Still Newlyweds

Today marks our 2 year anniversary and the only thing that has changed is how long we've been married. I believe we still act like newlyweds and I love it. I hope that never changes. Everyday Bradley and I become more and more united and in love. We have changed but we have changed together. Melding into one unit.
As we visited Brad's old mission areas and caught up with members of the wards and people he has baptized, we have repeated our courtship story many times. Every time we repeat it I love it more and more.

 

Happy Anniversary, Love

Trip Itinerary

For our anniversary/birthdays/christmas presents this year, we decided needed to go on a vacation. So, after sending all of our belongings except 2 carry-ons to Winnipeg we headed off.

Aug 1-7: We started at Echo Lake, Montana at my parent's cabin for one last hurrah with them and after a week we drove 15 hours to Winnipeg where we would catch a train on the 8th of August.

Aug 10-12: Our first stop was at Sudbury, Ontario. Famous for their 9ft tall nickel and home to Matt Hedley (someone Brad baptized).

Aug 12-17: Next on our list was Toronto and with that Niagara Falls and Wasaga Beach.

Aug 17-19: We made our way to Lindsay, Ontario where Bradley stayed for 9 months of his mission.

Aug 19-20: The capital of Canada is a must see, so we stopped at Ottawa and took selfies at Parliament Hill.

Aug 20-22: Currently, we are in Montreal. It's 9am and Brad is napping (I made him wake up at 5 with me to watch the sunrise on Mont-Royal).

Aug 22-23: We will be in Quebec city. Wish me luck with the quebecoise accent.

Aug 24-28: We will be staying in Pugwash (One of Bradley's connections own a cottage over there). We will be visiting PEI, Bay of Fundy, and Fredricton while we are there.

Aug 28-29: You can expect us to be walking down the piers of Halifax.

Aug 30-Sept 6: Bradley's parents are in Gander, Newfoundland on a mission right now, so our last stop on this trip will be with them.

We got these youth summer train passes that let us book as many one-way tickets as we want (as long as it's the cheapest fare and it hasn't sold out) for the month of August for no additional cost.

Every destination becomes our new personal record at being the furthest east in Canada we have ever come.

What Can I Say, I'm a Planner

Let another countdown commence! 35 days left until the moving company comes and picks up all of our stuff. 35 days to finish packing up our lives and to find a new place to start fresh. Just four weeks to go... If I said I wasn't nervous, I would be lying. Winnipeg is a big move. And anyone who knows me knows that I am a planning person. I've planned countless vacations that I haven't gone on, to decorate a house I don't own, talks that I haven't given, questions that haven't been asked, situations that haven't occurred; so it's not like this move has sneaked up on me at all.

It started off with a list of lists to make, turned into a Pinterest board, and then into an actual moving binder.

What is in this so-called "moving binder" you may ask? Well there's the normal To-do list, a give away list, a list of what isn't allowed to be moved with a company. Then later a list of freezer food we need to eat before we leave was added. A schedule of when to pack what came next. Dimensions of larger items that still need a box. A count of how many boxes per room we have. All the floorplans of apartments we are applying to. I have a list of stuff to pack in the car that we will need before we start unpacking. And a cleaning chart to deep clean the basement suite to end it all off.

If you want a pre-made list just click here.

The Graduand Becomes the Graduate

June 1st, 2017. Congrats Bradley, so proud of all the hard work you've put into getting this degree. Now you can officially be Bradley C. Smith, BSc.

A Thought on Age

In French we say "I have 22 years", in English it is "I am 22". (Personally I agree with the French language on this point). We aren't the number.

How will I know when my mid-life crisis hits or when I'm at the prime of my life if I don't know how long my life will actually be?

I'm always afraid people will think I am younger than I am, and sometimes I think I'm younger than I am. This year will mark the fourth year since I graduated from high school and the 22nd of my whole life but I still can't fully see myself as one of those "grown ups" and I still do a double take when someone refers to me as Sister Smith.

That is until last Sunday.

The older primary kids sang happy birthday to me. And when it was my turn to teach singing time I asked them how old they thought I was. Right off the bat a 10 year old yells, "39"! I got some other answers that stayed in the 30's for a bit and then some of them ventured into the high 20's. I finally had someone guess 22 after a few minutes and I sighed in relief!

I guess that solves the mystery of if they saw me as an adult...

Now I'm concerned about if I look older than I am... Confidence is a fickle thing.

Big News!

Well this was supposed to be posted in April, but *insert excuses*... When I last updated you all we were choosing between moving to Winnipeg or Edmonton. After pondering, searching, and praying we finally decided that we will be moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba at the end of August.
Bradley has finished his Undergraduate of Applied Statistics (with honours thesis) although we haven't received his actual diploma, he has gotten all of his marks back.
Meanwhile, I have been a busy little bee at work still. I am wearing myself thin with all the extra work I am doing, but I do get a break this weekend when we go up to Banff for an academic conference of Bradley's.
We plan on staying in Lethbridge until the end of August because we both have jobs here and that way we can save as much money as possible before me move and we have to rely on our savings for a bit.

March Update

Wow... I'm really on top of this (sarcastic tone)... It's the last day of the month and here I am, only now updating everyone. *insert round of applause*

So Bradley heard back from University of Alberta, and well, he got accepted! He went up and got to know the profs this last weekend. At Edmonton he would be co-supervised (have two professors to work with), which means two labs, two sources of grants, and well just two of everything.

We/he are so close to making a decision and will probably be ready to let everyone know in the April update :). (wish us luck)

My kickboxing class is coming to an end :( but I would definitely take another one! My arms are so toned and strong, I learnt how to do a roundhouse kick, and it is a great way to mix cardio and strength while also learning a new skill. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Lately, I've been getting into computer programming. Brad has been teaching me in Python and Livecode but I've also been learning HTML through tutorials online and google. I know that probably doesn't seem very interesting but I'm doing some pretty fun things with this new knowledge.

I even made this program that will laugh at all my knock knock jokes!! *cough* nerd *cough*