It's been a heck of a summer!

WOW oh WOW! I have been sitting here on this Sunday evening thinking about the summer. Lets make a list of what was awesome about it...

• Sara and Ryan's Wedding - Canmore is a beautiful little mountain town and we had a great time photographing the lovebirds on their perfect day. The backdrop was gorgeous and the event was stunning.
• Shannon and Eric's wedding - comfortable and beautiful are the best 2 words to describe this event. Photographing these 2 was a joy. They are so in love and were so excited to be married and start their life together.
• Hamilton Family reunion consisted of  riding bikes off the dock, body-ball, too much food and some great catching up with my cousins. 
• Amazing trip to Seattle: rode a ferry, walked about 15 miles, delighted in attending a glass blowing shop demonstration, shopped, ate fresh seafood on the harbor, got lost on city transit, read a book in the park, relaxed in a beautiful hotel. It was a great trip!
• Got a new puppy!! His name is Stanley and he is a pure bred German shepherd and I LOVE him!
• We are currently putting up our fence. It is a big project and probably the only negative thing about having a house in Magrath - the lots are HUGE! Therefore it is a HUGE undertaking to contain it all. Stanley needs a home so we build a fence! :)
• Time at the ranch was super duper! We tubed down the river many times and Kayaked down the ditch all the way to Payne lake. Brent tipped 2 times and I almost died laughing. It was really funny. It was a beautiful quiet and I saw parts of my backyard that I'd never seen before. We even saw some pelicans really close up and they are huge freaky birds.
• I re-discovered and Brent discovered Waterton Golf Course wing night. Monday nights are sooo delicious. 
• We relaxed at home and just enjoyed sleeping in, reading books both professional and for fun, went to matinee's, played with the nephews and niece, played some seriously good rook (I got 2 300 hands in one game people - that is almost unheard of for those of you who don't know) and fell in love a little more! :-)

Overall it was fun and went just too darn quick. I am very excited to get back into the swing of school and routine and more sleep! I have a great class again this year and will try to be more diligent in my blogging regularity.
Mucho amor mis amigos!

March is HERE

     Last month of Winter. Sure is coming in like a Lion. I drove to work today in almost zero visibility. School is going great. My kids made a Anti-bullying video and we watched it for the first time today and it was great. I teach grade 3 and we discussed the events going on in Northern Africa and how the actions of Gaddafi could have serious implication of the quality of life of Canadians because of the rise in gas prices. I love teaching social studies and i love that the kids are so engaged. Julie is starting a newspaper writing unit as well as doing some great things with labels for education and helping to spread the word of Anti-bullying.

    We have a busy summer coming up with weddings and holidays and home renovations and everything else that will come along. Stay tuned. Southern Alberta might be growing on me yet.

It's A New Year

Dearest friends
Best wishes to you in this new year. I hope that the last year taught you a lesson or two. I hope you loved, lived and laughed with the people that love you the most.

Brent and I are adjusting to life in small town Magrath. We are making connections with our neighbors and the community as a whole. Our jobs are going well and we are building positive reputations within the proffesion here. While we miss our friends in Edmonton, we do not miss the cold! When we left Grande Prairie Christmas eve to drive home, it was -22. By Edmonton it was -18 and by the time we reached the garden city of Magrath, it was a balmy +6... at 6pm!! It was rather astonishing. So no, we are not missing the cold frozen cars and everything else associated with northern Alberta winters.

We have some pretty big plans for our little home in the spring. Finish the basement including bathroom, flooring, ceiling and creating some organized storage. We will build ourselves a fence! That has been the strangest thing to understand here is that very few people put up fences!! It is strange, but we are excited to have some privacy to suntan at will ALL summer! Bring on the sun! We love our first home and soon will have room for you to come visit. :)

I am feeling hopeful as I try to make some changes in my life. Brent is the best cheerleader and supports me in all my efforts. We are working out daily at the school gym and are loving the energy and endorphins from it. We are past our 1.5 years mark and life is still peachy!

Well, that was long winded, but I hope you enjoyed the update. We love you and wish you all the best! See you soon.

Winter is death.

That is a metaphor. I have been working on metaphors with my kids as part of our descriptive writing. School is crazy and busy. The kids are great but the 30 minute drive on the winter highway is not. We have been talking a lot about the rights of a child in Social Studies and my kids are amazing. I am sure all teachers say that but you show me another amazing group of kids that continually rock out fantastic work and truly want to be better little people and i will take back that mine are the best. This last week has not gone by fast and I worry that this is a sign of things to come. Bad weather, bad roads and a student that is not happy unless they are causing trouble has stressed me out a tad bit this last week. I am excited to have Christmas break, i will get to go up and see my new niece in Grande Prairie and spend a little time at the ranch. Might even get on a snowmobile but probably not. One day i will live somewhere that winter never happens. Talk to you all in another 4 months haha.

The school year has begun

Well it has been much too long since I have posted anything on our blog. You see, although the summer has been rather unscheduled, we have been busy. Here are the highlights...

1. WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! Thats right. We are in Magrath. It is a lovely small town with very friendly people and so far so good. We moved in on August 14. I have had fun decorating and am having fun planning a basement and HUGE yard!! By the end of next summer I will have perfected my green thumb.

2. We didn't experience a single mouse whilst living in the mouse house. My great grandpa's house is still standing on my ranch and we had the privilege of living there this summer until our housing stuff was worked out. It is creeky, crooked, and fly/mosquito infested but we loved it. Brent never did venture into the dungeon of a basement. It was a little too scary for him ;-)

3. We no longer live out of a trailer/box. In the middle of May, our plan was to move into an apartment in Edmonton. So we packed most of our belongings and were organizing things for that move. Then fate would play it's cards and we got the jobs in Southern Alberta. So our things stayed in boxes and we lived out of them for the month of June while finishing up the school year there. My parents arrived with the trailer and we loaded it up, where most things would sit until our big move into our very first house. I forgot I even owned some of the things I own. I thought I needed to go shopping for more school clothes... then I opened up some boxes. CHRISTMAS!

4. We are both enjoying work. We've spent countless hours planning and re-planning for our upcoming year of teaching. I am super excited about grade 5. It is such a fun and exciting curriculum and the kids still like their teacher!

5. We spent time working with my mom in the garden, baking, (Brent learned how to make fudge) building shelves, and painting my Grandma's fingernails. After all of this we played Rook- not just a game or 2, but hours upon hours of competitive nail-biting Rook. It was glorious. We have about a 50-50 record. Check the Rook Book located on the window ledge in my mothers kitchen if you don't believe me.

6. We tubed the river more times than I care to admit and sweated our brains out in some of the hottest sauna's (fondly referred to as the sweat hut) I have ever experienced. Brent has become the master of the hut.

7. We celebrated our 1st anniversary! Wow time flies when you are having fun. What a splendid year it has been. I love being in love with the most wonderful man on the planet. 

That is about it. We are happy, healthy and ready to conquer the year. Bring on September!

Having a great summer so far!

I was really worried about a summer with no TV no internet and no civilization. Starting my 4th week of summer holidays we have gone to Fairmont. I love it here nothing but family and the lake. Julie and I spent a whole day baking in preparation for the week. We made home made granola bars and eatmore bars and bunwiches. It was a fantastic. The whole no internet and TV has not even been the worst thing in the world. I have been gardening and catching frogs and toads and going on hikes and tubing the river. We have seen Bears and Badgers and a million deer as well as Eagles and Hawks. Walking nightly has helped keep all the good home cooking from adding on the pounds. I don't even miss the TV. The internet i have missed but i can live without it 24-7. I highly recommend getting out this summer and embracing nature. I know not everyone can plant flowers in a yard that is surrounded by the mountains with yellow finches flying all around but we all can take some time to take in the world around us instead of looking at a computer screen. 

So we are going for interviews

Both Julie and I have secured interviews with the Westwind school district. It is an exciting and a little bit scary time. I am hoping all works out how it should. Not sure if living in southern Alberta is something i am all that excited about doing but the bonus is i will get a dog! Correction another dog, i will also get to finally have Thor!!!