was such a beautiful day both in beauty and in fun.

This is 2 days later on thanksgiving, quite the contrast wouldn't you say?

Sienna eith gets a bath in the sink or with Sanora. We do have a little bath tub but I find this easier.

school bus

2007-10-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well life has been busy, or at least trying to. I am never bored, especially with Sienna crawling now. When I put her down it's like a race to something or somewhere, especially Tofinos food. Sanora by her demand started taking the bus to and from school. I didn't want her to come home on the bus, I wasn't ready for that. I love picking Sanora up from school, it's my parent interaction, I talk with her teacher every day, I have gotten to know her classmates and I love the walk with Sanora. Ah well I will have to do that another way. Tonight is Parent Teacher night, I am very interested to hear from her teacher. Well we are off on another trip to Stinky lake to have fun playing with the black goo.

snow fun/school fun

2007-10-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

Lots of things lately. The day before yesterday was Sienna's first full-on crawling day, and oh my I am scared. She will be one to get into EVERYTHING! So as usual when there is snow there is snow ball fights, and there have been many of them. I have to say that Sanora is like night and day to how she was last year. I hit her right in the face with a snowball (by accident of course) and she just laughed. I volunteer at the school as the official scrapbooker, so I went in today and was at the school till noon. The kids sang songs for Sienna and I before I hoped over to the next room, it was so cute. I also know have a walking partner Corina, who snow shoes, taught kayaking as well as hunts. She showed me a good trail just beyond our house, a nice 1 1/2 hour walk and it's highly used by joggers and such so Bryan doesn't have a heart attack if I go on my own. When I got back from the school today I took Tofino out on the trail, I take him off the leash, so he gets a ton of exercise running back and forth. Sienna is growing so fast it takes my breath away.

thankgiving

2007-10-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

We had 2 thanksgiving dinners this past weekend. We had a family one with just the family on Sunday. It was weird because it is the first this year not to have people over, even in tiny Grant street we had people over. It was nice, I asked Sanora what she was thankful for and she said dance lessons and our family, I though that was cute. I am thankful for my family, they are my everything.
On Monday night we went to friends David and Reanna's house for a moose roast, it was really good, done in a slow cooker. Early in the day I made bread, a good recipe that has no sugar or butter, but apple sauce, honey and molasses. Sanora didn't want to make it with me :(, so instead afterwords I sat down and played barbie and ponies.....oh what fun!

Trip pics 2

2007-10-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

family friends in Kelowna

on our way to Vancouver

Same rest stop as above

Lunch with aunty Lynn

Sanora and Aunty Lynn

Bryan and Sanora down by Jane and Don's private beach

Another picture of Jane and Don's Beach. This is taken to the left of their house, in the same direction that we went Kayaking.

Grandpa with his latest granddaughter

Bill and Mya at Coombs Market

waiting for a horse ride at coombs market

A tractor toy at Coombs

Sanora getting her horse ride

Barb, John and Sienna

visiting my grandma and aunt in Courtney

us at Havana while Sanora was staying at Grandpa and Grandma's house

The girls at the appartment we where staying at

Chris and Callie with Sanora right before we left Vancouver

Sanora on the road in her cat mask

a waterfall on one of our stops home

I have about 300 pics from the trip so I just picked the family ones. Many other are on facebook.

Pictures from trip 1

2007-10-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

One of our stops, to the left of Sanora is what use to be an Active Volcano

Lots and lots of Bison on the trip

Another beautiful stop along the way, near Grand Prarie.

View at "Outlander Lodge" where we stayed just outside of Jasper - Bryan on the bottom right

The Campsite in Jasper

More campsite in Jasper

View from the Tram we went on

Jasper just bellow Sanora

View from our campsite of the tram going up

Lake Luise

Gena after picking her up from Calgary

Gena hu-la hooping, the theme of the weekend.

My daddio,

Chef Right Jab

Sienna and my cousin Stacy

Jazzi and Gerri-Anne

Justice and Lawson

Cadi and Jan

Sienna and Uncle Shawn

for those who don't know
Back row: Uncle Shawn, Lawson (Glenny's hubby), Bryan, and my dad Garry
My sister Glenny's oldest Mercadies, Me and Sienna
My cousin Stacy, my sister Glenny,sister Gena, and twin sister Gerri-Anne
Stacy's boy Justis, Glenny's youngest Jazzy, Sanora
My mom's sister Jan

Fall fun...ahh and snow

2007-10-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

a couple of days ago as I was waiting in the school yard for Sanora to get out of school, I was blessed with the subtle first flakes of winter. The snow is already half way down the mountain and by next week there just might be enough on the ground for a little snow ball fight. Am I excited about the snow, yes and no, I'm excited about the smells, snowball fights (if we can), snow men, sledding, snow shoeing and of course christmas (the baking, decorating and such). What I am not excited about is the long winter, I think it's also because spring and fall are my favorite seasons of all and the only thing about Whitehorse is that those seasons are so short.

We had a friend of Sanora's over for lunch and the mom brought fresh bread (mmm yummy) we then took a walk to stinky lake with all 4 kids where they played with black goo from the water. when we got home we racked up all the leaves before crazily throwing them at eachother running around the front like maniacs. We then racked the leaves up again, Sanora wanted to make daddy happy and suprise him with the leaves all neat in a pile. That didn't last long because I covered her in leaves and when she got up she starting chasing me again and covering Tofino with the leaves. Ahh fun times.

test video

2007-10-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

2007-10-01T23:11:00.001-07:00

dance/crib

2007-10-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

We're pretty much done winterizing the windows, but we still have the bedrooms to do. Sienna was sick today so we didn't get out for our mid day walk. I thought a shower would help her this morning, but when we got out she brought up quite a bit.

We will be picking up the crib tomorrow, a acquaintance is giving us hers. It's actually the mother of the girl that has been picking on Sanora,lol. The family is extremely religious, and the mother is so sweet. It's missing a mattress but we can pick that up in the next few days.

This Wednesday I will be starting flamenco dancing, I got my mac-shift dance shoes ($5 ya baby) and I will be off. It will be a great thing to look forward to in the middle of the week. One of my favorite things to do is dance. Our end of year dance is may 8-10 so it will be a nice birthday present to myself.

2007-09-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

I took Sanora for ballet class yesterday, but there was no one there to register with. She will start taking classes on Saturday, yesterday she attended to make sure that she would like it. In addition to our little ballet dancer I am going to try and get into Flamenco dance classes, that is if the class isn't full. Although I have been told about the studio for some reason it just clicked in this week how close it was and it would be stupid not to take advantage. The classes are in the Guild Theater which is right across for Sanora's school, which is awesome.

Today Sanora had a PD day so she was at home. We decided to go into town and meet Bryan for lunch. Bryan and Sanora tried Bubble-T for the first time, which isa really funny because or how long Bryan's lived in Vancouver. Sanora loved it, Bryan didn't,lol. On our way home from our little adventure (leaving at 11 am and heading home at 5:30) we got on the bus. I got peppermints for Sanora and as I was eating one not the actual peppermint but the juice itself went down my throat. I started chocking uncontrollably and started freaking out a bit because it was about 2 solid minutes and I couldn't stop. I relaxed my body and calmed down trying to breathe, in which there probably was only a mm of passage for air. The most horrid sound came out of my mouth as I was struggling to maintain composure for Sanora. The guy across from me told me I was going purple and Sanora started Crying. That same guy sat beside me waiting for the signal in case I needed the Heimlich maneuver, but slowly I started to get a bit of breathe back. Finally I was able to utter bell (it was our stop next)and got off the bus almost pucking and feeling faint. By the time that I got home I had a pounding headache. Man if that's what Asama s like, I pray that none of my kids have it, that sucked. It only took 1/2 an hour to get my breathe back,lol. Poor Sanora ran around the house asking me if I needed this and that, telling me she wants to take care of me so I can get better. Man, it's moments like that that you really appreciate your kids :)

Forest pics

2007-09-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

These 2 are my favorite of the pictures I took during my long walk while I got lost in the woods.

Tofino/dress up for bday

2007-09-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Our new addition to the family, little Tofino has gotten into a little bit of mischief so we got a kennel for him to sleep in at night. That is the only time that he likes to chew things. He has been so great for Sanora, she loves him so much. Sienna is so far a mommy's girl but I suspect that when she gets older and stops nursing that she will to be a daddy's girl.

This weekend we had about a million things to do around the house but I only got to a very select few unfortunately. We still have to weather proof the windows but have yet to get to that. Today was Aidan's Birthday, he had a super hero party. Aidan is the son of friends Tara and Donovan that we were friends with starting Vancouver. The previous weekend they made a joke about dressing up for the party so I got all dallied up in leggings, leg warmers, cape and my purple wig. I love Halloween, it doesn't have to come around just once a year.

Walk in Portercreek

2007-09-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well despite the recent bear warnings I decided to go for a walk through the green belt (I called to check on bear activity first) with the main reason being to take pictures at the lake they call "stinky lake". It's called that because it's part of a hot spring, and has that sulphur smell. I took off and after about an hour I should have way past arrived at the lake but instead I found road. So I back tracked and went the other way only to hit road again. It was then that I discovered that I was lost....oooops. I had no idea where i was so I decided to follow a path by the road. After a while I heard traffic, so deciding that I had given up on the lake headed for the highway. I came out by the road going to the pump house (fishlake) and just walked along side the road. I left at 11:45 and got home at 2:30.....Soooo my 1 hour walk wasn't so 1 hour,lol. I later looked the area up on Google earth and was so surprised by how far I walked.

Oh and dad when you put in our address Google earth can't seem to find it. It gives the area but grove is split into about 3 different spots.

Oh and the black shows the route I took!

Sanora's first dance/ Sienna's first sign/ word!

2007-09-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

Sanora had a barbecue/dance at her school tonight. It was sooo cute watching her dance with her friends. What was bizarre was they where playing all the songs that I use to dance to when in school. Sanora had impressively entered herself into the break dancing contest, and just missed it. Sanora had me dance on the stage for a bit and I got a good laugh when she had Bryan up as well. It was heart breaking because It was another image of her growing up. Thankfully we still have lots of time! When we where walking home we saw the most beautiful fox. I was impressed that Sanora had identified it on her own. My aunt Astrid bought Sanora her very own magazine chirps, and in there was a fox that we talked about. I piggy backed Sanora home as it was a long day for her and man is she heavy!

Sienna is very close to crawling, I would give it about a month. She can get her legs under her but will just stand like that holding herself up. Sienna is up to 3/4 solid meals a day (recommended by the nurse because of her appetite) and man has it made a difference, she actually sleeps for longer than 10 minutes at a time. She said her first work I think which would be dada. She has been mumbling mama for a long time but I always took it as mumbling. Today she also signed mommy for the first time as well.

4th year wedding anniversary

2007-09-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

yesterday Sanora went to the dentist first thing in the morning. Apparently her teeth are great, well spaced and coming in straight. She liked the visit but was a little disoriented when going back to school as it was out of routine.

Today is mine and Bryan's 4th year wedding anniversary. So far I took Sienna down to get her shots, poor girl. I later went to Bryan's work and we went out for lunch together. It was really nice. The weather was funny because when I picked Sanora up it was raining pretty good and by the time we got home I was sweating because of the sun.

4 years have gone by, and so much has happened. When I look back at the 4 years we where married and what we went through, I am ever more in love with Bryan. We survived my mom's death, living off of rice and soup, eating one meal a day for a year, having no heat and hot water for 3 months in the middle of winter, creditors (one being Mr.Waters, who said things to me, no one should say to a person...especially a creditor) and the big one having a child together for only being together for such a short time. We went through many difficult paths but in the end we have always supported everything that each other has wanted to do, Bryan never gave up for one second on what he wanted to do in life. It will forever be a message to our children not only to fight for your dreams but to always appreciate your family, in the scheme of life they are all you've got. I also want to include the friends we have been fortunate to have that have been just like family to us, we love them all dearly. Life couldn't be more beautiful for us!

me driving.....scary!

2007-09-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentleman.....Garnette has hit the road. Yesterday was my first time, starting with the parking lot and ending with me driving home. We went out again today just over an hour, all around the neighborhood. I have to say that I kicked butt and enjoyed scaring Bryan a few times.

Watch out world Garnette is going to be on the road soon....Buahhh ha ha ha!

1 week of kindergarten flew by

2007-09-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of Kindergarten and a week of a quiet house. I've been using the time to get out of the house more and to paint the house. It's going to be so boring in the winter when I wont beable to take Sienna out. Sanora loves her teacher and being is school. When she got her first library book, it was the greatest thing to her. I take Tofino with me to pick Sanora up and he is amazing. He gets more excited with adults then kids, so he just lays at my feet while the kids pet him. He's a good family dog, I'm so happy that the kids will beable to grow up with him.

Kindergarten/pup

2007-09-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sanora had her first day of Kindergarten last tuesday. She is loving it and never wants to leave. It's so bazare to me to think that I have a child in Elementary school. Sanora loves the whole process of school, even the getting up part. Tofino got nutured on friday, poor dog and is healing nicely. His ear infection is almost gone aswell. I was a little worried when we first got him, he was a little too good. With some time and TLC he's more comforable and turning back into a regular pup.

Tofino pics

2007-08-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

Tofino is a German Sheperd/Lab cross and is 6 months old!

2nd day with Tofino

2007-08-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well it's been 2 days now with Tofino and I have to say that he is an amazing dog. When we brought him home the first thing I did was train him to respond to his new name. He's really smart and picks things up really quick. The big test for Tofino was how he would respond to the kids. He's such a gentle dog, only licks Sienna's toes and cheeks sending into laughter. He loves Sanora, her endless hugs and kisses seem to brighten Tofino's spirits every time. Sienna was crying just a moment ago and he immediately went to her as if he was guarding her. I couldn't be happier with him, but I do acknowledge that he is a pup and he still needs constant training and supervision, especially with the kids. My camera is out of batteries so I am charging them at the moment, as soon as I can I will post photos.

New Puppy

2007-08-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

We where back for only a day when I thought it would be a good idea to check out the local humane society. I thought we'll just look! I have a specific breed in mind, German Shepperd/lab cross. We aren't going to take any dog that bats it's eyes. I walked straight into the back and asked if they had any dogs of that breed mix. He says to me ya actually we do, a puppy. When we saw this little puppy maybe 4-6 months old the family was instantly in love. He didn't bark at all. He was rescued from a woman that beat him and left him in the apartment after she fled it. What they call him at the shelter is Curby, but we'll be changing that pretty quick. When going over names, we talked about a name that mean something to all if us. That's when Sanora belted out Toffino! We are sold on the name, we all love it there. We pick him up Tuesday, I'll post pictures then!

28 day trip - conclusion

2007-08-26T01:12:00.000-07:00

I was nervous going on this trip. I thought it could either be amazing or a total flop. Hope for the best and sometimes you get it. Unfortunately we didn't see everyone that we intended to see but got the bulk of them. Everything in life seems to be bring the family closer. It was so nice to have Bryan all day for that long. You know you married the right one when you never get sick of them,lol. Along the way Gena had given me the book "a girl from Schindler's list" It's the most amazing tale of Stella Muller. The book really made me think about, how lucky we are to not only be on this trip but in day to day life. I also want to thank everyone than made our trip so special and memorable....so that was everyone we saw!

Miles - 3754.84+ (I map quested the route, so there was more than that)

People we got to visit -49

Animals seen - 4 herds of buffalo (about 50 each)
- 8 goats
- 7 caribou
- more elk than I an count
- 2 black bear
- 2 moose
- 5 Deer

So would the marshall family dare to do the trip again? I know I would pack and leave tomorrow. It's not that I don't want to be home, I just like to travel. maybe in another 2 years or so!

Day 23- 28

2007-08-26T00:02:00.000-07:00

Day 28- Liard to Whitehorse
We got up where we left off from the night before with Sanora. Nothing a good meal and a nap couldn't fix. We seemed to stop at allot of the exact stops from when we came down. We had Lunch in Teslin and as always the same waitress was there. I have been texting my dad every leg of the trip to let him know where we are, and I had my phone ready to text him when we reached the welcome to Whitehorse sign. The "Welcome home" message he sent back felt really good. We stopped for beer and some food and raced for home. We walked in the door and I still felt like I was on vacation. We had an amazing trip.

Day 27- Pink Mountain to Laird
Man where we ever glad to get to Laird hot springs. Bryan's saying on the way home was every town's a victory. He more was saying that about the truck than anything. Considering this was the last leg of the journey, we just tried the kick back and relax with a nice long soak in the hot springs. It wasn't as mystical as the first time we came, but fog tends to have that effect. Man was it ever a nightmare putting sanora to bed. She just kept screaming, our poor neighbors. we just figured that there where to many late nights and maybe a bit much on the road.

Day 26- PG - Pink Mountain

By this point we just wanted to get home. Of course in the middle of a thunder shower the windshield wipers stopped working. Bryan was hanging in the middle out the window trying to pull the wipers the start working. By night it was just getting ridicules, not to mention dangerous. We pulled into Pink Mountain and ended up in little campground behind the general store. It was poring so we decided to sleep in the truck. We pulled everything in the back to the front so Sanora sleep along the back and Bryan just leaned his seat back. Lets just say I woke up in allot of pain, not going to do that again if we can help it.

Day 25-Ashcroft - Prince George

We woke up very cold and wet. Sienna was bundled up hugging my body so she was toasty warm. We packed up as fast as we could and headed for the road. When we got to Prince George we decided to get a hotel. We where considering taking the truck to the shop. After ordering pizza the girls had a much needed bath. I tried to find a friend that lives in PG but I couldn't find him.

Day 24- Vancouver - Ashcroft

I wasn't ready to leave so I was stalling like crazy. We made arrangements to meet Chris, Callie, Lara and Jay at Crags Cafe. Before doing so we stopped by Larry and Gloria's and got the see Gena one last time before shipping off. Gloria is looking smoken by the way....yes you too Larry. We had a nice lunch at Craigs, Fin is getting so big. We finally jumped into our trusty steed and swiftly road into the sunset. If we would have stayed any longer it would be sunset. When we got to Chilliwack to check the truck he noticed that there was oil in the coolant tank again. We decided to chance it and keep watching it. We finally arrived into Ashcroft, the town looked creepy at night. We put up the tent and found a Chinese restaurant that was still open,and the food wasn't that bad. Of course that night, pretty much the only night we didn't put up a tarp, it pored that night.

Day 23- Vancouver

For the life of me I can't remember what we did during the day but in the afternoon I picked up a gift for a friend in whitehorse and got something for myself. We had dinner at Wazubees with Brenda, Yuko, Eduardo, Chris, Callie, and our little family. Sanora and Bryan stayed with Chris and callie. It gave me good time to catch up with yuko and get to know Avi a little better. While I hung out with them Bryan and Chris got the full spa treatment. Callie and sanora had done them up in full make-up....even....dun dun dun...nose Shadow. I wasn't sure what Sanora was talking about until Callie sent me photos.

Day 19-22

2007-08-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

Day 22-Vancouver
From the staff of when I worked at Bojangles there are 3 of us that had babies around the same time and one to have hers any time. The three moms and babies met up at Bojangles for coffee. It was really nice to see my old boss, I care very much for him. Phillip was kinda like an uncle like figure to me when I worked there. There was Erica with baby Aliana and Elizabeth with baby Crystal. We got pictures with the girls lying on the couch. It was so funny, they where grabbing at each other...hair, ears, what ever they could get in their hands. We later went to Dress Sew, my favorite fabric store, and picked out some fabric for our window dressings. We went out for dinner with John, Barb, auntie Lynn, Bill and Mya that night in Coquitlam. Right before we met up with them we stopped at London Drugs and school supplies for Sanora. I always loved that part with my mom. We had chinese food which was really good. It was nice to have our Sanora back. Sanora then had a really hard time leaving Grandpa. They have become great friends, I'm so happy she has been able to have great relationships with both her grandfathers as well as Barb.

Day 21- Vancouver
We went and took the truck for servicing at Fountain Tire and we got a free loan car. We took off to down town to Slickety Jims for breakfast. Quite the funky cafe with very amusing menu names. After Breakfast we went across the street (the real destination) to Puncture Haus to get my nose pierced. If I ever get anything done again it will be there, that's for sure. Walking down the street ironically enough we ran into a friend from Whitehorse. They where great and he did an amazing job. That night we had dinner with Chris and Callie at Havana. If was so nice to see them, Chris is definitely Bryan's right hand man.

Day 20- Vancouver
We woke up early and walked around Commercial Drive. Although I missed Sanora tremendously is was quite easy with just one to get around very quickly. There lamp that we had our eyes on, really funky. We had lunch at Havana then back to the apartment. We then left to go for dinner with Jay and Lara, but first stopping at Lynn's house for a visit. At Lara and Jay's we had delicious lettuce wraps went for a walk to rocky point. The night was beautiful with music in the back ground. Lara and Jay or people that I love very much. They are people that I really feel get me,lol.

Day 19-Parksville - Vancouver
John, Barb, Roger and our family all took the same ferry. We packed Sanora up for she was leaving with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days! We got off the ferry and went straight for sushi. The power was out so we went up for coffee until it came back on. When we got to Roma Arianna, Eduardo, Judy and Avi (yuko's boyfriend full name sounds like avi-hi) where there. Ariana and Eduardo are 2 weeks from their due date to bring their little boy into the world. They rented an apartment out for 2 1/2 months for family. We where there during a time in which family wasn't, so we where grateful not to crash in someone elses space. That night they all held a barbecue for us. We got to see Tito and Beatriz's 2 children for the first time. Dyan was born a week before we moved to Whitehorse, and Makya who is 2 weeks old. Sanora would have fallen in love with Dylan, what a dancing sweetheart.

Day 15 to 18

2007-08-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Day 18- Parksville
When we woke up the ocean (Don and jan's house over looks the ocean) was calm so we decided to go Kyaking. I was a little nervious about going on the open ocean, but as soon as I got in the water I loved it. There is someing about being over the ocean that is exilerating. Bryan was going to take me to Cortney to see my aunt and Grandma but with him being sick John was nice enough to take me with some of the others. While I was there my cousin Elizabeth phoned so I got to talk to her to. Gradma was just amazed with both the girls, Sanora was playing shy for some reason. For Dinner we went to Roger and Michelles place accross the street (Bryan's other aunt and uncle) after dinner they where playing music so Sanora kept dragging people in to dance, it was awsome. There was a bunch of us dancing in circles in the living room, with Sanora being the lead dancer. She was definantly in her elements. Tomorrow we leave for Vancouver to expand our adventures.

Day 17- Parksville

In the morning we went to cums where we got lunch. Some stayed in line while I took Sanora and around the market. We used some of the money that Mara sent with us for the girls there. I got some noise makers for Sanora and Blocks for counting. We got Mya a little game that she seemed to be obsessed with while we where there. Sanora got to go on a horse ride which she absolutely loved, she was grinning from ear to ear. We had a great night with more amazing food. Yummy sammon and the natorious bird on a beer can. Bryan was really sick so he had his dad John take him to the doctor, it ended up he had strep throat.

Day 16- Vancouver to Parksville

We got up at 5 am, not fun but we did it. Sienna woke up with the biggest smile on her face like it was the best sleep of her life. In 15 minutes we where out the door...us can you believe it. We got on the feiry at about 6, with beautiful fog everywhere. When we where getting off the feiry we where on the second deck and the car at the front couldn't find his keys. After about an 30 min wait they had us back up off the ramp. Sanora thought it was fun. We went to a cute resuraunt for breakfast and with amazing eggs benidect. We then drove to Parksville and hung out on the beach for neither Don or Jan where at the house yet. After don arrived we brought our bags in and especially with Sanora's crankyness we took a good nap. Sanora was so happy to see Grandpa and Grandma. After dinner Mya and Bill arrived. I put Sanora in the bath and Mya wanted to go in too. They where so cute together.

Day 15- Vancouver

Bryan had stayed the night before at friends house (chris and Callie's) but was home first thing in the morning. I woke up when Larry and Gloria was going to work, so Larry got coffee all ready for me. We went for lunch with Bryan's aunt Lynn, and had the best salad I had ever had. Bryan's dad and stepmom wants to take Sanora to the states so right after lunch we had a letter all ready and went to the Notary to get the letter notarized. We finally made it back into North Van and got groceries because Bryan wanted to make dinner for Larry and Gloria. Bryan made an amazing dish (can't remember what it was called) with strips of beef with sea food in the middle with corn on the side. It was the same corn that my dad had sent with us so we where considering having them fill out comment cards to send to my dad,lol. We talked for a bit before hitting the rack for an early morning.

Day9- 14

2007-08-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

Day 14 - Kelowna - Vancouver

We where gone by 9 and was sent off with a box of beautiful organic fruit, thank you Lisa. We went my my mom`s tree and thought it might be eisier not to go. I started bawling and Bryan wipped the car around and we went to go see it. The tree was wilting but as soon as we entered the parking lot I knew exactly which tree it was. I miss my mom so much, she would have had a blast at the Reunion. We made our way into Penticton and my eyes instantly darted around for people I knew. We my old friends house Aimee and Josh , getting to see there new baby Aleigha. We left at about 12 and made it into Vancouver about 7 with tones of traffic to remind us why we left. We went to Commercial drive to see Loe and get yummy donairs. We got to Gloria and Larry`s house at 20:30. I`ve gotten quite close to them through the years, it was so great to see them.

Day 13 - Kelowna

We woke up very lethargically....yes beds again! We finally packed up and went for coffee. I phoned family friends Mara and John, so we headed over there after we finished our coffee. Mara gave directions, but to my suprise I remembered exactly how to get there. We had a great visit, it was so nice to see them. They very plesantly have not changed a bit. Before heading back to Lisa`s we went shopping at Orchard park mall. We got some new needed clothes. Bryan got some really nice Rugby shirts. We went out for Sushi near Lisa and David`s house, I love Sushi. We then rented a movie and watched it at there house.

Day 12- Lost Lemon - Kelowna
We woke up thinking that we were going to be off early...but it didn`t end up that way. Dad left first saying a quick good-bye. I eyes wherèn`t raining yet, thankfully. It wasn`t untill Sanora stared clinging to Gena crying that I started to bawl. Sanora had such a great time, I am so happy for her. We where already running late so we decided that it would be best not to go to Jan`s B&B. We said good-bye the night before so we decided that would have to do, we needed to go. As it was we didn`t get to Kelowna till 20:30. It was a long drive and getting closer to Kelowna memories fludded me. We had to let Sienna cry it out in the end, poor girl. You do what you gotta do in the end. When we got to Lisa`s house she made amazing tofu dish. She definantly cooks it better than I do.

Day 11-Lost Lemon

Cutch and Lois left today. It was sad to see them go. We all packed up and went to the Frank Slide Interpreter Centre. Bryan, Gena and I arrived late because we hadn`t realized we where all meeting together, so we ended up at a grave yard. The grave yard was a memorial for the mine that collapsed and the frank slide. It was sad and beautiful at the same time, we took lots of pictures. When we actually made it to the Interpeter Centre we thought what a waste of money we should have taken everyone to the cemetary, it would have been more informative. It kept ringing in my head that this day is the last day before we go our seprate ways.....and how long then till we see eachother next. There where bussles of heart felt conversations accompanied with tears serounding the campsite. That night was awsome. Everyone was laughing and talking. Bryan packed up the truck and lots serounded him, with not one being left out of the fun. We sat around the tables after guests had left talking, I got to talk to Lawson more. I probebly talked more to Lawson more than Glenny the whole weekend. I loved being together just us 4 girls, it`s been such a long time. Then Gerri spotted a forest fire in the mountains (there was lots of lightening in the mountains) so I pipe up...oh we should call it in! Bryan phones it in and we`re sitting there in amazement as we saw flams thinking oh god how much forest is going to go this time. Suddenly Gena realizes that hey the fire is now suspended above the mountain......wait a minute thats the moon! So bryan got the brunt of the bugging and soon we hear Bryan`s phone go off with the forest service phoning him back.

Day 10- Lost Lemon

Cutch and Lois came today. Sienna loved Lois would fall asleep in a second for her. We had planed to go to a lake with the kids but we ended up staying around the camp site and playing cards. Tim (Jan and shawn`s friend) took the boys up a mine. Aparently the roads Tim built himself. While Bryan was gone he locked up the truck, and with us not leaving the campsite we needed a few things from there. I just kept making jokes about it. The guys came back around 5. That night gena andI stayed up and played crib. We ended up in a cicking, and chocolate fight. I almost peed myself many times I was laughing so hard. Glenny came storming out because we where keeping her up. She sat out on gaurd till we went to bed. We where the cause of her not so great sleep, poor glenny.

Day 9-Lost Lemon

Glenny's fam came today. Jazzy is such a sweet heart, and Cadi is so big. I was the last to meet Lawson, it was nice to finally meet him. Everyone catched up with eachother and Soon Gerri arrived with her friend Vern. When night time came Most of the camp site went to friends of Jan's Tim and Karren's house. Dad, Gerri, Vern, Bryan and I stayed Behind, I was tired but we stayed up and played cards.

Day 6 - 8

2007-08-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

Day 8-Fri-Lost Lemon

The next morning we Bryan and Gena got coffees and went to the Bargain store. Gena was so funny she kept coming back with all kinds of stuff, and one being a hola hoop that entertained us all the whole time I was there.That evening came My dad, Aunty Jan, Shawn, Stacy and Justis. Sanora was playing with a friend the whole time they where having a blast. They all went swimming that night and I had a good time playing with Justis, Sanora aqnd her friend. We took Sanora on the Bogey board and Justis took her around the pool. The night the kids where fooling around pushing eachyother and such. I look over and there's Sanora winding up and punched Justise square in the face.Bryan and I yelled at her but was giggling about it all night after she went to bed.

Day7-Thur-Calgary to Crowsnest Pass
We Picked up Gena at Cutch's Place, saw Chass and hightailed it out of there after getting lost. At one point Gena and I chased each other around the truck. When we got to lost lemon we got greeted by the camp notzi aka the Warden. She was sweetish and a nice person but not to friendly. Unfortunately there where fires close by so there was a fire ban. It was so bad that they closed down every campground in the area except for Lost Lemon.

Day 6- Jasper to Calgary
The driving to Calgary is awful, both Bryan and I wanted to hi tail it out of there. We stayed at Bryan's aunts house and his cousin Andrea came over with hubby Ryan for a barbecue. It was really nice, we had a great time. There was a doll house for Sanora to play with and she was set.

Day 5

2007-08-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

Day-5-July 30th-Wistlers Campground, Jasper National park

We went into town and got our loundry done, got icecream and toured aroiund the town. It's the first time I had ever seen a white guy with an afro wearing foresent yellow tight pants! Every night at the park they havbe little plays in the park, they where cute. We went both nights, one was about the history of Jasper and the other about bears. That night we played crib and I got my but kicked both games.

Day 4 of Road trip

2007-07-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

Day 4-July 29- Leaving Overlander Lodge
This Place is amazing. Really good prices, good food and kid friendly while still maintaining the fine dining aspect. Well we're off to get breakfast then to see if we can get a campsite.

We toured around Jasper then headed off to get a campsite. The campsite is amazing, there was Elk walking around everywhere. They are huge! We set up camp and went to the gondola, I think it was called Jasper Tram, where you start at the elevation of 3,000f and at the top of it, you end up at almost 7,000f. It was overwhelming, to be that high and see so many things, we loved it. Bryan had a bit of a shoving match with a woman on the way down, and Bryan was just wanting to get Sanora to the front. That night we just sat by the fire and stared at it for hours!

Day 1..2..3 of our road trip

2007-07-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

Day 3-July 28/07-Leaving Bucking horse river
Yes we did it! We where up by 7:00 and gone by 8:30. Close by there was a town called Pink Mountain and Sanora was disappointed because she thought everything would be pink in the town. One thing that we noticed about the Alaska Highway is that the little places that are run off the side of the road are wither run by Asians or exceptionally beautiful woman! Grand Prairie was a nightmare, the head was sticky and was just nasty. Bryan and I where relieved when we started into the Rockies. Especially where the view is concerned. We decided to keep going and ended up to an 11 1/2 hour drive. I stayed in the back with the girls, it made a difference to both of them. I am also pumping while we are driving and feeding her when we don't really have time or the ability to pull over. Both the girls trudged on without a complaint, it was awesome. OH and it will make sense why I am doing the days backwards as the days go on. We finally made it to Jasper National Park and it was full up so we headed back a bit and found a beautiful lodge and had 1 single room left so we decided to stay. The is why my fine friends that I am able to be writing this now. We went for dinner at the restaurant here and the main lodge is amazing, Bryan and I expected the room to be way more than it is and the food to be more expensive than it is. It is the first hint of fine dinning that we have in well over a year. Man I can't wait for commercial drive Sushi....Ye shin we're coming for you! So know I am going over the last 3 days and I sigh in amazement. First because we are able to do this trip, 2 because of how well the girls travel and 3 that I thought I couldn't be anymore in love with Bryan. He is my perfect match, I love that he's just as excited about the trip than I am.
Road Kill daily count-1 moose 4 birds (moose....that's some big road kill)

Day 2- July 27/07-Leaving Laird
Bryan had a really rough sleep so we slept in on purpose. The driver needs his beauty sleep you know. We had breakfast at the restaurant across the road which was really good and then headed on the road. As we left the parking lot we passed by the same hitchhikers and waves them a good morning before heading on our way. We didn't get nearly as far as we intended. There was this one camper that we have been chasing with the work SHRIMP on the back of it. So I took a photo of that too. I actually wrote a journal by hand but It locked in the truck at the moment so you will get my bad memory of what I wrote. Sanora and Siena are amazing, both so wonderfully behaved...so far,lol. Sanora loves the drive but I notice when we start going to long she gets this snotty attitude thing. I figure it's just a sign that we should set up camp. We stayed at a place called Bucking horse River I believe it was called, just outside of Fort St. John We decided to tent it so that Daddy Bear could get a good nights rest.
Road Kill daily count- 1 moose and 2 birds

Day 1- July 26/07-Leaving Whitehorse

We where all packed up ready to go the night before and we seemed to take advantage of this because we slept a bit longer than we indented to. I love the mountains in the Yukon. We stopped quite a few times to make sure that Sienna was well fed and changed, but we where still making good time. I was able to contact my dad at Watson lake. Between Bryan and I we will be keeping good contact of where we are. From Watson Lake on we saw so many Bison. First there was a fierce looking bull then we turn a corner and there was a giant herd on both sides of the road. At one of the stops we saw 2 young men hitchhiking with a sign that read "HOME", so we stopped by them and gave them a couple of beer. They ended up being from Oragon, nice guys. We finally reached Laird Hot springs and because it was full we had to stay in the day area. We set up camp and headed off for a swim. We walked onto the boardwalk and we where instantly amazed. The boardwalk stretched accross swampy water, into the forest. On either side grasses and plants grew through the waters that at that time was blanketed with fog. It had a mystic wonderland feel to the point that we half expected little fairies to dance along the grasses. We walked another 200m before reaching the spring and bathhouses. The bathhouses them selves are part of the charm. I have never seen anything like it. The water was in a 2 tear system, the bottom was sandy with rocks and the sides was nothing but earth and brush hanging over. The girls LOVED it, Sienna was giddy and flapping her arms so much I thought she would take off like a bird. I layed back with my ears submerged in the water and stared at the foggy blue sky and trees. I heard nothing but my own breath and the muffled laughter of Sanora and other children near by, it was what I could call a spiritual experience.
Road Kill daily count-? (didn't look)

wondering info

2007-07-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

ahhh I am so excited about going on our trip. We got all the food ready and tomorrow we pack all our clothes and finish the clean-up of the house. 3 more sleeps till we go he he. Our Itinerary.....

July 26th- Leave, hopefully 6am but knowing us that might not be the case. First stop Liard hot springs and then camp at Muncho Lake
July 27th- Dawson Creek
July 28th to July 29th- jasper
July 30th-Banff during the day and Calgary by night
July 31th- Calgary, we are spending the night at Bryan's cousins Andrea
August 1st- Pick Gena up at uncle Cutch's
August 1st to August 5th- Crows nest past for family reunion
August 5th-6th Camp in Penticton and catch up with old friends
August 6th-8th Sleep over at Lisa Macintosh's pad
August 8th-10 Vancouver places yet to be confirmed
August 10th-13th Parksville for Bryan's Family Reunion
August 13th-18th Vancouver
August 18th- leave Vancouver first thing in the morning
August 19th- Prince George
August 20th- Watson lake
August 21th- Arrive Whitehorse

Things might change slitely as we are dragging a 3 1/2 month old all over BC and Alberta. I can't wait to see everyone!

Chickens continued

2007-07-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

The girls are being such the troupers, I'm very impressed with how they are handeling this yucky proccess. Sienna doesn't have the chicken pox that bad, she probebly has about 20 spots total, she's got more of a fever than anything. Yesterday I thought I might be getting Shingles but we ruled it out as just sore from moving and painting, with a mix of a bad cold. It was a rough weekend that's for sure.

Bryan went camping Saterday night, with friends Tara and Donovan, aswell as some other crazy people. Unfortunantly I think Sanora has spread the chicken pox to one of Tara's boys. Sorry Tara!

The day of the chicken

2007-07-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

We picked up our paints and started painting. We started with the living room, is green. Between the paint mixer mixing the wrong color and just a bad pick of green, our living room ended up florescent green. Bryan and I practically fell over laughing as we came into the room the next morning (we painted at night) so we repainted to a color that was a bit darker. Three days of painting and I didn't really want to do anymore,lol.

Today we went down and got boo-bear's immunity shots taken care of and Bryan took the truck in. He had new breaks put in, new tires and the truck re-aligned. During this we spent the day watching live music at the local park for "arts in the park" it happens every Wednesday they have a musician of some sort and an artist usually under the tent doing art as the music is playing. After Bryan got off of work we went and got pictures done at Walmart. One turned out so well that the woman is going to enter it into a contest and who know Sanora's picture might be put up at the photo center. The photos turned out amazing and even Bryan liked the photo of himself in the family photo....a miracle! They will be in on the 7th of August so we wont even get them in till we get back. We also just got the 8x11 of the extras that we wanted to we can just scan them in and print them off the computer as we want them. The conclusion to my eventful day was went Sanora spilt something on her shirt and took it off......dun dun dun.....the chicken pox! So I called everyone that Sanora has been in contact with in the past day or 2 and I personally canceled the camping trip that we planned on going on this weekend. Bryan will still go, he still needs to put 100 miles on the truck before we go to have the tired re-adjusted because they are new. We're trying to convince Sanora that she's going to turn into a chicken while she has them....I don't think she is buying it.

new home

2007-07-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

We have been busy bees lately. Bryan is loving his new job, and only doing one at that. I have been trying to unpack, it's hard with 2 kids but we're getting there. The moving process was a bit of a nightmare, and it seemed like it took forever but it's done and we are so happy to be living in our own place. It feels like we are in a hotel or something, kinda surreal. We got paints this past weekend and are on our way to lots of hard labour to make it us. The kitchen is going to be a deep red, with a light cream on one wall. The same cream is going in the hallways, and the kitchen will be a purpely grey. The living room is going to be a nice green, one of my favorite greens. We looked up the sociology of colors first and we wanted to have a place that is colorful, us and promotes good energy. The tape is up and the primer is going up tonight for the living room......ahhhh this is going to be a long process but is going to be so worth it.

New house Photos

2007-07-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

My Little Diva Posing with the sign

This is the front, very deceiving of it's size.

The entrence way, to the right are the three bedrooms and the main bathroom including an ansuit bathroom in ours. To the left of the door is the dining room.

The dinning room! I love how the trees in the front shade the windows. To the left is the kitchen.

Lots of room in the Kitchen

This is the other side of the kitchen. When the sun shines it glows a golden color because of the wood house next door. Right behind Bryan is the entrence into the living room.

The deck leads off the living room and goes all the way accross to Sienna'a room.

I took this picture today, it's going to be a full entertainment room and a way to desurage us from the TV. Behind the bar is the large storage room 11X11.

The room seems to have been built for the pool table no awquardness at all when shooting. To the first right is the spare room/play room, and the next right is the 3rd bathroom and laundry room. Farther still you can see is the stairs to go upstairs.

Lots of possibilities here. They left tones of wodden pellets for the pellet stove. There are also alot of great trees in the yard.

This is the view from the deck upstairs, it's so private. Trees even blog our 1 naughbor to make it even more private.

Final Walk-through of new house

2007-07-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for us. First thing in the morning we went down to the lawyers to sign the final papers, unfortunately they weren't ready for us so we came back at 4. I had to laugh as I heard the largest sigh of relief from Bryan as we exited the doors of the building. We went home and had a snack to eat before heading off again to do the final-walk through of the house. Man we have allot of weeding to do! The woman who previously owned it knowing we have kids didn't use the heavy pesticides she usually uses. I have found a good natural pesticide that will do the trick just using vinegar, soup and salt. Bryan actually found a good website that includes a number of options. The woman is including 7 bags of wood pellets for the pellet stove, a double bed, a desk, shelving in the garage and some gardening supplies. Our color scheme that we have picked out is going to look awesome, we brought it with us just to double check. we're sooooooooooooooo excited, 1 more sleep till pack up time and 2 more sleeps till moving time.

Canada Day

2007-07-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

The night before we went to a barbecue down the street which was fun, good group of people. On the day of Canada day we went down to the park where they had a petting farm, little merry-go-round for the kids, dog shows, good food and lots of music and performers. The also had this neat little farmers market up by the fire hall. Bryan was so fascinated my this young girl. The girl was 14 and had a huge booth set up and she tours about the 2 territories selling her paintings in the summer and during Christmas time. She is very talented, and Bryan was blown away that at her age she was fearlessly putting herself out there. I see the constant change in Bryan I get so excited when he talks about his ideas for the next year. Maybe by next Canada Day he too will have a booth set up!

Sumo Concussion

2007-06-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

We went to the Sun Stroke Festival to celebrate the summer solstice. It was crazy, I couldn't believe we where out at 12am and it looked like it was only 5 pm. We went early and there was tones for kids including a blow up castle, face painting and cardboard castle/fort that they let the kids go nuts with paints. They also had Sumo Wrestling and of course I couldn't resist. I challenged a friend Rowan and near the beginning I got my helmet knocked off and I did a big flying leap which was a bad idea apparently. When I landed I went off the mat and because my helmet wasn't on when I landed I smacked my head pretty good. I didn't have anything to drink but I felt like I had a flat to my self in a matter of half an hour. I was very disoriented and couldn't put a sentence together to save my life. Mind you that doesn't seem to be far off the mat on a daily basis lately,lol. I decided to go over and talk to the woman at the first aid station and she told me to go to the hospital. I was told I have a concussion and we went home for a good sleep. Everything was fine yesterday and then today out of nowhere I got the worst head ache I have ever gotten. I wanted to vomit and scoop my eyes out,so I went down stair as soon as Bryan got home. We decided it was worth it to go to the hospital again where I was told that it looked like I had both whip lash and a concussion! Not bad for sumo wrestling eh!

Mommy moment!

2007-06-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

I had the coolest conversation last night with Sanora and it went like this....

Sanora: "Thank you so much for dinner mommy!"
Me: "You are such an amazing person Sanora."
Sanora: "I know mommy."
Me: "You do, do you?"
Sanora: "Ya, I know because you always tell me!"

It was a proud mommy moment and I just about cried when she said that,lol. It's those moments that remind you that no matter what you think they do listen to what you say good or bad, and you tell them enough and they will catch on. I know all parents get these moment from time to time, I'm just happy to share mine.

Warm Rain and Summer Fun Photos

2007-06-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sienna's First Camping trip!

2007-06-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Sienna's first camping trip was probebly the best camping trip I have had in a long time. All the people that where together took up a 1/4 of the whole campsie. There where tones of kids for Sanora to play with. Sienna got attacked by bugs but other than that Sienna Seemed more at home in the great outdoors than at home. We camped with a really great group they where alot of fun.

drawing near

2007-06-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well time is getting near and it's only 3 short weeks before we move into our own home. I haven't been on the computer as much and when I am it's usually at night. We decided to go camping this weekend especially seeing as it may be our last chance to go camping before moving. We don't even really get to unpack before we leave again, crazyness but I love it. We have colors picked out (of course that may change when we get in there) and we're so excited to paint the grandma out of the house. Gerri bought her house after us and she got into her condo a month before us, congrats again on your new condo.

Park ect. Photos

2007-06-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

My little helper

2007-06-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sanora has been an amazing help. Yesterday she brought me breakfast in bed (cherios) and when we went into town she was opeing all the doors for me. What ever issues there was has been worked out. It's crazy how if you just change the way you talk to your kid makes a world of a difference. IT's usually what they get from us that drives us crazy as parents. I see it with other people that there children are just repeating what has been said to them. But Sanora helped figure out that I to am blind and need to open my eyes more often. She's not a saint and I wouldn't want her to me, it's all those intersinkrecies that make her my beautiful Sanora. Sanora has been an amazing help with everything....I just hope this keeps up.

Photos

2007-05-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Resentment

2007-05-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

Since Sienna has been born Sanora is very loving towards Sienna but it is me that she's resentful towards. We had a bit of an insedent in superstore yesterday and if that wasn't a message that something was up I don't know what is. I have been hard on her so that might be it aswell. Her attitude has gone up like 10 notches and I'm not so convinsed that it will iron itself out on it's own. Any suggestions?