Garden Party

I've been planning a garden party my whole life. I just never before had a garden. But, last week, to celebrate my five year wedding anniversary and one year of living in Dawson Creek, Mike and I had about 40 people in our backyard for a party. It was a lot of work, but a huge success. We had perfect Dawson Creek weather, as it was sunny without a single cloud and no wind, which meant that my shady backyard stayed warm until about 9:30 when it started to get dark out. We had little lanterns, tables with white tablecloths and candles, and little spots to eat set up throughout the garden. I got many compliments on the flowers and shrubs that I worked so hard on and it really paid off!

I spent most of the time running around being hostess, as usual, and then being surprised when people started to leave and I had barely sat down yet, but hey, that's what exhorters do at parties. Especially ones they organize themselves!

I had so many people tell me what a great time they had though, and it was nice to celebrate our anniversary with our new friends. We got some lovely cards and the coolest thing was that every time I was going to introduce two people to each other, I would see them already talking! The joys of a small town--everyone is connected somehow.

But, now it's two weeks of relaxation and no set plans until our trip to California. I've been writing a lot, and am planning on sending out two packets of poems today. I'm also trying to convince Mike to take me on a hike to Tumbler Ridge. There are apparently about 35 different hiking trails, most of them ending in a waterfall. I really want to do this one to Kinuseo Falls, which is actually taller than Niagara, just not as wide.

Well, it's time to stop procrastinating and type up those poems. Fingers crossed for me!

Here are some garden party pics:



Delicious food brought by my friends...




The backyard...








Friends, and their children!




The lights come on at the end of the night.

Five Years

Five years ago, on this Saturday of 2003, Mike and I got married. It was a semi-cloudy day, but still warm, with a little bit of rain. I was 19 and he was 20 and we had about 170 friends and family members packed into a very warm but lovely little church with a center aisle.

I remember getting ready with the girls and my mom and sisters in the morning, having them lace up my dress and telling me I looked beautiful.



I remember walking down the aisle after my bridesmaids, to the instrumental Celtic song I'd picked out when I was about 15, and which I'd had planned out and timed for years. I looked straight at Mike, but knew he would make me cry just looking at him, so I turned my gaze to all the family at the front pews, who were also making me cry.

I remember standing in the lovely green park having photos taken in front of the water and on the bridge, watching our wedding party laughing and taking silly shots.



I remember how wonderful it felt to stand in the middle of the reception hall, seeing my reflection in the sliding balcony door, the white twinkling lights, candle glow and that remarkable feeling when you walk across the room with your lovely white dress trailing behind.

I remember my first dance with Mike, and how half way through he pulled a disposable camera out of his pocket and took our traditional Mike and Sabring shot, of which we have dozens already, some perfectly angled, some accidentally looking up our noses...



And I remember all the past anniversaries, including fireworks at the Butchart Gardens, a concert, a night at a B&B, dinners in downtown Victoria, picnics at Beacon Hill Park, and even our quick lunch today at Mr. Mike's before Mike went to work.



It's been the best five years and I can't wait for the next five!

Pictures from home

In the past 10 months, I have been a complete airmiles freak, which recently paid off in a free flight to Vancouver. From there I walked on the ferry and had my mom pick me up for a week at home.


It was lovely--the weather was hot and sunny and I managed to visit all my family and squeeze in two trips to the best lake in the world, Sproat Lake, which was warm enough to swim in the crystal clear water and suntan on the beach! I was also able to visit with my good friend Melissa and Jenn at Rath Trevor beach, and on my last day made it to the Coombs market for a delicious lunch and then to nanaimo for some (okay, a LOT) of shopping. Let's just say that I made up for living in Dawson Creek for a year.


My nieces

I wish I had had my camera in Coombs, so that I could have shown a picture of the most delicious dessert ever. My mom and I each had a hazelnut ganache covered chocolate brownie. It was heaven. The consistency of cheesecake and it wasn't too rich and only about three bites big. Just perfect.

I also got my Nonna's recipe for spaghetti sauce which is very exciting. I will post it soon.

But, as trips tend to do, Saturday came quickly and I flew home after visiting my Dad in Van for a few hours. We went out to lunch and hit up the bookwarehouse before he and his girlfriend drove me to the airport. Isn't it crazy that I can fly home in only an hour and 25 minutes? If only it weren't so expensive I'd go all the time!

Well, here are some of the highlights, although I forgot to take a pic of me and my Mom...:(

Me and my little sis at Sproat Lake


Melissa and Jenn's little guys

First camping trip

I have a few posts that have been milling around in my head for some time now, but I haven't had the chance to post them. Well, I guess I better just start with one. On the Canada Day weekend Mike and I went on our first Northern camping trip, with our friends Chris and Chantal. Chris is another RCMP member, and Chantal teaches french like me. So, we had plenty in common and a carload of board games just in case.

We trecked out on the friday afternoon, literally about one hour after the last official school day ended for me. It was a rush to pack everything and be ready but so nice to go and relax on a lake for my first weekend of summer freedom. I'd said goodbye to all the kids, and toted all of my end of the year gifts home (the perks of being a grade one teacher :) and we set off toward Tumbler Ridge, which is about an hour and a half south of Dawson and is in a more mountain-like setting. We stopped just short of the town and pulled into Stony lake, thankfully claiming the last campsite.



The weather was perfect--sunny the entire time, and although we were very mosquito infested, we had a great time playing bocci ball, the Farming Game, and laying by the lake reading while our husbands explored the woods on a quad.



Chris and Chantal



Saying goodbye to the campsite on our last day

Last Day

Yesterday was my last day as a grade one teacher. It's been a lot of fun this year, but boy am I glad it's over! I'm already in summer mode and I can't wait to have nothing to do! Okay, maybe I won't have nothing to do because I always seem to make myself very busy, but I'm really looking forward to starting my summer reading and writing. I just discovered a nice little cafe that would be really great to write in,so I think I will start going there every morning to work on writing. I seem to get more done out of the house. I've hardly done any this year, which is ridiculous, as I was tocing so I should have had tons of time. Somehow, though, I haven't had a single day with nothing planned in months.

I've now gotten to know so many people in Dawson Creek (which isn't hard when you live in a tiny town and are a teacher) so that when I go out I always run into people I know. I remember being jealous last summer of all the people who knew each other and who I didn't know. I would walk past someone my age in the grocery aisle and think "will you be my friend?". It sounds dumb now, because everyone told me I would meet tons of new people, and I have, but I didn't know how to go about it when I wasn't in school. University makes friend-making quite easy. You sit together for at least a couple of hours a day, so you're always in touch.

I just recently am becoming friends with my neighbours now too. There's a lady across the street who goes to my church and she's invited me to come over sometime, and also to join her thursday night ladies group who meet at Mr. Mike's every week. I was excited to be invited because I'd heard about them in our church, and they are apparently all exhorters, like me.

We did this study in our small group called the 7 Redemptive gifts, and it talks about 7 types of personality. It's actually very interesting, and as I was sitting there trying to figure out what gifting I had, my whole group was like, uh, Sabrina, you're obviously an exhorter. Exhorters are the ones who are really into making friends, community, always being busy with activities, meeting new people, and who absolutely hate to be alone for too long. Yep, sounds like me. It's funny that I never realized it until now, but the study sure helped Mike and I to understand each other, as he is a Mercy. Mercies and Exhorters are opposites in some ways, as exhorters hate to be alone and mercies love and need their alone time. We both had a moment where we were like, "ooooh, I get it!". No wonder Mike loves to sit and play his games by himself and I'm always like "Please, entertain me, I'm bored!".

Anyways, if you're interested, go take the quiz and see if you can figure out what you are, and you're husband too, it's very helpful to marriages and friendships. If you think you know which you are, let me know, as I've been guessing my friend's giftings ever since.

Go to this site and read the DNA questions. It's very enlightening.

So, more on my last day. We had a pirate scavengar hunt, which was so much fun. I hid little treasure boxes around the class with prizes in them, and everyone had one with their name on it. Of coures, they made me hide them over and over again until the end of the day. We also made pirate ships and picture frames for our class photo. Three kids in the class brought me presents, one little girl made me a crown to wear all day, and another girl brought me red roses. They are such sweethearts. I felt so bad at the end of the day though, as one little girl left the school crying because I wouldn't be their teacher anymore. Later on, at soccer, I ran into the Dad of another little girl, and he told me "M was so lifeless when she got home today". He asked her what was wrong and she said it was the last day with "Mme L'Heureux". Broke my heart. I'll miss that next year when I'm teaching grade twelve. They're not so into giving you hugs and presents.

Well, I'm off to wake my hubby so we can go do something fun today!!

Gardening

I never got called in to work today, so I decided to spend it outside gardening while my husband slept away the day. (He's on nights) I realize that I've never posted pics of my yard and outside of my house as it was always covered in snow.

But, I had a successful day gardening, and Mike and I spent a ton of money on the weekend on the necessary yard equipment. We bought a weed wacker and lawnmower (our grass looks like a jungle) and pots and flowers and seeds to plant. I also found a set of amazing adirondack chairs, which I've been wanting forever, to put on our front deck, which faces south and has a view of the whole city and Bear mountain. Funny that I'm actually starting to think of it as a mountain. The chairs were made by a retired man who makes them as a hobby over the winter. He sells them at the farmer's market, which is my favourite place to shop on saturdays. They have beautiful things and I can't wait for later this summer and fall to buy their vegetables. I also bought some hand made spearmint and mulberry hemp soap that smell delicious.

Here is a peek at my yard so far. It still needs lots of work, especially the dandelions and the grass--but I've left that for Mike on his day off tomorrow!

Here is my faery garden:


My deck and front yard, with the pots I planted today:





My back yard and side of my house:



Oh, and one last thing. Not only did I get the job at the high school for next year, but they've decided to give me a continuing contract! This means that I'm guaranteed a job for every year I'm here--usually it takes two years before they will give you one, so it's great news for next year as I don't have to worry about having a job!

Good things

1) It's hot and sunny out

2) There's only one month left of school

3) The Relay for Life is over and my team raised 6600$...Dawson Creek raised 100 036 dollars total! (more on this later)

4) Mike and I are going to California in 3 months

5) And, best of all, I got a job next year at the high school teaching French 10,11 and 12!

waiting...

If there's one thing I hate, it's waiting. I've been waiting all week to find out what jobs are left in our school district after round one. I can't apply until round two and I'm hoping there's something left for me. It turns out that our district is shrinking and teachers are getting laid off, which means there's a huge shuffle of positions, and possibly nothing left for a toc with a temporary contract like myself.

Sigh. And, the worst part is, I need to know soon what I'm doing next year, as I've been invited to a wedding in the middle of the year that I want to go to, but don't want to pay until I know if I can go or not. What to do?

I'm so looking forward to the summer holidays--Mike has booked his time off, and he has two whole weeks from the 12-25th of August off!

I just wish I lived in a city where french teachers were needed. I think D.C. must be the only place in BC that isn't experiencing a shortage of french teachers. Unfortunately, myself and two other members wives, all posted here in the SAME month (!) are ALL french teachers, which means that I'm always competing with them for jobs.

I miss being a university student. Maybe I'll just do my masters while there are no jobs and start working again later.

Book Club Feast

Just finished my first book club meeting to be held at my house. It's exciting to have one's own house to host things like book club meetings.

Although there were only three of us, we had excellent conversation about "The God of Small Things" (my suggestion) and enjoyed an enormous Indian feast. Although none of us were Indian food experts, we took our inspiration straight from the book. I made a delicious Coconut Curry sauce with rice and chicken (probably a little more Thai than Indian, but oh well) and Naan bread. We also had an Indian sauce with chickpeas; pompadoms; and flour savories with banana jam (the recipe taken from a character in the book) for dessert. It was delicious. Dee Li Shos.

The book was also amazing. Our one-liner, which we create for each book and keep in a binder for future reference, was "Roy's poetic style weaves together bits and pieces of a families' fate following tragedy." We rated it 8.5/10 (I gave it a 9).

Here are a few of my favourite lines, underlined in the book (sorry Amanda, I couldn't help it!):

"Strange insects appeared like ideas in the evening..."

"The Loss of Sophie Mol stepped softly around the Ayemenem House like a quiet thing in socks."

My personal favourite: "Men's bums never grow up. Like school satchels, they evoke in an instant memories of childhood."

"On warm days, the smell of shit lifted off the river and hovered over Ayemenem like a hat."

"...he clasped his armpits possessively, as though someone had asked to borrow them and he had just refused."

"He left behind a hole in the Universe through which darkness poured like liquid tar."

I could go on, but instead, you should just read the book.
Next, we are reading "The lust lizard of melancholy cove" by Christopher Moore, which promises to be hilarious.

My weekend

Had an exciting and nervwracking past few days. On Friday Mike came into my grade one class and did a presentation on the RCMP. It was really cute to hear all the questions they asked him. He even wore his Red Serge for them. My favourite questions were:

Have you ever found any evidence? (This after they had discussed shows like Scooby Doo and Blue's Clues.)

and, "Where's your horse?"

On Friday night the staff went out for dinner at the new D.C. restaurant, Tony Roma's, where we surprised our LA teacher and our vice-principal on their birthdays. I splurged and had steak and dessert, because I'm only going to be able to drink food for the next two weeks (more on that later). Afterwards, we went over to Karine's house, and since all the teachers there were francophone we had a fun time speaking in french and playing "Dance Revolution" on her nintendo wii. The game is very addicting, if you've never tried it before, but such a good workout. I got better at the end, and stopped getting booed by the screen.

Saturday was my first fundraising event for the Relay for Life. I started a team about a month ago and we have already raised close to 3000$ dollars. We had a bake sale at the co-op mall all day long and raised 515$ for the Canadian Cancer Society. I couldn't believe how much baking our team managed to make. There were a ton of super kind generous people, and some super cheap ones too. All the goodies were in bags and on plates and we sold them by donation, because I figured if I put a price tag saying 2$ for a bag, anyone who had a five would ask for change. But, this way, when people handed me their 5 dollar bill and said how much, I said by donation, and usually they would feel too cheap to ask for change. However, we did have one elderly couple who we were not so impressd by. The husband had a wad of cash in his wallet, and then proceeded to dump his pennies and nickels into our jar, while his wife grabbed an entire loaf of banana bread and a plate of at least a dozen cookies. I was trying really hard to smile and say thank you whithout being judgemental, but who does that? Oh well, the generosity of others balanced out the people who were trying to get a "good deal" on baked goods.

Then, Sunday was the day I've been dreading for about 5 years now. I've had four wisdom teeth that have needed to be removed for a while, but I've been too chicken to get it done. But, now that Mike is in the RCMP, they will cover half of the cost, so I figured I'd better get it done and over with. So, yesterday morning at 10 am we made made our way (in the snow which had dumped overnight on my green lawn! ) to the dentist office. An oral surgeon flies in once a month on sundays and people cram in all day to get their wisdom teeth extracted. I got there just in time to see the drugged up previous patient emerging from the back and totally freaked out, but managed to make it to the dentist chair on my own. The reason I was scared was that I've never been put to sleep before, so I had no idea what it would feel like. The surgeon said I would feel a little drunk, then drift to sleep. I remember saying, okay I feel the drunkenness now, and then asking "so when do I fall asleep?". The next thing I remember I was awake in another room, with the faint memory of two nurses half carrying me there once I had woken up. I must say it was actually not an unpleasant experience, and the surgeon was amazing. I only wish they had let me sleep longer in the comfy chair with the blanket. The dentist told Mike that there was only one difficult tooth, which I had expected (it was grown in sideways under the skin) and the rest of the teeth aren't even sore. Unfortunately, the anaesthetic made me sick when I got home, but now I just feel like I got punched in the jaw. Only 2 more hours until I can take my next T-3.

But, I can't explain the relief now that it's over, and I've got Mike taking care of me, cleaning the house, and making me delicious smoothies and soup three times a day (he makes excellent smoothies). I've also got a cup with four teeth in it that I have no idea what to do with. Why do they give you your teeth anyways? I would have said no thank-you if it weren't for my drunkenness. Maybe if I put them under the pillow the tooth fairy will bring me back the $700 it cost to have them removed?

Just for fun...

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes. In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun. You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it! Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

Goblin Fruit

Haven't had much time to blog lately, however, I wanted to post this website, which is a poetry zine published quarterly called Goblin Fruit. The spring 2008 issue was released today, and features one of my poems, titled "The Magician's Wife" along with a recording of myself reading it. I will admit the recording I made is not that great, but then who likes hearing their own voice, right?

Hope you enjoy it!

p.s. My yard is 98% snow free!

Spring break...and now back to winter

Just finished my first week back at work since spring break. Everything feels strange when you've been away for a couple of weeks. The first night back, I woke up in the middle of the night and remember standing in the hall trying to remember where I was. Strange how that happens when you haven't slept in your own bed for a while. Especially when you've only lived in your house for a month.

But, now everything is back to normal. Mike is working over-time (he just got called in for the second time today) and I'm back to life in grade one.

The trip was really great though--we spent our time very efficiently, as Mike put it, going for breakfast with one friend, meeting another in the afternoon, and then organizing dinners with as many people as possible. We managed to walk in my favourite places; the dyke by my mom's house, the Cherry Creek road to the farm, around downtown and the harbour, and through the Finnerty gardens at Uvic.


Down by the creek, where I used to go "kerplunk" with my Granny. Mike and I raced boats made from blades of grass like I did as a child. (Mine won).


Our nieces missed their Uncle Mike--we went to Jenna's fifth birthday party with her--at the wave pool in Nanaimo.

Then, there was the best restaurants; Moxie's with my sister and mom, Paggliaci's with Mike for soup and bread (3 baskets full), the Tapa bar for the baked tortellini and glazed carrot tapa, Rebar, and of course, Eggs Benedict at the Blue Fox. I meant to take pictures of all my meals, but I guess they were too yummy, because I forgot every time!




I also finally ate one of the enormous candy apples at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.


Mike and I saw an Imax one day, shopped the downtown stores and my favourite book haunts, although I missed out of the malls due to lack of funds and a desire to not tempt myself. We also mini-golfed, played board games, and Mike even went to work in Port Alberni for two ride-alongs, with his troup mate from Depot who is currently posted there. Apparently he loves his job so much he can't stay away. One of the highlights was getting to see our favourite high school teachers, the Duperrons, who grew up in Dawson Creek and are still at the high school in Port Alberni. We surprised them and had a nice chat after school one friday. I got to hang out with my Victoria girlfriends and have a nice dinner with just the gals as well.



All in all, it was a great trip. We saw our favourite things, and favourite people (although we missed a few who were on their own spring break trips) and soaked up as much spring weather as we could before heading back to D.C. where it can't decided whether winter is over or not. I arrived home to about 10 degrees and sun, and by the following day, my yard (which was growing tulips and not yet green, but brown) looked like this:


In any case, it is good to be home again, but I am already thinking about my next visit, which will hopefully include a flight down to Disneyland!

Going home...finally!

Tonight is my last night of winter in Dawson Creek.

We leave tomorrow afternoon to head over to the island for spring break. And, when we get back it will be the 2nd day of spring. Outside my office window, I can already see about half of the grass in my yard as we have had a warm spell and the snow is melting very quickly. Here's to hoping it won't snow again.

I've just been packing and have no idea what to bring home. I'm assuming I won't need to bring my snow boots, tuque, or winter coat. Haha. It's so strange to pull out the shoes I haven't worn in 6 months, but it's kind of like getting a whole new wardrobe all over again. It also makes me realize that I have a lot of shoes. Especially when 80% of them can't be worn until the snow melts!

Today I did some baby visiting with my friend Kim and her baby Gwen, who gets and amazing mohawk when she wakes up from her nap. I also visited my friend Lindsey and baby Keturah, who has discovered the joy of banging blocks together. Every time Mike hangs out with the babies in our group of friends, he gets this longing sort of look on his face, and you can't draw his attention away from them. He so wants to have a baby. I told him if he takes me to Ireland and Disneyland this summer then we could talk. So, we're doing Disneyland this summer and Ireland next summer!

Well, I better go finish packing. Anyone who wants to visit, now is your chance! I'll be home for 12 days, so just send me a message or give me a call.

Happy Spring break!

Winter, winter, go away

On Friday afternoon, I had the joy of standing outside my house in the pouring rain. It was the first time I'd been in the rain since about August! It was very exciting, and I thought, finally, spring is coming.

I guess I spoke to soon, because later that evening, the temperature went from +3 to -18 and we got stuck on the highway in a complete white out, while on our way back from the Grand Prairie airport, where we were picking up our friend Lindsey. It was the scariest drive I've ever taken. The snow was swirling in all directions around the car so that you couldn't see any part of the road. Luckily, we were able to follow a semi most of the way home and only partially drove into a ditch before Mike got us out of it. And, now it's March and it's still winter. But, next week is spring break and I'll be on the island and by the time I get back, winter better be over!

Pretty soon, it will be time to start applying for jobs for next school year. I'm desperately hoping to get the job of the retiring French and English teacher at the high school. She's leaving and I'm hoping they hire someone to replace her. I would actually not even mind if it was part time, because then I could spend the rest of the time writing. I finally started my idea for a novel. There's only about a paragraph written so far, because I can't start writing until I've done a lot of research usually. I'm hoping that my mental block in poetry means that I should be spending my time writing fiction. I sent a story away the other day that I'm pretty optimistic about, but I have to wait 3 months to find out if they will accept it or not.

Well, I think I will go try to finish reading "The Catcher in the Rye". Can you believe this writer/english teacher has never read it? My book club is doing it this thursday, so I am finally getting around to it. Happy March!

Here is a pic of me and my girlfriends here sporting our wedding dresses at our bridezilla party:

Wanted: brilliant poem ideas.

I've been avoiding my blog lately. Procrastinating from writing and instead just thinking about writing. Which isn't all that useful after a while. I might get some good ideas but that's as far as I get. And, I have several deadlines for submissions and contests coming up. The thing is, I just feel so restless. I want to go out in the sunshine (it's finally warming up) or get on a plane and go somewhere. Luckily my trip to the island isn't that far away. But I want to do more than that. I want to travel EVERYWHERE and I'm just sick of waiting. Sigh.

There is a contest deadline this week for a poetry site I've been submitting too, and I desperately am trying to come up with a half-decent poem to send off. The thing is, my ideas are completely dried out at the moment. I keep reading old poems, and re-reading my favourites, trying to remember how I came to writing them, and how I got the good idea in the first place. But honestly, most of my poems just come to me. I barely revise them at all, they just arrive in a rush of words, usually scrawled in a notebook, and I revise as I write, working until I get to the great ending that started the poem in the first place. Or, I'll see a great image, or someone will tell me something that just seems to fit perfectly with a poem.

So, anyone got any great ideas?

On the bright side, I finally got my office organized to do some writing without feeling so cramped. And, I sent off the story I've been meaning to send off for like a year now! Trying to stay positive here, can you tell?

I'm also excited that I get to teach English 12 all day tomorrow at the high school. Finally! I actually get to teach my favourite subject and grade. Methinks I should prepare some extra work to bring in just in case the teacher left us no lesson plan... (let's just say my last subbing experience in the computer lab was basically spent fooling around on facebook with the rest of the class as the assignment took up about 15 minutes of the 80 minute class!).

What else? Oh, did I mention that it's been above 0 for a week now! And that I can see my grass? I know, you can really only appreciate my excitement if you live any farther north than I do. But, I actually went out onto my deck in my t-shirt and just SAT there, enjoying the warmth on my arms for once. I even skipped taking my vitamin D that day. But, in a couple of weeks I'll be enjoying the island rain once more. And for once I realize that I LOVE the rain. Life just isn't the same when there's no rain 8 months of the year. Can you even imagine that? It's just bizarre.

Leaving you with a pic of my Dawson Creek friends:

Mike's birthday

In the midst of moving, it was also Mike's 25th birthday. He worked the day of his birthday, so on Sunday the 3rd, we went out for lunch and then had an afternoon of bowling with our friends from church. Amazingly, everyone and their kids were able to come--we usually have small turn outs due to all the shift workers in our group. It was a lot of fun to be all together. Here are some of the highlights (even the baby girls made it!):




The newest addition: Baby Gwen, born January 4th.


Can you guess which ones brought babies?







At the bowling alley--I came in second!

At long last

I've finally got my internet connected, and some time to post pictures of the house, which I realize are long overdue. We are still unpacking, but every day I get something new accomplished, such as new phones, and smoke/co2 detectors. How exciting. Now that we have a house, there are so many boring things you have to buy before you can get to the fun stuff!

This past week has been super busy, with the move, and a bridezilla party with some girlfriends on the weekend (we wore our wedding dresses) and also Mike's birthday yesterday. But, first, to the pictures...





The huge tv room at the back of the house, and the windows that look into the backyard.





The kitchen, the brick wall in the kitchen, and the dining room.


Here are the bathroom, laundry room, and the living rooms with some of their furniture in them.







Well, hope you enjoyed the pics--let us know when you wanna come visit. Although it was in the minus 40s last week, so I would recommend waiting for spring!