Garden Makeover Extravaganza

If you've ever seen "postage stamp" lots, you can imagine our neighborhood well. Long, rectangular houses and detached garages with square patches of grass in between. We like the lower maintenance of a small yard, but it needed some serious work to build character. That's where the men in the Nelson family are uniquely qualified. They seem to love huge piles of dirt, embrace the curvy lines of nature, and have the know-how to transform good ideas for square patches of grass into edible and inviting places of character.

The task has begun...these pictures are compliments of Karla S., featuring the toddler playground created by compost topsoil (more dirt is always a major bonus around 2 year-olds!). Although gardening is always in progress, we did come toward a final product in the landscaping/shrub/fruit tree arena, and we'll post more pics soon.

A Big THANK YOU to Dad and Andrew for all of your help!!!

Mount Baker

If we're going to be this twisted around with our blog-chronology,

why not throw in a piece of last summer in the local mountains?

Talya discovered that her favorite snack (blueberries) grows wild

on a Mount Baker hike shortly after our relocation last summer.

Her numerous blueberry breaks thereafter made it hard

to keep up with the grandparents on this beautiful hike.

In our first full calendar year in this part of the world, we are planning

to reserve more time (and save $) for "staycations" and do some exploring

and enjoying of what the Pacific Northwest has to offer. (:

Christmas 09

Continuing the disjointed chronology of our lives, here's a clip from Christmas. I chose it because it features the namesake of this blog's URL (xana), who has been keeping a low profile here for some time. She is alive and well but somewhat prone to vomiting and dashing out of the house at any opportunity. Fortunately, she doesn't go far. She typically takes a few steps before freezing in her tracks, paralyzed at the prospect of having no hunting skills and toilet facilities to survive in the outside world.

On the Fraser River

We took a walk one misty morning on MacMillan Island near our home. On the muddy banks of the Fraser, this very grey scene is enlivened by the happiness of a pink-clad girl and her mom.

US citizen!

March 15 was a memorable day--I (Alex) became a US citizen! I'd like to say it was a long time in coming (18 years in the US!) but I really only put in my application 3 months ago and USCIS has proved very efficient through it all (compared to the years and years it could once take). One of the reasons prompting my decision was not to have to deal with awkward questions crossing the border, which had always made commuting to the US a little stressful. The only hiccup in this whole process was showing up for the oath ceremony without any appointment (I had to cancel my originally scheduled one, very long story there). We prayed for a sympathetic official and got one; he scheduled my oath later in the day and some hours later, I was an American. Janelle, Talya, and my mom-in-law Lynne were all on hand to witness that moment. We celebrated by going to a Seattle culinary institution, Ivar's, after that.

With a middle name like Faith, I believe I can walk on water!

Belated birthday post

Life is crazy busy and blogging has definitely gotten sidelined by work and the overall adjustment process in Canada. In the midst of it all, we can easily forget that wonderful moments were lived and shared. One such moment was when Talya turned 2 all the way back in September. She's now two-and-a-half, but it's never too late to share her birthday pics (courtesy of Talya's Boppa).

Talya's Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh gave her a gift from afar: A kitchen of her own! And as you can see, this kitchen even comes with a realistic stove top that lights up, thereby densensitizing our child to heat and danger! The kitchen is now very well stocked with all kinds of utensils and food from her grandparents Kwee and it's not unusual to see Tali cooking alongside her parents, preparing meals for her dollies.