...what we've been up to...

Let's see.. what have I been doing the last few weeks....

We went camping with my brother, Darren and his girlfriend, the beautiful Auria. We loaded up our SUV with all the gear needed for 6 people and 1 dog and drove for 2 hours up a mountain only to find out that our favorite campground was completely packed. There must have been some graduation parties or something, because I have never seen so many people camping there. I am not lying when I say, there were about 4 or 5 vehicles PER campsite with people camping on the beach. It was absolutely crazy and definitely not the right atmosphere for young kids. We thought we would have to forget about camping and drive all the way home. But...we decided to drive down some side roads and found this absolutely charming, secluded spot, under a bridge on a little stream. We had it all to ourselves.



We set up camp. This was the first time the kids had their own tent...which meant....Frank and I had our own tent. It was great, our dog, Tuck, stayed with them and I felt comfortable with the setup.



We had a pretty sweet campsite.

And check out our river. The only problem with the river was that as it was our first set of really warm days this season, the river began to rise...and I was just in a flood in WV, so I was a little nervous. But it was fine. It was a really pretty river and the sound of rushing water blocked out the sounds of partying from the nearby campsite.



Darren tried his hand at fishing, and he caught this tiny little thing about 10 minutes into it, so he let it go....the only thing was...he never caught anything else, the rest of the weekend. Should have kept that fish, I guess.



So...the only drawback to our campsite...no outhouses...but Auria and I took care of it. We started digging, and then I found this handy chair frame, and this is what we rigged up....



It worked fabulously. And Auria and I got out of dishes by simply pointing out the fact that we built the bathroom. He he he.

I can't wait for the next camping trip.

Frank and I have started working on our backyard....well...to be honest, its mostly been Frank. I have never claimed to enjoy gardening and I think both of us have decided that yardwork is not our forte. There is just so much work to do....it is quite daunting...



And this is Tuck. He is just so darn cute. He was in the process of shaking, but he looks like he is grinning here. What an awesome dog.



What else? Aislinn has been busy with school science projects...this year is "Which molds faster? Bread, cheese or strawberries." She has also been busy with basketball. Aislinn and Mackendra just finished swimming lessons and they are looking forward to the end of school and the beginning of summer up in Prince George with Pau pau and Grandpa.

I did go with Mackendra to "Maplewood Farms" for a school trip yesterday. Remind me not to volunteer for those things again. It was hot, it was kinda boring, and there were way too many kids. But the kids were cute.



Almost as cute as the goats. And they smelled marginally better.


Well...that's about it for now.

Love Tanya

Presenting...in her first biking appearance....MACKENDRA!!!!

This is my youngest brat. I took her biking without training wheels at the track the other day and spent about half an hour trying to run behind her and not fall over. I almost died of exhaustion. So, today, Frank took her out back on the lane behind our house, and ten minutes later, he was yelling at me to come and watch.

So, is Frank that much better at teaching kids how to ride bikes or did I give Mackendra such a good base that once she got it, she got it? Or, is it that she is an awesome kid? I pick the last option.

He he he...she was so proud of herself.

Love Tanya

..some pics of graduation...

Hello Friends and Family,

People have been asking, so I will deliver...

The lighting in the gym was pretty dark so all the pictures from the actual ceremony need some work with Photoshop. But here is a smattering of pictures from after graduation.

The girls were so proud of their Mom!

Daryl (fellow graduate), Mackendra (small one), Me, Devon and Mary Sue (awesome friends). Psst...nice t-shirt Devon.

I think I had some of the best friends. Several of them left school, then drove backto watch me walk. Others had to stay to play in the band and sing in the choir at the convocation, but assured me that they would have come anyways. And others had their knee scoped the day before and hobbled to the gym to celebrate with me. This is Sara(h) (and omg! I don't know if her name has a "h" at the end of it or not!!! Sorry!)


Two of my awesome professors...Dr. Lisa Castle and Dr. Sara Sawyer (I know this Sara doesn't have an "h" in her first name).

By the way...I wore that hat for as long as I could...through lunch, through packing up, through the sad goodbyes to my friends, and through about 1/2 and hour of driving, but then I had to take it off because the corner of it kept hitting the back of the car seat and it was getting annoying. I figured that I had waited long enough and sacrificed so much and worked so hard for that hat that I was going to wear it for as long as a darn well wanted!


Final goodbyes.... Lindsey, Devon, Me, Johanna, Mary Sue, and Alli. Thank you for being there. I miss all of you (sorry....y'all).


Even these guys...these guys are Matt and Josh and I met them about 2 weeks before graduation, and I am very sorry that I didn't meet them sooner. We became fast friends and they also came to see me walk...at least that is what they told me...and I chose to believe them. Hi guys!

You know what I just noticed? My eyes look shut in all these pictures....that happens when I smile really hard. And I was smiling...really hard. It was a good day.

Oh yeah...I received my degree in the mail today. This was a good day too. I showed Aislinn and told her that this was a very expensive piece of paper. But that it was a very important paper and almost worth every penny. I'm on the lookout for a good frame now.

Well...talk to you later.

...a tidbit...

Just a little nibble...more to come later.

...best day in Glenville...ever!

So, I just needed to do a post about the funniest day I have ever had in Glenville. This is going to be one in a series of "the last days in Glenville" I have planned. I have a few things to write about, so bear with me....

This happened during finals week. I had just written my Statistics final that day, had no exam the next day and so was feeling pretty relaxed. In actuality, I was pretty relaxed during the entire exam procedure. I knew I had passed my orals and that I had A's in all my classes before going into the finals, so I knew I would pass everything. As Dr. Morris (Genetics Prof) put it...the only thing keeping me motivated was the desire to maintain my A's, and that desire was not that strong. I just wanted to graduate, an A or a B would have been fine. I definitely had a case of "Senior-itis". So I was up for some fun and games. Well...Glenville had a plan for me....

It flooded. And it was the best thing that had happened to me in Glenville. My posse and I suited up...


Yah, we're bad.

It was totally funny, everyone that saw us wanted to be in our gang. One guy asked us how he could become a gang member...I said...first he needed a bandana....that was the most important part...then he needed to kill 3 people. The second part was optional. So...Mary Sue, the one in the red bandana, hasn't figured out the "bad-ass" look yet. We'll have to work on that. And I think she is signalling the peace sign. Oh Mary Sue...

Anyways, after we were outfitted, we headed down the hill and took in the sites. Basically we ran around, tried to keep Devon out of the "tetnus-y" water (we failed miserably) and took lots of pictures. It was really weird how much fun we had.




The water was amazing! Where did it come from? Well...I know where it came from, but it seemed to show up suddenly and we were shocked at how high it was. By the way...non-WV friends...yah...it's chocolate milk color all the time.

Here are some more pictures from the flood. Streets were obliterated, and houses were islands unto themselves.


The river was so high...


It is usually about 25 feet lower than it is in this picture...really!!!!

And then we came upon this...



I don't know what to say about that...

This guy was shooting a floating box outside his window, his building was flooded. We asked him if he killed it...he answered, quite confusedly I might add..."its a box". To which we said. "we know...is it dead?" To which he said, "I guess so." I don't think he understood why we thought he was so weird. It might be a WV thing. I don't know. It was just funny.

The best part of all was this car.



After running around for about 1.5 hours we headed back up the hill for "late night breakfast" in the cafeteria. It was something the college was doing for the students during exam week. And we all appreciated it, especially since the cafeteria and cafe (The Rusty Musket) and all restaurants in town were closed because of the flood. Everyone was there and we ate scambled eggs and sausages and I tried these deep fried cinnamon french toast sticks. I know, not healthy at all, but they were amazing. Whoever came up with that idea was a genius.


What a blast. Definitely the funniest night I had in Glenville. I hope my posse remembers me the next time it floods in Glenville and remembers me fondly.

More posts to come... Love Tanya

...and then, I was back home...

These last 5 months have been probably been the hardest, craziest, most fulfilling months of my life.

I have so many memories, still fresh, that I want to commemorate. I have so many people that I want to thank. I have so many stories to share.

I also have two demanding kids that are going to interrupt me at every opportunity, so this may take awhile.

Stay tuned.

Graduating Update:

So...those orals that I was all freaked out about...

I totally rocked them!

It was really strange, I was totally calm and not nervous at all. I answered all their questions, made a few mistakes but was able to recover, and about half way through the process, found that I was actually enjoying myself. Because I was the first student to go through the orals and that by 5 days, my prof said that she would let me know right away how I did. So, as soon as I was done, I asked when I would know and whether they needed any time to talk. They just laughed and said that I passed, they didn't need to talk. In fact, about half way through, I heard one prof lean over to the other prof and say that she was running out of questions for me. She had told us in class that they typically only asked about 3-4 questions and that that would take up the entire hour. Well, they asked me over 10 questions. I just knew my stuff and the talk flowed from subject to subject. As soon as it was done, it was like..."is that all?" It was a little anticlimatic. But it was great to have it over and done with. Now, everything is downhill. I have four piddly final exams to write and then Frank and the kids will be here and I will be walking to receive my degree. I will close this chapter of my life and move on to the next.

Anyways, those four piddly exams??? I still have to go study for them. I will post again soon.

Love everyone.

Tanya