This week we each found out that we have jobs. Brianna will be working at Rona, which is kind of like Home Depot or Bunnings. She was required to get steel-capped shoes in time for her first shift tomorrow, and managed to find some nice pink-lined ones at Walmar. Dan will start casual work (hopefully soon) with developmentally struggling kids.

We were also blessed this week to be able to attend the temple on Friday night. It was a great experience to receive guidance and feel peace there.

A couple who were also at the temple saw us walking to the bus stop on our way home and offered us a lift. While we drove they told us about a free Mumford and Sons concert happening that night in Surrey, which was where we needed to go anyway to get the train. After being dropped at the station we excitedly crossed the road to check out the concert, only to find out that rather than being free, it cost $70 to enter. The music was loud enough to hear outside, and the stage was pretty much visible (to Dan), so we ended up getting a free concert anyway.

Free concert!!!...

...from outside the gate.

As the concert finished we were sitting at a park across the road from the station and there were quite a few people crossing the road to head home, so Dan wisely suggested we wait for a little bit till things cleared up. A few minutes later we looked to where people were leaving the concert and it felt kind of like this:

Thousands of people were now leaving the concert, so we quickly made a break for the station and managed to get there ahead of most of the ravenous fans.

So we made it safely home and that concluded our adventures for the week.

This week (as most weeks seem to when you've been somewhere for a while) has gone pretty quickly, its days seeming to blend together. Before it was over, these are some things that happened:

1. Dan and Brianna did a lot more painting, grout sealing, paint scraping, weeding, stone spreading, junk moving and other renovation-related activities for their couple-friends Alex and Lauren. 

2. Dan had interviews for sales, youth support, and neurofeedback trainer roles. He was also contacted by a recruiter about a video-game testing job and is disappointed this opportunity didn't come up ten years earlier.

3. Brianna has a talent for using limited ingredients to make good meals and enjoyed making lentil curry burgers, black beans and other healthy foods. She also became less excited about the idea of being a vegan.

4. Brianna and Dan saw these places:

Save On Meats, a butcher/diner with great breakfast food and ambience.

Chinatown - lots of stores with plastic containers out the front selling dried squid, prawns, lizard fans (fans made from dried lizards' bodies), and other unknown substances.

A store in Chinatown with a special visitor.

Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

  

Cool place.

Flowers that look like coloured popcorn.

A mossy tree.

La Casa Gelato - 218 flavours of ice cream and sorbet including vegemite, wasabi, and pear and blue cheese. Our friend calls this place "Casa de Pinka".

Till next week.

Two Thursdays ago we rose bright and early to return some books to the library and drive back to Providence, Utah for the wedding of a couple of Brianna's friends.

The sight of the beautiful maple leaf billowing in the wind brought a tear to our eyes as we left our new home

The 16-odd hour drive was largely uneventful. High-and low-lights included making it through customs, stopping for McDonald's twice within 15 minutes for breakfast and second breakfast, and an awesome view in Twin Falls from a bridge that spans the Snake River (of 'Oregon Trail' fame).

It was great to spend some time with Brianna's family again, and we enjoyed applying for jobs, playing 'Ticket to Ride', irrigating, thrift shopping and hanging out with them. The wedding of Marie Gregory and Mike Rigby in the Logan temple was beautiful, and we were reminded of the sacredness of marriage and the importance of putting your spouse first. The reception was in a lovely area of reclaimed swampland near where Marie, Brianna and friends hunted for and kissed frogs. One of the lots of cool things there was each table had a bowl with a Siamese fighting fish swimmin' in it.

Mike & Marie's reception before everyone arrived

 Last Wed we drove back to Canada and at one point nearly ran out of petrol, barely making it to this place to fill up:

Snoqualmie Pass

Otherwise the trip went smoothly. Before we left Brianna's mom let her raid the pantry so since we've returned to Vancouver we're still unemployed but are now eating like kings. Finally, here are a few more recent photos:

The walk home from church

A shopping cart just released into the wild is hesitant to leave the only life it's ever known

Our street is pretty nice

Till next week, Happy Mother's Day.