Diaper Backpack...

Since my big sister Melissa is having a baby in May, I'm now officially always on the lookout for anything 'baby'... especially free things and giveaways!

I came across a blog that is currently hosting a giveaway and by posting a blog about it, I get one extra entry. I don't normally enter contests like this but this time it's worth the effort because it's something I'd absolutely love to win for my sister!

This contest is featuring a super cool backpack diaper bag that I'm pretty sure Melissa will really like... just look at all the features...

2 large compartments
Removable padded changing mat
Internal baby accessory pocketing
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder straps
Quick access, insulated bottle pockets
Parent's Organizer
Reinforced base panel for durability
Premium YKK Zippers
100% Recycled 600D Polyester Main Body Fabric
100% Recycled Polyester Webbing
100% Recycled Plastic Buckles
Rubberized, non-toxic, waterproof coating
Lifetime Takeback Policy
Manufactured in a Fair Labor Association and Social Accountability International approved factory

Have I mentioned that I really want to win this for Melissa?!... I think it'd be the perfect gift for a first-time mom :)

The company sponsoring the giveaway (Green Ostrich) also has a ton of really great products worth taking a look at. You can find their website here...

Wish me luck! :)

Winter Wonderland!

Happy Winter!! Just thought I'd share some beautiful pictures that my very talented husband took of our window the other day... and a few others too!

Aren't they gorgeous?! God is so creative and amazing!In the last week, we were blessed to recieve quite a blanket of snow! We've had a beautiful, mild November, and then winter came in with a bang! We heard on the news last night that we haven't had this much snow in November since 1996! (and we've only had snow for a week!)

Anyway, both Bobby and I LOVE snow so we've really enjoyed the last week! It's so beautiful! (Of course not so fun to drive in, but we've been able to stay at home all week and just enjoy watching it fall.) We both bought new winter boots last weekend and the other day we went for a quick little walk (it was a bit colder than we thought!) and took a few pictures... (yes, we do take a lot of self portraits!)

Our home base (for now anyway!)

It was snowing so much you couldn't see very far!

This is one of our favorites...

Two things will always make me smile... snow and being with my wonderful husband! (and what fun it is to combine those two things!)

It just kept snowing and snowing!

and of course I couldn't resist playing in it! :)

In my world, it's officially time to celebrate winter... and Christmas! I've been listening to Christmas music for the last couple of days now and I love it! Nothing better than curling up with a blanket and a hot drink and listening to Christmas music and watching the snow fall!

We haven't decorated for Christmas yet though since we're starting from scratch and can't really go too crazy since we have to either store everything or take it with us to Japan (most likely storing it since we already have Christmas stuff in Japan... including a HUGE tree we bought from one of our co-workers... can't wait to set that one up!) Anyway, we're going to go tree shopping at the thrift stores around here sometime soon and see what we can find so soon our home will look like Christmas too!

Hope you're enjoying your winter!

A new addition...

We have a new nephew!!

No, Melissa didn't give birth prematurely, but Bobby's sister in law (does that make her my sister in law too? I've never been able to figure that one out!) had a healthy 9lb 11oz baby boy this morning :)

No pictures or name that we've heard yet... all we know is that all is well! :)

Congrats to the Badens! We can't wait to meet you, little one!

PS- thanks for the sympathy comments yesterday... guess I was a little worked up!

Group Projects Drive Me Crazy!!!

For the record... I hate group projects! For some reason, this semester I have been involved in SEVERAL group projects and it's confirmed my dislike for them! Sure, sometimes you get a great group where everyone shares the work and things go smoothly... and you get a good grade. But then there's the groups where people don't show up to meetings, show up late, and in general just don't care about the project at all... and then there's the groups that have terrible communication about when/where to meet!

Let's just say that I'm involved in two group projects right now and they are both driving me crazy! Sure, maybe I'm not so easy to work with, but I do try my best to be an 'active member' and show up when I'm supposed to! I'm not really sure if this blog has a point or not, but I guess I just need to get this off my chest! In spite of the apparent goals of 'this is what life is like/it teaches you how to deal with people'... I DON'T LIKE GROUP PROJECTS... and I'm going crazy!!

So... now that I've stated that... I'm going to contently get back to my individual work now! How do you feel about group projects?!

It's the little things...

Who doesn't love an excuse to celebrate?! I know I do :)

Yesterday marked 4 months of marriage for Bobby and I... so of course we jumped on the opportunity to celebrate! I used to think celebrating 'little anniversaries' was silly, but now I think marriage is different, and it's important to celebrate the small milestones! :)

After class, we drove into the city and went for lunch at Montana's, taking advantage of a gift card given to us for our wedding. We had a great time and enjoyed some yummy food!

After that, we had to stop by Service Canada so that Bobby could get a SIN... which turned out to be a success! :)

Then we went to the Forks (to visit "our spot" where we got engaged), got some Hot Chocolate, hung out with the geese and ducks for a bit and then went for a walk.

The birds were all quite tame... and hoping that we had some food for them, but we disappointed them. Bobby was sticking his hand out to see how close they would come to us... and this guy almost nipped at his fingers! (I missed it by a second... this was just after)

Posing in front of "our spot" :)

Then we did some shopping and went to Step Up 3 at the cheap theatre.

After that, we decided to have a bit of a backwards supper... we went out to Moxie's for dinner, but ordered only dessert! :)

Next, we went to Chapters and wandered around and looked at books together :)

And to cap off the evening, we went grocery shopping! :)

All in all, it was a fantastic date day and we really enjoyed having a stress free day to just be together and enjoy one another!

I love being married...and I love my husband! :)

My big sister...

...is going to be a MOM in May!!!

Congratulations, Lissa! (and Brad too!) I can't wait to meet my niece or nephew... and I know he or she will have an awesome set of parents!! :)

I love you!!

Our first home and a wedding update :)

Well, it's long overdue now, but I finally posted some pictures of our new home in Otterburne :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=285408&id=517722436&l=748bfa9249

We had an amazing time in Edmonton/Vegreville for Nadine's wedding... everything went so well and it was so great to be a part of Brandon and Nadine's special day!I have to say, best part of the whole weekend... falling in love with my husband all over again :)

I haven't posted my own album on Facebook yet because I've got so many pictures to post, but haven't had time to organize them into an album, but I'll leave you with some of my favorites....

So great spending time with Ang again... and getting to enjoy the excitement of her recent engagement too!

The four of us had a blast hanging out together! Adam and Bobby kept each other company since Ang and I were so busy!

Congratulations, Nadine :) I love you OTNS!

ten years of friendship...

God has blessed me with many wonderful friends, often providing them just when I need them most!

Nadine Crocker is one of those friends...

Nadine and I met in grade 9 at Caronport. I was nervous about the transition from "Caronport Elementry School" to "Caronport High School", especially since I was making the big change without my best friend from elementry school because she had just moved to Alberta. But... God knew all along that Nadine Crocker would enter my world and become one of my best friends ever! I don't even remember how we actually met... might have had a few classes together and bumped into each other now and then, but I do remember the moment our friendship was sealed.

I had decided to ask one of the commuting students (from Moose Jaw) to come eat their lunch at my house... and for some reason, I picked Nadine... and she said "sure!" And from then on, we shared many a lunch together and became the best of friends!

We had two wonderful years in high school together with many adventures... Sadie Hawkins dates, Christmas banquets, countless sleep overs, and even a 'joint birthday party' (my birthday is April 26 and hers is May 1 so we had a combined party one year!) just to name a few!

But then it happened... her family moved to BC and Nadine went with them :(

In spite of the two provinces between us, we still maintained a wonderful friendship and even got to visit each other a couple of times. Even after high school and having continents between us, we've still kept in touch and enjoy our friendship just as much (if not more!) now, six years later, as we did in our high school days!

Another fun note about our friendship is that it's actually also a trio friendship... with Angela, my friend that I've known since we moved to Caronport in '95! The three of us a quite the friends... and I love it! I was priviledged to have both of them stand as my bridesmaids 3 months ago and we had a blast being reunited!

And now that brings us to this weekend... Nadine's getting married too! Ang and I both get to be bridesmaids so we're excited to be together again!

Basically, I just wanted to write a little tribute to my wonderful friend Nadine and let the world know how excited I am that she's getting married!! Congratulations, Nadine and Brandon!!!!

Bobby's coming with me to Edmonton, so I'm sure he'll take pictures... and I'll post them after we get back... for now, enjoy a little taste of how much Nadine and I love each other! ;)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56695&id=517722436&l=6236cbbe72

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53589&id=517722436&l=d40fbb4b01

correction....

i have bruises! :) just thought you'd like to know!
(yes, I'm a nerd for broadcasting that!)

my morning at school today...

I came home from school today and here's what my conversation with Bobby went like:

H: Guess what I did at school today?!

B: Did you make a new friend??!!

H: Nope... even better. I fell down the stairs!! :)

(followed up with a sympathetic hug from my wonderful husband and a check to make sure I was ok!)

Yup... I fell down the stairs today on my way home from class... on a staircase loaded with people! excellent! I walked away saying what my Grammie would say... "nothing was hurt but my pride!" (but actually my wrist hurts a little!)

Worst part... not even any bruises to show for it! :P

The guy walking down in front of me was quite a gentleman... he turned around really fast and stuck out his arms trying to stop me from falling (but it was too late- I was already flat on my bum by then!) and asked if I was ok... then later made a comment about slippery shoes to make me feel better!

oh how I love being clumsy! :)

September??!! oh my!

oh wow... it's September already! As usual, at the end of another summer, I find myself asking 'where did the summer go?!'

But, I really can't complain... it's been a pretty amazing summer! Spent a month in the States with my love- met some pretty great people and learned a whole lot while I was there, got married!! (and got to spend time with my Grammie, Uncle Dave from Michigan, Nadine, Ang, and Bobby's family), went on a wonderful honeymoon, moved into and got settled in an apartment with my husband, spent a night at the cabin Mom and Dad rented for a weekend and played many rounds of games with my whole family there, and then visited Lissa and Brad in their new home in Regina. Not only did we have a great time with them, but we got to see a whole lot of good friends in the Moose Jaw/Caronport area and had a blast catching up with everyone! None of them had ever met Bobby before so that was neat!

We've done a lot of fun things here in Winnipeg too, like taking a River Boat tour, multiple rounds of free mini golf at the Golf Dome, picnics at the Forks (revisiting our engagement spot!), a trip to the zoo, and many game nights with Mom and Dad. An amazing summer indeed!

Soon, life will change pretty drastically for me... I start school (Providence Bible College) on Wednesday! I know it sounds dramatic when I say drastically, but it really will be a big change for me. I haven't really had a 'work' routine since I came home from Japan... planning a wedding, missionary training, getting married and settled into an apartment have kept me busy, but I've sort of been on my own schedule with waking up and going to bed and taking naps as I please! I've been so spoiled!

I am looking forward to the change... making new friends, learning a whole lot and growing in my walk with God, and hopefully gaining a little more discipline in my life, but I must confess I'm a little nervous about all that too... I'm not very outgoing and I strongly dislike being in new social settings not knowing anyone, and I've also been out of school for a while now... haven't done anything 'academic' since my TESL course in spring 2008. But, God is good and He will take care of me and carry me through this new experience...

He's certainly blessed me with an incredible husband. So patient. So loving. So helpful. Wonderful. I'm so thankful for him and his desire to make me so happy is humbling.

We are both really enjoying married life and we're so grateful for all the time off we've had this summer to adjust to our new life together. God has certainly blessed us. Even though it can be difficult, I really appreciate how marriage really helps to shape you into more of a Christlike image. I've found it tough that when the 'ugly stuff' in me comes out, I actually have to deal with it if I want to be a good wife and please the Lord. I guess all my life whenever I've seen that stuff in myself, I just chose to ignore it because it didn't really affect anyone but myself (or so I thought). But... now it's totally different. In a good way though. Like I said, it's causing me to grow and be more like Christ. Growth is never easy... but boy, it feels good when you look back and see how far you've come. I'm just thankful that I have such a patient husband to help me through this process. I can't say it enough how humbled I am by his love!

I guess I should get going... I will leave you with just a couple teaser pictures from our professional pictures that Eric Dreger took for us :) We LOVE them... but you'll have to come visit us in Otterburne if you want to see all of them!

no, we don't know these people... we were walking through the Exchange District :)

Finished off the photo shoot by visiting our favorite date spot :) Makes my heart happy that we did this!

And there's SOOO many other good ones... but I have to give you some motivation to come for a visit!! ;)