**MERRY CHRISTMAS**
Here is our version of the home-made Christmas card... we hope you enjoy looking back on this past whirlwind year we've had... And here it begins!
Remember all the excitement and celebration surrounding Nate and I finally making it to the altar?? Yep, that is how we started off the year, and I like this picture because, yes, it is a seal of a deal, but to me it is also a demonstration of having survived our adventurous, tumultuous, exciting and often brutal courtship!! Thanks you guys, (all 4 of you!) for helping us to prepare for and celebrate for our wedding! It was an unforgettable "hinge moment" in our lives that started out our year with a bang, and it was an honour to have you with us!
We were truly blessed this summer to be able to spend weekends up at the Kaiser Cottage on Lake Windemere. Here we spent a fabulous weekend with Nate's parents building that lovely retaining wall we're proudly posing in front of. The cottage is a great place, because it takes a lot of work, but you have such a sense of satisfaction at the end of each day to take a dip in the lake and lay out on the dock watching the sun set over the mountains and just breathing in the fresh air. Quietness and space to drink in peace and to sort through thoughts. It is where Nate and I have discovered we refuel the best... it is our solace and we give thanks for this place always. We also had the priviledge of spending a glorious August weekend up at the lake with Phil, and due to his laser eye surgery, he couldn't swim, but he spent many hours jetskiing, and it was a blast to have him up at the lake with us!
And because marriage wasn't a big enough endeavour for Nate and I to undertake, this year, we thought we'd take on the challenge of "purchasing a home", which in Calgary is no easy task! Thankfully we had the gift of Mum to always encourage and be excited with me on this, our "possession day". Even when everyone backed out of helping us move, even when I discovered that our white tile floor through the majority of our house was really pink tile floor! Even when I dumped brown sugar EVERYWHERE while unpacking it and promptly ended up in a big, teary, overwhelmed mess on the floor! It was truly a gift to find the perfect home for us in the end, and great to have mum there to remind us how perfect it is for us!. We've since grown really fond of our first house, and the sense of togetherness it gives us to have a spot to land after our busy days. Rather than flip this house to make fast bucks, we've decided to keep this place and let it grow with us. We love it and the potential it holds to welcome our children when we decide to begin that challenge ;)
And we've also discovered that being married means sharing in each other's passions. Nate's yearly passion being the Calgary Stampede! I recall protesting the rodeo in the past, but this year, I indulged him, and we had a great time kickin it, cowboy style! If you can't beat 'em... join 'em! Ofcourse I draw the line at cowboy boots and wore heels instead :)
We made it!!!!!! This is our 6th month anniversary pic, in our new backyard with our neighbors trees in all their splendor! We actually call it our 4 month picture, because we have tried to block out the first 2 months of marriage from our minds as they were unduly stressful and fraught with arguments, disappointments, and tears made incredibly huge and insurmountable due to the BC pill I was on, messing up my previously harmonious hormones. After being told off by Dr. Dunn for not seeing her sooner, and switching pills, we have since found wedded bless... that is until I leave my clothes on the floor or until Nate cleans everything in the bathroom except the toilet (like I'm the one that pees all over the rim! :) We're both passionate people, and that applies to both our arguements and our love, and we are determined to keep learning and growing stronger together.
Care to join us for a cup of cocoa and a fire in our backyard fire pit? How does Jan work for you? ;)
This year I also had an opportunity to do a little travelling with work, taking a couple trips to Ottawa to meet wiht some of the government departments there to get my National Defense security clearance and it was so much fun to tour around the parliament buildings. To see something so old and staid and unchanging in my own country! Living in Alberta, during boom-time, change happens so quickly in our oil rich country that if you blink, you'll miss it and find yourself out of breath. I love the sens of time, and pride, and desire I got from touring the grounds here.
Nate also started a new job this year as a market analyst for Trans Alta, an electricity company here in Calgary. Here he had the opportunity to tour a wind farm TA owns down by Pincher Creek. Amazing technology and I believe a great mix of art and Energy stretched across the prairies. While some don't, I love the site of wind farms along the highways, a thumb in the face of this oil rich land we live in! While Nate and I are both doing well, and enjoying work right now, we are chomping at the bit to find a little business that will allow us to strike out on our own and put all our business sense to good use... let these jobs pass... we are dreaming of so much more!
"Watchu Talkin Bout Willis?" Our pleasure has increased by leaps and bounds this last month with the addition of Willis to our family. Our little scottish fold is full of personality and love and is even now fast asleep on his back in my lap, paws batting at my arms every now and then... what a suck! Our little precious, however, was enemy #1 this past week, after starting a new habit. Peeing on our bed!! (could he have learned from Zeke!?) So we are now left keeping our door closed at all times, after washing our bedding nearly every night last week. What a rascal, but we love him, and like a good Kaiser, he loves computers... very fascinating for little kittens!
And that brings us here... to our first Kaiser Family Christmas Photo! We'll miss you this Christmas but thoroughly look forward to your visit this January where we can share the gifties we have for your wee ones :) But these photos and musings come to you with much love and prayers for the desires you have and the challenges you'll face this coming year (selling your Co'Springs home?) Have a very, merry Alabama Christmas!
much, much Love,
Sharon and Nate
And we've also discovered that being married means sharing in each other's passions. Nate's yearly passion being the Calgary Stampede! I recall protesting the rodeo in the past, but this year, I indulged him, and we had a great time kickin it, cowboy style! If you can't beat 'em... join 'em! Ofcourse I draw the line at cowboy boots and wore heels instead :)
We made it!!!!!! This is our 6th month anniversary pic, in our new backyard with our neighbors trees in all their splendor! We actually call it our 4 month picture, because we have tried to block out the first 2 months of marriage from our minds as they were unduly stressful and fraught with arguments, disappointments, and tears made incredibly huge and insurmountable due to the BC pill I was on, messing up my previously harmonious hormones. After being told off by Dr. Dunn for not seeing her sooner, and switching pills, we have since found wedded bless... that is until I leave my clothes on the floor or until Nate cleans everything in the bathroom except the toilet (like I'm the one that pees all over the rim! :) We're both passionate people, and that applies to both our arguements and our love, and we are determined to keep learning and growing stronger together.
Care to join us for a cup of cocoa and a fire in our backyard fire pit? How does Jan work for you? ;)
This year I also had an opportunity to do a little travelling with work, taking a couple trips to Ottawa to meet wiht some of the government departments there to get my National Defense security clearance and it was so much fun to tour around the parliament buildings. To see something so old and staid and unchanging in my own country! Living in Alberta, during boom-time, change happens so quickly in our oil rich country that if you blink, you'll miss it and find yourself out of breath. I love the sens of time, and pride, and desire I got from touring the grounds here.
Nate also started a new job this year as a market analyst for Trans Alta, an electricity company here in Calgary. Here he had the opportunity to tour a wind farm TA owns down by Pincher Creek. Amazing technology and I believe a great mix of art and Energy stretched across the prairies. While some don't, I love the site of wind farms along the highways, a thumb in the face of this oil rich land we live in! While Nate and I are both doing well, and enjoying work right now, we are chomping at the bit to find a little business that will allow us to strike out on our own and put all our business sense to good use... let these jobs pass... we are dreaming of so much more!
"Watchu Talkin Bout Willis?" Our pleasure has increased by leaps and bounds this last month with the addition of Willis to our family. Our little scottish fold is full of personality and love and is even now fast asleep on his back in my lap, paws batting at my arms every now and then... what a suck! Our little precious, however, was enemy #1 this past week, after starting a new habit. Peeing on our bed!! (could he have learned from Zeke!?) So we are now left keeping our door closed at all times, after washing our bedding nearly every night last week. What a rascal, but we love him, and like a good Kaiser, he loves computers... very fascinating for little kittens!
And that brings us here... to our first Kaiser Family Christmas Photo! We'll miss you this Christmas but thoroughly look forward to your visit this January where we can share the gifties we have for your wee ones :) But these photos and musings come to you with much love and prayers for the desires you have and the challenges you'll face this coming year (selling your Co'Springs home?) Have a very, merry Alabama Christmas!much, much Love,
Sharon and Nate
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