-Building Bridges... Only Not... -

05-30-09

Zach and I have spent the last couple of days building a deck at the new house. Who on earth knew that we could do that??? Or perhaps more accurately - who on earth knew that Zach could do that?!? Yesterday we stained the cedar boards and painted a bit. Today, Zach screwed all the boards onto the rafters, while I painted giant beams. Then I played with putty too. It was really fun. Now we know how to build our own house (in a million years) when the time comes!! Well, the deck at least!

- More Wedding Pictures -

These photos were taken by one of our photographers, Kittye Bowen - she's great!

- Weekend in Victoria -

05-25-09

Zach and I drove down island to Victoria this weekend. We went to finally get my passport renewed and decided to make a weekend out of it. We arrived Friday night, stopped by some old friends of mine, then went to bed. Saturday, we got up late, ate a wonderful breakfast that had been left out for us, and headed into town. In Victoria we walked around, saw the sights and had a good morning. By 2:00, we were pretty worn out - but we made one last stop at Island View Beach. We headed back to the old country house of the family friend with whom we were staying, watched the hockey game (Go Penguins!) and then napped.

We spent the evening relaxing there. Sunday, we went to my old family ward and then stopped by my old single's ward as well. It was nice to see so many old friends, but I think it was overwhelming for Zach to have to meet so many new people. It's still weird to have to introduce him as my "husband". I usually start laughing as I try to get it out, but I guess that will fade in time.

Today, we went downtown with Dad and dealt with passport stuff. We had to leave the office on two separate occasions: 1) to get my declaration of a lost passport notarized ($20 later), and then 2) after meeting with two people in the office and finishing all the required paper work, having to get new passport photos because there was a "shadow" on the ones I had. Whether or not it was a shadow or hair was questionable, but after a while, it was decided that I needed new ones. So another $20 and 20 minutes later, I was finally done. It was quite the process! We took Zach to China town and fed him Dim Sum (Chinese brunch). It was mostly entertaining to watch Zach eat questionable chinese food. We drove home (I napped) and then we had FHE. I've decided that we need more people in our family so that we each don't have to do 2-3 things as a part of FHE every week!! Anyways, that's all we've been up as of late!

- Good Ole Half-day's Work -

05-21-09
Today, we went to move more dirt. There wasn't too much to do, and our muscles were too sore to do it anyways, so we came home and napped. Then I cut all of my hair off. It feels so good, and light. We're excited for tomorrow because we're going to go down to Victoria. It'll be nice to feel like I'm at home again!

Here's Tuesday's rain. And what Zach does to occupy the down time offered by the rain.

May 19-20 2009

Sarah and I finally got started with work. We are helping her parents with their new house. Yesterday, the 19th, we pulled weeds so that we could spread spread soil in the backyard. Apparently somebody upstairs didn't like us doing that so they caused it to rain three hours into the work day so we had to quit. When we got home we played Settlers of Catan a couple of times, and Sarah beat me both times. I never stand a chance against her in that game anymore! Today, we must have woken up on the right side of the bed because it didn't rain and we got in an entire day of work. We finished up with the weeds and laid soil on about 1/3 of the yard. Before too long we are going to be starting on the actual house, so we'll see how that goes.

- Victoria Day -

05-18-09

Happy Victoria Day! This lovely Canadian Holiday wherein we celebrate our dear queen, we went to Nymph Falls and Comox Lake with Mum and Dad. It was nice out, and being next to the river makes us want to go tubing down it really badly. We decided this probably wouldn't be the best of places to start from. Tomorrow, we get to start working! We're heading over to the lot where Mum and Dad are building a new house to move dirt. I believe it's dirt even though I've been told countess times that it's not "dirt" - it's "soil". They sound about the same to me! We're also excited because this weekend most likely will bring a trip to the Victoria, in the southern tip of the island, a fun downtown and many friendly faces not seen for many months.





Considering the bears we've been somewhat prone to see, this trail was a little bit daunting... Bear Bait? Zach would make me walk up first!

- Sand Castles... -

05-16-09


Today, we spend the afternoon at Goose Spit (what a great name eh?) just east of Courtenay. We decided to build a sandcastle, even though it was a little less than warm. It was so fun, even though we're now suffering from residual sand between our toes and under our fingernails. It was funny to watch the other people walking on the beach with their thick coats on look at us and shake their heads at our shorts and t-shirts... Oh well, it was worth it!

- BEARS!!!!!! -

05-15-09

Today, we drove up to Mt. Washington (we only got lost 500 times)... but it was totally worth it because we saw a BEAR on the side of the road!!!
Zach named him "Smokey"... we love CANADA.

- Rain Forests and Waterfalls -

05-15-09

Yesterday, we drove back down the island to Little Qualicum Falls. We hiked around the river and saw some amazing water falls. Afterwards, we stopped by Coombs. There, a "Tourist Attraction" is: "Goats on the Roof"... we stopped by, and really, there was a goat on the roof! Pictures of that will come soon...



We stopped by Qualicum Beach. I taught Zach how to catch crab and find oysters... Then we headed home, ate dinner and taught mum and dad to play Settlers of Catan. That's about it for adventure #1.

- Adventures in CANADA! -

5-14-09

Zach, in our BACKYARD! The Puntledge River is really about 20 feet from the condo. We're going to go tubing down it when it warms up a bit!

Again, the River. Look at how green and pretty Courtenay is! We are so happy to be here!










I guess it's good to know right off the bat that I marrried a bum! This is Zach taking a nap outside the complex.

- One Busy Week and One Long Drive -

5-15-09

Zach and I arrived in Victoria on Tuesday morning after the longest drive of our lives. Because we're far from Utah and the good people of America, at BriAnna's suggestion, we decided to start a blog and share some of our adventures with you. Like I said, it's been a pretty busy week. My Mum and Dad, sister Leslie and brother-in-law Luke arrived in Thanksgiving Point last Monday. It was nice to see them again seeing as I haven't seen them since August... and Zach had yet to meet his soon to be in-laws. He'll deny this but I saw the fear in his eyes as we drove up to meet "the parents". Fortunately, he remembered everyone's names. We'd worked out a nice little game for remembering Dad's name. It's Blayne, which as it turns out, rhymes with "pain". Convenient eh? Anyways, we ate (lots) introduced them to Rockband and the Wee, and visited the Kennecott Copper Mine, and Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was fun, especially the children's garden where we could play and climb on things.


After all that, Saturday morning finally arrived. I woke up at 4:30 - like it was an important day or something. We went to the Pavilion and ate a delicious breakfast around family and friends. After breakfast, we went over to the Jenkin's house before the sealing. Harlee almost crawled, which was exciting. After a bit, Zach reminded me that we really ought to leave for the Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. I had told him beforehand that when we were kneeling at the altar across from one another I would either laugh or cry. I laughed the first time he kissed me, the first time he told me he loved me, and when we first talked about getting married too. It was pretty likely getting married would make me laugh too. In the car on the way over, I cried - overwhelmed - and decided maybe I would just cry and not laugh this time.



The sealing was beautiful. I loved it. I love being married! Afterwards, we took one million pictures, went to the Pavilion and took one million more (thanks to our amazing photographer, Kittye). The reception was fun... but long. I wasn't expecting my back to hurt so much from trying to stand up straight all day! Clearly I need to work on my posture a bit! It was good though, we even got to eat a bit! And then, just like that, we were married. It feels basically the same as before, only much much better and way more fun.


One of the highlights of the wedding day:

Thanks Brady - we particularly liked it when you jacked up Rosie (our car) so that we'd high center as we tried to drive away... also, it's empty cans - not full ones!!!

Monday we got ready to go and by the early afternoon, we were on the road headed north. We had to stop in SLC because Zach needed to get another birth certificate. Apparently when you apply for a passport they keep your birth certificate! Who knew? Well, you'd think we would have realized that he didn't get it back when we applied for his passport, but we didn't until three days before we wanted to leave! Thank goodness we could get one really fast. After a 30 minute stop, and $15, we were on our way.


Idaho was flat, and full of horsies... oh no... COWS. We got to Oregon around dusk. Thank goodness for beef jerky - I think it might be all the protein, but that stuff will keep you awake endlessly... Zach drove most of the way, I drove a bit. We drove through a blizzard in the Rocky Mountains of Washington which slowed us down a bit, but we didn't get lost - not even once!

It wasn't until about 4:00am that it really started to hit us. Rainy Washington seemed to go on forever and the border seemed like it was getting further and further away. There were no problems getting through the border and really before we knew it, we were on a FERRY headed to Duke Point, Nanaimo. Zach went crazy, and I laughed at him. ;)

Finally, we got to Mum and Dad's condo in Coutenay and we took a 6 hour nap. There are trees here, lots of trees and everything is green.