kananaskis heli tour

On Saturday, March 9, Burns and I had the opportunity to go on the adventure I had given him for Christmas. A helicopter tour!

It started at 2:00pm and we were so nervous but excited.

This was the helicopter we rode in:

I always wondered why people bent over to get into the chopper because the blades are obviously taller than the people and they shouldn't have anything to worry about, right? Well, it was explained to us that the ends of the blades have the ability to bounce in the wind as low as your head so you should bend over to be safe. I wonder how many times that has happened.

It was a very unique experience. I felt a tiny bit queasy in the rough patches but quickly got used to the feeling. Here I am enjoying the view.

 This was Burns' view in the front:

He could even see right under the helicopter.

Burns with the pilot:

 We couldn't have picked a better day to go. It was absolutely gorgeous out!

This is the lake that we drive by on our way to Banff. The same lake with the island that Burns and I walked to on the ice a couple years ago.

I love Alberta.

The group that went on the tour before us:

 Even though it was a gorgeous day and the snow wasn't very deep, Burns and I decided to snowshoe on the frozen lake we stopped at because we had never tried it before.

We're so cool.

Then we almost fell.

Then we're cool again.

We were very lucky to have such an awesome group. Two ladies in their 40's came with us and our pilot. They were so fun and even helped us build a snowman. They also kept telling us not to take marriage advice from them because they were both getting divorced.

Our snowman.

Burns and I kept throwing snowballs at each other.

Cheers!

 The ladies gave us their chocolates in return for our champagne. Great trade if you ask me!

We then headed back to the base and then went home to pick up Kobe and rush down to Lethbridge for the Moonlight Run. In this picture you can see the shadow of the helicopter on the trees:

They even included a picture in our tour package. We had so much fun!

Since my first 10k last year I have run a 5k obstacle course (Spartan Race) and the Harvest Half Marathon. I feel like I've come a long way in one year. Burns and I were discussing my time in last year's Moonlight run. I got 40th out of 69 competitors in my category of females ages 20-24. My time was 1:01:05. Luke heard us talking about it and offered me $100 if I made it into the top 10 in my category. I didn't think it was possible because I would have to shave off at least 10 minutes from last year's time. Here are the results:

Time: 00:49:53
Overall place: 130/603
Gender place: 34/348
Category place: 6/68

I almost made it into the top 5! I am so happy about this! It's amazing how much progress one can make in one year. Luke wasn't kidding about the $100. Thanks so much Luke!

All I wanted to do was beat one man I had been close to the entire race. I beat him and almost threw up when I crossed the finish line. So worth it. And it's always so wonderful to see Burns and Kobe waiting for me a few hundred meters before the finish line. You guys are the best.

After the race Burns, Brad, Cassi, and I went to Wendy's for a little snack and had a great visit.
Thanks to parents, too, who came out to support me! It means so much to me.

visits from utah

Luke came up from Utah to go to the Home and Garden show for Liberty Security. He gave Burns and me some tickets for free. It was alright I suppose. There were a lot of things to see, but I think I would only enjoy something like that if I was looking to do renovations or if I had a lot of extra money to spend. The best thing I saw there other than amazing hot tubs was a popsicle maker. Too expensive.

Burns sent me a picture of himself and Georgie cuddling so I sent him this one:

Kobe just kills me.

Luke sent Sam Noel (one of his co-workers) for some FudgeeO's one day and he shared with us. Burns' wafer was upside down! It should have looked like the one in the front of the picture.

Matt and Steph also came up from Utah for their spring break. On the Monday evening we held a little birthday party for my five year old future nephew, Rhett. Here's Denise coming in the room with the birthday cake:

And here's Rhett blowing out the candles:

Good times in the Heninger household with three Harris boys in one room. I went with Matt and Steph to Menchies one night while Burns was studying and had a wonderful visit with the two of them. Burns was able to put his books down for one evening and we went on a double date to Destination Bubble Tea. It used to be called APM (Burns and I went on our very first official date there) and I really miss it. The service at DBT took forever but at least the bubble tea was delicious!

Little love doves:

On the Friday, Arianne invited me to a cooking class at ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen. My goodness it was delicious! The class was called "Dinner on a Dime" and I can't get over how amazing everything tasted. Especially the lemon potato salad.

We thought we were going to be doing the cooking. Instead, it was like watching a cooking show on TV only we actually got to eat everything that was made. I definitely would recommend this place to anyone interested in getting a fantastic three course meal for $20.

That night Matt, Steph, Denise, Rhett, Capri, and I went to the Russell's house for Elise's amazing homemade pizza. She did not disappoint. Poor Boonie had a midterm so he wasn't able to join us. Afterwards we picked up Burns from school and had ourselves a little Chinese party.

Bean curds:

And Grass Jelly Drink:

Matt's face says it all:

Even with the limited amount of time I was able to spend with them, I still had a great time with Matt, Steph, and their adorable children. Thanks for coming up and we'll see you guys in August!

rock climbing

A couple weeks ago Lita invited Burns and me on a double date. We went rock climbing! Poor Matt had to be the belayer for all of us and not climb himself. I hope he had a good time just holding onto the ropes and not letting us kill ourselves. Here's Lita being all pro and almost to the top:

Burns was a natural little Spider Man.

I seriously had to just not think about falling at all in order to keep climbing. I just had to know that I was safe, especially when Matt was letting us down the wall and we had to let go of the holds.

Burns felt like he needed a little more of a challenge so he tried this wall. He would have died three times if he didn't have a harness.

 After rock climbing we headed to Airdrie for some Costa Vida burritos and then some frozen yogurt at Menchies!

Thanks so much for inviting us, Lita! We had such a blast and we really need to go bouldering with you two!