Happy Birthday Emma!

Today, it's my niece, Emma Bourne's birthday and she is now 4 years old! The last I heard, they were going to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's to celebrate! (Emma's idea) Have a good one!

So Far...

I started working at Sterling Homes a few days ago and so far, it's been great! It's the complete opposite of my last job where I was just sitting, bored at my desk all day long. This job really keeps me on my toes. And that helps the day go by so much faster, and I feel like I've actually accomplished something. The people there are great too. There are two girls that I work very closely with and they are both so fun to be with! I think I really lucked out with that. Everyone in the company is pretty great though. There is so much to learn and I'm starting to 'get it' more and more everyday. So that's a good sign! I can't wait for the day when I know it all by heart. The hardest thing to adjust is our bed time. We went to bed pretty late on Monday night and then on Tuesday after work, I came home, ate dinner, went for a nap, then 5 hours later I woke up just in time to go to bed again. Needless to say, Tuesday and Wednesday kind of meshed together. We've been trying to go to be at a decent hour, but it's hard because we are both night owls. I'm hoping it won't take too much longer to get onto a better schedule.

Still no job for Dan yet. I really didn't think it would be this hard for him to find work, but I guess he really graduated at the wrong time. NO ONE is hiring right now. Especially not new graduates. Dan has had a couple interviews, but he's been beat out by 'experience' every time. It's so frustrating! I just don't want it to come to him working at a laboring job, where his hours are crazy and he comes home exhausted. But the more we get into summer, the more it's looking like that's what's going to happen for now. It's not set in stone yet, so there is still hope.

It is also Spencer Glenn's birthday today! So a "Happy Birthday" goes out to him!

All Around Congratulations

Dan's graduation ceremony was on Friday May 29 in Lethbridge. It's finally official! He has his degree and ready and waiting to work. The ceremony was probably the longest I have ever experienced! There was about 450 graduates and they called out all of their names with a slight pause in between each of them. And to top it all off, I was sitting alone. Dan's parents came, but after we were already there and I wasn't able to save any seats for them. So it ended up with them on the opposite side of the gym as me.

I am very happy to announce that I have found a job! I start working on Monday June 15th at Sterling Homes. I feel like things are finally coming together. With me getting this job brings us one step closer to buying a house. We didn't even have to live off of our down payment savings while I was unemployed! Now we just need to find Dan something. If anyone knows of any marketing positions, please let us know!

Also, Jackie and David finally tied the knot! They got married in the Cardston Temple on Friday June 5. It was the first wedding I had ever seen done in the Temple other than my own, but it's a totally different experience! Their wedding was so beautiful and very well done. The reception was held in Calgary at the Royal Oak Chapel and it was gorgeous and simple. Jackie and David looked so happy together. Congratulations to them both!

The day after the wedding, Dan's family all got together for dinner and to bless Will and Heather's newest addition to their family, Breanna Jay Glenn, who was born May 10, 2009. It was a beautiful blessing, and a new experience for a lot of us as we had never heard of a baby blessing being done at a home before because it is normally done on Sunday at the Chapel during Sacrament Meeting. I would also like to Congratulate Dan's oldest sister Pam, as she is expecting her 5th child!

We also found out that Tammy and Mike found a house to live in! It is located in Airdrie, just what they wanted. We had the chance to go take a quick look at it and it's awesome! We are very excited and happy for them!

I realized that I haven't really been keeping up with the birthdays in my family. So a happy belated birthday to Tammy (May 28) and Jodie (June 6).

This last one isn't really a congrats, but I got a call from my mom and she told me that Kristie's 2nd youngest, Clare, was in the Children's Hospital. They don't know exactly what is wrong just yet, but all we know is that Clare's back is in a lot of pain! They figured it might be from her falling down the stairs at a friend's place, but still don't know exactly what is causing the pain. The poor girl, she's been on painkillers and hooked up to an IV all weekend. At least she got to sleep over with her mom :) Clare is safely home now, and I believe she's doing well.

Dan's Pants

Dan left his pants on the bed.


Notice anything different?


This is what I found sleeping inside his pant leg:


He didn't want to come out!


Even when Dan shook his treats, he had to justify getting out to get some.


My camera cut-out while I was filming. Here is the rest of it:

(Don't mind the mess in our room)

Nothing But Hope

I have now been unemployed for 2 weeks. I have to admit, it is nice having a bit of a break. I'm not a morning person and I have really been enjoying sleeping in this whole time. However, I know that as each day goes by, we get further away from our goal of owning a house this year. We do enjoy our time spent together though. Dan has been getting a few call-backs for interviews which brings our spirits up, but still no word on a for-sure position yet. And as for me, I've got nothing. Not even Recruiting Agencies (which whom I hate dealing with) aren't calling me. I even started looking for jobs before I got put on part-time hours. I'm blaming it all on the economy. I'm thinking that Recruiting Agencies are now finding it hard to keep up with the applicants so they are only contacting the ones with a lot of experience and school behind them, and that's not me. Sure I have great experience, but the schooling for accounting, I don't have. And I don't really plan on changing that. Accounting has never been my favorite thing to do, and I know I wouldn't do well in schooling for it either. Personally, I think you learn more in the work-force than you ever will in an Accounting course. Dan has suggested that I go to school this summer or fall for something that I would really enjoy. I just never can make up my mind though. Maybe a Photography beginners course? Who knows? We'll first have to see if we could fit it into our budget, which looking at it right now, would seem almost impossible if we are still going to buy a house this year. However, right now I'm just glad Dan is getting some interviews, especially with Home builders. We're hoping that might help our process move along smoother. Everything is so up in the air, I'm just praying that it all falls in the right way.

From High to Low

This past weekend Dan and I went to Edmonton. It was a blast! I took Friday off from work but I made up the time by working an hour extra each day last week. We took off to Edmonton right after I got off work at 1:00pm on Thursday and drove straight to West Edmonton Mall. First we went to the Water Park! Such a good time! I highly suggest going to the Water Park on a Thursday. It wasn't busy at all, and we hardly waited in line for our favorite water slides! Even the wave pool wasn't packed! Plus, since we went for the last 3 hours of the day, it only cost us $21 each instead of over $30. And we still did the same amount of things that we wanted to. They have a new water play-place there with a giant bucket and all. I'm pretty sure they thought it would be a great hit for kids, but for adults it's awesome! They have similar areas at the Southland Leisure Centre and the Village Square wave pool here in Calgary, it's just a lot bigger in Edmonton. We then went to BP's for dinner and then to our hotel to have a much needed night's sleep. The next day we went swimming in our hotel and then went off to West Ed once again, but this time it was to shop.

Dan found some Kanye sunglasses! He didn't buy them though ;) We also saw the Sealion show! We were just walking by just before it started and got a pretty good view. They were first showing this cute little Penguin. You can just barley see him in this picture if you look close.

And here's a shot of the two seals that they had. One of them was HUGE! They did some pretty nice tricks too.

After the shopping, Dan had a DJ show to do to help out one of his friends from Edmonton. That's pretty much why we took the trip in the first place. We headed home after the show (Friday night).

I went back to work on Monday morning and finished my month end duties only to then find out that I was being laid-off. Wow, from such a fun weekend to this?! They just didn't have any work for me to do, and they couldn't see anymore coming in the future. I know that they really didn't want it to come to this, but they had no other option. I don't even blame them. They took my iPhone and everything. I think I miss my phone the most. My whole life was on there and it was taken away from me in a matter of minutes! I had Dan come back to pick me up. So now here we are, both of us are looking for a job. If anyone reading this knows of any positions, PLEASE let me know. For both Dan and I. It has always seemed that lately, right when we think we're doing ok, and getting that much closer to buying a house, something like this happens. I know that we've just got to fight through it and know that everything will work out in the end.

Big News!

First of all, I'm NOT pregnant. This big news is something we've been waiting for throughout our whole marriage! That's right, Dan is officially finished school!! No more evening and Saturday classes, no more studying, no more homework to get in the way of us spending time together. We have never had all that much time to spend together as a married couple and now we get to experience all the time we want! We can plan activities and not have to worry about him being distracted from his schooling. We can spend time together and go to bed at a decent hour. We will have actual weekends! I don't think people really understand how much our schedules were opposite and how little time we had together. But now, it's not an issue! Dan has been in school for the past 5 years! It took him a bit longer because he transfered back to Calgary when he moved to Lethbridge so that we could eventually get married, and all of those 'transferring' details made it so he always had a couple classes to complete. We got married in August '07, and Dan started up class September '07 again. And since then, it's been non-stop. He even did summer courses. His last final exam ever was last night, Thursday, April 23 '09. And now I have my Marketing husband all to myself. At least until he gets a job! I don't even know how to express all of my excitement because there's just too much! The only thing that's left is his Grad Ceremony in Lethbridge on May 29th, but I don't mind that because that I can go to with him! I'm so proud of his great accomplishment, and I can't wait to start this next phase with him.

Harlem Globetrotters

Last Saturday when Dan got home from studying at SAIT, he surprised me with some tickets to go see the Harlem Globetrotters! I was so excited! Here are some pictures and videos of our time there:

The beginning of the show where they are showing off their moves.


A shot during the game.

One of the plays...


The half-time game.


After the half-time game.


Another play...


Eaten.


Old Lady?


YMCA


An amazing shot!


Dan and I at the end of the show.

I know that was a lot of videos, but we really had a good time! A great date idea for sure! Thank you Dan for always surprising me with fun times that make great memories :)

Check-Up for Chester

Yesterday was Chester's first Vet visit since we've had him. We got him when he was 6 months old in September 2007 from the Humane Society. He just turned 2 last month, so we thought we should bring him in. We bought him a kitty-carrier earlier and he loved it! Right after I was finished setting it up he went in and laid down. Little did he know, that he was never going to like going in there again. So his appointment comes up, and I put a blanket that Chester sleeps on inside of the carrier and he gets in right away and I lock him in. He started getting worried as I carried him out the door. Poor thing. He never got really nervous though, he just made small meows because he was probably pretty confused on what was going on. The Vet wasn't that far away, and that was nice. We go inside and get put into a room right away. Chester is very cautious as he steps out or his carrier. First thing's first, they weigh him. 13 lbs!! I wasn't expecting that! Then we had to wait for the Doctor to come, which it was actually pretty nice for them to not come right away because it gave Chester some time to explore and feel more comfortable in the new environment.

The Doctor finally came is and Chester warmed up to her right away! Especially after his massage! He was soooo relaxed! And then she checked his kidneys and bladder and we hear this little meow. Uh-oh. The Doctor thought that there might be something wrong with them. Every time she checked them, he would make the same sound and it looked like it was a bit painful for him. She suggested we get it checked out further, and she warned us that after his booster shot, it might make it even worse. I told her that we would keep a close eye on it, and if it does get worse, we'll make another appointment for him.

I think Chester really enjoyed himself there. He even got a little treat as she was giving him his shot. I had a more difficult time getting him back in his carrier to go back home. I had to push him in by his little bum until he finally went in. I don't think he was too happy with me after that because on the way home he turned his back to me. He turned back a little bit towards me again before I could get my phone out to get pictures of him shunning me.

But I know that he was relieved to find himself back at home. And since then, we have been noticing little symptoms of his kidneys/bladder may be getting worse, just like what the Doctor said might happen. Poor little guy. I really hope he goes back to normal on his own, but I'll keep everyone posted as to what happens next.

Hoppy Easter

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! This year even the weather was super nice! I had work off on Good Friday and Dan and I mostly just relaxed all day. I started exercising with Windsor Pilates and I even got Dan to do a work out with me! I feel better about myself already. I'm hoping to get my body back to like it was back in high school. Well, at least close to how I looked.

Saturday, Dan had class and then had to work right after that, then that evening we had an Easter dinner at my sister Jodie's house. What a delicious dinner it was! We had both turkey AND ham! Too bad it was planned so last minute because only half of my family was able to make it. Tammy and Mike had already planned for Mike's family's Easter dinner for that night. And Arlen and Amanda were a no-show too. However, all-in-all it was a good time, and I really enjoyed seeing my family together. 

Sunday we had church at 9:00am. We taught our primary class and I thought I did a pretty good job on the lesson! The kids that I have aren't very... advanced. So rather than following the manual with the activities that were planned for more advanced kids, Dan and I made up our own way of getting the Easter Story across without them even realizing they were listening, because apparently, listening isn't one of their strong points. We made up a game that was called the Easter Story Hunt! The kids were pretty excited when they heard about it. The lesson involved a lot of pictures, so what I did was made little stations in the classroom where the pictures were hanging on the wall, and all of the pictures had a different colored sticker next to it. This game also got them on their feet, because I guess sitting in church isn't one of their favorite things to do either. So we started at one picture and I told them the first part of the long Easter Story. Then in order to go to the next one, they had to find the the next color. The kids felt really involved in the lesson and I really think it was what they needed. However, the kids were still high on sugar, and that made it really hard to have a smile on my face throughout all the Primary lessons. After church, we had a long, well-deserved nap before we headed over to Dan's parents' place for another Easter dinner! Will (Dan's brother) and his wife Heather and their kids Grace and Eva from Lethbridge were even there to join us! Dan's brother Spence and his wife Laurie and their kids Ethan, Will and baby Cullen were there, and also Dan's Grandma. It was such a great time and the kids especially loved having Uncle Dan there to beat on and play with. 

Now, it's Monday morning, and I am back to work. Things are going to be tough the next couple weeks. Dan is finishing up classes and then he has final exams. We are so close to the end, but this stretch is going to be the worst! It will be as if I am living by myself the entire time. Even weekends! What am I going to do with myself? More importantly, what am I going to do with myself after all of this is over?? I've been waiting for this to all be over for so long, and I haven't really thought about exactly what life will be like. It's going to be almost the complete opposite of how we have been living throughout our entire marriage! I guess I'll have a lot of time to think about it in the next couple weeks. It's still so surreal that it feels like it will never happen. Just saying that Dan will be finished school in a matter of days puts a big smile on my face!