Our Little Life

Ryan and I were feeling quite happy with the fact that housing prices were coming down. We have had our plan in place for saving up enough for a small down payment and were feeling more optimistic than we had in several years about eventually owning a home. (Our options for homes are limited because we can't have a townhouse/split/bi level because of Claire's wheelchair). I then read in the paper this morning that next year housing prices are supposed to be back to "normal." How disappointing! It feels like we will never be able to get our own home.

My biggest worry is that the girls don't have a private little grassy spot to play in. I feel like we're depriving them of an essential part of childhood. However, I'm trying to reconcile myself with apartment living right now by telling myself "It's like living in New York." There are lots of families living in New York apartments and they survive just fine. They get along fine with playing in public parks and playgrounds. Their children aren't deprived - right? This is how I've been comforting myself but it's not really working.

I am trying to focus on the positive - we have a huge apartment with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a washer, a dishwasher, all the storage rooms in the building are crammed with our stuff, we are close to several parks, the river valley and the library, we can walk to lots of fun summer/winter festivals, if we need things repaired we don't have to pay for it, we can use all the hot water/heat that we want and we're close to lots of good places to eat. It could be a lot worse but sometimes I feel so behind compared to people who have their own home. I wonder how some people can afford it when the median house price is $350 000!

On a more positive note, we had a great Family Day weekend, besides Claire being under the weather. We spent a lot of time doing stuff at home, going for walks, making messes, etc. We went to the Royal Alberta Museum on Monday when it was free admission day and took in the exhibits and a balloon art performance show. It was fun although we almost weren't able to sit in the theatre because parents had filled the empty wheelchair area in the back with their empty strollers and wouldn't move them! I was almost ready to bust some heads, but the girls had fun. We didn't take any pictures during the show since they wouldn't have turned out but here is an example of some animals that the lady makes with balloons:

One funny story from church today - I was subbing in Nursery and one little boy is working on his potty training. At the end of class he started yelling, "The yuckies are coming, the yuckies are coming." It took us a few seconds to realize that he meant he needed to go number 2 RIGHT NOW. It was pretty hilarious.

Now back to the post at hand. Ryan is such a fun person to be married to. For Valentine's Day he constructed this poster for me: (click to enlarge the pictures)


After spending a fun time with the girls, we ordered a heart shaped Thai Chicken pizza (we had to reconstruct the heart shape since the pizza had slid around in the box a bit) and watched some TV on DVD - the best way to go. We've started in on the series X-files because we found the series on sale at Best Buy. It's very creepy but intriguing.


I've got a new project to work on. While we were in Utah, Grandpa passed on a lot of his written talks/lectures/addresses onto me so that I could start transferring them to word documents. It's been such a neat experience to read through his thoughts - some from over 30 years ago! There are addresses he has made at family baptisms, blessings, mission farewells and weddings along with BYU devotional, stake conference and church settings. What a priviledge it is for me to do this! It always helps to "spiritualize" my day.

We did get Claire a spot in Malmo Pre-kindergarten. I went to the school at 4pm to line up for the 6:30 registration and I felt like a crazy person. But by 4:30 the class was full (there were only 5 spots left and there were 5 people in line). Crazy! But I'm excited for her. I know the teacher is great and they are so welcoming and encouraging - I think Claire will have a great year!


Here are some pictures from the week:

* This quote is from the last episode of The Office which is one of my favourite shows. It is over-the-top ridiculous and makes me laugh out loud everytime. Close second favourites are: 30 Rock and Flight of the Conchords (although it's on HBO and can get a little racy).


I got to take a neat trip to Utah with Dad, Steph and Mel to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. It was so nice to see them again. Grandma was a trooper and Grandpa cooked up a storm for us. We got to do some fun shopping and Mel and I took in a BYU basketball game that brought back fun memories. It was just nice to visit with G&G and I actually really enjoyed the driving/relaxing in the car. It's not too often that I get to read and listen to music all by myself. It was good to get back to the girls and Ryan though!



We've been looking around for preschools for Claire in the fall. It's a pretty cut-throat business to find a spot at a good place. We eliminated about 2/3 of them all ready because they're in basements of schools or churches with no wheelchair access. Then we have to go do visits to see if they environment will be good for Claire. I'm learning that preschools that are in an elementary school open up registration for siblings of kids in the main school before the public. One of the classes I wanted to register in is already full and the open house is on Tuesday! I have to line up 2 hours early just to get on the waiting list. I was not prepared for all this! I hope that we can find Claire a good place to go to school next year.

Well, I think I've picked out my dress for Kathy's wedding. Here's the link - tell me what you think (it will be in black).


Does anyone see a pattern in these next few pictures? This is Maddie's new smile. This is what we get when we ask her to smile for a picture. It's pretty cute!


Madeline and I got to watch Rob's basketball game at Clear Vista and saw him make a basket about 2 seconds after he got on the floor. Maddie sat with Rob and his friends during the girls' game and shared her crayons with them all. Rob was a very good sport about it!

Before I get in trouble for posting late about our 6th anniversary...I was out of the country. Is that a good enough excuse? My dad, Mel and Steph and I took a whirlwind trip down to Utah to spend a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa. Ryan and my mom were good enough to let me go and look after the girls.

I wanted to say to Ryan...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I love you so much!

Here's my version of "our" story. You might get some additional/different information if you ask Ryan. :)

Ryan's family moved to Wetaskiwin when I was in grade 10 and he was in grade 12. We met each other for the very first time at Wetaskiwin Agencies where I was working and his family came in. I'm sure neither of us thought very much of it at the time. I soon developed a crush on him but was never very good at expressing stuff like that during my awkward years. Ryan was called as the Sunbeams teacher at church and Robbie was in his class and they developed a friendship. Ryan would come over to our house to play with Robbie so we saw each other a lot.


We only went on one "date" before he left on his mission and I left for BYU. I had to drive up to Edmonton to drop Greg off at a Youth dance and Ryan came with me and we went to a movie - Entrapment. We still joke about it because it was so corny we ended up walking out about 1/2 of the way through. I never knew what he really thought about me but we were friends and we had the same senses of humour. We wrote letters to each other while we were both away from home and I was always so excited to get his letters. I never considered myself to be "waiting" for him but I always wondered what would happen when he got home. Our letters to each other were all about sharing the events of our daily lives and funny stories and scriptures and experiences. They will be fun (and maybe a little embarrassing!) to re-read again and again.

Ryan got home from his mission in March 2002 and I followed shortly after my 2nd year of university at BYU was over. Each summer I would come home to work and save money for school and this year was no different. The first time I saw him was at Amber Sanford's wedding reception at the Wetaskiwin chapel and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was trying so hard to be cool and to act like I wasn't watching for him, but I totally was. It's a very strange feeling to have talked to someone for two years only through letters and then to see them again. I was very happy to see him. We had fun together and he came over to my house afterwards to say hello to my family. We started doing a lot of things together and in groups. I was having so much fun!

Ryan was looking for work - hoping to capitalize on his ability to speak French but nothing seemed to be working out. I started my job at Classic Landscapes and all of a sudden I saw Ryan there - he had decided to return to his old job to make some money. Since we were both working at the same place we would take rides with each other everyday to and from work. I guess I would have to credit Classic with throwing us together so often that we moved pretty quickly to dating.
While we had been going out on dates, I really didn't know if he was serious about things. We hadn't really defined if we were "dating" or not so when I was asked out on a couple of other dates during the summer, I went. After I went with another boy to a party that Ryan also was at, I think it made him realize that we should probably figure out what we were to each other. So on the ride to work the next day we had the talk about being "boyfriend/girlfriend" and it was confirmed. I'd dated but this was my first experience with having a boyfriend. It was very fun. On my birthday in June Ryan surprised me by driving me out to a playground in Wetaskiwin and having his friend (who worked at Boston Pizza) deliver us some food and we ate it while we were swinging. It was very romantic.

We had decided that we wanted to get married but weren't sure if we should get engaged before I went back to school or afterwards. I had always wondered how you got to the point with dating someone where you would actually start talking about marriage but here we were and it was so natural - I knew it was right. I really wanted to go back to BYU with a ring on my finger but we decided it would be good to wait. Ryan actually drove with my family back down to Utah to drop me off for school and it was a really fun trip. It was very hard to say goodbye and part of me wondered if he might find someone else when he went back to Alberta. He had bought and made me several presents and hid them in my apartment before he left so I had reminders of him during the year. It was so sweet of him.

He flew down to Utah on Halloween and I drove my grandma's car to the airport to pick him up. It was so surreal to wait there for him and he looked so different than I remembered (he'd gotten a haircut right before he came) but it only took a few minutes to feel totally comfortable again. I had no idea what he had planned although I had hoped he had brought a ring along! We ended up driving up to the Provo temple at the top of hill and walked around the grass. It was a very beautiful sight to see the temple all lit up and the mountains and the lake in the background. It may sound cliche to get engaged by a temple but it was so beautiful. Right at the gate at the top of the hill Ryan asked me to marry him. I don't even remember what he said (although I'm sure it was beautiful) because I was in a haze. I was so happy and excited and I was so in love (still am!)
We had a wonderful few days together in Utah - we saw Carmen on campus, took in a BYU football game, took lots of long walks, went out for dinner with my grandparents, ate ice cream and enjoyed each others' company. We even had my friend Emily take our engagement photos (the ones seen above). It was so hard to see him go. From that time to our wedding on February 1, 2003 is a big blur! I was trying to not fail all my classes (although I did get my first and only C in Food Science Nutrition class that semester). My family did so much work on my behalf while I was gone. Honestly, I really didn't care about the details, I just wanted to get married. We decided to get married in February instead of waiting for me to finish my year of school. I knew that I would have enough credits on campus to finish my degree through correspondence or transfer classes and that was good enough for me.
My only regret about our wedding was our photos - I wish I would have invested more money on having good photos taken. Everything else was a dream. We were sent to Hawaii for our honeymoon and it was amazing. It was the first time I had ever been anywhere "tropical" and it was wonderful to share it with someone I love.