The Office

I'm back in the Territories for the final phase of our work here, 
we have one more week to go and I've met some absolutely amazing people!  
Our office, well pictures speak louder than words... 

This is from when we were here in September in our second phase of our work, 
 the colors were stunning! 

We were blessed with an eagle circling overhead right before a pipe ceremony, 

an amazing sight to see! 

This trip on our second day out on the land our office changed color...

Not to worry, I am not freezing just yet as we have a fire burning from 

the time we arrive until we leave for the day and it's beautiful!  

And for those who are wondering, no we don't work out of the teepee, 
this is used only for ceremony.  We work indoors with 
heating and my buddy Freud, well he's kept toasty warm. 

We have one week left here and with this being our final phase 

it really is going to be bitter-sweet going home.  It's not going to be a good-bye, 

it's going to be a see you later as we'll return in three to six months for 

a follow-up visit.  I'm just hoping it's not when it's -100, all truth be told 

they say it gets down to -50 here in the winter but when it's that cold, 

well that's just too darn cold for my liking! 

And the snow that we got here, it only lasted a day then the rain came and
washed all the snow away.  I'm off work tomorrow and I hope it's not
raining or snowing as I'd love to take my camera out and see what I can
all capture in this town and the surrounding area. 

In the Blink of an Eye

Time has this odd way of passing me by lately, it seems I blink and so much 
has happened and here I am in September already, what happened to summer? 

The biggest event of this summer is my son got married!  
He and his new bride are so in love and it's beautiful to see! 

The first dance as husband and wife

It was wonderful how the wedding was a real family event; my oldest son was his brothers best man, my daughter was a bridesmaid and our precious Elyssa was the flower girl.  My job, to sit back and be Mom! :-)

This wedding was definitely the highlight of my summer! One of my latest ventures was a week of work in the NWT, then I was on holiday and I spent a week in Las Vegas... a place I've always wanted to experience and if time permits I'll share a bit about this later today. 

Color Me RAD

On Saturday I met up with 7 other family members and we went out on a fun run.  The run was to raise money for Santa's Anonymous and what a fun run it was.  This is a before the race with my daughter...

And this is after the race...

Now you see why this race is called Color Me Rad, we got colored all right! 

And this is family members who also participated in the race...

Even though life has been busy with work, some things will never change with me; I still make time for fun in my life and I fully intend to continue to do so! 

Cheers!

The Bridal Shower

 My son is getting married next month and the bridal shower was a success.  My daughter, who is the bridesmaid, and the maid of honor planned a backyard celebration; the weatherman cooperated and the weather was absolutely beautiful.  Below are a few of the photos I captured...

Decorating the yard

The Mimosa Bar

Left to right:  My beautiful daughter, the gorgeous bride to be and her best friend the maid of honor

 We had a photo booth set up, this is me and my princess who has grown so much and she's in the wedding party, she's going to be the flower girl

The cake made special for the shower, and what a cake it was! 

The bride and her bridal party

It's not much longer when the happy couple will be saying "I do."  Welcome to our family Sam! I wish both of you a lifetime of love, laughter and the ability to overcome any obstacles which may get in your way of genuine happiness.  

Work - Life Balance

There's so much I've been doing in life, between work and life balance the work is a bit top heavy; however, most of the time my work isn't work.  Sure I get a paycheck, yes I have to get up early in the morning Monday to Friday; yes I also trouble shoot and attend meetings and I do all work related stuff.  But, what makes my heart dance and my work turn into passion is sitting with those who come to us in search of help, those who often see no way out and are looking for responses... that's the easy part of my "job".  My philosophy is that we all have our own answers, it's often as easy as guiding those in search of a response to their own answers.  At times my work is challenging but at the end of the day when I'm driving home I feel good about what I've chosen to do with my day and the larger part of my "pay" is watching those who have no hope become hopeful either for the first time in their life, or once again. 

I work with an incredible team, I am able to participate in ceremony and seriously, check out the photo... I arrived at work one morning and this was the view.  I've often times spotted moose, deer, eagles, and it was either a large fox or a small coyote the one day, naturally when I don't have my camera in my hand! 

 As for the work/life balance, I get together with my children as often as I possibly can, I love having my granddaughter spend the night at least once a month, I went away to a conference last weekend, spent two glorious nights in a beautiful hotel and (this one surprises even me) I'm now taking yoga classes at least three times a week!   I'm starting to clue into this work/life balance, one day at a time! 

And what's a blog post without showing off my princess?  It's been far too long since I've been blogging and now that I remember I used to blog daily, you just may be seeing a bit more of me in the near future! 

Our princess is growing up far too quickly! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, cheers.