Our 7th Wedding Anniversary!

Marriage: Allows you to annoy one special person for the rest of your life.

Happy anniversary Duncan!

The Force Is Strong With This One...

Happy Birthday to my Soul Mate. May the Force Be With You today and for many more birthdays!

Because I love you so...

Recently I read about the Pet’s Ten Commandments posted at Pet's Health and wanted to share them here. Of course, this works for cats and dogs equally.

1. My life is likely to last 10-15 years. Please understand that any separation from you is likely to be painful.

2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.

3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well-being.

4. Don’t be angry with me for long and don’t lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainments, but I have only you.

5. Talk to me. Even if I don’t understand your words, I do understand your voice when speaking to me.

6. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.

7. Before you hit me, before you strike me, remember that I could hurt you, and yet, I choose not to bite or scratch you.

8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I’m not getting the right food, I have been in the sun too long, or my heart might be getting old or weak.

9. Please take care of me when I grow old. You too, will grow old.

10. On the ultimate difficult journey, go with me please. Never say you can’t bear to watch. Don’t make me face this alone. Everything is easier for me if you are there, because I love you so.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Destiny brought us together - our choices formed the path

Today Duncan and I celebrate 2192 days of marriage - our sixth wedding anniversary.

Dr James Dobson said "Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without." I couldn't agree with this wisdom more. I can't imagine a world without Duncan in it and as long as he is there holding my hand through our many adventures I will be happy and content.

Happy Easter Weekend!

For Easter long weekend Duncan and I went to Jasper for a mini vacation. It was the first time in a long while that the kids were gone for a weekend to visit their Dad in Calgary so we thought it was the perfect opportunity for a spring road trip!

Canada's National Parks are beautiful in all seasons and I love exploring them at every chance. April seems to be a wonderful time - everything remains frozen but it's not too cold to enjoy yourself. This year we actually have a Parks Pass so I am hoping to get in as many trips as possible to Jasper, Banff, Elk Island and perhaps even Waterton.

Here we are standing together on the frozen Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park, one of the most beautiful places in the world. A passer by was kind enough to take our picture for us.

You can see more pictures from the trip HERE.

Turning 38 years old...

Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday this year I was spoiled! Gifts, new clothes, a 5 hr Spa Date, two meals out, a trip to IKEA and gorgeous weather that made me happy! A wonderful day spent with my family to celebrate getting one year older (but not yet 40). 2010 has been a really great year so far and I think this was one of my favourite bdays of all time. Thanks everyone for making my day!

Merry Christmas!

The Larks Still Bravely Singing Fly

Anniversary Trip Part 1 - Victoria BC

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with an adventure to Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It turned out to be both a perfect bookend to our anniversary trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia last year and a great way to be reminded of our Honeymoon trip five years ago.

The Fairmont Empress Hotel

The Empress Hotel is part of what makes Victoria's inner harbour and downtown area. I couldn't resist taking many pictures of the empress from all angles. The Edwardian château-style hotel was designed by Francis Rattenbury (the same man who designed the Parliament buildings) for Canadian Pacific Hotels and completed in 1908.

The BC Parliament Buildings at night

At night the BC Parliament buildings are lit up by over 3000 lightbulbs, making it the most spectacular part of the Victoria night skyline (it dominates the day time skyline as well). This is the iconic view that most people associate with Victoria.

Traditional Victorian carriage rides

We almost took a carriage ride around Victoria... It really was fun to be like a tourist in Victoria while on our vacation, doing as the tourists do. But since I grew up on Vancouver Island I just couldn't bring myself to pay the amount of money they were charging the tourists for those carriage rides (99.00 each for 15 minutes!) so every time we did go to get a ride I changed my mind!

Whales are a sight to behold

In sharp contrast to the carriage rides the money we paid to go on our whale watching tour was worth every penny - and I'd recommend anyone going to Victoria do it. For three hours we zipped around the waters off of Vancouver Island (and the San Jaun Islands in the USA) viewing spectacular scenery, jumping the wakes of bigger boats and, of course, enjoying the wildlife. We saw Killer Whales (two resident Orca pods that we stayed with for an hour), seals and porpoises (which were too shy for me to get a picture of). So much fun I wanted to do it again as soon as I got back.

The totems of Thunderbird Park

Thunderbird Park is an awesome greenspace (of which Victoria has a lot) beside the Royal BC Museum and across from the Empress Hotel. It's a lovely place and we enjoyed laying in the grass here together, absorbing the sunshine and watching the people go by.

A Hero's bagpipes return home

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Victoria on our next trip was to reconnect with the history of my unit, The Canadian Scottish Regiment, which has it's home and Battalion Headquarters here. In particular I really wanted to see Piper Richardson's bagpipes, which had recently been found. Richardson won the Victoria Cross for "most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when, prior to attack, he obtained permission from his Commanding Officer to play his company "over the top". As the Company approached the objective, it was held up by very strong wire and came under intense fire, which caused heavy casualties and demoralised the formation for the moment. Realising the situation, Piper Richardson strode up and down outside the wire, playing his pipes with the greatest coolness. The effect was instantaneous. Inspired by his splendid example, the company rushed the wire with such fury and determination that the obstacle was overcome and the position captured. Later, after participating in bombing operations, he was detailed to take back a wounded comrade and prisoners. After proceeding about 200 yards, Piper Richardson remembered that he had left his pipes behind. Although strongly urged not to do so, he insisted on returning to recover his pipes." I've often thought to myself I would follow bagpipes anywhere and this piece of history has always been close to my heart.

As you can see we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Victoria (it's taken me this long to get the photos up online!), which was the first part of our trip. You can see the rest of our Victoria Trip here. Part 2 of the trip should be up soon.

Happy Anniversary to my Somebody

I want somebody to share
Share the rest of my life
Share my innermost thoughts
Know my intimate details
Someone who'll stand by my side
And give me support
And in return
Shell get my support
She will listen to me
When I want to speak
About the world we live in
And life in general
Though my views may be wrong
They may even be perverted
Shell hear me out
And wont easily be converted
To my way of thinking
In fact shell often disagree
But at the end of it all
She will understand me

I want somebody who cares
For me passionately
With every thought and
With every breath
Someone who'll help me see things
In a different light
All the things I detest
I will almost like
I don't want to be tied
To anyone's strings
I'm carefully trying to steer clear of
Those things
But when I'm asleep
I want somebody
Who will put their arms around me
And kiss me tenderly
Though things like this
Make me sick
In a case like this
Ill get away with it

Mommy, Santa Came!!!

I woke everyone up this Christmas morning

When my kids were tiny the best part of Christmas morning was being woken up by their excited declarations of "Mommy! Santa came! Santa came! Mommy ... WAKE UP!" I would drag myself out of bed, watch them go downstairs and see their faces light up when they saw the presents under the tree. If I was lucky there would be just enough time to get some coffee while they unwrapped items found in their stockings. I'm so not a morning person.

Christmas morning activity naturally evolves as children age, but the biggest change to my Christmas morning came seven years ago when Duncan joined our family. You see, Duncan does not usually sleep on Christmas Eve, being excited enough for all the children in the Northern Hemisphere. Our very first Christmas together he awoke at 4:30am and begged to wake the kids up - I resisted of course, but my resistance only bought me a couple of hours more. Fast forward to last year, where Duncan didn't really sleep at all, seems to me like he asked me every 10 minutes if we could get up... I don't know how I survived the next day! I usually employ some sort of blackmail/bribery to try to ensure my long winter's nap but it usually falls on deaf ears.

So this year I made it clear to everyone that we were going to sleep... at least until some time after a six registered on the clock. After making all the usual Christmas Eve preparations I went to bed quite late and I was looking forward to my four hours of sleep.

This morning I woke up with a painfully advanced cramp in my leg muscle - I tried desperately to hop around the bedroom quietly (I had every intention of going back to bed) but to no avail, I awoke Duncan (who had no interest, since it was 6:05am, in going back to sleep). My muffled cries of twisting agony also woke up Wesley who wasted no time in waking up his sister.

And so, ironically, did Christmas morning begin in our home this year.

Warmest Season's Greetings from Canada!

Bright Nights at Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, Alberta

We are celebrating Christmas Eve tonight with a lovely dinner (Duncan made a Roast Lamb!), some fresh Christmas baking, tracking Santa, carols and a sleigh ride through Candy Cane Lane. Our family would like to wish you all a happy and safe Christmas.

A Chance To Be A Little Less Alone

"... and uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing, centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children, all because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage.

How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?

What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.

It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.

And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?"

I Love the Whole World

I really do.

Our Fourth Wedding Anniversary!

2004 - Wedding in Edmonton, Alberta

2005 - Niagara Falls, Ontario

2006 - Washington DC, USA

2007 - Hoover Dam, USA

2008 - Florida, USA

It's been four years full of fun, adventures, laughter, love and friendship!

Happy Wedding Anniversary Duncan! I'm so glad that you are a part of my life!

I'm the World's Best Mom

My Mother's Day 2008 Minnie Mouse

When I was a little girl I dreamed of doing all sorts of things - being an astronaut, a horse jockey, a jet fighter pilot, a hockey player and traveling the world - but what I wanted more than anything else was to be a Mom. Jobs and careers have always seemed to be trivial things in comparison, things that helped meet the financial requirements of the kind of life I wanted. I was fairly young, but the moment I knew I was pregnant my life changed and I knew without a doubt that I was doing exactly what I wanted to do, what I was meant to do.

Mostly everything I have done in my life since has revolved around the best interests of my family (I am Mom to the World's two best kids), with the exception of some selfishness along the way and together we have created a life that is the meaningful fulfillment of my childhood dream. I know my purpose in life and I love being a Mom! Thank you to my kids for being both wonderful and understanding - they know me well and still put up with me!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Wishing Upon a Star...

Like Dreamers do...

Reflections on the Easter Message

We watched the Iron Giant today – wonderful movie whose ending has me thinking of the Easter Message.

There's a point in the story where a nuclear missile is going to kill everyone that the Iron Giant knows. In an instant the Giant makes a selfless decision – he will sacrifice himself to save everyone else. As he flies toward the missile he hears his friend's words in his head "You are what you choose to be." Moments before the impact, with determination of choice, the Giant says "Superman!"

It's a retelling of the universal human story of unconditional love, compassion and sacrifice. It's taught in all of our world religions and traditions. The Qur'an teaches the most effective factor in establishing world peace is through an individual's personal peace and inner state of harmony; Buddhism warns that to be of any help at all we must first become selfless. "You must be the change you want to see in the world," echoes the words of Mahatma Gandhi. It even permeates our own stories, as when Gandalf tells Frodo "All there is to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you."

Despite what its critics say, Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" is one of my favourite movies; a brilliant portrayal of a Jesus that I can relate too.

"Last Temptation" is Scorsese’s attempt to reconcile the belief that Jesus was both fully a man and fully God with his own understanding of what it means to truly be a man. As such, Scorsese's Jesus is a man with human feelings as Scorsese knows them. Jesus struggles to understand his relationship with God and his "destiny" as he believes God has laid it out for him. But he struggles because for him it has no meaning, yet, and as such he can’t make the sacrifice that the act itself demands.

What makes "Last Temptation" so powerful occurs within the dream sequence near the end of the movie. Jesus has before him all the temptations that any regular man desires from a lifetime, he tastes it, knows it, and wants it more than anything he's ever wanted before. With it comes a different destiny; his world in ruins.

In an instant of epic realization, Jesus sees what is at stake and makes a choice. He chooses to be the son of God. He chooses to be the sacrifice to save his fellow man. He gives up everything he always wanted and dreamed of and asks God to take him - willingly gifting his life for the good of humanity - this intentional choice is what provides the sacrifice necessary for salvation to occur.

It was never enough for him to merely go to the cross and die.

Just as it is not enough for any of us to merely lead a simple and self centered life towards our own endings.

This same potential exists within all of us. At best it's what sets certain people apart in moments of chaos – those we call heroes - and at least it's a way of living that influences the choices we consider making. We must be the change we want to see in this world. Everyday.

Happy Easter everyone.

Like I'd Never Seen the Sky Before

Today is a special anniversary for Duncan and I, especially given our shared proclivity to the magic of the number seven...

This day marks 7 years since the day our destinies merged together and we found new meaning in life, together. It wasn't the easiest of beginnings - for anyone who has ever fallen in love with their best friend can attest to the confusion and problems this might create - but after a while it became apparent that neither of us could imagine a life or a world where we would not be together, come what may.

Since then the time has flown by, even too quickly perhaps (7 years already!!!). My days start snuggled into the man who doesn't want to let me go even though the day beckons him. When we are together we are hand in hand and full of smiles, debating some political issue or just enjoying what is going on around us. When we are apart my heart longs just enough for him to know I am missing him, and to rejoice when we are reunited again. We are always wanting to share something about our day with each other (which is what msn, text messages, faceboook, and email are for!), and we end our days much the same way we start them - falling asleep in each others arms. Life with Duncan is a gift I get to live every day, and in return I want to give him everything.

Happy 7 Years Duncan; I will love you until my dying day - and forever more.

Lucky in Love - 07 07 07!

Poolside at Las Vegas in celebration
of our third wedding anniversary

If there were nothing else but our love for each other
we would still have everything we need!

Duncan, these past seven years with you at my side have changed my world - thank you for being such a gift to me. I love being married to you - Happy Anniversary!