Our vacation...

I have been a bad blogger lately, I meant to write this post last week, but things just got in the way.

Anyways, three weeks ago we went to Calgary to see Dolores, Shawn and Jinx. It was GREAT to see them again, we've missed them tons.

We spent tons of time catching up, talking about our respective adoptions (yawn) and playing with the ever-adorable Jinx. Oh my dawg is that a gorgeous dog! She's really playful and loves to lick faces and chew fingers (I still have the marks). ;)


Our first full day we went to the Calgary Zoo and walked for a good few hours. We went to just about all the exhibits and saw the turkey enclosure. Yes, they have a section devoted to turkeys. Anyways, as we walked up to the turkeys, I saw a really fat one and called it "cranberry" and it started gobbling at me. Josh and I burst out laughing and I called it cranberry again, and this time Josh got a picture of it in mid-gobble. Too funny.

We had a really great bbq with Shawn, Dolores and her sister (I), brother-in-law (M) and their super-cute nephews (L & J). He was playing Wii Music and we heard his three-part song called "Poop". HA!

On Thursday we went to an *awesome* Ethiopian restaurant called Marathon. Josh and I have been drooling over the thought of being back there, every since we went to the restaurant in 2002. It's THAT good.


On Friday we went to Drumheller and walked around and stared at the hoodoos. If you're wondering what a hoodoo is, this is what it is. By the way, yes this picture is straight...

When we came back from our day out, we 'celebrated' our LIDiversary with amazing cupcakes and a great wine. We had to peel Shawn off the cupcakes. ;)

Josh had done some research and found that there was a wine from Maui, that was sold in Calgary, made from pineapples. It was incredible!

On Saturday, the five of us (Jinx included) made our way up to Banff and Sulphur Mountain after her training lessons. To get up to the top of Sulphur Mountain, we had to go on a gondola. The ride up was a bit rickety, and I don't know who was more scared...Dolores or Jinx. ;)

I'll just leave you with some of the spectacular shots from that day...

Afterwards we went back to Banff for dinner and ate outside since the weather was so nice. Well, the weather went to hell in a handcart by the end of the meal. We had a very intense storm blow in out of nowhere. The wind was so fierce that the umbrellas on the tables were toppling over...not fun. Poor Jinx, she was sitting with us, but Dolores didn't want her to get wet, so she covered Jinx with a towel. It was SO cute.


































































Sunday we went to Lake Louise and walked to the end of one side of the lake (it took a good hour or more). The scenery was incredible! The lake is SUCH a blue, it's unbelievable. We had a great time, walking and talking...

After visiting Lake Louise, we took a little side trip to Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks. If you look at an old $20 bill, there's a picture of the valley on the back of it.










While we were at Moraine Lake, we went into a little shop and I found this necklace...how could I pass on it?

All in all we had a fantastic time with Dolores, Shawn (and Jinx). We can't thank you enough for the amazing time we had, and we miss you already.

Cutest puppy...EVER

I've been terrible at blogging lately, lots of stuff is going on, and I can't believe we've been home more than a week and I haven't updated about our trip to see Dolores, Shawn and Jinx. I suck.

I'm going to write a post this weekend about our trip, but for now, I'll sate you with some pictures of their SWEET puppy, Jinx.

Every morning when Josh and I would go downstairs for breakfast or come in after being out for the day, we would be greeted by this cute face and be licked (nearly) to death. She has a fantastic temperament and loves getting her belly rubbed...almost as much as she loved using my arm for a chew toy. ;)

I love that pup, I was trying to figure out a way to sneak her into our luggage when we left. I have a feeling that Jinx felt the same way, because as we were packing, she reached into my suitcase and ran downstairs with my umbrella in her teeth...

Happy 40th birthday, Josh!

A couple of weeks ago I had a surprise birthday party for Josh - it had been in the works for a couple of months (and even I was surprised how well it went). He didn't suspect a thing.

Way back in April I decided to put this party together and I emailed some friends, and I surreptitiously went through Josh's personal email list and invited some of his past co-workers and friends. Sneaky, aren't I?

Anyways, I told Josh that I was having a 'candle party' on June 7th (for those of you who don't know what a candle party is...think of a tupperware party, except with candles). I told him that it was women only and that he needed to be out of the house.

I was in contact with his best friend, D, (via email and phone - when Josh wasn't around) to try to devise a way to get Josh out of the house for a few hours, while I set everything up and got everyone into the house. I told D that I wanted him to pick up Josh, since I didn't want Josh to have access to the car and come home early. Dtold Josh that he had to take his mom out grocery shopping on Sunday morning and that since he was in the area, he would just pick him up.

D, who had laser eye surgery a couple days before the party, told Josh that he wanted his advice on new sunglasses and proceeded to take him around to a few stores to burn up some time. He even coerced Josh into taking his dog for a walk to waste more time.

His friend ended up calling me at one point (pretending that he was calling his mom) - he obviously couldn't tell Josh he was calling me. I also told Josh to call me before he was ready to come home because I needed him to pick up a few things for the 'candle party' (more coffee and milk).

Anyways, he eventually came home at about 1:45, everyone was in the house, and I had an old co-worker of his, B, open the door. He hadn't seen this guy in a couple of years (and he lives 2.5 hours away) so it was quite the shock when Josh eventually walked into the house. B, decided it would be funny when Josh unlocked the door, that he would press his shoulder into it, thereby not letting Josh into his house. Josh, at first thought the door was broken and he was kind of getting annoyed. When B finally let him into the house, Josh (in shock) saw him and said "B, what are you doing at a candle party?!"

He looked around the room and saw his friends and family and was in complete shock...to the point that he literally couldn't speak for about five minutes.

I can't believe how well it all turned out. Josh is probably one of the hardest people to fool!

Thanks to everyone who were able to attend, you really made the day extra-special. :)

A special thank you to Kaileigh and Sienna for Josh's special birthday hat. He really does love it. ;)

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

33 months...

Today we celebrated our 33rd month LIDiversary and what better way to do so than with GREAT friends and tasty treats. :)

I can't wait until the day when we stop 'celebrating' these LIDiversaries and have our children home to enjoy special days instead.

Leaving on a jet plane...

...to spend time with them!

Check this out...

This and that...

If you remember this post, you'll remember that we recently got some new windows in the house. After the installers left, I noticed that there was a piece of plastic that appears to be lodged between the two panes. It's nothing major and it doesn't affect the functionality of the window, but it's a bit of an eyesore...at least to me.

I had Josh call the company to discuss it and they eventually called back last week that they would send someone out this week. It all seems so straightforward, right?

This morning I got a call from the window manufacturer and he said that he would be in the area this evening and wanted to take a look at it. He asked me where the piece of plastic is and I told him where. He asked how big it was, and again, I told him. He then asked me to go to the window, stand about ten feet back and tell him if I notice the mark. I told him I did.

He then went on to say that because of its location "industry standards allow for debris to be in the window as long as it is not in your line of sight." (Excuse me while I call "bullshit" on that).

I told him that while I appreciate that, I ordered the windows to be free of defects and wanted to know what they would do about it. He said he'd take a look this evening and let me know.

He arrived around 7:15 and took a look at it and noticed the mark right away. He stood back his magical ten feet and still saw it. He said that they could bring the installers back, pop out the window and install a new one at no charge. While I want to do that, I'm just afraid that once the seal is broken, the window won't be as effective (we got them filled with argon gas). I asked him if he could do something with the price, but since he's the manufacturer and not the company that sold it to us, he couldn't. Hey, I had to try. ;)

I said that we'd think about changing the glass, but I think we're going to let sleeping dogs lie. He noticed that the windows were not cleaned properly, and I asked him that if we didn't do anything about the glass, could they send someone out and properly clean the windows. He told me that "installers aren't responsible for that...and anyways, no man can clean glass as well as a woman." Ques'que fuck!? Ex-squeeze me? How freaking sexist is that? I shot him such a look and he then said "Oh, I didn't mean anything by it." Yeah right, buddy...

The day wasn't an entire washout (no pun intended), we had our eaves trough and downspouts cleaned. FUN! The guys went up on our roof and they noticed that we lost a rather large piece of shingle (about three feet) and that there was plywood showing. They told me that they would replace it for FREE! Woo hoo! How awesome is that? I'd link to the company, but unfortunately they don't have a website...but if anyone needs a good roofing/eaves trough cleaning company, just ask. :)