Babies Babies Everywhere!

Babies, babies, babies... everyone I know wants a baby, has a baby or is pregnant and is having a baby soon! I just want to get married first! haha

So at Christmas my Dad asked Sean: "When are you two going to start having babies?" and Sean, with his quick wit, replied: "In about 8 months." We laughed but I am not so sure Dad caught the joke even though he laughed along! haha. No worries, we are NOT having a baby in 8 months - at least, not to my (or Aunt Flo's) knowledge!

Then, on the 27th, 6 of us girls went bridesmaid dress shopping for my cousin Candace's wedding and all the talk was babies - we even had to make sure the dress we chose had "room to grow" incase we had some expecting bridesmaids come July! I hope we do... then I might appear to be slightly thinner standing next to them! (Good plan, hey?)

My friend Kari just gave birth to her second child yesterday! It is a girl and her gramma Leah said she is absolutely beautiful! CONGRATULATIONS Kari, Jamie and Ethan on the new addition to your family! I can't wait to hear more...

Allison ~ I am going to go check your blog right now - I hope there are more belly pictures to see... haha... I love pregnant little bellies!

Nicole ~ I bet you are having fun getting kicked in the ribs by Bump all day! I am excited to get to school and feel that little bugger kickin again!

Have a Great New Year Everyone!

PS ~ For those of you wondering: I did end up with the gift that I bought for the gift exchange: a fondue set! Mmmmm.....

Merry Christmas....Because That's What It Is.

Did you ever think as a child that, one day, saying "Merry Christmas" or "Season's Greetings" to a passerby or a customer on the phone would get your ass reamed out? Eeeks. The entire world is getting to be (or trying to be) too politically correct! This is how I see it:

It is Christmas - the celebration (by many) of Christ's birth. It is the reason for the hustle and bustle, the merriment and cheer, the goodwill and tidings of joy. To me, it's like spring - in the wintertime! A breath of fresh air, a stress release, a time to enjoy the company of family and friends, to celebrate!

I don't go around criticizing the holidays of other religious groups or nationalities. Every person on this earth has a right to believe whatever they so choose and celebrate the holidays they believe in. If, for example, I was walking down the street this holiday season and someone were to say to me: "Happy Hanukkah!", I wouldn't get offended! How can you? It is a greeting, a mere hope of brightening someone's day...of spreading the joy that person is feeling. If it's not something you celebrate then I think a simple "Thanks." would be sufficient, don't you agree?

We all need to be a little bit more open-minded and accepting of other people's beliefs. Not everyone in the world (or in your classroom, or your office, or on the same bus) has the same beliefs that you do. Accept it and Respect it.

Well, now that I got that out I would just like to say:

Merry Christmas!

Have a Happy Holiday and all the best in the New Year!

Can You Feel It? I can feel it...

Well, Christmas is almost upon us! Aren't you excited? I am! My brother called lastnight and is home for a few days...it has been a few years since he has made it home for Christmas but this year I can feel that he actually wants to be here. You know the phase, where you just don't care? We all go through it I think, where other things in life seem more important or we can't make it back for some reason or another ( one year he was in Australia, I'll forgive him for that - I wouldn't have came back either had I had a choice - haha!) He has even started calling me on my birthday! I couldn't believe my ears the first time (a couple years ago) and I asked him if something was wrong! And just a couple weeks ago he called "just to chat" so he said. I think he was slightly drunk but I'll let it slide because I enjoyed it. Alot. You see, I have missed him immensely. My brother and I used to be best friends when we were younger and somewhere between high school and university our friendship faded - it was always still there, deep down, as it always is with best friends and siblings but we didn't make the effort we should have. Through our last few conversations I can tell we have reconnected. He even had to tell me that he "approves" of me marrying Sean - that Sean is WAY better than any other guy I have ever dated. And it is true. Sean is the best, by far. Bart's girlfriend Heidi is a pretty cool chick herself (and us girls have to stick together) so I took the opportunity to bug him about popping the big question too! haha

One last day of work to go and then Christmas, here I come! I can't wait to visit with the family and my Big Bad (little) Brother Bart!

Tick Tock Tick Tock

NO, I don't have Gwen Stefani's song in my head (well, I do now!) - I am just thinking about how slowly time passes at work when I have other things to do - like go shopping for Christmas!

Thanks goodness our family does the chinese gift exchange thing, I am horrible at buying presents for other people. After we all grew up (well, I wouldn't necessarily put it that way since I don't really consider myself all growed up yet) we started doing a $50 Christmas draw where we only had to buy for one person. After a few years we realized it was easier if you just called the person up and said "hey, what do you want for Christmas?" and then when Christmas came everybody ended up getting exactly what they wanted. Sounds good to you doesn't it? However, the element of surprise was lost and it seemed like there was no point -why didn't we just buy ourselves what we wanted for $50 and not do the draw at all - it was the same end result, right?

So last year we tried to change it up a bit with the Chinese gift exchange -you know, where you buy one gift (a girly one if you're a girl and a boyish one if you're a boy) and you draw numbers and either unwrap or steal until we are all left with one gift. That way we didn't even have to worry about who was or wasn't going to make it -the rule is if you are coming bring a gift - that way there is always one for everybody. So now what do I do (and everyone else does I'm sure!) is...I buy a gift that I know I will like for myself and then if I end up with it -great! If not, no harm done, at least somebody else liked it. So here we are, on the most part, buying things for ourselves again! haha

In the end though, all that really matters is that we got to spend some quality time with friends and family, some of which we hardly ever see. It's a gift we go home with, a memory that money couldn't buy. It reminds me of this quote from Dr Suess:

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more? "

To Shut Off Car: Turn Key Counterclockwise

Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Well you would think so but apparently Alero's don't work that way! So here's the story: this morning when I went to put my car into Drive the button on the gear shift stuck and I needed to play around with it for a few seconds before I could get it out of park. So I drive to work, put the car in park, turn the key back and it won't go back all the way - it is stuck at the ACC and Rambling Dave is doing his torturous daily ramble and I can't get rid of him! (Yes, the volume still worked - but you get the point).

I decide I have three options: 1. Leave it how it is and the battery will die, taking Dave with it. 2. Start it back up and let it run all day while I am at work. 3. Leave work and take my car to SMP for some warranty work.

Hello?! #3 it was! Of 'course I'm going to leave work! haha. So off to SMP where I drive the car in, check it in for it's DR appointment and then, because they told me it would take all day, sit around for 1.5 hours waiting for the shuttle to take me back to work. Oh how I love the sweet taste of wasting time...unless it's my own. Then they call my work at 11am to tell me the car is ready! Urghh. Now I have to figure out how to get it back.

Making It Home

The title has more than one meaning I suppose...firstly, that I made it back from Australia. It was a long ride back to Calgary (over 30 hours in total) and then we drove back to Saskatoon. I didn't have much time to even figure out if I had jetleg because when I got back Sean and I had to get things packed for our big move into our first real home!

We got possession of the house on December 1st and haven't been to bed early since. (I better mention that we got engaged on the same day! It's a sweet story but if you haven't heard it yet you'll have to ask or visit our wed-page by clicking the link to the right!) Between cleaning and packing the apartment and painting the new place we are exhausted. We officially moved out of the apartment yesterday, did the walk through and handed in the keys. Hooray! Home Sweet Home, here we come!