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.