Christina Aguliara & PCD

Just when Sara and I thought that we werent going to be able to go to the concert, Sara's bf came through with some tickets for sale. I think this was my favorite concert I have ever been to, not because we had great seats or got hammered and partied like rockstars but because simply put... Christina puts on a fabulous show! There was so much going on in the show from frequent costume and stage changes to fabulous dancers and acrobatic talent. Even though Christina had all of these things she wouldn't have needed it because of the power of her voice and performance. The girl has pipes, especially since she is so little. My favorite part would have to be when she performed Dirty complete with pole dancing, it was pretty hot. There was also a part where a guy from the audience came on stage and was tied up. Christina and her back up dancers danced all around him with whips. When the board he was tied to went back so he was laying down and Christina was standing above him, I am sure all he could think about was "Think Unsexy Thoughts!" The Pussy Cat Dolls opened the show and were also really good. It's funny because you never get to hear all of them sing much but they all have really good voices. Sara and I couldn't figure out where the next PCD is going to fit in since all of their dances have such perfect formations with 6... do they really need a 7th?!? The variety of people at the concert was pretty interesting to watch. There were thousands of scantilly clad girls that couldn't have been more than 15 which makes me worry that one day I will be begging my daughter to put on some clothes every time she goes out. We had a cute father daughter combo in front of us. At least we thought they were cute but then the dad was glued to his binoculars all night. Nothing like using your daughter to perv on young girls... EW! My favorite people-watching subject had to be the guy in front of us that got so excited every time Christina came to our end of the stage that he almost peed his pants! He probably had more fun than anyone there... most definitely more than any other guy there. As much fun as Sara and I had watching others, I am sure we gave others something to watch too when we decided to take a bunch of silly self portraits of ourselves. We were laughing so hard my cheeks were sore. You will notice a woman behind us that looks less than impressed... meh!

Marion Ruggles 1926-2007

On Thursday February 22, 2007 my Grandma passed away. Her last few years were very hard on her and she was ready to go home and start her eternal life in Heaven. One of my earliest memories of Grandma was during the summer Barrett and I stayed in Taber for a week to go to day bible camp. During this visit, Grandma taught us a prayer said to invite Jesus into our hearts. We said the prayer together and she taught us the importance of loving the Lord. This is a message that she repeated often, it was her mission to ensure that everyone she loved, loved the Lord so that they would one day enjoy eternal happiness in Heaven with her. This same prayer was included in her eulogy at the funeral which just goes to show how important the prayer was to her. One of the cards of sympathy that my Grandpa received spoke of my Grandma; "She carried herself like a Queen, but lived like a servant." This was so true of my Grandma. She was the most giving, gracious, humble woman I have known. The funeral was nice. We went to the funeral home in Taber to view and pray for Grandma. This was probably the most difficult part of the funeral. To see my Grandpa standing over the body of his partner and best friend for 58 years weeping was heart breaking. I spent quite some time standing in front of her as well with my dad as we talked about our memories of her. When the prayers were over, I almost didn't want to leave because it would be the last time I would ever see her on this earth. I know that it was silly considering that it was only her body and not her up there but at that point it just all seemed so final. The next morning we met at the cemetery for the burial. A young pastor spoke about Grandma and had some wonderful things to say about her. From there we went to the church for lunch, visiting with family and then the actual funeral service. My Dad, Uncle Les and Grandpa all said a few words about Grandma. Grandpa told the story of how him and Grandma met, and their missionary days in Peru and Venezuela. Much of the message was the same, Grandma was the Lords servant and she loved Him. It had been so long since I had heard Grandpa speak in church and hearing him made me remember that he has a gift. He loved her so much and so much of his last 10 years were consumed by taking care of Grandma. As poor as Grandma's quality of life was, Grandpa also had a rough time the past few years caring for her. We will all miss Grandma, but we can celebrate her life and know that she is in a happier place awaiting the time we will join her. Love You Grandma!

Valentines 2007

This was Dennis and my 7th Valentines Day together and I think it was my favorite so far. On the 14th, Dennis had a dozen beautiful long stemmed roses sent to work. Getting flowers sent to work will make any day a good one. We actually ended up celebrating Valentines on the 15th since I had the next day off work and didn't have to be in bed so early. We didn't do anything really exciting, just hung out at home, pushed the couches together and watched some movies. Dennis was awesome and once again showed that he definitely knows how to make a wifey feel like she has the best hubby in the world! This is the reason that this was my favorite Valentines. We didn't need expensive gifts or to go out and do something extravagant which is what most people believe Valentines should be. I think that as long as you are with the one you love, doing something you both enjoy, you have had a successful Valentines Day. Thank You Dennis for a fabulous Valentines Day that I will never forget!

Lindz' 25th Birthday Pub Crawl

Almost a month has gone by since I celebrated my birthday but it was such a memorable one that I had to include it in my blog. January 3rd started out slow since I had to work and I knew that Dennis would be working when I was done. The day started to change when Sheri took me out for a delicious birthday lunch at Fuel, then at around 3:00 I got a call that there were flowers up in the mail room for me. My thoughtful hubby had sent me a dozen pink roses. As you all know, flowers will always make your day better and from there my day did get better. I met with Sara, Bobbie and Colleen to go for Sushi after work and we had a blast. We laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt, which I am sure had nothing to do with the 'all you can eat' dinner we had just eaten. After dinner, Sara came over and we played some Nintendo Wii sports. It was a lot of fun but the next day Sara was complaining that she threw out her back and I thought I had pulled something in my arm. Wow I am getting old! lol Since my actual birthday was on a Wednesday, we celebrated again on Saturday for those that were busy during the week. My day started when Bobbie picked me up to go meet Sara and Colleen and get my hair cut and colored for my birthday present. After we were done at the salon, we went to Chinook Centre to eat lunch and then Sara and I went and got our makeup done at MAC. Once we were done at the mall we went back to my house to finish getting ready. We had rented the 'Tiger Bus' to take us to a few of our favorite bars. Most of my really close friends were able to make it for a memorable 25th birthday celebration. We were picked up from my house and went to Morgans on 17th. From there, we went to the Alley for $2 drink specials and ended the pub crawl at the Roadhouse. After losing my husband while leaving the roadhouse, a group of us stayed downtown waiting for Dennis to come back. Everyone else went to the Station while we waited for about an hour before deciding to go ahead to the Station. By the time we made it, no one was there anymore, so Sara, Barrett, Ross and I stayed and drank until last call. We walked home to play some Wii where we met up with Dennis after he spent the evening looking for me. So despite the temporary loss of my hubby, I had the best birthday I could have hoped for. Before & After

Year 2006 in Review

The year of 2006 was very good to Dennis and I, we are now looking forward to seeing what 2007 brings us. Every New Year I like to take time to reflect on the past year so I thought I would share a few of my highlights of 2006. In February, I went to Edmonton with Bobbie and Colleen for a night of drunken silliness in West Edmonton Mall. We started our night at a club where we had a few drinks and did some dancing but felt a little out of place and so we went to a pub where we made some new friends and had a few... okay, a LOT of drinks. When the bar was closing we weren't ready to go back to the hotel so we began wandering through the deserted mall and began our drunken adventure. From dancing and singing at the top of our lungs on the Canadian Idol stage to sliding across the ice on the abandoned rink, we never ran into mall security. I am sure that they saw us on the cameras and had such a good time laughing at our dumb asses that they let us have our fun until my camera battery died and we all decided that we should go to bed. We had a big day of shopping ahead of us. The next day was a bit rough for all of us but as usual, it was Bobbie that did the most suffering. She was a trooper though and we shopped all day until it was time to head back to Calgary.

On March 5th, Dad, Mom, Barrett, Dennis and I left for Samba Vallarta in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico for a family trip. We had an excellent time and would definitely return to the resort we stayed at. We went on a bus tour of Puerto Vallarta, swam with the dolphins and sealions and went to a private cove that can only be accessed by boat called Las Caletas. We not only participated in those excursions but also went on our own to a nearby town Bucerias to do some shopping in the market and had plenty of time for relaxing by the pool, in the ocean or enjoying a few beverages.

Although we moved into our house in November 2005, we wanted to wait until Summer to have a housewarming party. That party finally came in Ausut 2006. The party was a lot of fun since lots of our friends and family were able to make it. We had a BBQ early in the evening and then had drinks and played games through the night. We had a doubles fooseball tournament and I am thrilled to say that Sara and I beat out Dennis and DJ in the finals to win the tourney. All of the girls were so proud of us, it was awesome! It was nice to be able to get all of our friends together to enjoy the end of summer and get ready for the fast approaching fall!

At the end of August I went with my mom to visit the Radon Health Mines for 10 days in Boulder, Montana. It really makes you grateful for all the luxuries we have when you see what people in small town Montana live with. We almost couldn't fit all of our scrapbooking goodies into the car, but once we did, we were off! We probably did more shopping than driving on the way through Montana. I can definitely say that this vacation was the most relaxing one I have had in years. 10 days of doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to do it was exactly what I wanted and needed. It was also really nice to spend that much quality time with my mom. There wasn't a whole lot to do other than relax in the motel room but we did manage to venture out most days to find something to do once mom was done her daily teatments. We shopped in nearby Helena and Butte, went to the Hot Springs, and braved the most bees I have ever encountered in one spot to go on a boat tour down the Missouri river. I say that we braved the bees but it was more mom that braved the bees while I cowered under her and had her "watch my back". There was only one injury when a bee landed on my hand and I reflexively threw the glass bottle in my hand at the old man in front of me. I think he thought I was crazy! People didn't think I was so crazy when a few people around us started to get stung. It was beautiful scenery though once we got out onto the river and left most of the bees behind.

For Halloween, Dennis and I decided to have a party. It was a really good turn out and almost everyone came in costume. We were planning on having a costume contest but there were so many good costumes that it would have been impossible to decide which one was the winner. Sara and I spent days decorating the house and carving pumpkins. We had 15 pumpkins to carve and with some help from a few friends we got them all done. It was a lot of work to get ready for the party, but definitely worth it. I may be a little bit biased but I think it turned out to be a pretty good party.

The EnCana Christmas party was definitely a good time this year. It was nice that Dennis was able to book off work to come to the party with me. We both had an awesome time. It was a New York Themed party and our entertainment included a magician from Las Vegas and Blue Rodeo. Magicians are always cheesy but he did have a few good tricks and Blue Rodeo put on a good show.