Happy Birthday, Mareena!

I'm doing two blogs today in honour of a nephew and a niece who are both celebrating birthdays this weekend.

Mareena Dawn Sanford arrived on January 30, 1975 at Shaunavon Hospital, a sister for her brother Jason. We especially remember her second birthday which she spent with us at the farm in Torquay.   By that time she was also a big sister to six month old, Mandy Lynn.  Can you feature riding in a three ton truck for three hundred miles with three children aged 6 months to 5 years?  I guess it helps to be young parents!  The reason for such a trip was to get some oats to feed the cattle and Sandra wasn't about to pass up an opportunity for a visit with her sister! She packed up the kids and kept Merle company on this memorable trip to Torquay.  No worries about seat belts and car seats for each one in those days.  We cringe when we think of the way that we travelled with our families back then.  Guardian angels must have been watching out for us.

Mareena graduated from Frontier High School in 1993. During her high school days she enjoyed curling with her sister Mandy. Their team from Frontier went to provincials in 1994 where they won a silver medal in the Jr. Womens competition.  A year later the team, with one new player added, went to provincials again, this time in Alberta.  Mareena and Mandy are still avid curlers.  We might see them competing in provincials again, when they aren't so busy with their children's hockey, ringette, music and school functions.  They are blessed to be stay at home moms and will never regret spending these formative years at home with their young children.

Mareena went on to three years of college in Swift Current and Medicine Hat obtaining diplomas in business and micro-computer. She worked in Fox Creek, AB, for the same company as her fiancee, Gavin Troy Conrad of Shaunavon.  They were married on October 11, 1997 in Shaunavon, the third of four Erickson cousin weddings that year.  (And we made it to all of them!) I don't have a wedding picture on my computer but here's a special one of these two from Facebook!

Gavin and Mareena had a belated honeymoon trip in 2005, when Gavin planned a trip to Norway!  They were the first of the Erickson family to visit Todd and Kristy in Kristiansund.  We actually joined them in Bergen and went by speedboat with them to visit the place where Grandma Bertha Haaland spent her childhood years.  Mareena took this picture of the church where Grandma was baptized and confirmed.   I treasure the copy that she had enlarged for me.  It hangs in our bedroom, an ever present reminder of my Norwegian roots.

Mareena at the 2005 17th of May parade in Kristiansund, Norway
wearing her new Norsk sweater

Gavin and Mareena moved to Lacombe, Alberta in 2001 when their first child, Megan, was just a year old.  Rylan joined the family in 2003 and Nola in 2006.  Here's a picture of them taken at the last cousin wedding, Jason and Marion's in 2008, and a family picture from 2010.

Gavin, Mareena
Rylan, Nola and Megan

Megan, Mareena, Rylan, Gavin
Nola

Mareena is blessed to have her sister living right across the street!  Mandy, Rick, Drew and Ty built a new house in Lacombe a few years ago.  Mareena, Gavin, Megan, Rylan and Nola were living a few blocks away.  A lot was available across the street so Gavin and Mareena now live "a stone's throw away".  The cousins are best friends so it is an ideal arrangement.  Work often takes Rick and Gavin out of town so the sisters are there to support each other.  When the guys are home, the families often get together and share meals.  It is wonderful to see two families enjoying such a close relationship.  Both girls are great cooks, housekeepers and decorators.  Their homes should be featured in decorating magazines.  (I need to borrow them to do some updating at the HoJo Inn!)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=595291611&aid=266673   Click on this link to see Mareena's Christmas decorating. How about that Christmas tree in a red suitcase!!

Mareena is spending her birthday at a weekend hockey tournament in Drumheller, AB.  Hope you've had a great day.  We love you and wish you many more happy birthdays.