Catching up...

A little late I know...
Last Friday afternoon Todd had his White Coat Ceremony. It was very well done, the speeches were kept short which is always appreciated and the whole event was very professional. Seeing Todd in his coat made it seem so much more real that he is only three and half years away from being a dentist. It might seems like a long time now, but I'm sure that it's going to fly by.



Friday evening we drove down to a local Christmas landmark with a few friends, I'm not sure that I've ever seen anything quite like it. The "spectacle" doesn't end standing out on the street, this guys has a pathway that leads all throughout his home, and into his back yard. He has completely devoted his house to the holidays! He has been decorating his house like this for over 50 years! He uses nearly 70 000 lights every year, and never uses the same decorations twice. It was a little crazy to see a price list on our way out, he sells all of his home made decorations.




On Saturday, we were planning on having a low key, uneventful Saturday night, when we got a call that would change all that. A friend had two tickets to the Suns game that he couldn't use. We had so much fun. Even though our seats were literally in the very last row, it was so better to see the game in person.



It feels like this fall has flown by. Christmas seems as though its sneaked up out of nowhere! We'll be heading up to Alberta this week for the holidays, and we're so excited to see family again. Merry Christmas!

One Quarter down...

Todd has officially finished his first quarter of dental school and did great. He has a two week break until he has to start up again, and it is certainly deserved and needed. As soon as Todd finished his last exam we hopped into the car, and drove up to Pine, AZ with a few friends. It was such a blast. It reminded us of home with all the tall trees and cooler weather. We were able to spend a few nights at a great cabin, it had a wood burning stove and everything.

On our way home we made a slight detour up to Sedona, what a gorgeous city, we went up a couple of quick hikes and got some great pictures. The sunset was amazing against the red rock.


We stayed home only long enough to pack up and head off again, this time to Palm Springs, CA. It was a great relaxing holiday. Todd and Dave played a round of golf and I finished the last Twilight book by the pool with Jill and Ella. We went on a hike through Native land and were escorted out by a park ranger, apparently you had to pay to hike there, oops! On our last night we headed up to the Outlet mall, and found some great deals.


We went down to Mesa to celebrate American Thanksgiving with G & G. We had so much fun, amid the torrential downpours we got our tennis fix in. We also experienced our first Black Friday. It was still dark out when we left the house, and didn't really need anything but it was something that we had to try. We found a couple of things, but hardly saw the deals that people rave about. Maybe we're just bad shoppers. Right before we left, Grandma gave us a quilted Advent Calendar that she made. She even filled it with little wrapped gifts. We love it, my grandma rocks!


Todd started back at school yesterday, it feels a little strange being back to real life after Todd's break. Maybe I'll have to hang out by the pool to cope!!

Who ever said Tuesday weren't exciting...

Last night on our way home from book club out in Surprise, Bri's car had the sudden misfortune of acquiring a flat tire. She quickly pulled into the nearby gas station, and Val and I sprang into action. Damsels in distress we were certainly not! Val was practically lying on the ground and both our hands our nearly black, but man did it feel good. We had that thing changed in no time. Looking back it must have looked pretty funny, two girls covered in dirt, laughing hysterically trying to get the new tire on, all while trying to pose for cell phone pictures. It definitely made our night seem more like an adventure!

A little late I know...

I know that "hectic" life is hardly an excuse but I have some blogging catching up to do. I was able to go back up to Canada for a while a couple weeks ago, it was so nice to see everyone back home. I'm pretty sure I am more used to the Arizona climate that I had thought because October back home seemed a lot colder than it has ever been before. It was so much hanging out with my sisters and my mom. I got to watch one of Kiersten's volleyball games (she is way better than I think I ever was) I would have been able to see a whole lot more of them, but my mom brought home the NORI virus from school and everyone except spent a couple of days vomiting, not pretty! My mom had to work a couple of days so I got to babysit my little sister Lauren, kids are a lot more work than I had thought. We celebrated Thanksgiving a little late so that I could be there, I taught Lauren how to spray the aerosol can whipping into her mouth, (a skill every sister must pass on) she thought it was one of the neatest things she'd ever seen...my mom wasn't as impressed.

Lauren had a Halloween Part and of course dressed as a Princess, pink is pretty much the only colour she'll wear.

Picking out a pumpkin really made it feel like Fall and Halloween we're coming.  I love it when it starts to a little cold outside, and everyone's cheeks and nose stat turn pink.  Lauren was only little kid at the pumpkin give away that could carry her big pumpkin all by herself.  Lauren was so excited to carve her pumpkin until she saw all the gunk inside of it.  She was very happy watching other people get dirty for her.

The AzDA threw a Halloween "Bash" for all the dental students at both schools in Phoenix.  It was fun to see everyone all dressed up.    We had to think up a last minute costume, Sis. Barry's costume collection definitely saved us.  We went as a "Cow Pie", we hay a little homage to Southern Alberta!

Grandma and Grandpa flew into Phoenix last week, we picked them up from the airport and went out for supper with them,  I was able to head down to see the other day.  It's that we have have some family down here now.

I finally scummed to Holly's peer pressure a bought a gym pass to LA Fitness.  I really like it, we've gone a ton already, we even tried a Latin dance workout class.  Definitely a unique experience and certainly provided an opportunity for lots of laughs.  Last night Todd and I went with Daric and Holly to the Phoenix Art Museum.  It's free on the first Friday of the month.  It was a lot of fun, and will maybe help us become a little more cultured.

Our Canadian Thanksgiving in America!

We feel more and more settled everyday in Arizona. We've both gotten into our routines and are findings our niches. With all this new found time on my hands I've been honing in on my "domestic-ness". Last week I made bread from scratch, without a mixer and everything. I watched a friend make it with her Bosch; kneading by hand is a completely different story. For my first attempt I think I did pretty well, it was edible and Todd said it tasted really good, but he might have been just being nice.

We also experienced a different kind of Thanksgiving. We hosted our very own Canadian Thanksgiving in America! It felt a little different wearing shorts to Thanksgiving dinner, but we had a ton of fun. We had a few couples over and ate potluck style. Everyone brought great food. Our dinner was complete with cranberry sauce in the shape of the can, in honor of grandpa.

As a special treat our friends wanted to serenade us in an "Ode to Canada" it's was quite the show!

A New Chapter...

Now that our big move is over and we've settled in to our new life in the sun, we wanted to have a way to keep everyone posted on our lives.  Todd is getting into the swing of things at school, and is doing really well.  Dental school is proving to be a lot of work but, but he enjoys it.  He's getting to do some really exciting things in the simulation clinic, and is learning a lot.  I have also been keeping busy, I might have found  a part time job which is nice, if nothing else it will give me something to do.  I have also started working out with some of the other wives in the ward, it's a lot of fun, and we've decided that we're going to run a half marathon in February.  Our ward is really great about having a lot of things to do.  About half the ward is students who don't have family nearby and so there are a ton of groups and activities to join.  Having all this spare time hasn't been all bad for me though, I've been able to read a few books, work on my tan and have a lot more fun in kitchen. We've also chosen golf as our new hobbie, now that we're retired from basketball and all!  It's ridiculously cheap here, probably because it so stinking hot, but we suck it up to save a buck.  We've been meeting so many new people, and the time is flying by.  It's hard to believe that we've already been here six weeks.  We absolutely love it so far!!