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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Mr and Mrs Giesbrecht



It was perfect. Every last moment of the wedding and the days leading up to it. Having my parents, my brother and his fiancee, and Mare (Maid of Honour) and Jer (honourary bridesmaid, hee hee!) helped tremendously with the plans, and my other bridesmaid, Vassy was a miracle worker with the cake and our makeup! I'll go into a little more detail when I get the photos back (OMG, can't WAIT!!!), but for now, suffice it to say, the day was perfect!Mmmmm, Starbucks! Best Maid Of Honour EVER!!
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Going to Supper to start off my Sex and the City Stagette! Everyone looked HOT!
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Mum and Me at the spa getting our Mani-Pedis
~Vassy...Bridesmaid, Cakemaker extraordinaire! Yes, she's HAND PAINTING those flowers.
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Me and my ladies the night before the wedding
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The honeymoon? Not so much. Haha! We left on Sunday instead of Saturday as originally planned. It was universally decided that leaving on a long distance trip would not be wise when we could barely stare at each other without our vision blurring over (we were just a little tired). We stayed a little campground outside of Jasper called Robson Shadows. It was right on the Fraser River and had the most incredible view of Mt Robson. That was home for two nights and we left on Tuesday morning to head south to Banff area. We made it about 20 minutes south of Jasper. The bumps on the road jostled our tent trailer and blew the leaf spring (which holds the tires to the axle...or something). Anyway, we were stuck in a little campground called Kerkeslin on the Athabasca River. I'll bet you didn't know there aren't any RV businesses in Jasper, did you? Well there aren't. Luckily for us there is a Napa with some very very friendly and helpful people who supplied us with two brand new heavy duty leaf springs (to replace the other one too...afterall who wants to go through that twice?). Brad got to work on Tuesday and we set up camp in the little campground. The next day it was back to Jasper again for some U-bolts (or something), which they didn't have so we went to Hinton to get them. Long story short, the camper was all set and good to go by the evening on Wednesday, but we were so tired of the back and forth driving that we decided to stay on more day and leave on Friday.
Thursday we got up early and took one more trip to Jasper for a battery for the tent trailer (the old one was no good anymore and our heater won't work without the carbon monoxide detector which requires battery...it was a cold cold four nights) and to get Ollie checked out at the vet (he had developed several scarey red spots on his abdomen that the vet assistant said was likely bug bites), and then we went to hike to Horseshoe Lake and Athabasca Falls.
Friday morning we packed up and continued south through the Columbia Icefields to Calgary and finally stopped in Medicine Hat for the night. We stayed in a hotel. It had a shower...a luxury we hadn't enjoyed since Monday for Brad and Tuesday for me. Ha!
Today we shopped a little and made the final trek back to Swift.Our Resort (and that's my bouquet from the wedding on the table)
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In front of Mt Robson
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Ollie doesn't want to drive anymore
~At Horseshoe Lake, called one of the bluest lakes in Jasper National Park
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Daaaaaaaaaam!
(ok, so it was part of a beaver lodge, not a dam, but I couldn't resist!)
~Me and Ollie at Horseshoe Lake
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Athabasca Falls

~Athabasca River as it ran by our campsite at Mt Kerkeslin
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Saturday, August 15, 2009

day one down!

Brad and I packed the trailer and escape last night and hit the road early this morning for day one of our trip to smithers. Of course, it was windy as hell from swift to biggar, and somewhere around rosetown it started to rain quite a lot. The rain finally gave out around camrose, and we had sun for most of the way to edson. Now we've set up our tent trailer for the night so that we're well rested for tomorrow when we make the last half of the drive! Can't wait! One more sleep!

Friday, August 14, 2009

And Awaaaay We Go!

The time has come! After months of planning and months of craziness and busy-ness and months of transition, the time has FINALLY come! I put on my out of office manager on my email, changed my voicemail to say I won't be back until the 31st, and practically sprinted out of the office! My vacation has officially started!
Tomorrow morning Brad and I will put our suitcases into the Escape, buckle Ollie into his seat, and hit the road for Smithers. It's a bit of a duanting drive, but Brad and I have always been good with long road trips together. We love each other's company (I should hope so!) and the time alone is always comfortable. Tomorrow we'll drive to Edson Alberta, which is the exact halfway mark between Swift and Smithers. Then on Sunday we'll get up and do another 10 hours to Smithers!
I'm so looking forward to having some time with my family, my friends, and some time to just relax and take a break.
Oh, and on Friday Brad and I will be getting married. That's kind of big I guess. ;) Haha!

Sunday, August 09, 2009

My Bridal Shower

As the wedding day creeps closer (or maybe I should say sprints closer) I'm finding almost no time for blogging. That being said, I really wanted to get some pictures up from my Bridal Shower. Darlene and her friend Marilyn threw my Shower on August 4th. I was a little overwhelmed by the number of people who came and by the heaps of prezzies! It was so touching to be surrounded by so many women who care about me.
There were games including "who has the heaviest purse", remember the kitchen items on the tray (I remembered 12, but I didn't know what half of them were for, an apparently "teal plastic knife thingy", "some sort of pink coloured scoop", and "red measuring cup thing" don't count as actual kitchen utensil terms), and "Toilet paper wedding dresses". I had to laugh at the creative styles modeled by Norma, Kim, and Brianne!Michelle helped to make my hat from the bows on my gifts. I think I look quite stunning, really!
And Vassy, my amazing bridesmaid made the 2.5 hour trip to Swift Current and home again to Saskatoon just to spend an hour and a half at my shower. She is one amazing lady!
(P.S. It's not 12 days to the wedding, and only 7 till I'm in Smithers! ...but who's counting?)