Hello From Edmonton!!

It's been quite the adventure getting here, but we made it! Let me go back about a month and start from there! Once we found out for sure that Brayden got accepted to school the search for a house was on! Every day was looking online at different places and ads trying to find a decent house! We found a few we were interested in so one weekend in July we headed up to check them out! We weren't lucking out until we looked at the last house on our list! It was the nicest one we had seen, and even though it was small being a basement suite, we felt it would work okay for our needs! We quickly sent in our application for the house and eagerly waited to hear a reply! There were a couple other applicants who were interested in the place as well so we were really hoping we would be selected! After about a week we finally heard back that we were accepted to be the tenants and we were so excited! It was getting close to the end of July when we would need to move up so Brayden could start his program and we were getting anxious to find a place so we were very relieved!

I finished work on July 17 and it was such a bittersweet moment! I really loved my job at the Chinook Foot and Ankle Clinic and I couldn't have found better people to work with! I was of course excited to be moving on with the next step in our lives but I was very sad to leave that job behind! They were so good to me there and I am really hoping I can find another job here in Edmonton that is remotely comparable! But I was glad to be done on the 17 so that I had time to get things ready for our move! I took a couple days off to go camping with my family at Apgar which was so nice! I was getting pretty stressed with the move and everything that needed to be done, so I was so grateful to have the chance to take a little break! I always love going down to Apgar in the summer! It's definitely my happy place! When I was down there Brayden found out we could move into our house sooner than planned, which we had been hoping for, so I hurried home from my short vacation to finish getting everything packed and the house cleaned for our big move!

Finally the big day of our move came and it started out so great! We had a ton of help come and get all our stuff loaded into the trailer and help with last minute cleaning! Then we had our walk through with Lethbridge Housing and they were so impressed with the condition of our house and said we would receive our full damage deposit back! We weren't expecting not to get it back, because not to sound braggy but we are about the best renters anyone could want, but it's still nice to know you're getting all your money back! Especially since we needed as much money as we could get as Edmonton housing is significantly higher than Lethbridge! So anyways all went well and we hit the road at a great time and rolled into Edmonton at about 4:30, grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to our place to unload! That was when our day took a turn for the worse! We pulled up to the house and decided we would go knock on the door of the upstairs tenants to introduce ourselves and they were not at all what we were expecting! Don't get me wrong, they were really nice ladies, but let's just say they were far from the ideal tenants to share a house with! But there wasn't much we could do about it so we tried not to be disappointed or judgmental and put on a happy face! Then we saw the basement suite that was to be our home! It was horrendous! The place had been left so dirty and trashed! There were scuff marks all over the walls, the carpet was ripped up, nothing had been cleaned, there was a surprise sump pump in one of the bedrooms no one told us about and, my favorite, there was BLACK MOLD in the bathroom! It was a nightmare! I did not want to move our stuff in to that place and have to live there and deal with all those health hazards! We had arranged for some people to come help us unload and as they started bringing stuff into the house all I could do was just stare and watch and think to myself "this really can't be happening. I don't want to live here. How did we get into this situation? What did we do WRONG?!" The place had looked so nice and clean when we went and looked at it and we had both felt really good about it and had even fasted and prayed about it! I was beyond confused what was going on! Luckily I have an amazing hubby who took charge of the situation and got on the phone with the rental agency and told them this was unacceptable and we would not be living there! I was sure they were going to put up a fight, but after about a week of dealing with them we were able to terminate the lease and get our deposit back! I must say I have never been so relieved!

Our family was also super supportive through this stressful event! My parents stayed with us for a couple days to help us load all our stuff back into the moving trailer and get things figured out. Brayden's Aunt and Uncle let us stay with them in the meantime which was super helpful! The whole situation still just baffles me a bit but I've come to the conclusion that Heavenly Father had a different plan for us and He knew that we just needed to get up to Edmonton first, so that's why he let us feel good about that house at first! His plan is becoming more and more clear as time goes on! Brayden's Aunt and Uncle offered to have us live with them for the month of August and September and in return we can watch their house when they go camping and then watch their kids in September when they go to China! My friend Kenidy was so generous to let us store our stuff in the garage at her house until we can get into our own place and it's actually worked out that we'll be able to move in to her basement suite that will be coming available towards the end of September!

We have had so many answers to prayer over the last couple weeks for which we are beyond grateful! This experience has really tested my faith, but I know that our Heavenly Father is aware of Brayden and I and is looking out for us and that everything will work out in the end! It was also really stressful because we moved up here two days before Brayden's program started, so a midst all this chaos and confusion Brayden has been going to school full time! His program so far has been very intense! It's only been 2 weeks and so far they have done about 2 months worth of work! Needless to say he has been studying non stop and practically living at the school! I only get to see him briefly in the mornings and then for a few hours at night! But I'm so proud of him and all his hard work and I honestly wouldn't rather have him doing anything else other than working so hard for me and to be able to support our family! And the fact that it's only for a couple years makes it more bearable too! So that is our crazy moving experience and we're happy that things are starting to settle down now and we can get into our new routines!

The other exciting thing that happened is that Brayden and I became and Uncle and Aunt! Brayden's sister Jaycie had her baby boy on July 31! He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and they named him Beau Lance Karl! We were able to go visit them on the weekend since it was the long weekend and Brayden didn't have school! I'm so glad we were able to go see Beau when he was still so new!They grow and change so fast during the first month so we were glad we could see him as a newborn! He is seriously the cutest baby ever! I couldn't get enough of holding him and looking at all his little features! I think I could have held and snuggled him all day long! We're so excited to finally be an Aunt and Uncle!

First day of physio school!

My handsome Physiotherapist!

I'm an Aunt!!!

Uncle Brayden!!

Can't get enough of that adorable face!

Just a couple pictures from camping at Apgar! I finally
got to try out my new fishing pole! It was great!

I found the perfect mermaid rock!