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!!!!