Jen, Leah and...the lovely John Mayer...

So I'm back. Back from one of the best weekend trips I think I've ever had. And I just have to say that I have been blessed with the most incredible friends a person could ask for.

What a weekend it was. West Ed literally kicked our butts! We shopped til we dropped, and I mean that quite honestly. We laughed, sang, danced, cried, talked, walked, ate, slept... (oh wait, not really)--- and just did all the things that close friends do. It was fabulous. Or as Leah would say, it was "rockin' awesome!" :)

Got to celebrate Jen's big ol' 26th birthday! Sorry Jen...the secret is out ;)


What can I say!? We're a bunch of goofs but hey...that's what makes our friendship so much fun! Thanks again girls for making the weekend so special. Wish we could do it more often!



Now I think the girls would agree when I say that the "icing" that just topped off an already great weekend was the fact that we got to spend Saturday night with John Mayer. Some good friends of mine had tickets and had been planning on going but at the last minute, found out that they wouldn't be able to make it due to a death in the family. Now they had 4 tickets to get rid of and weren't sure what to do with them. They remembered that I was going to be in Edmonton for the weekend and offered them to us. Of course, we accepted :) And all I can say is that John Mayer is unbelievable. Just un-believable. It was truly an amazing concert and I am so thankful we got to go...what a blast!


So thanks again J-La and Lemo for such a wonderful weekend! I love you guys more every day and am so thankful for the friendship God has given us.

And yes Leah...although I'm still not completely convinced about the aviators, I promise to "sport" them just for you. Jen---all I have to say is, your route to the High Level Diner definitely proved to be very rewarding and I believe it is the only way to go from 66th and 109 :)
You guys are the best.

Weekend with "my girls"...

I'm off to see my two bestest friends tomorrow. Yup...its gonna be a weekend of lots of laughs, crazy pictures (which I promise to post eventually), reminiscing and LOTS of shopping at West Edmonton Mall! CAN'T WAIT!! There's just nothing like some good time with "the girls."

Leah and Jen... its been too long since we were all together and I can hardly wait to spend the weekend with you! I'll be hugging you two wonderful girls TOMORROW!! See you soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Bellingham bliss??

Quick note...my tulips have finally bloomed! And they're even better than I had anticipated...


Well, we didn't have any big plans for the weekend, so on Saturday afternoon we headed into Abbotsford to get together with Todd and Brianne. Brianne and I decided to go to Bellingham to do some shopping and left the guys to do what they enjoy most--- yup, you guessed it...vids.
The only problem for Brianne and I was that we hadn't thought about the fact that it was already about 2:00pm, it was a nice, sunny afternoon and many others may have decided to go to the States as well. We pulled up to the Sumas border crossing to find that we certainly were NOT alone in our "great idea." We ended up being in line at the border for nearly an hour and a half! And in the heat of the day! Our car has an exterior "thermometer" and although I don't think it was quite as hot as it said it was, it certainly felt close to that considering we were stuck in our car with black leather seats. Not fun. We were very thankful to be able to have the windows down and the sun roof open to keep the air flowing.

Doesn't Brianne look thrilled to be stuck in the car on a hot day... :)

GET US OUT OF HERE!!! We want to SHOP!


Well, we did FINALLY make it to Bellingham and had a really great time as always. We both got some great deals and enjoyed a little snack in the food court. OK, so I didn't exactly "enjoy" my snack. Just in case you haven't discovered this, McFlurries taste FAR better in Canada... this Oreo "treat" just didn't hit the spot...


After our shopping adventure, we drove back to Abby to have a late dinner with the guys at Red Robin. Mmmmm... love their freckled lemonade!

So despite our border crossing frustrations, it was all in all a great day! We'll have to go down again soon Brianne... and next time, I'll skip the McFlurrie! :)

Have a great week everyone!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday so we all went to the Wild Cat Grill for supper...

As you can see, my big brother was able to make it out from Sask. for the occasion. He's actually here 'til Saturday for a big conference at Willingdon church in Vancouver but was able to come a day early to celebrate mom's birthday. It was not only a birthday treat for Mom but for the rest of us too! If only Jen could've come too we would have had the whole family together. We miss you Jen!!!

After a delicious dinner at the Wild Cat, everyone came back to our place for cake and presents... thankfully the cake I made was a big success. (I'm not usually much of a baker so I was relieved it turned out well!)



Happy Birthday Mom! We love you so much and pray that this year is full of blessings!


In other news, I just have to say once again that I seriously have such a sweet job. Today's so called "hard work" consisted of going to Abby with my boss to do some shopping (including wonderful places like HomeSense and Home Outfitters) and then going to a dance competition. Her daughter is a really good dancer and was competing in Abby today so she asked if I'd mind if we went to watch her after our shopping. Would I mind!? Hah...I love watching dance and if she wants to pay me to sit and watch something I enjoy, I'm pretty sure I'm OK with it! Plus she bought me lunch. What more can a girl ask for...
(Oh, and the dancing was SWEET! Quite a bit of lyrical but also a bit of hip hop and highland...very fun!) And apparently we're off to Vancouver for the day tomorrow to do more shopping for a client. Count me in.

Have a great night everyone!

Sunshine & Foliage

The forecasted rain for today turned to sunshine instead, which was a delightful surprise. It was the perfect chance to go pick up some new spring plants for our house. I've discovered that I really do adore walking through greenhouses and perusing the plant selection. Who would have thought that I would become such a plant lover! And somewhat of a fountain of "plant knowledge" to boot. Those that know me well will understand just how funny this phenomena is! Anyway...great none the less!


Here's my very handsome Mr. Green Thumb --->


I LOVE tulips! Can't wait for these ones to bloom...

An Easter visit to Minter Gardens...

This last Saturday was my first visit to Minter Gardens since our wedding in August 2005. The gardens hold very special memories for me, as you can imagine :) Unfortunately Jon had to work that afternoon and couldn't join my family and I, but he was a big part of the nostalgia... :) It was an absolutely glorious afternoon to be "smelling the roses". Well, there weren't actually roses (its still a bit early for those) but there were lots of tulips! And it was another 20+ day! Here are some pictures from our afternoon...













And after viewing all those wonderful flowers, I came home to a little Easter surprise from Jon...

Picnic in the park...

Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable. It hit +25 yesterday and was simply the perfect day. Jon had to work but I was fortunate enough to get to spend the afternoon, walking by the river with my friend Laurie and her little munchkin Adia. The weather was so gorgeous that I actually slightly "burned" my shoulders (not much but they were a tad pink) and its only the beginning of April. We finished off our walk with a delicious blizzard from DQ. Thanks for a great afternoon Laurie & Adia!! :)

When Jon finally got off work, neither of us wanted to spend the beautiful evening indoors so we decided to end the day with a picnic in the park... I can't actually remember the last time I was that content. We had such a good time just relaxing, eating, playing catch and even a little volleyball. Ahhhhh.... what a perfect day.






I think that spring is not only here, but summer may not be too far off either. We're hoping to spend Easter Sunday afternoon playing a round of golf...

Wednesday night bedtime stories... melts my heart everytime!

Just had to throw that in here... I love watching Jon with our nephew. He's going to make a wonderful Dad some day. Though the key word there is SOME day... :)


So I must say I'm feeling pretty good right now, knowing that I have a 4 day weekend ahead of me!! I think its going to be a really great weekend. Tomorrow we have a morning service at church, Saturday I am going to do a little swimming with my friend Laurie and her very cute daughter Adia, Sunday I am leading worship with the team, and Monday...well, haven't thought that far ahead yet but its a day off so its going to be good no matter how you look at it :) I'd love to hang out with anyone that has some free time seeing as I'll have lots of it! Just let me know. The best part is that it was SOOO warm today and its supposed to be pretty nice all weekend (from what I've heard so far). I'm looking forward to some time out in the sun!
Anyway...Happy Easter everyone! Hope its a wonderful weekend for all of you!

Oh, and Jen...look what Jon's mom gave us yesterday...

Yup... 943 grams of goodness! I promise to bring the leftovers when I come to visit in a few weeks!! :) (There should be a LOT left!)

Sweet, sweet relief...

I literally only have a few minutes to post (I should really be making supper 'cause I have to eat and race out the door for worship practice) but I thought I'd share my exciting and relieving news.
I GOT MY PASSPORT BACK!!!...and with plenty of time to spare. For those that don't know the story, here it is.

So because of our cruise in June, Jon and I have to have current passports, obviously. And thankfully, both of us have passports. The only problem with mine was that it was still under my maiden name, Glen. So...as soon as I found out about the cruise, I quickly sent if off to have my married name added. (I later found out that I could technically travel under my maiden name, but I didn't want to take any chances. Plus it was too late...the deed had already been done). Anyway... so I sent my passport in February and then waited... and waited... and soon started to panic because after sending it, I realized that I hadn't changed my address information in my passport so it still had my Saskatchewan address from when I first got my passport in 2003. YIKES! Passport Canada is slow enough as it is...they certainly didn't need anything else holding up the process. So I've frantically been trying to contact them to ensure they would send my passport to the correct address. But of course, to no avail. It is next to IMPOSSIBLE to get through to their 1 800 number. Next I tried emailing and finally got a response saying that they had received my request and would make sure it was updated. Phew... now I just had to wait. But that has been the worst part because until I had my passport back in my possession, I just couldn't get excited about our trip. Everyone kept telling me, "Don't worry...you'll get it back in time," which I knew was likely, but none the less, I felt uneasy. Especially with Passport Canada's threats of, (and I quote!) "an additional 50 working days due to the sharp increase in passport applications."

So yesterday I got a tag in the mail saying that I was to pick up a parcel at the Southgate post office. I was hoping it was my passport but decided not to hold my breath. It had in fact only been about a month and a half since I mailed it. But today when I picked up the parcel, it was indeed my very wonderful, and now accurate, passport! Thank goodness! Now I can rest easy and finally start to look forward to our cruise! Praise God for answered prayer and safely returned passports :)