:: Anniversary Photoshoot ::

:: I just have a moment here, but I wanted to post a few of my favorite shots from our Anniversary photo shoot w/ Jamie Delaine ::

:: We had a fabulous time working with not one but TWO photographers...Kim Kalyn came over from Victoria to have a one on one session w/ Jamie and we were their models {I use that term very loosely!}. Anyway we had a great time and look at the fabulous photos to show for it! ::


:: Check more of them out here on Jamie's site -- I'm still waiting for Kim to post hers on her site -- Hint Hint Kim ;) ::

:: I'm at work today...really I am Mom! So I better jet so I can get back at it..Happy Monday Lovelies - I'll be back later to update the blog again today ::

:: I'm still here...Seriously, I am! ::

:: And I've been sick with angst {well, maybe not THAT sick} - by barely posting anything lately! ::

:: We've been good, really good, really busy good. But the feeling of crazyi'mgoingtochopoffmyhead is coming to an end very very very soon ::

:: This is a good thing, it is. I keep on trying to convince myself of this, I like a busy life, but it's not healthy for the other members of my little world. So it must slow down. This is a long and quite painful process for me ::

:: In the meantime, I'll leave you with this; we've celebrated a lot in these past months that I have yet to journal {blog} about, so I will be doing catch up on manymanymany things. Fun things, busy things, things that have flashed by my eyes that I have barely taken time to sit and enjoy the memory of. Do you ever feel that way? At any rate, I will be going through all those memories {aka: Pictures} of the last three or four months and blogging about it, as a way to etch the fabulous experiences in my memory ::

:: So I'll be back, trust me, I've missed it around here! ::
:: XO, *S ::

{Ps. props to Mrs. Lisa B for the fabulous anniversary flowers, we're still enjoying them & to Nanny C for the beautiful lead glass vase, that I didn't quite appreciate having until just this week when I pulled it out of the box it's been in for the past 6 years, my how life changes!}

:: Anniversary ::

:: We celebrated our anniversary in the big city. We have a beautiful city, especially beautiful in the late Summer & early Fall - which just so happens to be when our anniversary is! ::

:: September 21st is almost always been a beautifully clear day and this year was no exception. Mr. L had to work, so I dropped the kids off at my parents place for an overnight excursion and headed into the big city to meet up with Mr. L ::

:: Where we checked into our hotel room with a view ::

:: Timed perfectly, we had about 15 minutes to get to our next destination - this was all a surprise to Mr. L. We walked 2 blocks further into Yaletown and found ourselves at the same building that we 7 years earlier booked our photographer for our wedding. Sweet memories we had of that day. So we walk up a flight of stairs and enter Tranquility Spa. It was delightful, I had booked us for a couples massage, one full hour of pure bliss. It was so heavenly, no rush, nothing to think about, ahhh, just heaven! We walked out of there barely able to keep our backs straight! What a great start to our 24 hours in the big city ::

:: We had made reservations at The Cannery as we had an Entertainment coupon that needed to be used. Well, what an experience dinner was! Oh my! ::

:: I didn't know this but when we were walking into The Cannery Mr. L shared with me that this was where his parents had their wedding reception 34 years earlier. It was the first wedding The Cannery had hosted ::

:: By chance we scored a window seat and we were just in time to see the sun setting, what an amazing site ::

:: They even had specially printed menu's just for us ::

:: Here I am in the light of the sunset, I don't usually look this nice, I think it was the euphoria from the spa treatment & the lighting from the sun setting ::

:: Here's Mr. L - I would dare say the same thing about him. He ALWAYS looks this good ::

:: We spent hours at the restaurant, enjoying the food, company and surroundings, it was an unbelievable night ::

:: The next morning we got up and headed across town to Granville to do some shopping, we also enjoyed the pool, steam room & sauna at the hotel ::

:: Here's what our hotel looked like from the courtyard - it was quite the day! ::

:: Next we had an appointment with Miss. Jamie Delaine to take our pictures in Kits, we did that for an hour or so then headed down to the beach to enjoy the view. It was a glorious day! ::

:: We then headed to Granville Island to walk around and people watch - Mr. L purchase this french cinnamon pastry - it was huge, at least 10 inches in diameter...oh but it was good! ::

:: We wandered through the market, looking at all the treats and beautiful sites ::

:: We then headed to The Keg to enjoy dinner, it was a great steak dinner at the brand new Keg in Yaletown ::

:: We then headed to Robson to do some shopping, Mr. L ended up finding a pair of jeans and we just window shopped the rest of the strip. After that we headed to Milestones to enjoy our last celebratory dessert together, the chocolate ganache dessert - it was oh, so yummy! ::

:: It was an amazing anniversary trip to the big city and we hope to make it a yearly event, going away, even just into the big city is certainly attainable once a year! ::

:: Babe, I love you more than the day I knew I loved you and even more than the day I married you. I'm proud to be your wife. xo, *Your Gurl ::

:: Update on last night ::

:: Trista and I had a great night last night hosting the Open House for Lavish & BeautiControl -- It was fabby to have the two products in one place! ::

:: I ended up getting the brown purse that I posted below as I needed a brown purse more than I needed a black one, however that black purse is still calling my name! Maybe I'll get it for Christmas from my Marm {hint hint} ::

:: Currently all of the products on the Lavish website are 50% off, so if you are interested in purchasing anything they are a steal of a deal! My "Brownstone" purse was $40 w/ tax! ::

:: I'll be back later today to update you on our crazy life around here! ::

:: Winthrop Washington in September ::

:: Since we just bought our motor home at the beginning of August, we didn't really have a whole lot of Summer left, so we decided that we would head out of town a couple weeks into September to enjoy the rest of the Summer sun ::

:: We headed through the cascade loop and ended up in a windy little gold mining town called Winthrop,WA. It's a wonderful little town, and the night before we left we had booked a site at the Winthrop KOA - I was delighted, we had a pool, local convenience store and free wireless Internet; what more could a girl ask for!?!?! ::

:: Here's Jacob in town with his $1 - waiting to get to the candy store to purchase something special ::

:: We were headed into town in the motor home on the first morning we were there, and all of a sudden Mr. L said there were no brakes, he was pressing the gas and the brakes were locked. Not locked off, but locked on. So we pulled over to the side of the road to try and see if it was a quick remedy. A few minutes into being at the side of the road a light blue old Chevy pulled up, with an old silver haired man and woman in it. "Ya havin' car troubles?" he asked, Mr. L responded " my brakes seem to be seized". The old man asked if we had any tools, that we did, he then proceeded to tell us to bleed the brake line and gave Mr. L the exact place that the nut was in to bleed the brakes. Mr. Silver haired man from heaven, drove away and we bled the brakes. We made it into town to find out that the only repair shop in town was too little to do anything with our seemingly big problem ::

:: So we head out of town to the RV parking lot and I take the kids to the park while Mr. L checks out the possible sources of the seizing brakes. Every time he would bleed the line, we drive for a little and they would get hard again and we'd have to bleed the line again...this happened aprox. every 2 km's. He couldn't figure out what to do so we called my parents to see if they could find a larger outlet that could help us with our big problem. They did -- 8 miles away there was a local Les Schwab that would be able to handle the size of truck we have. But 8 miles, is a fair distance from us especially when our brakes would only give us 2 km's until we had to bleed them again - because they wouldn't let us accelerate any faster ::

:: Once we figured out that we would have to drive to the next town for any assistance, we decided to make the best of our very hot 31+ day and walk into town and enjoy the day - we walked the shops, read about the town and enjoyed ice cream...all in all it was a very nice relaxing afternoon. Then around 3:00 we headed back to the motor home and started out for the next town, and hopefully an easy fix ::

:: We had to bleed the brakes multiple times on the way to Les Schwab but we made it there in one piece. Thank goodness! Once we got to Les Schwab they fed us a whole bunch of Bologna that we would have to replace our whole braking system etc. etc. etc. Which we fell for none of it, we're from the big city, you small town people can't pull that over on us! So we sat in the Les Schwab while they tried to diagnose the real problem. That took at least 1.5 hours and then they came back and said it was a power boost...it wasn't the actual breaks but a system that controlled the fluid that assisted the breaks {or something like that}. And the part would cost $2000 plus labor to install it. And the part wouldn't be in for at least a week. Oy ::

:: Here's Jacob watching a show on the lap top and eating Les Schwab popcorn while we were waiting for the diagnosis ::

:: While we were at the Les Schwab we had free Internet so we Skyped with my parents trying to figure out a better plan to replace the power booster. Mr. L along with my Dad executed a plan that would cost much less than the $2500 USD that we would have had to spend at Les Schwab. My parents would bring some extra tools, pick up the parts and drive the three hours to our campsite and the following day Mr. L & my dad would change the part. My parent's picked up our van {in case the plan didn't work and we needed to leave the motor home in Winthrop} and went to the local auto supply in Bellingham, picked up two different power boosters {to ensure we had the right one}. We in the meantime drove back to the KOA, again bleeding the brakes every few km's. Mr. L proceeded to log onto the Internet and research research research how to fix our problem ::

:: Here are the boys. I gave Mr. L a break and went for a walk while he tried to figure out what the heck to do, this was when we were still at Les Schwab ::

:: We were so thankful for so many things: that this didn't happen when we were driving at night on the cascade hwy, that we had a pool at the KOA so we had some relief from the weather, that we had free internet and that my parents were available to bring down the parts for us, seriously, it wasn't the most wonderful situation -- but it couldn't have been better, given the circumstances! ::

:: Here are our boys, discussing something deep after we arrived back at the site from Les Schwab :::: My parents arrived just in time for the campfire on Saturday night ::

:: The next day Mr. L & my dad got started on the power boost project, 4 hours later, they were done, the truck had been test driven and we were good to go! And the cost of replacing the part...just over $300 that's including the gas to get my parents to us! Not too shabby eh!?!?! So after the job was done the guys headed to the pool to relax a little before we started the trek home ::

:: This hot air balloon floated over our breakfast table on Sunday morning, what a beautiful site for us - I bet their view was incredible! ::

:: Cole & Mr. L enjoying the pool ::

:: The boys getting ready to jump into the pool again ::


:: Sunday afternoon we headed for the scenic drive back through the cascades, it was a beautiful drive home. Our nerves were pretty fried by the whole episode with the brakes, but all in all we really enjoyed ourselves and made the best of a pretty crappy situation ::

:: These are some of the shots from the view on the way through the cascades ::

:: This was the last hurrah with our motor home for the Summer, bitter sweet - but good memories all the same...we can't wait to get out in it again in May! A big huge thanks to my parents for helping us out, we couldn't have done it without you! ::

:: Now back to reality, Jacob starting school and getting into the swing of life! ::

:: Wish List + Invitation ::

:: I've started a wish list for a home party that my girlfriend and I are hosting on Monday September 14th at my girlfriend Trista's house ::

:: I will be having all of my SPA items there and she'll have all of her Lavish items there - it will be a great night of shopping a relaxation for us girls. If you want more info or to come to the event you can see the invite here ::

:: Just look at these babies for Fall and Winter, oh, I'm in love! ::
:: And I believe they are on sale! I'm excited! ::

:: What's Happening ::

:: I meant to have this post up yesterday, but the day did not allow. I was at Superstore three times yesterday, so that kinda explains the kind of day I had! ::

:: I'm currently in the midst of reading the first in a fabulous series called: The Courtship of Nellie Fisher by Beverly Lewis. I love her writing {as I'm sure I've stated before} --- This book as it's the start of a series has a lot of explaining and character placing but I love it, and it sucks that I haven't had time to sit down and read it in the last couple days! ::

:: I love the simple life that they lead, I seriously think I was born into the wrong period. I would have loved to be living on a farm, harvesting the fields, canning, going to quilting bees -- that's my kind of life! That's what I would love to live like...well with a bit of technology! I just love the look of a hand written envelope coming in the mail, there is something so tangible about real penmanship and the thought that goes into a letter or note ::

{"Magnolia Mounds" - Picture Credit}

:: There is a little white plantation house with a little red barn on a little plot of land in the city next to ours...I dream of one day owning it or something just like it! ::

:: In other news while I was at Superstore, I decided to smell some of their fragrances {specifically Burberry fragrances} and I fell fell fell in love with Burberry "Brit" -- I love it, it's a beautifully well designed fragrance. Maybe Paul will get the hint and pick me up a bottle of it for our Anniversary!?!? Wouldn't that be nice, it's the perfect casual warm fragrance! ::


:: Today I'm finishing up a special order wedding cake for my cousin Rheanne, she's getting married tomorrow to her high school sweetheart ::

:: Hope y'all have a great Friday and an awesome long weekend, the last of the Summer. I'm sad to see it go but I'm also of course looking forward to my favorite time of year; Fall! ::

:: We'll be around here this weekend as we have the wedding, so I'm sure I'll be on here updating what we have been up to over the Summer ::

:: Happy Friday Y'all! ::

:: Chat: Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Rachel Ray ::

:: You know who I'm talking about right? The very cute and very Christian Blondie on "The View". Now let me clarify what I mean about my wording "very Christian", this isn't a bad thing or in poor taste, but she has been one of the only Christians in the public eye that has not wavered on views like gay marriage and abortion. She has held strong to her guns and that has obviously gotten her in trouble over the years as she's not very PC! ::

:: Well, she's preggers with Baby No. 3 and is going to be on Rachael Ray on Thursday (tomorrow) talking about a whole smack of things, so if you don't have anything better to do at 3:00 in the afternoon on Thursday tune into Rachael Ray! ::

:: If not for anything than to see what cute outfit she is wearing, I just can't get over how stinkin' cute she is, pregnant or not, I wish I was her size! ::

:: You can find the article that I pulled these pictures from here ::

:: Happy Wednesday Everyone! ::