Our First Christmas Decorations!

A surprise package arrived in the mail this week full of CHRISTMAS! More specifically some awesome Christmas art work created by my cousin Dylan and a card from Aunt Judy. Tara and I were so excited to get this unexpected delivery. We wasted no time putting up our new decorations in our house.

We both got a picture of our own. This one is Tara's.
This one is mine.

Dylan you did a great job, and we love the artwork. Thank you Dylan and Aunt Judy for getting our Christmas off to a great start.

The HAIR! And the explanation

Some of you may know that I am sporting a new look. It's true! I am embracing my inner rockstar. Here is a picture of my crazy new 'do!

So now for the explanation. As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. However, being as busy as I was with school, I had little time to do anything more than wear a pink ribbon. October passed me by.

Some of the guys in our class, including some of the lecturers, have been supporting 'Movember' for Prostate Cancer and growing moustaches. Colby tried, and failed, to grow a respectable moustache- and told us all that he didn't expect anyone to sponsor it!

So, we hatched a plan. When we finished our last exam we all went to Colby's place and we both had our heads shaved (okay, so mine wasn't exactly "shaved" , but it was still alot of hair gone!). I collected money for Breast Cancer, and Colby collected for Prostate Cancer in lieu of his moustache. And then we let our roomates give us a haircut.

Clearly I was lucky I had Billy giving me my new look, as Jen took a huge strip off the back of Colby's head.
And here is a pic of me that night, with Billy and a couple of my other classmates. And, since I had always wondered what it would be like to go blond, and I only had about a centimeter of hair to damage by processing it, I thought I would take it one step further and bleach my hair as well. Its not my best look ever, but I am trying to work it for now. Its just hair, it will grow back, and I glad to have raised some money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation in Australia. If you are interested in supporting my little fundraising endevour you can make a direct donation to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation at http://www.cbcf.org/en-US/home.aspx. Just click "Donate Now".

It was a Happy Birthday for Me!

My busy (CRAZY BUSY) school schedule has kept me from blogging about my birthday until now, but it turned out to be a good thing as my birthday seemed to be stretch into the following month (I must of learned a thing or two from Marilyn). I even have some more celebrating to do, I have a birthday lunch coming my way this week.

So, I thought I would use my first blog back to say THANK YOU! Thanks guys for the birthday wishes, cards and gifts!
I am posting the gifts from my family for them to see- being overseas means that I get to pick own gift and then let them know what they got.


Mom and Dad bought me these awesome sunglasses. I have been SO thankful to have them as the Australian sun starts to become more intense- and they are bound to become important as the scorching summer approaches.

Mom, Dad and Kelly also sent me a fruit basket. Yes, I thought it was kind of a strange gift for a 25th birthday- but it was great to get a gift that I didn't pick out, and the fruit got quickly devoured!

And this is the flowers after they bloomed.... BeeaUUTiful! From Gramma, I got this beeeauuutiful shirt. Again, its perfect for the impending heat here. Its light-weight and comfy and little nicer than a plain t-shirt- I love it! Thanks Gramma!!!

Stay tuned cuz we are back! To come soon- posts on Stacy's mad basketball skillz, my new hairdo, and more kangaroos!

First Exam Done!!!

Hey everyone! Just got back from my first exam. It was the Cardiothoracic Interventions practical exam. I think it went pretty well. My 'patient' was a 25 yr old woman with Cystic Fibrosis and a partially collapsed lung and a chest tube in. Its pretty cool to think that pretty soon I could actually be in a hospital ward helping people like that. Anyways, I am off to study for my other 4 exams... wish me luck!

We are still here

Hi Everybody,
I realize that it has been a really long time since we have blogged. It seems that in the last few weeks normal everyday life has taken over our Australian Adventure. Tara is studying for end of term exams which are beginning next week. I have had two new classes added to my schedule at work. I like them a lot and they are going well. So instead of having adventures we have been working on being responsible adults.

The weather is beautiful here right now. Sunny and 22 degrees almost everyday. Halloween is not a celebrated holiday here so Christmas is in full swing. Last week the local mall already had the Tree and Decorations up. Fake trees at Wal-Mart have been on sale since the first of October. I can't process the weather getting warmer and Christmas, its very strange (but I'm certainly not complaining.)

We will try to get some more posts up soon, and thanks for all the comments on our posts we love to get them.

Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Family and Friends. We were a little sad not to be at home for the holiday but we did our best to do Thanksgiving - Australia style. The day started off well with a shout out at church. One lady turned around after the announcement that it was a holiday at home and asked "So it's Canada Day?" Australia doesn't really have a Thanksgiving equivalent so they were a little confused about what it is all about.

We got home from church and Tara started making some Apple Pie.

A golden brown turkey (read chicken) for dinner.

I realised at this moment that how to carve a turkey was not one of the lessons I had learned from my dad yet. I will have to pay more attention next time he does it. I got the job done but it certainly wasn't up to his standards.

Our delicious meal on the table complete with Lemon Lime and Bitters to drink. (My new favorite Australian beverage)

The pie turned out perfect.

Tara is excited because the custard is developing "skin" I don't get it ... apparently you do Nancy.


A delicious dessert, the perfect finish to what turned out to be a really good Thanksgiving. We miss everybody from home. We are thankful to have wonderful people thinking of us (and reading our blog) back in Canada. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.

More Kangaroos

The kangaroos are out in force around our house. The novelty of seeing them definately has not worn off. We thought we should share a few more pictures.


There is a wooded area behind our house and a walking path which Tara and I can walk on to get to school and work. On Thursday morning we had our closest encounter yet with the kangaroos. It was truly amazing.

These pictures do not do justice to how awsome and how close we were to these guys. When we walk by they usually just turn and look, but they rarely run away.

If you click on the picture above for a larger view you should be able to see two Joeys in this kangaroos pouch.

I was able to get a video of actual hopping this time. The quality isn't great but you get the idea. And be sure to check out the size of the big guy hopping away at the end.