WOW, it's been a LONG while....

haha to think it's been almost a year since I've posted.. and not too much has changed. Except my niece Dorey, whom I posted about in my last post, is now almost a year old! Hard to believe how time flies!! In the next few days hopefully I can get some current pics posted on here... :) And a REAL update done :)

DOREY AROSA COOTE

Here are a few pictures of my niece, Dorey Arosa Coote. Congratulations Jon & Erin... And Jon I am soooo glad u got to go home and see Erin and meet Dorey so quickly, even for a short while!! You guys have yerselves a beautiful, sweet blessing, but I'm sure u already know that ;)

Dorey Arosa Coote

Born to Jonathan and Erin Coote

on Friday April 6, 2007

at 8:20 a.m. Nova time...

6lbs, 5oz and about 21 inches long I think....

She's adorable eh :)

Jon's a very happy and proud Dad and I love his smile here....

A proud mom giving Dorey kisses, n isn't the dress the cutest?? :)

I just couldn't wait any longer to post some pics of Jon, Erin, and their new lil' Dorey... Thanks Erin, for the pics n keep 'em coming, I cannot get enuf of her :)

Random AGAIN

I realize it's been awhile, a looong while, since I last posted... I've been extremely busy- had a few colds, a few car episodes, am enduring what seems to be a second winter weather-wise, became an aunt to a gorgeous and adorable baby girl whom I CANNOT wait to meet in Regina in August, joined facebook (which is still causing me to shake my head in disbelief at just HOW MANY people are on there), joined a gym, working like crazy, trying to get student loans worked out AGAIN so I can finally (please??) finish my program and get on with things, pondered (and still am pondering) at getting new (well, newer, car), my brother has been accepted and is attending R.C.M.P. training in Regina, SK (we are all so proud of him, but man, my heart goes out to him and his wife as they endure this separation and for Jon as he tries to focus on this training while being away from his wife and new baby....he's doing well tho...)...hmm what else?? I don't know. I've been thinking about a lot lately, but nothing I really want to write about in here... just life I guess- direction, where I'm going, what I want, where I'm meant to be, am I getting there?? The norm so I'm told, but the norm is so different to everyone.... I was once asked in an interview to define "normalcy" haha, a hard task (got the job tho'). I still maintain that what is normal for some is not normal to others....
ANYWAYZ that's an update on my life in a nutshell... I want to get back into the swing of blogging a bit more regularly so in the nxt few days I will elaborate on some of the above and post a few pics, especially on the newest addition to our family :)

"I Do It Anyway"

Okay all :) Pardon the country lyrics here but I have heard this song on the radio a LOT lately, and every time I hear it, I like it more and more. I think this is a great song and the words have a great message, at least to me... every time I hear it I am lost in thought.... I think what it has to say is very true, and a song of strength.


Do It Anyway

You can spend your whole life buildin'
Something from nothin
One storm could come and blow it all away
Build it anyway
You could chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like i think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This worlds gone crazy
And it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway
You can love someone with all you heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
Yeah I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singin'
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yeah sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

~Martina McBride

A Few More Pictures

This is one of the very cute puppies that Darcy's sister's dog (well, one of them) had.

This is Happe and Manny's baby boy. They named him Harshawn (tho I think I am spelling it wrong...) He's adorable, eh :)

He likes to put almost his whole fist into his mouth

He also has the cutest mouth :) Especially when he cries....

Finally... Some Pictures

This is a picture of the Nativity Display set up at the Airdrie Festival of Lights. The Fesitval of Lights is a park filled with Christmas light displays all throughout. And it is free. Last year we went to "zoolights" at the Calgary zoo, and it was expensive, crowded and freezing. The Airdrie lights were amazing, and the crowds weren't bad, and the weather was very warm...for December.

This is another pic of the Nativity.



This guy was giving camel rides to children AND ADULTS! I so wanted to go on but pretty expensive for a lil' trip around a ring... Altho' how many opportunities does one have to ride a camel?? Maybe nxt. yr... :)



Another of my favorite light scenes


This is what my Christmas tree looked like this year (With lights on). Not bad for my first 'real-sized' one ever! And, considering it is...um... FAKE. I wanted a real one so bad but I just couldn't stand the thought of getting IN the door, down the stairs, and out again when it was over, especially without making a HUGE mess. I must say that once it was up and had decorations on it I was relieved... It didn't look so great when it came outa the box ;) ... I loved the tree. I even found PINK ornaments (no pink tinsel tho', much to the dismay of many I'm sure... ;) ).

With lights off

Sorry it took so long to get these pics up on here... I would have had more of CHristmas this year if I hadn't forgot my camera in Strathmore on C-mas Eve....

Finally, Another Update... Although Random It May Be

Well, I realize it's been forever since I have last said anything here... I have had a very busy last month and a bit. This new year however, I will be TRYING to post more regularly :)

** Sidenote: I should metnion, no pics today :( I forgot my camera in Strathmore on Christmas Eve at Darcy's sister's hosue and I still do not have it back...sniff... so pics will have to wait... hopefully not for too long tho', got lots o'them to post!! **


Where to start. Ok... I KNOW!!

BABY

My boss and his wife, also good friends of mine (more friend than boss) HAD THEIR BABY TODAY!! WAHOO!! Manny was due on the 7th so we have all been waiting anxiously for over a week, thinking the baby may be a bit early... So this morning I tried calling Happe (boss) around 8:20 a.m. and his phone was OFF. So I left a message saying I wonder if this means you're at the hospital? :) Then I phoned his family and they confirmed it-- he and Manny had left for the hospital around 11:00 p.m. the night before, but they hadn't heard anything yet. Around 8:30 another friend Gurv (Happe's sister's husband) let us know that they were fine, and still waiting for baby. FINALLY around 2: 22 p.m. Happe's dad called me and the very proud grandfather shouted into the phone, "I have a grandson!!" He was SO excited. So then I started getting excited, then my co-workers and customers got excited, and we proceeded to tell everyone for the next 40 minutes til we got off that our boss is a happy new dad to a baby boy. (The customers have been waiting for news too). So afterwork I went baby boy shopping and Darcy and I went to visit but could only see Happe. Man, is he glowing. I cannot wait to see Manny and the baby. (oh, they haven't named him yet, they have til tomorrow I guess. He was 6.6 lbs and I forget how many inches. We saw pics and he is ADORABLE!!! We could only see his face tho', and he was screaming, u could tell. So CUTE!!).
Anyway, that's about as long as I can make that story ;) They expect to go home tomorrow, or Sunday at the latest, and I will get to see him them, sometime between my two double shifts this weekend (unless I get outa the dbl on Sunday, which Happe says I will :) Nice).


CHRISTMAS

I had a great Christmas for the most part... a few downers, but overall a good one, tho I missed my family and all of their activities greatly... but I talked to them LOTS :) I loved getting into all the decorating this year, and lights. I will post pictures when I can. Darcy and I went to Strathmore Christmas Eve to spend it with his family. We had a huge, yummy turkeydinner and watched the movie, "The Christmas Shoes"-- SO SO SAD!!! But good :) It was fun, I love spending time there, and one of their Retrievers had puppies a few weeks before, so that was a nice surprise. I love puppies. :)

Darcy and I opened gifts together on Christmas morning, and I read us the Christmas story of Jesus' birth (my dad reads it every year at home, he alternates chapters each year from the Bible, and I missed it a lot last year, my first year away). Later in the day we went to my Aunt Donna's for Christmas Dinner, and it was also very yummy. So lucky to have two dinners :) And I didn't have to cook either of them ;) My Aunt got me a slow cooker, and one of mom's gifts was a slow cooker cook book so I am SO EXCITED to use it :) Still haven't, been sooo busy. Tho I guess that's one o the points of a slow cooker eh ;) (Oh, and ERIN- do u have any good slow cooker recipies?? :) ) It was basically I pretty quiet day, and I loved it. I spoke to a few friends I don't get to talk to much, and enjoyed having a day off.

Boxing day wasn't such a nice day off, we went SHOPPING. I will NEVER EVER go shopping again on boxing day. No one could probably even pay me enuf to brave that again. Although, I got a ncie surprise from Darcy at future shop-- a Nintendo DS Lite, in PINK!!! :) So I guess waiting forever for him paid off :)

It was a nice holiday but I am tired of spending Christmas away from my family...


CHILDREN's HOSPITAL

I started at the children's hospital finally! :) Wahoo, I LOVE it. I ended up missing my first Monday morning because I came down with an AWFUL cold the Friday before (and am STILL getting over it) so I felt awful calling in sick, especially the first morning, but they didn't care. So I volunteer once a week, Monday mornings for now. So because of Christmas and New Year's my first Monday was this past Monday, the 8th, and I was on cloud nine! For the first hour and a half I was in an infant playroom, and I got to hold a ten-day-old!! Oh my! I didn't think that would happen thr first day. And for the nxt hour and a half I spend time with a two-year-old in isolation in his room, since he had no family there and couldn't go to the playroom. He was pretty feisty but a cutie and I got to feed him is lunch, his LOOONG-awaited lunch I should say, as that's ALL he could talk about for the first hour... "I HUUNGRYY!!" over and over and over... as he slammed his tray, or my arm, or his crib :) ahhh I didn't want to leave and I can't wait til this Monday. I am hoping that doing this will get my foot in the door for when I'm done school (I am under the supervision of a "Child Life Therapist" which is ironic since they said in my interview that that is something it seemed like I'd be good at, and that I reminded them of one of their current ones... (I have yet to figure out which one tho'...). So hopefully it will work out, but my overall reason for volunteering there is because I SO SO missed spending time with babies and younger kiddies...

RANDOM

Anyway these are the things that stick out most from the last month or so... I'm sure there'da been more if I regularly posted... work is work, same old. I work almost everyday still, and truly enjoy my days off, however few and far between. There's not much I like to do on my off-time in the winter anyway...

The car is the car, it has broken down a few minor times, doing ok for HOW COOOLLLD it's been here lately (like -30s this week ICK). The battery cables were loose one day and I didnt realize the problems was that simple, so after about 6 boosts, most from Happe and one from a starnger I found on the street, and two trips to my mechanic who am SO thankful for, we finally figured it out....

Student loans are student loans, I am very frustrated about this. I want to FINISH MY PROGRAM!! I only have 9 courses left, but again this Jan- April semester there is maybe one to two courses I need, and I have to take 3 to get approved for the loan. GRR. SO we'll see what happens in April, IF the loans get oragnized. BIG IF :(


New Year:

This new year for some reason I really felt that it was distinctly a "new" year... usually for me, Jan. 1 blends into the week like any other day... but this year I want to have a different year. I want to eat more healthy and be more active. I want to be in touch more with old friends and new friends alike, it's good to have connection with loved ones. I want to snail-mail my friends and loved ones more, and be more in touch with my family. I want to get on with my school and get it finished so I can get on with my life. I want to be more appreciative and thankful for the little things in life; be at peace with others and myself. I want to learn how to knit, join something active, and do a couple of scrapbooks of things i will mention at some other time. I want to grow in my relationship with God, and actually find a church I feel at home and accepted in in this huuuge city, where churches are so different from those I have known. Anyway I know I can make these decisions or changes at any time or on any day of the year, but these are thots I had as this new year dawned.

Anyway I should go; I 'll be back sooner this time, really :)

BRRRRR!!! FrEeZiNg!!

Well, usually I don't know where to start, but a good place for today might be with the weather. We have been having ICKY ICKY weather. It is SO COLD!! here. CrAzY cold really. In Calgary it has been up to -38/-39 with the windchill, maybe higher depending on which weather channel, radio station, or newspaper you are watching, listening to, or reading... And working outside in this weather is NOT FUN AT ALL (but there r WAY worse otuside jobs right now, I try to focus on that... like our schoolbus mechanic ( our station has a contract with one o the city's school bus companies so we fuel alll their busses...). Thankfully my boss is very understanding and likes his employees and we didn't have to open the car wash, check anyone's oil, wash anyone's windows, or do anyone's propane (except for school busses of course... :( ) Thankfully for the most part of the day I am inside, thanks to the boys I work with :) I have been wearing long johns and snowpants, 2 prs of socks, a tank top, long sleeve shirt, my work golf shirt, my work fleecy, a hoody, my work coat, a hat and scarf and these really WARM huuuge gloves that get SO STIFF in the cold that it's impossible to do anything in them so they must be removed to hook up nozzles and screw on/off gas caps etc... Really, the only thing that gets cold are my feet, which could be prevented if I had boots ;) Everyone is grumpy because it was dark, cloudy, and lightly snowing to heavily snowing for 2-3 days, the roads are bad BAD (they don't really plow too much in this city let alone salt.. makes one wonder how they can be OVER their annual snowplowing budget alreay... but anyway...), vehicles and busses won't start, and it is hard to drive safely due to the ice build-up on roads, and the fact that people here are not used to the snow. At all. Miraculously, my car has STARTED everyday (knock on wood), and stays nice and warm overnight due to my block-heater and the inside lil' floor heater that is somehow wired into the block heater (thanks to the previous owner :) ). THe only STRANGE thing the car is doing lately is: the wipers turn on and STAY on by themselves. SOmetime I can make it stop, sometimes I can't... very, very..strange. So now that I have nothing else to say abotu the cold... I'll move on :) Oh, except this: it is supposed to be PLUS ELEVEN on Sunday here :) Oh the joy!!! )Well, also depending on which weather forecast one chooses to listen to...) :)

On a different note, I start at the children's hospital on December 11th... I am SOO excited. But before anyone else gets too excited, know that I am just volunteering there; it is not actually employment (tho' hopefully someday it will be). Actually being able to volunteer there is quite a lenthy process, and after a couple of meetings, an interview, refernece and criminal record checks, immunizations and some preventative shots (ICKS), I finally got my placement. I am on the waiting list for my first choice but in the meantime I am in a playroom on an infant/toddler floor, and am SO SO excited. I don't know too much else right now; I will find out more tomorrow night at orientation and then next week at training. I am hoping it is as great as it seems it will be; I am so excited to spend time with kiddies and BABIES again, and I am hoping that also it will help out my resume and 'real' job hunting a bit too once I 'm done school (or perhaps before...)

Hmm... what else is new. Not too much else is new. Busy getting ready for Christmas, TRYING to get C-mas shopping done (especially for THE FAM so I can get their box in the mail :) ) ; my tree is up and it's a beauty considering it's my first tree I ever put up and decorated myself, and considering I had very little C-mas decor with me here in Calgary... I'll post some pics once I take some :)

Anywayz I should go. Supper's almost ready and I'm goin to my Aunt's house later to drop off her late Birthday card and gift... Sorry Donna :(

About time for an update...

Hey all. Sorry it's been sooo long since I last posted... VERY busy. Work has been nuts, as usual. Nothing specific or worth mentioning on here stands out, except for nuts.

On the other hand, I am SOOOO excited for Christmas. I just got a tree tonight. :) WAHOO. CANNOT wait to decorate it. I am very sad tho' that I probably won't make it home for Christmas. I thought a seat sale may come up, even for very early new year, but it doesn't look (so far anyway) like that will be happening. Tho', since I made it last year, I'm sure I'll make it this year too. It's just REALLY really not the same. I miss my family and our Christmas traditions.

Anyway I am not really in the mood to type so I'm off for now.

Jon's UPDATE :)

Well... Jon passed the polygraph!! :) WAHOO! A relief off his mind, I'm sure... He's through the tough stuff now; it could be off to Regina soon.

Congratulations Jonathan!! :)

Well, yesterday my brother had quite possibly the hardest interview of his life... and he PASSED :) It has been his dream for a long time to get into the R.C.M.P. and now he is on his way. We'da been proud o' him no matter how the interview went, but it is such a relief that this part of the waiting is over... So again Jon, I'm SO happy for you :) This is a big achievement, and a BIG step in the process :) (IF I had a pic o' you on my computer, I would post it right here... ;) Can't wait to have one o' u in yer uniform ;) ) XO