Spring green and bobcats

I am loving this weather!! Spring just smells so good! And everything is that really pretty light green, with all the new leaves growing in. The sun is staying out longer and later which gives me so much energy. I went running three times this week before work and I had no problem waking up early. On Thursday while I was running I discovered a beautiful ravine and creek right by my place. It was pretty exciting. I ran down the big hill and saw a beautiful creek, there was a bridge and even river fog because of the early time in the day. The path led up and out of the ravine so I figured I go up and then turn around to head back to my house. I got to the top of the hill and was very winded. While I was catching my breath I saw something run into the long grass. I didn't think it was a dog bit couldn't see it very well. The animal came out of the grass and we stared at each other for a while and then it hit my winded self. It was a bobcat. No joke. A bobcat, right in the middle of the city. Crazy. I took a couple slow steps back, turned around, and ran. Luckily it was down hill so I could actually run. I was wearing neon green and the whole time I was running I was thinking about how I looked unappetizing in this color. Apparently I did cause I was safe and sound at home in no time. And I don't think I'll be running there by myself early in the morning just in case. Though I feel like bike rides would be kosher. I did go back on bike Saturday evening for some more exploration. I discovered a family of beavers, Canada geese, and a pond. All so close to my house. I had no idea. Pretty much the best thing ever. This summer is going to be awesome!

On Friday I got to go meet Pearl's brand new baby girl Cassandra. She is such a cute little baby! I loved holding her, she just slept the whole time. Beautiful! I'm excited to spend more time with her. Plus a visit with Pearl was also lovely! Afterwards I had a fun movie night with Christine and Nathalie. We made delicious skor cake and watched Easy A. It takes place in Ojai, a small city quite close to Ventura. So of course I was excited about that, having been there while serving in Ventura.

Saturday morning I got up early and caught the first session at the Temple. It was wonderful. Always so happy and peaceful. After the Temple I headed over to Val's house to chill with her and Macy. I saw Chris a bit too. It was nice being able to visit and eat food. My favorite things to do! Macy is such a cute kid, and she makes me laugh.

That evening I got to help out serving at a Stake dinner. I had fun getting to know some of the other ladies on the committee, and even though I was the youngest one by far I had a good time. And got to eat a lot of yummy food!

Sunday after my sacrament meeting I headed to Whitecourt for my grandpas birthday. We had a good time. After dinner I went out to their ark (yes my grandparents have a 2 level wooden ark in their yard, story next time) and I read whilst basking in the sunshine. After a while I ended up falling asleep on the ark. It was glorious. We played games and visited and ate. The recipe for a perfect day. Happy me. I stayed there that night since its the long weekend. Happy Victoria day to all! Much love!

Weddings, Waterton, and my Wonderful Mother

What a great week!! I had a short work week, which ended on Wednesday. I then drove down to Southern Alberta with my brother Dawson. We got to the Mountain View Inn around 10:30 and were greeted by lots of family members that were also there for the wedding. What followed was lots of fun family time. Its just so nice to be around them, especially when you don't see the family that often.

Thursday was the wedding in Cardston. It was beautiful! I am so happy for my cousin Tvae and her new husband Andrew. The weather was absolutely goregous and everything really seemed to be perfect. We had a delicious lunch at the Cobblestone Manor, a restaurant one of my best friend's (Ashley's) grandparents used to own. So I had many memories of going there after school and playing with her. Being in Cardston made me totally relive many parts of my childhood. Lots of fond memories. That evening was the calling reception. They had delicious chicken croissants, and I ate about a billion of them. Probably my new favorite food. Yum!

This is Tvae and I at the reception. She is such a gorgeous bride!!

Here are some cousin pictures outside the Temple, after the wedding. Siahna and I

 Nicole, me, and Shannon. :)

I snuck away a little bit early with my cousin Siahna to go see the Cardston Girls Choir concert. My alma mater choir. They sang beautifully and it really was nice to see Mrs. Dittmann again after many years. It was a lucky thing that the concert happened to be while I was in Cardston.

On Friday I spent the day with some of my family going into Waterton National Park. It was an amazing day! No wind at all, which if you know Southern Alberta is quite rare. The mountains were stunning, and I just loved being there. Here are some shots from the day.
Chief Mountain at sunset. The view from the Inn we were staying in.

 I had just fed this chipmunk and was trying to take a selfie picture of the two of us, but failed. At least my shadow made it in!

 Deer drinking from the glacier lake. We saw tons of deer and lots of bighorn sheep this trip. I didn't get a picture of the sheep though.

 The deer didn't stick around for the picture with me. Darn.

 Posing at the Prince of Wales Hotel. Probably the best view in the world. Ignore my face in this particular picture. Not sure what I was doing....

 This is better. Note the pink pants!!!!!

Good times in Waterton. I also got sunburned, yes my freckles have come out in full force and I am also pinker than my pants now. That evening I got to spend some time with one of my dear friends Ashley Ruttan who recently moved back to Cardston for her husband's job. They have an incredibly cute one year old named Kye, who was fun to watch and play with. It was nice being able to reminisce with Ashley, all the crazy things that we did growing up. She was actually my first friend after I had moved to Cardston when I was 6. We were friends all growing up, in the same ward, in choir and plays together, and then we were even roommates here in Edmonton. What a blast!!

I stayed with my grandparents in Stirling Friday night, then on Saturday I went into Lethbridge to spend some time with another dear friend Kaci and her two little rugrats. We had a fun time at the park and Kaci and I just talked the whole time. I went back to Stirling for dinner with my grandparents and my Aunt Coralee's family. We had a nice time, I ate a ton of tacos, and we played Phase 10. I was soooo close to winning, but Skylar took it in the end. I stayed at Kaci's house that night and we were up far too late playing games and talking. Good times.

Dawson and I went to sacrament meeting with my grandma and grandpa and then hit the road. It was a hot day, and his car didn't have air conditioning, but we somehow managed. We had a nice long phone chat with the Mom, and it was delightful. Nice to catch up. And plus I do have the most awesome mother in the world, so considering it was Mother's Day it was nice to think about all the wonderful ways I have been blessed by her. Thanks Mom!! I love you!


Mom and I when we were filming the Joseph movie. :)

What a good way to end the week. I most certainly have been blessed!

Summer is Here!!!

Summer is here!! I feel like Spring was skipped over and we jumped straight from Winter to Summer. Seriously, where else is it snowing one day and then 28 degrees celsius (82 F for the Americans). I welcomed it with open arms. Arms that did not have to be covered in a coat or even a sweater. Woohoo!!! It was a lovely week indeed. A happy week. On Saturday was a concert with Shumayela and Kikimasu, both of the children's choirs I volunteer with. It was Star Wars themed and the only way to describe the concert would be EPIC. The kids all sounded so great, they performed well, and the show was a hit. So many funny moments in the concert as well. I just loved it!!! It was so much fun to be a part of. I really am lucky to work with such a great group of kids. And also two incredible conductors, Kim Denis and Carmen So. Seriously I am learning so much from them!

Here is a link to the final number of the concert, Firework, man these kids know how to perform. Haha it makes me laugh every time!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOjGnMMLEec So epic!

Today we after church I had a Cinco de Mayo feast with Kaylee and Susan and their household. It was delicious! We sat outside and just soaked up the warm weather. I couldn't get enough (food and sun). It was followed by a broadcast by Elder William Walker, a church leader. It was so positive and made me want to be a better person. Loved it. Afterwards I went for a walk on the trolley train tracks, one of my favorite spots. Just enjoying the beautiful weather and the beautiful day. :)

A Perfect Weekend

This weekend was perfect. I could just leave it at that because perfect is probably the only way I could really sum it up. I went to the Rocky Mountain Music Festival in Banff with my choir, and what a trip it was. I left work an hour early on Friday and caught the choir bus. I was running late and definitely sweating, fearing I would miss the bus. Luckily (for me) the bus was late and so I got there right before it did. We were off, and made it just in time to catch rush hour traffic coming out of downtown. We got to the south side pick up spot and left Edmonton over an hour later than expected. The ride was lovely and I had lots of fun conversations getting to know people on the bus better. We drove into Banff just in time to make our 10:00 pm rehearsal. Kokopelli (the choir I used to be in, but am too old for now) is a big deal at this festival. Seriously, people recognize you on the street and ask for pictures and stuff. Anyways, Kokopelli always has multiple showcase concerts, and its pretty much tradition to rehearse late late into the night on the eve of the showcase concerts. Oran (the young adult choir I'm in now) was lucky to come to Banff this year and share a couple numbers with Koko in their showcases. So our rehearsal with Kokopelli began at 10, and it went until about 11:30 for Oran. We were lucky to leave once our numbers were done. And Koko of course stayed much longer I'm sure.

We headed back to the hotel. I roomed with three lovely ladies; Elise, Nathalie, and Sandra. We had a blast! And the room was awesome. Needless to say I slept quite well. We awoke to a full day of choir awesomeness ahead. But it started with the delicious continental breakfast. I stuffed my face. It was wonderful. Then up the mountain we went to watch choirs perform. Let me tell you, I was in heaven! Choirs from around the country brought their best and performed wonderful inspiring music. Emotion completely conveyed through their music, I learned so much and loved every minute of it. There is no doubt that I am a choir person through and through. One particular performance that I especially loved was Corazon from Nelson, BC. They were incredible. Every single song they sang completely enthralled me. Absolutely amazing. I wish everyone could have an opportunity to watch them. Words really cannot express the joy it was to watch their performance.

I could have sat and watched all day but sadly they stopped for lunch and then individual choir clinics. So we went out for a delicious lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Many funny moments ensued, thanks to a waiter who was perhaps a little bit too eager.

Back at the hotel there was time for a quick dip in the ultra nice hot tub at the hotel. Its like a cave, and even opens up outside. I didn't want to get my hair wet before our concert that night, mostly cause I'm lazy (or time efficient) and didn't want to redo it. So I wore a shower cap. I'm so glad they put those in hotel rooms. It totally worked too! Hair was saved.

We drove up to Rolston Hall for the three consecutive showcase concerts. I love performing! These were such fun concerts to do. There were a couple moments where I totally forgot I was in Oran and not Kokopelli. It was very gracious of Kokopelli to share their showcase concerts. I had many incredibly happy moments through all three shows. I think my favorite number was Heartlines, it's just so much fun! And of course the audiences were all just wonderful. Its nice knowing they love choir just as much as you do. Post concert our choirs had the African dance party outside as the audience left. And I definitely dance partied until I went to bed. You can't beat a post concert high!

Sunday morning we had our group pictures, which guest starred a unicorn. Very entertaining. Then we had our choir's individual festival performance. It was amazing!!! Honestly I am always amazed at how lucky I am to be part of such an amazing choir with so many incredibly talented musicians. We ended on a comical note and received two standing ovations during our set. It felt good.

We had a break before our clinic so I walked down to the town. It was a nice time to reflect on the weekend and my life in choir, which started when I was 7 years old. Being in the mountains was a perfect setting, it was so beautiful. It is such a testimony to me of how much God loves us, creating such a beautiful world for us to live in. I am pretty lucky living so close to these mountains. Can I just say Canada is amazing! Once down the mountain I spent some more time with friends. Good times. Our clinic was awesome. And I was sad when it ended because I knew this weekend was so close being done. I didn't want to go home. I wanted the weekend to keep going and maybe repeat at least once.

I went with Nathalie in her car back, she also drove Emily, Zach, and Javier. We had a good time. And even got some Peter's drive-in in Calgary.

And now I'm back in Edmonton. Missing the festival in Banff. But really happy it happened. A perfect weekend.

I bought Pink Pants

This has been a good week. Actually a really good week. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. And I guess for a lack of better ideas on how to post this week I just give you the highlights.

-On Tuesday on of the babies in my room started walking. She just stood up and started walking back and forth between my co-worker and I. It was amazing. Pretty much she was a marathon walker the whole afternoon. She was so happy and so was I. It was pretty darn cute.

-Shumayela rehearsal this week was awesome. They did so good. We had a blast choreographing one of their songs. Really it is going to be pretty epic! I can't wait for everyone to see it!

-Dinner with friends before choir. We made delicious spinach and artichoke grilled cheese. It was epic. And of course the company was delightful! Here is the recipe if you so desire to eat your weight in cheese. Which I recommend.
http://joythebaker.com/2013/04/spinach-and-artichoke-grilled-cheese-sandwich/

-Friday I got to hang out with my brother Dawson. Always a good time. I saw the movie Brave for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it.

-Saturday was a big day. In the morning I volunteered for the Run for Music. It was so much fun. The weather wasn't as nice as we would have hoped. So it was quite chilly. But I made for a very bright Marshall nonetheless. Jessica and I were excellent cheerleaders if I do say so myself. I had a blast!

Jessica and I on the running route. Note the fancy vests, awesome green shirts, and I even got a radio!

-Next I went to a baby shower for the oh so lovely Pearl, my friend and co-worker. I always enjoy getting together with the ladies from work. We have a good time, and definitely way too many good foods. I end up eating a ton. Its fabulous!

-Then off to babysitting. Fun times. We had a Pizza Party Picnic, which was also delicious and a blast.

-Today was church. I love it! It was a beautiful sunny day, now I just need to convince the temperature to agree and raise a couple degrees. Or like 10 or 20....

-Also this week I bought pink pants. I like them.

That is all. :)

Superhero

Its amazing how when I recover from being sick I feel like a super hero. Seriously it makes me appreciate the health I have. Life has been great. I had an awesome weekend. It involved going to Duchess bakery and sitting next to Alison Redford, Premier of Alberta. Also had some delicious treats. I also went and saw "The Host" which was pretty good. It had been a long time since I had read the book. And apparently I look like the main girl. Thoughts, feelings? I guess I can sort of see it.

Church was fabulous as always. I honestly don't know what I would do with out the Gospel. It really does get me through the week.

I worked on a video for my mom's birthday. It turned out pretty well. Mostly because she is awesome. I'll attach the link.

Today involved one of the babies at work just up and walking. She was practically running marathons by the end. It was amazing. Then I had blizzards with Bethany and Merrill after work. Last was Shumayela rehearsal, and they were amazing. Seriously can't wait for them to perform on May 4. They did some great work. I just love it!

Hopefully everyone else is having a wonderful week themselves!

Strep Throat: Ain't Nobody got time for that!

Warning: This entry probably isn't that interesting. Read at your own risk.

You know how you can have a pretty good week, but then something happens that completely erases your memory of the week leading up to that? Ok so that sort of happened to me. At least while I'm sitting here trying to think what to write about this week, the only thing that occupies my mind is Strep Throat. The vicious bacterial throat infection that feeds of the stalwart of heart and nobility of blood.......and perhaps those unfortunate enough to be exposed to it in a moment of weakness. Such was my run of luck. Thursday I really started to feel yucky but Friday it had hit full force. I didn't really sleep much Thursday night, at least not solid. When I woke up Friday morning I felt really terrible. But I knew we were a bit short staffed at work, so I thought I would give it a try. There were so many babies. Luckily they were pretty chill, or it would have been even worse. I wondered out loud how sick parents survived when they still had to watch their kids. My wise co-worker (mother of two) informed me the answer was TV. Now I feel like I have a head start when I have my own kids. Unfortunately TV was not an option at the day care. Though I work with great people who figured out a plan so I could leave early. And I was off, straight to the Medi-Centre. Note, this is the first sick day I have EVER taken from work. Big deal for me.

After a moderate wait at the clinic, with the Doctor certain of my prognosis (an extremely bad bacterial throat infection), I got drugs. Actually antibiotics....are those drugs? Bethany just confirmed for me that they are indeed. I went straight home and straight to bed. Good thing about not having kids right now is that I don't even have to worry about turning on the tv. I slept on and off until Saturday morning. It wasn't that great sleep though. Like, since I've been sick I keep having this reoccurring dream where I'm at a choir concert and I am not allowed to leave until I find all the pieces of this machine and put it together. Really random, and really annoying cause for some reason my sick dream self never releases its a dream until at least an hour. Lame. I did some fun random things in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, like: facebook, shower, watch Ellen DeGeneres clips on youtube. Very productive. I was actually really lucky this weekend all I had going on was General Conference. Which can be viewed at home. There are four sessions, each two hours long. They were so good! I got a little groggy for some of it, but I look forward to going back and watching/listening again.

Saturday night I was feeling pretty good comparatively and so I went with a friend to the U of A Mixed Chorus concert. Since I didnt want to sleep more knowing it would contribute to another poor night. I thought sitting and listening to classical music should be alright. And it was wonderful. But I admit I did get pretty tired by the end, and it wasn't even a long concert!

Today was much the same. Now I am just anxiously awaiting the day I get my appetite back AND can actually swallow. I will never take it for granted again, I promise.  May you all have happy and very HEALTHY weeks!