Uncle Chris and Aunt Linda long weekend

On the long weekend on Saturday we decided to go visit Uncle Chris and Aunt Linda. Jesse and I have been wanting to get a coffee table for what seemed like MONTHS so we finally decided to just go down and buy one at ikea or something like that, and while in the process going to visit some family that I felt we needed to reconnect with. 

When we got there, we got the same feeling that they always give us whenever we come visit..just a feeling of being part of the family. Uncle Chris had asked us if we had breakfast and we just had a quick timmy's bagel, so knowing his family he knew we would need more than that. We decided upon making waffles, Jesse and I got to make the waffles, he just handed us the recipe and that was our job to make the waffles. Along with the waffles we also had some hash browns and some bacon. It was the most food we had seen in MONTHS, not because I starve my man, but because we just cook enough for the two of us. But there truly was nothing better than having a fresh waffle with pb and nutella with maple syrup. Jesse was so satisfied with the waffle he didn't even put maple syrup on it. 

After that we decided to head out to Ikea and holy moly..was it ever busy. Aunt Linda told me she doesn't think she ever saw it that busy! It was insane! People everywhere! It's like they all needed furniture just that one and only weekend! We all got separated from each other too it was crazy! The only time we got together was at the end, and let me tell you..they are good at snatching the free samples and go nuts over them. But our trip was successful, we got a coffee table completely under our budget, a quick dry bath mat (which really is quick dry) tupperware (always need it, cannot ever find lids) and some new kitchen utensils all for under 50 dollars!

After knowing the Ikea incident, our original plan was to go to cross iron mills too since I have never been there before. But after seeing how busy Ikea was we decided against it. Instead we went bowling with them both, maddy and Justine. We all pretty much sucked, but we were trying to mime the guy on the end lane since almost every single turn he would get a strike. He would granny walk up to the line and just casually drop the ball then BAM strike, strike, strike again. But even though I tried to follow his technique I still came in last at a whopping 28 points. Jesse I think won the bowling, then uncle chris came in second. But that was so much fun, and something different to do!

Afterwards we went back to their house and had cafe rio (super yummy) for supper and we played ticket to ride. Which got quite intense, Jesse's tactic was to just block people. I could have gotten a better score but missed one of my destinations by mixing two up together. It even got so intense that Justine and I had to stand up to see the board better to understand it, but so much fun! Uncle Chris ended up winning that one, with having the longest train, and the longest train cars in a row.

Afterwards Uncle Chris gave both Jesse and I blessings for some extra inspiration.

But all in all, super fun day! Glad we got to spend some time with them!

Vacation

I went on vacation about 2 weeks ago and this is my first official paid vacation. It was really weird knowing that while I worked I got to be paid for it. The first week was basically like an errand week, I went to a Dr. to see if he would be my family dr. (I got accepted but I disliked him). I went through my stuff in my house and cleaned it up majorly and I just relaxed, I had been working for pretty much a full year so it was nice to relax. 

Near the end of the first week, my mom and I had made an agreement that she would come down to Red Deer for a few days and I would come down to Lethbridge. 

When my mom came to Red Deer I had Patty and Dr. J's retirement party to go to. It was hosted at Sharon Tebb's house (lpn) and her backyard was lovely. There was a really good turnout and we had lots of fun. Connie had set up a photo booth for people to take props and have funny pictures with. I did this with Nancy (spd) and Sage (lpn). It was a lot of fun, we ate, mom got to meet some of my coworkers as well as Jesse and we had a lot of good laughs. 

The next day mom, Jesse and I went to Browns social house for lunch, since mom has never been there. It was really good. After lunch we dropped Jesse back at home and we went to the museum to see the display Walking With Our Sisters. It was about the 1700 native women/children that go missing and their cases are never looked into or solved. Also to commemorate the children that did not return home from the residential areas. The display was really powerful. They made us wear a skirt to show respect to the fallen sisters and honour them that way. We also participated in a smudging ceremony, basically what they do is cleanse you with some sort of herb (they used sage.) to cleanse and bless us. They also gave us some tobacco to hold in our left hand and to give into one of the bowls to show our appreciation to our sisters. The main display shows about 1700 vamps..which is the front part of the moccasin to represent that they did not live a full life and that it was cut short. They were all designed by people that were affected by the missing women or children. The artwork that were on some of these vamps were beautiful. They put the names of the missing on some, they had beautiful beadwork of designs and pictures. They would not let us take any photos as they had made the display as if it was a sacred burial. But it was very beautiful and moving to have seen that display, especially with mom. I think she really enjoyed it. To me it made me sad because it looked like a mass grave with all the vamps. It really brings it close to home seeing all the vamps.

After that we began to head down to Lethbridge, mom wanted to go visit Aunt Linda and Uncle Chris before we went down though. We got to visit with them and we had a good chat. Aunt Linda gave mom and I tons of stuff to make cards with since we are so obsessed with that. It was just nice to see them it was good. 

After that we went back to lethbridge, it pretty much took the whole day to travel down to lethbridge with going to see uncle chris and aunt linda. So we basically just chilled that night. 

The next day we went over to Grandma's, she finally was going to show me from start to finish how to make her potato salad, since honestly…it really is the best potato salad ever. It was really nice to just cook beside her and see how she makes it. The secret is…its not the ingredients its the technique on how she puts her salad together and how long you let the potatoes cook for. But I know her secret now and I feel confident that I could make it myself.

 After we made the potato salad we went to go have a picnic at Indian Battle park since there was not a whole lot of people there, and there was a bit more shade than what there was at henderson lake. It was nice to get some fresh air and some sun while enjoying eating with my family. I think grandma enjoyed it as well. We then went to go look around the mall since it was still really hot outside. We then also decided to hang out with her the next day. I was really glad to have gotten that time with her though. 

Then Jesse and I came back to Red Deer. It was the first time that Jesse had let me drive from Lethbridge straight to Red Deer though and he taught me some techniques to not get so tired when you are driving on the highway which worked pretty good. 

Then when we got back to Red Deer. I had an appointment with another Dr. which I liked so much better than the other one and I am pretty confident that he will be my family Dr. now, as well as Jesse's Dr. and we just finished our errands for the week. 

And that folks…was my vacation!

hanging out at ChezCora's

Today we went to Cora's with one of my old coworkers Alyssa, whenever she is in town a few of us generally get together because we miss her! The other people that came along with Barbie (nurse), Lise (went to OR), Nancy (endo) and Audrey (boss). I was the first one there and they would not let me get a table so I waited. I was just pretty sure there was just 4 people coming so I told them 4…deep down I knew I should have gotten a table for 6 and that intuition has never let me down. Audrey came along with Barbie. They had to get us a different table since there was so many of us.


But we had fun, we ate, drank coffee and enjoyed each others time. It truly was fabulous!

Walks with my coworkers

Well a long time ago..not exactly sure haha I went on a walk with my Coworkers, Garth and Nancy. We decided to go since the snow was finally gone and the weather was turning out lovely we thought to go on a walk. I even managed to drag Jesse along with me to! It really was an event though, I brought Jesse, Nancy brought her husband and Garth brought his wife and kid. While we were walking someone commented on how all the family was out! 

We decided to go walking around my house by this trail that I always wanted to go on. It is right across from Coronation park in Red Deer and goes to Rotary park and kin canyon. It was perfect because there was a little parking lot at the bottom of the trail that we all met up at. But we initially decided to go onto only that trail then Nancy said we should go to Rotary park and then to kin canyon.

It was a really lovely walk though, I got to know Garth's wife better, and Nancy's Husband Ken. It was great getting to meet new people and later on we went to Garth's for drinks. 

It truly was a great afternoon! 

Going back home for awhile!

On the April long weekend (long time since then I know..) Jesse and I decided to go back to lethbridge. We were going because my grandma got rid of this beautiful bench and instead of my mom keeping it she decided to give it to Jesse and I. Anyways we went down in the truck to pick this gorgeous bench up (keep this in your mind throughout the whole story). 

When we went down we met my mother's new cat as well. Her name is Seven because she has 7 toes on one of her paws (she has more toes than anyone ever needs) she is a Mancoon cat, and she has six toes on every paw EXCEPT the paw that has 7 in the front. She is a very petite smaller breed, she was quite apprehensive in the beginning when we first came. Jesse really bonded with her good and he got her to come out. She LOOVES to be loved, she loves to be petted and hated charlie at first. She is good at hissing and she is very well behaved. She does not go on the couches, counters, anything. She also was declawed. It was nice seeing my mom have a new cat and not a kitten, I knew she wouldn't have the energy to train the new kitten etc. So that was Seven. 

When we were there also we got to go to one of my favourite restaurants ever called Mocha Cabanas. We all just shared sweet potato fries and pasta salad since their portions are so large. We really enjoyed our time there. 

Mom and I also went shopping quite a bit too. I got pants at value village some stuff at bath and body works and at old navy. Jesse and I also got to see furious 7 while there. 

We got to spend some time with my grandma as well she had made a roast beef dinner and we brought appetizers being stuffed mushrooms and a cheese plate.

Anyways the crappy thing that happened was the truck broke down. When we would drive it around we would hear this crackling on the back, and it sounded like a short or something. We took the truck for a car wash and then after that the truck started to shake really bad. Jesse and I knew that there was no way we could have gone back to Red Deer that following Monday. We had to take it to Tom and Jerry's to get it services. It turns out that all of our u-joints were out, we had a leak on the brakes and our brakes in the back actually cracked…needless to say we really were not going to go anywhere. Our repair shop even said that they would not let it out of the shop if we had not gotten it fixed it was THAT bad! So after many $$$ later we finally got it all better and went back to Red Deer.

But needless to say after having the truck break down, there were two great things that happened on this trip 1. I got to spend time with my amazing family and 2. We now have better fuel economy on the truck because it doesn't pull anymore!

But that was my april long weekend! 

Visiting Jesse's mother and Saphire

Not the last week but the following week Jesse and I drove down to see Jesse's mom and his niece Saphire. She had called us at 6:30 am that morning and said that they would be in town. They had gone to Calgary because they had a court hearing over the custody of Sapphire, as her mother had her taken away from her. 

They were staying at the Port O Call in Calgary, and we went late at night as I was working the later night shift to go visit them. We arrived at their hotel at about 9:30 pm. It was funny because when we got to their hotel room Jesse's mom said to Saphire that her Uncle was here and she had the most grave look on her face. Saphire really did not look any different from when we had saw her last, she had grown just a little bit taller, her speech was better and her hair was longer. She really enjoyed anything Frozen, Minnie Mouse and was crazy over her samsung tablet that her grandma had gotten her. She is also as sassy as ever too, she had these earphones that were Minnie Mouse and she had asked that Jesse open them for her, but she really emphasized that they were HER minnie mouse earphones not HIS. 

His mother was kind enough to bring us back some (actually quite a bit) of stuff from Costa Rica. She had gotten me a jewellery box with a butterfly that had the needle put in the middle to preserve them, she had gotten us both towels with what looked like costa rican colone's, she had brought back Jesse a shirt with a monkey on it and brought us both key chains. It was super nice of her and not necessary. 

Saphire and I played hairdresser and she nearly made my scalp bleed by brushing so dang hard. Haha but I really enjoyed the little visit with his mom and his niece. It was really nice and I think that will be the last time in a really long time that we get to see them together. 

Mom came to visit

Mom came down to lethbridge for a few days for both her to destress and for me! We did not have a lot planned but just really wanted to enjoy our time together. We had lunch at costco, went to the movie chappie, had pizza and shopped a little bit. We tried to do my taxes by ourselves together and just enjoyed each others company! 

I truly just am happy that my mom does not live that far from me and can come visit me once in awhile for short little weekend visits. I truly am blessed and cannot wait to see her next time!