Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas! We hope you had a great holiday with family and friends. We are back from the Island where we celebrated with the Boyd side of the family for a few days.

As usual, there was tons of food, presents and laughing. I realized why I have no desire to ever move back to Port -- we didn't see the sun shine for the 5 days we were there!

But Katie and I managed to get out for a few walks in the rain and made the most of it. We played and built Lego, board games, spy games with the boys and actually each got a hot stone massage @ our friend's new Spa - -Austin Spa Treatments -- such a relaxing way to start the holidays (Thanks, Sondra!!)

We even found time to pose for a few family pictures.

Katie is at work for a few days to handle the month/year-end chaos that is sure to occur with the new project systems in place.
We hope you had an amazing Christmas, like we did. Feel free to share your favorite Christmas moment in our comment section!

We head to Emerald Lake (below) for our New Year celebrations in a few days -- can't wait!

Iron Chef America - The Preparation

I'm not sure how many of you watch Iron Chef America, but it's a staple in our household. I enjoy it, but Scott is somewhat fanatical about it...and I think he secretly (well, not so secretly)dreams of being an Iron Chef.

Being the supportive wife I am I got Scott to put on his new chefs hat (compliments of my mom's latest cruise) and got things underway with a couple of head shots for his publicity campaign...thanks for the advice on poses Paul!

Here's the shot we sent off to Kitchen Stadium - they would have been crazy to not have Scott appear as a guest Iron Chef!

Chef Boyd-Ar-Dee

Since Scott lacks the formal training that a typical Iron Chef might have, he was asked to stop by Kitchen Stadium and display his superior kitchen skills in person before the formal invitation to appear on the show was given. Needless to say Chef Boyd-Ar-Dee wowed the judges with his authentic cuisine!!!

Being that Scott will be a guest Iron Chef, the officials at Iron Chef America changed the rules slightly...instead of the challenger choosing an Iron Chef to compete against, Chef Boyd-Ar-Dee (the guest Iron Chef) was asked to choose a competitor from the list of capable challengers. After mulling over hundreds of resumes Scott finally settled on Betty Crocker's nephew, Joe Crocker, as his competitor in Kitchen Stadium - as you can imagine, his resume is VERY impressive!!! The date for the match isn't set yet, but the title fight poster is already being worked on...here's a preview

Chef Boyd-Ar-Dee vs. Joe Crocker (Nephew of Betty Crocker)

Stay tuned for more on Scott's match in Kitchen Stadium!!!

Nearing 100 Posts!

Hello! This time of year, everyone does the "year-in-review" type of blog. But we aren't gonna do that -- you can flip thru the months, if you wish to see what we've been up to this year.

Instead, we are going to focus on trying to get more people to comment on the blog! We are almost at 100 blog posts for 2007. We gathered a few dozen strangers, rented a helicopter and took this photo to help celebrate our accomplishment. (ha!) It's an exciting accomplishment that we are happy to share with you, our avid readers. We know you're out there - we just want to hear from you online more often!

So take a few minutes from work, or your Christmas rush and create a simple blog profile that will allow you to leave comments on our site. Share with us some of your favorite moments from 2007 - or something you're looking forward to in 2008.

We're Looking Forward to Hearing From You!

Black Prince Mountain -- Moose Alert!

Today we went snowshoeing @ Black Prince Mountain with eight friends (more on that later) But when we returned to the parking lot, we were surprised to see a Moose!


The Moose was very interested in the salt on the vehicles. She was very meticulous, ensuring she got all the salt off the vehicle. We were lucky that she had already licked our vehicle and had moved on -- thus we were able to leave without issue.


OK - back to the snowshoe fun...


We hit the trail for a couple of hours - had a snack in the valley and enjoyed the amazing views. Then back to our vehicle for the Moose!


There was tons of snow and we couldn't walk all the way around the lake, due to avalance danger. But nonetheless, a wicked day -- and weekend, since we were having fun outside everyday!!


What kinda fun did you get up to this weekend??

Skate Ski Lessons

This morning we went to Canada Olympic Park and had our first Skate Ski Lesson. What a blast! It looks like regular x-country skis, but feels much more natural - especially if you have some experience on hockey skates. We picked Ed up @ 0745am and got our rentals from the University. Made a quick stop for some Timmy Ho Java and headed to the hill.

There were 8 students in the class, including us. Katie was by far the best in the class -- very natural. I started calling her teacher's pet ; )

It was a perfect day to be out for more than 3 hours in the snow -- with temps hovering just below zero, we dressed perfect for the level of activity (until the 2km loop to end the class - sweaty!)

It was great to spend time with Big Ed doing something we all love. We went for lunch @ one of our favorite biking cafes (Cadence) afterwards and the soup scored rave reviews from Ed.

Big smiles = big time fun and good memories. Tomorrow we are headed out with a group of friends to do some snowshoeing on Black Prince Trail. We'll take some photos and share the fun.

Oh - tonight the two of us tried out a German Restaurant in Bragg Creek. Amazing food & a great atmosphere -- wood fire burning, candles and a waiter with a wicked German accent! Did we mention the food was outstanding?! If you like Schnitzel and Spatzel (and if you can't make it to Port Alberni's Little Bavarian) we now know the next best thing!

A Beautiful Day on Telephone Loop

As to not lose our minds on our bike trainers (and because we love the outdoors so much), Scott and I have decided to add a little diversity to our workout schedule. This week we decided on a hike of one of our favorite bike trails – Telephone Loop. The trail is a 15km loop (despite what the sign says) in which you climb about 1500 feet. The time on the sign is just about right since it took us 4 hours and 5 minutes to complete.

It was an absolutely beautiful day! The sun was shining, it was warm, and I had the best company I could have asked for!!! The only thing we might have changed was the fact that we didn't bring the snowshoes and poles with us...the first and last 2 km were just fine without them, but the 10-11km in the middle of our hike were pretty snowy. All the better for our conditioning I suppose!!!

Another added bonus for the day was getting to use our Garmins again! It was pretty fun to get a running commentary of our progress including time, distance, average speed, elevation, altitude and heart rate. Here's a graph of the elevation profile.

Next weekends adventure will be cross country skiing with my Dad! We've all enrolled in the Intro to Skate Skiing put on by the University of Calgary Outdoor Centre. We all have a little experience with traditional cross country skiing so it only seemed natural to take it to the next level - we can't wait!

Stay tuned for the update next weekend!

Zoo Lights

Tonight we went for dinner and then headed to the Zoo to experience their Zoo Lights. We went a few years ago together & had tons of fun -- this year was no exception!

It's cold in Calgary, so the tour was only an hour long - but we saw a great selection of lighted displays and walked off our dinner.

The photo to the left is Scott trying to get some dessert...Watch out gingerbread man!!




Katie poses near the tunnel of love!
Mom & Baby Giraffe.
We also had to laugh at the groups of "cool kids" who came out in -18 degree weather without their jackets...haha

Zoom Zoom!

So guess what we bought today?! Some new snowshoe poles...oh and a new car to put them in!! (hee-hee!)

Katie gets a car allowance for her new position in January - so we figured we'd take advantage of it and get a new vehicle for her. Her '98 Cavalier has served her well over the years, but she is looking forward to driving her '08 Mazda 3 Sport next week. The picture is the exact vehicle we purchased - colour/features.

Plus she was pretty excited to make her 'first purchase' under her name of Katie Boyd -- isn't she cute?! All went well with the 'negotiating' -- we had the #1 Mazda Canada Sales Person of 2007 assisting us. With our purchase he has sold 251 vehicles this year (yikes - almost a car for every working day!) So we're sure he'll thank us when he gets his award this year - ha!

Katie's first addition to the vehicle -- remote car starter. Ah, you have to love Calgary winters.

Until next time...Zoom Zoom!

Training Update

Just in case you are wondering if the Christmas Hustle has been interfering with the training the answer is no. It's the Christmas cookies. The Christmas potlucks. The Christmas chocolate, etc..etc... Hahaha!

In all seriousness training continues to go well. Just last night we did a good ride on our trainer. Our regular warm-up, then 50 minutes in heart rate zone 4, followed by our standard cool down. Being in HR Zone 4 basically means that your pushing yourself between 80-90% of your capacity. Both of us noticed our lactic acid threshold had improved as we rode the entire 50 minutes at the threshold.

Next week is the start of our new routine, as we move from conditioning to base training (basically more riding or longer rides!) Check out our graphs from last night. The red line is Heart Rate and the orange line is cadence.

Hope you're enjoying the training updates. And more importantly, we hope you're enjoying your Christmas treats, as much as we have been! Until next time, Keep pedalling!

Deck The Halls

Today was our Tree Trimming Open House! What an awesome time to get together with friends and family in Calgary.

We came up with a great system to keep track of everyone's drinks. All the elves were very happy campers! Not much tree decorating got accomplished -- but we did get some beautiful tree ornaments today from friends -- thanks!!

It was a very cold day, but the party quickly turned into a kitchen party and things warmed up nicely. Add a few kids opening some gifts, a couple puppies, people playing the drums in the basements and you have a recipe for a great time.

O Christmas Tree - O Christmas Tree!

We know it's not December yet, but this is the first year we've been able to put up a tree in our house (we've either been by the beach or in Port), so we made an exception today!

It's just a little one - but it has lots of character.

Next Sunday we are having the Official Tree Trimming Party, so it will look a little bare until then. If you didn't get your invitation, please consider this your invite and stop by anytime between 2pm & 6pm. (Internet stalkers are NOT welcome! hee-hee)

We've made the Boyd Christmas iPod Mix and it will be rockin - it's something you don't want to miss.

See you next week.

Quick Update

Hi! We haven't been the best bloggers recently -- most of the times we come to the computer we are downloading from our new toys. Yup, more Garmin talk -- they are just so much fun!

Anyway, biking is going great - both feeling healthy and into our routine.

Katie is in Mexico this week training the woman who is going to take over her position. She is happy to be handing it all over!

We've been busying catching up with friends over dinner, drinks or whatever there is time for. Work Christmas parties start next week -- yikes! Katie's is an overnighter again - but just in Calgary. Unlike last year when we were spoiled and we went to LA!

You're now up-to-date. Thanks for checking in - talk to you soon!

Information Overload!

Although our Garmins have way more information than we will, likely, ever require -- they are soooo much fun to play with! So far we've programmed a month's worth of training exercises into them (now all we have to do is turn them on & our Garmin tells us how fast, how hard and how long to pedal!)

Today we started with a Max Heart Rate Test to help us program our training zones (can you say ouch!) Basically you pedal as fast/hard as you can until your lungs and legs give out. The computer keeps track of your heart rate, and thus you now know your Max Rate.

The Red Line = Heart Rate. Orange Line = Cadence (RPM)

After that we took the bikes (and the Garmins!) for a road ride. We picked a slightly different version (a few more hills) than one of our favorite rides -- out to Priddis and back. And we couldn't wait to get home & see all the data!

So here's a Physics question for all you wizards: If you cover 15km in 40mins going West and 15km in 20mins going East -- what's the wind speed and direction? Here's a hint - it hurt getting there and was way fun on the trip home!! To help you with the question - here's a bunch of data on a chart that our Garmin produces for us after each ride.

Red = Heart Rate. Green = Elevation. Blue = Speed

Because it has GPS, we even get maps to plot our rides! This was a pretty simple 34km out and back - made slightly more difficult with a strong head wind!

We look forward to your answers, almost as much as we are looking forward to our next ride!

Stormy Sunshine

Stormy Sunshine -- it may sound like a bit of an oxymoron. But when we're talking about the names of the horses we rode - it's very accurate!

Katie rode Sunshine and demonstrated a true cowgirl spirit by being eager to learn to put on the saddle, brush the horses, etc. Scott rode Stormy and was hopped up on Allergy medication to stop him from sneezing the day away. He took a more hands-off approach to help prolong the day of riding - and it seemed to work, once we were in the cool fresh air, his allergies were fine.

Katie was totally in her element - surrounded by cats, dogs and all the barn yard animals. There were several cat discussions as she played with the new kittens - but we came home as we had left...cat-free. Although, Scott did actually touch the kittens (could he be changing his mind?!)



We had tons of fun with Kyle & Melissa. It was a definite "laugh while you learn" type of session! As you can see by the photos, it's already snowing in Calgary - much more so near the mountains where we went riding. But we had a great time and we went to their place afterwards for some hot chocolate and an amazing dinner -- thanks again guys!

Giddy Up!

We are going horseback riding tomorrow with our friends Kyle & Melissa -- we'll be sure to take some photos. These are some of their engagement photos - totally amazing!

Our trip is sure to be funny, since neither of us are really the cowgirl/cowboy type! But we can't wait for the fun to begin. Katie hopes to ride a horse called Wilson and Scott hopes to ride a horse called Trigger.

Yee-ha & Giddy-up!

The Edge

After getting back from our holiday, we began our training for the BC Bike Race. Between Oct & January, training is all about getting back into shape and not feeling the pain from the workouts. To help us with a distraction during this process, we bought The Garmin Edge 305. It should arrive next Thursday, but we already can't wait!!

Our research shows that this little machine should be wicked fun. Here's a little more about it, until we can give you our consumer review next week!

"Edge 305 automatically measures your speed, distance, time, calories burned, altitude, climb and descent, and records this data for your review. For extra-precise climb and descent data, Edge 305 also incorporates a barometric altimeter to pinpoint changes in elevation. GPS, cadence & heart rate monitor in one!"

The weather is still good enough for biking outside - so we are doing that when we can. The rest of the time it's on the trainers in the basement. We also have a competition as to who can create the best IPOD workout mix. Katie's mix this week was an inspired old school mix that made the bike intervals pass quickly -- well done!! But Scott promises a solid sample of beats for training on Saturday. If you want to judge the IPOD selections, let us know & we'll post them for your comments!

Until next time - keep pedalling!

Smart-T-Pants Katie

It's official -- Katie got confirmation today that she got her MBA. Her thesis got a passing grade and now she can change her business cards: Katie Boyd, E.I.T, MBA (hahaha!!)

Congratulations, Katie! We're all really proud of you.

Home!

Our last day in Tahiti was spent by the pool and hanging out in the hammock soaking up the sun. What a great way to end a wicked holiday!!

We are now back home, safe and sound. We slept most of our flight from Tahiti to LAX. And had a minor hiccup when we missed our connection in LA. Apparently Katie looks like the type of person that may try to smuggle cocaine. She got hauled off into Customs - but not for those reasons. With all her work travel and work VISA stuff - they found it odd that she was now travelling for fun and had a few questions for her. Oh well - who doesn't want 5hrs in LA, right?

A few more days before we have to go back to reality of work and committments. In the meantime, we are catching up with friends, developing photos and doing laundry ; )

Thanks for sharing our vacation with us via the blog!

Trip Back to Moorea

Because we enjoyed Moorea so much during the cruise - we took the $9 ferry ride back for a day of fun! This time, however, the weather wasn't as nice. Remember our rain, rain go away post? Well that was a dry day in comparison!! Seriously!

The day started out with a "rocky" ferry trip -- it's only 30 minutes, but 30 minutes in the bathroom is way too long -- right, Katie ; )

When we did arrive we rented Scooters to tour the Island. The guy at the rental shop tried to get us to rent a car instead - but hey we're crazy canucks! The rain was warm, but the wind was not and the scooters did get to 80km/hour.

We were lucky enough to score some ponchos -- making for great photos!!


We did have a great time despite the weather - which actually contributed to Katie's fun - as she got to watch Scott get drenched by the huge wave created by a passing truck. She is still giggling as we write this!

The day ended, much the same way it started out with a "rocky" ferry trip -- it's only 30 minutes, but 30 minutes in the bathroom is way too long -- right, Scott ; )

Who would have thought a Monsoon could be so much fun!

Another Day In Paradise

Papeete Market

After taking Le Truck downtown (always explore public transportation where ever you go!) we explored the downtown of Papeete, including the local market. Much like the awesome outdoor Seattle Market that we’ve come to love – this too was full of activity and a full selection of flowers, fish, fresh produce, etc…

We actually ran into Ed & Christine who were here until Saturday – we had a beer and a chat and went our separate ways again.

Show Time!

That evening back at our Hotel – they held their evening dinner show – a true Polynesian Experience. Dinner started with a full seafood buffet and was followed by a Polynesian show with traditional dancers, fire throwers and a crowd participation segment. Of course, we got dragged up on stage with about a dozen other people – the guys dancing with a Polynesian girl and the women dancing with a Polynesian warrior. We all danced to one song and then to exit the stage, they took small groups to center stage to show off their new moves…and yes we were dead last – only Katie and Scott left on stage with the Warriors fighting over Katie and the Polynesian Women fighting over Scott. I guess our wedding planner thought it would be ‘funny’ – lucky for you a couple we met on the cruise from Toronto grabbed our camera & the pictures now tell the story…

Rain Rain Go Away

Today we had a 4x4 Quad tour scheduled. So we met with our guide and left in the pouring rain. It was fun, but kinda chilly when you’re going 70km/hour soaking wet. Regardless, once we got to the 4x4 area – it was muddy and fun. But because the trail was so slick, it was a shortened version. But on the BONUS side – they are giving us a Jet Ski/Dolphin Tour on Tuesday morning to make up for the shortened experience!!

The rest of today we are just gonna relax and watch the rain fall from our over water bungalow…oooh romantic : )