What do Mormons do at Winery's?

...drink lots of water, take lots of photo's and have a delightful meal....Being at the vineyard was not nearly as exciting as GETTING THERE!!  We took a helicopter ride across Niagara Falls to the winery where we had dinner - the weather was perfect, the view was incredible and the company was delightful.

The Falls

The Wine

Jeni's drink :)

Why isn't this one of the 7 wonders of the world?

I think I've only seen Niagara Falls once before, and now I wonder why I haven't come here more often.  I'm so glad for the excuse to be here for meetings; we had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the falls - just incredible:

The sun went down while we were having dinner, and there were fireworks over the falls:

....just gorgeous.  I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was on the 33rd floor of the Hilton in Niagara Falls; we're actually staying in the WhiteOaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake; the rooms are lovely...the weather is gorgeous, I really wish we didn't have to work while we were here!

We should do this every Sunday

Today was Ward Conference,  and so we had one 2 hour meeting and then we had a big pot luck lunch; I couldn't eat the lunch because I'm on a diet, but it was still nice just to visit and chat for an hour.  Jayden gave a talk in Sacrament meeting, she did an amazing job - imagine that, bless her, she prepared the talk all by herself and there were over 400 people there (not bad for an 11 yr old!)- I saw her say "I'm scared" to Ty just before she got up to speak, but you wouldn't know it!  This is a photo of her with her mum after she was done!

and then here are some other shots of my primary girls - we had no class time today, so most of us sat together for lunch.

This is Hannah looking very pensive!

...and Karen looking happy!

and Kathryn and Kamila looking hungry!

This was a good way to procrastinate

I have tons of work to do - I have a meeting in Ontario next week, and I kind of own the agenda - I need to prepare at least 4 presentations - and I'm running out of time.  So what do I do with my Saturday?  Well, I bought an i-phone 4 (I may be the last person in the world to own one) - and then what do I do all afternoon?...I mess around with my i-phone and then, when I started worrying about the meeting next week, I decided I needed some new trousers to wear for the golf event on Wednesday - so I went shopping again :) - here is a photo of the beautiful i-phone!

...and now the sun is going down, and I'm losing energy, but I really don't want to work tomorrow, so now that the shops are shut; and I need to get to work!

Some things make no sense

...like when you're driving down the highway, minding your own business, and a gorilla practically jumps out at you from the truck in front....

..not a great photo - but such a surreal experience!

Arlan is off to Palm Springs tomorrow, and then on to Hawaii with Dad and Boyce - but Dad and Boyce decided they didn't want to do the California leg of the trip, so they'll be here until Wednesday at least - and then Arlan will take them to Hawaii; I think they'll enjoy that.

Finally this evening we took Arlan out for his 60th dinner - we went to Ruths Chris; arguably the best Steak House in town...they decorated the table a little for him,  the food was amazing, and I really need to get back on my diet!

Sue Batty noticed that there are more food photo's in my blog when I'm on a diet - so you can expect to see some more until I get into shape!

Happy 60th Arlan!

I got up at about 7am this morning (midnight Calgary time) - I did a bit of work and then headed to the airport (via this lovely ruined castle) - then I lined up for an hour or so to get a VAT refund, and as I had done so much shopping, I managed to get $140 back....I should do more shopping next time!

Then the flight was delayed for about an hour due to weather (not really sure what the "weather" was); and then we took an extra long time to get home because of the Iceland volcano which blocked the route, so we had to fly around the ash cloud - so the 8.5 hour flight actually took 10+ hours.

But I made it home to celebrate Arlan's 60th birthday - we had a roast turkey for dinner, but we'll go out for a birthday meal tomorrow - I really need to get back to dieting so that I can fit into all those nice new clothes that I bought :)

And now it's 10.30pm - 22.5hours and counting.  Goodnight!

Nothing beats the good 'ole pen and paper

We have this really cool technology at work - it's made by Cisco (Tandberg); and it is essentially HD video conferencing - it knocks the socks off of skype or office communicator, and is streaks ahead of anything using a webcam.  The response time is perfect and the HD is incredible.  We also have "halo" rooms; I'm not sure why they are called "halo" rooms, but it really seems as though everyone is in the same room - just sitting across the table, and yet there are up to 4 countries in the meeting; it's very cool, and you really have to see it to believe it.

So, today, I had a meeting with Ron in Texas - and for some reason this brilliant technology wasn't working properly and we could see each other, but we couldn't hear each other - we ended up resorting to paper messages in front of the camera in order to communicate - how ironic; thousands of dollars of equipment and we were writing notes....

One more shopping trip to Marks and Spencers tonight (this time with Josh and Lauren) - and for once I've completed the paperwork to claim back tax - and I will get about $150 back in taxes - very cool!

To the Manor Born

Apparently I still haven't run out of photo's of the village - and I think I could continue for many more days; however, I only have one day after today.  This is a photo of the local "manor house" in Send Marsh...this house dates back to the 16th century and King Henry VIII apparently used to lodge here en route from Portsmouth to London.  Fascinating...I wonder why he didn't stop off at our house?

Another delightful day at the office - but I must confess to almost nodding off during a presentation this afternoon; it was an incredibly boring presentation, and I kept wishing I had a fork that I could poke in my eye...note to self; carry a knife and fork to all meetings

I wish I could stock-pile my photo's

I drove to the office in Uxbridge today, and it surprisingly only took about 40 mins to get there.  I didn't get much work done, but it was nice to meet all the UK folks....I guess I'll just have a really busy day tomorrow.

There must be about a years worth of photo's in Ripley village alone - on the way home I stopped at the local hotel in Ripley village - what a beautiful place!  I don't know when this was built, but word on the Ripley High Street is that Lord Nelson stayed here with Lady Hamilton in 1798; where their love affair blossomed.  Who knew Ripley was so seedy :)

Reunion Part II

Another beautiful day - there were more people than usual at Church today with a few people lingering from the reunion - the Wrides; the Dromey's; the Choates; the Grays; the Watfords and me; to name a few - I just thoroughly enjoy going to Guildford ward!

On the way home I drove through Ripley and took the following photo's of the local 11th Century Church and the local pub (dating to the 1500's)...the buildings are beautiful; and I'm pretty sure the pub is better attended than the Church every Sunday - and I'm also sure there were more people at our little LDS gathering than in either of these buildings today :)

Well worth the trip

Today was the much anticipated Guildford Ward Reunion - it was absolutely delightful - it never ceases to amaze me that you can get together with people you haven't seen for 20+ years and chat like you just saw them yesterday.  I am still chuckling from some of the conversations we had; I took almost 200 photo's and it was very hard to pick just a few for the blog - but these are the ones that I chose:

Hugs from long lost friends - this happened a lot tonight, and you can see the pure joy in renewing old friendships

It was very cool to see some of the "girls" that were in the youth group back in the 70's and 80's... Glenda; Sharon; Sue; Suzi; Irene; Sarah - and the younger girls like Claire; Fiona, Kim and Jill - there seemed to be  a lot of talk of wrinkles, grey hair and aging - and while our hair maybe just a clever match to it's former glory, and possibly we're holding on to each other more for stability than for fun - nonetheless I think we've all battled the aging clock pretty well

....at least I think that until I see the next generation - were we ever this young?

Churchyards and Candles

I just love coming "home" to England.  Walking down the drive to dad's house and smelling the roses - summer is in full bloom; and it seems so effortless here.  In Calgary we have to practically beg the flowers to grow - and they struggle through the cold and frost for a few moments of glory in the late spring.  But I think if you did nothing in England - it would still look glorious.

Paul took me and Lauren for a spin in his new and very shiny car - an Audi convertible; it was very fun, and I'm really quite jealous!  We went up to the Church in Send - look at the road, it's hard to believe that  this is a 2-way road:)

There is nothing quite like English Churchyards - so much history and character - just beautiful:

..and finally this evening I went to dinner with Emma, Lauren and Josh - to celebrate Emma's birthday; I think she will thank me for not showing the photo's of her with the balloon hat on - or the TGI Fridays birthday song - so I'll just include a small memento of the candled dessert -

All in all - a lovely day!

Quick...take a photo before the end of the day!!

I found myself on the plane - taking off for the UK and I hadn't taken the photo for the day - PANIC!!  so I grabbed my little camera and took this photo just after take-off.  It is amazing how green Calgary has become in the past week.

One thing I love about working for Nexen is that we get to go business class for any flights over 5 hours - it makes a huge difference!

Sounds of Summer

Second day of a Coaching course today; it was nice to not have to drive downtown; and then to finish at a reasonable time and get home.  I had a pedicure on the way home and then I packed my bags for the trip to the UK tomorrow....I have only packed ONE outfit; and filled the case with Oh Henry's; Maple Syrup and t-shirts....I'm sure I'll find something to fill the gap on the way home :)

I really love the sounds of summer - Arlan is so good at looking after the yard - he planted another flowerbed today - which is gorgeous - and when I got home he was watering the lawn - what a lovely sight and sound :)

Best Auction I've ever been to!!

This was CRAZY!!  So the Young Women at Church held an auction to raise money for camp - people donated stuff and it was auctioned off - Oh My Goodness!!  It was unbelievable!

I donated a fruit flan and a cheesecake (I forgot to take the "after" photo - you'll have to trust me that it looked nice :)) - I also donated a signed copy of President Monson's biography "To the Rescue"....

The flan was sold for $55
The cheesecake was sold for $60
The book went for $280!!!

There were some dipped strawberries that went for $200!!  I battled for some fresh baked buns, I lost the fight to Pat Morrison at $95 - and then she gave me half of them anyway!!  It was a very fun evening, and the girls raised more than enough money to make camp extra special  - As I am organizing camp this year my head is spinning with how we can put these funds to good use, it's just too bad we can't use it to just stay in a hotel :)

NEW CLOTHES!!

I actually planned to buy new clothes when I got to England later this week; but then I was out with Alyson for dinner and before I knew it we were in Laura and I was buying some new trousers - and these were the first size 12 clothes I've bought in about 20 years :) - and they FIT!!  A BIG day for the littler me!!

Then I got home and started baking for the YW auction tomorrow - and finally to bed at 11pm - just getting further and further behind with my work!

This is the "before" photo of the cheesecake - tomorrow I'll include the "after"!

I'll procrastinate one more day

My personal email is in desperate need of cleaning up -  I need to organize some folders and get everything filed.  My work email is also in desperate need of reviewing - how can I be so far behind when I've only been with Nexen for 4 weeks?!  I really intended to catch up this weekend, but I guess that just ain't gonna happen!  I really don't like to work on Sundays - so I'm not going to!!  Tomorrow is another day.

This week is looking like a busy week already - but an exciting one :)   Tomorrow I'm meeting Alyson for dinner after work; Tuesday night the Young Women at Church are having an auction to raise funds for camp; I promised a cheesecake and a flan - which I need to make tomorrow night as well!  Then Thursday I head off to the UK - maybe I can catch up then!  Anyway - enough worrying about the week - today was a normal lovely Sunday - Church/Primary/rest/dinner/bed - PERFECT.
A couple of photo's of my primary girls - Kathryn and Dana, I love these photo's!

Count down to camp

When Ken Reed asked if I would organize Young Womens camp this year, I gently reminded him that my idea of camping was staying in a Courtyard Marriott (which reminds me of when we took the Beehives to the Sheraton for a "camp out" - that was awesome :))

Anyway, I agreed to do it, and I must confess to being quite excited about it!  I went to see the camp ground - it's very camp-groundish; which I guess is a good thing.  The most important thing is that there are flushing toilets - thank goodness.  I am not going to drink the whole time I'm there - I just don't fancy going to the loo while I'm there!

There is an obstacle course which actually looks like fun - I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I get there!!

STOP - THIEF!!!

First,  here's a nice little photo of my nice big office - all shiny and clean - the windows were cleaned today - now there's a job I wouldn't like!!

Also...we are in the process of getting our garage developed - the intent is to put some shelves up and get rid of some of the storage in the basement before we develop the basement.  Consequently we have to park outside, which is just fine in this balmy summer weather.

HOWEVER, I noticed some fingerprints that didn't seem to belong when I got in the car to go to work, I didn't really think anything of it until I opened the door and found everything from the glove compartments all over the place...that said, apparently there wasn't anything worth stealing, apparently they didn't like any of my cables - and they also must have felt sorry for me because they didn't even steal my loose change.  Can you see the fingerprints on here?  it's interesting - at first I thought maybe I had left the car unlocked, but it looks like they used some gadget to break in - thank goodness they had the gadget and didn't break the window :)

Is stalking against the law?

OK - so I REALLY want to move across the street, and I'm beginning to think it might be possible....the houses across the street are a bit bigger (although that really doesn't matter too much), but they are on the ridge with a panoramic view of the mountains.

...and it turns out that our friends neighbours (yes BOTH neighbours) are probably about to put their respective houses up for sale....there are pro's and cons to each, but at the end of the day I think we'll just go for the best deal (if we get the chance) - I'm so excited!  Does anyone want to buy our house?!

So - I'm stalking the houses every time I go by, it's only a matter of time before they call the police on me :)    Here are the two houses, from the back where the view is...

What a difference a week makes

This time last week there was still some stubborn snow on the ground - this evening, it was GORGEOUS! over 20C and sunny - apparently it was very windy during the day, but I missed that cos I was at work.  So I sat on the front step and watched the sun dip behind the house across the street - it was lovely.  Arlan went out and bought some roses and other plants for the front yard - he's really good at that stuff.

Big day at work tomorrow - facilitating a meeting that I don't know much about, I'm feeling a little swamped, there is so much process stuff that I don't know, I'm pretty sure I'm missing stuff - but it's still fun :)

Break out the white suit

It may have been only 3C when I left for work this morning, but that didn't stop me breaking out the white trouser suit.  The forecast was 18C - and that is SUMMER in my book.  I was the ONLY one dressed for summer amongst all the commuters that I passed, most of them wearing coats or heavy jackets - but not me :)

It was GORGEOUS out there today and I am so ready for this.  It was even better to come home and find the yard had been raked and mowed for spring - woohoo!!

I'm almost healthy

One of the benefits included with this new job that I have is the executive medical.  I had over 3 hours in the doctors office for the assessment, and I had done bloodwork and x-ray before hand.  I swear I haven't had this much medical attention since I had my gall bladder surgery.

The medical included ECG; fitness/stress tests; flexibility; vision; hearing; posture; body composite; etc etc.  My blood/heart and blood pressure were on their best behaviour for the test; actually, the blood pressure over-achieved with 90/60, and my blood work performed well under pressure - only lacking a little vitamin D - but have you seen our winter, is that really a surprise?  I asked her to give me a prescription to go to Hawaii - but I forgot to pick it up :)

Anyway, long story short (too late for that I guess) - I'm fit and healthy except apparently - SHOCK; HORROR.... I'm overweight - and apparently I don't get extra points for having lost weight already - I just get an F for Fail.

No photo of the extensive tests - but we went out this evening for "Empty Nesters" at Elaine and Ash Whiteheads....Boyce is always in his element when he's eating nice food...

Happy Mothers Day!

Mothers Day is always a little awkward for me.  I still miss my mum, and thoughts of her are always prominent on Mothers Day.   Then at Church the youth always give out some kind of mothers day gift to all the women.....today it was a delicious-looking cup cake (that I had to give away - I hate being on a diet!!); and I just can't help feeling completely unworthy to receive a mothers day gift of any sort; I've seen all the challenges that real mothers face (including my own mum); and they deserve at least one day of celebration, but by comparison, I'm a fraud.

Since mum died - I always buy her flowers for mothers day; so I enjoyed some lovely roses in her honour - she would have loved them :)

Geez this is a busy weekend

Considering it's a 3 day weekend, I'm still struggling to get everything done.

Day two of TOFW - it was awesome (again).  Twice today I was laughing so much that I cried, it's been too long since I did that. One time was because of a story that Anita Robertson told me - all about mistaken identity and how she sidled up to a complete stranger thinking it was her husband - flippin hilarious.  The second time was one of the speakers - Kris Belcher; she is blind and long story short, she told of the time she went to a public loo - got to the stall, took her trousers down and then reached behind her to find the toilet seat and instead found someones head - a little girl was there and must have been totally shocked - I'm still laughing out loud as I type it...hilarious.  Apart from those two very funny moments - it was a really uplifting day.  I spent way too much on Church books that I likely won't get to read for ages! The following photo is of the Olguin girls hanging out with Hilary Weeks (who is a very funny and talented lady!)

After TOFW, I did the grocery shopping, raced home, made dinner - went over the road to celebrate Cheryl's surprise birthday party (see the surprise below); then raced over to The Cranes for Stephen's open house, that young man is SO ready to go on his mission - he's off to Utah on Monday, and reports to the MTC in a couple of weeks and then on to Chile.  After that I came home and worked until 2am.  I need sleep!!

TIME OUT FOR WOMEN!!

Today was my first Friday off.   I will get the first and third Friday's off every month - that is such a cool benefit!  I managed to keep pretty busy though, running errands; getting my hair done making a pot of chilli etc etc.  I had to leave home at 3.30 to get to the Time Out for Women event at the Stampede grounds.  It was a delightful evening; I volunteered and was given the BEST job - I was timekeeper, which meant that I got to turn the timer on at the beginning of talks - and for that little job (which I shared) I got to sit on the front row with the presenters all weekend - awesome!

it was nice to make new friends, see some old friends and just enjoy being in the company of 1500 like-minded women.

IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!!

Tomorrow is my first Friday off - I get 1st and 3rd Fridays off every month, so every other weekend is a long weekend, I love this new job!!  Consequently I felt the need to get out of the office on time, so I left at  5-ish and was home for the weekend by 6.  Lovely.

I'm still dieting, and I find it so hard to make dessert for everyone without eating any...it was Apple Pie and Ice Cream tonight - it looks so good I can almost taste it, but as Arlan would say..."nothing tastes as good as thin feels" (I hate it when he says that!!)

The best thing about working downtown

The view is incredible.  My office faces west, so I get to see the mountains all day every day. It was a little distracting at first, but it's sad how quickly I stopped noticing the view.

I strain my eyes to see the temple from here - I know it will show up when it's finished and lit, but at the moment it's really hard to see - I can almost see it in my peripheral vision at times, kind of like you see some stars only in peripheral vision - but trust me, it's there!