Our Furniture

I have been getting flack for not posting the pics of our house with our new furniture in it - so here they are!

This is katie's room - she has the nicest flooring and the best view too! Her closet is to the left of where she's standing and is pretty big with shelves on one side.

I traded her dressers as this one doesnt fit in our room - it was grandma's and is very nice.

Here is the family room - the sectional just barely fits but it is sooooo comfy so it has to stay!

The lights are on dimmers which makes it pretty cosy at night. We are using the coffee table as a tv stand until we can buy a new one as our old one was from 1970 something...

The living room looks really good now - the couches are awesome and I put up the pictures that I had framed originally for our bedroom in Penticton.

The black recliner was supposed to go in the family room with the sectional but it didnt fit - and we needed another chair in the living room, so... voila! I really like the bay window and used shannon's advice and pulled the couch away from the wall about a foot or two - Rob thinks I wont be able to rearrange with the layout ... you'd think he would know better after 12 years of living with me! I can rearrange anything lol!

The front entry is to the left of where I am standing to take this picture - there is a wall behind the black chair that separates it from the living room

The dining room set looks really good in the house and I love the big china cabinet - dont know where I had all the stuff before but it is full! too much stuff!

I am standing in the living room to take this shot - right infront of the black chair. there is an entrance to the kitchen from the dinning room on the right. I think the french doors will be nice in the summer, too damn cold to use them now!!!

Well, thats a few shots to give you an idea of the house with furniture - its pretty neat to have new stuff - we have wanted to go buy new things for a long time and it was great to be able to get it for the new house. It is feeling prett homey now and starting to get a bit organized... im sure it will take me a few months to get stuff where I want it all. As long as I can find most stuff I will survive.

Miss everyone, we are really happy up here - even though it was minus freaken 25 today... yup you read that right and that's without wind chill! needless to say we didnt stay out long, and my truck was running most of the afternoon - I am slowly getting used to that, but otherwise I dont know if if would start! Well gotta run, take care guys, talk to y'all soon

Happy Birthday Emily!

My beautiful niece is two today. She is the most incredible little girl - I had Emi for four days just before we moved to give Corey and Ashley a bit of a break (she is expecting again) and so we could spend time with her before we left. Wow, she is bright - can say abc's to the letter E, and sing "baa baa sheep"! Did I mention she's two? Just like my little sister, she is spirited and knows what she wants, why she wants it, how she wants it, when she wants it... you know the story! lol. We had a great time with her and really miss her. Katie loves to help look after her cousin Emi, and I was happy to get some pretty awsome pics of the two of them.

Ashley and Corey you guys have done an excellent job with your daughter, she is trully a nice little girl, and she's gorgeous too! I know its been trying at times because she is so strong willed but keep up the work, you are doing it right. I cant wait to meet the ambitious, confident and amazing woman you are raising. I am so glad for you guys to have been able to buy a house with a yard - the two weeks of waiting will seem like ages likely but then it will be great and Emi will love the yard and play set I know.

Can you believe this was almost two years ago? What adorable cousins.

Katie was so excited that Emily is getting old enough to actually play with her, they had such a good time, when they werent fighting... I couldnt believe that in only four days they got into the "sibbling" rivalry stuff - it was pretty funny, when it wasnt making me crazy!

Emi - happy birthday my love. I hope you have a very exciting year as a two year old. You are a great little girl and aunty loves you very much. Your cousin Katie misses you and cant wait to see you at Christmas.

ps. Ashley I havent been organized enough to get a present for her and get it sent but I would like to get her something special so I will bring something at Christmas. Kiss Emi for us

One Week Later...

Rob pointed out this morning that we have been here for one week today! Seems longer than that cause its been so busy what with Katie starting school and dance, setting up the house and all that. I am pleased to say I really do like it here, the snow is great, the cold sucks but is managable with enough clothes! One afternoon walking Katie home from school was really nasty but other than thats its been ok. I cant get over all the young people here - just got back from safeway and I'm sure 70% of the customers were my age and the rest were in thier 50's. Lots of babies too - yeah I know y'all are cheering hoping I'll get baby fever! lol.
Some good things: people are very friendly; the moms in the boot room waiting for school pick up are awesome - most seem alot like us; driving in the snow is a blast!!!; our house and neighborhood rock - the street is quiet!!! ; the cultural center looks great, has a big theater and a crafts department with lots of childrens programs.
Some wierd things; leaving your vehicle running all the time - as soon as it hits -15 cars are running everywhere - grocery store lot, school etc, just locked with the spare key - there must not be alot of vehicle theft here; wearing socks in places - alot of businesses have boot racks at the door and then you just wear your socks!!
Some crappy things; missing all you guys... no tea with gran, no hot tub at nana's, no sushi and salty's with janet, no coffee with Shannon, no appy parties with our gang... the list goes on; the customer service is often poor - clerks are not freindly like at home and places are so short staffed it takes much longer than I am used to for service
but... there is a scrapbook store, a nick knack store like willowbrook lane and a starbucks (yup Shannon I found one inside safeway!) so its all good :).
one thing i could use advice on is the heat in our house - we have never had a split level with bedrooms upstairs and cant figure out how to keep the main level warm enough without cooking the upstairs... i tried opening all the windows up but cold air drops so all it did was cool down the main floor and then trigger the furnace which then heated the upstairs some more! Kelly did you have this problem in Drumheller?
anyways, we have company for dinner (one of the guys from Robs work) so i should go and be social... I will still post some pics of the furniture in the next few days.

Snow... and more snow!

Wow what an introduction to northern winter - it has snowed almost every day since we got here! The snow in the backyard today was over my knees!!!! Its great fun to drive in, looks really pretty, but is not so great to shovel... a word of advice : when buying a home up north look for the smallest driveway available!! lol. We may be buying a snow blade for the front of our quad before the winter is out - Rob always wanted a ride on mower...














Katie is adjusting well to school here, I am enormously pleased with her class - it is so calm compared to the one back home - I know its just the luck of the draw as to what kind of kids are in the class, but there were several behavior issue children in the last class and it was very hectic. Here they are all so quiet, no one hitting or pushing! They go outside for "recess" 4 days a week which I like for the exercise part but she is not crazy about cause its cold. She started Jazz this week and will start ballet and sparks next week. She has been adjusting fairly well, but has complained of tummy pains a couple times which I think are a bit of nerves. She says she misses, Nana and Papa and Gran and uncle Ross but she does love our new home and loves seeing daddy and vayda!

Rob is back to work - long hours this last two days but he was so happy to have a house with his family and home cooked food tonight instead of a lonely motel and restaurant.

Jolanda and I got a short visit yesterday and today but its been pretty hectic this week - next week we are planning to go the gym together and put Tessa and Katie in the childminding room for an hour while we work out and yak!!!


Here are a few pics of the house from the outside and all the snow (for you Ross).

pics of the house

oops - lost the pics in my post again - here they are

Our New Home in Ft St John

So we are finally moved... all the reno's to the Penticton house were finished just in the nick of time, we listed it and sold a week later!! wow - what a busy time that was. Our relator and my good friend Shannon did a fantastic job. We arrived in Fort St John on Sunday night and got the keys to our new house, it is beautiful - Rob did a great ob picking it out (I hadnt seen it in person, only pictures and lots of phone calls). We are still waiting for our furniture to arrive however... the truck blew a tire in Cash creek and they ended up a day and a half behind. Should be in tonight though... sleeping on the floor and living without any of our stuff has been fun but our hips arnt 20 any more and we really need some couches to sit on!
Here are a few pics of the house - it is a 4 level split with attached double garage and fenced back yard, awesome! Upstairs is 3 bedrooms, our ensuite and "Katie's bathroom" which she was so excited about! lol. the main floor has living rm, dining rm and kitchen then two steps down to familyroom, computer room and bathroom. The basement is unfinished and will be mostly storage for all our crap - which despite thinning out we still seem to have so much of!
The weather has been pretty good - so far the cold is actually not as bad as I was expecting - mits, boots and good coats and we have been nice and warm. People leave thier cars running alot here which seems weird, but helps as they dont like to start in the cold.
Hope everyone is well and I will post some more pics with our furniture and the outside soon