Fun With A Mac

Last night we went over to Dustin and Chelsey's to hang out for the evening......something we hadn't done in quite a while. They just recently bought Mac computer with a digital camera built right into the screen and some really great effects that you can use. So we had a little bit of fun.....hope you enjoy, I know we did!

Notice Trevor in the backgroud of this one....

This is Sydney, D&C's adorable 16 month old girl......she was part of our experiment too.
I think this is probably my favourite of Chelsey.....

......but this one is pretty great too. He kind of looks like an alien.

This mode was called tunnel of light.....

Thanks Chels for sending me the pictures! Hope you all got a little laugh out of these!

Hornby Island 2007

Last weekend Trevor and I along with five of our friends loaded up a couple vehicles and headed up island for our first annual camping trip (I've decided we're going to do it every year) to Hornby Island. We all met at Tim Horton's in town and while we were waiting Colin got a little bored and had the idea to drive through the drive-thru backwards. It was such a great first story of the trip. Everyone inside the store as well as the employee that served him and the cars behind him were enjoying the show as much as we were! Now for the hard part........backing all the way out. Colin did very well!
The lovely island highway between Nanaimo and Comox.......

And my lovely Kerry.......we rode together and all five boys were in Colin's car.

The ferry terminal on Denman Island......We had to take two ferries the get to Hornby Island.

Kerry and I were sitting in the car and I got this cool shot of the boys looking over the back of the boat. Both ferry rides were only 10 minutes long :)

Kerry and I ended up being the last car on the ferry from Denman island to Hornby island so we had to wait on the other side until they came over. This was the VERY sad boat dock that was there.

My mommy's lovely CRV that she lent to us for the weekend.......sure makes me want a brand new car! It's got heated leather seats!

We got there nice and early at 11:30 and were able to set up to get to the beach. Our self-inflating air mattress blew the fuse in the cigarette lighter in the car so we (I) had to pump it manually. But well worth it.

Devon setting up his stuff in his and Christopher's tent.

Big kids playground.........

Damon very excited to go skim boarding.........Trev got the board from Shawna and Paul for his last birthday.

Devon is REALLY excited to go to the beach!

A very cool rock that kind of looked like swiss cheese.

All five boys wanderin' towards the ocean!

This was hilarious.........Damon picked up a crab and started to chase Trevor (who is apparently a little scared of them) was running away for dear life.

Colin on the skim board. Kerry and I just stood by and watched because it was really entertaining.

Kerry and I.......I have to so that I just LOVE LOVE this picture.

Our friend Jared was on the island with some of his friends and they started to build this great house out of driftwood, rope and a few nails.

I've never seen white sand like this anywhere on the island before and they were fantastic.

Devon was our resident acrobat.........he pulled a back flip off of this seven foot tall log sticking out of the sand.

The gang around the fire......I started a book mid afternoon Saturday and finished it within 24 hours. It was excellent! (and just for the record it was raining so were weren't sitting around the fire trying to escape the sun).

Trev my husband/lumberjack chopping up firewood.

I'm on FIRE! Somebody get some water.........

Sunday we got really ambitious and headed out the beach first thing and within 20 minutes it was raining on us! So back to the campsite to sit under the tarps........Fortunately a few hours later the clouds burned off and the sun came through so off to beach we went! We found a great little spot out of the very chilly wind and fell asleep in the sunshine. There is nothing more relaxing. Nothing. Ryan joined in the sleepfest too!

Amber and Kerry after our swim in the ocean.......the water was so nice!

Just a nice landscape shot........Hornby has been called "Little Hawaii".

:: Self-portrait ::

Colin and Damon played a rousing game of frisbee while us girls slept in the sun........

Just a nice sky shot.

This is what became of the log house........dormer and deck and all. They started to thatch the roof with seagrass but never ended up finishing it.

Devon and Ryan hanging out Sunday night at the picnic table enjoying the company.The picnic table at the end of the trip........a mess!

I really think that this trip was the highlight of my summer so far. On our way home on Monday Trevor, Kerry, Damon and I stopped in Qualicum Beach because it was FINALLY sunny and Colin, Christopher and Devon went to Nanaimo to catch Stardust. I happen to think that we had a WAY better time....there wasn't a cloud in the sky or a breeze in the air. Kerry and I took a long walk down the beach then laid out our towels and slept and slept. It was SO relaxing. We were there for a couple hours then headed into Nanaimo and met the others for dinner at BP's, which was a small adventure in itself. We so needed to sleep in for a couple days and have nothing to do except nothing.

We are looking forward to next year already........

:: Happy 25th Birthday Lindsey ::

On July 28th (almost two weeks ago, sheepish grin here) Trev and I took our motorcycles over to the main land for Lindsey's birthday. Unfortunately that was also the weekend that BC Ferries received a bomb threat to the terminal we were trying to get to so after waiting two and a half hours in Departure Bay we wound up having to ride to Trev's parents from Horseshoe Bay in the dark! Besides the fact that it was dark (and we try not to ride at night) we had to ride through North Vancouver. I try to avoid driving on the mainland period and I have to say it was a less than relaxing experience. We didn't get to our destination until almost 11pm which was about three hours later than planned but we got there safe none the less. We had a little fun with Paul and Shawna as well because they had yet to find out about our motorcycles. So mom sent us out to put on our "anniversary hats" (aka our helmets) and it was a great moment of surprise and confusion. Sunday afternoon we had a fabulous lunch with the family.

Here's Jacob.....who always steals the show....being adorable as always.

Paul and Shawna being.......awesome.
Dad cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch and I think those are potatoes on the top grill.
My hubby enjoying the deck and the flowers..........

Paul, ahem, relieving himself in the water fountain.....not really though, just pretending.

The lovely birthday girl and Jordan..........

Time for cake! And not just any cake, mom's ice cream pie, Lindsey's favourite. She blew out all of her candles.......no boyfriends!

Lindsey reading mine and Trevor's card. It was so cute, handmade with a pair of shoes on the front.

We got Lindsey scrabble and she was quite excited.

This past Monday Jordan and Lindsey took off for three weeks in Europe.....and I swear I'm not jealous at all :) Lindsey, we hope this next year is full for God's blessings and happy memories and may you enjoy many more birthday's to come! We love you!

Goodbye Tacky, Hello Classy

On July 30th Trevor and I got our long-awaited new counter tops put in in our kitchen and bathrooms. We forgot to take before pictures of the kitchen so I just dug up these two photos from the very first time I viewed the house to give you an idea of the before, not only of the counter tops but the whole house! The old counters in the kitchen were a sort of mauve speckled pattern and were hideous.

Some befores........

The new faucet and sink.....again no before pictures but think old and dated :)
By the front window......the pattern is called Fresh Paint and is kind of a beige/green/yellow combination which ties the kitchen color and living/dining room color.

The larger picture..........

The stove.........

Here is a shot of the after the removal of the old tops. We saved over $800 by removing the old tops and plumbing and installing the new plumbing ourselves.
The breakfast bar..........

The upstairs bathroom counter was painted a dark navy blue and was chipped and beaten. As well as the faucet was outdated and the sink old.

Tada! Fresh and lovely. This pattern was called Spring Foliage and is similar in design to the kitchen. It perfectly matches the colors of the wall, shower curtain and towels without actually matching any of those colors.

Another shot of the ucky old counters.........

FABULOUS! Doesn't even look like the same bathroom. These colors completely change the room but are still neutral enough to be able to paint another color without having to renovate again.

Above the toilet..........

Love Love Love........

The downstairs bathroom was nothing but pink.....even worse, almost a dusty rose. And the faucet was even worse and there was no drain plug!

VaVa Voom! The faucet and sink and drain trap are the same as the upstairs bathroom. We went with the push down assembly for the drain trap and we love the look.

Before.......

After.......this was my favourite pick of all the patterns so since this room is the only room not painted I figured we could go with it and paint around the counter instead of the other way around. It's kind of a wheat grass thatched look. And very neutral, I think it will look great with a smokey blue/green paint.

Pink........

Wonderful........the cabinet doors are missing because we are currently busy painted the pink melamine strip on the edges white.

I could not be more thrilled with how they turned out. It's amazing how much they really change the look of the house and really bring it up to date. It also makes brushing your teeth and cleaning the kitchen much more enjoyable! We feel blessed to have been able to complete this renovation and will continue to work away on our humble abode and will keep you updated as we do!

Aloha and Mahalo for reading....