APB Runs for Boobies!

On October 3rd, APB took to the streets, and ran in the CIBC Run for the Cure. Chiara M, Cheryl G., Rachel H. and Pam M. donned festive red sashes (Ok, so I'm not really artistic, and they sort of looked...well...home-made) and raised over $700 for breast cancer (I'm not sure of the exact number). Cheryl and Pam, running with a stroller, both ran like champs, while Chiara and I ambled along at a sedate and relaxed pace.

We even got our picture in the Citizen, doing the turkey-walk!

Obviously not my most flattering face...But Chiara is representin' the cute-factor for us both. Hopefully more pictures of us will surface, as a friend took photos of us.

Hope to see everyone out there next year. Let's try for runners from all our chapters!

Hey Everyone.
So finally an update from me. I'm not much of a blogger hence the long delay. Therefore I will give you an update on what I have been up to for the past year.

In September 2009 I moved onto a boat with my boyfriend Justin. Justin is a personal trainer (anyone needing to get in shape? give him a shout) and is going to SFU for Kinesiology in September 2010.

In April I finally graduated (again) from BCIT with my medical radiography diploma, I am now a certified xray tech at Lions Gate Hospital. Since graduation Justin and I have traveled across Canada to Ontario to visit his family as well as some as my own.

In July we went surfing in Tofino and came home with a puppy! Her name is Rain Shine, and she is a Staffordshire Terrier x Wolf Husky. She somehow has managed to fit perfectly onto our boat, but for how long is the question as she is suppose to be 50-70lbs. But we love her lots and she a smart girl. Just a few days ago Rain, Justin and I hiked the Stawamus Chief first and second peak for the first time. It was tons of fun and I think Rain is going to become a professional mountain climber as she had no problem with walking up the steep rocks. Also in July I became an Aunty for the first time to my nephew Jayden.



Well I think thats about it. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Hi Everyone,

I would to introduce you all to Chloe... She is our new rescue dog. We just got her last week, but we are totally on love with her already. Her last house was not a very nice place. The man was very mean to Chloe and the the rest of the family. So they all ran away and ended up living in their car. But the wife and kids are now in a safe social house. However, they could not take a pet with them so Chloe ended up in a Rescue and is now with us.

She is great she is a 3 year old Dachshund (Wiener Dog). She is very small, but that is perfect because we have a small house & a small year.

We took her camping wiht us last week and it was wonderful, she love sleeping in a tent, going for trail walks and sitting in Scott's lap nest to the fire. We even took her out in a Canoe and she really enjoyed that. Anyway, if you are ever in the area, feel free to stop in and meet her. She is the sweetest little bundle of love ever!

Smiles & hugs, Suzy

We made the newspaper!

We made it into the local newspaper for our Amazing Race during the retreat! I'll try to get my hands on a few copies if anyone wants them for historical purposes. How great is it that we have a picture of the alumnae and active doing an event together?

Amanda

What a Weekend!

Well another Alumnae Retreat has come and gone! The 2010 event was held in Prince George this year with Carrie, Suzy, Ashlyn, Robyn and Catherine coming from out of town.

We started out with the traditional Wine and Cheese night on Friday with much gabbing and catching up to do. Pink bags were decorated to be used for the scavenger hunt prizes. Saturday morning we all met up at UNBC for our group pictures and a tour of the continually changing campus. As fate would have it, our tour guide, Sufey, was a member of the active group! She had no idea who she was giving a tour to and when she saw our letters she exclaimed "I know those letters, who are you guys?!" Susan convinced her to spend the rest of the day with us... I hope we convinced her to take an active role in the group and eventually become an alumnae.In the afternoon, we split up into 3 teams to run the "Amazing PG Race". The teams had to complete challenges and collect clues to lead them through 8 PG locations. We started with a clue on the highest diving platform of the Aquatic Centre, and from there went all around PG fromriding the mini-railway at the Railway Museum, to creating an art piece at the Two River's Gallery, to bowling a strike at Strike Zone (which I am proud to say I'm the only one who did that on her own merits!) and finally meeting up for dinner to laugh about the events of the day.

On Sunday, we went to Lonnie's house for tasty brunch and created a small flip scrapbook to commemorate the weekend. Ask a member who attended to show their's off... they turned out great! Later that evening we had a BBQ and played Pictionary Man - which is a family game even though the clues involved everything from "seduction" to "penetrate"!! It was hilarious, though you probably had to be there!

Monday was very laid back with out of town members splitting up to visit with various local girls before heading back home. All in all it was a nice mix of activity and relaxing. Thanks again to everyone for making this a weekend to remember. I know I speak for us all when I say that we're looking forward to the 2011 Calgary Retreat... woohoo Stampede!

Amanda

Our big move!!!

Hello girls!!!

It has been a long time since I have posted on here. I haven't had any new news to share until now, so never knew what to write on here. For those of you who haven't heard, Clarence and I have decided to make a major move up to the Northwest Territories!!! At Christmas time I applied for a job up there and then our phone lines went down so they couldn't contact me and so when another job opened up a fellow social worker told me to apply. That was in February and I just received the job offer 2 weeks ago. We are very excited...however a little scared. Neither of us have ever lived outside BC and to move so far away from family was a big decision. And to top it all off we are leaving next week!!! So this is going to be a very busy week for us with packing and getting things in order at my current job for the next person to take over.

I will be a Community Social Worker in Fort Providence, which is on the Mackenzie River just at the west side of the Great Slave Lake. The pay is good, twice what I am currently making for doing almost the same type of work. Also there are more job opportunities for Clarence up there as he is hoping to get a job with the diamond mines up there. All in all, I think this is the right move for us (and I have an aunt and uncle only 2 hours away in Hay River).

We both love to travel so I am sure we will be making lots of trips back to BC or Alberta so I will see you all again. Unfortunately because I will just be starting my new job, I won't be able to make it to the retreat this year, but definitely will keep in it in my plans for next year. Also, if anyone wants to come and visit us, we will have a very nice brand new 2 bedroom townhouse so we can host guests. Our townhouse is right on the river, so there will be plenty of fishing up there!!!

We are both very excited as we also have a 'new' used vehicle. I sold my Dodge Durango and bought ourselves a Cadillac Escalade!!! It is a bit older than my vehicle but the km's were low and the owner's kept it in good shape. So this is a bit of a new beginnings for us...new job, new town, new house, and 'new' SUV. I would post pictures, but technology and I don't get along, and I have never figured out how to post pictures.

I also want to say thank-you to my sisters in the sorority who have encouraged me to make this step and who have supported me along the way. I will miss you all and hope everyone has a good time at the retreat. I will see you all next year!

My new address will be: General Delivery
Fort Providence, NT
X0E 0L0

I will update you all when I get a new phone number, but in the meantime I will still have my old cell phone number (250) 981-0808. I won't have cell service up there after May but I can check my messages and call you back. Or you can email me at blackjackqueen@hotmail.com . Stay in touch and best wishes to you all....

Almost a mommy!

HI Girls!

Well, I am getting closer. I am officially 36 weeks now and feel and look huge! It could literally be any day. For those who don't know, Corey and I are expecting our first little girl in the next 4 weeks. We have named her Gemma Lily Mitchell. Super excited and just a little bit terrified too.

If you want to see our maternity photo shoot, you can go to www.babyart.ca or http://www.bowesphotography.ca/index2.php and go to the "clients" tab on the tool bar in the main website. Enter our password "nm10" and you can view the proofs from our session last week. The online link will only be available until May 5, so have a peek before then!

Hope all is well with you guys! Lots of love, Natalie

This mommy thing is working out well for me....

....so I thought I go for it one more time! LOL

Yup, Baby Watts #3 is due Sept 21, 2010!! Big sister Robyn is really excited and wants this one to be a baby sister (who apparantly is "going to sleep in her bed, because she has two pillows and she only uses one of them!" lol, aahh 3 year olds!)
Big brother Ollie has no idea what's going on, but he's such a loveable guy and loves to give hugs and kisses, I know he'll be a great big bro!
We are really excited and also a little scared - they are going to outnumber us now! Ack!

Hope everyone is doing well, you all deserve a better update post from me and I hope to get to that soon!

-Sarah

It's been a long time.

Hey Sisters,

So I just wanted to say Hi, I miss you guys so much and wanted to let you know how things are going.

Life is busy as usual, it just dawned on me last month that I have officially been attending post-secondary for 11 years now. When this current program is over, it still won't be over for me. I am almost done (May 28th) the medical lab assistant program at VCC, which I am loving. However, I have also applied for the Practical Nursing program as the MLA program was really only to see if I could handle full-time school and Taryn. So since we are hoping to have another baby or two in the future I decided RN is a little too much to commit to right now but an LPN can always be built on. Yay! I'm finally going into nursing, only 9 years after I initially wanted to. School is amazing, I am loving doing ECG's and poking people with needles it is much easier and less scarier than I thought it would ever be.

Taryn and Chris are great. Chris is amazing and so supportive with school and Taryn. He makes it so easy for me to relax when I come home from school. Having my parents in the suite downstairs is nice as they usually have dinner ready for us when we get home and leaving Taryn with them puts me at ease.

I can't believe how quickly Taryn is growing. We went for a walk yesterday to the park and watching her run around on her own is such a shock. When did that happen?

So I have decided to challenge myself this spring and will be partaking in the 'Climb the Wall' event for BC Lung Assoc. I will be climbing 48 flights of stairs (739 steps). So I started my training this week and hope to god to just make it to the top without wanting to quite. I'm not up for a race to the top just to actually complete it, next year I can worry about time.

This November we will be going to Australia for a month as a family to celebrate Chris's sisters wedding and see as much as possible with a 2 year old at that time. It will be amazing as Chris's mom will be there for a bit to help with Taryn, Chris's sister Coral has offered to watch Taryn for a couple days when we are in Sydney with her friend (who is going to come babysit Taryn while we are at the reception). His sister Hannieh, who lives in Australia is going to take us to Queensland and show us all around. I can't wait to meet my new brother-in-law and niece (i've never met her due to the distance). To make this trip even more amazing the money that we

were going to be spending on flights can now be used as spending money and for traveling to Alice Springs and a week in Hong Kong as Chris's dad gave us the flights to Australia as a Christmas gift.

So overall, this year has started off with a bang, it is moving so fast and I am loving every minute of it. I love watching Taryn grow, I love developing and growing more myself with my new skills and I love watching my family grow together and closer every day.

I wish you all a good year and hope that you find enjoyment in your lives.

Love Trish

Just a Little Update!

Hi ladies.

Sorry, I have not been very active in the sorority since I became alumnae but I am hoping to change that in the near future (maybe May-ish as I have no time till then). I graduated with my Bachelor of Education in May 2009 but was never able to find work at the school district here. However, after 8 months of being unemployed, a job just seemed to fall into my lap. I am currently an English Instructor at the College of New Caledonia here in Prince George. I work for the College and Career Preparation program which is adult upgrading. I am full-time (contract), teaching 3 English courses (2 at grade 10 level and 1 at the grade 12 level). It is not what I expected to do with my life as I am trained to work with primary children. I almost did not take the job as the thought of teaching adults terrified me. However, I am sooooo happy I took the job because I am loving it. I pretty much work 6 days a week and 11 hours a day during the week just trying to plan and prep everything (not to mention the stack of marking I have yet to do). It is crazy, busy and time consuming but I am really enjoying myself. I am hoping they like me and will hire me back on again in September. Anyway, that is about it for new and exciting stuff going on in my life. Hope everyone else is doing well and I can't wait to meet everyone in May.

Shannon Perlstrom