Oh Canada!

Jennah, Mckay and I decided to take a little roadtrip up to Montreal for Memorial day weekend!!! Jennah and I had both Friday and Monday off so we decided to head up Thursday right after work!




It was both Jennah and Mckay's first time to the "Great White North" and they enjoyed having fun with that by saying "You have _____ in Canada"?? (Fill in the blank with whatever you can think of...cars, roads, malls, parks, pizza, TV, etc.)

Friday we (and by we I mean mostly Mckay) slept in and headed downtown in the afternoon. We drove by the Olympic Stadium and then headed to St. Catherines street to walk around. We got some poutine from La Belle Province. Jennah wasn't the biggest fan (no surprise there...she isn't the most daring when it comes to food).
And I of course had to get a "Steamé All-dress" hot dog...which is a steamed hot dog with mustard, relish, onions and coleslaw at La Bell Province.


Mckay was so proud to see his name plastered all over this place in the middle of Montreal. We didn't go in...but I found out later it was the first place my dad ever tried Montreal's Smoke Meat.

Apparently Canada is "going green" also.

After walking around St. Catherines we headed up to Mount-Royal to look out at the city. We actually had a great time just hanging out and people watching. There were a bunch of guys skate boarding and it was fun watching them.

It is pointing to St-Bruno - my home town! Mckay and Jennah started calling St. Bruno "Bethoven 2nd" - Don't ask.

I lovvvve Jennah! Aren't we just the cutest girls ever!?!! :)

I mean...Seriously!

We couldn't resist gossiping with the girls in Old Montreal.

The weather was perfect all weekend. Not too hot, not too cold. And the sun was out pretty much all weekend! We walked around the old port on Saturday...
And I made sure to introduce Jennah and Mckay to our oh-so-gooooooooood Beaver Tails. They pretty much fell in love with them. I think it was one of their favorite things about the trip.
We of course had to go see the Notre-Dame basillica. Jennah is the biggest Celine Dion fan so she was excited to see the church where she was married in! Some nice guy offered to take our picture for us.....Then after taking the picture he proceeded to ask for some change for a coffee or food. He did not even look homeless. Scammers. I can't stand them.

I always love going to old Montreal when I come home for a visit. I just love the atmosphere and the European touch it has.


"Arret, Arret" - I think I heard Jennah say that oh...maybe about a million times over the course of the weekend. Pretty sure it was her FAVORITE thing to say! She pretty much loved the stop signs in Quebec.

After old Montreal....we got some good greek food and then headed to the St. Joseph's Oratory.
People come from all over the place to clime the stairs (that you see in the background) on their knees and say a prayer at each step. They usually do this if they need to be healed or need some kind of special blessing. We actually saw someone doing this when we got there. It looked so painful. In the Oratory there is an area where people have hung up all their crutches and canes from being healed.

Just admiring the sunset and the view from the Oratory.

So - Sunday. We went to church and stopped by the temple.....and then Jennah and I decided to take a walk to a nearby park.




Of course Jennah and I acted like we were 5 years old and hopped on everything. Well, I sat on that green turtle...and I went all the way back and then all the way forward and then flipped right off the front of it and landed on my back! Not to mention I ripped my slit in my skirt all the way up to my booty. ha ha.

We went back after dinner and I was SO much better after changing into shorts and having learned from my prior experience. I'm almost like a pro now.

This tree trunk has been here for a long time! I remember it from when I was a kid. It was a lot of fun to go play in my old park...made me feel like a kid again!

I love swinging!!! Mckay and Jennah decided they wanted to jump off...but since I didn't want to hurt myself since my run was coming up soon I kept refusing to do it. But they finally convinced me to do a little jump off the swings....
And on the count of 3, I started to jump off. Only thing....I wasn't coming off the swing very fast...there was something holding me back! Turns out...my shorts got stuck in the swing and they ripped ALL the way down my leg! I'm talking ALL the way down.....
From my hip to the very bottom! What the crap! 2 incidents in 1 day!! My wardrobe was getting smaller by the minute! Luckily it was still connected at the top by an inch so all i had to do was wrap my sweater around my leg so not everything was hanging out and continued on our walk...


Monday we were heading back to the U.S. of A....but we had one final stop to make!

I wanted Smoke Meat so bad. So we drove into Montreal and went to Schwartz to enjoy some Montreal smoke meat! Best stuff EVER!!

It was a way fun weekend! I think Jennah and Mckay had a good time too! Yay for Montreal! :)

Happy Hour Pictures

We had our "end of busy season" happy hour that we typically have every year after the first of our two dreaded tax seasons is over. And I had my camera handy for a few pictures....


Just kickin' it with a couple of the "big men on campus" Marty and Jon. One of our more experienced partners with one of our newer partners.

Alexis and Me! Love this girl!

Mike, KJ-J, and The man Joe.

James, Gina, Moi, Dan, and Carolyn (she wasn't exactly ready for this one).

Notice anything weird about that picture? And I know you all know me well enough to stop freaking out. It was all Gina's idea.

Good times. Definitely going to miss these people when I move and I'm going to miss hanging out with them at happy hours. I might just have to fly back every once in a whille to see the crew.

Making it Official

For some reason...nothing seems completely official until I put it on my blog. Weird, I know. So even though pretty much everyone already knows and it has been official for quite some time - I'm just going to seal the deal and let everyone know (again)....That I am in fact getting the heck outta here!

I'm pretty sure I've been talking about how I was eventually going to move for the past...umm.. 3 years? Well, instead of talking about it....I'm actually doing it. I'm almost certain no one believed me at first when I told them I was actually going to move this year but it's true folks...yours truly is leaving the East Coast.

I absolutely love Connecticut. I've lived here for almost 4 years now and there is a big part of me that is really sad to leave. I have made some amazing friends here....some of which have become some of my best friends who I know I'll keep in touch with for years to come.

I loved the fact that when I first moved out here I was close to my nieces and nephew...

This was probably one of the first pictures I took after moving out here! We all look so different now! They are so much bigger and I'm a little smaller! :) ha.

When they moved away 2 years ago...They weren't the only ones that moved away. So did Jaime and Cassidy who became 2 of my very good friends. And that was when I seriously started thinking it was also time for me to leave. But for a couple of reasons, I decided to stick it out a little longer and I'm so happy I did!

I made even more great friends....

Went to my first concert.....

Discovered I could be creative if I wanted to....

Got a little lighter on my feet...

Became a runner.....

Made more amazing friends....

Spent lots o' time in NYC....

And at events like these....

I've actually accomplished quite a bit the past 4 years and I wouldn't trade it for anything. So, why am I leaving? Well, it's just time. This is the longest I've lived anywhere since I left Montreal when I was 18. I've lived in 5 different states in the past 10 years and as much as I love Connecticut and the experiences i've had and people i've met...I know that it is time for something new.

I requested a transfer at work at the end of February thinking it would take a while to be approved...but remarkably it was approved within a couple of days. Which just another confirmation that it is time. In about 5 weeks I'm packing up my car and pretty much only taking whatever fits in my little honda and driving across the country to San Jose, California to start everything over again!!! I can't believe it's really happening!

I'm a little nervous, a little sad, but mostly excited for the new adventure! California - Here I come!

Josh and Colleen got Hitched....

I first met Josh over 5 years ago at BYU when he and Jason were my hometeachers!! I would run into Josh on campus every once in a while but we never kept in touch after we were in the same ward. Then I moved to Connecticut and went to church only to find out that Joshua was back in CT (where he and his family are from) and going to the same ward.

The Guys

And funny enough, he became my hometeacher out here as well for quite a while. And we eventually became very good friends. I consider him one of my best friends out here in Connecticut. He and his family have been so good to me.

The girls

The very condensed story....Josh and Colleen met at Priceline where they both work and started dating a little over a year ago. Eventually Colleen started taking the discussions and ended up getting baptized....

Josh waiting for the Bride...and starting to look anxious...

And then of course they got engaged!!! And I was so excited because Colleen is so perfect for Joshua and I just love her to death!!

Levi, Ezekiel and Adelaide - So Stinkin' Cute!!!

The wedding was wonderful! Everything went as planned and thankfully there was no rain! :) A couple of days before the wedding a couple of us were talking to Colleen about whether she thought she would cry. We all agreed that Josh would definitely cry but she wasn't sure if she would. Turns out...she was crying even before she made it all the way down the aisle! :)

Our Bishop married them. This was only his second wedding, but he did a fantastic job.


I got to spend the evening with some of my favorite people! Reid came back to town for the wedding and it was so fun to be reunited for the event and the weekend! All we were missing was Jennah!





We all had a good time on the dance floor! I was so happy to see Josh dancing (he hates dancing!) And it's always fun watching these guys.....

The happy couple leaving on their honeymoon!!!

The whole night was fantastic! Congratulations Josh and Colleen!! I love you guys!