Plenty of F&F time!

My Dad...what a cool guy! He is so sweet and kind. I wanna be like him in so many ways...

2 Of Kelly's little cuties...Brianna and JimmyI had plenty of time to visit family and friends while on my trip. I did so much visiting that by the time I got finished in Northern and central Alberta, I was wasted and didn't want to do a THING except chill out...and I mean that literally! We had some fiercely cold weather in Jan but I can tell you I enjoyed every moment of the cold! People don't believe me or think I'm crazy but it's true I tell you! On the 15th I got to go up to Calgary in order to travel up to Ft Macmurray with Kelly and Shannon and Kelly's 3 oldest. Blaze of course was attached to me and made the trip whether he liked it or not! I got to see Lynne for a whopping 3 hours! We both certainly got shafted with that! I told her she should just cancel her trip to Nor Carolina to see Brian and family cuz she gets to see them all the time! She wasn't going for that! ha ha ha... From there it was to Shannon's to spend the night before our big trip and Shannon was of course looking as beautiful as ever. I awoke in the middle of the night to the absolute WORST allergy attack ever! My nnose was literally swollen because of the allergy! It was so weird. The next day we got picked up by Kel who was looking fabulous as well of course and we traveled the 8 hours to her place eating chocolate croissants among other Canadian goodies such as Root Beer and dill pickle chips.Oh yeah, this is where its at! I should be a walking advertisment for Root Beer!

Can you believe this cold? If you're from Canada the answer would be YES!Mac, Blaze and Kate on the way up to Ft MacShannon on the roadKel...watch where yer goin man!Smile a bit more Chel! (self portrait)Handsome Taylor...future heartbreaker! ha ha ha

While at Kelly's we had a chocolate milk taste test, ate Desiree's yummy cooking, visited with the Missionaries, went sledding, went in the hot tub every siingle night except Sat and Sunday. Of course when you're in -30° weather then if your hair gets wet at all, it freezes and I felt like I was experiencing some of these things for the first time because I was so amazed and giddy at all of it! We also did a bit of shopping and of course non-stop talking!

Then it was off to my sissy's in Edmonton! Yay!!! I had missed her so much! We had fun going to the West Ed mall one day and went on ONE ride! It was fun but wasn't enough! She almost had me convinced to dye my hair brown! Can you believe that or even imagine it?! ME with brown hair!???? Yikes! I'm glad I didn't do it. I just don't think that would be good. My sis even took me and Blaze to University with her one morning and I got to sit in on my first Univeristy class ever! The classroom was huge! It was a theatre actually...It was fun though. We also went to breakfast at this cute little cafe that Lyd used to work at. I had yummy Eggs Benny...it was soooo good! We wanted to do other fun stuff too, but Lyd is a university student and had to go to classes and so that didn't leave much time for her one and only sis! We went to AJ and UB's new log home for dinner and "played" with our cousins though and that was nice.Blaze and I being flamingos...In public?...yup...nobody said I was NORMAL!This was the tiniest box of mandarin oranges I'd ever seen! So cute! Blaze n Lyd being flamingos

Then it was down to Red Deer where I stayed at my lil bro Lee's for a day. I got to go gaga over my sweet little neice Madison! She is SUCH a good baby! And I got to meet my one and only sissy-in-law Jennifer! She's a great girl and we had a nice time getting to know each other a bit. Blaze and I went skating with Lee that night and then came home and watched a movie and had some hot choccy. Then the next day Lee took me and B to Cochrane to see my cuz Pattie.

Does she have the biggest eyes ever or what?! Cute as a button I say!

Me n' my lil Maddi
It was good to see Pattie again. She hasn't changed a bit which was nice! We went skating at the outdoor rink over by the red and black park. I played a bit of hockey with some crappy little plastic sticks and not much talent when it comes to hockey, but I had a GREAT time! My dear sweet friend Cydney came to see me at Patties which was SOOOO great! I love her! And plus she always compliments me which is so sweet! We had some fun the next day travelling down to Cardston and attended a session of the temple which was nice and then my mom picked us up and took B and I back to the farm...whew!!! Was I ever ready to relax!!! Just get me back to the farm!

Aren't we so happy to be first cuzins?

Me n'Cyd

Me n'Pats at the temple

Me n' my Grammy...I love her soooo much! She's the best grama EVER! Can you say "Nice double chin rachie?"

Me n'My Gramps...I love him. He is soooo cute!

My Moms crazy dog Keeper. He is a true nut! I love him though cuzz he's so fun and entertaining.

I just realized that I totally did not take enough pics of me n'my sissy or my Mom! I am a terrible daughter/sister...I think I was just having so much fun I forgot! I loved just hangin out at the farm and visiting my grandparents and watching the US Political race on telly. (ha ha) And of course cleaning my granny's windows and blinds in her tv room! I chilled out with my mom alot which was fun. We just enjoyed being in each others presence. Right mom? hee hee...I ate alot of candy from her candy drawers...ahem...I mean one of her MANY candy drawers! I missed seeing out on ALOT of people still but will just have to try to work it all out better for next time...Like maybe a party or something eh Lynne?

It's about time!

My first Welcome Home sign made by my one and only mother!

I know it's been FOREVER since I got on here. I honestly don't know what my problem is. There are so many things that happen and I think "Oh this would be good to put on my blog" and then I don't do anything else about it. I've actually only just transferred my pics from the camera onto my computer. How's that for slacker? I amaze myself sometimes, and not in a good way either.

Well, I have many many things to post. When I got back from Canada, I worked for several days and then finally got unpacked. I got used to the Aussie weather again. Not too hard seeing as how it hasn't been too hot. We had one day that was killer. 41° with about 99% humidity. Yuck. I was at work that day and even the air con in the office wasn't working too good. The cool air just couldn't keep up with the hot. Kind of like when I was in Canada, there was a couple of really bad days where the north wind blew so cold (-50° that time!) and the heat in my mom's house couldn't keep up with the cold. Just exactly the opposite.

(below) On the way up to Ft. Mac...typical canadian winter driving conditions

(above) On temple street in Cardston

I had a FABULOUS time in Canada though! It started out with a pretty nice plane trip stopping in Taipei where I slep t on the airport couches for quite a while and window shopped Taiwan sirport style. I bought a few little things like some fans for my neices and daughters. Then came an unexpected night in Vancouver (I missed my flight to Calgary) but which I was glad of in the end cuz that just meant I got to spend some time with me good pal Andrei! Hi Andrei! We went to Timmy Ho's/Wendy's where I got a frosty and my first Timmy donuts in a long long time.

Downtown Calgary...I'd never loved seeing it as much as I loved it that day!

When I finally got to Calgary it was so good, my mom was actually early and so Blaze and her were sitting there waiting for me when I got off the plane. Yay! This is what I came for. Thanks mom! I had my first bag of ketchup chips in about 18 months or more and they were every bit as good as I remembered. Thanks again Mom! Well, that's where the eating started and I'm sad to say it still hasn't stopped! yikes! I love food so much, I think that's one of the biggest things I miss about home is not having all the yummy food you can buy in Canada.

I spent the first few days of my trip shopping shopping shopping! One night Blaze said to me "Mom, what are we going to do tomorrow?" I said, "I don't know, probably just chill out" to which he replied "Mom, could we please not go shopping?" ha ha ha! Poor boy! He got to hang out with his mom for 3 whole weeks and he didn't even get sick of me! He is so cute though, we had a great time together. He is such a funny kid. Always making jokes and laughing at funny stuff like Corner Gas!! I can't believe that a kid finds that funny!! I watched a LOT of that show. My first time ever seeing it. It's so good. I love it! I think I love it just cauzse its Canadian.

I saw lots of friends and family but will post that later. Here are some pics to enjoy...

(below right) This is my neighbor in Welling's place...You know you're a redneck when...

(below) Only in Canada...what a corny canadian invention! I laughed so hard...Rrrroll up the rrrrim to win! ha ha. Then there's Old Chief and just some random Canada flag on the side of the highway...love it!

My Southern Alberta wheat fields...wheatless of course at this time of year...