New family member

 Because, ya know... we're crazy.

 

We kind of thought Leo needed a friend, so we adopted this fella. He's adorable, but all kittens are. So far introducing the two has been a bit a shock for Leo. Lots of hissing and growling... and I found Leo on the counter this morning chasing a bug. He knows he's not allowed on the counter. Or maybe he figured out that I accidently left the spray bottle outside and now it's frozen so I can't spray him anymore.

Anyways. New kitten! It's a him. And him doesn't have a name yet. He's pure black and super purr-y and cuddly. I want to name him Salem, which is the whole reason I wanted a black cat in the first place. But after bringing him home, I don't think he's a Salem. The name Fry keeps coming up. Bosco, Rocko and Soot also are in the runnings. But none seem very fitting. New kitty is super smart, too. He already escaped the from basement by crawling under the door... and climbed behind the furnace area and pooped on the floor. I can't blame him, the littler box smelled like another cat. It's going to take some time before they are playing with each other... hopefullly sooner rather than later.

 

Other stuffs:

My MIL is going to be here in 8 days, and in 8 days we are going to be demolishing our kitchen.

It snowed a butt load the other night. Almost 7 inches. It's very pretty outside. I think I can see myself putting up the christmas lights in the near future.

 

 

Sorry we are so boring...

 

I could sure use some suggestions for names for our new kitty!

Another cousin gets married, Wizard Lake, and kitchen stuffs

This weekend was pretty much the best weekend I've had in a while. I've been so stressed out with work and life (that is a different post for a different day). One of Warren's cousins, Connor, got married last weekend in Cardston, Alberta- sadly, we couldn't make the wedding, so we drove up this weekend to Edmonton, Alberta for the reception. It was beautiful! Sometimes I think it's so amazing how you can make a church gym look so much not like a church gym. In case you aren't aware, Warren has about 30 first cousins on his dad's side. Whenever someone finds out my last name is Fairbanks, they seem to know someone I'm related to. The Fairbanks' are like an elite club in Canada. I feel pretty awesome sometimes.

Saturday morning Graham, Hayley, Warren and I all drove to Edmonton and spent the day at West Edmonton Mall. The biggest mall in north america next to mall of america. It's a big deal. There is a water park, a seal lion park, a theme park with full size huge roller coasters, a movie theater, several arcades, tons of full size restaurants and about 500 stores. We spent seven hours there. Seven hours. And I finally hit a lucky streak and found some clothes to buy. I've been kind of in a rut lately in the clothing department. Anyways, the mall was awesome and it was so nice get out of Calgary.

Then we had the reception, which as I mentioned earlier, was absolutely stunning. Warren's uncle Brian just built a brand new cabin on a lake out in the country- and offered for us to stay the night there. We were all pretty excited about it! We drove out to Wizard Lake, which kind of looked like sleepy hollow... but my goodness... this was the prettiest house I've ever been in! It was right on the lake, three stories that over looked the lake. The most gorgeous kitchen of all time- like something you'd see on the internet but doesn't actually exist, that's what this kitchen looked like. It had a steam shower and most the comfy beds. I slept like a baby! I hope we get invited back- it was like spending a billion dollars on a fancy hotel room. I felt like we were on a ritzy vacation!

This is the view of the sunrise from my pillow

Seriously, I could live here

 Anyways, we loved staying there and loved having a little mini vacation. Mucho gracias familia de Fairbanks!

In other news, Warren's mom and step dad are coming up next month from Colorado. And they are going to stay with us, which we are excited for. It's not often we get to have people stay with us since we've never had the space before. While they are here, they are renovating our kitchen! I'm getting more and more excited! Our kitchen is very nice as it is. The tile is new and the appliances are new as well. Just the cupboards are the originals from the 80's, but in good condition. I'm nervous because we just had our roof replaced, and the kitchen is a big job. EEEE but I'm excited! Has anyone ever attempted to renovate a kitchen and have any tips and advice they can pass on? 

Finally something to freaking blog about

As the picture in the preview clearly gives away, you can guess what this post is about.

Well kids. Yes. Last night I went on another one of my wild goose chases, aka aurora hunting. And I got lucky! Actually no... not lucky. The science was all there, it just so happened to all work out during the night hours in north america. I am ecstatic!

I set out on my journey around 9pm Sunday night. I had been watching all my alerts and the particle density, solar wind speed, and the Bz component and everything was looking perfect. Since Warren was refusing to go with me since we were 0-10 in all our other attempts, I had to go by myself. I packed some snacks and a bottle of water, extra batteries, both cameras and my phone with the maps app open so I could see where I was going without getting too lost. I drove north of Calgary about 20 minutes, and turned off onto a rural road and pulled over next to some creepy field that I'm sure was full of glowing eyes, ready to pounce. Once I got out there, I could see a small, very, very dull green hovering light. You could have easily missed it or mistaken it as the steady glow of distant city lights. However, the fact that it was slightly the same color as snot, I knew it wasn't city lights. That, and because the next city is about an hour and a half away. I sat there and watched it, straining my eyes trying to focus on it. It would disappear and then reappear, and then subtly form a thin line along the horizon. I took a few photos with my simple point and shoot camera, and in the display the glowing appeared much greener than it did to the naked eye. I was slightly disappointed because this is kind of what I had been expecting to see. I got a little bored sitting there, so I started to fiddle with my camera and take pictures of the beaming bright full harvest moon that was right in front of me.

I saw something on the windshield that looked like a big fatty smudge. I tried to move to look around it as I stared up into the stars. Except for the 'smudge' moved with my head, and then it started to get brighter. I thought maybe it was a cloud. I moved and looked out the side window again and, my friends... words cannot express the feelings and emotions that rushed over me. The whole sky was full of bright, white/green rays of light, right above me! I felt as though I was sitting beneath fireworks that were raining back down to Earth. Horizon to horizon, the sky was literally bursting with auroras. Even with the bright moonlight, the green ribbons of light were not to be masked! I started flashing pictures left and right. I couldn't decide which direction to look, no matter what way I looked they were there. Off into the distance a bit the swirls started twirling across the sky. I have only ever seen pictures of auroras of this intensity. To my knowledge and understanding thus far, the swirly auroras were only common closer to the Arctic Circle. I could not believe my eyes. I can't find words to fully describe it.

Here are my pictures. Please bare with me because not only am I not a photographer, I also didn't have a tripod. They are blurry and some of them I enhanced in photoshop to brighten them up a bit more. They are also pretty grainy. Don't judge me!

That big white thing... that's the moon [facing east]

This is directly over head... you can barely see it but I promise it was bright

Here's where it really starts to take off

The intensity only lasted about 20-30 minutes before they started to fade away back into the hovering glow in the distance. It was pretty freaking spectacular. So much so, that we've started looking at getting a DSLR a bit more seriously now. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last once I got home [around midnight]. I was way too happy!