This is it.

This is the best time of the year. Playoffs.

We’re facing the LA Kings…again. We did two years ago, and we won, of course, but I think it was in 6 games. I remember those games being pretty close.

Daniel Sedin is not set to be back, but look at our record without him! 8-1-0! Seriously! Of course, it would be a great blessing to have him back and spark our top 6 even more, but first I, along with everyone else, would like him to be at his full health.

My prediction is that we take it in 5 games, winning all 3 at home, and losing the 4th game, in LA. Now everyone has to believe me when I say I was right. But that also means you can all taunt me IF I’m wrong.

I have found many a good video, all being spectacular in pumping me up for my favourite two and a half months. Spring is the greatest time of year, am I right?

I hope you all enjoy the series, and hopefully the rest of the playoffs!

GO CANUCKS GO!

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,  stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6

For me, I can’t think of anything except for the way Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross. The ultimate display of God’s love for us, shown in such a brutal way to symbolize our sin and what it must do to His heart every time we commit something that makes the Devil happy.

  And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise. Mark 10:34

Sure, the chocolate and bunnies are great, but never forget that somebodydiedto saveyou, so thatyoumay spend eternity in the ultimate paradise, with unconditional love of our Father and Saviour. HOW COULD SOMEONE NOT BE EXCITED?

Remember to not only think of the death of Jesus Christ, but the resurrection.

Kelsey comes home tomorrow evening! Woo!

Finally, man. It seems like 1/5 of our family has been missing. I have a feeling she will be sleeping a lot, but it will feel great to have her home!

She’s coming home at the greatest time possible…right when Spring is starting. My favourite season of them all.

Listen to the song Christ is Risen by Matt Maher. It’s a beautiful song, singing of the hope that Jesus has brought all of us in his death and resurrection! I hope you have a beautiful Easter, thanking the Lord for all He has done for us!

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:8-11

Tomorrow. It’s finally here.

You all may know what I’m talking about (since there’s a picture right there…) but I have been waiting for this day for who knows how long!

Alas, I’m not going tomorrow because of work, but I’m going on Sunday. And ya’ll have no idea how excited I am. Dressing like Katniss Everdeen? Yeah.

I just really hope that I’m not hyping it up to be an amazing movie with absolutely no wrongs. I know that it will have some, and I know that it does from watching the trailers.

I should lower my expectations.

Dear Duncan Keith,

First of all, let me just remind you how much I hate your hair. And you’re not a model, so you don’t need to look pretty and use Crest Whitening Strips.

Anyway.

Your hit on Daniel Sedin last night was inappropriate. Nobody’s elbow needs to be that high unless you’re a belly dancer. Taking your anger out on others from being a dirty, awful hockey player is not a solution. Perhaps take up some counseling or retire early and live on the bottom of the ocean.

Thank you.

From,

Not a fan.

(Me, you can see Lopez getting a blister patched up and Nadal sitting beside him!)

Well, I am home. Feels good to shower in my own shower, have my own room, and see my dogs.

The BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday was everything andmore.We got to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden (beautiful place) around 5, and immediately went to Stadium 2 to find seats for the Nadal/Lopez doubles match. We got there, and a singles match was already going on between Gilles Simon (FRA) and Ryan Harrison (USA). Such great tennis, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Any match you to at tournaments like these, you will see amazing tennis.

Simon ended up winning, and then Nadal came on the court. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I never thought I would get to see him play, and I did. My relatives, Bud and Kim gave my sister and I their tickets for the second round! These seats were 5 rows up from the court, and bang on in the middle. Seriously. I was in shock. I almost got Nadal’s autograph, but he only stopped for a little boy. Who wouldn’t, this kid was adorable. But it was still pretty cool being 5 feet away from him.

We also stopped in at Stadium 1, just to see how gorgeously huge it was. Beautiful stadium, but it was late so we didn’t stay for long!

We drove to LA on Thursday, and stayed in a hotel. Awful bathroom, but I’m not complaining. Or am I… We went to the Yardhouse for dinner that night, and it was delicious. Really busy, but great food. On Friday, we went Knott’s Berry Farm. SO FUN! My favourite roller coaster was the Silver Bullet, and the wooden coaster almost beats it. Taylor talked me into going on the coaster “Xelerator.” I thought I was going to die. I was already feeling a bit nauseous from the wooden one, and then I go on this one. It was quite short, but deadly. For me. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJE7eOqo1B8)

Now, I am home, and relaxing. Catching up on American Idol and the Amazing Race was fun, it was like non-stop good television.

(Rafael Nadal, getting ready to serve - which have been more consistent, as of late.)

(Marc Lopez, Nadal’s doubles partner.)

(Stadium 1, with even more seats up top!)

(This is where the bracket stood at the end of the day!)

On this beautiful day of 29 degrees (haha) we went to the Coachella Valley Preserve. It’s a preserve (obviously) with a few oasis’ and it’s beautiful. Huge palm trees everywhere, and while walking in the desert (total complete desert) to get from one oasis to another, it is HOT. I don’t know how I got back here, sitting in this beautiful A/C.

An oasis! Believe me, it’s nice and cool in there.

      Palm tree in an oasis.

Cool cactus!

                A lizard I got a perfect picture of! Picture of the day.

The stretch of desert, and then an oasis!

Boardwalk in an oasis.

  A pond in the middle of a grove!

Me and Tay!

 The same pond as before, but still pretty!

Yesterday, in the afternoon, we went to a golf course restaurant for appetizers with my Mom’s side of the fam! It was fun, I had lettuce wraps, with chicken cooked in ginger. Yum. We sat and talked, and looked at the gorgeous view of the golf course. Absolutely breathtaking!

I feel like I should be tanning, but I don’t think I am. I’m ever so patiently waiting for the tennis match at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Wednesday, but I don’t think I can much longer! I still don’t know who we’re going to be watching. Murray was knocked out yesterday in the 2nd round, so that’s one top 5 we won’t be seeing. I would prefer it be Nadal or Fed.

Only 5 days left in the sun. What?!

The sun. I SEE THE SUN. Indio is beautiful.

My tan is slowly coming along, I can see a bit of a farmer’s tan. (Still a tan.)

The drive down here wasn’t too shabby, I watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief at first, then pretty much stared out the window for the rest of the 23 hours. Washington, Oregon, and Northern California are beautiful to drive through, even at night, but once you pass Sacramento, California, it’s all desert flat land or orange trees. The first few orchards of orange or lemon trees are awesome, because they’re loaded with fruit, but after a while it gets boring.

We finally got to Indio, and arrived precisely at 7 (just in time for the Canucks game) and we had a delicious meal of Grandma’s lasagna and secret amazing caeser salad. Kels, sorry if this is making you jealous. I had to say it.

So far, I have lied in the sun reading. Yesterday, we went to College of the Desert for the street fair/flea market, which was pretty fun. Lots of cool stuff, but way overpriced. This morning, we went to my grandparents church (Southwest Community Church) which was very different. But you can’t beat Northview! Well, I think so. The pastor here was great, and the way they did their service was a nice change. It was cool to see how other church’s work and do their stuff.

It’s absolutely amazing how God has created all these different biomes, containing different trees, earth, and even the air.

Staying here only a week will not do.

I know, I know. It has been a while. But I’ve been busy, and my life really hasn’t been that exciting up until now.

Let’s start with the Job Action. Really, teachers? Strike right before spring break? Absolutely ridiculous, if you ask me. I leave today (Wednesday) to go to Palm Springs (yahoo!), and if everyone goes back to school tomorrow, doesn’t this mean I get 3 weeks of spring break? Heck yes, it does.

My vacation in California is a much needed one. The sun is truly one of my best friends. I’m ready to leave this cold behind and start feeling warmth on my behind! My family and I get to go see a tennis match (4th round, BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells), we get to go to Magic Mountain, Six Flags (http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/rides/ThrillRides.aspx , I’m a little nervous if you ask me, I’m not huge on roller coasters) and spend time with the grandparents! We’re driving down there, so I’m wondering if this will be a good thing. Hopefully I don’t get carsick, and I sleep a lot.

Last night, I went to the Canucks game!! They were playing Dallas, and lost, 5-2. But it was still a hockey game, man! We went with my mom’s work for her Christmas bonus, and sat in the nosebleeds. Probably the worst seats in the arena, but they were still amazing seats! I could see the whole rink, and I had a lot of fun. Before we got into the arena, we were standing around waiting for the doors to open (we got there pretty early) I got interviewed by the Canucks TV reporter! I went behind the camera and waved my sign around (above) and she called me back over to answer some trivia questions! I got 1 out 5 right. They were about the new players (Kassian, Pahlsson, and Gragnani) and were difficult! When they skated out for the pre-game warm up, I stood right above the alley and got an awesome video of them! All in all, it was a pretty great experience.

I will definitely try to keep this blog updated during vacation, but no promises! I will have a lot of spare time, but that will be spent mostly in the sun.

This year on February 14th, I worked.

Yes, I’m single, so it really wasn’t a huge deal, but COME ON. Working in a restaurant with sappy couples coming in all night? Not fun.

It wasn’t too bad, the people I worked with definitely made it worthwhile. My manager gave me roses at the end of my shift, and I got some hugs.

V-Day is about love, people. So love everybody! Everyone you pass by in the halls, on the street. Smile.

I would much rather prefer to walk to school every morning, as the air is so full of new life and awakening. I have a spare every other day, so I walk to school when the streets are pretty much empty of people, save for a few. Whenever I pass by somebody, I smile and say, “Good morning” hoping I don’t sound like someone from the insane asylum.

I encourage all of you reading this to do so as well.

I also truly hope that you remember what love really is, that love is more than what we see on the Hollywood movie screens. (As much as we’d like to think so…ahem, The Vow.)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:16-18