:: Where in the World ::

:: Good Morning, Good Afternoon or maybe even Good Evening (depending on where you are reading this from) ::

:: I have come to find out that I can see where all of my some 175 visits per day come from....this is dangerous information. Just kidding, it's not...the only reason it's dangerous is because I'm continually checking to see who has visited me in the past few hours ::

:: So I thought I would post and let y'all put a face to your location ::

:: My last 100 visits have been from the below locations ::

:: In BC ::

*Abbotsford
*Surrey
*Duncan
*Fruitvale
*Langley
*Victoria
*Burnaby
*Vancouver
*Chilliwack
*Kelowna
*White Rock
*Coquitlam
*Richmond
*Comox
*North Vancouver
*Port Coquitlam

:: In Alberta ::

*Edmonton
*Calgary
*Spirit River

:: In Ontario ::

*Toronto
*Ottawa

:: In Nova Scotia ::

*Turo

:: In Quebec ::

*Montreal

:: In the USA ::

*Westfield, Massachusetts
*Melville, New York
*Royal Oak, Michigan
*Issaquah, Washington
*Cary, North Carolina (I love N. Carolina, well I think I would love it!)
*Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Bakersfield, California
*Portland, Oregon
*Littleton, Colorado

:: Abroad ::

* Zurich, Switzerland
* St. Pauls Bay, Malta
*Perth, Western Australia
*Surabaya, Indonesia
*Cordoba, Argentina
*Sydney, New South Wales
*Istanbul, Turkey

:: If you are one of these locations...can you leave a comment and just let me know where you live? I would LOVE to know who reads my blog and where you come from and how the heck you came across my blog ::

:: UPDATE: Updated to say that since I wrote this blog this am I have had a few more visitors from random places ::

*Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
*Sherwood Park, Alberta
*Delaware, Ohio

Welcome to my blog peeps and thanks for making yourself known!

:: Have a fabulous day...I'm off to finish up the list of things I didn't get done yesterday. I still have laundry (surprise!), bills & cleaning to do ::

:: Oh, and a quick shout out to Steph -it's her birthday today. Happy Birthday Steph, hope your day & year are blessed! ::

:: Coconut Dreams ::

:: These cupcakes are made with a traditional pound cake recipe, but with the addition of coconut cream icing & toasted coconut. I think they were pretty good. The icing isn't quite perfected, but they were tasty & I love the affect of the toasted coconut on top ::

:: They look quite homey to me ::

:: Well I'm off to clean floors, organize bills, finish the laundry that has been sitting around since Tuesday and organize Father's Day items. It'll be a busy day! ::

:: Here's to hoping Summer decides to show up...anytime now we're ready for you...come out from hiding, we won't bite! ::

:: Lemon Dreams ::

:: I made these cupcakes on Sunday - trying out a new cake recipe...they were okay, but not fabulous. So the search continues for a fabulous "white" cake recipe aka "vanilla cake" ::

:: However I think the icing was delish. I'm sure our guests would agree! ::

:: Edited to say: to make these cupcakes that much more special, I also drowned them in Liquid Lemon Icing...so they were tart and sweet at the same time ::

:: Pictures taken the next morning before my little man got his paws on the dish of goodies ::

:: Didya know? ::

:: That you can input all of your favorite blogs addresses into one place and it put an update on the page, so you can manage all of your blogs without going directly to the site! How fabulous is that!?!? ::

:: I can't take credit for knowing this information, Jamie Delaine was the one to set up my account. So I owe it all to her (so go to her site and give her some props for her awesome pics) ::

:: Anyway, this is where you need to go to get Google Reader ::

:: I find that I get to read a lot more blogs because of this and in half the time because I'm not going directly to the blog ::

:: However my addiction has gotten a little out of control. I now have 55 blogs I check out - Yikes....I wonder if you are one of those blogs? Hmmmm, if your not sure if I'm checking out your blog leave a comment here and I'll add you to my list ::

:: Blog friends are GREAT ::

:: I met a new friend last night, she's a blog friend. She's so much fun, so much fun that I chatted her ear off until just before midnight last night! Thanks for meeting up with me Cathy, it was a ton of fun! ::

:: Well I'm off to do some real work, I've got three babes under the age of two here today...I should probably be paying attention to them! ::

:: If I organize myself to have them all go down for their naps at the same time I may be back today to blog about more cupcakes and maybe even some photos ::

:: Have a great day today {hopefully Mr. Sun decides to come out and shine for us} ::

:: As I was in the archives...::

:: I came across this photo of me circa 1982 ~ I was 2 years old ::

:: I don't know, do you think I'm his Mama??? ::

:: Back in the Day ::

:: I was reading Lovella's blog earlier and was reminded that I meant to blog about my graduation ::

:: It has been 10 years since I graduated high school. I have never looked back (at least I thought I hadn't) ::

:: I graduated when I was 17 -- I was not the best student...I wasn't stupid, but I didn't have a very good memory so I really had to work at remembering all of the information that I thought was useless. I swore I would never go to school again ::

:: Here I am pictured with my parents outside my graduation ceremony at the Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Vancouver - It was a grand affair. If you have never been to the Orpheum Theatre you are missing out, it is amazing (see the picture of the stage below)::

:: From there I worked for Jim Pattison Toyota Surrey as their full time receptionist. I loved it, it felt like freedom. Then I moved in with a fabulous family to nanny for their family of four. I LOVED that too...but time passed and I was "called" (ha, I use that term very loosely, but I do feel that I was called) to leave for Discipleship Training @ YWAM in Paia Maui. Ha, sounds dreamy doesn't it!?!? Yeah, then God pulled a quick one on me and I was sent off to the war torn countries of Albania & Kosovo (that is a whole different story) ::

:: Upon my return from Maui, Albania, Kosovo and 4 other countries I was home...a few months later I met my future husband. Then as they say, the rest is history....except there is a twist ::

:: I got married, I enjoyed my life...however Paul worked nights every once in a while and I was bored being home alone ::

:: So, I went back to school...Night School that is. You know it's SO different to high school!?!? ::

:: Yeah, tell me about it. I would have never called it, however I did really well in my post-secondary education. It wasn't like high school at all, at least not for me. I went to "school" full time/part time. Every Monday/Wed and Sat for two years ::

:: It was a lot to take on being married, working full time and now school but it was SO worth it ::

:: I ended up with my diploma as a Special Education Assistant ::

:: Here I am in my graduation portrait from high school (like you couldn't figure that out!). Apparently I was much more into make-up back then...oh, I just remembered the funniest story to go along with my grad photo shoot...one day when I'm bored I will remember to tell y'all about it (let's just say I was a little directionally challenged back in the day) ::
:: Below is my grad portrait from college. I was 5 months pregnant with Jacob. I had already started working at Pacific Academy by the time I graduated. I think I remember I was really quite over the whole graduation process once I walked across the stage. I remember it wasn't really a big deal. I just graduated and went on with life. And apparently I don't use much make-up at all..ha funny how life and age (ugh, did I just say that!?!?) changes you! ::

:: Anyway, I never did look back -- I actually only stay in very brief contact with one of my friends from high school. The only thing that has really changed is the fact that I now have a vault for remembering things. I worked so hard on trying to remember things that I notice and remember almost everything. Just ask Paul...he hates my good memory! ::

:: Thanks for walking down "memory lane" with me, it was fun to remember "back in the day" ::

:: I looked back in my archive boxes for pictures of my grad dress and I could not find a single one...however I did find my agendas from each year of high school as well as all 5 of my "go cards". It was hilarious to look back and also so funny for Paul to see that I have not changed...my agenda goes everywhere with me and I still write the same lists as I did "back in the day" and I still keep them year after year...the only year I don't have an agenda for is the one year I was away with YWAM ::

:: Jacob's 2 ::

:: I can't believe my "baby" is 2 - But doesn't everyone say that!?!?! ::


:: Jacob, you are a true joy - even though you are a boy of few words, we know how much you love us by not letting us hug or kiss without you being in on the action...it's quite the site to see him get frustrated when we are kissin' and he just wants to get right between us. You have captured our hearts and we are blessed to enjoy each day with you. ::

:: We celebrated Jacob's birthday in true teddy-bear fashion. We had a teddy-bear picnic however the weather did not want to cooperate. We ended up moving the party inside due to it being so stinkin' cold out...oh well, it was a wonderful day even if it was inside ::

:: Here are some shots from our teddy-fabulous day ::
:: Emma enjoying the trike ::

:: Grampy & Cole watching the kids ::
:: Jacob enjoying his new truck & ride-in car ::
:: Mattias & Madelyne setting up their picnic ::
:: Jacob just after he got his car from Grammy & Grampy ::
:: Gee, I wonder if he likes it!?!? ::
:: Our family just after we sang Happy Birthday ::
:: The boys blowing out the candles ::
:: Enjoying his very own piece of cake ::
:: The birthday boy and his Grammy & Auntie ::
:: The backyard full of fun ::
:: Paul BBQing up the picnic meal of hot dogs and hamburgers ::
:: Jacob loving his birthday balloon from Tante Lisa & Uncle Reuben ::
:: Jacob opening the gifts, yikes he was so blessed..trucks, cars, trucks, cars....such fun being a boy! ::

:: Thank you to all who came to share in the day with Jacob and us...to all who couldn't make it (you know who you are...you were SO missed). We love you all! XOXO Paul, Shawna & Co.::

:: A handle on life ::

Sorry for the terribly long absence from here...life has been busy. Between two kids and a third when my cousins little guy is here. Plus my FIRST SPA ESCAPE on Thursday night, mixed in with a 50th Wedding Anniversary, a "James Bond" Party, Church, Cupcakes (which apparently are taking over my life) and then friends, gosh...when does one get time to blog!!!

Where has the importance of life gone?!?!?!

Ha Ha...in all seriousness, I am going to post......lots...okay, well I can't promise "lots" but I will post what I can while the babes sleep.

Be back in a flash!
xoxo
Shawna

:: Pictures from J&J's Birthday ::

:: I'm not sure why my collage didn't show up from the J's birthday celebration, so I'm posting it here again. Hope you enjoy the pics! ::