Our Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we had a list the length of our arms of things that we wanted to get done this weekend, and it poured with rain on Saturday. So very spur of the moment we hopped in the car and headed home for the day as Emily has a dance recital and a choir concert both on Saturday. It was worth the drive to see her do so well in both of these events. We are proud of you Emily! Good work, especially with the Cowboy song! You were the best! Here are some photos from Emily's events this weekend.

Emily and Nana after the dance recital.

Emily the one in the pink, at the back.
Emily, the middle "cowboy".

Here are some photos of the rest of the kids.

Little Miss Jillian had fallen asleep while sorting laundry.

Matthew and Uncle Ryan at Emily's concert.

We came home that after the concert on Saturday night. And, we did get some of our chores done this weekend. The largest one being that we planted a vegetable garden. We are hopeful for some splendor of our own produce. We planted sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, peas, beans, pumpkin, and a selection of herbs. It was a lot of fun planting, now we just have to keep the critters out. I planted some Geraniums as Granny told us that rabbits do not like Geraniums and should keep them out. We also put up a small fence around it, so keep your fingers crossed.

We also did other yard jobs, put out mulch, trimmed some hedges and shrubs, as well as saved some time for the hammock. It was so nice yesterday and we spent some time just hanging in the shade.

All in all, it was a great memorial day weekend. I think we enjoyed each other's company more then anything and had some time to relax and enjoy the weather yesterday.

"Where's Kelly?"

Like "Where's Waldo", you all must have been wondering "Where's Kelly?" If I had been that character in those "search and find" children books I would probably have many activities in which you would find me. You would all be thinking that we did pack up and leave for Australia, which by the way, we aren't going.

First of all, I was sick. I thought I was getting better and went home for Jillian's baptism and got sick again after the baptism. I went to the doctor on that following Monday to find out that I was fighting off a pretty severe gastroenteritis. My blood work was pretty strange looking, but normal for a virus. I was also pretty dehydrated, which I knew. I am now feeling much better. However, I did burn two days of my combined time off due to my sickness, which is a bummer.

When I was home, I got to see some of my girlfriends from high school which was so nice. It was great to see you all and catch up. It is great that we can start off where we left off. Thanks for the great night.

My Dad is recovering from his surgery, and now we are preparing for my mom's surgery. She is having a thyroidectomy on Thursday, so again keep her in your thoughts.

The weather here has been beautiful. We have had sunshine and high temperatures above 85. So, as you all know that means it is planting season. I went off to Bordine's Nursery on Tuesday morning and bought about 75 dollars worth of plants. Luckily I had a gift certificate from the Hospital for nurses week. Then I headed over to my local Telly's and bought another 50 dollars worth. Luckily again, I had a gift card from Uncle Paul that I hadn't entirely used. I started planting and enjoying the sunshine. I did not get finished that day and with one more trip to the nursery and another 100 dollars later, I spent yesterday finishing my plants. We still have to work on planting some shrubs and hostas that I bought. As well, we are going to attempt a Vegetable garden. I don't know who successful we are going to be at that but we are going to give it a try. Unfortunately, we have a lot of shade in our yard, so that may be a down fall to our attempt, but we will see.

I can't explain how invigorating it is to work outside. I absolutely love to be outside with my hands in the dirt and the wind in my hair. Maybe it is all the years that I worked at the Strawberry and Vegetable farm. Those days were a lot of fun as well as a lot of hard work. It has made me appreciate the beauty of nature as well as the bounty of nature. Anyways, here are some photos of some of my plantings.

Happy Memorial weekend to everyone.

Update

Well, I have been absent from the blogging world for the last week and a bit, and I really don't have anything new and exciting to share.

The weather has been starting to warm up which has been tempting me away from the indoors and my blogging. I have been outside pulling weeds, preparing my roses for a new season, getting my flower beds ready for this season and just generally enjoying the warmth of the sunshine. I was outside just a couple of minutes ago just sitting out reading my latest library book.

We had a great Cinco de Mayo this last Saturday. Tyler and Claire came to visit us and we enjoyed their company with some Mexican flavors. I made an Chicken Enchilada Casserole and Claire and I made some different salsas. It was nice just to catch up with them.

My sister's family was here yesterday as they were on their way home from their vacation at Disney in Florida. They had a fabulous time and it was great to see them. Unfortunately Matthew and Jillian did get sick on their last day at Disney making for a long ride home. But it was great to spend yesterday with them.

We are going home this weekend for Mother's Day/Jillian's Baptism/my Dad is joining the church. I am looking forward to seeing some of my high school friends as we are going out to eat on Saturday night.

My father is going in for surgery on Thursday for another TURP, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Anyways, that is a quick update as to what I have been up to. Hope all is well with you all, and don't forget to enjoy the sunshine!

In Memory of my friend

It was a year ago tomorrow that my childhood pet, Ginger passed away. She was one of the best friend's that I ever had. She was with me in good times and in bad. When I was sick she would sit by my side. She was a good pet. She was a beautiful cat and I think of her often. We miss you Ginger!

Australian Bound??

What would you do if your hubby had an opportunity to work in Australia for a period of either 3 months, 6 months, or 2 years?? On Monday, Ryan's work group was introduced to this idea that the Australian office is in desperate need of some help. Our interest has been intrigued and now we are just waiting to find out if he will be asked to go or not. There is quite a few that have a interest so it may not even come to Ryan being asked.

It is a scary thing to think that we could be moving away from here, and very far away from home. When I said to my mom that we could be moving she said, "I hope closer to home." I responded by saying, "actually it would be about 22 hours further away from home, by air" Yikes! We are so lucky right now to be close to family, and family is a big deal to both Ryan and I. So that would be a huge change. And yikes, to think of the phone bills!!

I really think that this would be a good change for Ryan. So I would want him to go. However, this could mean that we would be separated for some time and that would suck. I mean we lived through the summers apart in university, but we always got to see each other either every weekend or every other weekend. If he was to go for 3 or 6 months, I would try to go out for some length of time, but I highly doubt that work would hold my job for me, and then you have to think if risking my job is worth me even going over. Ryan says he does not want to go and leave me behind. It is all so confusing. Then if he got offered to go over for 2 years, that would mean selling the house, selling the cars, and putting all of our furniture into storage back in Canada. A lot of work, but maybe that would be easier in the long run because I wouldn't have to worry about my job. We also have no kids at this time and no pets. So that would make it easy.

We have always wanted to go to Australia, but we figured it would be for a vacation, not as a new residency/ work reasons. As well, Ryan would be starting work by the end of May, at the latest June 1st. Any advice? If anything, it would make for great blog-tales.

Congratulations Ryan

Ryan finally got good news yesterday; he got a promotion. Ryan is now a Senior Consultant.
I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard, and has been patiently waiting for this reward.
This came at the best time, as he was honestly feeling a bit unrecognized and under appreciated. This has given him a good boost for his morale and confidence. Well, yesterday I took him out to celebrate to Pizza Hut. Congratulations Ry, I am so proud of you!

Two Ducks out for a walk

Here is a photo of the two mallard ducks that were out for a stroll yesterday in our backyard. I saw a pair, a male and a female sleeping on our lawn on Monday morning when I left for work.