Well 2009 has been one hell of a year, awesome snow during the winter and who can complain when your summer starts out with almost two weeks of +30 heat, then settled down to a consistent high 20’s. It sure is going to be a summer to compare all summers to.

Tammy and I have been keeping super busy trying to match all the “green thumbs” that live in our neighborhood. Also having made a bet for nicest yard against my brother is keeping us motivated. I had no idea how hard it was to grow  and maintain grass. haha

On a low note the passing of my parents dog was a real disappointment, however I am glad we were able to get her outside and to the cabin for one last time. She will definatley be missed.

Bought a new truck, super nice! Kirk, Jennie, Tammy and I went on a short road trip this past Sunday to break it in.  We headed to Skagway and had a blast as usual. Of course the cruise ships were docked so the town was experiencing a mass overpopulation of tourists.  And of course being at the ocean you have to eat seafood,  Best King crab I have ever tasted.

Now with less than one week until we head down to Alberta to see Tammy’s family the summer holidays seem like a bonus to a great couple of months.

life is feeling pretty good.

JB

For those of you who didn’t know, Jon and I headed out for a much deserved (and needed) vacation.  We made our way to Honolulu, and had a blast. With seven days of  sun, sand and shopping you definatley cant go wrong.The weather was nice, +26 and up, some mornings were a little rainy but the sun came out in full force for the afternoons.

Thanks to the hotel’s activity coordinator our itinerary was packed full of a ton of activities.  JB successfully took on surfing and now has the surfing bug, thank goodness we live in the Yukon or else we would have another board of some sort in the house, not to mention another activity to keep him busy in the summer (like he needs it).

We also were able to go out snorkeling,  swimming with the fish was so much fun. During our boat trip to the dive site  some whales showed up and gave us a bit of a show.

We spent a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center on the north shore of the island, it is a really neat place and takes a whole day to see everything. During our visit we were treated to an authentic Hawaiian Luau, some interesting food, neither of us are a big fan of the taro root (a staple in the Hawaiian diet) but we still had a whole lot of fun. Google them, it is a really neat operation. They provide post secondary schooling for for individuals who live within the Polynesian triangle, and then the individuals work at the center teaching about their cultures to repay their student loans.

And thanks to Travel Zoo, on our way back JB was able to extend our trip a couple of days and sneak in a three day stay in Whistler. We got an amazing deal allowing us to stay at the Fairmont Whistler for 80% off of the regular rates. Needless to say he hit the slopes and I hit the spa! haha.

We are back now, both of us are surprised how happy we are to be home even though we arrived to a ridiculous bout of high winds and piercingly blowing snow. The plans for our next trip are in process, looks like this may become an annual February/March event for the Buckles. hehe.

We have way to many stories so give us a shout if you wanna hear them or check out our Flikr page, the photos tell a pretty good story. Jon is posting pictures as I type.

Being our first Halloween up in Copper Ridge, we didn’t quite know what to expect as far as the number of “treaters” coming to our house. After an hour we realized we were in over our heads, Jon was rationing our candy, giving out one item to each kid… he refused to go and buy more, something about rotting teeth and helping out their parents by limiting their supply. what a nut!

So I headed out to get some more, and good thing I did cause the kids didn’t stop coming until well after 9:00. As the evening progressed, it was mainly the teenagers out ringing the doorbells. At one point three boys stopped by and had a little conversation with JB, it went like this:

Kid: Trick or Treat…hey since it is so late can you just give us the rest of your candy?

JB: Huh?…you guys arent even dressed up…

Kid: we are too…

JB: oh yeah, what are you then..local teenagers?

Kid: No, gangsters…

other kid: yeah American gangsters…

JB: nice try… now get outta here!

As soon as the door shut Jon runs upstairs emitting a nervous laugh and saying “ohh we are gonna get it”and starts peeking through the corner of the window making sure the kids dont start throwing eggs at our house or something…. and continued to do so for the remainder of the night.

what a dolt…all over candy.

Everybody is working and I am on days off… a guy can only play so much NHL ‘09 so I decided to get a clip of Jackson getting his ear medication.  I really have no idea why I filmed it but its kinda funny how he lies down and takes it like a champ.

Thats how bored I am and its only day one…ugghh

Usually no news is good news, but when your working at keeping a blog going  no news can make things a little tough.

We headed up to Anchorage for Labour day weekend, however the morning we were planning on going I walked downstairs to a flooded basement. Apparently our Hot water tank didn’t really want us to go and put its life on the line to keep us around.  Three months into our new home and it broke already! haha… I got things under control and we got a new tank installed that day. Good news is that we are getting new carpet put in through insurance, which we are happy for since the carpet downstairs could use an upgrade.

We spent the remainder of the day drying out the carpet and floor and took off to Alaska the next morning.

The trip was great, chances are we will never drive it again simply due to the length, supposed to be 13 hours…took us 16 with construction. Way too much to drive in a day, although the trip was long the view made up for it once we got to our destination… Big mountains and the ocean breeze are a perfect combination in my opinion. Tammy thinks the ocean stinks but has grown to have an appreciation for mountain views so her opinion may vary a bit from mine.  We got our “shop on” in the big city and had a real fun time checking out the Zoo, etc. We posted some pictures of the zoo on flickr, check them out. All in all we had a good time and are glad we made it up there for a break. Here is how Tammy spent the majority of the drive back home.

Now we are back to the grind, both of us having new positions with work and up for the challenges they will bring.

That is about all I have to give you guys for an update, I will try to keep up on the blogging a bit more regularily over the next few months.

JB

hahha,

last post April 26th, so as you can guess May was stupidly busy for Tammy and I. Being summer and all I am usually out enjoying the many outdoor activities the Yukon has to offer, however this year has been quite wet. In fact I had plans to do some reckless biking down Haeckle Hill today, but Mother Nature had other plans. So here I am updating our blog.

For about a week now we have been able to settle down, and enjoy our new home. We are all moved in but still have to add our little touches to many of the rooms…not to mention buy some furniture. I have posted some photos on our flickr site so feel free to check them out.

News from the north, My Dad who had planned to retire in December has changed his plans. To become Bishop one has to be elected, the first weekend of June the church held elections to fill the position and after seven attempts the group was unable to get out of a deadlock. So my Dad did what he does and prayed about the situation and with the support from many church and community members he has decided not to retire and stay as Arch Bishop of B.C and Yukon for a bit longer. At least until a individual can be successfully voted in. This is good news for him and my mom, cause I think neither of them were really ready to step down and not to mention settle down.

Other than that things are going well, hopefully the weather will clear for me to participate in some adventures then I will definatley have something to write about.

Hope everyone is doing well, cheers

JB

Oh yeah… YEAH BOSTON!!!!! …Ray Allen’s my man!! Celtics rock!

It has been awhile since we have updated our post so here it is;

last weekend Kirk, Kurt and I headed out to the summit for a day in the snow,

It promised to be lots of fun until I crashed and concussed myself. I wish I had pictures of it, from my perspective it  kind of felt like I was doing a no handed handstand.. I swear I heard every vertebrae in my neck crack.

Needless to say after that I sat out the afternoon. Who knew that snow could be so hard? and sharp … it was surprisingly sharp.

anyways, that evening we headed down to Skagway, Alaska to spend the night. Not much was open seeing as the tourist season isnt quite upon us. But we were able to find some decent nachos for dinner, and luckily Kirk had his camper on so we just pulled over in a turn-out to camp.

The next day we headed out into the ocean for a paddle, the water was awesome and I started this season out pretty good seeing as I didn’t tip over (last season I think I was 10 capsizes for 15 trips).

I don’t know where else you can get your last few runs of the season in and then your first paddle of the season all in the same weekend.

Pretty Cool.

Why aren’t all birthdays this fun?

Another event I am glad we didn’t miss.

What a doll!

JB

yes, we are back in the good old Yukon. It was pretty tough leaving the big city, and landing this afternoon seeing all the snow made it alot harder. I don’t know what I was thinking, hoping that it would be melted…set myself up for disappointment big time. I have never been one for holding a strong connection to any particular place, but for some reason I just cant let go of Edmonton.

I have changed our main picture from our marriage ceremony photo to one of my man Dave Grohl rocking out (my apologies for the poor quality, it was taken with a cell phone). I am sure Tammy will understand. Cause it was THE best show ever!!! so glad I picked up tickets and flew down for it, if you ever get a chance go see them cause they are goooood. Tammy made me change my Foo Fighters shirt after four days in a row, something about a funky smell. I don’t know, I thought I smelled fine.

It was nice to see all our friends and family; short ones, tall ones, big ones and the little ones who I must say are growing fast…almost too fast. Seems that Uncle Jonny isn’t that cool after you hit 1 year old. I guess they are too mature for me or something. ha ha. It actually surprised me (in hindsight) how much visiting we stuffed into a week. Next time it will be longer, definitely!

It is officially 60 days until Tammy and I move into our new place, Shopping sprees to furnish the house have begun. Good thing we are workaholics cause Tammy has some expensive taste in furniture. And of course we now have room for visitors, so I better start hearing from you guys regarding summer plans, etc.

that is about all I got for now, again it was great seeing everyone and be sure to keep in touch yo.

JB

It is official,

Tammy and I are homeowners!! Move in date is May 31, and we are so very excited for our lives and family to grow in A HOME OF OUR OWN.

Here are pictures from the Real Estate Listing so you guys can have a look. We will be showing Mom and Dad Buckle the place within the week so I will post pictures of the whole house then.

JB