Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Sometimes Grande Prairie winters can be a little rough. We've been dealing with snow since Oct. 9th (three days after our lovely 19 degree wedding day!). The cold and the snow have basically decided to stay. 

Winter  causes me to want two things: hot beverages and staying inside. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my health) the puppies force be outdoors in the winter time! After a few days without long walks two puppies can start getting pretty antsy! Jumping around. Eating their dog beds. Waiting by the door. Its cruel not to take them out actually. So we do! 

Here are some pics from our latest -20 adventure! 

Waiting anxiously to go outside!

Handsome man in his nice winer hat :) 

This is us in the centre of the cul-de-sac. Can't even tell where the roads are! 

Trees literally piled with snow. 

Puppies having a leash-less adventure. Lucky! They actually listen really well now so we give them privileges every once in a while. 

Running after a snow ball Mr. A threw in the air!

Snowy nose. 

Even snowier nose!

View down the street. Crazy winter... 

Me and the little puppy. Sooo difficult to get a shot of him standing still! 

Hope you enjoyed our winter adventure. Maybe some of you Ontarians can live vicariously through our winter wonderland. It's looking like it's gonna be a white Christmas for us! 

Un-Wallowing

In case you couldn't tell, I recently needed to unwallow. So, my friend, PJ, went with the puppy and me on a little roadtrip. We intended to make it out to a friend's cottage, but got a little sidetracked. First on purpose, then by accident.

We first went to Dunvegan cause it was sort of on the way, and because I had heard it was beautiful (PJ confirmed this). It was so nice there, and the day was so perfect that I swore to go again soon! The pictures below are from there (all taken by PJ!).

Then, we attempted to find my friend's cottage (which for all you Ontarians, does

not mean the same thing here!). We got a little lost... well actually a lot lost. Somewhere in our roadtrip we saw a moose! That was a definite highlight for me. First wild moose. Eventually my friend managed to see us driving around aimlessly and called us to meet her at the main road and follow her in, lol.

The wandering was worth it. I had such a great time out in the wilderness. Just hanging out outdoors without the noises of the city. I also got to experience a truly albertan hobby. Quading. Yes friends, I learned to drive a quad this weekend. It was wicked. Turned out to be an awesome day. I'll definitely need some more adventures this summer :)

Aren't these pictures awesome! Who knew this was so close to home! Thanks PJ for helping me un-wallow :)

Bull Riding Mayhem

Most people that know me are aware that I have a sense of adventure. This in turn leads to my love of roadtrips! The problem with having a real job is that you can't just take off a bunch of time and go on trips. I have to save my precious days for important things like weddings and birthdays. So I got to thinking, "where can I go near Grande Prairie that won't break the bank?" Then I found out about a Bull Riding event in Dawson Creek (yeah... its a real place)!! Fun is implied.

Next step was rounding up my friend J-Dawg, getting our plaid shirts on and heading out of the province. I was a super fun time. We ended up with totally awesome seats, and bull-riding experts near-by to provide explanations. If we didn't wanna ask we just looked it up on my iPhone, haha. There is a lot to learn about this Albertan rodeo culture! Many more lessons to come! Here's a few pics from the day - sorry there aren't any good bull ones; I was too focused on the people getting flipped around to take pictures!

Here I am leaving the province!

An uncontrolled bill and a full audience enjoying the fun!

A bull charging at the helper-guys (sorry I don't know the lingo, lol)

All the cowboys waiting for the fun to begin

J-Dawg and me in front of the giant beaver in Beaverlodge (yay, it's a real place). True story. Adventure complete.

Here's a video of one of the bull riders. I don't know if it'll work, but we'll give it a try! (He had to stay on for 8 seconds to get the points) This bull was pretty tame compared to the rest!

ps - unfortunately, I did not see Pacey there :(

Snowboarding Fiasco

So, yesterday I got all geared up to snowboard. It was SUPER fun and I'm a pretty quick learner so it was going really well. The only problem was that I got a bit over confident.... I started going to fast and trying things and getting a little reckless. Winnipeg (friend nickname) and I were still only on the baby hills, but I was still able to be a little crazy somehow.

BEFORE: happy and innocent

AFTER: sad and defeated

I was in emerge for 5 hours waiting for everything. Oblique break in two spots of my ulna. Weak bones. Literally. I'm starting calcium supplements soon. Thankfully Winnipeg stayed with me. I'm sooo grateful for that! I don't think I could've gotten through the long long afternoon without her.

The craziest thing is that I'm totally going to go again! I'm just going to look into wrist guards, and better falling methods, haha. Winnipeg will take me whether she likes it or not! (I hope you read this Winnipeg, lol).

ps - this was a difficult and long typing process. stupid broken wrist.