Creative gifts...

So among the oodles of gift cards that I got for my b-day (that I'm looking soooo forward to spending) I also received these 2 lovely gifts. When a friend gives me a gift like one of these it's a great sign that they know me well. For me, receiving a kit or a stack of coordinating fabric is only part of the gift...I get to be creative and imagine what I'll do to make the project mine. Then, there's the fact that I get to take some quiet time, once the kids are in bed of course, and sit, put some tunes on and go to my happy place! So, thanks Cindy & Rhonda for these great gifts! It'll be awhile before you see the finished products but you'll see em'! Cindy & Rhonda were part of a group of gals that took me to the local cupcake hangout to celebrate my b-day....mmmm, it was a fun, and yummy, day! So, thanks Cindy for the great Cheryl Wall kit...Cheryl is one of my fav designers...and thanks Rhonda for the oh so yummy charm pack of fall fabrics....fall is my favorite!

B-day for the Books...

I had a superb birthday this year! The celebrations started before the actual day and didn't seem to end for the following 2 weeks. Why? I dunnno! It's not like 34 is a super celebratory kind of age, but hey, who am I to argue? There was hot Starbucks delivered to my door on the actual day by my bestest friend, tons of flowers, cards and gifties, cakes...tooo many cakes, family dinners, staff party (which included a memorable birthday rap) and time spent with great friends. I didn't get pictures of all the fun events but I did grab a few of this one. These are some of my most wonderful friends in the world. These gals took me out for a night on the town in Whiterock and we made just a few more memories for the books....and oh, did we laugh...ooooohhh, did we laugh!
p.s....we missed you Christa & Tam!

Second Beach...

Rob had this past week off and we took lots of time to do things as a family! It was hard not to book the week up with errands and projects but we did it. Lots of relaxing. Unfortunately I came down with my first, and hopefully last, cold of the season. I was frustrated at not having energy and not being able to sleep well, but at least hubby was home to help. Our friends, The Friesens, have been raving all this summer and last about Second Beach out in Stanley Park. We finally decided to see for ourselves. We called the Friesens and they took a day off to join us. We made the drive out to Vancouver without too much delay and spent the day kickin' back and relaxin. Unfortunately we didn't have a super warm day but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Second Beach is a huge, heated pool that's right next to the ocean. The kids had a blast in the water! I even bit the bullet and swam in the pool. Swimming has never been one of my favorite activities...it goes back to my childhood when I could never see a darned thing in the pool without my glasses. Hope you enjoy the pics...

FLYGIRL

We feel pretty lucky to have a pilot in our family! Rob's brother, Ken, is fanatic about airplanes...has been ever since he was a little guy. It's only natural that he obtained a pilots license after eating, breathing and living planes for so long. Rob and I have been up with him and had a great time. Ken was looking forward to the day that Livi expressed an interest in being ready to 'take to the skies'. This was the year for Olivia! She wanted to go to the Abbotsford Airshow and said that she'd also like to head up with Uncle Ken for a flight and he was happy to oblige! Last night was the big night. She was super excited and just a little nervous. She got her own headset and watched as Uncle Ken did his pre-flight checks and rolled the plane out of the hanger. Once she was settled in the plane, Rob and I were 'escorted' out of the hanger area and headed to the tarmac to watch her take off. We even got a wave from the plane as it glided off the runway! Ken took her up over Cultus Lake, over the flats and followed the Fraser River back and over our house. Olivia enjoyed it a lot and says her favorite part was the 'fly-bys'. This is where Uncle Ken prepares to come in for a landing but then pulls up and heads back out again...he did 2 of these for her! It was great to hang out at the airport and wait for her to land and tell us what she thought. I think she'll definitely want to go again soon! Thanks Uncle Ken...you are THE coolest Uncle!

Still Goin' Strong...

That's our sentiments after celebrating our 14th Anniversary this past week! August 19th was the day and it was a beautiful day all around! It started with the sun shining, was 'interrupted' with a beautiful bouquet of flowers while I was out in the yard workin' up a sweat, and it moved on to a lovely dinner and a much deserved date night! This time of year is typically Rob's busiest, besides in December when he gets all his baby chicks. It's hay season here and he's been workin' some pretty long hours so it meant a lot that he made time for me on our special day. Now, before you look at those flowers and say, 'you call that a bouquet?' you just bite your tongue! This bouquet meant so much to me because Rob knows that these are some of my favorite flowers as well as the fact that I think roses and such are over-rated and much too expensive. Now girls, not that I haven't loved getting roses in my lifetime, but these flowers are just a little more 'me'. We dropped the kids off at my parents' place and headed off for a fun and yummy dinner on the patio at Milestone's. After a leisurely dinner we took a loooong walk hand in hand. It was the perfect day. We took some time to reflect on where God has brought us in these past years, struggles and triumphs, and what our hopes and dreams for the future are. I am so thankful for this man in my life. He never gives up, He always trusts the Lord. I already 'waved his banner' in his birthday post a few posts back so I'll leave at that. Enjoy the pics...there's the flowers, the 'then' and the 'now'. Apparently I need to get the kids to start taking more pics of us cuz this is the best I had!

Holidays...

One of our favorite activities of summer is camping. Rob and I have camped together since day one and it's always been something we both enjoy. We were just laughing the other day while we reminisced about our very first camping trip as a married couple. We were driving my little Chevy Sprint, that Rob didn't even really fit in, and we did the Oregon Coast. We had that little car packed to the brim with camping supplies and he had brought gifts for our anniversary and my b-day along too. Such great memories! Well, so much has changed since then but we still love camping! We have a trailer that we clean up and load in Spring and that way it's ready to go when we are. This year we went back to Wenberg State Park in Washington. We had been there a couple of years ago with a big group of friends and enjoyed it so much we decided to go back. Wenberg is situated about 10-15 minutes off the I-5 and about 1/2 hour North of Seattle. It has a beautiful Lake for us to enjoy and playground and such for the kids. This year our friends 'The Tams' joined us for their first ever camping trip. They borrowed their parents truck and trailer and away we all went. Between the two families there are 11 of us so we were busy! One of our highlights of the trip was a day at the Seattle Zoo...I'll do a later post on that, but for now here are a few pics from our week of chillaxin'. The weather was perfect, the outlets were close;) and good times were had by all! Lots of campfires, visiting and walks in the evenings. We even had some friends stop by for a visit on Saturday night...thanks Rich and Shell...that was a fun evening!

Here a Puppy, There a Puppy...

Yup, you guessed it....everywhere a puppy! Well, our dog 'Nazzy' (named after the hockey great Naslund) has just had a healthy batch of pups. We can't say we were surprised. We knew it would happen again one of these years. I gave a gentle reminder to hubby every year...'you know, if we don't want to deal with puppies again we really should do something about it...' Well, time flies and things get forgotten and now we have no excuses! Now, don't get me wrong, puppies are fun and cute and soft but little puppies grow into bigger puppies who chew and pee and poo and then there's the work of finding good homes for them and so on. Thanks to the help and wisdom of a friend (thanks Heather:) we determined she was expecting pups about a month or so ago and were waiting for the arrival. The girls have been anxiously waiting and checking up on Nazzy every day. This past Sunday evening Naz took off and we didn't see her for about 24 hours. We knew what this meant...time to hunt for puppies! She was really clever this time and found an old out building in our bush that still had some hay and was dry and warm. What a good mama! On Monday night we heard her at her food dish and quickly headed outside to follow her. It was quite an adventure! It was pitch dark and pouring rain. So, flashlights in hand away we went! This is the part where I"m supposed to mention that it was actually Uncle Ken who found the pups...thanks Uncle Ken! Nazzy is the proud mama of 8 baby pups. All are doing well and the girls have swept themselves into 'mommy mode'. They traipse out into the bush every couple hours and make sure all is well. They fill Nazzy's water and food dish, and assign names to the babies. This has been a really fun family experience. Tonight we had the official moving of the pups to the pen up front so we can better care for all of them. Grandma and Grandpa came out tonight to check out their grandpuppies. We'll keep you 'posted' on the little critters.....