The New Tomorrow

My promise of a post 'tomorrow' did not actually come. But we can all pretend that my last post was yesterday, then this one would be right on time.

I have had two very lovely weeks. Last weekend my cousin Courtney's wedding. It was nice to have some family come out for that. My Mom flew in on Thursday night, and my Grandparents, Stage & Amelia, Dawson, and my Aunt Marilyn & her boys came in on Friday. Quite a nice mini family reunion. I got to use the hot tub at their hotel Friday night, and it reminded me of how much I love being warm, and smelling pool. A magical mixture I'd say.

Saturday was a wonderful day. Everything seemed to go smoothly for the wedding. And everyone involved looked so happy. The ceremony was in the morning and the family dinner wasn't until 4:30. This left ample time for us to go to Costco and eat a hot dog. Actually, Amelia introduced me to the delciousness of the polish sausage. I had no idea it was even an option. Indeed it is, and at no extra charge. So if you are feeling crazy this week, then perhaps you may venture to try the polish sausage at Costco. I also got to do some shopping with my Grandma. She was on the hunt for the Downton Abbey DVDs. Turns out we are both big fans. More about Downton later though. :)  The family dinner was delicious, and the program went well. Really the gym was decorated to the nines. My Aunt Francine did an amazing job in completely transforming the gym. I told her that she could adopt me as her fourth daughter so that she could plan my wedding. But I think in the middle of it was probably the wrong time to bring it up. All the work and decorating she did was a bit to recent....haha. The reception was great as well. i certainly ate my weight in delicious sweets. Mostly cupcakes really. In fact, I wish I had one right now.

The rest of the weekend was a lot more slower paced. I got to enjoy my Mom's company until she flew back on Monday. It was nice having the long weekend, I wish we had more of those throughout the year. Like maybe every other week. After my Mom was heading for home I went to the Silver Skate Festival at Hawrelak Park with some people from the ward. I love Edmonton! So many great festivals. This one included skating, bannock roasting, maple candy rolling in the snow, cross country skiing, ice sculptures, demonstrations, and horse pulled sleigh rides. The best part was that all these things were free! Can I hear a woot woot!!

This week passed by quickly and last minute I decided to go down to Stirling for my Grandpa Lybbert's 80th birthday party. It was a quick trip, but so worth it. I stayed with my dear friend Kaci and her family. It was most entertaining to visit with her four year old son Coen. Quite the logic. Saturday I got to see another friend, Brittani, and her family as well. I cannot believe how big her kids are getting. It really doesn't seem like that long ago that we were roommates right after graduating high school. 17 and enjoying all the first experiences that come with living on your own.

The birthday party was a great tribute to my grandma. He is so amazing. Here are some things I learned about him:
-As a boy he tied a goat in the girls outhouse at school. I guess the girls weren't too pleased.
-The strangest pet he ever had was a bear. They found it abandoned as a cub, and raised it for quite a while before selling it for $10
-He was born in Cardston.
-On his way down to Africa on his mission they had a big 'crossing the Equator' ceremony in which he was King Neptune.

He has done so many amazing things, and I am so grateful to have him as my grandpa. Makes me very proud of my heritage. And he always make me feel so special. I do love him!

I mentioned before that I am currently completely taken by the show Downton Abbey. Its so good. And I could talk about it for hours with anyone who will listen. I am finished the first and second series. And I am waiting for the third series from the library. It won't be long now I'm sure. I can't wait! I have an ideal vacation idea. It involves one going to a place in England, like Downton Abbey. Almost travelling back in time. And you can live there for a week, and everything would be as it was in the early 1900's. You would dress up in fancy clothes and go to dinner parties. During the day you could occupy your time by going for horseback rides, strolling around the garden, or reading a book from the library. And if that didn't interest you, you could venture into the servant quarters. A grand idea if I do say so myself. And I must insist that if you have not seen Downton Abbey yet, then you should watch it. I've yet to meet a person who has seen it and not liked it.

This week will bring many many choir rehearsals. Followed by a big concert this Saturday, March 2. Anyone around in Edmonton should come, performance times at 2pm and 7pm. Talk to me about tickets. It will be quite the show!

Tomorrow

Time has somehow gotten away from me. Here I find myself one day over due for an entry. But since it is late I am going to post this incredibly short one with a promise for an entry tomorrow. Perhaps it will even be Valentine's day themed for the occasion. So to end this, I'd like to tell you all to watch Downton Abbey. I just started watching it and now I'm hooked. Apparently its the most popular show in the world. At least according to Wikipedia. :)

Foul smelling Fridge story

As promised I am here again tonight to write about my fridge experience. A Christmas full of sugar plum dreams and delightful treats had just ended. My roommate Candace and I were just returning from our two week holiday, back to the dear apartment #1303. The elevator opens onto our floor and instantly my nose fills with a smell I imagine is much like rotten earth worms. I assumed it was a neighbors particular aroma, but the closer we got to our apartment the stronger the smell was. We opened our door, and note that we were carrying all our stuff from Christmas; I was so close to barfing everywhere I had to run out of our apartment. Imagine the worst possible smell you could ever sniff and times it by at least 200, and that was our home. We very quickly discovered that over the course of our vacation our fridge had broken down. Essentially, all of our food had been trapped in a heat box for two weeks. Smelly meat juice leaking all over the place. Can you say barftastic? Luckily Candace has a stronger stomach than I, she got the cleaning started. This is last thing we wanted to do late at night, but really it was unlivable. Once the fridge had been cleaned out we could still smell that terrible stench for many days. It took the building manager over a week to get us a replacement fridge, leaving us without for quite a while. Luckily we live in Canada, and it happened to be mid winter. So the great outdoors became our fridge. We had no balcony, so we became pretty creative with how to keep our food cool. See the attached pictures. We did eventually get a new fridge. I'm pretty sure we named it Edgar. Though in an attempt to get the smell out of our apartment, we lit a ton of candles and had them going almost 24/7. It sort of worked. So there you have it, a random story from my past.

Looking at all my pictures made me realize how many fun times I have had. Seriously, I really enjoyed stalking myself. Shout out to my dear friend Amy for commenting on two of my blogs now. She has become my most frequent comment maker. Well done.

The reason I decided to share that story is because this past weekend I went down to Calgary and stayed with Candace. She has since been married and has two very cute kids now. But it was so lovely to catch up and visit with her. Reliving many of our funny moments, and trust me there were many.

Saturday morning I had the chance to go to the Calgary LDS Temple with my cousin Courtney. I had never been to the Calgary Temple and it really was so nice to be able to go. It was so beautiful and of course incredibly peaceful. Where the Temple is located, there is a gorgeous view of the mountains. And the weather was cooperating because it was +8, I didn't even need a jacket. We had a nice lunch after full of many varieties of Chinese food. Delicious! Sufficiently stuffed my face. Then I had one last visit with Candace before heading to pick up my brother Dawson. Dawson and I of course stopped at Peter's before heading back to Edmonton. In case you are wondering I got a blueberry, mango, strawberry milkshake. You can't beat a Peters milkshake.

On Sunday I went to church and thoroughly enjoyed every talk and lesson. Leaving feeling very uplifted. Sundays really are my favorite day of the week. I rounded out the day with a lovely baby shower with the girls from work and then some time with my favorite house of friends I don't live with. All in all a great week.

Now to see if I can actually attach pictures to this...hopefully I can figure this out. but if I were you I wouldn't hold my breath.

Ok its your lucky day. Or unlucky if you have a weak stomach....just try not to imagine the smell!

1. Cleaning out the fridge. Note the meat juice that leaked all the way from the freezer.

 2. Me performing an 'exorcism' of the old condemned fridge.

 3. Temporary fridge. Yay for living in Canada where we live in a giant freezer for most of the year.

 4. Candace extracting the demons

 5. What we came home to post Christmas holidays......Happy New Year!

Corndog dreamin'

As I sit here smelling the downstairs tenants food waft through my vents, not only do I want a corn dog, but also I realized I just spent a significant amount of time stalking myself on Facebook. You see I was planning on telling you all the story of how my fridge broke down years ago over Christmas break. And I was even going to shoe you pictures. So I looked through all the photos I was tagged in. Yes, all 2712 of them. I was reminded of many great times. I was even going fast, but alas here I am 11:35pm blogging. Just to keep my resolution. And it turns out I'm not actually tagged in any of the previously mentioned photos of our broken fridge. So essentially I just spent the last 45 minutes being a little bit vain. And since I'm tired I'm not even going to tell you the awesome fridge story right now. Tune in tomorrow for that full bundle of joy. Until then here is a picture of the Calgary Temple which I visited on Saturday. It was so beautiful and wonderful! Weekend teaser!