4 more days.... fa, la, la, la.....

4 MORE DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE FOR CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!! Well, it's actually 5 if I am still counting today, but hey, today has already started and I have already done my advent calendar for today, so that means today doesn't count!!!! It's been stinkin' cold this weekend (like lows of -32) and so it's been a "stay inside and keep warm" weekend, which was actually very good. I had my 2nd exam on Saturday, so I did have to venture out a bit, but I survived and only have 3 exams left to go!!!! The rest of my weekend was WONDERFUL as I got a chance to see my bro and his family, and I did some Christmas baking yesterday and basically just had a really good weekend. The coming up week is crazy busy as I have an exam on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, then Thursday night I have to do laundry, Christmas wrapping, more Christmas baking, and then Friday is a date night and packing. And then we fly out of GP at 10 bells on Saturday morning......... whoot, whoot!!!!!

The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year

The season has arrived!!!!!!! I'm a HUGE Christmas fan, so I look forward to this time of year from right after my birthday..... it's great!!!! I have actually bought all of my presents but one, as it's hard to buy for someone when they are shopping with you, so I feel good about that!!!! To be honest, I have no idea what I am going to get Dan, but I'm working on it.

School has slowed down now that it is wrapping up. I am finished my assignments and just have 2 quizes and 5 exams left!!!! Whoo, hoo!!!! My final exam is on December 18th (which stinks) so I don't get it all done and over with at the beginning, but I'll survive!!! I am pleased with how the semester went, but I am DEFINATELY looking forward to the break.

And in a total of 18 days we are leaving for CALIFORNIA!!!!!! I am sooooo stoked that it's not even funny!!!!! The chance to really get away from everything will be so good!!!! Of course, I'm not really looking forward to not being able to be with Dan over Christmas, but we will survive. Besides, a little time away from each other is good, I hope anyway. I guess we'll see how hard it actually is..... but the plans were made long before he came into my life so we'll deal with it!!!.

As far as everything else, well, things are truckin' along. I almost can't believe that it's December already, because it seems like this year just started..... but again, I guess that's what happens when you get older.

So, until I post again, have a great Christmas season!!! And remember to celebrate the real reason for the season!!!!

Halloween Costume

The likes of which......

So, since it's been about a month since I last posted, I feel I should probably do this again.....

It's been quite a busy month. I'm in the middle of midterms right now, so I'm doing quite a bit of studying and not so much socializing at all, but that's ok. I'm looking at being mostly done my assignments by the middle of November, so that should be good if I can manage that!!!! Youth group is keeping me busy and this weekend is DTP so that should be tiring for all of us. I'm only participating in Friday night's events, however I am staying over at the church with the youth that night, so again, that should be interesting!!!

We went to Three Hills for Thanksgiving to see my bro and his fam as well as some of my mom's brother's & sisters, so that was good, yet the drive was really long. We were in a rental car because my parents decided that they would take on a moose with their car a week before we left!!!! Everyone was ok, except the moose, and they have now bought a different car, so that was an interesting experience for them. Somewhat surprising as my dad is always the first one to see any wildlife, but circumstances were somewhat out of his control so it wasn't his fault.

October has been the month of birthdays for me!!!! My neice Jordan turned 1 on October 10, my brother Darren turned 21 on the 14th, Dan turned 29 on the 19th, a friend Martha turned 27 on the 11th, another friend Robyn turned 20 on the 16th, I had one friend have a baby on the 15th and my best friend Andrea is having her baby sometime in the next day or two, so that's been a full month as well!!!! To celbrate Martha, Robyn & Darren's birthdays, a group of us went costume bowling on the 18th, and that was a blast!!!! We had a birthday supper as a family for Darren & Jordan on the 16th, and Dan's parents were up for his birthday, so we went out for supper and I also made Dan supper just this last weekend to celebrate his birthday.

And I think that kind of summerizes my wonderful month of October!!!! I've started thinking about Christmas and with that comes excitement because we leave for Disneyland on December 20th!!!!!!! It will be different spending Christmas with no snow, but the 4 of us are looking forward to the vacation and are excited to be doing something different!!!! I'm thinking that Disneyland on Christmas Day will be VERY cool to experience.

And for now, I guess that is it!!!!! I'll post pictures of my halloween costume next week!!!!!

Fall

Here are the fall photo's I promised!!!!!!

The Beauty of Fall

So, I am absolutely LOVING this fall. I was a bit worried considering the lack of rain we had this summer that once fall hit we would have bare trees in about 1 day, however we have had quite a bit more moisture this fall and the leaves are hanging on fairly well!!! It wonderful to sit on my window seat every morning and look out at the changing of the leaves on the trees and the beauty of the fall colors. I have always loved fall and am really, really, really enjoying this particular fall.

September has been somewhat of a busy month as school started, my piano teaching started, and youth started. All in a bang!!!! I have gotten into the routine however and am looking forward to the rest of the year. My semester doesn't look to be that overwhelming with assignments, so I should be able to survive the semester without going crazy!!! I am also teaching 8 piano students this year, and so that adds a bit, but I love the teaching aspect of it and my kids are all so good that I am really looking forward to the year. I have 4 returning students from last year and 4 new students, so that is good as well. All of my new students have taken at least a year of piano before, so that is good also. And youth started off with a bang and it is good to be involved again!!! I'm really looking forward to hanging out with the kids again and developing those discipleship relationships in that manner.

Just last weekend I took a quick trip to Lloyd with Dan to meet his family, so that was interesting, but good none the less. I really enjoyed my time there and, despite what Dan said, his family wasn't bad or hard to get along with and, for the most part, I was able to be myself and relax. It was also good to see Dan in relation to his family and to meet his niece (who is only 3 weeks old). The drive was long (14 hours) but it was worth the time.

And now I need to be going, but I will post some fall pictures later!!!!

New Happenings....

Well, this will be short and sweet, but for those of you who haven't heard the news as of yet, the newest exciting happening in my life is that I now have a special someone, significant other, boyfriend, whatever you wish to call it. It was somewhat of a unexpected turn of events that brought this about, but I have known Dan Viel for quite a few years as we went to PRBI together and have gone to the same church for the past few years as well. And just in the last couple of weeks God saw fit to bring us to the point where we were both ready to start a relationship and bing, bang, boom here we are!!!!! Needless to say, I'm quite excited, as is my family and his family.

The Lazy Days of Summer....

Due to the request of some of my readers, I will indulge you as to what has been happening in my life as of late!! Since I last wrote, I have gone on a couple of day trips, taken a week of holidays, and enjoyed some changes at work, so life has actually been quite busy!!!!

To start, on the last Saturday of July my room mate Meghan and I took a day trip to the lovely Jasper to get out of home and have a change of pace. We left at about 8:30ish, stopped in GP for breakfast, and arrived in Jasper at about 1:00ish. We meandered our way around the town of Jasper for a while, ate some Catonese food for lunch, took the tram up the mountian to see the view, drove to Athabasca falls and wandered around, and then headed back home. All in all, we were in Jasper for about 8 hours and arrived home at a late 1:00 am. Needless to say, we both slept in the next morning!! All in all it was a great day however. It was WONDERFUL to get away for the day, take a change of pace, spend the day away from home, and it was enough to get me through my last week before vacation!!! I would post pictures, however, I forgot my memory card that day, and can't find my usb chord to get the pictures from my camera.

My vacation was the first week of August and I enjoyed a wonderful week in southern BC with my best friend from forever. I flew in on Sunday, we went for a hike on Monday, spent the afternoon at the waterpark on Tuesday, relaxed by the river on Wednesday, and I flew home Thursday afternoon. We also enjoyed some great chats, laughter, baking experiences (cookies don't always work well in extreme heat) and overall just had a great time together. It was also good because this was the last time we will be able to spend time together while she doesn't have a baby, as her and her husband are expecting their first baby in October.

After flying home, I was able to see many friends at Scott & Leah's wedding on Saturday!!! The wedding was in Peace River, so that was a two hour drive Saturday morning, the wedding was supposed to start at noon, however it actually started about 12:30. Leah was absolutely beautiful, as were her bridesmaids, and Scott was literally glowing. He even cried!!!! They make a beautiful couple, and it was just a pleasure to share with them and many other friends on their special day!!!

When I returned to work yesterday, I was able to set up my new office - complete with a window!!!! We have rearranged our offices due to personnel changes, and the finance staff moved upstairs, and I received an office with a window!!!! I have been stuck in a windowless office for just about 2 years now, so I am quite excited to have this change!!! And on top of that, I have only 2 1/2 weeks of full-time work left until I return to school. That is very exciting to me as I am quite anxious to get back and continue on with my education!!!! I will still be working part-time while I am at school, but that should work out very well again as my schedule has been set up nicely to work part-time. I will be attending a seminar in Edmonton next week for work, where I will be learning more about Employment Standards and all that is required of businesses. I am looking forward to that as well, as my mom is coming with me to spend the weekend together, and we get to attend the Edmonton Eskimo's football game on the Thursday night before the seminar!!!!

In other news, my application to the town has been approved and I will be able to build a fence around my front yard this summer!!! My lawn has come in nicely, so now I just need my fence and I will be able to do some great landscaping next year!!!! The new pastor for our church has started, and I am thouroughly enjoying having the regularity of a pastor. I have really enjoyed doing more worship leading during the summer, and am looking forward to assisting with the youth again in the fall. I have been learning a lot this summer, and I am really spending a lot of time thinking and praying as I work through some things that God is teaching me. It is a wonderful time and while it is hard many days, I know God has a purpose for me and He is always faithful to reveal new truths to me at the appropriate times!!!!

So that said, this has been quite the post!!! I will include pictures at a later date so that you don't have to read forever!!!!!

A Little of this, a little of that....

So I don't have a whole lot of new stuff to blab on about, but I figured I would let you know what's up anyway!!!! It's been a whole lot of work, cleaning, yard work, but I've enjoyed the first half of July anyway!!!! It's been pretty crazy at work so that's been good. I've had a pretty solid 8 hours of work to do every day, so at least I'm not bored everyday!!!! My house is now officially spring cleaned (a little late, I know, but still), and my yard is growing, my flowers and trees are growing, and in a few weeks I should be able to build a fence!!! Whoot, whoot! I am definately looking forward to my vacation in 16 days, when I go to Chilliwack to visit my bestest friend from when I was born!!! Horray for vacations!!!

A Wedding, the Zoo, and Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to Everyone!!!!!! It's been wonderful as I have had a couple of days off over the past weekend to go attend my cousin's wedding. The wedding was just outside of Didsbury, so I took Friday afternoon to today off and drove down with my bro. It was a great trip, and because we didn't have to be back for work on Monday, we were able to go to the zoo with the relatives, which was a blast!!!!!! When my family gets together we always eat WAY to much and talk, and watch movies, and it's always very refreshing. I love it!!!!! The drive back on Monday was great, and I went to the Canada Day fireworks with a few friends and had a blast there as well. The fireworks were actually very nicely done this year, and I was impressed what was done. I did have to work this afternoon, however it was very nice to sleep in for one more day and just kind of laze around and do nothing all morning. The weather here has been CRAZY hot and dry, so I have been watering my lawn like crazy, and now I have to mow my lawn/weed patch because it's getting pretty high!!! I am so looking forward to having my lawn!!!!! Anyway, take a look at the pics and enjoy the short week!!!!

My niece's in the wagon at the zoo

Dad and Drew looking at the Zebra's
I have the cutest niece's and nephew!!!!

Lion's and Tiger's and Bear's, oh my!!!!
and Giraffe's
and hippo's
and my bro!!
more of the fam....

the Bran family. What a good looking group....Some of Our table's cutlery art... never mix plastic cutlery, candles and the Braun/Derksen grandchildren together....

Kevin and Melissa
The baby elephant!!!! So cute!!!!

Life as I Know it.....

So here it is, almost the end of June, and life as I know it has not changed much at all. I am two months into my summer, and have two months of my summer left. I go to work day in and day out.... and try to find work from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. A couple weekends ago was the annual town Chataqua Days (which is really actually only one day, but for some reason we here call it days.... one of life's weird mystery's I guess.....) and I had a great day, which included rollorblading all day long, sitting and watching the parade with my 4 nieces and 1 nephew, serving about a bazillion smokies to about a bazillion people, watching my brother bleed all over the street from the gash on his head..... etc, etc.... This last weekend I really had nothing to do, so I went shopping, and lazed around the house. And as of right now I have 3 1/2 days until I have 4 days off from work to go to Calgary for my cousin's wedding. Whoot, whoot!!!!!!! Time off of work!!!!! And Canada Day fireworks!!!!!!! Whoot, whoot!!!!!!!!!!

Life

So a couple of updates for you who read this, I have set a few things in motion. I booked my flight to Chilliwack for August and am going to see my best friend Andrea and her husband John for a week, and I am EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My other exciting piece of information is that my
parents, younger brother and I are going to Disneyland for Christmas!!!!!!!!!! We are leaving on December 20th and coming back on December 27th!!!! Both my brother and me are super excited and looking forward to the time off and warm weather during Christmas!!!! So that's pretty much it for now!!!!

Adventures at YC

So, last weekend I did the "crazy" thing of going down to YC with the youth group. I hadn't been to YC in six years, so I was unsure as to how to how I would handle it. Lucky for me the kids were great and my body actually did really well!!!! It was an AMAZING weekend and it was such a privaledge to be able to see the youth worshipping and learning and being vulnerable.

Some of my highlights: having Tim Hughes lead worship, escaping for a few hours away to China Town with Martha, seeing the youth rock out and go crazy for Skillet, TFK and Hawk Nelson, the chat on the bus ride home with Brittney, listening to Reggie Dabbs challenge and inspire, seeing the Lord break through barriers and walls, praying and worshipping with Xav, watching the Newsboys (seeing as I'm old school, that was close to the best concert for me!!!), eating pizza, watching TV until 1:30 with my girls, watching teenage girls doing their hair in the mornings, and oh, what else, watching Jordan blow up a 4 foot balloon and everybody around going crazy about it, taking pictures, oh, I could go on and on. Basically I just enjoyed the weekend!!!!

The week has been somewhat busy since then, and I'm feeling the fact that I didn't get the same amount of sleep over the weekend!!!! And my newest piece of news... I am officially going to California for Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Weirdness....

And while you read the post below, I just want to state a disclaimer that I have no idea why it posted the pictures and captions the way it did.....I did nothing differently than I ever have before, so I'm a bit befuzzled....

May Long Weekend

Even though it's not over yet, I decided that I should post about my may long weekend activities now. The weekend started out GREAT!!!! I got off work 4 hours early and was able to spend the afternoon at home relaxing and rototilling my yard for saturday. Then in the evening I went with a couple friends so the opening of Prince Caspian. What a good movie!!! Thouroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one that comes out now!!!! Saturday was another day of semi-relaxation, although not as much. I took a trip to town to buy some necessities for the afternoon, and then spent the afternoon landscaping and planting my lawn. In about 2 weeks I should have green grass!!!!! Horray!!!!!! I'm a bit stoked for that!!!!! Today was church. My worship team was on and again, the youth did an amazing job and I was so proud of them. Then it was home to Mom & Dad's for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. This evening we went bowling with my sister and her family, where I got schooled by my 2 year old niece. Fun!!!! So it shall remain to be seen what happens tomorrow, but I am very excited that I do not have to work!!! Plus it's a 3 day week for me as next weekend I am heading down to Edmonton to chaparone the youth on their YC trip!!! I'm also excited for that!!!!! Anyway, here are some pics of my adorable nieces and our bowling excitment!!!!

My feet... I was in the car while my parents were in Superstore....



I don't really know why I'm not smiling, I knew the picture was being taken....

Life and Fun Times...

So it's been a while since I updated the blog thingy, so I thought that I would do a post. Since my last post I have officially finished my first year of my Bachelor of Education and am now in the relaxing throes of summer. Kind of. I am working full time at work, teaching piano for 3 hours a week, and helping with youth group on Wednesday's and Friday's. So it's still a bit busy!!! I am also finally getting caught up on my housework and stuff, which is also nice.

This last weekend I did the 6 hour drive down to Red Deer and went to a friends wedding. I got to see my good friend Josy, stay at her house, and see a ton of other college friends I haven't seen in a LONG while either. It was absolutely wonderful!!!!! The wedding was also wonderful and I really enjoyed myself. Yvonne was BEAUTIFUL and I had the chance to dance the night away until about 10 pm!!! Crazy woman that I am!!!!!





Anyway, so that's my life for now!!!!!

I'm Done!!!!!

This is my celebration post to shout and cheer that I am done my classes for this year!!!!!!!!!!! I have only 1 paper and 4 exams left until I am done my first year of my Bachelor of Education and I am sooooooo relieved to be done. No more homework thoughts for 4 months. I can finally have a life and maybe have a bit of fun on weeknights!!!!! I think this euphoria is also brought on by the appearance of spring as the snow is 95% gone and my creek is practically running full-tilt now. It is so wonderful and I am very much enjoying the emergence of spring.

2 weeks left!!!!

Horray, horray!!!!! In 2 weeks I will officially be done my first year of my Bachelor of Education. It has been a great year and I have enjoyed the opportunity that I have to go for this degree, but I must admit that this year has been BORING. I have felt zero challenge and really I'm not sure if I have learned a whole lot. But that said, I am still excited that God has given me the OK to go forward with this and pursue my dream.

And on a side note not related to school at all, I had the opportunity over Easter weekend to go to an Oilers game, and I had a BLAST. My brother and me drove down to Edmonton on Saturday morning, went to the game in the afternoon, and drove back home that night. It made for a long day, but the game was probably the best game I've even been too and it was good to have the brother/sister time driving there and back.

And now I have to go teach piano, but I do want to say Happy Spring!!!!!

Spring in the North

So for the last couple of weeks the weather has been AMAZING!!!!! I have been able to drive with my window open, not wear a coat, and it's just been wonderful. The snow was melting, daytime highs were well above zero and it really felt like spring. Unfortunately, seeing as I live in the north, reality has a way of catching up with things. Today it's snowing, has a slight wind chill and the high is -10. The joys of living in the north. The pictures are of my backyard during the brief spring like weather. I love my creek!!!!

God is so very very good

So, without to much detail, I just wanted to give public (as public as this is for people who actually read it) acknowledgement to my God for His encouragment today. I was feeling down this morning and unsure of a lot of things, but I really had a wonderful afternoon. God released me from a couple of ties that I had and I really felt that God granted me a ton of freedom this afternoon. So that's the short of it. God, in His perfect timing knows what we need and when we need it. Thanks be to Him!!!!!

The Joys of Being Canadian

So, seeing as I am a huge hockey fan, I was glued to TSN today to watch the NHL trade deadline. My Oilers didn't make any moves, which I am pleased about actually, and my number 2 team - the Pittsburg Penguins - landed the biggest fish in the pond - Hossa. So now, although the Oilers aren't going to make the playoffs, the Pens sure have a shot at taking it all the way now. Whoo, hoo!!!! I am still looking forward to going to watch the Oilers and Avalanche come March 22nd. Go Oilers!!! What an exciting day in hockey. It's so great to be a Canadian hockey fan.

Here I Am World!!

So I have decided to create for myself a blog. I know I'm a long time behind the times, but I figured that facebook will not last forever, and I like looking at blogs, so why not let the world look at my life? So here is my blog and hopefully it will be updated with regularity. We shall see!!!