: Moving! :

Well today is "D-Day" we're getting the keys to the new place, both nerves and excitement are in high form.

Hoping everything goes smoothly and we get settled in here ASAP -- I've been known not to do well when not settled into a normal routine ;) -- so I pray we can get everything into place q u i c k l y. . . .

It's also FRIDAY...seriously doesn't get better then moving into an new home & getting to spend the weekend with Mr. L and the boys! Yip Yip, here's to the weekend!

{XoXo}

*OH! And happy first day of Fall!

: Update on "Change" :

So yesterday morning I was at my women's bible study group at my church and one of the speakers spoke about her word for the year and how it's affected her year thus far...I thought it might be a great idea to sit down and review what my word of the year has contributed to my life and to reflect on what it will look like for the next few months.

My word was/is "Change"

v. changed, chang·ing, chang·es

v.tr.1.

a. To cause to be different: change the spelling of a word.

b. To give a completely different form or appearance to; transform:

First I know that my word change has caused relationships to change, this has been a tough road. By choices I have made {some good, some bad} caused changes in relationships also good ones and bad ones, but changes non the less. Bottom line is there has been change and these changes have all been with God's help and guidance and for that I am SO thankful.

There are the most obvious things like us selling our home, moving into my parents suite and finding the perfect house that God wanted us to have {all of these things have been great unknowns...when will we sell? where will we move? will we have a house to move into?}. And yet all of these things have come to pass and have changed in the past 9 months and have too been guided by God.

Another thing that has changed has been the boys school, we had originally registered Jacob and Cole in a Christian school that was at the time the perfect choice. But as time passed and our housing situation became less and less sure, we pulled them out of that school. Just to have the spot still available for Cole in his original Preschool class and to have Jacob signed up for his new school in our neighbourhood {4 days prior to school starting} and having him placed in the most desired teachers class...the perfect teacher for Jacob! God's plan far beyond our dreams of perfection! This change was a little nerve wracking but when God had taken care of every other detail, we just knew this change would work out just fine and it has!

Thus far all of our changes have the same common thread, peace.

Yes there are moments of unknown with change but what a boring life that would be {or simple - HA!} if we didn't have change! Honestly with Christ in our lives even with feeling uncertain and not seeing what the future holds, we have been blessed and had peace beyond measure. And so I'm learning to embrace change ;)

..I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.....

I'm off to do more packing today {of our suite} -- we're moving tomorrow so I've got my work cut out for me! Have a great last day of Summer {HA!} and get ready to embrace Fall {YIPPEEE!}

Much Love!
{XoXo}

: What I LOVE Wednesday :

Here are just a few {random, very random} things I am loving these days! Really anything to keep my mind off the fact that I'm moving in two days!

I found this site {if you don't already know I have a slight obsession with Royals...not just the British ones, all of them!}. There is a new website called theroyalpost.com that gives me just the perfect amount of "royalness" Ha Ha!

{click on photos for links}

My girlfriend commented on my scarf in the last picture in my last post, I love it too! I got my scarf from Army & Navy {a local all sorts of random items store} for $5.99 --- I guess seeing all the Missoni for Target all over the place got me into the the colour/pattern mix...however sadly I didn't make it to a Target store or grab them online prior to the Missoni being sold out! So my A&N scarf will have to do ;)
As we are moving in the next few days, I am itching to get my hands on all things FALL!!! I don't know about you but I'm all for getting deep into Fall, bring on the pumpkins! I was reminded of how much I can't wait for this when I went over to Dear Lillie's blog, she has such a great eye for decorating and absolutely adorable daughters to boot! Check it out a free canvas {just pay shipping (aprox. $12)} I ordered one last year for Mr. L and put it under the tree for him..it's now in his office - gonna order another one for me as I gave my free one away last year :)

I absolutely CANNOT wait for our church's women's Fall program {starting today!} -- It's going to be great! I love the God time, Girl time, time to be me; Shawna again. It's so refreshing and uplifting!

Thanks for coming by Lovelies. Hope you have a fabulous Wednesday, I personally can't believe it's already Wednesday! Seriously, where does the week go!?!?

{XoXo}

*Oh, and I almost forgot!!! Happy Anniversary My Love! 9 years ago - can you believe that!?! 9 years, wow! Love you more and more each day...

: Anniversary Celebration Weekend :

We start off our weekend by heading to the spa to have a couples massage {we had bought this massage through groupon so it was only $90 for two 60minute massages- DEAL!} - it is seriously the best investment! Melts all the stresses of life away and is such a great way to start off our weekend of celebration. Notice the no cell phone rule on the table --- ahhhhhh! So great!

After our massage made us have rubber legs, we walked around through Granville Island and enjoyed all the sights that Granville Island has to offer!

We then enjoyed dinner @ Dockside in the Granville Island hotel {had no idea there was such a hotel!} This was the view from our table! So great!

Yummy espresso&biscotti

Beautiful restaurant, check out that chandelier!

We checked into our suite, and this is what the view was...spectacular!

And at night, just as amazing!

I had put together a little gift basket for Paul. Since the weekend away is really our gift to each other we're not supposed to do "gifts" -- but this was kinda a "gift-to-you-for-me-too" type gift. It included two mini bottles of champagne, a container of macadamia nut caramels, Starbucks Anniversary blend coffee, a VW magazine & a new stainless Starbucks travel mug for Paul.

We did a whole lot of lounging around, at least we felt like we did. It's amazing how much time you actually have in a day when you don't have little ones to worry over and take care of!

We shopped our favorite shops and used up some gift cards I had been holding on to for years {like 5!} and had fun doing it! Our favorite stops when downtown are Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Urban Barn, Liberty, Mienhardt's, Anthropology & Urban Fair.

We drove through the most beautiful places of town

Had a picnic in the Stanley park while watching a game of cricket which after watching for almost 2 hours we still didn't understand it any better then before!

This is right close to where we got engaged 9.5 years ago, ahh memories!

We walked part of the seawall...and the sunshine broke through. So we stopped and enjoyed the last little bit of Summer peaking through the clouds!

Headed out to eat again for our official Anniversary dinner - We ate on the patio at Cardero's -- it was lovely as we didn't have to pay anything out of pocket cause we had a gift card..ha ha!

The next morning we headed across the bridge and walked around West Vancouver window shopping and enjoyed a Starbucks...well at least Mr. L did, mine was GROSS, I was so disgusted by it I couldn't even bother to go and get a new one {if you know how much I love my Starbucks, you know how bad it was!}

After we had shopped through West Van we headed back over the water and headed to sushi for lunch to find that our favorite sushi joint was under renovations and we couldn't go there! We were SO disappointed but thankfully there was our no.2 place to eat sushi and it was just around the corner!

We then walked down to the sea wall closest to our suite and enjoyed a nice long walk. We went back to the suite and packed up our stuff then headed back to Pottery barn to purchase something that I couldn't live with out ;) then off to Ikea to do some shopping for the new house.

After Ikea we headed back toward home, just to find out that the boys were just being put down by G&G and to not come home...really! So we headed to Tim Hortons for a bowl of chili just before we saw the movie "Contagion" -- I enjoyed the movie but since I woke up on Sunday morning with a cough it made it a little unsettling to Mr. L as I was coughing through a movie that was all about a cold/flu epidemic! Ha Ha!!!
And that's it!!! It's been a bit of a mad house around here since arriving home, I now have a full blown cold and I feel horrible!! But no rest for the weary, we have lunches&homework, packing&papers-to-sign for the new place as we're moving at the end of the week! What a crazy life we are living right now!

We are so thankful for the time we got to escape the norm and enjoy each other and the beautiful city where we first fell in love!

*Babe - Thank you for your love & devotion to me and our little family! Every year I fall more in love with who you are. God is so faithful and I am so thankful. With all my love, honor & respect, Your Gurl xo*

Ps. next year you don't have to buy me such a big gift, you really outdid yourself by buying me a new house this year ;)



~ HUGE thank you to my parents for taking care of our boys so we could get this time away, we're so thankful you survived ;) ~