Pictures in the coulees

It's been a while...

It has been 6 months since I have blogged!! We are still alive and well and both very busy with school in Edmonton. Tim is loving his Aviation Engineering program at NAIT and I am loving student teaching at U of A. Last semester I did my first practicum at Bisset School and absolutely loved it! The kids were wonderful and I had a blast and learned a ton! This semester I am finishing up my courses and in the Fall I do my last practicum and I'll be done in December. It's been a long hall and I'll be very grateful when I'm done. Tim has found the perfect fit and is loving learning about airplanes. He is very natural at it and it suites him so well. He is finished next April. We are both very busy but are enjoying school.

Besides school, I'm keeping busy teaching voice lessons and doing primary in our ward. I love primary it's the best place to be and the kids make me laugh every week. Today I had a boy come up to me and ask "Sister Whidden, what are we learning about in Sharing Time today?" haha it's good to know that at least some kids listen and look forward to sharing time. Tim is the 11-year-old scout leader and he is also in Nursery. That definitely keeps him busy.

We spent Christmas with my family in Coaldale and went to Montana to spend a few days snowboarding. Tim got a snowboard for Christmas and has definitely got it down pat now. We are planning to go again over reading week. Tim got me a very nice camera that I'm going to need to learn to use...I want to take a class so I know what I'm doing. My camera hasn't been working for over a year, so I'm glad we'll be able to take pictures again!

Other than that, we are just laughing hysterically at Ruby who is the funniest dog. She's very...'enthusiastic' and loves everyone. She would go home with anyone! She has definitely made our house messier and our lives crazier, but we love her. She is currently scratching me with her paw because she wants me to rub her belly! Brat.

Here are some fairly recent pics:

His response to "smile for the camera"

Ruby

Tim getting his board all suited up.

Tim was pretty excited...

Such a lovely smile he has.

On the way to the hill, a rather eventful trip.

Ruby takes really good care of her teeth.

Christmas with the Lows

Such a good chef. His lasagna is to die for!

Homeworking.

The girls came to visit us for the weekend and Marin let me do her hair. A miracle!!

Ellie's christmas present from Ruby...runners. Too bad she couldn't walk in them, let alone run. Still worth it. All $7 just for this picture.

Renos almost done!

So for the past year or so we've had a few renos done on the house. It has not been constant but a few things here and there throughout the year. Our bathroom is just about finished and then we will be done! I've very excited to finally have it all completed! Here are some pictures of our house, I guess you could say the "After" shots...

Main area

Did I mention that I like red?

We eat in Paris every day

Our awesome storage room! I love extra space

Here is the area that we share with the upstairs for laundry

Our room

Bathroom. New tub, tile, paint, and soon a new counter!

Guest Room/Study

Our desks..

I love organization.

Laminate stairs with Ruby on the top.

New bathroom floor. Ruby loves rugs.

See?

Puppy face, I love it.

Ruby photo shoot

And the licking begins...

Oh boy she won't sit still...

There we go finally a decent one!

Summer has come and passed....

Wow! It's truly crazy to think that summer is already over! So much has gone on that I don't even know where to begin!

Dallin (my big brother) and Katie got married on July 31, 2010. It was a wonderful day and they looked awesome and happy!

I love this shot!

The Groom

The Bride

I love the canola field. It totally matches the colors!

Cute bridesmaids wearing very cute colours.

Bryanne and I doing the footpop

My family plus my mom's side.

The reception was in my parent's backyard. There were tents with pretty lights and it looked dreamy inside!

There was also a dance floor in the middle which was so awesome and fun!

Tim ended up MC-ing! He did an awesome job and looked pretty hot up there, I have to say.

My dad thought he was pretty cool with his "perfectly matching tie"

The cake came together nicely which I was very nervous about. I thought for sure it was gonna topple over or something, but it didn't and Katie loved it so I was happy. On the top I put the doves that my Grandma kept from my parent's wedding cake which was a little sentimental touch.

My Grandma and my Auntie Shari by the awesome candy table!

My sisters and I sang "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson which is a great song about loving someone just the way they are. My cousin Jonny is playing for us and my cousin Megan played the bongo drums.

The love birds by the arch-way that my mom's gay gardener friend decorated, no joke, it was hilarious.

The very next day after the wedding my family, Tim and I went down to ECHO Lake my favorite place to go in the summer!

Echo lake in the evening...best time for a slalom ski.

Jumping in the lake after our run...

My favorite thing....wake surfing! I could do this for hours.

A few weeks later we went down to Southern Alberta, yet again, for the Low Family Reunion at Payne Lake near Waterton. I spent tons of time in Waterton with my cousins as a kid and it was just like old times!

A few of us hiked Bear's Hump. Killer view.

The group of us who hiked.

The view from the top. Waterton town site. I love this place.

Tim, Ruby and I walking along the lake.

Playing Texas Hold 'Em at the cabin using left-over wedding gummy bears as chips. No biggy.

My Dad and my uncle George playing their bag pipes to honor our Scottish heritage. They were so good! I think my Mom is happy he's done practicing though! Those things are loud! Don't they look awesome?

My Grandpa Low giving us a lesson on how to make RootBeer relating it to how to build a family. It was so cute.

LOVE these three...

My Grandpa and Grandma cutting their 60th Wedding Anniversary cake my cousin Christy and I made for them. Soo cute.

Now we are back in Edmonton and Tim is in school. I'm enjoying some relaxing and getting ready time before school starts for me next week. I am going to miss summer very much, but am so happy that's it's been a great one. It's always nice to get back into a routine and to have a new fresh start. I'm doing one of my practicums this semester for school and am very excited to start. However, I am not excited about the weather getting cold and ugly again. I love sunshine and flowers. I love the smell of freshly cut grass, the barbeque and sunscreen. I love looking out on the lake at sunset and seeing the calm beautiful, peaceful lake. I love blasting the music on the boat while we go surfing. I love going for bike rides with Tim. I love Ruby doing laps in our back yard. I love weeding my flowers while Tim mow's the lawn and then admiring our work afterwards. I love going for runs on a summer morning. I love pitching my tent with my husband. I love everything about Summer. I'm going to miss it.

But I also am very excited for the fall....