Well, I'm home for the holidays and it's not as exciting as last year. I kind of miss the thrill of going home for christmas to see your family because you haven't seen them in four months. But this is good too. My entire family (including significant others) is going to be home for Christmas! Actually... they are all here as of really early this morning. I like it.
Here's Christopher and I playing together when I was babysitting a couple weeks ago. I'm pretty sure we played Junior Monopoly for a solid four hours and he cheated the entire time so I lost royally! I was apparently never allowed to buy anything and I never got any chances.
Still babysitting.
This is my little brother, Justin, and I at the youth Christmas Snowball party thing. I volunteer with Gateway Christian Community something something churches youth group. I love it!
My little cousin Jeremy (avec moi). He was at the thinger and it was so fun! This is my unit decorating Tasha's door because she got married! Yay!
We moved a couch in, got a Christmas tree, and constructed a fireplace to make it look like home.
This is Shanna, Candace and my roommate Bethany.
This is Charlene, Brittani and I. We were the last three left in our Unit.

FINALLY!!!!

I just thought I would let you all know that my brother, Anthonie, finally got engaged to Jenn! It's about freakin time!!!

I'm currently babysitting at my sister's house. All the youngens are asleep so I got bored. Here are some cute pictures I found of the fam.
Z-money was Scooby-doo for Halloween

Christopher was a Lion The two of them all bundled up and playing in the snow.

Adventures in Abbotsford

The last few days have been quite eventful. The Lower Mainland was graced with a rather substantial dump of snow and it has been the gong show one would expect from the rather unequipped area. The snow began falling on Saturday and when I woke up on Sunday everything was absolutely covered! I was supposed to be driving to Langley to go to church because my good friend Lynn was to pronounce her faith. I did not want to miss the opportunity to share in this experience with her so I called my mom and dad and asked if it was safe for me to take my brothers 2 wheel drive truck all the way to the other side of Langley. I ended up going and the drive there was decent. There were about 8 cars in the ditch along the way, but I made it safely. The drive back, however, was a little less decent. The roads were so slick and there were cars losing control everywhere. I was attempting to drive up a hill at Old Yale, right by my school, and the car in front of me started sliding back into me. I was like... uh oh. So I threw the truck into reverse and backed into a side road. Yup, I got stuck. So I sat there for a minute and this truck drove up beside me asking if I needed help. It ended up being two guys from CBC and so one of them drove while the other one and myself pushed the truck. I was sick fo driving so I just jumped in the passenger seat of my brother's truck and let Graeme drive me home.
I ended up going to my brother Anthonie's house over night because Jenn was stuck there. That was an absolute disaster! Let's just say the water in his toilet was frozen, there was no running water because the pipes were frozen, his furnace wasn't working, his gas fire place was on high in one room of the house and all the doors around it were shut, snow was coming up the vents, we couldn't see outside because there was ice frozen on the windows, we couldn't see even when we were outside because the wind was so strong, and we were boiling snow on the gas stove to put down the drains. We decided to drive a couple blocks down the road to friends of his because it was ridiculous at his house. When we got in the truck we could barely see where we were going. It was insane! At the end of his driveway we couldn't see so Jenn opened her door and the wind just took it! It almost pulled her out of the truck and it she couldn't close it. Anthonie has to get out of the truck and go help her close it because the wind was so strong! There were cars deserted on the road and we had to weave our way through them. Apparently no one but residents were being let into the area because it was so bad. Anyways, we got to the Kielstra's safely and Mrs. Kielstra fed us and let us use her bathroom and warm up. At one point Anthonie went outside to retrieve the BBQ that has blown over and when he opened the door we heard a shatter. We looked at each other stunned and saw this thing fall to the ground outside the front dooor. The skylight had blown off their roof! There was a gaping hole in the top of their house! It was ridiculous! Only the tinted layer of glass had shattered but the inner layer was still intact so the boys climbed onto the roof with it and drilled it in from the inside.

I should be getting back to my homework though.

Yeah Baby!!!

I just thought I'd let you all know that my volleyball team, the Columbia Bible College Bearcats, beat UCFV in 3 sets today. It was pretty much awesome and I am pretty happy right now. They slaughtered us in pre-season, but we played some sweet defence and... we won!

What I hope to be a new beginning...

Today has been wonderfully painful. Actually, probably more painful than wonderful, but it has brought hope. The hope of restoration and reconciliation is proving to be a wonderful thing, but pain is most definitely not absent.
I have had the opportunity to experience the beauty of the Prayer Room connected to the lounge here at Columbia Bible College. This morning it was absolutely silent as there was no one upstairs. It was lovely. I had a good long talk with God down on my knees. I knew I had things to deal with today and I decided that it was about time I turned to Him instead of relying on my pitiful self. Let me tell you, it's a good thing I did.
I had a much needed conversation this morning. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I was sick to my stomach before having it and I still feel quite ill, but I am glad it is over. I am still surprised at my ability to maintain relative composure. I prayed the entire time and God gave me the words to say although my translation of them was probably less clear.
I am sorry for being so evasive but I would rather not delve into my deep personal issues over the internet.
We'll keep this short and say that much needed conversations do not get easier if you avoid having them. When you have them, problems don't instantly go away. It still sucks, and I am sure that it will for a long time.

Unproductive

So not much has happened lately, but I thought I would give a little update anyways.
Fraser Valley Christian High won the BCCSSAA for the 16 time in the last 17 years... that would be the Christian Schools tournament. My little brother, Justin, got the MVP. They beat out MEI in the final and I was pretty excited watching them, I'm not gonna lie. I was getting a little choked up. I was the proudest big sister there!!
Shoot... I have class right now... but LYNN came to my volleyball game last weekend!! I was so excited!! I love her! Lynn, I love you!!!
I'll write more later. See ya!

Pictures from Edmonton - Family Time

Oma Jansen

On Saturday my Oma Jansen got Pneumonia and she passed away on Monday, October 23. She was 83 years old. My entire family flew out to Edmonton for her funeral. My parents and all my brothers and sisters were there to support each other yesterday at her burial and memorial service. It was so intensely wonderful - a true testament of love.

Seasonal Foods

I went on a picnic with Cale, Andrew and Renee Kuyvenhoven yesterday. We had a delicious meal full of much food of many varieties. It was splendid. We somehow got to the topic of seasonal foods. We were munching on apples and caramel dip and Renee made the observation that caramel and apples is definitely a fall food. She really only eats the treat at fall. Thus spurred on a conversation about seasonal foods. I'm not gonna lie, we were having a hard time coming up with foods for every season. We kind of had some ideas for each, but we are searching for the optimal food for every season. Some of the ideas we came up with were:

Fall - Apple's and Caramel Dip

Winter - Gingerbread

Spring - didn't really come up with anything

Summer - we went with Ice Cream... but it's shady

So, because we are really actually interested in finding the greatest food to represent each season, I am asking for your help. Discuss it with your friends and see what you come up with. When you have any ideas, feel free to leave a little comment and help us out. We are confident that you can come up with something more appropriate.
Thank you!

Edmonton!

My volleyball team up and headed to Edmonton this weekend for a tournament at MacEwan. It was sweet. There are 8 of us on the girls team and 8 guys on their team so there was tons of room on the bus. I'm not gonna lie, we're a pretty sweet bunch.
Anyways. It was a pretty typical roadtrip. Lots of talking, lots of laughing, lots of good ol' bonding.
My favoritest thing was seeing my friends! I was so excited when they came to my game on Friday afternoon. They walked in and I just started grinning. I wasn't even embarrassed to be playing middle. I was just happy to be there. I missed them so much and I realized it all the more when they came in and I got to see them. It was so good!
Laura - you are awesome! I absolutely love you!
Jodi - It has been way too long!!! I'm so glad you came!! Oh how I have missed you. I can't stop thinking about our goodbye last year. Haha... gong show.
Jennifer - Oh Roomie of mine. I miss you so much this year. It's weird sharing a room with someone else. My roommate is super clean and neat... uh oh.
Teresa - Oh my dearest. I wanted to start fire dancing with you. I sometimes do it with my keys... but that usually hurts in the end when I hit my face. I miss talking with you and frequenting the Highrun.
Jackie - Yay! I got to see you!!! I'm so glad! I was worried that you wouldn't have a chance to make it out. I am so thankful that you did, even if you did have to leave right away.
My sister also came. We were in the middle of a game and my teammates were like... "Hey Ash, is that your sister?" and sure enough it was. I started crying on the court and Laura was blowing my eyes so I could see. I was so happy to see her! My sister is beautiful and amazing and absolutely incredible.
My sister and I went to watch my little brother, Justin, play volleyball in Spruce Grove after my game. He is so good! It was awesome to all hang out together for a bit.
I got to see my team from last year too! It was so good! Man... I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at that. My friends from Edmonton are awesome!

Summit

Well, I was at Chad's house and we needed a bit of a reading break so we jumped into Ted and made our way to Summit. My good friend from King's, Neysa, is attending that Bible school so I thought, because of it's close proximity to my own educational institute, that I would pop on over and surprise her. So, Chad and I embarked on our endeavor and safely made it to Summit. Having never been there before and having absolutely no idea where I would find my long lost friend, we walked through a couple buildings before entering one that appeared to be the residence. We followed some people down to the dining hall only to find that she wasn't there. I saw this man in an office and asked where I might find Neysa. He told me her room number, but before he could finish his sentence the lady herself walked through the door and we jumped into each others arms. It was so much fun! I didn't stay for long.... like 5 minutes because I had to get back for my own dinner... but it was good to see her and we are planning on seeing more of each other.
That is my exciting, yay I saw Neysa story. Hurray!

Good News, Better News... and GREAT News!

Good News:
Yesterday was my Oma's 80th birthday and so we had a nice little party for her. I went after dinner and had great difficulty finding the place as my brother gave me the wrong street... I made it though. My little cousins were doing a fashion show of all my Oma's old clothes and they somehow managed to convince me to model off some of the outfits... it was really quite hilarious actually. I love seeing the family!
When I walked in my brother-in-law was all shocked that I was there and he came and gave me a big hug and kiss. He asked what I was doing there... He apparently though I was living in Edmonton and going to King's again. Needless to say my entire family was laughing at him.

Better News:
I went to physiotherapy here and the man was a miracle worker! My ankle has been screwed up since I sprained it last November so my coach here at CBC brought me to the physio here. The guy was massaging my foot and after only a few minutes he informed me that my talas was stuck up in the talar joint... between my tibia and fibula. He told me he was going to pull it out and so he massaged some more and then proceeded to yank on my ankle and it pop it out. It didn't feel too good, but it moved a whole lot better and it now feels alright. All I have to do is these calf exercises, put three pieces of tape on it, and practice balancing and it should get better. He told me that if it goes in again then I just have to come back and he'll pull it out. At practice I could jump a whole 5 inches higher or so that day so I was quite happy about that.

Great News:
I'M COMING TO EDMONTON!!!!!
My volleyball team is coming to Edmonton for the Grant MacEwan tournament on thanksgiving weekend. We are driving up the Thursday and I'll be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. AKA Let's hang out! I've already informed my coach that I want to hang out with you guys so it's all good. I will have a curfew... but I get to see you! Hurray!!!! I'll give more details when I have them!!

A Week in...

Well... I'm a week into my time here at Columbia Bible College. I'm not gonna lie... it's a thousand times different than King's. The first, and probably the most difficult difference to overcome, is that my dorm room is pretty much iny. Well... the room is a decent size, but I have no drawers and only half a closet that doesn't have any shelving in it. I guess it's alright though as clothes are way too over-rated. The thing is... it's not really the clothing that I was worried about. It's all the little miscellaneous objects that you really do need, but don't really have a place for.
We'll move on though because I would like to save you all from a death due to boredom. Another difference is that dorms are 100% not co-ed in the slightest. The exception is Sundays. Girls are allowed in boys dorms and boys are allowed in girls dorms on alternating Sundays between 2 and 8. I don't mind this, but I kinda liked being able to walk into Mikey's room whenever I wanted to hang out and talk and such. I am aware that Mikey isn't here with me, but I think you can understand what I mean.
The cafeteria only serves hot breakfasts on Monday and Thursday... that means I don't get to have my bacon and eggs every morning... :(

I've actually been having a lot of fun. The girls in residence have been a bit more difficult to get to know, but that may be due to the fact that our doors don't stay open but automatically close. This kind of puts a damper on building relationships, but people have now started to put their chairs in the door to keep it open.

In terms of highlights thus far:

- We had a Chai Tea party in the Residence Directors room in the Guy's dorm one night. Sheldon and Stewart decided to treat about 10 of us to some fantastic Chai Tea. It was definitely a good time.
- Ultimate Frisbee in the back field and beach volleyball.
- The Amazing Race (my team definitely did not win by any stretch of the imagination, but it was so much fun).
- Meeting tons of new people every single day.
- The co-ed 4's beach volleyball tournament that we had yesterday. I'm pretty sure that my team won. It was such a beautiful day and all the teams were a lot of fun to play against. We were just out there to enjoy ourselves, and enjoy ourselves we did.
- Dale shaving the top of his head and leaving his beard and lower head hair area sort so that he looked like a friar.... sketchy, but so amazing.
- Matt making a bunch of us dinner last night. It's been a week and I'm sick of cafeteria food already... uh oh.

Well... I'm hanging out at my brother's church so I should probably go.

Packing

So... I'm packing up my stuff and moving off again. This time it's only to Abbotsford though so it's a bit easier because of the close proximity to home. And by easier I mean that iI don't really have to worry about forgetting things at home. This is a blessing and a curse, however as my motivation to pack is relatively non-existant. It's good because I can come and pick things up or drop things off later and I don't have to worry about space and things like that. It's not so good though because it makes me not really care to pack and to organize my stuff. This whole packing thing has taken far too long this time around and I'm still not nearly done.

I was reading Laura's blog and she was talking about all the girls moving into the apartment in Edmonton. It makes me sad because I want to be with them! I don't think I'll ever miss the location of Edmonton, but those girls stole my heart. They are the biggest sweethearts and I miss them quite terribly. Laura, you guys have to send me pictures on a regularly!!!

I was cleaning out my closet today - not Eminem style - and I found my bridesmaid dress from Lindsey's wedding. I was quite intrigued to see if it would still fit me so I bravely took it out and tried it on. Now, for those of you who don't know, this wedding was just after grade 9... I was 15 years old... that was 4 years ago!!! I'm pretty sure, but I can't guarantee it... but the dress was still just as loose on me as it had been back in the day. The skirt sits a little higher than it used to, but only I would be able to tell that. I guess that can't be avoided after one year eating cafeteria food. I didn't know if I should be disappointed or excited. It's a bit discouraging to know that my body hasn't become more womanly or voluptuous since then, but I guess I don't really have much to complain about.

I should recommence packing though. See ya.

Living in the Present

"To live in the past and future is easy. To live in the present is like threading a needle."

Walker Percy

I read this quote yesterday and it really made me think. It is easy to live in the past and the future. It's safe. You can appreciate and enjoy thae things that have happened. There is no real vulnerability in recalling events and evoking memories. Things have already happened and although there may be regrets, nothing unexpected happens in things you've already done. It is likewise easy to live in the future. You can dream and hope and make plans that you never really intend to keep. There is no harm in thinking of the future. Your dreams can be as large and idealistic as can be. You can plan things way in advance and perfect your goals for your life. There is nothing overly frightening about living in the future and living in your dreams.

Living now, living in the present, is much more difficult. There is an uncertainty in the immediate consequences and repercussions of our current actions. We are living out our dreams and hopes and plans. We risk failing because we are actually putting our plans into actions and trying to make them a reality. Our current lives actually affect us. This is exciting and mysterious, but also extremely frightening. We have plans, but you can never plan for the unexpected and the unexpected may cause us to drastically change the dreams of our future. The present is active and dynamic. Now, in the present, we simultaneously strive for our future and create our past.

I'm used to things happening the way I want them to. I'm used to preparing for things in advance and being certain of what the outcome will be. I'm used to my parents making the decisions for me. I'm used to biology questions and factual examinations. I'm used to things happening as they are expected to. I haven't had too many curve balls in my life, but this summer I was waitlisted on all the nursing schools I applied to except Prince George. Who wants to live in Prince George for four years?? Not me.

Up until... well yesterday actually. Yesterday I sent in my confirmation deposit to Columbia Bible College. Up until then I wasn't sure of what I was going to do next year. I decided not to go to Prince George because their program is non-transferable and so I had three weeks to decide what I wanted to do this year. Let me tell you, I could do anything... well except what I'd planned on doing. I have so many dreams and there are so many things that I would love to do and that I would be fully capable of making into realities. I didn't know what was best for me or for my future and my parents couldn't tell me. I still don't know what would be best for me and my future and my enjoyment, but I have decided to go to Columbia Bible College for the year and I am looking into an internship in a hospital in Africa for 2-3 months this summer. Both of those would be beneficial in helping me attain my goal of becoming a missionary nurse in either Africa or South America. So that's kind of what I'm currently planning on doing. We'll see if it actually happens. I could go more into the reasoning behind the decisions I made, but that would be way too much writing. I'm sure I'll talk about it sometime later on.

In other news: Today was my last day of work. It was so sad. I love the people there. I'll have to write an ode to Schneiders.

Happily Dating Matchmakers

Ever notice how people who are in a good and happy relationship want to hook you up with every Tom, Dick and Harry? And if none of those work, then they go with every Mike, Joel and Steve.... Just an observation I've made.

Quicky

So, I ended up having a super quick road trip this weekend. I went to my Aunt's house in Langley on Saturday after work for a family BBQ. Another aunt and uncle of mine were down from Grande Cache for a visit so we had a nice little get together. I was the first one at my Auntie Liz's house (my family is known for being tardy) so I had a good talk with my Uncle Tim about life. He always makes me think and I love that about him. He challenges me and encourages me and he's always honest. We talked quite a bit about relationships, marriage and the importance of prayer. Yup, he's a smart man. Anyways, the rest of the family slowly began to show up. The evening went by as usual - a bit of soccer, lots of talking, lots of food, some bocce ball, flashlight tag. I went home at around 8:00. Then, I was talking to Anthonie and he said he was going to Kamloops tomorrow morning to preach. Jen was going with him and they were just going for the day. So I got back to my aunts house at 9:30ish and went home with Anthonie and Jen later.
Jen and I had a slumber party on Anthonie's rock hard bed (apparently it's good for your back... but disasterous for your hips). We woke up bright and early and showered and Jen made herself pretty (apparently people expect that of the pastor's girlfriend, but they thankfully don't really notice the sister) and we jumped into the truck at 6:00ish and drove to Kamloops. Anthonie was in the back sleeping and Jen and I got a chance to talk and hang out. I've seen her at family gatherings and talked to her, but never really had the chance to actually get to know her. It was great! On two separate (I used to spell it "sepErate", but Mrs. Whitcher cured me of that) occasions I was laughing so hard that I was crying. I like Jen. Well, I liked her before, but now I really like her lots more. Anthonie delivered a wonderful sermon to a church of about 40 people. Five minutes before the service was supposed to start there were only 9 people there - three were part of the worship team, three were us, and three were from Anthonie's church in Abbotsford who happened to be vacationing in Kamloops. People eventually rolled on in. In his sermon about smell, Anthonie decided to tell everyone about Jen's lotion which smells amazing. Jen went red when he told them that it was from Victoria Secret and that it is the only good thing you can buy at that store. She went an even deeper red when he informed them all that the lotion was called "Pure Seduction". At least everyone else was laughing. We went for lunch at Stefan Vanderby's house and then left for home at 1:30ish again. So we were in Kamloops for a solid 5 hours. We saw a black bear driving home!!
We met up for lunch with my parents, Ben, Zac and Heather at IHop and then went to my grandparents for more family fun. There was a huge soccer match (which I declined to participate in due to lack of sleep) and I sat with my Opa for a bit. My uncle came in after the intense match completely soaking in sweat. He knows how much I am disgusted by other people's sweat on me and so he tackled me and rubbed his sweaty head and neck on me and his yucky sweaty back. It was so gross so I went to the bathroom and gave myself a little bath in the sink. I was so exhausted by the time we got home!! It was a good day though.

HE MADE IT!!!

Justin made the Youth National Team!!!!
Apparently there are 15 guys who made the team, but only 12 will travel to the Dominican Republic. So, he doesn't know if he gets to go yet, but he has the next two weeks to prove himself and yadda yadda yadda. So I'm super duper excited! Did I mention I love him??

Power Outage!

Today was a great day. I was paired up with Colleen all day so we got to talk and sing a bit of S-Club and talk about the movie Annie and all the music our parents used to make us listen to on road trips and such. It made the day go by pretty fast. Then at 2:00, a half hour before work was over, the power went out. Colleen and I were boxing and scaling respectively and she jumped toward me and grabbed my hand because she was scared, but the emergency lights went on like two seconds later. Anyways... the moral of the story is that we got to go home early because we can't exactly work when there is no power. That made me very excited. So I got home at 2:30 and read outside for a bit then decided it wasn't exactly warm enough to lay there reading, but too cold to come inside so I watered my mommy's plants and then putzed around till I could think of nothing else to do outside alone so I came inside and am now writing this after eatting some PB 'n J's. Yummy.

My little brother was apparently asked to try-out for the Jr. National Team!! Hurray! If he makes it then he gets to go to the Dominican Republic or something. I'm super excited that he was asked... he doesn't even need to make it, but it would be pretty sweet if he did! I could brag about my brother... I already am and he's not even done trying out. I'll know late tonight if he made it. Mommy and Pops know how excited I get about these things. He was asked to tryout therefore he made it... in my head. My parents, knowing I'll be as crushed as he will be if he doesn't make it, have informed me that there were some 36 guys asked to tryout and apparently they are mostly bigger than him. But I have faith in that boy so I'll let you know how things go.

I find myself constantly checking Chapman's blog to see if they had their baby. It has become almost an obsession. I wake up at 4:30 and the first thing I do is go and check it. Then at 2:58 when I get home and then other random times throughout the evening. Man alive... get a life Ashley!

Ali and Joel Kooger's Wedding!!

I absolutely love weddings! I love them! On Friday, July 28, 2006, Alison Handy and Joel Kooger got married! It was a beautiful wedding and Ali looked stunning!
Kira, my personal hair stylist and make-up artist, came over early in the morning to do my hair and make-up because Lynn and I had several lists of things to do before the 4:00 wedding. Kira always saves me when it comes to special events because, as most of you know, I'm not very good at the whole dressing up thing. I did manage to shave my legs though! Kira even plucked my eyebrows... a first. I don't know if that is something one should publish on a blog, but I think I just did it anyways.
Lynn and I went to Handy's parents house in the morning to bring the corsages and to pick up the boutinneers and to say hello and do Handy's bidding. She had her make-up and hair done and she already looked amazing! There's something about brides, eh. Brides and new mothers. They just radiate joy and are the most beautiful women ever!
So Lynn and I hung out at the Handy's and did odd jobs and ate and talked and laughed and enjoyed ourselves and everyone there. We acquired another list of things to do and so we left to meet the women at Lynn's house for some pre-ceremony pictures. Our task there was to play with the flower girls and we were more than willing to oblige. When Ali stepped out of the car I was beaming. She look incredible. She was so beautiful and joyful and excited. She kept on giggling and saying "I'm getting married!!! I'm getting married!!!" It was so exciting!
We then ran off to the church to get everything ready for the ceremony. There was so much to do before the whole thing started and everything came together nicely.
The cermony ran smoothly as well - that was the only remotely stressful part. If anything had gone wrong then it would have been my fault. As the flower girls walked down towards "Uncle Joel" and gave him a "squishy" hug and kiss on the cheek I had tears in my eyes! They were adorable!
There really is something amazing about seeing a bride just before walking down the aisle. The doors are closed and she's linked arms with her father. The finishing touches are made to her veil and her dress and she takes one last deep breath before the doors are opened and she begins down the aisle to meet her soon-to-be husband. Seeing Ali's face and watching all the emotions that flashed in her eyes (all positive) as the signal was given for the doors to open and the look of excitement and confidence that rested there as she took her first step towards her new life... it was incredible. Her dad had tears in his eyes as he walked his baby down the aisle but he couldn't have been happier either.
The ceremony was short and sweet. Everything was wonderful!!! The first thing Ali Kooger said after walking out of the church was... "It was perfect!" And it was.
We rushed to Lynn's house for more pictures and to Fort Langley before walking onto the ferry and heading to the reception. It was so much fun! The food was delicious! I even got to dance with my brother Joel. I'm not gonna lie, I think my brothers are the funnest people to dance with. I don't even want to know what we look like when we dance, but we have so much fun that I don't even care. He even dipped me... and my head almost hit the ground. We had the dorkiest looks on our faces the entire time and we were so dramatic... I loved it!!
Yup... the wedding was perfect!

Road Trip

Last weekend I decided to go to Kelowna to see my brother/check out a school so I called my good buddy Lynn up on the Thursday night and we left on Saturday after I worked. We jumped into my daddy's little red Suzuki Swift who we named Bruce and began driving. It was such a hot weekend and we didn't have AC so we had the windows wide open.
I think I like writing these things after the fact because then I can skip the deathly boring stuff and just do the highlights... they are pretty subjective highlights, but I found them enjoyable none-the-less.
Our trip was a disaster from the start, but an excellent one. I had my fudgicle melt on me within a minute of leaving Lynn's driveway. It was all over me and all over the car and a bit in my mouth. Lynn thankfully wiped it up while I drove.
We got to Kelowna in relatively good time considering we were going 40km up most of the hill's. It really is a strange phenomenon to have semi's passing you. But Bruce was faithful and we made it to Kelowna. We even "blasted" the tunes - ABBA and some solid disco music. Daddy called because he went out and got me a BCAA membership because that's how much faith he has in his little car and so he called us and gave us the number just in case we needed it.
When we got to Kelowna we went and visited my little brother, Justin for a bit. He's been in Kelowna playing for Team BC for the past month and so it's been a while. He is so cute and I love him so much! It was fun to see his friends and to surprise him! David VanderEnde's car drove up so I went to scare him. I snuck up behind the car and jumped in front of his open car door and roared... It wasn't David driving his car. It was one of the coaches so I introduced myself as Justin's sister while Lynn and Justin laughed by Bruce as I yelled from David's car that it wasn't him.
We then left for Vernon where we were spending the night with my really good friend Laura's cousins. We had no idea where her aunt and uncle lived so we parked at this park and went looking for a pay phone. Jeff called us admist our searching and informed us that he lived two blocks away, but they were at Sir Winston's Pub which was a block away so we went and met them there. Oh ya.... I didn't see Earl's, but that's because I was looking in the wrong direction and not because I am blind! So we hung out with Jeff, Curtis, Trevor, Nathan, Cheryl and Shannon. We then went to this other place where we made Lynn dance with us. It took her a little while to warm up, but she eventually got into it and had good time. I'm pretty sure swimming was the highlight of our night though... at least mine and Lynn's. We went to Kinsmen beach.. maybe... at 1:30ish and played frisbee in the water without any light and the guys tried skimboarding... in a lake... It was funny. They don't have the luxury of a tide so they use what they can get. We all crashed at Jeff's house that night - minus Nathan and Cheryl so not all of us actually.
Sunday we went to Church, Beach - watched cardboard boat races... like these kids had to sit in the boats and paddle around this buoy.... quite impressive, we had Screamers or Polar Float - we were apprehensive at first, but the soft icecream/slurpee combo was excellent. We then went and hung out with Justin in Kelowna for a while. I miss him already! He's matured so much since being out there... I'm so proud of him!!! I'm not even joking. I can't even explain the change, but... he's a good kid. He really really is. I absolutely love him! It was still 38 degrees when we were driving him around getting grocery's at 8:30ish.... just a side note.
Disaster struck on our ride back to Vernon for the night. Well, it really wasn't much of a disaster actually. So we are 8km out of Kelowna right near Lake Country or whatever it's called and I see this deer on the side of the road in the grass. I am so excited and I'm like, "Lynn there's a deer!" because she has seen two already and this is my first for this trip. This really was a beautiful creature. It was a big buck and it was nibbling on some grass. It was raining out so I was driving slower than the speed limit, thankfully. So I was going like 90km and this deer decides to bolt in front of me. Uh Oh. I am driving a little Suzuki Swift that I'm pretty sure my brothers could crush if they jumped on it and here this big buck (I've seen a few in my day and I think this was one of the biggest I've seen and I'm not just exaggerating for dramatic effect) decides to run right in front of me. So I swerve to the left and slam on my brakes. I just realized I'm changing tenses at will in this paragraph so I'll apologize to you english majors now. Anyways. I'm swerving and slamming and my heart wasn't pumping any faster than normal. Lynn and I were both so calm and then when I realized that there was no way around hitting this thing I remembered, from good old ICBC on-line road tests, that just before you hit a deer (a moose on the test) you're supposed to take your foot off the brake so that your front end isn't barreled down and the thing doesn't fly through your windshield. So, just before we hit the Deer, I took my foot of the brake and stuck the car in neutral. I was really quite amazed at how well you can think and how quickly things run through your head when you're calm and in a bad situation. So, the deer hit rolled over our hood from Lynn's side to mine and it's face and an antler came and hit the windshield right by my side and then it lay on the ground for a second, got up and ran hobbling away. The first thing that went through my mind was... Amen for BCAA, but Bruce still drove fine. We pulled over to check out the damage, but things looked alright and Bruce still drove. It felt quite... unreal. Right after it happened we had to remind ourselves that we'd just hit a deer because our adrenaline wasn't pumping at all. So we continued our drive back to vernon. On our drive my window randomly fell down and wouldn't roll up anymore and a thunderstorm was starting so we taped that up good when we got to vernon.
On Monday we went back to Kelowna to check out the college.. that lasted 15 minutes. We went to Gyro beach for one last dip and headed home. It was so hot!
We drove home going 40 most of the way, stopping repeatedly so poor Bruce could rest, with the heat blasting, the windows wide open, and the Lion King soundtrack blaring! We made it home safely though and we had SO MUCH FUN!!

How could I forget Gordon Kelly???

PS. I had the pleasure of accompanying Gordon Alex Kelly to the Fraser Valley Christian graduation as his date. It had kind of slipped my mind that grad was approaching as quickly as it was, but I wasn't too nervous about finding an outfit to wear. I could always ask my mother to make me a dress the day before like she'd done for my own graduation. I called up trusty Kira a couple hours before the grad and she brought some clothes over for me to try on. In the end I was clothed and ready to go.
It was strange to be sitting in the crowd as an alumni and watching the younger kids graduate, but it was so good to see friends again. I may even have been most excited to see Mr. Kim.
Gordon ended up being quite the gentleman. He pulled my chair out for me so I could sit down, he asked me if I wanted any juice, and he kept the conversation light during the dinner. I'm not gonna lie, I was quite surprised at how well the evening went. Saying goodbye was... well it was the usual. Gordon only kissed me on the cheek once so it wasn't too awkward, but he did ask me to date him and if I would maybe marry him in ten years and such and such. He was so hopeful but I had to tell him that it wouldn't work out. I'm glad that nothing really phases Gordon and that he always bounces back to his cheerful and persistent self. I think he got the point, however, as he told people that I'd broken up with him later on that night. Oh Gordon Kelly.

It's about time...

I see that I have not updated this thing in quite a long time. I guess that not too much has happened. I'm working at Schneiders again. I love most of the people I work with and I love being at work, but I hate going to bed at 8:30pm and waking up at 4:30am... but such is life. I guess that not much aside from that has happened.
My sister Lindsey came down for the weekend and for Benjamin's graduation from Surrey Christian School. It was so good to see her again. I missed her a lot. It was weird to see her here on my turf again, but oh how my family had fun. Thursday night was Ben's grad. My parents did the Parent Speech or whatever they officially call it. My sisters and I were all bawling when they were announcing my parents because, well pretty much because we're babies, but also because Mr. Bron was introducing them and he was talking about "28 years ago...." My family has had continuous enrollment in Surrey Christian for the past 28 years and it was sad to see it all come to a close. Benny was so cute!
On Sunday most of my family came over. Lindsey was still here and so we hung out. We ate. We laughed. We played soccer. We realized how out of shape we were (I was weazing within minutes :S). We played in the pool. We made fools of our selves. And we generally enjoyed each others company. I love it when my whole family gets together. We always have so much fun. It hasn't changed from when we were kids. We still do the same things to entertain ourselves and we are still just as competitive and childish about it all. We still push each other around and think of how many creative and interesting ways we can dive into the pool. Not much has changed aside from the additional girlfriends that accompany some of the brothers, but they are more than welcome.
I had the pleasure of babysitting one of the most beautiful and easiest babies in the world this week. Dayla. She is so cute and she didn't cry at all! We got to go to bed together because I had to work the next day so I went to bed at 8:00 so I could put her to sleep and just fall asleep with her. Babies are so cute though that I couldn't fall asleep because I was just watching her breathe and cuddling with her. I did eventually fall asleep an then my mother crept in and removed her when her mommy came back to get her.
Eric and Josh were also down this week. I was pleasantly surprised. It was fun to see them again and to show them where I live even though I didn't get to spend much time actually with them because I had to work.
Aside from that... Laura came to visit but I'm too lazy to write about that now.

So I've been a bit busy lately, and not busy at all at the same time. I've had a few interviews and just as many job offers, but none of them are full time enough. I did, however, accept a job today as a hostess for Red Robins in Guildford. I'll be right across from Kira and the manager said that there are lots of people who want time off so it shouldn't be hard to pick up extra shifts. I'll still look for another job for the mornings or something, but for now this is what I've got.
I've also spent a lot of time hanging out at my sisters house and with my nephews and such. Kaitlyn and I went to watch Zachary's "One-base baseball" on Monday. It was so cold outside and it was so windy, but the kids were so cute! They play tee-ball, but they only have one base to run to and they run to it and jump on it and it doesn't matter how far their hit goes or whatever. It is quite comical to watch them and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The kids were dancing in the outfield and playing in the sand, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves and that is all that counts.
These are all my neices and nephews. Jessica Hailley is in the back. She is 12 years old and is currently in Grade 7. Her favorite subject is Chemistry and I hear she reminds teachers of me... yup she's a brain and she is beautiful! Kaitlyn Renee is to the right. She is turning 11 this month. I couldn't tell you what her favorite subject is, but she got her haircut yesterday and she is quite a cutie... I call her Piglet and I have no idea where it came from or why. Zachary Arend is to the left in his baseball gear. He is four years old and is quite athletic. He is so funny and he makes me laugh all the time. Christopher Michael is the one in the middle. He is a rugrat. He is also hilarious, but he can definitely be a handful. He doesn't really like me still... if I come over he starts crying becuase he thinks that Shar is going to leave them with me and that would be a terrible thing. I promise I am actually a relatively fun Aunt. Like for real, I play with the kids and we always have a good time, but Christopher is still uncertain and doesn't like me so much.

This is Katy and my brother, Jonathan. She is a friend of mine who has been friends since... before I was born. Well, she's been friends with me since I was born, but our families go way back. She moved to New Mexico when I was in gr. 8 and she was in gr. 10, but she is part of the Redeemer Choir that is touring in BC right now so she's staying at our house for two nights. Oh man.. she is so much fun and we all just hung out in the living room laughing last night. I love those family times where you just hang out and talk and laugh... that's what I missed about being home.
Here's Zachary and Riley dancing in the outfield instead of paying attention. At least they had fun.
Christopher loves his snow boots. He always wears them!
Zachary and I went for a walk today.
Here are the mountains! I am still amazed when I get out of bed in the morning and drive my mom to work because there are mountains everywhere! I've taken them forgranted all these years, but now that I've been in Edmonton, I notice them all the time and think they are the most beautiful things in the world. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating there, but they are pretty amazing.

That's pretty much what I've been up to lately. Wait! I also went to the ocean!!! I missed that too. I'll post a picture up in a second.

Nephews

So I got to spend a bit of quality time with my nephews. They came over while my sister ran out to do some things and so we got to hang out. Here Jon is showing them his gun... a bit sketchy, but they seemed to like it quite a bit.

Christopher was being a goof.


I would just like to point out, for all you stuck in Edmonton, how green our grass is. It really is quite beautiful.

Pictures from home.

Visiting my Dad at his schoolJustin and I are pretty much the coolest people I know.Pops and Mommy at Swiss ChaletHeather and IOur Japanese Exchange Student left so we were cleaning her room and we found some goodies. Here I am sporting the Sumo wrestling head mask covering thinger and two swords... good times. My lovely nephews, Christopher and Zachary, playing with the cars I bought them at the store... I am the greatest aunt. *Christopher was scared of me yesterday and would cry if I came near him so I had to bribe him to like me... I'm a failure.
Zachary's photography. Me at Shar's house.

Beautiful British Columbia

It's over. My exams are complete, my things are packed up and hopefully sitting at Laura's house, and I am here listening to my mother rustling around in the kitchen tidying up this and that as mothers tend to do. I've been home for two days now and already miss Edmonton. Alright, so I don't miss Edmonton, but I miss the people I came to love there. Don't get me wrong, I love home, but my friends in Edmonton were prettty sweet.
I miss being woken up at all hours of the night for no apparent reason, I miss climbing on the trains, I miss hanging out in Laura and Brittney's room, I miss the guessing game of knowing whether Jen would be home for the night or not, I miss streaking across 50th street and all the bum touching and dancing. I miss being able to walk across the hall and be guaranteed a good time, I miss going to Highrun with Eric, Church and Josh and usually watching them play pool (I am terrible) and hanging out with Teresa. I miss the Talons. I miss Wallace, Jen's pet fish. I miss the sunsets and the blue sky. I miss the wind and the cheap theatre, the lame jokes from Colin in the cafeteria and Geoff's grumpy demeanor. I miss being able to order unlimited amounts of bacon and eggs, staying up all hours of the night, singing karaoke, having dance parties and... other parties, playing with Teresa's Fire Poi's, late night walks with Teresa, window watching with Mikey and Dave, turning the heat on high so my room is unbelievably hot, and I miss being able to walk into a friends room and knowing that they'll be there and that they will be willing to talk or listen. Living with a bunch of your best friends is a wonderful thing and I will miss that. I didn't by any means come to love everyone in rez and the smallest part of me regrets that, but there were many solid friendships built that I will be forever thankful for.
The last few nights in rez were so much fun! One night we went streaking, I went to the park a couple times and played football (Colin and I beat Church and Josh), we went to Tracy's for a fire, slept at Jen's house in LeDuc, danced and hung out a lot, packed... I don't know. We just enjoyed ourselves, enjoyed each other, enjoyed our freedom... and it was awesome.
Saying goodbye was so unbelievably hard. Teresa was the first to leave and we were in tears... it was so sad. Oh man... so much crying in the last few days. When Jodi left we were disasters and then when it came to be my turn to go... oh no. Knowing that I'm not going to be returning made the goodbye's so much harder! Laura, Jen, and Jackie brought me to the airport and saying we were a gong show when I had to leave. It was cute though... they were all so cute. I'm definitely going to miss them all.

My two days here have been filled with family. Yesterday I visited my dad at work, went to the airport with my mom to bring our Japanese exchange student away, had dinner with the family at Swiss Chalet in honor of Jonathan's graduation from Malaspina, and promptly went to bed. I went to my sisters at 7:30 this morning and babysat my nephews until 12:45. They are so cute! I missed them so much. We played hockey, airplanes, dinosaurs and some other random games. We sang and danced and biked and ate. I took them to Fraser Valley and we snuck in with a rose for Mrs. Visscher. I love her. Then we came to Grandma's house before bringing Uncle Benjamin a lunch. It was a lot of fun with them.

Sleep Deprived

I've clocked a total of 14 hours and 20 minutes of sleep in the past four nights put together. I'm coming home today... it's a lot harder to leave then I thought it would be... and I knew it would be hard. On the list for today:
- Go out for breakfast for Jackie's birthday at 11:00am
- Come back to Rez and meticulously clean the room at 12:30am
- Paint out picture on the stairwell wall
- Hang out for a couple minutes
- Say a lot of hard goodbyes
- Go to the airport at 1:45

[l(a]

l(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

E.E. Cummings

Nobody Likes an Angry Michael

And because I have to live next door to him, I will write a word-full blog to appease him.
I have been enjoying myself immensely as of late. I have not been doing much homework and I have been hanging out with friends a large amount of the time.
Teresa and I have been frequenting the Highrun. We go there and play pool with Josh, Church and Eric who all have nothing better to do and go there more often then we do. We mainly go to enjoy the walk because it's not too far and the weather has been so nice. The evenings are rather warm and it is so peaceful to walk. Teresa and I have many good talks on the way and I have really come to appreciate her and to love her. She's so smart and so passionate about life and God and she is such an encouragement.
The weather has been amazing so we've been spending so much time outside. Lots of walks... I went to the park one afternoon. Church, Josh and Nate came and picked me up and I bought them all icecream with my excess money because of the stupid foodcard we had to buy and then we went and picked up Eric at his school. We went to some park and played soccer and frisbee and then Church and I went running in this duck feces infested puddle in the grass. Josh was making dinner for their house that night so we went to Safeway and picked up groceries and then he made tacos.
On Sunday Church came over to throw a football around. Then we decided to go for a walk over this tiny hill we have by our grass field. We ended up walking to the tracks and decided to be a little adventurous and climb on top of the trains. It was actually quite thrilling. It had a great view of the city too so we sat there and talked for an hour or so and then decided to meander back to rez because Eric and Josh were coming after Millwoods.
Amber and I decided to be daring and went for a run one day. It definitely did not last as long as we'd expected. I mean, I know I'm out of shape, but I didn't know that I was THAT out of shape. We barely ran for 10 minutes before we took a break and headed home.
Umm.. let me see. Nope, not much else has happened. Michael... I was definitely not in the mood to write a blog and that is why this one is so boring! I'm sure you're the only one who finished it though... and maybe Stewart and Lynn... so I hope you're happy and I think I will recommence just posting pictures until I have the time and the energy to write an interesting blog... or maybe I'll wait till I have something interesting to say or maybe when I've had time to think deeply about some subject that I would like to enlighten your mind with.

Lately

Jodi and I

Me, Andy and Laura
Brittney










The last couple weeks have been pretty... well I haven't done nearly as much work as I shoudl have, but it has been so much fun! I guess it's a bad time to start slacking off, but that's the way things go I guess. Last night Teresa and I went outside to play with her Thailand Fire Dancing thingers... that was pretty much amazing. Teresa is so good at it! I was quite impressed... then Eric, Church and Josh came and told us they were going to Highrun to play pool so they left and Teresa and I eventually followed. We ran/skipped/danced/galloped/airplane ran/frolicked the whole way there. That was the highlight of the night, but pool was pretty fun too I guess. Afterwards I came back to rez and went to my room, but I heard the girls underneath me talking so we talked through the window and then I went downstairs and we had a bit of a party in Tracy's room with Tracy, Amber and Dani. It's surprising how you can get to know someone so much more when you've already known them all year. Hahaha, we definitely took a step in our relationship.
Here's pictures of Teresa dancing with her fire... I'm not nearly as skilled, but I'm slowly catching on.

strange people I hang out with

Josh thinks he looks cute in this picture.
Church eating my foot
Josh dancing
Eric waltzing in
Josh after the guys danced/ wrestled/ climbed on each other.

Walk with T

My buddy Teresa Berkholtz and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went on a 2 hour stroll and it was so beautiful. We made our way to Walmart where we developed the pictures we took on the way. Here's a little... some of them.
Snow and Sandals

An alley along the way.