April Showers & Tulip Flowers

This is what Abbotsfordians woke up to earlier this week...

My mom, grandma and I braved the cold and went out to find a dose of spring time in La Conner.

Tulips are my favourite flower, so I was basically in heaven all day long!

Here are a few of my favourite pics from the day...

My grandma noticed tulips growing on the branches of one of the trees in the garden.

Loooove this old barn at the back of the tulip field...

Puerto Vallarta continued...

The grounds of our resort were great! We happened to be there the week before all the other spring-breakers showed up so we always had our pick of lounge chairs by the pool and never had to wait for drinks. We spent our days boogy boarding and playing in the waves, splashing around in the pool and just sitting around and listening to the tunes....pure bliss!

A little over to the left please....

My handsome boys....

O'Donnell Family Vacation 2011

On the bus taking us out to the plane to go home. :(

I was definitely made for the sunshine and can't wait for our next trip!

Spring Break in Puerto Vallarta

After a long hard year of studying for me and Christopher getting ready to graduate from high school, a family vacation was in order for spring break. We chose Puerto Vallarta because we found a great deal, the flight was direct out of Abbotsford, and I have never heard anything but good things about it. The weather was absolutely beautiful every day and that was my number one requirement for a great trip!

Of course, the anticipation is half the fun....the boys waiting at our local airport.

Our first night there we watched the show, had a few drinks and had lots of laughs since Kenton was absolutely hyper!

Chris played volleyball every day!

I know....I had to have a picture of it as proof...Christopher is reading a book!

Hot stuff!!

More hot stuff!!

Kenton relaxing...I know...hard to believe, right?

More fave pics to come!

Disappointment

     Ahhhh....the bitter pill of disappointment...doesn't happen to me often and I know it won't last long, but alas...here it is. We received our preceptorship placements at the end of last week and let's just say I was disappointed in more ways than just one. Preceptorship is where we buddy up with a nurse and aren't under the constant scrutinization of an instructor. Our preceptor shows us the ropes and we gradually do her workload just as if we were an employee. We meet with an instructor a few times along the way to discuss the nurse's evaluation of us. Now, I have gotten excellent grades the entire year and had glowing evaluations from all of my instructors, so I was expecting to be given a placement that would challenge me and further my learning experience. I also was hoping not to be placed somewhere too far from home, as I have a bad habit of falling asleep at the wheel....ummm....is that a bad habit or a medical condition??
     Sooo...I have ended up in a long term care facility...in Surrey! That means an hour long drive to just hand out pills...not the challenge I had in mind. Thankfully, I am a positive person and choose to believe that somehow in this God has a plan in mind. So, this will be a pill that I can swallow and will make me a better person and nurse at the end of it.

Christmas Recap

Before I get started on the new year ahead, I thought I'd do a quick recap of Christmas. It was a bit different this year, as I had to work for four hours in the morning. It wasn't all that bad, as the boys are at the age they appreciate sleeping in. As soon as I got home we got started. Christopher assumed his usual position...under a blanket in a horizontal position, Kenton was excited about his chocolate-scented Axe body wash, Chris got a skookum snowmobile helmut, and I got a new Coach purse (snuck home by my hubby from a previous Black Friday shopping excursion).



The previous evening, we had our traditional Christmas Eve appie-fest at my parents'. The whole fam was there, so it was a great evening. We opened presents tonight because my brother and his girlfriend were heading back to Vancouver first thing in the morning.

It was so much fun to watch my nieces open their presents, and then laughing at a puppet show that my dad put on with their gifts. It was also great fun to see my mom after a few glasses of wine...

Finally!

This past week I got up the courage to do something I have been thinking about for at least a year now. I figured if I was still thinking about it a year later and didn't just go and do it, I never would. So...I went out and got my nose pierced!

It took my husband about half an hour to notice and my kids didn't notice for a few days! My mom and brother noticed right aways at a family dinner and my dad took awhile, even after we all made it plainly obvious.

It's still taking me a bit to get used to, but I think it suits me and looks pretty good. Hopefully I don't look like an old lady trying to look young...the guy who pierced me said it was nice to pierce an "older" person because there wasn't all the drama...lol!

Father's Day Camping

On Father's Day weekend this year, we went camping with a bunch of friends just off the road at the Carolin Mines exit. This bunch is in to quading and dirt biking, so I learned to drive a quad and Kenton gave the dirt bike a whirl. I wish I had gotten a pic of the man who has been bed ridden for the past three weeks doing pop-a-wheelies up the hill! Boys will be boys....

On our second evening there we had one heck of a mountain storm come in...thankfully it didn't last too long. Since it was Father's Day most of the ladies dreamt up activities for the dads to do with their kids, one being the kids having to feed their dad with a blind fold on. This one was obviously one of the favourites.

What a great time with old friends and new friends! I also wouldn't be a bit surprised if a few more "toys" find their way in to my garage in the next year or so...

Sleepless in Seattle

One day Dana and I were discussing shopping in Seattle and I happened to mention that I had never been! It was decided right then and there that we would pack up and go the very next weekend. We spent hours shopping in Macy's, had a beautiful view from our hotel room, had dinner down at the water, went to Pike's market, visited the Space Needle and had dinner at Red Lobster one night. We packed a lot of fun in to one weekend!

This is one of the best drinks I've had in a long time, if not ever! It was a pina coloda with strawberry swirling through it....Yummy!!

Day Trip to La Conner

On one of our rare nice days this spring, my mom, grandma, aunt and uncle went out to La Conner for the day. I believe this was my first time in going. There were tulips as far as the eye could see...and apparently in other years there has been even more! Tulips are my favourite flower, so I was in heaven. :) We went for a nice lunch out on the patio and then went to one more farm. It was my favourite because instead of just rows of tulips they had it set up as a beautiful garden. We treated ourselves to some ice cream and then it was time to call it a day and head back home. Definitely something to make an annual day trip!

One of my favourite things....RED tulips!!

The O'Donnells Visit Whistler

Dana's gift to Chris for his birthday was a family trip to Whistler for the weekend. The suite was stayed in was absolutely gorgeous and we had a such a great time. We went out for dinner to an Irish Pub, walked around the village and enjoyed a Starbucks one of the evenings. There was a half pipe contest going on, so we also took that in for awhile. We were in awe when we went in to the hot tub one evening and discovered that where else except in beautiful British Columbia could you sit in a hot tub and be surrounded by daffodils and have a mountain of snow as your backdrop?! Sadly, I don't have pics of it on my computer...so these will have to do.

Whistler is definitely one of my all-time favourite places to get away! Thank you so much for your generous gift Dana!