proud

Derek and I are proud to announce our new little babe! The Canon PowerShot SD 900. 10 Mega Pixels, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch screen! This was a gift from Derek's dad for completing his Master's degree and it is our new pride and joy. Derek has scoured the manual and learned about all the cool features and everything we can do with this little hand held camera. As you know, we are always pictures. In fact, we were out last week and someone asked my friend Shannon if she brought her camera with her, she pointed and me and said "yep!". Since we don't want to miss out or forget anything, the camera is a big part of our life. And this one is amazing and fits in the palm of your hand.

Derek went out for a photo shoot yesterday...so you can see his handy work and the amazing pics our new camera can take.

Shelley's Birthday!

This week we celebrated my good friend, Shelley's, birthday. I was thoroughly disappointed when Shelley told me a few weeks back that she didn't want to do anything for her birthday but just be mellow and not make a big deal of it. I personally love birthdays and everything about them so this statement from Shelley did not sit well with me. Knowing me all too well, Shelley's husband, Levi, contacted me right away to see what we were going to do for Shelley for her birthday without her knowing. Ah ha! We began to scheme and I asked Shelley if we could go out on a double date for her birthday so that she can have some sort of celebration and make her feel special. She agreed and thought this sounded just right for her. Little did she know that I also invited ALL of friends to come out to dinner as well and celebrate our friend and make her feel special. If I do say so myself, it was quite successful and she had NO idea. Besides a little redness in the face and hitting Levi in the arm when she saw us all, I would say that she was quite satisfied with her birthday party.

Amber and Shelley

drinking Bellini's!

Me and Shelley - silly friends

friends, friends and more friends...

And a goofy one of Derek and I, just for fun!

blockhead

Saturday night we went over to Tim & Jenn's house for dinner. After a fantastic bbq meal and hanging out for a while they wanted to show us this game that they absolutely love. It is called Blockhead and one of Tim's friends from Northern Ireland got them this for their wedding.

It's like reverse Jenga but much more fun!
It's quite intenseAnd it sure did a number on my nerves but I did come in second place thank you very much!Thanks Jenn & Tim!

Cinco De Mayo!

Saturday was CINCO DE MAYO!!! And what better way to celebrate than to have some friends over to drink Coronas and eat chips and salsa!?! So that is exactly what we did. It was a blast just hanging out with the pals...

We all had our own strategy of trying to get the lime immersed in the beer

No night is complete without a game of Catch Phrase

and of course a pic of girls drinking beer :)

*we miss you, Reimers

one step forward

Last weekend I threw an "end of degree" party for Derek. Because he was just shy of completing requirements in time for the Regent Grad and because we probably won't be here next year to participate in graduation, I thought this would be a fun and neccesary event. We had a lot of our family in from out of town and almost all our local friends joined us as we ate good food, spent time together, played a little trivia game and reminisced with a slideshow on what the past 3 years here have held for us. Though we still have some months until we actually leave Vancouver, it was a nice little step forward. Derek just has a couple things to finish up this summer but for the most part our time at Regent has almost come to an end. We have bitter sweet feelings about it all as we have had an amazing time in Vancouver and will always remember our time here but also so excited about whatever God has for us in the near future (i'll let you know once we know!). Enjoy the pics from the weekend with the fam as well as some from the party.

Derek's "end of degree" party/weekend (April 27-29)

See you later dear friends

About a week ago, we had to say goodbye to some very close and dear friends: Jess, Jeff and Charlie. They are the first in our close "group" of friends to leave and it was not easy to say goodbye, or should I say "see you later" cause we will see them again. Jeff got a job with IVP (Inter-Varsity Press) in the Chicago area and though it was sad to see them go, we are so excited for the adventure that lies ahead. There were some events leading up to their departure that I will share with photos (of course).

They had a going away party about 2 weeks before they left. Here is Jess and cutie pie Charlie at the party

We made them a Memory book as a going away present

Classic

We were the last to leave the party -as always

This was part 1 of our last girls group (+ Charlie) meeting
Jess, Shelley, me, Shannon and Charlie

And part 2, we headed out on the town for some good drinks and conversation

Jess will love that I posted this picture :)

Awww...the last time it will be just the 4 of us

Then of course, the Reimer's last night in town was for Graduation! The accumulation of their time here. Here is Derek and Jeff (twins!)

The happy family

All the girls

And all the boys

Grad got over so late that nothing was open, so we had to settle for a Wendy's/Tim Horton's. Our last meal with the Reimer's.

After this, outside the Wendy's is where we had to say our tearful goodbyes to a special part of what has been our fmaily over the past 3 years. Our time here would not have been the same without them and they will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Hopefully we can get to Chicago in the near future and visit them in their new home.

Seattle Baby!

This past weekend I headed South to the good ole city of Seattle to meet up with some of my best friends from high school (and one college pal). It had been so long since we had all gotten together and we decided to take advantage of the fact that two of the girls live in Seattle. We had a blast together. Catching up, shopping, eating, being tourists and of course...drinking!

Alexa and Kari - as we begin our shopping extravaganza!

All the girls at Pikes Place Market
I was like a giddy little kid as I had never been so close to the space needle before :)

We drove up to a view point, what an amazing view!

This is us, the bests from High school (me, Jess, Megan & Kari)

and with Alexa (college buddy)
Later that night we headed out on the town...we went to 2 different restaurants in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, oh we had such a great time!

maybe we had a little "too" much fun ;)

Overall it was a great weekend with the girls catching up, laughing and just being together :)

2007 Vancouver Sun Run!

Yesterday, Derek and I both participated in the 2007 Vancouver Sun Run which is Canada's largest 10K road race (2nd largest in North America). This year a record 54,317 people registered for the race. It was exhilarating as we ran the race through downtown Vancouver, Stanley park and across 2 bridges (Burrard & Cambie). Surprisingly, it did not feel like there were 54,000 people around you which made the race that much better as we weren't having to push our way through crowds of people. We took our camera along with us and took pictures of the race so check them out below. We glad to not be terribly exhausted afterwards and I think the adrenaline of the race kept us going all day. We had a blast and I am so thankful that it was something we could share in and enjoy together.

2007 Vancouver Sun Run

Happy Anniversary to ME!

Today, April 10th, marks the 1 year Anniversary of me working at the University of British Columbia. I remember my first day quite vividly just one year ago. I arrived at work early and no one was there so it was awkward as I stood in the hall waiting for an unknown person to arrive. It has been a journey and I can say that I am quite comfortable and quite happy at my current job. I have now been through the whole cycle of the school year which includes such things as: Award deadlines, new student orientation, course evaluations, admissions and more! My role as a Graduate Secretary has become part of my life and I am so thankful to have such a good job. Happy Anniversary to ME! :)

I actually wrote a post about my first days back in April 2006, read it here