Christ Ornaments

The many different names for Christ. 

As a gift for the Young Women for Christmas, the Young Women's presidency decided to give the girls ornaments with the many different names of Jesus Christ listed in the scriptures. With how busy everyone gets at this time of year, we thought it would be a good reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate this exciting holiday.

I found a great tutorial on Pinterest and volunteered myself to make them. Although inexpensive, it was a bit more work than I expected so I ended up finishing them the night before Jared and I were leaving town for Christmas. Phew! All in all, I am pretty happy with how they turned out. I wasn't there on Sunday to see them being given to the girls, but I hope they liked them!

Date Night

On Wednesday, December 18, Jared and I had a much-needed date night. Jared wrote his last final exam of the semester so we decided it was a good reason to celebrate!

First, we went out for dinner at Montana's and got all-you-can-eat ribs. We both ended up being too full after our first rack though so we didn't really make good use of the endless ribs we could have eaten. It was delicious, though! Mmm ribs.

After dinner, Jared and I went to the theatre to go see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. We were early, however, so we decided to play in the arcade for a while. We ended up wasting quite a bit of money trying to win some prizes but at least we had fun. 

When we finally saw the movie, it was awesome! It was quite long just as the first movie was, but I've always been a fan of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit so I definitely didn't mind. 

Hooray for an awesome date night!

Sunday Hair

A couple Sundays ago, I decided to try a new hair-do. I'm not usually super creative when it comes to my hair so I just end up leaving my hair down and straightening or curling it. This particular Sunday, however, I didn't have a lot of time and wanted something fast and fun. Here's what I came up with.

Cantwell Not Like Weddings

This post is a little late, but better late than never, right?

On December 14th, the same evening as our ward Christmas party, Jared and I headed over to the wedding reception of one of my good friends, Catherine Cantwell (now Chubak). She was best buds with my roommates, Anne and Jenna, and was pretty much a roommate herself with how often she was over. She married Dane Chubak, one of the sons of the Chubak family that we grew up with when we lived in Northeast Calgary when I was younger. We were in 18th Ward together (even though that ward no longer exists).

It was such a fun reception! It was like a fun little reunion getting to see all of my old roommates again after such a long time! Jenna came all the way from Toronto where she lives right now and, even though Tam and Anne still live in Calgary, I still don't see them that often. We also saw Josh and Nicole Tagg there which was great for Jared since he and Nicole were good friends throughout high  school.

We had a great time at the reception. They had such cute decorations and delicious cupcakes! I just couldn't get enough of the mini cupcakes there! We also had fun at a little photo booth that they had. They had cute props for us to use like big kissy lips and bows for our hair.

Catherine and Dane looked so happy. I know Catherine is excited to be married, but I think she will miss being able to use her last name as a continuous pun. She would always say things like, "Cantwell not love me!" However, she must be adapting to the new last name since I recently saw her post that "[she's] got Chubak!" Hahaha. Anyways, it was a great night and we are all super happy for Catherine and Dane!

The original roomies! From left to right, Tamara Nalder, Anne Woznow, Stephanie Rasmussen (ME), and Jenna (Roy) McLean. 

Jenna and I!

Wildwood Ward Christmas Party 2013

On Saturday, it was our ward's Christmas party. The theme was a "Wild Christmas" so everything was animal themed; the centre-pieces, the Christmas tree ornaments, even the Christmas carols. 

Due to the animal theme, each auxillary was assigned to sing one animal-themed Christmas song for the party. At first, I couldn't think of any animal-themed Christmas songs until I clued into the obvious ones like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". I figured these ones would already be chosen so I picked "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" for the Young Women to sing. I played the piano while the Young Women belted it out. They can definitely be loud when they want to be.

The other auxillaries had some interesting choices as well. While the Elder's Quorum and High Priest group both picked the same song (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), the Young Men sang "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road" by Loudon Wainwright (I suggest you look it up if you've never heard it before, it's certainly...interesting). The one that gained everyone's attention, however, was the number that the Relief Society put on. Currently, there's a viral or popular video floating out there called "What Does the Fox Say?" and that is what the Relief Society did! The members of the presidency danced around the stage lip-syncing while one of the counsellors, Sister O'Brien, really got into it while wearing her fox hat. 

An interesting night to say the least. 

Other than that, dinner was delicious and the company was even better. We had a good visit with the Soares' (Gustavo & Marjorie), the Wights (Brandon & Marissa), and the Leishmans (Denver & Alisha). We couldn't stay until the end because we had to quickly boogie it over to my friend Catherine's wedding reception. Post on that to follow. 

Another fun Ward Christmas party under the belt!

Longest Run Record

~ Calgary's Chinook Arch ~

Saturday, December 14th, my running buddy, Laura, and I decided to go running over by the Glenmore Reservoir in Weaselhead. It was a lovely day with a nice warm Chinook wind. I even noticed the Chinook arch over Calgary. Unfortunately, Laura was running a little behind due to the crazy traffic she was experiencing. Poor Laura, she has her own story to go along with that :(. Anyways, I figured I might as well start running since I wasn't accomplishing anything by sitting in my car twiddling my thumbs. I got out of my car and starting running along the pathway, just back and forth a few times in front of the parking lot. I wanted to be close when Laura arrived. In the meantime, I ended up running 4km by the time Laura came.

Laura and I got our gear all set up and then she led me on a crazy, snowy, trail-running adventure. Basically, we ran down a hill, across a bridge, through a snowy wooded pathway, up a steep hill and along another pathway. At one point, we decided we should stop to see where we actually were and how far we should go before we needed to turn around and go back. We decided this would be a good time to turn back especially since I had run an extra 4km and was literally exhausted! I don't remember being this tired in the majority of my past runs! We took a small break for an impromptu photo shoot as we usually do on our runs.

The snow and trees together were actually quite breath-taking but I don't think I was able to properly appreciate it in my exhaustion.

Finally, as we turned around and went back along the pathway, down the steep hill, through the snowy wooded area, across the bridge, and back up the first hill, we finished our run! I was very tired as I have mentioned several times previously but it was worth it! Longest run at 1 hour 13 minutes and 26 seconds (or so my running app tells me). Yay running!

Grease!

On Thursday, December 12th, Jared and I went to Airdrie to go see his sister, Lexi, in her school's production of Grease. I always think it's important to support friends and family in their endeavors and this was no exception. Lexi was the assistant stage manager and she did a great job! Although she wasn't an actress in the play, she still had the important responsibility of making sure that the lighting and sound portions were working correctly and that everyone was organized. I think these positions are often overlooked at times as the performers are often seen as the stars. A little recognition for Lexi and other stage managers, please!

Jared doesn't normally enjoy musicals and although I don't think he really enjoyed being there (especially because he had an upset stomach), I really appreciate that he came out for his sister. I know if I were in her position, I would really enjoy my family coming out to support me.

Christmas Run

On Wednesday, I went for a lovely run with my friend and running buddy, Laura. She had been away in Washington for a little over a week, so despite the snow, we dragged each other out for a run!

We ran downtown at our usual running path in Prince's Island Park. It was really pretty with the Christmas lights now up and lit. It was a nice jog and at a good pace for chatting.

I Am a Charge Nurse!!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am now officially trained to be a charge nurse! Only on night shifts, of course.

I did my two orientation shifts last Saturday and Sunday and those both went fine. Night shifts are generally pretty tame and easy going when things don't go awry.

My first official night of being a charge nurse was on Tuesday night. I showed up to work, and my name was highlighted on the schedule as the one! The night went just fine, I had a few questions but my co-workers were helpful and answered my questions when I had them.

When I got home the next morning, however, I must have been pretty tired. When I went to open up a  new box of cereal, I didn't even realize that I was opening the box up upside down. No wonder it was so difficult...

Anyways, I know there will undeniably be more difficult charge shifts in the future, this was a very good foot to start out on!

Face Swap!

In continuation of my last post about social media and iPhone apps, here is another post about one of my favourite apps: Face Swap!

Basically, you take a picture of yourself and a friend and it swaps your faces! Simple as that! 

Over the summer, my family and I went a little crazy with the Face Swap app one evening at my parents house. Here are some of the gems that were created as a result.

Darrin & Brian

Erin & I

Jared & I...we look like products of incest...

Jared & Darrin

Brian & Erin

Brian & Jared

Josh & I

Here are a few of Erin & Darrin

Lastly, here's one of William & Kate, our British Royals. 

Anyways, I hope you laughed as much as I did reminiscing on our impromptu photo session.

Snapchat

Over the past couple of months, my sister, Erin, and I have been sending pictures back and forth via Snapchat. For any of you who don't know what Snapchat is, it's a killer app that lets you send pictures  to another person...but the other person can only view the picture for 10 seconds or so. That's why I've taken some screenshots of my favourite pics that I've received from Erin!

My personal favourite...