Empty Nesters

Today I had an odd experience.
I was laying down, trying to fall asleep while the soft tunes of Gossip Girl played from my TV, and the sound of cars driving by escaped their way in through the crack of the backdoor, a mere 3 feet from my head. I was almost asleep when I heard an odd amount of chirping- you see, just beyond my balcony is a group of tall douglas fir trees. One in particular, is so close I can reach out and grab the limbs. Being on the third floor, I enjoy the shade these trees provide, and have been fortunate to find a robin's nest, complete with turquoise eggs. Yesterday I noticed that the eggs had hatched into adorable little baby birds. I looked outside to see what the commotion was, figuring it was the babies chirping as the momma bird returned with food. But much to my surprise, I saw two big ugly crows on my balcony, while the momma bird swooped at them, crying for help. The crows were trying to get closer and closer to the nest of baby birds. I decided that my childhood days of knocking down birds nests' and steeling the eggs and hiding them, where over. I got up and opened the door and shooed the crows away. After 20 minutes of the momma bird frantically flying around, she returned to her nest and nestled herself with her babies. I couldn't hear or see the crows anymore so I decided that things had settled down. By this time, Warren had come home from work, I immediately told him what had happened. He told me "Kelsey, you have such a good heart."

We went to the grocery store and were gone for about two hours. As we were driving down the road that lies parallel to our balcony, I saw the crows flying around the roof and our balcony. I freaked out and told Warren that the crows were back and that I had to go save the babies! Both Warren and I ran up the stairs, bags in hand, flew open the door and threw the groceries on the floor and headed straight for the balcony.

I could hear chirping, but not from the babies. In fact, the nest was empty. I tried to listen to hear for them, but we could only hear the momma bird, and a funny noise that faintly sounded like an evil cackle coming from two crows who were pecking at something on the ground beneath the tree. I ran down stairs to see what they were pecking at. It was the remains of a bird. I saw the little feathers all over the ground.

I was so mad. That poor momma bird just lost her children, to two birds, black as night, who no one even likes to begin with. Now I can see why. I guess it's just the circle of life. But I can't help but feel bad, so bad that I had to write about it on my blog. Now my tree is quiet. No birds even in the distance. It's a little eerie, almost as though the world is mourning the loss, too.

The nest is still there, and I'm hoping that another bird will move in and raise her babies there. And this time, I will be out there everyday watching them. No more stupid crows to ruin families of birds!

Utah trip- part dos

Where did I leave off? Day six?

Day six:

Ah, my next favorite day! Bear Lake day!

It was a bit cloudy, but pretty warm. Until it started to rain the arctic winds starting blowing. We didn't swim, just had a picknick and read books.

  Bear Lake is definitely one of my newly found happy places

yeah, Idaho side!

(left to right: me, Kristi, Kylie, and Emily)

And I'm pretty sure we ended the night with a game of nerts.

(it's the end to every night)

Day seven:

We went to Peppridge Farm! I got some goldfish crackers! I don't have any pictures of this event, but you can pretty much guess what it looks like, right?

That night we ate at Pounder's. I had never been there before... definitely on my top 10 list!

And the trip couldn't be complete without taking a ton of the most ridiculous pictures you have ever seen. You may or may not get sick of seeing these!

There are about 100 more, but you get the idea. Some of them, seriously make you want to pee your pants!

More nerts... Two of the guys in this picture, happen to know the brother of one of Warren's friends here in Calgary. Small world, eh?

  Making these faces really can make you 1000 times more happier about life. Honest to goodness.

And finally, day eight:

This day was sad, because I had to leave. I woke up at 7:30ish, to get ready and pack up my things. Kristi drove me to Rexburg were I was to meet previously mentioned friend of Warren's, to ride back up Canada.

  As per tradition to honk when you cross the Idaho/Utah border.

We left Rexburg and headed north, forevvvvveeerrrr (13 hours, to be more precise), when finally the border was in sight, and I mentioned I needed to get a work permit... Yeah, didn't happen. The people were rude, too. AND the dumb immigration guy stamped my visa- "just to keep track of me"... thanks buddy, because it's not like I have to make photocopies of that bad boy for my renewal application. WHAT A (enter bad word here)!! ...But I'm not bitter.

Who is that hunkalicious guy driving... That's Bryce ( may or may not have developed a small crush on him.) And the guy in the back is Matt, and the one with the retarded face who can't decide whether to smile or be a dork, is Stefan. 

The end!

My glorious Utah trip- part uno

I had the awesome privilege of coming down to Utah last week to visit friends. It was a very spur the moment thing, only a couple days advance notice. I was really unsure whether or not to go, because I was already homesick just thinking about being away from my dear husby for so long (a week). But I sucked it up, and decided that all my whining and complaining was paying off, and here is my chance to come down to Utah and visit people I haven't seen in a while. So, off I went! Here's are pictures of everything I did!

Day one:

We went to Salt Lake, and ate at The Pie Pizzeria. It was super cool. It's in a basement, and the walls have a bunch of graffiti all over them. I even spotted my name once. The pizza was amazing, too!

We did lots of shopping, hitting up 3 different malls until I finally found the shoes I had been secretly looking for. And of course, a Kristi and Kelsey classic- The Cheesecake Factory.

Day two:

I don't have any pictures for this day... and I can't really remember what we did... besides the fact that it was Saturday, and we went shopping again. And I'm pretty sure we went to Cafe Rio. Oh, and we watched Harry Potter 5!

Day three: 

 Sunday. The most boring day of the week, if you ask me. Don't think I don't enjoy them, but boy do I go crazy sometimes. We made a delicious dinner in celebration of Bethany's birthday! It was soooo goooood!

Then, we played Harry Potter Scene It to go along with the Harry Potter movie marathon. I now know more than I thought possible about Harry Potter. Go team Kristi!

(I of course, look disgusting in this picture. I'm pretty sure I had just woken up, don't judge me!)

Day four:

Is it really day four already? Day four was Monday and Kristi had to go back to work, so I watched lots of The Office and read my book. I don't think I did anything cool that day. 

Day five:

Tuesday was my favorite day. Two reasons. First, it was a really nice day out, only a few clouds in sight, so I decided that since Kristi was at work, that I would walk down to the Inn to visit everyone! Ugh, I didn't realize how big Logan actually is when you're on foot. I of course, wore sandals as opposed to real shoes to try to be stylish. STUPID OLD MAIN HILL. That baby is a beast to walk up and down. I can't believe I used to have the stamina to jog that thing. Anyways, I got to the Inn, but lo and behold- everyone besides the front desk girl, was in Salt Lake. Boo. I walked 14 blocks for nothing! Then I walked a l l  t h e  w a y  b a c k.  So I ended up with an awesome blister on my the bottom of foot... gross, I know. Trust me it's painful, too. But, I was able to snag a couple pictures on my little walk.

Anyways, that night we had a campfire up in the canyon. I was really happy because my two best friends, Ben and Jake came! It was really good to see them! I hadn't seen Jake since I moved away to Canada, and I haven't seen Ben in four years! Four years!

(sidenote, I was getting a chapstick out of my pocket, not pulling up my zipper)

(assembly line)

Note, the hot dog on the ground in front of me... yeah, that was mine.

Jake's colossal s'more.

(everyone, clockwise starting at top: Alex, Jake, Ben, Kylie, Eric, Leisha, Kristi, Emily)

Afterwards we came back and played Killer Bunnies

And Jason joined the mix!

I never did understand that game... needless to say, I lost.

Everything is turning up roses

First, my home is now completely put together. Thanks to my wonderful mother in law, who spent hours helping us get things unpacked and put away and organized. It feels good knowing I don't have boxes of random things just put in the storage closet. They are actually all organized, and put away nicely. I love my new apartment!

Second, my sewing is improving. I'm still dumb when it comes to knowing how to do things properly. Thanks Cheryl for not thinking I'm a total loser, and for being patient with me.

This is my apron that I made, all by myself! I'm pretty excited about it.

And this is the beginnings of a dress that I apparently sewed wrong- but it's cute, right?! I will post the finished product with all credit to my mother in law Cheryl, for fixing it. 

And Third. A picture of us BBQ-ing. A couple weeks ago, when it was 80 degrees, we decided to BBQ. Of course, we can't do it now, because it's snowing... but here's hoping, right?

 And forth. Warren's birthday was the 23rd, but because I was gone, we had an early birthday party for him. This is the cake his mom made for him while she was here. Holy delicious! I now can add it to my collection of recipes!

It's Skor Trifle, in case you were interested. And it is really good! Don't laugh at my lack of fancy dishes to put it in (yes, that's a Tupperware container).

blank titles

I downloaded some new fonts and I am really excited to use them, but I'm having some html problems which has caused all my titles to go blank. Have to fear, I'm trying to get it to work, but I won't post anything awesome until I can get it fixed (I'm OCD like that). Also, if anyone has any advice as to why my titles are blank every time, that would be great, too.

Temple Ground Breaking

As I'm sure you have heard by now, Calgary is getting a temple and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the ceremony held in the community of Royal Oak. First I just have to say... holy cow. It's going to be a pretty temple, of course... but the houses in that area are to die for! It's in the complete opposite part of the city that I'm living in... as you will see in some of my pictures later on in this post. It was a really good ceremony. It was only an hour... which is just how I like them... short and sweet. It was really neat to hear some of these people who spoke (area Seventy's and such, and a member from the First Quorum of the Seventy in SLC). A lot of them spoke about their experiences with living in Southern Alberta and going with their parents on day trips down to the Alberta Temple (now known as the Cardston Temple). I thought to myself about how much of a bubble life I've had in having a temple but a few minutes' drive away. Earlier this week I was able to go down to Cardston to go to the temple. It was a two and a half hour drive. It didn't really seem like a long journey because nowadays two and a half hours isn't a big deal. But having to wake up early to get ready, then travel the distance... then spend 2-3 hours there, then traveling back... it takes up your entire day. I was exhausted by the time we got home, at 8pm! It gave me a much needed understanding of what people went through, and STILL go through all over the world. I now have a greater appreciation for those faithful Latter-Day Saints out there who travel long distances just to visit the temple but for a mere, few hours. I have always heard stories, but never had to actually witness it and experience it.
It was also really neat to hear some of these talks by people who can remember hearing stories from their parents, grandparents and great grandparents about the Cardston Temple, and the traditions they had with going there and being married there... and the once a life time experience it is to be on the Earth at this time, and to witness the new traditions that will follow with this temple being so close to home. They called some of the nearby young children to come forward and help 'turn the dirt' - it was a neat thing to see because this is the temple that most of those children will attend while growing up... lots will be married there and be sealed to their posterity there. It was a great thing to see and be a part of. I'm glad I was able to do so. Anyways, sorry to go all churchy on ya, here are the pictures I was able to snag while sitting in the front row!

This is just a picture of the crowd... not sure if you can really see how far the heads go because it's on a hill

This guy is a member of Parliament and brought a message from the Prime Minister Steven Harper, kinda cool, I thought.

This is how awesomely close I got to sit

Can you see the guy in the turban? Cool! This is the Seventy guy, the mayor, the guy from Parliament and other local leaders of Canada who attended- turning the dirt.

The little kiddos that got to go up

If this gives you any idea how big this city is... you can see the skyline in the distance. This is about how far away from downtown I currently am living, only in the very southeastern part of town-- this shot being taken from the very northwest part of town. Also, note the big houses.

Saturday was also the Parade of Garage Sales in our area... so Warren went to that instead of coming to see me. (I'm not bitter anymore... after I saw how many people where there and the lack of parking, I didn't really care that he wasn't there.) So I told him to look for a bike for me, because I really want a bike and there isn't really a way to bring mine up from Boise. He didn't find me one... but he felt bad for not coming to see me- so he bought me this:

Is it really...? Could it be...? Yes, I think it is a...

...

Yup! He knows me well! It's a total knock off, but I can't tell the difference. I love it anyways! He done good!

And last but not least... I had a hay day yesterday while shopping for chips to snack on... have any of you ever heard about how Canada is infamous for it's potato chip flavors? I hadn't really, until I got here and figured out why everyone raved about the chips...:

They seriously taste just like the title. It's a smart investment with all the health conscience people and vegetarians out there... you get the flavor you crave without actually eating the meat and unhealthy-ness. This wasn't the full extent of the flavors either... there was General Tao's Chicken, there was a curry flavor, a chicken Thia something... ketchup is a classic, but it's gross... all dressed, is another. Seriously, who ever is thinking of these flavors must be a billionaire by now.

Anyways, that was my day.