You're welcome. We've made the trip 8 or 9 times now, so it's second nature now. But that's not to say that the landscape isn't always changing because it is.
IAH is an easy airport to navigate, but it is really big. United uses Terminals C and E for our route. Terminal E is newer and very much state of the art. Terminal C is older and for the life of me it looks exactly like a '60s era mall with planes parked outside. Occasionally your gates will be close together but you often have to go from C to E or vice versa. Our philosophy on connecting is to get below the snowbelt on the first leg though we have connected in DEN, too. The only issue with IAH was fog there on one of our trips. We sat at YEG waiting for clearance, had a route change, had a fuel adjustment, and had to deice. Obviously we missed our connection. We were put on the next fight without fuss and were only a couple of hours later than expected. Avoid Chicago. Period. You'll clear customs in Edmonton. The only time we don't is the overnight flight leaving at 11.55 pm because pre-clearance isn't open then. You'll clear customs in Houston. Make sure you have at least a couple of hours and better yet consider getting NEXUS as it will grant you Global Entry rights which means a quick kiosk visit while everybody else stands in line with the 500 other passengers arriving at 5 am when customs opens. Everyone in your party has to have one to use the NEXUS lanes, etc.
We're going in November, too. Leaving YEG on Nov 8 and returning on Nov 15. It had to be those days due to work commitments, holiday time, etc.
When I booked, I kept checking our reservations online and began noticing the offers to upgrade to business/first class at the bottom. I ignored it until one day it had an upgrade offer for just $109 CAN each way per person. We usually get Economy+ for at least the long legs of our trip. I did the math and by the time you added free checked bags, more room, meals, ... well I went for it. So as it stands now we're flying business/first for about what E+ seats would have been and getting the perks too. Haven't flown first class in over 30 years (back in the day if you were alone, had a jacket and tie, and there were seats unfilled, the airlines would put you in first for free) and am really looking forward to it.
Wow, that's way more than I thought I'd say. Let me know if I've missed anything.