Family Vacation

So I am pretty excited. I have started planning our baby family vacation. Just me and Geoffs.

We are driving down to Salt Lake for Conference!! Sure, it doesn't seem like a very good vacation to most people... especially those that go all the time... but I have never been to Conference with my Geoffs! And we rarely go anywhere but Calgary and BC for vacations, so this is a big deal!! I started planning it months ago. Haha. Which is something that Geoff has been trying to get used too. The way that I have to plan my vacations so early... I just get SO EXCITED.

So we have already booked our dungy little 2 star hotel, only 3 blocks from Temple Square. Nadia and I stayed there a couple years ago and they were sufficient. They had bagels and yogurt for breakfast, and a bed without bed bugs. So obviously i would book it again. Haha.


And this is a secret for Geoff... So noone tell him... But he never checks our cares about our blog anyways, so I feel that I can mention this. We got tickets for a Utah Jazz game!! They were only $12 or something like that... and are only 3 rows from the top. But it will still be epic.






We have planned a day or so at my favorite outlets in the world: Tanger Outlets.







Anywhere that has a Fossil Outlet is a winner for me.

Something on my bucket list is to go to the Festival of Colours. One day I will go. Unfortunately it is the week before conference in Spanish Forks, and the week after Conference in Salt Lake. One day though... one day.

http://utahkrishnas.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=190

And then of course, we are excited to do a session at the Temple. It is a beautiful temple!! And it will be nice to be there with my loves.

So now I need your help. Is there anything that you would recommend for us to do while we are in Salt Lake? I have been trying to google stuff to do... but word of mouth is always the best way to vacation.

Realtor of the Year

This year my dad got Realtor of the Year. Pretty big accomplishment! So I guess you have to be nominated in the first place by another realtor. From there, you have to go in for something like a 3 hour interview. After that, about half of the realtors get cut from the runnings. And then, you have to get about 15 references from people throughout your life! Clients, family, friends...

And then there was a breakfast with about 1500 realtors, and he was told there! Had to get up and give a little speech an everything! So exciting!

My dad's bus stop in Calgary

It was so fun decorating for the party. Kristine and I did it.

The fabulous food table

Tyson with more food table

A picture of my dad with the lady that gave him the award. He totally deserves it!

CHRISTMAS

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!
AND I AM SOOOOSOOSOSOSOSO EXCITED!!!

I have already taken the week before Christmas off, and we are heading to Calgary for a Stone Christmas! The only sad part is that Kyle and Zoe's family won't be there (*tear).

Christmas is such a special time of year for me. Even though it is a madhouse at the malls, and you spend WAY too much money on presents to people you sometimes barely even see, I LOVE IT. I guess it helps that I love giving presents to people...

But people are just so happy at Christmas! There really is a ton of Christmas cheer. You get to spend time with family and friends, and join in celebration for such a wonderful time of year.

What a great season... my favorite season!

And I can barely hold in my excitment this year. I had a bunch of my presents bought already in summer time!!

And I wish all my friends and family I don't get to see, a very Merry Christmas!!!

Funny Blog

So I decided the other day that my blog is boring. Ha. So I am going to try and make it more humorous!

I received an email at work today, and thought it was quite clever, so I am going to add a couple of my favorite jokes.

-'It's just too hot to wear clothes today,' Jack says as he stepped out of the shower, 'honey, what do you think the neighbors would think if I mowed the lawn like this?'
'Probably that I married you for your money,' she replied.

...oh... that was the only funny joke in the email...

so i also attached some funny pictures!

um. well, i guess that's the extent of my humour! have a good day!

-

A list of appreciation

My mom once told me to make a list of reasons why I liked myself. And then when I feel bad or insecure, I can go back to that list and look at it. It really helped me out at times when I forgot how great I am. Lol.

Now I know that I am sooo blessed in many ways, but I often forget those things when life gets hard. So to remind myself, I am going to take my moms advice and just twist it in a way. I am going to make my list of some of those things I am grateful for.

I AM GRATEFUL:

-that I have such an awesome mother and father that would be able to give me such awesome advice when I need it. And love me not only because they have too, but because they want too.

-for my siblings and the way they always look out for me. ALL my siblings. In laws count! They would do anything for me, and I love that about them. And, they are so much fun!!

-For all my nieces and nephews and how CUTE they are! Man, they are sooo cute. ( I know this picture is from FOREVER ago, and it is missing baby Tessa... but its the only one I have of almost all of them on this computer. So it will do)

-actually, for all family in general. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They have all played an important part in my life, and I know I have learned a lot from my family. It is lucky that we have big families, and we appreciate all of them.

-for my Geoffs. He is soo wonderful with me. I appreciate his patience with me, hard work, willing to help me with anything, the respect he has for me and others, the fact that he's a feminist, his dang good looks, his curly hair(because it means hopefully our one day children will have curly hair!! hurray!!), his love for the gospel, how bad he is at nintendo's Dr Mario(because it makes me feel like I rule at it), that he would rather be with me than so many other things, that he can sleep through me being on the computer in bed and doesn't get mad, the way he looks at me when I've said something funny, how he doesn't care if I shave my legs, how he often acts like a little boy, he doesn't expect me to be this perfect housewife (because I am so not), his calf muscles, that he doesn't snore, he will kill a spider and not tell me so I don't get scared, that he makes me feel like he is the luckiest guy around, AND SO MUCH MORE

-for the fact that when life sucks or things aren't going the way I want/expected them to go, that I have a belief it will get better. I have a belief that I am going through what I am going through for a reason, and that I know it will get better. There are so many times that I do not know how people can go through things with a positive attitude without a belief in something. I appreciate that I have a belief, and that it makes me happy.

- that I know I will never be homeless. That we can take chances like moving to Dallas, TX for a summer to do sales, and know that we have a support system at home in case things go terribly wrong! That even if Geoff and I lose all our money and go into serious financial problems, we will never be living on the street. That we have parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, and so many people that would be there for us if we desperately needed them!

-speaking of friends... I am deeply grateful for the friends that me and Geoff have acquired. They make this life so much more bearable and enjoyable! Just hanging out and playing cards with a good group of friends can make my week! And man, do we have some good friends. Especially when it came to moving out of our apartment in a couple of days... All those friends who spent their time and energy to help us get out of there, we are sooo lucky to have such great people in our lives!!!

- for the internet. Yeah, that sounds so lame. But I appreciate it in the fact that it helps us all keep in such close contact! I don't feel as disconnected to the people I love! I can see them on facebook, their blogs, email... Man, there are so many options to keep in touch! And it sure makes living in Dallas that much easier!

-ice cream. Actually, Canadian ice cream. Call me crazy, but the ice cream down here just isn't as delicious as the ice cream in Canada. And the funny thing is, who needs it most? It has been above 100 degrees Farenheit all week here, and it snows 75% of the year in Canada. I would say, Dallas needs good ice cream more than Canada. But oh well... Sucks for Americans. Lol.

-the freedom to do whatever I want. I got my degree in Social Work, but I have been thinking lately that I might not want to do that anymore. (MAYBE. Don't jump to conclusions!!). But I love that I can just go back to school to be something else if I want too. Sure, I will have to go more into debt which isn't desirable... But I do have that option. And I appreciate that.

-That my family doesn't bug us too much about having babies. This doesn't include Geoffs parents, becaue they tease us all the time about how much they want grandbabies. But I feel that we get enough questions in church, that I appreciate it not coming from them. They know that we will have kids when we feel we should.

-One Tree Hill seasons. Ha. No, but really. They are keeping me sane here in Dallas. I have watched the first 5 seasons, and I LOVE THEM!! In fact, I appreciate TV series in general. It is so much better watching TV seasons when they are not actually on TV.

I know that there is SOO much that we appreciate. Our car, yummy food, our place and the stuff in it, our healthy bodies, etc etc etc. There is so much in my life that I am grateful for, and so much that I know I am lucky to have. But I already tried earlier for an hour to sleep, and now I think I am finally ready for it. So I am going to try and sleep again... soooo tiirreedddd.............

moving blows

We move on Sunday! And i am really nervous... We are moving to Dallas Texas to sell pest control for the summer. It will be such an exciting adventure, but I am sooo nervous! Plus, I am insanely stressed out right now.
At the beginning of April, we were told by our landlord that we could have about a quarter rent each month for the summer, because Geoff has been working for them for the last 2 1/2 years. We were pretty excited, because not only do we LOVE our apartment, but we also really didnt want the stress of moving everything before we left. Plus, Geoff has finals until April 30th, and we move May 1st... So it's more that I didnt want to move everything all by myself.. And we also didnt want the worry of finding somewhere to live at the end of August. This was all fine and dandy until April 18th-ish, when our landlord told us we couldnt have cheap rent anymore. BAH. I learned, get everything in writing!!! So now we are moving. I worked until last thur, and then had previously bought a bus ticket from Calgary to Lethbridge tomorrow(April 27th), because i didnt know i would be packing. So I did as much packing a i could (which wasnt very much) last week in between working, and seeing friends before we leave. That leaves me 3 days to move everything I own to Calgary.

Once I heard that i had to move, i sort of shut my brain down. I was proud of myself for at least getting boxes... But it wasnt until today, that me and kristine finally started calling around for moving trucks. what was i thinking? last day of the month i want it for, and it is the time that ALL the students are moving home!! of course, there were no trucks anywhere!! for the whole week! we did luck out and get a truck for friday though.

What a stressful couple of weeks. But it is slowly coming together. I will have such amazing people to help me! all the way down to kristines parent-in-laws taking the kids so she could come down thur and help me move until friday. And she is a moving queen!! so its going to be a busy couple days, but i think im ready for it!

And if anyone wants to help move, we are moving everything into the truck in lethbridge at 4 on friday.. and then moving it all into pink nanas garage at 8 in calgary. lol.

it has almost made me not excited about dallas... but i am trying to be optomistic!! once i get through these next couple of days, it will be such a fun adventure!!

3 Dates in 2011

The other day, we went to the Rotary Auction dinner something, with our good friends the Cahoons. While we were there, Cheryls mom pointed out that because we had been married for over 2 years, we need to go on at least 3 dates this year. And then it keeps going up, the more years we are married.
At first I thought it was silly, because we have already gone on way more than 3 dates and its only February. But then again, it must be harder to do when you have children. Right now, basically anything we do could be considered a date. Which I actually enjoy a lot.
I have decided to take part in this challenge. I'm sure it will be harder throughout the years, so I am hoping to make it a type of habit. If we can do this while we are alone, maybe it will be easier to keep it up when we have little ones (if we have little ones?).
I am blogging this at work today, BECAUSE IT IS SO SLOW!! And I am soo bored. I need a new job... But when I get home I am going to try to put the picture we took while at the Rotary Dinner. It was such a fun night. And I was even able to get Geoff to dance with me for a couple of songs. He is an excellent dancer, and it was so fun to just get out there and cut a rug. Afterthe dinner, we went to Jess' parents that live in Raymond, played games, watched a movie, and had a sleepover! They also spoiled us with a delicious breakfast the next day! It was wonderful.
Oh, and the night before we had a slumber party at our baby apartment for the girls. It was such an awesome night. There were 10 of us there, which I was worried about since our apartment is so little. But it actually turned out really well! We pampered ourselves with avocado face masks and gross strawberry exfoliant, played some games, and watched a movie. It was wonderful. But we didn't get to sleep until about 400am. So when we went to the Rotary Dinner the next day, we were all pretty tuckered. I have had to spend the last couple of days recuperating, but it was totally worth it!!
Okay... my work day is almost done, so I better finish off or I'll lose it all.