:: Still back dating! ::

:: Cole's birthday comes and goes in the mix with our birthdays (three out of four of us have birthays within 11 days!) -- So I've back dated his birthday blog for scrapbooking purposes --- enjoy and HAPPY Friday! ::

:: XoXo ~ Shawna ::

:: Arizona 2011 ::

:: Back a couple weeks ago we had the pleasure of heading out of town to Arizona for 5 days - we had a babysitter come and stay with the boys for 2 days and then Mr. L's parents stayed for the rest -- We were thankful for the free accommodations we had thanks to my parents who rented the house from Amanda's In-Laws---hahahha, did you catch all that ;) ::

:: We headed off to Bellingham the night after we had a huge snowfall in the lower mainland, however once we made it to Bellingham...it was smooth sailing, no need to even de-ice the plane! We settled into our seats enjoyed our drinks and played a came of Phase 10 ::

:: These next photos are from the back yard of the house we were staying in, on our first night and first sun set - stunning hey!!?? ::

:: Cactus in all it's glory ::

:: We hit up our favorite burger joint "In-N-Out" - so stinkin' good! ::

:: Here we are with one of the gorgeous sunsets ::

:: The fountain behind the house ::

:: Random beautiful cactus by the clubhouse ::

:: The Barrett Jackson Auto Auction was happening after the week were were in Arizona, so we had to make sure we made it to an event - this was the free car show we went to at the Scottsdale Pavilions - It was an OUTSTANDING car show! ::

:: Here's Mom & Dad at the show, Mom had gotten a cold just before we got to Arizona so this was the first real day she actually felt good ::

:: Here we are just about to walk the show - yeah, I may have been a tad over dressed for the care show, but I was comfy so I didn't care ;) ::

:: Here's Big Bob and P-Dub in front of the Barrett Jackson Motor home ::

:: Here is a shot of the whole show just as the sun had set - Unbelievable! ::

:: Here is the main portion of the house we stayed in, nice eh!??! ::

:: Here is the back deck of the house, that backs right onto the golf course ::

:: Yes, here we are again, standing on the little putting green that's in the backyard. We had some good laughs just trying to putt! Ha, I'm not a very good golfer! ::

:: Mom was finally starting to really feel like herself here, so here is a shot of the four of us in the backyard - a la self-timer ;) ::

:: Our "last supper" was at Claim Jumper -- it is one of our most favorite restaurants, we went to Claim Jumper 4 times when we were in Las Vegas a couple years ago ::

:: We bought a piece of their signature dessert, the chocolate cake. It's $9 and feeds probably 10 people, Mr. L set up the comparison once we got home. It's beside a full size carton of milk - HA! ::

:: We spent two of our days enjoying the pool, the weather had just hit the mid 70's when we arrived, up until then it had been in the mid 60's - so we were blessed to be able to stay out by the pool. Most of the time we were by ourselves as it was too chilly for the regulars ::

:: Fruit trees were everywhere, this one is one of the trees by the pool ::

:: R E L A X I N G by the pool, ahhh, such a nice time! ::

:: That's all lovelies, we had a great, fabulous, wonderfully relaxing time away from the normal routine of life! Thanks to both our parents for helping us get to go on this vacation! We are SO blessed! ::

:: Now I'm off to turn up my furnace because it's freezing here! ::

:: Happy Thursday Lovelies! ::

:: This Is the New Year ::

:: This song came on today while I was running...loved it, thought I should share it with y'all. I am running with my word of the year {CHANGE} on my mind! ::

:: Hope you enjoy it as much as I did ::



:: Song by Ian Axel ::

:: Today ::

:: I'm up to my eyeballs in paper work...from all different things, kindergarten applications for JJ, bills, magazines, paperwork from the kids class' & coupon, and as I look there is still some other stuff I didn't even realize was there! ::

:: Here is what this mess looks like! ::

:: I'm going to take a moment and get in my running gear so I can be finished my run for today and try and get dinner going, thank goodness I was able to do all of my grocery shopping yesterday, so hopefully that will be an easy job ;) ::

:: Happy Wednesday to y'all, hope you saw the sun for at least a small portion of it! ::


*Edited to Add*

:: Run completed, see here is my ugly-I've-just-finished-2-mile-run face -HA! Now on to a shower and dinner! ::

:: Mundane Monday ... Muah! ::

:: Today is a mundane Monday, it's pouring cats'ndogs here in the land of the lush green trees & grass..and all I would like to do is crawl back into bed. Just being honest here ;) ::

:: ...Or go to Starbucks and finish the book I started back in Arizona, or blog my to my little hearts content without inturruption - HA! ::



:: But I've got carpets to be cleaned, food to be prepared, dishes to be put away, boys to read to and love on, kindergarten to register JJ for {can you believe that!?!!?} plus menu planning and shopping for this week. Along with a 2 km run that I've promised myself I'm going to do every day, so off I go to do all of these things..Pray I do them in love and with grace{I'll be a hot mess for the running portion of my day, but that's just fine with me} ::

*Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God - Colossians 1:10[commentary version]*

:: 2011 ::

:: My word for the year 2011 is {CHANGE} ::

:: Honestly, I don't know what this looks&feels like, but I do know that along with change come pain, peace & eventually pleasure. But the process doesn't always feel so good! ::

:: 2010 I planned to live life with a purpose - that happened and honestly I felt good about my year, but this year I want to be a little more raw and specific with things I want to change, whether it's in my mind, heart, spirit, body, family, home, relationships...I want to change to make it all that it can be ::

:: The funny thing with change is that it just has to be you {me} that changes, really it doesn't matter how anyone else responds to your change - it's all about what God has put in your heart and seeing you {me} be all that we can be ::

:: {CHANGE} to me through the Bible ::

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy~Ephesians 4:21-24

:: I hope that the first 20 days of 2011 have been awesome thus far, and that you have amazing expectations for the next 300 and something days we have left in 2011 ::

:: Happy Friday Lovelies, hope I can hop on here and update you on a our little escape to a vitamin D filled mini-holiday! ::

:: Things I'm loving ::

:: I know it's Saturday, so the above title on the photo does not apply, but I used it anyway ;) ::



:: I'm loving actually taking time to read one of my stocking stuffers from Mr. L...it's a great issue that Instyle January! ::


:: I'm loving that I just ordered a new bamboo blind for my big-huge-entirely-too-big-for-our-kitchen window...inspired from a few different movie kitchens (It's complicated & Somethings Got to Give & The Proposal) -- then just the other day I was reading Eddie Ross' blog and came across this photo, I was sold! So I hopped on here this morning and ordered me up a $112.00 special order blind for my big-huge-entirely-too big window {as seen below} - just so you know it measures 70"x40" - told you it was HoooGe! ::



:: I'm loving my new do, it was time for a change {thinking about 2011, hint hint} and thus thought I would overhaul my lovely locks and change it up for the New Year. Here is the before - sorry for the crappy phone photo ::



:: And here is the after - I love it, I love my hair stylist too. She does a great job of listening to what I want and I don't think she has ever let me down and I've been having my hair done by her & her hubby since I was 12. That's a stinkin' good track record! ::



:: Lastly, I'm loving my Citrine earrings I received from Mr. L for Christmas. They are beautiful and quite different to anything else I have. I also love that they are my birthstone and mean hope, cheerfulness, fidelity, youth and health - what great meaning! ::



:: Hope all you lovelies are having a great weekend, we were out last night with out the babes {thanks Aunty L & Uncle J for taking them for us} celebrating a families going away to another country for missions - we had a fabulous time! And tonight we're going over to other friends for a nice chill night of Chinese food and to watch Wall Street - Happy Weekend Y'all! ::

:: Oh, and just a little praise report, we have dear friends who got to see their son ski down hill this last week, you can go here to read all about their story - they are lovely people and we celebrate with them as they see God's plans unfold for their family ::

:: Yesterday ::

:: Yesterday, yesterday was a bad day for me...no specific reason as to why it was. It just was. Too much schedule {this coming from the girl who loves to schedule scheduling} to my boys being at each others throats from dawn till dusk. To things needing to be back to "normal" and having no time to create "normal" - blah blah blah, you get the point ::

:: I'm generally a really positive person and thus not getting too down about anything, but yesterday I just couldn't shake this overwhelming feeling, feeling useless yet overworked and yet through that valley, I know that God is with me walking with me every step of the way ::

:: So, waking up this morning, I thought "ahhh, at least it's not yesterday" - Ha! I woke up feeling like a tonne weight was sitting on top of my head! But the party must go on, people must get dressed, beds made, snacks prepared, laundry completed...you know how it is! Finally though, my head ache is gone and I'm hoping some time alone with hubby for dinner will make me feel even better ::

:: Here's to new tomorrows and a large dose of patience ;) ::

:: Mish Mash ::

:: Life currently feels like a bit of a mish-mash; we've just started back to school - which while it feels good to be back into routine, it also means we're rushing out of the house every day. The house is in the between stages of having Christmas decor up and having it down. So currently I have no dining room table - along with taking down the Christmas decor, I like to re-decorate and re-organize. This makes the job 10x more fun, but more work too ::



:: We're also thinking of moving and thus putting our home on the market, not sure where we would move to or if we even want to move; but we are mulling it over and praying about it ::

:: We're also waiting for another snow day here in the lower mainland as of this morning they {the weather peeps, that is} said it was supposed to snow this afternoon. We have yet to see anything other than a little freezing rain. Boo! ::

:: Oh well, the boys are snuggled up in their beds still and quiet...Mr. L has fallen asleep watching some show on the discovery channel. So all is content and perfect in my world. I'm going to head to rest sooner than later too. This mornings routine came quickly and without warning, must try to do better tomorrow morning! ::

:: Blessings y'all ~ hope this year has been wonderful thus far - we're only 4 days in..it should be ;) ::

:: Back Dating ::

:: I'll be posting a few posts that I didn't have time to get up during our busy Fall 2010 -- here is the first of many about our date night to Jack Johnson and another one of Halloween - enjoy and happy 2nd day of 2011! ::

XoXo * Shawna