Our Humble Abode

At long last, I'm getting around to posting a few (or a lot) of pictures of the place Nick and I are renting here in Edmonton. For the first year and a half of our marriage we lived in a little one bedroom apartment off of 99st and 88Ave. Our apartment was on the bottom floor so it was usually pretty dark and sharing a wall with the front entrance made for lots of loud stomping coming through our bedroom wall. The area was a bit ghetto (my car did get broken into on my birthday last year) BUT it was nice to have so many great friends close by, and be in such a young ward.

We started looking for a new place to move to at the start of the summer, and stumbled upon a great deal in Millwoods (and no, it's not the ghetto part of Millwoods) . The house is divided into a main floor apartment and a basement suite, and we are on the main floor. I love having so many windows and getting the daylight streaming in (except not really now, since winter has come and it gets dark at like 5pm..... Ohwell, summer will be great. ) We moved in during the last week of August and we have loved it so far. Some of the perks:#1- We love the location. It's so close to the new Anthony Henday so we can zip to Sherwood Park in no time, and it's way closer to my work. #2- Having more room! #3- A dishwasher (our fighting has dramatically decreased due to this point alone)

A couple different angles of the living room

The dining area

Perk #4- Our very own washer and dryer (whoo hoo -- no more hauling our laundry to Nick's parents house since we were too cheap to use the tiny apartment's community coin laundry)


Perk # 5- A deck with table and chairs, a small backyard all to ourselves, as well as a big parking pad out back so we don't have to park on the street.

(okay, so it needs to be painted, but who cares? It's our very own deck!)

Perk #6 - An extra half bathroom so I don't have to see how messy Nick likes to keep his sink (ps. how funny is the seashell sink? :)


Perk#7- room for storage in the laundry room


Perk #8 A huge closet in our bedroom so I can organize all my stuff (Isn't my shoe shelving sweet? And yes...my shirts are color-coded...I'm kind of OCD.)

And moving to a new place gave me an excuse to buy a new, cute duvet cover. I love it!

Perk #9- A spare bedroom so our computer is no longer in our bedroom, I have a little room to scrapbook, and there's now room for company to come and stay. Come anytime!


Perk #10 We are happier! Can't you tell... this post was huge!

Olivia's Reception

I just looking on the computer at my pictures, and I realized that I didn't post anything about my darling Olivia! She got married to Rob Mark out in Ontario during May long weekend this year, and they (finally ;) ) had a reception here in Edmonton on October 24th. It was SO much fun to see her again, and see her as a married woman! We hadn't met Rob yet, so it was nice to finally do so, and get to know him a little bit. He seems like a really nice guy, and is perfect for Olivia. It was great to see her so happy and content with life. She deserves the best. They had their reception at the Rutherford House here in Edmonton, and it was really neat to see what it is like in there. She looked gorgeous, and I loved seeing her dress and how her style totally comes out in it. It was also great to see Shay and Ben, who drove up for the reception and to house hunt. We can't wait till you guys move here in January!!!

The happy couple, me and Shaylena

Nick and Ben posing. What's with Ben's hand?

I love you Olive Garden!

By November 15th!

Guess what I did this weekend.........? Lots and lots of shopping! Nick's sister, Alysha, and I got together Saturday morning about 9:30am and went Christmas shopping. I had already picked up a few gifts when we were down in Utah last month so I haven't been feeling too pressed to get more yet, but I had the day off and she wanted to shop so I went. I was expecting to get a few things, but I totally lucked out and ended up finding almost everything I needed! We came home around 5pm and decided we might as well wrap them, since we didn't have anything better to do. I was feeling so accomplished and in shopping fever, I decided to go back out on Saturday morning. I was successful in rounding up the last few gifts and I am officially done my Christmas shopping. Even the stocking stuffers. And. its. all. wrapped. By November 15th. Whoo Hoo! Sorry, I just had to brag a little :) Here's a picture of our spoils:

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a good Halloween this year :) Nick and I were pretty low key and didn't dress up or go to any parties, we just relaxed at home. I wasn't big into decorating for Halloween either, I have a few fall decorations and that's pretty much good enough for me. But I did make some yummy sugar cookies and had fun icing them, and Nick and I carved pumpkins. My parents were going to make a last minute trip up here to visit and I felt bad having no festive decorations, so I picked up a few balloons. They ended up deciding to come next weekend instead, but I think it was fun having the balloons anyways. We weren't sure if we were gonna get any trick-or-treaters, so we bought some candy just incase and the doorbell only rang twice. Oh great, more treats around the house for me to eat.... Here are a few of our pictures, don't mind how haggard Nick and I look, I hadn't showered - just had been cleaning the house, and Nick's still in his work clothes.

Aren't the witches cute? One is the Wicked Witch of the West,
aka Elphaba, haha can you tell why?

Nick looks really creepy here...

Nick's is scary, and mine's cute - he says it looks like an M & M