:: Island Life ::

:: While on the Island we were able to take in some of the beautiful sites - below are some of my pictures. Our province is a really, really beautiful place and the Island is just one
of those places ::

:: Jacob enjoying the boat ride over ::

:: Paul watching over Jacob ::

:: Baker in the background ::

:: Cole with a very serious face due to the fact that he was not aloud to get out of the stroller like his older brother! ::

:: Plants facing the sun ::

:: Hand painted fabrics ::

:: Walking through town ::

:: Sweet flower baskets ::

:: Fun cars ::

:: Lovely looking shops ::

:: Denay Catherine ::

:: Then just a mere 48 hours after we celebrated my Mom's birthday we received a fabulous phone call from my younger brother Trevor announcing that his wife Christy gave birth to their first child. A little girl! ::

:: Denay Catherine was born on July 10th @ 9:30 pm in the comfort of her very own home (you are one brave girl Christy!) ::

:: The delightful little bundle weighed in @ 7lbs 2 oz and 18 inches long ::

:: Congratulations to the two new parents - T & C, you will be great parents...just you wait! ::

:: Now you are a family of three - T, C & Baby D ::

:: Oi Vey ::

:: Hello All, I'm sorry for the delay & lack of blogging -- not that I have not had a multitude of things to blog about...life has just been crazy! ::

:: So first things first...My Marms birthday -- Last week we celebrated my Mom's birthday, we started off the week by going to see the movie Kit Kitteridge ~ It was such a cute story I absolutely recommend it! ::

:: Then on her actual birthday we went to my parents place to celebrate by having a BBQ and a bon fire w/ schmores and all ::

:: It was a great night filled with lots of laughs and great food ::

:: Trevor & Christy were not able to be there for the celebration as they were waiting for their baby to arrive ::

:: Happy Birthday Marm & now Grammie to 3 little ones! ::

:: Stay tuned for more posts & updates! ::

{Ps. I made that cake for my Mom's birthday and my girlfriend Jamie was at my house and took some shots of it as well for me...you can see the shots here - thanks Jamie for you support and help! }

:: Summertime ::

:: It finally feels like it's Summertime around here. We were supposed to have rain all weekend. We didn't - It was great! ::



:: We had a fabulous time @ the Jewel concert and had a great time wandering around the casino watching all of the crazies {I'll post a separate post once I find my USB cable for my camera...apparently a set of little hands removed it from my desk} ::

:: Our BBQ on Saturday night was a success and it was great to catch up with friends that we don't often see...but it's always a perfect fit when we do get together {Again, I'll post pics once I have my USB cable} ::

:: We are heading South of the border today to stock up on the typical consumables - It's beautiful out today...hopefully we'll have time to enjoy the sunshine once we return ::

:: Please pray I find my USB cable, I have searched high and low and can't seem to locate it...It can't be too far away! ::

:: Have a wonderful Summertime day and remember to put on your SPF! ::

{Picture of Cole SOOC (straight out of camera = no touch-ups) taken in our front yard and his first experience with the sprinkler - recognize it Kristin?}

:: Tonight ::

:: I’m going to see Jewel in concert! ::

:: …seriously, have you ever known of a young (cute, most of the time) Mom of two small babes to go out for sushi on a Friday night with her husband and two fabulously fun friends to a Jewel concert?….well probably you have, but that doesn’t often happen in my world! ::

:: Our great friend Chris (aka: Cookie or Uncle Cookie to our kids) had three extra tickets to Jewel and offered them up on Facebook last night and bang! I got ‘em, so I called on our girlfriend Rhonda (the cute thang she is) and a fun night out was planned! ::

:: Thanks Chris for offering up the tickets and thanks to having great hook ups! If you ever need to get rid of other concert or event tickets … you know the cave we live in, just come on over and drop them by! ::

:: What can I say? We are blessed! ::

:: Have a great weekend ya'll, we have a BBQ planned for tomorrow night and probably some fun office organizing so that I don't go too insane! ::

:: Life:Beautiful ::

:: My Mom came across this magazine……… - It’s young, cute, full of great little snip-its of information and to top it off it’s a Christian Magazine ::

:: Finally a magazine that is done in excellence that is “Christian”! No offence to those other “Christian” Magazines but you just don’t cut it ::

:: I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one! ::

:: If you too want to check them out and get a sneak peek of the goods you can see them here Life Beautiful Magazine ::

:: C E L E B R A T I O N ::

:: I have been thinking a lot about celebrating. Where did I learn to celebrate? ::

:: My family are all great celebrators, especially my Mom. She is infamous for celebrating the littlest things - I remember one particular time when I was 3 or 4 and my Mom made a round chocolate cake with mini marshmallows on top of it in the shape of a smiley face, but a smiley face with glasses. My older brother Jordan, just got his first set of eye glasses and we were going to celebrate! ::

:: She (my Mom) instilled a great thing by showing me that everything is to be celebrated. For that I am thankful ::

:: That is why I started making cakes & cupcakes, to show a sign of significant celebration...and a great sign it is! ::

:: I love celebrating, I love making people feel special and celebrated. Everyone should feel that way. That's what I think! Maybe one day our paths will cross and I will have inclination to celebrate you too - I thank God that He has given me a desire to celebrate. We all have something to celebrate ::

:: I have had lots of parties lately in celebration of different milestones...Birthdays, Graduations and even Death and I truly think that celebrations add so much to life, I couldn't imagine living life without celebration. It is such a breath of fresh air to come along side someone and celebrate something that they have done or a milestone in their life - that is truly a gift in itself ::

{ Cupcakes done in celebration of a high school Graduation - They were jumbo cupcakes with a Grad Cap made of dark mint chocolate...surrounded by Skittles and labeled. They also worked as place cards for each Graduate }

:: Ugh ::

:: I'm sorry - I suck! Ya'll have been left in such suspense of what "new news" we have in our house ::

:: I know that you have just been dying to know...right. You have been DYING to know, you haven't? Ah, poop, maybe not! ::

:: Well do you want to hear why I haven't been on here (my computer that is)? Well because the wonderful news we received turned on me ::

:: It's delightful, Paul got a new job, a raise, wonderful benefits ::

:: One of those benefits is he gets to work from home ::

:: YaY Us...kinda ::

:: So there is our news, very fun, very good, very needed & wanted...however get you're own darn computer Mr. L - this one is mine! ::

:: So there, it's Paul's fault for my lack of blogging, we have yet to get our wireless Internet installed, so he sits using MY computer (which is actually our computer), at MY desk (which is too, our desk). But hey, during the day when he's working - so am I! ::

:: And if no one thinks that updating a blog, planning family affairs, doctors appointments, facebooking, organizing birthdays, daycare etc. isn't a full time job...I've got an earful for ya! ::

:: Edited to say ::

:: Oh, right. Yes, thanks Nickie for reminding me what this post was actually about. Yes, Paul's new job. He is in the same field of work but he now wears a title that is very officious "Western Regional Manager". He is in the healthcare industry which he loves, but he has moved to a bigger company with a bigger piece of the pie. We are truly astounded at this opportunity and cannot thank God enough for meeting our every need and more. We are BLESSED! ::

:: My day...yesterday ::

:: Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on photography & photoshop at our church ::

:: I left the house at 8:50 am and didn't arrive home until almost 6:00 pm. It was a great day but boy did I miss my boys! Isn't it weird how we think "oh, it would be nice to have a whole day off " but then you get a whole day off and you wish you had your kids with you!?!?! ::

:: At any rate, I had a great day and thanks to my Dad for coming and taking on my fever ridden big boy and my screaching little boy and thanks to my Mom for showing up to my place to do laundry! Maybe I do have a laundry fairy after all! Oh and I mustn't forget to give mad props to my babe Paul for taking care of making a veggie filled dinner - yummo! ::

:: The workshop was taught by David duChemin a photographer that mainly shoots for humanitarian organizations like World Vision. If you are looking to learn the basics and have a good laugh at the same time, check out his website for his workshops and seminars. They are well worth the time (and I'm sure the cost as well!) ::

:: Today I'm making up a batch of jumbo chocolate cupcakes as place markers/gifts and doing Jamie Delaine's hair for her grad dinner tonight - I hope to get outside this morning and get my fill of vitamin D on my face...I've got blue sky above my house, how great it that? ::

:: Hope ya'll have a wonderful day and enjoy this day the Lord has made ::

:: FYI: I'm not dead ::

:: Ha Ha Ha - My Mom calls me this morning and it goes like this ::

{M} "People will think you're dead"
{S} "What!?!?"
{M} "People will think you're dead, you haven't blogged since like the 16th - that's a long time ya know!"
{S} Laughing "No they won't, people know I have a life"
{M} "No they don't, you need to blog"

:: It still makes me chuckle...but I'm sure ya'll know that I have a life, you just want to see what's going on inside of it...It's okay, I like to snoop too! ::

:: Okay, so I'm not dead but I have been super busy. Busy with good, not bad things. All the same it has kept me away from my blog ::

:: Hopefully the worst is almost over and I'll be back to my normal reality of daily posting by this weekend...okay, let's be realistic, Monday, I'll be back full force on Monday! ::

:: So what have I been up? Oh amazing things, things that make me just want to pee my pants::

:: Yeah, not so much. I have been having fun doing some different things, some new things & letting my creative juices get the best of me & my time ::

:: On Monday I had a photo shoot with a lovely group of people from the Advocacy department at our church CLA in Langley ::


:: That time was followed by finishing up decorations on a cake my girlfriend Lisa ordered from me - that was fun too, although a little nervy. It turned out well and she said that it tasted fabulous! So the goal was attained ::


:: In between those things, I have had so much fun working along side my other friend Lisa with a new adventure that has us just pumped (more on this later...much later)! ::

:: So really that's all that I have to say, I'm still up to my eyeballs in paperwork (aka: emails, because really that is what paperwork is these days) and I'm trying to finish up a few other things I have on my plate this week ::

:: We have had some exciting news around here but I won't update about that right now...I'll keep you in suspense ;) ::

:: Hope ya'll are doing well - Can't wait to have time to catch up with ya'll and take a peek into your lives! ::