Vancouver Island

My parents took Jon and I to Vancouver Island for about four days. We had an awesome time exploring the tide pools, walking on the beach, looking a the big trees, and swimming in the waves. We saw bears and deer and a number of bald eagles. It was nice to be able to spend all that time alone with mom and dad before we moved away. If any of you haven't been out this way -- to the far Pacific coast -- you're missing out!

A Couple Days At Home With Friends

In between Edmonton and the next trip, we had a couple days in Abbotsford with friends, and with the dreaded job of packing all my stuff. Here's a picture of my friend Sebastian getting married to Kirti. Then there's Matt and Lale, friends I've spent a lot of time with over the past few months in Abbotsford.

Jasper National Park

Jon was out to visit again, and this time we drove out to see Heidi and Brady in Edmonton. They took some pictures on their camera while we were there but I don't have those yet. But here are some from Jasper on the drive home.

Grade 8 Sailing Trip

Why hello there! It's been a long time, I know. For those faithful few of you who still check out this blog, I will continue to update. Now you're going to get a whole swack of entries at once.

Here are pictures from the sailing trip I went on with one of the grade eight classes. It was such a great time and was so glad I was asked to go. I didn't get all that much sleep, but it was a fun couple days of work. I don't mind being paid to hang out on a sailboat, even if it is with a bunch of middle schoolers. They are a great group of kids.

San Juan Island

For the long weekend, Jon and I went to San Juan Island, a small island off the coast of Washington. We had great weather and a great time. It was the most time we have ever spent together -- three consecutive days without either of us needing to go to work. One of the highlights was seeing orcas right off the coast (closer than I've ever seen them!). Sorry - no good pictures...although in the one you can see just how close they were to the shore. It was cool cause they were breeching and spotting and slapping their tails. We were both in awe and felt so fortunate to be able to watch it together.

Another highlight was the absolutely perfect wiener I roasted. There's a picture of that for you, so you can all share in my delight.

But the biggest highlight was just being able to share one of my most favorite places in the world with my most favorite person. Awwwwww...... (gag).

Pics of me and Jonny for the Classiest Clockster of All

That title is an order from someone I know -- not exactly MY word choice. :)

Intermission

Hi folks. Here is a picture of Stephen. I'm posting the picture for two reasons:
1. Because he's so darn cute and I love him to death.
2. Because I feel stupid that my next batch of pictures are of me and Jon.....again. It's been two freaking months and I haven't taken any other pictures, but now that he came to visit again, I have more to show. That's kinda lame.
So, thankyou Yella for standing in as an intermission to all this mushy love stuff.

Back to Michigan

After our 5 days in Edmonton and the drive back home, I flew out to Michigan again to see Jon. We met his family in downtown Chicago over the weekend, and spent the rest of the week up in Ann Arbor where he goes to school. We had a great week, even though Jon was busy with work and school. Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures this time. This is the best one and it's not very good. Obviously. Oh well. And here is Wendy, my friend from Calvin who lives in Grand Rapids. I went to see her for a day, too.

Edmonton

My sister, Heidi and her husband live in Edmonton. To tell you the truth, we didn't do all that much. A LOT of our time was spent watching the whole first season of Arrested Development. For those of you who have never seen it, you're missing out.

We went to West Edmonton Mall, to U of A hospital, and to Heidi's aqua fit classes (Amanda and I were pros). Brady's grade nine girls basketball team was in the finals so we went to two of his games which actually were some of the most nerve-wracking basketball games I've ever watched. We got totally into it. And also had fun with the pompoms.









Another highlight was when we made marshmallow treats -- marshmallows dipped in caramel and condensed milk then covered with rice krispies. Of course we ate tons of them while watching A.D. and then all felt sick.

Jasper National Park

For the first part of Spring Break, my friend Amanda and I drove to Edmonton. It's about a 12 hour drive from Abbotsford, and we get to drive through Jasper. We had amazing weather for the trip, so the view was gorgeous. Here are a bunch of pictures from the drive. (pardon me, I love mountains...I couldn't choose just a couple to post cause they're all so pretty).

Beauty and the Burn

Just last week Jon came out to visit me here in Abbotsford, BC. So here are pictures of us...and more of us... as we explore around the Fraser Valley. Good times. Soon I'm headed out to Edmonton with my friend Amanda to visit my sister. Then, in a couple weeks I'll be back out in Michigan to spend more time Jon. Sometimes I call Jon "Burn" because he has a wicked bad burn scar on his hand. No, really...you should ask him about it. Maybe he'll let you see it sometime. Anyhow, if before you got sick of the baby pictures...you can now expect the excitement of seeing photos of Burn and I over and over again.

Seattle

One Saturday I drove down to Seattle to meet some friends for the afternoon. This is Mt. Baker -- I climbed this sucker last summer. Hope to do it again in June.



My friends are Sara and Jenn...two of the midwives I met while in the Philippines. It was so great to see them for the day. Even though time was short, it was well worth it to get caught up and to talk about the stuff I have become so passionate about!

Falling into place

From St. Louis, my friend Jonathan and I took the train to Chicago, and then to AnnArbor, where he lives. I stayed there for a week with him....and by the end of the trip our "status" had changed. Surprise, surprise. Things took off pretty quickly since we've been friends for over six years. We met in college, and he came to teach in Korea at the same school I worked at. So there are a lot of stories to tell. But I'll save my ammo for later.

Erika's Wedding

Okay, okay...I didn't know so many of you were still checking this thing. So here are some updates.

First, in January I went to St. Louis for my best friend Erika's wedding. She married Zach, who is fabulous. It was great to meet him for the first time after hearing so much about him.

And, as always, it was great to hang out with Erika and be there to see her so happy.

Congratulations guys! I love you!!!