Montreal!

Well hello everyone! It has been a while! We have been busy moving, working, and settling into our new home. So now I have to play catch up on a few of these posts!
We went to Montreal this summer...that is how long it`s been!
We had a long weekend, and thought we should go somewhere. Our friends Dave and Marie live in Montreal, and I had never been, so off we went!

We spent some time exploring Old Montreal. It was beautiful!

I love this picture. It looks like me and Dave are together! ha. Marie had a course that weekend so we didn`t see much of her. That`s their little boy Asher. He`s adorable.

This very fuzzy picture is us at the International Jazz Festival that just happened to be going on that weekend. We watched a few shows and wandered around.

Us on the subway!

We went to see the Basilica. Lots of steps to get up there! We saw a couple people doing it on their knees! That is dedication. It was huge inside.

Caleb with Peter, James and John I think.

Us with all the candles. It was so hot in this room! There were hundreds of lit candles!



So the highlight of the trip was probably our dinner at Schwart`s. There was a line up a ways down the street to get in. Once you get in they put you at a table usually with other people. It was cramped and pretty ghetto in there! We ordered the smoked meat sandwiches of course...to die for!

This pic of the pickle is for you Lynz!

Yummy!!!

Montreal has a little thing called Bixie Bikes. They have all these bike stations down town, and you can rent them. You take one out, can use it for half an hour, and if you return it to another station within that time, it won`t charge you and you can take out another bike. We rented them one day and rode them all over downtown Montreal. It was really fun!

Us and the Bixi Bikes!

So the Bixi Bikes were really fun until Caleb had the great idea of riding them through a park. Caleb looked on a map that said there was a bike station half way through the park so we would be good to go. Well we rode and rode our bikes...up a giant hill for like an hour! Then we got midway and searched for the bike station...no where to be found. At that point it was getting dark out, so we had to ride our bikes down hill in the dark! It was so scary! I was not happy...as expressed in this picture.







This was our view at the top. Worth it? mmmm...not really.

But we did have a fantastic time. Montreal is such a cool place, and we are grateful to wonderful friends who let us stay with them!

STAMPEDE!!

This year was my first time attending the Calgary Stampede!
Can you believe it?
We kicked off stampede week with the parade.
It was way longer than we thought it would be!
It was actually quite impressive.

And this was Caleb's favorite part. (I love my nerdy husband)



Later that week we made our way down to the stampede grounds decked out in our cowboy shirts. Next year we will have to invest in some cowboy hats. I swear we were the only ones there without one!

We checked out the art exhibition, and also the BMO centre where they sell all the things off infomercials. It might have been one of my favorite parts.


We watched these people ride giant horses around this arena for a while, and never did quite figure out exactly what we were watching.


The masked pony!!
My most favorite part was seeing the ponies. I love them.
We even watched the ponies in a pony competition where they jumped over fences. It was cute and hilarious, just like ponies.
We also saw the world sheep dog competition, where the dogs round up sheep into a corral.
Caleb really got into it!
It was fun.
Ok...time for my confession....but it's not all my fault!
Caleb LOVES fair food. Which is weird because he does not love junk food. But for some reason he loves greasy, deep fried, breaded fair food.
Here's the confession...while at the stampede we might have eaten:

a corn dog
beef on a bun
deep friend oreos
mini donuts
deep friend snickers,
and we topped it all off with chili cheese fries.

Did you throw up in your mouth a little bit?
Although seeing that list makes me want to do 100 sit ups before i go to bed tonight, because I'm sure I am still working that off! I have to admit, it was delicious!
And it's all part of the experience right?
And we went halvies on all of it.
So it's only half the calories.

Until next year deep fried snickers....I mean, stampede.

Oh Canada!

I got the day off of work for Canada Day.
We decided to head down to Lethbridge to have a fun-filled day with my family.
We started out at the Raymond Parade! It was a blast.
We went with my Mom and Skye and Aaron and their kids.
Ayla and Stratton loved the candy, but Stratton for some reason was not into going out in the street to pick any of it up. Being the good aunt I am :) I went out in the street and got it for him for the duration of the parade. I must have looked a little crazy racing with all the little kids to get to the candy first! But Stratton was happy.



We got to see Dad in the parade! He was in it with the Lethbridge Pipe Band. So fun!

After the parade we hung out at Mom and Dad's for a while.
Stratton skinned his knee and had a bit of a freak out! Poor guy!

The adorable Ayla B!
I don't know what it is about Caleb, but Skye's kids are absolutely in love with him. Ayla was his shadow for the day and could not get enough of him. I took some pics of them hanging out together. I got a little picture happy. So adorable.




Later in the day we went over to the Varty's for a delicious BBQ.
Caleb got some pictures of the momma Robin and her babies living under their deck.


We had such a fun day! Thanks to my amazing family!

Viva Las Vegas!!

The month of June this year left Caleb and I with some unexpected time off work. Time off work for us usually equals a trip somewhere. It was a toss us between Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and Las Vegas. Vegas actually won our vote even though we had been there before. We were looking to go somewhere hot and relaxing. Vegas is definitely hot, and I don't think there's any place more convenient than Vegas. No need to rent a car, or even leave your hotel for that matter!

Our days were spent lounging by the pool and relaxing, in the evenings we ate delicious food and had all the fun vegas has to offer! It was a great trip and I think we made the perfect choice.


Caleb playing the penny slots and winning big! Ha, just kidding. He didn't win...he actually lost 30 bucks at a craps lesson he went to while I was at the pool. Expensive free lesson! ha.

We decided (after much debate) to go to the Shark Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I have to say it was worth it. We especially loved the hats.





I had never checked out the gardens at the Bellagio. I think that their fountain show is my favorite part of Vegas. I could watch it forever! We decided to go in this time and check out the gardens.



We stayed at the Excalibur and loved it. It was cheap, we had a renovated room, and the pools were great.


We checked out a restaurant called Hash House a Go Go. I saw it on the Vegas channel and was obssessed with going to it! They have a sharing fee because everything they serve there is so gigantic! It was delicious. They started us off with these giant biscuits and I think I was full off of them before our meal even came.

We ordered the chicken and waffles! The waffles had strips of bacon in them and the fried chicken was amazing!! It's ok to eat yourself silly on vacation right? I won't mention the fact that we had a McDonalds in our hotel and we might have eaten breakfast there more than we we should have. Ok...I mentioned it.


They have all kind of people dressed up on the strip who will take a picture with you for a tip. This guy was my favorite. He looked just like Gene Simmons!


We went to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. Neither of us had seen it before. As we were walking into the theatre we got pulled aside by a lady who was working with a film crew to do a promotional video for the show. She asked us if we would meet her back there after the show so she could ask us some questions about how it was. Of course we said yes! We went back, and she was waiting there for us. They had a make-up lady who put make up on Caleb and fixed mine up. She also hairsprayed my bangs until they were rock hard! They put us in front of this giant camera and asked us questions about the show. It was kind of nerve racking! They are going to use the video on their website and hopefully TV! So I hope we made the cut!





We love Vegas! I'm sure we will be back sometime soon!