{Presents}

I couldn't resist sharing the adorable little diddy's that I picked up for Denay while I was in Vancouver.

I had some spare time to kill and was wandering the stores at Lonsdale Quay when I walked by a luggage store and fell in love with this too cute kiddie backpack! I'm going to make some modifications to help it stay on her tiny back better, but it's just the right size for her!

I'd walked by the stand where these were being sold so many times that I couldn't resist. It was a toss up between the mouse, the apple and the ladybug but the mouse won out.......and doesn't it just suit Miss D to a "t"? It is a Knitty Bitty Hat by Amberlea but I can't find a website on them.

Miss D and I have been taking full advantage of the double digit weather we've been having. Today I made a point of bringing my camera outside with me, something I do far too infrequently, to capture some special moments. Miss D thoroughly enjoys being outside and I love watching her just as much......

A frame by frame of Miss D running to daddy when she saw his car pull into the parking lot.....

We learned about leaves and rocks and flowers and bumblebees, heard birdies and choo-choo's and did lots and lots of laughing and exploring.

Finally.....

To say I am pleased with my choice of drawer pulls for Denay's hand-me-down dresser would be a great understatement.

I am so very grateful to the wonderful Karalee who saved us double the cost of the knobs in shipping by offering to pick them up at the store in Sydney (Australia) and giving them to my inlaws when she came to visit.

The lady who owned the store even sent us four extra pulls for free in case one got damaged in transit......we are blessed! We used two of the extra on Denay's closet doors to really complete her room.

I don't think they could be any more perfect!

:: My Vancouver Experience ::

Riding on the tail of my last post, I wanted to post a few of the very few pictures I took while on our trip to the Olympic city.
:: Dancers performing ::

:: Visiting the cauldron with some of my teammates in our matching authentic Cowichan toques ::

:: We got to skip the three hour wait to get into the Russia house because we had small kids. Good thing too, cause it was kind of lame ::

:: My two favourite people spending the day with the teams ::

I'm so glad that I ended up going and having the chance to experience all the things that I did. God truly sustained me and filled me to overflowing with everything that I needed. Being able to connect with the younger dance teams and spend time in the evenings tucking in the youngest girls was one of the most precious things to me.

Being downtown when the women took gold in hockey was a memory I will have forever. Stopping in front of the Canadian Mint that had a giant two hour wait and singing "Oh, Canada" at the top of my lungs.

The feeling of pride and patriotism was something I'd never seen or experienced in Canada, even on Canada Day. I've always loved my country. We've had a flag flying off our house for years now and I hope this Canadian pride doesn't extinguish with the flame.

Favourite 2010 Moment

It's sure hard to believe that seven years of work and preparation has come to an end in just 17 short days.

Because I was in Vancouver this past week I feel like I missed a lot, but thanks to the Internet, I've been able to catch up on all my favourite events.

There were so many incredible moments and unforgettable finishes but without a doubt I can say my favourite occasion was Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's gold medal free dance performance last Monday night. I've watched their performance much more than a handful of times in the last couple days.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/figure-skating/results-andschedules/event=fsx030000/phase=fsx030101/highlights.html

I can't even explain what it is that I love so much but they skate with such passion and chemistry and grace.

What was your favourite moment from 2010?

:: Update #1 Of Many ::

I can't tell you how good it feels to share our exciting news with ya'll and I thought I'd start my long list of updating with a post all about our new baby.

Today marks about nine and a half weeks along and I am due somewhere near the end of September.

We found out on January 27th and had planned to keep it quiet until the 12 week mark like we did with Denay. But on the morning of our big Vancouver trip fundraiser I started to bleed and therefore needed to tell my leadership as I wasn't going to be able to dance.

I spent the day at home, in bed, doing a lot of crying and praying. I did some blood work the next week and was overjoyed to find out positive results from the midwife.

I'm feeling tired and more emotional and a little nauseous but really great other than that.

Denay doesn't really understand yet. I'm trying to teach her that mommy has a baby in her tummy but all she wants to do is put her finger in my belly button.

As for my feelings to what the gender is, I am definitely thinking boy.

Other than that I can say I am really super excited and anticipating this pregnancy and delivery and meeting our newest member!

I already love you baby....

9:42pm.

Sunday night.

I've been home from Vancouver for almost 24 hours.

We had a long, amazing, exhausting, memorable, challenging and powerful week.

I committed to do nothing but sit today. Sit and relax and sit and play with Missy D.

I'm so happy to be home.

I've cried more than a few times since last night. During commercials, sporting events, TV shows and just for no reason at all.

I'm emotional. I'm tired.....

.....and am feeling just as pregnant as I should at almost 10 weeks.

Somewhere near the end of September our little clan of three will become a home of four!

Somehow I managed to survive a week with 20 teenagers, sleeping in a room with seven other people in a strange bed and long days full of lots and walking and dancing and huge mobs of people.

Thanks to Oma and Opa and my crazy wonderful husband cause I wouldn't have been going anywhere if it weren't for you.

I came home to a clean house, an empty laundry basket and fresh flowers (along with a card and a package of my favourite fuzzy peaches) on my nightstand.

I do promise to do some serious updating this week but for now, my big comfy bed is shouting to me.

Happy March!

~ A Special Touch ~

It's no one's fault but mine that this post took so long to get written.

Over the last few weeks I've been working on some finishing touches in Denay's room.
One of my favourites being these plates that I used to have hanging in my room. It is the complete High Fashion Barbie Collector Plate set. My parents gave me one every Christmas until I had the whole set and they have been packed away for the past 15 years or so.

They look so totally perfect in her room.

She also has my old jewelry box (I've had that thing as long as I can remember), a hand painted ceramic rabbit that was a gift from my aunt many years ago and a hand painted coat hook that my dear momma painted for me when I was little.

This poster has also been around for as long as my mind goes back. It used to have a really tacky plastic gold frame but a cheap $13 poster frame from Walmart spray painted white gave it new life......the little rocking horse in the bottom left was painted by yours truly when I was 7 or 8 and the large carousel horse was painted and given to me by a different aunt.

I still can't help but smile every time I go into her room

I'm still working on painting some wall boxes and getting them mounted around the poster but with all this sunshine, we've been outside in the stroller more than we've been huddling at home. The Olympians may be complaining about the weather, but I'm sure not!

Had To Share

So ever since I've been married, I've been on the hunt for the perfect cookie jar. Something unique and cute and fun. Yet it goes without saying that I'm still without one.

Tuesday night is usually a night in around here so with Olympics reruns on the tube and the baby in bed I turned to the one place I know, would have just what I was looking for. Etsy.

Within 30 seconds I found this perfect hand poured and fired cupcake cookie jar.

They have a slew of different colors that you can check out here.

The very serious problem is the price.....ouch. Alas.

Maybe I'll put in on my Christmas list for next year.

{ Opa's Truck }

Ahh, Sundays. A day of rest and relaxing and the perfect time to catch up on all those blog posts that have been piling up during another busy week.

On Wednesday, Denay and I went down to Victoria for the afternoon to do a little shopping with Oma and while going over the Malahat we passed a semi pulling a cement trailer. Sure enough, it was Opa! We pulled over and Denay got to sit up in Opa's big tractor and even honk the air horn. I had my point-and-shoot in my purse and got some well needed pictures.

My dad now proudly displays one of these pictures on his visor.

Sheerly Covered?

Okay, so normally, this lady is not an infomercial fan/watcher. Sometimes I'll tune in for a little bit because some of the stuff they sell is just hilarious (ie - SlapChop, Snuggie and Hawaii Chair), but at the beginning of January I got caught up one for Sheer Cover mineral make-up. My morning "make-up" routine (if you can call it that) consists of mascara. That's it. But with a full money-back promise and only $10 for a months supply, I figured I couldn't go wrong. So my package arrived on Wednesday and since we had a get-together Friday night to celebrate a friends completion of her Masters Degree (congrats Megan!!!), I thought I'd get Trev to take a before and after shot.

Both pictures were taken with the same lighting, ISO, white balance, shutter speed and f-stop and when I edited them I brought the levels up the the exact same values.

Now that I see them side-by-side you can tell that I've got something on my face. I can't say that I am totally blown away but I do notice a more even tone to my skin and that it feels less oily. It won't be something I'm going to start doing on a daily basis but I like that when I do want to get a little done up, that I can have the option without my face feeling cakey or over-done.

I am curious though, if anyone can recommend a brand of mineral foundation that they really like that I can get from the grocery store?

:: Making The Switch ::

This is one choice, we've been told by many, that we will never regret.

Moving from a queen, to a king sized bed. We found an unbeatable deal on a very nice one at Sleep Country on Monday and yesterday the delivery truck arrived. I probably would have had an amazing night sleep except we forgot to turn the heat on so we both ended up shivering all night. Great, I know.

We found a great bedding set at Walmart and some nice sheets a Home Outfitters.....

Trev wasn't feeling well on Friday so he came home early and while flipping through a flier, found some perfectly-sized side tables for almost half-off! You can sort of see it on the right side of the after pictures. We had to get the other ordered in but they are just the best size for the extra space the bigger bed takes up.

I am loving the fresh, new feel of the bedding and wonderful spaciousness of the bed. I am a very light sleeper and am often kept up from Trev's moving around and last night a felt like I really had my own space and knew my moving wasn't bothering him. Maybe tonight we'll remember to pop the thermostat above 12 degrees and actually be able to sleep.

Especially For The G-Parents

We spent the evening relaxing last night and that means I got a chance to do some catching up on my editing and organizing of my photo folders. I seem to quickly loose track of the pictures I take!

Denay's Grammie and Bobob are away, so these are just for you!

We took Denay to our churches Family Carnival a few weeks ago and she got her little face painted with a sunshine.

Favourite. Pictures. Ever. She wore her dancing gear to church on Sunday.

Last night was spaghetti and chocolate pudding night......

I got a big surprise yesterday when I woke up and it was February. Yikes. But the days are getting longer and each day is a day closer to Cuba.

Happy Wednesday.

:: Norwex Believer ::

Okay, so this may be old news to lots of you, but I still had to share my excitement about a new-to-me company.

Norwex. Cleaning without chemicals.

My girlfriend hosted a party a couple weeks ago and I was slowly able to get over the price tags of their products once I started to hear more and more about the (obvious) benefits of natural home care. I got my items today and it didn't take long before I was cleaning, with just water!

Antibac Window and Polishing Cloth

Antibac Enviro Cloth
Scrub Cloth

Laundry Detergent

Thus far and I extremely pleased. The scrub cloth cleans stuck on stuff without scratching and I love that the window and enviro cloths have silver woven into the fabric acting as a natural antibacterial agent. No more stinky dish cloths!

I am current running a wash with the detergent and am interested to see if it work just as well as everything else.

I am in love! It was a hard cost up front, but knowing I don't need chemicals anymore very much makes it worth it in the long run.

Anybody feel like recommending their favourite Norwex product?

{Just To Make You Smile}

:: I got this sent to me in an email today and I definitely needed to share ::

Random Thoughts of the Day

1) Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

2) I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

3) There is a great need for sarcasm font.

4) How the in the world are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

5) I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

6) MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

7) Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

8) I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

9) Bad decisions make good stories

10) You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

11) I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

12) I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Shoot!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

13) I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

14) As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

15) I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

16) I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

{It's Spring, Right?}

Anybody know of a good internal clock repairman?

I'm pretty sure mine is broken. Really broken.

It seems I've completely skipped winter and jumped head first into Spring.

Now that we've finished Denay's room, a sort of snowball effect has occurred that's got me cleaning and sorting and organizing and scrubbing and painting and every other sort of activity usually associated with Spring Cleaning.

All it takes is one sunny day and I set into a flurry of, well, cleaning in all shapes and forms.

Anyways, other than that, I have nothing exciting or interesting to write about so I think I'll be drawing this post to a close now.

Just know now, that you never need to wonder again what's keeping me from my blog. You can pretty much always assume that I've come down with another serious case of the project creeps.

On another note, please pop on over to my photography blog as there are some seriously exciting and cool things happening over there!

Happy Hump Day!

Guilty Pleasure

I have been a dedicated Cookie Dough Blizzard fan for quite a few years now. That used to be mine and Trev's "thing"......going to DQ and getting a Cookie Dough Blizzard and sharing it. Every once and a while the thought would cross my mind that I should try something different but I'd either chicken out or go for it and almost always wished I'd just gone with the norm.

I needed a fix last week so we stopped by on our way home and Trev was halfway through the order when I spotted a new flavour on the board. I stopped him and got him to ask the server what was in the Cookie Jar Blizzard and when I heard the words oreo, cookie dough and fudge in the same sentence as ice cream, we couldn't get to the pick-up window fast enough.

Yummy-ist thing ever! I hope they keep this flavour around for a while because I don't think I could go back to plain old cookie dough again......

:: Trades-ies ::

First off, if you have never heard of or visited the Esty site, you need to go. You can find almost anything on there and the best part, it's all handmade and unique.

I got this adorable camera bag from my MIL for Christmas. I was, however, awfully disappointed when I got it home and found out that it was far too small for my camera, extra lens and all my accessories.

I contacted Jackie from XcessRize Designs and I am now waiting for this..... .....adorable and gigantic bag.
I'll say it again, if you haven't visited Etsy.com, I highly recommend it. I don't think there is anything you won't be able to find.

{Input Time}

Alright my dear Blogger Friends, now is the time I really need to "hear" your thoughts.

A trip to a few stores later and much time spent on the Internet, I have yet to find the perfect drawer pulls for Denay's refurbished dresser. Ideally, I would love a set of pink or purple round crystal knobs but, alas, the only ones I could find were in Australia. Yeah, not so much. I'm still going to do some looking around town but I did find this fabulous store on Etsy (yep, I'm addicted) that has the cutest hand painted items.

So, I exercised my super-strong choice making muscles, and narrowed the field to a mere 10 looks.

Leave me a comment and let me know you're top three favourite designs and give this indecisive girl a hand!

#1 - Cherry Blossoms

#2 - Yellow w/ white polka dots #3 - Purple/White w/ polka dots

#4 - Pink Flowers

#5 - Green/Pink w/ white polka dots

#6 - Purple/White w/ polka dots

#7 - Assorted colors w/ large dots

#8 - Pink/White/Green daisy

#9 - White w/ pink thatching

#10 - Pink/White polka dots

Let the commenting begin!

Oh, and as a side note - if any can recommend somewhere that I can get crystal knobs, please let me know!

Beaches and Sunshine and Food, Oh My!

This is me following through on my promise to elaborate on my quick mention of our sunny vacation coming up in April in this post.

In about three months Trevor and I, along with two super awesome couples, will be soaking up all things stunning that Varadero, Cuba, has to offer. We will be staying at the Iberostar Laguna Azul. A brand new, 5-star resort that is just as lovely as can be.

If you care to be made a little green with envy, you can click the collages to get a closer look ;)

Funny as it may sound, we didn't realize until after we were booked that we will be there for Trevor's 28th birthday. What a birthday it will be!
It's been two years since our Punta Cana trip and I'm so thankful that we have the chance to get away together again. It makes all those long (and fun) days spent with Cranberry Creek well worth it!

I may, or may not, be counting down the days already.