The Month of May

I know, it's been a long time since my last post, but let me tell you, sometimes blogging seems more like work after I've been sitting at my computer all day in the office! However, Doug and I have been up to quite a bit lately, and I guess it's time to update everyone on our lives. Let's start at the beginning. Well, first of all, my sister Angie came out to visit us for the first week of May! We did some fun stuff together, like heading down to Bellingham for some Target and supper at Billy McHale's (I would highly recommend Billy's, let me tell you. So would Rosanna, right?). We also spent a day down in Vancouver doing some sightseeing, shopping on Robson, and eating out. Here's a few pic's of us enjoying a beautiful day down in Vancouver with our beautiful sister.

Unfortunately, we were not able to spend the entire week doing just fun stuff. We also put Ang to work. On April 30th Doug and I took possession of our new condo. Let me tell you, it was definitely not move in ready. In fact, it was so shabby (and actually disgusting) that I wouldn't have let my own pet live there (if I had one). So we started tearing it apart. We ripped out a wall, all the carpets, all the baseboards and mouldings, and the light fixtures. Doug's dad was over at our place everyday that first week helping us get all the work done. After all the demo was completed, we painted everything, installed laminate in the kitchen and living room, had new carpet installed in the bedrooms, and put up all new mouldings. Unfortunately, we are still working on our place. We've made it our goal to get at least 1 thing done each night after we get home from work, and we also have weekend projects. At this point, we have a couple more light fixtures to put up, the countertops need to be replaced, and Doug is working on building us new kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities. Hopefully it will all be done by the time the baby arrives at the end of summer! Here's a couple pictures of the demo!

Not only did Angie come to visit us this month, but my Mom and my little brother Joel also came out to see us! Joel was playing in the National V-ball tournament here in Abbotsford, so we spent the weekend watching his team play. We also had a little fun together too. Red Robin's is alway fun, right guys?

Here's Joel focusing in on the court. Isn't he cute?

Well, I think that pretty much covers what we've been up to this month. Once we finish off a few more things I'll try to put some before and after pic's of our place on my blog. I'll also have to take another pic of my fairly large belly one of these days. I think I've run out of room in my non-maternity shirts, and I might have to head out and buy some maternity ones. They're just so expensive, especially since I'll only be wearing them for another 3 months! Besides outgrowing my clothes, this pregnancy has been pretty good so far. I've been pretty comfortable these past few weeks, and pretty much back to my "normal" self. I feel like I have lots of energy, I am still enjoying work, and I love knowing that there's a baby on the way! Even though we haven't had a whole lot of time to think about the baby and get ready for it (we have been pretty busy with our house), it's been so fun to feel the baby moving and kicking. I think we may have an active child on our hands, since this kid is out of control some days. One night I balanced the TV remote on my stomach, only to have it kicked off! I'm pretty sure it's doing gymnastics in there. Anyways, I think that's all I have for now. Hope you all enjoy the pictures and the little update!

20+ Weeks and Counting,,,

Okay, just so you all know (Bonnie), I had great intentions of posting some pictures on Monday. Jamie took some this weekend and emailed them to me at work, so I had no excuse. But I do have an excuse! I couldn't get them to load properly into Blogger from work! Finally today I figured out how to do it, so here they are!
Doug and I had a fun weekend hanging out with friends and family. We watched a little hockey, tried to get some packing started (since we are moving into our new place on Apr. 30th!!), led worship at our church Sunday morning, and spent time with our precious niece and nephew. Below is a picture of Doug struggling to hold a crying Keziah. Are we ready to be parents? That's the question that keeps running through my mind...

And here's me at 20 weeks! I am seriously getting bigger and bigger each day. The baby has been very active over the past few weeks as well. I'm pretty sure it spends most of the day kicking and stretching its limbs!

18 Weeks Update

I guess it's time for another update! My mom and sisters have been begging me to post some more pictures, so here they are! As of this weekend, the baby has been growing for 18 weeks, and it seems to be getting bigger every morning when I wake up! At this point it's surprising how fast this pregnancy seems to be going. All of a sudden the nine months is almost half over!

Here's a close up shot of my growing belly!

I think this pregnancy has been going by so fast because Doug and I have been so busy lately... buying our first home! This past week we signed the final papers to purchase a condo in downtown Abbotsford. We've been thinking of doing this for quite a while now, but realizing that we have a baby coming finally made us act. At the end of this month we will be moving out of our cramped 1 bedroom suite, into a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom place that will be our own. It's going to be alot of work, especially since we are going to have to do quite a bit of renovations before we even move in, but we are both up to the challenge, and are excited about the possibilities. This weekend we spent 2 days helping Erik and Jamie paint and lay laminate in their suite, and it got us looking forward to doing work in our own place.

We didn't work the entire weekend however. Doug and I managed to take in a great hockey game in Vancouver last night. It was the Flames vs. the Canucks, and we were definitely outnumbered by Canucks fans. Luckily, our team won. It was a great game, and the Flames took the Canucks 3 to 2.

Doug managed to capture a few shots of the game. Let me mention, that I was the one to buy the tickets for him. They are not easy to get out here, but I managed to find some. It was well worth the price!

Here's the view from our seats.

Doug was quite excited to zoom in and get a shot of his favorite Calgary player.

Well, I think that's all the news I have for now!

An Update...

It's been a while since my last post, and since I got to work early this morning, I decided it was time for a quick update. Right now we are already in week 16 of this pregnancy. It's incredible how fast it goes by. While it's been fun to experience having a baby, I must admit that I am looking forward to the end already! Yesterday as I was driving home from work I had this incredible realization... in five months, I won't be pregnant anymore! I got so excited for some reason, at the thought that I will eventually have my body back and feel normal again. At times you just forget that this will not last forever!
Fortunately though, I have been feeling pretty good lately. I haven't been that sick in the past few months, and I am starting to feel a bit better every day. I am starting to get my energy back, and I no longer go to bed at 8:30 each night! Now I can stay up to at least 10. The biggest new development is my food consumption. I have never, never, been so hungry in all my life. No matter what I eat, or how much, I can never feel full. At times I almost feel like crying at work, when I just finish my third breakfast for the morning, and I realize it's only 10:00 am, and I have 2 hours to go until lunch! The girls that I work with have been great, they are always bringing snack for me and enticing me into their offices with promises of chocolate and candy. Doug has also been wonderful. He makes my lunch each morning before I head off to work, and has been mindful of my increasing appetite. It's been getting more and more hilarious each morning, as the lunches he makes for me get larger and larger. This morning I thought there was a full bag of groceries sitting on the kitchen table, and then I realized it was my lunch for the day! It's amazing that I don't weigh 300 pounds.
Well, I think that's all I have to share right now. I'll try to put some new pictures on in the next week and continue to give you all an update!
Happy Spring everyone!

Yes Folks... It's True!

I'm sure that many of you have already heard the news that Doug and I are expecting! It's not recent news anymore however. I have definitely been neglecting this blog lately (Sorry Jamie and Rosanna!) My sisters out in Edmonton have been begging me lately for pictures, so I thought that I should get on the ball and make this announcement to the blogging world! I'm sure that many of you have tons of questions, so I'll try my best to answer.

1. When is the baby due? The official due date is September 1st. We were a little unsure of the actual due date, since this baby was a bit of a surprise. The ultrasound confirmed the date however, so we should have a baby late August or early September (which unfortunately means I will be very pregnant in the heat of summer). As of this weekend I am 14 weeks pregnant!
2. Were we trying? Well, kind of. Let's just say we decided to stop being careful one day to see what would happen, and the next month we realized that there was a baby!
3. How have I been feeling? For the most part, I haven't it too bad. A little sick in the mornings when I first get up, but as long as I keep eating, I don't feel nauseous. However, I have been extremely tired. I've started going to bed at about 9 pm each night, and sometimes earlier. Friday nights are the worst after a long week of work.
4. Am I getting fat? You bet! I've already started out growing some of pants, and getting dressed for work each morning is starting to become a challenge. I'm in that horrible in-between stage of being too big for my regular clothes, but too small for maternity clothes.

I think that's all I've got right now! If anyone has any other questions, I'll do my best to answer them! And finally, (Trish & Ang) here's the pics of my new haircut (which is now 2 months old) and my new body!

I Win...

Just for today, I think I can claim the title of the "best wife in the world". (according to Doug anyway.) For months Doug has been talking about how he really, really wants to get an electric guitar. Whenever I would ask him what he wanted for Christmas he would say an electric guitar, but I always said it would definitely be out of our price range. However, since his birthday and Christmas are so close, I decided to go for it. About a month and a half ago, Nate (Doug's brother) helped me pick out the perfect one, a Les Paul Epiphone. Well, Doug was certainly speechless. We wrapped up the guitar strings, and when he open them he just kept saying "no, no, you didn't." He was in disbelief. Here is a picture of the two of us enjoying his new gift.
As you may have already guessed, tonight was the Toews' family Christmas. Micah was very excited to help Keziah celebrate her first Christmas. Micah was also a great helper tonight. Not only did he distribute everyone's gifts, but also helped us unwrap all of them. (I must admit though, he did have a tough time giving up some of the gifts to their rightful owners.)

Here's one last picture of Doug and I. Happy (early) Christmas to everyone!!!

The Life Centre

As many of you know, Doug and I have been busy over the past few months with a new church plant called The Life Centre! We are on the core team of people who are in the process of starting an intercultural church here in Abbotsford. Well, the countdown is on... our kick off Sunday is just four weeks away. The website for the church is now up and running, so I thought I would post the address in case any of you are interested in taking a look. Here it is:

www.thelc.net

Let me know what you think!

Happy to be at Work!!!

Well folks, I never thought I'd live to see the day that I would be excited to be at work-- but it's come. I am so happy to finally be working today! I thought I was going to go crazy yesterday. After being snowed in for 2 days I finally ran out of things to do. I did 4 loads of laundry, decorated my house for Christmas, baked muffins, baked cupcakes, made a huge meal for supper, cleaned my house from top to bottom, then organized it from top to bottom, and then I was bored. It was so nice to get up this morning with a purpose! However, I am swamped today with half a week's worth of work piled up for me to do! The forecast does not look promising for tomorrow, more snow and bad driving conditions, so this may be the only day I have at work this week! Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do tomorrow, in case I'm stranded at home again?

Meet Our Niece Keziah

This week was a special one for Doug and I as we finally got to meet our new niece, Keziah Katherine Toews!!! At about 9:30pm on Wednesday night we got the phone call to come to the hospital where we were intoduced to beautiful Keziah. Since then our days have been filled with many hours watching and holding our new niece. We love you Keziah!

Here I am meeting Keziah for the first time! Isn't she precious?

Here's Doug with little Keziah!

This morning we all woke up to a blizzard in Abbotsford. We all made it to church this morning, but then barely made it to Doug's parent's house for lunch! The boys got called up the hill at one point to help push Mom and Dad Toews' car up the hill! Since then it has snowed about 46 cms, and is still going strong. It's starting to look like Doug and I may be snowed in here for the night, so we may be having a sleep over all together! I also may not be heading into work tomorrow morning if this keeps up! The boys of the house however, decided to enjoy the great outdoors by hanging out in the hot tub! Doesn't it look like fun?

A Successful Day Was Had By All

Well, Doug did it again. Today Doug and Todd went out fishing for the day with the plans to (and I quote) "not come home until every living creature has been caught." Doug was certainly successful. This time he managed to pull in a 35 pound Spring Salmon. As you can see, it is definitely not the most attractive looking fish, but it certainly made a delicious meal. Kristi worked her magic in the kitchen tonight a prepared an awesome meal for us all. Thanks Kristi!! Meanwhile, Brianne and I also engaged in some productive activity. We set out to Langley with the plan to not come home until every great deal has been found in the mall. And, as you can see, were certainly were successful as well. I love Saturdays!!

Homecoming for Kristi!!!

As some of you may know, Doug's sister Kristi came home yesterday after her (almost) year in Australia. We all got together to celebrate her homecoming.



Here Doug and Micah are showing how happy and excited they are that Kristi is arrived home safe and sound.

More Family Pics...

As promised, here are more pictures from our weekend in Waldheim...

Thanksgiving in Waldheim

Well, I began to download some pictures of our weekend, but unfortunately this computer I'm on isn't letting me add all the pictures I wanted to post. Anyways, I thought I'd might as well publish what I have-- so here's a little overview of our weekend in Saskatchewan! Doug and I flew to Edmonton on Friday afternoon where we met up with my two sisters Angie and Trisha. They are currently students in Edmonton, so we caught a ride with them out to Waldheim that night. We got to the farm at about 11:30 and were greeted by my parents, my brother Joel, Caroline (an exchange student living with my parents), Ryan (a guy who's boarding with my family), and a bunch of their friends. We all sat down to a late night snack with lots of food (the first of many feasts over the course of the weekend). The next day we spent in Waldheim, watching some Volleyball and hanging out with friends. After church on Sunday, we all went out for a meal at Jerry's Food Emporium (one of our favorite spots in Saskatoon). That evening we then went to one of the famous Foth family gatherings, where we saw a bunch of my extended family. On Monday, we all rested at home! We spent the day playing outside, playing card games inside, and just relaxing. Today, Doug and I had breakfast together at Thomas Cook (you can't beat the 3.99 special!), and are now getting ready to fly back to Abbotsford tonight. There's the summary! Now, here's some pictures:
Here's a picture of my sister Angie with her boyfriend Tyler. It was the first time that Doug and I had the chance to meet Tyler, so of course, we were a little suspicious (yeah right!). As you can see from the picture, they are a fun couple to be around. Hopefully we can spend some more time with them at Christmas.
This weekend Doug and I had the chance to meet Caroline, a girl from Germany that is currently living with my family. She came to Canada to study and improve her English. Everyone loves her, and she fits right in with our family. She even decided that she wanted to pierce her naval so she could fit in with me and my sisters. So, Sunday afternoon we took her to Schmata's and she had it done! She didn't even scream or freak out, but my mom had to sit down since she felt like passing out for Caroline! She is now one of the girls. It was fun to hang out with you Caroline!
Well, it was a wet and rainy weekend on the farm. The roads were not gravel roads anymore, they were mud pits (something Doug really enjoyed). Doug and I couldn't resist getting into some rain gear however, and exploring the farm. We found tons of sheep, baby kittens, and a llama. Don't we look attractive in our rain gear?

On Saturday, we had the chance to go watch my little brother Joel play some Volleyball at Waldheim's annual Alumni Tournament. It was fun to watch him play-- he gets better every time we go to one of his games-- and it was also good to see some old friends from high school.

I was very excited to run into these girls-- Lindy, Jodie, and Crystal. Some of these girls I haven't seen since graduation, so it was good to hang out and catch up a bit. I love you girls!

Here's me and my sisters watching some games. Everyone comments that we all look alike. What do you think?
Well, that's all for now, I have a few more pictures to add, but that will have to wait. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did this Thanksgiving weekend.

We're Heading Home!

For those of you who may have heard the rumor, it's true! Doug and I are heading home to Saskatchewan for Thanksgiving this year. We're going to work a half day tomorrow and then fly down to Edmonton where we'll meet up with my sisters and drive home together. I am so excited to spend the weekend in Waldheim-- hanging out with my family, watching some Alumni volleyball, eating some turkey, it's going to be great! Hopefully we'll have the chance to see some of you this weekend while we're out there. Watch for pictures of our weekend!

Check out our new pics!

The new church plant that Doug and I are involved with had a photo shoot on Sunday to get some good pictures for its website. We felt a bit awkward having them taken, but I think they turned out alright. What do you think?

Who do we look like?

Jamie just introduced me to a new website where you can find out which celebrity you look the most like. What do you think of the results?

Hey Honey! Look What I Caught!

For those of you who don't know, my husband has a new hobbie. A couple of weeks ago he decided to get into fishing. He went out and bought a rod, got his fishing license, and found a couple of fishing buddies. Every weekend he now heads out at least once or twice to fish for salmon. Yesterday he caught his first fish-- a 20 lb, 3 foot long Spring Salmon! Needless to say, I was fairly shocked when I saw it. Doug and his buddy Todd spent the evening cleaning it up last night (It is definitely not my job) and tonight we are having a BBQ with friends and family. We'll let you all know how it tastes!

Our New Home!!!

Well everyone, here are the promised pictures of our new place. Below is the small kitchen. There are a lot less cabinets, but a dishwasher more than makes up for it.
Here is our bedroom. You can't tell from the picture, but it is a nice large room with a huge closet to fill!!!
Here is Doug lounging in the living room watching TV. It's small, but still works for us. I can't wait to use the fireplace during the winter.
And last but not least, the bathroom. Our last suite only had a shower, so I am enjoying our bathtub.
The pictures don't do it justice, so you'll have to come visit and see it for yourself.

Here's an Update!

As you can see, these are not the pictures of our new house that I promised. Doug and I have been so busy over the past week that our house is still in a state of disarray. However, I promise that once everything is all sorted out those pictures will be posted!! Since it's been awhile since I have updated the blog with pictures, I thought I'd give you all a brief recap of the past few weeks. As many of you have observed from my sisters-in-law's blog, the Toews' family has had fun hanging out this summer, especially with our cousin Chris. Most weekends we got together and partied! The boys usually ended up playing baseball in the field while us girls ate a wide assortment of treats! Here are the girls cooling off in the "cold tub" during the recent heat wave, good old cousin Chris, and a girl's party of our favorite snacks.
This past week Doug and I celebrated our second anniversary! Monday was the big day, so to celebrate we went out to The Keg for a special night out after work. On Saturday we then headed up to Whistler for a little getaway. We had a great time shopping and sightseeing. That area of BC is gorgeous! On our way home we stopped at Shannon Falls and did a little hiking. We also stopped at a beach along the Sea to Sky highway for a rest. However, we couldn't do any swimming due a recent oil spill in the area. It was still a gorgeous place. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.
Well, that about sums up the past few weeks. Today (monday) Doug and I, along with Erik, Jamie, and Micah are going to head down to the Washington to Deception Pass for a little beach time. Hopefully we can also stop for a few Krispie Kremes and a little Target time as well (I know the boys will be down with the doughnuts and Jamie and I will be anxious to do some shopping). Don't you love long weekends?

We're Moving Folks!

These last few days have been pretty interesting. Our landlords recently sold their house, and last week our new landlords moved in... However they did not think we were going to be there! Long story short, there was some miscommunication that took place-- the realtor and our original landlords thought the people buying the house wanted tenants, they thought they were going to be moving into an empty house! They demanded that we move out immediately. Legally, we have two months before we have to leave, but Doug and I decided that if we could find a place for August we would move and make it easier on everyone. (It certainly helped that the realtor is giving us some incentive-- spa gift certificates and a $600 travel voucher!!!) After calling about 30 different places and looking all over town, we finally found a place to move. This weekend we move on up to East Abbotsford! It's a ground level basement suite-- a one bedroom-- that's a bit small, but definitely a step up from our old digs! The dishwasher is a favorite feature of mine. Anyways, once we have everything moved in I'll post an update-- complete with pictures of our new home!

Friday Night at the Park

It sure is different spending the week at work! It's been a while since I've had a nine to five job! For the most part, I am loving it! The people I work with are great, I actually like the work, and it's nice to have a more regular routine each day. However, it's been hard to get comfortable with my job since everything is changing each week! The first week, the girl who was supposed to train me was sick, so I pretty much just followed my supervisor around and learned bits and pieces of my job. The second week, I started my training, but it was all in vain. This week the entire computer system that my department uses was completely replaced by a new one. Not only do I have to learn an entire new system, but about half of my job description has changed as well. So now I am trying to forget what I learned in the first two weeks, and figure it all out again! Needless to say, by the time Friday evening rolled around, I was up for some relaxation, so Doug and I headed over to the park to hang out with Erik, Jamie, and Micah. Here are some pictures from our evening.



















Micah had a great time at the park. Every time I asked him to say "slide" he would say "Weeeee!!!". The two of us had a great time playing on the slides and the swings. Here Micah is trying to play baseball with the big boys. Unfortunately, the bat is just as big as Micah! Not only does Micah like the park, but chocolate as well! Micah and his mommy are taking a break and enjoying a treat! Well Jamie and Rosanna, I'm trying to keep up with you girls!! Aren't you proud of me for blogging two weeks in a row?

Happy Canada Day!!!

Since Doug and I are now working full time, we have learned to enjoy our weekends a whole lot more. Canada Day ended up being one of the funnest, most relaxing days we have had in a while. First of all, after sleeping in (After getting up at 6:30 in the morning during the week--I think we deserve it!), we invited Chris, Micah, and Jamie over to eat pizza and watch the France/Brazil world cup soccer game. Then, Rosanna and I went shopping at the mall while the boys played a little beach volleyball. After that we all met up at the Apollo and spent some time cooling off in the pool. For dinner that night, we all felt like doing something a little bit different, so we all went out for sushi at a Japanese restaurant. Doug and I had never been there before, but we had a great time and really enjoyed the food-- however, we did stay away from the raw fish. After dinner we came back to our place and watched a movie, then walked over to Rotary stadium to catch a bit of the live music and the fireworks. While watching the fireworks I thought about past Canada Day fireworks. Last year, Doug and I took the subway to downtown Montreal where we watched the fireworks with our good friend Steve. I also though about all the good times heading out to Diefenbaker park in Saskatoon catching the show on the hill. While I did miss the Saskatoon celebration a bit-- I have to say that Abbotsford has one great thing going for them-- no mosquitoes. I was so nice to lay on the grass and enjoy the show without being bothered by all the bugs!















As you can see, the boys sure had a great time doing other things as well. Isn't my husband a talented photographer? He manages to take all the best shots.
After the fireworks, it was decided that we definitely needed some McDonalds. However, when we got there, we realized that only the drive-thru was open. No worrries-- we decided to have a little tailgate party in the parking lot. It sure felt like we were in high school again-- sitting on the pavement eating our McDonalds. It was the perfect end to a great day.