The New Place!

We are all moved!! We were sooooo thankful to have lots of friends to help us out - it made the weekend SO much better! (I wish I would have gotten a picture of our crew!)

I've been working at my new job for a few weeks now and am liking it a lot - the people are all really nice and the company is really great to their employees (Canadian Western Bank). I am happy to say that I will be getting 3 weeks and 3 days off next year! I went out to Edmonton for a week for training which was good, although I did miss Lucas' 25th Birthday! But we were able to celebrate when I got home.

Here are some pictures of the last month or so...

Our new home!

We are really  appreciating new appliances :)

We have a second bedroom as well, which is great for storage but I left that picture out because its not as pretty right now :)

 

We bought and quickly decorated a tree before we opened our gifts for each other!

In the snow at the Cypress lookout after our first snowfall of the year

Changes Coming our Way

Time to update... lots of changes recently/to come!

First off, I have a new car! A few weeks ago I was in an accident - the airbags went off which was the big one for making my car be a write off. I suffered from a sore neck for just over a week, but am feeling good now. It wasn't all bad, considering I got a new used car that has AC and all the power options, which I really appreciate!! We now have 2 Mazda 3's and are officially a Mazda family - haha. I didn't plan on choosing the same car as Lucas, but it was just nicer for the price than other cars we looked at.

Secondly, I have a new job working at Canadian Western Bank in Abbotsford! I am excited about this job; it will be an adjustment as I have been working part time for almost a year now, but definitely a good thing. I will miss my Mondays with the girls, which has become a weekly event, and having lots of free time! I will be working for my old boss from the AEA which I am happy about and there are great benefits and lots of opportunities to grow with the company.

And the last change... due to getting a full time job in Abbotsford, Lucas and I have decided to move from North Vancouver to Coquitlam so that we are more central to both our jobs. Our moving date is December 4th, so we will be in a new place for Christmas. It is a nicer and newer place and we will have a spare bedroom/office/gym.  I'll post pictures when we are all settled in.

So Long Sweet Summer

We had a great summer with lots of great memories made including a trip to Alberta for a cousins wedding, a couple trips to Seattle (one with family and one for a Seahawks game), and recently we went to Kennewick to surprise Ruthann for her 50th Birthday which was so much fun.  We were also able to stay with Alan and Tracy, who have moved to Bellingham, for a night on the way down.

Although we had some hot weather this weekend, today the smell outside changed... it's smelling more like fall/winter and the temperature has dropped. We are supposed to have a colder winter so I am looking forward to skiing, but I will miss the sunshine and will be anticipating Hawaii in January after a week or so of rain! Here are some pictures of our summer adventures, starting with the Seahawks game (and they won!)

 We had great seats! Very cool!

We met up with the Thompsons in Seattle for Sam's Birthday and did all the touristy things, including going up the space needle!

 Sam's lovely 'coon skin' hat

 on a harbor cruise

 Lauryn playing drums with a guy on the street

 It was chilly on the cruise and I didn't have a sweater so Lucas got a Seahawks sweater so I could wear his - so sweet :) hehe

4000lb granite ball that is suspended by water (Lucas was very intrigued and said it was the coolest thing at the whole science museum).

 At Stanley Park on our first anniversary - It's been a great first year!! We feel very blessed!

Update Time!

We have had an eventful past few weeks. A couple weekends ago we went up to Grand Prairie for my cousin Thomas' wedding. We also were able to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday there!! We drove to Hinton (just past Jasper) and then continued to Grand Prairie but did it all in one day (12 hr drive) on the way back home. We drove up with Mom and Kevan and it was a good time - I don't mind driving, or should I say sleeping... I did nap a lot and well, didn't even drive :)

When we returned home from Grand Prairie we had VBS at our church, with a "High Seas" theme. I was a leader of a crew of 5 year olds, so that was fun. All the kids seemed to have a lot of fun :)

Then just after VBS week Lucas and I celebrated our 1st anniversary!! We had to celebrate the day before because we had a youth event at splashdown that day, so Friday we spent the afternoon at Stanley Park. We biked around, went to the Aquarium, napped on the beach, and went for dinner at Cardero's (a restaurant in Coal Harbor).

Now it's time to get back to normal somewhat, but I hope not too normal because it is summer after all! We are looking forward to a visit from the Thompson's next week and camping and a Seahawks game in August.

Here's a few pictures and I will have more on the way! 

They Named The Grouse Grind Well!

On Wednesday Tracy, Mel, Amy and I went and did the grouse grind. And a grind it was! Here are some stats on the Grouse Grind Hike:

Length:  2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles)

 Elevation Gain:  853 metres (2,800 feet)
        - Base: 274 metres above sea level (900 feet)
        - Summit: 1,127 metres (3,700 feet)
        - Total Stairs: 2,830

It was a challenge and when I got to the half way mark, I felt like I should be at the top already! hehe! As I was hiking I was thinking, I am going to be SORE tomorrow! Yet, both Tracy and I are not, still 2 days later! Yay! And I'm assuming Mel and Amy aren't either who zipped up in 50 minutes. Tracy and I took a little longer but still beat the average time of 1.5 hours. Once you get to the top you can take the tram down! I would never want to walk down because it is very steep and you would be going against the grain of people. Sorry I couldn't get any good pictures of the view on my point and shoot - I wasn't going to haul up our DSLR :)

Tofino Getaway

Lucas and I just got back from a great 2 night trip to Tofino on Vancouver Island! It was a great little trip; our first vacation (minus camping) since our honeymoon. We loved being right next to sandy Tonquin beach and we both just love being by the ocean! We were able to enjoy a  bit of sunshine, a very fancy dinner, and some rain which just gave us an excuse to relax :)

The "Beach Nest" Cabin right by the beach!... 

The beach in front of the cabin was beautiful!!

Starting a camp fire on the beach!

 

We hiked Schooner Cove, which has a boardwalk trail to Long Beach

 We went and explored the sea life at low tide

 Our fancy dinner at the Wickinninish Inn... they had a bottle of wine for $2200 on their 32 page wine list... we passed on that one!

 The beach at the Wickinninish Inn

And Lucas gave his first try at skim boarding in the cold weather... we'll wait for some warmer weather to do more of this!

We look forward to going back one day, maybe in the summer! It's a great place - we highly recommend it!

Quarry Rock

So Lucas and I went hiking with the youth recently in Deep Cove; we got some great views and some good pics!