Living in the Great White North

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Optimus

My sweet new jeep Optimus as in Optimus Prime!

Inside and out it's pretty awesome. And I must say it has treated me really well since I have had it. Works well in the snow and it isn't super huge.

I am quite proud of my Canadian plates!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Slowly but surely...

The view as you drive into Cochrane.

My new church in Calgary.

Okay- finally here are more pictures of what my new home looks like.

This is the sunrise I saw yesterday as I stepped out of my apartment.

I know, you are all impressed as was actually up to photograph this but such is life when you have an 8 am class!

It was beautiful. Definitely helps encourage you when you are up early.

This is what the outside of my apartment looks like. I am through the door on the right and down stairs.

I am right on the edge of student housing so this is what the rest of the community looks like around me.

This is the school.

This isn't the greatest picture but it gives you an idea of how the school is at the top of a hill on the east edge of town. The city of Cochrane is in the valley between two ridges.

This is the Sports Center I work at.

And this is a gorgeous sunset I got to see the other night.

It was amazing. Soon I hope to have pictures of the mountains in the daylight for you to see.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

My New Home

Welcome to my closet!

Okay so I am giving you a tour of my apartment and it just so happens that we are going to do it backwards from the back to the front. So here goes.

My amazing walk-in closet, clothing, dresser, jewelry.

Awesome curtain in which a nice size storage area lies behind.

Yes- I hung a map up in my closet- that's how big it is.

Outside the closet in my bedroom you have my desk.

Then there is the bed- awesome bedspread and lamp thanks to Debbie.

My rug from China is on the floor.

My Chinese curtains are hanging up along with some of my Chinese art and collages.

Continuing around the bedroom things get a little bare. I have an awesome painting by Kelly on the wall not pictured and I am waiting to hang up my earthquake art and get some bookcases in.

Just outside my bedroom is the art corner. My table takes up most of it and I hung my art prints all around.

Can't leave out the star wars calendar!

More art.

Directly across from the art corner is the bathroom.

Photos from Cambodia on the wall not to be out done by the coolest shower curtain ever.

It's a map!

Medicine cabinet, toilet, candles... and the frame is waiting for another Cambodia photo.

Thailand photos will go on the wall here above the sink.

So this is what you see if you turn right after walking in the front door. Bathroom on the left, art corner on the right, and bedroom straight ahead.

The kitchen is what you walk straight into once you enter the apartment.

Some camels over the sink, all your basic kitchen stuff.

The kitchen is open straight into the living room.

Awesome curtains donated by Debbie and made by a small Chinese man.

Art from all over the world is on the wall, Chinese lantern hangs over the couch and makes for great mood lighting.

TV in the corner surrounded by my scrolls and then a bookcase.

Furniture donated by the seminary and other students.

And there is the front door.
Pretty awesome. It is basically put together just waiting on a few more photos and frames to hang some small stuff up. Come visit any time!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Lakes and Mountians of Utah

Antelope Island

We went out to Antelope Island over the holiday break.

We were surrounded by the Great Salt Lake.

There are buffalo all over the island.

If you look close you can see a coyote we spotted in the brush.

It was a nice sunny day after it had snowed.

The buffalo got pretty close to us, they weren't scared at all.

This coyote we saw walking across the frozen end of the lake at sun down.

Ah- nothing like living in the 'place no one wanted'!

Watch for buffalo on the road!

Sun going down behind the island.

Wasatch Mountain Range

Mountains around Ogden.

Mountains across from my parents house.

Sardine Canyon as a storm comes in.

Sunset on the mountains.

Brigham City.

Snow over the mountains.

Ogden Canyon.

Willard Bay- Salt Lake.

Pineview Resavoir

Fall leaves in the mountains.

Ginger

6 Months of my Families Golden Retriver Puppy- Ginger.

South Korea

After Thailand and Cambodia, Dad and I went to South Korea. We stayed in Seoul for two nights before flying home.

We took a tour of the DMZ (demilitarized zone). The first thing we visited was the Freedom memorial which is right outside the DMZ.

There are huge fences everywhere blocking of the zone.

The Freedom memorial is where Korean families in the south who are separated from their families in the north come on holidays to remember their loved ones they can't be with.

There are lots of different signs and memorials places around the site.

People have left white ribbons with peace phrases written down them.

The Freedom bridge is where the last POW exchange took place as the 39th parallel was closed.

Me on the bridge.

Freedom Bridge between north and south Korea.

The entrance to the bridge is gated off and covered with memorabilia.

Flags, ribbons, and papers tied to the fence.

The area is blocked off with lots of barbed wire.

Dad on Freedom Bridge.

Me with the bridge.

Explanation of the POW exchange.

Freedom Memorial.

There were cool sculptures in the distance but I didn't have time to explore- we were on a strict schedule. The tour bus had special permission to go in and out of the DMZ so we had time limits every where we went.

You could use the binoculars to look across the zone towards North Korea.

After the memorial we went into the DMZ and toured a tunnel that the North Koreans had dug into South Korea. The tunnel is deep underground and you can walk to the edge of the South Korean side and then it is barricaded with concrete walls and barbs wire.