"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years"

Well 2012 has been no less insane than 2011. Lets see where to begin:

Oh right... we moved into our new house! I totally and completely love it. My favorite room? Our bedroom. We got all new beautiful furniture, and we finally have a big enough closet to hide keep all our clothes. It has become a total room of relaxation and sleep. The rest of our house is pretty awesome too. We finally have enough room for entertaining which is exciting.

Then, after being in our new house for 3 weeks, we decided to take the plunge and get a dog! We've wanted one for the last 4 1/2 years but just never had the space and plus we were renting. We started at the humane society and were thinking about adopting a huge dog named wally. he was adorable, a great puranese mixed with a poodle. The problem was that he had some issues; he was really nervous around new people and situations. And although has never biten before, when dogs are nervous you never really know what they'll do and he's so big he could really do some damage. After thinking about it for some time and feeling really guilty we decided wally probably wasn't the best fit for us since we like to have people over and go on random adventures. Then we found Rudy. A 4 month old labradoodle. We found him online and by friday we were driving 3 hours to lethbridge to pick him up. We lucked out he is a really good puppy. Really smart, adorable, and loves to cuddle. Since we work all day in Calgary, Rudy has to go in his kennel but we have someone come every day to let him out for a play and potty mid day. It has definitely been an adjustment having a dog, I mean we're pretty spotaneous and get up and go so we've had to adjust a little but we love him to pieces.

Then I got a promotion at work. There was a position that opened up and I didn't even think about applying for it since there was alot more senior people above me for the job. The job posting dropped off the system, and I knew some people at my work had applied for the job. Then a week later i was called into my boss' office and they offered me the job. I was in shock, but definitely flattered that they thought that much of me. I wasn't supposed to start the new job until March 5th and I was supposed to partner with the person who was already in the job. But, he up and quit last thursday. So i've been thrown into this job without any training and just winging it. Needless to say it's been pretty stressful. On the plus side I now have an office with a window! moving up in the world.
I am also going to be working part time for Murray's new business. He's just started up a spraying business and I will be doing all his paperwork for him. I'm excited for that too. Bring in a little extra cash, and help me diversify my resume from just banking.

On the training front, Ben is planning on doing the Sinister 7 (a 150 km run through the mountains) cause he is crazy, I on the other hand was planning on doing maybe a half ironman or marathon. But, I have decided that I need a break. My body really took a beating last year training for the Ironman, and I think I am just burnt out. I also need to get my hips/knees/feet/back in order. So I signed up for the 5 peaks race series which is 5 trail races throughout the summer from 10 k to the last one being a half marathon. I thought it would just be a fun way to stay active but not go to crazy. It has been kind of nice not training. Running without my watch to seeing if i'm on pace, relaxing if I just don't feel like going to the gym, ahhhh :). I'm also excited to do alot more camping/backpacking this year. We love it, but with training last year we didn't have any time. So Ben's race is the first weekend in July and then we'll be free to do what ever after.

We're also headed back to Ontario may! I have never met ben's father or his grandma (his only remaining grandparent) so I'm pretty excited to meet them. We're also excited to meet out little nephews Owen and Elliot. It will be a quick trip and we have alot of family to cram into the 5 days that we're there but it will be fun. I have made ben promise to take me to niagra falls since I have never seen it.

We're also planning a 10 day road trip for our aniversary in September. We have always wanted to drive down the oregon coast. And since a beach vacation isn't really in the budget this year, we're going to go exploring. We're hoping we make it all the way to California (and maybe I can convince ben to go to disney land :)). It's just going to be us, our car, and our tent for 10 days. It'll be fun. If you have any must see places along the way definitely let us know!

Ben and I keep laughing about how 1 year ago we never would have thought we would be at this moment. I mean we weren't even engaged yet! Like the quote above we like to cram a whole lot of living into our years.

Well that's all for now. I promise I will try and write at least once a week.

A normal weekend?

Time just seems to be slipping away from me. How is it already the middle of July! We moved a month ago and I have no idea where the time has gone.
Our training is coming along really well. We are up to 12 workouts a week and 15-18 hours a week of training. This is really the last push before 2 weeks of tapering before the race. Two weeks ago we maneged to get a 140 km bike ride in, that's only 40 kms short of the ironman distance! That definitely raised our confidence! I felt really good until the last 45 minute when my feet started to ache. My biking shoes did not have a good insole, but we have put some new, more supportive, insoles in and so far they seem to be helping. However, last weekend we took a major step back. Both of us were feeling really burnt out and tired. So we eased off on the training and just enjoyed ourselves and lived a "normal life". Saturday we went hiking with my sister and her boyfriend. We had alot of fun, my sister is so funny and I love hanging out with her! The weather didn't look promising, but the rain held off and it was actually nice that it was overcast since it didn't get to hot. We hiked up lady macdonald, but didn't make it all the way to the top since it got soo windy it was too dangerous , but it was the first mountain my sister had ever climbed!

That night, we met up with my sister and her boyfriend again and we had some pizza and beers then headed down to the stampede. We were planning on going to Nashville north but the lineup was UNBELIEVEABLE!... like seroiusly 4 hours.. and there were people waiting in line that long! wow! we just went to the beer gardens, drank for a while, met up with my brother and his friends then went to a bar on 17th ave. Since ben and I are old we wound up catching a cab at midnight and headed home... it was past our bedtime.

Sunday morning we decided to walk the hour downtown to get our car. It was a gorgeous morning, and we stopped at nellies for some brunch (mmmm our favorite breakfast spot). We picked up the car then headed out to cochrane to help my mom and murray with their fence building. Now, I worked construction for a summer so I know how to use my power tools! It was actually a lot of fun, I love building stuff! We got a good dent on the fence building and even planted a few trees.

We didn't get home until 8 pm that night, and we were tired. We pretty much just went straight to bed. Even though we didn't really train, we still had a jam packed weekend!

This week has been busy, despite not working. I've just been busy running errands, and trying to pick up the pieces of our wedding explosion of last week. It seems as though everything is coming together. But it is also very different then we had origionally had planned, but I think this is actually going to be better!

I am headed up to Goodsoil SK with on Friday with my family. We've been going there every year since I can remember. It is a beautiful lake in just a little town in northern saskatchewan. Ben can't come since it is a 7 hour drive and he only has the weekend off. But I'm headed up for some serious training, lounging on the beach, and camping! woot! I'll be coming home on tuesday with my little brother! Can't wait!