It's Official - We are {FINALLY} Moving!!!

Next stop....Calgary!!!

4 hours flying time from Houston to Calgary

We are so excited to finally be able to say we will be relocating to Calgary, Alberta, Canada this summer!!! I have waited {very} patiently for the day to finally come to say we can move out of Malaysia!!!

I firmly believe we will be in for a rude awakening with the very cold winters in Calgary as well as the cold temperatures throughout the year, but it could always be worse...it will definitely take some getting used to since we have lived in either Houston or the tropics our whole lives! Jaek and Chloe won't know what to think!!!

Kaes will have a new assignment in Calgary for 2-3 years initially. FMC Technologies bought a company called Pure Energy (now FMC Completions Services) and it is currently based in Calgary with U.S. headquarters in Denver. We are open to whatever timing is needed; just thrilled to be much closer to friends and family.

I'm planning to come back to Houston mid June while Kaes stays longer in KL to finish up his current assignment then come to Houston mid August. We would then go to Calgary to move into our house, hopefully receive our furniture, and start getting settled in. This also happens to be the most beautiful {and warmest} time of year. It will be perfect for us to ease into the frigid temperatures in winter. Kaes will likely start work in Calgary mid August which will give us {hopefully} about 6-7 weeks before the baby arrives in early/mid October.

My last days with FMC will be mid June before I head to Houston. I have been there 7 years and have had wonderful experiences in all 5 locations that we worked in. It will be bittersweet to leave, but as they say, when one door closes, another door will open.

A lot of changes are happening with our family that we are really excited to share and look forward to experiencing in a new country. It will be a busy next 5 months, but in the end, we know it will all work out for the best and we cannot wait to start a new adventure in a new country!

White Water Rafting Down the Selangor River

Thursday morning we took a bus 1 hour north of KL to a place called Kuala Kubu Bharu for an adventure filled day of white water rafter, abseiling, and zip cording. The best part was that it was for a Shell and FMC team building event for the Prelude project. In other words, we got paid to go white water rafting...definitely beats a day of sitting in the office!

After our day was lined out and our usual safety briefing and equipment distribution, we headed out in groups of 5 with our raft. Me, Kaes, Kelly, Fletcher (our Aussie friend) and a new guy from Houston, Matt, all piled in for the 7 kilometers down the Sungai Selangor (Selangor River)

Kelly and I on the bus ready to roll out

Steven Grant (Shell) and our aussie friend Steven Fletcher

Kaes' boss Lee, Matt, and Chris Felt

The Selangor river boasts grades 1-4 on a scale of rapids. They were quite scary in several places and after our 4 hour journey down the river over rocks, and luckily only capsizing once, we were left pretty exhausted.

Fletcher, Kelly, Kaes, Me, and Matt

And we're off!

Our first big rapid

We made it through that one!

Another one coming up...as you can tell by my face...

Here we go...

Camera guy caught us right before we were overboard...

We weren't so lucky on that one...all of us were thrown out of the both after it capsized

After rafting, the plan was to partake in abseiling and the flying fox. I had a near miss drowning experience, so I opted out of anymore activities for the rest of the day. Kaes stood by and took pictures while Kelly and I cheered the brave souls on.

Kelly and I enjoying a drink after a long day

Down the flying fox

Brave souls getting geared up for abseiling and the flying fox

Our chicken (a.k.a. dinner) being cooked on the "grill"

 Everyone agreed it was a great outing with Shell to continue improving and growing our close relationship with our customer. Not too bad to get paid to go white water rafting...definitely beats sitting behind a desk all day :)