September found us...

So, September has come and is halfway through already. It found us, it was inevitable I suppose. Our summer was fun but short lived, although we cant complain much, we did have great weather.
Our lives are still day to day, Kelly has switched to graveyard shifts for 8 months (by choice) to cover while a lady goes to college. Its been a nice change being able to see him every night but its taken me awhile to get used to sleeping alone at night.

I suppose its not really a secret anymore that we are trying to start our family. Its kind of hard to keep it to yourself when there are so many doctor appointments to go to and blood work to have done. We've been seeing a Gynecologist specializing in infertility in town here (GP) and he has been really great. We've both gone through some testing and while Kelly has come up with a fairly clean bill of health , I've been put on a few different medications to help us out.
**Graphic Girl Content**
In July I had a painful procedure done up at the hospital where they put dye into my uterus which goes through to my fallopian tubes to check them for blockages. Nothing like having your doctor put weird clear stuff up your hoo haa that can only be seen on a radioactive camera while you have an audience looking on....OK over reacting (only a little) but you get the gist of it right??
Thankfully they were clear, one roadblock overcome.
Last month we ( and when I say we I mean me...) started taking fertility drugs to assist in me ovulating. The first round didn't work and so they are doubling the dosage for the next round. As it stands my ovulation, or lack thereof, is basically our biggest issue at the moment. So our game plan is to work on that for the time being. Take some pills, draw some blood...rinse and repeat.

September also brought 2 of my long time dayhome boys to Kindergarten. They both started with me when they were only one. How time flies! I cant believe they are starting school already, makes me feel so old some days. But I enjoy seeing them succeed at school, and opening up new doors of opportunity, plus I still get to see them everyday (or every other day) and both of their younger siblings are here still too.

Some may want to flick my lips for this (or my fingers as it might be) but the snow will be coming soon, and although it happens every year we never are ready for it. Although I find myself anxiously planning my birthday (Nov. 10...don't forget) party for the kids already...excited much? We still have Thanksgiving and Halloween to get through first. I'm looking forward to home cooked turkey dinners and board games over coffee, and of course 3 day weekends!
Time moves on even if we aren't ready for it to do so.

Camping

What to do for holidays? Sometimes thats a really hard question. After our last effort trying to take an internation holiday fizzled (Vegas) we were leary trying to book somthing like that still. Ok, lets drive somewhere....Gas is at least $1.39 if not more.

We decided to go camping.

Pipestone Creek is about 10 minutes from Wembley or about 25 minutes from Grande Prairie. It was a favorite spot of mine as a teenager and it was where we would go camping when we wanted to get away. I took Kelly down there a couple years ago but we just spent the day and havent had a chance to go back. They are supposed to build a new dinosaur museum down there but we couldnt find anything regarding that so I guess we'll wait and see.

We spent 5 days there and it was beautiful. Almost NO mosquitoes, only a little rain, and lots of local wildlife (squirrels) to keep us entertained.

The first morning we woke up to the sound of a squirrel trying to get into the cooler, he chewed a nice corner off the cooler. So the second night I ripped up a few pieces of bread and left them on the table for him so he'd leave the cooler alone, it worked.

The squirrels were so tame that once they realized you had food, they would come right up and eat it out of your hand.

We wandered up and down the river bed, skipping rocks and wading. Theres one point in the river that it cuts inland and the water is still and you can swim safely without being swept away by the water.

These are some of the pictures we took down by the river, I've been playing with this new photo editting program lately and this is what I came up with.

Patio Party

So I made this post once and inadvertently deleted it when trying to post it....so here goes again...with less details a few less pictures but you get the idea.

I had called in and won a Patio Party from one of the local radio stations, I know I seem to have good luck with stuff like this, although that luck doesnt seem to come when needed most. Kelly was working nights and unable to switch shifts to come, and if I were to invite our friends (as couples) we had way more than the 8 person limit. What To Do!?

Ashley came up with a great idea, Girls Night Out!
It was a blast, with a $300 tab and a very sunny day it was the perfect kick off to my week of holidays.

Dave the radio guy did a clip on air about Kelly not being able to come that was really funny, I got him to send it to me so I could put it on here but I havent figured out how just yet...thats what deleted the first posting of this blog entry actually. I will keep looking on how to do it

Karyl, Kim, Tara, Myself, Jemima, Shan, Ashley, and Annalee....plus the radio crew.

Canada Day & Fireworks

Canada Day Fireworks in Muskoseepi Park, lots of people...lots of crowds...lots of TRAFFIC! Originally we weren't going to go due to all those things, but when the time came we couldn't resist. We piled in the Tahoe with some friends and made our way down to the core of the city, braved stupid drivers and uninhibited pedestrians with thier children. Finally finding a parking spot at the college and walking into the park we settled down by the college residences and watched the show. It was fun, loud and worth it. The pictures were taken with my cell phone so thier not the best, but I think they look pretty cool.

After we braved the traffic home again, we decided to go set off our own fireworks that we've had in the garage for the last year. So again we piled into the Tahoe for places unknown (I think it was the Wapati Gravel Pit we ended up at) and had some fun setting off our own. Not quite as elaborate as the ones in Muskoseepi, but they were alot of fun.

Happy Birthay Canada!

Test and Tune Weekend May 10 & 11, 2008

This past weekend was Test and Tune at the track. The first weekend of the season for all the guys to test our thier toys...I mean cars... from all the alterations they had done over the winter. Just 2 days of time trials, no spectators, class calls, ladders, king of the hill or any "official racing". Just a bunch of guys doing what they love without the stress of competition...besides the regular friendly rivalry, of course. Its fun to see the young kids from town bring out thier cars that they claim are 13 second cars...and when they get thier time slip, they actually run a 16 somthing...I suppose thats why they call it the "Reality Booth". It was sunny both days, which is amazing as we usually get some sort of drizzle, I even got a little burnt this weekend. Kelly ran his new personal best time of 12.675 seconds. The time slip is blurry but here it is :

Kellys Dad and his brother Kayle were up as well which was nice to see, they were able to stop by and help a little at the track too.
My Sister and her family came out as well, it was thier first time at our track and they had lots of fun . Todd (my brother in law) got to race one of our friends trucks too...wont be long until he finds a race car to bring out too I'm sure :). It was a great kick off to the season across the board.

On a side note, I thought i'd add a few pictures of the drive from Fairview. The scenery is amazing through Dunvegan and with them doing (forever doing...) upgrades on the bridge it is a nice opportunity to snap a few pictures.

Heres the link to all our pictures from the weekend : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114818&l=f146d&id=624095117

They're on Facebook, again you dont need a facebook account to see them....

Kelly's 30th Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated Kelly's 30th birthday. I had planned a suprise party for him at our house in the evening. It was a little tricky getting him back to the house, I had to cook up a story about an upset tummy and not wanting to use the bathroom at Canadian Tire where he wanted to go. We had a great time with and seen some people we hadnt seen in a really long time. My friend Tara made his cake and it was AMAZING! It looked so good we didnt want to cut him.


All the pictures are on Facebook, heres the link to them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112509&l=a15d7&id=624095117
You don't have to have a Facebook account to see them. It was alot of fun and definatly very memorable, and he was totally suprised which was the best part.

Trip to Edmonton

So the little family Joli-Shaw went on a weekend trip to Edmonton this past weekend. Basically to beat the winter blahs, the ever annoying doctors appointments and basically shake off the everyday hum drums. We went with friends of ours John and Shan, and had a blast. The boys were scheduled for a dyno on thier cars on Friday, but due to some late parts and not being able to tune his car properly Kelly had to fore go his appointment. They still had fun playing with Johns and he got some good numbers (dont ask me what that means cuz I dont know). Shan and I got in some AWESOME shopping. Friday we hit Roots Outlet, Old Navy, Payless shoes,Tommy Hilfiger and IKEA and we got our new bookshelves for the diningroom and our new coffee table, along with new DVD shelves for the basement and a multitude of other household goodies including a live orchid (which i'd been searching for everywhere at a decent price). Friday night Dinner was at Montana's, and after a very long wait we had a delicious dinner, even though John was dissapointed there was no talking Moose head.

Saturday took us girls to West Edmonton Mall and the boys went to the Powerama show at the AgriCom. Kelly said there were rooms and rooms of show cars and one whole level was a swap meet with all kinds of car goodies for sale.

Shan and I found some great deals in WestEd too, besides all the stuff we bought for our men, we were able to find some new clothes for ourselves and I even went up to the T&T oriental food market to find some Kim Chi for my sister and myself. Kelly calls it brains in a bottle but it really good with rice and soya sauce.
Saturday's dinner was at the renovated Cheesecake Cafe (it burnt down a few years ago), and it was declicious although I had to take my dessert to go as I was stuffed! My cheesecake ended up being forgotten in the hotels fridge though, I blame Kelly...

Sunday took us to Toys R Us before we headed home. It had snowed a great deal on Saturday night in a unexpected spring storm. Travelling home was interesting after we passed an accident on Whitemud Drive. John and Shan had only thier summer tires on their car so we stayed close to them along the way. I was pretty glad that Kelly didnt have the Trans Am though.

All in all we made it home safe and it was a fun break from reality for the weekend. Now to put together our furniture and let our debit cards rest. Our cats our sure glad to see us home too...sometimes it takes going away for the weekend to realize how good home really is.

Tom Petty Tickets

So a few months ago, yes months, I won some Tom Petty tickets on one of the local radio stations. Well yesterday they finally arrived and we picked them up. Not bad tickets, pretty good seats with what looks like a great shot of the stage. We actually sat in a similar spot in reference to the stage here in GP for Blue Man Group and it was a great angle. The crappy thing is that due to Kellys work we cant go. His holidays are booked for July and he cant get those days off in August. So with heartache were going to sell the tickets, i guess my heart wont hurt so much when we actually sell them. Seats in the same section are going for close to $600 on ebay....hmmm ideas.....

Just Call me Amy Wong

So after talking with my father the other day, he told me he was starting to feel like Mr. Wong. At first I wondered if retirement (or maybe being cooped up with my mother too long) had driven him to opening a Chinese food restaurant. After further probing...actually I think my actual words were.."Huh??" he said like the Wong's off of Futurama....

"WHY YOU NO GIVE ME GRANDCHILD??"

Told him to sit tight, practice makes perfect...in the mean time...just call me Amy Wong.

Once Upon a time, there was us.

What have you been up to?

Innocent enough question, yet why bore someone with your day to days when to you it feels like it hasnt been much, yet over the course of time those little day to days can really add up, cant they? Such as if you asked "What have you been up to....in the last week" I'd probably say not much. Again if the question was asked "What have you been up to...in the last year?" Well...a lot really. Last year this time Ash and my Dad were still living with us, and they've now moved on, Dad out to Nova Scotia to finally get the life long dream of retiring, and Ash found the man of her dreams and is now married. Also since a year ago, my sister and her family moved to Grande Prairie from Ontairo and (after a short stay with us) now have house here. In August of 2007 we went on a family reunion cruise to Alaska with Kellys dads side of the family. It was a great way to meet and spend time with them, and looking back it was extra special as Kellys Uncle Sheldon passed away in December, and then 6 weeks later we lost his grandmother as well.

This as the view from the front of the boat, it was sunny the entire time we were there!

In September, we went to see The Blue Man Group. This was supposed to be one of the highlights of our missed Vegas trip so we were very excited that they were coming to Grande Prairie. We were able to take alot of great pictures too.

We have enjoyed living alone again, after 18 months of having friends and family stay its nice to have our own space again, we'd almost forgot what it felt like.

Our home renovations in the last year have been plentiful as well. After missing our trip to Vegas in Feb 2007 (due to the influx of passport applications we recieved ours 2 days after we were supposed to leave) I put my frustrations of missing the trip into painting our livingroom, a very deep/bright red. A bold move some said, but in the end I love it, even though its hard to find stuff to match.

This picture was taken with my cell phone so its not that great, also the picture above the couch was a great Christmas present from all the Watchorns (Kellys Aunt & Uncle and his cousins and thier families). It was getting really hard to find a picture that would work in that spot and Sherry took the guess work right out of it, what a bonus to have some interior decorators in the family.

We also renovated the kids bathroom with a smoky blue color and lots of rubber duckies, inspired by a shower curtain/soap dish combo my sister had found for us .

Over Christmas we took down the shelving in the playroom and painted with the same blue in there as well. We had four 4Lcans (now theres only 3) of this nice blue color due to a communication error between myself and Kelly....good thing we like it lol! During Christmas break we also re-did the closet in the upstairs spare bedroom to arrange my scrapbooking/craft supplies and create more functional storage and and easier clothing access space for a future member of our family.

BEFORE: The east wall of the playroom AFTER: Much less clutter, and more blue too!

BEFORE: Videos and shelving brackets :( AFTER: Clean, clear and blue...now we have bug stickers up there too.

Still a little cluttered, but much more functional than it was.

So if you were to ask us "What have you been up to in the last year?" well....theres your answer.