My time in Smith is slowly coming to an end! I have a few days left at work and then I'm still trying to figure out what to do! There's a couple positions I'm interested in but haven't applied for either yet. Alex wants to leave to so we are half waiting to see what comes his way since it'll be easier for me to find a job where he is compared to him finding a job where I am. We would both love to stay in the north but I think we might have to go a bit further south before returning here. Time will tell!

I'm having surgery next Tuesday to remove the mass growing on my tonsil. Fingers crossed that it's nothing bad :). It's being done in Yellowknife and I'll be staying a night before returning home.

The northern lights have been amazing lately because of all the solar storm activity. Definitely nothing I'll ever forget but I can't imagine never seeing them again either. We haven't been up to too much lately. Just the usual schedule. We puppy sat for our friends Jeff and Vina:

Alex, Katie and Hanna the puppy. She was running around and chomping on Alex's snowshoes like they were sticks. We walked across the Slave River which is huge! Alex decided to walk around a massive island with Hanna on the way back and some locals stopped Katie and I on snowmobiles and basically gave us ship for Alex walking around it. There is a set of rapids that he was walking over and the ice wasn't the greatest apparently. You live and you learn.

Hanna became a little tired and Alex had to carry her for awhile. She's peaking over his shoulder staring at us!

Alex and I went snowshoeing in a different spot the next day. Here is Hanna soaking up the rays!

This past weekend we saw a dead buffalo. The pictures are gory! Don't say I didn't warn ya. She was pregnant and the fetus was there as well:

I think thats about it that is new with me! Wish me luck next week, I'll keep you posted!

My once a month post!

Diane, this post is for you... even though you already are aware of almost everything I'm going to write about:

First off:

They found a dead body by the arena (right along a path Alex and I walk along frequently). There are rumours that he froze to death and that there was foul play involved. He is one of my client's brothers (everyones related). The body has been flown out for an autopsy. I'll keep ya posted!

Second off:

Just got back from Toronto. Went to an aquatic therapy course there. Nice of the government to pay for that for me :). Seeing Diane was always a good time. Get to see that pretty little face again next week! I got to see little Ella again too. Love that little munchkin! She was sick again but was still pretty adorable.

Third off:

Went back to the ears, nose and throat doc on Tuesday. My tonsil tumour is still there so he is going to remove it in the next few weeks in Yellowknife. He wants to rule out a couple types of cancer but I figure if I were to get cancer it would be a brand new one that no one has ever heard of so really I'm not that concerned!

Fourth off:

Alex flew me back to Fort Smith from Edmonton and I got to sit in the cockpit with him and test out that crazy plane. The captain decided it was time for his lunch and that I should fill in for him. Here is a picture of Captain Kat:

Fifth off:

I'm going to be a quarter century in a few lovely weeks!

Sixth off (ok I'm tired off this off business):

It's started to get much lighter here. When I go to work in the mornings it is light out and when I walk home it is light out. The northern lights have been out quite a bit so I'm crossing my fingers that my wifey can see them when she is up here :)!

Ok that is it. I am tired and it's not even 9pm!

Goodnight!

xo

Check out this video if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M

It's pretty sweet!

The weekend is already over and I wish that it was just starting! We stayed in on Friday night and had our friend Luke over to Alex's place to watch Flight of the Conchords and yesterday we rented a couple cabins and had a party out in the woods. At the moment it is -27 and -37 with windchill and there are still people out there staying out again tonight. Each cabin has a wood stove which was lovely. Except it makes it ridiculously hot.. then you open the window and then you wake up in the middle of the night when the fire has gone out and the window is open and you are basically sleeping in -37 haha. Alex had to work today so he came back into town last night and accidentally took my sleeping bag and pillow with him. Good thing Katie and Adam are wonderful and we had a little Katie sandwich last night. One of our friends who was suppose to fly with Alex this morning (but called another guy at midnight to take his shift) decided to drive back into town in the middle of the night still drunk... in his boxers... and drove off the road. He was ok.. obviously cold. He's very lucky and very stupid!

I might be going to Onterrible in a couple weeks! There is a course that I want to take that has been approved by my manager but needs to still be approved by another person in Inuvik. It's a rehabilitation aquatic therapy course. I think it'll be great if I get to go. It's in Mississauga at the beginning of Feb. I probably won't hear if I get to go until a few days before.

My job is finishing up at the end of March. Only a couple months left! Who knows what will happen. This whole taking contracts and moving all over the place I think is my form of adrenaline rush! Nerve racking and exciting at the same time. I'd really like to stay in the north for awhile but that might not happen. I'm kind of thinking that it might be a good idea to take a few months and finish up the courses that I need to get done and then go back to work. It's really hard doing straight-memorization courses while working full-time because you really don't absorb enough info at a time. We will see!

Arctic Air

Did anyone watch Arctic Air tonight? Probably not, but we did! It's a "fictional" drama about northern aviation on CBC. It was decent except it seemed to mirror Buffalo a lot (from Ice Pilots NWT). Felt like they were just trying to copy that show. They did mention Fort Smith though! I will probably watch again. At the end of the show they had an "In memory of" for Alex's friend Nicole and her captain Trevor who died in September, which was really nice. We think they were filming in Yellowknife around the time of the crash.

Anyways bedtimeskis for me!

I don't even know where to start!

It's been a few weeks since I've posted and they have been a very crazy and wonderful few weeks! I really don't even know where to start. I guess we can go in chronological order! Here is a picture of the Christmas/Santa truck in Smith. It drives around every night in December until Christmas for a couple hours with Santa waving to the kids (and me, he waved to me while I sat in Alex's house). They also blast Christmas music so you can basically hear it anywhere in Smith haha. It's wonderful!

A few weeks ago Alex brought me back Booster Juice when he flew to Edmonton. I was so excited by it, I took a picture of it. I realize you guys may see Booster Juice all the time (besides my mother who has probably never heard of it, it's a smoothie company) but I'm posting the picture anyways.

Here is a picture of my place with the Christmas tree and a picture of Meagan and Kalina:

Alex and I went on a snowshoeing adventure where we started out a little late in the day. We had to break trail and it took us over an hour and a half to get to the rapids. It was almost dark when we arrived at our destination but we made it back just as it was getting pitch-black. Here are a couple pictures. There's a picture of Alex and I on our adventure as my profile picture on Facebook:

Then starts our crazy holiday partying celebrations! At this point it all blends into one. We spent most of our holidays at Katie, Adams and James' place. It was a wonderful time. We spent Christmas eve there, then went back Christmas morning and got drunk and opened presents:

This is Adam, Alex, Greg & James sitting on the couch Christmas morning.

Greg holding his new ice fishing rod and Adam with his brand new auger from Greg haha.

Adam hugging and not letting go of his lego tractor. Alex got a lego airplane for Christmas from me. Katie and I were thinking along the same lines for the boys.

Greg and Alex sharing breakfast. I'm sure they didn't plan on me sharing this picture.

Well we were trashed by noon and came back for a Christmas dinner FEAST! It was delicious. We had ham and turkey and all this fixings. Here is Greg, Katie and Adam:

We spent the night being drunk fools. We had 15 over for dinner (I talk like it's my place but because Katie and I live across from eachother we (and by we I mean she) cooked at both places). The first pic is Katie and I getting into the fireball, James trying to be as asian as he could possibly be, and Alex passed out on the dryer at the end of the night):

It was pretty funny with Alex passing out because I felt a fainting spell coming on so I went down stairs to lay down and he came down to use the washroom and found me and he's like, "I'll be right back" then Katie tells me later that he came up and told her that she needed to come deal with me LOL, so she came and layed on the floor with me and Adam came and laid with us and hen Alex comes down, climbs on the dryer and passes out HA. I was fine.

We went for a sweet snowshoe on boxing day with my sweet new showshoes! Thanks mom! There were six of us and it was a blast! On the 27th Alex and I went to Edmonton for an adventure and his brother and girlfriend met us there. There is a pic of Alex myself and Andy on Facebook. We went out to the movies (we saw Tin Tin in 3D). It was our first time going to a movie theatre together.. and the first time in a city together. We also went to the waterpark at West Ed. When we got back Alex dropped me off at home and I did the dishes and cut myself. It was also Alex and I's first time going to the emergency room together HAHA. It was the TINIEST cut but I bled like a banshee! I don't actually know if banshee's bleed a lot but it sounded like it fit in the sentence. Here are some pictures (since I document everything).

I didn't need stitches I just need help stopping the bleeding lol. No wait in the Smith emergency room haha always a bonus of living in the middle of nowhere. They made Alex hold my hand with pressure above my head for 5 minutes and that didn't work so I had another 5 minutes and they put a nice massive bandage on it and sent me home. It was still bleeding 24 hours later because the clot kept being disturbed lol.

Ok I have to go for dinner but I have lots more pictures and stories. New years was a crazy good night and I have to share how much booze we drank within the span of a week!

Well my contract has been extended til the end of January! The girl who is permanent still hasn't made a decision of whether she is coming back or not (I have 8 working days left on my contract) so my boss just made a decision for her haha. It also will give me time to see what happens with another job I have my eye on.

This week has been wonderful! So close to Christmas :)! Alex is being a grinch about decorating but it's going to happen whether he likes it or not! Here is a picture of his current Christmas tree... pitiful:

We had a little party last night at our friend Katie and Adam's place! They just bought a new quad. I need to get people to start buying sleds up here. I know this probably isn't too surprising but tons of people use their sleds and ATV's to get around town up here. It makes me jealous! I want a sled.. a pink or purple sled... Who wants to buy it for me :)? Last night was great though! It was just me and a bunch of boys, then Katie came home from work :) Here's some pictures from last night:

Katie and I

Here is Bambi, myself, Noonan, Curtis, Katie & Adam

Hahaha, here is Adam playing his bagpipes at 2am. Noonan is holding up the music sheet for him. Love it when he brings out the pipes!:

Here's Katie and Alex arm wrestling... Alex looks like he's about to pass out:

I hope everyones December is going well! Drive safely! Too much tragedy in the past four months, we don't need another one :)! I'm very jealous of everyone with a ski hill around them. Alex and I both miss the Koots but it's not time to go home quite yet!

Not last week but the week before we had -32 weather (-40 with windchill) but now it's hovering at around -20ish. The sun is setting at around 3:30 and rising at around 9:30. What have we been doing for fun you ask? Well I went to yoga and the tree lighting ceremony. Here is a couple pics from the tree lighting. It is Kalina and Meagan in the second pic:

Not this past week but the week before I went to Edmonton for an MRI. It was pretty sweet but quick! It was so weird being around civilization again haha. I was in West Edmonton Mall and there was probably probably double the amount of people in Smith in that mall. The lights, the sounds.. so overwhelming lol! Traffic lights and buildings higher than 2 stories! Here is a pic from my hotel room with the clouds hanging really low:

My MRI results came back and they ended up scanning the wrong part of my spine so we will see what will happen now :). Maybe another trip down there.

Here is some pictures from last Friday. The first one is of myself, Katie on the left and Sheena in the middle. The second is of Kalina and Meagan. All amazing girls!:

Alex and I decided to go for a drive yesterday about 30 minutes outside of town. We told Kalina and her boyfriend where we were going just in case we got stuck and didn't come back to Smith that night. It didn't go great but we managed to make it a little ways down a road that wasn't plowed:

We got a little bit stuck but it wasn't too bad. Katie and Adam went to Hay River the same day and got stuck on the way back to Smith. You have to be careful because there is no cell service. Very wise to wear your long johns and bring food, water, blankets and candles. We were too cool for that and didn't do any of the above... maybe next time!

Things have been going well up here. Nothing to complain about! Still waiting to hear if my contract has been extended since it's up in two weeks. A little stressful but thats ok! A couple friends have started working for the GNWT now and are loving it!

The Governor General of Canada is coming to Smith this week. I knew him from when he was the president of the University of Waterloo, kind of weird he is the GG now!

That's all I really have for tonight. I don't have big plans this week. Just working and studying. I need to decorate two houses for xmas. I have to go on a shopping trip to Fields and buy decorations before they all sell out! Hope the season is picking up for everyone down south!

Well it is -23 and -28 with windchill right now. It was really cold yesterday too. So what did we do for fun? We went for a drive to a lake (that was closed, we couldn't get in) and then we fired a rifle! This is for all your viewing pleasure:

Kind of scary, eh?

We had a really tame weekend. Friday we didn't do much and Saturday night we had a movie night at Kalina and Tom's place. We watched Elf to get into the Christmas spirit!

Our diet is interesting. We're doing really well on it but it does suck a lot. Some examples of meals we've tried:

Cooking 100% cocoa and putting almonds in them and freezing them. My roommate tried this.. didn't taste so good apparently.
I've make a few meals that I just threw out because I didn't like them haha. Why does that not surprise anyone who is reading this?
Eating buckwheat hot cereal with apples, cinnamon, and coconut... I didn't like it very much but Alex liked it.
Plain yogurt, cinnamon, and apples.

I'll have to think of some more tomorrow because I am falling asleep!

It's been -17 for a few days now... -22ish with the windchill. Brrrr... It's good times though! Everyone is whipping out the parkas. For daylight it's definitely getting darker. It's dark when I go to work and dark when I leave work already.

I get to go shopping next week :)... if everything gets approved in Yellowknife. I have an appointment for an MRI in Edmonton next week. The way the flights work, I'll be staying at least one night.. maybe two depending on my appointment time. The flights all arrive from Smith at about 1ish and they all leave around then too. Hopefully things go through because I wanna go shopping :)!

My roommate and I started a diet this week. It's a health diet but it's kicking our asses at this point. We are going to power through though. We are not allowed any wheat, dairy, anything with sugar (including fruit), nothing with vinegar, the meat has to be organic (HAHA don't have that in Smith), nothing starchy.. so no potatoes or related veggies. We basically can't eat anything haha. I've been living off of chicken and brown rice. Alex made me a soup tonight :). We are on day 3 today and we haven't cheated yet but it's hard! If I end up in Edmonton I don't think I'll be able to make it because I don't think any restaurant will be able to accommodate my dietary needs lol.

My contract is going to be extended. I've also applied for another job that's permanent so we will see what happens there!

Oh I saw the ears, nose and throat guy. The tumour thing on my tonsil he would like to remove. He said he thinks he has seen something similar a couple times before HAHA. Sounds like a whole lot of confidence there! He gave me three options: take my tonsils out, biopsy the tumour in Yellowknife, or leave it and see if it grows. So we decided that it's best to biopsy it but that we will wait three months to see if there are any changes. He also wanted some time to think about it HAH. Oh boy. We actually didn't talk too much about my health because through talking we found out that both of us grew up partially in Trail, that he also partially grew up in Pine Point and that our dads both worked for Cominco HA! So crazy. The connections are ridiculous.

Ok that's all I got for right now. I've been meaning to do a post on what we do for fun in Smith. Hopefully that'll come in the next week or so! Hope everyone is doing great :)!

Here's a picture of Me, Kalina and Meagan after breakfast on Sunday morning :)

Things are going well here! Not a whole lot to report. Work is going well! We're a couple weeks into construction. Here is a picture of our office. There are 3.5 of us (my boss has a office offsite so she's only in our office a bit) in there and it's our only separate room at the moment so we all get kicked out from time to time for meetings. It's an adventure!

I have more pics in posts below of the past couple weeks!

Alex showed me around all the hangars at his work this weekend and he showed me this little gem! It's the first plane made in the NWT.

Smith Shopping!

This is what we do in Smith when we want to go shopping with friends. We have a clothing swap! Tons of clothes, it was a fabulous time!

Everyone brought stuff to Kalina's and it was a free for all. You can give or take as much or as little as you would like regardless of how much you brought. We're planning another one for the spring!

On Friday night Meagan and I decided to go crazy with photobooth (an application on Apple computers that lets you take pictures and use different effects). When Alex came over we pulled him into it. For the record, Alex and Meagan were drunk by that point, I don't have an excuse!