As most people know, this holiday season will be our first as husband and wife, but also our first without dad, and our second without Gram and Olivia. Although it will undoubtedly be the toughest season we have ever faced together, it is one we wanted to face together with happiness, love, gratitude, and hope in our hearts. We didn't want to pretend that it was not hard or sad for us, but we wanted to enter the holiday season with as much love in our hearts as we could. Don't ignore the bad, simply focus on the good.  As December crept towards us, we came to the realization that we were in need of some hubs/wifey time, so we both arranged to be free of any commitments from December 22- January 2!  First things first, we had a couple things to add to dads remembrance, and tidy up the condo so we didn't have to worry about it all week.  Once the condo was nice and clean, we were lucky enough to have a visit from our beloved friend Chris Gallagher who had recently retu

If you have ever visited us in Calgary, chances are we've been to the zoo. I love learning about the animals in the care, the work they do in the wild, and the animals that they save from destruction when there is injury or conflict with humans that render them unable to exist in the wild.  Below are some photos that I took during our trip today. Most of the animals were in their indoor enclosures, or hibernating but I did get some good shots to share.  One of my favorite photos I have ever taken at the zoo.  At the request of my dear mom, I took multiple photos of the hilarious panda bears.  Not-so-little Kimani was quite the trickster today. She was running around full tilt when we got there, they she began climbing along the ropes, and finished off her spurt of energy by pestering her aunt.   To our sheer excitement, our visit to the wolf enclosure was at the exact right moment! When we showed up, one of the wolves see

As one could probably guess, it was a no-brainer that we kicked off our week of togetherness with a trip to the mountains. Initially we had planned on attempting a summit, but I kept waking up throughout the night with a bad feeling in my stomach so in trusting my instincts we opted for a different  mountain adventure.  Our first stop was Lake Louise! I'm sure most, if not all of you, have heard or been to Lake Louise in all it's glory. It's a sight to behold during the Summer months when the turquoise glacier fed lake is on full display, but it is a whole other picturesque sight to behold when snow falls.  During the Winter at Lake Louise, there are ice rinks cleared of snow, snow cast les built, and plenty of memories to be had. Although we didn't have our skates, we did explore the castle, walk along the shoreline and walk across the frozen lake towards Mt. Victoria.   The beauty of Lake Louise always amazes me,it' s not hard to see why it is one of