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!