Figure Skating Nationals

Well its taken me forever to post because we have been extremely busy. First off to let you know I recently got a second job working at an oral surgeons office Monday-Friday because the hospital hasn't been giving me enough hours. Needless to say I have been working both places and its very busy but I like to stay busy because Ted is gone a lot for school and when he is home he is studying and reading a ton.

The first couple pictures are from Utah at my cousin Britty's surprise bridal shower. Ted and I were there a week ago for my immigration stuff where I passed my citizenship interview and can officially become a US citizen! All that is left is for me to get sworn in next month. I am so glad the process is almost over for the rest of my life and I hope I never have to deal with US immigration again. The whole process has taken 5 years and thousands of dollars, so we are happy to be done!

Anyways moving on to better things, My mom and I got to go to the Canadian National skating championships which was so much fun. We stayed in a hotel and for 2 straight days watched figure skating from early morning till late in the night. We had amazing seats thanks DAD and loved every minute of it. We were both extremely sad when it was over. I was very grateful to have my mom so close that I can go an enjoy things like this with her because lets face it Ted would rather slit his wrist than watch skating for 2 days straight. We also ran into my old skating friend Cara while we were there and spent time going out with her and catching up. It made me feel like a teenager again back at the rink.

Me and my cousin Katrine at Brittany's shower

ME and my cousin Caroline and Britty

Corise and ME

Britty opening gifts.

Our old friend Lesley(who skated with us in little our tiny town of Alliston) went very far in the skating world. She was 4th in all of Canada 2 years ago but has since moved on and is having a baby this summer. So random we ran into her there!

Mom and me outside at the outdoor skating rink. There is almost one in every Canadian City.

Cara and me. My best bud, so many years of skating together.

Mom and Me at the ladies free skate event. It was amazing.

The entire skating Gang back together after how many years.

Mom and Me at the first event the pairs dance. We had amazing seats 10 rows up.

Christmas! picture overload!!

Ted pulling the kids with the snowmobile. (...and no, thats not Ted's butt crack, its the shirt tucked in -- inserted by Ted)

And playing battle tube--so much fun. This is where everyone tries to stay on the sled/innertube being pulled by the snowmobile while pushing and pulling each other off!

Some of us were lucky enough to see the Olympic Torch coming through town on its way to Vancouver 2010.

Me, mom, and Sarah waiting for the torch.

ME and Noah!!

Ted pulling Nadia. Yes he's wearing shoes on the ice--what did you think, he'd be skating?

Suzanne and Haddie.

Drew and Noah

Kelly and Baby Owen.

Noah

Suzanne and Mel in the kitchen

Everyone talking into the wee hours of the night.

Ted with the twin sisters as we call them--Roxy and Ivy

My friend Sarah and her littler girl Brea.

I love this face of Brea

Can I steal her???!!!!!

Christmas has come and gone which I am always sad after...but its fun to look back and remember all the fun. Our Christmas this year started off with me working Christmas Eve night and Christmas night so we went up to my parents late on Boxing Day(December 26 in the US!) and spent a fun filled week with everyone. We were able to see the Olympic Torch go through our local town on its way to Vancouver which was very cool. We had many fun days playing in the field with the snowmobile pulling kids and playing the traditional battle tube which with any templemans can get rough. At one point we had a pile of 4 people being pulled at once because no one would let go. We also ate way to much and talked into the wee hours of the night. And of course Ted's favorite thing: we had the annunal family skate day at the arena with just our immediate family which is 12 adults and 15 kids. People don't believe its just our family they think its open skate for the hour because there are so many of us. Lastly I had to go to Utah in early december so I went and visited with my friend Sarah and her little girl Brea (who I secretly wish I could steal) just kidding sarah. Well its time to start the New Years Diet except this year we are doing a biggest loser competition in my family so we shall see who wins. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we love and miss you all.

Christmas Is Coming!

Since its already december even though we haven't seen any snow here yet (which I am very bummed about) I decided to put up our christmas decorations. I hope its not a green christmas I hate that. But I wanted to post some pictures of our tree which is real and Ted helped decorate which is a big thing since he loves to "decorate". Ted did put up christmas lights outside our place but I didn't take any pictures sorry. As you can see kitty and roxy looked on as I decorated the house with all the lights and greenery. The other picture is of this really yummy salad I made from a magazine picture. I was so proud of it because I tried to make it look like it did in the magazine and it was all spinach no other lettuce and Ted actually ate it!!! and like IT. Do you know how hard it is to get him to eat different vegetables. Its worse than pulling teeth. So I had to take picture of the moment to remember it and realize I wasn't dreaming. We also went to my parents this weekend and I will have to post pictures of that later but I wanted to say how blessed Ted and I are right now in our life together. I love having 2 loving families that are growing so quickly but we love spending any chance we get with them. I love christmas time because it always makes me think of all the things I am grateful for in my life and above everything I love celebrating the birth of our savior and remember all he has done for me in my life. I love spending everyday with my best friend who I am so in love with and treats me so well and knows when to just give me a big bear hug. We just wanted to say to everyone how thankful we are for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf and how much you all mean to us.I hope everyone has a merry christmas and takes a moment to enjoy the birth of our savior.

Fall is here and Teds birthday

Well I can't believe it but my husband celebrated his 27th birthday today. All I can say is if he is 27 that means I'm getting older and I don't like it. Since his birthday was on a sunday this year we celebrated friday night with my parents who were visiting by going out to diner and we came home to cake and ice cream. Ted has been extremely busy with school lately and I am finally in my last week of orientation at the hospital. Ted was gone one night this week until 2 am at the library editing a paper so he can try and get on the school law review board. Its like a legal paper that students write and it looks really good to have on your resume so hopefully he gets it. In the midst of all his school and my work we have be making many visits to Lowes for renovating things around the house. We have almost finished the upstairs bathroom we painted the walls and cabinets instead of buying new cabinets and we are pleasantly surprised at how nice they turned out. Ted just has to lay the tile floor in both bathrooms for them to be finished. We still have many other projects to do around the house which is good to keep us busy. It was fun handing out candy to all the trick or treaters we got this year even though Roxy had to bark every time one came to the door. hope every day a happy Halloween.

Still Here

Well sorry everyone I know it has been forever since I last posted and this is going to be a boring post because there are no pictures but everyone has been telling me I need to update my blog. So here is the latest on us. Life had been busy. Ted is getting right into school and is busy reading reading and doing more reading. I guess this is what I have to look forward to for 3 years! Ted actually flew home last weekend to see his dad after he had bypass surgery which was a really big surprise to all of us because he is so healthy. His dad is recovering well and is making a fast recovery. Ofcourse while he was home he also was conviently able to attend the first BYU home game which was to hard for him to even talk about.

As for me while Ted was gone I went and babysitted for my sister all of her 5 kids for the weekend while her husband planned a surprise trip to NEw York for them. I even took all 5 kids the youngest 15 months up to 9 yrs to all 3 hours of church and did my best to keep them quite during sacrement. I must say it brought on an entire new understanding and appreciation for mother as I struggled to keep Jack the youngest quite and in the row and everyone else happy and not fighting. It was the longest hour of my life! I must say after the exhausting weekend I would rather go work a 12 hour shift and make money than stay at home with all the kids!!!!! It is not easier but I;m sure when its my own it will be different.

In other news I did get that job that I posted about the interview last time. I am a LD and Postpartum nurse. They do it all here. I started last week and have been doing tons of orientation classes and other things. Its very different and tons of different cultures here with language barriers that it can be very difficult. One thing I am excited for and very nervous is I assist here with c-sections which I love surgery but can be very stressful as well. I found out I am very lucky to have this job in this area because it is hard to get a job here as nurse let a lone a coveted area like LD. So I;m very grateful for that but as it is only part-time for now I may have to find a second job if I can't get enough hours. Well thats all from our neck of the woods hope everyone is well.

Still

We have arrived & cottage week 2009!

Tug of WAR. the kids were surprisingly strong

Me in one of the relays

ted
melanie
the kids loved it. they laughed the entire time
water balloon toss
this was roxy majority of the time. She loved diggin in the beach and she even went swimming.
the kids playing
zoie being zoie
my borther brads family. ever year we do one big group picture and then individual family ones.
me and zoie on the dock
here is our family photo. i wanted to put roxy in it bu Ted said no.
my sisterss family

this is roxy in the moving truck where she had a nice spot next to ted on a pillow. spoiled much
documenting ted driving our huge moving truck oh im glad that is over.

Yes Yes I promise we are still alive. I know its been forever since I last posted well I have been a little busy!! Ya know moving to a different country requires a lot of work. Along our cross country drive (with the help from teds parents we could have never done it without you guys. thanks a ton) we stopped at winter quaters temple and saw the historic site. It was so sad to see all the names of children that died there. It truly is a special place. Oh ya for those who haven't heard Ted and I are living in Windsor Canada because Ted is attending law school in Windsor and Detroit. He is getting a US and Canadian law degree in 3 years attending these two schools. He started school this week and is getting to know everyone in his program. As for me I had to leave my amazing job at AF (shout out to all my AF girls I miss ya tons!!) but I had an interview this week at the windsor hospital to be a LD, postpartum and NICU nurse!! Can you believe it they do it all there. All the nurses are crosstrained to be able to do every area. I'm a little nervous and intimated as the hospital is huge! The Womens floor covers an entire city block from end to end. So I am waiting for my liscence to come through and hopefully I will get a job. We are almost finished moving in but I havent taken any pictures yet so I will have to post some later (after the overhaul of painting that desperately needs to be done).

On to the vacation we had last week. So we went up to the cottage for the annunal Templeman cottage week minus a few Templemans and kids. Although it felt like they were all there. Two of my sister inlaws had their babies a week before our cottage week and so all their kids and them were not able to come, however there were still 8 adults and 11 kids. Above are some pictures I captured of the week. We went boating, wakeboarding, cliff jumping and grandma templeman provided a plethera of events for the family olympics (tug of war, balloon toss etc. I must tell everyone that Ted lost to all the grandkids in the tug of war, it was hilarious) We also had the annual biathalon which involves all the neighbours and templeman clan but because I was in it I didn't get any pictures, sorry. We miss all our family and friends in Utah but don't worry I promise we will visit a ton.