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sometimes in life, it seems so rare that everyone is together and everyone is happy. this weekend was one of those moments and while i course forgot to take many pics, here are just a few that will remind me of the joys in my life (sorry to the rest of you who are also the joy in my life but didn't get your photo snapped last sunday!).
we were finally able to use up a bit of our vacation time and eek out a week away from work, classes, and the general business of life. our friends, john and marg, got us a great deal at a resort they enjoy and we were able to spend a week in paradise with brian, jewel, and janae. we read (a few good selections, one disappointing), ate (best meal ever at alan wong's), swam, shopped (hello, outlets!), and enjoyed some good times with family. we love that family and are so glad they didn't mind we tagged along on their vacation. looking forward to many more amazing vacations with you guys!
unfortunately, some of the drama of this photo is lost because we forgot to take a "before" picture (also typical of us). we finally got around to doing something with the dump of a backyard that we got from our developer when we bought the house. as a solution to significant sloping, extremely poor soil, a sump smack dab in the middle of the yard, and weird angles to the previously paved portions, we decided to rip out all the lawn and put in patio stone. mike built me a big planting bed (which was very awesome until i realized that it's in total shade, all day) and a compost. we now have room for both the barbeque and a patio set and hopefully some containers here and there. maybe this will become another "before" picture, and i'll post what we've done with the place next year since we just finished up to this point about a month ago when the season to plant was wrapping up. we'll see what next year holds i guess!
one of the annual traditions in my family is to spend labor day weekend up in whistler - this year we headed up there the weekend before the long weekend. we had great weather this year and the girls spent one day at the pool while the guys went golfing and then, as a celebration of mom's and jewel's birthday we ate at the bearfoot bistro. of course, all the pictures we have of the weekend is of us eating (typical). anyway, as something a little extra special, my dad actually sabered a bottle of champagne. took me totally by surprise but he was game to try and so there he is, a moment after he knifed off the cork and it exploded everywhere (very exciting - of course my reaction time is just a little slower than the speed of life so i seem to miss almost everything with my camera). another highlight of the meal was when they actually came to the table made ice-cream with liquid nitrogen. the very blurry picture is the chef (yup, that's the best we could do - but this restaurant boasts a famous female chef - also very cool). lots of memories were made this summer, experiences that will go down in our family history books and we'll look back on with fond reminiscence. i think i'll remember these times, my early married years, as my "good ol' days" because, really, can life get better than this?
at the end of summer we took a little road trip down to the oregon coast with mike's family. much needed rest and relaxation were obtained as for the most part, it was rainy/cold/cloudy (except the one day when we took all the pictures!) - the perfect weather for curling up with a book, doing puzzles, playing games, hanging out. we, of course, also did some shopping (no tax!) and paid the obligatory visit to powell's. i'm so lucky to have such fabulous in-laws and we're looking forward to inviting ourselves along with them on future travels :).
we went to victoria for a quick overnighter to visit our friends franco and emmy who are going to school over there. we did some shopping, saw some touristy sights (aka the parliament buildings), and had the best breakfast we have ever had (mike is STILL raving about breakfast at the blue fox) but most of all we enjoyed getting to know franco and emmy even better. looking forward to making another quick trip over there sometime soon :).
no time to post! in the last 6 weeks we've spent our weekends working or away! a few weeks back i had to go to saskatoon for a work related course and before you know it, my family had signed up to come too :). i think they had more fun than me since i was studying/in lectures with a bunch of pharmacists/n.p.s while the crew (dad, brian and kari) cruised the countryside. my camera came back loaded with many pictures of miscellaneous random pictures of scenery but i've posted the highlights (i like people pictures). anyway, a few notes - yes, that is my dad on a total strangers john deere. there's also a picture of my brother and sister at the train station where my dad's parents stopped when they immigrated to canada. the sunset pic is from our hotel room - even though saskatchewan is considered a bit of a hole compared to the rest of the canada, it was actually quite beautiful and really, we just had the best weather. we had such a great time i think we just might have to make it an annual tradition.
Saw this picture, remembered this moment in the movie, recognized how lucky i am to have a guy who will repeat this moment enough times that it passes through the annoying stage back to the funny again stage. seriously, mike, i love you man.
(don't really recommend the movie unless you like raunchy humor, but this moment in the movie was pretty funny - and yes, i realized i spelled remember wrong after i had saved the picture and was too lazy to change it).
... did you know that i have the best family ever? one day while i was at work, my dad (and brother) came and reseeded our lawn, hung my hanging baskets, planted my flower beds, made me a cute little container garden. after a few minor modifications, i'm pleased to present the FIRST STRAWBERRY OF THE SEASON! thanks dad! (and brian!)
... about a month ago mike's family trekked up to kelowna to celebrate his cousin deanna and glen's wedding (maybe you recognize her? she was the mc at our wedding). we had an awesome time! it was really great to see that ALL of mike's extended family made the trip - we had a really fun weekend, and it was good to finally get to know some of mike's cousins that i had only met in passing at our own wedding. deanna honored mike (and his cousin adam) when she asked them to be ushers and in addition to regular usher tasks, they rolled the fabric runner down the aisle, cinderally style (remember the mice?). in spite of the ribbing, they performed with style :). (sorry if the pics are a little blurry - i was sitting in the very back row with the ushers (aka peanut gallery) ). we are really looking forward to getting to know glen better and we're hoping to make it up to visit them soon!
