21

I had a perfect birthday weekend.

On Saturday morning after I re-dying my hair and after reading Alex's blog on the Calgary Corn Maze, I decided that that's exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday. I phoned up Burns and told him, so he couldn't refuse because it was my BDAY!!!. He got ready, came over, and we headed down to the aMAZEing maze!

It was a bit chilly when we got there.

The first thing we headed to was:

And the second:

The giant jumping pillows of glory!

Then we headed into the corn maze.

An alien from "Signs"!

I was running after Burns when he disappeared around a corner. I saw something in the middle of the trail. Upon closer inspection I realized it was a movie. "Someone must have dropped this," I thought.

Upon even closer inspection I was able to see what the movie was:

Right then I knew it was for me from Burns for my birthday. It's probably my favorite movie and every time Burns asked me what I wanted for my special day, I said "How to Train Your Dragon"!

We wanted to make it in time for the pig races, so we headed back to the activity space and we eventually got around to the pig arena.

This is how I live up to my nick-name.

 Burns noticed that this horse already had a nose and mouth, so he just showed his eyes.

Then we fed the animals for 25 cents. I asked Burns what his favorite part of the Corn Maze was and he said feeding the goats. Haha! What a cutie.

This one reminded me of Julio.

We finally arrived at the pig races. We were supporting either the blue pig or the black pig. The lady wasn't very clear on where the division was in the crowd. So the yellow pig was juuuuuusssssst about to win when it passed a corn stalk leaf or something, turned back, and started sniffing at it. Yellow ended up being last or second to last. Little Blue won! Then there was a second round and Yellow won.

After the pigs, Burns and I wanted to pet the kittens, but there were too many little kids hogging all the little darlings so we didn't get a chance to even touch one. We tried lassoing some cattle though! Burns taught me how to do it right and I got one!

Burns got it two or three times...show off.

We went to the duck races and discovered how pumps work (nerds, I know). We were even in the background of someone filming their child while we were discussing how pumps worked. Haha! We also tried the Washer Tosser and I tried milking the cow (not a real cow). Then, to finish off our stay, we meandered over to the pumpkin patch,

picked out a couple pumpkins,

and made stuff with them!

I made Pumpkin Dump Cake with mine.

Burns and I made roasted pumpkin seeds with both of the pumpkins' entrails.

And Boonie made a Jack-O-Lantern.

On Sunday after church we went over to the Heninger's to pick up my birthday surprise:

Burns made a wonderfully delectable stew for the two of us! OOOHHH and it was soooo good! I want it NOW!!! Denise made Raspberry Delight for dessert. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm.

After dinner we went to my house and watched my new movie (well...mostly Burns just watched it cause I fell asleep).

Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday!

the birthday boy

I forgot something very important. I didn't post about what Burns and I did for his birthday....in July! I know I uploaded all the pics onto F-Book but I didn't post it here!

We started the day off with none other than the great Denny's.

We then traveled to Banff. On our way there, I spotted the island that we visited back in February for Family Day.

I can't believe we walked to that thing! It looks so far away!

We then got to the corral and we signed in.

So many horses to choose from!

Burns' horse posing for the camera.

 When one of the workers brought me my horse, she said, "His name is Lawson."
"Lawson?" I asked.
"Yeah."
Later on I noticed his name was in his saddle. His name was Larson...the worker was Australian.

Before we even started, everyone was just sitting on their horses and this one lady in the group started freaking out because her horse was moving around. She was so scared that she didn't even go on the trip.

This is what being on a horse looks like.

While we were on the trail - oh it was about an hour long ride by the way - the guy ahead of me started asking one of the guides questions about the Rocky Mountains and Banff. Then he asked about the pronghorns or mountain goats or something. He said, "Are they carnivores?" The guide responded with what seemed like no surprise and said no. I couldn't believe my ears. He was even from either Canada or the US. I don't remember which. I just looked back at Burns with disbelief and he returned the same look haha!

Crossing the river was the scariest part. We had to lead our horses slightly upstream so that they would stay on path and not be swept away.

We held up traffic.

 We then went on a little walk to see some waterfalls.

And went to the cutest little restaurant in Banff called Squish.

Those sandwiches were SOOOOOO good!

Anyways...sorry for the super late post. It needed to be done. Happy 24th b-day Boonie!

Hey just an update to let you all know that I'm still alive. Not a lot has happened in the two weeks that I haven't blogged and that's why you haven't heard from me in a while. Oh actually I lied.

Navy's blessing was last Sunday! What a little cutie. And what is better than a potluck with family after a blessing? Thanks to the Kutarnas for letting us Leishmans into their home! I brought a quinoa salad to the potluck but it was kind of funny trying to find out if Safeway had this unknown grain in their store. On the Saturday before the blessing I phoned Safeway and asked if they had any quinoa. The lady on the phone didn't understand what I was asking so I explained it was a grain. She had never heard of it before, so she got the manager on the line. She didn't understand what I was saying either so I explained to her, too, that it was a grain. She finally understood and yes, they had it in a box there. Yay!

This is ... kind of... what it looked like. I liked it and I made a LOT so I had leftovers all week to enjoy! Oh and quinoa is freezable so I did that and had it for breakfast today!

Other than the blessing and hanging out with the fam, I went to school. Big surprise hey? Oh actually one thing that you probably don't know is that I'm the Calgary Institute Choir's alto section leader! Brother Mandin (the Institute director) asked me to help out with the alto section so I hold separate practices on Fridays to help any altos who are struggling. It's pretty fun actually :)

Oh and I no longer have a calling because Foothills ward was dissolved. I am now in the Brentwood YSA ward. It's really big haha.

And since I will be turning 21 in exactly one week, I thought I would share something significant I learned from each year that I have been alive or just something I remember about that year.

0-1: I learned how to babble so that I could eventually talk.
1-2: I learned how to talk and maybe I was even potty trained by then? I don't know.
2-3: I learned how to form complex sentences and my little brother, Marshall, was born.
3-4: I didn't go to preschool.
4-5: I started going to kindergarten when I was 4 and when I turned 5 I got to wear the birthday crown and cape!
5-6: I started grade 1 and I learned how to read.
6-7: Cats were my favorite animal by far. I learned how to multiply by 2!
7-8: I learned how to do homework (thanks Mr. Ralph).
8-9: I was baptized.
9-10: Grade 5 was when I started going to a different classroom for different subjects.
10-11: I learned about Ancient Greece and I also saw 9/11 on the TV in my classroom in Grade 6.
11-12: I started Junior High and was Mr. Vance's favorite student. AKA teacher's pet.
12-13: I got out of Primary! HALLELUJAH!!! Young Womens was soo great!
13-14: I got my learner's permit and learned how to drive. But not only did I learn how to drive, I learned how to drive on a standard. Thanks mom...it must have been extremely stressful for you.
14-15: I started High School.
15-16: I got my license and a car! I thought I was so cool.
16-17: I moved to Calgary for the summer.
17-18: I graduated from High School and moved to Calgary. I also shaved my head for cancer.
18-19: Worst Year Ever.
19-20: A TONNE better than 18. University was okay. I failed my first class EVER. I hiked the Juan de Fuca and bought Kobe!
20-21: This has been a fantastic year. I'm almost done university and I am getting waaaayyyy better grades than my first and second year. I'm excited to be 21 but I will miss being 20. And I really need to get my GDL off my license....oh well.

Hope my history wasn't too boring for you. I'm sure I will be blogging about how my bday goes. I can't believe how much faster time flies as I get older! Only last year I went to see Kooza! WHOOOAAAAHHHH!!!!! :)

edmonton slp conference

On Friday, Burns and I attended Jordan and Caitlin Wood's reception. It was basically a Wood family reunion (Burns' family) so it was fun to see all the cousins and aunts and uncles. After which we headed to Edmonton for the weekend!!!

We stayed at Langstaff's for the night and they were so hospitable! Burns then dropped me off at the UofA for my Speech-Language Pathology Conference. It was soooo helpful! I loved it.

The first speaker talked about speech disorders in general and she introduced us to "her" kids (the children she worked with). She also let us know what it was like to work in a hospital kind of setting - the Glenrose.

I went to the second session and attended the talk on cleft lip/palate. It was pretty interesting but she mostly just talked about the computer programs she was analyzing.

After the second speaker I went to the Parent Panel session where lunch was served. Four parents were there and they talked about their experiences with SLPs and what they liked and disliked about their experiences. It was so interesting/cool to see the broad variety of family struggles.

The third session was "How to Survive the Application Process". This was extremely helpful because one of the ladies who actually reviews applications to get into Grad school presented some do's and don'ts for our applications.

The last session was about cochlear implants. A deaf man with cochlear implants came to speak to us. I could hardly understand what he was saying but it goes to show how difficult it would be for him to understand what hearing people say. This is because he models his speech after what he hears. He has Usher Syndrome so he is peripherally blind (tunnel vision) as well. Meanwhile Burns sat in the car pretty much the whole time with Kobe and he studied for his Chem test.

We then headed to Jordan and Julie Goldthorp's. Another couple was there watching conference. Since it was conference, soon after we arrived the boys headed to Priesthood and the girls stayed behind to play games. Another girl showed up so there was four of us playing Bananagrams and Creationary. We then watched "Ramona and Beezus". It was cute.

The guys got back at around midnight because they went to another guy's house to play video games. The next day Jordan and Julie made Burns and me some delicious crepes! We watched conference then went on a nice, long walk. We had more crepes for lunch because there were enough leftovers, "watched" the last session of conference (I fell asleep) and then Burns and I headed home to Calgary.

Burns and I were certainly spoiled that morning. 

Goldthorps making breaky.

On our nice long walk.

We went down to the river.

CUTE!

There ends our Edmontonian adventure.