:: Whistler-Prelude to the Olympics ::

:: Back when the Olympics were about to start, we were heading up to Whistler. Paul's sister and hubby own a place up there and since they were attending the opening ceremonies they couldn't open up the house for the renters...so we headed up there to do it for them. It was a great excuse to get away for a few days and to see all that Whistler had done to prepare for the Winter Olympics ::

:: Here we are in Earls for lunch, this is where we heard about the luge accident earlier that morning - it was just awful! ::

:: We went looking for some souvenirs for the boys, and Mr. L found this cute little hockey beaver in Please Mum..what's that saying? "Once a kid always a kid"? ::

:: We saw the sights - this is one of the snowboarding teams bike, it was very cool! ::

:: The night of the opening ceremonies we were in Whistler Village, this was a shot of one of the big screens in the village. The village was pretty quiet as almost all of the athletes were still down in Vancouver ::

:: We headed back to Earls to enjoy dinner and warm up. We were lucky enough to be close to the t.v.'s in Earls so heard all that was going on down in the opening ceremonies ::

:: Here is the view of the restaurant from my seat ::

:: On our way back into town we headed through an estate at the top of Vancouver to see the sites, we saw the rings on the water, the flags of the conference center and the recently lit flame (lower right by the tall green/blue beam of light) ::

:: Here we are heading across the Lions Gate bridge into Vancouver ::

:: We quickly drove past the cauldron so we could see it in person, it truly was pretty spectacular! ::

:: We're so blessed that we were asked to go to Whistler, it was a great time away and so fun to be part of the festivities! Thanks M&J for the opportunity & thanks to Mom & Dad for taking the boys for us! ::

:: Fever ::

:: We've got a whole bunch of 'fevers' happening around our neck of the woods right now ::

:: The first being the Olympics...our city is hosting the 2010 Olympics and the fever couldn't be hotter around here ::

:: Just the other day we had the chance to see the torch pass through our town -- we got up bright and early donned our red and white and headed to meet up with the torch ::

:: We ran into two of our friends; Trisha {w/ Chase} + Amanda {w/ Makena} ::

:: Jacob sportin' the Olympic spirit, thanks to Aunty Lisa ::

:: Here are my boys and Uncle Jordie ::

:: Here is our little family, what a great memory! ::

:: And here comes the torch, there was so much excitement in the air, it was really neat to be a part of it! ::

:: After we saw the torch we headed {in true Canadian style} to Tim Hortons for a coffee & donut, both the boys got the Canadian Vanilla Dip ::

:: Daddy headed off to work and we went home. Later the torch was passing right through our neighbourhood, so I couldn't resist going to see it again, I mean who gets to see a torch two times in one day! Aunty Lisa & the girls joined us as well as Grampie ::

:: This time we were up close and personal...she was literally 5 feet away from us! ::

:: The kids reveled in the hoopla of the parade ::

:: Wave your flags everyone! ::

:: Here she is lighting the next torch ::

:: Go Canada Go! ::

:: We headed to Starbucks after to enjoy a red velvet cupcake, in true red and white style ;) ::

:: The next 'fever' we're dealing with is Spring fever, we've been so blessed to have amazingly balmy weather here, which is great for us, not so much for the WINTER Olympics! ::

:: Just look at these blooms popping out of the ground ::

:: Here are my boys playing around in the sunshine ::

:: Brothers, they loved each other for a mere moment in time, enough for me to snap this shot at least ;) ::

:: And now we have the last 'fever' which is the fever of love, Valentines is just around the corner, and so the house is full of sugar cookies, pink and red decor {which is quite out of place}, but it's what you do for Amore and I love it! ::

:: These are silhouettes of the boys I did up last year sometime, thought it would be the perfect time to pull them out. And the decal of the Eiffel tower is three years old, I bought it for the nursery when I was pregnant with Cole and thought he was going to be a girl...hence the reason it's never been used - Ha! ::

:: Hope you're enjoying the 'fever' of it all too, I am delighting in this season - now enough fluff, I'm off to accomplish last minute Valentines and baking! ::

:: XO, *S ::

:: 2010 ::

:: 2010 had a bit of a rough start for me, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with starting a whole new year. What did it look like, what would be new, what would now be memories...all the 'what if's' roamed through my mind. Now I have to say I'm not a worrier -- so these feelings of feeling unsure overwhelmed me ::

:: Also, along with that I was asking God for a clear word for 2010 -- for it to be something that was from Him, not me. It took a while for Him to respond. I'm rather impatient, so maybe I was also being taught a lesson... ::

:: Then one morning when I was praying before I got out of bed, He said to me as clear as day "PURPOSE". You are to do everything that you do, with PURPOSE. Now I don't know about you, but I don't often do something that doesn't have any PURPOSE, and so when He first said "PURPOSE" I was like, well what the heck do you think I do everything for, the fun of it?!?!?! ::



:: But then as I meditated more on what PURPOSE really meant and if what I do that occupies my time is really on PURPOSE I realized that I have made and create a lot of fluffy stuff in my life -- now don't get me wrong, fluff is good. In proportion to a PURPOSE filled life ::

:: Let me tell you Lovelies, this is not an easy task for me to do...I'm a person that LOVES to have fun and I truly love the fluff - HAHA! So this has definitely been a challenge, refocusing myself and doing things on PURPOSE. Keeping the fluff to a manageable level and leading life through Christ PURPOSEFULLY ::

:: It's a good thing, at least I keep on telling myself that! ::

* * *

:: Happy Monday Y'all! We're doing more laundry, oh joy. But later we're going to watch the torch run through our neighborhood, it's literally 5 blocks from our home, oh happy day! We've got our "Oh Canada" gloves ready thanks to Aunty Lisa ::

:: May your day be filled with PURPOSE and a bit of fluff! ::

:: XO, *S ::

:: Weekend ::

:: We've had a great week & weekend...Here's what we've been up to in a nutshell ::

:: I finished a couple orders of these for With Love - they are so new I have yet to even post about them on my site! ::

:: I've completed a tonne of this. Laundry. We'll never be friends, no, never! ::

:: I had the pleasure of taking pictures of this beautiful Mama and her boy belly {due in just under 3 weeks} ::

:: We had an A M A Z I N G service at church, oh my goodness, Mr. Carl Lentz was visiting from Wave church in Virginia Beach - It was unbelievable! So powerful! I'll try and post a link to the sermon ::

:: Edited: Here is the link to the sermon ::

:: Now the big boys are off to the RV Show in the Valley and the Babe and I are heading down to the States to accomplish and prep for the busy week ahead. We've got birthday to celebrate, party day at preschool, an over night trip to Whistler {which means an over night trip to G&G's for the boys} and Valentines day to top it off...so we must prepare! ::
:: Hope y'all have a great rest of the weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow...so far I've posted every day in February, we'll see if I can keep this up! ::

:: XO, *Shawna ::

:: Oh, and a huge shout out to Aunty Roo -- We love you and wish you a VERY VERY blessed year! May it be one of the best yet! H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y! ! !::

:: Just Quickly ::

:: So on facebook, there was this thing going around to post your profile picture of a famous person you have been told you look like ::

:: It's called Doppelgänger week ::

:: Source: Kelly Pickler ::

:: So I posted Kelly Pickler in my profile picture....not sure I agree with everyone's comments that I look like her, but she sure is beautiful so I'll take it as a compliment! ::

:: Have a great evening...soon I'm off to bed! ::

:: XO, *Shawna ::

:: Family First - The Winner ::

:: Remember last week when I had this contest I was hosting? Well, I totally forgot to post a winner! ::

:: So here ya go, the winner (as chosen from random org) is ::

Kristin Chandra said...

This post made me smile :) With 3 girls in my house i'm not sure that i'll ever have egg hockey played in my kitchen!!! Would love a copy of the book! Any help with how to parent well is always welcome!!!

10:04 AM

:: YaY Kristin, email me your address and I'll drop your copy of Family First off at your place ::

:: HAPPY FRIDAY!!! ::

:: Powder Room Art ::

:: So here is the finished product of the powder room art. It turned out wonderfully {in my opinion} ::

:: I would still like to put a smaller mat closer into the news papers in a light grey, but I forgot to get them while I was at WalMart today! Duh! ::

:: So what do you think? I think it turned out just beautifully, my Marm thinks it's kinda morbid having the death of a past president plastered on our walls, but it's different for me because I didn't live through it...do you think it's morbid? Even if you do, I still think it's cool! Hahahah ::

:: On a completely unrelated note, I'm posting this under yesterdays date so that I can keep up with a personal challenge I have to post once a day for the month of February {in hopes that I can catch up on the end of 2009 and all the stuff I missed posting about} ::

:: Have a great day y'all and I'll be back on here today at some point between cupcake baking, laundry and the weekly house clean... ::

:: Ed's 'No Number' Birthday ::

:: This past weekend we enjoyed a night out celebrating our friend Ed's 'No Number' birthday -- the party was at there house and was a surprise ::

:: We were to be there by 7.15pm as it was a SURPRISE, but someone {no names mentioned} made us late...grrr! Anyway, we were walking up to the house at precisely 7.15pm when a white car pulled up behind us, Mr. L thought quickly and pulled us into the neighbours driveway and we pretended like we were walking to their house. We then waited for the surprise to go down and then joined the party. Ed said immediately, was that you walking up the street? I recognized the back of your head, nice, and then he thought that's kinda dumb, why would Shawna be walking up our street?!?!? The he thought how great is that our neighbours never go for walks...they just fight - HAHHAHAH!!! ::

:: Here's Trista & her only sibling Tanya - now they both have a little girl each ::

:: Here is Grammie with the little grand girlies watching a movie ::

:: Papa with one of the grand girlies, watching the white elephant gift opening ::

:: Trista {master party planner} getting the beautiful cake ready to present to Ed, she had days of planning all this behind his back, including baking the cake ::

:: Happy Birthday Mr. Ed - So glad we could celebrate your day with you..and glad it turned out to be a surprise! ::

:: Stacie & Ty - She said Y E S ::

:: Back in January, Paul and I had the pleasure of attending our friends Stacie & Tyler's Engagement Celebration in the Big City ::

:: We had a great time meeting Stacie's family {who lives on the Island} and catching up with our friends --- it was a lovely event with delish food, fabulous friends and hilarious entertainment, oh, there wasn't any entertainment, that was
just the boys -- HA! ::

:: After the party we all headed out to Shabusen for a bite of dinner; it was AMAZING food, worth every penny of downtown dining! ::

:: Congratulations Stacie & Ty, we can't wait to celebrate with you in the upcoming months. Stacie, we have all waited for Tyler's bride to come along and we're so glad that he's chosen you! ::

:: Thanks also to M&L for taking our kids for the day...we truly appreciate it! ::

:: XO, *Shawna ::

:: So much, and yet so little ::

:: Hey Lovelies, I have SO much to post but such little time; so I choose to post from most important to least..hahaha! ::

:: So it's Monday night and I hunkered in, folded laundry, matched up socks, organized my lingerie drawer and indulged in 'The Bachelor' ::

:: I thought it would be most appropriate to post these newly released photographs of last seasons Bachelorette, Jillian with her chosen beau, Ed -- this was their engagement shoot up in Kelowna near the end of Christmas vacation ::

:: The photos were taken by Wedded Bliss Photography :::: I found the photos here ::

:: There is some serious cute factor in these photos,
just so nice to see! ::

:: Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did -- I'll try to post something about our wonderfully crazy life we lead...Happy February 1st, did it catch anyone else off guard?!?!! ::