Raquel Jillian

I AM FREE!!!!!!

exams are done! i can't believe it! that was the longest two weeks of my life, and now, i can sit back, relax (sort of, there's a lot on my 'to do' list) and not open my books for a whole glorious week and a half. that feels nice! since i am pretty booked this week i started my baking spree yesterday. i made chocolate chip cookies, and today i am making a double recipe of ginger snaps and a frozen mocha cheesecake! i also decided i want to take on the task of baking break. we l-o-v-e Stella's fresh baked multi-grain bread, so i decided i am going to make my own bread! it can't be that hard can it? now all i need is a good multi-grain bread recipe, so if you have one let me know! i can't seem to find my carmera cord to upload pictures of the first cookie baking experience...so this will have to do. i never knew what all the hype was about with having a kitchen aid, but now that we have one, i suppenly understand!

darcyandraquelfriesen.blogspot.com by invite only!
raquelk_87@hotmail.com

that is the number of reasons I came up with why I have not blogged yet
1. We do not have a computer at home
2. I have not had any free time to do so yet
3. I have felt no ambition to blog again
4. certain people have me hooked on facebook, and I find it easier to upload pictures on

So I will post some pictures of our honeymoon here but the bulk of them are on facebook. So if you would like to be my friend on Facebook let me know and we can be friends.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for safe and non stressful flights, your prayers came true. Flying was so much fun! From Winnipeg to Toronto, Toronto to Punta Cana, Punta Cana to Toronto, and Finally Toronto back to Winnipeg and the most confusing time we had was Winnipeg airport. Don't ask how but it was. Toronto was no problem but small little Winnipeg airport gave us some troubles! Our luggage was everywhere it needed to be when we needed it (my biggest worry!) and everything else was spectacular! It rained on and off some days but it was a nice break from the scorching sun. By the 7th day we were ready to come home and see everyone again but to date Best Vacation Ever.

Bad news blogger doesn't let me post pictures so they will all be on facebook...Sorry!

Ahhh, Saturday is just a few sleeps away, and yes, for all those who want to know I AM EXCITED!!!!! I have not hit the sleepless nights yet (and hopefully I won’t) but I do always get to bed too late because there is so much packing to be done yet. I know that I can wait until we get back to pack up my room and stuff but I do need to clean it before Friday. It really isn’t that messy just a lot of laundry baskets, suitcases and Rubbermaid containers around.

Everything is coming together so nicely for the wedding. There haven’t been any “bridezilla” moments (as Am likes to call them!) yet…ok, ok, maybe once or twice but they were minor issues! Mom and dad went to pick up rentals today already and Darcy is almost done making our lamp stands. They look so amazing! I am so proud that we can have decorations at our wedding that he made. I will have to post pictures of them because they are nothing short of amazing! I am always in awe when I go to the shop with him and watch him work. It is so foreign to me how to work a welder, and all the other tools and machines they have there. I liked the lamps so much that he is making smaller ones for our house. I can’t wait.

Lisa, Amber, Jill, Kelsey and I are all going to get our nails done today! I have never had gel nails before but I am really looking forward to having long STRONG nails. My nails are never ever long. A little bit of white is all I can handle. I think it’s because my nails are so soft that they just bend and break when they are so long. And I hate when there is dirt under my nails. I also am going for a massage today! Which I am VERY excited for!!!

There are so many pictures that I need to post about what’s been going on the last few weeks but I just don’t have time now, so when I get back be ready for a MASSIVE post! Oh and if you think of us at all on the 22^nd or 29^th (when we will be flying) pray for us…I have never flown before and Darcy only has when he was a kid. We are stopping in Toronto for a few hours both ways and I’m a little stressed about everything seeing as we both have no clue where to go!!! I’m sure we will be fine; I am not so worried about us getting lost but that our luggage will. That is my biggest fear of flying.

Just to update a little about whats been going on this week...

Monday-I babysat Hailey during the day and then went to darcy's for supper. We packed up some things to take to the house before heading off to Am and Eriks to "babysit" while they had "bible study." Just as we were entering Riverside Erik texted to see if we would be there soon b/c they were going to be late for "bible study." As I texted back we passed all the hidden cars and I was too busy to notice. We walked into Am's and I was in the midst of saying "Sorry we're late Darcy takes forever........" and then I am overwhelmed with a ton of people and "SURPRISE!!!!" Yes that is correct...A surprise shower that I DID NOT see coming in the least. I was convinced that I would see it coming and that it would be Friday the 13th. But was I ever WRONG!!!! After the shower Misty, Lisa, Stef, and I headed to Lisa's to watch the Bachelor!!!
Tuesday-Darcy came over for supper and we packed up a lot of stuff to move to the house. We had our last meeting with pastor George before the wedding and then went to unpack at the house. Ty and Stef came to check out our new place and we then went home to watch The Office.
Wednesday-I went to Winnipeg with Am, Erik and Hailey in the afternoon and refrained from buying anything except for some cleaning supplies and detergent. I was quite proud of myself that I didn't spend any money on wants....ok minus timmies coffee; which I didn't even really want I just wanted to roll up the rim, but I lost. 1-12 now. I came home pack even more things to take to the house and left for Awana. Another surprise shower from my class, a beautiful toilet paper wedding dress AND accessories, deal or no deal: Awana edition, singing, and an Easter speaker later, I was back at the house unpacking more stuff. Darcy was already there bed and all! I told him he should move his big things like t.v. and stereo, and such so that he is more motivated to move out and this process would be over sooner...and he chose his bed! As of yesterday night he is sleeping on 2 sleeping bags and 2 blankets on the floor of his room!

Today I am going to winnipeg with mom to do some more wedding shopping (if she ever phones to say what time we are leaving) and Darcy is coming over for supper, we are gunna pack even more stuff (packing seems NEVER ENDING!!!!), watching survivor at 7.00 :) and then go unpack.

So these pictures are from our anniversary weekend...the post that goes with it is 03/21/07 (the post below)

Saturday I slept in and Darcy came over for a late lunch. I made cheese eggs and bagels, it was delish. After lunch we walked to the store to pick up some things for Sunday lunch. After realizing how beautiful it was outside we decided to get on our snow gear and go walking around our yard. (Pictures to come!) Amber and Hailey came over for supper and we then proceeded to do the same puzzle twice! Yes, that is right the same puzzle back to back. This may sound odd (and it is) but we have a favorite family puzzle. It is a zoo puzzle sort of...just a lot of different animals and we have gotten pretty good at it (except for those silly foxes!!) anyways we decided to time ourselves and see how fast we could do it. The first time took us around 32 minutes, the second 28. So we have recorded our times and plan to beat it sometime in the near future. Darcy and I then headed to his place where he worked on his baptism questions and I finished up some thank you cards. Let me tell you that is the worst part about weddings!!! I have written out countless thank you cards and am not done yet! Don't get me wrong I am very thankful for all the wonderful gifts we got...It's just a lot of thank you's to go around! Sunday was our 3 year anniversary!! After church Darcy and I went to his place for lunch. Lisa, his mom and dad were in Carmen for church since it was Kelli's last Sunday here. Darcy made a wonderful lunch (pictures to come), and then we went to Winnipeg for supper to our favorite restaurant; The Keg...mmmm Delish! We then headed out to Portage Place where we went to see Deep Sea 3D at IMAX. Ridiculous glasses and all! It was a lot of fun!!! (Pictures to come!!) And of course Timmies after which I am now 1 for 8 with Roll Up The Rim!!!

All the major events that have happened since I last blogged!!! Enjoy

For those of you (amber) who can't seem to stop pestering me...(amber) and leaving annonymous comments (amber) to update my blog can just be patient, and relax!!! I guess it was time to update though seeing as my last post was only scribbler. But I have nothing very new and exciting to blog about. Wedding stuff is going good, I am only a half frantic bride...the hardest part about wedding stuff is waiting...I know that it is only 45 days (yes I know under 50 days!!!) until April 21st but it is so frusterating to wait. I have had a pretty hard last week or so and hoping for things to look up. I have to keep reminding myself not to get stressed about all that needs to get done. I am trying to take everything one day at a time and not think about the 5 million things I need to get done before our wedding yet. The big thing now is invitations, they are getting worked on as we speak. I know that I should have gotten this done a long time ago so that it was finished and I wouldn't have to think about it anymore. But that is not the case with me, I tend to procrastinate and then stress out way more that I should. But it will all get done, everyone reassures me of that quite often.

On to more exciting news...I have had 3 showers already and we have gotten A LOT of stuff. It is very overwhelming that the huge mountain of gifts at every shower is just for you. I don't really enjoy being the center of attention so I was happy to have 2 of those showers with my soon to be sister in laws...but yesterday it was all by myself! I was very nervous for this shower, but it all turned out to be fine, there were a few people who watched me open gifts; and most of them were my closer friends, a lot of the other ladies would sit and talk and not have their attention on me....WHICH I LOVED!!!!! I am not sure how many showers there are left at the moment I know of 4 sneaky girls who are planning something but I have no clue what is in the works it makes me a little nervous! haha (not really) and then of course a Brandt Road shower, beacuse that is what our street does...showers and bbq's. :)

Last Friday Darcy and I headed to the City to meet up with Jared and Jill to see a movie and go out for coffee (I am currently 0-3 with roll up the rim). Darcy and I decided to head to Future Shop to do some camera shopping since we had 2 hours before we had to meet Jill and Jared. We thought we'd have enough time to look around, maybe purchase a camera and go for supper before we had to meet at 7. Well that is not quite how things turned out. Our browsing turning into buying and not only buying but a lengthy 1 1/2 explanation about our camera, added accessories we could buy, a four year service package we could invest in, and a lot of other non-related camera talk we both didn't want to hear. After our purchase, we got to the mall just in time to meet Jared and Jill and have a quick Sizzling Wok (mmmm sooo gooood!) and NYFries (mmmm also sooo goood!). I have been playing a lot with our new camera trying to figure out all it's functions...I am use to having few options on a camera and a tiny little screen that you can hardly see anthing out of so this is a big improvement! So here is our Canon PowerShot SD 700...

I came across this rather weird but some what funny game...try it out and let me know what you think! and what level Scribbler you are!!

Yesterday was Darcy's 21st birthday. Our plans for the day were church, lunch at his parents place, a quick stop at Super Store, skating at The Forks, we also walked around at The Forks for a while and bought some coconuts, supper at Earl’s, Timmies of course and to DQ to pick up some cakes. We came home and had dessert with Amber, Erik, Mom, Dad, and Hailey...and then opened a coconut...it was the best $1.79 we've ever spent! Happy Birthday Sweetie!

note for next time-dress warmer! we did have toques though don't worry!

Supper at Earls

Verdict-Coconut Milk--not so good, coconut--surprisingly, really good! Not Letting Darcy Spit out the Horrible Coconut Milk!

Backrubs!

An Early Valentines Day Gift, because I have Awana Wednesday Nights

This has got to be a blogging record for me! I am posting pictures less than a week of being back home! Enjoy!!!

Day 4

Monday, January 29^th was our first day of work. A brief run down of the day was:

• 6.00 wake up and get ready for our first day of work
• Pack lunches before 6.45 and put them in the coolers
• Breakfast at 7.00, morning devotions b Joanne Eidse
• Get list of what you are doing for the day, where you will be, with who you will work and of list of supplies you need to take along
• Drive to your site and get as much done as possible. The first day I worked with Joanne, Jake, and Dale (a long termer). I only knew Joanne from that group but itdidn’t take long to get to know everyone. We went to “dead eyes” (as his friends call him) place and painted his walls and stippled his ceiling. It was my first time doing a ceiling and it was a good learning experience. We jut on the second coat in his house and then called it a day.
• Be back at the Church some time after 5.00 but before 6.00
• Shower before supper (if you are lucky) or after
• Supper at 6.00 and give a report of what when on during the day
• After supper Erik and I headed off to the one couch that was there and wrote emails, talked on MSN, watched Hailey videos.
  

Day 5

Tuesday was a lot like Monday minus Jake the expert painter; he joined another team for the day so Jo, Dale, and I went back to Mr. Pete’s to finish the second coat around his house. He is such a sweet old man; the first day he didn’t seem to keen on us being there but he needed to adjust to another new group. But the second day he was totally different. It was neat to seem him come in and talk to us and check up on us and making sure everything was going ok. He always made a point to tell us that we were doing a good job and say how thankful he was for us helping him.

Day 6

The half way point of our trip. Jake, Jo and I got the privilege of going to Joe Buras’ house. He was the highlight of my time here. What an amazing man. I must say I have never met anyone like him. He has such an astonishing outlook on life and has an amazing attitude. Him and his wife spent 2+ years building there house and have lived in it less than 4 years before Katrina hit. As they evacuated one of their daughters ran though the house taking pictures of before the storm. They were some of the first people back and they took after picture; words do not even begin to describe the after photos. It was absolutely sick. I can’t ever imagine going through something like that. The people down there are phenomenal. There house was in bad shape, the structure and foundation were still in tact but it needed a lot of work. Joe, his 15 year old and 9 year old sons gutted there house and cleaned up there yard. When they thought all was lost they made the tough decision to board up there home and come back next winter and take it from there. They were at an all time low and couldn’t take the hash words of people telling them, “Well at least you have a roof.” They felt bad for what they had and couldn’t stand the comments. Minutes before they were going to close the doors for a year they got a call. MDS was going to come in and help repair there once new home, make it livable again and into a home again. We painted the first coat on the house on day 6. Later in the evening Erik and I did our evening routine and went on the computer check to see if Amber and Darcy emailed and watched videos of Hailey.

Day 7

Back to Mr. Joes place we went to paint our second coat and much more than that get to know Mr. Joe and his family better. I can’t say enough how awesome I think this guy is. He can talk and talk and talk some more! It was awesome! All day we painted, he sat and talked, we painted some more and he talked some more. He shared all his stories with us and I loved every minute. He talked about how Katrina was a huge blessing to him and his family. When he told people from his church that when his pastor asked him what he thought of the hurricane, they thought he was nuts. He explained that God gave him that house the first time and if He wanted him to have his house back he would get it. He got to meet amazing people through MDS and it was an amazing way for people to come to God and rely on Him. So for him this was nothing but a blessing. After our painting we got to take all the paper of the floors, revealing the tiled floor throughout the house. It was so awesome to finish painting and clean up and begin to see it looking like a real home again. There 9 year old son Adrian, has always shared a room with his older brother, he has never had his own room. The day they packed up and left before Katrina hit Adrian started to move into his own room, he moved in his t.v. bike and some belongs while everyone else was running around packing up as much as they could before leaving there home. We got to paint Adrian’s room for him. The brightest colour of sky blue you can imagine. He got to pick the colour of his very first room all to himself; and sky blue was his colour of choice. To see the look on his face and how incredibly happy he was, was the best feeling in the world. To bring joy to so many hurting people was unbelievable. There are so many other stories I could tell about Mr. Joe but those are tales for another time.

Day 8

It was only a halfer for work. Olivia, Erik, Orv and I boated out to the Bayou and finished priming and working on a shed they had built early in the week. We finished at around 11 and headed to Miss. Ruby’s to see what everyone else was up to and to drop off some tools further down the Bayou. Miss. Ruby then took a few of us on a tour of the Bayou, pointing out her old school, the cemetery, the churches and her friends’ houses. It was a neat experience to see her community and have her show was around. She is an amazing boat driver and even pulled out a few doughnuts for us. We got back to church, packed, cleaned and started our journey home at around 1.30. We stopped for supper at Wendy’s in Grenada, Mississippi. Let me tell you there bathrooms are less than ideal, much less. Olivia and I went to the bathroom together as girls do; we walked in and burst out laughing…one would usually find stalls in a girl’s restroom but not this Wendy’s! Two toilettes were what were in the room, no stalls or anything. After we composed ourselves we decided to take turns, no stalls were really more of a guy’s kind of thing. Seeing as the door didn’t lock we stood guard for each other and then proceeded to tell the guys our humorous story. We loaded back into the van and are continuing our 28 hour drive back to Manitoba. Cheers!

Day 9

More driving and we arrived back home at 4.30

Pictres to come

Day 1

We achieved our goal; wheels were turning before 6.00 am Friday morning. Driving went well today except for the fact that we lost one of the three vans due to slow border crossing. Things seem to be looking up though we found the third van at the KFC Buffet and we are almost ready to get back on our way. It has been really fun so far, even though we are just driving. There have been a lot of laughs so far and I predict there will be a few more! We stopped for supper at around 9.30 and then booked into a hotel. Fifteen and a half hours of driving and we made it to the half way point; Columbia. That was our goal for day one. After a dreamy shower Olivia, Dana and I snuggled into bed (not all in the same shower, or bed of course) and were all fast asleep in no time. It was short but sweet. The beds were so comfy, but I don’t think it would have mattered if they were hard, I was so tired and sick of being in a van I could have slept anywhere as long as it wasn’t in a vehicle or sitting.

Enter day two

Our plans were to leave at 6.30 am Saturday morning but plans changed when Kerry phoned at 5.15 am saying that we should get ahead of the storm that was coming. 5.30 we got the dreaded call to wake up, pack, and head downstairs to start on the second half of our journey. Our early start wasn’t so bad, you definitely get used to waking up early, which I am glad for seeing as that is how this whole week will be. It is not 11.31 and we are about 300 miles from New Orleans. After our Krispy Kreme (mmm Krispy Kreme), and coffee breakfast we headed back on the road. I am surprisingly not sick of drivin yet but I’m sure it will get there yet. That is all for now I will continue to update later.

4.18 Saturday Afternoon. Driving continues to go well. There have been some minor tensions between a few team member but they have mostly subsided. As long as we don’t stop to eat at Mc Donald’s things should be fine : ). Erik and I have been passing our time by watching Simpson’s seasons, although I only brought along two disks from season six so we are done all the episodes already. Text Twist has also passed a lot of time for us. EandR now hold the record with 65000+ points. In a distant second is a mere 30000+. Needless to say, we rock. No Big Deal.

It has been raining on and off since we stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch in Granada MS. We have now hit Jackson MS, and there is an end* of traveling in sight.

We arrived in Diamond at around 8.30. We grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant and then headed back to our camp. Sleep was much needed by all and I got the luxury of sleeping in until 8.

Day 3

We left for New Orleans at around 8:45, had breakfast, and then went touring. Lot’s of walking, food, and site seeing later we arrived back at camp. That is all for now. I may stay in touch. No promises.

*END MAY MEAN A FEW HOURS YET.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted, so I will try to catch you up on the happenings of my life. On Saturday Mom, Amber, Auntie Martha and went to the Wonderful Wedding Show in Winnipeg. It was so huge and there were tonnes of booth's to look at. One of our very first stops was Rygiel Photography. Amber then went on ranting and raving about their photography as she was at a wedding they did. We looked at their pictures and were very impressed. They had a pretty good package and are VERY unique. Feeling a little pressured I phoned Darcy and we decided that it was a go. They would spend all day with us and that means we only had one photographer as opposed to two like we thought we'd have to get. After walking through the whole show we were famished. After a lunch at Applebees and of course a stop at Timmies we were on our way home. I then headed to Darcy's and we met the College and Career-ers and went curling in Sperling. Jill posted pictures of our great curling skills...we held the team together!!!

Sunday consisted of Church, eats, sleeps, and going to Winnipeg to bowl and go out for a late supper, with Lisa, Tyler, Dicker, Justin, Carly, Mike & Misty, Kelly, Kelli and one of Kelli's friends. It was Kelli's birthday on Friday so we all got together and celebrated on Sunday. It was so much fun. I always have fun bolwing but I am not very good at it. Well this time was a little different! Dicker, Tyler and I both shared early on that we were all less than average bowlers. But did we ever shock people. The first game I ended up second with 136 points. ( I think that was my personal best! But I don't keep close track on my bowling scores!) The second game didn't fair so well for me. Tyler on the other hand finished with an astonishing 210; beating Dicker and winning him a free appitizer. Thus ends Sunday.

Monday consisted of getting up far to early to go line up for 2 hours 23 minutes and 25 seconds to finish our passports. We had gone 3 days before to try and finish but to our dismay we were thirteen numbers away when they closed and were told to come back another day. 26 grumbly people then filed into the elevator, all complaining about how much work they had to take off in order to do there passports, and how close they came. Four numbers away, that was as close as it would come for a lady who had already been waiting for over two hours that day. Monday did go well for us though. After our successful passport finishing, we headed to Selkirk Ave. to rent tux's for the wedding. We were pleasantly surprised at the luck we had. A very friendly woman helping us and exactly what we had in mind for tux's. Sugar Mountain came next dispite our growling stomachs. After our purcahses we entered for a chance to win a nintendo Wii and won a $10 gift certificate to SM (the next best prize to the Wii...Score!) Taco Bell/ KFC was too contriversial for us. People yelling and non of the tills working sent two famished people to Mc.D's. When we got back I finished my errands and in the evening Amber hosted an Epicure party.

Wednesday Mom and I went to Winnipeg and did some wedding shopping. We got a lot accomplished and then our last stop was to Stellas. Yes, it is true as of now my wedding dress is sitting at home waiting to be worn on April 21st. I tried it on again before we took it home and I did not want to take it off! I still love it as much as I did the first time I feel in love with it, maybe even more. I can't wait to wear it and I'm sure I will try it on a few times before teh 21st yet!

Tomorrow I will head off to MDS with a bunch of people from our church and go work in Diamond, LA.; Close to New Orleans. I am getting more and more excited to go. I know that I will miss Darcy crazy much but I'm sure I can make it through. 10 days is the longest we have ever been apart since we have been dating. It will be hard but I know that I am going to have an awesome experience and this is something I have never done before. Please remember to pray for our group of 16 going down to help out.

That is my update on wedding and life in general. Anonymous commenters (amber I'd assume) cannot but me for not posting for the next few days. I will maybe try to post if I feel like it when we get to Diamond but that is not a promise. To everyone who is staying here, hope you all have a good week!

Blogging has become non existent for me these days. With the busyness of Christmas in the last month I have found no time to sit down and blog. Christmas was awesome. I love spending time with family and catching up with old friends. Now that it’s over I can’t believe how fast it went by. We got a bunch of stuff for our one day home. New Years was spent with most of my family at the cabin. The weather was so beautiful (minus the drive up in the snow storm!) and we spent a lot of our time outside playing in the snow. I love playing in the snow, although no one ever wants to join me, so very little time is spent playing in the snow every winter. I think I enjoy it so much because I have such good childhood memories of winter. Like dad taking Tyler and I to the outdoor rink in town to play hockey, or building jumps on the dyke to go sledding, and my favorite, Tyler and I walking by the row of trees on Brandt Road climbing over the huge hills, digging caves and pretending we were on all sorts of adventures. I can’t wait till Hailey is old enough to really appreciate winter with me.

Wedding planning is back in full swing now. January 1st as soon as we stepped into the house (getting home from the cabin) mom phoned Levi, Judy and Lisa to come over and discuss wedding plans. We have gotten so much done in the past week and a half I am not stressed in the least about pulling everything together by the time April 21st rolls around. Tuesday Amber, Mom, Hailey and I all went to get our hair done, and then stopped by A Touch of Glass in Niverville to rent napkins and see what other ideas they had for our wedding. Well let me tell you we were all less than impressed. They had quite a few nice things to rent, good ideas for center pieces and all but we did not feel very welcomed there. After our meeting, we grabbed a bight to eat and headed back home. Amber and I have now found a new place to rent wedding decorations and they are almost the same price as A Touch of Glass. Plus they have more selection. Mom and I are going to check it out one day this week yet, so I am praying everything goes well. I am hoping to have all the big things planned (rentals, photographer, bridesmaids’ dresses…) by the time I leave for MDS on the 26th. Yes, I know that it is 11 days away, but if I put my mind to it, and have a little help from Amber, mom, and maybe a few others things will work out. My only dilemma is that I have no clue where to go for tux rentals. There used to be a place on St. Mary’s, Select Formal Wear but it is no longer there. I phoned there old number but it said that it is no longer in service. So that makes me assume that they went out of business. But I will check into it a bit more. I know that there is Moore’s but I have heard nothing but bad news from there, and for some reason I have never liked Moore’s. If anyone was any ideas where there are places to rent tux’s please let me know as that is one of the things I would like to finish before going on MDS. And that concludes my “haven’t blogged in a long time” post.

Tusday after work I headed home, got ready and went to meet the girls at cred. Kelsey, Melissa, Chelsea, Trish, Kristen and I then left for Winnipeg where good food, a great movies and many laughs were shared. Us seven girls (Mal makes it #7) get together after Awana on Wednesday nights and watch ANTM or just sit around and chat. Seeing as Awana is taking a Christmas break we decided to have our christmas party instead of an after Awana get together. And let me tell you I am sure glad we did! 6 girls in Chels' car makes for some good times. We caught up on each others lives and of course talked about the latest reality show finale. We all agreed Ozzy should have won; he was just so cute, and could do EVERYTHING!! The movie was fabulous to say the least. And going on a Tuesday was a good call by us...even though we had no clue at the time. Trish and Chels were impatient standing in the long ticket line so they opted for the express lane. They came rushing back to us and said in excitment "GUYS, YOU SHOULD GO TO THE EXPRESS LANE....I THINK WE JUST GOT FREE POPCORN!!!" We were so close to the front of the line though, so we just stayed. After we got our tickets we realized that we got a free popcorn AND drink. (so did trish and chels, they just didn't realize it right away.) We were all super happy, movie popcorn IS the best. and we had just been talking about how hungey we all were. Then we realized the HEEEEUGE sign right beside us that said "TUESDAY: free popcorn and drink night."...on to the movie...I would really recommend going to The Holiday. It was soooo good! Funny and cute and looong, but good long, not the WHEN IS THIS MOVIE GUNNA END long! After the movie we met up with Mal who had a hockey game that evening so she couldnt join us for the movie. Montanas was our choice restaurant seeing as it was so close to the theatre. More laughs were shared and delicious appitizers were had. All in all a great evening.

To all those who still read my blog I will take you through my weekend. Friday we headed to the city with Jill, Jared, Chad, and Kels, for an evening of food, movies and a bit of laughter. Not wanting to wait for an hour and a half at Earls at the mall, we went back to Pembina and we were pleasantly surprised at our 10 minute wait. After scarfing down our burgers, wraps, steaks and of course chicken fingers (w/o dipping sauce) and realizing it was already 8:50 we drove around looking for a good movie. We did NOT find one. We saw one but it was not the laugh out loud comedy so many of us were wanting to see. Saturday I woke up with the pleasant surprise of Kelsey asking if I wanted to come with her and Jill to the cafe for waffles; and who can resist waffles with white sauce and strawberry juice. Mom, dad, and I then braved the malls to try and finish our Christmas shopping...it did not go so well. We got home at around 6.30 just in time to see Hailey and Am a bit before they went to Eriks hockey game, and we were off to Justins. We got an awesome homemade calender from Lisa and Kelli, and tims coffee and 2 mugs from Kelly. Catch Phrase once again made an appearance, and it proved to be as entertaining as always. Sunday = Church. Lunch was shared with the Friesen and Enns families and Mike and Misty's wedding planning was on the agenda for the afternoon, along with AFV and racing cars down the stairs with Ashton. Pizza Hut was a delightful surprise back at our place with my family who I have missed a lot in the last while (it seems like we havent hung out as a family in a long time!!) Raw vs Smackdown was played and I was defeted both times but it was fun none the less. More AFV was watched, then I drifted off to sleep with the sweet sound of silence around me.

This past weekend I was reminded again of just how very blessed I really am. Spending time with family and friends is what my weekend consisted of; nothing out of the norm.
Friday: helping serve at a banquet and then getting together with my soon to be new family to make popcorn decorations for the tree (which we had all never done before and it was a blast! minus the sore fingers from poking yourself with the needle...) After all that hard work we headed out to get desert from the cafe which we had forgotten earlier, but then realized our cravings were screaming cheeseburger from mc.d's. Which is rather odd seeing as I don't crave Mc.d's anymore and hadn't eaten there in 5 monthes, but Lisa, Darcy and I braved the cold and went for a late night micky d's run.
Saturday: after sleeping in due to the late night Mc.d's run, Darcy came over for some cheese eggs, mario kart and lazing around on a Saturday afternoon. College and Career then headed out to Steinbach to watch Robin Hood at SBC, and then good old Smitty's after.
Sunday: Getting up at 8:45 and being ready by 9:45 to trek out to Carmen to join Misty, Mike and the gang for church. Two and a half hours, a burger and delicious poutine fries later we were back at Misty's playing a rousing game of Dutch Blitz (Which Darcy and I won :) ) and then later Wizard. After watching the Riders lose, seeing a very frusterated Kelli and trying to work the juke box we realized our hunger. Pizza was ordered and eaten and even more games were played at Kelli's. Catch Phrase is now on my Christmas list, because it just may be the best game ever. As, 7.45 rolled around Darcy and I realize it is time to say goodbye and head back to Rosenort for our weekly Amazing Race get togethers. Jill, Jared, Chad, and Kels were awaiting us so we could watch to see who gets the boot this week. To our dismay the last clue read "keep racing" and it will be continued on the coming Sunday. Tribond was broke out again and the cards are very repetative by now (which makes for a little bit of fighting between the girls team and the guys team :) ) but it is fun non-the-less. Christmas and new years '06 plans were in the works and excitment was in the air until we realized the time and the reality hit us that it was soon Monday, and another week of work/school was just about to begin. It didn't seem to phase me that Monday was just around the corner because my weekend was amazing, even though it was a pretty normal weekend. I grew a new appreciation for my friends; I love my friends. I always knew they were amazing but this weekend for some reason it just hit me. Darcy and I are so lucky to have two groups of very different but both truly awesome friends. We are extremely blessed.

Pretty, but not the one for me!

This one was WAY up there in the runnings...

Hailey was so patient all day. No naps and not ever a cranky baby! I can't wait to see her in her little flower girl dress. She will be so cute!!!

My absolute most favorite dress. I loved this dress the most out of all the ones I tried, but it didn't look nearly as pretty in white...so it got the boot

Little Princess

Wednesday November 1st was the official start to wedding planning. Amber, mom, Judy (darcys mom), Lisa (darcys sister), and I headed to winnipeg to go dress shopping. After our overly long lunch at Applebees we trecked off to 7th Avenue, where I found two dresses I really liked. I had no idea what kind of dress I was looking for so we got a whole shwack of different ones. After trying on a few I found certain things I really liked and certain things I didn't about the dresses. After travelling down Corydon a few times and realizing Stellas had moved to Portage we continued our journy to 516 Portage Ave. and were greeted with a warm welcome. The service there was amazing. I had the most helpful sales person, Alanna. We stayed til past closing trying on all sorts of new dresses and some sorta crazy ones. I found three more dresses that I absolutely loved, and now am in the pickle of deciding between five. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Taco Bell /KFC and headed home. Just in time for me to run inside throw on my Awana uniform and head out the door.

Amber, myself and Lisa self portrait-ing
More waiting for me...(who took this picture Am?)














Well, I can't seem to upload any more pictures, so I will try to get the poofy dresses on here yet...so the title of this post really doesn't make a lot of sense!!!

I know I don't post on my blog very often, but I have a pretty blog-worthy event to share. And you probably have guessed what it is because of the title of my post. Hee heee heeee.

Today after work, I went home to change and get ready to go to Winnipeg and Darcy was already there waiting for me. We went to Winnipeg to try to get some Christmas shopping done and I tried to find pants. We ate supper in the food court - I had to beg Darcy to eat there...he wanted to go to the Keg, but I insisted I wanted to eat in the food court. He kept asking me if I was SURE I didn't want to go to the Keg, but I said "It's not like this is a special date or anything, we are just shopping, let's just go eat at the food court."

After we scarfed down our Sizzling Wok, Taco Time and Booster juices we went to Canadian Tire and then to Tim Hortons like we always do. As we were waiting in line I said that I wasn't sure if I wanted anything (which NEVER happens!) I just wasn't feeling it. Darcy then said I should really get a coffee - I'd regret it if I didn't. So, I ordered the usual large 2 cream 1 sugar and he got an Ice Cap with cream. On the way home I spilled my coffee all over my hand and on my pants and it was really hot.

After we go out, it's just default that we go to my house but this time Darcy asked "Do you want to go to my house or yours?" I said I didn't care and he said "Well, let's go to my house" and that is when I got a little suspicious.

When we go his house he asked if I wanted to go out and look at the stars. I replied "It's cloudy!" (apparently I didn't make anything easy for his this evening!) and he said "No it's not!" So we went out with the sleeping bags and went out to the field and lay in the back of his truck and looked at the stars. After 15 minutes we started to get really cold so I stood up and was about to jump off the back of the truck but I looked at Darcy first and he said "Hold on, don't leave yet!"

Then I knew what was up.

He pulled out a little blue box and asked me to marry him. I stood there and was quiet for a little bit and then said "Oh! This is weird!! Of course I'll marry you! Oh this is weird, no no no, a good weird, but this is weird!!" We hugged & kissed and then got back in the truck and I started asking a million questions about what we should do next, who we should call and details about when he got the ring, how long he had had it etc.

We went back to his house and right away when we opened the door his dad was just standing there. I was cheezing the biggest cheeze ever and I just kept walking to Darcy's room because I wanted Darcy to be the one to tell him! Darcy came inside and asked where his mom was and then she was in the bathroom soaking her feet. So we were standing in Darcy's doorway to his room and his dad was standing by the stairs - he knew something was up. I wanted to go tell Lisa, but Darcy figured we should wait until his mom knew. Finally his mom came down, all smiles, and said "Is it what I think it is?" We both just smiled and then I showed her the ring. I went to tell Lisa and then I called my mom & dad to come over to Darcy's parents house. Then we did a lot phoning around, spreading the news, and now it is 1:05am and we are at Am & Erik's and I have to coach v-ball tomorrow at 8am.

We are deliriously happy and planning our wedding for Saturday April 21st, 2007.

I don't know how many people still read my blog, but I'm going to try to become a better blogger from now on :)

Seeing as Amber has been in Toronto since Saturday I thought that it was my sisterly duty to post some new pictures of H. She has been doing so good these past few days, yesterday mom and I went to the city with her and she was so good all day. She has also said some new words, well at least words that mom and I have not heard her say before such as "toast", and "No" (Auntie M I think it was you that said on Am's blog you can't wait til H starts saying "no" well, it started!) So Am, heres an up date...

Taking a bath after many hours spent outside at gramma (riding the tractor with papa of course)

Hailey's new favorite spot to hang out

Hailey's new Crazzy face

The time has come to update on some up coming events that I am really excited for....
1) This Sunday May 28th I am getting Baptized
2) June 2nd, 3rd, and 4th is grad weekend...being spent at Pinawa WOO HOO!!!!
3) June 9th, 10th and 11th are going to be spent raod tripping to Minnesota!!!! Also a WOO HOO...Chad, Kels, Jill, Jared, Darcy, and I along with about 10 others are going Minnesota for a wake boarding competition...and of course SHOPPING
4) Grad is quickly approaching....June 23
5) I am spening four weekends in July camping (with college and career, with Am, Erik and H, with Darcy's, Jill's, Kev's, and Kelsey's families, and lastly with my family!!)

I stopped by Am's house for a little afternoon visit after school. (Ok, actually I skipped class to go there....shhh, don't tell). Hailz was napping (which was a bummer, because that is the only reason I stop by....shhh, don't tell) so Am & I were talking in the living room. She ran downstairs to answer the business phone and a few minutes later I hear a little feeble voice yelling upstairs "Raquel......do you kill spiders?" Why yes, yes I do. So, I ran downstairs to help her out and as I stepped on the basement floor Am said "Don't step there......." but it was too late. Poor spidey got squashed beneath my bare foot. It was funny. It was a huge spider. Now I am going to wash the filth off my foot.

Seeing as it is spring break I finally have time to sit down at the computer and do a much needed up date to my blog. As school is drawing to an end I realized I should try to figure out what I want to do with my life after grade 12. I came to the conclusion that bible school was the answer. Now that I have that figured out, I need to choose a school. I thought I came to the conclusion of going to SBC, it had a lot of pros to it, it's close to home so I won't miss Hailey, Darcy and the rest of my family too much, I would know a bunch of people going there so I wouldn't be all alone, I've heard a lot of good about the profs there, and it is close to Tim Hortons. This past Wednesday to Thursday a few of my friends and I went to SBC's Discovery Days. It went all right, but I came home a little dissapointed. The people were really nice and we stayed with a really cool girl in dorm, the profs were for the most part good, but I didn't feel like it was the right place for me. The school was too small for me, you think that I'd be used to it coming from Rosenort but I was hoping for a little bit more than SBC has to offer. Maybe I am just being too picky. So when I got home I checked out the Prov site as well as Briercrest. I am getting information on both places and friday I am going to a concert at Prov with some friends to check it out. I secretly want to go to Briercrest and a lot of people have told me to go, but I don't know how I can leave Darcy, Hailey, and the rest of my family behind. I would miss them all so much. Even though I only plan to go for 1 semester it would be hard to leave them. And then there is also the fear that I would love it too much and want to go back for the second semester, or 2nd, 3rd or 4th year. Or maybe I shouldn't go to bible school this year, I could work, or go to Red River, or UofM. Hmmmmm.....so many choices in life...I wish someone could make them for me!!! Well anyways....Maybe one day I will figure things out. So in the mean time if you have comments, questions or suggestions I would really appreciate your input!!!

You might be wondering why this picture is in here, seeing as it isn't that great. But tuesday we had our grad pictures. Everyone was telling me their horror stories of how their hair and makeup didn;t turn out, and how the photographers were terrible and it was awkword and an all arounf bad experience. Well I had the EXACT opposite experience. In the morning Trish straighten my hair (I loved it so much I have to go out and buy a straightener now!!!) and then I was off to Morris and my wonderful cousin Brandi did my makeup. I wasn't really nervous for that because she has done my makeup before and I really liked it, but I was still just a little tense thinking "maybe it won't work this time." Which is crazy. like when Am dyes my hair every 5 minutes I ask if it's going ok...Anyways, I loved my hair and makeup and now I only had the pictures to worry about. I got in there, suited up, sat in the chair, and had the most fun taking pictures ever!!! I don't know why it was so great but it was really a lot of fun. I got to see the first picture that they took so I could readjust my hair and smile and such. But I really liked my first picture which surprised me because I was nervous. So the picture is just a glimps of my end of the picture day makeup....

So I am a day late but better late than never....

Hailey playing with all the lids...

Thats a nice do shes got going on!!

Sleeping like a yittle baby.....finally.... : )

Darcy and Hailey lounging and watching the Olympics

(I don't know how relaxing the cabin is when you already phoned home twice)