A Milestone to Mark...

Last September my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!  This is truly a remarkable milestone in today's world.  The fact that this couple has honoured each other's vows and treated each other in a way that has encouraged their relationship is truly worth noting.  I find it so amazing that my parents continue to be role models for me in my adulthood.  I just thought that once I was married I'd find my own way and not 'need' their example as much.  Watching them go through life together, through the ups and downs and continue to treat each other with love and respect and to keep growing together, is an added blessing to my life.

I really wanted to do something special for them for their anniversary.  They aren't really big 'party' people and I already pulled that on them for their 25th, so it needed to be something unique. 

While I don't claim to have 'arrived' in the world of quilting, it is a hobby I love.  It's a hobby that allows me to turn a quilt into a labour of love.  This quilt was TRULY a labour of love for my parents.  I started in aaaaages ago.  In fact there's a few blog posts way back to prove it! ( here, here, here, and even here)

But finally, FINALLY, it was completed.  Not quite in time for their actual anniversary, but not too far behind.  

This quilt is a pattern by a local quilter by the name of Cheryl Wall.  Cheryl is a wonderful, gentle soul who designs quilts with such character.  Thanks Cheryl!  This particular quilt pattern is called 'Village Sampler'.  I knew it would be something my parents would enjoy.  To add my own mark on the quilt I incorporated nicknames, initials, birth dates, and anniversaries of my parents, Rob & I and the kiddos, and my brother, all over the quilt.  

This was the very, very, very first quilt I've ever had professionally quilted!  (insert cheering and applause here)  This is a BIG moment people!  I bundled this quilt and another (I'll blog that one soon) up and headed out to my dear friend Rhonda of Quilted Cats Hideaway.   I didn't know what to expect.  I knew she'd have to custom quilt it, as there is a lot of different themes going on in the quilt.  I had NO idea she'd put endless hours and love into going the extra mile to make this quilt truly unique! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the finished product.  The amount of long arm quilting on this quilt is phenomenal.  Thank you Rhonda! Rhonda did a special post on her blog with some wonderful close ups of her quilting on this quilt...check it out here.

Happy Anniversary Dad & Mom.  Know that every stitch was made with love for you both.  I am truly blessed to be your daughter.  Does anyone have a kleenex....?

Happy Canada Day Eh!

Long time no blog.  I thought I'd start current and work my way backwards (and forwards) if I can!

Summer is here and what better way than to kick it off with Canada Day.

As per our usual, we met up with friends for the parade and then finished the day off with a BBQ and headed off to the fireworks.

This year I stood in front of my closet and wondered...'what do I have to wear that is red?'  I had bought a Canada Day t-shirt only to get it home and realize it had a flaw.  I took it back and didn't bother picking another one up.  So...I stood there going through my closet and wondering..'what do I usually wear on Canada day?'  Then the lightbulb went on!  I ALWAYS wear my red Roots hoodie that proudly displays my country's name and maple leaf.  Problem:  for the first time in ages, it was unusually hot for July 1st!  So hot, that a hoodie was out of the question!  

All of that to say that it was a HOT, SCORCHING Canada day!  I felt bad for the marching band all decked out in their black marching uniforms and hats!!!  On the other hand, I was thankful for the firefighters and their water supply that they shared with us!

Great Country...Great day...Great memories...As usual! 

Mother's Day 2012

We had a special time celebrating Mom this Mother's Day.  My mom is truly worth celebrating.  We didn't do anything fancy, just a supper here at our place.  My bro brought Mom a beautiful HUGE bouquet of flowers, and we gave her a huge moss hanging basket!  She went home with a lot of flowers!  My Mom  is continually committed to her family.  She prays for us, keeps in close touch with us, defends us, loves us, and always puts us before herself.  She loves her children equally and finds joy in her relationship with all of us.  She is truly a wonderful example to raise my family by.  My Mom is one of my dearest friends.  We laugh together, shop together, cook together, holiday together, coffee together, and the list goes on.  My Mom is a phenomenal Grandmother.  My kids love my Mom (and Dad too..but hey, this is a Mother's Day post!)  The kids know that Grandma is always on their side.  My mom makes a deliberate effort to make time us and for our kids and it shows in the way our children love her.   So Mom, know that you are so loved, and that we treasure every moment with you! You are a beautiful woman.  Really, Truly, Beautiful.

We did a BBQ style meal.  I made yummy ribs..they're a 'little' bit of work but SO worth it!  We topped it all off with strawberry shortcake!

Spring Break 2012

Spring Break here got off to a baaaaad start!  The weather was horrible!  It poured for the first week and a half!  We had planned a camping trip with some friends of ours and we were getting mighty nervous about camping in the weather, BUT, we ended up getting the BEST weather possible!  The nights were chilly but the days were gorgeous!  It reached a balmy 18* celcius for us.  The kids even had a bit of a sunburn!  We thoroughly enjoyed a break from the rain and the routine of life!  We camped close to home in the beautiful Ft. Langley. We were only a quick drive from home, a Starbucks and a movie theatre (for a surprise we took all the kids to see The Lorax). We had a wonderful time relaxing, walking to town and visiting. Our trailer's an oldie, but we sure love it!  We have made some wonderful memories with it!

Easter 2012

We had a busy, but great, Easter Weekend.   I worked like a mad dog on the Thursday before Good Friday to get my 2 days worth of work into one.  Easter seems to be just as busy a season as Christmas is at the church!  Thursday evening a bunch of the hubsters headed out to the auto show in Vancouver to drool over look at their dream vehicles.  The girls came over and we baked Paska together.  Friday morning both of our brothers came out to join us for our traditional Good Friday breakfast and service at church.  The guys always put on an amazing breakfast spread for our church and this year didn't disappoint!  We enjoyed the service, and Rob and I had our first experience serving communion.  It was a special time and we were humbled to serve and pray with our dear church family.  Friday evening we headed to my parents place for a wonderful dinner made by Mom.  The kids had a great time searching for eggs in the yard and their Grandparents and Uncle 'Pid' spoiled them rotten.  We had such a special time as a family.

Saturday I made another batch of Paska and we spent the day getting a few things done around the house.   We enjoyed dinner at the home of our friends 'The Rachs' and had a great time catching up on life while watching our home boys, the Canucks, win the President's cup! (GO NUCKS GO!)

Sunday I packed up the paska and headed to church for a lovely continental breakfast.  We enjoyed a great church service.  Monday was a gorgeous sunny day here and a few of my peeps planned a last minute get together.  Just a few hours, a little window shopping and a lovely glass of wine on the sunny patio was enough to complete a busy but wonderful weekend!  

What's with the Tim Horton's cups?  Well, every time Timmy's has their 'roll up the rim' contest, my Dad (who just happens to love Timmy's) saves his cups for the kids until he's got a huge stack.  Once he's ready, or the kids have bugged him enough, he lines them all up and lets the kids take turns rolling up rims!  None of us can understand how he can save them.  We all have to roll ours up right away!  Dad's always been a patient and kind man...this is no exception.  The kids had a hoot...

Obsession...

My little guy has been obsessed with tape lately.  I should've bought shares in 3M apparently!  Little Man is having a blast wrapping up everything in the house.  He has used up most of my wrapping paper and when he ran out of that he started wrapping things up in blankets.  yup.  I consider it cheap entertainment for a 3 year old!

Love is Always worth celebrating...

While I am not a believer in all the marketing hype that surrounds our yearly celebrations, I am a believer in taking every opportunity to celebrate life!  Valentines is always a wonderful reason for us to show extra special love to those around us.  In keeping with tradition we made oodles of sugar cookies and delivered them all over, Daddy spoiled his kiddos with balloons and treats, and I was the lucky recipient of some gorgeous roses and a lovely, heartfelt card.  For the first time in a loooong time, we went on a Valentine's date and had a really wonderful evening together.  Love is always worth celebrating...Valentine's Day or not.

A Special Gift...

If you read my previous post then you'll know that my Grandmother recently passed away.  My mom and her siblings met at Grandma's apartment to sort through her things and pack them up.  Each child was given a turn to pick something that was meaningful to them.  My mom used her turn to pick Grandma's remaining China.  Mom gifted me this China as a way I could remember my tea parties with my Gram.  Although I don't remember drinking tea from this particular China, it is such a special gift to me.  Thank you Mom.  My girls and I will enjoy special tea parties with Nana's China!  This particular China is made by Royal Albert, and the pattern is called 'Brigadoon'.

Goodbye Grams...

Ack, I've been avoiding my blog.  Knowing that I wanted to write about the loss of my dear, sweet Grandma, and yet not feeling adequate enough to put it into words.  So, I'll keep it simple.  This was a tough one for me.  My last grandparent, and the grandparent I was the closest to.  My mom's mother, Ethel, was a wonderful woman.  I have such fond memories of growing up with her and Grandpa in the house next door to us.  I remember those summer days where her screen door was open and I could smell her pies baking and hear her whistling as she worked.  I remember her visiting with me while she hung her wash on the line.  I remember having tea with her all the time.  My Grandma always seemed to be happy.  Always singing, whistling, dancing a jig.  By far I will remember her most for her generosity.  My Grandma gave, and gave again.  She modeled to me what it is to truly serve someone.  She was a wonderful 'Nana' to my children.  My kids never left her home empty handed!  Grandma would have been 90 in May....a long, and wonderful life.  Grieving has been easier knowing that she is now singing, whistling and dancing a jig with her Saviour.  Grandma's faith was rock-like. So solid.  I will miss her dearly, but she has provided me with a lifetime of wonderful memories.  Goodbye, for now, Grandma.


Here are a few pictures from Grandma's memorial service...


Thank You to family and friends for the beautiful flowers!

Mom and Uncle Larry singing, Pastor Roger paying tribute, and cousin Anthony reading the many notes of love from family and friends...

A Special table full of Grandma's favourite things....

The kiddos....

We'd like to thank all of our friends for their generous expressions of love and encouragement through phone calls, emails, texts, flowers, cards, food etc.  We are very touched by your love!

The Family that 'tubes' together...

Ah, I'm back!  Did you miss me?  It's been ages since I've blogged but it's been for a few reasons.  Reason number one:  I love blogging but family and friends come first and they've been all consuming (in a great way) through this past month.  Reasons two:  I really, really wanted to update the look of my blog and start the new year off right.

Oh, speaking of which, Happy New Year!  I had to write '2012' on a form for the first time today and it felt weird.  Even though my brain knew it was 2012, my hand hesitated!

We had a busy and fun Christmas Season.  There's lots I'm going to have to catch you up on but I'll start with our most recent adventure.  Monday was the last day of break before the kids headed back to school so we decided to head on up to Hemlock Mountain for a fun day of tubing in the snow.  The Tam family joined us and we had the most excellent day!  We packed up the snow gear, lunches, and the camera and headed on up the mountain.  We are so fortunate to live in a place where we can drive one way to the ocean and the other way to the mountains!   The kids enjoyed the trip up, but didn't believe us that there would, indeed, be enough snow to tube on once we got there.  The last 15 km of the drive were steep switchbacks on a gravel/mud road.  Great fun!

We made some awesome memories and enjoyed watching the kids have so much fun.  We ended the day with hot chocolate at the Tam house followed by a take out dinner with our wonderful bro Ken.  Fabulous, fabulous day!  We'll definitely do it again!

This and That...

It's been a busy CRAZY couple of weeks.  Good busy CRAZY. Surprisingly I'm still sane.  Well, as sane as I'll ever be!  First off let me thank all my sweet peeps who came by and encouraged and supported me during our Christmas Open House!  I have a true wealth of dear friends.  This year's Open House was amazing and so fun and successful.  (pics to follow soon once I get up and running computer wise) I lost count of how many people came through my doors, but I loved every minute of it.  What I didn't love:  My computer crashing in the middle of it all, and getting some weird flu/migraine bug for the past week that I can't seem to shake.  I have one more market to go and then it will be time to focus on our Christmas here.  I have a good chunk of decorations up already, but I need to put some personal touches on now that open house is done!  I MUST bake...I am in withdrawl!
During our busiest day of Open House a good friend of mine popped in and took Abby out for a special date with her kiddos.  Abby was much in need of some quality time and was thrilled to spend the afternoon having fun.  Here's a few pics of her day...

Cozying up with Mrs. Claus (aka Miss Marilyn)

Cozying up to Mr.Claus....(no relation to Mrs. Claus!)

Sugaring up with buddies J&L....

A true Abby smile...

Gone Fishin'...

The kids have been bugging Rob 'forever' to take them fishing.  Rob enjoys fishing, but it was an activity he only did with his Dad, and since his Dad passed away he just hasn't had the heart to do it again. 
A couple of weeks ago it was a Monday evening and Uncle Ken was over.  The kids were bugging him to fish in the pond and he said, 'ok, let's do it'.  So, the boys grabbed the fishing gear out of the storage room and went out to the pond.  They were all shocked when they actually caught a trout!  He was just a little guy, and we put him back in, but the kids were thrilled.  It was fun to sit up on the patio and watch and listen to them having fun together. 

Sweet Sixteen...

Today Rob and I are celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary!  I still remember getting our little farmhouse ready to move into in time for our wedding.  Rob remembers renting the biggest John Deere he could get his hands on and shining it up to perfection for wedding pictures.  Yes, it's true.  One of these days I'll show you the photographic evidence... The years have flown by!  I can't even begin to express how much this man has meant to me in my life.  His heart is so pure, his love is so genuine, his spirit is so gentle, his faith is so strong.  His patience is enduring, his love is so pure.  He continually sets an example of someone I want to be more like.   He's had some really tough years, full of challenge, and he has a huge year of change ahead of him, but I will be there for him.  I will try to ease his burdens, support his decisions, make him laugh, listen to him, let him know just how much I love him, and always will.

Father's Day...

We enjoyed taking some time out once again this year to honour the Dads in our family! We started off the day with a strawberry waffle feast topped with ice cream for Rob!  Abby was up and eager to help with the preparations, while Olivia yelled something at us about 'get out, I'm still sleeping!'.  Hmm...I feel a teenager coming on.  Anyway, Abby, Isaac and I did the work, and Abby woke up Daddy to his Fathers Day feast!  We went to church for our worship service and then home again.  Rob had to work, but he got his chores done quickly and got to squeeze in a nap before supper.  We headed over to my parents place for a steak bbq with all the fixin's!  The guys were honoured with gifts and cards and Mom and I did the bbq'ing.  We even included Uncle Dave in the gift giving.  He may not be a father yet, but he'll make a great one when he finds the right gal!
We spent some time reflecting on Rob's dad and how much we miss him still after these 5 years.  We had hoped to head out to the graveside to leave some flowers but the day got away on us faster than we thought. 

All in all, a great day.   Both Rob and my Dad deserve a lot of credit for the Fathers that they are.  Both are upstanding, honest, and lead by example.  Both are involved in their children's lives, and are respected by their families and those around them.  Keep up the good work boys...you're leaving an everlasting heritage for your loved ones!

Me & My Daddy...

Still Proud to be a Canuck...

Ack, this is a hard post to write.  I had planned to write up a post on our infamous Canucks and all the joy and fun they've brought to us hockey fans lately.  The orginal post would've been all about how 'we' won the Stanley cup after 40 years of trying, blah, blah, blah. 
Plan B was to write about how 'that's ok, we still made it this far and we're so proud, blah, blah, blah'. 
Plan C...here it goes...
Well, we didn't with the Cup (duh).  But, we did end up with a trashed out city and a lot of negative news coverage.  Fair enough.  But, BUT...we are still proud to be Canadian and still proud of our 'Boys in Blue'!  We are NOT proud of the post-game idiocy displayed.  We are disgusted with some of our fellow Vancouverites.  We want them held accountable for their actions.  We want them to pay for the clean up.  We want them to serve jail time.  We want them fined.  We want them to know how they've embarassed our country and our hockey team.  We want them to know they are not representatives of our Canucks at all.  They are not fans, they are troublemakers.  As to the 'man' who was pictured lighting a rag stuffed into the gas tank of a police car who is now sobbing and seeking forgiveness for his apalling display of rebellion, I have no respect for you.  How ironic that since you've been caught on tape and your identity has been revealed to be that of a potential Olympic contender in water polo, you see the error of your ways.  Guess what buddy?  I say the best punishment for you is to be denied the right to represent your fellow Canadians at any upcoming Olympics. Ever.  Forgiveness: Yes.  Consequences: Absolutely! 
Kudos to the real fans who went in masses to clean up the city.  You are true Canadians and true Canucks!   
Ok, all that being said, we still enjoyed our run for the Cup!  It was such a great time of community and family.  We enjoyed the juggle of calendar life to accomodate the hockey games and all the crazy puck drop times.   I enjoyed making a ton of meals to pack up and go to whomever was nice enough to host us in front of their big screen tv's!  We enjoyed flying the flag on our car.  We enjoyed wearing blue and green as much as possible!  We enjoyed the parade's on South Fraser Way following each victory!  Some say hockey is all consuming, I say it is an opportunity to embrace a fun, patriotic event!  We created some great memories through these last few months.  We spent wonderful time with friends and family.  Sure we're a little sad that we didn't win the cup, but we're also decent enough to admit that Boston is a great team and, in my opinion, was the better hockey team this time around!  We even gave their goalie a standing 'O' when they recieved the cup!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Canucks boys, but fair is fair.
So...so long playoffs.  It's been fun...we'll do it all again next year! (only we'll win;)

Some GOOD memories from the playoff season...
What would playoffs be without playoff beards?  Huge tradition here in Vancouver...grow your beard until your team is done...wow, this year the beards got bushy.  I kept telling my brother that with the last name McIntosh, and a bushy red beard, he looked like a Scottish clansmen during playoff season!  Way to go Dave...but, for the record, I love you just the way you are!

Even our local coffee chain gets in on the action...there was window art and the famous 'Canucks' donuts!

Everybody has their favourite Canucks logo...mine is the old school 'Halloween' logo that's black, orange and yellow, and Rob likes the Orca logo...

The kids were all in canucks mode...from T-shirts, to hockey sticks (that I tripped over on a daily basis around the house) to face paint and home made signs....

Going over to guests homes was always fun...even home decor was Canucks style!

The purchase of the Canucks flag for the car was an investment in family fun!  Isaac spent many quiet moments in his car seat watching that flag fly!  Mind you, he also screamed in his car seat all the way home when he rolled down the window and bumped the flag off in the middle of an intersection in town!  Uncle Ken rescued the day by showing up with a brand-spankin' new flag for the kids and smiles were restored once again!

Thanks to the 'Boys in Blue' for another memorable hockey season!  Next year:  Same Time, First Place! 

GO CANUCKS GO!!!