Back From Africa

For the last ten days Murray has been away for work in South Africa, or more specifically Mozambique.  It was difficult for us to be apart but I think the experience was good for him.   All I know is that I am very happy that he is home safe.

The Beach on the resort where Murray stayed

The room Murray slept in.

The equipment Murray traveled all the way to Mozambique to work on.

The whitest man in all of Mozambique!

Local Fishermen.

Women carrying 5 gallon pails of water on their heads. 

Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.

Thanks to everyone who kept me company while Murray was away.

Happy Monday.

Love That Lasts

This Friday my Grandparents celebrated 50 years of marriage.   A pretty amazing accomplishment!  They celebrated the occasion by inviting some close friends and family out for brunch on Sunday.  It was nice to see everyone and catch up.
50 years!  I think about how much Murray and I have changed in only 3 years of marriage and then think about how much two people would grow and change together over 50 years and it so amazing that their love has lasted.
Watching them Sunday, you can tell they are still very much in love and it was so refreshing, the kind of thing that renews your faith in God and love.

Happy 50th Anniversary Papa and Gramma, may you have many more happy years together.

Tell someone that you love them today.

One Big Step...

As a newly pregnant person I thought I would try to put off maternity clothes shopping for as long as I could.  Yesterday at work, however, I burst the top button on my dress pants and thought it was time I go shopping at least for some basics.

While in the mall yesterday, I walked past the maternity store 4 times and still could not work up the courage to go inside.  I called Murray on the verge of tears (hormones).  Murray simply said "you're probably not the first girl to cry outside of the maternity clothes store"  and this made me laugh.  So after my little pep talk I decided I had to 'just do it!'  The sales lady was very nice, after asking if she could help me (I must have looked very lost) I simply blurted out "I'm new at this."  She smiled and took me for a tour around the store.  The whole experience really was not that bad, once I got over the initial anxiety of it all.

Has anyone else had mixed emotions going into the maternity clothes store for the first time?

I'm telling you for me that was...One Big Step.

Murray + Jessica = 3

No my math skills are not that bad...we are pregnant!

We are expecting the new addition to our family near the beginning of April and we are both very excited.

The first picture of Baby Buchan

So far I have been feeling pretty good.  Just a little bit more tired than usual and only a little nauseous.  So far the pregnancy is going very well.  I will keep you posted as Baby Buchan develops.

Happy Monday.

Civic Duty

For the second time in a little over a year I have been chosen for jury selection.  The first time I had the excuse of my brother-in-laws wedding and was excused but this time however I didn't really have a good reason why I could not go...so I did.

I waited in a large room with 300 other people, hoping not to be selected.  If selected, the judge said the trail would start the next day and would probably take about 3 weeks.  My reasons for not wanting to sit on the jury were totally selfish.  I didn't want to spend my birthday in court.  Murray and I haven't seen each other much this summer and I did not want to spend another three weeks apart from him.  And I really am looking forward to going back to school and I didn't know how I was going to tell work I would be missing the whole month of September.

Lucky for me, I did not get chosen. 

Actually the whole process was completely random.  Every half-hour or so they called a group of 14 people out of the room and questioned them.  If a juror did not get challenged by either defense or prosecution they were on the jury, if they were challenged, they went home and this went on and on until they had 12 jurors and 2 alternates.  My name was never called, all I had to do was stand up at role call and say 'present' and read my book in an uncomfortable chair for 7 hours.  Not too bad. 

The whole process was rather interesting.

Happy Wednesday!   

Back from Bamfield

The first week of school I went to Vancouver Island with our grade 12 class to Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.  I mostly teach grades 1, 7, 8, and 9.  So the thought of going on a week long trip with 20 grades 12's that I barely knew did give me some anxiety attacks over the summer (grade 12's are very big and intimidating).  But with a little faith and hope I put on a brave face and went anyway (well I didn't really have a choice).

I am happy to report that the trip was so awesome!  Not only was the experience amazing but for me it reaffirmed  why I love teaching.  Students will challenge you, they will push you and test you, but they will also amaze you and delight you in ways you never thought possible.  I truly enjoyed getting to know our grade 12 class a little better and am so inspired by what great people they are.  Once we warmed up to each other we had a great time.

They were 5 really long days, 2 flights and 2 nauseous 6 hour bus rides and I was exhausted when I came home but we did some really cool things and it was an awesome learning experience for our students.  I have a lot of photos but I will only post the ones without students in them for privacy issues.  Enjoy!

Tree stacks on Brady's Beach

The Alta going out to do a sea dredge.

We saw 2 black bears on the shore while we were in a boat thankfully!

Stellar and Californian Sea Lions.

Here are some more.

Mystery Smell...No More!

I have been battling an awful smell in my car since Christmas.  Its like a musty ass smell.  I thought it was the mats so Murray and I took them out but that did not work.  Before my sister came out at Christmas time I was desperate and put a cherry air freshener in to try and cover the smell.  The first thing she said when she got in the car was "it smells like cherry farts in here". Hahaha

In the spring the smell got a little better but it was still there.  Two weeks ago Murray and I finally broke down and splurged for a detail job thinking steam cleaning the inside would help.  Murray drove my car home the next day and said it smelled great...I was so relieved.  When we got back from our camping trip, however, the smell had returned.

Finally, I tried Norwex Sportzyme which has a bioactive formula that is suppost to eliminate organic residue that causes odours.  3 days later the smell is finally gone!  I can't wait to try it on Murray's hockey equipment now.

Moral of the story:

Do not drink Milk To Go's in your car and if you do, do not let them spill on the carpet!  At least I think thats what the smell was?