Our Wedding Day

For those of you who couldn't make it, and even if you did, here are some pictures from our photographer, and some random cameras.

Wedding...

I was home for 6 weeks in March/April working on wedding stuff. It was nice to be back in Canada but I was missing the tropical weather, and of course Jeff who wasn't able to tag along with me. The invitations have all been sent out and so far a lot of you are coming, and we can't wait to see everyone again!



When I got back to Balikpapan 3 weeks ago, we took another trip to Bali and just relaxed - this time with more geckos and lizards in our room, even when we got back home I would still wake up thinking they were on me, or on the blanket - thats the last time we stay there I suppose.



I got elected to be the chairperson for the BEWC (Balikpapan Expatriate's Women's Society) board. I will be the chairperson for our Membership and Charities positions. I'm very excited for coordinating the Charities i'll be much more involved this way. This is my first experience with politics and just how political some people really are. So far...not going so good.



Otherwise not much else is new


Until next time...

Family time...

As most of you know, I am now at home, in Calgary for a month or so - currently in Red Deer spending quality time with the little nephew. Here are some pics...he's getting so big!!



Say Cheese??
His classic your annoying me face...
Awww how cute...this is one of my favs!

Making Baba (and my aunties) proud!!

Cindy and I have been talking about making perogies for months now, so Monday is the day, I decided being Ukrainian and all I should look like I know what I'm doing before I attempt them with her so I managed to rope Jeff into making a small batch with me today...

Making the potatos...

Kneading the dough...

Jeff's first attempt, it looks a bit full...it's alot harder then it looks!

Cutting out the circles...Do you think we have enough potatos?

Our final product...stay tuned to hear the verdict on tonight's dinner!

They definitely aren't Baba's or any of the aunties but for a first timer, I think I have what it takes, must be in the blood! We cousins will survive after all!

Living Creatures...

Since we've been back from Christmas holidays we have come across a few HUGE creatures in our house. 1 being the spider, the other being the grasshopper on steroids. Check them out...
This guy was on our kitchen coutner, we are still doing the math and have no idea how he got in.




I feel comfortable saying, camping will never bother me again!

Settling In

Our first offical picture together in Indonesia, Cindy and Todd have been in Indonesia for 10 years so we had a party at their house, quite a feat. We have been keeping busy with tennis, golf, work for jeff and hanging out with the girls around The Hill for me. Its nice to be back and getting more settled in. I'll be taking the long flight back home in April for a month or so to accomplish more wedding stuff and will hopefully be able to catch up with everyone I didn't get a chance to see last time!

Home...

We are doing great...recovering from our long flights back home, and settling in nicely. Our house was still in one piece with no bugs surprisingly. Jeff is golfing more now that he isn't working weekends and i'm keeping busy with the girls in the neighbourhood. I'm heading to Jakarta with some ladies from church for a Women's Retreat Feb 9 - 10. It will be my first time there and i'm really looking forward to it...For all of you who are wondering....

Our updated address and phone number:

Jeff and Lori Russell
The hill #31
Jl. PDAM Gn. Samarinda
Balikpapan 76125
Indonesia

Home # 62 542 8879374
Lori's Mobile 081 350 258060 - i'm not sure how you dial it from overseas.

Surprise!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Well if you don't know already, Jeff and I made it home for Christmas as a last minute surprise to our family. It was nice to get away and recharge, always hard to leave of course, life is much easier in Canada. It was nice to see everyone we did get to see...we definitely know we won't be over here for 3 years, our family is way to important to us and life is much too short!

If we didn't get a chance to see you, accept our apologizes. One of our main purposes for the trip was to plan our wedding...and we actually managed to accomplish it all, in one week. In the week we also got engagement pictures taken with Alan, the photographer who will be capturing our big day for us. I have posted some of the pictures below and he did an amazing job if I do

say so myself, they are gorgeous...

I will be posting more pictures of the new house and our life around Balikpapan once we finish our trek home tomorrow!!