Screw It

I'm not feeling very pro-work currently.  I actually have a case of the F...-it's.  You know, where you've reached the point where you just want to say F...it, let's go home and start vacation!

Instead of being grumpy and negative, I'll shower you (whoever actually reads this...hopefully there are still a few out there) with photos instead as an update.  

I'm super happy about Christmas this year.  Who know why?  Maybe because last year sucked and R and I are making up for it this year?  We have lights on the house, the tree and most of any other surface I could find is decorated.  The presents are wrapped under the tree - except one dammit!  We listen to Christmas music all the time.  I can't wait to see my family in a few short days.  This is even my desktop - woo hoo!  Check it out!

My new bangs.  Did I post this already?  I cut them myself.  Which I don't recommend if unlike me, you haven't been doing it for years.  And I have.  Literally.  Why pay $35 for a trim when you can cut your own bangs?!  Ha.

I've also been making Christmas cards like mad lately.  Here are a few of the ones I've been working on...

I want this for my mom.  And since I didn't get it done in time, it will be late for Christmas.  Oh well, the thought that counts right?  I do have other stuff for her.  

Our tree and Miss C.  She was told not to touch the tree, so she drug her chair this close so she could get a good look, but not touch.  Haha, it was hilarious.

The Bass Pro trip that never amounted to anything.  We went for Santa photos, but the wind was blowing so bad it blew out a window in Santa's workshop.  That was the closest we got to Santa this year.  Damn.  I'm not even sure we'll get her there now.  Who wants to go on December 24th?  Not this lady.  Either way Miss C and I had fun.  She's such a poser.

My other kids.  Well my sister's kids.  Can't. Wait. To. See. Them!  Ugh only a few more days.  I miss them so much.  Such cuties.

My new fave thing to do? Snap pics with my iphone of stuff that either I want or R tells me he wants.  That way I generally remember where it is and exactly what (more for him) that he wanted for Christmas.  It worked super well.  I want this book.  I've read the others by her and I loved them.  There is one that was a movie not long ago, Something Borrowed I think....

Now that you've been inundated with pictures do you feel more festive?  If so, great, just doing my civic duty.  If not, what the hell?  Christmas is this close!  Get festive dammit!  :)

Merry  Christmas!

I really wish I had time to post...

Seriously.  I think  I underestimated how hectic life would be with work, school and trying to have some kind of home life!

Recap:

- I have almost finished my course for this semester.  I'm heading into the final on Thursday with an average of 85%.  It should be 87% but my prof sucks.

- I can't wait to have my final over and done with.  Ugh.

- My Mom came up to visit last weekend, it was nice to get a visit.

- My Dad and step-mom are coming up this weekend to visit.  We are headed to Zoo Lights this weekend after we deep fry a turkey!  I can't wait for this whole weekend, it's going to be a blast! All my school work will be done until January 9th, my parents are up, good friends of ours are joining us.  Should be great.

- I still haven't started making Christmas cards yet.  I don't imagine I will do any other than the must-do's.  I've run out of time.

- I'm almost finished my Christmas shopping.  It never takes me this long to finish it up!  I'm always, always, always done way before December even starts!

- My sister finally moved out.  I think this is a post in itself that I need to write.  I wish I could help her.  Her husband of 10 years has been cheating on her.  With everyone, her "friends", random girls, in her house, in their bed, while she was home.  It's so bad.  Now her ex won't send her the proper child support.  My parents are paying her legal fees (which they can't afford) and I'm trying to help her as much as I can.  It's not like I can do much however.  Ugh.  It sucks.

Update

I'm sorry for being so MIA lately.  I can't keep up with everything that I need to do.  I'll run with an update and promise a real post soon!

- First off, thank you for your sweet comments on my rant the other day.  I feel better about it.  We will work through it because we need to and this won't fix on it's own, but for now, I have no time to move forward on this, so we will make it work as best we can for the next month.

- My schedule for the next 2 weeks bites my ass!  I worked 11 hours yesterday.  Ugh.
Saturday - baby C all day.
Sunday - work on my partner project for school.  We have to write an 8 page paper, put together a presentation.  Boo!
Monday - meet with my boss, drive to RD, do an orientation for a new hire and train her.  Come back for class.
Tuesday - launch new wellness program here at this office, full day.
Wednesday - launch in RD, full day, come back for class.
Thursday - start a 2 day orientation for trainer in my office.
Friday - get everything finished and ready for company Christmas party (I'm the chair).
Saturday - Christmas party.
Sunday - Baby C all day.
Monday - Paper is due (I need to finish this before this day).
Wednesday - partner project and presentation due.
The following Sunday - kids Christmas party at work, I'm a volunteer.

- I need to get some Christmas shopping done, pronto!  I'm wayyyyy  behind for my usual standards.  Crap.

- I've been working my ass off, but my boss appreciates it.  She tentatively offered me Flames tickets for the game tonight, she would let me know.  I told her I wanted to buy tickets for the Flames and Canadiens as my  Step-Dad is a huge fan.  She said those were already spoken for (our company has season tickets).  She text me this morning that she was going to use the tickets for tonight, but that she left me something in my file at work - guess what?  Canadiens tickets!!!  My step-dad is going to be thrilled!  I'm going to be the number 1 kid for a bit!  hahahahaha.  7 rows behind the bench!  woot!

- The receptionist here makes me insane some days.  I'm the chair of the damn committee yet she gives me shit for doing stuff without her.  WTF.

- I booked holidays for the 4 days between Christmas and New Years and I can't wait!  I need that holiday. Now!

- As of yesterday, I have 23 hours of overtime banked.  By Christmas I will have enough OT to take that time off and I can save my vacation hours.

- I'm planning a trip to Nova Scotia this year.  R needs a break badly and wants to see his family.  Come on seat sale!!!!

Whew.  Wish me luck.

Rant

I hate that I'm so busy lately.  I have no time to blog and even though I don't have any time right now, I need to rant out the frustration so I can get on with my day.

R's ex is at it again.  The woman is insane!  I swear.  We've been wanting to have baby C sleep over night at our house for awhile now.  Having her every Sunday is draining on us and we never seem to get much done, basically because we only have 1 day per weekend.  I usually spend it doing homework and R catches up in the garage or on projects.  Anyhow, she is 2 now and A was adamant that we wait until she was a year and a half.

So yesterday when we picked up baby C, R asked A about it.  She apparently got quite upset and said no that it wasn't going to happen any time soon and that baby C wasn't ready.  She was going to provide a list of the reasons why so A and R could talk about it.

When we dropped baby C off last night she gave him a written note of all the reasons.  I told R that I just got 12 years younger, are we in high school??  Anyhow, on the top of the list was that baby C would still rather sleep in mommy's bed.  That is how she wrote it.  This woman has an English degree!  Ugh.  The point in that she had agreed to R that she wouldn't let baby C sleep in her bed any more - a year ago!!!  She also wrote that she is still nursing her.  Something else she agreed to stop 6 months ago.

She told R she didn't believe that baby C was napping at our house, called him a liar basically.  All because A can't get baby C to nap unless she rocks her and nurses her.  Remember baby C is over 2 years old now! I'm just so tired of this.  Today its better.  Yesterday I was pissed.  Like seriously, can she just stop for one moment and think of what is best for baby C??

R wants to spend more time with his child and A won't let him.  Her solution is that we take her Friday evenings for 3 hours and Sundays.  That doesn't work.  Plus it would be about 2 hours driving on Friday and Sunday each.  Mostly because A refuses to drop baby C off at our house.

Rant over.

I think...

...I might be dying.  No seriously.  Can't. Stop. Coughing.  All friggin' day and all friggin' night.  R got so fed up last night that he went and slept in our spare bed. Grrr.  It hurts, I almost vomit often and it's annoying.  Needs to stop!

...I should be writing my paper, not blogging.  But blogging is more fun than writing a paper so guess what?  My paper can wait until tomorrow.

...It's getting colder.  There was frost on my SUV this morning.  And I forgot to turn the heat up so my remote starter would defrost it.  Oops.

...I need a mini-holiday.

...I'm gonna be downright mad if I get a crappy mark on my midterm from this week.  It was hard.  Damn.

...I hope R gets home from work soon.  I need some cuddle action.

...I also need some vapor action.  As in Vicks.  Have you tried the Vicks scented Kleenex?  Seriously, when a friend of mine brought them, I thought she was insane, but I tried some while I've been sick.  I'm in love.  They smell soooooo good.  Ahhhhhhh and they ease that tightness.

..I need to go buy some cough medicine before bed tonight.

What's doin'?

Sorry for the MIA.  Between work, homework, school and house stuff, we've been busy.  *whew*

Tonight I'm going with my good friend Dee to Avril Lavigne!!  Which feels somewhat juvenile, however we are going to have fun - even if we are the oldest ones there, hahaha.

Friday my good friend came to visit.  We've been planning this girls night for months now and after putting it off 3 times we finally managed to get together.  She is a photographer, that is still learning so we picked up the baby and went out to get some family shots.  It was fun.

Some of my favorites from the day.

She had a lot of fun running around.

This next one was taken just as I averted disaster...

Little miss thinks she's too big to sit on the slide, so she just tried to go down without fully sitting.  I was at the bottom waiting for her to come down, R was at the top (we do this ALL the time) and she just went.  Luckily I was able to grab her off the opposite side of the slide and catch her before she dove head first into the rocks.  Scared the crap outta me.  She, however didn't even notice.

All in all, we got some good photos and it was a good day. 

My friend even got some good shots of our view...

These are some shots of what we can see looking out our front window at our house.  I love that view.  It's harder to see in the pictures, but in the distance you can see the mountains.  

I'm off work today as well - Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends.  Tonight is the concert, but today I'm working on a research paper - boo.  

Happy Tuesday!

Breathe

I'm sitting at my desk, drinking my tea and trying to breathe before this day ramps up and gets out of hand.  I know it will happen soon - I'd say in the next hour.  Open house at work, showcasing a new product.  Things need to be done and organized.

I hate my work shirt that I have to wear tonight.  HATE it.  It doesn't fit right, it's not a style I ever wear and I'm really, really uncomfortable in it.  I'll be wearing it for 8 hours too.  *Sigh*

I'm off for 5 days after today - thank goodness!  I need a break.  Ugh.

My girlfriend from high school is coming up to see me tomorrow.  Girls' day!  I'm very excited.  Saturday she is taking photos of R and the baby and I.

Am I slightly annoyed:
- That A felt she had to tell R that it wasn't appropriate for us to take photos with me and the baby? (and he didn't tell her to shove it) ;)
- That R wants some photos of just him and the baby?
- That I'm secretly dreading the clothes that R picks out to wear? (the man seriously needs an intervention)
- That it's cold and rainy today and it's supposed to last?

Yes to all.  Mostly annoyed at the first 2 however.  But I digress.

I have a homework to do.  I've been keeping up on the reading, but I didn't do the last 2 assignments.  I have to read another chapter and some questions need to be answered.  I have a paper that is due on October 26th, but it is 6 pages and I want to do it this weekend.  The second part of the paper on the same company/topic is due in mid-November and will be another 8 pages.  I need to jump on this.  I hope to get all my research and an outline done this weekend.

What are your weekend plans?

What I did last night...

I went to Ovo of course!  

It was so so so good!  I've never been to Cirque du Soleil before. 

 If you haven't either I highly recommend it.

I'm too tired for heels.

Seriously I am. The walking, the stairs, ugh.  But these pants look so great with them.  So I'm wearing them.  But I'm complaining about it.

I'm getting worn out again.  Work is ridiculous.  I did 2 hours of overtime last night and between work being so hectic, University and homework, I'm spent.

I'm pretty excited that for Thanksgiving (Canadian = sooner :) I have 5 days off!  YAY!

This Morning...

...I was almost late for work.

...I got something brown on my white shirt somewhere between putting the shirt on and then coming downstairs.

...I then dropped my mascara wand on the same white shirt.  After I got the brown spot off.

...I had to go back upstairs and change.

...I couldn't find anything to make for lunch so I brought some veggies and cheese.

...I saw the most beautiful sunrise and I've decided to not let yesterday's bad day carry over to today.

Happy Friday.

Balancing Act

As life changes I seem to be focusing more on balancing things out.  I have a massive to-do list that makes me go a little crazy when I even think about it, but I can't ignore it either.  Balancing life, work and school is a bit more than I think I can handle most days, but then I sit back and remember I have no choice.  Am I going to stop living?  Am I going to quit my job?  Am I going to quit going to University?  No.  So suck it up honey and get on with it.

Work is...well work.  Busy, stressful, hectic, overload.  It's not going to change.  I can only come up with a few options...bring it home with me, or leave it at work.  Since I don't get paid to work at home, then work stays at work.  I'm trying.  It's hard to leave the office and not think about all the things I have to do but somewhere along the way I remember that it's not my #1 priority and it will still be there tomorrow.

School is getting better.  The first class I was assigned a chapter to read, a case study and 7 questions.  For the class the day after next.  I got it done, but it took me forever and half the questions were wrong.  I was pretty disappointed and frustrated.  My third class was better.  The homework went much faster and I did the homework properly.  Amazing what it does for your confidence.  Tomorrow is my fourth class, I have homework to do tonight.  *sigh*  I need to get used to the fact that for the next 12 weeks I'm going to have homework.

Life is good.  I'm working at finding a balance between the things I have to do and the things I want to do.  I'm doing the laundry when I find the time.  I'm trying to get out and try new things.  I'm outside my comfort zone and it pushes my limits but I'm working through it.  I'm meeting new people and finding new friends in strange places.  R and I are getting things done around the house - which is great.  I'm buying Christmas presents and I love it!

I'm realizing that just because I take on more things doesn't mean they will get done, or won't get done, or that they'll be done poorly.  It just means I have to rearrange my life and my schedule and make it happen.  I'm learning that even my best scheduled day goes to hell because you never know what is going to come down at the last minute and need to be dealt with.  The best I can do is to make the short list of what absolutely has to be done today and do my best to deal with it.

Creepy

I'm at work at 6:41am this morning.  Why you ask?  Because I was late.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons I have my Recruitment and Selection class, so I leave work early.  If I come in at 6:30 and eat lunch at my desk, when I leave at 2:30 I'm not short any hours.  I was all set to leave for work when I heard someone yelling outside.  An odd occurrence at 6am.  Whatever.  I was putting on my shoes when someone pounded on my front door, asking for help!  I froze.  And called for R.

Turns out, some homeless guy saw our lights on and says he needed an ambulance for a cut on his leg.  R told him to walk the block to the ambulance/fire station.  I was seriously freaked.  It's dark outside, I didn't want to walk to my car.  *shudder*

Now I don't have anything against homeless people, but usually R leaves before I do for work and if I had been alone, I would have called the police.  I'm not a fan of scary people pounding on my door at 6-freaking-30 in the morning.

Today I have:
- 2 interviews
- 1 meeting
- My class and the remaining homework I didn't finish yesterday.

Should be fun.

Eek!

10 years after I started the first time and 7 years since I was last there...

I go back to school today.  Last time was a College, this time University.  Freaked?  You betcha!

Tiffany Love

I have a serious Tiffany affliction.  I mean, I lufffffff it.  As my sister would say.  A while back, R bought me the Tiffany charm bracelet for our anniversary.  I had no idea it was a charm bracelet, lol.  I jokingly mentioned I would provide him a list of charms to get him through the next 10 years of anniversaries.  I found 13...

 How cute?!  I text him XOX all the time, so I figure it's appropriate. 

 Can't forget the pooch. 

 Every girl needs a little luck.

 I like butterflies, what can I say?

 This is classic me, it says Nice on the other side ;)

 Sweet. 

 Classic Tiffany's.  Love. 

 Adore the snowflake.  So pretty!

 I love purses...

 And shoes...

 For me. 

 For R.

I truly am a girlie girl. 

(All images from Tiffany's)

It's been a busy day, week, month.  I hired a Parts Driver today, did 3 interviews, set up 4 more interviews.  Ran around like crazy.  It's been good, but it's time to go home.  

Career Fair Do's and Don't

As some of you may be aware, I'm in Human Resources.  I was at a Career Fair today and although this is my second attempt at this, it is increasingly becoming obvious that some people have no idea why they are unemployed.  Yikes!

I'm pretty tired, but I haven't posted in a long time.  Here is a short list of Do's and Don't for you job seekers out there.  Please share this list if you know someone that is looking for a job.

Don't
- Show up to a career fair (or interview) in your flip flops, ripped jeans, dirty t-shirts or with a skateboard in your hand.
- Don't bring your spouse or children.  It's impossible to interview someone when a child is demanding your attention.
- Don't be afraid to approach the recruiters, we look for people to come to us, not the other way around.  If you stare us down in the booth, but wait for us to approach you, it's a bad impression.
- Don't say that you are a skilled worker with only a high school education and mechanics in high school.
- Don't take more than one of our free promo's, they are there to give out to other people than your spouse, your kids, etc.

Do
- Come prepared.  Print 10 more resumes than you think you will need.
- Do staple those resumes together.  When I collect 50 - 100 resumes, they need to be stapled.  If I were to drop the box, I'm not going to spend time searching for the first or second page of your resume, unless it's a damn good resume.
- Do dress for the job that you want.  If your looking for a job as a Heavy Duty Mechanic, wearing a suit and tie will make me think you have no experience in the job or industry.
- Do take the time to talk to me.  If I'm talking to someone else, wait your turn or come back when I'm free.
- Do give me a resume. Always.  Just because I'm not posting for a position, doesn't mean there isn't one open right now that isn't posted, or that one might open up tomorrow.
- Do be honest.  If you lie on your resume it's going to come out when I verify your employment or call your references.  Then you've wasted both our times.

I'm still surprised at the lack of skilled labor in the workforce right now.  It surprises the hell out of me that some people come to interviews with greasy hats on and flip flops.  Are you a professional?  Then dress and act like one!

If you have any bad or funny experiences with hiring or job interviews, let me know!

The Dark Side

We all have a dark side.  You know it.  The side that when someone makes a snide comment where you want to bat one right back?  Even though you know it won't help and it won't make things any better.

I'm very good at ignoring the dark side at work.  In a professional side it doesn't help anything and usually does more harm than good.  When I first moved to Calgary I'd come home in tears once in a while.  I remember one instance where I had asked the department managers to assist in a project (mandatory) and when they didn't my boss asked me what their responses were, I had no choice but to tell her.  She reamed them out in a managers meeting and then one manager, turned and yelled at me that I didn't do what she was asking so how would he know.

I've learned since that that particular manager is passionate and his first response is anger.  I let it go in the meeting and didn't argue because I knew it would turn into a he-said, she-said.  After the meeting my boss asked to see my email asking for their assistance.  I provided a copy for her, which detailed that he was wrong and I had asked.  Later on, he came to me and apologized.

It didn't take out the sting.  When someone yells at you in front of 7 people and then apologizes in private, the damage is done.

I've been dealing with a manager who does one thing and says another.  Constantly.  I've been working on flyer's for the 2 departments and they have to agree.  I have an email copy of both agreeing to this flyer.  I made up the flyer and sent it for approval and he emailed back saying he hadn't been consulted and that he wouldn't participate.

At this, I emailed him a copy of his previous email asking why he approved the ideas and not now.  He ignored me.  I emailed my boss at this point.  I let the dark side out and I threw him under the bus.  I told her that he was wasting my time (true, I spent 2 hours on that flyer) and that he was making his own flyer's (also true) even though he had been told clearly that all flyer's had to go through me and be approved by our boss. 

She had me email on her behalf and cancel all flyer's from this point forward. 

It pisses me off that his childish behavior cancels something that could benefit everyone.  And that he still thinks he can do whatever he wants. 

So frustrating! 

Vent and the Cha Cha

2 posts in one day you say?  Yes, because I'm annoyed and if I don't get it out, I'm liable to march upstairs, wake R up and b*tch slap him.

Do all men get all cranky when they stay home and their girlfriends, wives, significant others go out?  Because I'm on round 2 and baby let me tell you, I'm getting mighty sick of it.  Seriously.  C used to get cranky at me if I was out too late and what was I doing, blah, blah, blah.

R isn't like that at all, but the man doesn't think ahead or notice anything.  If I make an effort, put on a dress, you should damn well say something about it.  Especially if I put on a dress to go out with you!  But no, he never notices, I never get a "you look nice".  Why is that so difficult?

I went out tonight with a girlfriend.  I don't do this too often so I was excited, dressed up a bit, what did he say?  Ooh you're wearing a dress.  And...that's it.  No "you look nice" just you're wearing a dress - well thank you Captain Obvious.  So he knew I was going to be out a bit late.  I call him at 11:30 and he's sleeping, ok no big deal, but he gets all cranky on the phone because I woke him up.  Well 99.999999% of the time he's up until after midnight 7 days a week - I figured he'd be awake.

I tell him I'll talk to him when I get home, he says I've already woken him up, but then he doesn't talk.  Whatever.  I get home and he didn't leave any lights on for me and didn't bother to mention there is a big stinky tent set up - in the freaking living room!

So annoying.  I'm partially annoyed because of the stupid little things but I'm also annoyed because another night out that was a lot of fun, had a shitty ending.

The upside - tonight was fun!  We went for dinner and drinks and then to a dance class, learned the Cha Cha and East Coast Swing.  After the class there was a 2 1/2 hour dance party that you could stay for.  Got my groove on, got asked to dance, had some fun!

Sheesh Men!

Fail

Ok, I fail at blogging lately.  I just don't have time.  I'm going to try to keep doing the 10 day challenge, but it's gonna be spread out.  lol.  Maybe next week I'll try again.  I'm not sure who I was kidding when I figured I could blog 10 days in a row, lol.

Last night I learned 2 new things.

1. Irish Cream Fudge is good.  And easy to make.  I will post the recipe later this week.  Yum!

2. Ink does not come out of a carpet easy, but it will come out.  My dog the bugger that she is, feels the need to jump on the desk and steal things when she gets bored during the day.  It's sporatic, some times she won't do it for weeks and then sometimes it happens daily.  Wednesday she got a hold of a pen.  She's not great at hiding things, so leaving the pen pieces on the carpet was my first sign. 

I threw it away, gave her crap and moved on.  I noticed she had some ink spots on her (freshly washed I might add) leg that same night but figured whatever.  Last night I happened to walk past and see this spot on the carpet.  We have this area rug in the living room, huge rug that has a tall pile and it shaggy.  It's a cream-ish color, with some grey and brown threads that run through it.  I took a look and found this ink spot. 

I tried to blot it up with paper towel and it just made a bigger mess.

I Googled it and found out you can use WD-40 or rubbing alcohol.  Since I have  a dog and at any given time she or the baby or R will roll around on the carpet, I chose the rubbing alcohol, it evaporates and doesn't stink like WD-40. 

Long story short, I was able to get 90% of it out, however, it makes a bigger mess first.  The alcohol dissolves the ink but spreads it around.  I need to have another go at it tomorrow and see if I can get the rest out. 

Moral of the story:  Give the dog a kong with treats once in a while and keep the desk clear...it's less work. 

10 Day you Challenge

Normally today I would do a What I'm Loving Wednesday post, however, I don't have a lot of time, so I'm a day late, but I'm going to join in on the 10 day YOU challenge, that I found here.

Here we go!

10 Secrets:

{one} I worry that I will never be able to have children.

{two} I have a love/hate relationship with my Dad and ESM.

{three} I'm not photogenic.  at all.  Ugh.

{four} I'm really hoping my sister will move back to RD, after she gets her mess sorted out.

{five} I hate writing minutes for the meetings that I attend each monday.  I love the details I'm privy too at those meetings however.

{six} I'm nervous as hell to go back to school.

{seven} I'm terrified to go back downtown where I ended up going to wrong way on a one-way street.  I'm afraid it's going to happen again.

{eight} I'm a bit concerned about whether or not my predecessor will be coming back after her mat leave term.  I know I'll have a job regardless but the dynamics will change between my boss and I, or I'm worried they will and I have no idea what either of us will end up doing with this position.

{nine} I was in a spelling bee when I was in the 5th grade.  I just had to spellcheck predecessor.

{ten} I hate getting up at 6am, especially when it's still dark out.

I guess those weren't all secrets perse, but ten secrets is a lot harder than you'd think! 

I'll try to get 9 loves later so I can catch up!

Weekend Review, A.K.A. the post with a lot of pictures

This is where I spent my weekend.  It was beautiful.  I forgot how much I enjoy camping.  The water was cool and refreshing, the weather beautiful, not too hot, but warm enough that the water was enticing.  We had a bit of a rocky start.  We left later than we anticipated due to R working late and not pre-packing the jeep earlier.  Then we stopped to use the washroom and found out the jeep was leaking oil from the rear diff and then every place in that town was closed.  When we finally got there it was dark and getting cool.  Setting up the tent in the dark wasn't fun, but we managed to shake it off and start fresh Saturday morning.  R took my nephew B fishing, so cute. 

We could see this view from our chairs around the firepit.  I love BC.  So beautiful.

Chiquita came too!  She's starting to be quite the little camper.  This was at the start of the trip, she had her bed and she could look out the windows so she was happy. 

R was pretending to be annoyed at my picture taking.  Lol.  I've starting bringing my camera with me everywhere and taking pictures whenever possible.  I got some good ones this weekend.

I'm a bit mad I didn't get a picture of my sisters and I this year.  We took this one last year in someone's tent, although I'm not sure who, lol. 

Although I did get one of some sisters!  My SIL on the left and my sister on the right. 

Matching toe rings.  That you can't really see, haha.

B and his snake.  He played with it.  All. Day. Long.  For hours.  He was so careful with it too.  He was very gentle and wanted to keep it. 

Little K.  She's had the nickname Bam-Bam (Flintstones anyone?) forever, but this weekend she adopted the name Pig-Pen and oh my, was she ever. 

She was happy when she was in the dirt.  Clean clothes?  Nope.  In her jammies, in clothes, no shoes or with shoes, she was filthy all weekend.  And quite happy.

As was my dog.  Rolling in the dirt or sleeping in it.  She loves the sun!

R cooking in his silly camping hat.  Good thing it's only a camping hat.  The man never wears hats but he wore this one the whole time we were there. 

And possibly one of my favorite photos from the weekend, some loves with mommy. 

We got home late on Sunday, tired and dirty.  It was a good thing I was off Monday.  There was a ton of laundry to do and unpacking.  I also had to get an oil change and go to the lawyer for the 3rd time to have the mortgage papers signed.  I hope that is final soon.  Ugh.

Back to work today and it should be a good week.  I have enough to keep me busy and some stuff that will feel great to cross off the to-do list.